Shadow Slave

By a twist of fate, today, Harus was facing possibly the worst opponent he could have faced on the Forgotten Shore… among the Sleepers, at least.

However, Sunny wasn't surprised.

He had always felt that he and the murderous hunchback were destined to end up fighting each other to the bitter end. Before, he had thought that this was just intuition, but now he knew that his occasional and subtle premonitions were anything but random.

All that time ago, he had already sensed that the two of them were connected by a string of fate.

Was it such a surprise, then, that his Aspect happened to counter that of Harus to large extent?

And it did counter it, although not completely.

If anyone else was in Sunny's place, they would have been already dead. Robbed of their sight, very few people — if anyone at all — could have resisted the furious assault of the terrifyingly strong hunchback. But Sunny wasn't just anyone.

Even while blind, he had Shadow Sense on his side. While it wasn't the same as being able to see Harus, by sensing the movements of his shadow, Sunny was able to predict his attacks with at least some level of precision.

It wasn't perfect, though. At least he had not reached the level where this form of perception could fully replace vision.

So, now, Sunny had a choice to make.

While his shadow was wrapped around his body, it gave him an incredible boost in strength, speed, and endurance. It wasn't able to provide him with a second pair of eyes, however.

So he could either continue to rely solely on Shadow Sense and keep this boost, or let the shadow go and fight Harus with just his own strength while being able to see.

'Decisions, decisions…'

Sensing the hunched shadow of the murderous butcher lunge forward, Sunny dodged left and heard something whistle past his temple with terrible speed. A fraction of a second later, and his skull would have been crushed by the links of the iron chain wrapped around his enemy's fist.

He missed the hunchback's other hand, though.

His wrist was suddenly caught in an iron grip and twisted, forcing Sunny to yelp and let go of the Midnight Shard. Another second, and his bones were going to shatter…

Following the direction of the twist, Sunny performed an aerial cartwheel to save his arm and reluctantly ordered the shadow to slip off his body.

As he landed on the stones, Sunny was finally able to see again.

Harus was holding him by the wrist with one hand, his other raising to deliver a crushing blow. Sunny doubted that there would be anything left of his face if he were to allow that blow to land.

…He still held the Midnight Shard in his free hand.

hunchbacks' throat. As a hint of surprise appeared in his enemy's eyes, Harus changed the direction of his

into the links of the heavy chain wrapped tightly around

the fact that his bruised hand

titled his head and stared at Sunny with an amused

worm... how are

Sunny grinned.

like

after a few moments of pained

still see you thanks to

Harus grinned.

nice

suddenly threw

'What is he doing?'

too

next moment, Sunny realized his mistake. It was

and instantly covered the distance between them. Before Sunny could react, it was tightly wrapped around the

Harus pulled it back

thrown to the floor right in front of the cruel executioner or let go of his sword.

on the marble floor with a melodious ringing. There was little hope of retrieving it… and Sunny doubted that Harus was going to give him enough

instantly, the fearsome hunchback was already lunging at him, the iron hammers of his fists ready to break

'Go die, bastard!'

he twisted his body and delivered a ferocious blow of his own. His fist connected to

as most men, but he wasn't a weak

hundred shadow fragments, each earned in a deadly fight against unimaginable horrors, coursed

to shatter stones with his

Harus. While shaken by the blow to the face, the

entwined in violent, barbarous combat. Using their fists, legs, and even teeth, they did anything in their power to destroy the enemy. Harus fought with

weight and reach, all he had to do to win it was to wrestle Sunny to the

his angular face. Sunny, however, was in much worse shape. The hunchback's fists, and especially that damned chain of his, had left terrible marks on his body. The skin on his forehead was split open, and a stream of

both of his eyes were already blind; he was using his shadow

'...How ironic.'

it was just a matter of time before Sunny

it was all Harus needed to land one of his wide palms on his shoulder. Then, he gripped it with enough

opened

die,

him against the wall, making a net of cracks streak through its stone surface. Hurt and

in the eyes, Harus squeezed Sunny's neck