Shadow Slave

At the last moment, the coral golem moved, disappearing from Sunny's view. A fraction of a second later, it materialized a few steps away, just outside of the Midnight Shard's reach.

'...Bastard!'

It was too late to change the direction of his attack. Pulled forward and down by the inertia, Sunny was forced to finish his downward slash and stumbled, falling to one knee. He found himself in a dangerous position, wide open for an attack and with little ability to maneuver.

The perverse simulacrum of the Lord towered above him, his powerful frame radiating a sense of harrowing strength. On the forehead of the artificial creature, a polished piece of coral shined with intense crimson light.

That light seemed to sap the life from everything it fell upon.

Feeling a sudden weakness permeate his body, Sunny gritted his teeth and dashed to the side. A split second later, the fist of the Lord pierced the air with a cracking sound and shattered the ground, sending a rain of debris flying in every direction.

Twisting his body, Sunny spun and delivered a backhanded blow before his feet even touched the ground. The blade of the tachi scraped against the vambrace of the golem's armor, leaving a dip gash in it.

However, it didn't do a lot of damage.

Landing and sliding back on the coral, Sunny thrust his hand forward and send the Moonlight Shard flying at the golem's face. The creature easily swatted it away with its hand.

By the time it did, however, Sunny was already near, delivering a high thrust with the Midnight Shard. As soon as the Lord moved to deflect the austere blade, he changed the direction of his attack and turned it into a vicious horizontal cut.

Using every last bit of his finesse and prowess, Sunny brought down a rain of strikes on the golem. He was moving with astonishing speed and agility, his attacks and steps seamlessly flowing from one into another. It was as though the whole onslaught was just one fluid, continuous motion.

But no matter how swift and skilled he was, it all turned out to be useless.

The Lord was much faster, stronger, and more powerful. Even though he was temporarily forced to concentrate on nothing but defense, every second that passed spelled doom for Sunny.

Because somewhere behind him, Saint was being slowly destroyed by the six other golems. And as soon as she fell, he was going to die.

"Curse you!"

Pausing for a mere moment, Sunny gave the coral abomination a chance to attack. Its fist shot toward his chest with terrifying speed.

Turning his torso, Sunny avoided the blow and caught the hand of the golem between his body and his arm. This position didn't give him any advantage, because the creature was much stronger than him.

and forced him to let go of the hilt of the Midnight Sword with the

it gave

second fist, ready to crush the human's skull with

***

Kai was just moments away from death. He had wounded one of the

one was now upon

wide in terror, he stared at the swiftly approaching beak of the

he had one more second! A

changed the direction of his flight.

But it was hopeless.

Until…

the last moment, something flashed through the air and collided with the black beak of the Messenger, throwing it slightly off course.

crashed into the side of the Messenger and bounced

black locust in half. With its pommel facing Kai and its tip aimed at anyone who would dare to attack him,

its inanimate nature, the flying rapier somehow managed to convey the feeling

at the elegant Echo,

'Thank you, Cassie…'

***

and shifting, every horrifying creature in it lusting to taste the flesh

though

was something that

She didn't need it.

her head, delicious food on her plate, and

misguided pride mixed in to spice things

wasn't willing to die yet, not like this, not without giving it one

from under the hill of monsters. It was a furious growl, full of rage, defiance, and a desperate will to survive. A moment later, the

Nightmare Creatures

about to explode, and then past that, Effie pushed the incredible weight away with her mighty shoulders and emerged from the seething

the jaws of the first creature to jump on her with her bleeding hands. With a ruthless motion, she tore them apart and threw the broken body

the Zenith Shard somewhere, but it didn't matter anymore. With a bestial growl, she spun

was not going to surrender. She was not going to