Shadow Slave

For a few seconds, both of them stood without motion. On Caster's face, shock and disbelief were mixed with fury, indignation… and fear.

Slowly, he raised his head and pierced Sunny with a hateful gaze.

"You scum..."

His voice was trembling with suppressed rage.

'Good. Rage is good. Anything that makes him lose control is g…'

In the next moment, Sunny got hit in the chest and flew back with a pained scream. Although he somehow managed to deflect the tip of the enchanted jian, the Legacy still ended up slamming into him like a speeding train. The blade of his sword pierced the Puppeteer's Shroud once again, slicing Sunny's forearm.

'Godammit!'

This was just unfair. The Shroud was a tier-five Memory of the Awakened Rank. Where did the bastard find a weapon that could cut through it so easily?!

…Well, Sunny more or less knew where. Who was to say that the ghostly green jian wasn't of the same tier, if not higher? Legacy clans had a lot of powerful Memories in their treasuries.

Unlike him.

Hitting the ground in a roll, Sunny dashed to the side and used the pommel of the Midnight Shard to slam Caster's hand away. He barely saved himself from being decapitated.

Shaken, Sunny threw a handful of coral dust into the air and retreated. A moment later, his enemy emerged from the dust like a vengeful demon. The damned jian was once again aimed at his heart.

But…

Caster looked different.

It seemed that Sunny was right on the money with his guess about the proud scion's Flaw and the purpose of the mysterious charm Memory. Before, Caster had already looked slightly older that the other members of the cohort… which was strange, considering that both Effie and Kai were supposed to be the oldest among them. This was what had initially caught Sunny's attention, because back at the Academy, there had been no such difference.

However, now that the crystal sandglass was broken, time seemed to be catching up with the Legacy. If anyone were to see him now, they would have assumed that he was in his late twenties, perhaps even early thirties.

him, his dark skin still smooth, but already showing the signs of future wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth. There were several

his ground and parried the deadly thrust, then dodged to the left.

'Curses!'

grimace, Sunny dodged, evaded, parried and blocked, continuing to retreat and create distance between

Why

the mask and struggling to

"No… reason… in particular…"

formidable, his broad shoulders straining the metal of the sturdy scale armor. His temples were grey, and his beard had silver streaks running through it. He looked like the kind of older man young

from low to high, not stopping even for a split second. The ringing of steel fused into a continuous, deafening clamor. He felt as though his lungs were on fire, but couldn't allow himself to slow down

lapse was going to cost him

this… this is not much

was worse.

Sunny couldn't resist Caster's furious onslaught. He was stronger and much more resilient, but that was the thing about sharp weapons — they were created to make the amount of force required to kill someone much less demanding. A skilled swordsman that relied on speed could dispatch of an enemy with one

someone like Sunny, Caster was a nightmare. If not for the Blood Weave, he would have grown weak

and continued to retreat,

the proud Legacy, he felt a cold shiver

with a spiderweb of wrinkles, and his hair and beard were completely

still as murderous and scathing as it had been before. His speed, however… was

"Die, mongrel!"

brought down the ghostly jian down on Sunny, who was still reeling from the previous blow. Desperate, Sunny raised his tachi into an awkward semblance of a block. When their swords collided, the Midnight Shard flew

fell backward, landing on the ground in

old man's weathered face, he

a calm voice

he hated, but

ordered in a tone that

"Back!"

an expression of utter terror, he spun around and raised his sword, ready to finally face the person he

did, he saw nothing but