Shadow Slave

Sunny had never fought in his shadow form, and really, he didn't even know how. All he had were his instincts, but that wasn't enough. In fact, trusting your instincts too much was a sure way to get yourself killed.

Intelligence was the most dangerous weapon in the arsenal of a human, and it was Sunny's mind that ended up saving his life.

He had realized that his enemy was not invisible, but a shadow just like him only a moment before the creature was upon him. In that split second, Sunny managed to come up with the only way to escape death.

As sharp pain pierced his entire being, he lunged forward… and escaped the shadows, rolling away on the grass. Jumping to his feet, Sunny staggered and clutched at his side, blood flowing between his fingers.

"Argh…"

The shadow of the unknown abomination lunged in pursuit… and swiped uselessly across his body, not causing him any harm.

It was just a shadow, after all.

Throwing a glance at the thin tear in the Puppeteer's Shroud and a deep wound beneath it, Sunny took a step back. Simultaneously, he gave his shadows a command to hide themselves under his armor and augment his body.

Physical attacks couldn't harm shadows… but shadows also had no way to harm living beings. That was the thought that had saved him. If he had failed to assume the shape of a human in time, he would have been dead by now… most likely.

Because he had not, however, he and the shadow creature were now at a standstill.

The master of the Reckoning Island tried to attack him several more times, each strike ending up as fruitless as the previous ones. Then, it froze, as if slightly confused by the situation.

Sunny finally had a chance to take a good look at the hostile shadow.

It looked just like a shadow would — like a dark, ethereal silhouette of a person painted on the grass in black. The creature seemed to have two legs, two hands, and one head. If Sunny didn't know what it really was, he would have assumed that the shadow was cast by an ordinary person.

There was no one else in sight, though.

Backing away and grimacing because of the pain radiating from the deep wound in his side, Sunny stared at the enemy and thought feverishly:

'No, this is wrong…'

was, indeed, deadly for someone

every other human on the

many people had been killed by it? And what

His eyes widened slightly.

side to summon the Midnight Shard… and just

next caused him to

appeared in its darkness. A moment later, a human figure stepped out of the shadow. It was a young man with pale skin and cold, cruel eyes of an experienced killer.

was wearing a light armor made out of soft silk and black,

heart as he recognized the face in front of

It was his own

at the devil of Reckoning was like

since when

Sunny recoiled in shock.

hell

mouth. Its lips moved, however, there was sound, as

problem reading its lips,

hell

'What is going on...'

thought, though, he had to

fearsome attack and staggered back, his hands trembling from the force of

'Curses…'

like Sunny, but it was much, much stronger.

no time to recover before his evil twin was upon him once again, attacking with the painfully familiar grace of his own battle style.

appeared on the apparition's

Sunny grunted.

defend himself and fought through the pain. He was barely holding on… for now, at least. Because of how strong and fast

Shadow Dance was useless... what was the point in trying to mirror the style of an opponent who had stolen his technique from Sunny

Especially because blood was still