Shadow Slave

No matter how fast Sunny was, how intricate his control of the shadow essence was — he had spent a whole month doing nothing but practicing it, after all — no matter how strong his body could become as the result, he still couldn't be in several places at the same time.

Yes, he had two cores brimming with power, and his armor and his weapon were augmented by a combination of an Aspect Ability and enchantments. Killing one of the infernal hounds without receiving a hit was not that big of a problem… several, even.

But a dozen? That was too much, even for him.

So Sunny didn't even try.

At this point, Mantle of the Underworld was as close to the pinnacle of the Ascended Rank as a Memory could be, so these Dormant beasts had no chance of piercing it with their fangs. He could allow himself to be bitten a few times.

He just had to be strategic about it.

He had to protect his neck and the back of his head, as well as pay attention to balance and mass. Yes, the abominations couldn't get to his flesh just yet, but an impact was still an impact. If he wasn't careful, the bastards were going to topple him, and once he was on the ground, the game would be over.

Luckily, he had [Feather of Truth] at his disposal and could manipulate the weight of the onyx armor, turning it from incredibly light to as heavy as a mountain. In conjunction with the cautious use of Saint's grounded style, which excelled at solid footwork and indomitability, he could stay upright no matter how many beasts attacked him.

Ignoring the creatures that were lunging at him from the ground, Sunny dashed to the side to avoid being landed on by one of the jumping hounds, and received another on the tip of the odachi, allowing the momentum to impale it on the sword.

Before the heavy carcass could weigh the Shadow Serpent down, Sunny used the long hilt as a lever and slammed the dead creature into the mass of its attacking kin.

By that time, one jaw was already closing on his thigh, and another was centimeters away from his forearm.

The bloodred fangs scraped against the stonelike metal of the onyx armor, not leaving even a scratch on it.

let go of the hilt of the odachi with one hand, then hooked its blade under the throat of one of the attacking abominations and made a simple

appeared in it at the last moment, its ghostly blade

hound's head right through one of its eyes, and then dashed forward to descend

next could only be described as a morbid, bloody dance. Sunny moved through the mass of Nightmare Creatures, much faster than any of them were, his great sword flying through them with graceful and fluid logic, sending more and more blood spraying into the air. Somehow, he managed to avoid most of their attacks, and those

made

course,

of these beasts, even though they were only Dormant, could massacre countless mundane humans, or kill a less skillful Awakened in one fell lunge. It was

A true Awakened fighter.

a monstrous one, at

maimed, but alive. They could only bleed as long as they

left alive, and those who were yet to meet his blade as a barrier to slow down the others. Through superior speed and clever positioning, he was able

he was still managing without too much strain. His main problem right now was to not allow any of the abominations to move past him and escape

to slip by were quickly finished by the six Awakened staying behind, observing the massacre with grim, tense,

wasn't oblivious to the fact that this successful start was an

after all. Simply a hint of

his goal, for now, was to kill as many of the dormant beasts as he could, bring the augmentation of the Blood Blossom to considerable strength, and throw as many corpses at the stretch of cracked asphalt directly in front

dreaded change

whistle that suddenly made the hounds

And then…

the darkness of the rift, almost hitting him in the eye. The arrowhead, fashioned out of a splinter of a red bone, exploded against the wood of Weaver's

'What the…'

swiftly repositioned and caught his balance, then dashed forward and skewered