Shadow Slave

Kurt moved with terrible speed, covering the distance between the center of the arena and the first row of the seats, where Sunny and Master Jet were, in a split second.

Just from the way he moved, it was easy to tell that his soul core had been fully saturated a long time ago. He was indeed a powerful Awakened.

…Still, it wasn't enough time to summon a Memory.

The white sparks that were supposed to form into a glaive were just starting to manifest themselves around Jet's hand, but he was already upon her. One of Kurt's hands shot forward, a knife forged out of a strange lusterless alloy appearing in it as if out of nowhere.

The was no magic involved in its sudden appearance, though. The knife had just been hidden in a secret sheath on his forearm.

Of course, Master Jet was much faster. She blocked the strike before it could ever reach her flesh… at the last moment, however, Kurt twisted his wrist and let go of the handle, sending the knife flying past her.

…Right at Sunny.

He had barely any time to react.

The Cruel Sight was still in the process of being summoned, so Sunny used his other hand to try and swat the knife away. It jerked up, but then froze.

'No, wrong!'

A fraction of a second too late, Sunny realized that the knife was not aimed at his body.

It was aimed at his shadow.

And since he had wasted precious time being mistaken about the killer's intentions, it was too late to move his body away to make the shadow shift out of harm's way.

Luckily, Sunny's shadow could move on its own.

It suddenly went out of the sink with his movements and jumped away, letting the knife bury itself in the floor and send a net of cracks through the sturdy synthwood boards.

Shaken, Sunny belatedly jumped back.

'What is this…'

would have been killed by that devious attack, most likely. To Kurt's misfortune, though, he had met a fighter

Jet was already turning her block into an attack. Her fist seemed to teleport forward, tearing through the air so fast that it sent a small shockwave rolling

the velvet seats and momentarily appearing a dozen meters away. As soon as his feet touched

Master Jet and Sunny. Their

was meant for the Ascended, one for Sunny, and the

even more enhanced. He

'Not… not too bad…'

this thought

He's planning

thought, a dark smile appeared on

the floorboards and struck her…

A fourth knife appeared out of nowhere and pierced the floor where it

Kurt clicked his tongue.

"...So annoying."

at the thing that crawled from

it, each ending in three terrifying curved claws. The towering thing was vaguely humanoid in shape, with broad shoulders

angry at

curses, of course he has

would the bastard frequent the Slaughterhouse and its

though… whatever that thing was, it didn't look like any kind of a dormant beast Sunny had ever seen. If he had to guess, he would be willing to bet that the creature was at least of

meant for dormant

in Kurt's hands,

covered in black chitin and had a long tail that ended in a jagged blade, drops of poison falling

seemed unperturbed. She simply raised her

of handling the Echoes without too much trouble, even if one of them

be able to do so while also paying attention to her shadow, though? That

dancing shadows and dashed forward… while Sunny

easier it was for Sunny

hint of surprise in the killer's eyes, and brought the Cruel

in the form of a short sword right now, so the almost non-existent distance between the two of them

Kurt managed to dodge the silver blade and swiped at Sunny with his curved sword. Although he was incredibly fast, Sunny was much, much faster. He moved the Cruel Sight and blocked the strike

'Easy…'