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…'

To

few steps away, Master 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

essence and lunged back, smashing through the velvet seats and momentarily appearing a dozen meters away. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was already moving

flew at terrible speed toward Master Jet and Sunny. Their purpose was not to kill or

was meant for the Ascended, one for Sunny, and

even more enhanced. He dashed forward, and

'Not… not too bad…'

voice tore this thought to

careful! He's planning

thought, a dark smile

something massive broke through the floorboards and struck her… or at least tried

attack and jumped back, then suddenly twisted, making her shadow grow smaller. A fourth knife appeared out of nowhere and pierced the floor where it had been just

Kurt clicked his tongue.

"...So annoying."

the thing that

many joints growing out of it, each ending in three terrifying curved claws. The towering thing was vaguely humanoid in shape, with broad shoulders and a small

angry at his

curses, of course he

else would the bastard frequent the Slaughterhouse and its

ever seen. If he had to guess, he would

the arena meant for dormant

curved sword appeared in Kurt's hands, Sunny

if they were beasts or monsters, though… just that they looked rather menacing. One was covered in black chitin and had a long tail that ended in a jagged blade, drops of poison falling from it and leaving smoldering holes on the floor; the other was like a repulsive mix of a human and a pale centipede, its limbs numerous and thin as bone needles; the last one resembled a marionette with

seemed unperturbed. She simply raised her glaive and smiled darkly. The air in the underground

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

to her shadow, though? That

and dashed forward… while Sunny simply took a step back, and

shadows the bastard used, the easier it was for Sunny to get to him,

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

sword right now, so

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…'