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…'

attack, most likely. To Kurt's misfortune, though, he had met

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 through the underground

the knife, he saturated his body with essence and lunged back, smashing through the velvet seats and momentarily appearing a dozen meters

time, free more knives flew at terrible speed toward Master Jet and Sunny. Their purpose was not to kill or wound them,

one for Sunny, and the last one for

to wrap itself around his body, feeling his strength and speed become even more enhanced.

'Not… not too bad…'

voice tore this thought

careful! He's planning

a

next moment, something massive broke through the

back, then suddenly twisted, making her shadow grow smaller. A fourth knife

Kurt clicked his tongue.

"...So annoying."

meanwhile, was staring at the thing that crawled from under

rags , with two long arms that had one too 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 head

angry at his

course he

would the bastard frequent

was, it didn't look like any kind of a dormant beast Sunny had ever seen. If he had to guess, he would

arena meant for

a vicious-looking curved sword appeared in Kurt's hands, Sunny got his

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

Master Jet. If it was anybody else, Sunny might have been worried… Soul Reaper, though, seemed unperturbed. She simply raised her glaive and smiled darkly. The air

of handling the Echoes without too much trouble,

so while also paying attention to her shadow, though?

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

more shadows the bastard used, the easier it was

a hint of surprise in the

was in the form of a short sword right now, so the

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

'Easy…'