Shadow Slave

This was the fifth and final duel that Sunny had to fight today.

His previous three opponents all practiced unique and interesting styles, so he had taken his sweet time trying to learn from them. He succeeded twice and failed once.

The first opponent was called Straw Hat and used a curved sword, his technique relying on extreme speed and flexibility. Even Sunny, who had himself trained to make his body as malleable as possible, struggled to keep up with this unpredictable opponent.

The alias of the second one — The Other Fool — was a bit familiar, but the style he used was not. Sunny spent a lot of time trying to understand the strange pattern of essence expenditure the fighter used, all the while dodging unpredictable attacks of his exquisite halberd. In the end, he learned a lot from this fight.

However, it was the third opponent that had really tested him. This Awakened, whose alias was Blue Vash, wielded a slender rapier and practiced a deceptively simple battle style. What separated him from the rest was that each of his movements was utterly perfect, and every one of Sunny's mistakes had been instantly punished.

It was as though the man had a supernatural ability to see even the tiniest flaw in his enemy's technique, and was able to immediately exploit it. No matter how hard Sunny had tried to comprehend the essence of the style Blue Vash was using, he couldn't grasp it. In the end, he was forced to overwhelm and kill the astute fencer just to survive. However, despite that failure, he learned from this fight even more.

Regardless, after several duels against such talented fighters, Sunny felt that his mastery of Shadow Dance, which had stayed stagnant for a while, was finally progressing again. He was slowly approaching a precipice.

That was why he was so glad to see Dar of the Maharana clan.

To some, facing a Legacy might have seemed like a tough break. But for Sunny… for Sunny, Legacies were like gift boxes! They hid all kinds of goodies, his for the taking.

The problem was that, just like the Covetous Coffer, this box in particular could potentially bite off his greedy hand.

…The young Legacy fighter wasn't using a bow anymore, of course. Which wasn't a surprise. Legacies were trained to be proficient with a multitude of weapons, and a duel was not a place for arrows. Instead, he was holding a menacing great mace, its round head brimming with sharp spikes.

What made this guy so dangerous was not his bow, in any case. It was his strange ability to zero in on the enemy and somehow perceive their every move… or whatever it was that had allowed him to barrage Sunny with arrows from afar with frighteningly high precision.

While Sunny was staring at the mighty Dar, he was looking back at Mongrel. The scion's gaze traveled across the Mantle of the Underworld, making Sunny shiver for some reason, and then reached Weaver's Mask.

Suddenly, the muscular young man frowned.

"...Strange. An Ascended armor, and an… Echo?... for a weapon. Even if it is just Dormant, you've done well for yourself. But that mask… where did you get it?"

The corner of Sunny's mouth twitched.

were the worst. Especially ones with

off a random

paused, and then

run to the other side of

hoping that he would forget this line of

the

knows... maybe I'll take it off your

that, he raised his heavy weapon, and suddenly lunged forward with a speed that no one his size was supposed to possess.

***

'Strong…'

was thrown back by the force of the impact. His block held, and the Soul Serpent held, too. However, he failed to adjust the weight of the Mantle of the Underworld enough, so his body was pushed

strong? I have three soul cores,

had much more muscle mass, a much longer reach… not to mention that as a Legacy, he could have had many charms and Memory enchantments feeding him strength, agility, and

could even properly land, the mace was flying at his head again. He pivoted on one leg, dodged the spikes, and dashed forward, hoping to close distance and get up close to the opponent, where his small stature and the shorter weapon would

and arms exposed, so Sunny hoped to pierce it with one blow. However, to his surprise, the tip of

'Damn Legacies...'

Sunny to retreat, then glanced down at the spot where a tiny scratch was left on his cuirass. When he looked up again, his eyes were full of

"...Not bad."

Sunny gritted his teeth.

if you have any breath to waste

of them clashed again, exchanging dozens of blows. Both were strong, fast, and skilled. Neither could easily overwhelm

a Legacy… third, if

of them could compare to Dar. This young man was a deadly battle machine crafted to reign on any battlefield, trained

learned to control the flow of soul essence, their power grew exponentially. Which was what Sunny was currently experiencing — raw power shaped into a deadly weapon by

he wasn't

people like Sunny had — the memory of fear and bitter defeats, knowledge of death, and a

the Legacy had spent a lot of time in the Dream Realm, battling Nightmare Creatures… but he did doubt that Dar had ever found himself in absolute despair, having to claw his way back to life. His experience was that of fighting

would say... he wasn't

Legacy had already lost this fight, even if he didn't know it

battle style. Legacies were truly in a league of their own… this was not something