Shadow Slave

Feeling his flesh break apart and his heart grow cold, Sunny scrambled to defend himself, but to no avail. Morgan easily crushed his attempts to resist and delivered another series of devastating strikes, moving with terrifying precision and speed. Her movements were fluid and natural, as if wielding a weapon was as innate to her as breathing.

As if battle was her native environment instead of peace.

Her swordsmanship was unlike anything Sunny had ever seen, too. It wasn't even as though the sword served as an extension of Morgan's arm… it was as though she herself was the sword, and so every motion she made was the purest expression of cold, merciless killing intent.

He had never thought that he would meet a more terrifying swordsman than Nephis, but compared to this knight of Valor, the daughter of the Immortal Flame clan almost seemed like a novice.

Sunny was instantly overwhelmed, and there was nothing he could do to maintain even a sliver of control. The situation was utterly hopeless. This feeling of absolute, bitter powerlessness… he had not experienced it in a long time.

Attain a breakthrough to the second step of Shadow Dance? Sunny wasn't even sure that he would be able to stay alive for another couple of seconds.

...He had to think of something fast.

Following a mental command, the Mantle of the Underworld received one of his charms. Immediately, the familiar, but strongly enhanced pain of his soul being torn apart flooded his whole being with agony.

Sunny didn't hope that the Broken Oath would help him defeat Morgan — after all, as an Ascended, she had a much more powerful soul. All he wanted was a second of respite.

Morgan suddenly slowed down, allowing him to disengage and take several steps back. For a moment, there was a slight grimace on her face, but it was quickly replaced by the same relaxed, amused smile.

"A nice trick."

Sunny bent slightly and vomited a mouthful of blood, thin streams of crimson flowing through the fangs of the black mask. The sight of it was both frightening and striking.

When he straightened, something about him changed.

…Well, of course it did. He had commanded two shadows resting on the Autumn Lead to wrap themselves around his body, after all. Instantly, his strength, speed, and resilience tripled.

Sunny had not wanted to augment himself before, but faced with the devastating onslaught of the terrifying battle master, he had no other choice. If he wished to learn anything from this fight, he had to make it last more than just a few seconds.

Morgan noticed the subtle shift in his posture, and tilted her head slightly. Her smile suddenly widened.

"...Good. This is good. This is much better!"

Sunny dismissed the Broken Oath, but before the charm even had time to disappear, the young woman was already upon him once again in a whirlwind of ruthless steel. However, this time, things were different.

Or rather… slightly different.

what the actual

still hopelessly outmatched, barely managing to survive under

currently using the third shadow — it had to remain on the ground to keep

not average in any way.

being at

'Come… on!'

Even though Morgan was still dominating the fight and delivering one

still connected with his elbow, sending a blinding flash of pain through his body, but it was already an incredible

this new development. Her

be a genius, aren't you? Show me!

hell… is wrong with

and fought, barely staying alive. No matter how much he pushed himself, how much he struggled to keep up with the fearsome Master,

But that was it.

She was simply a monster. No… she was something much more terrible. He

to lose...

he suffered, every strike he somehow defended against, Sunny was learning. Morgan's battle style was too elevated for him to grasp, but every glimpse of it he saw was fueling something

now they were being forged into something different, something whole by the insane

his vision was slowly becoming blurred, but Sunny felt…

as though a floodgate was

the various styles he had learned. He was able to perceive these styles from a new perspective, understanding not only their purpose, but also

'Yes! This is it!'

level of insight, Sunny was also able to see a flaw

to destroy. But her sword… that was a different matter. It was

a plan formed in his

time seemed to slow down, Sunny deflected another blow, shifted his body slightly… and then suddenly took a step toward the flashing

all of his strength behind it, increasing the weight of his gauntlet as much as he could at the last moment. All his muscles strained, on the

of the Underworld, the sword was weakened already. So when

'...Got you!'

with dark excitement, Sunny continued his movement, aiming to bring the Soul Serpent down on now defenseless Morgan before she had time to

in his chest, and all strength left his

his fingers, and the dark sword silently fell

swayed, and then