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.

the actual

outmatched, barely managing to survive under the merciless barrage

judged that his peak physical might would be on par with a newly ascended Master. Even though Sunny wasn't currently using the third shadow — it had to remain on the ground to keep his secrets — the gap

Morgan of Valor was not average in any way. She hailed from one of the three Great Clans, and was possibly

she was a being at

'Come… on!'

though Morgan was still dominating the fight and delivering one devastating

then deflected another. A third one still connected with his elbow, sending a blinding flash

new development. Her crimson lips curved, revealing

a

is wrong

matter how much he pushed himself, how much he struggled to keep up with the fearsome Master, all he could achieve was not being instantly

But that was it.

fact that Morgan was holding back her strength. She was simply a monster. No… she was something much more terrible. He had faced and killed many monsters, many demons, and many devils… but none of them could

to lose... it was all not

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 inside of

he had laid a solid foundation by absorbing numerous styles, and now they were being forged into something different, something whole by

vision was slowly becoming blurred, but Sunny felt… he felt as

was as though a

absorbed formed into a cohesive tapestry, allowing him to see the shared logic between the various styles he had learned. He was able to perceive these styles from a new perspective, understanding

'Yes! This is it!'

level of insight, Sunny was also able to see a flaw in Morgan's assault.

and skilled for him to destroy. But her sword… that was a different matter. It was

formed in

down, Sunny deflected another blow, shifted his body slightly… and then suddenly took a step toward the flashing sword, catching its blade between his

the weight of his gauntlet as much as he could at the last

of the Underworld, the sword was weakened already. So when Sunny's fist connected with it, the steel blade simply shattered,

'...Got you!'

to bring the Soul Serpent down on now defenseless Morgan before she

suddenly exploded in his chest, and

of the odachi slid from his fingers,

and then