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

outmatched, barely managing to survive under the merciless barrage of

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

Valor was not average in any way. She hailed from one

a being at

'Come… on!'

was able to do something now, at least. Even though Morgan was still dominating the fight and delivering one devastating blow after another, Sunny could perceive her movements

connected with his elbow, sending a blinding flash

by this new development. Her crimson

be a

the hell… is wrong with

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.

two shadows augmenting his body, Sunny saw no hope of winning — despite the 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

going to lose... it was all

he somehow defended against, Sunny was learning. Morgan's battle style was too elevated for him

and now they were being forged into something different, something whole by the insane pressure fighting this monstrous

apart, and his vision was slowly becoming blurred, but Sunny

it came, it was as though a floodgate was opened in

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,

'Yes! This is it!'

able to see a flaw in Morgan's assault. Her

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

a plan formed

toward the flashing sword, catching its blade between

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 verge

the Underworld, the sword was weakened already.

'...Got you!'

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

pain suddenly exploded in his chest, and all strength left

the odachi slid from his fingers,

swayed, and then