Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the little girl, trying not to lose his composure.

'...What is wrong with these people?'

He had two horns, a mouth full of sharp fangs, long claws, and four damned arms… and yet, the first thing that both Effie and Kai had reacted to was his height. Was he not allowed to be tall, for once?!

Continuing to pretend to fight the monstrous child in earnest, he pointed to his chest instead of an answer. Effie, too, slowed down her relentless assault a bit — just enough to give him some breathing room without making her changed attitude obvious.

A few moments later, when they were close to each other, she hissed quietly:

"Let me guess, you saw the message I left that said to not come to the Temple of Chalice… and, naturally, decided to do the exact opposite."

Sunny spun, avoiding her fist, and raised two fingers.

The girl frowned.

"Two… someone else is with you? Cassie? Kai? Ah, it's Kai… so, both of you decided to ignore my warning!"

She deflected his dagger to the side, grimaced when it slid over a barely healed laceration on her forearm, and then squeaked in her childish voice:

"Well… good! I, uh… I might have been too full of myself, thinking that I would be able to actually escape this damned place. So... I am really, really glad that you came…"

Sunny thrust his greatsword forward, narrowly missing the girl's head, and then let out a low growl.

Effie gritted her teeth.

"But, Sunny… we have two problems. One is that these lunatics never let their disciples leave the sect alive. The second… the second is that if one of us doesn't kill the other in this duel, my teachers are going to kill us both… so…"

She caught his sword with one hand, then brought her fist on its blade, shattering it and making Sunny stumble.

plan!

was confident in his ability to get them both

not have a plan. In fact, he didn't have the slightest idea about

Yet.

he simply shook his head, making

Chalice without a bloody battle against the War Maidens, as well as any way for the three of them to come up on top in that

been able to fight her way out of the sect as that fiend had. With Kai and Sunny added into the equation,

still didn't look

than that of the huntress, overall, he was a much, much deadlier creature. Added to that were his three Shadows, two of which

alone against dozens of Awakened warriors gathered in the hall. That wouldn't work. No matter how Sunny moved the elements of the theoretical battle, nothing gave them a good

way… the War Maidens had been

and then glanced at the massive stone chalice towering in the center of the hall, full of furious white flame. Unlike in the

His face grew dim.

no,

be extremely dangerous and hard to pull off, but also because going through with it had broader, far-reaching

thought, he couldn't come up with anything else to do. If moving the elements did not

a deep sigh, he concentrated for a few moments, and then gestured Effie to keep

same time, several

circle of runes, Saint lowered the Soul Serpent and then outstretched one hand, which suddenly became shrouded in a swarm of white sparks. She took a small step to the side to shield Kai with

a swarm of

undergo a strange transmutation. Although just a little, their stances shifted, revealing

yet, reluctant to intrude upon the duel without an

on Saint's arm, while the odachi she held silently slid into the shadows. Sunny was suddenly clad in intricate onyx armor, holding a

scarlet string and a strange arrow that seemed to be made out of

Warbow], [Strike of Thunder]... and [Mantle of

summoned all these Memories at the same time, knowing that he might not have a chance to do

was one last Memory that he had called