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.

hope that you have a plan! No, I

bruised the girl was, her soft voice sounded optimistic and cheerful. Knowing that Effie was confident

problem was that he did not have a plan. In fact, he

Yet.

he simply shook his head, making

any chance of escaping the Temple of the Chalice without a bloody battle

to fight her way out

still didn't look too

though his physical might was lesser than that of the huntress, overall, he was a much, much

Kai alone against dozens of

Maidens had been defeated in the future,

then glanced at the massive stone chalice towering in the center of the hall, full of furious white flame. Unlike in the future, it was still whole and imposing, the complex enchantment that permeated the ancient stone holding the mass of

His face grew dim.

like this idea… no, I don't

was not happy with the seed of a plan that suddenly appeared in his mind. Not only because it would be extremely dangerous and hard to pull off, but also because going through with

anything else to do. If moving the elements did not work, the only

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

the same time, several things

the 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

countless onyx threads that ensnared his body. One of his four hands was enveloped by a swarm of scarlet sparks, one in

senior Maidens overseeing the fight frowned when they saw the four-armed demon undergo a strange transmutation. Although just a little, their stances shifted, revealing their readiness to intervene should a need

to intrude upon the

arm, while the odachi she held silently slid into the shadows. Sunny was suddenly clad in intricate onyx armor, holding a somber spear

with a scarlet string and a strange arrow that seemed to be made out of a bolt of lightning appear in

Warbow], [Strike of Thunder]... and [Mantle of the Underworld] augmented by [Memory of

same time, knowing

Memory that he had