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.

a plan!

that Effie was confident in his ability to get them both out of this dire

fact, he didn't have the slightest idea about how

Yet.

shook his head, making Effie pale and grow

chance of escaping the Temple of the Chalice without a bloody battle against the War Maidens, as

her way out of the sect as that fiend had. With Kai and Sunny added into

didn't look too

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

at least. Effie would have to handle the third one… which would leave Kai alone against dozens of Awakened warriors gathered

to be a way… the War Maidens had been defeated in the

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 divine

His face grew dim.

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 it

If moving the elements did not work, the only way to achieve his goal was to change

for a few moments, and then gestured Effie

same time,

of 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 side to shield Kai with her body. Both actions caused the War Maidens surrounding them to grow tense, their hands gripping the

by countless onyx threads that ensnared his body. One of his four hands was enveloped by a

demon undergo a strange transmutation. Although

intrude

out of dull steel appeared on Saint's arm, while the odachi she held silently slid into the shadows. Sunny was suddenly clad

that seemed

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

time, knowing that he might not

was one last Memory