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.

have a plan! No, I know you do! Don't

was confident in his ability to get them both

In fact, he didn't have the slightest idea about how to survive this

Yet.

he simply shook his head, making Effie

Sunny thought feverishly. He didn't see any chance of escaping the Temple of the Chalice without a bloody battle against the War Maidens, as well as any way for the three of them to come up on

her way out

didn't

his physical might was lesser than that of the huntress, overall, he was a much, much deadlier creature. Added to that were

have to handle the third one… which would leave Kai alone against dozens of Awakened warriors gathered in the hall. That wouldn't work. No

there had to be a way… the War Maidens had been defeated in the future, after all, so they were

hall, full of furious white flame. Unlike in the future, it was still whole and imposing, the complex enchantment that permeated

His face grew dim.

don't like this idea… no, I don't like

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 had broader, far-reaching implications he didn't

thought, he couldn't come up with anything else to do. If moving the elements did not work, the only way to achieve his goal was to

concentrated for a few moments, and then

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

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

demon undergo a strange transmutation. Although just a little, their stances shifted, revealing their readiness to intervene should a

reluctant to intrude upon the

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

seemed to be made out of a bolt of

of Thunder]... and

time, knowing that he might

one last Memory that he had called