Shadow Slave

'What the…'

The shards of stone and the dancing flames moved, flying through the air toward the tall woman. Instead of crushing and burning her, however, they somehow assembled around her slender body, the pieces of stone levitating around it to form a strange armor, the fire shrouding her hands like incandescent gloves.

Sunny suddenly felt a deep, dangerous sense of unease.

"How dare you, vile shadow…"

The voice of the War Madein thundered in the darkness that the Shadow Lantern had created, and then, two furious white eyes ignited in its depths, piercing Sunny with a murderous gaze.

"How dare you challenge War…"

A split second later, the Maiden disappeared from where she stood, the stone slab beneath her feet exploding into a rain of shards. Almost instantly, she was already upon him, a flame-wreathed palm shooting forward to pierce his chest.

'Damnation… what is it with women of War always going straight for my heart? This is already the third time this happens!'

Sunny awkwardly blocked the devastating blow, and felt himself being thrown back by the terrifying force of the impact. Luckily, the Mantle of the Underworld had withstood the touch of the divine flames that shrouded his enemy's hands, if just barely, the enhanced enchantment of Memory of Fire still coursing through its polished onyx.

'Argh!'

Something wasn't right here… even for a Master, the speed and strength of this woman were way too terrifying. With three cores nearing full saturation and augmented with two shadows, he was supposed to be near the realm of the Ascended, at least, if not more or less on par with some of them. And yet, her might was far greater than his.

That could have been explained by possessing an Aspect that augmented one's physicality, but as Sunny had just seen, the white-haired War Maiden seemed to be some sort of an elemental sorceress.

'Ah… I see how it is…'

onto the floor in a roll, he instantly threw the Cruel Sight forward to prevent his enemy from chaining the next attack after the first, and

the carapace of

Not only was the fearsome leader of the Red Sect capable of manipulating the

to also allow the white-haired Maiden to perceive her surroundings

woman easily swatted

stiletto that suddenly appeared in one of Sunny's hands and slid between the chunks of stone protecting her body.

a benefit to having four

high and mighty

swirled around her, sending the Moonlight Shard flying away from his hand, and then two incandescent fists descended upon him. A spark of flame traveled through the whirlwind of

'Bad…'

rolling cloud of darkness, no one would have been able to see what was happening

they would be able to perceive were the furious sounds of a frightening,

stronger than Sunny. Her Aspect was fearsome, and her skill was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was different from how humans of the waking world fought, but in no way inferior… in fact, her murderous technique

made Sunny realize how crude and clumsy his own, which he had been proud of before, really was. His essence

Sunny possessed a myriad of them. He was able to shift from one style to another effortlessly, dancing like a shapeless shadow, making it difficult

sword and jumping between his four hands — Sunny had dismissed the Midnight Shard,

assault of the monstrous Ascended… and through all of it, he was observing

absorbing the War Maidens's sublime battle style, thus making her incredible technique more transparent and predictable. The process was helped by the fact that Sunny had recognized the same foundation in

into a desperate defense, with no hope of launching an effective attack of his own. It seemed as though his death was only a matter of time… but in reality, he was just biding his time, waiting for the right moment

soon enough, that moment

reserves of essence were almost empty, and

he suddenly saw it. An

another one of those

to deliver another terrible strike, he suddenly turned the blade of the Cruel