Shadow Slave

Up until now, both Sunny and Morgan had acted relatively tame.

It might not have looked like it from the side, considering how fierce and vicious a battle of two Ascended inevitably appeared. Masters possessed superhuman speed, strength, and resilience. A clash between them would look like a collision of two natural forces to a mundane person, and a mundane building would be swiftly destroyed should it become an arena for it.

Which was why the dojo they were fighting in was lined with durable armored plates, and the training sword Morgan was using cost a fortune.

...Nevertheless, they were holding back.

Not even considering the fact that the two of them had agreed to forgo using their Ascended Abilities, Sunny had yet to make use of Shadow Step. Morgan had not made her weapon sharper, either, preferring to rely on pure technique.

It was as though both of them had silently decided to make this spar a contest of skill... for now.

Which was actually a disadvantage for Sunny. The fewer resources he had at his disposal, the more restrained he felt. Morgan, on the other hand, seemed to only ever need one resource - her sword.

In fact, even that was not necessary. Her body itself was the sword, capable of cutting through tempered steel without hindrance.

So, if Sunny wanted to turn things around, he needed the situation to change, pushing their duel into the next stage.

However, he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

'...What is my goal here?'

He had been curious to compare his strength with Morgan's. He had been given little choice but to accept her request, as well. He naturally wanted to win.

a victory really in

was being closely observed by the great clans, there was no possibility of not drawing their attention. Which was why he had decided to accept

to think of him as someone strong, exceptional even... but not too exceptional, and not too strong. They had to think of him as a powerful, but crude upstart - a talented outskirt rat that had achieved a lot, and had the potential

could

all that, did he really want to

even

of course,

Imp, and Serpent were also part of his power. Morgan possessed a great number of mighty Echoes, but those had come from outside of her Aspect - the Shadows, on the contrary, had

obliterate her in a contest of unadulterated personal power... which did not matter, really, since such contests never happened in real life. There were always other components

might have been external to Morgan's own power, but

want to best Morgan today. What I really need to do is lose in a way that will make it easier for me to gain access

personal sparring partner of the heir of the great clan Valor was a dangerous position to be in - not the least because Morgan could potentially learn much more about Sunny than he would have liked her to - but it was also the best position to be in for a

close, and your

for

the same reasoning Nephis used to

it was... but he did not really care. Many things had

let's do

follow-up strike - three of them, actually, all chained into one predatory, fluid motion - and raised

take it up a

took a step forward, sent her sword flying toward his throat with

"Let's."

her

technique instantly