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.

victory really in

was no possibility of not drawing their attention. Which was why he had decided to accept that fact and settle for creating a very specific

Valor and Song 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 to achieve even

someone who could be

all that, did he really

even defeat

of course, I

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

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

to Morgan's own power, but they would rip Sunny apart

need to do is lose in a way that will make it easier for me to gain access to her secrets. So, lose in a way that

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

friends close, and your enemies

for

same reasoning Nephis used to

things had changed since

then... let's

Morgan's blows, evaded her follow-up strike - three of them, actually, all chained into one predatory, fluid motion -

it up

sent her sword flying toward his throat with diabolical speed, and

"Let's."

her

technique instantly