Shadow Slave

Morgan studied the distant army of Song and inhaled deeply.

Then, her face grew slightly somber.

"...There are countless nuances to war, Master Sunless, but at its core, war is simple. All there is to it is power, and application of power. The former is important, but the latter is more so. There is no point in being strong if one can't properly exert their strength, after all. The daughters of Ki Song might think that they possess more power... but look at them. I have them exactly where I wanted them, even if the path to this moment was not what I expected it to be. Ah, but that is another thing... one has to be flexible when waging war... rigid things are always the first to break..."

With a chill, Sunny realized that Morgan had been acting throughout the entire attempt at negotiations. She had never wanted the duel to happen. She had never wanted to avoid the battle... instead, all she had wanted was to lure the enemy into committing to it.

In the end, it was Beastmaster who insisted on proceeding with the battle, thinking that she had forced Morgan into a corner...

He shook his head in amazement.

'...Why is everyone in that family so devious?'

Well, it was not like he had anything to complain about. Morgan had said a lot of things, but conveniently failed to actually answer his question and explain what exactly gave her the confidence to face the superior force of Clan Song on the battlefield. Still, her confidence was a good sign for him.

Sunny let out a sigh.

Now, all he had to decide was how far he was willing to go to ensure that Valor achieved a sweeping victory. What was he willing to show, and what was he willing to hide?

The unpleasant answer was rather simple - Sunny had no right to hide anything. He had to give it his all unless he wanted to make every decision he had made thus far meaningless.

Even if abandoning his pretenses might end up putting him in danger...

It was time to go all out.

Morgan, meanwhile, turned to her soldiers and smiled.

as sharp as a sword leaving its

field with blood. Have no fear! Have no

Awakened roared, and as they did, Morgan coldly looked at the Knights among them

fell to the ground, awash in blood. It happened

shook her head slightly

she really think that

soldiers with murderous determination, unsheathed her strange sword, and

traitors are dead. Be strong! Be sharp!

And as she did...

dim twilight was suddenly illuminated by a myriad of scarlet sparks. A hurricane of them, much larger than the one produced by

hundreds of swords slowly appeared, hovering above ground. All of them... all of them were Memories, and of considerable power at that. No sword was the

there was something strange about these swords, too, just like there was about the one she was holding in her hand. Sunny stared at the cloud of swords, stunned, until he noticed a

had a symbol of an anvil pierced through by a sword

those... are

suddenly flew in different directions, each landing in the hand of an Awakened warrior. And as he did, he felt that he knew

of Valor... the

Domain, or at least a manifestation of his Aspect

a silvery longsword, and Cassie received

receive

them were observing the grandiose bestowal of swords with guarded expressions, Morgan

are any preparations you want to make,

that she was already as prepared as she

hand, did have a few things

upon several Memories. The Sin of Solace, the

swarmed around his hand, Morgan tilted her head slightly,

the black bow manifested itself, however, one of her eyebrows shot