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.

sounding as

Valor! Today, we sanctify this field with blood.

coldly looked at the Knights among them and gave a

moment, something strange happened. Sharp steel flashed, and a dozen dead bodies fell to the ground, awash in blood. It happened so fast that no

slightly

that

she looked at the frozen soldiers with murderous determination, unsheathed her strange

traitors are dead. Be strong! Be sharp! Be

And as she did...

suddenly illuminated by a myriad of scarlet sparks. A hurricane of them, much larger than the one produced by manifesting Echoes, surrounded Morgan like a

above ground. All of them... all of them were Memories, and of considerable power at that. No sword was the

swords, too, just like there was about the one she was holding in her

of an anvil pierced through by a sword either

of those...

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

the King of

be a conduit of his Domain, or

longsword, and Cassie received a slender

did not receive anything.

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

you want to make, I

silently leaned on her glaive, showing that she was already as prepared

the other hand, did have a few things to

upon several Memories. The Sin of Solace,

around his hand, Morgan tilted her head

manifested itself, however, one of her eyebrows