Shadow Slave

The world had grown darker under the veil of tumultuous thunderclouds, and torrents of water fell from the skies, bending like whips. Illuminated by a blinding flash of lightning, two humans dashed away from the claws of a towering beast.

"Nephis, now!"

There was no real need for words. Sunny and Nephis might have grown distant as of late due to the choices they had made, but the core of their relationship was the same. They were battle partners first, and everything else second - that bond had been forged in fire, tears, and blood on the Forgotten Shore long before a shadow was cast on it by other matters.

By now, their ability to act with seamless coordination was even higher than the unnatural unity granted to the warriors of Valor by the forged swords.

From the moment that the two of them had killed that first Carapace Scavenger together, Sunny and Nephis went through countless battles together. She had taught him how to wield the sword, while he taught her how to control her soul essence as a Master.

Despite everything, that bond would never change.

...Which was not to say that there was no other bond between them.

The moment Dire Fang lunged forward, Sunny dashed to the right, while Nephis dashed to the left. At the same time, some of her radiance mixed with his shadows, while one of his shadows wrapped itself around her body.

The sum of their powers was greater than its parts.

The shadows and the brilliant light seemed to resonate with each other, making both of them stronger than they had any right to be. Sunny turned into a silhouette shrouded in broiling darkness, while Neph's radiance took on a darker hue. The darkness was permeated with blinding white light, while the light seemed to contain wisps of inexhaustible darkness.

The light made the darkness deeper, while the darkness made the light much more stark and radiant.

And there was more to it, too.

At least for Sunny. Unlike his shadows, which augmented all his physical attributes, Neph's flames ignited the soul, too. Wreathed in her fire, he could feel his essence become much more vibrant and warm.

Much more potent.

'Ah... what a nice feeling...'

Nephis must have been using her full augmentation, and with the addition of Sunny's shadow, she was just fast enough to evade Dire Fang's claws.

He, on the other hand, was just a little bit slower... luckily, the Saint had chosen Changing Star as the primary target. Since he couldn't attack both of them at the same time effectively, the strike directed at Sunny was not as inescapable as it could have been.

a slight

to that? Neph is the bait, while I am the

didn't like it

Dire Fang had made

shouldn't have paid

was aflame with Neph's radiance, a few of his abilities received a transformative boost, as well.

'Get ready, bastard...'

landed from her dodge and instantly pivoted, barely avoiding the beast's follow-up strike and slashing

allowed himself to

The creature was like a spawn of darkness, but its eyes

two of them had created distance between each other, and so, Dire Fang could

of a

'Faster. Faster. Faster!'

himself forward. The air, which was usually soft and unnoticeable,

let out a scream, a roar, a battle

didn't, of

he announce his strike while

of

Fang's was suddenly not in the place he had been a split second

twisted, somehow, to avoid the Transcendent blade - too swift to be seen. Sunny only felt the air being

That was fine, too.

fell down, crouching on his four hands, and felt something tear

next moment, there was a

might have been able to avoid Sunny's attempt at backstabbing him, but by doing so, he was forced

without wasting a single moment, used this chance to plunge her incandescent

disengaged and stopped for a moment, looking down. There, on its flank, a long wound could be seen through singed fur. Drops of blood were rolling down his side as

and not at

However...

wound, no matter how small, while Sunny

face contorted into

say anything before launching