Shadow Slave

Time was moving very slowly…

No, it was Sunny who was moving too fast. It almost felt as if the world had frozen.

The rain was suspended in the air, the fountains of mud had grown still, the distant figures of dying Awakened were like grotesque statues.

In this nearly static world, only two things seemed unbound by paralysis — the monstrous Saint in front of him, who was no slower than Sunny himself, and a bolt of lightning that was crawling across the sky, extending toward the ground as it forked and illuminated the bloody battlefield.

'Faster!'

Suddenly, a deafening roar exploded from Dire Fang's mouth, strangely distorted and haunting. It would have hit Sunny like a wall…

But he was prepared.

The [Silenced] enchantment of the emerald bone flute activated, creating a dome of absolute silence around him. Sunny passed through the sorcerous roar without being struck by its crushing power… however, behind him, Nephis had to endure its full weight without the protection of her flames.

Stripped of their augmentation, she couldn't resist it like she had before.

Erasing the image of her falling figure from his mind, Sunny concentrated on the task.

If anything, the importance of success had only become more stark now that his partner was debilitated. If he failed, both of them were going to die.

But he had already rejected the possibility of failure.

He was going to win. He was going to do what he promised to do. He was going to kill a damned Saint!

At that moment, Dire Fang was more than a chance adversary to Sunny. He was the embodiment of everything Sunny wanted to destroy — the rotten authority of the great clans, the vile curse of the Chain of Nightmares, the torturous brand of powerlessness that he bore on his soul ever since Falcon Scott.

inescapable shackles

overwhelmingly powerful enemy,

But…

somehow did

the other impossible obstacles that pressed him into the ground,

cursed schemes, he was on the verge of losing

— not only because Nephis was weakened and vulnerable right now, but also because of the nature

pain. If Sunny delivered him a serious wound but failed to make it fatal, then that augmentation would only explode further, turning his enemy

had

to earn that single chance. He had learned the secrets of Dire Fang's Aspect, deciphered the battle style of the Transcendent monster, and found a way to counteract his debilitating sonic attack. Now, all that

it would be

passively to be killed. He was already moving, rushing forward with speed that exceeded all reason. His claws were ready to tear Sunny apart, and his fangs were ready to sink into Sunny's flesh. Even though the gap of power between them had narrowed tremendously, Dire Fang still had an edge

But that was alright.

of the Forgotten Shore, Sunny was a master of killing things that were larger and more

style into Shadow Dance, the Saint had not gotten a firm

could he, when Sunny's technique was as formless and

could do was try and predict how his enemy would act based on his formidable experience of participating in countless

had never fought a shadow spawn before. He was still judging Sunny as if Sunny was

himself a human, he

body in an extreme and almost unnatural way. At the same time, he

claws tore through the raindrops above his head, while his

gritted his teeth and let out a bestial growl as he used all his

too fast and skilled to allow the unexpected attack

split second before Sunny could bring his sword

forward, catching