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

powerful enemy, an enemy that was nearly impossible

But…

Sunny somehow did manage to

be able to overcome the other impossible obstacles that pressed him into the

lost in the Antarctic Center, and now, because of Mordret and his cursed schemes, he was on the verge of

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

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

only had

incredible feats 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 remained was

it

not waiting 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

But that was alright.

master of killing things that were larger and more powerful than

while he had absorbed the essence of Dire Fang's battle style into Shadow Dance, the Saint had not gotten a firm grasp

technique was as formless and shapeless

based on his formidable experience

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

while Sunny still considered himself a human, he was also a bit

bend his body in an extreme and almost unnatural way.

the raindrops above his head, while

bestial growl as he used all his prodigious strength to

skilled to allow the unexpected attack to reach its mark,

bring his

massive clawed hand pushed forward, catching him in