Shadow Slave

'Think, think, think...'

They had a very small chance of coming out of this fight alive. However, there was always hope, no matter how impossible the odds.

What was hope? Hope was a desire... perhaps the paramount desire. A yearning so powerful and resilient that it could hardly be vanquished or destroyed. The darkest and most inescapable despair could not conquer hope. Even demons in hell hoped to reach heaven one day.

They longed to see their deepest desires come true, and that longing alone could make them continue suffering and struggling instead of searching for solace in the peaceful embrace of death.

Life was war, after all.

Hope... desire... it was a powerful thing.

'Longing.'

Sunny glanced at Nephis, considering. She was the only one among them capable of dealing permanent damage to the vessels of the Gate Guardian. Her soul flame seemed to be like poison to the abominable creature - the wounds Sunny and the others had dealt to the corpse of Master Xu would instantly heal, but the puppet that had attacked Neph was burned to death by it.

A hurricane of thoughts flashed through his mind in a split second.

'She's our best chance.'

If they could survive today, it would be through the power of longing that the Light Bringer Aspect seemed to contain. The soul flame...

Pure, cruel, and incorruptible.

There was no time to think. Starting to move, Sunny connected the minds of the seven Masters together through the Blessing of Dusk.

[We need to destroy the creature in front of us before the one behind catches up. There is no other way - we might not even be able to fight one, so fighting two at the same time is a death sentence. The six of us will restrain it. Nephis will kill it. Go!]

They had maybe a handful of seconds before the pursuer showed up. The seven of them had to slay a Great abomination before that happened.

Usually, it would have been impossible to even deal minor damage to a creature two whole Ranks above their own level. Sunny had failed to pierce the skin of the first Fallen abominations he met as a Sleeper, after all... nevertheless, that abomination died in the end.

vast, but it was not absolute. There was nothing indestructible in the world, and even the gods were dead. Everyone - and everything

them were ordinary Masters, and each had accumulated much more tools and killing implements than any Sleeper could ever possess. Better yet,

knew that he had to use the best weapon at his

his best weapon was not the Sin of

It was Nephis.

embraced her, turning the hue of her white flame colder and more menacing. She had trusted him to kill Dire Fang... now, Sunny was going to trust Nephis to

the shadows slid from the blade of the Sin of Solace, the vague figure standing near him

were just

Sunny ignored it.

need to discuss anything - everyone knew what they

was hard to attack a single target without getting in

of his eyes, followed by a white one that destroyed the other.

and right shoulder, almost severing the entire arm. Jet knew that her power was not enough to damage the creature's

shot toward one of Master Xu's knees, while Morgan's sword flew at

claws sank into his left shoulder

hissed through the air as it fell on the creature's

the Gate Guardian down and allow Nephis to deliver

But...

back of Master Xu's head in a fountain of blood and

the flesh mangled by them rippled and

corpse took half a step, and both Effie's spear and Morgan's sword

Seishan's eyes widened.

under his

"Damna..."

The corpse exploded forward.

fell down, sharp shards of bone protruding from her broken arms. Morgan blocked with her sword, but the

barely avoided having his neck sliced open by falling into

creature... refused to be slowed

Nephis was now alone, face-to-face