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.

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

Sleeper could ever possess. Better yet, there was someone among them whose Aspect countered the

to use the best

his best weapon was not the

It was Nephis.

teeth, Sunny dashed forward. At the same time, all his shadows left him and embraced her, turning the hue of her white flame colder and more menacing. She had trusted him to kill Dire

slid from the blade of the Sin of Solace, the vague figure standing near him suddenly grew more blurry, and clicked its

were

Sunny ignored it.

knew what they had to do. All seven

was hard to attack a single target without

pierced one of his eyes, followed by a

that her power was not enough to damage the creature's soul - abandoning her

knees, while Morgan's sword flew at another with lightning-fast

claws sank into his left shoulder and elbow, tearing

the air as

Guardian down and allow Nephis to deliver the fatal

But...

exploded from the back of Master Xu's head in a fountain of blood and brain matter, his eyes had already restored themselves,

flesh mangled by them

a step, and both Effie's spear and

Seishan's eyes widened.

under his

"Damna..."

The corpse exploded forward.

broken arms. Morgan blocked with

barely avoided having his neck sliced open by falling into

refused to be slowed

now alone, face-to-face