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.

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

Masters, and each had accumulated much more tools and killing implements than any Sleeper could ever possess. Better yet, there was someone among them whose Aspect countered the

to use the best

weapon was

It was Nephis.

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 Fang... now, Sunny

Sin of Solace, the vague figure standing near him suddenly grew more

were

Sunny ignored it.

- everyone knew what they had to do. All seven

attack a single target without getting

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

time, an iron rain of shurikens shredded its chest and right shoulder, almost severing the entire arm. Jet knew that her power was not enough to damage the creature's soul - abandoning her most feared Ability, she aimed to reduce

toward one of Master Xu's knees, while Morgan's

shoulder and elbow, tearing both joints

hissed through the air as it fell on

to slow the Gate Guardian down and allow

But...

from the back of Master Xu's head in a fountain of blood

shurikens fell into the sand as the flesh mangled

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

Seishan's eyes widened.

under his

"Damna..."

The corpse exploded forward.

from her broken arms. Morgan blocked with her sword, but the sword burst into countless steel

barely avoided having his neck sliced open by falling into

creature... refused to be slowed

now alone,