Shadow Slave

"What the hell is she doing?!"

Sunny dodged a fearsome attack, feeling the wind raised by the abomination's spear throw his hair into disarray. As a chill crept up his spine, he sidestepped a black tentacle that insidiously shot at him from beneath the water, and prepared to dive into the shadows to come to Cassie's aid.

However, he did not get a chance to.

Right at that moment, the water which he had been using for footing suddenly tore free of his control. With no time to react, Sunny plunged into its cold embrace. This section of the dark hall was not flooded too terribly, but still, a moment later he was submerged up to his chest.

'Curse it...'

Sunny did not have to look around to know what had happened. One of the Corrupted Devils leading the Drowned was targeting him, using some profane power to wrestle the dark waters from his control. He did not possess a Domain yet, after all, so whatever connection to the element the Crown of Twilight provided him with was weak and rudimentary.

The situation was not good. Currently, Sunny was only augmented by a couple of his five shadows and some of Neph's flame. Because of the synergy between the two, he was much stronger than he would have been otherwise - enough so to push his body through water with sufficient speed.

But not enough speed to keep the same frantic cadence of combat.

'That Devil has to die, fast...'

Distracted by his own predicament, he had to delay joining Cassie in the battle against the sybil.

...

Up on the dais overseeing the flooded hall, meanwhile, the Defiled creature and the blind seer continued to stand opposite of each other without movement. Only the sybil's appalling tentacles were swaying subtly, her monstrous figure reflected in the polished metal of Cassie's light cuirass.

swelling with an invisible tension. It was as though something utterly dark and dreadful was seething, unseen, beneath the fabric of the world, ready to explode and engulf the expanse of the

stood with her weapons lowered, her silver mask directed straight at the Defiled monstrosity. Her beautiful face was slowly growing paler and paler... but its expression remained calm and

her body remaining motionless like an ice sculpture, her mind was in a

because she was using her Awakened Ability to its utter limit, well past it even. If Sunny was capable of reading thoughts, he would have known that the blind girl was in a state of

or rather, a multitude

to perceive a few seconds into it. By activating her Awakened Ability, Cassie could enter a state similar to existing in two separate moments of time - one current, the other approaching. If she stumbled in the approaching moment, she could correct her steps and

course, such a way of existing was incredibly strange, disorienting, and mentally straining. It had taken her a long time to not only master this perplexing Ability, but also learn how to

the flooded temple, however, the heavy comfort of her Aspect

it vague and chaotic, Cassie was torn between different versions of possible futures instead of one definite one.

...

grown used to it,

existence like this was arduous, but

now, she had to master and make use

'A step forward.'

and then dashed at the Defiled sybil with stunning speed. The Quiet Dancer flashed, diving under one of the

the same time, it flashed to slice

same time, the slender rapier was tossed

same time, it sank into the abomination's flesh,

And then...

around her entire body. Her bones shattered, ripping the flesh

Death was not kind.