Shadow Slave

By then, the Fire Keepers had almost retreated to the entrance of the ancient temple. The darkness seethed and surged, disturbed by the fearsome clash of the two Transcendent champions.

Both Changing Star and the man who called himself Shadow were beyond powerful. A Saint was like a natural disaster, and even though neither of them had called upon the dreadful power of their Aspects, the devastating physical might of two Transcendent warriors was more than enough to obliterate their surroundings, reshape the landscape, and instill terror in the hearts of countless people.

Luckily, both their lady and the master of the ancient temple seemed to be holding back. Otherwise, the Citadel might have been severely damaged by their duel.

Lady Nephis was clad in a suit of knightly armor that had been forged from sublime white steel and adorned with golden accents. With her fair skin and silver hair, pure flames dancing in her eyes, she was like a spirit of light.

Lord of Shadows, meanwhile, was like a devil bor from pure darkness. His ominous onyx armor, demonic mask, and raven-black hair fused wit lightless void of the great hall, making it hard t discern where his figure ended and the shadows began.

The silence had long been torn apart by the melodic disharmony of clashing steel.

But... wasn't something very strange?

One of the Fire Keepers, Sid, looked at their leader and asked after hesitating for a few moments:

"Why... is he still standing?"

Her somber voice was hiding a note of bewilderment.

The seven of them had followed Lady Changing Star to storm the Crimson Spire, across the frozen hell of East Antarctica, and into countless battles after that. In the past four years, they had seen her turn hordes of abominations to ash, topple titans, and bring every Saint who dared challenge her to their knees. Only a few people could claim to be her equal, and even they did not dare to.

How was it that the Lord of Shadows had not only persisted for so long, but also seemed... to be holding his own in a duel against the last daughter of the Immortal Flame?

"Who the hell is he?"

Shim, the leader of the cohort, shook his head slightly without looking away from the barely perceptible whirlwind of the stunning clash.

"Watch carefully,"

Out there in front of them, the cadence of the duel finally changed.

***

‘Now?’

of his odachi with a wailing hiss. The strike was just a feint, turning into a thrust, turning into a

to gain an advantage in the follow-up attack. Sunny was forced to take a step back, which would have landed him in an awkward position and made it impossible to mount a stable defense... if he did not increase

center of gravity lowered, he had enough stability to block Neph's calm and vicious attack

unerringly struck the exact same spot where his odachi had already

of shards. Those shards almost

her sword continued to fall down like an executioner's axe, Sunny, who had expected something like that to happen, was prepared and dodged the mirror blade just in time. It struck the black marble plate of the temple's floor,

stone flew into the

Nephis shifted into a low stance

was already moving

a step forward and found himself

metal

them

the Fire

His right hand was gripping the hilt of her sword,

was gripping his left wrist. Held in his left hand was the hilt of the broken odachi,

still for a few moments, then looked down,

escaped from his

here. Otherwise, my Citadel will sustain

shadows, let go of Neph's

Sunny was walking back to his unseen throne, Nephis called out to

the duel? We have not

facing away from

moments

willing to admit

and

no interest in joining forces with the Great Clan

his head

you. You personally, not your

truth and a lie. Sunny might have preferred to deal with Nephis, and Nephis alone, but doing

to get his point across despite the

this mask around people

He suppressed a sigh,