Shadow Slave

A Great Beast...

Killing a Great Beast could pose no trouble at all, or all the trouble in the world. Beings of that Rank were more than mere creatures - each of them possessed a mythical power, reality itself coming undone under the pressure of their existence.

When Nephis had been a Master, a single Great abomination was like a cataclysm...

Now, Nephis was a cataclysm herself.

Igniting the flames of her soul, she shone with pure radiance and met the eerie golem with the full strength of a Transcendent Titan. Pain washed over her, bringing the world into focus. Everything was stark and clear in the world of pain, ready to surrender to her will.

Except for the Lord of Shadows.

The black blade of her sword met the diamond mace of the Nightmare Creature, deflecting it and dissipating its force. An impact that would have produced a devastating shockwave was suffocated, its destructive potential disappearing without a trace.

The golem was fast - faster than Nephis. But she knew its movement well. They were lacking insight and intent, almost entirely without refinement. Because of that, the creature wasted precious moments, while she wasted none.

A split second later, the tip of her blade burrowed into the red moss, aiming to destroy one of the golem's shoulder joints.

The sword the Lord of Shadows had given her was supposed to be equal to a Transcendent weapon and a potent one, at that. Cutting the flesh of a Great abomination would have been hard, but not impossible. Still, Nephis did not hope to break the golem's stone carapace, and aimed at a weak point, instead.

She already knew that the creature would not be able to avoid her strike.

That was Neph's power. She could not predict the future, like Cassie could, and did not possess an Aspect Ability that would allow her to read the enemy's mind. However, she knew the laws of combat - knew them intimately, instinctually, and comprehensively. From the philosophy of combat to how the atoms interacted with each other to form a steel blade, she knew it all.

So, she did not have to see the future. Knowing the laws of combat, she could simply tell what movements her enemy could perform, was most likely to perform, and would perform in any given situation.

a master at combat. The hard part... was actually dictating the situation to make the enemy

she had

carapace, but

that she was now open to the creature's

terrible speed... and was pushed aside by the odachi of the Lord

time, she aimed for the

side with

However, what had stunned her the most was how excellent he was at supporting a partner in a battle, and being supported by a partner

Too excellent, maybe.

would have trouble cooperating with others. But actually, the opposite was

Lord of Shadow seemed to anticipate

oddly attuned to his style of combat. She didn't have to put any effort into acting in unison

into battle together. And yet, she felt

unique skill of a Transcendent with a high affinity to shadows - shadows never existed on their own, after all.

That did not kill the Great Beast, but it did seem to slow it down a little. Just to be sure, Nephis cut the flower growing from his other eye socket, as well, wondering if the creature was

was not. The flowers, it seemed, were

[Break the armor.]

to kill, because they shared the same weaknesses - heart, brain, vascular system. But constructs and the undead were tricky, since destroying them

"Aim for the breastplate!"

the cracked armor of the stone golem. She even sacrificed some of her physical augmentation to enhance the black sword instead - luckily, the manifested blade easily

end of it, and entire swath of the jungle was completely overturned. Nephis and her aloof guide rained a barrage of blows on the breastplate of the Great Beast, easily avoiding its

might have had a tough time of fighting the creature alone, but together, they overpowered it without too much

and then exploded in a rain of shards. The golem staggered, and toppled

her ear, its voice mocking and

slain a Great