Shadow Slave

The PTV exploded.

No, really... Sunny was stunned.

‘Who tries to assassinate a Saint with explosives?"

Were these people mentally challenged?

The notion was so silly that, for a moment, his mind refused to register it.

Everything had happened too fast for the government soldiers to react. The vehicle dissolved into a blinding flash, and a furious onslaught of flame was unleashed upon the world.

A devastating shockwave also rolled out, spreading like an invisible ripple of crushing force.

...But, of course, the Saints were faster.

Kai was too far away to do anything, but Sunny, Morgan, and Nephis were not.

Granted, there was not a lot that they could do in such a short amount of time.

Nephis seemed to have controlled the flames to flow around Sid, her driver. The Fire Keeper was spared from being burned, but received the full brunt of the shockwave, staggering back as her dirty-blonde hair fluttered in the wind. Of course, as a Master, she would not be hurt badly, but a pained grimace still appeared on her face.

Morgan, meanwhile, raised one leather-clad hand... and cut the explosion apart.

Sunny was pretty sure that he was not seeing things. As her hand slashed forward, both the flame and the shockwave parted in front of her, as if cut by an unseen blade. The explosion rolled past the Princess of War, leaving her entirely unscathed. Not a single blemish appeared on her stylish black suit.

As for Sunny himself...

He didn't do anything. That short moment was enough for him to determine that the explosion was utterly mundane, so there was no need to act. Sunny simply allowed the flame to swallow him, and for the shockwave to batter him.

A second later, his onyx figure was revealed from the expanding fire, standing exactly where he had stood before. He didn't even flinch under the assault of the violent forces.

But behind him, many of the government soldiers were thrown against the hulls of the armored vehicles, the vehicles themselves swaying heavily or even overturning. Screams and stunned yells filled the air.

There were many wounded. Luckily, the PTV had stood apart from the military vehicles, so no one seemed to have died.

But still.

to have hurt everyone except for

even had time to dissipate, Morgan, Nephis, and Sunny looked

'It's a diversion.'

distract them when

But what...

feeling a sense of urgency, Sunny sent his shadow sense outward, spreading it across a vast area. There were countless shadows on the crowded streets of NQSC, so his mind was almost overloaded by the density of information flowing into it.

to be anything dangerous close to them... but it took some time for his senses to stretch to their

"There!"

sensed a swift shadow barreling towards them, but there was already no time to

before hitting its target revealed itself

projectile fit for a slege engine much more than it did an arrow meant to be shot from a bow. If not for the fletching on the back side of the shaft, Sunny would have mistaken it for a

back like a rag doll. She flew backward and crashed into a

Sunny was already moving.

Flame clan to be honest, he wasn't even entirely sure what it would take to kill her, given her

what kind of arrow was it? What was its Rank and Class? What enchantments did it possess? Did it carry a deadly venom? Did the arrowhead explode into

the next moment, Sunny's

was because the broken pieces of the arrow dissipated into a whirlwind of sparks. Nephis,

What he saw in the tear was not her alabaster skin, however,

"That Memory!"

from their time in the

it. It pierced the heavy military vehicle,

is shooting

arrow was cut apart by Morgan, who severed it

that Sunny's shadow sense had extended further, he could

them like meteors,

him, and two more at Morgan. One was heading toward Sid, but the rest were

sense, really, Considering the distance from which the mysterious archer had shot them, most of the arrows must have been in the air long before the first arrow hit, and very likely before the PTV had exploded. So, the sniper must have accounted for everything - how the three Saints would react to the explosion, where

was that? Was the mysterious archer a prophet? Or did the arrows possess a mind of their own, altering their

arrows before there would be a chance to

‘There's not enough time!’

of the great arrows from the air, sliding back a

started to manifest countless shadows when a haunting song suddenly resounded above the silent park, drowning out all other