Shadow Slave

Chapter 1900 Vanquishing Light Amidst the flames consuming what remained of the pinnacle of the garden temple, Nephis was fighting against Moonveil and her two Reflections. Countless wounds were littering her body, and she felt a strange, nearly forgotten feeling of growing weak from losing too much blood.

Transcendent bodies were tough, but they weren't indestructible. She had accounted for her miraculous physique when calculating how much punishment her body could take without sacrificing too much of its functionality... and that limit was approaching swiftly.

Nevertheless, her expression was calm, and her movements were just as fluid and unrestrained as they had been before. Her hands never wavered on the hilt of her sword.

The battle was ruthless and unrelenting. Triumph and defeat were separated only by a thin, brittle line.

Monnveil was strong... but Nephis was stronger. Moonveil wielded her saber as if it was an extension of her body, her skill both beautiful and polished to a state of near perfection... but Nephis was a much better swordsman, and had a much deeper command over the cadence of battle.

Even without her Aspect, she could have defeated the proud princess of Song. But precisely for that reason, there were two Supreme Reflections aiding Moonveil... and dealing with them was much harder.

Someone had evaluated the strength of: the Sword Domain champions very well. Nephis was using Shaping to control the surrounding flames and keep the Reflections at bay. Sometimes, she managed to slow them down, and sometimes, she failed. When facing two or more enemies at the same time, she followed her perilous strategy — to disregard everything in pursuit of killing Moonveil, even if it meant sacrificing her blood and bone.

As a result, the beautiful princess was forced to defend herself without having a chance to launch a counterattack Her Reflections, however, made up for that with a vengeance.

'Ah. It hurts...'

Both Nephis and Moonveil were bloodied... however, Nephis was bleeding more. Her wounds were more dire, and more plentiful. It was already starting to become a detriment to her strength and mobility — not because she was paralyzed by pain, but simply because her muscles were cut, her tendons were damaged, and her bones were cracked.

She had managed to avoid receiving truly debilitating damage, but the harm done by countless small wounds was slowly mounting.

Moonveil could see that, as well.

Therefore... she grew a little more confident.

Nephis would have smiled if it didn't seem like a lot of effort.

'Got her.‘

She remembered being a fairly straightforward person, a long time ago. But somehow, over the years — she couldn't quite remember how — Nephis had come to value deceit and misdirection, even if it was not something she was naturally good at.

She must have learned how to use lies to her advantage by quietly observing people around her. If so, she had been blessed with good teachers.

Shifting her weight from one leg to another, as if preparing to launch a new strike, Nephis grimaced and swayed. It looked like her right leg, which had been cut gruesomely by one of the Reflections before, finally betrayed her.

The Reflection itself was a dozen meters away, pushed back by a torrent of flame. The other was just behind Nephis, since she had just evaded its attack and sidestepped the creature.

It would take it a little time to spin around and renew its assault.

who could use her momentary

but convincing. The grimace she had made was just small enough to look involuntary. The nature of her misstep was reasonable and believable, since her right

hesitated, she did not show

swift attack, her

turned cold

'...Too honest.‘

would have thought that the fearsome princess of

pretense of weakness, she righted her stance and

attack was simple and unadorned... however, that did

two Transcendent champions fought, the fundamentals of combat still played

mass, force. Time, movement, and

that doomed Moonveil was rather obvious, something the importance of which most humans

was the simple fact that Neph‘s sword was

And therefore...

pierced her chest, penetrated her heart, snapped her spine, and exited

at Nephis in disbelief, her beautiful eyes

'I won.‘

achieved her goal... however, she did not feel any joy

lost a powerful Saint — one of many that would die in this appalling, senseless

was such

battle wasn't over yet. She had no

as she could,

her in the chest, sending Nephis flying back — she hit the floor a couple dozen meters away and rolled awkwardly, her vision blurring momentarily from the terrible surge

staggered back to her feet, both Reflections were near Moonveil. One was holding her in its arms,

pushed some air into her burning

happens next depends on

geas placed on her would disappear with Moonveil‘s death, unsealing her Aspect... or it

was the former, she would be able to deal with the Reflections quite

second, something unexpected happened... something Nephis had not anticipated,

regained their sharpness for

And then...

her Aspect suddenly fall apart.

the Reflection holding the princess of Song in its hands shimmered slightly.

hair, fair skin, and calm

have been beautiful if it was expressive and lively instead