Shadow Slave

In that moment, hovering on the edge of nothingness, Sunny realized that he was about to die.

He had to struggle against the fog that permeated his mind, slowing down his thoughts and dampening all emotions.

All except for fear.

Despite the fact that his body was broken and his mind was paralyzed, some stubborn part of Sunny was still refusing to give up. He wasn’t ready to die. At least not without giving his all to survive.

He was revolted at the thought of giving the world the satisfaction of the win.

That would be so infuriating. Hadn’t he told Hero that he was going to survive no matter what, to spite them all?

That’s right. He might be a shameless liar, but a promise was still a promise.

But… how was he even supposed to survive? No matter how he looked at it, the situation seemed to be hopeless.

As the scythe slayer approached, its eyes shining menacingly with bloodthirsty crimson light, Sunny tried to pierce through the fog that enveloped his mind. However, his attempts were aimless and weak. It was hard to find purchase in the fog.

He needed an anchor.

Suddenly, a simple thought caught his attention. It was something that he had repeated a thousand times, burning it into his mind.

‘Repetition, experience, clarity.’

Clarity…

He remembered what Nephis had taught him. The essence of combat was murder. Any action performed during a battle served only one of two purposes: it was either to kill your enemy or prevent the enemy from killing you.

If he could learn that, he would have enough clarity to master the mind.

Back then, he didn’t really understand the profound meaning behind the simple word “clarity” that Nephis had used. But now, with his mind in shambles, he was finally able to grasp it.

The two truths behind the essence and purpose of combat were simple and solid, almost tangible. Even in his half-conscious state, he was able to use them as a stable foundation in the fog. Then, he reformed his mind around this foundation, building it along the stark lines of that truth.

Suddenly, he was able to think again.

What’s more, his thoughts were clear and incredibly fast, free of all unnecessary distractions.

This was clarity.

***

up at the advancing monster, calmly weighing

pretty much useless. He couldn’t move his limbs at all. The shadow still followed his commands, but it was busy doing an important job

wouldn’t be able

thought. He couldn’t do anything about it, so there

immobilized, Memories

left only

only tool to either kill the enemy or prevent the enemy from

down from them in a torrent of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able to see

of Changing Star’s sword was still protruding from its body,

‘What an ugly bastard.’

a mighty body specially designed for mayhem and slaughter,

in a terrifying, murderous kind

move, he had to look helplessly as the monster closed the distance between them and

scythes rose into the air, ready

right into the monster’s burning eyes, Sunny

to hell, you overgrown

scythes shot toward his

moment, something massive and furious rammed into the monster from the side, throwing it away. It was

safety anymore, the Echo entwined itself with the enemy in a chaotic mess of limbs as they rolled on the ground. Despite the fact that it was smaller and weaker, its crazy assault and complete disregard for its own

blows. For a moment, the howling of the wind was drowned out by the clamor of chitin striking against chitin. The slayer’s carapace

Even with one of its scythes pinned awkwardly under its body, the monster was more than able to repel the sudden attack. With an angry

leg that was already wounded by Sunny broke off, but the monster didn’t

madness and fury, it untangled its limbs and slowly stood up. Another deafening screech resounded

what?’ he thought, momentarily lost for

something

off the Echo, it had to slightly raise and lean its torso back to account for the loss of a rear leg

the sword that was still sticking from its body, aimed at the sky at a slight angle. At that

of millions of volts of electricity

the

chitin, slowly accumulating on the crimson patterns on it. Under

at all this

‘It’s… glowing?’

strike of lightning was not enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being electrocuted, the slayer moved, slightly shaking

it was still

surely, it was coming back to its senses. The bone scythes scraped against the rocks,

did, Nephis was

Then, she twisted the blade, making the slayer’s body twitch, and

a scythe, but Changing Star was quicker. Dashing to the side, she simultaneously lashed out with her sword. The glowing, white-hot blade caught the creature’s arm