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.

***

looked up at the advancing monster, calmly weighing

couldn’t move his limbs at all. The shadow still followed his commands, but it was busy doing an important job — keeping him

help, he wouldn’t be able to

couldn’t do anything about it, so there was

immobilized, Memories couldn’t be

only

to have to be his only tool to either kill the enemy or prevent the enemy

down from them in a torrent of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able to see and instantly register every spike, every scratch, every abrasion on the creature’s

Star’s sword was still protruding from its

‘What an ugly bastard.’

with its black carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed for mayhem and slaughter, the scythe

majestic… in a terrifying, murderous kind of

to look helplessly as the monster closed

scythes rose into the air,

into the monster’s burning eyes, Sunny

to hell, you overgrown

scythes shot

monster

the enemy in a chaotic mess of limbs as they rolled on the ground. Despite

a moment, the howling of the wind was drowned out by the

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

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

fury, it untangled its limbs and slowly stood up. Another deafening screech resounded in the howling darkness of the storm,

what?’ he thought, momentarily lost for

then, something very unexpected

to slightly raise and lean its torso back to account for the loss of a rear leg and keep its balance. At that moment, a bolt of lightning landed right in the middle of the small

sword that was still sticking from its body, aimed at the

of volts of electricity coursed through

thrown to the ground. Whisps of smoke rose from the cracks in

chitin, slowly accumulating on the crimson patterns on

all this in

‘It’s… glowing?’

hoped that the monster was dead. But no, a single strike of lightning was not enough

bad shape, it was still alive and

limbs and tried to stand up. Slowly but surely, it was coming back to its senses. The bone scythes scraped against

did, Nephis was suddenly

hilt of the longsword, she grimaced as the heat burned her hands. Then, she twisted the blade, making the slayer’s body twitch, and pulled

slash at her with 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 right below the joint and cleaved through it, sending the terrifying bone scythe flying through the air