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,

all. The shadow still followed his commands, but

its help, he wouldn’t be

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

body immobilized,

left only

tool to either kill the

Its mandibles moved, viscous saliva flowing down from them in a torrent of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able

of Changing Star’s sword was still

‘What an ugly bastard.’

was being hypocritical. Truth be told, with its black carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed for mayhem and slaughter, the scythe slayer looked striking and

almost majestic… in a terrifying, murderous kind

closed the distance between them and loomed over Sunny’s broken, bleeding

scythes rose into the

monster’s burning eyes, Sunny

hell,

scythes shot toward

furious rammed into the monster from the side, throwing

its own 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

the creature’s carapace in a crazy whirlwind of blows. For a moment, the howling of the wind was

the monster was more than able to repel the sudden attack.

wounded by Sunny broke off, but the monster didn’t pay it

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

he thought, momentarily

then, something very unexpected

loss of a rear leg and keep its

was immediately attracted to the handle of the sword that was still sticking from its body, aimed at the sky at

hundreds of millions of volts of electricity coursed through the slayer’s

a blinding flash of light, it was thrown to the ground. Whisps of smoke rose from the cracks in its

on the monster’s chitin, slowly accumulating on the crimson patterns on it. Under that influence, the crimson

at all

‘It’s… glowing?’

the monster was dead. But no, a single strike of lightning was not enough to kill a creature

was in a rather bad shape, it was still alive and full of murderous

the monster gathered its limbs and tried to stand up. Slowly but surely, it was coming back to its senses. The bone

was suddenly right in

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 it out, breaking apart

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,