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.

***

advancing monster,

useless. He couldn’t move his limbs at all. The shadow still followed his commands,

with its help, he wouldn’t be able to last

anything about it, so there was no sense in wasting

his body immobilized,

left only

was going to have to be his only tool

of transparent mucus. In a flash of lightning, he was able to see and instantly register every spike, every scratch, every abrasion

still

‘What an ugly bastard.’

be told, with its black carapace painted with crimson patterns and a mighty body specially designed

almost majestic… in a terrifying, murderous kind of

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

the air, ready to

into the monster’s burning eyes,

hell, you

scythes shot toward

monster from the side, throwing it away. It

on the ground. Despite the fact that it was smaller and weaker, its crazy assault and complete disregard for its

carapace in a crazy whirlwind of blows. For a moment, the howling of the wind was drowned out by the clamor of chitin striking against chitin. The slayer’s carapace mostly held, but a couple of cracks did appear on its

it was still superior to the scavenger in every way. 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 screech, it sliced with the other scythe, cutting one of the scavenger’s pincer arms clean off. Then, it strained its legs and threw the

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

Another deafening screech resounded in the howling darkness of the storm, hurting

thought, momentarily lost

then, something very unexpected

the slayer moved to finish off the Echo, it had to slightly raise and lean its torso back to account for the loss of

tall the monster was, the lightning was immediately attracted to the handle of the sword that was still sticking from its body,

millions of volts of electricity

it was thrown to the ground. Whisps

chitin, slowly accumulating on

stared at all this

‘It’s… glowing?’

enough to kill a creature like that. Just a few moments after being electrocuted, the slayer moved, slightly shaking its

rather bad shape, it was still alive and full of

limbs and tried to stand up. Slowly but surely, it was coming back

Nephis was

the 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 a large portion

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