Shadow Slave

By a twist of fate, today, Harus was facing possibly the worst opponent he could have faced on the Forgotten Shore… among the Sleepers, at least.

However, Sunny wasn't surprised.

He had always felt that he and the murderous hunchback were destined to end up fighting each other to the bitter end. Before, he had thought that this was just intuition, but now he knew that his occasional and subtle premonitions were anything but random.

All that time ago, he had already sensed that the two of them were connected by a string of fate.

Was it such a surprise, then, that his Aspect happened to counter that of Harus to large extent?

And it did counter it, although not completely.

If anyone else was in Sunny's place, they would have been already dead. Robbed of their sight, very few people — if anyone at all — could have resisted the furious assault of the terrifyingly strong hunchback. But Sunny wasn't just anyone.

Even while blind, he had Shadow Sense on his side. While it wasn't the same as being able to see Harus, by sensing the movements of his shadow, Sunny was able to predict his attacks with at least some level of precision.

It wasn't perfect, though. At least he had not reached the level where this form of perception could fully replace vision.

So, now, Sunny had a choice to make.

While his shadow was wrapped around his body, it gave him an incredible boost in strength, speed, and endurance. It wasn't able to provide him with a second pair of eyes, however.

So he could either continue to rely solely on Shadow Sense and keep this boost, or let the shadow go and fight Harus with just his own strength while being able to see.

'Decisions, decisions…'

Sensing the hunched shadow of the murderous butcher lunge forward, Sunny dodged left and heard something whistle past his temple with terrible speed. A fraction of a second later, and his skull would have been crushed by the links of the iron chain wrapped around his enemy's fist.

He missed the hunchback's other hand, though.

His wrist was suddenly caught in an iron grip and twisted, forcing Sunny to yelp and let go of the Midnight Shard. Another second, and his bones were going to shatter…

Following the direction of the twist, Sunny performed an aerial cartwheel to save his arm and reluctantly ordered the shadow to slip off his body.

As he landed on the stones, Sunny was finally able to see again.

Harus was holding him by the wrist with one hand, his other raising to deliver a crushing blow. Sunny doubted that there would be anything left of his face if he were to allow that blow to land.

…He still held the Midnight Shard in his free hand.

Turning the tachi upward, Sunny thrust it in the direction of the hunchbacks' throat. As a hint of surprise appeared in his enemy's eyes, Harus changed the direction of his strike, turning it into a block instead.

The razor-sharp blade bit into the links of the heavy chain wrapped tightly around his forearm and bounced off.

However, that gave Sunny the opportunity to wrestle his wrist free and jump back. Despite the fact that his bruised hand was shaking, he put it back on the hilt of the Midnight Shard and faced Harus once again.

The hunchback titled his head and stared at Sunny with an amused expression.

"Slippery worm... how are you doing that?"

Sunny grinned.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Then, he grimaced and added after a few moments of pained silence.

"...I can still see you thanks to my Aspect."

Harus grinned.

"Oh? Good… it is nice of you to tell me…"

With that, he suddenly threw his hand forward.

'What is he doing?'

The distance between them was too large to land a punch…

But in the next moment, Sunny realized his mistake. It was too late, however.

The chain suddenly flew off the hunchback arm and instantly covered the distance between them. Before Sunny could react, it was tightly wrapped around the blade of the Midnight Shard.

Then, Harus pulled it back with tremendous force.

Sunny could either allow himself to be thrown to the floor right in front of the cruel executioner or let go of his sword. He chose the second option.

The Midnight Shard flew far away and fell on the marble floor with a melodious ringing. There was little hope of retrieving it… and Sunny doubted that Harus was going to give him enough time to dismiss and summon the tachi again.

Indeed, almost instantly, the fearsome hunchback was already lunging at him, the iron hammers of his fists ready to break every bone in Sunny's body.

'Go die, bastard!'

Sunny growled and dashed forward. Dodging a deadly, strike, he twisted his body and delivered a ferocious blow of his own. His fist connected to the hunchback's chin, making Harus reel back.

Sunny might have been lean and not as tall as most men, but he wasn't a weak outskirt kid anymore.

The power of nine hundred shadow fragments, each earned in a deadly fight against unimaginable horrors, coursed through his veins. He was much stronger than he looked.

Strong enough to shatter stones with his bare hands.

…And yet, he wasn't nearly as strong as Harus. While shaken by the blow to the face, the hunchback didn't look seriously hurt. But his next strike almost made Sunny buckle.

For a few short moments, the two of them became entwined in violent, barbarous combat. Using their fists, legs, and even teeth, they did anything in their power to destroy the enemy. Harus fought with the measured skill of an experienced killer, while Sunny fought with the desperate, feral cunning that his cruel upbringing had taught him.

The hunchback was at a dire advantage in that fight. With his tremendous might and much larger weight and reach, all he had to do to win it was to wrestle Sunny to the ground. Knowing that, Sunny had done everything in his power to avoid being grappled. He twisted and moved, dodging the hunchback's large hands and delivering strike after strike.

Soon, Harus was bleeding from a half-dozen cuts on his angular face. Sunny, however, was in much worse shape. The hunchback's fists, and especially that damned chain of his, had left terrible marks on his body. The skin on his forehead was split open, and a stream of blood was flowing down his face.

Usually, that would have blinded a person. But both of his eyes were already blind; he was using his shadow to see.

'...How ironic.'

Still, it was just a matter of time before Sunny made a mistake. And very soon, he did.

Sunny was only a fraction of a second late, but it was all Harus needed to land one of his wide palms on his shoulder. Then, he gripped it with enough strength to make Sunny's bones groan, thus robbing the enemy of his only advantage — mobility.

As Sunny's eyes opened wide, the hunchback grinned.

"...Time to die, little worm."

With that, he threw him against the wall, making a net of cracks streak through its stone surface. Hurt and disoriented, Sunny felt something cold and inevitable grip his neck.

Looking his victim right in the eyes, Harus squeezed Sunny's neck and smiled.

"Good. It's good that you can see. Usually, they don't. Such a pity…"

Sunny raised his fist and hit the hunchback in the face, but to no result. He couldn't find the proper purchase or move his torso to deliver a proper blow.

Regardless, he tried again, then again, then again.

The skin on the face of his strangler split, letting more blood flow, but Harus just continued smiling, looking at him with fascination.

"Good. Good. This is so good… so, so good..."

Sunny weakly raised his hand again, but lingered, hesitating before trying to hit the hunchback again.

With what little air remained in his lungs, he wheezed:

"Hey, bastard… do you remember… how I told you… that I didn't want to use a trick… to kill you?"

Harus simply grinned.

"...well… that… that was a trick…"

At the same time, he struck the hunchback in the face again. Knowing that these punches were not strong enough to change anything, Harus didn't react.

But this time, a ghostly blade suddenly appeared in Sunny's hand at the last moment. Unlike normal Memories, this one weaved itself from nothing and almost instantaneously.

Then, it pierced Harus's temple and sunk deep into his brain, killing him on the spot.

The grin froze on the hunchback's lips. His eyes widened, then slowly turned glassy. His terrible grip on Sunny's throat weakened.

Then, he crumpled to the ground like a broken mannequin, his empty eyes still open and staring into nothingness.

Sunny fell to his knees and drew a hoarse breath.

"Die... you bastard. Die, die, die…"

A wicked, furious grin appeared on his face.

"Die and go keep your lord company in hell!"

Shaking, he used the wall to stand up and looked at the dead butcher with a strange mix of hatred, triumph, and contempt.

After a while, he said:

"Don't want to doesn't mean I won't, you fool."