Shadow Slave

The great hall of the Bright Castle grew silent and still. However, that stillness was not tranquil, but like a predator that fell low to the ground, ready to explode into a violent lunge to tear its prey apart.

The Sleepers pressed themselves against the walls, giving Changing Star and the Bright Lord space for their battle. Effie was dragged away from the middle of the hall by two Guards, and now, there was nothing but emptiness separating the two fighters.

From one side of the hall, the five lieutenants — Gemma, Tessai, Kido, Seishan, and Harus — were looking at their master with complicated emotions. On the other side of it, Kai, Caster, and the leaders of the outer settlement hunting parties were doing the same. Cassie was also there, her hand resting on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer. There was a grim, somber expression on her beautiful face.

Sunny glanced at the blind girl, and then turned to the center of the throne room.

Two people were standing opposite each other there. One was a tall man encased in a strange golden carapace that followed the lines of his mighty body. The other was a young woman in an elegant plate armor forged of white metal.

There was a subtle similarity between them. Both were emanating a striking, compelling sense of power and confidence that very few people ever possessed. Both were fearsome and deadly. Both were at the apex of their kind.

However, this was where the similarity ended.

'This… doesn't not look good,' Sunny thought, evaluating the two fighters.

He knew better than anyone what Nephis was capable of, but even then, the sight of her facing Gunlaug made a deep scowl appear on her face.

The Bright Lord was much taller than her and weighed probably twice as much as Changing Star. He was stronger, had longer reach, and much more experience in slaughtering people.

That was not even considering that damned golden armor of his.

Even with the miraculous augmentation of the Dawn Shard, Neph's silver sword could barely be considered at the same power level as an Ascended weapon would have been. That was still a whole rank below Gunlaug's strange Echo.

Trying to break through that armor was going to be as hard as cracking the shell of a carapace centurion with a sword forged from mundane steel. Incredibly hard, if not impossible. And unlike the carapace of a scavenger, the golden Echo did not seem to have a weak spot.

At that moment, sparks of light appeared in the air in front of Changing Star. The silver longsword appeared in her hand, and she pointed it to the ground… for now.

'What weapon is that bastard going to use?'

That would decide a lot. Sunny was sure that Gunlaug possessed an arsenal of powerful Memory weapons... but how powerful were they exactly?

He glanced at the Bright Lord, expecting to see the same sparks swirling around his hands. However, there was none.

Instead, the liquid gold flowed forward and assumed the shape of a heavy battle axe, which Gunlaug then grasped and leisurely put on his shoulder. The polished mirror of his mask reflected the slight frown that appeared on Neph's face.

'Dammit.'

The weapon the Bright Lord was going to use was also a part of his Echo, and as such, possessed the quality of a Transcended weapon. It was going to cut through the Starlight Legion Armor without much effort.

'This is even worse than I imagined…'

As Sunny gritted his teeth, Gunlaug said in a serpentine, insidious voice:

"Any last words, Changing Star?"

Nephis tilted her head a little and remained silent for a while. Her helmet weaved itself from strings of light, hiding her face completely, with only calm grey eyes visible through the crack of the visor. Finally, she answered with only one word, her usually even voice full of furious contempt:

"...Traitor."

A wave of whispers spread through the crowd. People were guessing what exactly she meant by that, but Sunny suspected that he was the only one who knew.

Neph wasn't accusing Gunlaug of betraying his fellow humans or causing the deaths of numerous young men and women. She was accusing him of betraying the true duty of the Awakened and submitting to the Nightmare Spell instead of fighting it to the bitter end.

In her mind, that was a far greater crime.

The only crime, even.

The Bright Lord laughed.

"That's too bad. I heard that one before…"

And then, without wasting even a fraction of a second, he suddenly exploded forward in a terrifying, lightning-fast lunge.

The shift between peace and violence was so instant and swift that most people gathered in the great hall did not even realize what was happening until a few moments later.

With each of Gunlaug's strides, the floor of the throne room shook a little. He flew at Nephis like a furious giant made of gold, swinging his battle axe with both incredible agility and horrible force.

She barely reacted in time, shifting her body and raising the sword to deflect the killing blow to the side. However, then something unexpected happened.

The shaft of the battle axe suddenly elongated, the liquid gold comprising it flowing forward to assume a new shape. As a result, her deflection ended up being almost useless.

With an awkward stagger, Changing Star reeled back. The very edge of the battle axe's blade bit into the helmet of the Starlight Legion Armor and effortlessly cleaved through it, leaving a shallow cut on her cheek. In the next moment, Gunlaug's foot crashed into her ribs, sending the young woman flying through the air.

Nephis landed in a roll and used one hand to stop herself from sliding on the marble floor. As drops of blood fell from beneath her helmet, merciless white flames ignited in her eyes.

A moment later, she jumped forward and met the onslaught of the Bright Lord with an equal amount of fury.

The deadly song of clashing steel resounded in the ancient hall...

Like a promise of much greater bloodshed yet to come.