Forged By Battle
Feeling his flesh break apart and his heart grow cold, Sunny scrambled to defend himself, but to no avail. Morgan easily crushed his attempts to resist and delivered another series of devastating strikes, moving with terrifying precision and speed. Her movements were fluid and natural, as if wielding a weapon was as innate to her as breathing.
As if battle was her native environment instead of peace.
Her swordsmanship was unlike anything Sunny had ever seen, too. It wasn't even as though the sword served as an extension of Morgan's arm… it was as though she herself was the sword, and so every motion she made was the purest expression of cold, merciless killing intent.
He had never thought that he would meet a more terrifying swordsman than Nephis, but compared to this knight of Valor, the daughter of the Immortal Flame clan almost seemed like a novice.
Sunny was instantly overwhelmed, and there was nothing he could do to maintain even a sliver of control. The situation was utterly hopeless. This feeling of absolute, bitter powerlessness… he had not experienced it in a long time.
Attain a breakthrough to the second step of Shadow Dance? Sunny wasn't even sure that he would be able to stay alive for another couple of seconds.
...He had to think of something fast.
Following a mental command, the Mantle of the Underworld received one of his charms. Immediately, the familiar, but strongly enhanced pain of his soul being torn apart flooded his whole being with agony.
Sunny didn't hope that the Broken Oath would help him defeat Morgan — after all, as an Ascended, she had a much more powerful soul. All he wanted was a second of respite.
Morgan suddenly slowed down, allowing him to disengage and take several steps back. For a moment, there was a slight grimace on her face, but it was quickly replaced by the same relaxed, amused smile.
"A nice trick."
Sunny bent slightly and vomited a mouthful of blood, thin streams of crimson flowing through the fangs of the black mask. The sight of it was both frightening and striking.
When he straightened, something about him changed.
…Well, of course it did. He had commanded two shadows resting on the Autumn Lead to wrap themselves around his body, after all. Instantly, his strength, speed, and resilience tripled.
Sunny had not wanted to augment himself before, but faced with the devastating onslaught of the terrifying battle master, he had no other choice. If he wished to learn anything from this fight, he had to make it last more than just a few seconds.
Morgan noticed the subtle shift in his posture, and tilted her head slightly. Her smile suddenly widened.
"...Good. This is good. This is much better!"
Sunny dismissed the Broken Oath, but before the charm even had time to disappear, the young woman was already upon him once again in a whirlwind of ruthless steel. However, this time, things were different.
Or rather… slightly different.
'What… what the actual hell?!'
Sunny was still hopelessly outmatched, barely managing to survive under the merciless barrage of lightning-fast, cruel attacks.
Previously, he had judged that his peak physical might would be on par with a newly ascended Master. Even though Sunny wasn't currently using the third shadow — it had to remain on the ground to keep his secrets — the gap between Morgan and him was not supposed to remain that vast.
But there was a mistake in his reasoning. He had compared himself to an average Master… however, Morgan of Valor was not average in any way. She hailed from one of the three Great Clans, and was possibly even a member of its core family.
Among the Awakened, she was a being at the absolute apex of might.
'Come… on!'
And yet, he was able to do something now, at least. Even though Morgan was still dominating the fight and delivering one devastating blow after another, Sunny could perceive her movements and react.
He dodged one strike, then deflected another. A third one still connected with his elbow, sending a blinding flash of pain through his body, but it was already an incredible achievement.
Morgan seemed pleased by this new development. Her crimson lips curved, revealing pearly white teeth.
"Yes! Finally! You are supposed to be a genius, aren't you? Show me! Come on, fight!"
'What the hell… is wrong with this girl…'
Sunny gritted his teeth and fought, barely staying alive. No matter how much he pushed himself, how much he struggled to keep up with the fearsome Master, all he could achieve was not being instantly obliterated.
But that was it.
Even with two shadows augmenting his body, Sunny saw no hope of winning — despite the fact that Morgan was holding back her strength. She was simply a monster. No… she was something much more terrible. He had faced and killed many monsters, many demons, and many devils… but none of them could compare to this beautiful, horrifying young woman.
However… even if he was going to lose... it was all not in vain.
With every blow he suffered, every strike he somehow defended against, Sunny was learning. Morgan's battle style was too elevated for him to grasp, but every glimpse of it he saw was fueling something inside of him.
It was as though he had laid a solid foundation by absorbing numerous styles, and now they were being forged into something different, something whole by the insane pressure fighting this monstrous creature exerted on him.
His body felt as if it was on the verge of breaking apart, and his vision was slowly becoming blurred, but Sunny felt… he felt as though he was on the verge of a revelation.
And when it came, it was as though a floodgate was opened in his mind.
Suddenly, all the disparate fragments of knowledge he had absorbed formed into a cohesive tapestry, allowing him to see the shared logic between the various styles he had learned. He was able to perceive these styles from a new perspective, understanding not only their purpose, but also much of the reasoning behind each technique and movement much deeper.
'Yes! This is it!'
…And due to this new level of insight, Sunny was also able to see a flaw in Morgan's assault. Her one and only weakness.
Yes, the young woman herself was too powerful and skilled for him to destroy. But her sword… that was a different matter. It was just a Dormant Memory, after all.
Instantly, a plan formed in his mind.
As time seemed to slow down, Sunny deflected another blow, shifted his body slightly… and then suddenly took a step toward the flashing sword, catching its blade between his left arm and his torso, and then bringing his right fist on it.
He put all of his strength behind it, increasing the weight of his gauntlet as much as he could at the last moment. All his muscles strained, on the verge of exploding.
After numerous clashes against the adamantine surface of the Mantle of the Underworld, the sword was weakened already. So when Sunny's fist connected with it, the steel blade simply shattered, exploding into numerous sharp splinters.
'...Got you!'
Burning with dark excitement, Sunny continued his movement, aiming to bring the Soul Serpent down on now defenseless Morgan before she had time to process what had happened and adjust.
…But before he could, terrible pain suddenly exploded in his chest, and all strength left his hands.
The hilt of the odachi slid from his fingers, and the dark sword silently fell to the ground.
Sunny swayed, and then looked down in confusion.
'What... what happened?'
What he saw didn't make any sense.
Morgan's pale, slender hand was protruding from his armor, blood streaming down the smooth onyx surface. She had… she had pierced the Mantle of the Underworld with her bare hand, her fingers plunging through flesh and bone to tear his heart apart.
Sunny had made a mistake.
'How… is this possible… Ascended… Memory… sixth tier…'
He looked up, darkness shrouding his vision.
'Is this… what it feels like… to die?'
Everything was dark, and all he could see now were two beautiful vermilion eyes, staring at him with regret and… disappointment?
Morgan sighed.
"Thirty-six seconds.... well done. You fought well…"
The last thing Sunny felt before slipping into nothingness was a spark of energy traveling from her hand into his body.
And then, he found himself in the black void of the Dreamscape. His pain disappeared, as did his wounds. He felt healthy and whole.
The duel was over.
As he stared into the darkness, the Spell whispered quietly:
[You have received a Memory.]
But he didn't react, looking into the void with a heavy frown on his face.
…Somewhere above, near the set of images representing different arenas, a string of words floated:
"Mongrel"
"Victories: 923"
"Defeats: 1"
Chapter 548
The Road So Far
Sunny shut down the illusion. The underground dojo was silent and submerged in darkness, almost like the lightless expanse of his soul.
Crawling out of the Dreamscape pod, he glanced at it, and then walked to the middle of the hall. There, he sat down on the cold ceramic plates of the floor, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.
Back in the illusory world created by the will of an eccentric Saint, the tournament was coming to an end. There were spectacles, festivities, and accolades being given to the winners. But he didn't care.
He didn't care about the legend of Mongrel, either. Sunny had no doubt that his inexplicable refusal of the final reward and daring challenge had created quite a stir. Were people praising Mongrel for his resolve and ambition? Or mocking his defeat and calling him a fool? In any case, the network must have been boiling right now.
Sunny couldn't be bothered to check.
He had much more important concerns.
There was the final reward he had received, given to him by Morgan of Valor despite his failure, as well as previous rewards he had no time to study well.
And there was Shadow Dance. This was what he had to concentrate on now.
Sitting in the darkness with his eyes closed, Sunny thought back to the revelation he had received during the battle with the monstrous Master and started to slowly digest it. He had the key now… all that remained was to absorb it, turn it from a fleeting feeling into an inseparable part of his mind, body, and soul.
That was going to take some time.
Fragments of Morgan's battle will helped him find unity in the discordant collection of battle styles he had amassed. His comprehension of the fundamental, governing principles of battle techniques was vastly elevated, allowing him to understand them on a deeper level.
This enlightenment was going to help Sunny grasp various styles much faster, as well as mirror more complex and sophisticated battle arts with ease. At this level, he needed to be able to recognize patterns of essence control from how the enemies moved, breathed, and attacked. The new understanding was going to help with that, too.
He just had to assimilate it all.
Time slowly passed. Sunny continued to meditate, making slow progress toward his goal. After a while, his thought began to wander.
The Dream Tournament… gave Sunny much more than he had expected.
Yes, there were powerful Memories and a breakthrough in his comprehension of Shadow Dance, but there was also something else. Different, but no less valuable.
Fighting the best of the best that the Dreamscape had to offer had helped him to put his own prowess into perspective. Facing formidable champions one after another showed Sunny just how much more powerful and experienced than them he was.
Sunny was always comparing himself to Nephis, and inevitably finding himself falling short. He chased after her with desperate resolve, but was never able to catch up. Mongrel might have been only defeated once, but Sunny had been defeated countless times. He lived in the shadow of constant failure.
But it was exactly because he had been chasing after Changing Star without rest that he had left everyone else in the dust without even noticing. Now that he had a chance to look back, Sunny finally saw just how wide the gap between himself and all the rest of the Awakened had become.
It was so wide that he had been able to cut the best of them down while barely using a quarter of his power.
Back on the Forgotten Shore, Sunny had learned a simple truth — if one wanted to better themselves, they had to challenge those who were stronger than them. Nothing was more beneficial to one's growth than fighting against a superior opponent. That was why and how he had transformed himself into a lethal killer in the span of a single year.
And even though Sunny had not understood it before, using Nephis as a reference point achieved the same result. Even if the goal of surpassing her often seemed bitterly unattainable, he had come far by struggling to do so against all odds. So, so far.
He saw it clearly now.
…But he also saw how much further he had to walk.
Just as fighting the participants of the Dream Tournament had shown him his strength, fighting Morgan had shown him his weakness.
Yes, Sunny was incredibly powerful for an Awakened of his age. But there were other giants out there, no less terrifying than him. They were older, stronger, and had years of battle experience and vast resources that he lacked. In front of them, Sunny was like an ant…
A subtle smile appeared on his face.
'...Or, maybe, like a cockroach.'
Morgan was a Master of the Great Clan Valor, and as such, she was a peak existence among those below the level of a Saint. She was kin to one of the Sovereigns. So he could use her as a benchmark to know what was the worst he could expect. Another reference point to strive for, one more superior opponent to temper himself against.
One day in the future, they might have to cross swords again. And when that happened… he knew that her vermilion eyes would not end up full of disappointment again.
Instead, they would be full of fear.
…All these thoughts traveled idly at the edges of his consciousness, while most of his mind was occupied by absorbing the key to the second step of Shadow Dance. And just as that last thought disappeared, he finally felt that the process was complete.
A moment later, the silence of the underground dojo was suddenly destroyed by the voice of the Spell. Sunny flinched, not accustomed to hearing it in the real world, let alone inside his home.
The Spell said:
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
[...Your Shadow has evolved.]
