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…Of course, the Blood Weave was enhanced by it, too, boosting its restorative powers. The virtuous cycle was complete, simultaneously making him much stronger and bringing him away from death's doorstep.

Changing Star's sword whistled through the air, aiming to pierce his flesh… and was thrown aside by the forceful push of the austere tachi. For the first time since the beginning of their brutal fight, Sunny didn't reel because of the violent shock reverberating through his bones.

Now, he had reached the absolute pinnacle of his power potential. With his core fully saturated, the shadow wrapped around his body, the Blood Blossom filling his Memories with frenzied might, and the Unbroken enchantment of the stalwart blade doing the same for his body, Sunny was as strong as he would ever be before becoming an Awakened.

Now, he was finally able to match Nephis…

Almost.

Astoundingly, incredibly, irrationally, she was still stronger.

'How?! How, damn it?!'

Sunny moved and fought, blood seeping from his terrible wounds. Although the gap in power between him and Changing Star had diminished significantly, it was still there, making him miss his attacks by a fraction of a second, be too late to block and deflect by a hair's breadth.

He was still losing.

As the two of them clashed furiously, sparks of burning metal flying into the air from the point where their swords met, the light of the artificial sun had grown dim and unstable, and the Crimson Spire continued to break apart.

At some point, an enormous piece of granite crashed into the vast balcony, showering them with a rain of sharp splinters. A net of cracks appeared on the stone surface beneath their feet, slowly widening as more debris fell down.

Both of them were thrown to the ground by the shockwave of the collision, but immediately got up, lunging at each other with dark, murderous determination. Sunny dodged the tip of the silver longsword and thrust his tachi forward, leaving a deep cut on Neph's forearm, slicing her muscles apart. At the same time, she made a step forward and slammed the pommel of her sword into his mauled clavicle, making Sunny's mind explode with pain.

He heard someone scream, their voice hoarse and full of indescribable suffering, then realized a moment later that that bestial voice was his own.

Soon, the scream turned into a growl.

He wasn't done yet. He refused to be defeated, he refused to give up…

He still had a chance to win.

…Because through all of this, Sunny had continued to push himself toward mastering the first step of the Shadow Dance.

Just before something shattered in his chest, thus causing the Midnight Shard to open the well of hidden power, he had sensed an approaching epiphany.

It was already there, at the precipice of his mind. But his body was not strong enough, not malleable enough to manifest it into reality.

Or at least it had not been before receiving the boon of the [Unbroken].

Now, everything changed. Sunny felt that he would be able to make a breakthrough with the help of the powerful enchantment. Every strike, every block, every step brought him closer to finally being able to complete the foundation of his elusive battle art, to bring his vision of it to fruition.

Taking a pained breath, he deflected another vicious attack, hesitated for a split second… and looked away from Nephis.

Instead of watching her body and her movements, he instead gazed at her shadow.

The shadow shifted slightly, facing away from the glowing ring of the Gateway. Its shadow hands moved, raising a shadow sword. The shadow sword fell, aiming to cut the shadow's enemy down.

And suddenly, it felt as though a door opened in his mind.

Everything suddenly fell into place. Everything connected. What was fragmented and obscured before now became clear and whole. It was…

Complete.

Before Neph's sword could reach him, Sunny evaded it with a slight shift and raised the Midnight Shard.

A moment later, he delivered an identical strike, forcing her to retreat.

'...Like that?'

Changing Star was already attacking again, moving with speed and precision that seemed inhuman. Sunny mirrored her movements, and their blades collided in the air, causing a rain of sparks to fly down.

His style changed slightly, growing more graceful. Smooth, flowing. Deadly.

Just like hers.

'No, this is wrong.'

The point of Shadow Dance was not to mirror every movement, to become a literal copy. It was to understand the very essence of the enemy's style and turn it against them.

Sunny scowled and changed his grip on the Midnight Shard slightly, then attacked, manifesting the essence of Changing Star's technique into his own body. Suddenly, he was able to see her intentions with more clarity, understand the pattern of her steps better.

He was able to perform every action she had performed, but also those that she had not used yet. After all, he was not a reflection, but a shadow. He wasn't replicating Changing Star's movements; instead, he was replicating Changing Star herself.

The very heart of her battle technique.

Neph's eyes widened when she felt the sudden change in his style. When they clashed again, Sunny seemed to be able to mirror her every move, throwing the flow of combat into a violent turmoil. His movements were sharper, faster, filled with more meaningful intent.

Her attacks slowed down for a few moments, then grew even more violent and ferocious.

Only now, they seemed to be less measured, less… controlled.

It was as though she had lost her absolute grasp on the cadence of the battle, and was now compensating for it with brute strength.

Sunny suspected that the small advantage he had gained wasn't going to last long. Nephis was too smart and too gifted to allow this lack of understanding to persist. Soon, she was going to see through the guiding principle of his newly established style and adjust to resist it.

Even he couldn't predict what was going to happen then.

That is why, despite his best judgment, Sunny gritted his teeth and escalated his attacks, sacrificing any semblance of defense in the process.

This had to end fast.

...At first, he was able to see Neph's intentions with a considerable measure of clarity, allowing him to react to her attacks slightly before she started to move. When possible, he mirrored her strikes to throw the flow of the battle into chaos. His own came with a tiny delay, lagging behind the enemy by a fraction of a second.

Then, they happened at the same time.

And then, miraculously, his attacks started to come in advance of Changing Star's, even if the difference was barely perceptible.

That was all Sunny needed.

In the terrible crescendo of their merciless duel, blood fell to the cracking stone of the Gateway balcony like crimson rain.

He dashed forward, turning his torso sideways to let the silver longsword miss his chest and rip through his bicep instead. As a blinding wave of pain flooded his mind, Sunny caught Neph's arm with his own.

And then, twisting it, brought his fist on her elbow, shattering it.

As pieces of bloodied bone tore through her skin, Nephis shrieked terribly and made an awkward move, trying to smash him in the head with the flat of her sword. But because it was now only held in one hand, the force and speed of that strike were not as formidable as that of her previous attacks.

Diving under the blade of the silver longsword, Sunny fell to one knee…

And pushed the Midnight Shard forward in a horizontal cut, its blade tearing through Neph's abdomen and exiting in a flood of blood from her back.

Pulled by the inertia of her attack, Nephis made a step forward and came to a sudden stop. As the sword slid from her grip and clattered to the cold stones, she swayed a little.

And then fell heavily to the ground.

The radiance of her skin was slowly fading away.

With his back to her, Sunny stared into the darkness. After a few moments, he closed his eyes and sighed.

'...Over.'

A second or two later, he stood up, turned around, and walked toward the broken figure of the young woman, who was still trying to reach for her sword, blood spilling from her mouth.

As Sunny's shadow fell on Nephis, she gritted her teeth and spat:

"It's… it's not over yet… I still can… I can…"

Ruthlessly throwing the silver longword away with the tip of his boot, Sunny looked at her from above and said in a tired, listless voice:

"You can't. It's over, Neph."

Then, he looked away, at the shining dais of the Gateway. His face was hidden in the shadows.

"You're done."

***

He won.

Looking at the shining Gateway, Sunny tasted that word.

Why was it so bitter? Why was it so painful?

Why wasn't it sweet and joyous?

With a dark grimace, he glanced at Nephis, and then turned away.

What could he say to her that had any meaning? One of them was going to escape this hell, and the other was going to stay. One was victorious, and the other was defeated.

One of them was going to live, and the other was going to die.

Any words he could find would be empty...

But not empty enough to express the hollow sense in his heart.

His feet trembled as he made the first step toward the Gateway.

'...To hell with this!'

Why did his heart have to feel so heavy?! Why wasn't he celebrating?!

He deserved to be saved. He struggled and suffered to get to come this far, enduring countless horrors that would have broken and destroyed anyone else. He bled and fought, clawing his way to this point, never allowing himself to rest or stop growing. He — he! — was the strongest.

He was the last one left standing!

Not the countless Nightmare Creatures of the Forgotten Shore. Not Harus, that damned hunchback. Not Gunlaug, the mighty Bright Lord. Not Caster, the strongest even among other Legacies.

Not even Changing Star, the last daughter of the legendary Immortal Flace clan.

No, it was him. A homeless kid from the outskirt with no place to call his own, someone whom no one had ever expected to survive, let alone thrive in the ruthless embrace of the Nightmare Spell. Whom everyone considered to be below them, an inconsequential nobody with no chance of ever becoming anything else.

Well… he showed them all, had he not?

Gritting his teeth in anger, Sunny made another step.

'To hell with you!'

…Behind him, Nephis had finally abandoned her hopeless attempts to reach her sword. As Sunny walked away, she slowly crawled a few steps, then arduously pushed herself and sat up, leaning on a piece of rubble. The light of the Gateway reflected in her eyes as she watched him go, hunched, seemingly unable to move anymore.

Stepping over a wide crack in the stone that was slowly approaching the shimmering circle of runes, Sunny came to the iron ring.

Now, only one step separated him from freedom.

…But instead of making it, he suddenly froze, looking into the distance with a grim expression on his face.

A second passed by, then another. The Crimson Spire shuddered once again, sending more stone falling down.

As the light of the artificial sun grew so dim that it was almost impossible to see, Sunny swayed a little, then turned around and walked back to Nephis.

Stopping above her, he lingered for a moment, then kneeled, so that their faces were on the same level.

Looking Neph right in the eyes, Sunny raised his hands and clapped several times.

Finally, he said in a terrible, furious voice:

"Congratulations. You almost fooled me…"