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Just from the way he moved, it was easy to tell that his soul core had been fully saturated a long time ago. He was indeed a powerful Awakened.

…Still, it wasn't enough time to summon a Memory.

The white sparks that were supposed to form into a glaive were just starting to manifest themselves around Jet's hand, but he was already upon her. One of Kurt's hands shot forward, a knife forged out of a strange lusterless alloy appearing in it as if out of nowhere.

The was no magic involved in its sudden appearance, though. The knife had just been hidden in a secret sheath on his forearm.

Of course, Master Jet was much faster. She blocked the strike before it could ever reach her flesh… at the last moment, however, Kurt twisted his wrist and let go of the handle, sending the knife flying past her.

…Right at Sunny.

He had barely any time to react.

The Cruel Sight was still in the process of being summoned, so Sunny used his other hand to try and swat the knife away. It jerked up, but then froze.

'No, wrong!'

A fraction of a second too late, Sunny realized that the knife was not aimed at his body.

It was aimed at his shadow.

And since he had wasted precious time being mistaken about the killer's intentions, it was too late to move his body away to make the shadow shift out of harm's way.

Luckily, Sunny's shadow could move on its own.

It suddenly went out of the sink with his movements and jumped away, letting the knife bury itself in the floor and send a net of cracks through the sturdy synthwood boards.

Shaken, Sunny belatedly jumped back.

'What is this…'

Any other Awakened would have been killed by that devious attack, most likely. To Kurt's misfortune, though, he had met a fighter well-versed in all things shadow.

A few steps away, Master Jet was already turning her block into an attack. Her fist seemed to teleport forward, tearing through the air so fast that it sent a small shockwave rolling through the underground arena.

Kurt had long disengaged, though. As soon as he threw the knife, he saturated his body with essence and lunged back, smashing through the velvet seats and momentarily appearing a dozen meters away. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was already moving again, dashing sideways.

At the same time, free more knives flew at terrible speed toward Master Jet and Sunny. Their purpose was not to kill or wound them, but just to slow them down.

One was meant for the Ascended, one for Sunny, and the last one for his shadow.

Sunny dodged the knife and summoned the shadow to wrap itself around his body, feeling his strength and speed become even more enhanced. He dashed forward, and finally felt the cool wooden surface of the Cruel Sight's hilt appear in his hand.

'Not… not too bad…'

Jet's voice tore this thought to shreds:

"Be careful! He's planning somethi…"

Before she could finish the thought, a dark smile appeared on Kurt's face.

In the next moment, something massive broke through the floorboards and struck her… or at least tried to.

Soul Reaper easily sidestepped the attack and jumped back, then suddenly twisted, making her shadow grow smaller. A fourth knife appeared out of nowhere and pierced the floor where it had been just a moment ago.

Kurt clicked his tongue.

"...So annoying."

Sunny, meanwhile, was staring at the thing that crawled from under the floor.

It looked like a mound of worn rags , with two long arms that had one too many joints growing out of it, each ending in three terrifying curved claws. The towering thing was vaguely humanoid in shape, with broad shoulders and a small head covered by a tattered hood.

He felt angry at his own stupidity.

'An Echo… curses, of course he has an Echo!'

Why else would the bastard frequent the Slaughterhouse and its underground arena?

Something didn't add up, though… whatever that thing was, it didn't look like any kind of a dormant beast Sunny had ever seen. If he had to guess, he would be willing to bet that the creature was at least of the Fallen Rank, and had at least three soul cores hiding in its raggedy carcass. Maybe more…

Weren't the arena meant for dormant Echoes?

As a vicious-looking curved sword appeared in Kurt's hands, Sunny got his answer.

Three more Nightmare Creatures suddenly appeared out of the shadows. These seemed not to be Fallen, at least. He wasn't sure if they were beasts or monsters, though… just that they looked rather menacing. One was covered in black chitin and had a long tail that ended in a jagged blade, drops of poison falling from it and leaving smoldering holes on the floor; the other was like a repulsive mix of a human and a pale centipede, its limbs numerous and thin as bone needles; the last one resembled a marionette with sharp knives sewn to its wrists.

The four Echoes surrounded Master Jet. If it was anybody else, Sunny might have been worried… Soul Reaper, though, seemed unperturbed. She simply raised her glaive and smiled darkly. The air in the underground arena suddenly felt bitterly cold.

She was probably capable of handling the Echoes without too much trouble, even if one of them was a Fallen Demon or worse.

Would she be able to do so while also paying attention to her shadow, though? That was not something people intuitively knew how to do…

As the Nightmare Creatures attacked, Kurt surrounded himself with dancing shadows and dashed forward… while Sunny simply took a step back, and suddenly appeared in his way.

The more shadows the bastard used, the easier it was for Sunny to get to him, after all.

He noticed a hint of surprise in the killer's eyes, and brought the Cruel Sight down.

The somber Memory was in the form of a short sword right now, so the almost non-existent distance between the two of them was not an issue.

Somehow, Kurt managed to dodge the silver blade and swiped at Sunny with his curved sword. Although he was incredibly fast, Sunny was much, much faster. He moved the Cruel Sight and blocked the strike without too much effort.

'Easy…'

Simultaneously, Master Jet's words echoed in his mind…

One mistake is all it takes.

Yeah… Sunny knew it all too well. Usually, he was the beneficiary of this deadly truth, and exploited the mistakes of his enemies to bring them down.

This time, however, the situation was reversed.

As something broke with a deafening crash and a roar full of agony resounded behind their backs, a triumphant spark appeared in Kurt's eyes. At the same time, his shadow suddenly moved. Even though the curved sword was already blocked, its black reflection held in the shadows hand continued to swiftly approach Sunny's flesh.

Before it could cut him down, though, the blade of the Cruel Sight suddenly ignited with blinding radiance, summoning pure sunlight into the underground arena.

Sunny had activated the [Light Eater] enchantment, which could absorb and expel light.

Because it shined much brighter than the lamps illuminating the theater, Kurt's shadow was suddenly thrown away, appearing behind him and far away from Sunny.

An expression of shock twisted the killer's gaunt face, and he swiftly jumped back, creating distance between himself and the radiant shortsword, which was already flying toward his heart.

The hilt of the Cruel Sight, however, suddenly elongated, turning into the shaft of a spear.

Before Kurt could do anything, the silver blade pierced his armor and buried itself deep in his chest.

He opened his mouth, eyes full of disbelief. Before any words could escape it, though, the spearhead turned furiously incandescent, and suddenly, the killer's body became enveloped with white flames.

In mere seconds, he had turned into ash.

Sunny sighed.

[...You have slain an Awakened human, Kurt.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

'What a pity… I hoped to receive more than a single fragment from a fellow shadow user.]

The Spell wasn't done talking, though.

[You have received an Echo.]