Shadow Slave

1620 Deeper Layer

A transcendent battle art was meant to incorporate the user's Aspect into their combat technique. What did it mean for Sunny?

The first element he had to consciouslyand comprehensively integrate into his battle style was the easiest — it was his ability to perceive the movement through shadows, as well as see what was happening behind his back. That did not sound like much, compared to his other abilities, but was actually a drastic change.

Almost every battle style he had learned in the past was meant to be practiced by humans, after all, and humans only had two eyes. That naturally dictated how they fought, and how the masters who taught young warriors to wield weapons constructed their styles.

However, Sunny was not beholden to these standards. Therefore, he had spent plenty of time relearning the very basics of combat, building his technique in a way that allowed him to fully utilize that subtle, but confounding advantage.

The second element was even more fundamental, since it concerned movement. Movement lay at the base of every battle style… footwork was just as indispensable as striking and defending, if not more so. Not only did it dictate the balance and strength available to a fighter, but it also controlled space.

Advancing and retreating, evading and pressing the opponent — both offense and defense relied on controlling space. Sunny was not beholden to space, either, because he was supremely mobile due to Shadow Step.

That was perhaps his greatest advantage in a battle, and therefore, he meticulously altered his way of thinking about space in accordance with this advantage, practically rebuilding his battle style around it.

The third element was… group battle. It was a strange matter, considering that Sunny was both an individual and possessed multiple bodies.

Back on the Forgotten Shore, he and Nephis had been able to slay Carapace Scavengers by acting together — one served as bait, another delivered a fatal blow from behind. That simple manner of teamwork illustrated perfectly why the boon of fighting in a group was not additive, but instead multiplicative. The sum was greater than its parts, and Sunny alone… had seven parts.

So, he had trained himself relentlessly to fight while controlling many bodies at the same time, learning how to efficiently use group tactics without anyone's help.

The fourth element had to do with Blood Weave and Bone Weave. Most living things were hard to kill unless you aimed at their vital points, and due to these two Attributes, Sunny lacked several vulnerabilities that most humans possessed. He wouldn't bleed to death even if his artery was sliced open, and his bones were immensely resilient, to the point that breaking them was almost impossible.

Therefore, he had to teach himself how to make use of these traits. It was the simplest, but also the hardest mindset alteration he had to absorb — because it went against his most powerful instinct, the instinct of self-preservation. Nevertheless, Sunny had succeeded in changing his behavior in a manner that allowed him to strategically sacrifice non-vital parts of himself.

The fifth element was about another Attribute of his, the Onyx Shell. Among other things, it allowed Sunny to freely change his weight… or was it mass? He could never tell the difference.

In any case, such an ability opened up a vast ocean of possibilities for a skilled warrior, from increasing the impact of his blows to greatly augmenting his speed, solidifying his balance, and even performing actions that would otherwise be impossible without toppling like a cut tree.

Sunny had incorporated the effects of the [Feather of Truth] trait of the Onyx Shell into his battle style a while ago, but since he had had nothing but time in the last four years, he took this opportunity to fully reconsider it, learning how to use it not only comprehensively, but also instinctually. Now, he did not even have to think about utilizing that adaptable trait to enhance his every move.

The sixth element was the most broad, and concerned Shadow Manifestation. Sunny had the ability to manifest endless variations of tangible shadows, roughly divided into two methods. The first was to summon external implements like shadow hands or chains… this method was destructive, but lost too much of its potency in battles against truly powerful opponents.

As such, it was best used against large groups of weaker foes, or for pure utility.

The second method was to alter the shape of his body with manifested shadows, from summoning additional limbs to building towering Shadow Shells. The shape of the Shells Sunny could create was, theoretically, endless — so, it was hard to pinpoint exactly how he was supposed to incorporate this method into his battle art.

However, in practice, his repertoire of Shells was currently limited. Since Sunny did not possess a True Name anymore, there was nothing to anchor his self, and therefore, assuming the shapes of alien creatures was extremely dangerous — unless he wished to lose himself entirely. So, he only used a handful of Shells. In exchange, these Shells had been perfected by him to a stellar degree.

Currently, he was slowly translating his battle art to each of these Shells.

And finally, there was the seventh element… or rather, there wasn't.

Sunny did not know what the last element of his transcendent battle art would be, but suspected that once he mastered it, his technique would become a supreme battle art.

Wishful thinking…

Sunny and Nephis clashed in another exchange, the silver sword and the black odachi howling as they repeatedly attracted and repelled each other. A few seconds later, the two Saints disengaged and spent a moment to realign themselves.

He frowned behind the mask.

The odachi he had manifested from a wild shadow was infused with his Transcendent essence, which in turn was made more potent by Soul Weave. So, it was akin to a Transcendent weapon, and a powerful one at that. The odachi had held up well against Neph's quasi-Supreme longsword.

But just then, he had felt a crack forming along the length of its blade. The odachi was not going to last much longer… Sunny could easily repair it, of course, but doing so would mean breaking his promise to abstain from using his Aspect.

More than that, he would be cheating — it wasn't a coincidence that his weapon was failing, after all. Instead, it was the result of Nephis consciously targeting the same spot on the dark blade over and over again, without him noticing.

'How devious…'

Sunny couldn't help but smile.

Nephis might have forgotten her teacher, but it seemed like she remembered the lessons.

This duel of theirs would have to come to an end shortly.

It was a shame.

He didn't attack, this time, waiting for her to come to him.

'Can I understand what is wrong before the duel is over?'

If Sunny remembered his own considerations when elevating his battle style to a transcendent art, he could try to imagine what Nephis had done.

What elements did her battle art consist of, apart from the essence technique?

Her Aspect was much more straightforward than his. Sunny had a wide array of traits and abilities that made him a jack-of-all-trades, skirting the line between combat prowess and utility, but leaning slightly more toward the latter.

Of the other two Divine Aspects he knew of, Mordret's was pure utility with hardly any battle application. Neph's, on the contrary, was all about combat prowess and destructiveness.

So, how would she have altered her battle style after becoming a Saint?

[Longing] was not applicable in combat, so it shouldn't have affected anything. The ability to control fire was probably similar to the first method of using Shadow Manifestation, mostly needed when facing swarms of weak abominations, or maybe enemy fortifications.

The most obvious change would, of course, have to do with her Transformation Ability. She must have developed a robust technique for aerial combat, where there was no ground to stand upon and therefore no footwork, with a completely different relationship between mass, force, counterforce, and impact. She would have also paid more attention to archery, using it against enemies on the ground.

Sunny was less knowledgeable about the two forms Nephis could assume apart from the winged one, so he couldn't even start to guess what her combat approach would be in those states.

The most important change, however, had to be about her very first Ability… the wondrous ability to heal herself. Just like Sunny had to rethink his relationship with physical harm due to Blood Weave and Bone Weave, Nephis would have forced herself to change the way she fought in accordance with her own inconceivable vitality.

Sunny had seen her destroy the vessel of the Skinwalker after having her neck broken. In Twilight, Soul Stealer had delivered her a thousand fatal wounds, and yet, that wasn't enough to stop her. Scarily enough, if one thought about it... Nephis was nearly undying.

He did not know what it would take to fully destroy her, and hoped that he would never find out. However… ever since the battle in Twilight, it felt as though Nephis had come to terms with her chilling power. If she had incorporated it into her battle art…

What would it feel like, to fight against a nearly-indestructible enemy? Someone who would continue to fight despite being pierced by your weapon, could sacrifice a limb to wound you and then immediately restore it, could not be slowed down even by the most gruesome injuries, was too accustomed to harrowing pain to care about it, would not bleed to death… and simply would not die before killing you?

He shivered slightly.

'Not unsolvable, but definitely frightening.'

Yes… she had to have rebuilt her battle style around that dreadful Ability of hers, disregarding the torturous curse of her Flaw.

There was another element Sunny had to consider, though.

Neph's Aspect Legacy. The tree with seven branches, each bearing fruits of knowledge. She had mastered one, [Knowledge of Fire], in Twilight. Had she mastered others after that?

Was there a way to incorporate the Sorcery of Names into a battle art?

He defended against her increasingly violent assault, contemplating.

But even after coming up with all these guesses, Sunny simply couldn't comprehend her battle art. It was just too strange, making no sense, as if something was interfering with his ability to understand it.

Stumped, he remembered the first time he had tried to shadow Nephis… long before he even knew what it meant to shadow someone.

It had happened on the Forgotten Shore, when they were traveling toward the Hollow Mountains. Back then, Nephis and Caster were sparring with each other, and Sunny sent his shadow to observe her.

That was how he had received a revelation that resulted in Shadow Dance, to begin with.

Ironically, Nephis had not even used her most precious battle style in the spar against Caster. Since she knew that he had been sent to kill her, she guarded her true skill against him, showing a different and less lethal technique instead.

…Sunny eyes suddenly widened slightly behind the mask.

'No way.'

But, at that moment, he finally understood why he was having so much trouble. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious why he couldn't peer into the secrets of Neph's transcendent battle art.

...It was because she wasn't showing it, to begin with. Instead, she was deceiving everyone with a lesser, fabricated version of it.

Was it for his benefit? No, not likely. She was probably fooling the entirety of Valor with this splendid performance. After all, despite being one of the most renowned champions of the Great Clan Valor… she was ultimately its most insidious enemy.

Sunny suppressed a grin.

'As expected. Ah, my curiosity is thoroughly satisfied.'

Nephis was not using her Aspect, and on top of that, she had created a whole fake transcendent battle art to deceive her enemies. Therefore, trying to learn its secrets was of no real benefit to Sunny.

He felt his odachi slowly coming undone and sighed.

'Shall we end this duel, then?'

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