A week had passed since their brush with the Fallen Terror. Following that harrowing clash, the journey since had been uneventful — or at least, uneventful by the standards of a place that was actively trying to kill them.
Although they had yet to receive any new memories since then, the battle had not been without its rewards. Both of them had grown stronger — Mahoraga more so than Sunny.
The awakening of his aspect legacy had allowed them to coast through the desert with ease, though what exactly it was, Sunny couldn't say — the aspect legacy remained a mystery to him.
From what he could gather, Mahoraga's aspect legacy was similar to his in one regard — both being battle arts. His aspect legacy manifested as a faint yellowish-hazel energy covering his body and increased the force behind his strikes.
How Mahoraga managed to control his essence as a Sleeper still puzzled Sunny, though in the end he'd stopped losing sleep over it and simply chalked it up to the aspect legacy itself. As best he could tell, it revolved around the manipulation of his essence.
But what truly nagged at him was something else — occasionally, without warning, a black flash would tear through the air, and whatever Mahoraga struck would be met with double the force of the original blow.
And it was precisely that which Sunny was thinking about when Mahoraga nearly took his head off.
He was able to duck, barely as Mahoraga's fist carved through the space where his skull had been a moment prior.
Sunny exhaled and stepped back, resetting his footing on the sand, his hand remained tight around Serpent as he shifted his stance.
Mahoraga's foul-mouthed familiar was nowhere to be seen, concealed somewhere on his person, as usual, no doubt spending the time scheming against him.
Sunny clicked his tongue, Yeah, yeah… keep plotting.
He advanced abruptly, forcing Sunny to react immediately as he brought his blade up to intercept. But Mahoraga changed his momentum in a half second, using his leg to shove himself to his right.
Sunny's eyes narrowed as the sudden shift threw off his timing. He twisted his wrists mid-motion, dragging the blade across his body to guard his flank instead, but Mahoraga was already inside his reach.
He effortlessly slipped through the block and landed a straight punch at the side of his armour.
A dull, crushing force drove into his side, the armor holding firm for a fraction of a second before the weight of the blow bled through it anyway. [Mantle of the Underworld] absorbed the strike, but it couldn't fully nullify it.
He staggered a step back, as pain flared through his ribs. The mantle had taken the hit, even dented under the pressure, but it had done little to soften what came after.
Every time that yellowish-hazel essence wrapped around Mahoraga's limbs, his attacks changed — losing any semblance of sharpness. There was a blunt, crushing texture to them, like being struck by a heavy warhammer.
He exhaled slowly, forcing his body to steady despite the lingering ache, his grip tightening around Serpent as his mind worked through it.
Does his essence… have a texture to it?Sunny frowned faintly. Never heard of that. Then again… I've never seen someone casually hit twice as hard out of nowhere either.
His frown deepened.
Curse it! How am I supposed to survive that?!
Feeling his armour break apart and his body grow purple, Sunny scrambled to defend himself, but to no avail. Mahoraga easily crushed his attempts to resist and delivered another series of devastating strikes, moving with terrifying precision and speed.
Sunny let the broken mantle disappear into sparks before the next blow could land. If that thing kept taking hits like that, it wouldn't just dent… it would break.
He commanded two of his shadows to wrap around his body. 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.
Sunny slid back across the sand, creating distance as his mind raced, abandoning any thought of trading blows head-on. Without the mantle, a single mistake would decommission him.
Despite the relentless beating, a faint smile tugged at Sunny's lips. This was exactly what he needed — over the past week, with every clash, he had been inching closer to grasping the second step of Shadow Dance. The pressure, the constant threat of death… it was forcing him to learn.
Without hesitation, Sunny dismissed Serpent, the odachi dissolving into wisps of darkness that slipped back into him. If he wanted to take the next step of his aspect legacy, he had to let go of the crutch he'd grown used to.
Fighting with a weapon had long since become second nature, but that was precisely the problem. To advance, he needed to broaden his understanding of combat — strip it down and grasp the basic principles behind different battle styles instead of relying on a single approach.
He had to analyse, comprehend, and mirror foreign styles with sufficient speed instead of relying on a singular battle art.
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 sleeper, all he could achieve was not being instantly obliterated.
Even with two shadows augmenting his body, Sunny saw no hope of winning, despite the fact that Mahoraga was holding back his strength. He was simply a monster.
Mahoraga stepped in again, relentless, giving him no time to recover, no space to think. Every strike flowed into the next with suffocating precision, his movements devoid of hesitation.
He twisted, ducked, shifted his weight just enough to turn killing blows into grazing impacts, his body screaming in protest as each near miss shaved closer than the last.
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.
The chaos of battle — the countless movements, counters, feints, and brutal exchanges no longer felt like a storm he was barely surviving. Instead, it began to slow, to unravel, revealing the threads beneath. Every style he had seen, every motion he had struggled to imitate, every failed attempt to grasp their essence — they aligned.
Not as separate techniques.
But as variations of the same underlying truth.
Sunny inhaled sharply, Yes! Yes! Yes! This is it.
Sunny's perception sharpened to a terrifying degree as the world around him seemed to fracture into layers. Every shift of weight, every contraction of muscle, every breath, every attack seemed to reveal Mahoraga's battle art.
Mahoraga's strength wasn't just in the power behind his blows. It was in how seamlessly he connected them. There was no pause in them. Each motion existed to lead into the next, to build pressure, to corner opponents, to force mistakes.
And so, Sunny responded.
He shifted his center of gravity by a fraction, allowing the incoming strike to pass along the line of least resistance. He used his hand to guide Mahoraga's — the fist that should have shattered his jaw instead scraped across his shoulder, cracking his bone but allowing him to continue.
The difference was negligible but the implication was unimaginable — Mahoraga's wasn't untouchable anymore.
However, understanding did not grant power.
Mahoraga was still stronger, faster, and more experienced than Sunny.
But with this new level of insight, Sunny was also able to see a flaw in his assault. His one and only weakness — his underlying philosophy of sacrifice.
He didn't mind getting hit as long as his opponent lost more. And for the first time since the battle began, he chose to exploit it.
His breathing steadied despite the fractures lacing his ribs, despite the dull tremor running through his limbs. His body shifted, subtly at first, then with increasing intent. His guard loosened. His stance opened.
Mahoraga saw it.
There was no hesitation in his response. His body moved immediately, his fist shrouded in essence lunged forward.
Sunny stepped into the trap he had laid himself.
His body surged forward, his last shadow wrapped around his body in a desperate gamble. Sunny's fist rose in a direct line, aimed squarely at Mahoraga's chin — a clean, decisive strike.
At the same time, Mahoraga reached for him, golden threads unfurled and wove themselves across his body until they formed a seamless shell that clung to him like a second skin — [Mantle of The Underworld] had manifested.
[Mantle of The Underworld] would not protect him from the full brunt of Mahoraga's strike, because it was not meant to — it existed to ensure Sunny's survival long enough for his own attack to land.
Sunny smiled.
Because for the first time, he had forced Mahoraga into a losing trade. His fist closed the final distance, cutting through the air, mere inches away from target.
...Got you!
But an instant later, excruciating pain tore through his chest and his hands went limp. Sunny swayed, and then looked down in confusion.
What... what happened?
In that instant, the answer arrived.
For a fraction of a second, the energy surrounding Mahoraga's strike compressed into a singular point, as though space itself had been distorted and fractured outwards in a black flash.
This was not a simple doubling of force.
It was amplification.
His arm had broke through the impregnable defences of [Mantle of The Underworld] and reached Sunny. His bones shattered completely, not fracturing but collapsing under the overwhelming force.
How… is this possible… Ascended… Memory… sixth tier…
He looked up, darkness shrouding his vision.
Is this… what it feels like… to die?
Sunny's vision dimmed rapidly, the edges of the world collapsing into darkness as his consciousness fled his grasp.
As he stared into the darkness, the Spell whispered quietly:
[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]
[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]
[Your Shadow has evolved.]
______
A/N - Man this chapter took too long, I wanted the moment of Sunny unlocking the Second Step of Shadow Dance to be impactful so I kept rewriting the chapter and adding shit to it.
Also, I'll give you guys an extra chapter if we hit 130 powerstones by tomorrow. Yes I AM that greedy