Shadow Slave-Chapter 780 Friendly Spar

Sunny and Nephis stood opposite each other, holding training swords. Both felt more than a little disturbed by how much this scene resembled their bitter confrontation at the very top of the Crimson Spire.

…So why did Sunny feel as though he had to prove something?

A few seconds later, Sunny jumped away and shouted:

Changing Star froze while he looked around, breathing heavily.

"Damnation…"

The interior was furnished with heavy plates of armor-grade ceramic alloy and supplied with training equipment meant to withstand the rigors of Awakened power.

The alloy sword in his hand was shattered. A few plates on the floor were broken. If this continued, the repair bill for the dojo was going to really sting Sunny's wallet.

More than that… Nephis was not exactly at her best. She had just returned to the waking world yesterday. Before that, she had been a Sleeper, which meant that she had no experience of controlling soul essence whatsoever. Let alone doing it with intricate precision and efficiency of a Master, she had never even done it crudely as an Awakened.

Sunny could tell exactly how chaotic and unrestrained the flow of her essence was, because Shadow Dance now allowed him to sense the movement of the mystical energy through the bodies of his opponents.

In fact, by the time Awakened reached Ascension, controlling essence was as natural to them as breathing.

She was out of her depths.

"That… you'll have to spend some time learning how to guide your soul essence. After that, you will have to spend even more time relearning how to fight with its help. I had years of practice already, so fighting at full force won't do us any good."

"Alright, let's try this again, but without using any essence at all. It will be a pure test of skill…"

Once again, they stood opposite each other and concentrated. Each discarded their broken weapons and took new ones.

This time, thing went better. However… not by much.

Although Sunny could not master the style yet, he attuned himself to its flow and cadence enough to be able to predict some of Neph's moves with a good degree of precision.

As the result, Sunny was able to somewhat predict what Nephis was thinking of doing, while she could predict what he had predicted her actions, and change her approach on the fly… which he would also discern, and so on.

However… that was just half of the problem.

At some point, Changing Star overdid it during one of her strikes, causing her second training sword to shatter, as well. The jagged end slid forward and bit into Sunny's cheek.

Sunny jerked back and grimaced, feeling that the left side of his face was seriously torn. The wound was bad enough to cause Blood Weave to shed a few drops. It was nothing that he wouldn't be able to heal quickly, of course… but it still hurt!f𝗿𝙚e𝙬𝗲𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵ𝑒𝗹. 𝒄𝑜𝘮

His pain instantly disappeared, replaced instead by relief and gentle warmth. He felt... he felt as though he was being cleansed by something pure, precious, and sacred.

Standing close to each other, the two of them froze for a moment. Neph's hand rested on Sunny's cheek, which was swiftly healing. The soft radiance emanating from her skin reflected in her calm, grey eyes.

Sunny moved slightly, wishing to say that she didn't have to do this.

The white flames suddenly sipped under his skin…

And then engulfed him.