Feeling his flesh break apart and his heart grow cold, Sunny scrambled to defend himself, but to no avail. Morgan easily crushed his attempts to resist and delivered another series of devastating strikes, moving with terrifying precision and speed. Her movements were fluid and natural, as if wielding a weapon was as innate to her as breathing.
As if battle was her native environment instead of peace.
Her swordsmanship was unlike anything Sunny had ever seen, too. It wasn't even as though the sword served as an extension of Morgan's arm… it was as though she herself was the sword, and so every motion she made was the purest expression of cold, merciless killing intent.
And yet, he could clearly tell that she was holding back most of her strength. This may have not even have been a percent of what she was actually capable of… Saints could be world destroyers with the right Aspect.
Sunny was instantly overwhelmed, and there was nothing he could do to maintain even a sliver of control. The situation was utterly hopeless. This feeling of absolute, bitter powerlessness… he had not experienced it in a long time.
Attain a breakthrough to the second step of Shadow Dance? Sunny wasn't even sure that he would be able to stay alive for another couple of seconds.
...He had to think of something fast.
Following a mental command, the Mantle of the Underworld received one of his charms. Immediately, the familiar, but strongly enhanced pain of his soul being torn apart flooded his whole being with agony.
Sunny didn't hope that the Broken Oath would help him defeat Morgan — after all, as a Saint, she had a much more powerful soul. All he wanted was a second of respite.
Morgan suddenly slowed down, allowing him to disengage and take several steps back. For a moment, there was a slight grimace on her face, but it was quickly replaced by the same relaxed, amused smile.
"A nice trick."
Sunny bent slightly and vomited a mouthful of blood, thin streams of crimson flowing through the fangs of the black mask. The sight of it was both frightening and striking.
When he straightened, something about him changed.
…Well, of course it did. He had commanded two shadows resting on the Autumn Leaf to wrap themselves around his body, after all. 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.
Morgan noticed the subtle shift in his posture, and tilted her head slightly. Her smile suddenly widened.
"...Good. This is good. This is much better!"
Sunny dismissed the Broken Oath, but before the charm even had time to disappear, the young woman was already upon him once again in a whirlwind of ruthless steel. However, this time, things were different.
Or rather… slightly different.
'What… what the actual hell?!'
Sunny was still hopelessly outmatched, barely managing to survive under the merciless barrage of lightning-fast, cruel attacks.
Previously, he had judged that his peak physical might would be on par with a newly Ascended Master. Even though Sunny wasn't currently using the third shadow — it had to remain on the ground to keep his secrets — the gap between Morgan and him was supposed to be lessened to a single Rank.
And yet, it seemed like power wasn't going to bridge the distance between them enough for him to stand a chance.
'Come… on!'
And yet, he was able to do something now, at least. Even though Morgan was still dominating the fight and delivering one devastating blow after another, Sunny could perceive her movements and react.
He dodged one strike, then deflected another. A third one still connected with his elbow, sending a blinding flash of pain through his body, but it was already an incredible achievement.
Morgan seemed pleased by this new development.
"Yes! Finally! You are supposed to be a Saint killer, aren't you? Show me! Come on, fight!"
'What… is she even… talking about?!'
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 Saint, all he could achieve was not being instantly obliterated.
But that was it.
Even with two shadows augmenting his body, Sunny saw no hope of winning — despite the fact that Morgan was holding back her strength. She was simply a monster. No… she was something much more terrible. He had faced and killed many Monsters, many Demons, and many Devils… but none of them could compare to this young woman. She made the Wormvine look like child's play… which must have been true from her perspective.
However… even if he was going to lose... it was all not in vain.
With every blow he suffered, every strike he somehow defended against, Sunny was learning. Morgan's battle style was too elevated for him to grasp, but every glimpse of it he saw was fueling something inside of him.
It was as though he had laid a solid foundation by absorbing numerous styles, and now they were being forged into something different, something whole by the insane pressure fighting this monstrous creature exerted on him.
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.
Suddenly, all the disparate fragments of knowledge he had absorbed formed into a cohesive tapestry, allowing him to see the shared logic between the various styles he had learned. He was able to perceive these styles from a new perspective, understanding not only their purpose, but also much of the reasoning behind each technique and movement much deeper.
'Yes! This is it!'
…And due to this new level of insight, Sunny was also able to see a flaw in Morgan's assault. Her one and only weakness.
Yes, the young woman herself was too powerful and skilled for him to destroy. But her sword… that was a different matter. It was just a Dormant Memory, after all.
Instantly, a plan formed in his mind.
As time seemed to slow down, Sunny deflected another blow, shifted his body slightly… and then suddenly took a step toward the flashing sword, catching it's blade between his left arm and his torso, and then bringing his right fist on it.
He put all of his strength behind it, increasing the weight of his gauntlet as much as he could at the last moment. All his muscles strained, on the verge of exploding.
After numerous clashes against the adamantine surface of the Mantle of the Underworld, the sword was weakened already. So when Sunny's fist connected with it, the steel blade simply shattered, exploding into numerous sharp splinters.
'...Got you!'
As he burned with dark excitement, he quickly buried the sensation. Immediately, he saw her body shift. His shadow looked towards hers. His mind tried to read hers.
Before the attack even began, Sunny had moved.
A piercing hand tore through the air around him, battering his mere Awakened frame with terrible shockwaves.
Despite that, his body held. Preservation reinforced his bones as Serpent flew through the air.
Morgan's lips parted in surprise, clearly not having expected him to read that move. Of course, she perceived time much slower than he did, so she easily readjusted her attack.
They were both bearers of War God's lineage. Naturally, they were part of the only few who could comprehend the other in combat.
The difference in might, however, was the deciding factor. Sunny wouldn't be able to win. He wouldn't even survive sixty seconds.
But there was one thing he could do.
Everything he had witnessed, shadowed, improved, and ingrained into his body burned his very soul. Suddenly, his gaze shifted, seeing holes in both their movements.
He began to understand things that he never even considered, while also deepening his perception of that which he thought he knew. The comprehensive development that he had experienced against Yanqing began to ram against the walls of his mind, pushing him to a single, absolute answer.
Morgan could see despite being blinded. She could wield her sword through nothing but instinct alone. Without her sword, she became the blade herself, he entire body becoming a dangerous weapon.
But a weapon was useless if it didn't hit it's target.
Sunny's body had already moved into a spin after avoiding the first attack. The second scraped against Weaver's Mask, but couldn't even scratch it. Even so, the mere force of the blow caused Sunny to cough up blood. But that didn't matter.
His sword had already reached her neck.
Time seemed to freeze as Serpent harmlessly grazed her skin, stopped by the natural defenses of a Transcendent's body. Sunny was only an Awakened, and Serpent was only Dormant. There was no chance of inflicting an injury on her, not like Solvane, who had a knife specifically designed to kill her.
But… he made his point.
In terms of skill, Sunny was superior.
And Morgan must have realized that as well, considering how her movements froze to a halt. Her hand was still extended in a chopping motion, almost brushing against his own neck.
"…Huh."
She must have been baffled. After all, she, a Saint bearing War's lineage, had just been struck by an Awakened who seemed to enjoy playing around in a game like the Dreamscape.
Sunny couldn't care less. Currently, his body was tearing itself apart from attempting things he had no reason to do, while also getting hit by a Saint multiple times. He almost wanted to cry.
But he was also pretty joyful. He had landed a hit!
'…That actually sounds impressive in this context. What the hell?'
Just as Sunny mentally shook his head in astonishment, his neck snapped.
He almost thought he shook his head too hard, but no.
Instead, Morgan's hand had somehow flashed to a completely different position without him noticing, and had smacked him so hard on Weaver's Mask that his neck couldn't take it.
'…Wow.'
There was a bloodthirsty grin on her face, as if she was ecstatic about something.
"It was beautiful, truly. Grow stronger, Mongrel. Next time we meet, bring that partner of yours along, will you?"
'Talks too much… oh, I'm dead.'
The last thing Sunny felt before slipping into nothingness was a spark of energy traveling from her hand into his body.
And then, he found himself in the black void of the Dreamscape. His pain disappeared, as did his wounds. He felt healthy and whole.
The duel was over.
As he stared into the darkness, the Spell whispered quietly:
[You have received a Memory.]
But he didn't react, looking into the void with a heavy frown on his face.
…Somewhere above, near the set of images representing different arenas, a string of words floated:
"Mongrel"
"Victories: 923"
"Defeats: 1"