Shadow Slave novel Chapter 760

In the underground dojo beneath Sunny's home, steel was ringing against steel.

Rain was moving with a speed and precision unusual for a mundane girl of her age. Her nascent battle style was grounded, calculated, and sharp, merging steady defense with unexpected and explosive attacks. The heavy training blade sang in her hands, cutting the air as if it possessed an actual edge.

The awkwardness of youth was almost gone from her body, ceding to the promise of maturity. She was much more fit and in charge of her physicality, as well, fighting with confidence and poise that would have left most of her privileged classmates consumed by envy.

As much as Sunny wanted to, he could not boast that her progress was all thanks to him.

Currently, he was facing his little sister, deflecting her blows with one hand while keeping another in his pocket. No matter what Rain did, the soft alloy stick he was holding seemed to be impenetrable, inevitable, and unbreakable. All her attacks crashed and shattered against it, and all her defenses seemed useless against her tutor's lazy movements.

Time after time, the stick suddenly shot forward and hit her on the shoulder, bounced off of her forehead, or stung her hands. Nevertheless, the girl did not allow herself to get frustrated and continued to exert herself without losing concentration.

It was that will, cool mind, and meticulous discipline that had allowed Rain to advance so fast.

'Not bad…'

Sunny deflected another swift attack, stepped forward, and poked the girl in the chest with the tip of his stick.

"Here. You're dead. Again. Ah… I'm tired of fighting a corpse. Let's stop!"

Rain jumped back and grew still, breathing heavily as drops of sweat rolled down her pale face. She did not, however, lower her blade. Sunny had taught her the peril of lowering one's guard a long time ago.

...Those bruises took a long time to heal.

He grinned, then scratched his back with the stick and offered her the Endless Spring. After the girl was done quenching her first, Sunny sat down on the floor and asked in a commanding tone:

"Where did I hit you?"

Rain sat down, too, and answered steadily:

"Head, right shoulder, right hand, left forearm, chest, right thigh, left shoulder, head, neck, left shoulder, left hand, chest, head, chest."

He smiled with satisfaction:

"When did I put my hand in the pocket?"

She frowned.

"...After hitting me on the thigh for the first time."

Sunny nodded.

"In which direction was I looking two hits before that?"

Rain gritted her teeth.

"Up! You were rolling your eyes!"

He chuckled.

"Good. Your awareness is… sufficient, for that stage."

The young girl threw a menacing look at him, then turned away. After a few moments, she sighed and suddenly asked:

"Sunny... am I any good?"

Sunny hesitated, then shrugged.

"You're doing alright."

Rain remained silent for a while.

"But not as good as you were, right?"

That caused Sunny to laugh.

"What? No… you are way better than I was! I had not even seen a sword before my First Nightmare, let alone held one. In fact, when I got a chance to arm myself with a sword there, I chose to drop it. Because it was too heavy."

Rain turned to him with surprise.

"What? Then how did you survive?"

Sunny thought for a bit, then shrugged.

"Well… I strangled one enemy with a chain. Poisoned two more. Fed the last one to a Nightmare Creature, and then simply got lucky. I guess you can say that I just survived out of spite."

He hesitated, and then added:

"Actually, that is a very important lesson. I've told you before… sure, knowing how to wield a weapon is important. But having a mind that is more dangerous than a weapon is paramount. The world is a vicious place, Rain. You have to be vicious too. To survive."