No Return (Shadow Slave Fan-Fic)

Sunny was sprawled in the mud, looking at the sky. He didn't even have to catch his breath since the whole fight took less than ten seconds from start to finish. No one was dead, wounded or even bruised ... well, with the exception of the scavenger.

Levi had picked up Cassie and started walking towards the two.

He walked over to Nephis and checked if she was okay. Apart from slight damage to her makeshift seaweed clothes, everything seemed to be alright. She glanced at Sunny.

"Memory?"

He shook his head.

Meanwhile , Levi and Cassie finally reached them. Levi spoke up:

"Nicely killed."

"Thanks.." Sunny replied with a smirk.

Nephis was done breaking apart the scavenger's carapace. The shimmering soul shard was already in her hand. Without saying anything, she tossed it to Sunny.

He caught the crystal and looked at her with surprise.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

Nephis blinked and stayed quiet for a few seconds. Then she said as a matter of fact:

"I don't have pockets."

"Oh."

Levi also got to skinning the corpse after getting Cassie off his back gently. It only took a few minutes after he was finished.. He lent the skin to Sunny.. 

"Am I your load truck or something?"

Levi rolled his eyes at him , and tossed the pack of skin at him. Then he walked to Cassie and helped her get onto his back once again.

***

Through the day , Nephis and Sunny had managed to kill 3 scavengers. They used the same strategy every time they attacked one , and it seemed to be working effectively every time too.

Levi himself wasn't bothering to help them since they seemed to be doing just fine. He focused on his own task , he needed to protect Cassie. Fortunately , no danger approached them.

Currently, they were waiting on the edge of the labyrinth path leading directly to the giant statue of the headless knight. There was a group of scavengers between them and the statue, moving past without any haste.

The sunset was near, but they still had time.

Slowly, minutes flowed by. At some point, Nephis gave the command to move.

Helping Cassie along, Sunny followed Changing Star and quickly traversed the open space between the labyrinth and the statue. Now, they only had to get on top of it.

"I will carry Cassie like the last time."

Nephis gave him a skeptical look. But in repones , Levi nodded calmly.

Both of them had got to the top rather quickly. And now It was Levi's turn to climb it up , carrying Cassie with himself...

He had no choice but to activate [Corrosion] on himself. As he did his veins took a black color.. as they were a strike contrast to his pale skin , they were pulsing as if they were alive.

Feeling the pulsing veins around his back , since she was pressed against him , she asked in a worried tone.

"Are you alright.. is something happening..?"

"Don't worry , hold on tight.."

After a climb , that had felt like it was too long , Levi finally reached the top. His muscles were burning.. He slowly let Cassie go..

And when he finally was going to sit , he felt 2 sharp gazes on him.. Sunny and Nephis was staring at him.. because he was covered in black veins and pulsed like they were alive..

He sighed.

"It is a part of my aspect.."

"What does it do..?" Nephis asked.

"Make me more powerful , at least that is what I have discovered for now."

As the night began to descend, the three Sleepers sat in the center of the circular stone platform and rested. As they did not bring any materials to make a fire and it was already too late, there was no way to cook food. They ended up chewing on the strips of dried meat, passing the bottle of limitless water around.

After some time, Nephis gave Sunny a sign to take out the spoils of today's journey. He took out the four shimmering soul shards and put them on the ground.

Without any discussion, Changing Star moved two crystals in his direction and took two for herself. Then, she gave one of hers to Cassia.

And.. surprisingly Cassie lent her Soul Shard to Levi. Levi raised a brow at her , and Nephis looked at her skeptically too.

"Uh.. since your the one in charge of guarding me.. I would like you to have it.."

Levi wasn't going to complain.. after all.. it was a free soul shard. 

"Thank you.." he said as he took it. He absorbed it carefully.

After a while, Sunny took another crystal out of the rucksack and moved all three to Nephis.

The silver-haired girl looked at him with surprise.

"Don't you want ... to grow stronger?"

Sunny grinned.

"Of course, I do. But these won't do me much good right now. It's no secret that you are the main fighting force of our group."

"The stronger you are, the better our chances of survival will get. Plus, it's not a gift. It's a trade."

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"A ... trade? What do you want?"

Sunny deliberated for a few seconds before answering.

"It's rather simple. I will give you these soul shards, and all other soul shards I earn on the way to that castle ... "

Then, he looked her in the eyes and said:

"In return, you will teach me how to fight."

***

Nephis looked at him and contemplated. This time, she remained silent longer than usual.

Levi could see that Sunny felt nervous under her gaze. After all he was being evaluated by the Changing Star. He smiled to himself as he watched them..

After some time, she took the soul shards and nodded.

"Okay."

Levi himself took the skin of the scavenger he had collected and started sewing , he was focused on his job at hand , but he was also listening in on their chatter.

"So when do we start?"

Nephis shrugged.

"Now."

Levi glanced at the sun, which was already almost gone , with a sigh he put the skin away , he had only done some progress in sewing brassiere and shorts for Nephis. 

He looked at them. Were they going to train in complete darkness? 

"We will start with some words. That will be enough for today."

"Cassie, you listen too."

Sunny and Cassia turned to Nephis, listening to her like two obedient students. Despite the fact that their age was more or less similar, both knew that, in terms of martial prowess, their companion had authority that was as beyond theirs as a dragon's might was beyond that of a worm.

Levi was a bit surprised when Changing Star didn't include him on the lesson... It seems she had a high opinion of him when it came to combat. He didn't know how to feel.. should he feel proud of himself? Or maybe wary..? He was having a hard time trusting Nephis..

Nephis thought for a while and then said:

"Mastery of combat can be divided into two aspects. One is body, and the other one is mind. Training the body is not easy, but it is rather simple. All you need is repetition and experience. In a fight, things happen too fast to consider every detail in the moment. That's why your technique must exist in your muscles and bones, so much so that it almost becomes an instinct."

She paused.

"You can achieve initial results through repetition. Then, it must be cemented through experience. The more battle experience you have, the deeper a technique will be assimilated into your body. There is no other way. A thousand hours of training won't be as impactful as one real fight. Only those who survive countless battles can be truly in command of the body."

That made a lot of sense. Levi himself had a lot of battle experience against humans in the outskirts , even if he never killed anyone he had always fought them with the intention to kill. If you never had that intention.. you would be killed first. 

He had experience because he had lived in a dangerous area.. but what about Changing Star? What had she done to gain this much battle experience at the age of eighteen?

"Training the mind, however, is not simple at all. That is because, once you reach a certain level of skill, the mind is where the true combat takes place. The outcome is often decided before your body begins to move. And to master the mind, the first step is to understand the essence of combat. However, very few people truly do."

She looked at them and asked:

"What do you think that essence is?"

After a minute or so, Cassie finally answered:

"Victory."

And almost at the same time, Sunny said:

"Survival."

Changing Star shook her head.

"No."

While they were talking... no one really batted an eye on Levi.. he felt kind of excluded.. Clearing this thought from his head , he also thought about that question. For him.. the essence of combat was..

'Destroying my enemy..'

That sentence could be interpreted in many ways.. Destroying his enemy until their body couldn't function.. or ..cause their death - Murder.

Then she rubbed her neck and pierced them with a cold, fierce gaze.

"The essence of combat is murder."

Cassie flinched and opened her eyes wide. Sunny frowned a little. Nephis, however, did not seem to care. Levi smiled a bit.. it seemed Changing Star and him didn't have a lot of difference when it came to opinions about combat. In the same calm tone, she continued:

"At the core of it, there is only this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In the end, one of you will be killed, and the other one will be the killer. Everything else is just noise."

"Style doesn't matter. Weapons don't matter. Reason and intent do not matter. The only thing that matters is to be the last one standing. In this way, anything you do in combat must be viewed as only serving one of two purposes: either to kill your enemy or to prevent the enemy from killing you."

Nephis lowered her eyes.

"If you can understand that, you will have enough clarity to master the mind."

***

After that conversation everyone was laying on their respective corners. Judging by the breathing style.. Sunny wasn't asleep. But Nephis and Cassie had long slept.

Levi himself was laying on his side.. Using his rucksack as a pillow. He felt a bit tired , and he was happy to feel tired. It seems there was still a long time before he lost his humanity to his flaw. Levi was determined.. or rather desperate not to lose himself to his flaw.

Soon he drifted to a peaceful sleep.

...In the early morning, he was awakened by a piercing scream.