Shadow Slave | School Days

Daily question: How many Morgan's could Mordret beat

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Water dripped from Sunny's hair, forcing his darkened locks to stick to his body as he meandered through the hallways of the underworld. Cold steel remained clad around his neck and hands as he moved, the sound of Morgan's footsteps following idly behind him as he continued to walk in perfect silence.

Suddenly, Morgan came to a stop. The aura she exuded shifted slightly, becoming more serious as he felt her gaze pass over his body. She had blindfolded him, forcing him to fight without his vision to improve his senses. And yet, the lack of visual input remained oddly peaceful.

For even the briefest of moments, it allowed him to focus on other things aside from the fact he was her slave.

The sound of his chains unfurling from his neck reached his ears as Sunny bent his neck from side to side, seeing if there was any stiffness as he bit his lip at Morgan's touch, trying his hardest to suppress the feeling of repulsion she had imbued into his very soul.

Her voice was calm and clear, Sunny knew exactly what he needed to do. There was a target, and he was to kill them quickly and quietly without alerting them for even a moment while remaining completely blind, and so he had to rely on echolocation to operate.

"How many are there?" She asked, curious to see the fruits of his training shine through. "Four, one is holding a weapon." Sunny replied, his voice blank and respectful as he felt Morgan smile pleasantly. "How far away are they?" Narrowing his eyes behind his blindfold, Sunny clicked his teeth. They were quite close.

"Less than forty feet away." Morgan's warm hands passed over his damp hair as she spun him around, cupping his face in her hands as she pulled him close to her form. "You're such a good boy. Now go, hunt for me." Slowly and reluctantly releasing Sunny from her grip, she watched him turn around, crouching low as his body prepared to kill the men.

That marked the first of thousands of missions he did for the vile fiend.

--

Sunny's fingers dug into his hair once more as he suppressed another scream, slamming his head against the wall, he did anything to forget the flood of memories that threatened to invade into his mind at every moment. And yet, his lack of pain sensitivity only served to work against him.

"No, no, no, no! Not again! Morgan, Morgan, Morgan! I'll kill you; I'll kill you!" Sunny groaned; his eyes entirely focused on the wall in front of him as he continued to dig his fingers directly into his skull. Eubin's strings wrapped themselves firmly around his body, weakly yanking him in her direction as he suddenly came face to face with her downed form.

"Sunny, what is wrong with you?" she asked, less aggressive than concerned as tears began to trail from Sunny's eyes. Raising a hand, she weakly wiped them away from his face, her strings strained against his body as he attempted to flee from her touch before she quickly pulled him towards her, hitting him in a pressure point and knocking him unconscious.

She couldn't worry about him right now, the stitches on her families as well as Ki Song's bodies were holding firm but only time would tell how useful they were. Mordret had purposefully not cut deep, almost reluctant to kill them and yet he still overwhelmed all of them with such minor effort.

'I guess that means more training, how wonderful.' She commented, turning her attention to Nephis and Mordret who were about to engage in a fight that decided if the immortal flame ended with her or if she lived to see another day.

"Look, so here's how this is going to work. I'm not going to use my sword and I'm only going to hit you ten times. Keep in mind I'll be counting the seconds too, if you don't hit me at all, I'll kill you? Understand?"

His playful tone did not even betray for a moment the murderous intentions that he had towards the girl. Truly, he was quite undecided if he would allow Nephis to live even if she was to land a hit on him, it was all a mere pastime for him. People truly showed their colours whenever the press of death truly weighed upon their shoulders, and now it was time to see what colours Nephis had to show.

'Everyone is out right now; Sunny just had a mental breakdown. But none of that matters. Just one person in front of me, just one hit. I can do this; he isn't taking me seriously.' Her body was battered, she could feel her brain screaming at her to stop moving and yet if she obeyed all that was left was a brutal death.

Taking initiative, Nephis lunged forward, her body a mess of exhaustion and pain, but her footwork remained precise. She feinted right, then drove forward with a sudden burst of speed, twisting her torso to deliver a sharp elbow strike at his chest. She knew that wasn't enough, far from it. And yet she moved anyway.

Mordret's hand flicked outward—marking his first attack with overwhelming pressure as he flicked his fingers against her forearm. It shouldn't have been much, yet a simple but effective movement sent her flying backward. She barely twisted in time to land on her feet, pain flaring up within her arm.

'My arm felt like it got twisted, not hit. Yet he flicked me.' She noted as Mordret raised a single finger. "That's one." Nephis didn't respond. There was no time to be shaken. She pushed forward again, shifting her approach, minimizing her movements, feinting less.

Each movement was precious, she didn't have infinite stamina, nor could she heal. Her energy was a vital resource that she couldn't afford to waste. Mordret continued to watch her with a lazy expression, his hand twitching slightly as he consciously resisted the urge to kill her in a single movement.

He was indulging her.

She weaved through the space, attempting to close the distance. This time, she didn't strike immediately. Instead, she angled herself low, her good hand reaching for his torso. If she could just make contact, a single grab to end it all—

His second attack pierced through the air in a blur. A knee strike that moved faster than her eyes could track, slamming her in the stomach with such force that the wind was knocked from her lungs before she could even react. In the next moment, she was rolling across the ground, choking on the impact as her vision swam.

'If this keeps going, I'll die, I'll really die!' A cold, inevitable realisation arrived in her mind. There wasn't anyone to save her, all her allies were rendered incapable of fighting, only able to watch on as Nephis fought for her life in front of this monster.

"That's two Changing Star! What moves will you show me next!?" Mordret mocked, watching as Nephis pushed herself upright, gasping for air. The pain was incomprehensible, yet it was nothing unique. It was just pain after all. Forcing herself to rise again, she stared at him with resolve burning in her eyes, the drive to survive flaming within her soul.

"I'm going to gouge your eyes out early if you keep looking at me like that. Come." Mordret ordered coldly. Nephis narrowed her eyes. Every second counted, she need to change something, think faster, predict further, subsume Mordret's very essence into the core of her being. Place herself in his shoes.

Yes, he was overwhelmingly stronger, yes, he was overwhelmingly faster. But what did that matter? She was going to win no matter how absurd the odds were, a single attack was all that was needed.

Without a warning, she exploded forward again. She twisted, pivoting her leg as best she could despite its weakness. Her movements were unpredictable, frantic with desperation yet calculated. Mordret's eyes never left her form for even a moment as he tracked down the course of her attack.

Then, he struck again. A simple palm thrust aimed at her shoulder. She barely had time to react, raising her uninjured arm to block. The moment his palm connected, her entire arm went numb, and she was sent hurtling sideways, crashing into the cement walls with a yelp of agony.

"And that's three! Strike! Maybe I'll keep you alive and torture you, wait no, that would be too Morgan like. Or does torturing people run in the family?" His question received no answer, Nephis coughed violently, blood spilling from her lips. Her mind raced. If she kept this up, she wouldn't even touch him if he gave her years!

Making it worse, he wasn't even using his sword. She always got the impression he was reliant on it, and yet he was beating her from pillar to post without even using his blade! Predicting his movements only served to torture her mind further, she had no way of putting herself in the shoes of a man who's strength was born through such agony.

The difference between them wasn't just immense, it was absurd.

"Less than a minute left, do I hit you seven more times, or do you want to let me kill you?" His patience was running out, he didn't understand how humans could exist and be this weak. Quite frankly, he was surprised that gravity itself hadn't crushed her with how weak she was.

Nephis exhaled slowly. The pain, injuries and creeping despair—all of it faded into the background, A cold, burning focus settled into her bones. She was running out of time. And yet, her mind felt sharp. The idea of time had been thrown out of it completely.

'Does she even notice she's drooling? Is she like this when she's having—never mind.'

She surged forward—something within her had changed. Her footwork adjusted mid-step, subtly yet decisively. She didn't even think about dodging the next blow, she simply moved. Mordret's eyes narrowed slightly. His forth attack came swiftly—a sweeping kick aimed at her ribs.

Nephis reacted instantly, pivoting at the last possible moment, just enough for the strike to graze her instead of landing completely. The blow had been imbued with far more force than the previous ones, if it landed her ribs would have been collapsed inward. And yet, she didn't even pay it any mind.

She closed the distance, reached out—and barely missed.

Mordret's fifth attack was immediate. His hand grasped at the fabric of her collar and twisted, yanking her upward before driving his knee into her gut. Nephis' vision swam, her mind not registering the pain. But before she could collapse, he threw her aside like a ragdoll.

"Five more."

She hit the ground hard, coughing violently. 'Kill yourself, kill your emotions, rush in, no mistakes, no errors, move forward, keep moving.' Thousands of thoughts per minute. She adjusted mid-step. And it had worked.

Mordret's movements were superior in every way imaginable compared to hers, yet they were still movements. Predictable in the tiniest of ways, if she stopped thinking like her own individual fighter, but rather a machine who hunted for those tiny motions that she could predict perfectly, she could win.

No hesitation. No wasted thought. Only motion.

Mordret's head tilted slightly. "Are you still going? Is this your last stand? I can already see the headlines, 'Changing Star of the immortal flame dishes out a victorious final stand as she prevents her victim from seeking justice!' How odious! Who do you even think you are?"

Nephis didn't answer.

Then she moved.

Fast.

Mordret's sixth attack came—a straight punch, deceptively simple but carrying monstrous force. Nephis' body twisted mid-dash, moving around it like flowing water. Closing in further and further to her golden zone. His seventh attack came the moment she sidestepped—the back of his hand swiping towards her head.

She ducked, moving so fluidly that the motion seemed ethereal in nature. Mordret's eyes glimmered with interest in response. She wasn't fighting against his attacks, trying to respond with equal force, she wove through them like a liquid.

His eighth attack—a downward strike—hit nothing but empty air. His ninth, a knee aimed at her stomach, brushed against her clothes but failed to land. She was adapting at an unnatural pace. She wasn't reacting anymore. Moving perfectly in sync with the flow of battle. Never giving her mind a moment of reprieve.

Finally, the tenth attack came. His fist flew forward, far faster than his previous nine strikes. A decisive blow. But Nephis was already moving. Before his fist could connect, she twisted—not away, but into the strike. Her body used the friction to propel herself forward as she shot a backwards elbow towards his head.

Her jaw trembled; her body screamed in agony.

Then, contact.

The pain she felt was indescribable.

Blood poured from her elbow as her eyes shook for a moment, what had happened? Everything was perfect! She had done everything right! And yet, Mordret stood, her elbow lodged in his mouth as he bit down on it with vicious glee. Gritting her teeth, she forced her body to move once more.

Just one more movement.

She spun her body, elbow still lodged in his mouth, her movement forcing her to dislocate her entire shoulder as she slammed a second elbow into his head. The force of the blow sent Mordret skidding back slightly, her blood leaking from his mouth as he licked his lips slightly.

"What type of woman dislocates her own shoulder to win a fight?" He asked mildly, massaging his jaw comically as he stared her down. She was holding her dislocated shoulder, blood pouring from every area of her body as she stared at Mordret expectantly. Hope flickering within her eyes.

"With three seconds left...you did it." In an instant, he was before her, his palm shot outward, everyone still conscious tensing for her death as a smile arrived on Mordret's face. He was patting Nephis on the head like she was a dog, smiling brightly as he looked at her.

"That... was a clean hit. Well done." Turning to Ki Song, a slight frown arrived on his face as he sighed in defeat. "Song, we are no longer allies. From now on, anything you wish to take from me will need to be taken by force, and the same shall be expected vice versa. And with that, I'll see you in the dream realm."

Like a whisper in the wind, Mordret disappeared. Despite still standing on her feet, Nephis had passed out a long time ago as Ki Song rose shakily to her feet to study her form. "An improvised move that surpassed even me, you're going places."

Fatigue taking over her soul, she too was forced to sit down at Nephis' side. Gathering her strength quickly.

Soon, it would be time for war. A war that encompassed the entire dream realm.