A Sunless Dream

Jumping from one foot to another, Sunny warmed up as he stared down his opponent Morgan of Valor. 'This is going to be interesting' was the thought that resounded through all those who were present.

Sunny, however, was in a bit of a mental bind. If he used any of his aspect abilities beyond shadow manipulation, shadow sense and a few more he would instantly be noticed by the lord of shadows who would kill everyone present however at the same time Sunny wanted to show off a bit for the people who spectated the battle.

'If I show her how strong I am, just imagine how much money she'll give the cafe' Sunny thought to himself, almost swooning at the idea of his store being filled with customers and several workers raking in money for him. "Are you ready?" said Morgan, she had already summoned a weapon to face off against Sunny. If she was going to fight, she had to take it seriously lest she make herself look like a fool in front of all those present.

Shockingly, Sunny was holding no weapon at all standing across from her with a nonchalant expression on his face. "Don't you need a weapon?" she asked, Sunny shook his head in response and continued jumping from one foot to another in preparation. They didn't need to exchange further words as both rushed at each other in a burst of speed.

'She's improved since I last saw her, is this her transcendent battle art?' Sunny thought to himself as he dodged a slash from Morgan which was intended to decapitate him. Jumping backwards, Sunny dodged another kick from her paying extreme attention to the movement of her shadow. This helped as good practice to determine how much of shadow dance he could use before losing himself, Sunny smirked at his own ingenious nature as he continued to dodge Morgans attacks.

"Aren't you going to atta-" Morgan's words were cut off as Sunny's palm was firmly wrapped around her face. Before she knew it, she got slammed into the ground and sent an upward slash at her assailant to gain distance from him. Although mostly undamaged, the speed of her opponent caught her off guard as she shook her head before re engaging.

She sent a diagonal slash at the shadow user however Sunny punched her in the liver sending her flying a few feet off the floor. Spinning in the air, Morgan threw her sword downwards causing Sunny to dodge it before grabbing it by the hilt. He was about to swing it at her before she dismissed it and summoned it once more into her hands.

Sunny let out a low laugh at his attempted attack before engaging with her once more. Morgan thrusted her blade at his chest however Sunny caught it with both hands before pulling the sword towards himself, before it could contact him however Sunny suddenly swung his hands in the air before sending a roundhouse kick to her jaw.

"Isn't this a bit one sided" a fire keeper whispered, Nephis nodded in silent agreement as she continued to watch the fight. Sunny was unlike the lord of shadows, although his moves were calm and calculated it felt like he was trying his hardest to not dive into greater power that she knew he had. 'He doesn't want to use shadow dance' she thought to herself as she continued to watch the battle take place.

Nephis truly wasn't expecting Sunny to beat Morgan as easily as he was, quite frankly she and Morgan had been quite comparable in their duel. 'It's a physicality difference, he's so much stronger than her that skill doesn't even play a factor' she concluded.

Morgan let out a low growl of frustration as she charged at Sunny once more, noticing that her swordsmanship wasn't going to work, she chose to use hand to hand for her next engagement with Sunny. Her hands functioned as blades anyway so any additional weapon would be unnecessary. She sent a kick to his face which Sunny dodged, as the kick moved over him though Sunny sent a punch right at her ankle causing it to bend at an unnatural angle.

Before all the force of his blow could be transferred into her ankle, thankfully her foot had moved past his range saving it from being rendered useless in the fight. Sunny charged at her once more "Look up" Sunny commented, Morgan sighed internally that he thought such an entry level trick would work on her as she ducked low to avoid a right hook which was aimed directly at her jaw.

Sunny then mid movement bent his body downwards displaying flexibility that trained gymnasts would envy and sent a blow directly down at Morgans head as she was crouched on the floor. Morgan's instincts allowed her to raise her hands above her head to block the blow and it sent vibrations throughout her body that caused Morgan to shiver.

Morgan sent a low kick towards his chest which connected only for Sunny to not even move. His body was tensed to it's limits to absorb all the impact without leaving a scratch and he looked at Morgan's retreating form "Good choice of attack-" not allowing Sunny to finish his sentence, Morgan closed the distance between the two.

She sent punches, kicks, elbows at Sunny's body and smiled at the flurry she was able to land after minutes of failure. Dust had been kicked up by the speed of her movements and one of the jabs she had sent at his head caused a sonic boom which shook the floor beneath them. Once the dust settled, she was Sunny standing there without a single injury on his body, he wiped off some dust from his shoulder as he looked at her with the annoyingly confident gaze, he had been looking at her with the entire fight.

"I'm confused, what's the point of a flurry of attacks if none of them will damage me." Sunny shook his head at her with a disappointed expression "If you want to do damage, you should do it like this" with that, Sunny was in front of her sending a knee driving Morgan into the air. Morgan spat out blood and before she could leave Sunny's range he spun around and hit her with a spinning back elbow to the jaw sending her flying upwards even more.

'Any more than this and she might seriously get hurt' Sunny thought to himself as he grabbed her leg and slammed her into the ground. This time though he did it with less force lest he end up in trouble with the king of swords for injuring his daughter heavily. Morgan laid flat on her back looking at the sky with baited breaths, blood flowed down her skull coating her face in it.

"That was, amazing" she said in awe, since she had become a saint, she had never been overwhelmed like that. This defeat didn't even anger her, rather, she was excited. She wanted to fight him again and once more after that. Walking towards her, Sunny shook his head and bent down with a smile "You Valor guys are crazy" Sunny said as he sighed at her. Immediately after, Sunny's eyes widened "Will you let me be part of Clan Valor now? I'll even move my business near here if you offer financial support of course."

Nephis sighed listening to Sunny continue to ramble like an excited child at the opportunity of gaining more money than he already had. 'Underneath the humour, he's ridiculously strong. I almost want to spar with him myself' sadly, she already had enough on her mind to reflect on after her fight with the lord of shadows. Adding any more fights to go over would simply be too tedious.

Slowly walking towards Sunny, she grabbed him by the shoulder pulling him out of his rambles to Morgan on his business adventures. "Are you sure the lord of shadows is six times stronger than you? That seems far fetched" she asked, Sunny shook his head at her knowingly "Yeah, I'm sure. When I stabbed him through the back even though he was injured he was beating me without even trying, it's what happens when you abandon yourself in shadow dance"

Nephis thought to herself for a moment before dismissing her thoughts from her mind. Then, she pulled him closer and whispered in his ear "Do you want to go on that date tomorrow?" she looked down at Morgan making sure she didn't hear. Thankfully, she didn't as she continued to look at the sky likely mentally reviewing the fight she had just had.

Sunny turned red slightly and shook his head "Yes please, let me go make sure everything is ready" and with that, Sunny shadow stepped back to his cafe which also acted as his home. He had to look his best for Nephis.