A Sunless Dream

Sounds of clashing steel sang through the air as Sunny and Orion continued their insidious dance to the death. Two men, looking nearly identical put their lives on the line, prepared to burn every ounce of energy within their body and soul to take the life of the other.

A sword flew past Sunny's head as he ducked down to dodge the blow, he felt it take off a portion of his hair as he threw a punch forward intending to destroy the organs of his foe. Orion raised a knee to block the blow before sending out a kick that flew at Sunny's head.

Sunny tilted his head to the side as he dodged the blow only for Orion to shift his posture with his foot midair. He used his foot as a hook to Pull Sunny's head downwards, raising his knee to deliver a blow right at Sunny's nose.

Then, before Sunny could recover, he took his attacking leg back once more before driving a knee into Sunny's stomach. "That's cute" Sunny growled out; he stood mostly unharmed by the blow before attempting to copy Orion's movements.

Throwing his leg past Orion's head, he attempted to pull it back however Orion kicked at the foot being used for support hitting Sunny right in the knee. Before he could lose balance, Sunny created a foot out of shadows to keep him steady only for it to abandon him and attempt to attack him in a flash.

"The shadows listen to me too" Orion mocked as he levelled a punch at Sunny's skull, Sunny raised both arms to block the blow and kicked upwards stalling Orion's counterattack. Then, leaping to his feet Sunny swung his sword downwards at Orion's skull only for Orion to catch the sword in his teeth biting down hard and shattering the blade.

Pulling his arm backwards Sunny attempted to recreate the sword made of shadows however Orion would never grant him such respite. Sending a thrust of his sword at Sunny's stomach, he intended to impale him and allow him to slowly bleed out as he watched Orion kill his friends.

Sunny would never let that happen.

Stepping on the flat side of the sword, Sunny drove his blade into the ground before sending a kick at Orion's face. For the first time in the entire fight, the blow connected. Snapping Orion's head backwards, Sunny grinned internally celebrating his slight victory in the exchange.

Orion slowly brought his head back before grinning "Not even a bruise" in a second, his fist was being driven into Sunny's guard sending him deeper and deeper into the floor as Orion continued to rain blows down on his body.

Timing the gap in his blows perfectly, Sunny slashed at Orion's abdomen with his sword only for Orion to catch the sword as it moved and lift Sunny off the floor by the blade.

Before Sunny could respond, he was slammed neck first into the cold ground of the citadel. Preparing his body for a follow up, Sunny rolled with the blow and jumped backwards to create space however sparks flew through the air killing his anticipation. Nephis had stepped into the battlefield.

'What the fuck is she doing' Sunny thought as he jumped backwards allowing the two to engage. He was almost certain hardly four minutes had passed as he continued to watch the engagement with gritted teeth. 'It was just getting to the good part too.'

Parrying a blow from Nephis, Orion began to circle his opponent slowly before his sword blazed with incandescent flames.

"This pain, the one you feel from your flaw. Kids have made me feel more pain than that!" granted, the child in question was Sunny however Nephis didn't need to know that as her sword lit up with flames as well.

Closing the distance, Orion swung his sword through the air with Nephis dodging slightly. The heat from Orions flames made her wince as she clashed swords with Orion. Their flames shot through the air in a wide wall as instinctively Nephis leaned to the side dodging a shadow spear that was aimed at her kidney.

"Light makes shadows stronger you know" Orion mocked before kicking her in the stomach, soon after he aimed his sword at her with an amused grin on his face.

The citadel went dark as all the flames in the room disappeared, in a split second, the room was then pierced with blinding light as his sword turned from one of shadow to one of pure light. Light extended from his arms as it flew towards Nephis with blinding speeds.

'How can he do that?' Nephis thought to herself as she moved out of the way. Nephis had moved so fast that her shadow had been left behind however she was too stressed to notice as she appeared behind the lord of shadows.

Swinging her sword upwards, Orion turned around and blocked her sword with his own before attempting to kick out her feet with a leg sweep. Nephis jumped upwards before swinging her sword down at him only for Orion to create another sword in his free hand and swing it upwards.

Nephis was sent into the air slightly as her eyes widened. She had lost the clash much sooner than she had expected as she winced in pain. Orion had thrust his fist into her stomach with such force that she almost spat out blood.

Uncharacteristically, Nephis let out a bloody grin as she grabbed onto his fist setting it alight. She was immediately slammed onto the floor as Orion stared at her with a blank expression "No wonder you were doing so horridly, you were baiting me in to burn my arm off."

With a sigh, he stared at his arm once more before releasing his own set of flames. The flames consumed his arm as well as the flames within it, and in a second, he was completely unharmed. "If your flames are this weak it's no wonder I can burn them, no?" he grinned at her before slowly pacing towards her.

'Find the essence of his fighting style' Nephis thought to herself before rushing at Orion once more. She dodged a punch of his and sent a kick upwards which he blocked in response, then Nephis thrust her sword at his stomach, stepping on his feet so his mobility was limited.

The flat end of a sword emerged from his stomach as sparks flew between the two. Nephis appeared to look surprised but quickly shook it off as she grabbed Orion by the shoulders preparing to burn the both of them.

Orion's eyes widened slightly before he created two shadow arms from his back to grab a hold of her and slam her to the ground. Nephis leapt up to continue the engagement before Orion kicked her feet out from beneath her, he then proceeded to stab both of her hands to the floor with his blades.

"You can do better than this, I know you can" suddenly, he dodged an arrow from Kai before sending a glare at the auburn-haired saint.

"Oh, I get it. Your ability to sense longing is really coming in handy. You're guilty! That's why you can't fight me properly!"

Creating a transparent wall of shadows between the two of them, he raised his voice so all present could hear "My face reminds you of what you did right? Have you not told him?" his mocking voice elicited a look of anger from Nephis as she allowed the sword to rip through her hands to free them.

Flames swirled all around her healing the injuries as she stared at Orion with gritted teeth "Not another word out of your mouth scum!" she shouted, her display of anger was only greeted with a grin by Orion.

"One hit, if I hit you once from now on, I'm going to let everyone here know how much of a wretched pathetic piece of shit you are! Let's see if they'll follow you then!"