Fu Xuan snapped her fingers.
The world inverted.
Sunny felt space fold like paper, shadows tearing loose from causality itself as positions were reassigned without warning or mercy. One moment, he was at Kafka's flank, blade mid-swing. The next, he was ten meters above her, falling, Hail Sorrow already adjusting its trajectory before gravity could finish asserting itself.
Kafka was behind him.
No — beneath him.
Fu Xuan was where Kafka had been.
Kafka clicked her tongue.
Future sight alone was manageable. Annoying, yes, but manageable. Plenty of enemies had tried to dance ahead of causality. She learned their rhythm. She learned where they could not look.
But this?
This was simply jarring. Not only did Fu Xuan seemingly know what would happen next, but she could react to it with the snap of her finger.
An ability like Fu Xuan's was not meant to be fought. It was meant to be endured until the user collapsed from the strain.
Fu Xuan snapped again.
Sunny twisted midair and struck anyway, blade tearing through where Kafka would be, not where she was. Kafka reappeared three meters to the side, tachi already descending, only for her strike to cleave empty space as Sunny stepped through shadow and emerged at Fu Xuan's shoulder instead.
Kafka's eyes narrowed.
He was reading Fu Xuan.
Shadow Dance adjusted Sunny's body in advance, syncing him not to outcomes, but to the decision-making process that preceded them. He did not wait for Fu Xuan to act. He felt the snap coming, the shift in causality, the subtle tightening of her Essence before she imposed her will on the battlefield.
He was playing the role of a perfect backup dancer.
Fu Xuan snapped again.
Kafka's position swapped with Sunny's.
Fu Xuan was suddenly in front of Kafka.
Sunny was at her back.
Kafka barely avoided decapitation, Soul Essence flaring violently as she twisted away, coat tearing as Hail Sorrow shaved past her neck. Fu Xuan followed immediately, palm striking downward with impossible precision, targeting the exact future where Kafka's footing would fail.
Kafka skidded, boots carving trenches into the platform as she recovered, breath steady, mind racing.
This was absurd.
Sure, on their own, she could certainly take them. If Fu Xuan was with any other Master, or if Sunny had been with any other Saint, things would be difficult, but manageable.
Kafka found that there was only one duo that could pose an even greater threat, especially now that Sunny was a Master…
'Good thing I don't need to actually win.'
Her thoughts were cut off the darkness consumed her surroundings.
The ground beneath them collapsed as shadows detonated upward, massive pillars erupting in unison. The three of them were launched skyward as the rooftop disintegrated completely, alloy and debris swallowed by an expanding sea of darkness.
They fused.
They layered.
They hardened.
In seconds, a colossal platform took shape in the air above the Stargazer Navalia, a floating structure of interlocked shadows, wide enough to hold a battlefield and stable enough to mock gravity itself.
Sunny landed first, boots sinking slightly into the inky surface as he looked up.
At least half of his Shadow Essence reserves were gone.
He smiled anyway.
Fu Xuan landed beside him, posture unchanged, halo rotating steadily as if nothing about this fight was abnormal.
Kafka descended last, coat fluttering as she touched down lightly, gaze sweeping across the structure.
"Oh, theatrics…"
Fu Xuan snapped her fingers, not allowing her to finish.
Kafka vanished.
Sunny vanished.
Fu Xuan vanished.
They reappeared in a triangle formation, each one already mid-action.
Having followed her instincts, Kafka was able to block the black blade and weave th kick sent to her head. Now that she was off-balance, Sunny shifted his stance and tried to sweep her off her feet. Reflexively, Kafka leaped into the air, attempting to use Fu Xuan as a platform to jump away, only for her kick to be dodged completely.
Snap.
Kafka barely avoided impaling herself on Hail Sorrow, Sunny already adjusting, shadows sharpening and digging into her shoes, but unable to break through as she leaped away.
Her eyes widened a fraction as something slithered across her perception, cold and vast and unmistakably wrong. An instinct that she hasn't felt in a long while…
Fear.
Glancing at Sunny, Kafka immediately located the problem. His eyes seemed much darker and all-encompassing, and his pale skin seemed to imply a lack of blood — why was his face being torn off, revealing his bare facial muscles and eyes?
'Ah, a mind attack.'
Nightmare, Sunny's loyal companion, had not been incarnated into the real world. Instead, Sunny experimented, summoning the dark destrier into his Soul Sea. In doing so, it seemed as if he inherited the horse's Ability to inflict a curse of horror on his enemies.
A [Mantle of Fear].
Seeing the depths of his Aspect, Sunny couldn't help but grin in pure bliss.
Interestingly enough, the effect of the Ability seemed to have been strengthened to a degree — most likely because Sunny was a whole Rank stronger than Nightmare, increasing the effect. On the downside, his Shadow Essence was being thrown down the drain.
He couldn't add [Dreadlord] to recieve the augmentation built off of fear… but he created a gap.
And when Sunny used Shadow Step to get behind her, and when Fu Xuan snapped her fingers one more time to take his place, holding a Memory in her hand…
They had already won.