Changing Star frowned. She had been waiting for the last ten minutes for her opponent to arrive, yet he hadn't shown up.
Her frustration reached the point where she was tapping her finger on her forearm, a deep frown drawn on her face.
Far from her sight, a shadow was hidden, watching the room with an unaltered expression, looking around but seeing nothing.
Finally, after another five minutes, Changing Star was about to leave when she noticed two glowing red eyes that hadn't been there moments before.
The red eyes looked at Changing Star with a sharp, inhuman gaze; the darkness surrounding her seemed to grow colder and more oppressive. The atmosphere had changed.
Finally, a yawn was heard, and from the darkness emerged Shade, who stretched his arms lazily. The room seemed to return to normal.
"Oh, sorry for the delay, but I was arguing with someone about what the best skill continuation was to defeat Colossus in Colossus Ragnarok," said Shade, preempting Nephis's question.
Nephis said nothing.
"So, Miss Changing Star, when do we start?"
Nephis shrugged.
"Now," she responded immediately.
"Hmm." Shade made a thoughtful noise, looking towards a corner, making a dark shadow freeze under his gaze.
"Alright, it'll be a one-round duel. Do you want weapons or hand-to-hand? Either is fine with me."
Nephis narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion.
"With swords."
Shade nodded, walking to the dojo's equipment room and taking out two simple wooden swords. He took one and threw the other to Nephis, who caught the weapon between her hands.
Shade began walking, resting the sword on his shoulder with an amused but attentive look.
"Let's make a bet."
"What kind of bet?"
"Oh, it's simple. If you defeat me, I'll answer one question—any question you want, about the past or the future, what will happen in a year, three years, or ten years. What do you say?" asked Shade.
"And what do you get if you defeat me?"
"Oh, well, I didn't think of that, but I suppose you'll owe me a favor. One I can ask for whenever I want. What do you say?"
Nephis thought for a few seconds.
"How do I know you won't try to trick me?"
"I hate lies, and I wouldn't gain anything by lying to you. Anyway, do you accept or not?"
"Alright, I accept this deal," said Nephis with a serious voice.
Shade gave a wide-eyed smile.
"Excellent. Now, shall we start?"
When Shade asked his question, the darkness seemed to grow more restless than before.
Changing Star looked at the Lord of Darkness fixedly, her face unchanged.
After an instant, both moved.
Shade lunged with great speed at his opponent. The wooden sword in his hand aimed to strike his opponent mercilessly, yet his sword was blocked by Nephis's own sword, leaving a dry sound that reverberated through the dojo hall.
Their swords exerted force against each other for an instant before separating. Almost immediately, Nephis attacked from a different angle, and Shade blocked.
Then Shade attacked, was blocked, and then blocked another attack. Over and over, their swords clashed.
Shade knew he was stronger, faster, more agile, more intelligent, and creative. However, his opponent had something he lacked: combat experience. Shade had only existed for about 36 hours in Uriel's mind. As Uriel's Flaw, Shade had taken Uriel's qualities and elevated them to a higher level.
It wasn't that he was stronger than Uriel—since they were the same person—but unlike Uriel, he was interested in fighting and learning.
Shade felt each impact as the wooden swords struck again and again.
'She's definitely strong, especially considering she has a Divine Aspect. She's not going to explode one of her cores, right?'
'Hey, Shade, don't worry about that. She probably doesn't have many Fragments at this point. And as for exploding her core, that won't happen until three years from now, in the Tomb of Ariel,' replied Uriel.
'Oh, right,' he responded, deflecting the sword and then launching a kick that his opponent dodged by crouching, only to launch a low kick.
Jumping backward, he landed on both feet and resumed the attack.
Both exchanged blows and a complicated web of feints and attacks that were read by their opponent.
Shade moved his wooden sword with millimeter precision towards Nephis's face, which she avoided by mere millimeters—or so she thought—when a thin cut appeared below her left eye, from which a thin line of blood seeped, but a white flame sealed the wound instantly.
'Oh, so it's like a passive,' thought Shade.
'What do you think, Uriel?'
'Hmm, that it's a cheat ability. That's obvious.'
'Right. But her Flaw was feeling pain from being burned, right?'
'Yes.'
'Do you think she could be mentally tortured with Weaver's mask?'
'Well, considering it inverts things, she'd feel everything at the same time and intensely, so technically that's worse,' said Uriel.
'So you can't mentally torture a Flaw like that.'
'Exactly.'
Shade and Nephis separated without a word; sweat dripped down their bodies, and their breathing was somewhat erratic.
Shade maintained the same expression, but his eyes were barely on the battle since he was still talking mentally with Uriel, though he paid enough attention not to lose the fight.
After a moment, both lunged at each other again, resuming their combat.
Shade noted with slight amusement and consternation how Nephis was taking his own movements and trying to adapt them to her fighting style, which was really unfair.
'I guess I'll do the same,' he thought to himself, changing his combat stance and style, replicating Nephis's movements that he had memorized and trying to adapt them to his own style.
Nephis was puzzled by this but didn't give up. Soon, the two fighters were moving with the same movements, attacks, and feints, bringing the fight to a stalemate eventually.
Shade saw Nephis abandon her fighting style and decide to go for an attack without defense, focusing entirely on offense.
Shade simply blinked, beginning to deflect and block the deadly rain of attacks. Though not a combat expert, Shade prided himself on his talent for reading his enemies in combat, so he could see many errors in such a risky and unrefined style.
With a block, Shade left Changing Star exposed. However, instead of attacking directly out of excitement, he executed his attack coldly.
When he was about to land the final blow, he stopped, and a moment later, blocked the sword that, had he attacked directly, would have landed a considerable blow.
Exerting force, he completely opened Nephis's defense, and a moment later, his sword struck her chin.
Due to the force of the blow, Nephis felt her body become incredibly light.
Falling backward, Nephis tried to get up, but when she took a step, her strength abandoned her. She fell to the wooden floor with a dry thud, the wooden sword in her hand loosening.
Shade blinked once, twice.
"I guess I won," he said doubtfully before smiling. Then a slightly worried look turned towards Changing Star.
Approaching her, he turned her over and noticed she was only unconscious.
'Wow, that was a good hit,' said Uriel.
'Thanks for the compliment. The idea just came to me after watching Baki.'
'You mean that blow that shakes the brain?'
'Yes,' replied Shade.
'When do you think she'll wake up?' asked Uriel.
'Maybe in a while.'
Shade looked at the wooden sword, frowning at the visible notches and dents from the earlier exchange.
Placing the two wooden swords back in their original spot, hidden among the others, he leaned against the wall and yawned.
Shade then looked at Sunny's shadow, still hidden, thinking it couldn't see him.
He wondered what the stingy one was thinking.
'If I had to guess, something about monsters and terror,' thought Shade with an amused smile.
Finally, after about five minutes, Changing Star calmly opened her eyes.
"Well, that was faster than I thought," he commented, approaching Nephis, who stood up.
Her eyes were thoughtful, surely analyzing the battle that had taken place.
"Do you belong to a great clan?" asked Nephis.
"No. I'm from the outskirts. Honestly, for a moment, you took me by surprise with that last feint," said Shade.
"What do you want?" asked Nephis in her usual tone.
"Hmm. Well, I don't even know. Maybe I'll think of something in the distant future, if I'm even alive by then," said Shade, looking into nothingness.
"Well, anyway, I'll answer one question for you."
Nephis frowned. The agreement was that if she won the fight, she would ask the question, but she had lost.
Shade, reading her thoughts, spoke.
"I'll answer it just this once. You've shown me something interesting, so think very carefully about your question, and I'll decide if I can tell you or not. Knowledge is the heaviest thing in the world, after all."
Upon hearing this, Nephis thought long and hard.
Finally, she spoke, asking her question.
"How do we destroy the Nightmare Spell?"
Shade didn't change his expression.
Considering the answer he could give, he had been sent to this place when he had finished the tenth volume, after the Eternal City.
"First, you must know that the Spell is not an entity; it's a conscious, nearly omnipotent machine. But if you truly want to destroy it, you need to destroy destiny. That's all I'll tell you. Now, if you want another answer, you'll have to defeat me, on this same day, at the same time, in a week."
After saying this, Shade walked past Nephis, letting out a light yawn; he was really sleepy.
"Wait," said Nephis.
Shade stopped, turning his head towards Nephis.
"What?"
"Who are you, really?" asked Nephis.
"Just someone from the outskirts," he responded, letting Nephis think he meant the outskirts of NQSC and not the outskirts of this world and this universe.
Shade's eyes changed color, turning black. Uriel walked calmly down the hallway before stopping and looking towards the shadows.
"Oh, right, Sunny, next time you want to watch, don't send your shadow; just come yourself. It's a bit annoying, you know," said Uriel, making the shadow enter a slight panic before nodding slightly and retreating.
When Uriel returned to his room, he took a shower. His body, lying on the comfortable bed, fell into a deep sleep.