The fallen Magic Potion Merchant quickly scrambled nimbly back to his feet and charged at Shade again, swinging the sword blade on the back of his left hand. As that blade appeared from his left hand, the runes across the Magic Potion Merchant's body changed as well. The blade, originally only palm-length, extended farther and farther until it truly seemed as though a sword had grown from the back of his hand.
Though there was no technique to his swing, the force of that black sword's downward chop was astonishing. Compared to when he had been barehanded, he had become stronger.
With an unfamiliar Eleventh Ring sorcerer behind him, Shade did not use Thaumaturgy. Instead, he took the "Dragon Scale Sword" he had used at Moon Bay from his pocket.
The two longswords clanged together several times in the night, bursting forth in a shower of sparks. Shade had originally thought his opponent might undergo some other change, but seeing that the black longsword growing from his hand was merely a somewhat sturdier weapon, he lost any interest in continuing to probe him.
As the Dragon Scale Sword swung out again, his left hand flicked forward. Concealed by the darkness, the Great Sin Chains wrapped around the Magic Potion Merchant's waist. In the instant his sword-swinging motion stiffened, the red moonlight emerging from Shade's sword shattered the black blade.
Shade had originally intended to take out a rope and tie him up, but the moment the sword broke, the Magic Potion Merchant immediately toppled headfirst to the ground. Fortunately, he had merely fallen unconscious. When Shade checked his left hand again, there was no trace whatsoever of a sword having grown from its back.
He searched the snow-covered ground for fragments of the black sword, but those fragments had vanished