The closer the Lord of Shadows moved, the more Master Sunless moved away.
"Quit moving." The reclusive Saint snapped coldly.
Master Sunless ceased his movement.
Lord Shadow held out his hand, and shadows flowed into his palm, forming the familiar odachi he used during their spar in the nameless temple.
"Summon your memory." He pointed the sword at Enchanter Sunless.
"I don't have one—well, not a memory you're thinking of, my Lord; it's complicated—" Enchanter Sunless smiled sheepishly.
"Summon it." His sinister voice snapped again, interrupting him, causing the master to flinch.
"Uh, o-okay." The Enchanter took a deep breath.
Master Sunless outstretched his arm and sparks of darkness appeared in his palm, summoning…
A pan.
Lord Shadow slowly looked down at the pan, then back up at the gorgeous face of Master Sunless, then back at the pan again.
The entire room was already silent, yet it felt like it would explode at any moment.
Eunbin's eyes darted between Sunless and Lord Shadow dozens of times in a second. No matter how much she tried to connect them, she couldn't see them being the same person.
It was impossible!
Having multiple bodies of the same person as a transformation was unheard of, even for someone like their mother. Lord Shadow's transformation was likely the giant shadow they witnessed him become to slay the great beast outside his citadel, or perhaps it was multiple creatures.
Revel once told Eunbin that a shadow's natural form was formless so that it could become anything desired.
That was something that made sense.
Then again, nightmares, creatures, and awakened powers rarely made sense. So the Prince of nothing could have been telling the truth.
Who was Eunbin kidding? Mordret was probably lying, as he always does!
Who did that Prince take Eunbin and her sisters for?
Fools?
She sighed inwardly, looking at Silent, who had been intently glaring at Master Sunless and Lord Shadow, her gaze never wavering. It seemed she still believed the prince's words.
Even if the impossible chance occurred that it was true, and Mordret wasn't lying. Sure, it would be jarring, but in the long run, would it matter? They were still allies after all.
Eunbin would be able to relate to and become closer to her friend, if anything.
How nice that would be.
Eunbin resisted shaking her head and focused on the silent stare that Master Sunless and Lord Shadow had been giving each other for the past minute.
"Is this a joke?" Lord Shadow pointed at the Pan the Enchanter held in his hand.
The reclusive Saint stared at the pan once more and back at Master Sunless again for the third time.
Eunbin could feel Lord Shadow's gaze on her gorgeous friend even from dozens of meters away.
"No, you told me to summon a memory." Sunless nervously smiled.
"As in a weapon, do not toy with me, Master Sunless." Lord Shadow growled out while taking another step forward.
"Well, I'm sure it can be a weapon if I hit hard enough!" Master Sunless took another step back.
The Lord of Shadows stared at him silently for a long minute, causing her friend to shift nervously.
Eventually, the saint slowly raised his arm, pointing at the wall of weapons.
"Pick. One. Now." His voice was emotionless as usual, yet she felt his gaze piercing through Master Sunless like a spear.
Even though seven transcended beings were overseeing this training session, Eunbin couldn't help but think it was a terrible idea.
"O-of course." The Handsome Enchanter stammered out.
Master Sunless quickly walked past the sisters, smiling at Howl and Shan. Howl winked at him, and Shan nodded. He locked eyes with Eunbin, staring a little longer than necessary.
A heartbeat passed.
He still stared.
She didn't mind it, though.
Sunless looked to be observing, not with lust, it was never lust, but with wonder.
As if she were a puzzle that he couldn't quite figure out yet.
No, not a puzzle, but more like a map that he hadn't learned how to read yet.
As if he were looking right through her, seeing past her carefully placed walls she had put up over the decades.
That startled her more than she would have liked to admit.
He offered a smile much different from his usual polite one; it was warmer, more genuine. It was like he was allowing Eunbin a glimpse of himself without the practiced politeness of being a shopkeeper.
Eunbin wasn't stupid; she knew from the start that it was only a mask of politeness he put on to deal with customers.
It was similar to the prince of nothing except without the twisted obsessions. She could tell when a person had a good heart, and Sunless was one of those.
Oddly enough, so was Lord Shadow. No matter how ruthless he made himself out to be, he was still a kind man. He had to be, otherwise he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of escorting the sleepers who were placed in God Grave by the spell to Raven Heart.
That was something Master Sunless and Lord Shadow had in common.
But there was also something else with Master Sunless.
Something she couldn't place was in his eyes; was she imagining it?
It looked sorrowful?
Was it Survivors' Guilt?
He did serve in Antarctica after all.
No, it seemed far more than that.
Eunbin didn't know what exactly that was, and she was far from being close enough with him to ask.
That would take much time.
Just as Eunbin attempted to figure him out, his smile disappeared instantly, replaced by his usual pleasant smile and kind eyes.
They watched him tear his eyes away from her and onto the wall of memories.
Howl gave Eunbin a few nudges in the side, which caused Eunbin to smack her arm away in annoyance at being interrupted from her thoughts.
"That, my sister, is what we call having a moment." Howl proclaimed, not caring who heard her.
"Howl. Shut. Up. You keep bringing it up every chance you get; it's starting to get on my nerves," Eunbin whispered through gritted teeth with a dangerous, friendly smile.
"Okay, okay, fine! No need to get hostile, I'm on your side, Bin. I'm just trying to root for you!" Her sister smiled innocently in response, but it didn't escape Eunbin's gaze that her sister slightly backed away.
"Good." She nodded.
They suddenly heard a yelp from behind them, and a cold voice resounded.
They all turned around to see the Lord of Shadows standing before Sunless.
"You are taking too long." Lord Shadow spat out at Master Sunless.
"Well, I'm indecisive, and they all look so cool!" He flashed a smile, which immediately faltered due to the lack of response.
"I do not care." He pushed her friend away and looked at a Longsword. Then something extraordinary happened.
Instead of grabbing the weapon, he manifested its shadow into a solid shadow Longsword.
He hit the back end of the blade with his hand and nodded in what Eunbin figured was satisfaction.
"Here." Lord Shadow lazily tossed it to Master Sunless, who caught it and stumbled backwards due to its weight. He fumbled with it and dropped it.
"You think the Prince of Nothing can do something similar to that? You know, like pulling the reflection of a weapon out of a mirror or something?" Howl, put a hand to her chin.
"We don't know, outside of what he shows us, Mordret doesn't say much about his abilities." Shan shrugged.
"Oh, but I'm sure you know all about him, huh?" Howl taunted.
Shan didn't answer the question.
"How pitiful." Silent looked at him with a frown.
"Silent, quit being rude to him." Eunbin had a frown of her own.
"Sure, when he stops being so pathetic." Silent scoffed.
"Weren't you the one who was firmly with Mordret's claim about him?" Rev pointed out.
"I'll admit that I'm starting to doubt it, but nothing is certain." Silent crossed her arms.
Eunbin shook her head; she would never understand her sister's problem with Master Sunless.
Speaking of him. Eunbin turned her attention back to the man in question.
"It was a little heavier than I expected." Her friend coughed.
"Hurry up." Lord Shadow walked back to the spot he was initially in.
Master Sunless held the Longsword firmly, taking unsteady steps towards his initial spot, then set the sword's tip on the ground and slightly leaned on it.
"What are you doing?" Lord Shadow questioned, his voice carrying a hint of annoyance.
"Well, My lord, I figured I would take a minute to catch my breath, that-oh goodness- that is much heavier than it looks." He took several deep breaths.
"Allow me to help you then." Lord Shadow suddenly swung at Sunless' neck with great speed; it was just enough speed for a saint to react, just barely.
Luckily, Master Sunless was already back far enough from its reach, but that didn't stop him from going back more.
"T-this is supposed to be a training session. A spar!" Her friend jumped back with an expression of terror.
"It is." Lord Shadow nodded.
Y-you almost took my head off!" He pointed a trembling finger at him.
"So?"
"I like my head attached to my body!"
The saint tilted his head and appeared in front of him, sending a hard kick to his chest, followed by a punch to the face, and sent Sunless gracelessly through the air, landing with a hard crash before Eunbin and her sisters, all while Lord Shadow continued to speak.
"Lesson one, block with your weapon, not your face." He remarked as he stood back in place.
Master Sunless landed on the floor before them, emitting sounds of pain and a dazed expression.
"He's a madman."
"Don't worry, he won't do anything too drastic while we're here, I think." Howl held out her hand and lifted him effortlessly by his mantle, then fixed it, followed by a firm pat to the shoulder, nearly knocking him over.
"Forgive me, Princess Howl, but that is not reassuring me." He adjusted his mantle and held a look of fear on his face.
"Talking to the Princesses will not help you escape this Master Sunless. Should I need to, I can make this lesson last the entire day." Lord Shadow's cold voice resounded through the training area.
"I can't help it, but if I may ask, whose idea was to have me spar with this man?" He smiled politely, which wavered with each passing moment.
Before any of them could answer, Lord Shadow spoke once more.
"Master Sunless, if you do not come over here, then I will, and I can guarantee that no one will like the results if I have to." He said emotionlessly, but the threat was as clear as day.
"I-i am on my way, my lord." The Enchanter shot a desperate look at Howl, who shrugged helplessly.
The next hour, they watched Master Sunless get thrown around the area like a ragdoll. Eventually, Howl reminded Sunless that he was still working on a memory for her and that they could continue this another time.
Eunbin had never seen him smile so widely.
But just as he was picking up his bruised body, Lord Shadow scoffed at the sighting, moving to leave, Silent stopped both of them.
"Stop. Just answer one question." Silent walked across the room until she was standing right before the asocial
Saint.
"What?" He asked coldly.
"Are you Master Sunless?"
Yeah, Eunbin stood by what she thought the first time. This was a terrible idea.