"How much do you know, and for how long, and how did you find out?" Sunny leaned back.
"Everything Sunless, I know you want to find ways to achieve natural supremacy. I know you are in cahoots with Song of the Fallen, looking for something beneath the true Bastion. To answer your second question, I've known about this since you met with Changing Star's cohort shortly after someone attempted to assassinate her after she cleared a category three Nightmare Gate that appeared. As for your final question." Mordret didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he smiled pleasantly and pointed to Sunny's eyes.
'Damnit, Damnit!'
Sunny hadn't forgotten that the bastard could hide behind people's eyes; it was impossible to do such a thing after the slaughtering Mordret did at the Night temple, as much as Sunny hated to admit it, that incident traumatized him to this day. It was why he didn't have any mirrors in the mimic and forbade Rain from looking into any reflective surface.
But more importantly,
"What do you mean someone attempted to kill her?" Sunny's eyebrows shot up, feigning ignorance, hoping to fool the prince of nothing.
"You really don't know? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you do, the blind witch likely told you, didn't she?" Mordret leaned forward in his chair.
"Yes, she did," Sunny forced a smile.
"Oh, my! Did she now? Not being able to lie is genuinely an interesting flaw, Sunless. Because I honestly didn't know that she told you, but now I do, so there is truly no need for you to play dumb any longer." Mordret admitted with a smile that was growing wider by the second.
Mordret had used his flaw against him; Sunny had to be more careful. He had momentarily forgotten how cunning the bastard could be.
"How did you know about True Bastion? Do you have a vessel there? Morgan can detect if you're inhabiting a body, so it's safe to assume the king of swords has the same thing. Aren't you worried your father will detect you inhabiting a body?" Sunny leaned forward, his gaze piercing into the Prince of Nothing.
Mordret frowned for a brief moment, then smiled again."I'm not sure how you know about my sister's precautions. But that wretch I call my father never comes out for anything unless necessary, so I'm not worried about that."
It didn't escape Sunny's notice that Mordret avoided the first two questions entirely.
Mordret couldn't have grown up there because Cassie told him the place was destroyed long before anyone settled there and before the King of Swords and Ki Song became Supremes.
So how did he know about True Bastion?
Was it because of his affiliation with reflections?
With nothingness?
Did he steal a body and pretend to be a guard of True Bastion?
Sunny had no idea,
"Sure, you aren't worried because you know that you'll just somehow weasel your way out of there." Sunny spat out with venom.
"Just like how you did with the Song Sisters in the palace?" Mordret smiled politely.
Sunny remained silent for a long time before nodding with a dark look. "Yes,"
"There is no need to make such a face, Sunless. You are far too good-looking for that. But don't fret, I have not told anyone about your flaw. Your other secrets are safe with me, I promise. I only ask that you listen to what I have to say." Mordret smiled pleasantly, tracing the edge of the table with his finger.
"Fine," Sunny nodded, glaring at him.
"I would like to make a proposal to you. Would you hear me out?" Mordret leaned back with a contented sigh.
"No, I won't hear you out. Now go kick rocks," Sunny scowled.
"Very well, I will kick rocks all the way until I reach the castle and go to the throne room to inform Ki Song that you plan to betray her and tell her daughters that you want to kill their mother." Mordret stood up from the table and began heading towards the door.
"What makes you think she'll believe you or anything you say after what you did in Antarctica?" Sunny countered.
"Because Ki Song does not trust you fully, that's why, and she would trust the words of someone who has been allied with her for the past four years more than a Saint who showed up out of nowhere. But never mind that, just think about how Song Eunbin would feel finding out that her friend wants to not only betray her clan but also murder her mother in cold blood." The Prince of Nothing softly smiled.
"They will understand eventually, they'll see how horrible Ki Song is." Sunny hesitated.
"Really now? Sunless, you are an intelligent young man, so for you to say something like that is very surprising. My friend, I don't think Transcended Song Eunbin would appreciate hearing that she would eventually understand why you want to kill her mother. You see, those ladies love their mother very much, especially our residential Enchantress, and knowing Song Eunbin, that woman would be very cross with you and very hurt knowing that her new friend wants to do such a thing. I know that is not something you would wish to see, especially now that you two are becoming closer." Mordret smiled knowingly, leaning against the wall by the door.
"Who I'm associated with is none of your business, bastard." Sunny spat out with venom.
"Maybe not, but I'm sure your sister Rain, who idolizes Beastmaster, would be very disappointed if Song Eunbin stopped showing up suddenly. Speaking of Rain, what a lovely sister you have, very attentive and friendly, a bit shy, but nothing time won't fix! If I could swap siblings with you, I would. She is nothing at all like my little sister, Morgan. And from your appearance, you two truly are related; she looks just like you. Just like Morgan looks like me." Mordret tapped his fingers on the door frame and gave Sunny a friendly smile.
"Don't mention or go near Rain again, wretch. If you do, there will be no reflections you can go to that I won't find, and when I do, I'll make sure you know no peace for the rest of your short, miserable, and pathetic life." Sunny gave him a murderous look, then heard something creak. He looked down to see pieces of wood on the floor and realized that he was breaking the table due to his grip, and let go.
Mordret mostly ignored him, his only acknowledgment of the threat being a friendly smile gracing his strangely beautiful face directed at Sunny. Then he continued speaking without missing a beat.
"Oh, yes, not to mention that Transcended Silent Stalker is looking for a reason to fight and kill you, Ki Song's death would give her an excuse to follow through. Though we are both aware of which one of you would walk away from that predicament," Mordret smiled, looked around, smiled back at Sunny, and opened the door.
"What's your proposal?" Sunny calmed himself down, asking in a tired tone, making Mordret stop in place. Closing the door, the Prince of Nothing turned around.
Walking back to the table, Mordret smiled pleasantly, sat down, and fixed his tie. "Ah, I'm delighted you are willing to hear it, Sunless. You won't regret it."
"Yes, I will regret it very much." Sunny stood up, went over to grab a rag, and began cleaning off the tables while grimacing at the situation.
"Whether you will or not doesn't matter to me, I couldn't care less, but if you wouldn't mind, I would like to eat before we discuss this proposal. Also, I hope you'll forgive me for interrupting you, Sunless. I know you were going to work on my meal before I stopped you." Mordret smiled politely.
Sunny didn't respond; instead, he walked into the kitchen without speaking. Closing the door, he took a deep breath and walked into the middle of the kitchen.
Looking at the cabinet to his left side, Sunny begrudgingly grabbed two mixing bowls and a pan, rinsed them, and brought them to his makeshift oven. Sunny moved gracefully around the kitchen, holding the necessary ingredients for Mordret's order: Pancakes, waffles, an omelette, a glass of lemonade, and bacon.
"Go on, chop chop! The sooner we get this done, the faster we can get this bastard out of here." He manifested Gloomy as an avatar. His sullen shadow shot a dirty look at Sunny when he pointed to the stove.
Sunny watched his eldest shadow silently sigh, dragging his feet to the short destination. Then, Gloomy glanced over his shoulder, sending one last glare at Sunny before snatching another bowl from the cabinet and a few eggs from the makeshift fridge, putting them to the side for the time being.
Sunny shook his head, started with the pancakes first because those would take the longest, and silently assessed the situation.
Mordret was a cunning and treacherous man, and as much as Sunny hated to admit it, the bastard was right about two things: Eunbin would loathe him, and Silent Stalker, along with the rest of the sisters, would have a reason to attempt to kill him. Sunny didn't want to kill them; they were all valuable to humanity, especially Eunbin with her thralls.
Not because Sunny was beginning to grow attached to the Enchantress.
Not at all!
That would have been ridiculous.
But he digressed, if Ki Song learned about their plans, Sunny and everyone else involved would be killed. Right now, Mordret held all the cards in his hand, so Sunny needed to play by his rules and do his best not to provoke the lunatic.
But even with doing that, there was still no guarantee that Mordret wouldn't betray him when he got what he wanted from this 'proposal' he had yet to offer; Sunny was sure the Prince of Nothing would betray him at some point. It was only a matter of time.
After all, Mordret did so after he broke out in the night temple and tried to kill Sunny, as well as a second time when the Prince of Nothing told the Song Sisters Sunny's identity.
Luckily for Sunny, the bastard's habit of lying had caught up to him, and as a result, most of the Song Sisters didn't believe him, save for Silent Stalker.
But if Mordret told them about his plans to kill the Queen of Worms and the King of Swords, he could not talk his way out of that conversation; in fact, there wouldn't be any talking at all, as they would likely try to kill Sunny on sight. Sunny was far from arrogant; it was why he often downplayed his feats, and that was because he wanted to keep himself humble.
But even Sunny could not deny that, hypothetically speaking, he would have little trouble killing them; the real problem was attempting to spare them; those women would fight until their last breath. But even with that thought, Sunny was sure, even while trying to spare them, that they would fail, even if all seven Song sisters attacked simultaneously.
Speaking of sisters, Sunny went back to the very same thought he had at the beach, and that was his own sister, Rain, who had yet to awaken, and whom Ki Song and Eunbin knew was related to him.
Sunny trusted Eunbin enough not to do anything, but not enough that he was certain she wouldn't be ordered or swayed by her mother to try anything.
Taking a moment to deviate from pondering, he focused on his task. His two human arms poured the flour, baking powder, and salt into the bowl, whisking them together. In contrast, his manifested shadow arms whisked the milk, eggs, room-temperature butter, sugar, and vanilla extract simultaneously.
Then he slowly poured the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mixed them with his whisk. Once he was done, Sunny handed the bowl to Gloomy, who was working on the bacon and cracking the eggs into the pan. Gloomy snatched the bowl from Sunny's hands with an eyeroll and poured it into the heated pan without glancing.
After a few minutes Gloomy finished with the pancakes along with the rest of the order and left without bothering to hand him the plates.
Left with holding the plates himself, Sunny left the kitchen, looking at Mordret, who still had a pleasant smile on his lips; it only grew wider when he saw Sunny again. "Sunless, I hope my order didn't give you too much trouble? I was being honest when I said that I was famished."
"No, it didn't," Sunny answered curtly.
"That's wonderful to hear, my friend." Mordret smiled, moving his arms from the table to make room for the plates Sunny was about to put down.
"Well? You have your food, so what's the proposal? Do you want me to help you destroy Valor, and in return, you tell me everything about Ki Song? Allow you to aid me in killing your father?" Sunny set the Mordret plates in front of him and sat across from the prince at the table.
"Goodness gracious, at least let me take my first bite, Sunless." Mordret huffed, picking up his fork.
"Hurry up," Sunny tapped his foot.
After Mordret took his first bite, the former Prince nodded in satisfaction.
"Your cooking never ceases to amaze me, my friend. To answer your first question, no, as much as I enjoy destroying what my father has built, I do not want to do that, at least for now. Also, goodness gracious no, it would gain me nothing for betraying Ki Song, besides my quarrel is not with her. I will admit that even someone like myself is not foolish enough to do such a thing, Sunless." Mordret shook his head, grabbed a piece of bacon, and took a bite. Once Mordret finished chewing, he continued speaking.
"For your second question, I want to kill my father with my own two hands by myself. It would be greatly appreciated if you didn't rob me of that pleasure. But no, I don't want either of those." Mordret shook his head, bringing the glass to his lips and taking a long sip, never breaking eye contact with Sunny.
"What? What do you want then?" Sunny raised an eyebrow, looking at the setting sun.
"Oh, something simple," Mordret pleasantly smiled, putting the glass of lemonade down with a contented sigh.
"Spit it out, damnit!" Sunny scowled.
"I will absolutely help you with your scheme to kill the current rulers of humanity." Mordret smiled widely, taking another bite of his food.
'What?' Sunny was dumbfounded.
"You just said you wouldn't betray her because it wouldn't benefit you." Attempting to hide his confused expression, Sunny took a sip of his lemonade, eyeing Mordret suspiciously.
"Yes, because I am a mere Saint at the moment, but after reaching supremacy, then yes, I will aid you in killing her. Ki Song would be of no use to me by then." Mordret stood up, took off his suit jacket to avoid getting food on it, put it on a chair, rolled up his sleeves, and sat down again.
"Let's say I believe for even a second that you're being honest, what would you want in return?" Sunny frowned.
"Ah, nothing too grand," The Prince of Nothing leaned forward with a wordless smile, as if he were waiting for something.
"Am I going to have to beat the answer out of you?" Sunny eventually asked after a few minutes, leaning back in his seat with a frown.
"You haven't figured it out already? I'm disappointed, Sunless." Mordret's smile dimmed as he moved his food around with his fork.
"Figure out what?" Stealing a glance at the window, Sunny's frown deepened. He had an ominous feeling that things would be much more complicated from now on.
"Why, the very thing we just discussed. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I was hoping you could assist me in achieving supremacy alongside you and Changing Star. See? I told you it was nothing too grand." Mordret gave a polite smile.