Sunny told Nephis most of what he knew and did at the Bright Castle, only hiding that his sister was the ward of Gunlaug. Telling about Caster and the coup he was planning.
"... That's basically it."
Nephis heard everything with a calm and unreadable face, in the end, she nodded and got up.
"Then I'll show you my plan."
Sunny and Cassie sighed, even the blind seer knew how unpredictable Changing Star was.
Following Nephis, she opened the door, only to encounter one… Unexpected figure, walking to their direction.
"... What is Caster doing here?"
The scion of Han Li walked with deliberate, confident steps, his gaze high and determined, in the direction of Changing Star.
Nephis sharpened her own gaze towards him.
"Caster."
"Lady Nephis."
Caster's voice still had a respectful tone, but the theatrics were long gone.
Sunny sighed, not wanting to deal with this.
Caster took a glance at Sunny then back at Nephis.
"He must have already told you my true objective."
The girls looked at the poor boy simultaneously. The raven haired boy in question put his arms up in surrender.
"I didn't say anything! He figured it out on his own!"
Nephis turned to Caster.
"Why are you here then?"
The scion took a deep breath, he looked conflicted, his head moved around a few times as if he lost something, but eventually, he looked dead in Immortal Flame's daughter's eyes and said.
"I promise I won't attempt anything in your life until the gateway is cleared and our passageway home is clear."
He made a respectful bow towards Nephis.
It was surprising, Nephis expression even changed a little, showing that she was caught off guard.
But it did make sense, Caster needed to go back, Nephis and Sunless were his only options.
It seemed like the silver haired beauty agreed with that.
"Fine Caster, help us get out of this hell hole."
If there's one thing you can say about anyone under Valor, is that they are honor bound, they treat promises very seriously. So Nephis was willing to trust Caster… For now.
A sigh of relief got out of Cassie. Han Li scion got up and adjusted himself.
Sunny smiled, got closer to Caster and gave a friendly side hug to his shoulder.
"Got to your senses huh?"
The dark skinned boy chuckled.
"You could say that. My disguise wasn't the best from the start."
"You can say that again."
It was Nephi's turn to sigh.
"Enough, we need to get going."
She grabbed Cassie's hand gently and walked. Sunless however, had other plans.
"You can go, I'll catch up."
Nephis turned around to question what he was doing, but Cassie grabbed Nephis shoulder.
"It's okay, he has something to do, you can trust him."
The silver haired beauty pondered before speaking.
"I do trust him… It's just that…"
She didn't finish, observing the son of the woman she hated… Did she hate her? Did she…? She didn't know anymore.
"Just… Don't disappear."
Nephis turned, walking to her destination, Cassie following her. Caster kept looking between Sunny and Nephis a couple of times.
"Good luck Sunny, it's going to be a headache."
Then he turned to follow Changing Star.
Sunless squinted his eyes.
'Good luck? Headache? What does he mean? And why did he look sad?'
Whatever it was, he had someone else to meet.
—
"You know, I was wondering who kept watching me when I entered the outer settlement the first time."
The Heir of Shadows was walking into an alleyway on the edge of the street. There was a mist that permeated the air, interestingly, it was only present in this alleyway, no other part of the city had mist.
He entered with slow, calculated steps, [Endless Torture] already summoned on his waist and [Midnight Shard] on hand.
"But now that I know who you are, I'm impressed I actually noticed you…"
Sunny stopped in the middle of the alleyway, giving the advantage to the unknown individual he was talking to.
The subtle mist got denser, getting harder and harder to see.
'No talking… Works for me.'
Sunless closed his eyes, seeing through shadow sense to know where his target was.
I took some moments…
But he felt it…
A shadow…
Moving…
Closer…
Faster…
Until…
The sound of metal clashing entered Sunless' ears as he turned around to slash the [Midnight Shard] into his opponent.
A hooded figure stood across the Prince of Song, carrying a black metal dagger, curved, with a saw-like blade, in his hand, a metal gauntlet protecting it.
He was covered with a dark gray mantle, the hood hid his face but kept his mouth visible, revealing his white skin. His mouth showed an annoyed emotion.
Sunless took note of the dagger, way too intricate, and the quality was beyond what an Awakened memory could reach.
'An Ascended dagger?'
His theory was confirmed when he saw the [Midnight Shard], it had cracks, the dagger was a rank above the odachi.
The mist was covering the figure, making it harder for Sunless to see him. However, he didn't need to.
He dismissed the [Midnight Shard], it wouldn't help him anymore. The memory disappeared in white sparks.
The figure didn't miss the chance, not considering the possibility of the action being bait.
A memory took no more than a second to apper, that little amount of time was enough to fully change the battle. The Prince of Song wouldn't be able to defend himself with any memory, it was the assassin's best chance.
The hooded figure advanced, with the dagger in a reversed grip form, he attacked horizontally, with the objective to pierce Sunless's neck.
But he failed.
To answer his attack, Sunless grapped a knife from [Endless Torture] with his left hand and caused an impact with the enemy's dagger.
Because of its lower rank, the knife was completely destroyed, however, due to Sunless superior strength and speed thanks to his Monster Class, the impact caused the assassin to lose his balance, staggering to the side, his back exposed.
Sunless used the momentum he got to spin, summoning [BloodRaven] on his right hand in the process, the fearsome odachi finished appearing in white sparks as soon as he ended the spin, coming down on the figure.
However, he used his mist aspect to cover his retreat, using the stagger to get closer to the mist.
[BloodRaven] slashed nothing but mist.
Sunless hollow eyes sharpened, his empty expression returned, along with his cold logic… The Hollow Death.
He sensed the assassin's shadow, he was moving, trying to find a way to get his enemy off guard.
Unfortunately for him, the moment Sunless looked at his shadow, the Heir of Shadows was already adapting. Worst still, the style that the assassin used was similar to Revel's, although it was completely inferior, clumsy if compared. So Sunless didn't take long to begin reading the assassin like an open book.
The mist moved, the dark dagger appeared behind him.
Sunless turned and parryied the attack. Instead of retreating, the hooded assassin advanced. Understanding that sneak attacks had become useless in the battle, he tried to defeat the opponent on skill and technique in a duel.
The dagger and odachi clashed.
Sunless had superior strength, speed, and a longer reach.
The assassin had his aspect and field advantage. Using it to distract the Heir of Shadow, but that matters little thanks to shadow sense.
After each movement, Sunless got more and more dominant in the battle. He had understood his enemy completely thanks to Shadow Dance.
Advancing out of the mist was his biggest mistake.
The blades danced in a myriad of slashes and thrusts, with Sunless deliberately maintaining distance to force the figure to advance, utilizing the superior reach of his odachi. As a result, each clash was a risk taken by the mist user.
The Prince of Song dominated the duel, any advantage the assassin had was destroyed and made irrelevant. And yet, he persisted, still showing experience and skill in every attack.
'You are strong.'
Sunless slashed his enemy diagonally and pushed him back.
The assassin fell down, crouching and breathing heavily.
"Had enough?"
Sunless voice was filled with cold logic.
The assassin spat on the ground and unleashed his aspect, being covered by the mist once again.
Sunless sighed, turning around, his back towards where the hooded assassin was.
But he quickly turned around to grab the blade going towards his heart.
The assassin was shocked, someone had just grabbed an Ascended blade with the hands of an Awakened armor…
Only it wasn't an Awakened one.
The gauntlet of the [Mantle of the Underworld] appeared and soon covered his whole body, replacing [Puppeteer's Shroud].
The appearance of the armor left the assassin stunned, soon, his body met the ground after being pushed by Sunless.
The hood fell, revealing gray hair and white bandages covering his left eye. His other eye had a black colour and revealed distrust and anger, his face had sharp features and a few scars showed experience.
Sunless put the blade of his sword close to his neck. Hollow eyes stared at the singular black eye.
"Motza, right? Can we talk now?"
Motza groaned, nodding and looking extremely annoyed at his loss.
"Good."
Sunless dismissed [BloodRaven] and crouched down. His expression still serious, but lacking the cold, emotionless logic from the battle.
"I want to talk."
The mist wielding Sleeper looked at Sunless with distrust. His low voice exposing anger and… Curiosity.
"Talk? About what?"
"I need help… To defeat Gunlaug and conquer the Crimson Spire."
Motza's eyes widened in response.
"Aren't you one of his goons? You were talking to the head of the handmaidens."
He was talking about Seishan… Nix was right, he really does sneak into the Bright Castle.
"No, I do not serve Gunlaug, and yes, I was with Seishan, because she also wishes for the Bright Lord's demise."
Motza scoffed.
"Yeah, right."
'Not convinced? Fine, let's try another way.'
"Why did you attack me Motza?"
The one-eyed boy frowned, but answered.
"I thought Gunlaug finally sent someone to take out the constant intruder of his o-so-great Castle."
"And for how long have you been infiltrating the Castle?"
Motza looked at him curiously.
"For… a year give or take…"
"And don't you think Gunlaug would already send someone to kill you? That he wouldn't pay someone to snitch on you?"
His eyes sharpened with anger.
"The only one that knows is….."
Realization passed through his face. Sunless put his thoughts out loud, as if he read them.
"Nix, she told me about you. And, by your reaction, you really trust her."
The gray haired boy was speechless, looking at the ground, then at Sunless.
"Are you really…?"
The Heir of Shadows got up and reached out his hand.
"Yes, I need allies, people to follow me. To train, to prepare, to defeat all who stand in the way of the Crimson Spire…
Will you help me?"
Sunless asked with the friendliest and most confident voice he could muster. Trying to sound confident and trustful.
After a few moments of silence…
Motza grabbed his hand.
Satisfied, he helped the assassin up.
"Fine, I'll follow you… Just don't expect me to die for you."
Sunny smiled.
"Of course, let's go, we have to…"
A strange feeling passed over him, a small sensation on his head, it was the sign of Seishan sending him a message.
He looked at his runes and went to his connection.
[Blood]: Nephis just requested a right of challenge against Andel.]
He looked again and again, not computing what he was reading, eventually he sighed.
'What is she thinking…?'
Motza raised an eyebrow confused due to Sunless' sigh, but asked a question trying to hide his confusion.
"So… What now?"
The annoyed Prince looked at him, clearly not pleased with what he was about to say.
"I have to go to the Bright Castle…"
A weird silence hovered in the air…