Chapter 575: Confrontation
Sunny was tired of the silence, the emptiness, and the quiet dread. The fear of the unknown had been pressing heavily onto his heart, and for a short moment, he wanted for this burdensome uncertainty to end, no matter how violent and dangerous the resulting confrontation would be.
But then, he had to grit his teeth and remind himself that giving in to anger and frustration was a sure way to die. Without knowing the scale of the threat, he had to remain calm and keep a cool head.
His hand, already outstretched to summon a weapon, hovered in the air for a couple of moments, and then relaxed.
Sunny sent one of his shadows forward, and soon saw human figures emerging from one of the passages, some of them limping, the others carrying stretchers with those of their brethren who were too heavily wounded to walk.
The Lost… they were the remaining guardians of the Night Temple. In front of them, a woman in a black tunic was walking, her red hair dirty and damp with sweat. There was a grim, dark expression on her face.
'So there are survivors, after all…'
There were a dozen or so warriors who could still fight, although they didn't seem to be in the best shape. Several were carrying lanterns and torches, the orange flames pushing the darkness reigning in the great hall back. They were still too far away to notice Sunny and Cassie, but he had no doubt that they would be discovered soon.
'What to do, what to do… wait, or hide?'
A moment later, the decision was made for him.
As Sunny watched, one of the Lost suddenly approached Master Welthe and whispered something to her, then pointed directly at the shadow that was observing them from the darkness.
'Crap…'
Sunny was more or less certain in his ability to contend with one of the Ascended knights, provided of course that Saint and the Serpent were on his side. With the dozen Lost supporting the opponent, though… it was a fight he would have preferred to avoid.
Especially considering that what he needed the most right now was information, which the survivors possessed.
Soon, a lone figure separated from the group of battered sentinels and headed their way with measured, steady steps. As soon as Sunny saw who it was, his face darkened.
Master Pierce… the man was as rugged and severe as he had been when they first met, his steely eyes cold and hard. The stubble on his cheeks had turned into a short beard and his lusterless scale mail was damaged in several places, but other than that, he looked exactly the same. It was as though the weeks of bloody horror had no effect on him at all.
Now, the odds were really not in Sunny's favor.
He was still sure of his ability to at least escape, though. If need be…
Master Pierce approached the central platform and stopped, studying Sunny and Cassie with a heavy gaze. Sunny cleared his throat and faked a shaky smile.
"S—sir Pierce! Thank the gods… we weren't sure that anyone was left alive!"
To his left, Cassie suddenly tensed. Knowing that she must have sensed something happening in the next few seconds, Sunny prepared for the worst. However, noting that the blind girl remained motionless, he didn't do anything rash, as well.
Master Pierce spoke, his voice dark and heavy:
"Well, well. What do we have here…"
In the next moment, a vast whirlwind of white sparks surrounded the platform. Sunny cursed inwardly, and watched as ten human figures appeared from the sparks, surrounding them. In an instant, the number of their potential enemies almost doubled.
These humans, though… he had to suppress a shiver. Their empty eyes, their empty shadows… no, they weren't humans at all. Instead, ten Echoes were staring at him with lifeless expressions, each radiating an eerie, deeply disturbing, and threatening aura.
Pierce stared at them coldly.
"I see that the two of you are still alive."
Sunny looked around, feverishly thinking about how to turn the situation around.
"Oh… about that…"
Before he could say anything, he noticed that Cassie turned her head slightly and glanced somewhere behind him, a small frown appearing on her face. Just like that, he knew that someone was there.
…Which was strange, considering that Sunny was always aware of what was behind his back thanks to the shadows, and couldn't see or sense anything right now.
The blind girl was proven right, though, in the next moment, when something cold touched his neck and a vaguely familiar raspy voice spoke into his ear:
"Don't move."
Sunny froze.
'That voice… the female sentinel that was guarding the gates on the day we arrived? Why can't I see her, or sense her shadow?'
The answer was rather obvious… the woman must have been able to don some form of invisibility thanks to her Aspect.
That was one nasty Ability…
He pretended to tremble.
"Yes, yes! I am not moving!"
For a couple of moments, no one spoke. Then, Cassie turned her face toward the fearsome Master and said:
"Sir Pierce… I would appreciate it if you could give us shelter and explain what is happening. We barely escaped the cage you put us in alive, and being met with such hostility is not how we imagined finding fellow humans again."
He stared at her for a bit, then grinned.
"Give you shelter? That is a good joke. Give me one reason to not kill you both, instead."
Cassie frowned, but did not show any fear. Instead, she remained silent for a few seconds, and then said in a calm and even voice:
"...You can try. You will certainly succeed. But not without paying a cost. Awakened Sunless and I might not be Ascended, but we did not receive our designations for nothing. How many of your men and Echoes will we take to hell with us?"
She paused for a moment, and then added:
"...How many can you spare?"
Master Pierce opened his mouth, wishing to say something, but was cut off by Welthe, who had approached from behind. The second Ascended spoke in a tired voice:
"Enough. We can't spare anyone, or anything. I know this and you do too, Pierce. These two are strong… they will be of use. We will take them with us."
He grimaced, then spat:
"What if that thing is hiding in one of them?"
Lady Welthe glanced at Sunny and Cassie and shook her head:
"They have been locked in the lesser cell for weeks… between all of us, these two are the least likely to have been taken. Besides, we have just destroyed his previous vessel. There are no mirrors in the great hall, so…"
She sighed heavily, then addressed Cassie:
"Come. It is… not safe here. We must return to the inner sanctum as fast as possible."
Pierce gritted his teeth, then snarled and dismissed the Echoes.
At the same time, Sunny felt the cold blade move away from his neck. In the next moment, the familiar sentinel appeared from the thin air decide him, holding a sharp dagger in her hand.
She smiled and winked at him.
"...Lucky you. Well, maybe next time."
With that, the woman headed toward the group of the Lost and beckoned for them to follow.
Sunny briefly glanced at Cassie, sighed, and started walking.
He wasn't too happy about how things had turned out, and knew that their conflict with the forces of Valor was not over. But for now, at least, there seemed to be a shaky truce between them.
Which gave him an opportunity to get some answers…
Chapter 576: lnner Sanctum
The Lost entered the inner sanctum of the Night Temple — its very heart — and bolted the heavy doors behind them. As soon as they did, a field of glowing runes flashed for a moment on the dark wooden surface, and then disappeared without a trace.
Sunny glanced at the door with a frown, but didn't say anything.
Cassie had never been to this part of the Citadel, so neither of them had any information about what was inside. The area was not too large, but right below them was the main bell tower of the cathedral, which was taller and wider than the other six belfries.
The two Masters led their people through somber corridors to a spacious hall that seemed to serve as their current stronghold. There were guards keeping watch in front of the entrance, crates with food and water, a fireplace keeping the cold at bay, and makeshift bedding for people to sleep on.
Just from looking at the number of cots, Sunny understood that not everyone had returned from their latest hunt... or whatever it was that the sentinels had tried to accomplish.
All in all, twenty-three Lost remained, some of them heavily wounded. With Pierce, Welthe, and the two of them, there were less than thirty humans left to oppose the mad prince. That meant that in several weeks, Mordret had eviscerated more than two-thirds of the temple's defenders.
Remembering how confident Master Welthe had been in their ability to contain the prisoner at the start of all this, Sunny couldn't help but shake his head.
...Mordret turned out to be more lethal and terrifying than even his jailers had expected.
The wounded were quickly tended to, and the Lost fell on their cots, dead tired. A few went through the familiar motions of maintaining the camp — cooking food, distributing water, and doing other miscellaneous tasks. Everything was performed swiftly and with trained precision, proving once more how experienced and professional these people were.
They were obviously fatigued, both mentally and physically, but not nearly as beaten and unsteady as Sunny had thought. Their spirits were not broken... perhaps because only those with the strongest wills had survived.
He also couldn't help but notice that there was not a single reflective surface in the whole of the inner sanctum. The Lost wore either armor made out of leather or dull steel that didn't give off reflections, and even made sure to store and drink water from opaque containers, not letting a single drop fall to the floor.
After a while, the familiar female sentinel approached them and said:
"Sir and Lady wish to see you."
Sunny and Cassie were led to a separate room, where Pierce and Welthe were waiting for them behind a wide round table. Both of their expressions were grim.
Welthe gestured to a couple of chairs and, after waiting for a few moments, said:
"The two of you will follow simple rules. From now on, you are under our command. You will follow any order either Sir Pierce or I give you. You will not use any Memory or item that can be used as a mirror inside the inner sanctum… or outside of it, if you wish to live. You will not conspire against your fellow soldiers or tell a single soul about what you have seen here in the Night Temple. If you disagree, leave right now."
Sunny and Cassie glanced at each other, but remained seated.
Welthe nodded, then looked at Sunny.
"Awakened Sunless… please, describe how you came in possession of that piece of a broken mirror. This time, in detail."
Pierce suddenly leaned forward and growled:
"And don't even think about lying to us, boy! You won't like the result!"
Sunny pretended to look at him with a bit of fear.
'I couldn't lie even if I wanted to, you fool…'
He told the tale of how he had encountered the Mirror Beast on the Reckoning Island and almost lost his life to the strange creature.
Knowing that he had to give up at least some valuable information, as well as explain how he had managed to defeat such a dangerous abomination, he shared the detail about using the flaw of his own Aspect against the Reflection — while not mentioning what that Flaw was exactly, of course.
After, both Masters were silent for a while. Finally, Welthe spoke, her voice solemn:
"So one of his Reflections managed to escape, after all. To think that it had been so close all this time…"
Sunny hesitated, then cautiously asked:
"I am sorry… but what was this piece of mirror, exactly? If it was so dangerous, why… why was I even allowed to bring it inside?"
Pierce clenched his fists and stared at him with fury. Then, he uttered through gritted teeth:
"...The inspection was meant to prevent mundane mirrors from being brought into the Citadel. No one could have expected that there was one more fragment out there, somewhere. If we knew… you would have been killed as soon as you set foot on the Chained Isles. As for what that fragment was, it's not for you to know."
Sunny shivered slightly, realizing how big of a target he had drawn on himself by picking up the inconspicuous piece of mirror. No wonder Saint Tyris had warned him to never speak of visiting the Reckoning Island to anyone…
While he was thinking that, Cassie finally spoke.
"With all due respect, Sir Pierce… we have the right to know. Or rather, we need to. How are we supposed to fight against the threat if we don't know what it is? What, exactly, have we unleashed? What kind of a creature is capable of causing so much death and destruction?"
The Master opened his mouth to spat a cold response, but Welthe spoke first, her voice calm:
"...She is right, Pierce. They need to know, if they are to be useful. "
She sighed, then looked away and remained silent for a while. Then, Welthe grimaced, rubbed her face, and said, her voice somber and grave:
"The creature that you have unleashed… that monster... is Mordret of Valor. The Prince of War…"
Chapter 577: Only You
After that statement, the room was silent for a while. Sunny frowned, thinking about what he had just heard.
He wasn't really surprised to learn that Mordret was a scion of the great clan Valor. He had already known that there was some connection there… he had also considered that one possible explanation for Mordret's strange insistence on calling himself a prince was a blood relation to one of the Sovereign.
Now, it was more or less clear that Anvil of Valor… was the mysterious prince's father.
What made Sunny frown, however, was that Welthe called Mordret the Prince of War. Was that an indication that clan Valor had inherited the lineage of War God, just like the Immortal Flame clan inherited that of Sun God?
If so… what lineages did the other two Great Clans possess?
…And where did it leave him, who was supposed to become the inheritor of Shadow God, but ended up stuck with a forbidden lineage of an elusive daemon instead?
Meanwhile, Cassie spoke, her voice slightly surprised:
"...of Valor?"
Master Welthe sighed again, then nodded.
"Yes. Prince Mordret was… is the eldest son of Saint Anvil, one of the patriarchs of our great clan. As a young child, he was given as a hostage to a… powerful ally. To keep peace and ensure prosperity for all. No harm was meant to come to him. And it didn't… or so we thought. Years later, the prince was returned to us as a valiant Awakened, to our joy and relief."
Pierce's face darkened, and he looked away. Welthe lingered for a few moments, and then continued:
"But our joy was shortlived. Soon, it became apparent that the boy had grown up to be… disturbed. He was cruel, uncaring, and had… certain impulses that couldn't be controlled. The more powerful he became, the less human he seemed. And he was powerful, incredibly so. More powerful than any Awakened was supposed to be."
She looked down, then grimaced.
"In the end, Prince Mordret left the clan and, breaking the command of the elders, sought out a Seed of Nightmare to become a Master. Knowing that he was too dangerous to be allowed to Ascend… or even to walk freely in the waking world… it was with a heavy heart that a decision was made to eliminate him. Monster or not, he was our responsibility, after all."
Sunny rubbed his temples. There was a lot of new information in what they were told… provided it was true, of course. Which he wasn't sure that it was.
Had Mordret really been given away as a "hostage"? Was he really disturbed and dangerous? Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn't… or had not been, at least. Whatever the case, Sunny had no doubt that it had no bearing on Anvil's decision to get rid of his firstborn son. The key phrases in all the noble-sounding words Welthe had spoken were "too powerful" and "couldn't be controlled".
Mordret had probably been forbidden from challenging the Second Nightmare for that very reason… that was why he had come to the Chained Isles alone, seeking a Seed that had not been discovered — and thus, couldn't be guarded — by the forces of the Sovereigns.
Which eventually led to his downfall.
One thing, however, didn't make a lot of sense…
Sunny glanced at the Masters, and then asked doubtfully:
"If that Mordret was so dangerous… why didn't you just kill him? Why go to all this trouble and imprison him, instead?"
After a short pause, it was Pierce who answered, his voice grim:
"...Do you think we haven't tried? His physical body was destroyed… his spirit body, too. But that still didn't kill him. No matter what we attempted, that thing simply refused to die. Many of my comrades did in the process, however. In the end, we could only bind him… and even that was only possible with the help of the Saints."
Sunny stared at the fearsome Master, dumbfounded.
'Both his physical and spirit body destroyed, and yet he still exists… how is that even possible?'
He opened his mouth, then closed it… then opened it again.
"...What is his Aspect, exactly?"
Pierce and Welthe glanced at each other. In the end, the woman spoke:
"It has to do with mirrors, reflections, and souls. Prince Mordret is able to travel through mirrors and control the reflections. His second Ability… his second Ability, though, is much more terrifying. If one looks at him through any form of a mirror, their soul will be devoured, and their body will become his. By taking a vessel, the prince inherits their Memories, Echoes… and even their Aspect. But also their Flaw — similar to the being you have encountered on the Reckoning Island, which was one of his creations."
She fell silent for a few moments, and absentmindedly touched the amulet in the shape of an anvil hanging around her neck.
"...Pierce and I are immune to his powers. The rest of our soldiers, though, are not so fortunate. He had been taking one after another, using their bodies to kill the rest. The latest vessel of his was especially dangerous, since it possessed an Aspect that allowed him to create puppets out of… out of the dead bodies of our brothers and sisters. We managed to destroy the vessel, but the prince himself got away… just like before. We weren't able to use the binding and imprison him again."
Sunny tilted his head a little.
…Now, finally, a lot of things had become clear. Why Mordret had been imprisoned, why the Night Temple was closed off to strangers, and why only the Echoes and the Lost were allowed to guard the prisoner — the former did not possess souls and couldn't be taken, while the latter could not return to the waking world even if the prince somehow escaped and took them as a vessel.
Back in the waking world, catching him would be all but impossible, so…
Suddenly, Sunny shivered.
Noticing his expression, Pierce grinned darkly.
"I see you finally understand. Yes… don't think that you can reason with that beast or make use of the fact that his hatred is aimed at clan Valor, and not you. Currently, there are only four people in this Citadel whose bodies can allow him to eventually return to the waking world. Welthe and I cannot be taken, and neither can Lady Cassia, due to her blindness. Which leaves…"
Master Pierce stared at him with his cold, dangerous eyes.
Sunny cursed.
"...only you."
Chapter 578: Perfect Vessel
'Well… that's just damn great!'
The corner of Sunny's mouth twitched. The worst part was that he couldn't even disagree with Pierce's reasoning… because his own conclusion was more or less the same.
Of course, Mordret was perfectly capable of making one of the Lost his vessel in hopes of traveling to the Sanctuary — or a more remote human Citadel, if need be — and stealing another body there. But why would he settle for a vastly inferior option when a perfect candidate was right there, his for the taking?
Maybe that was the reason why he had not tried to seek out Sunny in the previous weeks. Mordret might have wanted to leave him for last.
…Thanks to Cassie, Sunny had a general idea about the Aspects of both Welthe and Pierce. The fearsome Master seemed to possess powers that made him highly resistant, if not outright immune, to various forms of attacks, while his more friendly counterpart specialized in enhancing her combat prowess and debilitating the enemy.
Noting that only Welthe was wearing the strange anvil amulet, he made a guess that she was protected from Mordret's Ability by its enchantment, while Pierce was capable of countering the possession simply through the might of his Aspect.
Cassie could not be taken, too, due to her blindness. One had to look at the reflection to be possessed, which she was incapable of.
That left only Sunny…
But more than that, Mordret had secretly watched him for months, and knew perfectly well how powerful Sunny actually was, as well as how he spoke, behaved, and carried himself. Who were his friends and who were his enemies. Mordret knew everything he needed to know to impersonate him perfectly, as well as how much would be gained by stealing his Aspect, Shadows, and Memories.
Truly… Sunny was an ideal vessel.
It was almost as though this role had been predetermined for him from the very start.
'Damnation…'
He hesitated for a bit, then glanced at Pierce and Welthe, this time not even having to fake worry.
"So, uh… what is the plan, then?"
The Masters lingered for a bit. Then, Welthe spoke, her voice dark and bitter:
"We won't try to venture outside and try to bind that monster again. At this point… at this point, we don't have enough numbers to trap him anymore. However, he also has no way of infiltrating the inner sanctum, and the vessel that made time his best ally is destroyed. So, we will just wait. In about a week, maybe even less, Saint Cormac will return. Then, Prince Mordret will have to face a Transcendent's wrath."
She clearly was not happy about having to take a passive approach, since, in a sense, this was as good as admitting defeat. But this plan of action did, indeed, seem like the best way to go… at least on the surface.
All they had to do was barricade themselves inside the impregnable inner sanctum and wait for the cavalry to arrive. Surely, this much was within their ability.
Sunny forced out a smile.
"That is… a good plan."
Master Welthe nodded, then turned to Cassie:
"Lady Cassia… if your Aspect brings you a helpful vision, don't hesitate to inform me immediately. Now, please go and rest, you two. Eat your fill… we all need to keep up our strength."
Just like that, the conversation was over.
Sunny and Cassie stood up, bowed to the masters, then returned to the main hall. There, they endured the unfriendly gazes of the Lost, filled two bowls with tasty-looking porridge, took a couple of opaque jars of water, and found a pair of empty straw mattresses in a remote corner.
Sitting down, the two concentrated on the food, happy to finally eat something that was not synthpaste. The meat porridge wasn't much, but to them, it tasted heavenly.
…After a while, Cassie said quietly while pretending to chew:
"What do you think?"
Sunny swallowed a spoonful of porridge, took a sip of water, and answered as he continued to stare at the floor:
"They are lying, of course. There is no way that Mordret won't get into the inner sanctum, somehow. He is too damn devious for that. I know it, and they know it, too."
His shadow, meanwhile, watched the figure of the sentinel who could turn invisible, to make sure that she wasn't listening in on their conversation.
He kept a neutral expression as he ate some more, then added without looking at the blind girl:
"What is most likely to happen is that things are going to go south very soon. Welthe and Pierce will wait and observe for a bit, and then probably try to use us as bait to lay a trap for him."
Cassie remained silent for a few moments, then asked:
"How do you know?"
He smiled.
"...Because that's what I would have done."
After that, both continued to eat, preoccupied with their own thoughts. A few moments passed before Cassie spoke again, her voice a bit uncertain:
"So then what do we do?"
Sunny enjoyed the taste of the porridge, chewed it slowly, and then answered calmly:
"For now? Nothing. Let's wait and observe, too. Rest and eat, just like we were told to. Restore our strength. Then… then, we'll see."
They didn't speak after that, and, after finishing their food, allowed the exhaustion to overwhelm them. Laying side by side on the thin straw mattresses, Cassie and Sunny fell asleep. Only his watchful shadows remain alert, guarding their master through the night.
…When the two of them woke up, the air smelled of blood.
Only twenty-one of the twenty-three Lost were still alive.
The two sentinels who kept watch outside the hall had been brutally slaughtered, without anyone even noticing how and when. Their bodies were still warm, and their blood painted the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling crimson, turning the somber corridor into a ghastly painting.
In the center of the pool of blood, a single shard of mirror lay, as if mocking the surviving soldiers of the great clan Valor. Welthe growled and destroyed it before anyone could approach.
… It seemed that Mordret chose not to hide the fact that he had entered the inner sanctum.
Instead, he wanted everyone to know.
To see what he had done.
And wait, wondering…
Whom would he take next?
Chapter 579: First Victim
The Lost crowded near the entrance, staring at the grisly scene with grim expressions. Welthe was in the corridor. She was standing in the middle of the pool of blood, her fists clenched.
Sunny wasn't clear on who had discovered the bodies, since he only woke up due to the noise of everyone rushing to the door and the shine of the sparks of light as they summoned their weapons. He remained at the back of the crowd, using one of the shadows to study the corpses, and another to observe the surviving sentinels.
There was a thoughtful expression on his face.
'I wonder…'
Before he could finish the thought, Pierce appeared from behind the bend of the corridor, glanced at Welthe, shook his head briefly, and then growled at the Lost:
"What are you standing around for?! Clean up this mess and secure the perimeter! No one moves alone or in pairs, three people minimum! Be ready, the bastard might return at any minute!"
The soldiers glanced at each other, seeds of fear blooming in the depths of their eyes. Then, they silently got to work, following the Master's command.
Sunny lingered for a few moments, then returned to Cassie and sat down on his mattress.
The blind girl asked quietly:
"Who died? And how?"
He rubbed his face tiredly.
"The guards. One was the guy who had noticed my shadow back in the great hall. The other, I didn't know him. As to how… pretty much the same as everyone else. Butchered and cut to pieces…"
She thought for a bit, then frowned.
"And no one heard a thing?"
Sunny sighed.
"He must have done it really fast. Or his new vessel possesses an Aspect that can dampen sounds."
He remained silent for a bit, then said somberly:
"Anyway, you should prepare."
Cassie tilted her head.
"Prepare for what? Another attack?"
Sunny didn't answer immediately, looking at the Lost. Everyone seemed busy and focused, moving with trained precision and purpose. However, there was a hint of uncertainty on their pale faces. The sentinels tried to hide it, but to no avail.
He looked down.
"No. Right now, everyone only thinks that Mordret somehow broke through the seals and got into the inner sanctum. However, once they have time to think, they'll realize that there's another possibility."
The blind girl paled. Sunny smiled darkly and added:
"...That he has been with them this whole time, hiding in one of the two strangers who had miraculously escaped an enchanted cell and insisted on being taken to this shelter. You or me."
Cassie gritted her teeth.
"There's no reasonable way to pin these murders on us."
He chuckled.
"What does reason have to do with any of this? Reason is always the first victim when fear arrives."
With that, he fell silent and, after a few seconds, rose to go and get them some breakfast.
As Sunny walked toward the part of the hall that had been converted into a makeshift kitchen, many gazes followed him. Just as he had expected, they were slowly turning dark and dangerous, full of hostility, fear, and suspicion.
Pretending to be appropriately frightened, too, he put some porridge in the bowls.
'...Interesting.'
Mordret… might not have been as crazed as Sunny had thought before.
From the start of it, something about how the Prince of Nothing behaved had not sat right with him. Mordret had shown himself to be extremely cunning and meticulous, crafting such a masterful trap that even Sunny, who was an ingenious deceiver as well, fell into it without suspecting a thing.
The sadistic way in which dozens of the Lost had been killed and the morbid displays of demented butchery that the prince had left in the halls of the Night Temple, however, were utterly impractical and did not fit into this image of a cold and calculating strategist at all.
Now that Mordret had decided to reveal his presence in the inner sanctum and sacrifice the invaluable advantage of surprise in exchange for only two lives, Sunny became convinced that there was a method to this madness.
…And as the surviving Lost followed him with heavy gazes, dark expressions contorting their faces, he was pretty sure that he understood its purpose.
Mordret wanted them to be suspicious of each other, he wanted them to be tense and scared. He wanted their spirits to break.
Why? To make their souls weak and their willpower shaken, of course. Which suggested that his ability to devour souls was not absolute, and required the victim to be… what? To be defeated? To surrender? Or simply to be weaker than his?
'...What a bastard.'
Sunny returned to Cassie and gave her a bowl of porridge, then frowned.
Honestly, he wasn't sure who was scarier… an unhinged lunatic that enjoyed torturing his victims before murdering them in horrific ways, or a cold-blooded killer that uncaringly did the same simply because it suited his practical goals.
Either way, the result would be the same. The Lost were shaken, but not nearly close to breaking down. Which meant that Mordret was not going to stop… no, he was only getting started sowing terror into the souls.
The question was… how was Sunny supposed to stop him?
He ate his porridge, then glanced at Pierce and Welthe, who were speaking quietly near the doors.
…And should he?
***
Soon, Master Pierce summoned the ten Echoes. Even though maintaining them at all times cost a considerable amount of essence, it was decided that the disturbing things would remain among the Lost from now on.
Several were sent to explore the inner sanctum and try to find signs of the attacker, or at least learn how he had managed to get inside. The rest assumed guarding positions outside the hall, making the remaining sentinels feel both relieved and tense.
Not even these experienced warriors felt comfortable in the presence of human Echoes.
The security measures were enhanced, as well. No one was allowed to remain alone, and if there was a need to leave the common area, only groups of three could do so. Sunny and Cassie had to recruit the help of the female sentinel — the one who had the ability to turn invisible — just to visit the bathroom.
And yet, none of these measures helped protect the stronghold.
Come the next morning, two more Lost were dead. This time, they were killed inside the hall itself, not even in the corridor outside.
After that, things turned really ugly for Sunny.
Chapter 580: Presumption of Guilt
Two days had passed after the battle with Mordret's previous vessel and the army of corpse puppets he had created with its help. Those of the wounded who had received light injuries were already back on their feet, but three of the sentinels were still in bad shape.
Their comrades were doing everything in their power to treat their wounds, but with every healer in the Citadel already dead, there was little that could be done to hasten the recovery. One of the corners of the hall was converted into an infirmary, where the three heavily injured sentinels rested and received care.
…In the morning, a piercing scream suddenly echoed between the black stone walls. Those who were sleeping jumped up, grabbing the weapons that they had kept summoned to be ready for an attack. Those who remained awake were already moving, rushing toward the source of the scream — the makeshift infirmary.
Sunny simply sat up on his mattress, a tense expression on his face.
There were three cots for the wounded, standing in a row along the wall. It was the Lost who occupied the middle one that was screaming, his face contorted by an expression of sheer terror.
The other two were dead.
Their throats were sliced open, blood streaming to the floor. Both were killed in their sleep, without alerting anyone around… as far away from the entrance to the hall as it was possible, right in the middle of the sentinels' camp.
The third one clearly could have been murdered as well, and had been left alive on purpose, as if to mock the Lost.
It was as though Mordret was telling them that no one was safe, and that he was perfectly capable of taking each of them whenever he pleased.
"W—what?!"
"How did he get inside?!"
"He might still be here!"
The Lost were on the verge of panicking, but in the end, their training and skill prevailed. Instead of descending into chaos, the situation inside the hall immediately turned into a coordinated action. Even before Peirce and Welthe arrived, the sentinels were already moving to stand in a defensive formation, weapons drawn and ready for battle.
The two Masters appeared mere seconds after the scream. They quickly assessed the situation and joined their soldiers, half of the Echoes moving closer, half barring the doors.
For a few moments, there was a tense silence in the stronghold of the Valor forces. The surviving sentinels waited tensely by the infirmary, while five empty-eyed Echoes blocked the exit.
There was no one else in the hall… except for Sunny and Cassie, who had not moved from the start of it all.
Slowly, all of the Lost focused on the two of them. Their gazes were dark, cold, and full of danger.
Sunny's face twitched.
'Crap…'
Was Mordret aware of how these actions would affect the two of them? Was he trying to force them out into the open on purpose, making it impossible to stay with the sentinels?
What was his damn plan, really? What was his endgame? How was he planning to deal with Saint Cormac in a few days, and what role was everyone else supposed to play before that?
He opened his mouth, wishing to say something to defuse the situation, but one of the Lost was faster:
"It's them! It must be one of them!"
As soon as this first accusation was made, the floodgates were open. A moment later, Sunny and Cassie were assaulted by a litany of cries, all blaming them for the deaths of the two wounded sentinels.
Sunny stared at the crowd of Lost, feeling his heart grow cold. A single person could be reasoned with… but what he saw right now was not a group of people, but a massive creature with many heads, many shouting mouths, and many eyes that burned with fury, fear… and dark, murderous intent.
A frightened crowd did not know reason, it only knew fear, and the desire to either escape or destroy its source.
...Ironically, there were very few things more frightening than a senseless crowd.
The Lost were much more resilient and prepared than most people, but even battle-hardened warriors like them had a limit. After weeks of being hunted, slaughtered, and brutalized by the elusive and terrifying fiend, they seemed to have finally reached it.
Of course, there was no logic behind the accusations. Neither Sunny nor Cassie possessed the means to commit the murder unnoticed — simply for the fact that they had been watched this entire time, since no one really trusted them, to begin with.
But his attempt to explain this was drowned by the chorus of angry shouts.
Sunny noticed Pierce and Welthe exchanging a quick look, their faces calm, but somber. At least these two had managed to keep a cool head… but would that change anything?
His heartbeat slowed.
Sunny mentally took in the entirety of the hall — the Echoes standing guard near the doors, the two Masters, the formation of the Lost, the dead sentinels laying on the blood-soaked cots…
Would he be able to fight his way out of this place? And what would happen next? The forces of Valor would surely pursue him and Cassie…
It was at this moment that a sudden realization hit him.
Sunny hesitated for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet. His hand hovered in the air, as if ready to summon a weapon.
That action was enough to cause a chain effect among the Lost.
One of them suddenly lunged forward, throwing a javelin at Sunny. Another drew his bow, an arrow already knocked on the string…
Nothing came of it, however.
Almost instantly, Pierce growled, his voice easily suppressing the shouts:
"Stop, you wretched bastards! Who ordered you to attack?! Anyone who moves, I'll kill myself!"
At the same time, Welthe turned into a blur and appeared in front of Sunny, catching the javelin before it could get anywhere near him. She looked at the weapon with a scowl, then threw it on the floor.
The Echoes standing in front of the sentinel formation suddenly turned, facing the Lost. Their empty eyes stared at the frightened warriors, no emotion in them.
…Just like that, the two Masters tamed the wild beast of the human crowd. No matter how far gone the sentinels were, there were still remnants of discipline etched deep into their bones.
More than that, the easiest way to defeat fear was with a different, much greater fear.
Under the unnerving gaze of the Echoes, the accusing shouts abruptly stopped. The Lost hesitated, then hesitantly lowered their weapons.
However, their burning gazes were still focused on Sunny and Cassie, their thirst for violence temporarily leashed, but not quenched.
Welthe lingered for a moment, then looked at them over her shoulder.
"...You better come with me. It is… not safe for the two of you to remain with the others. Don't worry, though. We'll keep you safe."
Sunny pretended to shiver, glanced at the crowd of the Lost, and nodded.
"Sure. Yeah… no problem."
Inwardly, though, he was grinning.
'Keep us safe... what a bunch of crap…'
Sunny and Cassie were led deeper into the inner sanctum. They passed the room with the round table where the two Masters had first interrogated them, then the personal quarters of the Ascended knights, and were finally led to a small room with a single door.
Welthe let them inside and remained at the threshold.
She was quiet for a few moments, and then said:
"Wait for a bit. I will bring you food and water later. This will be your lodgings from now on, so get comfortable."
With that, she closed the door and left.
Sunny smiled darkly.
…He didn't hear the click of the lock, but the implication was clear.
The small room was much more comfortable than the iron cage, but it served the same purpose.
Once again, they were in a prison cell.
...However, Sunny knew that this time, they won't be staying in it long.
Chapter 581: Bell Tower
Several days passed with nothing disastrous happening. Sunny and Cassie spent them inside the small room, eating the food Welthe or one of the Echoes brought them and restoring their strength. Even though they were constantly watched, both remained calm and somewhat relaxed.
Outside, things weren't as peaceful.
Of course, Mordret had not killed again… doing so would have only compromised his efforts to frame Sunny for the murders. However, the air was so full of tension that one could almost cut it with a knife. With every day of nothing happening, the already frayed nerves of the Lost drew tauter and tauter.
Fear, unease, and anxious anticipation built and built, mixing under the pressure of uncertainty into dark, viscous, and volatile dread.
Sometimes, doing nothing produced the best result.
...Mordret knew when to push and when to pull too well.
With nothing to do but wait for an inevitable attack and nowhere to release the tension, the Lost spent a lot of time staring at the closed doors that led to the quarters where Sunny and Cassie were kept, their face growing darker with each day.
Something had to give… at this point, even Pierce and Welthe didn't seem confident in their ability to keep these soldiers under control and battle-ready. The two Masters spent the time making their own plans. Sunny didn't know what these plans were, since he didn't dare to send one of his shadows to spy on the formidable knights of Valor.
…He had a pretty good guess, though.
On one of these days, he noticed that the Lost seemed especially restless. Pierce and Welthe were behaving a bit strangely, as well.
Sunny frowned, then walked to the door, picked up a tray of food that had been delivered by an Echo a few hours earlier, then brought it over and handed one of the bowls to Cassie.
"Eat well today."
The blind girl gave him a short nod. To an outsider, this exchange would not have looked like anything, but the two of them knew each other very well… no matter how complicated this relationship was.
Sunny had let Cassie know everything he needed to convey, and she had signaled that his message was received.
Not saying anything else, they concentrated on the food.
Although the Night Temple was sealed and cut off from the outside world, it seemed as though the temperature inside had dropped by a lot in the last few days. The cathedral was chilly before, but now, the cold felt intrusive and everpresent.
Beyond the black walls of the Citadel, November was in full swing. It was at least one week past the date when Sunny and Cassie were supposed to rendezvous with the rest of the cohort on the Shipwreck island, in case Valor denied them access to the Gateway.
Sunny wondered how Effie and Kai were doing right now. Were they worried, or waiting patiently, not knowing that everything had gone horribly wrong?
There was no way to know.
He sighed and looked at Cassie. The blind girl was sitting silently, staring into nothingness. They were close enough for him to see the reflection of his pale face in her beautiful blue eyes.
Sunny smirked.
'Huh… not bad.'
He had looked terrible after crawling out of the iron cage, but by now, his appearance was more or less back to normal. He felt much better, too.
Whatever fate had in store for him, he was ready.
…A few hours later, the door of their small room opened, and Welthe appeared outside. The Master looked at them somberly and said in an even voice:
"Lady Cassia, Awakened Sunless. The situation has changed a bit. It is… not safe for the two of you to remain here anymore. Come. We have to move you to a different location."
Sunny stared at her for a few moments, then asked cautiously:
"Is, uh… is everything alright?"
She lingered, then answered succinctly:
"...It will be."
'Wow. Not ominous at all.'
Without much choice, Sunny and Cassie stood up and followed the red-haired Master. They were led into the main hall of the fortified encampment and through it, feeling the Lost follow them with dark gazes.
At some point, several Echoes appeared to their right and left, as if to protect them should anything happen.
…Or to prevent them from escaping, depending on how one was inclined to look at it.
The small procession left the stronghold of the Valor forces and entered the corridors of the inner sanctum. They walked through the maze of them and entered a spiral staircase.
Sunny looked around tentatively, then asked:
"Where are we going?"
Welthe gestured down.
"The bell tower."
She didn't add anything else, as if her answer had explained everything. Sunny scowled, but didn't press the issue.
What was the point?
The staircase was long and winding, circling the entire tower many times. With each revolution, the spiral became narrower. From time to time, they saw closed doors to their left, but never to their right.
Finally, after a while, they reached the end of the stairs and waited as Welthe opened a heavy gate blocking the path forward.
Sunny and Cassie found themselves at the very bottom of the main bell tower of the Night Temple. Somewhere below them, a massive bell was swaying gently on an ancient iron chain. The tip of the seventh belfry was narrow, encompassing only a circular corridor and one central chamber. Currently, they were looking at its door.
The door was slightly opened.
Welthe stopped, then looked at Sunny and gestured forward.
"Come inside."
Sunny threw a glance at her, then at the Echoes surrounding him. He hesitated for a few moments, then sighed, swung the door open, and stepped into the chamber.
He found himself in a room built of cold stone. It was dark and full of deafening silence, arranged in the shape of a heptagon. Its seven corners were drowning in shadows, and at each of its seven walls, a large mirror frame stood.
However, the frames were empty. The mirrors they had once housed were long shattered and gone.
Sunny stared at them for a moment.
'Well… at least it's now clear where those thousands of mirror shards came from.'
That discrepancy had been tormenting him for a while. In a prison where no mirrors were allowed, where had Mordret found all those shards? Where had the piles of broken mirrors that Cassie saw in her vision appeared from? Now, he had an answer.
Satisfied, Sunny lowered his gaze and looked at the figures waiting for him inside the dark chamber.
Pierce was standing in its center, surrounded by the rest of the Echoes. His eyes were cold and heavy.
The fearsome master grimaced, then said, his voice low and threatening:
"Whatever you think of doing… I would advise against it."
At the same time, the door of the chamber closed with a deafening bang. The Echoes that had escorted them here were already inside, behind Sunny. Welthe was there, too.
She was holding a blade to Cassie's throat.
Her expression was dark and calm.
Sunny lingered for a couple of seconds, then slowly raised his hands with his palms open.
'Damn. How very unexpected... what a surprise...'
Chapter 582: For the Greater Good
Sunny froze, trying not to move a muscle. His face grew pale and solemn.
"W—what is going on? Master Welthe?"
The woman stared at his back, the blade of a slender saber pressed against Cassie's throat. She remained silent, as though unwilling to answer. However, Pierce spoke in her stead, a dark grin appearing on his lips:
"Don't worry… we'll tell you shortly."
With that, he commanded two Echoes to step forward. One was holding a large wooden box, its surface engraved with a complicated weave of a beautiful, but disorienting pattern. The other was holding a folded piece of black cloth.
Pierce carefully took the box, then placed it on the floor in front of him and closed his eyes for a moment. A loud click resounded from inside, and its lid rose by a few millimeters. He didn't touch it, though.
Instead, the fearsome Master sighed and took the folded cloth.
Sunny stared at the wooden box with a bit of apprehension.
"What is that thing?"
Welthe finally spoke, her voice cold and even:
"It is a mirror trap. A very special artifact created by the elders of our great clan. With its help, we can capture and bind the prince."
He blinked a couple of times, then forced out a weak smile.
"Well, that is… good? Right?"
Pierce snarled.
"Indeed… the problem is, the ritual requires some time to be performed. And that monster has proved to be too devious to be held back long enough for it to work. Every time we cornered him, he simply destroyed the vessel and slipped away. Because we were always a step behind, and he was the one in control of the battlefield."
The Master smiled.
"Well… that is about to change."
Sunny frowned.
Behind him, Cassie suddenly spoke:
"You… you want to lure him into a trap? By using us as bait?"
Welthe shook her head.
"Not you, Song of the Fallen. Just your companion. He is the one Prince Mordret wants, after all."
The other knight chuckled.
"He is the one who caused all this… isn't it only fair that he would be the one to end it?"
Pierce took a step forward and looked down at Sunny.
"I don't know why the bastard chose you as the final vessel, but from his actions, it is obvious that he is fixated on taking your body above all others. Why else would he have gone to such lengths to frame and excommunicate you? Going as far as to risk sneaking into our camp… the mad prince is ill and unhinged. If we present an opportunity to possess you, he won't be able to resist."
The Master scowled furiously.
"...And this time, we will be the ones in control. He won't escape us again. So… you wouldn't mind making a sacrifice for the greater good, would you, Awakened Sunless?"
Sunny shivered and took an involuntary step back. However, there was nowhere for him to go — Welthe and five Echoes were behind him, blocking the path of escape.
"W—what if I do mind?"
Pierce smiled.
"Then Lady Cassia will tragically lose her life at the hands of the escaped murderer… while heroically assisting the great clan Valor and saving lives, of course. And you will do as I say, anyway, only after a few additional… and very, very unpleasant… steps."
Cassie gritted her teeth, then shouted:
"Sunny! Don't do it!"
In the next moment, Welthe moved her saber, making the blind girl fall silent. A drop of blood rolled down her neck.
"Quiet…"
Sunny froze, as if not knowing what to do. His eyes darted around the chamber, as if searching for something to save him. But there was nothing he could use — only the two Masters and the ten Echoes, all ready to pounce at him if he were to try something.
"I… I…"
He trembled, hesitated, and then suddenly hung his head, as if defeated.
"...I'll do it. Just don't… don't hurt her. Please!"
'That wasn't too much… right?'
Cassie struggled in Welthe's grip.
"Sunny! No!"
He looked back, a solemn expression on his face. When he spoke, his voice sounded stifled and frightened, but also certain and full of resolve.
…Almost heroic.
"It's… it's alright. Don't be sad, Cassie. At least this way… this way, one of us will survive."
With that, Sunny faced Pierce and shivered.
"What… what do I need to do?"
The fearsome Master smirked, then handed him the folded piece of cloth.
"Good choice. Get down on your knees, first."
Sunny took the cloth and kneeled in front of the wooden box. Slowly, Welthe moved to stand side by side with Pierce, and the Echoes dispersed, hovering near the walls as they surrounded him.
He closed his eyes.
"...Now what?"
Welthe spoke, still holding Cassie with an iron grip. Pierce, meanwhile, bent down and put one hand on the lid of the box.
"Open your eyes. Unfold the cloth, the look at the item inside. Don't think of playing any tricks…"
She moved her saber, making Cassie whimper.
Sunny flinched, but remained on his knees. Gritting his teeth, he glanced at the blind girl, then lowered his head and slowly unfolded the cloth.
Inside, laying on the black fabric, was a single piece of a broken mirror.
Sunny stared at it, and saw his pale reflection staring back.
The Masters tensed.
…And then, nothing happened.
Well, of course it didn't.
If Sunny had thought otherwise, he would have never allowed himself to end up in this situation.
In fact, he was pretty sure that he knew what Mordret was planning, and why. For that reason, he believed that staring into a mirror was perfectly safe for him, at least right now.
That's why he and Cassie had acted out this little performance, pretending to be frightened and clueless, or at least resigned to their fate. Sunny was actually pretty proud of himself. It seemed that his acting ability had really improved. That last line, especially… such intensity…
Cassie had done surprisingly well, too.
Pierce and Welthe stared at him, waiting for a sign that Mordret took the bait. However, after a few seconds of nothing happening, slight confusion appeared in their eyes, and then a hint of doubt.
…And then, fear.
Welthe was the first one to understand.
Her face paled, and she suddenly looked up, as if hoping to pierce countless layers of stone with her gaze.
And see the fortified camp that they had left behind.
Her lips trembled.
"No…"
Chapter 583: Web of Lies
It had taken Sunny a lot of time to understand what Mordret was doing, and why. But in the end, he had succeeded, and thus managed to predict what the elusive prince was going to do… or at least do it with a sufficient degree of certainty to stake his life on it in this desperate situation.
Just like everybody else, Sunny had been fooled at first. The initial revelation he had received had to do with the brutal murder of the two guards… it was then that he realized that Mordret was not as insane and perverse as everyone seemed to think.
Mordret's grotesque brutality was not the result of an irresistible, unhinged and sadistic compulsion. Instead, it was a cold and calculated strategy that the prince had employed to diminish his enemies, break their spirit, and make their souls susceptible to his attacks. He had weaponized terror itself, and made good use of it.
After all, people were most scared of that which was unknown. And what was more unknowable than the mind of a deranged, murderous madman?
After Sunny realized that there was such a possibility, the next step was both simple and hard to take. He had to take a good look at himself and admit that he himself had fallen victim to this tactic.
Mordret had gotten under his skin. Sunny was more resilient to deceit and manipulation than most, but he was also more vulnerable to the schemes of the Prince of Nothing. Their enmity was personal, and as such, involved powerful and destructive emotions. Humiliation, resentment… the sense of betrayal. Such emotions were the enemy of clarity.
Sunny had allowed his mind to be clouded by them, and through them, by fear.
So, he had to separate his emotions from his perception of the situation, knowing that some of them were a dire obstacle, and some were engineered by Mordret in order to obfuscate the truth.
Once he did, it was as though a veil had fallen from his eyes. Without it, several things became apparent.
The first one was that Mordret was not as terrifying as he wanted everyone to think. Sure, he was astonishingly powerful for an Awakened, and equally as lethal… enough so for Sunny to suspect that the prince possessed a divine Aspect.
If he and Nephis could, why not Mordret?
He didn't know how many soul cores Mordret possessed, but if his Aspect was indeed similar to theirs… there had been much more time for the former heir of Valor to accumulate soul fragments and grow stronger. This could also explain why his power level was so anomalous.
In any case, it didn't matter. Regardless of how powerful Mordret was, he was clearly not powerful enough to obliterate his jailers completely — otherwise, they would have been already dead. In fact, Sunny suspected that the Prince of Nothing was in the exact same situation as he himself was.
Sunny could take on one of the Masters, maybe even both of them with Cassie's help and a lot of luck. He also stood a chance in the battle against the surviving Lost.
But he couldn't fight them all together… and neither could Mordret.
It was not an accident that the guards had been killed in the usual brutal and ghastly fashion, but the wounded sentinels simply had their throats cut. The murderous prince had not abandoned his barbarous ways on a whim… he simply wasn't capable enough to do more unnoticed. Mordret was not all-powerful.
Just very, very good…
The second realization came thanks to the first one, after the two wounded sentinels had been killed and the crowd of their comrades was hungry for Sunny's blood. Back then, he briefly considered running away, despite the fact that Pierce and Welthe would certainly pursue…
And this was it. At that moment, he understood Mordret's true goal. It was not to single out Sunny, separate him from the Lost, and possess his body… no, what the prince wanted was to separate the Lost from each other with Sunny's unwilling help. So that he could kill them, divided.
Which didn't mean that he had no plans for Sunny's body. Only that he wasn't aiming for it yet.
After Sunny understood Mordret's immediate goal, one last thing became apparent.
...It was that the murderer was indeed already among them.
Only he wasn't hiding inside Sunny, as the Lost suspected. Instead, he was hiding inside one of them.
This mystery tormented Sunny for a while. How could this be? After all, Pierce and Welthe weren't fools. They had a reason to be confident in their soldiers… and that reason was that none of the sentinels had interacted with a mirror or any sort of a reflection after Mordret's last vessel had been destroyed. Everyone was careful, and watchful of their comrades to keep them safe, too.
How could he have possessed one of them, then?
The answer was both simple and frightening. Sunny understood it after thinking about the sentinel who had brought food and water to their cage, then lost his mind and tore out his own eyes.
…The eyes.
The eyes were the mirror of the soul, after all.
Locked in a small room with Cassie, Sunny couldn't help but notice his own reflection in her beautiful eyes. Seeing his own face staring at back him from their depths, he shuddered…
Mordret didn't need a mirror to enter someone's soul. Every human in the Night Temple was a walking mirror — they just didn't know it. Not by chance, but by design. The banished prince had purposefully kept this facet of his power hidden, only using the mirrors and mundane reflections to take vessels, thus creating a false impression that this was the only way he could achieve it.
He was a devious monster, indeed.
Sunny kept this dreadful guess to himself and tried to deduce who among the Lost was the real murderer. He considered both Pierce and Welthe, then the only wounded sentinel to survive — using him as a vessel was just insidious enough for a fiend like Mordret.
But then, he entertained the idea that Mordret had not chosen his victims randomly. He had the ability to kill people inside the stronghold, to a much more terrifying effect… so why target the guards first?
One of the murdered guards had been a familiar face… the Lost who had an Aspect that allowed him to see the unseen, like Sunny's shadow hiding in the darkness.
Or peer through the veil of invisibility that the female sentinel who had almost cut Sunny's throat, invited him to see Welthe and Pierce, and even escorted him and Cassie to the bathroom could create.
Yes… Sunny was almost sure that Mordret was hiding in her body. This was how he had been able to kill the two guards, and later the two wounded, without being seen or heard. The answer was so obvious… the simplest solution was most often the correct one, after all.
And so, Sunny had predicted what was going to happen.
Mordret had pushed Pierce and Welthe into action. With their forces dwindling by the day and no definitive information on when Saint Cormac would arrive, the Masters could not simply wait. He lured them into leaving the stronghold to take Sunny away, thinking that they were luring Mordret into a trap instead.
And while they were gone…
The surviving Lost had no one to protect them from the monster hiding in their ranks.
…Welthe suddenly looked up, her face growing pale. Her lips trembled.
"No…"
Sunny lowered his head and suppressed a dark smile.
At that moment, the Masters finally understood what he had known for a while.
But it was too late.
Utterly and irrevocably late…
Chapter 584: A Dark Ocean
Welthe froze… but only for a moment. Then, she threw Cassie aside and dashed toward the door, disappearing in a blur. Sunny was pushed away, rolling on the floor and almost crashing against one of the empty mirror frames. By the time he regained his balance, she was already gone.
Pierce growled, then threw a murderous look at him and screamed:
"Kill them!"
With that, he dashed out of the chamber, too, dismissing most of the Echoes to take them with him.
…The fools still hoped that they could save their men.
Or avenge them, at least.
Sunny also couldn't really be mad at Pierce for ordering their death… he would have done the same. Now that their plan to bind Mordret had failed, the next best option was to make sure that there were no more vessels for him to possess. The sentinels were already as good as dead. That left only Sunny…
However, Sunny was not one to let go of the grudge.
'Curse you, you bastard…'
There were only two Echoes remaining in the mirror chamber. One was moving toward Cassie, already thrusting its sword forward. The other was towering over Sunny, its heavy battle axe raised.
Sunny glared at the Echo, not amused.
In the next moment, a stygian serpent appeared from the shadows behind the creature, wrapping its long and powerful body around the macabre effigy. Then, its head shot forward, the maw opening to a terrible width. Sharp fangs closed on both sides of the Echoe's face, easily piercing through the skull and crushing it with a grisly crunch.
At the same time, Cassie rose to one knee and deflected her enemy's sword with a long dagger. A slender rapier flashed from behind her, piercing the creature's neck and emerging from its other side in a shower of blood.
Both Echoes fell to the floor, disintegrating into a rain of sparks. From start to finish, they had not made a sound.
Sunny rushed to Cassie and bent down, trying to ascertain the severity of her wound. His voice sounded tense and worried:
"Are you okay?"
There was blood flowing down her delicate neck, but the cut seemed shallow and not at all dangerous. A sense of profound relief spread through his chest.
The blind girl nodded.
"I'm fine! Go! There won't be another opportunity!"
He hesitated for a moment, then rose without saying a word, and stepped into the shadows.
Cassie was right. There would not be another chance… they were faced with two equal threats — one was the pair of Ascended knights, and the other was the cursed hellspawn, Mordret himself.
Sunny had to make sure that all three died today.
Well… two of them. He didn't know how to destroy the mirror fiend, so leaving Mordret without a vessel was going to have to suffice.
Previously, Sunny had left one of his shadows at the precipice of the stairway, and then commanded it to hide. Now, he appeared out of it, turning into a shadow himself — just in time to see Welthe and Pierce shoot past him.
'...Fast.'
Most of the Night Temple was submerged in darkness now that no one was alive to keep the lanterns aflame. Rushing through it, he followed the Masters, and reached the doors of the last stronghold of the Valor forces almost at the same instant as them.
Welthe simply crashed through the door, pulverizing it into a cloud of splinters.
What met them inside…
Was a bloodbath.
***
The encampment of the Lost was unrecognizable. Before, it had been clean and orderly, somewhat somber, but looking like a well-inhabited space.
Now, all Sunny could see was blood.
The floor was slick with blood, and so were the walls. Even the ceiling was painted red. All of the hall was one vast, morbid pool of the crimson liquid, with severed limbs and mangled bodies sprawled in it, some of them mutilated so thoroughly that it was almost impossible to recognize them as former humans.
The sight of it was revolting and horrid.
…And in the center of this vile slaughterhouse, a lone figure was sitting cross-legged, a carefree smile on her lips.
The beautiful female sentinel looked different, too.
Her appearance was the same, but everything else about her — her bearing, her gaze, her presence — had changed. It was relaxed and friendly, almost polite. She looked… exactly how Mordret had sounded, back when he and Sunny spoke in the lightless abyss of the Sky Below.
The dissonance between her pleasant demeanor and the gruesome bloodbath surrounding her was ghastly, bizarre, and deeply disturbing.
When the two Masters appeared inside the hall, eight Echoes weaving themselves from sparks of light around them, Mordret's smile widened.
He absentmindedly threw a knife cut out of a single piece of a pristine white stone into the air, then caught it again, and somehow made it disappear without a trace.
"...Ah. Sir Pierce, Lady Welthe. You have finally made it."
Then, he shifted his gaze and looked directly at Sunny, who was hiding in the shadows near the door.
"...And you, Sunless! It is such a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. Well… I guess we've already met a few days ago. Still, what an occasion. I've waited for it for a long, long time."
He looked back to Welthe and Pierce, his smile remaining the same, but his eyes growing cold and frightening, as though there was a dark ocean of unfathomable depth hiding beneath their surface, full of harrowing terrors.
"...But not as long as I've waited to meet the two of you."
Pierce growled, taking a step forward:
"You bastard!"
Mordret threw his head back and laughed.
"What? Don't you like my handiwork? I've tried so hard, just to impress you!"
He grinned, then slowly rose to his feet, the friendly smile disappearing from his face. Instead, an expression of dark, cold, murderous wrath appeared on it.
"Six years… six long years you have kept me in that empty mausoleum. You and the rest of the great, noble, illustrious clan Valor."
The female sentinel outstretched her hand, summoning a simple sword from the thin air.
"You destroyed my body, stole my birthright… you even destroyed my Reflections. Ah, but no matter. I had plenty of time to think of ways to repay your generosity. The things I have in store for you… oh, my! When I am done with clan Valor, the word itself will gain a new meaning. Even the gods will look up from their graves, and tremble."
Mordret smiled, then said evenly, not moving his gaze away from Pierce and Welthe.
"...What do you think, Sunless? You and I have no quarrel… well. Unless you are still angry about that little deception of mine. I can't really blame you... these two, however, will never let you leave this place alive. Shall we join forces, deal with them, and then escape together? Ah, I could be lying, of course. Maybe I'll just use you again, then kill that little oracle of yours, and take your body. Who knows…"
Sunny lingered for a moment, then stepped out of the shadows, appearing between Mordret and the Masters.
Welthe glanced at him with a hint of concern. Pierce grimaced, then uttered through gritted teeth:
"Don't do anything stupid, boy. This thing isn't even a human… I don't know what was done to him, but he had not been a human for a long, long time. He will consume your soul and wear your body like a suit… and even then, it won't be of any use. Once Lord Cormac returns, even that which remains of you will be obliterated. It's not too late… join us, and together, we can stop this demon."
Sunny stared at him for a bit, then glanced at Mordret.
Finally, he sighed, took a few steps, and stopped beside the female sentinel. Saint and the Soul Serpent appeared from the shadows to his left and his right.
Together, the four of them — Sunny, Mordret, and the two Shadows — face the two knights of Valor and the eight human Echoes.
Sunny smirked.
"I am somewhat of a demon myself, you know…"