Shadow Slave

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?"

neck, but the cut seemed shallow and not at all dangerous. A sense of profound

The blind girl nodded.

Go! There won't be another

for a moment, then rose without saying a word, and stepped into

not be another chance… they were faced with two equal threats — one was the pair of Ascended knights, and the other was

make sure that all three

know how to destroy the mirror fiend, so leaving Mordret

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

'...Fast.'

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

crashed through the door, pulverizing it into a cloud of

What met them inside…

Was a bloodbath.

***

it had been clean and orderly,

all Sunny could see was

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

of it was revolting

this vile slaughterhouse, a lone figure was sitting cross-legged, a carefree smile on her

sentinel looked different,

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

and the gruesome bloodbath surrounding her

Masters appeared inside the hall, eight Echoes weaving themselves from

out of a single piece of a pristine white stone into the air, then caught it again, and somehow made it

Sir Pierce, Lady Welthe. You have finally made

his gaze and looked directly at Sunny,

guess we've already met a few days ago. Still, what an occasion. I've waited for it

looked back to Welthe and Pierce, his smile remaining the same, but his eyes growing cold and frightening, as though there was

not as long as I've waited to meet the

growled, taking a