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?"

but the cut seemed shallow and not at all

The blind girl nodded.

Go! There won't be another

rose without

faced with two equal threats — one was the pair of Ascended knights, and the other was the

had to make sure that all three

to destroy the mirror fiend, so leaving Mordret without a vessel was going to

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

'...Fast.'

the lanterns aflame. Rushing through it,

crashed through the door, pulverizing

What met them inside…

Was a bloodbath.

***

had been clean

Sunny could

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

sight of it was revolting and

of this vile slaughterhouse, a lone figure

sentinel looked different,

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

pleasant demeanor and the gruesome bloodbath surrounding her was ghastly, bizarre, and

inside the hall, eight Echoes weaving

stone into the air, then caught it again, and somehow made it

Welthe. You have finally

at Sunny, who

such a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. Well… I guess we've already met a few days ago. Still,

smile remaining the same, but his eyes growing cold and frightening, as though there was a

as I've waited to meet the two of

growled, taking a