Shadow Slave

For a moment, Sunny's heart grew heavy, his mind consumed by murderous darkness. He thought that he had been betrayed again…

There were very few people in the two worlds who knew the secret of his Flaw. Nephis was one, but she was far away. Kai and Effie probably had their guesses. However, they chose to remain silent out of respect for his unwillingness to speak about this matter.

That left only Cassie.

Cassie, who was right here in the Night Temple and had already turned on him once…

But after thinking about it a little, Sunny realized that there had been another being who possessed the knowledge of his Aspect. The problem was that it had been dead for a long, long time.

The Mirror Beast.

The Ascended Reflection had mirrored his Aspect, so it had to have glimpsed it somehow. And it was connected to Mordret far more thoroughly than Cassie ever could be.

The Prince of Nothing had not known everything about the Shadow Slave Aspect before, Sunny was sure of it. Back in the abyss of the Sky Below, Mordret had expressed genuine curiosity and surprise about things that he would have already learned otherwise.

Which meant… which meant that he had most likely only received that information after the mirror shard was brought into the Night Temple. It also meant that he was only informed about what the Mirror Beast had learned, and what had been true then. If this guess was correct, maybe Sunny would be able to use a gap in Mordret's knowledge to his advantage.

…Or he was wrong, and Cassie had really betrayed him again.

A lot of things depended on whether or not he was ready to trust her again. His very life, most likely.

Sunny frowned, then said, his voice even:

"You seem to be having fun. So… now that you know that I have nothing to do with Asterion, whoever that might be, are you going to rethink your previous plans and leave me be?"

Mordret chuckled.

"...What do you think?"

Sunny sighed.

when it comes to you, at least… you really are a devious bastard, you know

Prince of Nothing shook his head, then took another step

the things in front of me are cruel, vile, and deceitful? I think not… then again, maybe it is. Either way, I don't really care. Blame your

although Sunny's own were closed, he suddenly felt slow and sluggish, strength draining from his muscles. He swayed, and used

W—wait… before we start this, answer

Mordret smiled.

do you

if trying to speak. His

saying anything,

laughed, amused by this little deception. His saber flashed forward

moment later, though, his laugh

***

the body of a powerful Master, one whose Aspect

again, when had Sunny

the start of it, he had been subtly manipulating the banished prince. Every step back he had taken was meant to bring them into the right

it didn't reflect

his attack, his efforts finally paid

he had chosen to trust Cassie

prince. Her eyes were hidden by the silver half-mask, but the polished steel armor and the midnight blue coat were gone. Instead, she was wearing the familiar light tunic and a cloak the color of

slaying an Awakened Terror in her First Nightmare. The armor that possessed an enchantment which made enemies less likely to pay

knelt and placed something on the

a beautiful, but disorienting pattern. The

Sunny suppressed a grin.

'Good thinking…'

had not been part of the plan, but Cassie seemed to have made a correction when a beneficial opportunity presented

the blind girl grabbed the lid, threw it open… and

opposite it, thus creating an infinite labyrinth of reflections. The pattern on

staggered, his laughter cutting short. His hand

his spear forward, aiming to end the fight with one ruthless strike. However, the