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.

at least… you really are a devious bastard, you know that, right? Oh, don't take it as an insult, by the way.

Prince of Nothing shook his head, then took

mirror can only reflect what is in front of it, Sunless. Is it my fault that the things in front of me are cruel, vile, and deceitful? I

felt slow and sluggish, strength draining from

this,

Mordret smiled.

not. What do you want

if trying

instead of saying anything, he simply

by this little deception. His saber flashed forward

moment later, though, his laugh abruptly

***

when the bastard occupied the body of a powerful Master, one whose

again, when had Sunny

it, he had been subtly manipulating the banished prince. Every step back he had taken was meant to bring them into the right positions. The angle at which he held the Cruel Sight had been

reflect what Mordret was not supposed to

moment of his attack, his efforts finally

end, he had

hidden by the silver half-mask, but the polished steel armor and the midnight blue coat were

Changing Star had received after slaying an Awakened Terror in her First Nightmare. The armor

and placed something on the floor in front of

engraved with a complicated weave of a beautiful, but disorienting pattern. The lid was still slightly opened, rising above the lip by

Sunny suppressed a grin.

'Good thinking…'

Cassie seemed to have made a correction when

girl grabbed

with plates of polished silver, each reflecting the one opposite it, thus creating an infinite labyrinth of reflections.

staggered, his laughter cutting short. His hand seemed to

and thrust his spear forward, aiming to end the fight with one ruthless strike. However, the Prince of