Shadow Slave

Indeed, it was as Sunny had thought.

Mordret had learned his secrets from the mirror shard left behind by his Beast. He didn't really know of his Aspect… he only knew of its reflection.

And that reflection was incomplete.

That was why the cunning prince had assumed that he would be able to enslave Sunny by using his True Name. Of course, Mordret would have been careful, taking the possibility that Lost from Light already had a master into account… but Sunny was half a step ahead. He had doused that caution by being ready to pretend to be enslaved…

And then attacked.

...The Cruel Sight shot forward, narrowly avoiding the mirror fiend's saber and sinking deep into his flesh. It cut through the enchanted black tunic, pierced Welthe's body, and emerged from her back.

Mordret's face contorted, his eyes full of shock and pain.

Sunny, of course, couldn't see it, since he was still relying on shadow sense to navigate the world. All he felt was a tremble that went through his enemy's body.

A moment later, the Prince of Nothing groaned, a stream of blood escaping from his mouth.

Then, he lashed out with the saber, forcing Sunny to stagger back. The Cruel Sight slid out of the terrible wound, wrecking more damage on its way back. Sunny was slightly disappointed that he had not been able to end the fight right there and then, but it hardly mattered.

The wound he had delivered was not immediately fatal, but deadly nevertheless. Now, all he had to do was wait for the enemy to bleed out… even a Master's body was not resilient enough to stem the flood of blood he had caused…

Mordret, it seemed, realized the same, and dashed forward in a desperate attempt to kill Sunny before the blood loss made him too weak.

…Or so Sunny thought.

'What…'

Instead of attacking with the saber, the Prince of Nothing used it to push the Cruel Sight aside, and continued to move forward, eventually colliding with Sunny and grabbing him by the throat.

'Is he crazy?!'

At such a close distance, Sunny had all the advantages. Mordret couldn't slash with the saber, but he could easily bring his shortsword back for a killing thrust, long before anyone would have been able to strangle him.

This attack made no sense...

However, in the next moment, he felt that something was wrong.

And then, his chest was pierced by a blinding explosion of pain.

staggered back, falling to the floor. Somehow, against all logic, the Prince of Nothing seemed unscathed again, the bloody gash on his

was as though Sunny had run himself through with a sword. He could feel a deep wound in his chest, even

'C—curses…'

the descending saber. Luckily for him, Mordret

'Damned… damned Welthe!'

Sunny was not entirely clear on what had happened and how he had ended up with a hole in his chest, he had an inkling. Welthe's Aspect seemed to be all about devoiding the enemy of

her third Ability capable of transferring wounds from her body to that

so… was he going to

No… no, he wouldn't.

death. In fact, he was barely bleeding at all. His body was pierced and heavily damaged, but fortunately, blood loss was one

being broken

body would not

"Argh!"

feel too well… in fact, he felt pretty terrible. Every breath was torture, and his heartbeat was strange and irregular. Every contraction sent a pulse of suffering

I've been through worse…

into existence, and tried to assess what was happening

flashing toward her neck. The blind girl met his attack with a skillful block, the Quiet Dancer ringing clearly as

back, away

as her hand left the surface of the wooden box and the flow of soul essence was interrupted, the glow of the engraved pattern shimmered, dimmed, and

Mordret sighed.

bad, guys. Truly,

and then brought the saber down on it, turning the box into a pile of

Sunny shuddered.

'...Crap.'

stolen body, the Prince of Nothing inhaled deeply, an expression of delight on his face. Then, he turned to Sunny and smiled

should I

existence. The [Unbroken] enchantment activated, filling him with newfound power. Its effect wasn't as incredible as when he had been a mere Sleeper, but still quite

Cruel Sight in another, Sunny willed the mirror blade to ignite with the incandescent light of

royal highness. I can promise

of him and Cassie behind,

what a pity. I am really going to miss you,

and was suddenly just a step away, the slender

two of them clashed, with one attacking and the other desperately trying to defend. The ringing of steel

like an eternity, in fact, just a second had passed. The Quiet Dancer had not even had time to reach them from the

he really, really

if he had not been wounded and under the debilitating effect of Welthe's Aspect, Sunny would have been able to hold his ground against the deadly prince. With three shadows wrapped around his body and the gift