Shadow Slave

Effie and Kai seemed like they had some questions, but they chose to remain silent… at least for now. Of course, they knew who Mordret was and had a general impression of his powers — Sunny and Cassie had described their experience in the Night Temple to them in enough detail, so that their friends, as well as the Fire Keepers, knew what they would be facing should they cross paths with the Prince of Nothing.

However, even Sunny himself had only a vague understanding of how Mordret's Aspect functioned, and so did Cassie. So hearing how powerful he had grown in the Nightmare was a shock to him.

'The Mirror Beast was a devil… had it been created as such, or had it earned more cores in battles with powerful Nightmare Creatures, as Saint did? If it is the former… then does it mean that Mordret was more than a Terror once? He had many Reflections before clan Valor imprisoned him, too… gods, just what kind of a menace Anvil's firstborn was in the past?'

And, more importantly… just how dangerous was he going to become in the future?

His somber thoughts were interrupted by Cassie, who spoke again after remaining silent for a while:

"In any case, destroying Mordret's body was not too hard. He appeared wearing the body of the priestess who had been first sent to find him, anyway. But, of course, doing so was useless, because he could just take another. In the chaos of the battle, I couldn't explain what dire powers the enemy possessed to the forces of the Night Temple. And, more than that…"

She shook her head somberly.

"...In the moment, I was not sure that it would have been the right thing to do. Was I meant to help the inhabitants of the Nightmare slay one of the Awakened from the waking world? Were we not supposed to be allies? No matter how vile Mordret was and despite what had happened between us in the past, here in the Nightmare, both he and I were meant to pursue the same goal."

blind young woman

were distracted by his deceit. And after witnessing the desolate town that his Reflection had slaughtered… I was disabused of the notion that he and I

her head, then continued

the Reflections became much more powerful. Mordret was not bound by the necessity to stay hidden anymore, as well. His attacks grew much more frequent and devastating, and the number of his victims started to grow with chilling speed. The more people he killed, the more dangerous he

for a moment, her face

least — became so terrified that they left their homes and fled to the Night Temple, hoping that the High Priestess would protect them. The army and the priestesses grew desperate, as well. We begged the One in the North to intervene. She was a Transcendent, and an oracle without an equal,

remained silent for a while, and then continued, her

summoned me in secret, and asked me to deliver a message to her old friend, Lord Noctis,

for a moment and turned

appalled, of course. What about her immortality? What about all these people whom she promised to protect? She smiled sadly, and told me… that they were all dead, as well. And that

sigh escaped from Cassie's

not easy. But I managed to survive, somehow. Whether by luck or due to the One in the North protecting me, Mordret never intercepted me. I had to face a few powerful Nightmare Creatures, though… as well as other dangers, along the way. I overcame these obstacles and eventually reached the Sanctuary. And on the day that I

expression appeared on

to Hope's prison. The approaching disaster

profound sorrow in Cassie's voice, but then it