Shadow Slave

After Solvane and Sun Prince had been defeated and the light of dawn washed over the shattered remains of the Kingdom of Hope, bringing with it the frenzied fury of the Ivory Dragon, Sunny knew that Sevirax would not be the only obstacle in their way.

Throughout all of it, he had never forgotten about Mordret. In truth, he was warier of the banished prince of Valor than he was of the immortal Saints, no matter how powerful and dreadful they were.

The full force of a great clan had failed to contain the Prince of Nothing. So what hope did Sunny have?

Of course, he was not sure that Mordret would end up as their adversary in this Nightmare. They were allies during this hellish trial, after all… at least in theory.

But he could not discount the possibility. The advice Master Jet had given Sunny before he ventured into the Seed stuck with him. Most of the hard-won wisdom she had shared in the past ended up being instrumental to his survival, so he made sure to remember her words.

For that reason, Sunny and Kai agreed on a very simple plan.

One of them took the Obsidian Knife, and the other took the Glass Knife. Depending on which of the immortals fell, one man was going to finish the job, while the other was going to prevent the Prince of Nothing from intervening, in case the need to do so arose.

As the saying went, it was unwise to put all your eggs in one basket…

The type of egg Sunny had the most experience with had belonged to a Great Devil, so he was not quite sure why exactly keeping eggs in a basket was so detrimental. But he did agree with the general idea.

And so, from the moment the frail old man appeared in his view, Sunny had pursued a single goal.

He had to keep the attention of Mordret and all five of his Reflections on himself.

Even though there was a small possibility that he could emerge victorious if the two of them clashed in earnest, Sunny did not consider his chances of defeating the banished prince in battle high… especially not while being exhausted after the furious assault on the flying fleet and devoid of the support of his Shadows.

to actually fight the Mordret. All he wanted to do was

the false perception that he was still in possession of the Glass Knife by asking a few misleading questions,

enough to lose a small part of his cunning, or perhaps he fell for the trap that awaited most habitual liars and failed to account for how warped his impression of people was. Perhaps he underestimated how proficient Sunny grew in utilizing his Flaw for his own

pulling the strings. Sunny might have not been stronger than

the two, even if just barely. He won the fight without lifting a finger, using only a

he did not even use his tongue.

Kai started to move. And by the time he reached the Ivory Island…

Almost.

Nothing still could have used his Aspect to move through the reflections and invade the archer's soul. However… Kai was wearing the anvil

the wearer immune to Mordret's soul possession. Even if the

which were currently turned into copies of Sunny and wielded his Divine Aspect. Each had access to the Memories he wore and his Aspect Abilities… including

to stop them at all costs and buy his friend

was easier

small human figure streaked from the darkness of the Sky Below toward the slumped silhouette of the Ivory Dragon, Mordret swiftly turned and narrowed his eyes, instantly realizing that

react, however, a tide of shadows suddenly exploded from the small lantern hanging on Sunny's waist, enveloping everything around them in impenetrable darkness. The light of the sun was swiftly destroying the shadows, but at the same time, it was being devoured

shadows themselves were ancient, deep, and resilient. Sunny had collected them from the dark

also no reflections. With no reflections, Mordret was robbed of

at all against the five Reflections, though, since each of them was as comfortable

decided to try

augmented by four shadows, its [Underworld Armament] enchantment empowering the Dying Wish's effect manifold. Sunny himself was strongly affected by

swiftly disappearing, since he