Shadow Slave

'Now this... is interesting.'

Sunny was stealthily making his way to the isolated inner courtyard of the port fortress. His shadows were on the move, too...

The one who had been observing the battle against the horde of Nightmare Creatures was flying across the battered surface of the wall, not paying any attention to the flashes of firing armaments. The one who had been hiding among the refugees had left them behind, approaching the courtyard from the other direction.

The one that had been spying on Morgan hid itself within Cassie's shadow, and the one that had been following Nephis remained within hers.

Currently, all of them were converging on a single point.

In the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by a wide ring of empty space, a long figure stood as numerous soldiers and Awakened aimed their weapons at it.

Intricate armor of black steel, a beautiful face framed by curls of raven-black hair... and vivid, vibrant vermilion eyes.

It was... Morgan.

'Don't tell me...'

As the real Morgan emerged from the gates of the stronghold in the company of Madoc and Cassie, the soldiers that were aiming at the invader looked at her with wide eyes.

They must have realized that the creature standing in front of them was not the real Princess of War... and yet, seeing the two identical young women stare at each other was an eerie experience.

The real Morgan gritted her teeth in contempt.

...The reflection perfectly mirrored her expression.

And that was what the lone figure was - a creature created by Mordret from a piece of his soul, similar to how he had created the Mirror Beast.

The real Morgan's hand rested on the hilt of her sword, but the reflection was holding a black lacquered box in its, instead.

rifles and enchanted weapons aimed at the

the courtyard and stopped, looking at the bizarre scene with a reserved expression. Sunny had appeared from the shadows, too, keeping out of sight as he

is that crazy

gaze slid across the faces of everyone gathered in the courtyard - the mundane soldiers and Awakened retainers of Valor, a few Knights, Nephis,

right now, somewhere,

the reflection tilted its head a

you wear that

was a mask of

to reflect her expression. Instead, it smiled pleasantly, then bowed, and gently placed the lacquered box

mouth and spoke, its voice indistinguishable

for

smile widened a

I missed... you

stop Morgan, she suddenly disappeared from where she had stood. Her speed was too great for the mundane soldiers and the Awakened warriors to trace with their naked eyes, but Sunny saw it -

creatures were, so Sunny expected to see a tremendously destructive fight. He even

because Morgan revealed one of her hidden trump cards, and neither was it because

as Morgan's sword pierced the breastplate of

net of thin cracks appeared on the skin of the reflection. Morgan's eyes widened slightly as she watched the perfect copy of her face slowly crumble into a rain of glass shards, which then disappeared without a trace in

of Mordret's

Sunny's frown only

wanted to deliver a message.

Valor's strongholds without anyone noticing was a message in and of itself. It was as if Mordret was

destroyed was a message, too. Mordret

course, the actual message was the black lacquered box

Come soon,

was

However...