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.

enchanted weapons aimed at the mirror creature,

entered the courtyard and stopped, looking at the bizarre scene with a reserved expression. Sunny

that

in the courtyard - the mundane soldiers and Awakened retainers of Valor, a few Knights, Nephis,

among them right now, somewhere, enjoying

the reflection tilted its head a

dare you wear that face, you vile

a mask of

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

the reflection opened its mouth and spoke, its voice indistinguishable from that

present... for my dear

smile

I missed... you

was too great for the mundane soldiers and the Awakened warriors to trace with their naked eyes, but Sunny saw it - a black and red blur that cut across

to see a tremendously destructive fight. He even prepared to retreat... but, to his surprise, the dire battle

her hidden trump cards, and neither was it because Madoc intervened. Instead, it was simply because

pierced the breastplate of the black armor and

perfect copy of her face

like that, one of

Sunny's frown

he wanted to deliver a message. What message could

in the very heart of one of Valor's strongholds without anyone noticing was a message in and of itself. It was as if Mordret was mocking his family, pointing out that no amount of guards and protections could

Morgan to watch herself be destroyed was a message, too. Mordret was hinting that this was her inevitable

message was the black lacquered box and the words the reflection had

dear sister. Come soon,

of it was

However...