Shadow Slave

Five Reflections surrounded Sunny, each bearing his own image. The towering shadowkin devils looked nothing short of terrifying. Their gaunt, ironclad figures emanated a feeling of profound threat and malice, and their black eyes peered at him with inhuman intensity. It was deeply disturbing.

'Damn... am I that scary?'

Sunny leaned on the backrest of his chair and said without skipping a pause:

"Lost from Light… kill that wicked old man!"

The Reflections continued to stare at him, unmoving. A few moments passed, but nothing happened.

An awkward silence hung in the air.

Mordret chuckled.

"You didn't really think that this trick would work again, did you?"

He smiled, then glanced at the shadow devils with satisfaction.

"Naturally, I bound them to myself before you arrived."

Sunny glared at the old man for a bit, then looked away and shrugged.

"Well… it was worth a try, anyway."

'Disappointing…'

He studied the Reflections for a second, trying to determine how powerful they were, exactly.

Unlike how Mordret had appeared during their soul battle, now, Sunny could only see one weak core in the frail body of the old man. It was dim and unremarkable, hinting that he was looking at the priest's own soul… or at least its perfect imitation. It seemed that determining which body the Prince of Nothing possessed in that manner was impossible. His own soul was perfectly hidden.

The Reflections, on the other hand, were different… and quite bizarre. Sunny could see shadow cores inside each of the creatures, but despite looking like shadow devils, none of them were.

All of them were Ascended, but two out of five were mere Beasts. Two more were Monsters, and one was a Demon. Sunny had no idea how the Class progression worked when it came to Reflections, but he suspected that they were less powerful than the Mirror Beast, their elder sibling, had been.

Mirror Beast had lived a much longer life and risen to an Ascended Devil, after all.

…Still, five Ascended Reflections were most likely more than enough to rip him to shreds. Especially considering that each of them was reflecting a wielder of a Divine Aspect.

Sunny looked at Mordret, hesitated, and said somberly:

"Very impressive… but also a bit underwhelming. I guess slaughtering thousands of mundane humans was not very nourishing for your monsters, huh? Now that I see them, I do agree that your accomplishments in the north might have been silly."

The old man looked at him with a dark expression.

"They're still enough to kill you."

Sunny grinned.

"Oh, let's not. You are not going to kill me."

Mordret raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

Sitting comfortably on his chair, Sunny shrugged.

"What's the point? I am more useful to you alive. Plus, if you get rid of me, you can say goodbye to all the wonderful Memories I possess. I would have been a bit scared if you had weeks to torture me into surrendering them… but you don't."

The old man smiled.

"This is a very reasonable answer. However… are you that sure I am a reasonable man, Sunless?

Sunny felt a cold shiver run down his spine and forced out a weak smile.

"Ah… no. Not really. I am not sure. In any case, you are also underestimating me."

Mordret frowned.

"How so? Your allies seem to have abandoned you. Your Shadows are wounded and can't be summoned again. What can you do against Reflections?"

Glancing at the towering shadow devils with apprehension, Sunny lingered for a few moments, and then said:

"Well, if you put it like that, it does seem like I can't do much. They are all very powerful, indeed. I am already a bit of a menace, and these things possess all of my powers, wielding them with the might of Ascendeds no less. However…"

He shifted his gaze to the old man, a wicked smile appearing on his lips.

"The same can't be said about you, can it? You sacrificed all your cores to create these Reflections. By now, you could have succeeded in creating one, maybe two. That still makes you weaker than me. More than that, I couldn't help to notice that your Aspect, terrifying as it might be, doesn't offer you any direct combat augmentations. It's all pure Utility. So, while I can't kill your monsters…"

His eyes grew darker, suffused with a dangerous glow.

"...I probably stand a good chance of destroying your body before they can stop me."

His four shadows were wrapped around his body, filling it with explosive might. There were just a few meters separating him from the frail old man… he could breach that distance in an instant.

Mordret opened his eyes wide, took a shaky step back, and raised his hands to protect himself.

"Oh, no! Please, don't! What would I do without a body?!"

Then, he shook his head and laughed.

"It's not like there's a whole city full of people I can take, right? Come to think of it… maybe I'll travel outside the city, find one of your allies, and wear them instead. Which one should I pick, huh? The child or the cripple? I can kill two birds with one stone and deal with that infuriating oracle of yours at the same time. That is a great idea, don't you think?"

Sunny grew quiet.

"...No, I don't think that it's a great idea."

The old man looked at him darkly, then shook his head and turned around.

"I suggest that you don't move, Sunless. My Reflections won't kill you, but that doesn't mean that they will be gentle. Pain is pain..."

With that, he started climbing the steps leading to the bridge.

Sunny stared at his back, gritting his teeth, then summoned the Dying Wish. As soon as the charm weaved itself and merged with the Mantle of the Underworld, he sent all four of his shadows to wrap themselves around the onyx armor, thus augmenting its [Underworld Armament] enchantment four times over.

Already strengthened by it, the effect of the Dying Wish became tremendously enhanced.

Memory Enchantments: [Death Wish].

Enchantment Description: [Those who witness the wielder of this Memory are compelled; friends to be inspired, foes to seek the wielder out.]

Already a few steps away, Mordret suddenly slowed down, swayed a little, and then turned around.

His face was tense and full of fury.

"Argh… what…"

He stared at Sunny with madness and bloodlust in his eyes, then grimaced.

"What a... vile Memory. Nice trick, Sunless. But it won't work on me."

The old man smiled then disdain, then suddenly froze. Slowly, a deep scowl appeared on his face.

"But why would you… why would you want me to attack, Sunless? That doesn't make any sense… you know how dangerous I am. Unless, of course…"

His eyes widened.

At the same time, Sunny grinned.

And far away from them, across the vast expanse of emptiness leading to the Ivory Island, a small figure appeared from the darkness of the Sky Below, flying swiftly toward the bleeding dragon.