Shadow Slave

It was impossible to dodge a bullet... for a mundane human, at least.

And yet, that was exactly what Mordret did. He had been looking at the harrowing sight of the drowning city with the rest of them a split second ago. But when Sunny’s revolver thundered, aimed at his head point-blank, he leaned sideways with superhuman speed, allowing the bullet to fly past.

‘Damn it.’

Mordret took a step back, coming to stand near his other fragment.

The first to react was Saint, even if she only turned to look in his direction. Morgan and Effie spun around, wary and trying to understand what had happened. The Other Mordret was the last to realize what had happened, reeling back in shock.

Mordret reached a hand and grabbed his arm, preventing him from losing his balance.

“Goodness gracious, Sunless. What was that for?”

His smile was as pleasant as ever, but it did not reach his eerie, mirror-like eyes.

Sunny gritted his teeth.

“That was to slow you down.’

He knew, of course, that simply shooting Mordret was not going to kill him. But it was bound to destroy his body and force him to search for a new one.

In fact...

‘I should have aimed for the other one.’ Sunny belatedly realized that he had made a mistake. But there was no time to feel regret.

He finally realized the source of the feeling that he was missing something that had been plaguing him ever since the throne room. Sadly, it was already too late.

‘His hands are clean.’

When Mordret descended from the gallery, his hands were bloodied. But now, they were clean... it was a small detail that would not have mattered in most circumstances, but held a frightening meaning here in Mirage City.

Sunny had failed to register the fact completely. But just now, as they were watching the city drown, he saw something in the periphery of his vision. It was so subtle that he paid it no attention at first, yet his subconscious kept pushing the thought of it to the forefront of his mind. That something... was a thin tendril of white mist.

Almost impossible to see in the heavy rain, it flowed from below the parapet and slowly reached Mordret.

And was absorbed into his body.

That white mist was the essence of the Other who had played the role of Madoc before being killed by the Prince of Nothing. The body had fallen all the way down to the courtyard, shattering as it crashed into the roofs of the main keep first. It had taken the mist quite some time to reach all the way to the highest point of the great tower... ŘάℕÔᛒΕș

That was probably the very reason why Mordret had chosen to kill Madoc by pushing him down.

The body was gone now, just like the bodies of the rest slain by Saint disappeared without a trace.

That was why the blood was gone from Mordret’s hands — the corpses of the mercenaries he had killed dissolved into mist, and their blood followed.

‘I should have realized sooner.’

Sunny cursed himself bitterly.

It made so much sense, in hindsight. There were too many strange things about the Palace of Imagination, so, overwhelmed by them, he had not thought about the reason why Saint was able to absorb the ghostly essence of reflections in detail. The answer was obvious, though — it was because she had an affinity to Nothing.

And who had the same affinity, as well?

It was Mordret, the Prince of Nothing.

And the Other Mordret, too.

The latter had spent most of his life in Mirage City, but unlike his ruthless alter ego, he was not a murderous fiend. There had been no reason for him to kill anyone, and even if there had been, he wouldn’t have — that was simply out of character for him. So, even after spending decades in the Palace of Imagination, he had never absorbed Nothing, and had never regained his Awakened power.

But Mordret was different. He slaughtered the mercenaries and killed Madoc... gods only knew how many the rest he had slain before meeting Sunny. Which meant that he had at least some of his power back, and had been hiding it.

And that... did not bode well.

It did not bode well at all.

Mordret laughed.

“Ah, it seems that I’ve been caught.”

Effie studied him tensely, then asked without looking away:

”Sunny? What is going on?”

Sunny lingered for a few seconds, feverishly trying to understand what Mordret was planning. Had he already reclaimed some of his power when they fought several days ago? Had he been pretending to be weak in order to lower Sunny’s guard? Had every word spoken by Mordret been chosen carefully in order to manipulate him into doing what Mordret wanted him to do?

What was he trying to achieve? Kill Morgan? Absorb the essence of the Castellan?

Or something else?

”We are being double-crossed, that is what.” Glaring at Mordret, he lowered his empty revolver and asked in a cold, murderous tone:

”Let me guess — that whole conversation about wanting to hide your other self on the Ivory Island to protect him from the Dreamspawn was a lie.’

Mordret shrugged with a smile.

”Of course. Did you really think I would entrust you with something so vital? To be honest, I never believed that either you or the Changing Star would be able to protect him from that fiend. You know what they say, Sunless... if you want something done well, do it yourself. So thank you kindly for the offer, but I won’t be needing your services;we will go our own way, he and I.”

Sunny smirked.

“What? You think that you’ll do a better job of protecting him than two Sovereigns?”

Mordret’s smile dimmed faintly.

”As a matter of fact... yes. I do believe that. You two have too much to lose, you see — the whole world, really. And that is exactly what the Dreamspawn will use to destroy you. But me?”

He grinned.

“I have nothing. And therefore, I have nothing to lose.’

With that, he strengthened his grip on the Other Mordret’s arm.

The Other Mordret glanced at Morgan, wanting to say something...

But he never did.

Because in the next moment, he was gone. He vanished without a trace, as if he had never existed at all.