When his reflection suddenly spoke, Sunny flinched and jumped back. A startled expression appeared on his face.
He stared at the mirror with wide eyes, then cursed and remained silent for a few seconds. Finally, Sunny uttered through gritted teeth.
"I did not know. I just developed a habit of saying random rubbish to mirrors in case something like this happens. Who knew that this time you would actually turn up?!"
Mordret, who disturbingly wore his face, blinked a couple of times, then laughed.
"So it was a bluff? Goodness… I can't believe I fell for this trick."
Sunny's reflection shook its head.
…Sunny himself, who felt incredibly troubled by the sight of his own likeness being inhabited by the Prince of Nothing, sucked in a breath of air, and then hissed:
"What are you even doing here? Have you entirely lost your mind?! This is the stronghold of Clan Valor!"
Mordret shrugged.
"Why? Can't I visit my own clan's ball?"
Sunny suppressed the desire to palm his face.
"Not if you want to live!"
But then again, why would he care if Mordret lived or died? Actually, it would have been wonderful if the troublesome mirror wraith was caught and either destroyed or imprisoned again by his mighty family. Sunny would have one less headache if they did.
Unless Mordret decided to trade away his secrets, of course...
'Damnation!'
The Prince of Nothing, meanwhile, waved his hand dismissively.
"Ah, don't worry so much, Sunless. I am not here to do anything. I just wanted to take a peek at the festivities. No one will notice."
Judging by his confident smile, Mordret was sufficiently certain of that statement. This probably meant that he had acquired at least one potent anti-divination tool. Well… the mere fact that the great and mighty clan Valor had failed to track him down, yet, already hinted at that possibility.
If not for Sunny's random shot in the dark, no one would indeed have noticed the transient reflection.
Mordret looked at him and lingered for a few moments. Then, he said in a pensive tone:
"You know, Sunless… for someone who keeps denying his ties with the great clans, you sure brush sides with them a lot."
Sunny was so outraged that he lost the gift of speech for a second.
"And whose fault is that, you bastard?! If you didn't involve me in your mess, I would have been living happily ever after somewhere else!"
'Well… probably.'
Mordret awkwardly coughed. Then, he regained his composure and said with a bit of reproach:
"I already apologized, didn't I? In any case… complications or not, you should choose your friends carefully, Sunless."
Sunny glared at the reflection for a bit.
"Am I having a déjà vu? I swear I just had this exact conversation with someone else a few minutes ago. You did not steal Seishan's body by any chance, did you?"
Mordret tilted his head a little.
"I don't think so? Uh... who is Seishan?"
Sunny opened his mouth, then frowned.
'No… he wouldn't have.'
The damned lunatic was already being hunted by one great clan. Killing an heiress of another would do him no good.
"An… acquaintance of mine. Never mind about her."
Mordret smiled.
"If you say so. I must say, you do have a lot of interesting acquaintances."
A curious expression appeared on the reflection's face.
"That Changing Star is... rather fascinating. To think that the Immortal Flame clan was able to return to a semblance of its former glory... and with the help of a young Dreamspawn, no less! Maybe I should take her body, instead. What do you think, Sunless?
Should I?"
He was obviously probing to get a reaction out of Sunny, but luck was not on his side. Sunny simply shrugged and said indifferently:
"Be my guest."
It seemed as if he was absolutely disinterested in whether Mordret would kill and replace Nephis or not.
Of course, he wasn't… not really. He just thought that the Prince of Nothing would dearly regret trying to consume Changing Star's soul. Not only was she a Tyrant, which would make battling her a nightmare, he also suspected that her soul possessed its own formidable defenses.
Nephis had already hinted that the lineage of Sun God strengthened it somehow. But that only accounted for the quantity of her force. There was also the quality… Sunny had a hunch that Mordret would be burning himself alive if he tried to invade her radiant Soul Sea.
'Wouldn't that be a sight to see?'
He glanced at his reflection, then said coldly:
"Is this all you wanted to say? Because if that's it… I have a ball to return to."
Then, Sunny scoffed and added:
"And by the way, didn't you give a very pompous speech about how I should pray to never meet you again, the last time we saw each other? Kind of presumptuous of you to then go ahead and place yourself straight in my sights. In a bathroom, of all places!"
Mordret's smile paled a little.
"Ah, that… I did not forget about that, Sunless. Truth be told, I am still very peeved about what you have done. Come to think of it, maybe I should do something to lessen my frustration. Say, which of your friends do you value the least?"
Sunny's fist slammed in the mirror, shattering it. Mordret laughed, staring at him from the shards. His face… Sunny's face… became distorted by the cracks.
"Oh, Sunless, Sunless… so passionate…"
Sunny stared at the broken mirror for a few moments, then said through gritted teeth:
"I value all my friends, you bastard. Affection is not something you can assign a numerical value to, and then compare which number is bigger… well, you wouldn't know, I guess. Not only do you care about no one, no one has most likely ever cared about you, either."
He took a step forward and stared directly at his reflection.
"You like to talk big, Mordret, and make it seem as if I should be afraid of you. But that is true the other way around, too. I can be scary when I want to, too. Think long... and think hard... before making me your enemy.
Or you will learn to fear the shadows."
Mordret stopped laughing and looked at him silently for a few long moments. His smile slowly disappeared.
After a few moments of silence, the Prince of Nothing sighed.
"We understand each other, then. Let's not become enemies, Sunless. Crushing you won't bring me any joy."
With that, he disappeared, as if he had never been there. The reflection still looked the same, but the alien presence seemed to be gone from it.
All that remained was a broken, distorted, angry image of Sunny.
He grimaced, and then turned away.
'We'll see who crushes whom, bastard. If time comes…'