Bruce was hot; he wasn't discussing the looks department this time. It was excruciatingly blazing, but it would be worth it. It had to be; they had to get these supplies to Bastion. Bruce was the cohort leader escorting this wagon, so he had to ensure no one died on his watch.
Granted, there were more Masters, but he was the most qualified as he had the most experience. Looking behind him, he saw twenty Masters and dozens of awakened warriors escorting a wagon of supplies, with three other wagons not far behind.
The twenty masters escorting the rest of the supplies were a fresh batch, only having conquered the second nightmare a year before this. To someone like Bruce, who was in his fifties but looked to be in his thirties, they were just kids.
But five leading one wagon, the other five leading the second wagon, and the remaining five leading the last, Bruce knew they would be fine, especially when he knew them in and out. He had to make a formidable group for each one. It was tough when each of them thought they were a hotshot, but over time, they were humbled, having learned they were at the second-to-last of the bottom of the food chain.
They were accompanied by dozens of awakened warriors for each one. So they were well prepared for whoever or whatever got in their way. But this damn heat would kill them before any creature could. It was unbearable, even with memories to cool them down. It was for naught. But they would prevail. Bruce knew they would. He didn't conquer the second nightmare just to be taken out by the temperature.
What an embarrassing death that would be.
Suddenly, something caught his attention. A towering figure was just dozens of meters away, looking like a mountain.
That was strange; their scouts had not informed them that there would be a mountain. It wasn't in their way at the moment, but it certainly would be in a few minutes. They would have to go around it, which would take time.
That was fine.
As they kept moving to go towards the mountain, Bruce felt an overwhelming presence of blood lust, and the stench of something vile assaulted his nostrils. It was the stench of nightmare creature blood, and lots of it.
But from where?
And from whom?
Bruce and the other masters looked at the mountain again to see if they had overlooked something.
His eyes strained to find something out of place, and he suddenly froze.
That… that was not a mountain.
"Stop! Stop the wagons now!" Bruce shouted, all color drained from his face.
"Every master on me!" Before he finished it, half of them were already upon him with weary looks.
"What? What happened? We're supposed to have these delivered to Bastion in three days. You told us not to stop unless it was necessary!" Bruce grabbed the master by the shoulders and turned the ignorant boy towards the "mountain," pointing frantically while summoning his weapon.
"You foolish children, look closer goddamnit!" He yelled.
They did as Bruce told them, and they trembled at the sight.
What they thought was a mountain was, in reality, a pile of slain nightmare creatures, from what they could tell, all of them of great rank at the very least. What…what kind of freak of nature could take out so many?
Could it have been Lady Changing Star? Had she graced them with her help by taking them out, then leaving?
No, no.
Everyone knew that there would be nothing but piles of ash had she done this. Not only that, but there was also a common detail about these slain abominations. They were all headless; others looked as if they were torn apart with bare hands, but their heads were still gone, the common factor being one clean strike.
No nightmare creature did this; it was a person. Bruce prayed to the dead gods that it was not the skinwalker. Bruce looked around, and by now, the rest of the masters had formed a perimeter with their weapons summoned around the wagons whilst the awakened were setting off to move again.
Bruce moved to give orders until he noticed something…unnatural, and that was saying something considering what they could do. One of the Masters, Master Rose, had a second shadow, and considering that the only light source was the sun god's remaining power blazing down on them, it didn't make sense. How was the second shadow being cast when there was only one light?
Bruce and his fellow masters felt a terrible feeling creeping down their spines. They looked around the desolate landscape just now, considering that they hadn't run into any nightmare creatures this past day because they were all right in front of them.
Slaughtered like animals.
But that still didn't answer the question of who the butcher was. He didn't have to figure out an answer because suddenly a terrifying black knight appeared from the shadow of Master Rose. The sight caused Rose to yelp. It stared at them with red, fiery eyes, and a moment later, it was gone. Everything was gone, for the entire landscape had been plunged into shadows. Luckily, he had prepared for this summoning, a memory that helped him see in the darkness.
Suddenly, Bruce wished he hadn't, for he was met with a demonic mask standing before him, staring into the depths of his soul. Not only that, Bruce could have sworn he heard the faint sound of glass shattering, and a moment later, screams rang out from all around him.
The rest of the Masters had already formed a formation around the dark figure: a demonic mask, an odachi, and impossibly dark armor.
"Lord Shadow! It's Lord Shadow! Attack!"
The moment those first words left his mouth, an arrow was already flying at Lord Shadow, but the moment it took to reach his head, the fiend was already somewhere else, striking down the archer with brutal force, creating a shockwave.
She fell limp, and dark chains wrapped around her. Bruce realized he was distracted and struck in the chest, landing hard on his head, getting the wind knocked out of him by the Lord of Shadows.
While the chaos ensued around him, he got a good look at the fiend… what?
Saint Nightingale?
No!
That was impossible!
He worked for the government, not Clan Song! Saint Nightingale being here was preposterous! Bruce calmed his mind; it wasn't like he could do anything with chains now wrapped around him.
There was something eerie about the annoyingly dashing Saint; his face was completely emotionless, and not a hint of humanity was there.
'Just what the hell.'
Bruce's thoughts were broken when everything went black. He had been struck in the head, creating a small shockwave, rendering him unconscious.
***
Unbeknownst to him or anyone else, taking advantage of the chaos and fear-mongering Sunless was causing for the peasants of Clan Valor. Mordret appeared beside the reflection of the naive fool Nightingale. Mordret decided to wear the body of a middle-aged Master who did unspeakable acts throughout his lifetime. Dismissing the thought, he looked down at the Master he had just knocked out and scoffed at the sight.
He spoke in a mocking tone. "Spare them, Mordret, you are not to take a single soul, Mordret." "Bah! Now everything is boring because of him, oh well." He sighed and shrugged, mindlessly catching a sword that was aimed at his head, foiling the pitiful stealth attack.
"Traitorous Bastard Son!" A panicked woman's voice shouted from behind.
Mordret slightly turned his head behind him to the source of the voice and calmly outstretched his hand, emotionlessly slamming an incoming Master's head into the ground, only to frown when a bit of Blood splattered on his suit.
"How insensitive of you! Do you know how long it takes to clean off blood?" Mordret attempted to wipe it off, but it only smeared more.
With a huff, Mordret kicked the unconscious woman's body, sending her flying with the others lying next to each other. The moment she hit the ground, Shadow chains wrapped around her as well.
He turned his attention to the echoes, a faint smile gracing his features.
"Ah, I should have started with these first." Mordret took off in a blur, his reflection following his trail, and they tore through the echoes like wet paper. Combined with the ruthlessness of Sunless, fear spread throughout the ranks like a wildfire in a forest.
It was a glorious sight to his father's subjects-no, not subjects-these sheep trembling before him. For the first time in a very long time, Mordret felt a fleeting spark of true joy, which immediately disappeared a heartbeat later when he remembered that he had agreed not to kill them.
Then again, unless it involved killing his father, Mordret was never the type to stick to any plans; The Battle of the Black Skull was all the evidence needed for that claim.
Not that Sunless would know, for he was not there.
Ah, Sunless, that man certainly knew how to act the part of a harmless shopkeeper. Mordret took a moment to take in the now-fading screams of the weaklings and watch Sunless and his strange echo, who was the daughter of Nether, subdue the remaining ones.
After everyone was taken down, Mordret and his three other reflections of Saint Lonesome Howl, Saint Jest, and Saint Athena dragged the wagons before his Father's errand people, waiting for them to awaken. After ten long minutes, they did, recoiling at the sight of him. Mordret watched with satisfaction as they struggled against their bonds, holding them.
They began uttering profanity at him once they realized their situation was hopeless.
"Monster!"
"Traitor!"
"Unwanted son!"
"How dare you make an inferior copy of Nightingale!"
"What do you gain from such acts you cretin?! People need these!"
"Princess Morgan will have your head, you vile, repulsive motherfuc-." Their words caught in their throat, prohibiting them from finishing their sentence as a dark chain wrapped around their neck.
Mordret smiled, taking pleasure in how they shivered at his expression, but ultimately, he paid them no mind, instead choosing to focus on the two dark figures approaching him calmly. After a second or two, once they stopped before him, Mordret turned his full attention to the wagons he had dragged in front of the. His reflection of Nightingale aimed with his bow and promptly set them ablaze.
One Master around Mordret's age, looking to be older than the rest, seemed to have finally asked the right question.
"Why?" He hoarsely asked, staring both Sunless and Mordret in the eyes.
"Why what? Speak your mind." Sunless snapped at the Master.
"Why did you spare us?!" The Master cried out at them.
"Because the Queen ordered us to, which is a shame because I really wanted to kill you all." Sunless shrugged without a care.
Their faces lost all color, and some of them even passed out again.
"And it sends a far better message than bringing your corpses to my father's castle. So, back home to your husbands and wife, let them know what occurred today and let your sovereign know that I am coming for a family reunion sooner or later." Mordret smiled coldly.
He grabbed Mordret by the shoulder, and they disappeared, leaving the soldiers shaken and confused.
After a few shadow steps, they were back at Ravenheart moments later, standing in front of the palace.
"Well, Lord Shadow, do you want to do the honors of reporting to Queen Song?" Mordret smiled at him.
Sunless stopped in place and nodded. "I do, your highness, I clearly have a far better reputation than you when it comes to interacting with Queen Song." The sarcasm was evident even with his voice being distorted by Weaver's mask.
"Good choice, my friend!" Mordret walked inside towards the throne room.
Mordret opened the doors to be met with the familiar sight of Ki Song and the two puppets she constantly kept on both sides, along with Seishan. It looked like they just got out of a conversation. Upon seeing Mordret, Seishan nodded at him, her gaze lingering on him a moment longer than necessary. He sent a friendly smile her way as she walked out of the throne room.
Offering a nod at Sunless, who had switched to his helmet for whatever reason. Sunless approached from behind him, stood beside him, and kneeled.
"Well? Was it a success?" Queen Song's voice was reminiscent of a lullaby. Soft and calm.
"Indeed, it was a success. Your majesty and the supplies for Bastion were destroyed. I had a grand time with Lord Shadow, by the way. He and I work well together!" Mordret met her gaze and smiled.
She ignored his last part and focused on the first. "I take it there were four wagons, like our scouts said then? That's good. What of the people escorting them? What was their fate?" she asked curiously.
"Spared, your majesty, they are alive." His smile dimmed at those words.
Ki Song raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, eyeing Mordret.
"You spared them? I did not expect such a thing from you, Prince Mordret." She turned her gaze onto Sunless, who met her stare unwaveringly, then back at Mordret.
"It is not my concern why you spared them; it's just that the mission is completed. Well done, Lord Shadow, you are free to go." Ki Song looked at him.
Sunless stood up, bowed, and then disappeared from the throne room without a trace or sound. Mordret was about to depart as well until he heard her speak.
"Except for you, Prince Mordret, you stay here." She calmly stared at him.
Mordret's smile tightened at the word Prince.
"Yes, your majesty? Is something the matter?" He tilted his head. Wondering.
"That boy, Lord Shadow, tell me, he is a divine wielder like Little Nephie and yourself, correct?"