Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2549

Effie frowned, sensing that something had gone wrong. She let go of the ancient reflection's shoulder and drew her hand back.

"What..."

Sunny just barely had time to grab her and pull her away before the Castellan's body was contorted by a strange convulsion. His glassy eyes opened widely... and then, a vast flood of white mist suddenly exploded from his body in all directions, drowning the vast underground chamber. Suddenly, Sunny could not see anything except the milky white mist swirling around him like a ghostly ocean. A familiar sense of his very being collapsing into nothingness washed over him for a brief moment, but then, Sunny forcefully asserted his existence and pushed the feeling back.

"Concentrate on your True Name! Will yourself to remember who you are!"

Effie must have done as he told, and her willpower must have been sufficiently firm, because she seemed to regain her bearings just a few moments later.

For a few long moments, nothing seemed to exist in the world except for the ghostly fog and the feelings of the two of them holding each other. All sounds had disappeared, as well, muffled by the white mist.

Sunny looked around, full of dark anticipation.

And then, a disembodied voice resounded in the silence, enveloping them like a tide:

"Ah, what a strange sensation. I've never taken a reflection as a vessel before... it feels so odd. But also oddly fitting."

The voice laughed, full of amusement, but Sunny did not share that feeling. Instead, he was full of wariness.

‘Mordret, that bastard...'

It seemed like Mordret had escaped from Morgan and Saint, after all. He had found the right reflection to escape to... he must have traveled to the eyes that had been stolen from the victims of the Nihilist, then reflected from them into Effie's, and finally entered the Castellan's eyes from hers.

And now, he had consumed the Castellan and made the ancient reflection his vessel.

.. Things must not have gone well for Mordret, though, both in the battle against Saint and in the soul duel with the reflection of Omer of the Nine. Otherwise, he would not have been talking — he would have already moved to kill Effie and usurp the authority over the Palace of Imagination.

And speaking about that authority...

The ocean of white mist around them stirred suddenly, and then moved, flowing slowly at first, then faster and faster. If Sunny was to hazard a guess, Mordret was probably in the process of absorbing the essence of the Castellan — considering how much of the mist there was, it would probably take him a bit of time.

And when that time ran out...

Sunny decided not to think about it.

Instead, he thought about how to deal with the Prince of Nothing.

Effie moved slightly, reaching for her gun.

"I am guessing we won't be able to shoot him dead, will we?"

Sunny shook his head, and at that moment, the disembodied voice spoke once more from the white mist, seemingly coming from all directions at the same time.

"What an amusing suggestion, Saint Athena! But I am afraid I will have to disappoint you... to tell you the truth, you could have probably finished my original body off with a mundane bullet at the moment — it is in quite rough shape after getting to know the Child of Nether better, alas. But, luckily, I've managed to secure a new attire just in time."

An ominous note found its way into Mordret's pleasant voice:

"So, am I very curious to see just what this vessel is capable of..."

Sunny remained calm, thinking.

Mordret's new vessel was the body of the Castellan. But the Castellan himself was dead, destroyed in a soul duel... wouldn't that mean that the authority he had usurped belonged to no one at the moment, then?

And since no one was usurping it, wouldn't that authority return to its intended owner?

The Master of the Castle... or rather, it's Mistress.

"Effie..."

He paused for a moment, and then said in an even tone:

"Tell me to regain my power."

The white mist was a raging current now, moving around the vast chamber like a powerful whirlpool. Mordret had to be at the center of that whirlpool, straining to absorb the furious torrent of nothingness that was pouring into his soul.

Effie shifted and looked at him for a split second, confusion clearly written on her face.

Then, her eyes glearned with understanding.

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