Lacquered Box Gift
'Now this... is interesting.'
Sunny was stealthily making his way to the isolated inner courtyard of the port fortress. His shadows were on the move, too...
The one who had been observing the battle against the horde of Nightmare Creatures was flying across the battered surface of the wall, not paying any attention to the flashes of firing armaments. The one who had been hiding among the refugees had left them behind, approaching the courtyard from the other direction.
The one that had been spying on Morgan hid itself within Cassie's shadow, and the one that had been following Nephis remained within hers.
Currently, all of them were converging on a single point.
In the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by a wide ring of empty space, a long figure stood as numerous soldiers and Awakened aimed their weapons at it.
Intricate armor of black steel, a beautiful face framed by curls of raven-black hair... and vivid, vibrant vermilion eyes.
It was... Morgan.
'Don't tell me...'
As the real Morgan emerged from the gates of the stronghold in the company of Madoc and Cassie, the soldiers that were aiming at the invader looked at her with wide eyes.
They must have realized that the creature standing in front of them was not the real Princess of War... and yet, seeing the two identical young women stare at each other was an eerie experience.
The real Morgan gritted her teeth in contempt.
...The reflection perfectly mirrored her expression.
And that was what the lone figure was - a creature created by Mordret from a piece of his soul, similar to how he had created the Mirror Beast.
The real Morgan's hand rested on the hilt of her sword, but the reflection was holding a black lacquered box in its, instead.
Despite the hundreds of rifles and enchanted weapons aimed at the mirror creature, it seemed perfectly calm.
Nephis entered the courtyard and stopped, looking at the bizarre scene with a reserved expression. Sunny had appeared from the shadows, too, keeping out of sight as he observed the situation.
'What is that crazy bastard doing?'
His gaze slid across the faces of everyone gathered in the courtyard - the mundane soldiers and Awakened retainers of Valor, a few Knights, Nephis, Cassie, Madoc...
Was Mordret among them right now, somewhere, enjoying their reactions?
As the reflection tilted its head a little, the real Morgan snarled:
"How dare you wear that face, you vile thing?"
Her face was a mask of revulsion and fury.
This time, the mirror creature failed to reflect her expression. Instead, it smiled pleasantly, then bowed, and gently placed the lacquered box on the ground.
Then, the reflection opened its mouth and spoke, its voice indistinguishable from that of Morgan.
"A... present... for my dear sister."
Then, its smile widened a little.
"Come... soon. I missed... you a lot."
Before Madoc could stop Morgan, she suddenly disappeared from where she had stood. Her speed was too great for the mundane soldiers and the Awakened warriors to trace with their naked eyes, but Sunny saw it - a black and red blur that cut across the courtyard, approaching the reflection with the speed of a bullet.
He knew better than most how terribly dangerous these creatures were, so Sunny expected to see a tremendously destructive fight. He even prepared to retreat... but, to his surprise, the dire battle never happened.
It was not because Morgan revealed one of her hidden trump cards, and neither was it because Madoc intervened. Instead, it was simply because the reflection did not even try to defend itself.
It just stood there, smiling pleasantly, as Morgan's sword pierced the breastplate of the black armor and exited from the creature's back.
Slowly, a net of thin cracks appeared on the skin of the reflection. Morgan's eyes widened slightly as she watched the perfect copy of her face slowly crumble into a rain of glass shards, which then disappeared without a trace in a flash of silver light.
Just like that, one of Mordret's Reflections was destroyed.
Nevertheless, Sunny's frown only deepened.
"So, he wanted to deliver a message. What message could it be?"
Without a doubt, the ability of the Reflection to appear in the very heart of one of Valor's strongholds without anyone noticing was a message in and of itself. It was as if Mordret was mocking his family, pointing out that no amount of guards and protections could save them from his wrath.
Forcing Morgan to watch herself be destroyed was a message, too. Mordret was hinting that this was her inevitable future.
...And of course, the actual message was the black lacquered box and the words the reflection had spoken.
'A present for my dear sister. Come soon, I missed you a lot.'
All of it was one immaculate provocation.
However...
Just what was inside the box?
As Sunny watched, Morgan sheathed her sword with a dark expression and looked down. Madoc slowly approached, looking at the box with wariness. Cassie and Nephis got closer, too.
"Could there be something dangerous inside?"
Cassie's voice sounded tense.
Morgan glanced at her silently, and then leaned forward to pick up the box. It was as if she was trying to show that there was nothing that Mordret could do that she would be afraid of.
Without hesitating, she opened the box and looked inside.
Morgan's impression subtly changed.
The insides of the box were upholstered in red silk, and on that silk rested a human skull.
The skull was covered in soot to appear black, and there was a rough hole made in its forehead, as if to resemble a third eye.
There was a long moment of silence, and then, Whispering Blade suddenly thrust his hands into the box and picked up the morbid gift that Mordret had left behind. His face was strangely grim.
As Madoc studied the skull, Morgan looked at him with a silent question.
"What is it?"
The Saint gritted his teeth.
Then, he gently placed the skull back on the red silk and said:
"...It's Shtad. It's Shtad's head."
