From Within

When Sunny heard what Nephis had to say, he almost stepped on her foot. His rhythm was broken, making it difficult to remain in the flow of the dance. He narrowly avoided stumbling, regained his composure, and threw a burning gaze at her.

"What?"

Her expression did not change.

"You heard me."

Sunny opened his mouth, lingered for a moment, then simply turned around and pulled her by the hand. Despite the fact that many people stared at this sudden turn of events, he cut through the dancing guests, forcing Neph to follow. They left the middle of the great hall, then disappeared from the central chamber entirely.

Finding himself in a corridor that ran along the length of the dancing hall, Sunny walked swiftly, searching for an empty room. Eventually, he had to settle for a kitchen of sorts. Several chefs and their assistants were busy preparing more refreshments for the guests of the ball… or rather, they had been.

Even before Sunny entered the room, the shadows inside suddenly moved and grew darker, startling the kitchen staff. Throwing a heavy glance at them, he said in an even voice:

"Leave."

The chefs stared at the two Masters in confusion for a couple of moments, then silently backed away and left through a different door, their faces pale.

Sunny and Nephis were left alone.

He waited for a bit, then let go of her hand and outstretched his own. A strange flute carved of emerald bone appeared in it from a swirl of sparks. Sunny brought it to his lips and blew into the hole.

Surprisingly, no sound came out of the flute. Instead, it seemed to have absorbed all sounds, enveloping them in a cone of silence. Now, no one would have been able to listen in on their conversations.

Sunny's shadows also kept watch outside the kitchen, just to make sure.

Finally, he turned to Nephis and snarled:

"You? Join Valor? What… what the hell?!"

Changing Star sighed, then took a step back and leaned on the wall. Then, she spoke in her usual calm, steady voice:

"Why are you so surprised?"

Sunny stared at her in stunned silence. Then, he shook his head.

"What about your great goals? After all the crazy stunts you pulled, after all that talk about wishing to bring the three ghouls to their knees and destroy them… you are just going to join them?"

Neph's eyes grew somber.

"My plans did not change, Sunny."

He frowned.

"So you are going to destroy Valor, but you are also going to become one of their own. Don't you see the contradiction?"

She looked at him intensely, then said with boiling, but suppressed emotion in her voice:

"There is no contradiction. On the contrary, this is the only way I can advance my goals."

Nephis took a step forward and pierced him with a searing gaze.

"The Sovereigns are, indeed, too strong. Their power is, indeed, too fearsome. And I am truly too weak to contend with them… for now. However, they will fall by my hand, in the end. Did you hope that two years of being lost in the Dream Realm would have dulled my resolve? Did you think that I would give up?"

Sunny shook his head with a dark expression.

Changing Star smiled.

"No… my resolve was only made sharper. I spent so many days, so many nights thinking about how to move forward and bring these old monsters down. It was not too hard to realize that if my own strength is not enough, I have to borrow it from someone else. Whose strength should I borrow, then? Ah, but that is so obvious. If the Sovereigns are so powerful, why would I not use their own power to destroy them?"

Sunny blinked slowly.

"So… divide and conquer? This is your great plan?"

Nephis shrugged.

"They are already divided. I have to thank you for that, by the way. Although the conflict between Valor and Song had been brewing for a long time, the sudden appearance of the Dreamer Army made it worse. But most of all, the death of Saint Cormac and the return of the banished Prince of War was what finally made it intolerable for the great clans."

He scowled.

"What? What does Mordret have to do with any of this?"

Changing Star smiled darkly.

"He is in the same position as me. Which means that he will do the same thing as me. He would have sought out a way to use one of the Sovereigns against the other, too."

Sunny's eyes widened.

Mordret had a vendetta against his two fathers… both the one who had spawned him and the one who had raised him. That left only…

"Don't tell me… is that lunatic going to join forces with the Song clan?"

Nephis nodded with satisfaction.

"I would be surprised if he did not already. And if I can come to that conclusion, then that means that Valor knows, as well. Why do you think the strife between the two great clans has suddenly grown so dire? Valor has fewer Saints. Thanks to Seishan, Valor has fewer promising Awakened seeds. And now, one of their most formidable creations has joined hands with the adversary. How do you think they'll react?"

Sunny looked at her grimly.

"...Not well."

Changing Star lingered for a few moments, then nodded.

"But that is what puts me in a unique position. Yes, I am small and weak. Yes, my individual strength is more or less insignificant. However, because of how disadvantaged the great clan Valor is… they desperately need me. My value in this situation is disproportionate to what it would have been otherwise. Which is why they are ready to put aside their desire to see me dead, and are willing to embrace me instead."

Sunny scoffed.

"That is all great. But why would you want to embrace them, too? Wouldn't it be better to stay away and watch as the two great clans maul each other, then swoop in and finish off the weakened victor?"

Nephis shook her head.

"No matter how much one of the great clans weakens, its armor would still be too strong and impenetrable for me to break through it."

He raised an eyebrow.

"So, what?"

Changing Star looked at him, cold white flames dancing in her eyes.

"So I won't try to. Instead, I'm going to bypass the armor and attack them from within."