Kingdom of Imagination

Reveal

Sunny visited Effie in her home in Bastion and presented her a divine relic.^[1] While Effie was examining the Divine spear, Sunny brought up the real reason for his visit: preparing her for Supremacy and, eventually, the Fourth Nightmare.^[2]

Reveal

Sunny emerged from the boiling lake to find the once-familiar landscape of True Bastion utterly transformed—what had been ruins and forests were now scorched and fractured; the forest reduced to ash. The castle, the Mirror Maze tower, and even the lake's surroundings were unrecognizable, destroyed by the immense power of the Star of Ruin.^[3]

Effie rose from the lake shortly after, loudly lamenting the contrast between her suffering and Kai's luxurious hot springs. As they surveyed the area, Sunny noted that the lake, supposedly dried up, still held water. Effie recalled how she and Morgan destroyed much of the ruins during the war and dried the lake, though water seemed to be returning through reflections from the illusory version of the realm.^[3]

They discussed the strange interplay between illusion and reality, noting a drowned city beneath the real lake that doesn't exist in the illusory one. Effie revealed her knowledge of twin dams once built by the Demon of Imagination—one now destroyed, possibly in the same cataclysm that shattered the moon. Sunny was surprised at her interest in ancient history, to which Effie replied it was her duty as the ruler of Bastion.^[3]

Their conversation shifted to the edge of the reflection, which Effie had never reached, it bordered the surrounding regions of the Dream Realm seamlessly, as if it had always been there. Reaching a deep fissure leading to the Mirror Maze, Sunny picked up and crushed a soot-covered shard of mirror left by Nephis. Finally, with a playful push, Sunny sent Effie over the edge.^[3]

Sunny and Effie fell a great distance but emerged in the Mirror Maze unharmed. Sunny had deliberately cloaked the maze in shadows to avoid triggering its infinite reflections and encountering the Others. They began their journey through the darkness, with Effie complaining about the lack of light, and Sunny guiding her by the forearm. As they walked, they discussed how even Clan Valor had been unaware of the maze's existence, though Mordret had likely discovered it long ago through his mirror-based abilities.^[4]

Sunny explained their destination—the Hall of Imagination—believing it housed the true Great Mirror, distinct from the illusory one beneath False Bastion. He theorized that this mirror could be the true Component of the Citadel and might lead to somewhere beyond even True Bastion. Their path was interrupted when Sunny discovered two sets of footprints—one belonging to Mordret, and the other shockingly to Morgan, who had vanished after the war.^[4]

Effie was furious to learn Sunny had kept her hungry to prevent her from imagining dangerous things inside the Hall of Imagination. Meanwhile, Sunny planned to send his Shadow inside first, believing it was safer than going himself. When they reached the hall's boundary, all senses were blocked by its overwhelming darkness. With Saint summoned and standing beside them, they braced for what was to come. Effie gave Sunny a push, and together with Saint, the three entered the hall. The next moment, Sunny awoke somewhere else—no longer himself.^[4]

Reveal

Sunny had dreamed a nightmare where he lived in a world plagued by grotesque monsters, supernatural powers, and constant warfare, with humanity teetering on the edge of extinction. In that dream, he was one of the strongest fighters, having climbed to power through suffering, betrayal, and bloodshed—while burdened by his own past sins. He also had an impossibly attractive girlfriend, a detail that tipped him off that it was just a dream. He woke up abruptly to his alarm and sat in his dark, messy room, full of stale air and broken bottles, the TV playing a commercial featuring a young CEO, unsettled by how real the nightmare had felt and disoriented by the absence of expected features like city barriers. Later, he visited a psychiatric hospital for what was meant to be his final mandatory session. There, his eerily beautiful therapist greeted him with a smile and a cup of coffee.^[5]

Sunny lied his way through a final therapy session, masking his insomnia, hallucinations, and detachment from reality with confident half-truths, hoping to be cleared for duty. His therapist, a stunning and eerily composed woman named Saint, agreed to approve him—but only if he continued therapy with her privately, even offering her personal number. After the session, Sunny witnessed a violent outburst from a red-eyed, straitjacketed woman in the psychiatric ward who strangely recognized him and shouted cryptic words: "Kill him! You can actually kill him here! Find… Athena!" before descending into laughter. Deeply disturbed, Sunny left the hospital with trembling hands, craving a drink despite knowing better.^[6]

As Sunny left the psychiatric hospital, rain poured endlessly over Mirage City, washing the filth from the streets but not from its rotten core. Reflecting on the red-eyed woman's cryptic words—"Kill him" and "Find Athena"—, he dismissed her as a drugged-up rich girl, though the words unsettled him deeply. He soon received a call about a new body and returned to the Homicide Division. Facing off with the new, politically appointed captain, Sunny demanded to be put in charge of the latest murder case, confident that only he could solve it. Despite resistance, Sunny insisted—backed by a clean psych report—that he was the best chance of catching the elusive serial killer known as The Nihilist.^[7]

As the Mirage City's best detective, Sunny was reluctantly assigned the serial killer case involving "the Nihilist"—a media-made name he despised. Despite political manipulation and press hysteria surrounding the murders, Sunny demanded to lead the investigation, confident in his skills. The captain agreed but forced him to take on a new partner: a young, decorated ex-athlete turned officer returning from maternity leave, chosen more for her public image than her experience. Sunny grudgingly accepted, already anticipating blood, rain, and the sins that even water couldn't wash away.^[8]

A heavy storm had turned the river into a churning mess, washing a corpse onto the desolate, muddy shore near a bridge. Sunny arrived at the crime scene, already frustrated by onlookers snapping photos from the bridge, and berated a patrol officer for failing to secure the area. As he approached the body, officers whispered about his terrifying reputation, recalling a brutal incident where he single-handedly destroyed a gang. Just as he retrieved the bloated, eyeless corpse from the river, a tall, unfamiliar woman called out to him—his new partner, and to his shock, not at all what he had expected from the supposed "washed-out mom".^[9]

Sunny had been assigned a new partner—a detective returning from maternity leave—whom he had assumed would be a gentle, PR-friendly figure. Instead, he was stunned to meet Effie: a towering, stunning woman with a strikingly athletic build and an unexpectedly casual demeanor. Despite the gruesome crime scene, she remained unfazed, even eating a sandwich while observing the corpse. Although Sunny had tried to dismiss her as a nuisance, Effie quickly demonstrated sharp observational skills, pointing out forensic details he hadn't yet voiced. The investigation took a turn when Sunny discovered a gang tattoo on the victim's arm, revealing a link to the Black Snakes gang.^[10]

After discovering a gang tattoo on the victim, Sunny quickly identified him as a teenager with a juvenile record but no adult offenses, noting grimly that gangs often recruited the young—something he knew from personal experience. His new partner, Effie, surprised him with her insight and resilience, even as she puzzled him with her strange familiarity and odd comments, such as referring to "gods" and asking if he remembered who he really was. On the drive back, Effie questioned the mysterious serial killer known as the Nihilist, and Sunny revealed he already knew the killer's identity but lacked the evidence to convict him. He warned Effie to follow the evidence and not inherit his suspicions, though he couldn't help but feel uneasy about her origins. Despite her carefree attitude, Effie revealed flashes of deeper awareness, hinting that there was more to both of them than met the eye.^[11]

As Sunny drove Effie through the rougher parts of Mirage City, she noted his familiarity with the area while he explained his past in the Organized Crime Division and how political shifts changed the landscape of gang activity. He revealed that his former partner, Captain Jet—who had inspired him to become a cop—was now dead, and that her death deeply affected him. Arriving at the Black Snakes' lair, an old boxing gym, Sunny and Effie entered the gang's territory, quickly surrounded by hostile thugs. Effie loudly played the role of a brash "bad cop", only for Sunny to reveal he was not the good cop, but the worse one, punctuating it by violently flooring the gang leader with a single punch.^[12]

As the Black Snakes surrounded them, Sunny's brutal takedown of their leader triggered chaos. Though Effie initially reacted with shock, she quickly joined the fight with alarming ease and precision, taking down four thugs with casual, almost gleeful efficiency. Sunny, seasoned in real combat, dispatched his own opponents with cold detachment, treating the brawl as a chore rather than a threat. Yet he couldn't help but notice something unsettling—Effie's calmness and deadly skill far exceeded what one would expect from a rookie detective and former athlete. As weapons were drawn and the thugs got serious, Sunny's paranoia spiked, realizing his partner might be far more dangerous—and mysterious—than she let on.^[13]

Sometime later, the boxing gym floor lay littered with groaning bodies, the air heavy with the stench of blood. Sunny examined his bruised knuckles, peeled open his jacket, and revealed scales of a black serpent winding up his arms. Effie calmly rummaged through a card table, found a bag of chips, and casually asked if they'd broken any laws. Sunny scoffed, then dragged the injured gang leader from under the ring and battered him for information, showing him a photo of the murdered teenager. The thug admitted the victim had left the gang to join a charity run by Valor Group, providing Sunny the thread he needed.^[14]

Sunny, suspicious of Effie's true identity during their investigation, threatened her with deadly seriousness, believing she might be a planted agent in the dangerous Nihilist case. Effie calmly placed a hand on his shoulder and told him to "snap out of it." In that moment, Sunny suddenly did—his awareness shifted, and he realized something was deeply off. The environment around him felt unfamiliar and unreal, as if he had awoken from a trance. Startled, he looked at Effie in confusion, questioning what was happening.^[14]

Reveal

Sunny suddenly found himself weak and disoriented, realizing he had become mundane again—without his powers, shadows, or supernatural senses. Initially confused and horrified by his limitations, he soon remembered who he truly was and regained his identity, shocking Effie, who recognized the real Sunny had returned. They decided to talk somewhere more private, eventually driving off in an old, noisy PTV that Sunny managed to operate using the Devil Detective's memories. After the vehicle broke down, they were baffled to learn it ran on petroleum and tiny explosions, leading Sunny to express horror at how people once lived. The absurdity of it all made him question how humanity ever survived its own inventions.^[15]

Sunny struggled to remember that the Devil Detective had stored fuel in the trunk of the archaic PTV, then wrestled with pouring the foul-smelling liquid into the car while being drenched in the rain. Cold and miserable, he climbed back into the vehicle in a foul mood, grumbling as Effie cheerfully remarked how much she was enjoying being a healthy, able-bodied mundane. As they drove through Mirage City, Sunny observed its unfamiliar pre-Dark Times layout—flat terrain, breathable air, no barriers, and an overwhelming number of personal vehicles that caused constant traffic, with underdeveloped and overcrowded public transport systems. He was struck by how such a small city population still managed to feel congested and chaotic. Eventually, they reached a shabby diner, where Sunny was amazed by the quality, abundance, and low cost of natural food—so different from the synthetic, expensive meals of his world—prompting Effie to quietly warn him that they had to stay in character or risk dying if the locals noticed anything strange.^[16]

Effie explained to Sunny that when they entered the Hall of Imagination, she found herself living a false life as Detective Athena, with a husband and children who weren't hers. Though disoriented, she retained her awareness and played along until breaking character by rejecting the husband's affections. At that moment, her fake family suddenly changed, staring at her with chilling, inhuman synchronicity—revealing themselves as Others. Sunny was horrified to realize that the entire Mirage City, filled with millions of people, was inhabited by Others pretending to be human. Effie reasoned that these Others came from the true Great Mirror and were trapped in this illusionary realm created by the Demon of Imagination, raising unsettling questions about their purpose and the nature of Mirage City itself.^[17]

Sunny speculated that Mirage City was not created by the Demon of Imagination herself, but rather by someone who had hijacked a Component of Bastion — possibly Mordret or Morgan. He believed that the Demon had originally created the Palace of Imagination as a playground of fantasies, which was later turned into a Citadel Component by the Spell. When Effie touched Sunny and told him to "snap out of it", he regained his senses, leading him to conclude that her authority as Bastion's master played a key role. He later revealed that Mordret now ruled Mirage City as a powerful corporate figure, while Morgan was confined in a mental hospital where Saint worked. Despite being in an illusionary world shaped by daemon magic, they resolved to reclaim Effie's lost authority, find what Sunny was looking for, and escape — all while staying in character within the bizarre dream city.^[18]

Sunny and Effie discussed their roles and next steps in Mirage City. They agreed their main target was Mordret, the CEO of Valor Group, with Saint and Morgan as secondary objectives. Sunny revealed that Saint had forgotten herself and was acting as his therapist, while Morgan, who seemed to retain her memories, was locked in a high-security asylum. He explained the Devil Detective's obsession with Mordret, who was suspected to be the Nihilist due to suppressed evidence from a murder case. They concluded that their first move would be to investigate the murdered Black Snake boy's ties to Valor Group — a lead that could justify confronting Mordret, especially now that Morgan hinted he could be killed within Mirage City.^[19]

While driving through Mirage City toward the Center for Troubled Youths, Sunny and Effie reflected on the strange, fear-free nature of the city and how it differed from the waking world. Their conversation shifted when Effie jokingly complained about her lack of progress toward becoming a Sovereign, prompting Sunny to share his insights. He explained that while Kai lacked confidence, Effie's challenge was different — she was too satisfied with her life to feel the desperate need to change the world, a quality vital for ascension to Supremacy. Effie insisted she was not hiding behind a facade and could be both joyful and astute, while Sunny gently argued that true Sovereigns are forged from the need to reshape reality. The moment revealed deep contrasts in their convictions, mirroring a past conversation where Effie once urged Sunny to find his own conviction — a sentiment he now returned to her.^[20]

Reveal

Sunny and Effie, clearly out of place in the opulent Valor Tower lobby, deliberately caused a scene to pressure the corporation into granting them access, successfully drawing attention and prompting the unexpected appearance of Mordret, the enigmatic and powerful young CEO of the Valor Group.^[21]

Sunny and Effie confronted the seemingly kind and charismatic CEO of Valor Group — who appeared to have no memory of his dark past as Mordret — and are unnerved by his perfect facade, uncertain whether he was truly amnesiac or merely playing an elaborate and sinister game.^[22] They interrogated the seemingly innocent Mordret — who displayed no sign of remembering his dark past or being the Nihilist — but despite his perfect composure, unsettling inconsistencies, emotional cracks, and a mysterious refusal to let them speak to his sister Morgan leave them more suspicious and confused than ever.^[23] Sunny, consumed by the baffling Nihilist case and frustrated by its dead ends, found fleeting escape in a trashy fantasy drama, while Saint began her day with clinical precision, only to feel an unexpected sense of connection when she met the disheveled yet brilliant detective for a private session.^[24] During a private session, Saint grew increasingly alarmed as Sunny calmly revealed his belief that their world was an illusion and he was a demigod, leading her to suspect a severe psychological break despite his composed demeanor.^[25] Saint confronted the unstable Detective Sunny, deduced his manipulative plan to access Miss Morgan, and—despite his unsettling honesty and pleas—cut ties with him, leaving both unsettled and unsatisfied.^[26]

After failing to convince Saint and realizing his communicator had died, Sunny recharged it, learned from Effie's urgent call that something had gone wrong, and discovered through the news that the Valor Group CEO had been hospitalized following a failed assassination attempt, leaving him cursing and rushing to act.^[27] When Sunny returned to the chaotic police department, he met Effie, learned the details of the failed assassination attempt on Mordret, and later, while reviewing the case at his apartment, realized that the Nihilist's victims were all former vessels of Mordret—leading him to the chilling conclusion that Mordret was not the killer, but the true target.^[28]

Effie struggled with the fear of becoming attached to her illusory family while Sunny insisted, they stay patient and keep investigating, only for their plans to abruptly change when Mordret personally requested their involvement in the case.^[29] After the detectives left, Mordret reflected on his admiration for them, his isolated life despite his power and wealth, his loyalty to family and work, and his growing unease after learning that his blood had been found at a crime scene and that the investigation had been suppressed by the chairman, leaving him to quietly question an unseen presence in his empty manor.^[30]

On his way to visit Morgan, Mordret survived a deliberate car crash, rescued his driver from the sinking vehicle, and was then attacked by the man — only to be saved by a mysterious doppelgänger who left him injured but elated, for Mordret realized with a bright, almost joyful smile that "he" had returned.^[31]

As they drove through the rain-flooded streets to the hospital, Sunny and Effie, wary and confused, discussed Mordret's terrifying past and came to the chilling realization that his Flaw might not be an object but a person—possibly his own reflection.^[32] By the time they reached the hospital in the pouring rain, Sunny and Effie met an oddly cheerful Mordret, who requested their help in investigating his own assassination attempt, reasoning that their incorruptibility made them the only detectives he could trust.^[33]

Sunny and Effie interviewed Mordret about the attempted accident, learned of his strained relationship with his uncle and Valor Group politics, and although Mordret seemed polite and cooperative, they ultimately concluded that he had been lying and was not the same Mordret they knew.^[34] They discovered that Mordret's driver had stab wounds inconsistent with the crash, realized Mordret was lying and remembered the outside world, speculated about the existence of two versions of Mordret.^[35]

Sunny and Effie shared a quiet conversation about double lives, family, and the sweetness of life despite its hardships before parting ways, but later that night, while Sunny was alone in the Devil Detective's apartment, his paranoia proved justified when an intruder attacked, a blade narrowly missing his head.^[36] Sunny fought off an assassin who broke into his apartment, chased the wounded killer into the rain-soaked streets, and there, face-to-face with a smiling Mordret — the Prince of Nothing — was confronted with the chilling reminder that Mordret knew exactly who he was: the man who killed his father.^[37]

Sunny confronted Mordret in the rain, exchanging taunts and brutal blows until Mordret stabbed him, only for the fight to halt when eerie, glassy-eyed neighbors appeared, forcing Sunny to pause under Mordret's ominous warning about the Nihilist.^[38] Sunny, bloodied and wary under the watchful eyes of his eerie neighbors, learned from Mordret that the Nihilist was not a single killer but Mirage City itself, twisted by the corrupted Castellan, before Mordret vanished into the rain, leaving Sunny reeling with dread for Saint's safety.^[39]

Reveal

Late at night, Saint visited the dangerously cunning and heavily drugged Miss Morgan, who briefly showed an unsettling lucidity before Saint left the hospital pondering her patient's imbalance—only to be suddenly attacked in the parking lot.^[40] Saint was ambushed in the hospital parking lot by three assailants, narrowly escaped a garrote attack through quick thinking and training, tried to flee but was cornered, and was unexpectedly saved when Detective Sunless arrived, violently incapacitating one attacker and confronting the others.^[41] Two armed assailants confronted Detective Sunless after he intervened to save Saint, but despite their coordination and skill, he swiftly and brutally incapacitated them with precise, almost dance-like violence, leaving Saint eerily calm in the aftermath as he casually questioned why she had ignored his calls.^[42]

After surviving an assassination attempt by three men—whom Detective Sunless killed—Saint listened in wary disbelief as he claimed she was targeted because Mirage City itself was a serial killer, that several others had already been attacked, and that their next likely victim was the restrained and drugged Miss Morgan; rushing back to the hospital together, they entered without incident until Sunless suddenly confronted a departing nurse, revealing her to be Morgan herself, now free and staring at them with unnaturally vivid scarlet eyes.^[43]

Reveal

Not long before the hospital confrontation in the parking lot, Morgan had sat in her locked patient room, bound in a straitjacket, feigning detachment as a masked nurse and three unfamiliar orderlies entered with a suspiciously clear injection. With cold observation, she exposed the inconsistencies in their story, then, when they tried to restrain her, tore through the straitjacket like paper and slaughtered them in the padded, soundproof room, leaving only the nurse alive. After taunting her and keeping her uniform unstained, Morgan donned it as a disguise, calmly leaving the blood-soaked cell behind and fooling a passing doctor into believing she had simply tended to a sleeping patient.^[44] Morgan moved quietly through the hospital, blending in as a polite new staff member, used a stolen ID card to access restricted areas, calmly confronted Detective Sunless and Saint in the lobby while hiding her true identity, and eventually accepted a ride with them despite the looming danger around them.^[45]

Sunny drove the battered PTV through the rain, leaving behind seven corpses as Saint, Morgan, and he discussed the dark realities of Mirage City, including Sunny's hidden stab wound and the strange family dynamics involving Morgan's murderous twin brother—while Saint quietly wrestled with the unsettling blend of fantasy and grim truth surrounding them.^[46]

Sunny studied Morgan in the rearview mirror as she revealed that she had entered the Great Mirror before Mordret arrived. She mentioned that Queen of Worms and King of Swords left behind secret inheritances and that Mordret's fractured existence—split into different versions with death trapped elsewhere—were key to stopping him, and that would finally end her brother's menace.^[47]

Saint looked coldly at Morgan and then at Sunny as they discussed Morgan's failed attempt to kill the other Mordret, revealing that the other Mordret was split and tied to the Great Mirror, making him the axis of Mirage City whose survival was necessary to prevent the chaotic horrors of imagination from taking over the realm.^[48]

The Castellan was a malfunctioning function in the Palace of Imagination that had usurped the Castle Master's authority to keep turning visitors' fantasies into reality, but it was failing due to contradictory human emotions clashing inside Mirage City, causing the city to unravel and attempt to protect itself by targeting real people within it, while the group sought refuge in an abandoned church to regroup and plan their next moves against this rogue mechanism.^[49]

Reveal

Mordret learned from the weary and bruised Dr. Saint that his sister Morgan had escaped after killing hospital staff, only to be led through the hospital into a trap where the detectives and Dr. Saint revealed they were kidnapping him.^[50] Sunny, Saint, and Effie successfully kidnapped the Other Mordret under the guise of protective custody, questioned him about his true nature and the real world, but grew frustrated at his feigned ignorance, only to discover they were being tailed by unmarked cars intent on killing him.^[51] Sunny recklessly outdrove three pursuing cars in a chaotic high-speed chase through Mirage City, thrilling the Other Mordret with the danger, only for their escape to be cut short when a fourth vehicle suddenly rammed into their PTV.^[52] After surviving the crash, Sunny and Effie dragged themselves out of the wrecked PTV to face seven armed assailants, only for Saint to emerge with a revolver and execute the remaining attackers with unnervingly flawless headshots.^[53] After gunning down the attackers, Saint unknowingly absorbed their dissolving corpses into herself as eerie mist, unleashing a vortex of Nothing that briefly froze the rain, and when it ended, she revealed her regained supernatural strength by crushing the revolver in her hand like wax.^[54] Sunny, Effie, and Saint rescued the unconscious Other Mordret from the burning PTV with Saint's newfound strength, narrowly escaped what Effie thought would be an explosion, regrouped with Morgan who arrived in Effie's car, and decided to split up so Morgan could take Saint and Mordret while Sunny and Effie stayed behind to face the public consequences.^[55] After being suspended from the police force, Sunny and Effie reflected on their past choices and bantered about employment before heading to a hilltop diner to share what felt like their last meal, while the city around them drowned under relentless floods and the looming threat of the Castellan.^[56]

Reveal

Sunny solved the case by tracing the source of the information leaks behind the assassination attempts on Mordret. He realized that only two people had access to Mordret's last-minute schedule changes during both attempts: the driver and the assistant. Since the assistant had driven Mordret on the day of the second attempt, he became the prime suspect. Questioning him confirmed Sunny's suspicion and revealed the true mastermind — Chairman Madoc, Mordret's uncle. At first glance, the situation seemed like a tangled mess: the victims of the Nihilist appeared unrelated, the uninvited guests had no clear place in the story, and the Castellan's fabricated narrative of Mirage City obscured the real connections. However, Sunny recognized that all these threads tied back to Madoc. Unlike a simple power grab, his motive was to conceal embezzlement from Valor Construction's last major project, the restoration of the northern dam. Mordret's unexpected decision to implement flood prevention measures forced Valor Construction to mobilize early, drawing attention to irregularities in their reports and prompting him to order a full audit. To prevent his crimes from being exposed, Madoc arranged the killings and sought to eliminate his nephew. In uncovering this, Sunny also realized the darker consequence: because the northern dam had been left structurally compromised, it would not withstand the abnormally heavy rains, and Mirage City was destined to drown.^[57]

Sunny revealed that the Nihilist never existed and that Madoc had fabricated the story to cover up murders tied to his embezzlement of the Northern Dam project, concluding that the only way to expose him and force the Castellan's hand was to eliminate Madoc by using Mordret as bait.^[58] Sunny tried to persuade Mordret to act as bait for Madoc while the two exchanged taunts, veiled threats, and confessions, with Mordret revealing his lost vengeance and new pragmatism about the future.^[59]

Sunny and Mordret discussed the ominous Third Sovereign known as the Dreamspawn — revealing that he had helped betray and kill Broken Sword, had been suppressed on the Moon by fallen Supremes, was now free to spread his influence, and was a terrifying mirror opposite of Changing Star who had fully embraced his monstrous nature.^[60]

Sunny revealed Madoc as the culprit behind the killings, armed his group with gear extorted from gangsters, and led them—alongside Saint, Effie, Morgan, and the Other Mordret—toward the Castle to confront Madoc and the Castellan.^[61] Sunny and his companions boarded the Other Mordret's yacht, endured tense exchanges with Mordret as he flawlessly disguised himself as his counterpart, and sailed across Mirror Lake toward the Castle, reflecting on Mirage City and joking about turning the Palace of Imagination into a cultivation sect.^[62]

Sunny and his companions reached Mirage Castle, where Mordret lured Madoc into revealing himself, but when Madoc ordered his men to kill his "nephew", Effie's well-placed shot disrupted the ambush, forcing Sunny and the others to charge into battle as gunfire erupted around them.^[63]

Sunny and his companions descended into the throne room where Saint strained against an impending evolution, realized Madoc was missing among the corpses, learned from the Other Mordret that he might be fleeing to a helipad atop the castle, and raced up the tower until a flash of lightning revealed Madoc at last.^[64]

Reveal

In the end, Mordret double-crossed Sunny by pretending to be weak and in need of help, claiming he wanted Sunny and Nephis to protect his gentler other self from the Dreamspawn, while secretly regaining his Awakened strength by killing reflections like Madoc and absorbing their essence to lower Sunny's guard, before finally revealing that his story about entrusting his other self-had been a lie from the start and seizing the Other Mordret, declaring that only he could protect him.^[65]

Mordret's betrayal deepened and became fully clear as, after absorbing his other self and revealing that he had hidden him within his Mirror Realm—a personal Domain reflecting his Soul Sea and serving as the safest prison for his Flaw—he admitted that he had never trusted Sunny and Nephis nor intended to ally with them, confessed that while Sunny suspected him of being the Nihilist the true murders had been committed by someone else since his own victims vanished into mist, explained that he had merely used Sunny and the mercenaries to regain power and access his Mirror Realm, declared that he needed Sunny and Nephis alive as shields against the Dreamspawn, faltered only when confronted by Saint and Morgan who exposed his weakened state due to the rain, and ultimately tried to stall before Sunny seized the moment, pulled Effie to safety, while Saint and Morgan fought against him.^[66]

Reveal

Sunny and Effie fled down the tower, navigated Bastion's replica through a hidden passage, followed the haunting music into the mountain's depths, and ultimately discovered the Castellan seated before a colossal, shrouded mirror.^[67] They discovered that the Castellan was the ragged street musician they had unknowingly passed before, who revealed himself as the reflection of Omer of the Nine, custodian of the Palace of Imagination.^[68] They confronted the Castellan, who revealed that Mirage had once grown lost in illusions until Omer of the Nine created countless fantasies for her through the Great Mirror, ultimately leading her to join the Rebellion against the gods, while Sunny coldly accused the Castellan of hypocrisy for having destroyed his Mistress's happiness.^[69] They confronted the weakened Castellan before the Great Mirror, with Sunny pressing him through cruel logic and Effie appealing to his imagination and hope, until the reflection hesitated on the brink of choosing a new master—only to suddenly shudder as something unexpected flickered in both their eyes.^[70]

Mordret possessed the Castellan's body and began absorbing the ocean of white mist, but with Effie's command Sunny regained part of his power, brought Saint and a wounded Morgan to their side, and—while Saint clashed with Mordret in true darkness—he and Effie turned to the Great Mirror, pulling away its black shroud to reveal what lay behind.^[71] Sunny and Effie unveiled the Great Mirror, where the reflection of Weaver appeared and obliterated Mordret's vessel with its mere presence, before Sunny's own reflection merged with the daemon's and he fell unconscious as Mirage City crumbled around them.^[72]