Kai managed to placate the Song Sisters by mentioning Sunny well, specifically Master Sunless, and how pleasant he was to be around. He also mentioned how Sunny asked about where Eunbin was. Prompting Deathsinger to rain a hail of questions on the poor Enchantress about what he looked like. Kai had successfully prevented them from starting an unwinnable fight. Then, he went back to attempting to make sense of what he had just heard Sunny say, which he failed to do. The Song Sisters finally took in what Sunny had said to Kai minutes ago.
They looked to The Charming Saint, who was still in shock. He met their gazes with a frantic shake of the head, stopped, and then started to nod hectically. He shook his head again, wide-eyed, still trying to figure out if Sunny was crazy. They stared with confusion and a hint of concern as the former idol faced an existential crisis. The Beautiful Sisters, who still weren't convinced, turned their attention to Sunny, who was interested in the beautiful palace. Eventually, after a few moments, Silent Stalker and Moonveil walked a few steps closer to Sunny. Moonveil raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look up and down.
"Did you really kill a great devil as a sleeper in one hit?"
Sunny nodded. "Yes, it was a weakling, what a pitiful creature it was."
"I don't think I mentioned this, but I survived the Divine flames of the Sun God."
After he said that, Sunny heard a loud thud hit the ground, and Sunny turned to see that Kai had passed out. The sisters couldn't contain their disbelief; their eyes were wide at his claim, and even the silent stalker, who usually had a gloomy expression on her unassuming face, looked startled. Before Sunny could go on with more of his very believable truths, a couple of Blood Sisters walked into the Emporium requesting that he come to his workshop in their living quarters to enchant a few of their memories. The two started listing them off, the memories being a Dao, a katana, and canteens of water.
Once they finished that, Sunny excused himself to get the proper materials and soul shards for each memory and went behind the kitchen into the basement to get them. Leaving the basement and returning to the kitchen, he manifested Gloomy into an avatar to stay in the kitchen and help Aiko if customers showed up. Sunny returned to the dining area a few minutes later, and the Blood Sisters started leading his original body to their destination. Though it had just hit Sunny that he could have asked the Blood Sisters to summon their memories in the Emporium instead of going over there, he realized his mistake too late. The Lord of Shadows' incarnation was still outside the palace, talking to the Song sisters, a recovered Kai, and the Bastard of Nothing. It didn't matter in the long run; both of his personas were bound to cross paths sooner or later, but he still wanted to wait longer.
'Oh well.'
At the very least, he would try to make it entertaining for himself. Strolling with the Blood Sisters, he tried to take in the scenery and ask questions about places, which they surprisingly happily answered. Once they reached the palace, he saw himself sticking out like a sore thumb, wearing all black with not an inch of skin showing, and the helmet of his armor to match. As they got closer and closer to the gathered saints, he made a show of becoming increasingly nervous. The Blood Sisters took notice and reassured him that he would be fine.
"Don't worry, the Song sisters are here too. I hear you are on friendly terms with our Ladies, especially Lady Eunbin and Lonesome Howl." She sounded a bit off, though. Was she mad about something? Dismissing his current thoughts, the three of them stopped and stood before ten saints, bowing deeply. Deathsinger's eyes widened, and Eunbin visibly brightened at the sight of Sunny, which dimmed significantly a moment later when Sunny turned his head to stare at himself with arrogance.
***
Lord Shadow stepped forward, staring at the delicate young man with disdain, clear in his sinister voice. "Who is this?"
Hel pointed at the young man and leaned towards Bin with a whisper. "Yeah, who's the pretty boy?"
Master Sunless smiled, but his handsome face was paler than it had been a moment ago, and he took a step back. "Ah, you must be Lord Shadow, Lady Hel, Silent Stalker, Moonveil, and Revel. It is nice to meet you all again. To answer your question, I am called Master Sunless. Lord Shadow, I have heard much about you."
Lord Shadow tilted his head arrogantly. "Master Sunless? I have never heard anything of you; you must be a horrendous master and enchanter, so much so that even your shadow has run away from you. How pitiful, and what have you heard? From whom?" He leaned forward menacingly.
The Enchanter's smile dimmed while he leaned his head back. Revel took a moment to stare at the ground behind the delicate master where his shadow should have been, yet she saw nothing. That was… odd.
" To answer your questions again, my Lord, I have heard that you are so hideous that you make a Nightmare creature look like Saint Nightingale in comparison, and from people around this place. Oh, you're right; it seems like my shadow has run away. " He still spoke in his polite tone and kept his easygoing smile.
Howl, Veil, and the Prince of Nothing tried not to laugh but failed, and from the corner of her eye, Revel saw Nightingale stumble from his spot on the wall at those words. A moment later, a shadow glided on the ground towards the master and attached itself to his feet. Revel wasn't impressed, but she was mildly intrigued. Just as Bin said, he did have an aspect related to Shadows. Meanwhile, Hel was impressed by the spectacle.
"Neat trick! You're a real hottie! Are you single?"
Hel very much casually slipped in the question making Revel want to face-palm. She always did this whenever she saw a good-looking man. Sure, she ogled at them, but she never went this far. She didn't even do that with the annoying Handsome Nightingale when the government stationed him here. Well, that was a lie. She did, in fact, ask him if he was also single, to which he answered yes and politely declined when she asked him out.
Luckily, Master Sunless laughed off the question. "Thank you, Lady Hel. I appreciate the compliment; it means a lot coming from someone such as yourself, and yes, I am single."
They watched as Lord Shadow stepped closer, ignoring the interaction between Hel and Master Sunless, the shadows danced as they grew darker. "Tell me who and I will tear them—
Seeing this, Bin stepped forward, interrupting Lord Shadow with a forced smile and a very friendly voice that made Revel shudder. She and her siblings knew all too well that Bin was pissed from that tone alone. "Now, Lord Shadow, I can tolerate many things from you, but insulting my—our purveyor will not stand. You should know that this man is extremely talented. I am not expecting you to apologize to him. You clearly have no remorse, but I will have to ask that you not do it again."
The Lord of Shadows nodded. "Fine. I have better things to do anyway, but I will return soon. We will meet again, Enchanter Sunless." And with that, he disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Master Sunless looked as if the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He looked at Bin gratefully, to which she smiled warmly in return. Revel internally scoffed at the sight, not out of jealousy, though. It was because Bin tried to lie! 'Nothing going on my ass.' It was clear as a damn Nightmare gate in broad daylight that something was going on! They weren't even attempting to hide it! Revel cleared her throat, and he immediately tore his gaze away from Bin, taking an interest in the ground.
"Master Sunless, while your boldness is admirable, it would be wise not to provoke the Lord of Shadows, let alone a saint who lives in a death zone."
Master Sunless had a guilty look on his pretty face. "Of course, Lady Lightslayer, I will take your advice to heart."
Revel wanted to know more about their enigmatic ally, Lord Shadow, that man and his outrageous claims; she had to if she was to work with her natural enemy, who is now an ally. The man hadn't done anything worthy of being called an enemy, at least nothing justified aside from his encounters with their mother; it was simply due to the nature of their aspects. If she was being honest, despite his unsettling appearance, she still found him far better company than the former prince, who was a monster that wore human skin. But Revel digressed; she felt Master Sunless had to know something about the man from what she had heard, that he ran a cafe. People always talked there, or perhaps the Enchanter knew something; maybe they were connected somehow due to their aspects. It would make sense, considering that those awakened in general who wielded Shadow aspects were rare.
"Master Sunless, how much do you know about—"
"Master Sunless, my friend! It's been a while! What brings you here?"
Mordret walked towards him with a pleasant smile. Revel wanted to strangle the deranged man for interrupting her, but she would have plenty of time to ask him if he knew anything about their Masked ally while he was working at his cafe.
The Enchanter smiled, ignorant of Mordret's true personality, or rather lack of one, and feelings at all. Revel still had no idea what Shan saw in that weirdo; she was glad that whatever fling they had quickly died out, Revel would be damned if she was forced to see her sister's heart broken by someone so hollow. Not when she could have someone far better, a man who didn't have to pretend to feel sadness. Rather than a "man" who would take someone's body just because he liked their outfit. She realized she was going on a tangent again about how much she disliked Mordret and started to listen to his conversation with the stunning master.
"— Yes, business is going well. My cafe is quite popular now!"
She suddenly felt a presence in the shallow shades of the palace cast by the bright afternoon sun. The others did as well. As they turned to look at the shade, a cold voice resounded behind him, resulting in Master Sunless letting out a very unmanly yelp and jumping two feet in the air.
"You own a cafe?"
Lord Shadow walked out of the shade. How long had he been there? How did they not notice him until now? Didn't he leave a few minutes ago? Well, he did say he would be back soon, but she didn't think it would be this soon.
Master Sunless fixed his mantle, addressing the man as if he hadn't just jumped two feet in the air out of fright.
"Lord Shadow! I didn't think you would be back so soon! But Yes! I do own a cafe."
Lord Shadow scoffed. "I said I would. You need to pay more attention. I wondered how you made it so far in life, and then I realized you likely used your looks."
The Enchanter looked as if Lord Shadow had slapped him in the face, his mouth agape. He then closed it and slowly moved to stand beside Nightingale and the Blood Sisters they had been silently watching the entire time wisely choosing to stay out of it, who was still leaning on the palace wall, having fully recovered from whatever crisis he had faced less than thirty minutes ago from the man in front of them.
Didn't they bring Ascended Sunless here for something? Likely enchanting, they should probably get onto that instead of being here.
"You three are free to do whatever you are going to accomplish. There is no need to waste time here any further." They all bowed and left towards the living quarters of the Blood Sisters. Hearing the Enchanter ask which memories they wanted to prioritize being enchanted first, Revel gave a satisfied nod. She thought they would try to do something else to the young man.
Turning her attention back to Lord Shadow, she studied him for a few seconds. Sometimes his height was undetermined; other times, like now, he looked to be around five feet six inches. She wondered if that was his accurate height. Revel was rattled from her thoughts when she heard him speak.
"—And I once beat an old man with a chair."
His voice never changed from its usual dark and sinister tone; it would have been menacing if Howl hadn't burst out laughing at his statement. Nightsinger, Veil, Silent Stalker, and Hel's eyes nearly popped out of their heads with how wide they went. Bin's eye twitched, and Mordret finally looked interested for the first time. It was going to be a long day.
***
Sunny had just finished enchanting the last of the memories and collected his payment. As Sunny started to walk home, he appreciated that the palace courtyard was empty, and the song sisters, Mordret and Kai, went their separate ways for the rest of the day. Sunny had a challenging time holding in his laughter throughout the entirety of the interactions with himself and especially with Kai. When he couldn't hold in his laughter, his avatar in the Emporium laughed for him, which was always at random times. This resulted in him getting concerned looks from Aiko, who wondered if he had finally snapped.
Upon reaching the Emporium, Sunny saw no customers and knew no regulars would be here until the next day. Sunny started to set up one table, which got Aiko's attention. "You finally got a date, boss, you finally asked Beastmaster?"
"What? No. You'll see in a few seconds." As if on cue, he felt a shadow full of curiosity arrive at the door and open it. The customer stood frozen in the doorway, shaking their head in disbelief. He heard them yell.
"WHAT THE FUC-"
Sunny smiled brightly.
"Language, please."