On the weathered edifice of a towering mountain, hidden by flowing white mist, a dark fissure brimmed with cold, impenetrable darkness. Tall pillars were carved from the black rock, framing it, and above it all, a triangular pediment was adorned with masterful reliefs. Time had eroded their edges, and all Sunny could make out were unclear shapes of dark wings forming an intricate pattern.

The path to the Underworld looked like an entrance to a temple, not a road leading into the depths of hell.

Sunny, Nephis, Mordret, and Saint remained in front of the towering portal for some time, observing it. None of them moved, but it felt like the crimson flames burning behind the visor of Saint's helmet had grown darker and more tumultuous than they usually were.

After remaining silent for a while, Sunny turned to Mordret and asked in a low tone:

“You've spent quite some time here in the Hollow Mountains. Have you attempted to explore the Underworld at all?"

Mordret slowly shook his head.

"No. Although... I do have to admit, the thought crossed my mind on numerous occasions. They seem quite inviting, these entrances — I mapped half a dozen, at least, in the past year."

He paused for a moment and then added:

"But as you know, elemental darkness is an adversary of reflections. That is quite ironic, don't you think? Reflections were born from nothingness, after all, and the Hollow Mountains are a place that contains both nothingness and true darkness. Makes one wonder..."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

“Wonder about what?"

Mordret gazed into the deep darkness hiding in the mouth of the tunnel and shrugged.

“Which one is contained by which? Is the mist holding back the darkness, or is the darkness holding back the mist?"

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

He had not considered the Hollow Mountains in that context before. In his mind, the white mist and the elemental darkness hidden in their depths — born from the blood of a slain Void Being — simply existed here. He had never questioned why neither of these elemental forces spread outward to wash over the world.

Now that he did, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Sunny glanced at Mordret with a disgruntled expression.

“Well, thanks a lot. Now I'll have something new to see in my nightmares."

Mordret smiled faintly.

“You're welcome."

Sunny just stared at him, aghast.

At that moment, Nephis finally spoke:

“I am wondering about something else."

She glanced at the swirling white mist, then turned to face west.

“The Hollow Mountains were born when a powerful Void Being fell in a battle against the gods at the dawn of time. Its death shattered the ground, and its blood flowed down the fissures — that was how true darkness came to be. Judging by the size of the Hollow Mountains... that being must have been unfathomably vast. So, the battle to destroy it must have been impossibly fearsome."

She paused for a few seconds, then added in a thoughtful tone:

“It wouldn't be surprising if the fabric of existence were damaged by that battle, allowing nothingness to flow through the tears. But, actually, we know of another place where existence is torn apart, and nothingness is freely seeping into the world — far away, in the frozen wastelands west of Ravenheart. So, the question is... what kind of battle happened there to produce the same result?"

Sunny tilted his head a little.

He was the one who had learned about the second source of nothingness hidden in the far west — from a vision in Ariel's Game. However, he did not know the answer.

The frozen wastelands were a mysterious place. Nobody knew why they existed or what the source of the fatal cold sustaining them was. He only knew two things — that the Jade Palace and a chain of volcanoes created by one of its Components were the only thing preventing the all-consuming cold from continuing to spread, and that it had existed from the dawn of time.

Rime had either saved the primordial forest of Heart God from that cold or had used it to decimate the forest, after all. And if Sunny had his facts straight, that epoch predated even the first human kingdom established by Kanakht, which was quite literally the birthplace of history.

"I have no idea."

Had there been another Void Being slain by the gods in the far west?

Or, a far more frightening possibility... had it not been slain, but merely sealed by a vast ocean of ice?

He shivered.

The thought was frightening, but it was peculiarly comforting to know that this world still harbored plenty of mysteries Sunny had no way of solving yet.

At that moment, Saint turned and glanced at him silently.

Sunny coughed.

“No, no... I am not stalling. I am ready to enter that tunnel whenever!"

He glanced at the dark entrance, then grimaced and glanced away with a curse.

“Although... the last time I entered a tunnel like that, things didn't end that well for me. Well, Saint did get something out of it, but honestly, I hated the very idea of tunnels ever since that one in Antarctica."

Sunny glanced at Mordret and asked:

"So, what? You still haven't changed your mind? You can come with us, you know. Don't you want to explore the ancient kingdom of the Demon of Destiny?"

It was quite a peculiar feeling — hoping that Mordret, of all people, would keep them company. Sunny was surprised by it more than anyone.

‘The world must really be ending...’

Mordret looked at the dark entrance to the tunnel, remained silent for a short while, and then shook his head.

“No. I have other matters to attend to."

Sunny glanced at him with suspicion.

“What matters? All you do is hide in the Hollow Mountains."

Mordret lingered for a moment, then scoffed quietly.

"You two aren't the only ones who are preparing for the Fifth Nightmare, you know."

Both Sunny and Nephis glanced at him, surprised by that statement. After a few moments of silence, Nephis asked:

"So you have decided to challenge the Nightmare?"

Mordret shrugged.

“I haven't decided yet. But I need to prepare anyway, don't I? Simply to be in a position to make that decision when time comes, instead of it being made for me."

He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

“Being here in the Hollow Mountains... quickly teaches one that even Supremes are small and feeble in the face of true monsters. Somehow, I still want to survive. So, there is a lot I need to consider."

With that, he took a step back and turned away from the dark maw of the tunnel.

"I wish you luck on your journey. If you survive... well, maybe we will meet again."

With that, Mordret disappeared into the flowing wall of white mist, vanishing without a trace.

Sunny, Nephis, and Saint were left alone in front of the entrance of the Underworld. Sunny remained silent for a while, then sighed.

"That guy has become a bit less insufferable after dying. Who knew death would be such a good influence on his personality? Honestly... I should have killed him a long time ago..."

With that, he stared at the wall of white mist and then flinched.

The mist... was getting closer.

Mordret had been keeping it at bay, but now that he had left, nothing was preventing Nothing from swallowing them.

Sunny's expression crumbled.

“T—that bastard!"

Naturally, being caught in the mist was not going to destroy them. But it would not be pleasant in any way, either.

Turning around, Sunny cursed and headed toward the tunnel.

“Come on, let's go. You won't like getting lost in that mist, believe me!"

Nephis and Saint looked at each other, then followed him.

Moments later, they disappeared into the darkness, and the small island that had been free of the mist was swallowed by the flowing mass of nothingness once again.