He remained silent for a while, then shrugged.
"Actually, I don't care about that."
She smiled bleakly.
"Oh? If you have not come to chastise me, then what do you want?"
Sunny looked at her somberly.
"After you and Sir Gilead are gone, the rest of us are going to try challenging the Third Nightmare. That is the only way left for us, so... I just wanted to ask if Clan Valor was going to start harassing me again, in case I survive."
No one was allowed to become a Saint without the permission of the Sovereigns. It might have had something to do with what Professor Obel theorized once - that the appearance of Gates was innately tied to the advancements of humans on the path of Ascension. It might have been just because the Sovereigns were unwilling to let anyone grow too powerful without becoming a part of their Domains.
In any case, Sunny wanted to get some assurances that he was not going to be hunted down by the great clans, on the small chance that he actually managed to return from the Third Nightmare alive.
Looking at him, Morgan suddenly let out a low laugh.
"Third Nightmare? Ah... you don't have to worry about that..."
He frowned.
The proud princess seemed to have lowered her perfectly maintained facade. If that was the case... he suddenly felt a compulsion to push his luck a little.
"Actually, I have another question."
Morgan looked at him silently. Sunny met her gaze and asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice:
"It's a question that has been gnawing at me for a while. The great clans have been suppressing the Transcendence of independent Awakened for decades. An old man once told me that you might have been pursuing noble goals... like limiting the number of powerful Nightmare Gates that open across the world. Someone else told me that all you think about is whose Domain controls the most Citadels, though. So... what is the real reason? And why does it seem that you suddenly don't care about it at all?"
He paused, and then added evenly:
"The great clans have also been at odds with each other for a long time, but you only decided to start a real war now that a whole damn continent is on the verge of being destroyed. Why is that? Huh?"
Sunny felt a little surreal. A few years ago, as a Sleeper, Nephis had warned him that merely knowing about the existence of Sovereigns and Domains could get him killed. And now, as a Master, he was directly asking such questions to the daughter of a Sovereign.
Well, it was not like Morgan could do anything to him right now. What punishment could be worse than leaving him behind in the middle of the Nightmare Desert? Sunny was already as good as dead, so there was no reason to hold back.
She looked at him for a while, keeping silent. To Sunny's surprise, there was no anger or disdain in Morgan's eyes. Only... a strange, grim amusement.
"You really don't know?"
He shook his head.
Morgan frowned and let out a hoarse chuckle.
"Well. Both of your questions... have the same answer. The probability of powerful Nightmare Gates opening across the world - we wanted to keep it as low as possible, yes. Wishing to control more Citadels - we wanted it too. But now, we indeed don't care about suppressing the number of Saints that much."
Sunny looked at her with a burning intensity.
"Why?"
Morgan smiled darkly.
"Why else? It's because there's no point in doing so anymore. The critical mass has already been reached. My father and Ki Song, they postponed it for as long as they could. But now, there's no way to slow down the pebble anymore. It has already become an avalanche."
She leaned forward until her face was mere centimeters from Sunny's and whispered into his ear:
"What, did you think that the Chain of Nightmares was going to stop with the Southern Quadrant? No, Master Sunless... it is just the start. Soon enough, all of Earth will be the same as Antarctica. Every continent, every city, every home. All of it... all of the waking world will be swallowed by the Dream Realm."
She leaned back, leaving Sunny staring at her in shock. His mind seemed to be frozen.
Morgan studied his motionless face with a smile, and then sighed.
"Two weak Domains can't withstand the future. Only one powerful Domain can. So, you see... one way or the other, either Valor or Song must fall. There can be only one king, and one throne."
She lingered for a few moments, and then stood up.
"I wish you luck, Master Sunless. Go, conquer the Third Nightmare, and become a Saint. Did you think that the great clans would try to stop you? No... now that the end has begun, we'll need all the Saints we can get."
Morgan turned away and walked in the direction of Sir Gilead, her vermilion eyes drowning in darkness.
As she did, she stopped for a moment and looked at Nephis.
"Sister! I will wait for you in Bastion. Don't take too long."
With that, the Princess of War took Summer Knight's hand.
Soon, they were gone, leaving the six of them - Sunny, Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, and Jet - alone in the underground chamber.
The echo of her words was roaring in Sunny's mind, leaving him paralyzed.
After a while, he shifted slightly.
'Oh... of course.'
Outside, the armies of the ancient dead were locked in an eternal battle, and a cold moon shone above the stygian edifice of the dreadful old tomb.