Chapter 2503 — 2503: Anomaly

It seemed impossible, but Saint did actually fall asleep. In fact, it only took her a few minutes — five minutes exactly, actually — to fall into the embrace of sleep, almost as if there was a stopwatch built into her head.

Sunny was secretly impressed. He had heard that seasoned soldiers developed the ability to fall asleep on a dime, but never experienced it himself.

By the time Sunny joined the Southern Campaign, he had already become a Master. People he had spent most time with were Awakened, as well, and Awakened had a complicated relationship with sleep… especially so in Antarctica, where the Nightmare Gates opening everywhere had made it so that every time they fell asleep, they risked never waking up again.

He stared at the sleeping form of Saint, then shook his head and picked up a carton of chocolate milk.

"Anyway, let's arrange the… wow. Why is this so good? What was I... oh, right. Let's arrange the documents first."

Using the materials Effie had gathered, they unfolded a map of Mirage City on the altar and swiftly assembled a version of the investigation board hidden in the Devil Detective's wardrobe on its surface.

After studying it for a few moments, Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"There is a lot of information… but it should all be useless, no? Even I know that the Nihilist leaves no clues behind."

Sunny shook his head.

"No, it won't be useless. In fact, it will be quite useful. Because the situation has changed — even if there were no clues before, there will be now. We just need to find them."

Morgan shrugged.

"Alright."

Effie, meanwhile, studied the photos of the victims and asked in a dubious tone:

"There is something I don't understand, though. These people… they were all Mordret's vessels, right? But what were they here in Mirage City? Every one of them had a role to play, just like we play the roles of two police detectives. Did the Nihilist kill them because of their roles, or were they killed because they… were Mordret? How is that even possible? He should not have access to his Aspect here."

Sunny contemplated for a while, then answered in a hesitant tone:

"Maybe it's both."

He looked at the photos.

"First of all, I think I know why these people received roles in Mirage City. It is not very obvious, but when you think about it, something does not make sense. Where do all these people come from? The entire population of Mirage City, I mean. Not the Others themselves, but precisely the shapes they take."

He looked at Effie.

"Your counterpart knew that the Devil Detective went crazy when his former partner, the previous Homicide Division captain, was killed. That was the local version of Jet, by the way, but why? Jet has never entered the Great Mirror. Actually, Detective Sunless and Officer Athena had existed in Mirage City long before we arrived. How come?"

At that moment, Morgan spoke:

"I can explain that. I noticed more than a few familiar faces here, so I considered this issue thoroughly, as well. And the conclusion I came to is that the Great Mirror uses the reflections of anyone who has ever set foot in Bastion as reference material… or maybe inspiration."

She pointed to the photos of the victims.

"Jet visited Bastion before, so her reflection ended up in Mirage City. So did you and Athena. So did I, for that matter. So, there were Others wearing our likeness in Mirage City."

Sunny nodded.

"That is what I suspected, as well. Then, here comes the interesting part. What if a person appears who has not one reflection, but many?"

Like Mordret.

Sunny remained silent for a moment, then pointed to himself.

"And a second question. What happens if a being whose consciousness inhabits several bodies enters the Great Mirror? I only sent one incarnation to Bastion, but what if all seven entered the Palace of Imagination?"

He sighed.

"And lastly… what happens when a person who already has an established role in Mirage City — who is its axis, no less — has an evil twin, and that evil twin suddenly enters the Great Mirror, too?"

Sunny chuckled darkly.

"I am willing to bet that the Castellan had no idea what to do with the real Mordret. Mordret is… an error, as far as the Castellan is concerned. So, it gave him a multitude of roles, and then arranged for all these people to be removed. The only one who did not receive a role, ironically enough, was our Mordret himself… gods. I just felt a little nauseated by having to call him 'our' Mordret."

He paused for a moment.

"Calling him the 'real' Mordret also does not work, either, since we don't know which one of them is real. So… what do we call them?"

Effie raised a hand with a smile.

"I know, I know! How about…"

Sunny hurriedly interrupted her:

"Anyway, let's call them Mordret and the Other Mordret. The point is, Mordret was not given a role, and that was how he was able to survive without being slain by the Nihilist. He is like a ghost — someone who does not exist in Mirage City, or at least is not supposed to exist. An anomaly."

Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"But how does it help us catch the Nihilist?"

Sunny pointed to the investigation map.

"The Castellan killed every vessel of Mordret it could catch, but now that we are here, the story has been rewritten to give the killings a proper explanation. So now, they were killed both because they were Mordret and because something about their roles made them prime victim candidates for the Nihilist."

Effie blinked a few times.

"The serial killer… was retconned? Is that what you mean?"

Sunny shrugged.

"I guess? So, now, we can actually discover who the Nihilist is. In fact, we have quite a powerful advantage on our side, as far as detective work goes."

Morgan tilted her head a little.

"What advantage?"

He could not help but chuckle.

"Well… ironically enough, it is that we are not detectives."

He studied the investigation map and said in a measured tone:

"Everything in Mirage City has been changed to fit the new story, you see. The truth of what happened, the details of the identities of the victims, the evidence, the autopsy reports…"

Looking up from the map, he raised a hand and tapped his temple with a finger.

"The only thing that did not change is us, real people. And that is why we are actually in a great position to solve this case."

Sunny pointed to the documents.

"Because we had studied the case before its story was changed. So, we don't really need to search for a needle in a haystack. We don't need to parse through all this information to find the smallest hint of a clue."

He smiled.

"We just need to find what has changed compared to how these documents were before. That is how we will learn what story the Castellan is telling."