Chapter 1529 Worm of Doubt

Chapter 1529 Worm of Doubt

The conversation with Mordret left Sunny in a somber mood. The bastard clearly knew more than he had deemed necessary to share, but the few pieces of information he did offer were... concerning. However, Sunny did not dwell on the distant threat of the Sovereigns for long. He did not have the luxury of worrying about something waiting far in the future when there were lethal dangers waiting for him in the present... Or past, technically, considering that Verge was situated far downstream, as close to the Source and the Estuary as the Seekers of Truth had been able to build it, before the Defilement was born.

Not long after he talked with Mordret, the Chain Breaker was attacked for the first time since leaving Twilight. The cohort dealt with the swarm of the Drowned with comparative ease, allowing him to collect a few soul shards and for Jet to replenish her reserves of essence. After that, they maintained a battle-ready schedule at all times. Sunny's Shadows stood guard at different points of the ship day and night. Nephis and Cassie took turns steering the graceful vessel, keeping it at low altitude, sometimes just above the flowing water. Jet's crow and Kai scouted ahead for signs of approaching danger.

The most useful scout, however, was none other than Mordret. With his ability to perceive the world through reflections and the vast expanse of water around them, he could see far and wide, warning them of any suspicious movement far in advance. They did not have to fight too often. Sometimes, danger came from below the water, and sometimes, it came from the sky. But most of the time, the Great River remained calm and peaceful, leaving them with plenty of free time on their hands. Knowing that the cohort was drawing closer and closer to the inevitable attack on Verge with each passing day, Sunny threw himself into weaving. There was a lot for him to do. He had five Supreme soul shards, which meant that five of the Transcendent Memories the cohort possessed could be potentially elevated to a higher Rank. The first thing Sunny had to do was choose what Memories to alter. He chose the first two rather quickly. They were the Transcendent armors Effie and Kai had received in the Second Nightmare — the former after slaying the Sun Prince, the latter after slaying the Ivory Lord, Dragon Sevirax. Both were potent and possessed tremendously robust weaves, making the possibility of the alterations damaging or destroying them slim. Best of all, they were Memories of the First Tier, so a single soul shard was enough to change their Rank completely.

At first, he had not paid that detail any attention, simply being glad and relieved that the blind girl was alive. But the more time passed, the more it bothered Sunny, for some reason. Except for Mordret, who had been sent back to his physical body, all members of the cohort had been thrown out of the mirror realm in approximately the same location — past the open space where they had met Soul Stealer, near the inner districts of the city. From there, Nephis had made her way to the palace. Cassie, however, had somehow ended up near the gates of the city when the explosion happened. She then dove deep into the still water beyond the gates to save herself, as well as Effie and Jet, from the obliterating blast. But how had she found herself all the way near the wall of Twilight? It had to have been immensely difficult to fight her way through the flood of Soul Stealer's vessels and the remnant abominations of the Defiled horde. The distance between where the cohort had found themselves and the outer limits of the city was much greater than the distance to the palace...

Cassie couldn't have reached the water by accident. So how had she done it?

There was only one reasonable answer...

It was that Cassie's goal had always been to escape the city.

Which meant that she had known what would happen all along. Updated from n0velbIn.(c)o/m