Chapter 2724: Insidious Paradox |
Cassie could glimpse a few moments into the future. That Ability of hers drew knowledge from a different source than the prophetic visions she used to receive, so it remained unaffected by the severing of the Strings of Fate which had robbed most diviners of their foresight.
That gave her a fatal advantage in battle, even if the rest of her Aspect was not at all suited for combat.
However...
Asterion seemed to be able to read her thoughts without much effort. So, he was aware of all her decisions, and therefore knew what she intended to do in advance. It was quite a bizarre kind of stalemate, to say the least.
With both adversaries possessing a perfect understanding of what the opponent would do, the outcome of their confrontation depended on a very primitive set of factors. Cassie's Transcendent body was stronger and faster than those of the Awakened and Ascended warriors attacking her, but they held a numeric advantage.
Each of those warriors also possessed a unique Aspect of their own.
The opulent lounge disintegrated almost in an instant.
The lavish furniture turned to splinters, the bar exploded with a deafening roar, and even the walls themselves cracked and crumbled.
There was no time to even summon a Memory. By the time it would manifest itself into reality, the battle would already be over — one way or another. Cassie dodged the shrapnel and escaped unscathed from the flames, shrugging off hands that reached forward to grab her and stealing the bartender's dagger to use as a weapon.
But as she brandished the sharp blade, she hesitated.
Even if it was for a split second, she froze.
"What am I... supposed to do?"
The answer was obvious — she had to carve her way out and escape, keeping herself safe until reinforcements arrived. She had sent Sid away with a mental message, afraid that her bodyguard would be killed, but a far more formidable ally was on his way.
It would take even him some time to reach her, sadly.
Even though cutting down these people to escape was not impossible, they were not really her enemies. They were victims of the Dreamspawn, themselves.
That was the true horror of the issue they had faced after Asterion's influence began to spread in earnest. The only way to stop its spread was to eliminate those affected by his powers, but they were the very people Cassie, Nephis, and Sunny were trying to protect from him.
What an insidious paradox that was...
It was a war where they could not kill the enemy soldiers. How did one fight such a war, let alone win it?
Cassie only hesitated for the briefest of seconds, but that was enough to give the adversary a dire advantage.
Because in the next moment, she felt her body being riddled with wounds. The branches of the near future sprawled in her foresight, each ending with cold steel plunging into her flesh. The pain of these unrealized futures rattled her, but Cassie had long become used to such torment. So, she ignored it and moved.
'Vile creature...'
She felt a chill running down her spine.
Asterion was not simply commanding the people he subjugated. He made them act against human instinct, completely ignoring the need for self-preservation — they fought in a way that went against familiar logic, throwing their bodies at Cassie almost as if they were begging her to maim and destroy them.
It was as if she were being attacked by a herd of ravenous corpses, not people at all. She cut, struck, and kicked them away, trying to avoid delivering mortal wounds as best she could. But that ended up costing her, soon.
In the end — only a handful of moments after the battle began — the man who had first approached her grabbed her by the neck, stabbing his knife deep into her abdomen. Cassie shuddered.
The pain was no different from the phantom agony she had been enduring, but the knowledge that she was actually being stabbed made it so much more shocking.
As she suffered in pain, he grinned... at least she thought he did, blind as she was, because there there was a note of mirth in his languid voice.
"Do you remember, Song of the Fallen? Despite all the help Ariadne had given Theseus... he still abandoned her, leaving her to die all alone."
As the man twisted his knife, Cassie gritted her teeth.
"Go... to hell!"
Feeling hot streams of blood rushing down her body, she turned her head at the sound of his voice and activated her Transcendent Ability.
Entranced by her gaze, Asterion's avatar revealed his mind to her in all its convoluted vastness... his memories, at least.
Usually, she would have treated them with a gentle touch or the intricate precision of a seasoned surgeon. But this time, surrounded and seconds away from either being killed or having to slaughter a room of innocent people, she simply ravaged the memories, callously burning away everything she could reach.
Somewhere among the numerous memories she destroyed were the memories of Asterion and the knowledge of his name, as well.
The man staggered, changing in the face. His grip on her throat weakened, and the hilt of the dagger slipped from his hand.
A confused, feeble question reached her ears through the haze of pain.
"Wha... w—where... am..."
He sounded like a child who suddenly found himself in a scary place, slurring his words and struggling to form a sentence.
Cassie pushed the man away and groaned, feeling the sharp blade shift in the ghastly wound.
The dagger was sure to be enchanted with some kind of poison, no doubt...
But she did not have to worry about that. She was a champion of the Human Domain, after all.
Moments later, her wound would be washed away by the familiar, soothing, radiant white flames.
In fact... they should have washed her pain already.
'Why... am I still bleeding?'
Anew voice resounded from the darkness, full of laughter.
"Why? Did you expect little Nephis to save you?"
Another voice joined, full of reproach.
"l expected better of you, young lady. Surely, you did not expect me to come unprepared."
Laughter surrounded her from all sides, followed by human voices.
"Didn't I say it? Ariadne died alone."
"Well, it was her own fault for putting her trust in a human."
"Although..."
"Between the Minotaur and Theseus... who do you think was more grotesque?"
Taking a step back, Cassie pressed a hand against her wound.
Although she could not see anything, she felt enemies closing on her from all sides. She shared their senses, after all, so she could feel their muscles contracting, adrenaline rushing through their veins, the weight of their weapons pulling their hands down.
She could smell the scent of her own blood through their nostrils.
Suddenly, Cassie was not sure that she could win this fight.
And so... she fled.
Or at least attempted to.
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