Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2904

Cassie laughed quietly.

“Look. The Dreamspawn might have failed to infect me with the plague, but he certainly infected me with that damn metaphor. I just can't seem to get rid of it..."

She fell silent, and then forced out a smile.

“In any case, that is the reason why I am hesitating to betray your other self. It makes sense to ensure his rapid defeat to postpone the slaughter, so that Sunny and Nephis could return and save everyone. But if I can't hide in their shadow anymore? Then this is it... this is the end. There is no tomorrow, and no hope if the King of Nothing is defeated."

She laughed again.

"To tell you the truth... despite the fact that Mordret is watching my every step and listening to my every word, I still managed to fool him and build a trap for him, right under his nose. It was not that hard, actually. He is not as good at runic sorcery as I am. So even if he saw me create the array and read every rune, what was the point? He only understood enough of its general form to sate his suspicion. He didn't see — had no capacity to see — the sharp knife I hid in the nuance, to drive it into his back at the right second and destroy him."

The other Mordret stared at her from the mirror.

After a long stretch of silence, he said in a subdued tone:

“He was expecting you to manipulate his memories. He was so focused on creating countermeasures against your Aspect that he missed the real threat."

Cassie shrugged.

“Naturally he did. That is the secret of magic, after all: attention, expectation, misdirection. The pledge, the turn, the prestige... what people see, what people cannot see. Like me. I am unseeing, and therefore remain unseen. And so, they never see me coming."

She smiled faintly.

“Your other self was the only one who saw me for what I was, you know, and treated me with due diligence. But even he grew complacent after attaining Supremacy. It is in the nature of the Supremes to be overconfident and arrogant, I think. So, when he saw me covered in blood and trembling, a mere Saint, he let his guard down. Like I knew he would."

She shrugged.

"Like they all do."

The other Mordret sighed, then said quietly:

"But you are saying these things aloud knowing that he is listening... which means that you have changed your mind, in the end."

Cassie let out a bitter laugh.

"Have I? Yes, I guess I have... just now."

She raised her head and inhaled deeply.

“l am tired. I am at the end of my wits. I don't even recognize myself anymore... and not only because my own memories are missing. All this deviousness, all these schemes, all these calculations — it is not in my nature. I think I heard your other self mention once that he simply reflected the world back on itself, and was therefore shaped by the world into becoming an exceptional monster. But he had been exceptional, to begin with. They all were. Children of legendary warriors, heirs of the gods, born under fateful omens, raised and nurtured by the crushing pressure of unimaginable adversity..."

She smiled wistfully.

"But I was just a normal girl. I had a normal childhood and normal parents. There wasn't anything exceptional about me... until I was faced with exceptional challenges, and was left with no choice but to rise to the occasion. So that was what I did — right or wrong, I made one small choice after another, each twisting my form a little more. Until I couldn't recognize it anymore. So who was really shaped by this cursed world into what they are today, between Mordret and me?"

Cassie sighed and faced the mirror once more.

"I used to believe that Sunny and Nephis would return and save the day. But if I am honest with myself... it's all because of me. I set all of this in motion. I might have forgotten where they went, but I know that they left because of a message my past self had sent into the future. She must have had a plan... she must have had a vision."

Cassie's expression hardened, turning colder and darker.

“So now, I choose to believe in myself. I choose to have faith in myself. I won't hope for their return anymore, so I will not betray your other self. Because he is all I have... just like I am all he has. A couple of monsters, forced to face a far more frightening abomination."

She remained silent for a long while, and then reached toward the mirror. Tracing its cold surface with her fingers, Cassie raised her other hand and touched the blood-stained skin around her missing eye.

"But we, at least, have each other. While you have nothing. Are you envious of me? Because he needs me, while all you ever wanted was to be needed."

The other Mordret seemed to smile.

"I don't think I am capable of feeling envy, to be honest. I can pretend to feel it, though, if you want."

Cassie sighed.

"He put you in the Great Mirror and kept you imprisoned there for so long. And still, you long to be needed by him, appreciated by him, valued by him. Because you think you love him. But how can you love him? You don't even know him."

The other Mordret remained silent.

She did, as well, and then said quietly:

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