Ashes of Vile

28

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
On A Wicked Streak

The bountiful news of lockdown being uplifted was right away celebrated by the true nature of Ashgrim: enjoyment. But only a few had realized this meant the group of bandits on the hunt were caught. And Sung Mi raised the question amongst them regarding how high the watchmen's chances were against a group they had no idea to be up against. They had faced these people firsthand, and they knew they were not easy to be beat. Only August Vile was effortless in going up against them.

"That's quick. Thought it'd take them longer." Sung Mi boldly spoke out, saying what was on everyone's minds. It had indeed been quite quick especially when they had faced firsthand the abilities of the group of bandits, and one thing was sure: they were not easy to take down. The only one who had been effortless in face of their skills were August Vile. Chase Creed then looked at her and she seemed to notice his glance by giving him a side eye.

"Doesn't matter. They were trying too hard. We won't have to worry about them coming for us." Chase closed down the discussions of the bandits and immediately got into his matter on hand. He made it clear to them that his priority was moving forward. Although Cassidy having the source was the biggest push they'd ever receive, he emphasized on their movements being slow and lazy. They weren't doing anything beneficial to making use of their advantages. "We worked harder before. You're all slacking off relying on Cassidy."

"Isn't that what you asked of us? All we've been trying to do is to lure the source out of her." "But you're all going easy on her." Chase announced. They all looked at each other with skeptical eyes. "We hurt Lilac, Chase. We'd know if we were going easy on her." Devin said.

Chase went silent. He was about to protest his retort that they weren't going easy on Lilac instead of Cassidy. But August spoke up from the corner of the room with her hands crossed, sulking in the shadows. "Push her to the edge you mean?"

Chase looked at August as though she had just spoken everything he needed to hear. "That's exactly it. I know you'd do spectacular in that area. Am I right, August?"

She pursed her lips, ignoring everyone's eyes on her. "I've got it under control." She said. Chase then looked at the person his eyes had accidentally landed on. He was watching Maeve as he said, "We'll all be doing our roles now. No more slacking around and having fun." He then looked at Devin, reminding him with merely his eyes about the Christmas they were forced to spend with one another. "Oceanna found out about everything." Chase tried to continue but he was greeted with the shocked and heavy groans and complaints. "─I don't know how she discovered it all, but I have a suspicion it was because of our carelessness." He said, irritated. "So she will be doing everything she can to stop us. And that'd mean we'll face her army. We'll face her strongest defenses. So it's important now or never that we do this right and quick. If we have any chances against her, it's that we hold the one thing she's after."

"The source," Sung Mi said breathily. Chase nodded at her, rewarding her for recognizing what he had meant. "A hundred to one. That's our chances." Lace said and everyone looked at her. "And that doesn't guarantee the hundred will be ours." She continued.

Chase raised an eyebrow as an invitation for Lace to further expand on what he thought to be ridiculous calculations. "The source we used to take came straight from the Vile main building. Which makes it likely she knows more about us than in comparison to our years of research and build up. And there's the probability of the founders before her to know too. They could have hundreds of years of studying the source."

"Way to bring down our confidence, Lace." Chase said.

Lace raised her book to cover her face out of humiliation and carried on with her reading instead. "If Lace has any faith in us, the hundred could be us. We can make it."