Chapter 195 was coming.
The only question was whether this iteration would finally break the cycle or just add another tally to Lyristae's count of failures.
Damien looked at his hands, shadows coiling around his fingers. Fifty percent corruption, stable and controlled. Strong enough to kill a demon lord.
Maybe strong enough to rewrite an ending.
He'd find out soon enough.
-------
The second day of travel began with rain.
Not the gentle kind that added atmosphere – the aggressive, punishing type that turned roads into mud and made the carriage windows useless for anything except watching water stream down glass.
"Perfect," Seria muttered, watching their progress slow to a crawl. "At this rate we'll reach the capital sometime next month."
"The weather will clear," Lyristae said with the confidence of someone who'd traveled these roads before. "This region gets sudden storms that pass quickly. We'll be back to normal speed by afternoon."
