After Chronos finished speaking, Uriel and Shade looked at each other and held a silent conversation.
"Master," Chronos called out. "Are you perhaps planning something?"
Finally, Shade responded.
"We weren't just having a staring contest, Chronos," Shade said, making the Future Supreme blink.
"I see."
"Anyway, kid. The situation is shit, in a nutshell, but there is a good side to all this."
"And what exactly would the good side be, if I may know?"
"Information. We know what went wrong and how to prepare for it, and I have ideas. First, to the city of Weave to look for Ananke," Shade said.
Chronos blinked before understanding.
"Oh, I see what you're trying to do."
Shade smiled.
"Relax, my honorable disciple. I assure you, this is the right one."
"You said that the last few times."
"Well, but I'm determined that this is the right one."
"Agreed. But, Master, what about the countless abominations surrounding us?" Chronos asked.
"Don't worry about them. They're under my domain, so they'll be like an escort. Isn't that right?" Shade said.
"Should I do it?" Uriel said, standing up and walking toward the bow of the ship.
Chronos stood next to Shade, following Uriel.
Once outside, they saw the crew of the Time Assassin gathered together. Upon seeing him come out, they stopped murmuring.
Chronos said with a smile: "People of Ariel's Tomb, it is my pleasure to inform you that Lord Uriel has decided to help us in our darkest hour to bring salvation to us all." He declared, making the Riverborn open their eyes wide and then cheer Uriel's name.
Shade smiled and greeted them with a grin, accustomed to such reactions from Central Antarctica.
While Shade did that, Uriel moved silently. Using his will, he commanded the water to support his weight.
Walking on the water toward the corpse of the great monster that now floated lighter due to the large amount of flesh that had been devoured, he opened his Dark Storage and stored the corpse along with the corpse of the caiman turtle containing hundreds of tons of transcendent metal in perfectly usable plates for forging or coating.
After storing the corpse, he ordered his minions to escort the ship from the depths and eliminate any threats.
Since he needed continuous control, he decided to command the Grand Tyrant, whose will imprisons thousands of corrupt and large abominations. That way, he maintained the essence flow and wouldn't have to maintain his will all the time to prevent great chaos.
Uriel returned to the ship, where things had calmed down.
Soon the suns emerged one by one, bringing a new day to Ariel's Tomb.
When the suns were high overhead, the crew began working to repair the Time Assassin as best they could until they reached Weave to look for a forger.
Uriel and Shade worked with Chronos to restore some of the intricate enchantments that were damaged or destroyed.
Uriel noticed that among the enchantments the Time Assassin possessed, it had multiple soul cores that powered the various runes.
After asking Chronos, he discovered that the ship was powered by both essence and transcendent and supreme-rank soul cores.
There were also enchantments to divert the attention of nightmare creatures.
The reason for the damage to the majestic ship was a fierce time storm that caught them off guard on their journey upstream.
The repairs took several days until finally the Time Assassin sailed once more downstream at an astonishing speed, powered by multiple enchantments.
The journey was peaceful, and Uriel and Shade got to know Chronos's crew members, from the helmsmen, the navigators, the cooks, those who prepared the ammunition, the hunters who hunted the annoying abominations, to even those who did the cleaning.
Since the ship was large, everyone had their own cabin, and there was still room for a thousand more people.
Uriel sat on one of the masts with a lazy expression. His eyes watched the waters of the Great River, where he could feel the Supreme Tyrant swimming in its depths, tearing apart and adding more abominations by the moment, expanding its domain.
He calculated that by the time they reached Weave, he would have at least a million minions, and the amount of essence would be nearly limitless.
He wondered if his future self from his other revolutions had extended his domain to tens of millions, including humans, awakened ones, and abominations alike.
Uriel shuddered imagining the devastating power his previous version possessed, enough to fight and restrain a Cursed Terror and its progeny.
Since the Cursed Terror The Vile Thief Bird had died long ago and only existed within the spell's nightmare, he wouldn't have to deal with that thing.
However, once he seized Sunny's fate and abandoned the nightmare, he would appear in the Royal Tomb. By the time that happened, he would have to have already left this place.
Looking at the seven suns, which were divine soul cores, a greedy light gleamed in his eyes.
He would make sure to take at least one or two of those divine fragments before abandoning the Tomb.
Several days passed, during which Uriel created new transcendent and ascended memories with simple enchantments. He gave them to the Wolf and the Dark Knight, who began his evolution into a Supreme Devil.
As for Soul, she was only ten transcendent memories away from evolving into a Supreme Terror.
Iroh couldn't reach supremacy by feeding him memories, so he would have to do it by killing something above his rank.
The Dark Luxury would be the same, as would the Winter Beast.
The days passed until he finally succeeded after giving Soul the last supreme-rank memory he created. Soul began her evolution into a Supreme Terror.
With nothing to do, Uriel simply didn't do much besides sleep or simply play cards with Chronos, Shade, and some others to kill boredom.
Finally, two weeks after Uriel and Shade met up with Chronos and began the boat journey, they arrived at their first stop: Weave.
In the distance, Uriel observed a large structure. From where he stood, it looked like an enormous lighthouse illuminated by sunlight.
Chronos stood next to Uriel and spoke in a calm tone.
"Welcome to the House of Farewells, Master," Chronos said.
The ship kept approaching like a small island. As they drew nearer, the island grew larger and larger until it revealed itself to be tens of kilometers in diameter. It was made from the shells of ancient, dead Leviathans. In the center rose a tower that was an enormous dark stone mill.
There was a long wooden pier that extended into the waters of the Great River. The island did not move and remained anchored in a fixed spot.
"Without a doubt, the mechanism is strange."
"Well, it's the first time I've seen a city like this," Chronos said with amusement. Then he spoke as if teaching a child.
"The cities of the Great River resemble flotillas, each composed of numerous ship-cities. Some are small, others measure tens of kilometers. Sometimes they migrate, but generally they stay in one place. Since the river has no bottom, there are ways to keep them in one place — one of which is a hydraulic wheel that pushes it forward while the river pushes it backward," Chronos explained.
The journey continued, passing by the House of Farewells, which was desolate due to the corrupt attacking it, so they continued straight toward Weave.
After another two days of travel, Uriel finally spotted Weave, and wow — it was truly enormous.