F-Rank Soul Eater-Chapter 183: A Piece In A Grand Plan

Soren’s eyes opened.

He was one hour back in time.

"This doesn’t only bind you," she said. "It binds me as well."

Sophia’s fingers brushed the mark on her neck lightly.

"The moment you fulfill the necessary conditions, the healing will..."

Soren looked at her in absolute confusion.

And the the sudden urge to vomit assaulted his senses.

It was intense. And yet he knew from the depth of his gut that this was not the usual vomit.

He turned in a panic for the gate.

His face turned red as he held it in as best as he could.

The moment the giant mecha scanned him and the gates began to open. Soren rushed in without a second thought.

—leving Sophia and Cynthia looking at one another wondering what was going on.

However, Cynthia followed after him. On reaching the other side, she found Soren kneeling in the ground l. Fingers struggling to rip his brand new tunic open.

And then with a fierce scream and from the injury in his chest, the holographic projection of a blue giant caterpillar woth thorns on its body launched forth into the world.

The catepillar looked around, floating in the sky. It took one more look at Soren, and then as if excited, rushed into the distance.

Meanwhile, Soren panted hard, sweat falling from his forehead.

The cut on his chest bleed.

He had just lost another Shade.

This was the consequence of looping with an injury.

Cynthia saw his situation. However, she did not back away from him.

Instead, she lifted him unto her shoulder.

And instantly left the place.

The two camped in a certain cave. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Coincidentally, the giant blue catepillar had gone in the direction of those that Aegon had sent to pursue him.

Therefore causing them a headache.

Cynthia helped to perform first aid on Soren’s chest.

The stitches that Dr Kaya had used had been ripped apart.

While she was not as capable as the doctor, she had been present for Soren’s treatment and had learnt a thing or two.

Meanwhile, Soren gritted his teeth.

Through the pain.

—True.

But in all honesty, his mind was racing with annoyance.

Soren discovered that he had gotten a lot of things wrong. Or rather, it was safe to say that a lot of things had exposed themselves.

His mind flashed back to what the Shade Stealer had said before his looping back.

"It went according to plan...Like taking Candy from a baby."

Maybe it was the mix of fear and dread at that moment, but his mind had raced fast, angles aligning and he had figured it out.

—at least a big part of it.

Firstly, he had always wondered who oh was that placed a bounty on his head.

Back then, he had assumed it was the Ivory family, and that Aegon must have come from a relative family and was tasked to kill him for the 100 thousand points.

But then because of Scholar, Buttermint’s shade, he had gotten the opportunity to see Aegon’s past.

Aegon had only been greedy for the bounty on his head and sent Sophia to lure him in as he was in desperate need of a Healer.

However, it still left the question of... ’Who placed the bounty on his head?’

That statement by the Shade Stealer confirmed Soren’s suspicion.

The Shade Stealer had done it. After all je was once a student if the academy and could...

Soren’s thought paused here.

No. There was something... Someone else involved.

There had to be.

After what happened with Tommy in the detention center, the different attacks in the academy, and further investigation.

—The instructors had figured out the identity of the Shade Stealer, just like Soren and the others had.

For just the crime of fighting outside a Gauntlet battle in the academy, they were thrown into the detention center with no access to the net.

How much more a criminal like the Shade Stealer?

No doubt, the instructors must have cut it’s connection to the facilities meant for just cadets.

Cadet issued wrist watch, included.

Also, if what Sophia said was true about them planning to use the Shade Stealer as the object of the hint for the Winter games, then it meant that they were most confident with the idea of capturing the Shade Stealer by themselves, and instead, were intensionally letting it run amok.

Wait.

What if...?

What if... Sophia lied to him? Soren had simply taken her word for it as she had supposedly had gotten access to his wristwatch to send the Summons to the Admin building.

Wouldn’t that mean that even though the Instructors knew the Shade Stealer’s identity, they just coukd not capture it.

Soren flashed back to his encounters with the Shade Stealer.

The way no matter how hard he tried, could not touch it.

And then there was the cameras never showing that the Shade Stealer was ever there.

Soren had no choice but to arrive at two answers.

1. The instructors know the Shade Stealer’s identity, could catch it, but decided better to use it to train the students, unaware of its dangerous plans.

2. The Instructors knew the Shade Stealer’s Identity, Can’t catch it, and everything he knew from Sophia concerning the Winter games was a lie.

If Soren picked option 1. And he ended up being wrong, a lot more bad things could happen.

So option 2.

In conclusion, the Shade Stealer planned everything so far.

Targeting him.

Using the bounty to lure Aegon.

It was also aware of Soren’s plan to use the other three parties to foil Aegon’s chase of him.

The Triplex Rot Hounds.... and... Soren looked at his wristwatch.

"I have been compromised."

A thought came to mind, and he handed his cadet wristwatch to Cynthia.

"Crush it."

Instantly, and without complaint, she did as he instructed.

"Crush yours too."

She nodded, too her cadet issued wristwatch and crushed it.

With much effort, he stood to his feet. He could hear screams in the distance outside the cave.

"Let’s try this again..."