Around seven full months had passed since Uriel had become trapped in the Dream Realm. He had explored the entire Forgotten Shore out of boredom, visiting all six of the constructed statues except the one located in the Hollow Mountains. He also discovered something interesting.
The Builder's statue was a construction that possessed seven Transcendent soul cores, making it a Transcendent Titan. That was the reason it had lasted and traveled tirelessly for thousands of years across the entire Forgotten Shore.
At the end of its long journey, the colossus arrived at the ruins of the Crimson Spire, piled more heads next to each other, held its own head between its enormous palms, knelt on the ground, and remained motionless.
A fitting end for someone like it, no doubt.
Uriel had also explored the Dark City further, focusing mainly on the Bone Chamber. He didn't find many relevant things there, as everything was rusted and destroyed by time, except for one thing. Something that had remained intact for countless years was a sword.
At first, he had mistaken it for just a rusty bar, but when he grabbed it, he felt it devour all his essence in a matter of seconds, leaving him exhausted. When he awoke, he observed that the rusty metal bar was actually a sword, which to this day he continued to feed with essence to repair it.
The sword was not a Memory, as Memories created by the Spell were recreations of the original. He would have to figure out its abilities himself.
For now, he stored it in his dark vault.
After finding the sword, he explored for a while longer until he found another great chamber. This was the chamber where the profane ritual to bring the sun to the Forgotten Shore had been performed.
It was a huge circle with countless complex runes that, just by trying to read them, made him feel his head would explode.
In the middle of the circle were seven other circles, and below each circle was an incredibly large Soul Core, its size at least five times that of Uriel's body. Its brilliance was blinding, like looking at a miniature sun.
Approaching one of the circles, Uriel dug a little around the ritual, which was destroyed by time and huge cracks.
Indeed, it was a Soul Core, and from what he could feel, it was of Sacred rank, something that left him in shock.
"Shade, am I dreaming?"
'No... h-how?' asked Shade. 'How is it...'
Shade was speechless, flooded by the same surprise Uriel felt.
Beings of Sacred rank were beings whose will encapsulated that of the world itself; they were deities, not on the level of True Gods, but enough to fight against accursed and unholy beasts.
That a group of humans could have killed something of Sacred rank was impossible, it simply was. But here was the proof: seven incredibly brilliant soul cores.
"A Sacred Titan. That woman from the mural was a damned Sacred Titan," murmured Uriel, gritting his teeth.
'Do you think, based on the mural, she's related to the Sun God? Or the Nephilim?' asked Shade, now calmer.
"That's most likely. That she's more related to the divine lineage of the Sun. From what is mentioned, he was the god of creation, destruction, and passion, so I don't doubt he would sleep with anything, even those Nephilim," said Uriel, extracting the seven cores of immeasurable value and storing them in his dark vault.
'That is most likely. Do you think we could find her remains?'
"No. Her corpse is most likely the Great Titan, which by the way is the Cursed Sea that is sealed forever. And it would be stupid to enter and never come out."
Shade nodded.
"But still, how the hell did they kill something of Sacred rank?" Uriel asked quietly.
'Maybe they used what Anvil used against the Spirit of Doom. That thing was an accursed Tyrant, a Sacred creature.'
"Yes, but Anvil used the Light of Godgrave to kill it, which I have no doubt is part of the dead Sun God's corpse. And no matter how strong a Spirit is, facing the divine is like a normal person fighting an Awakened nightmare creature; they will die."
"Well, there are exceptions."
"Yes, but it's still dangerous anyway."
While Uriel was in his conversation, he shifted into a formless shape, moving at great speed through the ruins until he exited through the Dark City's lighthouse. After resuming his human form, he summoned the Winged Mantle, rising into the sky and flying towards the Hollow Mountains to reach the Nightmare Desert.
The flight was calm; his speed was astonishing, comparable to that of a fighter jet.
While flying, Uriel switched with Shade, while he was in the mind of both, relaxing.
This was something they had been doing constantly to avoid losing their sanity. Shade observed how the crimson coral was losing its color, turning into nothing but lifeless gray ash.
In a matter of one or two years, nothing but dust would remain.
Shade looked ahead. Since the Forgotten Shore was in the same area as the Nightmare Desert, he wouldn't have to cross the Hollow Mountains, although the journey would take him at least another two months.
Summoning the runes, he observed his current status.
...
Name: Uriel
True Name: Lord of Darkness
Rank: Awakened
Soul Core: Titan
Shadow Fragments: [2200/7000]
Aspect: Dark Lord
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Ability: [Shaper]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Awakened Ability: Dark Manifestation
Echoes: [Knight of Darkness] [Gunlaug] [Soul Devourer]
Attributes: [Darkness] [Dark Flame] [Extra Shell] [Dreamspawn]
Memories: [Night Mantle] [Eclipse Claw] [Dark Vault] [Blue Spear] [Blood Flower] [Hunter's Bow] [Comfortable Chair] [Black Rope] [Water Pearl] [Moonlight Fragment] [Lament of the Depths] [Winged Mantle] [Broken Fragment] [Poisonous Mantle] [Captain's Sword] [Simple Mask] [Infinite Spring] [Mysterious Armor] [Underworld Mantle] [Ho?..p..?.]
Flaw: [Double Mind]
...
Shade nodded after seeing his runes with satisfaction. They had achieved many things in almost a year. They had powerful Memories, powerful strange Echoes, and great powers. And undoubtedly, the best part for now was being free from being captured by the great clans.
He was sure that if he had Awakened at the Academy, he would have been forced to serve one of the great clans, probably the Valor clan or the Song clan in Revenheart, due to Seishan's interest in him.
He had seen her a few times with a curious and analytical look in her eyes.
Shaking his head, Shade dismissed those thoughts. He had more important things to do, and the first was to find the tree where Eurys of the Nine was trapped. He would need his help to locate a suitable Seed and challenge it.
Shade looked at his attire, which was the Underworld Mantle. Its greatest weakness was soul attacks, something that almost killed him from mere minutes of exposure under the corrupted sun.
Besides, the mantle was a sixth-level Ascended armor, far superior to all his other armor, as well as being able to repair itself automatically.
As for the weight, he didn't mind, as he could change it at will, making it quite light without spending essence.
Undoubtedly, Uriel had done very well in keeping it for himself.
...
Shade continued traveling alone, making stops to eat, sleep, and rest for a few hours before continuing. Since he was traveling east, he could see the Hollow Mountains in the distance, knowing he was near the borders of the Forgotten Shore and the start of the White Desert.
...
After another two months of constant flight, he finally stopped at the edge of a huge white desert without any shadow or darkness.
"Well, this is a sure death zone," murmured Shade.
The Nightmare Desert was at least ten times larger than the Forgotten Shore, or that was his rough estimate, not a precise one.
Since it was daytime and flying in the sky was suicide, Shade began to advance using the shadows of the Hollow Mountains.
When night fell, from countless kilometers away, he could hear the cacophonous sound of an endless war that faded with the day.
Every so often, a monster of Demon or Devil rank would appear and attack him, and he had to kill it quickly or escape.
Even a Fallen Tyrant attacked him, forcing him to escape without hesitation. He wasn't so insane as to fight a Fallen Tyrant, especially one that took the form of a hundred-meter-long centipede followed by others at least ten meters each, all of Fallen class.
He barely escaped with his life thanks to the worm detecting an Awakened Terror, and the two began to fight.
Of course, he didn't stay to watch the fight and moved away.
While advancing, he could only see the white desert and feel the blistering heat. If it weren't for the Infinite Spring, he would have died of thirst. His food supply was also running out, so he would need to replenish it.
During the nights, he hid as much as possible, merging with the darkness to avoid attracting the attention of the skeleton army of absolute ranks cursed by the Shadow God.
Shade was sure that in that army, there would be Awakened, Masters, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred, and Divine beings mixed together and killing each other every night for thousands upon thousands of years.
When the sun rose, all the skeletons turned to dust, and the battlefield remained unchanged. Advancing in silence, fighting all kinds of nightmare creatures, he fed his Echoes with new useless Memories he obtained, making them stronger.
His Forsaken Knight was already of Ascended rank, and Gunlaug's Echo would soon reach a higher class. As for the Soul Devourer, it had begun to devour the souls of nightmare creatures that died in a huge radius, managing to gather around two thousand souls so far, which it turned into dark fruits that, when tasted, were delicious and gave him a bit more essence.
When his third month in the Nightmare Desert arrived, he finally saw it in the distance: an imposing black pyramid that served as a mirage, preventing anyone from approaching it no matter how hard they tried.
Shade and Uriel knew there was a Citadel somewhere, but it was protected by at least a great Demon or Devil, so facing it alone was suicide. Their only option was the Nightmare.
Uriel took control, letting Shade rest. After relaxing and doing nothing, his mental state recovered, and he felt more motivated than ever.
After a few days, Uriel advanced, fought, increased the victory counter on the dark hand to 3578. He also collected the soul fragments, storing them.
In the distance, he observed a huge tree almost as large as the Soul Devourer. In its branches were countless white skulls, and underneath was a large, safe shadow where the war of the immortal army did not reach.
Uriel summoned his Memory.
...
Memory: Simple Mask
Memory Rank: Transcendent
Memory Level: II
Memory Description: [A demon believed that the best way to hide incredible things was in the simplest things that go unnoticed by everyone.]
Enchantments: [I Am Not Me] [Do Not Look Within Me] [Out of My Head]
Enchantment Description I Am Not Me: [This enchantment allows the user's body and features to change.]
Enchantment Description Do Not Look Within Me: [Blocks soul attacks and divinations, as well as the nature of essence.]
Enchantment Description Out of My Head: [This enchantment grants great resistance to mental and soul attacks. Depending on the strength of the mental or soul attack, the user's power increases.]
...
Uriel sighed. The names were really ridiculous for such a powerful Memory. He had truly been lucky to venture into the Cursed Sea, find a very badly wounded corrupted monster from a battle, kill it, and obtain this Memory.
It provided mental and soul attacks, although there was a small inconvenience.
Uriel put on the mask. The mask was smooth, crimson in color, with two holes for the eyes. Upon putting it on, his hair color changed from black to snowy white, and his skin took on an almost pale complexion, contrasting with his armor.
Uriel could feel Shade's manic laughter inside his own head.
'Hey, Uriel, you've turned into a generic protagonist!' Shade shouted.
'Shut up!' he mentally shouted at Shade in response to the comment about how generic he looked.
"This must be the Spell's revenge for me cursing so much," he murmured in a muffled voice.
Advancing silently toward the tree took him about 20 minutes to reach the raised sand mound. He observed the tree trunk and then the two skeletons for a few moments.
Finally, Uriel calmly looked at the nightmare creature in the pond. It was a skeletal figure with black armor corroded and rusted many years ago. It had six hands, each holding a different weapon.
The abomination lunged furiously at Uriel, who simply manifested darkness in his hand, giving it the shape of a black sword similar to a katana.
Something interesting was that his darkness became as strong as he was; in other words, his darkness was incredibly hard, like an Ascended weapon.
Uriel saw three patches of darkness, being a Demon and a Fallen one.
Moving at a terrifying speed, the two clashed their weapons, beginning an intense duel under the gaze of countless skulls and the two skeletons, who watched something interesting after thousands of years of boredom.
The battle lasted only a dozen seconds.
Uriel had cut off four of the six arms and finally created darkness, manipulating it into tentacles that imprisoned the Fallen Demon, which writhed and growled to free itself.
Closing his hand, the tentacles tightened, and an instant later, it was destroyed, dying on the spot.
[You have slain a Fallen Demon...]
Uriel didn't bother to listen to the name of the nightmare creature he had eliminated.
"Well, well. That was quite a spectacle," said one of the skeletons in a mocking voice.
"Not so much for someone cursed and locked in a tree," replied Uriel, his voice changed to a feminine tone.
A grinding of teeth was heard from the other skeleton, which struggled to free itself from the silver nails that kept it imprisoned in the tree.
The first skeleton spoke again.
"Is that living blood I smell? Gods! What terrible sin have you committed, child, to be thrown into this hell?"
"I seek the path to the waking world."
"The waking world? What's that?"
"Don't you perceive the stench of...? What the hell are you? Why can I smell true darkness in your soul, but I can't sense your essence?" asked the second skeleton.
"Oh, that's because of this cute mask. As for your first question, I have no idea."
"Oh, this is curious. You possess the blood of what the gods most abhor. Truly hilarious, boy."
"The gods are dead. What do I care if they hate me or not?" Uriel responded with his own question.
"Truly interesting. I can also smell the scent of a Weaver."
"But if you're looking for the path you seek, let me tell you there are no better guides than the two of us. Simply get us down from this damned tree, and we will take you wherever you want, Creature of Darkness."
"Hmm... how can I trust you if I let you down? You're here for a reason, right?" asked Uriel with a smile behind his mask.
"You are perceptive, child," said the first skeleton in an amused tone.
The second skeleton spoke.
"I am Azarax the Powerful, the Plague of Steel, King of Kings, conqueror of a hundred thrones! Choose me, Creature of Darkness! And we will guide you to the shores of the underworld and through its dark expanse, back to the world of the living. You will need a powerful guide if you wish to escape!"
Uriel looked at the other.
"And you?"
"Me? Oh, I'm nobody. Just a humble slave."
Uriel nodded and looked at the tree, seeing the thousands of skulls tied with silver threads. He was sure those threads were of Divine rank, and touching them would be incredibly dangerous.
"Well, alright, I'll free you," said Uriel, looking at Eurys. Using darkness, he extracted the nails, letting the skeleton fall to the ground.
After thousands of years, it was finally moving.
"Very well, Creature of Darkness. I will keep my promise."
"What is your name?"
"A name? I had one before. What was it? Ah! Eurys... Eurys of the Nine..."
Uriel nodded and saw the sun beginning to set, bringing night and with it, the immortal army rising once more to continue its endless conflict.
Sitting down, Uriel closed his eyes and began to meditate to achieve Ascension naturally.