After swapping places with Shade, he was in his room meditating on what to do next.
Currently, he was testing some things. One of them was changing his form. His Aspect ability had evolved, now being Ascended.
His innate ability allowed him to convert his body into a human silhouette, to some extent intangible, and manipulate it. After much study and practice as a Sleeper, he discovered he could completely change his body, able to become darkness and give himself a new form. Of course, the process was very risky for his Sleeper body, so he had only used it four times.
The first was with the Forsaken Knight in the cathedral, devouring the darkness to obtain the fourth core. The second was when facing the Endless Sea Spider. The third was in his battle against Gunlaug. And the fourth was during the siege of the Crimson Spire.
In these four instances, he almost lost himself.
Once he Awakened naturally, his ability evolved, allowing him to give tangible forms to darkness, creating solid objects from his mind and essence. Thanks to this, he could control his essence much faster than the average Awakened by controlling the flow and amount of essence he used in each construct.
Finally, there was his Ascended ability, which was an evolution of the previous ones. He could give form to himself. By using the dark body and his dark manifestation, he could take on the form he knew best.
And thanks to his mistake of committing countless cycles, he had adopted hundreds of different forms, but the most normal was the Stone Saint.
Even now, being human felt somewhat uncomfortable, though it would take time to adapt.
Finally, he suspected that once he became Transcendent, it would be something like becoming one with the world's darkness, able to create dark creatures or something similar.
Well, that's what he suspected. First, he had to continue improving his essence control to try to reach natural Transcendence, which was becoming one with the world, being recognized by it, and obtaining a small part of it.
Saints absorbed essence from their base element. And Supremes, in theory, had unlimited essence due to their Domains. It was impossible to kill a Supreme within their own Domain; to do so, you needed to isolate them far from their Domain, and even then, it would be very difficult, almost impossible. You would need to become a Supreme yourself.
He had to perform an act of defiance and win. He remembered that Sunny achieved Supremacy by cheating death, Nephis by defying the sun atop Godgrave.
If he wanted to be a Supreme, he needed something outstanding.
'Maybe survive the Unknown?' Uriel thought, but then shook his head.
First, he didn't know where the forgotten Seventh God was. Second, he wasn't that insane or desperate yet. And third, he didn't have the slightest idea where it was.
Letting out a sigh, Uriel summoned his runes.
Name: Uriel
True Name: Lord of Darkness.
Rank: Ascended.
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Soul Core: Titan.
Shadow Fragments: [7000/7000]
Aspect Ability: Dark Lord.
Dark Creatures: [Knight of the Deep Darkness] [Gunlaug] [Soul Devourer]
Attributes: [Darkness] [Dark Flame] [Extra Carapace] [Dream Spawn] [Destined] [Marble Shell]
Memories: [Night Cloak] [Eclipse Claw] [Dark Storage] [Blood Flower] [Hunter's Bow] [Comfortable Chair] [Black Rope] [Aquatic Pearl] [Fragment of Moonlight] [Lament of the Depths] [Winged Cloak] [Broken Fragment] [Poison Cloak] [Captain's Sword] [Simple Mask] [Infinite Spring] [Mysterious Armor] [Black Legion Armor] [Wyvern Fang] [Protection Necklace] [Royal Ring] [Cloak of Guilt] [Crown of Repose]
Flaw: [Double Mind]
Uriel nodded as he looked at all his Memories. He had had quite a few more, but he used most of them to evolve his dark creatures to make them Transcendent.
Since all things from the Nightmare would disappear at the end of it, he couldn't bring any interesting things except the soul fragments that the Spell considered as Memories for being inside the dark storage.
So, he cheated the Spell in a way and didn't doubt it would get back at him in the future.
"Alright, I don't need to think about it so much; I'll go to the Dream Realm," murmured Uriel.
As an Ascended, he could travel between the Dream Realm with his real body and the waking world at will. Since he had conquered a Nightmare Seed, he would appear within the ruined city to conquer the gate and then return to where he was before leaving.
Uriel began to summon some Memories. The first was the Black Legion Armor, a Transcendent Memory of the first level. Although it carried the name 'armor,' it was more of a black garment with some metal protections. Then he summoned the Protection Necklace, which gave protection against soul attacks. Next, the Royal Ring, which elevated his protection against soul and spiritual attacks a bit more. And finally, he summoned the Crown of Repose, his Supreme-rank Memory.
Once ready, he concentrated on going to the Dream Realm. After a few seconds, he felt it, and then he was standing in the middle of a ruined city.
Seeing the city brought back old memories. He looked at the sky, seeing it was daytime with no trace of night, which was strange. He had spent almost 100 years looking at the day and night sky, making it familiar, but now it was a bit disconcerting.
Walking calmly, Fallen materialized beside him, his sword unsheathed, ready to destroy any nightmare creature, which didn't take long to arrive.
A three-headed demon dog as tall as a house lunged at Uriel and Fallen.
Fallen moved at great speed, and with a movement of his sword, he cut the demon dog in two.
[You have killed a Fallen Monster, Hell Hound]
Ignoring the Spell's voice, he advanced toward the only place not in ruins: the castle.
Taking his time, Uriel explored the city, arriving at the cathedral where he entered and killed its occupants, most of whom were mere Awakened and Fallen demons.
Reaching the main hall, he observed the statue of the Goddess of Storms. Then he averted his gaze disinterestedly, looking at the wall, which lacked the runes he himself had carved.
While exiting the cathedral, he continued exploring until the sun began to set.
Heading to the castle, he let Fallen kill the creatures.
He also summoned Gunlaug, who eliminated the monsters from the sky; the strongest was a Corrupted Devil called the Great Raven.
The battle was fierce, but his dragon won with a few minor wounds.
Finally, he had arrived at the imposing and bright castle, which remained in perfect structural condition.
Opening the gates, he crossed the hallways in silence. His eyes became melancholic.
Reaching the main hall, he observed the gate guardian. It was a great beast. The ceiling was destroyed as if some kind of impact had blown it away, as was the ancient marble floor.
The great beast had a strange appearance; it was human but not at the same time. It possessed two brown eagle wings, human legs, four arms, and finally, two heads together—one of a knight with a helmet and the other of an ancient skeleton.
The great beast let out a loud scream, lunging at Uriel.
Summoning the Wyvern Fang, a slightly curved black sword resembling a fang. This was a Transcendent weapon of the second level.
Without saying a word, he lunged at the great creature, beginning a fierce combat that shook the entire hall.
The battle was intense, fierce, and dangerous. Uriel had to use his Ascended ability to change his physical form. He needed to summon Fallen and Soul to help him against the creature.
After a while of fighting, and after cutting off three of its four limbs and decapitating one of the heads, Uriel lunged into the attack, his sword enveloped in darkness, plunging the sword into the creature's chest, finally finishing it off.
[You have killed a Corrupted Terror: Amalgam]
[You have obtained a Memory]
Uriel sighed, seeing the creature finally dead. For some reason, it felt strangely familiar.
Moving away from the corpse, he left Fallen and Soul guarding the hall in case something unwanted arrived.
"Alright, let's see this."
Memory: Saint's Mantle
Memory Rank: Transcendent.
Memory Level: VI
Memory Description: [Being four, they challenged the cursed city where day and night never changed. Continuously attacked by Corrupted beings, they advanced under the weight of a promise. Upon reaching the origin of everything, they were defeated and their bodies cruelly converted into an amalgamation of corrupted bodies.]
Enchantments: [Regeneration] [Erudite] [Gale] [Comfortable]
Enchantment Description - Regeneration: [This enchantment allows the user to heal from serious wounds at a great speed in exchange for essence.]
Enchantment Description - Erudite: [Increases learning speed on any subject.]
Enchantment Description - Gale: [This enchantment allows for minor dominion over the wind in exchange for essence.]
Enchantment Description - Comfortable: [This enchantment allows the user to feel comfortable at all times, regardless of the climate.]
...
Uriel sighed, a sad sigh. His eyes looked toward the corpse of the Corrupted Terror he had killed. That amalgamation was... Seres, Gretel, Lycor, and Gaellum.
In the Nightmare, he had helped them obtain the fragment of some kind of Divine weapon or something similar. He helped them, strengthened them, which allowed them to live and fulfill their mission.
But in reality, no, they had failed, and their bodies were used to create that abomination.
A mix of different emotions crossed his mind, from anger to sadness.
He summoned the Saint's Mantle. This mantle was very similar to the Dark Cloak he obtained during his first Nightmare, which saved his life many times and which he still possessed as one of his most precious Memories.
Now he possessed a Transcendent armor of the sixth level, which he was sure he would use in many battles in the future.
Setting aside the Memory, he explored the castle in search of interesting things since he wouldn't return to this place.
He needed to obtain a Citadel, preferably one that could move through the sky like the Ivory Tower, whose owner was Nephis for her Fire Keepers.
Although now that he remembered, he needed to ask Cassie to tell him the location where all the members of his organization, Shadow Garden, gathered; he wanted to meet them.
In fact, his goal of obtaining a Citadel was for them, to have a safe base to anchor to and train.
Uriel explored the entire castle for a few hours. When the sun was rising again, in his dark storage, he possessed four incredibly comfortable beds, one or another exquisite desk made of resistant black wood, as well as an ancient map about some kind of floating island located between the Deadwood Forest Domain and the Forgotten Shore. He would have to explore the skies or, rather, tell Gunlaug to do it for him.
Eating monster meat prepared with condiments on the wall surrounding the castle, he watched as Soul, in her titanic tree form, controlled the monsters of the entire city to make them kill each other, eating their souls.
After eating, he summoned a water bottle, quenching his thirst. From his dark storage, he took out a pencil and paper, continuing his study of runic sorcery, testing the Saint's Mantle. The Erudite enchantment made him realize one or another error in writing the runes, and after correcting them, the Light enchantment had a better result than previous attempts. When afternoon arrived, Uriel left Gunlaug exploring the skies in search of the floating island.
Bidding farewell to Soul and Fallen, Uriel returned to the waking world, appearing again in the dojo.
Without saying a word, Uriel disappeared, moving through the darkness, arriving at the living room, listening curiously to the conversation.
"So Little disappeared without a trace?" asked Effie.
"That's right," said Sunny.
"Maybe he's just somewhere exploring the city," said Kai.
"I doubt it," said Nephis. "He doesn't seem like the type of person who likes to go out much."
"Maybe he's in the Dream Realm," said Cassie.
"Even so, he should have returned by now; it's been almost two days without him appearing," said Sunny.
"Do you think he ran into something really terrifying and died, like some Cursed-rank creature?" Effie offered that possibility.
"I doubt a nightmare creature could kill him," said Nephis.
The group of five fell silent.
Uriel, hidden in the darkness, smiled.
"So, did you find him?" he asked.
"No, not yet..." Effie stopped and then looked toward where the voice came from, as did everyone else, seeing Uriel leaning against the wall with a slightly amused smile.
"Yo," he greeted casually with a wave.
"Where the hell did you go?" asked Effie.
Uriel put on an embarrassed face.
"Ah, well, it's a curious story. I was meditating at first, and then I thought about visiting the Dream Realm to see how it felt to travel with my real body. After doing so, I arrived at the place where I had my second Nightmare, and I said, 'Since I'm here, maybe I'll make it my Citadel.' So I fought for a while against some Fallen and Corrupted creatures, then reached the gate where I killed a Corrupted Terror after a good while of continuous combat due to its annoying regeneration. Then I looted a castle for a couple more hours before leaving Gunlaug in search of a mysterious island," he explained calmly.
"Why am I not surprised," said Sunny, then froze. "You killed a what?"
"A Corrupted Terror. Oh, and I looted a castle, and also..."
"Just stop talking," said Effie, feeling a headache.
"Hehehe," Uriel laughed, amused. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I planned to return in a few hours, but it ended up taking almost two days. So, as compensation, do you want 100 Ascended soul shards?"
"300, and all will be forgiven," said Nephis.
"Heavens, you're starting to sound like Sunny with those deals, but okay." Uriel dropped about 2000 soul shards from his dark storage.
"There you go." Everyone's eyes gleamed with greed upon seeing the soul shards. After separating each person's share, Kai and Effie used theirs to begin saturating their soul cores, as did Cassie and Nephis, while Sunny stored his in a chest with spider legs.
"Now that I remember," said Uriel, looking at Cassie. "Cassie, where is Shadow Garden?"
"There's no base as such since the members move continuously between different Citadels," she explained. "Although we are investigating to conquer a Citadel and make it our base of operations."
"I see. Well, leave that to me. It might take some time, but there's a mysterious map about a floating island. If Gunlaug finds it, I'll turn it into a Citadel, hopefully."
"Gunlaug? The Echo you got from killing him?" asked Nephis.
"Yes, now it's a Transcendent creature. Oh..." Uriel smiled a wide smile that everyone knew meant what he was about to say would be something that would surprise them. "It's a dragon, a nice dragon about 50 to 70 meters long."
Kai turned pale, Sunny almost spat out his water, Nephis slightly opened her mouth, and Cassie gave him an incredulous look.
"Damn, a Transcendent and a Dragon too," said Effie, briefly remembering the fight between Sevras and Noctis from the top of the Sun Prince's leg that she had seen from a distance.
"Oh, and also..."
Everyone silenced Uriel at that instant, not wanting to hear any more of his madness.
'I'll never get tired of this,' thought Uriel, laughing to himself.