The two continued to battle for hours.
As the seconds passed, they used less and less of their bodies, talents, and miraculous abilities, pushing their elents to their very limits to comprehend their depths.
They clashed without respite, sharpening one another, as Uriel’s growth was fulgurous thanks to his seeds, and Emrys’ own was ridiculous thanks to his spark.
Uriel rapidly found out darkness was his most versatile elent; good for defense but also movent as a whole, though perplexing in modes of offense.
Apart from using darkness to deprive Emrys of his senses, he struggled to find potent thods of attack with it, but it didn’t really matter.
His other elents were more than enough.
Sand was by far his greatest asset for movent, turning all beneath his feet into a sea of grains across which he could glide at ridiculous speeds.
When his light elent and its maddening speed were factored in, he simply beca untouchable. But his own light elent seed to be more than that.
Rapidly, he learned how to extend infusion across his body and its outer layer, then to his mind, then his aether, and in fulgurous fashion, to his weapons.
His glaive suddenly beca the sharpest of tools under the infusion of light—a trait he still didn’t quite comprehend.
Then, his wood aether filled the gaps, taking advantage of his mighty mind to move in hordes of thousands of vines that road his surroundings like vanguard serpents.
At any mont’s notice, they surged to attack; at others, they retreated to form dos of defense; and at most, they simply shaped the field to his liking.
Uriel felt like a child lost within a sandbox with endless tools, the fun knowing no end, his smile radiant beyond words.
Emrys, on the other hand, wasn’t having much of a great ti.
His wind elent was always a step too slow, his lightning always ineffective, and his space elent too complex to be of use.
But his spark was to grow, so he grew.
In a blink, he stripped Resonant Dominance and rebuilt it from the ground up as his own, using it as a thod to infuse his very intent and will into his lightning.
Who said True Infusion only had to be used with elents?
And suddenly, it beca effective. Very effective.
His wind suddenly stopped fueling his movents, and space took its place. He began to blink across the field at speeds that seed beyond the instantaneous.
His wind rose once more, this ti to deprive Uriel of his breath, to tear him off his feet in wild gusts, and to cut across his skin as sharp blades.
BANG!
The two clashed and sharpened one another.
When a day passed, they stopped to eat, then rapidly went to sleep before waking once more, only to return to battle.
They spent days in a trance, obsessed with improvent.
....
[Elsewhere—Peak of the Spiral House]
The Spiral House pierced far into the cloudy skies of the desert, past the blue heavens and even the settlent barrier looming high above, until it settled deep into empty space.
So high up, there was nothing but a white emptiness, contrasted by golden light that surged from below. Across the white nothing, multicolored stars dotted the horizon.
It was quite beautiful.
Atop the ruby monunt, a figure could be seen seated on an edge, feet dangling over oblivion, her hair pulled by soft winds that shouldn’t exist so high up.
Mariah wore beautiful blood-red robes, layered and loose, complenting her flowing silver hair, olive skin, and deep bronze-colored eyes.
Her usually cheery face was neutral, her gaze pensive.
Alone, atop the world, she humd an old lullaby.
It was quite the tragic and dramatic tune—almost haunting.
"..."
Suddenly, her shoulders dropped, and she sighed.
"It’s fine, you can co."
The space beside her shook, then suddenly unwound, as if reality were a jigsaw puzzle forming a portal through which a woman stepped out.
With a petite yet regal body of white flas, adorned by dark robes, long flowing athyst flas for hair, and deep pupils of dark azure—Ophanis stepped onto the Spiral House’s peak, her presence shaking the world.
And just as her true form graced the desert, an echo seed to affect Mariah. A switch deep within her activated, and her body changed.
All her features vanished, and she returned to the faceless mannequin she had once been, her skin porcelain, her face featureless.
But then, the porcelain shattered; in its place, her skin—no, her entire body—beca made of dark flas, her hair of silver flas, and her eyes of a gold-bronze hue.
Her majesty reflected Ophanis’ own.
Feeling the overflowing power of her unlocked true form, rather than being elated, Mariah felt even sadder than before.
She looked at her flaming palms. "So, he has accepted the Sins."
Ophanis remained quiet for a beat. "He has."
"How many have awakened?"
Ophanis walked forward and sat beside Mariah.
"For now, only one. The other two are being suppressed by the mark. I doubt the suppression will last long, though."
Ophanis stared out into the horizon. Unlike most, she found simplicity endlessly beautiful.
The simple white skies and golden sea beneath them were a sight that soothed her soul. It reminded her of ho.
"He wasn’t happy with the state of the House," Mariah suddenly said, a smile returning to her face. "He nearly lost it when we reached the Hall."
Mariah chuckled softly. "So things don’t change."
Then the two fell silent, basking in each other’s presence.
"Is..." Ophanis broke the silence. "I’ve been asking myself quite a lot, recently."
She turned to Mariah. "Is it really impossible to break it?"
Mariah didn’t answer, but Ophanis didn’t mind.
In fact, she didn’t expect one.
"It doesn’t matter." Mariah stood to her feet. "Ti is endless."
"We’ll try again, then again, and then again. We’ll chip at it across infinity until nothing is left—until it remains as nothing but dust."
She smiled. "I think it’s ti we return ho."
Ophanis threw her a glance. "We? I’ve been ho for a while now. You’re the ones who left."
Mariah’s lip twitched. "Semantics."
She waved a hand, and the portal Ophanis had co through trembled, then changed in nature, its destination shifting into that of a...realm.
A Heart Realm.
"Once little brother is done, we’ll rise."
Mariah stepped into the portal, returning ho with a smile etched across her face.
Ophanis remained behind for a few monts, staring at the desert. No, she wasn’t looking at the desert.
She stared at its runic fabric, reading its runes, feeling the ssage carved across the entire dinsion. She read it again and again, smiling.
’Arrogant.’
Then she shook her head and stood to her feet, entering the portal and returning ho as well.
"..."
The peak of the Spiral House was now empty. So was the desert.
But a single ssage remained etched across reality.
[’My Will is Godless.’]
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