Just as the young guardian’s Will and soul were about to collapse under the spiritual attack Uriel had unknowingly launched, his domain suddenly shattered.
KAH!
The sound was akin to glass shattering and splattering across marble floors as Uriel let go, and staggered backwards, clarity returning to his mind just as the backlash set in and pain flooded his senses.
More blood sputtered from his lips and he fell to his knees.
SHAH!
All around him, dozens of guardians appeared, each with erald-gold gazes, each with towering auras that pressed into him like the very weight of the seas.
And each of them wafted a thick and potent poison aether that dyed the air green and corrupted the ambient flows of atmospheric aether, making the air incredibly toxic.
"..."
Looking at the beaten and bloodied state of the original erald-gold-eyed guardian, one of the guardians encircling Uriel sneered.
"Idiot." The guardian’s sneer turned into a frown as they shifted their gaze toward Uriel, who clearly seed to be in great pain.
Their frown rapidly twisted into an expression full of... hesitance. And they weren’t alone.
Though they surrounded him and seemingly had him beat, none of the guardians dared take a step toward Uriel. Their hands anxiously gripped their blades, and their aethers flowed viciously through their veins, ready to explode at any mont.
’How... did he survive a domain backlash?’
The question lingered in each of their minds.
The fact that a re early First Step child had grasped the basic truths of a domain was already shocking enough, and the ridiculous size of said domain was even more so—but surviving its shattering was sothing none of them could even begin to comprehend.
It wasn’t a gap in logic that could simply be bridged by the excuse of talent.
To have your domain shattered was to have your Will shattered, and to have a shattered Will was to have a torn soul.
Or, in other words, a horrid death.
’Is he part of a clan with Spirit roots? Is he even human?’ one of the guardians thought deeply as they observed Uriel.
Now that they paid closer attention, his features were just a bit too sharp and too perfect to be entirely human.
His face was ever so slightly too soft and angular, as if sculpted by a god rather than born from flesh and blood.
His eyes swirled with just a touch too much colour, closer to the crimson radiance of a star than the usual luster of pupils.
He was tall, with a fra packed with sleek muscle, his canines so sharp and long they slightly peeked past his lips.
And his core... it was simply too large.
As they all noticed those oddities, a single thought coloured their minds.
’Is this an Heir of the Sentinels?’
"...argh."
Uriel groaned, then forced himself to his feet. He staggered, struggling to remain standing.
With visible effort, he managed to open his eyes and gaze at the overwhelming sight of guardians surrounding him—yet not attacking for so reason.
His gaze panned across the crowd, observing them all, before peering past them toward the city. Sohow, in just these few monts, everything he’d destroyed in his wake had been nded.
’That’s nice.’ He smiled.
Then he took a deep breath in, and sighed.
Placing a hand behind his back, he began to bow, like a maestro after guiding an orchestra through a flawless performance, silent in the wake of defeaning clamor and applause.
"Gentlen, I thank you for your ti."
And then, he was gone.
They blinked, and Uriel was nowhere to be seen.
"....!"
None of them even had ti to be shocked when a core amidst them suddenly exploded.
...
The streets of Kael were as flooded as usual.
Today, though, it rained, for so reason. Yet rather than saddening the people, it excited them.
Kael was always sunny and windy, so rain was a rarity. And in Kael, rain was most often a sign of coming fortune.
So most ca out, elders and younglings alike, walking the streets of the city in raincoats, while others carried umbrellas.
Laughter echoed, and smoke wafted from chimneys, carrying the fragrant scent of cooking als across the warrior city.
Children rushed and weaved through the thick crowds, splattering mud in all directions, while rchants followed in their wake, offering various trinkets to those who showed interest.
Warriors and officials gathered in bars, letting the mont beco one of respite and celebration.
It was lively. Festive.
And it was within one of those thick, flowing crowds that Uriel walked, his steps slow and his gaze empty.
His robes and tunic had already nded, his cores replenishing far faster than before thanks to his deeper understanding of aether.
The blood and sweat coating him slowly washed away under the rain, and his rose-ivory gaze regained its brilliance with every step he took.
As he walked, he let his mind drift.
’Very strange.’ He thought back to the battle he’d just had with the guardians.
His goal had always been to test them.
’For so reason, sothing about my presence both heavily suppresses their core’s power and their ntal faculties.’
’I’ll assu that’s an ability from my tri-cores and pioneer status... or maybe a synergy of both.’
A flicker passed through his gaze. ’But should I take this as a reliable tool in my arsenal or not? That is the question.’
He clicked his teeth. ’I’ll have to fix this useless mage tool soon. That is what I made it for.’
Shaking his head, he refocused.
’And there’s also that weird attack I used on that guardian... was that a soul attack?’
He thought back to the fight he’d had with the blood serpent.
’If I can use that strange soul attack and the spiritual laws in tandem as foundations to form a new technique... I think I’ll finally have a good offensive tool.’
’A tool that can synergize with all my abilities and talents.’
Coming to that conclusion, he chuckled. But beyond all that, this battle had revealed sothing else, sothing far more important.
’I need to get my mage circles back. And beyond that, I need my Sparks to awaken soon.’
His gaze hardened. ’Or else, I won’t be able to keep up.’
Uriel exhaled once more, then straightened his back. He took a few turns and waded through the sea of people filling the streets.
BOOOOOOM!
A loud explosion rang through the air, and the moving crowd froze for a mont, fear gripping their hearts as their gazes snapped toward a single point.
A rooftop in the far distance.
But seeing nothing out of the ordinary, most simply assud it to be the distant echo of thunder.
Uriel smiled as he reached his destination. ’Seems they liked my little gift.’
He ca to a stop in front of a large inn.
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