Samael had been silent the entire time, trying to make sense of what was happening.

For some reason, Uriel didn’t seem to care in the least if he heard their discussion or not.

He didn’t know if it was a sign of trust, or if it went to show just how little Uriel cared about the consequences of his possible betrayal.

But what was even stranger than that was... Samael’s reaction.

Both Emrys and Uriel had noticed it, but hadn’t uttered a word. The boy was almost too calm, too composed in the face of what was happening and what he was hearing.

’...’

Silently, within his heart, Uriel confirmed one of the theories he had about Samael.

"So, what’s the price I have to pay for all this?"

Lucianna tilted her head, seemingly confused. "Price?"

"Price," Uriel repeated. "Surely you’re doing all of this for a reason, for something. Tell me what."

"Ah." She nodded. "Yes, I suppose that, in a sense, there is indeed a price to be paid. But I’m not sure if it’s much of anything that’ll come out of your pocket."

"I have three things I want. I want you to kill the thing in the palace, which is holding me captive here. I want you to fully consume the flame, which is dead weight in my hands and..."

Her gaze went past him, landing on the silent Samael. Their gazes met, and she smiled, before then refocusing on Uriel.

"...the last thing I want, you’ll see after you evolve."

...

With all words said, all that reigned was silence.

The closer Uriel got to the palace, the larger it got, growing bigger and bigger until it seemed even larger than the spiral house that once loomed in the ivory desert.

’Let’s hope I don’t die here.’

Uriel reached the foot of the palace, at the bottom of a set of white stairs that led toward the palace’s grand entry gate.

He ascended the steps, and as that happened, his body began to shift, runes lighting up across his frame, his aether shifting and shedding its usual form, sharpening into its elemental state.

The spell sentry manifested behind him, and his mind fell into a deep state of focus.

He reached the gate. He took a breath in, exhaled, then pushed it open.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

He had merely tapped the gate, and yet it flung open, heavy streams and gusts of wind blowing his hair back and stirring his clothes.

But he remained on his feet, calm as he stared into the darkness that consumed the massive hall within.

It was so dark he couldn’t see a thing, even when using his dark aether to augment his eyes.

’That shouldn’t be possible...’

SHOO!

Suddenly, in the middle of the hall, something stirred, and from the high, curved ceilings of the palace, a pillar of light descended, focusing on a specific point.

The stream of light revealed a figure.

’...’ Uriel shakily exhaled when he didn’t recognise it.

Part of him had been expecting someone close to him to appear.

’Is that a Horror?’

The figure sat cross-legged in the hall’s center, a blade resting on its lap.

It wore tight black robes, embroidered with golden clouds, the fabric barely enough to veil its purple skin, covered in multicoloured veins that pulsed with power.

Its face was entirely humanoid, soft and almost pretty, its lips full and eyes glowing with a faint rose colour. Its hair was a sea of silver flames, resplendent and majestic.

The entity simply sat there, staring down at nothing, a deep and pronounced air of melancholy hanging in the air.

Suddenly, its lips moved.

"..."

Uriel heard it murmur something, but he couldn’t quite decipher what. So, he took a step forward, entering the hall.

"..."

He still couldn’t hear. So he took a couple more steps. Then, he decided to simply keep walking until he could hear it.

"...betray..."

He was mere meters away from the creature, but all he could hear was that one word.

Betray.

’Is it talking to me?’

Uriel paused.

’Lucianna told me to kill it but... why? Maybe I can—’

The creature suddenly looked up, meeting his gaze. Its gaze was so soft and mellow, so broken and fragile that Uriel forgot how to breathe for a moment.

"You have betrayed yourself." Her voice was meek, soft, and incredibly pleasing to the ear. It reflected a sprawling sea of tranquility, sitting atop a bed of sorrow.

’...mental... at...’ Uriel barely completed the thought when he found himself heaving for air, his vision blurring and tears bubbling in his eyes. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"M-me...?" He couldn’t help but ask.

The creature—no, the woman—smiled, its tenderness only shaking his soul more. "Yes, you."

"And for that, you must die."

She slowly stood to her feet, picking up her blade as she did so. "But as I execute you, I’ll show you the zenith."

"Take what you see, and spread it across the underworld in my name, please. Let them know of my blade."

Every word she uttered was like another blade descending to slice Uriel’s mind apart and stir his broken scar, but under the sudden mental assault, finally, his moons reacted.

But nothing happened.

The moons wrapped around his mind, shielding him and trying to shatter the attack, but nothing happened.

Because there was nothing to shatter. There was nothing to protect. There was no attack, there was—

"Only the truth," she said. "Now, let’s begin."

She tapped the air and—

BANG!

A rippling wall of thick energy rushed from the distance, full of overflowing ruby red fire aether.

It dawned on him in a blink, and still disoriented, all he could do was clench his jaw and cross his weapon in front of him to block.

SHI!

He was sent sliding back dozens of meters, the flames dancing across his body, yet unable to bypass his shells and flesh.

Still, his frown couldn’t help but deepen. The flames hadn’t harmed his body, but had somehow burned half of his aether pool. He’d never seen such an attack.

’Mental specialist with aether tactics I don’t know...’

TOH!

She took a step forward, and it echoed across the hall. In a breath’s time, she was already in front of him, having bridged space.

His eyes widened, seeing her blade descend toward him.

Light aether infused across his body, and his glaive spun in his hand, rising to block her silver longsword’s falling cleave.

CLANK!

Metal against metal echoed, and sparks flew into the air.

Uriel pushed, and she took a step back, his true infusion pushed to its limits as he felt his flesh tear under the supercharging of light aether across his body.

Moving at ridiculous speeds, his body glowing with blinding radiance, he flowed from the blocking clash into a smooth and violent thrust, directly aimed at her chest.

"Often, our heart dictates what we see—"

Her words shook the runic fabric of the world, and suddenly, she vanished as if she were a mirage, Uriel’s blade thrusting into nothing but air.

"—and what we don’t see."

Uriel felt it before he saw it. A blade pierced into his chest, shattering past his void flesh and shells and skewering one of his lungs.

Pain consumed his mind.

"But of course, it all always hinges on clarity."

She pulled her blade out almost immediately, reappearing in front of him, in his line of sight, just as his blood jetted and spilled to soak him.

"And, sometimes, hints of madness."

The hand that held her blade pulled back just as her free hand streaked forward, a palm crashing into Uriel’s chest, exactly where she’d just struck him.

From her palm, torrential waves of fire aether streamed into his body. His blood, which had soaked her hand, burned away under the heat of her attack.

Uriel staggered back, feeling her fire aether completely empty one of his cores, but before he could try to think of a solution, she attacked again.

SHAH!

Elemental aether coalesced around her, streams of fire and mist aether twisting and taking shape to form flame-forged butterflies of mist.

They flickered from flame to mist in an unstoppable cycle.

"Madness and clarity, when joined, do bring about a truly ensnaring dance, don’t you think?"

She waved a hand, and her butterflies began to multiply, so much so that in the couple of moments it took Uriel to recover, he found himself entirely surrounded.

The dark hall was overflowing with butterflies.

"But, ah, I digress."