After being embroiled in so many schemes, after having his fate dictated by so many people, and after having been manipulated again and again, Uriel’s view of the world had changed.

He believed the words he told Kael wholeheartedly.

"I can help you."

Every pit of chaos hid a ladder of opportunity.

And what was Kael if not an opportunity for him? What was Uriel to Kael if not a ladder to escape the fate he’d suffered?

As Uriel stared into Kael’s eyes, recognising something old, the outline of a plan began to form in his mind. His grin was more than eerie in his current form, and the waves of his will exuded somber tides of sadistic joy and excitement.

He looked every part an ancient devil, tricking a poor and innocent mortal soul in that moment.

But Kael...all he saw was a gate towards freedom.

"..."

He extended a hand towards Uriel.

...

Kael City had been drowned in a strange atmosphere over the last month.

Nothing particularly worrying had happened, but for some reason, over that time, it had only been raining, with such force and violence that most activities had been put on hold.

More than that, all guardians and knights had been deployed, stationed across every street of the city and armed to a tee. It felt like war was coming.

But even that was nothing in comparison to the biggest oddity of them all—The Spire.

The looming, gigantic structure of obsidian stood just as strong as it always did, vanishing into the bed of clouds that poured down endlessly.

But across its surface, runes of crimson had lit up, glowing and pulsing in rhythmic waves that only grew more powerful as the days passed.

And as the waves became more potent, the rain intensified.

The crimson glow of the spire was such that it dyed the entire city, and its plains beyond, in a hellish red hue, truly turning the world into an infernal haven, making the rain look like a downpour of blood.

"..."

Perhaps to say nothing worrying had happened was wrong, but the people of Kael were warriors, and most simply assumed this to be the sign of an approaching powerful beast.

But what did it matter when the entire city overflowed with ascendants, with some far beyond even the third step?

The rain was mostly just an annoyance, and the crimson glow a depressing filter slapped onto the world—nothing more and nothing less.

...

The Spire stood at the center of the city, far within the depths of the core ring.

The base of the spire itself was more than hundreds—if not thousands—of kilometres in circumference, the space around it twice as large as that, a wide plain of clear emptiness floored by dark rock and separated from the core ring by high walls of silver crystal.

There, in the empty wasteland surrounding the spire, there was nothing—no one—and it was pure silence, a small haven within the city untouched by civilization and life itself.

It was as beautiful as it was eerie.

"..."

At the foot of the spire, beyond the outer and core rings, beyond the outposts, beyond the great walls, and beyond the guardian headquarters, a duo of guardians could be seen.

One wore a blend of crimson and violet guardian robes, sleek and slender, with a gaze that burned with embers of gold.

It was none other than Parthyn.

Beside him stood a crimson-robed guardian, on the shorter side, though broad-shouldered and bearing a presence that commanded respect, his gaze burning with gold suffused with embers of crimson.

Kaldridge—Parthyn’s brother, but also the guardian Uriel had faced when he sought to test the security systems of the guardians. It was also the same guardian who had sensed his tribulation and deployed a formation to protect the city from it.

"..."

The two brothers stood at the Spire’s foot, as small as grains of sand before its seemingly endless vastness.

As they faced it, all they could see was an infinite wall of darkness stretching as far as their vision allowed, dotted with bright and menacing crimson sigils.

They both silently stared up at its towering figure that vanished high into the clouds, uncaring for the rain that soaked them or the thick crimson hue that nearly blinded them.

"The Spire hasn’t calmed down," Parthyn said solemnly.

Kaldridge shook his head and scoffed. "You think?"

The Spire had been glowing for a month already; to point that out now, of all times, seemed asinine.

"..."

Parthyn didn’t reply to his brother’s words. They both knew why he had said it.

The current state the Spire was in was called ’frenzy,’ and it was a secret known only to them and Kael.

If the Frenzy state remained active and undisturbed for thirty days straight, then—

WHOOSH!

Both Parthyn and Kaldridge felt the upswell of aether before the explosion even occurred. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

BANG!

A loud explosion thundered across the city, a violent sea of ivory light aether rising into the air alongside a tide of spatial aether.

WOOOOOOO!

A loud howl echoed, and instantly, the two brothers—who had been blown back by the sheer force of the winds—looked up into the sky at the same time.

In the heavens, a large portal had been torn open, from which the massive influx of energy surged. But more than that, from within the portal, a large, almost building-sized fox soared out.

On the creature’s back, the faint outline of a group could be seen.

Parthyn’s eyes widened as he watched the fox step onto the fabric of space as if it were solid ground, then suddenly launch forward toward them, space shattering in a sea of void flames and spatial shards in its wake.

"YOU’RE GOING TOO FAS—ARGGGGGGHH!"

BOOOOOM!

In a blink, Emrys had landed in the wasteland around the spire, instantly pushing forward to launch toward it. The little fox burned all spatial aether in his cores, moving as fast as he could, each of his steps carrying him dozens of meters forward.

Due to the portal they had torn open in the sky from the hall, space wasn’t stable enough for him to directly teleport to the spire, so this was the best he could do.

WHOOOS! BANG! BANG!

Still, he galloped forward at maddening speeds, each of his steps echoing like bombs across the obsidian surface of the wasteland.

In a mere breath’s time, he was already upon the brothers.

And they did not ask any questions. Their goal was to protect Kael, but also to guard the Spire. Regardless of who or what the fox was, since it was trying to reach the spire, it was an enemy to be killed.

Kaldridge slapped his palms together, runes exploding into existence around him, multiplying until they formed a dense cluster of shifting symbols that assembled into a runic armour of pure gold that fitted onto his body.

But before he could even begin using it, the flood of light aether in the air shook and—

SHOO!

—Uriel appeared in front of him, his dark-aether-coated hand shooting forward toward his throat. Kaldridge frowned at the sheer speed Uriel displayed, but he remained calm.

He brought his hands up, easily blocking Uriel’s palm, but his eyes widened when he noticed Uriel’s dark aether latch onto each individual rune of his armour and then...rot them.

PAH!

His armour shattered, leaving him exposed to the second palm Uriel thrust forward, covered in burning white flames of light. He tried to react again, but then Uriel’s Will fell like a sledgehammer, his cores pulling upon the fabric of space to lock him down.

TAH!

The sound was almost soft, like the lightest of pats. The flames failed to burn him or his clothes, yet the scream that tore from Kaldridge’s lips told a very different story.

"ARGHHH!"

It felt like his core itself was being burned.

And that was because it was.

"...!"

Uriel sped past the man just as he passed out and collapsed. For the plans he had for Kael to work, his jailers needed to remain alive.

Plus, he didn’t like killing.

BANG!

Uriel didn’t even bother attacking Parthyn. They exchanged a glance, the latter’s gaze dark as he took in Uriel’s horrifying form.

Parthyn flipped a palm, summoning a set of scimitars into his hands, but before he could strike, his eyes widened as he felt a sharp ping echo through his mind.

A signal from Kael—one that screamed the man was on the verge of death. Seeing Uriel’s manic and inhuman smile, Parthyn would have been a fool not to make the connection.

"This isn’t over."

Parthyn rushed forward, scooping up his brother’s unconscious body before exploding away with a single step, racing to reach Kael.

If Kael died on their watch, their father would...well, it was best not to dwell on what he might do.

"I’m sure it isn’t! I’ll be seeing you soon!" Uriel laughed as he leapt back onto Emrys’ back, and they rushed toward the Spire.

BANG!

As the two brothers and the escaping group split apart, rushing in opposite directions, loud blaring horns echoed across the core ring.

One by one, towering auras erupted throughout the city as Guardians and Knights alike received the call, all moving instantly to intercept the escaping group.

Those from the omega layer and dimensional prisons rose to the surface once more, joining the armada closing in on them.

A sea of people was after them.

"To the Spire!"

But it was too late.