Re: Timeless Apocalypse

Chapter 273: Bomb

Uriel wasn’t fazed by Ariel’s power. If anything, he found it curious.

’Hm. He has an aura core. That’s a first.’

As he remembered, Aura was the Protos Path Energy of Martial Arts, just as Mana was to Magic.

Uriel had learned of it during Project Magia, but hadn’t had the time or opportunity to forge these cores for himself. In fact, it was the first time he’d seen anyone wield one of these energies.

It was fascinating.

Ariel’s aura seemed alive, dancing in seas of silver and amethyst, twisting into roaring dragons, collapsing into soaring phoenixes, oscillating endlessly between the two, almost flowing like the eternal cycle of life and death.

The amount of spiritual laws contained within it seemed truly endless, twisting and rewriting the fabric around them in its image and empowering Ariel to maddening degrees.

He’d moved so fast Uriel had barely managed to sense him.

’Fascinating.’

Uriel shook his head, then extended a hand and placed it on Ariel’s shoulder.

Ariel’s head whipped back and he turned to stare at Uriel, his gaze still full of fury. Yet as he met Uriel’s calm gaze, indifferent to his pouring killing intent, he too couldn’t help but calm down.

"..."

Uriel shook his head. "She needs to be alive."

Ariel took a step back, shrugging Uriel’s hand off his shoulder. He looked at Korynth, who was on the verge of passing out, then back at Uriel.

"You don’t understand. She-...she..." Ariel took a deep breath. "She knew what she was doing. By telling Kael this, now, his father knows."

"Kael is on our side." Uriel said simply.

Ariel’s gaze narrowed. "And you know this because?"

"Because I helped him." Before Ariel could contest, Uriel continued. "And even if he’s not grateful, in his current situation, he needs allies."

"What does that have to do with his father? He’s the threat."

Uriel lifted a brow. "You’re afraid? Doesn’t seem like you." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"And what would you know about me, hm?"

Uriel smiled, then threw his hands in the air in mock surrender. "You’re right, I don’t know you at all."

Hearing his answer, Ariel’s eye twitched and regret flashed across his mind. His jaw tightened, but he remained silent.

"But whatever you want to do, killing her won’t help. Plus, as I said, I want her alive."

"So you are going to let her go."

Ariel took a step forward, closing the distance until their noses nearly touched and their foreheads practically clashed. His purple eyes boiled with chaos and rage.

"Is that a threat?" he asked in a low voice, the words coming out more like a growl.

Uriel smiled. "Is it?"

Silence reigned, filled only by their clashing auras, a sea of tranquil yet unstoppable ivory and rose battling against a raging ocean of amethyst and silver.

Sparks ignited around them, flames swirling in an infernal tornado, unable to harm Uriel and afraid to do so to Ariel.

"Hey!" Samael rushed over. "Please, stop!"

She stepped between them and forced them apart. She looked at Uriel, then Ariel, then at Korynth, who was still in Ariel’s grasp, having turned purple-blue and only an inch away from death.

Her gaze flickered with complicated emotions. Part of her knew that if she let Ariel kill Korynth, the gigantic rift between her brothers would widen even further, but if she tried to stop Ariel then—

"I really don’t have the patience for this."

All Ariel saw was a blinding flash of light.

Then, to his absolute shock, all the aether in his hands was...cut off.

His arms became limp and he let go of everything. But before his eyes could widen, he regained control over them and his vision cleared.

Frowning, he hurriedly turned to Uriel, only to find him gone.

He turned again, finding Uriel far behind him, holding Korynth’s limp body in his arms as he walked away.

Light aether flowed from Uriel, rapidly healing Korynth.

Uriel didn’t stop, but he threw a glance back. "What you seek won’t happen."

"I won’t give you a reason to unleash all your frustration."

...

Hours later, the Spirit, who’d vanished, reappeared, sensing it to be the right time to do so.

It sighed at the sight that welcomed it in the white room. The two groups were still separated, Korynth and Uriel in one corner and Samael and Ariel in another.

It shook its head. ’Children and their idiocy.’

"It is time for your second trial. As you may or may not know, I’ve only given you this much free time due to how fast Sir Uriel completed the first trial."

"The breaks you’ll have in between trials will follow this same pattern. The faster you clear them, the more time you’ll have to rest."

"But I digress."

The Spirit waved its hand, and suddenly the white room morphed and changed.

Its walls and floors became made of azure crystals, within which sparkling obsidian cores were embedded.

Connecting the cores and stretching across the azure walls lay a formation of ivory runes, complex and layered and reeking of thick chaotic fire and light aether.

Finally, scattered across the air, small floating glass cylinders appeared.

"This is the second floor. This is the second trial."

The Spirit began to fade away.

"You must survive, then leave, and find the third floor."

...

The moment the Spirit vanished, the cylinders in the air shook and from them, viscous green slime began to pour out, rapidly filling the room.

But Uriel didn’t focus on any of that.

His gaze narrowed.

’The aether in the air is...’

He turned to one of the walls, scanning its runes and formations, and rapidly, his expression darkened.

The fire aether component of the formation had essentially burned all atmospheric aether in the air, filling it with what Uriel could only describe as the aether equivalent of toxic waste.

Meanwhile, the light aether component of the formation had taken hold of their natal energies and rendered them utterly weightless and without polarity, essentially turning them into static, unusable masses.

’No aether for as long as we’re here and...’ freēwēbnovel.com

Uriel looked at the pouring cylinders, then down at the rapidly rising slime levels.

’...I doubt we have much time.’

He turned to Korynth just as she turned to him, her expression as icy as always, indifferent to the bruised marks still present on her neck.

"Will." she uttered, taking Uriel off guard.

She pointed at the obsidian cores embedded into one of the crystal walls. "Those things. They’re called Will-Bound Crystal Cores."

Uriel frowned, but didn’t interrupt. Not far away, the duo also fell silent, paying attention to her words.

"They’re usually used to preserve old and ancient Wills to help the younger generation train. It’s almost like a tempering device, a hammer that strikes all impurity out of your soul and mind."

Her expression darkened.

"But in some cases, they can also be used as tools to erode and shatter Wills."

"With the amount of cores here, without our aether to sustain ourselves, we barely have five to ten minutes before we all go insane, let alone drown."

Uriel’s frown deepened. He couldn’t think of an immediate solution.

’Maybe if we try raw strength? But what’s beyond those walls?’

Uriel turned toward one of the crystal walls, then made his way over to it. He sized up the structure.

’With my body’s durability, if I supercharge my arm with light aether, I can probably collapse a continent, or at least a large country.’

’So...maybe I can...?’

It felt stupid and barbaric to try, but he didn’t have any other options. Left without much choice, Uriel cocked his arm back and—

PAH!

Uriel’s frown deepened into a scowl as one of his Astral Spark Forms activated and a spell placed over his mind faded.

While dealing with runes and formations...in what world would Uriel ever decide brute strength was the answer?

’The bastards almost got me.’

He couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

Without waiting, he activated his moons, focusing all their might on Earthen Soul Carapace to shield and fortify his mind.

In a blink, he became impervious to it.

With a fresh mind, he stepped back and rapidly began analysing the formation.

’Hm. The formation has blended with the fabric of space, partially tearing it apart to form a steady stream of void flames that fuel it.’

’It fuels it, but parallel to that, the formation also breaks the void flames down into streams of chaotic void...fire? And void light?...aether? Void aether? What the hell even is that...’

He caressed his chin.

’So shattering the formation itself is a no-go, since it’ll collapse space with it. I can survive the rage of void flames with my new body, but I doubt I can survive the void.’

He paused.

’Unless I assume what’s beyond this place isn’t a void.’

’Hm.’

His gaze flickered, and he peered into the fabric of the world.

His eyes widened.

’What the...’

The cylinders were also present within the folds of space itself, and they were...rapidly devouring them, laws and primordial energy alike, turning everything into the green slime that had begun filling the crystal room.

Uriel’s mind made the connection at lightning speed.

’The laws and primordial energy have been broken down into their strange worldly goop, only kept stable by the foundation of space here.’

’The cores aren’t here to wither our Wills but rather to shatter the World Will spread across space and the worldly goop, and when that happens...’

He sighed and covered his face, massaging his temples.

’We’re in a bomb.’