Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 168: Blended Shades of Truth

As far as he remembered, before their battle the little fox had only had three tails. Then, after their battle, when he’d found it sleeping in his bed, it had five tails.

Uriel had assumed the fox had gained its tails after gaining its two additional cores, one for each, considering it had already had a chaos core before.

"But if that’s the case, why did it suddenly go down to two?"

He eyed it, his gaze running along its figure. "Hm. Wow, you actually evolved at the same time as I did."

"Well, it’s reassuring to know it went well. I was a bit afraid something would go wrong but—"

"Kih!"

"—yes, I know, a being as perfect as you would never fail, I know, but still, I worried, which turned out to be for nothing."

He sighed. "To make your old man worry so much, so early, you should be ashamed of yourself, young man."

The creature snarled, and Uriel, in turn, sucked his teeth in disapproval. "You’ll learn eventually."

A sly smile coloured his face. "I’m sure Ayah will have something in store for you. Truly, I pity you."

"..."

The fox didn’t know why, but it suddenly felt a chill crawl down its mobile spine, a fact that only seemed to annoy it more as it twisted mid-air, trying to free itself from Uriel’s hold, biting him again and again.

Uriel activated his runic scar to dull the pain and ignored it.

Through one of his talents, Twilight Sky Resonance, which he thankfully hadn’t lost after his regression, he used resonance to read information about the little beast.

His eyes sparkled with golden light as he peered into the creature, something he hadn’t done in quite some time.

In the desert, using resonance was already hard enough. To use something as complex as information gathering would’ve been a tall order.

’Hm, I can’t find its race’s name. Kor—...no, it’s a bit more sharp. Kae? Yeah, Kaelor Sand...King?’

He frowned. ’Kairos Sand Divinity?’

For some reason he felt like the way he pronounced the words was wrong. No—rather, he felt like the words he used to name the fox were wrong, not because his ability was failing, but because he simply didn’t know the right word.

It was a word he’d never heard before, and thus his resonance chose the next best thing, which seemed to be "kairos" and "divinity."

Considering Uriel had spent a large chunk of his childhood reading books, he found such a thing quite shocking.

And what he learned next shocked him even more.

’Pioneer Beast, Peak G-Ranker, Sublime Evolved Beast, a—what?!’ His eyes widened. ’A Jade Grade Spark?’

’At... five—...how?’ His pupils trembled. ’What?!’

The fox was... a week old.

’A week-old beast with a Jade Grade Spark?’

That was absolutely impossible.

The fact that he was holding a so-called Pioneer Beast was already shocking enough, and the fact that the fox had apparently nearly killed him as a mere mortal beast—with no evolutions under its belt—while he had been at the peak of the G-Rank was even more shocking, but this... this was insanity.

Uriel clearly remembered that even for Enoch, a seasoned and terrifyingly skilled warrior and regressor, it had taken almost a week to push his spark to the Silver Grade.

Even Uriel himself, when his spark had been awakened, had only managed to push it to the Bronze Grade before he entirely stalled and remained there for weeks—granted, part of the reason had been because back then he’d consciously decided to ignore his spark to focus on his mage path.

Still, he found it hard to believe.

Uriel took a breath and calmed down. ’This little guy is much more gifted than I thought.’

His gaze sharpened.

Whenever something seemed too good, whenever something was too anomalous, Thoryl always had a hand in it.

Uriel hadn’t forgotten that the only beast he’d seen across the entire desert was the fox, and the only thing it had appeared to do was lick his blood, then try to devour him.

"..."

He gently placed the fox into one of his palms, then slowly began caressing its fur. For some reason, as he did so, the little creature seemed to calm.

Its snarl eased, and its growls lessened until they vanished entirely. It sank into his caresses, leaning into them and letting out soft purrs.

Uriel, as he caressed the fox, had his mind elsewhere, his gaze vacant.

A question began to form in his mind, a question he hated as much as he found perplexing, despite the fact that he was the one posing it.

’Is Thoryl an enemy, or an ally?’ 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

When Uriel took a step back and re-analysed everything, he wasn’t sure.

He truly wasn’t.

Yes, Thoryl had tried to trap and kill him during the Advent under the instructions of Salazar and Celeste, but in the end, had he not lived?

And had this event not been the perfect moment for Ophanis to bind to him once more? The circumstances of it all had been so perfect it almost felt staged.

Even deeper than that, when Thoryl trapped the talent he’d received from his Arcane Pack—which had only been upgraded because Thoryl feigned conflict with General Lorys early on—had that not led to Uriel directly using the gate and eye to fix his sparks?

And even this Legacy Event... Uriel hadn’t forgotten the sight that started it—a sky full of divine eyes of endless and infinite might, beyond anything he could’ve possibly fathomed.

Those had been Gods.

He couldn’t help but remember the words he’d faintly heard Thoryl utter back then.

["Oh Mother... it truly seems your sons will never know defeat."]

But then he’d said something else, which Uriel found even stranger.

["The Circle is broken."]

Uriel’s expression hardened, and yet another memory played in his mind—but this one not from Thoryl, but rather from a discussion he’d once had with Enoch.

A discussion about Salazar and Celeste.

...

["Are they the ones who sent Lirik? Why are we enemies?"]

["No," Enoch grimaced. "They’re probably not responsible for Lirik."]

["Like I told you, you’re not enemies. In fact..." Something dark flickered across his gaze. "...Salazar and Celeste are as close to the both of us as the two of us are."]

...

Another memory fragment played in his mind.

...

["And Celeste..." His gaze narrowed. "...I don’t really remember, but I know it’s almost identical to my Lie Eater."]

["She wiped a good portion of what I know about her abilities, but I do know she’s the one who taught me most of what I know about my spark."]

["Wiped?!" Uriel stared at him in disbelief. "How? Why?"]

["I—I really don’t know," Enoch admitted, equally lost. "But she didn’t remove anything else. Only what her abilities can do."]

["Eventually I’ll remember, but I’m afraid that by then it’ll be too late."]

["I don’t know why, but Salazar wants you dead. Or maybe he needs something that’ll come from your death—something that’ll help her, or her abilities, in some shape or form."]

[Uriel fell silent.]

["He’d kill me just for benefits?" His voice was tight. "Were we not close? Has he succeeded before? Did we have a falling out? Why?"]

[Enoch didn’t answer.]

...

Uriel put the little fox, who had fallen asleep in his palm, back onto his head, nestling it in his smooth and silky hair.

’I see, I see, I see...’ he repeated in his mind as he imperceptibly nodded.

He exhaled a deep breath.

’I’m starting to see the whole board.’

The tension that had been consuming his body faded, and he smiled, soon chuckling and shaking his head.

Words his grandmother had spoken not too long ago rang in his mind.

...

["Soon, all truth will be laid bare, and you’ll understand the methods of what you assume to be my madness. Nothing is ever as light or dark as it seems—truth always lies in the blended shades."]