Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 189: Guardians
Uriel’s hand, bloody and weak, reached out, resonant dominance-infused aether coating it. Somehow, he broke past the serpent’s intangible nature and touched its reptilian head.
Then, using his blood, he drew a circle on its forehead.
And within that mark, he infused the deepest and most potent forms of his will—but not only that; he infused the raging wills of the hounds, the raging wills of the golden gate, the raging emotions of his past, and so much more.
Uriel used resonant dominance to bend it all to his wishes, and he formed a single stroke of intent, a single law.
A single spiritual law.
"Die."
The serpent collapsed. A radiant silver flame consumed its frame, and in the blink of an eye, it burned to ashes, those same ashes rapidly turning to nothing.
The serpent died.
’It... works.’
Uriel collapsed to his knees, coughing out blood and unable to see anything, his senses stripped from him. Still, he had enough presence of mind to store his glaive away.
’But... it exhausts my Will, somehow.’
Chaos still raged within his mind, and now that he was so weakened, he couldn’t use resonant dominance to calm it all down.
It didn’t matter though.
WHOOOSH!
Deep in his soul, Uriel felt his moon stir and spin, sending droves of energy into him that streamed from his soul to his mind and soothed him.
He exhaled a breath and stood to his feet.
A dozen runes flashed around him, linking to form a formation that burned the blood he’d vomited onto his robes, tunic, and the floor, masking any signs of his presence.
"Emrys, let’s go."
...
A silent armada streaked in from the distance, towards where Uriel and Emrys had been battling the beast and veiled warriors.
These beings, too, were veiled, but unlike the previous warriors, their robes weren’t dark grey but entirely white.
None emitted any aura whatsoever, and had Uriel not known better, he’d have thought they were mortals.
But the sheer speed and dexterity with which they moved, along with the blazing calm burning within each of their bright emerald gazes, told him otherwise.
"Here."
At the helm, a tall figure—most likely the party leader—came to a stop exactly where the serpent had died. The other six veiled warriors halted behind their leader.
The warrior knelt down, then slowly rubbed the stone ground, their gaze narrowing as they spread their senses.
"Battle," the leader’s voice was feminine in nature. "But it seems to have ended quickly."
She threw a glance toward the shattered remains of the ruby boulder within which the blood serpent had previously been sealed.
"The intruders faced off against two Iron Guardians and a weakened Bronze Prisoner. Yet I still smell blood."
One of the warriors behind her nodded. "They are weak."
She nodded. "They are weak."
Then, her gaze panned upwards, staring at the ceiling.
"They are also foolish."
...
There weren’t many places to hide.
The place was a gigantic tunnel, littered with bright ruby boulders. The only advantage anyone would have when hiding would be the somber haze caused by the pouring blue light of the walls and ceiling.
So, the duo had decided to hide there.
On the ceiling, both Uriel and Emrys lay stuck to the glowing rock, camouflaged and kept in place by a formation as they held their breaths and silently watched the unfolding scene.
Uriel watched the armada stream in from the distance, and his eyes narrowed.
’I still can’t sense their presence or aether, or anything.’
Usually, anything that walked the ascendant path gave off fluctuations of aether that rippled across the ambient fabric of the world’s atmospheric aether.
That was why ambushing Uriel was nearly impossible. The world would warn and tell him before anything ever happened.
But this...
’Resonance inspection doesn’t work on them either.’ His jaw tightened.
His enemies were untraceable, and worst of all, he couldn’t gauge them at all. For all he knew, this could be a squadron of seventh-step ascendants, and he wouldn’t know.
’...’
The armada stopped at the exact spot Uriel had been mere minutes ago, somehow able to pinpoint him in spite of the measures he’d taken to hide his traces.
"The intruders faced off against two Iron Guardians and a weakened Bronze Prisoner. Yet I still smell blood."
A flicker passed through Uriel’s gaze. ’So they’re called Guardians, and the beasts are... prisoners?’
He remembered the strange words the serpent had roared and screamed at him during their battle.
’Traitor... why in the world would the serpent think I was a beast?’
"They are weak."
Uriel’s lip twitched. But suddenly, his eyes widened and his face paled just as the leader looked up, directly meeting his gaze.
She somehow entirely ignored his formation.
"They are also foolish."
’Damn it!’
Uriel didn’t wait and instantly acted. His uniqueness exploded to life, and he tied Emrys’ tiny body to himself.
True Infusion erupted as light and dark aether infused every part of his being. In less than a blink, he was already in front of the armada.
Uriel could feel the strain of moving at such speeds, especially while already so injured, but he bit the bullet and ignored it.
His eyes settled on one of the warriors, and he lunged, grabbing them, then placing a hand over their true core and—
BOOOOOOOM!
...
"They are also foolish."
And then, there were flames.
An explosion rarely seen erupted right amidst the group of guardians, shaking the walls of the tunnels and sending radiant flames snaking in all directions.
The guardians were blasted in all directions, groaning in pain as their minds rang with confusion and shock.
Though that was the case, none were injured.
But just as they rapidly recovered, another boom echoed, and they felt a tide of dark aether rise, filling and overflowing the tunnel.
It became pitch black. Not only could they no longer see, but they had lost all of their other senses.
"The intruder is creating a diversion and trying to escape!" their leader roared. "Assume the Tri-Corn Formation!"
With a vicious stomp of her foot that sent the tunnel shaking, the leader shattered Uriel’s tide of dark aether, the radiant blue light of the tunnel rapidly returning.
Her warriors moved at once, complex runes flowing across their chests as they assumed a strange military formation that seemed to harmonize those runes and turn them into living components of a greater structure.
Longswords appeared within their grasps just as radiant blue flames swallowed their bodies and infused them with power, but unfortunately—
"NO—"
Another core suddenly exploded.
