Uriel looked away, his gaze pensive.

’Maybe I can draw a formation that ties Korynth down to his Will, so like that he’ll be entirely reassured that nothing will happen.’ He thought.

He frowned. ’But she’s a Will specialist, so that’ll be damn near impossible to do without risking messing up what his older brother did.’

’Maybe I sever her core’s links with—’

"Kih." Emrys called out, pointing at the boy with a paw.

"No. How would that even be..." Uriel’s gaze sharpened, and he looked at Samael once more.

"Kih!"

Uriel shrugged in partial agreement. "I mean, yeah, I guess, but what if we both can’t guarantee our lives?"

"Kih." The fox said, pride etched deeply in his tone.

Uriel rolled his eyes. "Alright, buddy."

Samael observed the interaction with rapt attention, his heart hammering in his chest and his thoughts begging to—

"Fine."

Samael exhaled a breath of relief, his heart finally slowing.

"But there will be a bunch of conditions."

...

Guided by Emrys, the group made their way through the city.

They almost seemed to move without purpose, going from street to alleyway, sneaking within buildings, then exiting without any reason, and climbing on top of rooftops only to climb down in the following second.

While Samael was skeptical, beginning to think Uriel was perhaps more mad than he seemed, Uriel himself didn’t doubt Emrys once.

In fact, as they continued to dart around the city, his focus only deepened. ’By the Gods, is this a sort of spatial maze?’

’How the hell does one even reach such a level?’ he inwardly guffawed in awe. ’Is this a result of magic or pure elemental mastery?’

His mind sparked, and a connection was made.

’Is there even a difference at the highest level?’

His thoughts drifted back to the spell he’d cast not too long ago.

No runes had been used, and barely any true elemental aether had been expended—relative to the overall result—and yet the spell had been so magnificent.

It was like Uriel had somehow touched upon a new boundary of magic.

’Maybe magic and martial arts are ways to expand upon the "authority" you have over your element and affinity.’

’And beyond that, maybe the reason why mages and martial artists get a runic system etched into their bodies after every circle or star formation is this.’

’It’s a hint to tell us that true magic, true martial arts, doesn’t forge runes—not from scratch. Their truest essence lies in Will.’

’Will is the pinnacle of control and authority.’

TOH!

Uriel felt something pop in his mind as his enlightenment led to a breakthrough, one that seemed to further refine his rings and stabilise his foundation.

He didn’t even seem to realise that he had, on a whim, comprehended a truth only 13th Circle Mages and 13th Star Martial Artists were supposed to grasp.

And even then, most never even took that step.

The step Uriel had taken was so famed and desired by these old monsters that it had been given a name, a title that rang high and mightily across all ears in all universes.

The Unfettered Seed Realm.

SHOO!

Uriel’s presence deepened so much that he didn’t even need to use his Veil technique to hide his presence anymore.

The runes deeply forged across his body became even more complex, each rune collapsing into smaller runes that went on to form even larger formations.

But these formations encompassed his blood, flesh, bones, mind, core, aether—everything. All of it was harmonised, becoming a shifting, moving, and evolving formation.

Toh!

Uriel’s three additional hearts, which he kept forgetting about, shook and slowly inched towards awakening—not quite there yet, but merely a step away.

Then, finally, deep in Uriel’s mind, in his Mind Palace, a strange scene occurred.

Deep in the white void, four seeds already existed: three seeds of gold, emerald, obsidian, and ivory light—his elemental seeds—and one silver seed, his maestro seed.

But now, suddenly, a fifth seed appeared, one that glowed with resplendent rose light, illuminating and dyeing the white void.

The Unfettered Seed.

HUM!

The seeds shook and...

...

Uriel didn’t even realise the changes happening to him.

He only felt his understanding of his rings deepening and his aether flow smoothing, but that was about it.

His understanding of the body and soul wasn’t nearly as deep as his understanding of the world was, which seemed quite ironic in light of his Pioneer path’s essence.

He was oblivious.

’So everything is tied together. My cores and rings, my aether and elements, it’s all down a singular path. All I’ll have to do is find a way to unite it all under my sparks when I gain them back...’

Uriel frowned. ’How would I do that, though...’

As of late, he hadn’t seen much Spark usage because he was either forced to fight against beasts or the world itself.

And it didn’t seem like the Guardians used Sparks at all. In fact, Uriel hadn’t really seen anyone use Sparks in Kael as a whole.

He froze. ’How did I not notice this earlier?’

None of them had any awakened Sparks, yet almost the entire city was filled with Ascendants, each more powerful than the last.

Uriel’s mind shook, his moons wrapping around his thoughts and guiding him towards another oddity he seemed to have glossed over.

’And why do the Guardians always have their Veils and robes on? It’s almost like those plague attires I read about from...’

His eyes suddenly widened.

’...’

All the while, they had been moving through the city, picking up speed by the second. At some point, they had started moving so fast Samael couldn’t keep up.

Emrys grew a couple of sizes, then let the boy ride him, using his spatial affinity to keep him in place.

Sensing the strange spatial aether around him somehow anchoring him, Samael fell into deep focus, trying to understand how he had done it.

This could be huge for his Spark.

As it happened, Uriel threw the oblivious boy a furtive glance, scanning his focused expression, then digging deeper to observe his flows of energy, then even deeper to try and read his weave.

But as usual, he couldn’t read him.

’Why...’

Uriel’s gaze turned away, landing on one of the few civilians who was still outside in spite of the torrential rain that drowned the city.

It was a young man, a mailman.

He observed his face, then did just as he had done with Samael, digging deep to find anything he could about the man.

’What?!’ Uriel nearly tripped and fell, his heart constricting and nearly stopping in pure shock.

He recovered quickly and kept running alongside the duo, but his gaze was dark, darker than even before.

’Where the hell am I...’

He knew why Samael was so afraid of being alone now.