After the arrival of the refugees and once they had more or less settled in, Uriel decided to sleep for a few hours to recover mentally.
When he woke up again, he was immediately called to an important meeting.
Upon arriving at the meeting room, he observed Master Dale, Randal, Berne, and Colonel Anders. He also saw an incredibly familiar face that he was happy to see.
"Yo, Sunny. How's life treating you?" Uriel asked cheerfully.
"Like a punching bag," Sunny replied.
"Oh, that's good. Do you want to hear how I killed seven corrupt officials in less than five minutes?"
Sunny shook his head.
"Not right now."
"Ahem." Anders coughed, making Uriel look at him.
After a few seconds, he sat down in a chair, listening to the colonel.
"Well, first of all, I must thank you all for your hard work. Especially you, Lord of Darkness. Without your presence and all your invaluable help, Camp Erebus would no longer exist."
"Secondly, I have received news from the high command through the Awakened who returned," Anders said.
This made everyone look at the colonel with anticipation. Based on the master's information, their future actions would depend heavily on it.
The four masters stared fixedly at Anders, who remained unfazed. In fact, in these two almost three months since everything had begun, few things still impressed the government veteran.
"The news we received was a complete evacuation. We have lost multiple cities due to the nightmare chain, and thousands of refugees are moving toward Falcon Scott," he explained.
"They plan to defend a single point and concentrate their forces," Randal said.
"Exactly. Thanks to the fact that this city hasn't fallen yet, it will become an extraction point. They will send the Ariadne to begin moving civilians to the most fortified city while evacuations continue toward the eastern quadrant."
"That's good news," Berne said.
The colonel nodded.
"Yes, however the cost of this operation is high. Even though we emerged victorious from something that should have destroyed us, nothing guarantees it won't happen again."
Uriel nodded, agreeing with Anders's words.
"When will the Ariadne arrive?" Sunny asked.
"One week," he replied.
"Master Sunless, Master Berne, how is the situation outside Camp Erebus?"
"It's bad. Very bad," Sunny said, taking the floor.
"We encountered multiple dangers on our way from LO49."
"What kind of dangers?" Randal asked.
"Let's see. We escaped a Corrupted Terror from LO49, we ran into a massive swarm capable of hiding mountains with their enormous numbers, we entered a cave that turned out to be a creature evolving into something unknown, and finally we ran into one of the Titans that escaped and now wander across Antarctica," he expressed.
Dale, Randal, and Anders looked impressed by the hell they had lived through to reach Camp Erebus.
"And you?" Sunny asked.
"Well," Uriel said with a cup of hot tea in his hand.
"Hm. To begin with, things were calm for a week. Then, no. We were attacked by a swarm of Abominations, then a category three gate opened where we fought against a Corrupted Tyrant, which I killed. Then I used an Echo that controls Abominations to defend the city. Disappearances began shortly after for a month and a half. We discovered that the disappearances were the result of a Corrupted Titan with mental powers..." Uriel paused, amused to see Berne's face turn pale.
"When you speak of a Corrupted Titan, you mean..."
"Yes. The enormous whale carcass a few kilometers away was a Corrupted Titan. Let's see, but before that, I suppose a great Abomination appeared that I eliminated."
"Oh, and then the Armageddon began. All kinds of horrors appeared, from Awakened to Corrupted. I don't mean one or two, but hundreds of them, even thousands of Abominations attacking at the same time. I killed many Corrupted, used my Echoes to kill more. I killed at least two Corrupted Demons, two Corrupted Devils, two Corrupted Tyrants, one Corrupted Terror that was evolving into at least a Titan. Then I fought against two other Corrupted Devils and another Tyrant. Oh, Goliath also appeared at the bottom of the seabed, and a Corrupted Terror. Now both Abominations sleep with the fishes. And I think that's everything in a nutshell."
Berne looked at the two Ascended and the colonel to confirm if it was true. They confirmed it. Then he looked at Uriel, who didn't seem impressed. Then he looked at Sunny, who didn't react, accustomed to Uriel's feats at this point.
"You're crazy, kid."
"I'm not crazy. The world is crazy," Uriel said as a ghostly wind moved his hair, giving him a wise air.
As always, everyone wondered where the wind came from, but they had no answer.
"Did you say you killed Goliath?" Sunny asked.
"Yes. It was just a simple Fallen Titan. It wasn't that big of a deal."
"And the Terror from LO49?"
"Also. It was physically weak. I just had to pierce its heart and it died."
One of Sunny's eyebrows twitched, but he said nothing, preferring to save it for another moment.
The meeting continued for another hour. In the end, the next plan of action was simple: wait for the Ariadne to begin moving civilians to Falcon Scott while receiving refugees from other cities.
After the meeting ended, Uriel walked at a calm pace before being caught up by Sunny.
"Hey, wait," Sunny said.
"What's wrong?" Uriel asked.
"Why didn't you tell me about LO49 beforehand?" he asked.
Uriel blinked before smiling.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not an idiot, Uriel. You clearly know things that will happen in the future. That's one of your attributes."
"Oh my god, I've been discovered." Uriel made a fake shocked expression before putting on a calm expression.
"You're actually quite wrong," he expressed calmly as he walked out of the building with Sunny following him.
"In a way, I know what will happen in the future to a certain extent," Uriel began.
"But this has nothing to do with my attributes or aspects, but something else that I won't tell you. I'll only tell you that if I say everything I know, things get twisted and don't happen the way they're supposed to."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means... well, I don't really know," Uriel replied.
"Listen, Sunny. Knowledge is the most powerful weapon in the world… but also the heaviest burden. Because once you know something, you can't stop knowing it. And even if you try to change what's coming, sometimes you just end up walking straight toward it."
Uriel paused, searching for the right words.
"Think of it this way… it's like seeing a storm approaching from afar. You can see it on the horizon, you know exactly that it's going to rain, you even know how strong it will be. You can try to run, hide, change course… but the storm keeps advancing. In the end, sooner or later, it catches up to you."
He lowered his gaze for a moment before continuing.
"Knowledge doesn't always give you the power to change things… sometimes it only gives you the weight of knowing they're going to happen."
Sunny frowned, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.
"So… what's the point of knowing?" he asked, crossing his arms. "If you still can't change anything, it sounds more like a curse than a power."
Uriel let out a slight laugh, but there was no humor in it.
"Because not everything is inevitable," he replied calmly.
"The storm may catch up to you… but knowing it's coming lets you decide how to face it."
He lifted his gaze, this time more firmly.
"You can seek shelter… or you can prepare to withstand it. You can even use it to your advantage. The wind, the rain… everything can be a weapon if you know how."
Sunny fell silent, processing every word.
Uriel stepped forward.
"The problem isn't knowledge, Sunny… it's what you do with it. There are things you won't be able to change, yes… but others depend entirely on you. The line between destiny and choice… is thinner than it seems."
The atmosphere grew heavier.
"And believe me…" Uriel added in a low voice, "sometimes knowing too much doesn't chain you to the future…"
His eyes shone with an unsettling intensity.
"…it forces you to create it."
"And what are you doing now?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm choosing to create my own future. One where Antarctica isn't destroyed and tens of millions don't die at the hands of the Winter Beast."
Sunny nodded, although he didn't understand those words, he would understand them perfectly in the future.
"Now with that settled, do you want some ramen? I think I still have some bowls in my dark storage."
Sunny nodded.
"Yeah, I'm a bit hungry," he murmured.
Both disappeared, one moving through the shadows and the other moving through the darkness.
---
A few hours later, Uriel was sitting among a group of people telling a story.
"So my friend said to her, 'You're crazy, woman.' And she replied, 'I'm crazy for you,' and locked him in her basement for two days."
"The moral is, never date an internet influencer. You never know how crazy they are. You hear that, Luster?" Uriel asked, looking at the boy, making everyone laugh.
"I must say, Captain Uriel, you certainly have surprising stories," commented Professor Obel as he finished his ramen.
"Yeah, although it's the story of a friend of mine."
"Captain, what happened to your friend in the end?" Dorn asked.
"Well, he went to another city and changed his identity to lose the crazy girl."
"Hey, Captain Uriel, why do you only mention me?" Luster asked.
"You're the only one who can't stop staring at any girl's chest that walks past you. Seriously, buddy, control yourself."
When he said that, several girls looked at Luster with judgmental glances.
Luster could only lower his face after being socially buried by the girls.
At that moment, Luster lifted his face, looking hopefully inside the Rhino at Sunny.
"Ah, Captain, help me. They're socially burying me," Luster said.
"You brought it on yourself, Luster," Sunny said.
"And what are you all doing?"
"Ah, Captain Sunless, it seems you've woken up. Captain Uriel gathered us to talk and catch up," Obel said.
"I see," said Sunny, sitting down and joining the group while Uriel passed him a bowl of hot ramen.
"How many of these things do you have?"
"No idea. I'm a collector, and I don't even know how many things I have stored in my memory. One day I'll clean it out," Uriel replied.
"Hey, Captain," Lucien said, making Uriel look at his subordinate.
"Yes, Lucien?"
"What was your life like before you were Awakened?" Lucien asked, making Uriel fall silent. Sunny, who was focused on the delicious ramen, stopped eating to learn more about his friend's life.
"Well…" he fell silent, then blinked.
"Honestly, I don't remember much, to be honest. I remember spending a lot of time at home, watching videos on the internet or reading those popular Awakened stories. In the end, I was infected by the Spell, and then I suppose everything else happened, and here I am."
"You can't remember your past?"
"Not entirely. It's confusing, really. Although I do remember something."
"And what would that be?"
"A trip I took with my parents. It was to a forest. We camped, took photos, and told stories. It was nice."
"And your parents, Captain? Where are they?"
"I don't know. I don't know if they're alive or if they're dead. I really don't stop to think about it much."
"Captain, your life is sad," Miranda said, feeling pity.
"I suppose so." Uriel gave a strange smile. It wasn't the smile full of arrogance or full of confidence, but a calmer one, full of silent resignation.
Uriel stood up.
"See you later. I have something to do," he said and then simply disappeared.
Uriel appeared in front of Soul, where after creating some wings, he reached one of the branches and lay down on it.
"Is something wrong, Father?" Soul asked in Uriel's mind.
"No. I'm just resting," he replied. "By the way, I need more peaches."
"Of course. I have quite a few from the last harvest I made," Soul said, although the term "harvest" actually referred to devouring the souls of Abominations to create the sacred fruits, unaware of all the chaos that was shaking both the waking world and the dream realm due to all his actions.