Uriel looked at the expanse of water atop the black stone. He gazed upward but could not see the ceiling of the enormous cavern.
He observed the calm waters of the lake before him.
Shaking his head, he began to walk across the dark water, using his will to make the water support his weight.
Uriel wondered if he could do that to walk on the walls as well.
He walked across the lake's surface calmly until he noticed something faintly glowing. As he drew closer, the glow intensified.
Finally stopping, he looked down and saw runes.
The Spell refused to translate the runes, but Uriel knew what they said—he had learned about ancient runes during his Second Nightmare thanks to Gretel, a scholar from the Golden Age.
Even the Golden Age of ancient civilizations had its own Golden Era, which made him wonder just how ancient those years truly were.
Shaking his head, Uriel paid attention to the runes.
[Hail Weaver, Demon of Fate, Firstborn of the Unknown]
Uriel looked around and found another set of runes.
[Hail Hope, Demon of Desire, Firstborn of the Unknown]
Uriel looked at another name.
[Hail Rime, Demon of Repose, Firstborn of the Unknown]
[Hail Nether, Demon of Choice and Destiny, Firstborn of the Unknown]
[Hail Mirage, Demon of Imagination, Firstborn of the Unknown]
[Hail Oblivion, Demon of Oblivion, Firstborn of the Unknown]
[Hail Ariel, Demon of Terror, Firstborn of the Unknown]
"So those are the names of the seven demons born from the Forgotten God," Uriel murmured.
"Well, it seems seven is mystical—seven gods, seven demons. So shouldn't there be seven Void Creatures as well?" he murmured to himself.
It was a bit strange, actually. Perhaps there were, and they were never mentioned in the novel.
Uriel sighed.
"It seems that's what this is about," he murmured.
As he recalled, the seven demons were born from the Seventh God, who was sealed by his siblings when they sealed the Void and Corruption. In that way, after countless years, he became corrupted—becoming the God of Nightmares, Dreams, and Corruption.
If he did the math, then Weaver had contemplated fate and knew that all realms would be corrupted, so he created the Nightmare Spell to cultivate talents who could prevent the destruction of all realms. And since worshipping demons was forbidden—because if they were worshipped, they would worship the Forgotten in such a way that he would awaken from his slumber and kill everything—
But where does the Nightmare Spell fit in?
Uriel didn't understand. If the goal was to cultivate Awakened faster with the Nightmare Spell... no, there was something deeper he was overlooking, but he didn't know what it was.
There was a connection between the Doom War, the Nightmare Spell, and the Forgotten One.
Uriel walked on, seeing multiple scenes about the truth of the daemons' creation and the hidden truth of the gods—which he had already deduced.
He stopped at the message Ariel had left behind.
The message read: [This is the truth I left behind.
It reveals the lie of the gods.
The Forgotten One sleeps.
In the Void.
Eternal and ever-changing.
The gods were perfect.
I am the son of their transgression.
And thus their flaw.]
"Well, that's interesting," was all Uriel said before continuing on his way. He would have time to think about that later. Right now, he had a river to kill.
Uriel continued advancing across the lake, following the current beneath his feet.
As he walked, subtle ripples spread out beside him.
He walked for an indeterminate amount of time, his expression remaining calm—for someone who had just discovered one of the greatest truths of the universe.
But that was just how he was. Simply discovering the truth didn't shock him as much as one might expect. It was just an "oh," and he moved on.
As he walked, the surface began to churn, and the current steadily increased until waves formed.
He looked at irregular rocks emerging from the water, resembling cliffs, where water flowed between them and a faint mist rose here and there.
Reaching the top of the irregular rocks, Uriel summoned the two amulets. After speaking a few words with the sorcery of Weaving, he watched as two figures appeared.
The first was Daeron, and the second was Cronos.
"Well, it's been a while since I saw you," Uriel said with a smile.
"How much time passed?" asked Daeron.
"I don't know. I suppose three or four months. I spent three of those months in a state of madness from the runes," he said simply.
"To us, it was no more than a second," said Daeron. In one moment, he had been speaking with Uriel, and in the next—like blinking—he was standing on rocky protrusions within the Estuary.
"We're almost at where Ariel anchored the river," said Cronos. "The Guardian is passing by."
"Will it be a problem?"
"Yes. We'll have to kill it to cross and reach our destination."
"Do you know its rank?"
"It's a Sacred being. A Sacred Demon," he clarified.
"That will be a problem," said Uriel. He could fight Great Creatures, but not of Sacred or Cursed rank—for now, that was out of his league.
After resting well and eating something, they continued. Daeron used his lineage to guide them through the treacherous river, whose waters, if fallen into, would send them to a different time from where they currently were.
After crossing the labyrinth, they found themselves in a vast expanse of calm, dark water.
The three observed countless corpses of great Nightmare Creatures, all dead. Though their bodies lacked physical wounds, it seemed as if their souls had been shattered in an instant.
Uriel felt an overwhelming weight freeze him in place. Immediately, he used his will, as did Cronos and Daeron, which slightly reduced the pressure of the thing they had awakened.
Something immense and terrifying began to move in the depths, staring fixedly at them.
"Master, prepare for battle," Cronos warned. A moment later, a harrowing scream shook the entire Estuary, distorting time itself.
The water exploded upward, giving way to a strange and terrifying creature. Its skin was a pale gray, and its body was formless—like a shifting mass of flesh. Its size was titanic, nearly matching his Supreme Tyrant, though far stronger. The flesh split open, revealing a tangle of enormous, horrifying tentacles.
Daeron summoned his Memory—a Sacred-rank spear of the fifth tier, which he had obtained by killing a Cursed Tyrant.
Cronos, for his part, had summoned a Japanese sword—a katana with a blue hilt and a gray blade. That weapon was of Supreme rank, sixth tier, which Uriel had given him after killing a Great Terror in Verge.
Finally, Uriel summoned his most powerful weapon yet—one he had never truly needed to use before.
From his dark storage emerged a sword. Simple, its blade long and broad, ending in a black point like the night sky, with a crimson hilt. Runes were carved into the blade as if burned by fire.
This was the shattered blade he had found in the Forgotten Shore, alongside the Sacred fragments of the dead Void being.
If he was correct, that sword was at least Sacred or even Divine rank.
The Guardian unleashed its will against them, reshaping the world according to its whim, under a presence that was unaffected by physical laws.
"Any advice?" Uriel asked, looking at Daeron, who nodded.
"Just try to survive."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
With those final words, hell was fully unleashed.