Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 118: Tragically Divine

Quite some time ago, before the advent when he’d opened his pack, and after the advent, as he went through his plethora of rewards, Uriel had gotten quite a few things.

He’d used most of his rewards except a few.

...

[Item: Artefact Card

>Grade: Diamond

•Details: Use this card to exchange for any artefact or tool in the Nihil Shop of the Diamond grade, or sacrifice it to elevate any artefact or tool to the Diamond grade.]

——

[Name: Mage Tool Template

>Template Type: Hybrid

>Grade: Silver

•Details: Use this template to design and create a Silver-grade mage tool bound to your core, with up to three Silver-grade enchantments and one Gold-grade enchantment.]

...

The former he’d gotten from his Peace and Quiet quest, the one he’d gotten during the early days of the settlement when he’d tried to save General Lorys, while the latter he’d gotten in his Mage Pack, which he’d opened while trapped in a dimensional space by Thoryl.

Originally, Uriel had ignored his Mage Tool Template for the simple reason that he didn’t have enough information on his future.

Back then, he’d had no fight experience whatsoever, not that he had a lot of it now, and didn’t know what would be the most optimal tool for him.

Should he build a tool that made his aether pool even more ridiculous? Should he build a tool that helped him cast spells faster? Should he build a tool that was purely defensive in nature?

In the end, things got even more complicated.

His aether pool, after all his evolutions, was the least of his worries. With the Little Witch’s spell sentry, he didn’t need any assistance regarding spells in any category, and now, with his mage tunic and new body, he didn’t need additional defense.

It had almost become useless to him.

But as always, Uriel had an idea.

Without wasting a single second, Uriel dropped everything else and pulled out his rewards, immediately getting to work.

...

Rapidly, Uriel lost himself.

He had one focal idea for what he wanted his mage tool to be, but it could be expressed through so many ways that he could only find the right path by experimenting.

Thankfully, the Mage Tool Template allowed him to create as many simulations of his tool as he wanted and tweak it however he wanted.

He could engineer and design it from its most fundamental to superficial layer and even use foreign materials he had on hand to further specialize it.

Just like when he began his research with Ayah, Uriel absolutely lost himself, a foolish smile drawn across his face as, while in the cave, alone, he played with aether and runes like a child would with heroic figurines.

He didn’t have access to his natal aether and couldn’t control his elements yet, but it didn’t seem to matter in the least, his mind wielding atmospheric aether as if it were his blood and the Spell Sentry sparking runes into being with no end.

At no point did Uriel even stop to ask himself where he was and for what purpose he was here, nor did he ask himself about the safety of his environment.

For all he knew, in this strange cave, especially in the dark tunnel gates dotting it, worlds of monsters could be awaiting.

But he didn’t care. His evolutions had taken days and had caused such a massive upsurge in aether that he doubted anything was present near him, and in the unlikely case that there were beasts in the tunnels, they were most likely too afraid to do anything.

So, he didn’t care.

But as the seconds trickled into hours, his smile and dedication almost seemed to become maniacal... almost hollow.

Like a veil trying to cover something deeper.

As if he was trying to stop himself from thinking about everything that had happened, Uriel slaved and slaved away, filling every single second of consciousness he had with a task to occupy his mind.

He didn’t allow himself to sleep, for fear that his dreams, and most likely nightmares, would force him to face the truth.

How was he supposed to face Thoryl? How was he supposed to kill, or even run from, a seemingly all-powerful Sentinel like him?

Enoch had said all past versions of himself had died from unnatural causes; what if in every timeline he died to Thoryl?

And what about his grandmother? In past timelines, could he save her? Could he save those of the church? Could he survive the coming horrors?

What had he even done for Salazar and Celeste to so suddenly betray him?

As far as he knew, and as Enoch had implied, they only specifically hated him and wanted him dead.

In the early days of the settlement, Uriel had had the thought that maybe Enoch wasn’t a friend, but rather someone, a regressor, someone had sent to watch over him because of the threat he represented.

What if that was true? What if he was one of the threats that would eventually destroy the world? What if he was the reason all those he loved died in the future?

At that point, did he deserve to live? Was that why Thoryl was so obsessed with his death?

If... he died, would it be mercy to the world? To be a lamb, would such a fate be mercy for him in turn? Or would he live to see himself turn to a hound, one made to maul all in sight?

Was he doomed?

’Damn it! Focus!’

Uriel tried to stop thinking but he couldn’t, his inborn timeless resonance so powerful he was able to naturally hold dozens if not hundreds of streams of consciousness at once.

But whenever it seemed like he’d fall into a mad swirl of delirious paranoia, the mark on his chest would awaken him and he’d focus even harder.

He didn’t even notice as the aether pressure he emitted grew by the second, becoming akin to a vast and all-consuming ocean of pure force pressing down on all things around him.

Light bent around him, fracturing into dark shadows that fractaled into endless depictions of horror and beauty, the world twisting as if his spark were awakened.

In the cave, alone, like a mad artisan steeped in swaths of fog and radiance, his jaw clenched tightly and his eyes trembling, Uriel looked tragically divine.

Like a certain fallen angel.