Everyone looked at Uriel, frozen, thinking he was joking. Even Nephis's always-calm expression broke, her mouth hanging open. Of course, she would never admit it someday.
"Uriel, if this is a joke, it's not funny," Sunny said seriously.
Uriel simply smiled calmly.
"Oh, I'm totally serious. I would show it to you, but let's say it's quite large and wouldn't fit in this place," he explained.
The higher the rank, the larger the cores. An example of this were the Supreme soul fragments belonging to Great abominations, whose cores were at least two to three meters. And a Divine soul shard was almost three times that size, not to mention the gigantic sizes of Divine soul cores.
"Where did you get a Divine soul shard?" asked Cassie.
"I found it deep below the chamber where we killed the Lord of the Dead. There was a chamber underneath full of strange runes I couldn't read. From what I could discover, they were the mechanism used to create the artificial sun of the Forgotten Shore," he explained.
He had spent some time studying the strange runes without any result. The level of sorcery used was so vast and complex that he couldn't tell where one enchantment began and another ended.
"From what I assumed, it belonged to the figure in the mural we found in the Hollow Mountains."
Everyone fell silent, each with their own thoughts.
"Wait, how is it even possible for a being of Divine rank to die?" asked Effie.
"I have no idea, but I suppose something of equal rank killed it. That's what I think."
...
After that last revelation, everyone remained silent for a while before they finally began to leave. Effie was the first to leave reluctantly, as she had somehow agreed to be a marketing object for the government. Kai, being the only one who knew how to drive, offered to take her.
Cassie then said goodbye, deciding to return to the Dream Realm to help Scarlet with Shadow Garden.
In the end, only three people remained in that house: Sunny, Nephis, and Uriel. The three were in a calm silence; they had talked about everything they needed to talk about. Of course, there were other topics, but they weren't as important and could be discussed more calmly in the future.
Uriel completely felt the darkness of the house with curiosity, sensing a space further below.
"Hey, Sunny, do you have a gym underneath this place?"
Sunny, who moments before had been lost in thought, looked at the source of danger.
"I wouldn't call it a gym, but yes. Do you want to go see it?"
"Oh, of course."
Sunny stood up, indicating for Uriel to follow him, which he did. Since Nephis didn't have much to do, she decided to follow both of them downstairs.
After a few moments, the three had descended into the underground dojo. Uriel observed curiously the walls reinforced with a more resistant alloy. He also saw that there were two sleeping pods with different designs; the first he guessed was a pod for the Awakened, and the second was for DreamScape simulation. Apart from the two pods, there was a large number of varied weapons, from bows, spears, clubs, dagas, axes, and swords.
"Are you learning to use different weapons?"
"Yes. And no, this time I've been trying to add more variety to my combat style because of my Aspect. Although I practice with something better."
Uriel looked at Sunny, confused.
Sunny felt a smile slowly drawing on his face. Finally, after a long time, he had surpassed Uriel in one aspect.
"It's a nice snake," he said while a form slid down his forearm, then elongated and took the shape of a black odachi.
"Uhm. What the hell is that thing?"
"Oh, it's part of my Aspect's Legacy. Nephis is helping me with the training."
Uriel looked at Nephis, then looked at Sunny, and repeated this three more times before nodding. Uriel smiled, observing the black odachi.
"It's good to know. I don't have anything that incredible. Heck, I doubt I have any Aspect Legacy," he muttered under his breath, which earned him a look of superiority from Sunny.
"Anyway, you're getting strong, Sunny, very strong. It will only be a matter of time until you surpass me."
"I doubt that's possible."
"Oh, it will be, believe me. I know what I'm saying, kid."
"Uriel, I have a question," said Nephis, looking at Uriel, who nodded.
"Well, since I lost, I can answer your question. But as I've repeated several times, I'll decide if I can or cannot answer your questions." Uriel walked towards the wall of weapons and grabbed an axe.
Nephis thought for a few moments before asking her question.
"What are Domains?" she asked.
Uriel smiled, looking at Nephis.
"Is that all?" he asked.
"Answer."
"Fine, fine. A Domain is a physical manifestation of a Sovereign's Aspect, a territory where their rule was supreme. It is based on external factors like authority, influence, and power, which intertwine in the Citadels created by the Spell. These external factors influence and increase the Sovereign's personal strength.
Each Sovereign rules a Domain, an expression of one function of the Aspect, distinct from Skills, but with much in common. In practice, it is synonymous with their authority, the territories they control, and the people who serve them. Sovereigns are already immensely powerful, but within their Domains, they are practically invincible." He finished speaking.
"Are you satisfied with the answer?"
Nephis fell silent, digesting the information about the Sovereigns' Domains and discovering important points. Likewise, some of her doubts had been clarified, bringing more questions, like how one can create their own Domain.
Uriel measured Sunny.
"Is there anything you want to know?" he asked.
Sunny thought carefully about his question. There were many questions swirling in his head at that moment: the nature of the Spell, why the gods died, what Weaver was, and what relationship he had with the Unknown.
"Yes, I have one," said Sunny.
"Why did the gods chain Hope?"
Uriel thought about the answer.
"You mean the Demon of Hope?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm a bit disappointed. I thought you'd ask how to become a Supreme and all that. Anyway, I'll give you your answer..." Uriel paused, making a thoughtful noise.
"Well, you should know that the Daemons were forbidden from being worshipped. But this has an explanation..." Uriel paused again, leaving both in suspense.
"Stop doing that and just give the answer," said Sunny, beginning to get annoyed.
"Okay, okay. The Seven Daemons are children of the Unknown. More precisely, they are parts of himself that he separated."
Sunny frowned at the mention of the "Unknown."
"Now then. The Unknown is a term the Spell uses to avoid mentioning the Seventh God." Sunny's eyes widened.
"There's a legend that says the Seventh God will awaken by devouring his children and with them, existence itself. That's why the gods imprisoned the Demon of Hope. It wasn't for creating her kingdom, but because she was worshipped. The more people know about the Unknown, the sooner it will awaken. That's all I can tell you."
This revelation plunged Sunny into even more questions than answers.
Uriel smiled, seeing how Sunny racked his brains, reaching hasty conclusions, making his brain work overtime.
"How do you know all this, and how much do you know?" asked Nephis.
Uriel shook his head.
"Now that's another question. Remember, one victory, one question? That was the deal. If you want another answer, you'll have to defeat me in combat."
Uriel whistled a melody, returning the axe to its place.
"Oh, right. Did I ever tell you how I killed a Corrupted Titan?" he asked, disconcerting the duo.
"Yeah, sure."
"Well, I actually did. I almost lost half my body, but in the end, I killed it. It was an ugly bug."
"With what exactly did you kill it?"
"With the sun. I just led it into the sunlight, and poof, it turned to dust."
"Damn." Surprisingly, this didn't come from Sunny, but from Nephis, who expressed her thought out loud.
Sunny blinked, surprised, as did Uriel.
'I guess some people adopt part of the personality of those they like,' he reflected to himself.
"Oh, also..."
"Just shut up," said Sunny, feeling a terrible headache.
Uriel just laughed, amused by the reaction he always got from dropping his great feats.
"Well, it seems you two have things to think about, and honestly, I want to take a hot bath. See you later," said Uriel, going up the stairs and leaving Sunny and Nephis in silence.
"Oh, right. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you how I ran into a great daemon in the desert. It's a nice story."
...
The following week was quite calm. It was the beginning of his second week back from his second Nightmare, and it must be said that sleeping in a soft bed with a warm blanket was one of the best feelings in his entire life.
He was alone. Sunny had left to continue his work as an Academy instructor. Nephis returned to the Dream Realm to help with cleaning the Citadel they had obtained. And Effie had passed by to eat something before leaving.
Uriel had gone with Kai to several places to buy civilian clothes, as well as to meet with a certain director to get a share of the movie's profits. Of course, he did it very kindly, after digging up some dirty secrets and reading all the laws about copyright and using someone's image without personal consent.
So, in less than a week, he was rich.
But as his mentor used to say, you never have enough money. So, he was starting to make the first sketches of the characters for the Naruto webtoon. After extensive research, that anime didn't exist. With the help of the former idol, he met with an agency that published that type of story, and after telling them a bit about what it would be about and the elements, he got all their attention.
He just needed to finish the first chapters, and after being reviewed, they would give him an answer the following week to start publication.
Of course, Shade helped him, and as Awakened, they could draw quite quickly and learn rapidly.
"Hey, Uriel, I finished the first twelve pages."
"And I finished pages 13 to 24," said Uriel, reviewing the sketches one after another, then nodding and saving them in a file.
After finishing, Uriel stretched, letting out a light yawn. He had been doing this for several hours.
"Hey, Uriel, what if we kill a Cursed Titan?" asked Shade with a serious expression.
"Are you crazy?" asked Uriel, bewildered.
"It's just that I'm dying of boredom, and nothing really interesting is happening. We've just spent this week shopping and getting money."
Uriel sighed, agreeing with Shade. They were undoubtedly bored to the extreme.
"Shall we head to the Dream Realm?" asked Uriel.
"Whatever. I just want to get rid of this boredom."
As Uriel prepared to transport himself to the Dream Realm without being anchored to a Citadel, he would be sent to a random location, which he found interesting.
But before he could do it, the door burst open, and a youthful voice was immediately heard with great excitement.
"Sunny! Sunny! Are you home? You won't believe what..." The girl froze mid-sentence, staring at him fixedly.
Shade looked at Sunny's sister. She was small, perhaps about his own size. If he had to guess, she was about fourteen or fifteen years old. She had long black hair, black eyes, white skin, and of course, her eyes were wide open, almost popping out of their sockets.
Uriel just smiled and raised his hand in greeting.
"Oh, Miss. I suppose you are Sunny's student?"