Uriel landed on the earthen ground. Immediately looking around, he was attacked by an abomination—a Shell Centurion.
Using Dark Body, he let the creature's attack pass through him thanks to his intangibility, then changed the shape of his hand into a sharp point, jumped, and stabbed directly into one of the Centurion's eyes. Extending the dark needle that was his arm, it pierced its head and came out the other side. The Centurion fell dead to the ground.
[You have killed an Awakened monster, Shell Centurion.]
[Your darkness grows stronger.]
[You have received a memory.]
'Hey, Uriel, we really got quite a welcome in this city,' said Shade, amused.
Uriel looked around. Black threads wrapped around his body, condensing into his armor.
A cloak as black as night covered his body. The material was soft and flexible for movement and very difficult for second-rank creatures to tear. The Dark Mantle had metal protections on vital areas of the body, as well as a hood, which he didn't put on.
Now that he was no longer naked, Uriel walked towards the Centurion's corpse, summoned the Eclipse Claw, used it to cut through the monster's hard chitin, and extracted two glowing fragments. Taking one, he crushed it.
[Your darkness grows stronger.]
A smile slipped onto Uriel's face. He could obtain fragments by killing monsters and consuming them.
Uriel summoned his runes.
...
Name: Uriel
True Name: Lord of Darkness.
Soul Core: Inactive
Fragment of Darkness: [53/1000]
Memories: [Dark Mantle] [Eclipse Claw] [Dark Vault] [Blue Lance]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Darkness] [Dark Flame] [Extra Carapace] [Dream Spawn]
Aspect Abilities: [Dark Shaper]
Innate Ability: [Dark Body]
Flaw: [Dual Mind]
...
'Well, it seems we get the same number of fragments as the rank of what we kill. So we killed one monster, got two dark fragments, and by consuming one soul fragment, we got another point,' said Shade.
'Yes,' replied Uriel, looking at the remaining fragment.
'With this, it'll be easier to get a second core, maybe even a third before they reach this city.'
'Are we sticking with our original plan?'
Uriel made a thoughtful noise.
'Yes. I don't want to be trapped here for a year. Since we have about two months, we can gather the sleepers into an army, collect Moonlight Fragments, maybe even the Zenith Fragment,' Uriel responded mentally.
'And what about Gunlaug and the Legacy boy?'
'Let Sunny and Nephis kill them.'
'Fine.'
A spider-type monster leaped from the deep darkness. However, the passive enchantment of the Dark Mantle activated. The cloak turned a deeper black and rose into the air, impaling the monster.
[You have killed an Awakened monster, Iron Spider.]
[Your darkness grows stronger.]
Uriel extracted the two cores, crushing only one and keeping the other in his hand.
Uriel summoned his storage memory, which was a black ring that absorbed whatever it touched, as long as it wasn't alive.
He had tested it and discovered several things. First, time didn't seem to pass inside the ring, preventing things from spoiling. He discovered this by storing food that would spoil quickly, leaving it for a week, and finding it unchanged when he took it out.
After discovering that, he started storing a lot of food from the Academy—fruits, vegetables, seasonings, instant food, as well as many bottles of water and toilet paper just in case, though he doubted he'd need it since his body didn't seem to produce waste like a human's. This convinced him that, to some extent, he was no longer truly human.
Taking out an apple, Uriel began eating it while advancing through the ruined streets. Despite the darkness that filled the ruins of the ancient city, Uriel could see everything with great ease, as if it were as clear as day.
Hearing the sound of fast movement, he observed a blur pass by his side.
Uriel blinked before continuing his walk. After a few seconds, the blur stopped, revealing Caster, who was wearing a green cloak and holding a jian sword in his hand.
"Hello, Caster. Looks like we ended up in the same place," said Uriel, taking another bite of his apple.
Caster gave a small nod.
"Uriel, good to see you."
Uriel looked at the sword with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you planning to kill me?" he asked curiously.
Caster blinked before shaking his head.
"I know my limits," the brown-haired boy responded.
In other words, he was saying: 'You'd kill me before I could even try anything.'
A smile settled on Uriel's face before he took out another apple and tossed it to Caster.
Caster caught it.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"Because I want to. Do you think there are other sleepers from this generation here?" Uriel asked as he walked.
"I don't know. I arrived a few minutes ago in a fighting zone between two Awakened creatures," Caster responded.
"And you?"
"I think so," replied Uriel, finishing the apple. "The Spell is cruel but fair in its own twisted way, so it wouldn't just throw two sleepers into an unexplored zone of the Dream Realm."
Caster nodded at Uriel's logic. The duo advanced in silence as the darkness slowly receded, giving way to a new day on the Forgotten Shore.
It took them almost an hour to reach the outer settlement of the castle. Along the way, they were attacked by several Awakened beasts and monsters, but thanks to teamwork, they eliminated them all, taking and consuming the soul fragments.
Uriel watched as the nameless sun rose completely, pushing the dark sea back to its place of origin.
As they approached the outer settlement, Uriel turned his gaze from the castle with evident disinterest, focusing first on the outskirts, far from Gunlaug's jurisdiction.
There were dozens of makeshift and rudimentary shacks hurriedly built on the stone platform. They were constructed from rubble, rotten wood, and pieces of monster hide, chaotically attached to the stones as if fearing they'd be swept away by the wind.
A strange yet familiar smell invaded Uriel's nostrils—the varied smell of the outskirts, the slums, except it wasn't as contaminated or poisonous.
Among the houses, Uriel noticed emaciated people with empty eyes, struggling to survive. They wore a strange mix of dirty rags and gleaming Memories, with some wearing armor that stood out among the rest as oddities. Most were young, older than Uriel—who didn't even know how old he was, but by his appearance, he'd say about 17 or 18.
'Look at all that wasted potential,' said Shade.
'Uriel, let's kill a demon, say words full of hope, form an invisible legion in combat,' said Shade excitedly.
'Hey, slow down. First, we've only been here for an hour. Not to mention, we don't have a reputation yet. So, reputation first, and the rest later.'
'Bah, boring,' said Shade.
'At least there are two other sleepers who arrived here as well, since there were only seven in the canon. So, if they didn't send one, we make seven; if they sent two, we're eight,' Shade said, doing the math.
'Right.'
Uriel blinked, looking at Caster, who seemed to have said something.
"Did you say something, Caster?"
"I just asked what we should do now."
"Well, gather information about this place. It seems there isn't a gate."
"Are you sure?" asked the Legacy.
"Yes, there's a gate. Do you think these people would have that look in their eyes if there was?" Uriel asked.
Caster frowned but then nodded. He had also seen the sleepers' gazes.
"I think we should split up to gather information." Uriel took out a soul fragment.
"Go to that castle and get information."
"Why don't you do it?"
"I'm not very sociable."
Caster blinked, perplexed, looking at Uriel. It was impossible to tell if he was being serious.
Uriel seemed like the type of person who liked to talk a lot and be the center of attention, so the idea of him being antisocial left Caster a bit off-balance.
Caster took the fragment and nodded.
"Alright, but what will you do?"
"Gather information here." Uriel began to walk away. "See you later," he said before leaving.
Caster looked at the soul fragment before simply shrugging and heading toward the castle that seemed to shine.
'Well, the Legacy boy is gone. Now what?' asked Shade.
'Oh, quite simple. Hunt a bit. We need to start saturating the core.' Saying this, Uriel began to move away, delving deeper into the ruins of the city.