Aren ran through a gap between two buildings, assuming that was where the two cloaked men had gone.
They left a trail of visible Infracta, which helped Aren lead to them.
Despite not truly understanding how he was able to see the small traces of Infracta, he chose to go along with it, as it has been helping him.
But, it hadn't seemed as abundant as he'd heard. If Infracta was the true source of the Quantum Verge, then how could it be such a little amount?
It would be possible that the cloaked men interfered with it, or they were just using a completely different branch of Infracta.
'Only if I had my Aberration…'
Aren had mastered his First Shade and was already in progress to move on to the next. Hence, if he still controlled his Aberration, he would be able to move quickly and fight stronger.
Due to Infracta tangling with his Aberration, he had lost all his abilities.
After quite a while of running, following the small trace of Infracta, he came out of the gap and into the light again.
What stood in front of him was an even larger crowd, watching a performance on a big stage.
'Oh.. Great.'
Aren clicked his tongue in annoyance. What a bothersome bunch those cloaked men appeared to be.
Instead of running through the crowd and endlessly searching for two men that didn't want to be recognized, he closed his eyes in an attempt to discover the flow of Infracta.
'I need to feel it. I must embrace it, to get its full potential!'
Aren's body felt to tinge as a cold embrace started to wrap around his body, almost as if an actual person was wrapping their cold arms around him.
Aren was nothing more than surprised, but he chose to accept it and let it flow.
His heart pounded loudly for a moment, so much that he heard it in his ears.
When he opened his eyes, he saw an extraordinary scene. The castle that had its tip pointed downwards was practically leaking the Infracta like it was the source itself.
The Infracta were made in purplish, blueish curved lines that emerged downwards.
The curved lines all essentially returned to the tip of the castle's structure, but where they emerged was toward the entire town of Vanagir.
These lines reached a house, building, or factory in Vanagir, seemingly powering them with Infracta.
'I see. No wonder it's the greatest source in the Verge. However, they still seem pretty off. They aren't the same as the trails I saw from the cloaked men.'
But, for Aren, that was nothing more than good luck. Now, he could distinguish easily between 'normal' Infracta, and the Equinox's Church Infracta.
He came up with the idea to call the Infracta in Vanagir 'normal', while the one coming from Equinox was 'abnormal'. It only made sense.
Scrapping off the pointless thoughts for now, he quickly noticed straight, dark blue lines emerging from between the crowd.
They stood out, since the normal Infracta had been colored with a mix of purple and blue.
In the same way, he was going to push through the crowds to reach them. But, as he had already tried that method, he knew it was going to fail.
Pushing the people would cause chaos, anger, and a lot of unneeded frustration for Aren because he knew they were going to escape.
His eyes moved unnaturally to find the best solution possible.
As he was looking for a way, the dark lines between the audience were moving fast.
Aren sighed loudly, 'There is only one way. I can't waste my time again, they'll get away.' '
He slipped his hands from his cloak, then precisely spun his chains. While still rather new to fighting with his chains, he wasn't entirely bad at it.
With his years of experience in the Primal World, outside of Helmond, and with the chains, he was able to match a high-level chain wielder — if there was one.
Continuing, he threw the chain and let it grab onto a metal plate nearby. He did the same with his left, anchoring another chain to a nearby plate of metal.
As he held both chains in his hands, he took a few steps backwards, enveloping himself in the darkness of the gap again.
He continued to head backwards as the chains extended themselves like they were rubber.
'Caelum Leonis is truly a special place.'
Aren had expected the chain to be abnormal from the moment he picked it up from Caelum. It had even stayed with him after losing his life.
Not that he knew how, but as long as it was helping him, it didn't matter much.
Aren narrowed his eyes, making sure of his surroundings before launching off.
He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come.
In a method that defied the laws of the universe, he let go of the chains, which could hardly be considered metallic anymore.
He was launched off into the air with the wind blowing all over the large audience.
At the same moment he had launched off, a group of people had begun their performance on stage.
Aren was far from done. He spun around, his gaze falling on the dark blue lines that snaked across the stage.
With a fierce determination surfacing within him, he clenched his fist and released his chain, sending it soaring toward the man of Equinox. The air crackled with tension as it flew through the space.
Sounds of gasps and mutters were heard all across the audience, as they all pointed to Aren.
'I can't hesitate now. If this doesn't work, I'll never be able to find Faye!'
The chain extended itself, or rather by Aren, as it got closer to the cloaked men and made its shape seem like a circle.
The metallic circle only affected the cloaked men, leaving everyone else unscathed.
As Aren still soared above, he clenched both hands holding the source of the chains, then gripped it with all his strength and sent both men flying in the air.
Still not done, he pushed his chains in a way to make the men fall right onto the stage.
As things unfolded, his movement in the air slowed down when he grabbed hold of the two men. Together, they flew through the air until they crashed down onto the stage with a loud thud.
The dust quickly encircled them, showing no visibility to the now chaotic audience at all.
Aren was breathing heavily, his tiredness catching up to him.
He pulled his hand with the chain backwards to his face, letting its embrace grip tightly onto the cloaked men.
With his feet anchored firmly to their bodies, he leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a low, chilling whisper that sent shivers down spines.
"Reveal to me… Equinox."