The next morning, Uriel was in the underground dojo of Sunny's house. Around him, the darkness rippled and took the form of a black table, on top of which were a pile of papers and special ink.
After calming down from the previous day's movie fiasco, Uriel decided to focus on another topic: Rune sorcery. He wanted to create his own enchantments with unique effects that he could use in a wide variety of different scenarios.
"Alright, let's try this," Uriel murmured, starting to write in ancient sorcery runes from before the Nightmare Spell.
Magical runes were the language Hope had given to humans; they were deeply rooted in the mystical, used to form enchantments of permanence and invocation. Unlike the sorcery of true names, runic sorcery was the easiest to learn.
Uriel, who had spent countless cycles with Shade, learned about runic sorcery. First, he needed to transcribe the true name instead of saying it out loud. Then, he would have to link them to material objects to give the invocations a sense of belonging, using them in phrases or songs.
Uriel wrote in the runic language, carefully tracing each rune. After finishing, he sent a bit of his essence.
He had written the name of Light, using a phrase to illuminate and anchoring it to the paper as a material medium, and finally, using his essence to activate it.
He watched in silence as the paper folded in on itself, then wrinkled, glowed for a few seconds, before exploding in a small blast.
Uriel was not saddened by this. He still had plenty of time to learn runic sorcery.
Grabbing another paper, he continued experimenting, changing some runes to see the results, which were varied and curious.
His last experiment attempted to mix two names—Water and Lightning—but the result was surprisingly weak. In the end, Shade lay down on his back on the cold metal floor.
He had been practicing sorcery, but it would still take a long time to be as competent as Gretel.
He summoned Soul.
After a few moments, he observed as the now-familiar figure materialized in front of him.
"Father, do you need something?" asked Soul with a voice full of curiosity.
"Yes," Shade said, sitting up. "Do you know about witchcraft?" he asked.
The girl wrinkled her face a little before shaking her head.
"No. I'm sorry, I don't have that knowledge."
"I see," he murmured, then sighed.
'Maybe I'll ask Cassie later,' he thought, leaning back in his exquisite black chair. Now that he thought about it, he would soon have to talk to Cassie to confirm some things, though that could wait for later.
So, he decided to focus his mind elsewhere. "Shall we train a bit?" he asked, looking at the creature of darkness.
"Yes," Soul responded, animated.
Getting to his feet, the exquisite chair disappeared in a sea of black sparks, as did the materials he had been using, which were swallowed by the darkness, returning to his shadow storage.
Stretching a bit, he observed Soul. She was a rank completely superior to him. After all, she was a Transcendent Terror. And he was a simple Ascendant with seven soul cores.
Although his current strength was comparable to that of a Saint, it was due to his Aspect abilities, combat experience, and his vast essence reserves. Still, he doubted he could win against a Saint without putting his life at risk.
Setting those thoughts aside, Uriel stomped the ground, using it to propel himself forward, throwing a punch at Soul.
Soul dodged the blow by leaning her body slightly, simultaneously launching a high kick that Uriel blocked with his forearm. The force of the kick was so great that it sent him flying several meters backward.
Uriel observed how his skin reddened a bit from the force of Soul's kick. A smile drew on his face as he adopted a combat stance.
"Good. Let's keep this up," he expressed, launching himself back into combat.
The combat was intense between the two, lasting almost two continuous hours. When they finished, the entire underground dojo, reinforced with armored steel plates, was dented or cracked. Even though they were holding back, the room looked as if a whirlwind had passed through the entire place.
"It was a good training session," murmured Uriel.
"Father, when will we return to the battles?"
"Hmm. Well, soon. First, I want to rest mentally from the loops before returning to the Dream Realm," he explained.
Soul nodded, disappearing and returning to her sea of souls.
Uriel looked at the room with some boredom.
"I wonder if..."
"Hey, Uriel," said Shade, abruptly cutting off his train of thought.
"What?"
"Can you ask Kai if he has Aiko's number?"
Uriel blinked. He closed his eyes, traveling to his mental space, observing Shade jotting down some things in a notebook.
"For what? Do you like Aiko?" he asked mockingly.
Shade shook his head.
"No. I simply want to make a deal with her. Since Night & Gale was dissolved, the girl won't have much work. So, I plan to make her a partner in a project."
"What kind of project?"
"One that will make us millions. While you were throwing your tantrum, I was researching the most innovative inventions of recent years. Most are dedicated to technology or the development of weapons for the military," Shade explained.
"To cut to the chase, I plan to start developing bicycles," he said, showing his notebook where there were blueprints on how to make a bicycle.
Uriel looked at the detailed blueprints with curiosity before smiling.
"Do you think the sales will be good?"
Shade nodded.
"More than good. It has enormous potential; it will be a more economical measure for those whose money isn't enough for their own vehicle. Plus, less maintenance. It will be a total success."
Uriel meditated on the pros and cons of this before nodding.
"Alright, you convinced me. Although, with all the money we extorted from Griffith, we would still need more money."
"I've already thought about that, and that's where Aiko comes in. She has connections, and we have thousands of transcendent soul shards. If we sell them, we'll get money, and with that, we'll have more money, and then more money with the percentage we'll get from the Naruto story, which is gaining popularity very quickly. It's a win-win any way you look at it!"
"How much would the profit be?"
"According to my calculations, we could earn over a billion in less than a year."
Uriel blinked, surprised by the absurd amount of profit they would get.
"Alright, let me make a call."
...
A few hours later, Shade, who was now controlling the body, was sitting in a quiet café in NQSC, occasionally getting curious looks but ignoring them.
His attire was casual: black jeans, a gray long-sleeved t-shirt with sleeves rolled up to the forearms.
Taking a sip of his latte, he felt the stress of the entire week fade away.
He checked the time on his communicator; it was around four-thirty in the afternoon. Hearing the bell of the place ring, he looked toward the door, seeing a girl with short hair, fair skin, and brown eyes with a cold expression and slight annoyance. Her clothes were undoubtedly elegant, being a black business suit with a tie adapted to her small figure.
This was Aiko.
Aiko looked around before spotting Uriel. She walked calmly, reaching the table and sitting opposite one of the most famous Awakened of the present.
"Wow, Aiko. You've grown a few centimeters," said Shade with a condescending smile, making Aiko frown.
"You're still alive."
"Hey, come on, are you still angry about me scamming you?" he asked.
"Yes."
"If it's any consolation, you tried to trick me playing poker. It's not my fault you were so obvious."
"Even so, I almost lost my gambling house in the dark city. Do you know how much effort it cost me to get that?" Aiko's voice was full of barely contained anger.
"Well, well. I won't apologize. You said it yourself, it was a bet, and what happens in the bet stays in the bet."
Aiko sighed, slumping into the chair.
"What do you want, Lord of Darkness?"
"Hey, don't be so cold. I want to make you a partner in a business I'm thinking of starting, and I need someone competent for it."
Aiko looked at Uriel's face, trying to find a lie, which she didn't.
"What kind of business?"
"One that, if it works, will make us disgustingly rich. I'd say as much money as our filthy hearts desire."
Aiko's ears perked up upon hearing the words "money" and "lots" together. She was a being of greedy nature, especially when money was involved.
Since Night & Gale had dissolved, she lost her job as the pop star Kai's manager. Although she worked temporarily with Sunny selling Memories, the money she received as profit from sales wasn't enough.
So, one of the main reasons she agreed to come to this place and talk with Uriel was that it was one of her last hopes or final hope to wallow in money.
"What is your business?"
"Oh, it's not that easy, girl. First, you have to say whether you're in or not."
Aiko's face wrinkled.
"I'm in," she said after a brief pause.
Shade smiled, taking out a notebook, which he opened, showing detailed blueprints of something Aiko didn't initially recognize.
"What is this?"
"I call it a bicycle. A more useful option that can reach more people than PTVs. Think about it, if we sell bicycles on the market, how much money could we generate?"
Aiko looked at the blueprints and the brief theory of how the bicycle worked. She immediately noticed its potential.
"We could easily make tens of millions."
Shade shook his head.
"No, Aiko. Not tens, but hundreds, if not thousands of millions. I assure you. This will become popular."
"How are you so sure?"
"I just am. Although I'll understand if you're not. I can look for another assistant," said Shade, grabbing the notebook and putting it away, preparing to leave, but Aiko stopped him.
"Wait, I never said I disagreed. I just said, how are you so sure it will be a success and not a failure?"
"Just trust me. Now, that was one part of why I asked you to come here."
"And what would be the other part?"
Shade simply took out his communicator, typing a few things before pressing a button.
Aiko felt her communicator vibrate. Taking it out of her pocket, she turned it on, seeing a notification. Upon opening it, her eyes widened like plates upon seeing a bunch of zeros in her bank account.
"I made a transfer of about 20 million credits to you. Consider it as compensation for that incident," said Shade.
Aiko wrinkled her face, remembering something unpleasant, but then nodded.
"Now then. That was the second thing. The third is that I want you to help me sell some soul shards."
"How many and of what rank?"
"Let's say about... hmm... a thousand or fifteen hundred, all of transcendent rank," said Shade, watching as Aiko's eyes widened like plates.
"T-transcendent? All of them?"
"Yes. You're the only one who can do it and smart and greedy enough to get the maximum profit from the sales," said Shade.
Aiko felt her breath cut off instantly. Her eyes watered, looking at the figure in front of him as if he were a god.
"Of course, I'll give you 20% of the total sales, although it can increase if you decide to work as a partner in this project."
Aiko wiped away tears of joy.
"I accept. I'll be your partner from now on, Boss. I swear you won't regret this decision." Aiko's voice was full of barely contained emotion and happiness—lots of happiness.
Shade smiled, taking another sip of his coffee.
'Very good. Excellent, now I can become very rich. After all, only the greedy understand each other.'
After eating and chatting about various things, Aiko began registering to sell the transcendent soul shards. She had no doubt they would sell quickly. After all, many clans would be drooling to get transcendent soul shards without sending their warriors to die fighting Corrupted abominations.
After the chat, Shade returned to Sunny's house in quite a good mood. His goal for the day had been successfully achieved, and he only hoped his future bank account would have a disgusting number of zeros in it.