The failed attempts had no consequence since the Hydra’s mana was still detached from the arrays. Whenever her Domination faltered under Lith’s unrelenting assault, she would just restore it and point out his mistake.
Lith perfected his technique at an astounding rate. The access he had granted Faluel allowed her to observe his progress from up close and nudge it in the right direction when necessary.
The Hydra would have liked to exploit the situation to take a tour of his mind but she decided against it.
‘It would be an unforgivable breach of trust on my side.’ She thought. ‘Also, maybe it’s thanks to Solus’ lessons with Dawn, but I can tell that Lith has placed strong boundaries to separate his mind from my own.
‘Were I to force my way through, he would likely notice and kick me out.’
Much to no one’s surprise, Morok mastered the new technique just a few minutes after Lith. Back during Faluel’s Domination lessons, he had been the first to master it thanks to his instincts and his ability to not overthink.
Much to everyone’s surprise, though, once he learned how to perceive and filter out foreign willpower, the light from his eyes spread to the small seven-colored scales that covered his body.
‘What the fuck?’ Faluel asked the question on everyone’s mind.
‘Long story short, my whole body is a conduit for the elemental energies. They are no longer limited to my eyes.’ The Tyrant replied after experimenting a bit with his new condition. ‘It explains why Glemos wanted me at all costs.
‘If the emerald scales work akin to my Spirit Eye, I won’t be forced to sacrifice elemental Domination whenever I deal with Awakened anymore. Even if the effects of the scales are weaker than the eyes’, it would still give me an edge over another Tyrant.’
‘Indeed.’ Faluel nodded. ‘Too bad there’s no time for testing your hypothesis nor do we have any idea if achieving the violet would further boost your ability. Girls, how are you doing?’
‘Working on it.’ Friya wasn’t even close to Morok’s understanding, but she was leagues above Tista.
The Red Demon only had five eyes whereas the others had long since achieved full-elemental Domination. The lack of an orange eye made it hard for Tista to harmonize with the elemental flow of the world energy around her, let alone with others.
‘I need all the help you can give me.’ She felt frustrated by her lagging behind and from the pain that even keeping the Red Demon form now caused her.
Her human, Phoenix, and Dragon life forces were more at odds with each passing day, and forcing them together required constant effort.
Lith and Morok shared with her everything they had learned on their own yet Friya mastered the technique before Tista anyway.
‘Good job, guys. Yet it’s too soon to relax and pat yourself on the back. Keep focusing on your own Domination and observe my technique closely.’ Faluel’s words sounded like an insult to the Red Demon.
‘I don’t deserve any praise.’ Tista thought. ‘Everyone did their best to help me and yet I ended up last. I’m afraid that until I make up my mind about my life forces, even my talent as a mage will be hindered.’
The Hydra wasn’t aware of her inner turmoil and started the final step, forcing Tista to snap out of her self-loathing. Each of the seven heads had its own will and they were now converging in a single unit.
The extra heads acted as a buffer to keep the energy signatures of Faluel’s apprentices separated until she fully integrated them with her own. Lith and the others simply had to let her take the wheel and align the three different kinds of Domination without further effort on their side.
Their collective willpower attacked the final layer of the array, forcing it to open a gateway without triggering any alarm. The energy flow was rerouted and the path of the runes altered but the magical circuit was still closed, giving no sign of the tampering.
‘The good news is that you can get in.’ Faluel said. ‘The bad news is that we have to do this all over to get you out. Friya, can you use Ubiquity again?’
‘After a bit of rest, sure. As long as Nalrond brings me close to the barrier, I can use it as many times as we need.’ She nodded.
‘If I can Spirit Warp out, that won’t be necessary.’ Lith said while he and Nalrond walked through the hole and the Rezar crossed the last few meters of rock separating them from the complex.
‘If dimensional magic is completely sealed, then I’ll contact you with my amulet when I need to be picked up.’
‘What if the amulet doesn’t work either?’ Tista asked.
‘Then I’m screwed. Wish me luck.’ Lith disappeared through the soft ground while the Rezar backtracked his steps and the Drake folded every piece of the magical formation back into place.
‘I’m positive that everything went as planned.’ Ajatar said while studying the network of arrays for any anomaly that might contradict his analysis. ‘Lith’s cover is intact until he blows it.
‘The only thing we can do now is rest and wait.’
***
The moment Lith emerged on the other side he had no time for sightseeing, focusing solely on making sure that he was alone and reaching a safe cover. The hole in the arrays led not to the ground, but halfway between the floor and the ceiling.
Lith’s Voidwalker armor was a black blot on the wall from which he had come out so he quickly had the artifact change its color into a mottled pattern of brown and orange.
His seven eyes darted in every direction, using Life Vision to make sure that no one was around. As he slid along the rocks toward the street below, he also checked what kinds of arrays he had to deal with.
‘That’s definitely a dimensional sealing array. I can’t Warp in and out of here but at least I can still access my pocket dimension. The rest seem pretty ordinary. Earth sealing arrays to prevent enemies from destroying everything with a cave-in, light arrays to illuminate the place and… I’m screwed.’
The moment Lith deactivated Life Vision, his regular sight returned, making him aware of the magnitude of his task. The size of the external array field wasn’t just a way to form an impenetrable wall around the underground complex and suck all the world energy of the mana geyser in order to hide its presence.
It was the bare minimum to cover a city that extended farther than even Lith’s enhanced eyes could see.
‘It’s even bigger than Reghia, the underground city where I lived in Jiera. And just like Reghia, this is just one floor. From my recon with Nalrond I know how deep this place actually goes.
‘Even taking into account another floor for the crystal mines and another for the magic metals, there’s still plenty of space. Too much to explore everything by myself. Heck, even my full army of Demons might take days to find Solus and I don’t have so much time.’
