From the opposite side, Solus cast a stream of restorative energy that kept Lith’s side of Dismantle from damaging the power core, mana pathways, and mana circulatory system of Double Edge.
He used the darkness element to find and purge the mana coursing through the artifact from his own energy signature while also cutting off the supply of new mana to the blade.
The darkness element coated the blade inside out, clogging the mana pathways and interrupting the natural flow of energy from the owner to the power core. Once the energy signature disappeared, it took Double Edge a few seconds to interpret is as the “death” of its master and losing the imprint.
The task at hand was difficult and Lith had to use Domination multiple times to make sure to not have left enough mana to recover the imprint the moment the darkness element faded away.
Solus, instead, had to make sure that while Lith removed the energy signature, the enchantments wouldn’t suffer any permanent damage that would cause their energy to leak and be lost along with the imprint.
“Six out of ten.” Salaark said despite their success. “Removing your own imprint is always easy because it’s comprised of your mana and it answers your every command. Were Double Edge infused with someone else’s energy signature, you would have failed if not for Domination.”
Lith grunted but accepted the criticism. He knew that he was supposed to perform the Dismantle spell in one go, yet he proceeded one step at a time to use it as a learning experience while under Salaark’s guidance.
As for the babies, they only say the sparkling of metal, the shiny gems, and the majestic elemental power. They giggled at the light show, almost forgetting about the soap bubbles.
Almost.
Then came the real Dismantling.
Lith increased the flow of darkness element while Solus did the same with the light. This time, he was eroding the spells from the inside, gnawing at the bond between matter and energy while she protected solely the matter.
Light magic flooded the mana crystals, the metal, and the components that derived from the ingredients, leaving everything else exposed. As Lith destroyed the enchantments, Solus recovered what was left of the materials after he was done.
She put the dust back together with the rest before flooding it with the light element as well to isolate them from the flow of darkness elements. With each cycle of destruction and regeneration, the various enchantments faded until only the power core was left.
At that point, Lith stopped so that Solus could pinpoint the pseudo cores created by the ingredients and separate them from those comprised solely of pure mana. Once she was done shielding the pseudo cores, Lith resumed his attack.
He took down the power core layer by layer, making sure that the inner pseudo cores would remain stable. If they collapsed all at the same time, those protected by Solus would be pulled apart from two different directions, making her job harder.
After that, he destroyed the mana pathways that until that moment had prevented the mana of the enchantments from leaking out so that Solus could safely extract the ingredients’ essence.
Without the interaction of the pseudo cores with the enchanted metal and the crystals and with the light element shielding them safe from the darkness element, it took Solus but a sliver of focus to keep the ingredients’ essence stable.
After that, it was the turn of the mana crystals.
Again, Solus filled the metal with light while Lith attacked solely the mana circulatory systems. It was created during the Bonding process and made the mana crystals as one with an inanimate object.
Lith used darkness magic to slowly sever the tendrils that spread the crystal’s energy through the blade akin to a flame burning the roots of a tree from underground.
By losing its anchors, the bond between crystal and metal became flimsier until it simply fell off as if it had just been sitting there. Lith repeated the process for every crystal of Double Edge until only the hilt and the blade remained.
By the time he was done, he and Solus were exhausted, panting hard while doubling over with their hands on their knees.
“I can’t believe it took so much energy just for a tier one spell.” Lith wheezed. “On top of that, I had Solus’ help and the boost from the tower. If I had to also split the Dragon bones from the Adamant, I don’t know if I could split them without taking a short rest.”
“And I can’t believe that you’ve already reached this degree of mastery.” Salaark examined the various pieces extracted from the former artifact, including the ingredients’ essences that Solus was still preserving.
“It’s been just a few months since I taught you Phoenix’s Forge and I know you didn’t spend them holed up in your tower. Not to mention that ever since Elysia’s birth, you’ve made her and Kamila your first priority.
“As for your doubt, you have the privilege of taking two possible approaches to split bone and metal. You could have kept using Dismantle or shifted to Origin Flames to melt away the Adamant coating the Dragon bones.”
“So, is this a good result?” Lith took a mental note of her words.
“Good?” The Overlord raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “This is great. I know how anal-retentive you are, but you should be proud of yourself. You’ve just recycled a complex artifact with a power core, multiple sets of runes, and comprised of several different materials.
“Your grievances would be reasonable if you had difficulty Dismantling something like a standard communication amulet. Balkor has yet to reach this level and he has years on you plus a life much more peaceful than yours.”
“He also lacks Solus and a mage tower.” Lith’s breathing had slowed down and was almost back to normal.
“But he had me, plenty of demonstrations and time.” Salaark countered. “Also, he’s a genius yet if he attempted what you just did, he would have lost the ingredients minimum. Maybe even permanently damaged the Dragon bones.
“Be honest with me. Did you progress this quickly because of the tower’s Grimoire?”
“Yes.” Solus scratched her head in embarrassment. “We had the Eyes focus on Dismantle until it reproduced the spell to perfection and now it’s working on Phoenix’s Forge.
“Ever since we learned Dismantle, we had the Workshop conjure materials that the Factory auto-Forgemastered into artifacts we used for our practice. We’ve failed a lot of times but at least this way we wasted nothing.”
“Marvellous.” The Overlord gave them a warm smile, drawing their stupefied looks. “Don’t look at me like that. First, knowing and doing is very different so the fact that you’ve reached this point so quickly is a testament to your talent.
“Second, failing and destroying stuff is how things are supposed to go.
“You have no idea how many things even a genius like Balkor ruined yet he’s still behind you. I use his constant need for new crafting materials to both force him to take a break and send him on missions that serve as learning experiences.”
