Lith kept Twilight Storm going until he ran out of stolen elemental energy. He could see with the Eyes that the Tower Spell had failed to deal much damage. Now that Argantyr had gone deep underground enough, only the darkness component of Twilight Storm still worked.
‘I could dig him out by force, but the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.’ Lith thought.
‘Agreed.’ Solus nodded. ‘There’s no point prolonging this fight any longer. We are now certain that the Engine turns us into dimensional mages and we have put Gravity Magic, Silverwing’s spells, and the various floors’ capabilities in combat to the test.
‘The Factory and the Workshop work better than I expected and so did Yurial’s Guard.’
‘I only wish that idiot was here with us now.’ Lith sighed at the memory of his late friend. ‘I would slap him in the face with a sheaf of papers that says: arrays are not useless.’
While the lost city took cover, Lith and Solus prepared their best spell. The various pieces of Menadion’s Set they owned and the different floors of the tower worked together to give birth to their most ambitious project ever.
Ragnarök was sealed inside Double Edge that in turn was coated with the tower version of the Fury, making the three weapons into one big enough to fit the Prime Engine.
The gigantic sword traced sharp lines in the air, drawing long strings of runes on its passage. With each movement, the magic circle conjured by Ragnarök grew in complexity and power.
The Mouth, the Firing Range, and the Heart helped conjure the array-spell hybrid while the Hands, the Mirror Hall, and the weapons stored in the Armory amplified it.
The Eyes collected the data about the hybrid weapon in the Library and the Workshop and the Factory used the information to alter the stone blade. Runes were added and discarded with each second.
The pattern of the magic crystals embossed on the blade changed as soon as a position capable of better amplifying the mana flow was found.
The exhaust ports on the back of the Prime Engine flared up, releasing the excess world energy that not even Menadion’s tower could muster. The Engine split the world energy into its elemental components and mixed it with its master’s life force to generate Spirit Magic.
What was left was released outside through the exhaust ports in bursts of raw power that resembled six blazing wings.
‘What the fuck?’ Lith, Solus, and the white cores thought in unison.
The phenomenon was unknown to them as well since it was the first time that the Tower Blade Spell, Extinction, was attempted. The Hands collected extra world energy and so did every artifact stored in the Armory.
The unused pieces of equipment added their power cores to the spell, bringing it above anything a mortal had ever done before.
The metal plates forming the blade of the hybrid Ragnarök opened, creating a circuit. Pure elemental energy flowed from each of the seven crystals etched on its surface to the others and through the blade in a loop.
‘Wait a second.’ Lith thought. ‘I get that the pseudo-wings are generated by the excess elemental energy, but what about Spirit Magic? Isn’t that an element as well? Why isn’t there a seventh wing?’
The Armory wasn’t something born out of the fusion between Lith and Solus, it was part of the original blueprints and so was the Hands. All artifacts bore a spark of their owner’s life force via the imprint which was amplified when casting a Blade Spell.
Ripha Menadion had been the first Ruler of the Flames and it was from her that other Forgemasters had learned how to attune an artifact to its owner, allowing Blade Spells to be learned after Valeron the First invented them.
She had to be aware of the issue that was bound to arise the moment the Prime Engine was used to cast a Blade Spell. Even in its incomplete form, the tower was imbued with more power than the Engine could hold, Spirit Magic included.
Yet there was no trace of an emerald glow or any way to safely dispose of the seventh element of magic.
At least until Lith and Solus raised the hybrid blade and noticed that the hands wielding it had turned bright green. As the Tower Blade Spell grew in power, the seven elemental crystals released rhythmic pulses of energy.
They beat in unison like seven living hearts, six of them pouring the energy overflow into the wings while Spirit Magic coursed through the physical body of the Engine, boosting its durability and mana flow.
With each pulse, the spirit wave flooded every bit of the Engine until its grey stones turned to brilliant emerald.
‘There is no seventh wing because it would be useless!’ Solus replied. ‘Spirit Magic is the element of life. You can’t have too much just like you can’t be too healthy or have too much life force.
‘Think about it. It’s the same that happened when Sylpha’s Saefel armor synchronized with the six great academies in their Knight form. She became the Emerald Knight because it was the only element the Queen could channel without limit or risk for her safety.’
‘Mom knew it. She helped build the academies and used that knowledge for her tower. She designed it so that when casting a Tower Blade Spell, the excess Spirit Magic would nurture the tower and further increase its capabilities. Look at the energy output readings!’
The power of Extinction kept growing with every second Argantyr spent hiding underground. The Engine tapped more into the mana geyser until it reached the limits of its emerald form.
The six exhaust flames stabilized into full wings and except for the lack of extra eyes, the Engine now looked to the three white cores who were spectating the phenomenon like an emerald-skinned Balor.
‘Wait a second!’ Lith pondered. ‘Doesn’t this mean your mother was close to evolving herself, just like Vastor? Somehow, Menadion must have discovered the truth behind the failure of Tyrants and Balors.
‘They strived to reach the seventh eye when they had no need for it, wasting their time and potential. Evolved humans need six eyes to handle the natural elements and use their body as a receptacle for Spirit Magic.’
‘By my Mom!’ Solus said, and this time it was both an exclamation and a praise to Menadion’s genius. ‘You are right. Think about it. It explains why Glemos married a human woman to give birth to Morok.
‘He needed a clean slate to steer the Tyrant’s evolution in the right direction and Morok’s emerald scales and energy wings are proof of it. One is a makeshift substitute for the seventh eye while the other is identical to the Engine’s wings.’
‘Should we tell this to him?’ Lith asked. ‘Also, Ryla and Garrik could benefit from this. Vastor too should know, but we can’t fully-‘
‘Hold that thought! Argantyr is coming out.’ Solus cut Lith short and pushed their focus in the final step of the Tower Blade spell.
Argantyr emerged from his shelter with his energy reserves partially restored and a Tower Spirit spell in each hand.
