Book 3: Chapter 97: Expanding Pillar and Have Fun |
Going back a little while to when Lone had first managed to successfully add the spirit and scripture magic mixture to the device's magical components.
Lone realised that he was far more lucid than he should normally be in the state he was in, whatever that state actually was. He could see his arms and they were pure white and almost appeared to made of only energy, a stark contrast to the endless darkness that surrounded him.
Sadly, he didn't have the time to focus on how interesting this was at the moment. The magic-infused liquid metal mass in front of him was vibrating and pulsing as if were ready to explode.
'Nope,' was all he thought as he put both of his white energy arms out on either side of the ball.
He didn't know how he knew, but he just had some sort of intuition that this was what he needed to do to stabilise the thing. He felt something within him draining and he witnessed as white strings emerged from his palms before connecting to the magical liquid metal.
The pulsing subsided but the thing was still violently vibrating. A few moments passed with Lone using his intuition to guide the white strings of energy but soon even that wasn't enough as the mass of metal began expanding, creating cracks all along it.
'Trying to fracture and explode now are we? Not on my fuckin' watch,' Lone thought in determination.
It needed stability and it those cracks needed repaired. Or did they? Maybe they could be filled instead. Lone didn't exactly have a glue gun on him so he used the next best thing that came to mind.
He reached within himself and tapped into some more of his magical affinities.
A moment passed and the cracks kept spreading. Fair enough, he knew it wouldn't be this easy. 'How about two more?'
He reached within himself and added blood and nature magic to the mix. Blood made bodies work so perhaps he could repurpose the cracks into veins, making them a boon and not a disaster. Nature magic was calming in its very essence so perhaps including that would relax the mood of the damned thing that was trying so very hard to explode.
That had some effect. The force magic was creating channels among the cracks for the blood magic to flow while the nature magic was stabilising the whole effort.
The vibrating stopped as did the growth of the liquid metal ball but the pulsing had returned.
Lone took that as a challenge. 'You won't do as I want, you little fucker? Well then, how about this to put you in line!'
He called upon the heavenly magic affinity that lay within his being and used it to oppress this creation of his. It resisted violently and the pulsing only grew stronger. Unfortunately for it, two could play at that game.
Immediately Lone added a hearty helping of both mind and flower magic to completely control it. The device went still as if it was lifeless.
Deep within his soul Lone knew he had gone too far. It was going to fail. The damned thing needed some spark of energy to it for this to work and he had just stubbed that out of it. He could tell. With no other choice, he called upon another magical school to reignite that spark within the ball of magic metal.
Explosion magic covered the sphere and it began thumping ever so slightly like a heart. The beating grow more and more rapid and thumped louder and louder as if in panic.
'It has no direction. It doesn't know what it's meant to become,' Lone realised. 'Well then. How do you feel about getting some sight and a guiding star or two?'
Sight magic and star magic flowed out of Lone's white energy form and straight into the device. The erratic beating smoothed into a rhythmic pulse. And then... it stagnated.
It no longer drew energy from Lone as if it had enough but nothing was happening. It was going to fail. Lone could sense it. 'What am I missing? Maybe some poison to endanger it, or to give it a tool to fight with? A tool. Yes, that might give it the motivation to push forward.'
He added poison magic and nothing changed. The device's cracks-turned-veins began drying up and the beating slowly to a near-stop.
'Fuck. No. What do I have left?' he searched within himself and realised that the only affinities that he had which he hadn't infused into the thing yet were fire, water, air, and lightning.
'Is that it? The earth of the base six elements isn't balanced or something? Fuck it. I can only go on my instincts,' he decided.
Lone used his lightning magic affinity to jumpstart what was essentially a metal and magic heart which lay before him and he then forced fire, water, and air magic into it all at once.
It accepted the elements with glee. The veins flowed with blood magic once more and the rhythmic beating returned in even greater force.
Lone suddenly felt faint and almost lost consciousness. He had succeeded in properly stabilising the device but now the problem lay in his energy reserves. It demanded more and he had no more MP to grant it. He offered his SP, his HP, his aura, his lifespan even, anything, really, but it refused. The mass of magical metal only wanted MP.
Sophie frowned deeply as she felt The Summoning Room begin to shake and rumble as it had been hit by an earthquake of untold magnitudes.
Then, a panicked void filled her mind and likely Kyuubi's too given how the poor thing had instantly flattened her ears against her head.
'I NEED MP!'
Sophie wasn't stupid. She didn't hesitate for a moment and gave control of her body to Soph.
Soph immediately jumped up on Kyuubi's back and whispered, "To the door, please."
Kyuubi nodded and bounded over in a single leap.
Soph took a deep breath, opened the door, closed her eyes, focused on her Mana Sensing, quickly shoved her hand outside of the door, and immediately began channelling her MP to overcharge whatever it was that Lone was doing.
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Her mind went numb from the pain that coursed through her body and she collapsed atop Kyuubi. She refused to lose consciousness though. Lone needed more MP. She could lose her hand, her magic, or even her life, it didn't matter. Helping the man she loved came first before all else.
She was in so much agony and was focusing so incredibly hard that she didn't notice all of the hair of Kyuubi's that surrounded her had come alive and stabbed themselves into her. The hairs then pulsated as if injecting her with... something.
She fell into a trance of sorts where only two things existed: indescribable pain and making sure her mana made it to the other side of the door.
Gilbert was in shock. For a few moments now, all of the Divine members of the Council of Elders present had stopped moving as if frozen in time.
Several more Divine showed up the next moment as did a few powerful beings that were far from bipedal or that resembled a beast, meaning they were likely demigods. His great-grandfather was among the new arrivals. They all looked at what was going on and clearly wanted to ask questions but there wasn't any time.
An explosion of magic burst forth from the pillar of over a dozen magic types, making it expand rapidly.
Grand Guildmaster Sarah scooped up young Breena with one hand and then picked up Gilbert with the other and dashed about ten mile away. All of the other Divines and extraordinary beings retreated as well.
Divine Hourglass has moved the Divine Elders while keeping them locked in time. Gilbert got put down and he could only marvel at the sight before him.
The endless pillar of magical light was only slightly larger than Lone's Spirit Pavilion at its start. It had then slowly grown a few metres for every added magic school but now it was about seven or eight miles wide.
"This amount of mana capacity... This isn't something a mere A-ranker can achieve," a Divine Gilbert didn't recognise remarked as she - a monster-human-hybrid of some sort that he wasn't familiar with - marvelled.
Divine Eternal frowned in concentration. "It isn't the world's nor is it the source's. What do you make of it, Divine Hourglass?"
The headmaster of The Academy smiled. "Well, for a start, the beastkin lands will be no more if it fails at this point, plus a few surrounding kingdoms and empires."
"Then we should stop this, no? Or at least inform the Ancients," suggested a Divine who was only present via proxy. He was speaking through a communication orb that was being held by a man hailing from a small gnomish species of some sort. Likely a Cruft Gnome, but Gilbert wasn't 100% certain.
"They know," a suspected demigod hissed as it crossed its seven sets of elephant arms. It had no face nor mouth, so how it was 'hissing' exactly, Gilbert didn't know. "The world is allowing and assisting this event to occur. It won't call upon the Ancients to stop it. Either that mean this will succeed..."
Divine Tethered finished its sentence, "... or loving Altros thinks the consequences of failure are worth it. She's a clever girl, our home, isn't she?"
"That she is," Divine Hourglass answered. "I would be too if my laws were being expanded. As for the magic, Divine Eternal, you are wrong. It is slightly different yes, but the magic is deeply connected to the source. It is likely a failsafe skill of some sort. Almost definitely unique."
'He just lied,' Gilbert thought. 'The bastard just told a bold-faced lie to about 50 Divines and none of them are questioning him! And my skill didn't pick it up! Truth twisting madman!'
He knew he was right. Divine Hourglass was utterly terrifying. 'How much does he know? The only person I know with MP reserves vast enough to do something like this is Sofia, but there's no way she could stand within that pillar and either survive or remain conscious, and how is she intermingling her magic with Lone's? That's impossible from what I know.'
He didn't have the time to consider it as the very next instant the enormous pillar of light began humming and shrank rapidly. It then disappeared entirely before everything went white and a boom so powerful that it burst both of Gilbert's eardrums and sent him flying sounded out. He felt himself thudding into something familiar, likely the Grand Guildmaster's arm.
He then barely and through his bleeding ears, heard a soft mumbling from a voice that most definitely belonged to Divine Hourglass, "It succeeded."
The endless void of pitch black that had been surrounding Lone disappeared and he felt himself coming back to his sense. He was exhausted and almost passed out on the spot but he was prevented from doing so by some faint words that rang out in his mind.
'Divines... so many Divines... Demigods too? Other... powerful things. Hide it. The thing you made... Gilbert is with a... a big woman? Probably Sarah. I can't...'
And the words cut-off.
Without hesitating, Lone forced himself to remain conscious and without even checking it too closely, he shoved his creation into his Dimensional Storage. The next moment, he was surrounded by dozens upon dozens of unfamiliar faces, with only three being known to him. Those being Gilbert, Divine Tethered, and Divine Dragonsworn.
He observed his surroundings closely at the same time. He was certain he had been in his workshop within his Spirit Pavilion but now he seemed to be in a warzone of some sort. Everywhere he looked there were signs of... a flood? Only the exact spot he was standing in was free of the effects of whatever he had done here.
'I hope Breena is okay- ah. There she is. That buff woman is holding her. Is that Grand Guildmaster Sarah? She fits the bi- Fuck. That hurts. Someone's trying to worm their way into my mind. Shit! They're strong. Three locks are do-'
A somewhat normal looking human with glasses on his head signed and snapped his fingers. "Divine Intrepid, I will kill you should you try to enter his mind again. The same goes for everyone else here. I care not for your standing or backing. He is under my protection. Was that not made clear while we were observing?"
Lone watched as a man made entirely out of metal exploded, only to reform into the same man only at a much smaller size. "Y-You bastard! You just had to ask! You didn't have to revert me!"
"You ignored my warnings, you knew the risks of doing so. Be happy I did not strip you of your Divinity," the man said before focusing entirely on Lone. He wore a friendly smile on his face. "Hello. I am Divine Hourglass, the headmaster of The Academy. What a pleasure it is to meet someone of your expertise, and ability. To mask and then hide what it is you created so quickly... if only I had your intellect and power at your age. Would you like to become my disciple?"
"And mine," a strangely buff High Elven man said. "I am Divine Eternal, the oldest living Divine. I imagine I have much to teach you."
"No, become my disciple!"
"Ignore them, I can offer you so much more!"
"Give me what you made and I'll give you anything else you desire!"
"Become one with me. I will ensure your continued consciousness and I guarantee immortality to you."
"I'll marry you if you give it to me!"
"Our organisation is very secretive but we'll be at your service if yo-"
"I own a Djinn. All of it's wishes are yours. Just say the wo-"
"Name a kingdom or empire. It's yours if you j-"
"May I speak for a moment?" Lone asked, interrupting the Divines and incredibly powerful beings begging for his attention. 'It seems I've done something crazy, and something very noticeable. That sucks, but this can be worked in my favour.'
Everyone went silent.
Divine Hourglass nodded gently. "Please, go ahead. Feel no pressure. I and Divine Persistence fully support you. Reject whomever you wish, even myself. I will not allow you to be negatively affected when you have benefited us all so immensely."
"Sure, just speak on my behalf," the grand guildmaster said with a roll of the eyes. "But yeah, I've got your back, adventurer."
'I see what you are thinking,' Darkness chimed in. 'Now is as good a time as any, I suppose, even if it wasn't in the plan.'
A deluge of sealed memories hidden deep within one the rubik's cube puzzle locks nestled in Lone's mind were released and returned to him.
"This isn't quite how I planned to do this, but I doubt I'll get a better chance. Tidsear Òg. That is the true name of the Arch Devil Zel, the seventh king of all demonkin. Invoking his name, I summon him to this plane. A word of forewarning, I'm almost certain he has prepared an Omni Devil to kill me. I need this dealt with before anything else, so now that you all know his name, kill him for me, please? Oh, his life is tied to his personal demonic plane. If you don't destroy that, you can't kill him. Ah, and one final note. I consider none of you bar Gilbert to be my companions. Have fun," he said with a bright smile.
Following his smile, the skies turned a hellish red and many expressions changed, mostly to anger.