strictlysupreme Chapter 737: Crosspoint
Chapter 737: Crosspoint
Chapter 737: Crosspoint
“Lady Holo, you mentioned an alternate solution to our predicament?” Gian asked.
“I did.” Holo nodded grimly. “The shade wall.”
“Are you implying it can be fixed?” Elise perked up.
“When I first created the shade wall, it took the collective help of every Ebon Lord in the city. Fortunately, we don’t have to create a practically endless amount of magestone this time around. All we have to do is to reapply the enchantments on the wall,” Holo explained.
“Which are an inordinate amount of complex enchantments that not even gods like Caligo could break through on their own. This could work.” Aurelia rubbed her chin.
“Yes. Though it will not be easy. I will need help,” Holo said.
“How many mages will you need? I assume there is a need for them to be archmages?” Gian asked.
“Not quite.” Holo’s lilac eyes settled on Aurelia. “Only an Ebon Lord can help me in this endeavour.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Gian stepped in front of Aurelia and gave Holo an adamant stare.
“It is the only way, I cannot fix the shade wall on my own,” Holo said.
“Regrettably, I must agree with my uncle. There must be another way,” Elise said.
“What are you two saying? I thought this was what you wanted? A way to save the city?” Aurelia asked.
“Apologies, my lady,” Elise crossed her arms, her scarlet eyes never leaving Holo. “You are not well aware of the history of Hollow Shade. Not long after the walls were built, the Ebon Lords grew sick and died, all except for the youngest, who was only an Ebon Aspirant, Atreus Thorn. Who also happened to be the only one who hadn’t participated in the creation of the wall.”
“Is this true?” Aurelia asked Holo.
“...It is. The framework of spells and the enormous demand it would take to function was more than anyone could ever hope to achieve, even a god. So, we used the Realm’s natural mana source to power the spells.”
“The leylines,” Gian guessed.
“You’re well-versed in the old arcane knowledge, I see,” Holo said.
“I’ve lived a long life,” Gian said.
“No. You haven’t.” Holo gave him a wry smile as if looking at a small child proudly showing their first drawing. “In any case, a leyline is like a massive river of unfiltered chromatic and elemental mana running underneath the realms. Several of them exist in the Ebon Realm, and they all intersect right here, underneath Hollow Shade. I call it the Crosspoint.”
“Why haven’t I ever heard of something like this? If it is a weapon we can use against our enemy, we should use it,” Elise said.
“You cannot access it. As I said, the leyline is unfiltered mana. Pure and unrefined. Even if you could tap into the mass of energy, which you cannot, it would quite literally cook you alive. You’d be nothing more than a pile of ash,” Holo said.
“So how did you do it?” Aurelia asked.
“Only a true chromatic can filter through all the mana in the leyline and connect to their own true color. That or have a prime mage who potentially could connect with all the colors all at once,” Holo said.
“We have over a dozen prime mages in the city,” Gian said. “We could gather them and—”
Holo shook her head. “Only someone with vast control over mana could attempt to connect to a leyline without letting all that mana flood into their body and destroying them.”
“Control, hm… You mean an archmage?” Elise asked.
“Precisely,” Holo said.
“And prime mages are notorious in their lack of ability to master magic, all except for the very lucky few, the Ebon Aspirants,” Gian said.
“Which is why you need me,” Aurelia said.
“Now you get it,” Holo winked.
“Why exactly did the other Ebon Lords die?” Gian pressed.
Holo leaped off the table and landed softly on her feet. She crossed her arms behind her back and walked to the window. “If a leyline is a river of energy, then the Crosspoint is an ocean. A single Ebon Lord would have died from connecting to such power in only a few seconds. I believed that if there were sufficient Ebon Lords together, then they could lighten the burden. …It wasn’t enough. There were permanent effects. Too small to see with the naked eye, but damage had been done at the very base level of the body.”
“What sort of damage?” Aurelia asked, barely a whisper.
Holo’s sharp ears caught it nonetheless. “Their bodies began to break down. Organs started failing. Bones grew weak. Unusual lumps appeared beneath the skin.”
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“You couldn’t heal them?” Elise asked.
“White magic only speeds up the process of the body’s natural healing. In this case, it only seemed to make their symptoms worse,” Holo said.
“What about elemental life magic?” Elise asked.
“Some Ebon Lords thought it might help. They left the city in search of the fairies in Glimmer Grove. They didn’t get far. Caligo was waiting for them.” Holo sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Even if they had made it to the forest, it wouldn’t have helped. I had a few life mages brought in to try and cure some of the Ebon Lords. Their magic did nothing.”
“So connecting to the Crosspoint is a death sentence,” Gian said.
“How did you survive?” Aurelia asked Holo.
“I am not a mortal. My body is far more resilient and its ability to heal is far more extensive and potent.”
Aurelia narrowed her eyes. “I suppose it isn’t a coincidence that Stryg, you, and Lady Melantha are all true or prime mages then?”
“It is not. My father wanted to create children capable of accessing the true power of the Realms,” Holo said.
“To what end?” Aurelia asked.
“I cannot say. He never shared those plans with me,” Holo said.
“Wait a second. If you can endure the Crosspoint’s power, then why do you need my cousin?” Elise asked.
Holo shrugged, “I could tap into the Crosspoint. But I can only connect to the orange mana flowing within it. I need all ten colors to recreate the enchantments on the shade wall. I need a prime archmage.”
“That’s why Stryg is so important,” Aurelia muttered. “He can do what no titan nor Ebon Lord can. Connect with the Crosspoint and wield its entire power.”
“Potentially. But Stryg is no archmage, not yet. You are. Only you can help me repair the wall,” Holo said.
“No. You’re asking her to kill herself,” Gian said. “I won’t let you.”
“With all due respect, it is my decision, uncle,” Aurelia said. “I am not inclined to attempt connecting to a leyline, but if it ends up being the only way to protect this family, I will consider it.”
Gian bowed his head low, “With all due respect, it is my duty as your Shadow to keep you alive. I cannot let you make this decision.”
“It wouldn’t kill her,” Holo said. “I am not trying to recreate the walls. I would only need to draw in a little bit of power from the Crosspoint to reimplement the enchantments.”
“And when you say a ‘little’, I imagine it’s still an impossibly enormous amount of mana,” Gian said.
“I mean, relative to when I created the walls, it is a small amount.” Holo raised her hands, “But so long as Aurelia can keep control of the flow of mana between her heart and the Crosspoint, there is no reason it should overwhelm and kill her.”
“And what about long-term damage like what happened to the Ebon Lords?” Gian asked.
“It took hours to form the shade walls. I would only need a few minutes this time. Any damage done to Aurelia’s body would be at a minimum. I won’t lie and say there is no chance of long-term damage, but it is unlikely,” Holo said.
“I see,” Aurelia whispered. She stared at her clasped hands in her lap, deep in contemplation.
“Even if we had the enchantments, would it even be enough?” Elise asked. “There are no souls to convert into shades for the wall. Couldn’t you simply connect to the Crosspoint and rain fire from the skies upon our enemies?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Holo said. “While, yes, I could connect to the Crosspoint alone, it takes an incredible amount of effort to control that level of raw power. I could probably rain fire down for a few seconds or create a massive fireball to obliterate a portion of the enemies, but that’s about it. Whereas the kilometers of complex arcane sigil equations mapped into the foundations of the shade wall are still there. I can use them to much more easily recreate the wall’s enchantments. The only problem is the whitestone…”
“Whitestone?” Elise cocked an eyebrow.
“The stone created from the dragons’ Manifestation magic. The enchantments were never intended for whitestone. It’ll take me some time to try and account for such changes, which is why we need to make a decision soon,” Holo said.
“Could the whitestone cause any problems during the spellcasting? What I mean to say is, could it potentially hurt Lady Aurelia?” Gian asked.
“Doubtful, but there is always a chance, small as it may be,” Holo said.
“This still doesn’t solve the lack of shades for the wall,” Elise pointed out.
“The enchantments have various other forms of protection. Like a magic dome that would protect the city from the bombardment of trebuchets and spellcraft. Once the enemy crashes into the wall, many of them will fall, and very quickly find themselves transformed into shades. Shades that will help kill more soldiers and give us even more shades,” Holo explained.
“An exponential cycle of death,” Elise said in realization.
“Precisely,” Holo said.
Elise twisted her red lips in a smirk, “My, our precious wall can be quite scary indeed. I think re-enchanting the shade wall is a good idea, after all.”
“Elise,” Gian gave her a disapproving look.
“What? The likelihood of something going wrong is low and the reward is great. This is a sound plan. Or am I wrong?” Elise said.
“You’re not wrong,” Aurelia answered before Gian could speak. “I may not care much for the people of this city or especially its nobles, but this plan could help everyone, our family included.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Holo said.
Gian sighed and placed a hand on Aurelia’s shoulder, “Though I worry for you, I am proud of you, my lady. So many people of this city have disapproved of you simply for being an Ebon Lord. And yet it is those same people who now seek the protection of the Ebon Lady.”
“Yes, they’re all hypocrites. I expect nothing less from the rabble of this place,” Aurelia said.
Gian cracked a wry smile. “What I meant is that your ability to be able to put aside your own personal grievances for the greater whole is a mark of true leadership.”
“So are we in agreement then? If so, I will begin to prepare,” Holo said.
Aurelia glanced at Gian and the two shared a subtle nod. She turned back to Holo, “Yes, I will help you—”
The doors to the council chamber swung open, their large iron hinges creaking loudly. Stryg stumbled inside, battered and bruised. His silver hair was matted with dark purple blood and his clothes were torn and singed.
“Oh, there you are,” Stryg grinned, his teeth stained with bright red blood. “Where’s the rest of the council?”
“Stryg!” Aurelia rushed to his side, her eyes wide. “What happened to you?” She carefully ran her hands across his body, checking for injuries.
“I’m alright, really, Mom,” Stryg said with a small wince. “I’m just a little tired. It’s been a long couple of days.”
“Who did this to you?” Aurelia asked as the others came closer to have a look at him.
“Hmm, it wasn’t a who per se. More like a them situation,” Stryg said.
Aurelia gave him one of her signature disapproving First Mother stares. “Tell me everything.”