*Huff* *Huff*
{This amount of raw magic is really difficult to handle}. My crown dissipated from my head.
[Ein Sòf] was an evolution of [Kèter'elyon]. It allowed me to manipulate magic into its purest form, connecting my mind into the collective unconscious, but to handle all that power had a price.
{My regeneration is kicking in}
My body couldn't handle that much power, so the more power I use, the more my body starts to deteriorate. Luckily for me, I'm immortal, and I have the trait Trolls Blood, and according to the system, the more points I put into [Body], the more those effects are reduced.
{After I max the mind attribute, the next one will be body}
*Bling*
~{Hmm?}~
"That's..."
In the ground where the highlord was, an object was there, round and shiny.
"The medallion is interesting; it wasn't destroyed by my [Zero]." I walked to grab it.
Once it was in my hand, I could analyze it more closely, and then I found something.
"This bastards..."
The medallion was directly connected to the magic circuit of the hole city, meaning that whoever possesses the medallion can use the magic energy of the entire city.
That is the problem. Until now, they have powered their city by extracting the special energy generated by the Medulla Jewel in a homo magi, but when that energy dryes, they die.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
"Highlord!!!"
Many people in robes came to the throne room, but they only saw a man wearing a mask and robes. There were no signs of their highlord or of his warrior.
"That fool is death."
*Gasp*x10
"What?"
"No!!"
"You..."
"I'm what? I offer a solution for all your problems, and he refuses to honor his end of the deal."
"Lies!!!"
"I don't really care if all of you believe me, but now Avalon faces a crisis, and I have the solution for it."
"What?"
"What do you mean?"
"Kill him!!"
"Yes!!"x7
"STOP!!" From the entrance, a woman and more people entered the room.
*Gasp*
"Sindella, you're alive!"
"Don't kill me that easy, Julius."
"Who gives you the right to stop us traitor? He killed the highlord; he deserves death."
"As brain death as always, Aaron, right now, the city has no power."
*Gasp*
"What!?"
"Wait, the crown is not on her head!"
"You..."
"Sindella, you b***h."
"One more word, and all of you will die." A man wearing the same armor as the highlord warrior steps up in front of Sindella.
"Darius!!, you..."
"The highlord is death; there is no power, and the barrier that protects this place is going to crumble if we don't do something."
*Gasp*x10
"Like I said, I have a solution for that." The warrior finally looked at me.
"That's what Sindella told me; what do you want, Stranger?"
"Originally, I wanted her and a promise from your highlord, but now, I only want her in charge of this city."
"!?"
"What!?"
"No!!"x8
The warrior didn't react to my request like the others; it only stood there for a couple of seconds, considering all the possibilities.
"Very well, we can do that." Finally, he spoke.
"WHAT!!"x5
"Darius, you traitor, who gave you the right to decide the future of Avalon?" (Aaron)
"The same highlord you all praise, I'm the third in line of command, and if I said that she can be better than I, who will doubt me?"
He turned around to speak with the warriors that followed him.
"Any of you doubt me?"
"No sir!!!"x20
Then he looked at the others.
"So?"
"You...you..."(Aaron)
"Stop it, Aaron. We need to secure the city first. After this, we will talk. Is that fine for you, Darius?"
"Yes"
"Very well, we are leaving people."
"Yes"x9
After they left the throne room, only the warriors, Sindella, the man named Darius, and me were here.
"So, stranger, what will you do?" He looked at me, intrigued.
"Connect the engine that I brought."
"Hmm, ah, now I understand why the highlord made that decision."
"Oh, enlighten me."
"I was in charge of his security in the research lab; when they tried to activate it, it worked well, and the more they researched it, the more they got greedy, thus..."
"They made the decision to capture me."
"Yes, but for what can I see?" He looked at the throne room.
"That was a mistake."
"Indeed, well, let me do what I was supposed to do here."
"Let me accompany you."
"Me too"(Sindella)
"Be my guest."
***********
When we exited the palace-like building where the highlord resided, the city was in panic. Nothing worked, and the automatons without power were just scrap metal.
Various homo magi were helping people, and some were guiding the people to safety. Meanwhile, others were gathering at the edges of the city to maintain the concealment barrier that protected the city from the outside world.
"Let's hurry"(Sindella)
"Agreed"
"This way"(Darius)
He guided us to the research lab; it was a pretty interesting place. Here, many automatons were being researched, along with new furniture and products.In the middle of the lab was my engine; it was dismantled, and some parts were poorly put together.
(sigh)They really tried, huh."
"Will it work still?" (Sindella)
"Yeah, luckily there's no missing or broken parts." I walked to the engine to take a closer look.
"What do you need?" (Darius) moves closer to the entrance of the lab.
"Hmm...if possible, the spell matrix circuit design of the entire city."
"What for?"
"My engine will power everything, meaning that energy will flow equally, but with how you power your city in the past, this will bring too much energy to places that were not designed to."
"So, it may blow up."
"Correct"
"Very well, I will gather it then. Figo, Hugo, protect the entrance."
"Yes sir"x2
He left, leaving two guards at the entrance door.
{He doesn't trust me}
.~{Good judgement}~
I started to work on assembling my engine again, and although some parts were wrong, it wasn't so difficult to put it back together.
"Now that we are alone, stranger, tell me why me?"
"You can call me Sephiroth, at least for now. As for your question, let's just say that I'm in debt with your husband."
"Gi..giovanni!?" Her voice cracked.
"This is not the time nor the place to talk about this. Let's talk when you control the city."
After twenty minutes, the warrior Darius came back with the designs. I had already assembled the engine, so right now I'm looking at the documents that he brought.
"Well, this is a mess, comprehensible for the source of energy, but still..."
The designs consisted of unbalanced energy distribution across the city; only the palace, the barrier, and the medallion were properly powered.
"I will need to redesign the spell matrix."
"How much time will that be?"
"Hmm...two hours max, one minimum."
"Very well, Hugo tells the Magic Corps that they need to hold the barrier for at least two hours."
"Roger," the warrior named Hugo, left hurriedly.
"Figo, tell the warriors to protect the people, and these two," he said, pointing at me and Sindella.
"Roger" left the same as the other.
"What will you do, Darius?" (Sindella)
"Prepare the stage for your ascension, High Queen."
{Ha, ha, ha, I like this guy}
The spell matrix of the city was complex but not hard to understand. The things that gave me more trouble were the citizens trying to meddle with my work.
"Hey!!, What are you doing to my home?"
"Sir, please move out of the way(Figo)
{Although he is doing his job fine, this will delay me for a few more hours, time that neither they nor I had}
"Can I help?" (Sindella)
"Probably, here, this is the new design." I passed the new schematics to Sindella.
"Hmm... indeed, this will bring power to the whole city."
{Right, she was forcefully connected to it.}
"Excuse me, Sindella, is there a point of convergence in this city?"
"Hmm, if I remember correctly, I think the plaza is what you are looking for." She pointed to the plaza where I had sat for the past two days.
"Really?, on the previous schematics didn't mention nor looked like," I pull out the old schematics.
"Yes, I'm sure; I could feel it when I was wearing the crown."
"I got it; Mister Figo will be going to the plaza," I told our bodyguard.
"Roger" He followed along.
Once we reached the plaza, I looked more closely than before, and now that there's no magic cursing through it, I can notice more details.
{Indeed, I can see faint magic lines interconnected with each other}
~{For what purpose will this be?} ~
I approached the funtain in the middle, and I could feel something odd and out of place.
"[Kèter'elyon]"
"[Revelio]"
*Crac*
{An illusion?}
When my magic was used, the funtain had some runes carved on the ground and on the funtain itself.
"This is..."
"A magical bomb(Sindella)
"!?"(Figo)
"Yeah, the power will converge here, then it will explode, bringing down everything with it."
~{A last result?}~
"Is it too brave for you, late highlord, isn't it?"
"The city was founded more than three thousand years ago, so I'm pretty sure it was their idea." (Sindella)
"Fair point. Well, whatever, this will do."
I immediately started to work on replacing the previous spell matrix with the new one.
{Now how do I do this}
~{I could use the preexisting runes and matrix, only tweaking it to fit my purpose}~
"Hmm, let's see how this goes."
I put my hands on the funtain, then I focused on the spell. In my mind, I could see the whole spell matrix, and then I focused on changing it.
{Oh, it's working...} I could see the lines and runs changing in real time.
POV Sindella
{I'm still wondering: Who is this man?}
Everyone can see now that the spell matrix on the city is changing, new lines and runes have been created.
{He was wierd since the beginning, coming here, offering something Zakar (the Highlord) always wanted, then claiming me as a reward}
I knew Zakar would never agree, but what I didn't expect was that he would liberate me from the extractor(Crown) and kill him.
{Does he really know you, Giovanni?, I don't know, and I'm afraid that he is lying because I don't think I could defeat him}
"What is happening!"
"What is he doing?"
More and more people are gathering here. The warriors are trying to hold up the crowd, but it is getting bigger by the minute.
{I'm still not at my best, but I need to help.}
"[Praesidium](Fortress)" A structure like a fortress made out of magic appeared around us.
"Hey, is that the traidor?"
"Yes, it is."
{Hurry up, Sephiroth}
**********
{It's done}
It took me less time than I predicted, thanks to Sindella finding this spot. When I opened my eyes, what greeted me was many people casting spells at us, Sindella and the warriors were holding.
{Is it really worth it to save them?}
~{Yes, they will be useful in the future.}~
(Sigh)"It's done"
"!?"(Sindella)
"Huh!?"(Figo)
"Tell Darius that I and Sindella will wait for him in the palace."
I opened a portal to the palace, then I motioned to Sindella.
"Get in"
"Eh?, Ah, Yes." She enters the portal first, then I follow.
After half an hour, Darius and his warriors brought the engine to us.
"Where is it going to be connected?"
"Underground, to be more precise, here," I pointed at the ground below me.
"[Esperits de la terra, demano la vostra ajuda per crear allò que penseu]"
(Spirits of the earth, I request your assistance in creating what's on my mind.)
I closed my eyes and focused on the ground below me. Then I imagined the perfect room to put the engine in.
Suddenly, the ground began to change rapidly, and a complex pattern was created.
"That's..."(Darius)
"The door," I say, opening my eyes.
With a flick of my wrist, I open the new underground cellar door.
"Let's go; we don't have much time."
__________________________
"Now what?" (Darius)
The medium-sized engine was put in the middle of the room, where all the lines and runs converge.
"Time to start it." I put my hand on it.
*Huff*
"[Manaf]"
*Hummm*
The engine made a low humming sound that startled Darius and Sindella.
Then the gears in the middle began to move, forcing the ones on the outside to do the same. In mere seconds, the engine was running smoothly.
The lines and runes in the whole room began to get brighter and brighter.
"This..."(Darius)
"Fascinating..."(Sindella)
Outside the room, the palace began to recover the light; then it was the streets, then the businesses, the households, and lastly, the barrier.
"Oh, the lights!"
"We have power!"
"Thank the Highlord!"
We could hear the people getting excited.
"So, warrior, what will happen now?" I looked at Darius, my voice filled with sarcasm.
"Sindella will become the Highlord," he said as a matter of fact.
"I don't want to be the Highlord." (Sindella) She said it resolutely.
"You're the only one that I will approve." (Darius)
"Darius I..."
"You're in no position to object to this, because if you still refuse, I will destroy this engine, and I will kill anyone who opposes me."
"Why!?"(Sindella)
"Simple, without the limiting factor of energy, this city will prosper more, then more greed will begin to fill the hearts of these people, and I'm pretty sure they will declare war against normal humans."
"He is right; besides Julius, Aaron will not let you go, Sindella." (Darius)
"I..."(Sindella)
"You have a daughter and a husband, remember?"
"!?"
"I understood, I accept(Sindella)
{Sorry, Sindella, you're my only option here, and I can't lose this city}
***********
Darius really honored his word; after a couple of days of talking with several people in charge of the city as a whole, he managed to convince 80% of them.
Now the only ones that he needed to convince were the council of elders, or so they called themselves.
A group of old magi were the asskissers of the highlord; that's why they got more benefits.
Right now in the Council Building, Darius is trying for the last time to convince them to join Sindella.
"I oppose this treachery!" (Aaron)
"This is not the way of Avalon(Julius)
"Yes, yes"x20
{Bunch of old fools, they really think they have any form of power} I was here with Darius and Sindella.
"For the last time, our city was powered by the engine that man built, and the highlord promised that if the engine worked, Sindella would become the next highlord."
That was the lie that he told all of the citizens; apparently, the highlord died due to a malfunction in the spell matrix. Sindella and I helped save the city.
"Huh, we know that's a lie! The highlord will never let that traitor lead us" (Aaron)
{Ok, that's it} I looked at Darius, and he looked back at me.
(sigh)"A shame, I really respect some of you".(Darius)
"Eh?""Huh?""What happen?"
I took a step forward.
"From now on, all of you are retired from your duties to Avalon. There's two options: the first is that you leave your position as elder and become a normal citizen, or the second is that you die. Choose wisely."
*Gasp*x16
"What!?"(Julius)
"Insolent!!"(Aaron)
"You!!..."
"I accept"
"Huh!?"
"Karin?"
"I value my life more than this." (Karin)
"Then leave elder Karin" (Darius
She stood up and left.
"Wait, are you serious?"
"He can't kill us all."
"Yeah, he's bluffing..."
"Those are the last words?" I pull out the medallion that the Highlord used.
"No!!..."
"It can't be!"
"I want to leave!"
"Me too!!"
As soon as they saw the medallion, they panicked and finally started to quit.
{Sometimes fear is better than reason}.
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