Xarion landed in the midst of five sentinels, his scimitars engulfed in white flames.
He kicked down one of the sentinels with a heavy flame-powered strike, like a rocket launching into the sky, the impact tearing the sentinel’s head clean off.
At the same time, Xarion used the momentum and followed with a spinning kick from his right leg, yet the strike intentionally missed, only to release an explosion of white flames from his left heel.
The second sentinel melted into a puddle of metal while Xarion spun and began cutting with twisting slashes and sweeping cleaves.
Each attack followed his draconic gaze, which detected even the slightest flaws within the sentinels’ defenses.
Truly, dragons were mana’s favored children.
Xarion, now in a mana-focused trance, continued slicing through the sentinels effortlessly.
Meanwhile, Nerva in his Living Armor pushed forward, his defenses impenetrable.
Any strike from the sentinels’ metallic bodies rippled harmlessly off Nerva and scattered away while he continued stabbing, kicking, and punching through his enemies.
The slug-like creature started cursing under its breath and turned to flee in panic when a chain-linked lance struck its barrier, piercing halfway toward its chest before stopping.
But that was not the end of it.
The chains split into countless tendrils and enveloped the transparent orb, using the lance as their anchor.
Nerva violently yanked the orb toward himself and then kicked it downward into the city streets just as Lucius released Hammerfall at twice its usual power, obliterating half a city block along with the majority of the sentinels.
“Oh my! Lucius, you didn’t tell me you were this strong!” Cecily gasped.
“Thank you, Lady Cecily!” Lucius bowed, smiling just as Xarion landed beside Nerva.
“Do we cook him?” Xarion growled.
The slug paled at the suggestion and started shaking. “Damn you! I won’t go down like this!”
It screamed as all the broken sentinel fragments rushed toward it, fusing into a grotesque creation that resembled a humanoid pile of scrap metal.
“They never give up.”
Nerva shrugged and shifted all his liquid metal into his right arm.
A gigantic lance formed around it and began spinning like a diamond drill.
Xarion followed by releasing an enormous amount of mana and summoning the upper body of a White Dragon behind himself.
“Ancestor’s Breath!” He roared, and the dragon unleashed a torrent of white flames.
Two brothers who had fought side by side for hundreds of years unleashed their strongest Grand Master techniques.
White flames began melting the gigantic construct while Nerva launched the drill lance.
The lance passed through the heated metal smoothly, shattering the barrier and obliterating the slug.
As the slug was erased from existence, the remaining sentinels powered down one by one, returning the empty city to silence.
“Nice move, brother!” Xarion slammed his draconic hand onto Nerva’s back.
“You’re not bad yourself. Though we still have a long way to go to catch up to Kai. Come, let’s go steal everything that isn’t bolted down. Fallhaven could use something like this!” Nerva laughed and started storing sentinels, fragments, and even what remained of the barrier device.
Xarion shook his head and, with a chuckle, joined him.
***
Somewhere within the mansion of the Solei family, Liliya sat in a meditative position surrounded by mountains of Ultra Mana Crystals, Elemental Mana Crystals, and even a few Origin Crystals.
She left her Arcanum and her storage artifacts aside and continued absorbing the enormous amounts of mana into her circles and into the Origin Crystal within her inner world, which had fully merged with her being, now serving as a separate mana battery.
Then she ignited the spells engraved on her circles one by one: Water Arrow, Fire Fusillade, Frozen Ground, Diamond Barrier, Solar Judgement, World Breaker, Silent Wind, Mana Wave, Disintegrate.
Nine spells, nine realms of difficulty, nine paths to one. All mastered to perfection. As the spells activated one after another, they enveloped Liliya and started circling around her. Then her Solar Form shone to life, and she connected to the Light Network; the knowledge of the whole Eldari race, the knowledge of the entire continent, and the wisdom of the gods of light poured into her mind.
Blood burst from her orifices, her blue eyes lost their shine, and her skin cracked like dying lands. She vomited even more blood, coloring her white robes with blotches of crimson.
“Well, shit.” She chuckled, and her circles detonated one after another. With each circle detonating, even more mana flooded her being, forging her soul into a creature of pure mana. Where Seraphs forged their bodies, Archons forged their souls. Unlike Kai, these two paths traveled opposite roads, and unlike Beasts, who focused on domains and the powers of their bloodlines.
Then, as the last circle erupted, her body, unable to hold on any longer, disintegrated, leaving behind the nude soul form of Liliya.
As her body disappeared, the Origin Crystal merged into her soul, pouring waves of Origin Mana into it, which in turn activated the sparse Origin Crystals throughout the room.
The pure mana and Origin flowed into Liliya’s soul while she held onto the Light Network to mask the ripples and hide herself from the gaze of the Enemy as well as Luminarius. By dispersing the Origin through the countless strands of the network, nobody would be able to find her here.
Then the last remains of her mortal body cracked apart, including her core, which floated at the center of her soul. As her pale core crumbled, her soul finally started swallowing every speck of mana present in the large room. Once all the crystals had crumbled, her soul, still hungry, turned toward the Light Network, and, using the web of light connected to the whole continent, she started absorbing light mana from the entire land, right under Licht’s nose.
Hours passed, then days, and then finally a month. Liliya’s soul had turned from translucent into a spirit-like form, made of pure light mana merged with Origin, containing all the knowledge of her mortal life merged with the entire library of the Eldari race.
Then she tapped into the energy of destruction, into the power of atoms. She used her last and strongest spell, one she had yet to release, and by using its immensely complex formula as the framework, she started building the last circle she would ever form. And one day, when she reached Ascension, she would shatter that circle and use it to form the Divine Spark.
This was the final piece of knowledge she had been searching for, discovered within the network. The spell and the knowledge she would use now would limit the kind of divinity she would become, and Liliya would not be Liliya if she chose to follow the usual path.
Using Atomic Magic as the framework, she poured light mana into the structure, using the destructive aspects of light alongside its speed and purifying attributes. She advanced her spell into the realm of the divine, and then, when the final spark was needed to complete the circle, she did something nobody had ever attempted before, actually forming the Archon path through Origin Mana.
Origin Mana, the mana of creation and the mana of the divine, settled into place as if it had been meant to be there from the very beginning, finishing the process.
Ba-dump.
The circle echoed like a living heart, and around her soul, a new body started rebuilding itself. This time, nearly immortal and perfect. She could choose how her body would grow this time around, whether she would become a pureblooded Eldari or even embrace her father's human lineage. She could do as she pleased at this moment, and yet she chose her old half-blood form. The only thought guiding her was simple: Kai fell in love with that form, and that form was the Liliya he loved.
And with that thought, Archon Liliya was born.
Well, actually, something even greater. A being above all other Archons, an Origin Archon. A being only half a step from divinity.
She stood up, waved her hand, and absorbed her Arcanum and her items into her new, immensely larger inner realm. Then, with a simple flick of her wrist, she wove from pure mana a black, elegant blouse with a skirt that fell to her knees and wrapped it all in sky-blue robes bearing the image of a split atom across the back.
Her grimoire flowed out of her realm and into her arms. She bound it at her hip, took up her pale white staff, and walked outside.
***
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Strider sat beside a blazing katana made of pure light, frozen in time. A blade forged for the very first Patriarch of the Solei family by Luminarius himself. And it now obediently lay before Strider, not saying a word.
Strider clapped at Liliya’s elegant entrance and smiled, while Victorio’s ghost floated nearby with his mouth wide open.
“First, this son of a...” He paused as Strider gave him a cold look. “Stole the Flowing Light, and now you actually show up radiating the power of an Archon, and not just any Archon. The peak one, stronger than even I was?!” Victorio muttered.
“So, you succeeded?” Strider smiled, ignoring the mumbling ghost.
“Did you expect anything less?” She smirked. “I see you broke its spirit?” She nodded toward the unsheathed blade.
“Nothing beats being trapped in an endless time loop in a realm of rushing waters.” Strider cracked a cold smile, at which the blade vibrated slightly. “Flowing Light, won’t you say hello to the head of the Solei family?” Strider spoke sternly.
The blade vibrated again, and then a youthful, boyish voice spoke.
“Flowing Light greets the Matriarch,” he muttered loudly.
“Well, hello, aren’t you a polite weapon?” She smiled.
“I have received information that Luminarius is preparing for another war. He has noticed that the gods of Death, Life, and Reincarnation have assembled in the First Hell. The Eldari will probably all be recruited before long,” she said.
“But you won’t let that happen, right?” Strider concluded.
“Indeed. To prevent this senseless slaughter and internal war, while we do not know how long the universal wall will hold, I will take over the Central Continent before he sends the commands. To do that, I need to defeat Licht and the Envoy,” she declared coldly.
“I see. You know I did not sign up for a continental war, but life sure gets interesting alongside you. I will stick around,” Strider decided.
“I am still not going to pick you; you know that, right?” Liliya squinted judgmentally.
Strider laughed, which was very uncharacteristic for him. “I know. Shame, though.” He smirked.
Liliya then grabbed onto Victorio’s ghost and poured origin mana into him, rebuilding his form.
“Well then, Grandfather. I have repaired your body. Though it is under my complete control, I have created a smaller version of the Light Network that connects you to me. I will see everything you see. Just try me. You have one task. Call all the families that are on good terms with us. I need to meet them and fix them up.” She smiled.
Victorio sighed, deflated, the signs of his old prideful self long beaten out of him.
“Yes, Matriarch.” He nodded and merged fully into his rebuilt body.
Suddenly, his eyes widened. “It’s stronger?” he gasped.
“I gave it a bit of a boost. Can’t have my closest ally using that old thing.” She winked.
Victorio’s cold face softened slightly. “Thank you, granddaughter. I truly made a huge mistake back then.” He sighed and left.
“You can trust him?” Strider mused.
“He is but a puppet. Don’t stress about it,” she responded coldly. “Time to contact the Towers,” she added.