Headed by a Snake

Tycondrius elicited the help of footman Tanamar, real name Athanasius Mors, for Athena Vanzano's ritual. He insisted upon weapons, but not armor. Against attacks powered by frost mana, Tycon doubted the effectiveness of leather and steel protection. He wore more than one layer of clothing, as well as an unnecessarily stylish wool scarf.

The drawn formation took the space of most of the basement vault. The tables and shelves were pushed out of the way and several sections of script and shapes were inscribed onto the stones. Tycon tried to summarize what exactly he'd done with the various sections.

Neither of them seemed to understand even a modicum of his efforts.

It allayed Athena's reservations. Tycon took a miniscule amount of solace in that.

Empty night... He wished they'd understood just how gods-damned hard he worked. Ultimately, however... he was not designing a ritual for praise. The true goal was to aid Athena's breakthrough to Bronze-Rank.

Tycon opened the box, unleashing the Frost Stone's blue glow upon the room. He designed the fantastical display with the intent to impress the two.

"Is... is that... my brother's Frost Stone?" Athena's eyes glowed in wonder, quite opposite of the grimace of disgust a few evenings prior.

One of the settings Tycon changed in the stone was the form the mana exhibited within the crystal. Before, it had formed into a handsome snake skull. Now, it was a glowing, stylized lightning bolt, reminiscent of the Vanzano heraldry.

That change, too, took a lengthy amount of time... but was well worth it, considering Athena's look of awe and Tanamar's nod of respect.

...

With the Frost Stone in place at the formation's center, Tycon performed last-minute checks of all of the formation's functions. No apparent errors.

He also checked Athena's condition...

« System, inquiry: Check the affinity between the Frost Stone and Athena. »

⟬ System response: 99%. ⟭

A higher affinity rate could only be a positive change... It... was a dubious jump in number, though.

"So... I just stand here, Sir Tycon?" Athena pirouetted gracefully within a circle at the end of the formation.

"Indeed," Tycon smiled politely. "I will be operating this section, which regulates the mana flow."

"I'm ready! I'll take ALL OF IT!!" Athena declared with confidence.

Tycon narrowed his eyes... "I will increase the power steadily, depending on your tolerance."

"All of it?" The blue-haired noble smiled sheepishly, "I wanna get stronger now."

Tycon shared a worried look with Tanamar, "I'm having second thoughts."

"It's kinda too late to back out now." The footman shrugged, "Anyroad, you've already done all this work. You've even tested it a hundred times over."

"Something to that extent..." Tycon grimaced. He'd tested it in its completion three times-- more than enough, but far from a hundred.

The most likely negative result was Athena suffering the effects of mana overload, which was even more plausible considering her overly confident personality. Tycon was relying on the fact that the girl had a keen mastery of mana sense and would know her limits.

A little mana overload was fine. She would be able to expend additional mana by casting spells, with Tanamar and himself provided as 'target practice.'. If she lost control, the two of them would attack the young lady, forcing her to use her mana defensively.

"Miss Athena, if you would, sit down and circulate your mana," Tycon ordered. "Your goal is to accept the flow of power, regulate it to match your own, and absorb it."

If Athena's mana intake was far higher than her ability to process it, her physical body would be torn asunder by her own power. Tycon did not mention this. He wished for the young lady to strive for success, not to merely avoid failure.

"Yes, Sir!" The young lady obediently sat down. She folded her hands and closed her eyes, appearing to be in devout prayer.

Tanamar channeled his radiant mana to catalyze the ritual... the chalk-drawn lines on the floors and walls beginning to glow with power. Tycon observed the workings... clean, unobstructed... just like the simulations and trials.

2%

5%

10. 20. 33. The girl calmly continued to regulate her mana flow, her body greedily absorbing the Frost Stone's power.

40. 50. 66. Sweat crystallized on Athena's brows and frost mana swirled around her, forming thin, but beautiful fractals along the stone walls.

Tycon was glad he had the mind to apply sealant to the formation. It would be catastrophic if the lines were disrupted or one of the base circles were modified.

"75%, young lady!" Tycon yelled over the localized snowstorm surrounding Athena. "How do you feel?!"

Athena's eyebrow twitched, her face curling up in discomfort, "I'm still okay! K-keep going, I think it's starting to feel good..."

Hm. He would increase the pressure by 5% increments from here...

Tanamar shifted uncomfortably.

"What's your issue?" Tycon glared. "You're not the one in the ritual circle."

"Yeah, it's just..." The footman hesitated, his mouth twisted to the side, "The way she's saying these things is kinda..."

"'Kind of... what?"

"No, nevermind."

80. 85. 87... 90... 91...

Athena's eyes and mouth began glowing at 91. A thin layer of ice formed on her body at 92. She began to aimlessly cast ice lances and frost orbs at 93.

...94?

Athena shrieked in power, levitating up in the air. Her hair stood on end and flowed as power swirled around her, giving her the appearance of a woman submerged in water. She appeared to have lost rational thought.

94 was the limit. Tycon gestured to Tanamar. The Holy Lancer would occupy Athena while Tycon eased the Frost Stone's mana flow.

A mana lance formed in Tanamar's hands as he leapt up and batted it at Athena. A shield of ice formed around her, deflecting the attack without as much as a crack. It was as if Tanamar had struck solid steel.

"Oooooh!!!" The glowing-eyed, floating noble, spun excitedly. "I'm really strong, now! Oh, I'm so happy! I can actually help you in the dungeons, Tanamar!!"

"Tycon!" Tanamar yelled, "Did you turn it off?"

Tycon glared at the boy, raising his voice in annoyance, "Yes, I turned it off! You can visibly see that the formation's lost its power."

"Then why is Athena's power level still rising!?"