Supreme Magus

The idea of losing her body again the moment the battle was over tore Solus's heart apart. Yet instead of crying, she used Light Mastery to create a hologram of her real self down to the last detail that would preserve that memory forever.

***

It took Solus several hours of practice and the help of the others to improve her hand to eye coordination. Over time, her body gained a mass superior to that of any human and the muscle memory from her previous life returned.

It meant that the tower had preserved everything she needed to regain all she had lost, but it didn't have enough juice to restore so much in the little time they had left. A little before the twenty-four hours that Aren had given them ran out, Lith called the beasts representative with the Council amulet.

"Are you saying that you've found a way to disrupt the Forbidden Sun?" The Jǫrmungrandr could barely contain his surprise and excitement.

"Yes. The key lies in the Light Torch department." Lith used the amulet to share with Aren the schematics of both the building and its arrays. "If completely destroyed, recharging the Forbidden Sun will become impossible long enough to make the city die on its own.

"Kolga isn't a cursed object. The mana geyser fuels the water dome and its defenses, but that's it. Without the sacrifices keeping the light and darkness amount stored inside the Forbidden Sun in check, the magic that empowers the city is likely to backfire.

"If darkness runs out first, the excess of light element might turn the inhabitants of Kolga into mindless trolls while if the Forbidden Sun lacks light, the crops will die and the regenerative abilities will disappear. Either way, the city will be an easy prey." Lith said.

Aren and the other members of Jiera's Council discussed for a while before nodding in approval.

"Thanks for your help. All of you have been an invaluable asset to our people. If only we had someone of Lord Leegaain's caliber on this side of the ocean, maybe we would have solved this issue centuries ago." Aren said with a sigh while looking at Fenagar, who snorted in reply.

The Jǫrmungrandr had many things to say about his ancestor and none of them was kind. Yet arguing with a Guardian would have brought him nothing but trouble so he let it slide.

"I'll immediately arrange for your retrieval. You've done more than enough and you deserve some rest in Reghia. I'll make sure that you are properly compensated for your efforts."

"Thanks for your offer, but I disagree." Lith shook his head, putting Solus's plan into action. "We are the only ones who have been inside the Light Torch. By combining our powers, we can create a Warp Steps that can lead you inside the building.

"This way, the attack force will avoid the external and internal defense mechanisms, dealing the biggest damage in the shortest possible time before the Forbidden Sun cripples their powers."

The greed in the eyes of the Council Members told him that he had almost got them where he wanted. Inside the city but away from the tower where Solus would face the King. After all, only an idiot would have passed up the opportunity of an inside job.

A surprise attack at the heart of the enemy base was something almost too good to be true.

"I appreciate your offer, but this kind of planning requires time. First, we need to study the arrays and find the best way to make the damage we inflict to them spread to the Forbidden Sun, and then we need to assemble our elite forces.

"I understand that once you leave the city the Warp Steps strategy will be off the table and the attack will be more difficult, but I believe that proper preparation will more than make up for it." Maeve the Morrigan, the plant representative of the Council said.

Lith inwardly cursed at their indecisiveness, but it was still within his expectations. Kolga had resisted many assaults in the past and the intel that he had provided was more than the Council had hoped for.

On the one hand, attacking from the inside would make the initial assault easier, but then the troops would have to face the entire population of Kolga while they were still under the full effects of the Forbidden Sun.

The number of casualties would likely be high, especially during the retreat since the Awakened couldn't leave the city with the same Warp Steps with which they had arrived.

On the other hand, attacking from the outside would force the army to fight every meter that separated them from the target. Yet thanks to the schematics Lith had shown them, after a bit of study the Council would be able to mess with the Forbidden Sun from a safe distance and weaken the enemy.

"I don't think that waiting is an option." Lith said. "Khalia's sacrifice allowed me to get inside the Light Torch, but to collect so much information, I had to overstay my welcome and I ended up exposing my real nature in self-defense."

"What?" Jiera's Council said in unison while each one of its members cursed their bad luck.

"It was that or coming out empty handed." Lith shrugged. Lying was second nature to him and even Fenagar couldn't detect his deception from a hologram.

"This way, at least we know how the ritual works and we have a shot at bringing it down.

"Yet if you don't act now, they could reinforce the Light Torch or create a back-up site for the ritual that would be impossible to discover with the same stratagem I employed even if you manage to get another pin from Leegaain."

"Why did you take such risk? Finding about the Light Torch was more than enough. In the end, the information you brought us about the arrays is pointless if we don't have the time to exploit it." Aren said.

"For several reasons." Lith used Light Mastery to produce a hologram of Khalia's fate followed by another showing what happened whenever a child was born. He made it so that instead of using another child, the mages of Kolga used a Shyf cub.

Light Mastery didn't project memories, but everything he wanted so doctoring the events was child's play for him. The images made even the most ancient and cynic among the Awakened want to puke.

"I've seen myself the internment camp where our kin is brought after being turned into meat dolls whose only purpose is to produce sacrifices for the rituals." Lith stared in the eyes of both the human and the beast representative to ensure that half the Council would be by his side.

"I couldn't let Khalia's sacrifice go to waste. Not after witnessing how the ritual affects my continent as well." Lith used the amulet to contact the Garlen's Council as well while he showed how the ritual disposed of both the Chaos and the darkness it produced.

"A constant flow of necromantic energies like that is bound to have pretty obvious effects. Does such a phenomenon ring any bell?" Lith asked.

"Oh, dear." Leegaain shivered while creating a mind link with Tyris.