Supreme Magus

The Blade gave her mystical senses and enhanced her understanding of magic while the office was right above the mana geyser and filled her to the brim with world energy.

Thrud needed one breath of her personal technique, Regal Flow, to start the process. Just as Jormun had predicted, the Awakening process caused her mana to flood through every fiber of her being and fight against the unnatural rainbow core of hers, trying to beat it into submission.

Thrud's body was ripped to shreds and so was her vortex and her mana core which turned into seven smaller spheres of different colors. As the impurities left Thrud's body, all but the violet sphere grew in power and merged with the blue one the moment their color matched.

As for the vortex, the mana organ that Arthan's Madness had bestowed upon her and that granted her Invigoration-like abilities, it lost part of its mass by releasing small vortexes that fused with Thrud's body.

The mana flow of her Awakening process was more violent than that of a fake mage with a bright violet core. It coursed through the newly-assimilated vortexes in waves, forcing them to curl up into unstable spheres that relaxed the moment the flow decreased.

Yet the process started anew with the following wave, leaving Thrud not a single moment of respite. If not for the Unwavering Loyalty array, she would have died dozens of times in less than one minute..

The power of the Golden Griffon collected the bits of her body that kept exploding with each failed transformation and sewed them back together before her mana core could fade. Yet the Mad Queen's suffering was twofold.

Once when her flesh turned upside down in the attempt to get rid of the impurities and the second when the array restored it. Arthan had made sure that the process was efficient, with no care for how much pain it inflicted.

"Why is it lasting for so long?" Jormun demanded answers from Hystar. "Over than five minutes have passed and no Awakening is supposed to take that long."

They were spectating at the phenomenon from behind a mystical glass that kept the baby in Jakra's arms from hearing Thrud's screams and from witnessing her gruesome deaths.

"I'm as surprised as you are." The Headmaster replied. "None of our students had such problems, but as you know, your wife is as unique as your son."

The living legacy spoke with a familiarity that made Jormun want to puke. The Emerald Dragon punched Hystar to wipe the smug grin off his face and vent centuries of pent-up anger.

"Are you insane? It's only thanks to me that she's still alive!" The Headmaster said in outrage.

"Wrong. It's thanks to the safeguards that Arthan left behind. I did some reading while in my father's library and I know what kind of creature you are. Unless you understand what's happening, I order you to shut up!"

Hystar opened his mouth to reply, but no word came out and his body froze when he tried to return the attack. Jormun carried the same blood as the Royal heir, making him King and one of the masters of the Golden Griffon.

Arthan's slave spells forced the Headmaster to obey and to treat the Emerald Dragon as Royalty. Hystar inwardly cursed at the Mad King and swore revenge, receiving such a powerful backlash from the slave spells that his physical form disappeared.

"Did I do that?" Jormun asked Valeron in amazement.

"Da." The baby replied before falling asleep.

The Emerald Dragon activated Life Vision while also transmitting Invigoration through the wall to understand what was wrong with Thrud.

'For some reason, both the violet sphere and the rest of the vortex that the Awakening process forcefully squeezed out of my body is not fading away. Somehow, I'm retaining both mana organs that the Madness created!' The Mad Queen, however, had already found the cure for her condition.

Thanks to the combined effect of Royal Flow and the Sword of Arthan, she could see the violet mana that her rainbow core had contained until a few minutes back kept trying to return into her body, causing it to be destroyed.

The explosion released the excess energy and allowed the Unwavering Loyalty array to rebuild her body, just for the cycle to start anew. It took Thrud a while to get accustomed to the pain without using darkness fusion.

Blocking her pain receptors would have only made it difficult to her to understand what she was doing wrong.

'I wanted to get used to Awakening before moving to the violet core, but it seems that I can't afford such luxury. Unless I absorb all of the lingering energy from my rainbow core, the Awakening process will never end.' The Mad Queen was aware of the secret of the violet core.

Even though it wasn't written in any of the legacies in her possession, she had understood it after spending centuries researching her condition and studying Xedros for months.

Getting her hands on the legacies and on the description of the different philosophies developed by several different Awakened bloodlines had helped Thrud to deepen her understanding of how a core worked and what she needed to do to move on to the next level.

She used the Sword of Arthan to Dominate her own energy, forcing the mana flowing inside her body to form runes. Becoming a Griffon had also turned her into a true mage and with Jormun's help before he was released from his slavery, she had already converted most of her spells.

The Sword sped up the process, allowing her to master body casting quickly. The vortexes became spheres and after a while they became stable. Then, part of the energy lingering in the room flooded Thrud, bringing her core to violet and then to bright violet in a matter of minutes.

Yet it wasn't enough. Even now that her core was filled to the brim with mana there was still what remained from the vortex forcing its way in, making her body explode less often but explode nonetheless.

'Curse you, father. I lived my life on the run because of you. I sacrificed countless people for our dream and this is what your so-called masterpiece achieved. Whatever the Madness did to me, not even Awakening can fix that.

'What was supposed to be the instrument of our vengeance and the source of our eternal rule has become a curse of living death. Awakening didn't make me powerful, it only turned me into an unliving.

'An eternal prisoner of your accursed academy forced not only to never leave this room but also to experience the pain of death over and over until my mind will break!' Thrud fell to her knees, too tired to fight a battle that she considered already lost.

Her mind shattered as the agony reopened old mental scars and plunged her into despair. Then, her eyes met those of Jormun who was slamming his hand against the glass and on the small figure he was holding in his arm.

'You've taken everything from me, father. My mother, my Kingdom, and even my birthright. I won't let you destroy what little I have. What I earned during the last few centuries I got it not thanks to your legacy, but in spite of it!' She thought.