A Rite of Banishnt was a relatively simple ritual. It needed only three components to work. The first was that he who had perford the summoning had to be the one to carve the runes. This was not always possible since when spirits went free, they usually prioritized killing any who had control over them, but there were ways around it, even if they significantly weakened the end result.
The second was that the summoned creature had to willingly walk into the circle. Again, this wasn’t an easy task, but subterfuge and guile often sufficed.
The last and most important factor was that both sides had to have fulfilled the terms of the summoning.
Normally, it wouldn’t be hard to determine if this requirent had been t. However, in this particular instance, the summoning had been done by four different people with different desired outcos. While they all wanted the result to be the wyverns’ defeat, that wasn’t all the requirents they placed on the summon, whether consciously or unconsciously.
Nick was pretty sure he hadn’t accidentally fed the colossus a secondary objective, but given that it had copied his [Vitality Drain], which he’d certainly not ant to allow, he couldn’t be sure. What he did know was that the priests had wanted the original summons to possess him—whether permanently or just long enough to win wasn’t clear, but it didn’t really matter, given that had he allowed it, the divine presence would have fundantally changed who he was. Therefore, It made sense that this twisted creature would consider him its highest priority.
It has taken [Vitality Drain] from , fire magic from Marthas, leaving the two priests to grant it its purpose—one to kill the wyverns and one to possess .
All in all, this was a gamble. If the Rite of Banishnt hit the three requirents, even if just obliquely, then the monster would be forcibly ejected from reality. If it lacked even one, it would not affect it.
The runes began glowing as Nick fed them the ager mana he had left, praying to whatever entity was listening that it would work.
As soon as the colossus stepped fully onto the circle, a glowing golden barrier sprung up around it, cutting it off from the environnt. Nick felt the magic go to work, tearing away at its connection to the material world.
The monster didn’t seem to appreciate the surprise, as it released an earth-shaking growl and slamd its fists against the barrier, but it was too late. Nothing it could do from the inside would break the ritual until it had fulfilled its purpose.
Nick watched with bathed breath, waiting for the monster to start dissipating. Any mont now.
When a few more seconds went by, and nothing happened, he felt his shoulders sag, but dutifully turned and started running again. Behind him, the sound of the circle shattering as it found no purchase seed like a death knell, but he spared it no thought, consud as he was with putting as much distance between himself and the colossus.
A flash of lightning streaked from the opposite side; Thunder bood, and the ground shook, but the monster absorbed the lightning arcs once more. Arthur growled in frustration and dived away just in ti to avoid being snatched up by the molten limb that lashed out. He tumbled across the ground, swearing, but was unhard as the colossus rumbled on.
Nick felt the rush of frantic footfalls behind him. n rushed about, shooting skills and arrows at it, drawing the monster’s attention away from him. Once it had turned around, Eugene shouted, “Back! Everyone, back!”
Then he clutched sothing to his chest, a red amulet the size of a walnut, before smashing it against his breastplate. A do of translucent fire erupted forth, expanding around him and most of the surviving soldiers.
The colossus roared in indignation. It swelled with dark flas, spewing death from its arms in their direction, while n scrambled to huddle behind the fla shield. Despite being in the opposite direction, Nick felt the heat on his back, and the edges of his hair crisped up. A wave of flas drifted too close to the two priests’ bodies, disintegrating them in a flash.
The red barrier flickered as the colossus hamred it with another wave, cracking at the edges. Eugene grimaced, pushing more power into the artifact. However strong the defensive enchantnt was, however, it wasn’t designed to withstand an onslaught of near-divine black fla. They might have re monts before it collapsed.
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Nick forced himself to face the single option left. He fumbled inside his tattered cloak, retrieving the small, ebony-lacquered box that Ogden had entrusted to him before their expedition.
Opening it felt like a betrayal of everything that had taught him caution with unknown arcana. But the colossus was unstoppable, driven by a savage hunger for Nick’s essence that would see it destroy them all. If this final recourse was lethal, so be it. They’d be dead anyway. This way, it won’t be able to get to Floria.
The box in his hands was small and unassuming. “Only when you’re sure there’s no other way.” Ogden had said. Well, he definitely felt sure now.
The colossus must have sensed sothing because it turned, abandoning its attempt despite being so close to victory. More black flas coiled around its arms, sending visible distortions through the air. The ground quaked again, and Nick stumbled, deafened by the roaring of his own blood. Swallowing, he flicked the box’s catch open with a trembling thumb.
The lid rose, revealing a small, dull green sphere the size of a large marble resting on a satin cushion—a monster core. Unlike typical cores that Nick had seen, though, this one was polished into an orb, and it bore a srizing array of microscopic symbols etched across its surface. It looked almost like an elaborate puzzle box in miniature, each shape overlapping the others in swirling, fractal patterns.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Nick felt a lump of dread in his throat. Did it fail? Was it broken when I was tossed around? Then, a static sensation raced up his arm, and the green core lifted gently from the cushion, levitating under its own power.
A feral bellow ripped from the colossus as if in protest. At the sa ti, it threw a raging torrent of black fla directly at Nick in a final attempt to obliterate him. There was no ti to dodge, nor did he have the power to shield himself. His heart pounded, expecting immolation. But at that mont, the core flared with an erald glow, and the black flas disintegrated midair, collapsing into harmless particles that drifted away like motes of dust. Nick was left unscathed, blinking in shock.
A calm, feminine voice reverberated across the battlefield, tinny and oddly chanical: “Stage One: Nigredo—Initiated.” Nick froze, feeling goosebumps rise on his skin. The n cowering behind the fla shield gaped at him in confusion.
Reacting with fury, the colossus began rumbling his way and unleashed more fla. Churning black fire soared in thick arcs, each one easily potent enough to obliterate him. But as soon as they neared the levitating core, they vanished into green sparks.
The colossus roared a second ti, settling into position by solidifying the molten cinders around its feet, and unleashed a plu of volcanic ash that crackled with stolen electricity—yet it, too, was dissolved upon nearing the orb.
Nick had no idea what was happening, but it was going much better than he’d feared. This likely ant the downside was yet to co, or Ogden wouldn’t have cautioned him so seriously.
His entire attention was fixated on the green sphere. The lines of runes across its surface glowed now, swirling in patterns that Nick’s senses could barely begin to parse.
Then, suddenly, it drifted away from Nick, gliding forward. The monster seemingly recognized the threat as it lurched backward, attempting to retreat enough to prepare an even more powerful attack. Crackling black streams surged from its arms, twisting toward the orb in a last-ditch effort to disrupt it. But like those before it, these, too, dissolved into nothingness before making contact. Even the clumps of molten soot that the colossus hurled at it disintegrated.
The n behind the barrier watched in stunned silence. Arthur limped to the edge, blood streaking his face and his sword hanging limply at his side, while dragging Marthas with him, whose face was twisted in pain and whose eyes were locked on the orb. It was hard to say whether he recognized the device or if he was just as clueless as the rest.
Finally, the green core hovered no more than ten feet from the colossus’s chest. The monster attempted to swat it away, but its limb simply vanished upon contact, dissolving into motes that scattered in the wind. It bellowed in rage, rearing back, yet half of its torso was gone in the next instant. Then, the orb pulsed again, and a surge of erald light flared across the battlefield.
The colossus ceased to exist. One mont, it was a towering mass of cinders; the next, it was nothing more than a swirl of dusty air, drifting away in the breeze. There was no ltdown, no apocalyptic explosion—it was simply gone—erased from reality.
Nick choked on a gasp, struggling to process what he had seen. The orb had undone the colossus in an instant, but the phenonon did not stop there. All across the clearing, the charred remains of wyverns glowed with greenish motes. Cracked scales and severed claws—any piece infused with leftover magic crumbled, disintegrating into faint lights. The half-buried bodies of fallen n also dissolved. Even the churning clouds circling the corners of the dungeon vanished, leaving only harsh sunlight and swirling dust.
The sa faint voice reverberated again, unsettlingly calm: “Stage Two: Albedo—About to Comnce.” Nick shuddered, feeling the hair on his arms stand on end. From his faint knowledge of alchemy, he rembered that in certain traditions, Nigredo was the blackening or decomposition stage, while Albedo was the whitening or purification stage.
It was clearly going to follow through the subsequent phases, but since he had no idea what that might an, he wasn’t about to celebrate.
The orb hovered in the air, pulsing softly. With each pulse, Nick felt a gentle wave of pressure on his mind, as if it were scanning or searching. His instincts scread caution, so he turned back to his father and the battered survivors, urging them to stay behind the shield.
Arthur didn’t heed his warning and soon joined Nick, glancing warily at the orb. “What the hell is that thing?”
Nick shook his head, helpless. “Sothing Ogden gave
in case things were desperate. I had no idea what it would do, but he said it’s extrely dangerous.”
“And what is it doing?” Eugene said from behind the diminishing red fla shield, staring at the orb as it levitated motionless.
Nick swallowed. “I don’t know, but I think we should leave. Now.”
The artifact was seemingly content to keep pulsing, but he wouldn’t wager on it lasting long. Sooner or later, it was going to progress, and Albedo ant purification. He did not want to be subjected to that.
A scramble ensued as the n snapped out of their stupor. Their carefully arranged packs had been scattered during the battle, and no one, not even the greediest adventurers, felt inclined to waste more ti searching for them.
Just as they stepped beyond the battlefield and back into the forest, the artificial voice ca again. “Preparations complete. Bringing light and clarity to the Prima Materia.”
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