94 The Ladys Demands (1/2)
Regardless of the celebrated historical figure, the suras' demagorias followed the same pattern. In the glade's center, the junior suras, those less than 500 years old, gathered bark and wood logs while the elders engraved runic stones with the story of the concerned figure. After setting the stones in a large circle, the elders kneeled side by side and started their chants, animating their writings with a current of dra.
Unlike humans, suras didn't weave their dra through arcane gestures, relying on chants and dances instead. The juniors piled up the bark and wooden log for a typical bonfire, then joined their elders in dances. As expected, sura flames didn't contain any destructive force. They warmed the heart, soothed the mind, and threw those that opened to them into a festive mood. But if in usual times, all 300 suras should contribute in one way or another, on this occasion, 50 led the aistis to draw a Mutual Reinforcement Circle across the glade with wood branches.
As the suras' work carried on, Kilian sat crossed-legged before a peach blossom tree, eyes closed while eight green crystal shards hovered around his head in rings. Three nail-sized crystal shards for the inner ring and five palm-sized shards for the outer one.
”Three Minor Crystals and five Greater Crystals,” Eleonora said. Few could imagine that this 19 years old magus with the might to dissociate atoms, cast Fifth Circle Spells and transmute lakes, hadn't even reached the Archon rank. Fewer would believe that it'd barely been a year since he started his thaumaturgic training. Of course, if not for Jezebel's Overdrive spell in Ostria, regardless of how gifted he was, Kilian would have wasted a lot of time to reach this point.
To prepare for the Sura Plane, Kilian condensed five Greater Crystals, only missing one to reach the threshold of the Archon rank. But stimulated by the Sura Plane's ongoing clashes and the greater challenges to come, he resolved to kick things up a notch. Green mist strands flowed out of Kilian's pores, gathering beside his five Greater Crystals to condense the sixth. After Adramelech's gift, Kilian's dra took the Prince's green shade, and his crystals adapted to fit his new constitution.
Driven by Kilian's Archon-level dra weaving, the sixth crystal's misty shape solidified, becoming the sixth Greater Crystal. Now with over 50,000 dra of personal reserves, Archon-level Dra Control, six Greater Crystals, the First Shackle and 36 Unlocked Roots, Kilian was more than ready to take the next step of his thaumaturgic path. The misty dra and crystals flew back into his soul, and his eyes opened. Dazzling green rays flashed within, announcing Kilian's promotion to the next thaumaturgic rank.
”Congratulations on becoming an Archon. At this pace, it won't take you three years to rise to Exarch,” Eleonora said, and Inyoka hissed to congratulate his master in his own language. On top of their Dra Shackles, Archons could use Astral Projection to project mirror images of themselves into foreign planes, create an Arcane Bloodline if they didn't have one already, or start modifying the one they inherited.
In some ducal houses, this created a situation where some branches' Arcane Bloodlines became significantly more potent than the others. The von Rulweils' Hallowed Undead lineage was the best example, creating an insurmountable gap between Alaric's descendants and the rest. Across all Arcane Houses, only the von Skolls failed to enhance their Arcane Bloodline.
But while what Kilian obtained from Adramelech far surpassed his von Skoll kinsmen, his soul hid something else, and thanks to Ashera's care, he could freely activate it: Klaus' Crystal Sovereign lineage.
In terms of sheer destructive powers, to say nothing of Kilian's Atomkinesis, the Crystal Sovereign lineage couldn't compare to the von Skolls' Nucleokinesis. But for a simple reason, even the imperial kinsmen dreaded it. With this Arcane Bloodline, Klaus could weaken or outright destroy the Elemental Crystals in his foes' Dra Roots.
The ability had its limitations, but so far, no one could restore destroyed Elemental Crystals. For human magi whose magical abilities relied mainly on them, such a fate was no worse than death. In his youth, this ability made Klaus infamous and contributed to many aristocrats' hatred for him. Now, it belonged to Kilian too.