"You are not like me and my sister, Solus. You are a good person. If you use those techniques even once, you will never be the same again."
"I'm okay with that." Solus swept the air with her hand. "I have too much to lose now. I have too many people I care about to dispense mercy to those who have none for me."
She took Elysia in her arms and the baby tried to reach for her hair which Solus gave to her. Elysia grabbed and sucked a lock of hair, pulling at it with the little strength she had until Solus animated it with Spirit Magic and wrapped her hair around the baby.
Elysia cried and smiled with joy, looking at Solus with so much love that she started to cry.
"It doesn't matter what happens to my enemies. If it means going back to my family and daughter, I'm willing to bury an entire country."
***
At the same time, inside the Mansion's keep and inside the tower.
"Epphy has grown a lot and so has the tower." The Mother looked at the white veins in the grey stone of the tower walls in admiration.
"Yeah, too bad that she doesn't trust us one bit." Silverwing tried and failed to access the guest control panel, discovering that both she and Malyshka were marked with the lowest level of clearance.
"Can you blame her for that?" Baba Yaga shrugged. "We know her but she doesn't know us. Also, it's not like we've done much since Epphy returned to our lives to earn her trust. On the contrary, you have almost destroyed it."
They toured the tower while taking notes, both trying to remember everything they could of Menadion's workings and remaining shocked more than once as the present tower outshone the tower they had visited centuries ago.
They found themselves cut out of both the Thievery, whose door remained sealed shut, and the Grimoire. The Prime Engine wasn't locked, but all the screens were turned off so that they couldn't see what the current settings of the tower's battle form were.
Ragnarök followed them from a distance, never losing sight of them and displaying full control over the surveillance system as if it were the owner himself.
"That sword is really creepy. Have you ever seen something like that?" Silverwing asked while entering the Prime Engine.
"Similar, yes, but it was a cursed object whereas that's just a sword." Baba Yaga looked around the room, noticing the appearance of new crystals on the walls that weren't present in Ripha's original blueprints.
"If it's 'just a sword' how can it operate the tower?" Silverwing pointed out. "The imprint of the master is required for that along with Lith's energy signature."
"The blood." Baba Yaga replied. "The construct that the blade uses as a body carries also Lith's blood. That coupled with his mana stored inside the Spirit Crystals gives Ragnarök the ability to mimic its master's energy enough to control the tower."
"Again, creepy." Silverwing nodded. "What do you make of this 'Prime Engine'? Do you think I should do something similar for my own mage tower?"
"I don't think, I know." Baba Yaga sighed, pointing at the five stone pedestals in the middle of the room. "Without a battle form, a tower is no good against opponents stronger than yourself.
"It lacks mobility and the ability to redirect power from quality-of-life floors to the offensive and defensive enchantments."
The Mother looked around the room, sighing deeply in a mix of envy and acceptance.
"This is the reason why to this very day even the Guardians consider Solus' tower superior to mine. I made too many floors dedicated to my kids and experiments and too few specific to boost my prowess under different circumstances.
"Compared to me, Ripha was single-minded to the point of compulsion."
"Why don't you change your tower, then?" The First Magus asked.
"At this point, it's too late." Baba Yaga replied. "It would require so many alterations to the power core that it would be easier making a new one from scratch."
"Since we are already here, do you have any idea what happened to the Ears of Menadion? I've looked for them far and wide, hoping to gift them to Epphy and show her my goodwill, but to no avail."
"You should start by calling her Solus. I'm sure she would love that." The Mother said with a snort. "Sadly, I have no idea. All the pieces of the set are lost to time and those who own them either didn't know their value or hid themselves."
"What do you think will happen to Ep- Solus' tower once the five pieces are reunited?" Silverwing hated calling Elphyn like that.
It was like accepting that the goddaughter as she knew her was dead and dealing with an entirely different person.
Baba Yaga gently caressed the Fury, going from hilt to head. Then she moved to the Hands, the Eyes, the Mouth, and lastly to the empty spot before turning around and saying:
"Only the gods know."
***
At the same time in the Ballroom, the people from the Kingdom were drinking alcohol like it was water to overcome the shock of meeting Verhen's heir. If not for Orion's vow to not consume alcohol and Jirni's pregnancy, they would be both tipsy as well.
"Six streaks from birth." Friya groaned. "To think that people like me and the Queen had to work hard our whole life while people like Rudd never got a single streak. Life is unfair."
"Said the noble, magically gifted, gorgeous woman who is also one of the rare dimensional mages." Nalrond teased her, making her blush.
"Stop making me sound like an idiot!"
"Don't worry, babe, you already do an excellent work by yourself." He replied. "Morok, do you mind if I talk alone with Quylla for a second?"
"No problem." The Tyrant was sitting with his head down and his shoulders slouched. "Dammit, unless that jerk of Glemos did an awesome job on me or Quylla's genes work miracles, my friendly rivalry with Lith just ended with my utter defeat."
"Why? Did you have any doubt?" Jirni scoffed, still seeing no value in the former Ranger aside from the ability to make her daughter settle down.
Meanwhile, Nalrond dragged Quylla to a side room filled with enchantments that would ensure their privacy. n-(In
"I'm a married woman and you have a fiancée. You know that, right?" She said with mock indignance.
"Yes, but you are also a great healer and the only other member of our group to have reached the bright violet core. That's the reason I called you right here and right now. Congratulations, by the way." Nalrond checked to have closed to doors before sitting on a chair and gesturing her to do the same.
"Thanks, but for a regular Awakened it's not a big deal. Reaching the deep violet was much harder and more painful. This time I expelled very few impurities." Quylla replied.
"Impurities? I thought that past the bright blue Awakened had no more impurities to expel." Nalrond asked in confusion.
"You would be right if I hadn't taken part in the When All Are One array during the War of the Griffons." Quylla replied.