Chapter 382 - Earth and Leguardia

“Maybe running so much energy through my body isn’t such a good idea….”

Sweat dotted my brow as I watched the others get into place around me. It felt like I was in the hot seat around a circle of chairs, one for each of the Electi.

“You’ll be fine. I didn’t detect a significant amount of strain when you channeled another Electi’s power during your travels.”

“That was ‘one’ extra! We are ramping up all the way to the full power of all the gods!”

“Awww, don’t you have faith in my contraptions? I’ll have you know that they are currently at a 3-sigma success rate since partnering up with Sir Magellan.”

“What was the outlier?”

“Combining all the Resonance Stones into one giant one, resulting in an explosion.”

“Aren’t we doing the same thing here?!”

Katalina had so much confidence in her data extrapolation that I wouldn’t just croak from activating everyone’s powers within me. During my journey through many of the sites, I occasionally borrowed the powers of the other Electi. Since Sistina had provided me with her aid, I could feel her blessing flowing through me, allowing for a limited use of them.

When Katalina found out, her first question was whether that synchronization could be variable. Using the knowledge that she gained from the ancient archives within the sites, Lamps and she went about analyzing the powers of the Electi, and by extension, the divine powers of the gods. With the cooperation of Sistina, they had discovered how easily everyone’s powers could be linked into a single body. It was the way that the gods gave their apostles similar powers, but it didn’t require a divine intervention to perform.

Like how the world was characterized with stats and numbers through a magical program, the bestowed powers followed a certain code. While they couldn’t be recreated by current means, slight alterations could redirect the powers of the Electi somewhere else, if only for short periods.

Because of that, I was now the glorified guinea pig in the room, Resonance Stones glowing upon different parts of my body. Each of the other fellow Electi possessed a single Resonance Stone in their bodies, the other pair to the ones I had.

If all went well, I would hold a power capable of going against the Architect….

“Before, we didn’t have a proper conduit that large amounts of energy could be channeled through. It seems that the powers of the Goddess of Connections are crucial to holding it all together. Without that, there is no way to contain that energy in one place. It would disperse, like the discharging of a battery.”

“I suppose an incarnation of the divine gods is a bit more complex than a Resonance Stone….”

I couldn’t argue against her logic, knowing that Katalina would never willingly endanger me. But as the mana flowing between the stones went from a trickle to a stream, I could feel an indescribable heat coursing through me.

I felt wired, every part of my body starting to itch with energy. I imagined that this would be what it felt like to be literally emitting an aura of power like I was going Super-

“Oh shit, it burns!”

My body bobbed to the side, causing me to take a quick step to correct myself. But then, I suddenly found myself smacking right into an invisible shield; I had taken a Ludmila-paced step and ended up colliding right into the barrier that was set up in the middle.

Bouncing off it and toward the ground, I tried to catch myself. But as soon as my palm touched the ground, a crater formed, causing the ground to ripple outwards from me. The wave went to the dome-like barrier and stopped, fully keeping the impact contained.

I looked sheepishly around, surprised by how much of a loose cannon I had become.

“The barrier’s holding up just fine. Feel free to make more mistakes!” Katalina called out to me.

“Thanks… maybe we should have done these powers one at a time? You know, so that I could get used to them?”

It wouldn’t be easy to suddenly have access to new abilities of this magnitude. Fortunately, the Architect found no need to check in on the ‘vanquished’ heroes of Leguardia. He had his own planet to nurture, fully occupied with that. We had ample time to complete the training session needed for the final confrontation… hopefully.

I spent many more minutes growing accustomed to the increased power levels of everyone’s mana funneling into my body. It was necessary for the solution that we came up with. Focusing that power into the ground, I activated my Eyes of Providence to look past the surface and deep underground. My vision swam through the mana veins that dwelled within.

Deep, deeper, until I could see the faint core of the planet in my vision.

Just like me, the Architect had the ability to penetrate all the way down to a planet’s core. He could inject the power that he had straight into it, delivering the critical blow it needed to rejuvenate. Just like him, I sent my mana down and let it join with the core of Leguardia, seeing the light grow a little stronger.

But an entire planet was a hungry beast. It soaked up all of our reserves, and soon, everyone around me was on their knees. The amount that we possessed wasn’t enough. The Architect had stolen a large part of that energy. And to succeed in reviving Leguardia fully, we had to take it back.

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The sensation of a planet’s full power rippled through my body. It was much more intense than my practice run before. But I had to show the Architect. I had to show him our solution. Only then, he would give up and leave things to fate once again.

Slowly, the green spread where we stood, until the horizons were dyed with it. With everyone’s power combined, it was enough to kick start the dead core that was deep within the Earth. I could see it in my vision – little streams of mana emitting from a pulsating core, reaching out like a baby grasping for the light. It stretched farther and farther, until it reached the surface, where little sprouts of life began to bloom.

Indeed, the Architect had been right. One could take the energy from one planet and transplant it to another to revive it. But if we were to only do that, then we wouldn’t have opposed him.

Several beams of light rained down. From within them, my companions emerged – the real ones in their own bodies. The Resonance Stones attached to them glowed through their clothing, displaying that they were connected to me. And because of the energy being spent by them, they all looked a little bit weary.

“Seems like you did it, Claude,” Cornelius walked up to me with a warm grin. “The lands of Leguardia are feeling quite a bit of the energy as well.”

Lamps butted in with the pose of a mad scientist, showing off a holographic display with various numbers and diagrams that I could hardly interpret.

“Already, the area that you called the ‘Forbidden Lands’ have stopped becoming hazardous to the approach of normal life. The diffusion of mana has reversed course, flowing outwards to the surface as it should, rather than being sucked inward.”

Amidst these discussions, one person remained incredibly confused – the Architect.

“How?! There should only be enough mana to support one planet! You can’t simply support two halfheartedly! This is not ‘saving’ either one!”

“Woah, take a chill pill for a moment there, me. We haven’t finished explaining.” I lifted up my shirt and showed him my glowing torso. The core deep inside my body was brimming with so much power that even my body couldn’t mask its exuberance. “Think about it. We’ve been using Resonance Stones to transmit power across space all the way between worlds. Now, what if we used that on a global scale?”

The Architect’s jaw dropped. Of course, it would. Everyone’s did the moment that thought was thrown into the fray. But knowing that the Resonance Stones had such reach, it seemed like a distinct possibility.

And furthermore, we had living proof that mana could fluctuate between two sides, making each one feel whole again.

I thought back to Gwendolyn and Orwitz, twins who had been born with halves of a core. Somehow, we had invented an attachment to their cores, using Resonance Stones to sync the mana between the two of them, so that they could live independent lives.

But to do the same with entire planets… it took a considerable effort to channel such vast amounts of energy in such a way. Not to mention, the proper containers were needed.

Fortunately, there were already ‘samples’ that were accustomed to housing large amounts of energy from the planet to take back to a certain god….

Realizing this, the Architect went up to Sistina, finally seeing that she held no power any longer. Smiling, Sistina answered his confusion.

“I left that body behind for this one. So that they could consolidate the Resonance Stones that were needed to continue running Leguardia. Now, I am nearly as powerless as you.”

In the end, I had severed the connection between Sistina and the body that she left behind as the core. She had willingly given up her divine powers so that the planet she loved would regain a beating heart.

Letting everyone entrust their power to me as the main source, one final Resonance Stone – that largest one that Sistina had ever created – was linked to my body.

Even as I connected my power to the Earth’s core, that same energy was being cycled to Leguardia’s, reviving both planets at the same time.

‘That’ was the solution that we had come up with. One that the Architect would have never realized as he had long stopped trusting in others. He had walked away from any opportunity when he decided to do things his way, and only now, his eyes shone with recognition that this would have been a better goal to work towards. Still, his face said that one thought still remained.

“Why? Why would you go through the trouble to save both worlds? Leguardia is the only world you have ever known! It’s natural that you shouldn’t-”

“What, that we shouldn’t hold any attachments to Earth?” I interrupted. “Why does it matter that you created a grand illusion upon Leguardia? The fact that all of us are here, that the world has evolved in such a way, your impact can be felt in all this. So, we don’t reject what you have done, just the notion that you need to write us off to achieve what you wish for. “

Sistina walked up to the Architect, extending him a hand again.

“Your dreams have been fully realized, thanks to them. But still, it is only the beginning. Earth needs a caretaker. Not gods, but a human that remembers what it was like to live here. Without our powers, we stand before a new world as mere humans, but we can still do plenty to revive the place we call home. Will you not join me?”

The Architect stared at Sistina, his eyes somewhat skeptical.

“You will forgive me even after all I have done? You will still extend that hand to me?”

“Of course, I will. I finally have the courage to do so. You have Claude to thank-”

I placed a hand on Sistina’s shoulder, cutting her off.

“Let’s not sweat the details. Time is growing short. It’s best that we move on….”

“But shouldn’t we help you-” Sistina looked around, but she saw not a single look of surprise on their faces.

“I already discussed it with them. Katalina was pretty pissed at first. But then, she understood. Everyone here is thankful for everything that you’ve done to keep Leguardia alive for as long as you have. And it’s not like I’ll just disappear or something. I’ll just be sleeping for a bit, until they can figure out another solution. I can trust that they will find a way.”

I had made my decision. There was no longer any need for Electi and gods, now that Earth and Leguardia were revived. The only thing left was to consolidate that power into one being and let nature run its course. The person chosen would be stuck on Earth, as there was no Resonance Stone to serve as a relay for the mana. But all of that collected power in one body would be its replacement. With that, I would do what Sistina had done for so long, as it took everything I had to impart that level of mana. Already, it felt like I was growing weak from supporting the planets. And everyone else was straining to maintain that connection.

“Well… let’s get started… I don’t think I have that much in me to stay awake for too much longer…”

The companions around me where here to say goodbye. To me and to their powers as Electi. They had committed to giving them up, as each one of them had found a greater purpose that didn’t require them anymore.

They had all found a ‘home’ for themselves.