Indeed, a black mass of shrimp-like monsters were now scaling the cliff. Lyse hardly found their presence delectable. She half hoped to see crab monsters among the crustaceous bunch. Those might have actually enticed her, but their inky black appearance was decidedly unappetizing.
“Is the spell circle causing this?” Egbert asked upon sighting the monsters himself.
“Very likely so, but we’re not about to let them interrupt us!” Alcede called out in a bit of a fluster.
Lyse peeked at the circle, which was now partially illuminated. Monsters would be an essential part of fueling the trial Light, but an influx of them too soon would simply interrupt the ritual. They’d have to start all over if it fell apart now, so Lyse stood her ground to defend the three men.
“Allow me to handle this,” she said as she drew her sword. “Come on out and protect us, okay?”
With that, a lupine and an avian monster leaped from her pocket and rushed to face the incoming foes. The bird soared ahead and launched a fireball at the troupe of shrimp, the resulting explosion of which annihilated a third of them.
Up next was Lyse, who cut down foe upon foe with a single sweep of her sword. “Wow, what an upgrade!” she cried in excitement.
The day before, she’d conducted a little experiment of her own by melting down some of the white stone that surrounded the Light of Origin and applying a thin layer of it to her blade. As she almost exclusively fought monsters, she thought the coating would give her an edge in combat—and her theory had proved correct. She was pleasantly surprised with how well it worked during this test run. The monsters she missed were readily tackled and mauled by her wolf.
Lyse let out a sigh of relief as the battle waned, pleased with having cleared out the shrimp. That joy, however, was short-lived. More black figures soon began creeping up the cliff. Just as she readied her sword again, she heard Alcede’s voice calling out to her.
“We’re ready here, Miss Lyse!”
She looked back to see the spell circle aglow and the men standing about ten paces back from it.
“I’m activating it now!”
The glow of the circle grew to be nearly blinding as the pile of black stones at its center melted into the ground. The next instant, a light the circumference of a young tree sprouted in their place. It quickly grew to be twice Sidis’s height.
“You did it!” Lyse exclaimed as she and her tamed monsters retreated to the scene.
Crab-like monsters now emerged on the shore and made a beeline for the small Light. With each beast it consumed, the Light grew visibly brighter, taller, and wider.
“Just as we theorized, monsters do in fact feed the Light...” Alcede murmured.
And then, suddenly...came a familiar screech. Everyone instinctively covered their ears as they grimaced at the intense cacophonic sound.
“Gods, that noise must mean the Light...” Lyse trailed off as she looked in the direction of the capital. “The Light! It’s...swirling?”
“The flickering must mean it’s becoming more unstable,” Sidis added. The Light had always stood like a pillar to pierce the heavens, even through previous aberrations. Yet now it spun like a stationary tornado.
“Is that because of what we’ve created?” Egbert wondered, as the timing suggested it was no coincidence.
“I don’t know for sure, but we ought to extinguish this Light here anyway!” Panic permeated Alcede’s voice as he ordered the destruction of his infant creation.
However, just like crafting it, dismantling the spell circle required a substantial amount of mana. Alcede launched a magical attack to take care of the job—but it merely bounced off the circle.
“Allow me!” shouted Sidis, who channeled his inner Light to blast it.
It broke the circle immediately, extinguishing the model Light. The encroaching monsters took a moment to process the sudden loss of their target. Some then turned to attack the group, while others headed for the palace. Their precious Light was—
As Lyse brandished her sword again, she observed the Light of Origin shining straight and true once again. The good omen buoyed the group’s spirits as they dealt with the remaining monsters, but Egbert in particular wasn’t entirely relieved.
“I didn’t expect having two Lights at the same time would cause this much interference...” he griped. The trial hadn’t gone as smoothly as he’d hoped.
“At least we’ve learned that we can create one, and we know it works. It’s just that...”
“We’ll have to extinguish the original Light first,” said Sidis, completing Alcede’s thought.
“That’s easier said than done, though.”
“It’ll wreak havoc. But thinking about the aberrations scares me too, honestly.” Sidis looked toward the capital and sighed.
“They’re also causing chaos,” Lyse said sympathetically. She feared leaving the current situation to fester would result in even more distrust for foreigners in the empire. They needed to mend the Light one way or another lest the prejudice grow. She’d rather bear the brunt of ill rumors than have that happen.
“If we’re to extinguish the Light of Origin, we need a good reason that people will accept. But the question of how to do that still remains...” It was uncommon to see such a scowl on Alcede’s face, but he retrieved a bag of treats from his bosom as if to soothe that very problem.
Lyse began picking her brains for any inkling of an idea but alas came up dry. Sidis stayed quiet and focused, apparently pondering the matter himself.
Then, Egbert spoke up. “I could just abdicate.”
“What?!” the other three shouted, all staring at the emperor.
“You heard me. I’ll abdicate and Sidis can take the throne. He bears the Light, and if we announce that his spouse does too, we can frame it as a way for them to stabilize the Light,” he explained, unfazed. “And since Sidis can control the Light, we can feign ignorance and shrug this all off thanks to his oh-so mysterious powers. It’s not like anyone knows what he can and cannot do, so no one could call our bluff.”
“That sounds simple enough, but I don’t know if it’ll go as smoothly as we hope...” mulled Alcede. He reached into his breast pocket for another cookie to counteract the frown that had reappeared on his face.
“Wh-Whoa! Hang on a tick, Alcede! Are you really just going to roll with that plan?!” For once, Sidis seemed panicky.