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The only sound in the Tower of Aetherium was the sound of Arthur's boots tapping the ground with each step before he arrived in his personal office. He had just arrived in the Tower of Aetherium, after sending Elektra and Akeno to their homes in Redux City, promising to heal Ayame to the best of his abilities.
He had pawned Morgana off to Ellara. Compared to Ayame, her injuries were very light, and could easily be healed with basic magic.
Ayame however, would take much more work. Arthur entered his personal office, which revealed a vast, dimly lit room filled. Bookshelves lined many of the walls, while magic relics and arcane instruments were secure in Spatial Boxes.
The air was tinged with the scent of ink and parchment, this was one of the places Arthur spent most of his time. As a reincarnator, he was frankly obsessed with magic, and spent a vast amount of his time in this room, researching & studying magic.
Even though he didn't need to at all, being immortal and exceptionally powerful as a Mythical Spirit Wolf, he still did it, researching was an action he appreciated.
He moved to the middle of the room, and set Ayame down gently onto a wide, plush bed covered in silken sheets. Her once vibrant aura had been all but extinguished.
Arthur extended his hand, and the room around him seemed to hum with an ancient energy. The air grew heavy, vibrating with power as Arthur began to examine Ayame's condition. His fingers hovered over her body, his eyes narrowing as he studied the damage.
The first thing that struck him was the sheer extent of the damage to her physical body. The burning of her life-span and soul-force had a direct impact on her physical body, as it pushed her far beyond her physical limits of power she could contain.
Her bones had been shattered, each one cracked and splintered. Her organs were barely functioning, the vital systems of her body either decayed or damaged beyond repair.
Even her skin had begun to break down, torn and burned in places by the toll the Forbidden Spell had taken.
Arthur's hand hovered above her chest, and he closed his eyes for a moment. The pulse of her life-force was weak, barely present and seconds away from being extinguished.
Arthur's gaze shifted to her aura. The soul of Ayame, once a vibrant and strong flame, was barely hanging on. The spell had ravaged her from the inside out, leaving her soul shattered in multiple places.
A portion of it had already been lost, disintegrating into nothingness as the spell consumed her. Another part was half-shattered, an instant away from following the other portion into nothingness, true death.
The only thing keeping her tethered to life, barely, was the Stasis spell he had placed on her. Without it, her soul would be lost forever. It was a mercy, in a way. But a mercy with its own terrible price.
Never able to reincarnate, death in the truest form of the word.
Her connection to Akeno was also rapidly weakening. The fox spirit's bond with Ayame was the source of much of her strength, but the damage to Ayame's soul had severed that bond, making it harder for Akeno to reach her.
The faintest glimmer of Akeno's presence could be felt, but it was weakening, flickering as if it, too, was on the edge of fading.
Arthur sighed heavily, shaking his head. There was little time. If he removed the Stasis spell now, Ayame would die instantly, her soul breaking apart completely.
But if I leave it too long… he thought grimly, She may fade completely before I can restore her.
Arthur turned away from Ayame's weakened body, looking towards the shelves of ancient tomes of magic, scanning through the collection and snapping his finger, pulling several volumes with ease.
For over a decade, Arthur had poured himself into magic research for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, he had nothing better to do, with all this immense power and no enemies to truly fight, why not research magic and grow his knowledge?
But more importantly, Arthur was determined to solve the intricacies of the soul, with his final goal being to finally gain an understanding of emotions and the nature of being.
He needed to understand why he had no emotions in this life and the last, and he wanted to stop that. This desire had led him to delve into extreme magic research, particularly about the Soul
Although he only stayed on this world for 24 years so far, he was born an adult as he was a Spirit, and was far more efficient at gaining knowledge than others. He had long surpassed the knowledge of even the most premier Spirits, and delved into the most primordial magic.
His attainments were exceptional, and yet, the answers he sought still eluded him. He had even managed, through a combination of theory, magic, and sheer force of will, to bring life to Ellara, a doll that had once been nothing more than an object of art.
Through his magic, he had breathed life into her, binding a soul to a body that had no right to hold one. That experiment had been an unqualified success, but it hadn't answered his deepest question: why?
Why was he incapable of feeling? Why was his soul, despite being full of power, so disconnected?
Now, standing in his office, his fingers brushing over the spines of the books, Arthur needed to put all that knowledge he had learned to the test to try and save Ayame.
He picked up a thick, leather-bound tome and flipped through the pages, which were littered with notes he had written over his years of research, his mind racing through the possibilities.
There was only one way he could think of to truly save Ayame: To BIND his soul to hers and heal her that way!
The binding of a soul to another was no simple feat. It was one of the highest forms of magic, requiring immense precision and power. And yet, there were no existing spells for what he had in mind.
After all, that territory was uncharted, no-one had probably even thought of doing that, it went far, FAR beyond a simple Spirit Contract, Arthur would literally be attaching his soul to Ayame's, almost like a soul hug with the intention to nourish and heal the Superhero.
It was dangerous. It could backfire. The consequences could be catastrophic. Arthur didn't know what other effects such a spell could have, if it could ever be reverted, and many other questions.
However, if it succeeded, it could potentially further Arthur's research on Soul Magic, and bring him one more step closer to solving his mystery.
"Let's see if this works," he muttered under his breath, before turning his attention fully to Ayame's body.
He needed to full design and cast a spell on the fly, it would be difficult, but it was the only way. No guides, no mentors, no assurances, just his vast knowledge and instincts.
His gaze swept over his shelves, finally locking onto two vials glowing faintly with potent life energy.
One contained the shimmering golden ichor of Phoenix blood, radiating warmth and vitality, the essence of rebirth itself.
The other was a swirling, pearlescent liquid: Unicorn blood, brimming with purity and unparalleled restorative properties.
He grabbed both vials and brought them to the bed where Ayame lay motionless. Her body was on the edge, teetering between life and death. Arthur uncorked the vials and held them in one hand, his other glowing faintly as he channeled a steady pulse of Aether into them, activating their dormant magic.
"This will stabilize her body," he murmured to himself. "If nothing else, at least I can give her that."
Arthur poured the Phoenix blood first, letting a single drop fall onto her chest. It spread rapidly, its golden hue seeping into her skin, veins briefly glowing as if her body were reigniting.
Next came the Unicorn blood, which he allowed to trickle across her body in deliberate patterns. The shimmering liquid formed intricate trails, snaking along her limbs, torso, and neck, converging into the beginnings of a Rune Sigil across her chest.
He moved with precision, guiding the blood with gentle streams of Aether as it painted an elaborate, interconnected web of symbols and geometric patterns on her broken frame.
The sigil began to pulse faintly, resonating with Ayame's barely-there life force. Her breathing, shallow and erratic, evened out ever so slightly.
"Good," Arthur muttered, relief flickering across his face, "Now comes the hard part."
He stepped back, rolling his shoulders to release the tension building in his body.
Arthur took a deep breath and began moving his hands in deliberate motions, fingers weaving through the air as he began the process of constructing the spell.
Runes flickered into existence, glowing faintly above Ayame. These were not standard runes, instead they were raw, untest configurations forged from Arthur's vast understanding of Magic.
Arthur's focus was absolute. He started with foundational runes: ones to anchor the Phoenix and Unicorn essences to her body. These glowed gold and silver, syncing with the blood and strengthening the Rune Sigil already present.
Next came runes for connection and stability, in order to make sure the spell didn't go completely haywire. He needed to stabilize the Soul that was on the verge of shattering like glass.
As the runes began to take shape, Arthur's mind was a whirlwind of calculations, making adjustments on the fly to dispel a rune he later realized was useless and replace it with another.
"Not good enough," he muttered after one such misstep. He wiped his brow, the strain beginning to show. The air around him grew dense, crackling with power as the spell grew more complex.
After an hour of relentless focus, the Rune Sigil had expanded, now floating an inch above Ayame's body. Lines of energy connected the runes to her faint soul, strengthening the bond.
Arthur could feel her essence responding, clinging to the lifeline he was creating. Yet, it wasn't enough. Her soul was too fragile, too damaged to heal on its own.
Arthur paused, taking in the glowing framework he had constructed. It was functional, but incomplete. For this to work, he needed to take the final, most dangerous step: binding his soul to hers.
His immense spiritual power would act as a crutch, embracing her fractured soul and nurturing it back to strength.
But this was where the true risk lay. If the connection was too strong, his own soul could overwhelm hers, snuffing it out entirely. If too weak, the bond would fail, and her soul would disintegrate. The balance had to be perfect.
Arthur extended his hand over Ayame's chest, his palm hovering above the Rune Sigil. He began to channel his own essence into the runes. The lights in the rune shifted, tinged with the glow of Arthur's rainbow colored Mythical Spirit Wolf soul.
The runes reacted violently at first, sparking and destabilizing. Arthur gritted his teeth, annoyed as his other hand moving to stabilize the flow of energy.
He adjusted the runes again, fine-tuning their configuration. Sweat beaded on his brow as the strain of channeling so much power began to take its toll.
"Hold… steady…" he growled through clenched teeth, his voice low and focused. The runes flickered, then steadied, their glow now brighter and more stable.
Arthur's eyes narrowed as he prepared to finalize the spell. The room around him pulsed with energy, the air thick with magic so potent it felt almost alive.
He could feel the threads of his soul reaching out, intertwining with Ayame's fragile essence. It was delicate work, like stitching together the torn fabric of existence itself.
"Here we go," Arthur said softly, his voice resolute. With a final surge of power, he activated the spell.
The room exploded with light, the runes burning brightly as they solidified into place, their magic binding the two souls together in an unbreakable connection.