There was of course a reason Allegra had included all those symbols and all those ranges of emotions and it was mostly for stability. Take one out and the entire manuscript falls apart. Or it would unless acceptable replacents were included.
And that was where the ’Vestiges of Divinity’ ca in.
The Divine energy had been trapped by symbols created by Allegra herself were like those in the manuscript so they could be used to replace the ones that Caius and sent away. So he gave them a try.
Arlette watched, confused as Caius worked and soon the empty Arcane circle was inlaid with only the symbols Caius had left behind of the Manuscript as well as those ford with the vagrant Divine energy. Even more, she could feel the two sets of symbols forming a synergy.
And why wouldn’t they?
The manuscript was the key to Allegra’s goal of creating more of the Divine energy anyway.
Just as Caius had told Arlette earlier, the manuscript targeted a part within the user that governs their very essence and their magical limit. It made the essence of the user’s being fuller and richer but ultimately left it empty. This Divine energy, ford into Allegra’s symbols was perfect for filling that emptiness.
Combined, the finite Divine energy beca a Divine seed that could take root and then grow into a fruitful tree that would let more divine energy spawn almost as normally as Mana would.
Watching the symbols synergizing, Caius knew he had succeeded and he had actually been a lot more nervous than he probably appeared.
In [To Kill A Demon Lord...], Aurelius had had a mont where he realized how closely related the Manuscript and the symbols of the ’Vestiges of Divinity’ were and the narrator—Sam_Ellis the Author—had gone on a bit of a tangent to suggest that the treasure of Allegra’s manuscript wasn’t either the manuscript or the ’Vestiges of Divinity’ and instead, the two together ford the true prize.
In the narrative of the story though, the one who reached the Legacy first—Aurelius—had no use for the manuscript—because he wasn’t a vampire—and simply digested the little bit of divinity within dial to aid him in recovering so particular mories of his past life to get himself a sweet power-up.
Speaking of which, Caius may have just derailed that particular plot developnt but he couldn’t really bring himself to care all that much. He had far better plans for the ’Vestiges of Divinity’ than just a one-ti snack that Aurelius had used it as.
Because of that sowhat offhand tangent by Sam_Ellis, Caius had known the combination could be done but the nervousness he felt set in when he began to tamper with the manuscript by getting rid of the other symbols that pertained to other emotional ranges that were not Arousal. Realizing this attempt at monopoly of the Evolutionary-charge enhanced blood of his lovers had succeeded was a great relief.
But he wasn’t done yet.
With yet another wave of his hand, Caius caused Arcane symbols to appear. The symbols had no real power. They were just his Unique Binding Factor. The symbols that best describe him. Symbols that by being combined created a signature that was unique to Caius and he alone. Symbols that are ordinarily mostly used in spell creation.
With bated breath, Caius flicked his finger and sent the Unique Binding Factor to join the Arcane circle of Allegra’s created symbols.
There was an instant reaction.
*WHUUUUUMMMM!!!*
The spell circle thrumd violently and released strong vibrations that blew all about Arlette’s office; striking against the wall enough to cause loud bangs that likely could be heard outside the office.
"Caius..." Arlette said with her eyes on the violent reaction happening in the air. When Caius didn’t answer her call, she looked at him and saw he was srized by the Arcane circle.
The reaction upped its violence and began to thrum with the combination of Magical energy—from Caius—and the divine energy within the symbols that trapped the ’Vestiges of Divinity’.
When the force that was released struck Arlette particularly hard in the face and she only managed to not be sent flying by unleashing her Mana in retaliation, she beca visibly distressed.
"Alright, that’s it..." she said, sounding like soone who had had enough but just as she was about to strike against the Arcane circle and put an end to the rampage, Caius reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Wait—" he said still without taking his eyes off the reaction, "Hold on."
Because of his Unique Binding Factor, Caius found himself being very connected to the Arcane circle and he knew the violence was not rejection. It was completion.
The violent reaction subsided then and the air grew still and calm. There were three colors in the Arcane circle now; Green to signify the symbols of Allegra’s manuscript, a light, barely glowing gold for the ’Vestiges of Divinity’ and finally, a lively teeming purple hue courtesy of Caius’s Unique Binding Factor.
With a curling of his finger to signal ’co over’, Caius controlled the spell circle to draw near where it stamped against his forehead and vanished within to be entrenched in his very mory.
"Oof," he let out then and made a show of wiping sweat off his forehead. Despite there being no perspiration, he did feel like he had done quite a bit of work.
"Good thing I did it here," he said to Arlette then with a smile, "Imagine the commotion if it had been anywhere not quite as sturdy as this."
"What just happened?" Arlette asked. She could piece things together herself but why bother with the stress when he could just tell her. He owed her that much for unleashing such terror in her office. She and he may have been unbothered but so much in her office had been strewn all about. She pointed this out by gesturing at them.
"Sorry about that," Caius said about the disorganization of her office but he kept his smile as he tapped her forehead then,
"Here. Like I said before; The Improved Manuscript."
The Arcane Circle flowed into Arlette’s head, carrying with it a sliver of Divine energy.
"This—" Arlette started but couldn’t really continue because she wasn’t sure how to even describe what was now stamped into her mory.
"That bit of Divine energy you feel is what I think is best called a ’Divine seed’. It’s not an actual seed nor does it have the shape of one but it certainly acts like so.
As the essence of your being is made fuller and richer, the Divine seed will be planted in the space that is created. As such, to grow that seed into a possible bountiful tree, you only need to ditate on that Arcane Circle as you did with Allegra’s Manuscript.
Of course, lacking a god to give it aning, purpose, and access to being strengthened by Faith, and also being grown from epheral traces that had been dying out, the divine energy will be weakened. But it’s a pathway to bigger things. A ticket to a possible seat at the table of godly grandeur.
You understand, right?"
Arlette frowned because she did indeed understand and despite the great trepidation she felt from the reverence she had held on to so hard for most of her life, her lips ford the words,
"A pathway to Anyxyl," she said, "You’re targeting the goddess of Primordial darkness."
"’Targeting’ is a very harsh way of putting it," Caius said lightly, "But yes, I have my eye on her. She’s the only god I’m allowed to call on, after all... ’Suffering’ from her curse of Vampirism as I am.
A piece of vagrant Divinity in my hands might just lead to fruitful conversations and sothing truly great."
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