Krahe’s anger didn’t abate; that she understood why Barzai had done what he had done didn’t change anything. She resolved to punish the demonic bird by refusing him any at for a month. The re thought of this was enough to cause the ball of Black Bindings containing the spirit to writhe and to emit anguished cawing. Juno and the Red Hood guarding her remained where they stood, observing, the girl obviously trying not to draw attention to herself despite the fact she was the reason they were all here today.
Hair floating, eyes glowing, unearthly tones ringing from the Black Trapezohedron, Yazata glared Krahe’s way, not in anger, but in effort, warning: “This will work once, and only once. You have twelve minutes, fifty-seven seconds. Fifty-six…”
Krahe wasted no ti in pulling her supplies out of storage. The Unguent of Nug-soth, the relevant talismans, and the papers for those she had not drawn yet. She began with drawing out the angle-web’s frawork, and found the ritual chamber answering her every need. In place of the talismans she would have needed to put in place, the ground shifted. Relics and statues rose in their place, each exuding such a pluripotent form of its arcane energy that it felt almost pointless to attempt recreation through re ink and paper.
Of course the churches would have such resources — an obscure ritual was one thing, but this was eidolon evolution. The fundantals of the rite weren’t obscure and unknown. Sure, the angle-web she was using wasn’t widely known, but it made use of the sa principles as its common counterparts.
Technically, an eidolon evolution could just be allowed to take place on its own and cause no issues, but this was true in the sa way as the statent that one could go fishing with no bait and still catch sothing. The purpose of the ritual was to better contain the energies involved and steer the process, and even a half-baked ritual would consistently result in an overwhelmingly superior result. The problem that arose, then, was that Krahe had not actually finished the ritual, aning she would have to just make up the rest of it on the spot. If nothing else, at least she had the Six Maxims to draw upon.
“Three Virtues, Five Bindings, Seven Vertebral Truths…”
The angle-web continued to take shape, and with it, the ritual chamber shifted further and further. Krahe had never intended to push Barzai towards a great change, but to reinforce the form he had already taken, the most orthodox of approaches to eidolon evolution. The definition of that form was not necessarily that of a bird, but a form capable of flight, remote observation, and skirmish combat. Krahe added precisely one thing: The ability to manipulate tools as a human does. As she worked, she scattered the four souldreg-gems across the angle-web’s most vital points, and automata-statues arose to take hold of them. The most important, difficult, and ti-consuming aspect of the ritual preparations ca next: It was the blending of Semzar’s souldregs with the Unguent of Nug-soth, a substantial quantity of Krahe’s own blood, and, as a result of a gut-call, the dust of Aldritch, Ogura, Radanov, and Hegio. The ritual chamber provided a basin for the purpose, one that was chanized and integrated with a cognition engine and a keyboard. She rely had to type in “unguent dium” and was instantly t with a variety of choices, all of such a high grade that she had only ever read about them — despite her attempts to source them, and despite the fact she could get the money together, most rchants simply didn’t carry these particular unguent-diums. A few keystrokes and the basin filled itself with exactly as much dium as she needed.
It only took a few monts of bubbling as the basin’s auto-stirrer incorporated all the ingredients. The resulting compound unguent had a colour darker than blood and was streaked through with shades of abyssal blue. Its quantity seed excessive, and yet, as she painted the angle-web, it beca increasingly more evident that she had exactly as much as she needed to complete it. Krahe finished the angle-web with one minute and forty-three seconds to spare.
Only the ritual proper was left. Normally, a dagger or sword would be used as the ritual implent, representing power, but a gun was also suitable, and the ritual implent’s durability mattered the most above all other characteristics — it had to be an item that could withstand the energies of the ritual. Therefore, Krahe’s Pattner was the best for this purpose.
With gun in hand, she walked through the angle-web, reciting an incantation:
“There is naught to be said that has not already been said, there is naught to be changed that has not already been changed, we shall continue along our chosen bearing until the end of all ends, om Igaria sowaka. I am the Lord of Spirits, Oridimbai, Sonadir, Episghes. I am Ubaste, Ptho born of Binui Sphe, Phas. I am the na of Aue-bothia-bathaba-itho-behostra, I am the sun in the yawning abyss, I am the sight of the blinded eye, I am the small that slaughters the imnse and the torch-bearer who walks amid a myriad dark ones, I am all that has been and shall be, all that has not been and all that cannot be. Co unto , o spirit, reveal thyself and beco the hand of my soul, make of yourself that which you ought to be, make thyself known, follow the path laid out for you, and render unto thy apotheosis, o servant!”
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