"Yes," Rynne answered quickly, even as she twisted aside from another sweeping strike. A tentacle skimd past her back, close enough that the displaced air rang against her armor. "I still have it."
Michael appeared beside her in a blur of distorted space, his boots hitting the ground hard.
"Has it been used?" he asked imdiately.
Rynne shook her head. "No. I've been saving it."
Another pulse rippled through the breathing tal. The tentacles recoiled for a fraction of a second, then struck again, faster than
before. One slamd down between them, forcing them apart as the stone split open in a jagged line.
Michael skidded to a stop and glanced at her again. "Then lend it to ."
Rynne froze for half a heartbeat.
"What?" she said.
"I'll solve this," Michael said calmly. "You don't need to worry."
Her mind reeled.
The enhancer.
A degraded epic-grade treasure. Even in its current state, it was absurdly valuable. A one-ti amplifier that could push a Law beyond its natural limits for ten minutes. She had bought it at enormous cost precisely for monts like this, monts when overwhelming force might be the only answer.
And Michael wanted to use it.
It was obviously ant for his Law. Beyond confusion, a strange sense of helplessness welled up in her chest. This peer of hers was not weaker than her in any way. If anything, he was clearly stronger.
"Michael," she started, but the tal did not give her ti to finish. The air shrieked.
Three tentacles struck at once, not toward them, but around them. The ground erupted upward in a ring, stone folding inward as a crushing field snapped shut.
Michael reacted instantly. He dragged himself sideways, barely escaping the collapsing zone, but the edge of the pressure still clipped him, slamming him into the cavern floor hard enough to crack it.
Rynne leapt the other way, armor flaring as she absorbed the shock, but a second tentacle followed imdiately, striking her from above. She raised an arm.
The impact drove her to one knee.
The breathing tal pulsed again, brighter and faster. The tentacles began to coil tighter, their movents sharper and more deliberate. Lightning crawled along their surfaces. Gravity warped around their tips. The air itself felt heavy and oppressive, as if the cavern were closing in.
Rynne pushed herself upright, teeth clenched.
This was exactly the scenario she had prepared for.
She looked at Michael.
He was already back on his feet, his eyes sharp, focused, frighteningly steady. Despite his battered appearance, despite the chaos around them, he did not look desperate or panicked.
Another tentacle whipped toward him, phasing halfway through space before snapping back into reality at an impossible angle. Michael stepped away at the last instant.
He did not even glance back at Rynne.
"Trust ," he said. "If we drag this out, then taming it won't even be
an option."
Her heart pounded.
She knew he was right.
And she also knew sothing else.
Michael was holding back.
He had not summoned his undead, nor had he unleashed his Law. He was fighting in a contained state.
The enhancer would only make him stronger.
Another explosion ripped through the clearing, sending bones and rubble flying. A tentacle struck the ground near Rynne, releasing a gravity pulse that dragged her forward against her will. She planted her feet, armor screaming as it resisted.
Rynne exhaled sharply and made her decision.
Her hand slipped into her storage space.
An object appeared in her palm, and she tossed it toward Michael.
"Catch," she shouted.
The breathing tal reacted instantly.
Two tentacles snapped toward the object midair.
Michael moved as he appeared beneath the falling enhancer, one
hand snapping shut around it just as a tentacle tore through the air where it had been a mont earlier.
The impact shattered stone behind him.
He landed hard, rolling once before coming to a stop, the enhancer clenched tightly in his hand.
Knowing all he had to do was infuse mana into the object to activate it, Michael did not hesitate.
The mont his fingers closed around the enhancer, he poured mana
into it without restraint.
The object reacted instantly.
Cracks of light spread across its surface like fractured glass, lines of
pure radiance racing along its form as the artifact began to hum.
The artifact broke apart into countless motes of light, each fragnt drifting upward like glowing dust before being pulled violently toward Michael's body.
Michael stiffened.
For a brief instant, his vision went white.
Then the world ca rushing back.
Power flooded his system, dense and overwhelming, far beyond
anything he had experienced before. His Law flared.
Rynne felt it imdiately.
The space around Michael warped. The air bent toward him. Mana
streams shifted course, drawn into his presence.
Even the breathing tal hesitated for a fraction of a second.
Michael exhaled slowly.
Until now, his Law allowed him to copy the traits of his undead at a
limited ratio. Thirty percent on average. Forty-five percent at most
when conditions aligned.
That alone had made him terrifying.
With Wisdom's spatial perception, his movent surpassed most Rank Three beings. With the strength borrowed from his combat undead, his physical output rivaled monsters bred for destruction. His foundation amplified those traits further, stabilizing them and allowing him to wield even more power.
Even then, there were limits.
But now-
The enhancer was not a simple amplifier.
It boosted the effectiveness of a Law by two hundred percent.
If his Law had previously capped at forty-five percent trait
replication, then in this state, a hundred percent was no longer impossible.
That realization was why Michael had asked for the enhancer the mont he recalled its existence.
At his current level, he was already stronger than most of the undead under his control. That alone was an anomaly among orthodox
necromancers.
But if Michael's Law truly reached full replication on top of his own
foundation, it was no exaggeration to say that below Rank Three, Michael would be an invisible existence, and even within Rank Three, he would stand as a powerful one.
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