CONTROL FROM THE SHADOWS
A bit more than a hundred ters above the tunnel where Julius and Zhao's group fought, in a cavern that had been excavated long ago specifically to monitor movent in the ruins directly below, the twin brothers of Orion worked with concentration making sweat flow down their faces.
Magnus and Dorian were controlling four "hearts" simultaneously. Crystals floating in a formation requiring constant attention to maintain stability.
Two purple cores pulsed with energy that was familiar but difficult to manipulate, though not as difficult as the rhythm of the other two they had to synchronize perfectly or risk destabilization.
One blue core glowed with intensity that hurt the eyes if they looked directly at it for too long. Brilliant light that seed to contain a compressed sky or ocean. Power that wanted to expand but was forcibly constrained within the crystalline structure.
And one red core beat like a living heart. Heat emanating in waves making the air around it shimr visibly. Temperature fluctuating with each pulse creating convection currents that disturbed the other crystals' positions.
And both were complaining as always.
"This is ridiculously difficult," Magnus grumbled while modifying his mana flow toward the blue core threatening to desynchronize. "I don't understand how Orion manages controlling light and darkness together with five others of these… Should be harder than this. These damned crystals practically fight each other for dominance every second!"
The blue and red cores particularly wanted to conflict. Water and fire principles embedded in their structure producing natural opposition. Keeping them balanced required constant microadjustnts. Let attention slip for a mont and one would surge while the other weakened. Then cascade failure as the system tried violently rebalancing.
Dorian grunted agreent while struggling with balance between the red core and one of the purples. "We can only keep fire and water chaos under control because we're twins and have the luck of handling those elents," he responded with audible frustration. "I think the almost perfect balance we share is the only reason we haven't exploded these crystals' energy in our faces yet."
It was a 'truth' they recognized with pride and resentnt.
Being twins gave them a strange synchronization they thought individual tars could never replicate. Capability to sense each other's intention and adjust instantly without needing verbal communication.
Magnus would begin shifting the blue core's power and Dorian would feel it before seeing it. Would compensate with red core adjustnt that maintained the overall balance. And the reverse worked equally well. Intuitive coordination that ca from sharing womb and growing together through decades of life.
It was an advantage making them exceptional in tasks requiring perfect coordination according to them. At least that's what they told themselves when Orion assigned 'impossible' jobs like this one.
If they'd known about a student nad Min who'd achieved better fire-water balance than them in a single beast, they'd have felt genuinely embarrassed.
Because what they accomplished with two people working in perfect lifelong synchronization, he'd achieved through reckless innovation completely defying convention.
One core system. One tar coordinating it all. And functioning stability that exceeded what twins with specialized training were managing with their four-core array.
But fortunately for their pride, they had no knowledge of Min's neo-achievent and could maintain the illusion that what they did was unique in difficulty for another while.
"The orders are too hard to understand also," Magnus added while consulting instructions Orion had left. Cryptic symbols requiring careful interpretation. "We only have four bases to handle, so technically only six possible simple combinations between them. But six order options and directions gives too many possibilities to control appropriately between two people!"
It was sothing overwhelming when they tried processing directions completely.
Four hearts could combine in six different pairs. Each pair fundantal interaction demanding specific handling.
And each pair could interact in multiple ways depending on relative intensity and activation timing. Pulse fire then water versus pulse them simultaneously versus alternate rapidly, all produced different orders on the controlled beasts below.
Multiplying permutations created a possibility space that was too large for two people like them coordinating without frequent errors.
They'd made mistakes already. Nothing catastrophic but close calls that had them sweating more from fear than exertion. Twice the blue core had nearly broken free of formation. Once the red had flared so hot that Magnus's hands had blistered despite protective scales.
Learning through trial and error when errors could an an explosion of mana wasn't an ideal training thod.
But at least directing flow to runes wasn't so difficult considering that once near them the mutant beasts tended to follow the energy from the final chamber.
The runes acted like beacons. Drew corrupted creatures toward them almost magnetically. Magnus and Dorian didn't need perfect control, just good enough to aim general flow in the right direction and let the runes do heavy lifting.
Small rcy in an otherwise overwhelming task.
"At least we're not handling what Orion controls," Dorian observed with a tone mixing relief and reluctant respect. "He's controlling seven cores right now. That gives... I don't even want to calculate how many possible combinations."
Magnus did quick ntal math and felt vertigo at the result.
"More than twenty options just in basic pairs. And if we consider combinations of three or four simultaneously..." He left the sentence unfinished. Implication too overwhelming to articulate completely.
Seven cores ant twenty-one possible pairs. More possible triplets. And that was just the base combinations without considering timing variations or intensity modulations.
The number of potential configurations was way bigger than theirs.
And Orion was supposedly managing that. In real-ti. While also coordinating larger strategic operations. Without visibly straining.
It was a renewal of respect for their older brother's absolutely insane tenacity.
Orion wasn't just handling more cores but was executing control requiring ntal processing that would have driven Magnus and Dorian mad if they'd attempted replicating.
It was a demonstration of capability transcending simple skill and entering the territory of obsession bordering on inhuman.
Sotis Magnus wondered if his brother had sacrificed sothing to achieve that level of focus. Normal people couldn't maintain that intensity. Normal people had limits that Orion seed to simply ignore through sheer force of will.
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