With that, a beam shot from the Radiant Tree as well, and the two converged and struck a nearby tree. The tree in question was shrouded in blue light, before erupting into flames. Oddly enough, there was no heat from these flames, no smoke... the tree simply burnt down.
[Processing...]
[New spell acquired... 『Solar Satellite』.]
[Adding 『Solar Satellite』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]
[Complete. 『Solar Satellite』 has been added.]
[Processing...]
[New spell acquired... 『Satellite Beam』.]
[Adding 『Satellite Beam』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]
[Complete. 『Satellite Beam』 has been added.]
"A new spell?" Hannibal asked, watching in awe as the remains of the tree smoldered in the night.
The others were speechless. The chieftains did not know about this second form that the crux had, so to them, it was as if the infinite power that Lucius had was just doubled. And the fact that the Radiant Tree had reacted to his spell put a new fear within their minds.
They hadn't thought that he could use it to attack like that, but now that they had seen this, Lucius wasn't just a figurative god... he was a god. Nobody, nothing could challenge him, or so they thought.
In fact, it didn't even matter to them anymore if he was the shri'killian, or whether the skri'killian even existed. What need was there for prophecy when they were in the presence of this?
"Lighted One, we ask.. no we urge that we may be allowed pledge allegiance to you," the chieftains said, genuflecting in front of Lucius.
Lucius still had his crux up, light blue solar energy was constantly leaking from his body and being guided toward the miniature moon.
"Haven't you already pledged allegiance?" Lucius asked, the amount of raw energy being exuded from him affecting his voice.
"What we have currently is not allegiance, your Radiance. We merely leach off you. You have yet to ask anything of us besides that which benefits us. No, we mean to pledge our lives to you, to join your warrior unit," one of the chieftains replied.
"I see," Lucius replied, however, he wasn't really focusing on them right now.
Something was off, for some reason his solar reserves seemed to be filling instead of waning. It was as if the sun were directly above him, and it was forcing solar energy into his body.
He stopped for a moment, easing the solar energy to his eyes until even they glowed blue, before looking toward the radiant tree. Although it still hurt his eyes, the information was not as much as before.
"So that's it," he whispered, to himself.
"What is it Lighted One?" the chieftains asked, in awe of Lucius's presence.
~It's feeding me its power through my moon,~ he realized, seeing the stream of radiant blue that was constantly moving towards his miniature moon. However, the amount was simply too much.
If Lucius had to guess, the tree was feeding him the energy it had been absorbing since it was made, and that was something his body could not handle currently.
"How can I trust you?" Lucius asked, wondering whether he should just stop his experimentation or take this as a chance to test the limits of his current power.
"Lighted One, we would not dare to break your trust," the chieftains replied.
"That's easy to say now. But when I give you power, you might change your minds," Lucius replied, deciding that he would use the energy to test a superpowered beam.
"T-Then the Lighted One could just kill us if we ever do that," one of the chieftains replied.
"I don't like this idea," Alpha butted in, he had been watching Lucius so intensely that he had zoned out of the conversation.
"It was bound to happen. What, do you think we can defeat the necromancer alone? And even if we can, what happens when there's an enemy we can't handle? It's best we start this relationship now so that when that does happen, we've already gotten used to each other," Hannibal counter-argued.
"Lighted One!" It was Pagan, he was currently looking at the stream of blue that was converging at Lucius's moon.
"The others will be awake tomorrow, we'll hold a vote. Until then, know this... If you do anything to make me question you, I'll have someone wipe out everyone you know," Lucius said, before looking up at the sky.
"Satellite Beam," he whispered, and all the energy he had collected within the moon shot out in a stream. The beam parted the clouds that were in the sky, shooting toward the Moon.
The forest came alive, it was as if day had temporarily come back.
The sounds of different creatures shouting in the far distance could be heard.
This night would later be known as the moon's wrath. The night the moon bared its fangs against the forest.
*
Early the next morning Lucius had a quick meal before going to check on all the pods. First, he started with Ghost's.
"Welcome back," he said, as she opened her eyes.
"Good to be back," she replied before standing up.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, using spatial solar cleanse to inspect both her and the sleeping baby arachnid next to her.
"Okay," she replied, before looking toward the baby arachnid.
"What happened to it?" she asked, still a bit groggy from the long rest.
"It's a different one. I brought it in yesterday," he explained, as she caressed it.
"I know," she replied, staring at it.
"You can tell?"
"Of course, I can, they look nothing alike," she replied in a surprised tone.
"I see," he whispered to himself.
"It's out of danger, so you don't need to worry. Anyway, how's the crux? Want to test it out?"
Ghost closed her eyes, and called out the crux, as if by instinct.
"Try casting solar cleanse," he said. And she did just that, casting solar cleanse on the arachnid baby.
"So this is how it feels?" she said with a smile. "It'll be fine," she whispered after.
