Steel and Mana

Chapter 550 – Anti-Magic

After the room settled into normalcy, Arthur nodded at me, and I just inclined my head, saying: You are the Sovereign now, start it yourself! With a smile, he inhaled deeply, squared his shoulders, and began his explanation without stalling it anymore.

“What we’ve created,” he explained, “is not exactly a weapon. It isn’t a shield either... Although it is closer to it than anything else. But it's more like a focused... effect.”

“What kind of effect?” Sa'Ith asked, watching him intently, “As in magical…?”

“Yes, and the funny thing is, also no,” Leyla added, stepping up to her brother. "With that being said," she continued as she flicked her wrist, and a miniature magic circle appeared above her palm. It didn’t glow like normal magic should, as it was... black... blackish. More like, it didn't have any colors as it became the absence of light, where it was slowly spinning. “This is the core variant, still missing the last addition," she pointed at the middle, where, indeed, there was a slot for a final rune. Speaking of runes, there were multiple in it that my mind immediately caught, referencing it with the Gods' Formation, showing me that they appeared in there. "It’s derived from the pattern we found in the Gods’ Formation," My daughter explained, just then, making me smile, "I mean, what Merlin and Dad found there."

"Those runes are not from our world.” Galahad nodded, also joining in the explanation, just right when I caught Merlin opening his mouth, only to be a fraction late, "As we all know, magic acts like waves," He added, looking at the Vasas, "but those do not."

“They do, when they interact with our world,” Fila chimed in, too, tapping the floating glyph above Leyla's palm. “But only if they interact with our magic system. Otherwise they are... different."

"Is this a wave-particle duality?" I asked myself, muttering, but everyone looked at me, making me simply shrug and shake my head. "I only know the name, stop looking at me... Haaah... Please, continue..." I waved their questioning gazes away, because I wasn't that versed in that topic. I just knew what I heard in my old life. If anything, Merlin may understand it more than I do.

"What we found," Merlin finally managed to speak up just then, "Is that this is perfectly something we can use. Because the Gods' spells can adapt to ours, mold themselves as needed, turn from... um... particles,” he looked at me, already using my nonsense, "to waves, it can create the perfect antithesis to magic."

"We already have spells that do something very similar," Galahad smiled, not going into details about our past experiments with our Trojan spell, speaking to the Vasas, "With your generations of research and with this final puzzle piece, we managed to fuse it all and create something... well..." He looked at Arthur, who simply shrugged.

"Very dangerous."

"That's what we need," Sa’Ith leaned forward, clearly agitated. "We need something devastating."

"Its effect is like that..." Arthur looked at them, "Still, I don't think it will be to your liking."

“Its effect?” she asked cautiously. “What type? We aren't afraid of using it if it can kill Ignis!”

"..." Arthur pressed his hand flat on the table, looking at everyone in the room before continuing, “It is anti-magic. Pure anti-magic. Not like what you think!" He raised his voice, stopping Sa'Ith from interrupting him, "Not at all... Not even those EMP-like spells the beasts used against us in the past come near to its effect...”

“EMP... what? You mean... Suppression magic?” Sa'Ith asked, but her voice already betrayed the suspicion that the answer would be worse and that she knew she wasn't comprehending it.

“No,” Leyla said, shaking her head, “Not suppression. Arthur is right, this is not like that at all.”

“Not dampening either.” Galahad crossed his arms, chewing on his lower lip.

“And certainly not negation.” Fila copied her husband's posture, nodding her head.

“It kills magic.” Merlin smiled, "Neutralizes it and understand this: I mean it."

"You can kill... magic?" Sa'Ith asked, furrowing her brows, still not getting it.

“It doesn’t kill it permanently,” Arthur corrected quickly, giving Merlin a look. “It shuts it off entirely anywhere inside its boundary.”

"It does kill it." Merlin pushed on, "Because after deactivating the spell, magic doesn't just reappear; it slowly refills the emptied-out space from nature. So even after deactivating it, time is still needed for any mage to use proper spells in that area."

“Think of it as… a bubble.” Leyla continued

“A dome,” Fila added, only to be followed by Galahad's voice.

“A sphere of dead magic. Anything magical that steps inside: its power is gone.”

“Gone?” Sa’Ith repeated, tasting the word, looking at them.

“Deactivated,” Arthur declared firmly, “All magic, every element, every spell, every artifact, every enchantment. Null and void. Do you get it now?” He sighed, "This is anti-magic in its strictest form. It is what its name implies!"

“And everyone,” Leyla added carefully, “who is magical, will become normal.”

“That spell would kill us.” Sa'Ith suddenly understood, "Just like any beast would die, caught up in it... With magic in our blood, bones, and everything..."

“You don't have cores yet, and if you don't, it wouldn't kill you,” Fila said, shaking her head. “But probably paralyze you as it would shut off your magic. Your blood would… go dormant while you are inside its sphere of influence.”

“That is death,” Sa’Ith said quietly, "We are still part human, our organs would fail, and we would die."

"Well... yes, if you think of it that way..." She murmured, blushing a little, forgetting that the Vasas' bodies were a bit different than ours.

"For us, it simply robs us of our magic," Arthur looked at Sa'Ith as he nodded. “But even I felt very much sick while standing in its influence... We aren't trying to use this against you. But against that Ignis of yours... But you must understand the danger it brings to you all.”

"You are indeed our Savior," Sa'Ith muttered, just as amazed as minutes before. "No other could have developed a weapon like this... Maybe not even our ancestors thought this would happen, never really expecting that our Savior would do much more than they thought possible!"

“I just hope that if we hit Ignis with this, or lure her into it, we can kill the beast.” He pointed at the sphere, “This… she cannot adapt to, because it’s not resistance but an actual counter-magic. If she loses her core powers, how will she adapt? Probably she won't, and if all things align, she just dies. Unlike us, she only relies on magic.”

“Exactly!" Merlin clapped excitedly, "The same way matter and antimatter don’t resist each other, they just mutually annihilate. This would cripple her, for sure. Your blood and Ignis’s power exist as positive magical matter. This one exists as…” He glanced vaguely at me, “…something that its counterpart.”

“When activated, the spell forms around the caster." Galahad continued, "It nullifies all magic within its radius, which includes our own power. Which means…” He looked at me.

“You use it, and you can’t cast while standing inside.” I hummed, crossing my arms.

"We can't use it from the Airships then." Sasha murmured, "Or we will fall out of the sky. Same with our mechs..."

“That’s fine,” I said, “We have plenty of machines that don't use magic. And we can fire into it with conventional methods.”

“Which will be our best bet...” Leyla sighed, "And if Ignis survives inside of it, maybe she won't be as likely to crack. We just have to make sure to hammer it as much as we can."

"Good thing we held back our airplanes," I nodded to myself, "If she lands in it, we can send our planes to bomb her body with everything we got."

"We do need a lot of explosives," Sasha muttered, but apparently, she was liking the idea.

“The real danger comes with the activation of it," Arthur continued, "The person who triggers the spell cannot turn it off, not from inside. They have no magic to manipulate it after all, with no medium to hold onto. When it's on, it's on. To send the signal, a particle, so to speak, so the formation reverts back to its dormant state, that needs to be sent from the outside."

"Like an... anti-anti-magic blast," Fila murmured, chuckling to herself.

"What about CC?" I asked, but my son just shook his head.

"We tried, but it goes dormant. For deactivation, the mage must step outside the sphere of its influence, well outside the anti-magic zone, to deactivate it. Same with activation. The user must understand because the activator rune is from the Gods' Formation. It is not something our world's CC has. This magic can only be activated via a mage's hand. Nothing else.”

“So it’s a one-way switch,” Sasha hummed, her brows furrowed as she was thinking.

“And a big one,” Fila said, “I mean, big if you want it to.”

"Its size and range," Arthur explained, "are dependent on the initial surge of magic it receives when placing the final rune in place within it."

"What is the largest one you have tested?" I asked, making him look at Galahad.

"200 meters in radius," my youngest son answered me, "it was Arthur's work."

"And it was all my output." He explained, "I never used anything stronger than that magic... ever. I nearly knocked myself out."

"He did fall over," Leyla snorted, seemingly still angry at her brother, "Giving us a scare."

"You..." Arthur nudged her, noticing that Sasha's look began darkening, prompting me to step in quickly, saving my kids' asses from a spanking.

"How the hell did you come to this...?" I shrugged, smiling, glancing at the kids, "You were working on a way to shield us from Ignis's mind, and now, you are presenting us total, magical nullification..."

"It snowballed after Merlin sent us his ideas." They all said at once, pointing at the culprit, who just kept grinning, proud as hell, "Introducing everything into it just... It just worked. And then, it no longer was about countering a mind's waves, but all magical waves." Arthur sighed, smiling, and opened his arms, "It was a coincidence, kind of."

"You all..." Sa'Ith shrugged, shaking her head, "You always do the unthinkable. First, you show us what kind of metal beasts you have crafted, and then I learn that your version of monster domination can strip already-controlled beasts from their owners... Now this. Not even us were like this at our peak... I wish you all were born in the old ages, but maybe, this is how it had to be done."

"We do have a motto." I chuckled, making Sa'Ith form a smile while looking at me. "And I am glad to live now. Despite the impending doom, of course."

"Now the question is, how are we going to use it against Ignis?" Sasha asked suddenly, looking at everyone.

"We could," Merlin offered at once, "create it outside, just like a minefield. We can then lure Ignis into it and activate it..."

"We will do it," Sa'Ith said at once, surprising everyone present.

"That would be suicide." I countered, looking at her, "At least, for you and your people."

"It would be a suicide job anyway," She shot back, "Someone needs to be inside of it to activate this anti-magic spell. Not to mention, you need Ignis to go there willingly. It won't do it for a simple mage... But it would do it for a Vasa." She smiled at me, "We know her, Sovereign," she muttered with utter conviction in her voice, "She would come to us, gloat, maybe even enjoy capturing us. We can be the perfect bait. Just teach us the spell, and we will make sure it works."

"And then just die?" Sasha asked, her arms crossed, audibly against the idea. Even if she disliked Sa'Ith, she would never ask them to do this.

"It is a worthy trade." She answered without hesitation. "If it makes sure Ignis falls... then there is no question about it. We brought it into this world; we will make sure she disappears. So if we succeed, just make sure our sacrifice is honored by mounting its head on the walls of Avalon's Pride."

"Lovely," I raised a hand while speaking up, interrupting her heroic speech, "But we first need to set it up if anything. We can then argue about who turns it on and how."

"Are we in a rush?" Merlin looked at me, raising his brows.

"Kind of..." I groaned, pinching the ridge of my nose, "We have been getting erratic pings, over and over again." I moaned, suddenly listening, but no alarms were going off... good. I haven't jinxed it yet, "I just don't want us to be late with it."