The Echo Guard was a passive defense, but Kaelen intended to use it aggressively. With his core now stabilized and impervious to the Shadow Legion's primary weapon, the odds had shifted from impossible to merely suicidal.
"The Shadow Legion doesn't track Aether signatures; they track events," Kaelen explained, preparing for the inevitable confrontation. "They will have intercepted the failed broadcast and traced the surge to the general Northern Wastes region. They will know I am weak and isolated."
Kaelen's plan was simple and calculatedly arrogant: Lure them with a display of pure, unadulterated Obsidian power.
He pulled out a heavy, dull rock from the cave floor. He channeled a significant portion of his meager remaining Blue Rank Aether into it, the Ironwood Ore temporarily resisting the magical push. He was working at the very limits of the Crag's dampening field.
"I am creating a Temporal Beacon," Kaelen announced. "A single, massive flare of Blue Rank Aether. It will be the largest, most trackable magical signature in the Kingdom. It will burn out in thirty minutes, but for that time, it will scream my location."
"But that will bring the entire Legion down on us!" Elara protested.
"Exactly. That is the point," Kaelen responded, his eyes gleaming with battle-readiness. "The Legion is trained to ambush and neutralize a fleeing mage. They will see the beacon, assume I am exposed and desperate, and move in for the immediate kill. They will attack here, where their specialty weapons are useless, and their own Aether is dampened."
He finished the Transfiguration. The stone now pulsed with a dazzling, intense azure light—a brief, glorious flare of forbidden magic that defied the Ironwood's nature. Kaelen threw the Temporal Beacon out of the cave entrance, into the night sky.
"It is activated," Kaelen said, the glow instantly visible across the dark landscape. "We have less than an hour before the advance scouts arrive. We need to fortify the entrance."
He had only one weapon left for offense: the Transfiguration skill itself.
"Elara, I need you to scout the tunnels leading to this chamber," Kaelen instructed. "Find the weakest structural points—the fissures, the unstable ceiling sections. I will use the remaining ambient Aether here to prepare the earth, not for a collapsing spell, but for a geological weapon."
Elara moved without question, running through the cold, dark tunnels, her Zero Rank status her greatest asset against any magical traps. She quickly identified two critical chokepoints where the fissure lines met.
She returned and sketched the tunnel layout on the floor. "Here, and here. They are structurally unsound and prone to seismic shifts. A small force could trigger a cave-in."
"Perfect," Kaelen said, his lips curved in a predator's smile. He placed his hands on the ground, channeling minimal, precise pulses of Aether into the cave walls, destabilizing the two chokepoints based on Elara's observations.
He was not casting a spell to kill them; he was casting a spell to entomb them.
They waited in the absolute silence of the Ironwood chamber. The minutes ticked by, each one stretching into an eternity.
Suddenly, Elara tensed, her eyes fixed on the narrow entrance. "Movement. Two figures, heavily armed. No magic. Shadow Legion advance scouts."
Kaelen stood, the Obsidian Staff resting lightly in his hand, his posture radiating a calm, controlled power, protected by the invisible Echo Guard.
"They fall for the bait," Kaelen whispered. "Prepare for the shift, Elara. The final game of chess begins now."