Thea was delayed on her end for only a brief moment. For the Hall brothers on the other side, not even one-tenth of a second had passed.
As Don called out, before his voice had even faded, a sound far beyond anything they could imagine echoed directly within the brothers' minds.
"You desire power. You thirst for power. Then I will grant you power."
Thea had no intention of frightening them. However, she was now far removed from the material world and could only communicate through telepathy.
What she overlooked was that the two before her were merely ordinary teenagers, while she herself was free of physical constraints and her mental power had surged a hundredfold. The disparity between their respective levels was utterly beyond comparison.
Seeing both brothers frozen in shock, Thea decided the moment was right. From the other side of the channel, she cast the golden sphere forward. Guided by her will, it split cleanly into two parts and merged into the brothers' bodies.
Hank Hall, following his own wishes, received the greater share of raw power. Don Hall, meanwhile, received the heart of justice and sanctity contained within.
His already lofty essence was elevated to a level that left even Thea astonished. This was not a matter of one plus one equaling two—it was a qualitative transformation of belief itself. The soul of the boy named Don Hall radiated golden light. Even without testing, Thea could tell that he was nearly immune to soul magic and dark magic. He was simply too pure. Apart from a few nameless existences that could not be mentioned, no one could tamper with his soul.
Both brothers gained the flight ability of an adult unicorn, as well as physical attributes surpassing those of ordinary humans. The elder brother received more power; the younger received more virtue.
"When you face danger, call upon Hawk and Dove to awaken the power within you. Go—go and do what you must do."
Time flowed at vastly different rates between the two realms. On one side it rushed forward; on the other it stood still. Thea had to devote all her strength to resisting temporal erosion on this end. With great difficulty, she explained the basics of their abilities and then unilaterally severed the connection.
Noble qualities were not wasted, and power was entrusted to those who needed it. What happened to the brothers afterward—whether they lived or died—was no longer her concern. They were neither family nor friends nor subordinates. Thea quickly put them out of her mind.
The fusion with the clone that embodied her darker side took far longer. That clone's personality was sharper, more distinctive, and far more singular. Stripping away its essence required tremendous effort.
Compared to the unicorn that represented light and justice, the dark-aspected clone was the one most like her true self. To prevent that personality from bleeding back into her, Thea proceeded with extreme caution—judging bit by bit, separating thread by thread. Power remained. Attributes remained. The gloomy disposition was cut away.
Yet several attempts at condensation ended in failure. The entanglement between the clone's magic and her own was too deep. Condensing it the same way she had with the unicorn was simply impossible.
"The courage to let go."
After the third failure, Thea rested a hand on the holy sword. She knew it was time to make another decision.
The holy sword swept down. Vast amounts of magic, wrapped around the clone's personality and abilities, were forcibly severed from her being. There were no bloody visuals, no agonized screams—only a profound trembling of the soul.
"That really hurts."
Her spiritual form suffered heavy damage. Her total magic reserves dropped by nearly twenty percent. Yet as she looked at the dark, mist-like mass still thrashing about in the mental realm, she knew her work was not yet finished.
If left alone, this fog-like entity would continue to grow, eventually devouring the entire space. After that, it would almost certainly condense into a humanoid form and return to the material world for melodramatic revenge.
Neither she nor the holy sword would allow such a thing to happen. Thea halted her mental cultivation and focused entirely on dealing with the mist.
It could not be bestowed upon a human the way the unicorn had been—it contained far too many negative emotions. The solution she devised was to forge a dark-aspected staff, but one imbued with the concept of healing.
Such a contradictory idea should not exist in theory. Yet many of Morgan le Fay's spells offered guidance. This master of healing-oriented black magic had pioneered a path that fused two extremes, each serving as the other's outer and inner face.
This would be a Staff of Redemption—one that saved others, and in doing so, saved its wielder as well. Each act of healing would grant both staff and user a new form of understanding.
Drawing on pure mental power from the surrounding space and using the holy sword's ability to turn the intangible into reality, Thea worked without rest.
The finished staff was dark gold throughout. At its head coiled a golden serpent, twisting around the top. Though her forging skill could not rival Diana's, crafting a staff was well within her capabilities.
After an unknown span of time, Thea collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The staff was complete—but a new problem arose.
This object was, in essence, a part of herself. If she used it personally, it would return to her body within two days, rendering all her suffering meaningless. So the question remained: who should wield it?
First, the wielder had to be dark-aspected. Second, they could not be an irredeemable villain. Third—and ideally—the wielder would be female.
Using the holy sword, Thea reopened the mental channel and listened to the wishes of countless beings, searching painstakingly like an "old mentor" for the right candidate. Reality proved that being a proper mentor was no easy task—some had potential but no talent, others had talent but no potential.
With no intelligent filtering or search mechanism, she could only skim endlessly and rely on chance.
Those who craved power were everywhere. Those with magical talent were fewer than one in a million. Thea had no time to awaken bloodlines for the handful that qualified. With no success among them, she turned her attention toward beings from lesser planes.
Heaven and Hell were off the table—neither would value a strange staff that used dark attributes to heal. That left only intelligent beings from interstitial realms.
"Hm?"
As her awareness brushed past a small plane lower than the material world but higher than Hell, one creature caught her attention.
It had three heads and six legs, snake-like hair covering its heads, six crimson eyes, and a body of dark gray. Compared to the many monsters born of malice in that realm, this one was small and emaciated.
Though its body was likewise formed of malice, Thea—now possessed of vastly amplified mental power—detected a faint, almost imperceptible trace of light within it. That, perhaps, was why it was so small and weak.
"Are you willing to help others? Are you willing to heal this world?"
Her question echoed directly within the creature's mind.
The monster panicked, roaring wildly in an attempt to drive away the unseen presence.
Doesn't understand telepathy? Thea sighed. She could not play the role of the kindly old mentor any longer.
Fine, then.
She simply threw the staff to it.