Returning to the Sun Elf sanctuary with a subdued but resolute Kaito was a victory that felt more like a reprieve.
The real work now began: weaving three diametrically opposed magics into a single, cohesive ritual. The following days were a grueling test of will, control, and trust.
They gathered in a secluded grove, a natural amphitheater where the ley lines converged, providing a stable platform for their practice. The goal was not to combine their powers, but to synchronize them in a precise, sequential harmony.
Vorlak, with his ancient demonic knowledge, was the architect. "The ritual has three phases," he explained, drawing complex symbols in the air with a wisp of purple energy.
"First, the Light. Kaito, your 'Purification' is key. You must not attack the Core, but use your light to create a stable, crystalline lattice around its chaotic energy. You are not a warrior here; you are a surgeon, a weaver."
Kaito, stripped of his arrogance, listened with intense focus. His first attempts were too forceful, his light searing and disruptive. It took hours of patient guidance from Vorlak and quiet encouragement from Lyra for him to learn the delicate touch required, to make his light not a weapon, but a scaffold.
"Second," Vorlak continued, turning to Haruto, "the Shadow. The moment the lattice is formed, the Core will rebel, lashing out with immense power. You must be the shield. Your shadow magic must form a perfect, spherical barrier around the lattice, absorbing and nullifying the chaotic backlash. You must contain the explosion that Valerius hopes to harness." Haruto's task was one of immense endurance.
He had to learn to create a barrier not of solid shadow, but of a net of null-energy, a concept Vorlak taught him that was far more advanced than any magic he had yet attempted.
It required him to understand the void, the absence of energy, and to project it. He would emerge from these sessions mentally exhausted, his body trembling. "Finally," Vorlak said, his voice gravest, "the Binding.
Once the Core is stabilized and contained by the lattice and the shield, I will use the ancient demonic seals—the very ones the first king perverted—to permanently lock it away.
This will require a sliver of my own life force. It is the point of no return." The tension between the three was a palpable force. Kaito still flinched when Vorlak came near.
Haruto had to constantly fight his shadow's instinctive reaction to lash out at Kaito's light. Vorlak remained an aloof, demanding taskmaster. Yet, through shared exhaustion and a common, terrifying goal, a grudging respect began to form.
They were no longer a hero, a shadow, and a demon. They were three components of a single, desperate key. The chapter closed with their first successful, full-sequence practice on a simulated, minuscule Core—a contained ball of wild magic.
For a breathtaking moment, Kaito's light crystallized it, Haruto's shadow contained it, and Vorlak's seal made it inert. It was a tiny victory, but it was the first spark of real hope they had felt since learning the truth.