The pure green crystal sat in the center of the pedestal, glowing with dense, grounded power. Not wild. Not volatile. Heavy. Like the earth itself was breathing.
Rex stepped closer and reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed it, he felt it — not heat, not cold, but pressure, like the world acknowledging him.
"…What does it do?" Rex asked.
Sage's voice carried a quiet, smug satisfaction.
Go outside and try it.
Rex didn't argue. He grabbed the crystal and bolted.
Behind him, Velkohr watched the door swing shut. He smiled faintly, slipped a strange, ancient gauntlet—etched with twilight-era markings blueprint—into his pocket, and turned back toward the ritual chamber.
"…I swear I've seen this setup before," he muttered. "But where…"
Outside
Rex skidded to a stop, slid the green focus into the gauntlet's slot, and flexed his fingers.
"Now what?"
Sage's tone turned mischievous.
Put your hand on the ground. Say Terra.
Rex inhaled. Controlled himself. Knelt. Placed his gauntleted hand flat against the earth.
"Terra."
His voice doubled—layered with magic.
Green light surged through the runic lines of the gauntlet and spilled into the ground, forming a glowing circular sigil beneath his palm.
Rex blinked.
"…That's it?"
He lifted his hand.
The ground exploded upward.
A jagged stone spike burst out where the circle had been.
Rex jumped back. "AYO—WAIT—"
He stared. "…Is that a spike?"
Yes, Sage replied calmly. That's the spike rune.
"…Oh."
Sage continued, clearly enjoying this.
The longer you hold your hand down after saying Terra, the larger it grows. And if you swipe—
Rex didn't wait.
He slammed his hand down again.
"Terra."
He waited.
Then swiped forward.
A line of massive stone spikes erupted from the ground, racing forward like a charging beast.
Rex stared, jaw dropped.
"…Can I get a real fire spell? Like—explode-y?"
We can try.
Rex turned and sprinted back inside. The stone spikes obediently sank back into the earth behind him.
Inside – Again
Velkohr was still standing in the ritual chamber, squinting at the setup.
Rex ran past him and slammed the door shut.
Velkohr blinked.
"…Well. That was rude."
He sighed. "Guess I'll leave him to it. And I really need to find that book."
The Second Infusion
Under Sage's guidance, Rex worked fast.
A blank pure focus sat at the center.
Fire runes.
Explosion runes.
Push runes.
The matrix activated again, floating and spinning. Purple lightning lashed out violently.
Noir laughed softly.
"Let's see what disaster you're making now."
The runes evaporated, flowing into the focus. The room shook. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Then—silence.
At the center pedestal sat a pure orange crystal, warm and humming with restrained violence.
Sage spoke.
That is your specialized fire punch—
Rex grabbed it and ran.
"HEY—" Sage snapped.
Too late.
Outside – Immediately Worse
Velkohr was halfway through flipping pages of a book when—
BOOM.
Rex leapt into the air, slammed the orange focus into the gauntlet, and shouted:
"IGNIS!"
He punched a tree.
The tree ceased to be a tree.
The explosion blasted Rex backward, skidding across the dirt—laughing like a lunatic.
"YES! YES—THIS IS IT!"
He stood, brushing ash off his clothes, eyes bright with dangerous joy.
"…What about my old fire focus?"
Scrap it, Sage replied flatly. Overlaying runes with your current skill is a good way to explode. Specialized focuses don't mix well with rune-stacked ones. Destroy it. Make a blank focus.
Rex nodded, crushed the old focus in his hand, and immediately carved a new blank one.
Now he stood there, breathing hard, grinning.
Specialized Earth Spike Focus
Specialized Fire Punch Focus
One Blank Focus
For the first time, Rex wasn't just surviving.
He was armed.
And somewhere deep inside, both Noir and Sage were quiet—
Because Rex was getting dangerously close to something neither of them wanted him to realize.