Magnus: Part 5
To my surprise, I understood what was going on. Artificers started out with physical bodies, but after a certain point, they used them only when they needed them.
This all had something to do with how they linked up with alternate versions of themselves. Whether they created one entity with an infinity of different forms or a composite formed through infinite connections, I didn’t know.
I did know that if he didn’t die now, we’d have a much bigger problem. On the bright side, joining up an infinity of different beings would take time. If I were lucky, it might not even be possible in here.
I couldn’t count on that. Kee seemed like the kind of person who’d have provided for young making their transition into adulthood.
Magnus rose into the air, a burning, golden glow. He didn’t stop shouting. “I see everything! All the worlds in all the universes are mine. Power beyond what you can even imagine is mine!”
Ignoring the ache in my metaphysical muscles, I pulled in power from the device’s life support system (it did work, he hadn’t taken full control), feeling it flow in.
The ache didn’t go away. In fact, it felt as though I was drawing less power than before, probably because I was tired. Kee had taught me the names of the different parts of an Artificer’s system for gathering and releasing energy, but I couldn’t think of their names in the moment.
I knew though that between time travel, meeting myself, coming here, and fighting Magnus, I’d probably used more energy than in my entire life so far.
Now though, I had no choice but to use more and hope I didn’t hurt myself in the process.
I engaged the rockets, shooting upward, powering the sword in my hand, and still feeling the dull ache.
Magnus rose toward the spheres. I could only guess that he no longer needed the throne and planned to absorb energy directly from them. Either way, I realized that the throne was gone, shattered into burning pieces. I’d missed when that happened.
Maybe when Magnus’ body burned away?
I didn’t have time to care. I aimed myself at Magnus, feeling energy flow through me and hoping it would be enough.
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Using Artificer senses, I could see lines of energy extending from him, many into nowhere, a few upward toward the spheres.
I wasn’t the only one using Artificer senses. Magnus’ energy form swiveled to face me and I heard his voice in my head.
“You’ve come to stop my ascension? Very well. Let’s fight.”
The glowing figure waved a long white beam as if it were a whip. I blocked it with my sword, preventing it from hitting my face, but it curved, swinging around to hit me in the back.
It burned, but not physically. I wanted to curl up and sob. Wracking pain, and for a moment only wracking pain, filled my consciousness.
The rockets didn’t stop firing despite the pain, and since the beams weren’t physical, they couldn’t hold me in place. It still hurt, though, the lingering pain reminding me of pulling off a scab too soon.
As I moved out of Magnus’ hold, I struck at his “whip” with my sword and saw the glowing body shudder.
Something dropped from him. Though red hot, it was the same size and shape as the bit of flat, gray stone that I’d handed off to Amy. With the time-related shenanigans going on, it might even have been the same stone.
Whatever its origin, the stone fell and neither of us went for it.
He’d begun to pull in energy from the spheres above us and fling it at me in the form of bolts. I, in turn, veered to the left and then wobbled to the right, up, or down, making it as hard as possible for him to aim.
I’d also put as much energy as I could spare into the sword, batting his bolts away as he loosed them. I knew this wasn’t the best defense, but I didn’t have enough skill or power to keep the sword and some kind of defense up at the same time.
Magnus threw a burst of three at me and I batted at each one, somehow connecting. With each hit, though, I felt energy leave me—not much, but enough to knock the bolts away.
All through it, Magnus screamed battle cries and taunts, shouting, “Coward! You run. You dodge. Come close so we can fight.”
Then he struck with another curved beam of light.
This time, I knocked it away with a swipe of my sword, and kept on pushing the limb downward as I flew to the the right, making it impossible for him to hit me from behind again.
Pushing it away, I twisted in the air, aiming straight for him from a new angle.
When he was almost within my sword’s reach, he realized it, creating a glowing, dome-shaped barrier between us.
My suit threw alerts. The barrier’s temperature had spiked by several hundred degrees. Kee had shown me a way to mitigate harsh climate shifts, but I didn’t have the energy to work with or the time to shift into the right headspace.
I had to trust the system I’d redesigned after fighting the dragon back in Stapledon and hope it was good enough.
At the same time, I turned on the sonics, throwing them to full power. If the barrier threw out physical heat, some part of it had to be physical enough to resonate.
Swiping at Magnus with my sword, I released a burst of boombots, sending them around the shield to attack Magnus from behind. Even if he were now completely intangible, he might find boombots exploding within his body distracting.
And I could use the help.