Lapsa woke up about an hour after Cronix, his body ached, and he mumbled, "Did I overexert myself?"

Sitting up, he looked at the mess that was his bed. He reached for the blanket that was next to him, and he looked at the scraps of fabrics that were scattered on and off his bed.

Did someone come in?

He stretched his body, cracking his back, before he stumbled off his bed, landing on his knees.

The sound of beads hitting the floor could be heard throughout the room. It drew his attention, and when he turned, he noticed two yellow beads dribbling on the floor.

His eyes widened, he completely forgot about the pills that were given to him by young master Riley.

This could've saved us a lot of trouble...

Lapsa silently cursed at himself, before putting the two pills away...

Wasn't there three?

Taking them out again, he made sure he was seeing things correctly.

A frown slowly surfaced on his face, he could've sworn there were three left. Holding up five fingers he began to count the number of times a pill was consumed.

The first was when he first received the pills, he put a finger down. Then he gave one to Cayden the same day, another finger went down.

That's when his frown deepened, those were the only times he used the pills, yet there were only two left from the five given to him.

He searched the floor, tossing away the scraps of fabrics into a pile so they wouldn't get in the way. After ten minutes of searching, he let out a sigh.

Did one of them fall out of my pocket... Like during the fight? What a waste...

While shaking his head, he turned back to the blanket on his bed. There was nothing he could do about the missing pill, but he could help limit the need for them.

Picking up the blanket, he looked through it, while it was rough, and the energy was all over the place. If one analyzed it close enough, there was a very faint hint of magic energy going through the threads of the blanket.

My first attempt... It's sloppy.

Lapsa threw it back to the bed, he wasn't going to give up on the blanket, but right now, he needed to take a break.

Sitting back on the bed, he sat cross legged, and closed his eyes, trying to remember how to perform cognitive gathering.

But it didn't take long for him to be interrupted, there was a tapping noise at his window. This didn't worry Lapsa in the slightest since he already knew what it was.

Getting back up from his bed, he walked to his window and opened it, a dark figure swooped in. After flying around the room, it landed on his bed frame, and dropped a magic bag onto the bed.

Lapsa didn't look at the dark figure, instead he stared stunned at the sky.

The sun is in a completely different position... How long did I sleep?

Turning back to the bed, Lapsa took the magic bag and peeked inside. What he saw were fruits of various sizes and colors, he could name very few of them.

He looked at the dark figure, or Kara, and thanked her, before going back to performing cognitive gathering for the time being.

...

When Cronix left the mental expanse, his face was deathly pale. He wasn't sure exactly when the pain inside him faded away, but this had to be one of the longest hours in his life.

His breath was heavy, and his body couldn't stop shaking. There was also another change in his eyes, they became a hint brighter once again.

Cronix used his hands to support himself, standing on his feet, his mind wandered to the formation, the whole point of this experiment.

His external mental energy saw everything that happened to him and the formations' interaction from the outside, meaning while he was in too much pain to focus on anything specific, his mental energy caught everything.

After catching his breath, Cronix placed his information tablet onto his head, and replaced the memories with his own, believing this would be more useful for creating the formation than Mr. Ezerta's memories.

It still felt uncomfortable for the tablet to copy his memories, but he kept everything under control. After the memories were imprinted into the tablet, Cronix immediately placed it onto his forehead.

At first, when reviewing his memories, he saw nothing worthwhile, only himself in pain from an outside perspective, but after half an hour of carefully inspecting everything, he finally saw something, it was so small, he would've never found it if he wasn't paying close enough attention.

It was a flicker in both formations. A small grin formed on Cronix's face, both of these made him feel a little better of what he just went through.

The first one he examined was the cloak's formation; there was a small reveal to its base, which Cronix quickly jotted down on his notes. This was easily the biggest discovery in his studies, not that it had any strong competition.

As for the formation on his back, there was an even greater reveal to its base form since it wasn't as complex as the cloak's formation.

Grabbing another paper, Cronix jotted this down as well. Putting the tablet back onto his forehead, Cronix switched the memories again to another perspective, hoping to find anything else.

But all he got was a slightly clearer version of what he already saw.

Should I try again?

That thought sent a shiver down his spine, and thankfully he was interrupted before he was forced to make any decisions.

A knock sounded at his door, with Cayden peeking his head in a few seconds later, "Thank goodness you're awake, can you help me with something?"

Cronix didn't hesitate to nod his head which allowed Cayden to let out a small breath of relief, and entered the room holding a book with colored stones on the cover.

"What does this mean?" Cayden pointed at a sentence, placing the book on the desk for Cronix could get a better look.

Yet, when Cronix looked at the page he frowned, his eyes suddenly became blurry when he looked at the words on the paper, and rubbing it didn't make anything better.

Cayden didn't fail to notice Cronix's reaction and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, my eyes just went blurry, give me a second." Cronix turned away from the book and continued to rub his eyes, when he opened them again, they were fine.

"Okay, let me... see." The moment Cronix turned back to look at the sentence, his eyes went blurry again.

"The heck." Cronix rubbed his eyes again, but everything remained blurry, "Why is this happening now?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Did hitting your head leave any lasting damage... No, shouldn't the pill have healed that?" Cayden's mumblings didn't reach Cronix's ears, Cronix leaned against the desk, now facing away from the book, and his eyes cleared up.

"Okay, give me the book fast before my eyes start acting up again." Cronix's hands reached out to take the book, but Cayden had some reservations, "Shouldn't we get that checked out, I mean we still have two favors left?"

Cronix didn't listen, and asked for the book again, Cayden sighed but relented, handing him the book, yet the moment Cronix's view touched the pages, it went blurry again.

"Damn it! We were too late." Cronix handed the book back to Cayden, yet the moment his eyes left the page, they cleared up.

A frown rose on his face, and a small idea appeared in his mind, "Hey Cayden, can you show me that book again?"

Cayden tilted his head, and showed his sentence again, once more Cronix's eyes became blurry. Cronix then turned away from the book, with his eyes clearing up again.

"Interesting..." Cronix turned to Cayden, "I think the book is messing with my eyes."

"The book..." Cayden's voice was quiet, but it got louder when his eyes lit up and he said, "The formation! There's a formation on the back of the cover page."

"A formation? This is perfect timing!" Cronix smiled as he gestured to the book, "Show me it."

Cayden closed the book, then flipped it to the unofficial first page, the back of the cover. When Cronix's eyesight touched the formation, his whole vision went blank.

He quickly looked away, and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, so I have a plan on how we can break this formation, but I need your help."

Cayden nodded, "What do you need?"

"I need you to guide my mental energy." Cronix answered, closing his eyes, and extending his mental energy, but he wasn't using the external eyes, but the external touch technique.

Cayden stretched out his right hand, and began waving it in the air. Cronix felt his movements, and said, "Now, guide me to the formation."

Placing a hand on the book, Cayden waited for Cronix to follow his trail, when he did, Cronix told him, "Grab my cloak, we need to time this right if we want to get the most out of this situation."

Cayden listened and grabbed the cloak, he held it in a way that its formation was revealed for Cronix could have an easier time reaching it, he had an inkling of an idea on what Cronix wanted to do.

"The cloak's formation is over here." Cayden said, waving his fingers. Cronix found it and nodded, "Okay, let's get started."

Cronix's mental energy infused itself into the cloak's formation, and attacked the book's formation, evoking more of a reaction from it. His face twisted from the pain of his mental energy being destroyed.

"Cayden, move the formations closer to each other." Cayden nodded, and grabbed both items, positioning them so the formations were face to face.

Cronix proceeded to handle the rest, stimulating both formations until their power started to conflict with the other's.

He also started using the external eyes technique, but he couldn't see anything, like there was a distinct layer of fog covering everything.

Despite this, he still used it. From the outside, Cayden watched Cronix's work with interest. Cronix's work had always amazed him, and there was a small feeling of hope that this technique would give him the same wonder.

On the book's formation, slight scratches emerged on the lines, and the energy became unstable. The concentration of the fog covering the external eyes rapidly shifted back and forth, from thick, to partially see through.

"It's almost broken." Cronix said with a voice filled with pain from how constantly his mental energy was being destroyed.

To speed up the process, Cronix infused more mental energy into the cloak's formation. His plan worked with more scratches appearing on the book's formation, but that's when a problem occurred.

With a shaky voice, Cronix said, "Cayden, there's enough power in this formation to blow this room to smithereens."

Cayden frowned, but he thought of a solution, "Can't we just use the cloak to shield the blast?"

"I guess, but that's such a waste." Cronix said, his disappointment could be felt in his mental energy.

While the two thought over their problem and solutions, Lapsa had stopped performing cognitive gathering and continued working on his blanket.

The crow watched over him, but she suddenly shifted her attention to the door. She flew up, and distress calls came out of her mouth to alert Lapsa.

Lapsa looked up, and when he saw her flying towards the door, and heard her urgent cries, he knew something wasn't right, so he didn't waste any time.

He quickly jumped off his bed, with the air elements speeding him up, he opened the door for the both of them, his blanket still in his hands.

Once she was outside, Kara flew towards Cronix's room, causing Lapsa to frown,

What's going on with Cronix to make her act this way?

At this point, Kara didn't care about the obstacles in her way, as she destroyed the door to Cronix's room.

"Cronix there isn't any other way, we have to cover up the book." Cayden's voice rang out.

Yet Cronix didn't want to resign to this fate, and said, "I know, but give me a few minutes, I need to find another way."

Lapsa didn't really understand what was going on, he saw Kara land on Cronix's head, and she began gathering the dark elements.

He also felt Cronix's mental energy in the air, and when he looked around, he saw a book with a formation, and the cloak coming together, but that's when he saw the problem.

"Oh my goodness, that's going to blow up!" Lapsa's voice was loud enough to gather the two boy's attention.

"Lapsa, you should get out of here before Cronix decides to blow us to shreds." Cayden warned, resulting in a glare from Cronix.

"I'm not planning on killing us, I'm just trying to find another way to shield the blast without the cloak." Cronix tried to explain, but even to Lapsa, his reasoning wasn't really connecting in any positive way, "Guys, trust me on this one, I need it for my research."

Cayden sighed, and said, "There really isn't anything we can do, this formation could blow at any second, it's a miracle it hasn't exploded yet."

"Yeah, I know... You're probably right..." Just as Cronix was going to resign, an idea popped into his head, "What if I take the blunt of the blast? I mean at this point I'm kind of already used to it."

Cayden made a weird face at Cronix's suggestion, and he was about to argue against that, but Lapsa spoke before he could.

"I have something that could help." Lapsa said, presenting the purple blanket, "I tailored it myself, I want to see how well it works."

Cronix nodded, and took the blanket, Cayden was shaking his head, while muttering, "Oh my goodness, You're just like a goat... I wonder if all demons are this crazy?"

Ignoring him, Cronix wrapped the blanket around his body like a cloak with no hood.

"This could... Work..." He trailed off, and turned to the formation, his face pale, "It's happening."

Cronix quickly took the cloak from Cayden, and wrapped it around both himself and the book, he then grabbed the book and pressed it against the cloak's formation.

The scratches of the book's formation finally caused the whole thing to become unstable, and the energy to fluctuate. Until it began seeping out of the holes the scratches caused.

Finally, the energy was too much for the formation's foundation to handle, and it all burst out in a powerful explosion.

The inside of the cloak thankfully shielded most of the blast, with the cloak's formation suffering the brunt of the blast, revealing so much more than the golden formation did.

However, since Cronix himself was inside the cloak with the book, he wasn't protected in the slightest, and the blast of the explosion rushed towards him.

The power of the blast was unprecedented, and a trace of fear appeared in Cronix's eyes, but he steeled himself, and kept his mental energy spread out.

But he wasn't able to keep the cloak closed, and the explosion exposed itself to the outside.

Kara tried everything she could to weaken the power of the blast, releasing all the energy she's been gathering, yet her efforts weren't enough, and the rest of the power shot towards Cronix.

Cayden also tried helping, creating multiple walls to shield Cronix, but they did absolutely nothing in front of the blast.

And eventually despite their efforts, the blast hit Cronix.

Cronix was shot back from the force, smacking into the original earth wall Cayden built to cover his first hole, but that didn't stop him. He knocked it down, and continued onward, knocking through the walls of the house, his blood smearing and spraying everywhere.

The blanket Lapsa tailored was of little to no help, it was basically a normal blanket, and did nothing as Cronix broke through the house, before finally landing onto the grass outside, it was unknown whether he was dead or alive, but his green necklace began shining.

In the sky, a lone figure stared down at Cronix. No one could see him under the use of his power, but even if he wasn't trying, his appearance couldn't be seen by the average person.

This was Matthew Ezerta, and he watched this whole scene with a twinkle of interest and entertainment.

I don't know what surprises me more, a cloak that can hide existences from people with my strength, Arthur's magic on a living member of the Xryle race, or that this Xtyle is paired with the inheritor of Uriah's legacy spell...

Matthew laughed a little,

And there's also the invaders from the Quintessence Realm... The next century is going to be exciting...

Matthew's smile quickly shifted to a frown, Cronix's body was rapidly surrounded by the dark element, a sigh came out of Ezerta,

He's going to die, and I thought I gave him enough time when I kept that formation from bursting... Well, I guess I'm finished here...

"Cronix!" Cayden's voice called out, as he, Lapsa, and Kara came out from the hole Cronix created.

Matthew's intention of leaving left his mind for a second, as he looked at Cayden, or more specifically his badger features, in a peculiar way, like he was looking at an old friend, "Uriah, why did your inheritor have to remind me so much of you?"

Matthew placed his focus back onto Cronix, "And I guess it would be betraying our purpose if I left him like this?"

His mutterings caused him to sigh again, and without anyone even realizing he was there, he slowly descended from the sky, his mental energy gathering at his left hand's index finger.

His body went upside down to avoid hitting the crowd that was the two demi-humans, and crow. His index finger touched Cronix's forehead, and his mental energy rushed into Cronix's body, mending up all his internal injuries.

And he forced his heart to start beating again and motivated his innards to start moving. Matthew's body rose up again, and he looked at his handy work, knowing Cronix was going to live to see another day.

But as he observed, he noticed an interesting little thing around Cronix's neck, the light around it dying down.

Matthew raised an eyebrow, but he didn't investigate any further, choosing to fly away instead, thinking he wasted enough time in this area.