Uncle Dimri stopped and turned to face us.
“We’ve arrived at the ritual’s location. Please listen carefully and hold any questions until my explanation is concluded. I’ll also be happy to repeat or elaborate on anything you’d like to know more about.”
A moment of silence later, he continued.
“This ritual is similar to the one I had conducted on Fafnir, but it has significant differences. First, Fafnir was an S-rank creature, so the process was much more complicated than it is for a peak rank B creature like you, Lady Sept. Another difference is that Fafnir’s ritual was a sidegrade into another S-rank creature, while yours will be a ritual evolution into rank A. These factors make repeating the previous success uncertain, and side effects are possible even if it succeeds.”
He then gestured towards the hanging mana core.
“Another difference is that this ritual will be transforming you directly into a fire elemental rather than move you into another physical body, though I cannot predict what species you will become. While it’s unlikely that you will lose your sapience, your mind may be affected. I also cannot predict the effects this will have on your lifespan or guarantee that it will remove the unremovable status condition afflicting you. Knowing all of these risks, are you still certain that you wish to undergo the ritual? You can still try in a few years.”
All eyes turned to Nico. Duchess Sept was visibly nervous and wanted to object, but she restrained herself. Duke Sept was more composed, but his hands gripped his ornate walking cane a little harder than usual. Even Ozeir was uncharacteristically quiet and serious.
Nico slowly nodded.
“I understand, but I still want to go through with this. My life’s purpose is to serve my Goddess as her champion and safeguard the order she has created. I won’t sit down and waste away when there’s a chance that I could take up arms once more in my Lady’s name. If I die, my Goddess will be able to pass my mantle on to another, just as she did with me and all of my predecessors.”
The concern her family had felt didn’t go away, but pride visibly mixed with it at her words.
“Your piety is admirable, but please don’t be in such a rush to presume the worst. Let’s take things one at a time. Now please, lie on your back at the center of the wooden bed, and make sure not to step on the magic circle’s lines while you’re getting to it. To everyone else, please take one of the seats on the other side of the room and get comfortable. Most importantly of all, no matter what happens, please do not interfere with the ritual until I let you know that it is concluded. Ritual soul magic of this scale and complexity has little margin for error.” Dimri said, raising seats of wood from the floor near the edge of the wall.
With nothing else to do, we all found our seats as Nico tip-toed her way to the wooden table-bed thing. Uncle Dimri walked over to his circle then grabbed a clipboard with a checklist on it.
“Soul Transplant Ritual Final Checkup… subject in good health, check…”
***
“…and done.” Dimri said, putting away the clipboard.
Nearly 15 minutes later, we all stewed in our anxiety as the Life Dragon thoroughly checked that everything was in order. It was finally time to begin.
“This is the point of no return, Lady Sept. Your last chance to back out. Are you sure you want to continue?” he asked.
“Yeah, I am.” She answered immediately.
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“Very well. Please do your best not to move. This will feel a little uncomfortable, but it will not hurt.” he said.
Uncle Dimri held both his hands on his staff, which he then used to infuse raw mana with his arcane core. For nearly thirty seconds, a large amount of arcane-infused raw mana gathered within the soul mage. Then suddenly, Dimri slammed the bottom of his staff within the circle he stood on, sending all of the mana gushing into the circle.
The strange powder forming the mana lines began to glow faintly green, then the light slowly began spreading up the bed’s legs. Before long, the light enveloped Nico, and the powder slowly burned into dust. With no more light being created, whatever light there was left slowly moved towards the center, and Nico’s body glowed brighter and brighter as it absorbed more of the light. Nico did not so much as twitch, just as Dimri had asked of her.
When all of the light was absorbed into Nico’s body, it slowly began to compress itself. The light first moved from her head, feet, and hands inwards, slowly making its way towards the light over her core, which was already glowing brighter than a bonfire. The limbs where the light was extracted were deathly pale, though no sign of damage was visible on them.
Soon enough, the light was gathered into her mana core, which was glowing so brightly that it was a little hard to look at directly. Uncle Dimri took a deep breath then pointed a hand at the glowing core and slowly raised it. The glowing, green orb of light rose from Nico’s chest towards the suspended phoenix core, where it slowly entered through the core’s mana exit.
“Lady Ighir, please begin. Make sure not to disrupt my mana control no matter what.” He said as he began sending a trickle of arcane mana, likely to maintain his control over Nico’s soul.
As prompted, Aunt Ighir began releasing flame mana and moving it towards the core, which began consuming it hungrily. The core began to slowly heat up, judging by the orange tinge to the now subdued green glow of the core.
“Lady Azoth, please join in. Remember to be as gentle as possible with your application.”
Instead of feeding the core water mana, mom instead formed a thin layer of ice frost, which would instantly evaporate and release heat from the core.
“Lady Ighir, remember to not over or under feed the core. We don’t want to damage it, but we also don’t have too much time. Lady Azoth, please make sure the core doesn’t get too hot without damaging the core with flash cooling.”
The Frost and Flame dragons obeyed silently, as a tug of war between scorching heat and freezing cold fought over the core’s surface.
The Duchess’s hands were trembling with trepidation while the duke held his breath. Ozeir conflictedly looked between the glowing core and the pale, lifeless body of his sister. The tension was as high as it could get, though the three dragons at the center of the spell were too busy to notice.
After what seemed like an eternity, the glow blinked out, and a mighty flame exploded from the center of the core. Ozeir moved instantly, standing between us and the flames and raising his hands against it. The sea of flames stopped where we stood and flowed elsewhere, as Duchess Sept leapt from her seat.
“Nicotris!” she yelled out.
Before she could rush into the flames, Duke Sept placed a hand on her shoulder.
“The Life Dragon asked us not to intervene no matter what, Anta.”
Despite his words, the man looked just about ready to leap into the fire himself. Then, just as suddenly as they appeared, the flames retreated back around the core and rapidly rotated around it.
Aunt Ighir was holding the flames back with a flick of her hands.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t expect the core to start spitting out fire. Is everything alright, Dimri?” she asked.
“Keep going, this is a good sign.” He said, amplifying his magic on the core.
“The core is creating flames of its own. Don’t extinguish it, but don’t allow it to spread. Compress it as much as you can around the core. Lady Azoth, you may stop cooling the core. Now that the core is alive, it’s not vulnerable to fire anymore.”
Mom lowered her hand, and the flames that surrounded the core burned ever so slightly hotter. Uncle Dimri and Aunt Ighir kept their hold on their mana for a few more minutes. Suddenly, the core rapidly swallowed the flames surrounding it, only for even more flames to expand from the core.
This time, however, the flames were incredibly still and stable as they grew, slowly forming the outline of a human body. The fires slowly began to solidify and gaining detail, where it began to look like Nicotris.
The moment Nico’s body fully formed, she fell through the air, though she was quickly caught by mom and laid next to her strangely untouched-by-flame previous body. Quickly, mom covered her with a towel and the Sept family collectively held their breaths as they awaited for Dimri’s permission to go to the table, eager to check on her themselves.
I on the other hand, already knew that the ritual has succeeded.
[Immortal Flame Spirit Lv. 1 – Chosen of Mett Lv. 134]