dev 6 - ritual preparation

Now it was time.

Long before the mass ritual with planned sacrifice would begin, Arthur knew that there was yet another preparation that he had to make, one pertaining to the ritual circle itself and the investment that comes with having the feather of a Fallen Angel. There's no doubt in his mind that this ritual could very well be dangerous, but... considering how far he's come- and how far he's fallen- he knew there's no other path for him. The encroaching enemies from all over Agartha would be sieging this place soon enough, and he will be able to either leave in peace or pieces.

Surely, he would have first option for himself.

"Hrm..."

He would frown if he could, but the lack of face was always... something abstract for him. Despite well over almost three decades spent without normal physical body, something always ate away at him for never having it again. Was it the guilt, shame or regret? Who knew. The Lich King never shared his emotions with anyone but those inside his family during those years. And even they couldn't tell...

"This ought to be interesting."

A single declaration, and he laid down the Angel Feather right across the ritual circle he pre-emptively prepared in the past. This was the very ritual circle that was meant to drain the mana from all of those people in decades; few of them even died at this point, but they were disallowed to leave. The Necromancer was quick to resurrect them, only to put them back in the machinery that would keep draining them day and night.

Of course, they didn't have to expect the Lich King to let them go... not yet.
(Arthur Rowan)


There's no doubt about what place this is.

The Research Facility. The infamous place where many died, many came back, and many suffered; in truth, this was also the place where Arthur performed his own ritual, where he saw the light and stars of boundless cosmos when he surrendered his life to something... like this. Like his current form. The wretched abomination upon lifeforce and everything living - the parasite, which only takes nowadays, all to make sure that he can still exist.

The essence of Fallen Angel had already destroyed his body. But what if he pushed more?

Somewhere deep inside his unbeating, even non-existent, dead heart, he had faith that all of this could be fixed, that he could return to normal existence again. But what is the normal existence for him even? Would it be stealing so much lifeforce, that his body would be repaired? Or perhaps mastering Necromancy to a point where he could rival even the Fallen Angel himself? Probably a bit of both. He knew the fact that with nothing holding him back, there's only one thing to do, and that's...

'Regnum - the Purpose of Ruling, of Power.'
'Virtus - the Purpose of Excellence.'
'Corpus - the Purpose of Flesh.'
'Sacrum - the Purpose of Sacrifice.'
'Abutor - the Purpose of Consumption, to Devour.'

The runes glowed in the union as the Lich King cast them; forging an even better, advanced version of the ritual circle, there was little to no limit to just how well it could be done. Surely, with enough time spent on this, he could ensure that the ritual runs smooth... and that much was on his mind.

Minutes, hours, days. He has all the time. He doesn't hurry.
(Arthur Rowan)

...And that much passes.

It takes a long while and large investment for Arthur to complete it, but now, it was done; amidst the ritual, he laid down the second feather he retrieved from Fallen Angel amidst the runes, and within moments, the ritual circle had consumed it entirely. Vibrating with large amounts of energy and unfathomable power, there's no doubt that now all he had to do was properly use this ritual circle. Or else, it would go to waste - and with that, he could abandon all hope.

But he wasn't ready for that just yet.

Normally, he would ask someone close to him... Bei, perhaps, but it's clear that even if she exhausts the entirety of self, it still wouldn't be enough. Then who? No magi on his mind, when he thinks of it, even comes close to being able to fulfil this role; to supply the vast energy required to complete this ritual and the lifeforce transfer that would no doubt be a notable flash of energy across Agartha, he needed more. Much more than he initially anticipated.

He would need all that could reach out to him in Dawn.

And that much he agrees to himself inside his mind. If Dawn had to be assigned to assist him in the ritual, then so be it; the city was already in shambles, with constant attack and incoming assaults from all over Agartha, so he might as well take his chance while it lasts. Still, there were preparations to do, and he couldn't waste his time here - thankfully, the endurance of Lich was fairly large, thanks to no longer having to eat, drink or sleep. And with the preparations done...

"Time to act."
(Arthur Rowan)