Dreadgod (Cradle Book 11) (22)

Dross projected the image of a fist-sized ball, little more than a binding wrapped in dead matter, with a simple trigger and a straightforward effect. It looked something like a purple-and-white striped clamshell, and Lindon grabbed the image in one hand and inspected it.

On the inside, it was more complicated, blending Ruler and Enforcer techniques of a few different aspects at once. But it was still straightforward, effectively boosting the body’s inherent spiritual resistance while attacking the Silent King’s parasitic technique with similar aspects.

“Let me see it work.”

With only a weird laugh, Dross spun it out.

The example he used was the sword-Path Archlady from Everwood with the halo behind her head. Dross placed the clamshell construct in her soulspace, and immediately the madra from the Silent King’s control activated it. Power ran throughout her madra channels, and she shivered until the halo disappeared.

[It will do nothing to resist the Silent King’s focused attention. And it can’t hold him back from stepping on you.]

“It’s better than nothing. Can we do it cheaper?”

Dross had created this recipe by combining elements from several traditional defenses against the Silent King. They would help against remote possession, but no easily crafted construct could stand against a Dreadgod’s direct will.

Finding appropriate dream bindings was easy—Lindon had several in his own void key, and he could theoretically use those from the Path of the White Fox, if he strengthened them himself. But soul Enforcer techniques were rare.

[If we use mind Enforcer techniques or purify and twist some full-body Enforcer techniques, there’s a version that slowly grinds the control away. Like a whetstone grinding away your living bones, one fraction of an inch at a time.]

“First, that’s another one to never say again. Make a note.”

Since Dross had returned with his new, morbid personality, he had used a few expressions that were too disturbing for Lindon to allow. Dross had agreed to seal them away at Lindon’s request, though Lindon suspected he might have agreed only to have a list of what got under Lindon’s skin the most.

[Ah, I see, I see…is it the bone part that disturbs you, or the grinding?]

Lindon shuddered at the last word. “All of it. Now, will the lower-efficiency version of the construct still be effective?”

[In all simulations, it eliminates the parasitic technique. The time required ranges between eighteen seconds and roughly nine minutes.]

“Do we have the required materials on hand?”

[The Silent King threatened six beings besides the two of us. Your three surviving relatives, Yerin, Orthos, and Mercy. If that is all we need, and we are willing to accept a lapse in performance, then we have the materials on hand. Also, this assumes that we do not need protection ourselves.]

“We’ll be safe,” Lindon said.

He was certain he could break the Silent King’s control with his own willpower, but if it came to that, he also had a spiritual Enforcer technique specialized in purifying foreign elements, an arm with stronger hunger madra than the halo technique, and a Sage’s authority that could be used to remove things. Not to mention Dross.

Little Blue would purify any corruption of her spirit before she was even conscious of it, which could have been why the Dreadgod didn’t mention her.

[Safe?] Dross whispered. [We will be in the most danger of all, because the only way he can control us is if we give in voluntarily.]

“One problem at a time. Six constructs. Do they work if they aren’t held in the soulspace?”

[At about twenty percent reduced efficiency.]

“Good enough. Get the materials.” Any solution was better than none.

Dross opened Lindon’s void key and dead matter began floating out. He couldn’t activate Lindon’s key on his own, nor could he use soulfire, but Lindon could allow him to borrow command over both.

Lindon himself was focused on the surface of the altar, even as he felt Forged madra and Remnant parts floating around him.

In an apparent contradiction, weaker souls needed weaker protections against techniques like this, despite being more vulnerable. A defensive construct that was too much for them could cause damage to their channels while purging the foreign energy.

Therefore, he seized the weak materials first. He had started carrying around Jade Remnants with White Fox-compatible madra so that he could make constructs for his family. These would serve as practice for him, and he wouldn’t even need to fuel the Soulforge. Just being made in this place would grant the constructs more authority than they would have otherwise; enough to defeat the Silent King’s will, so long as the Dreadgod was nowhere nearby.

Lindon could have assembled this construct in two seconds using his madra control alone, but he gave it his full attention. A dream Ruler binding and a purified soul Enforcer binding—one that he’d made to simulate the Heart of Twin Stars—went down first, and he fused them together with one strike of Genesis. He used the blue head, channeling pure madra, as this was a purification construct and not a weapon.

The construct formed in moments, infused with power from his will, his madra, and this place. When he bathed it in his own quicksilver soulfire, it ended up pink and pale blue instead of the purple-and-white of Dross’ example, but a quick spiritual scan confirmed that it would work.

He Forged a quick script into it, to preserve the construct and add a few basic protections, then he considered it done.