Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(38)

Marci froze, eyes going wide. “What about a banishment?”

Amelia arched an eyebrow. “What about a banishment?”

“You can’t banish a Nameless End,” Myron said at the same time. “They’re not spirits.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Marci said, her voice trembling in excitement as she pointed at the black shape in the sky. “The whole reason that thing is able to be in our plane is because Algonquin’s been hiding it. If that’s true, then it doesn’t matter if the Leviathan himself is a spirit a not. He’s relying on Algonquin’s magic to keep himself hidden, and Algonquin can be banished.”

“That makes a surprising amount of sense,” Raven said, turning his head. “Myron, you’re our expert. Could we banish it?”

“In theory, I suppose it’s possible,” Myron admitted grudgingly. “But it won’t work in reality. There’s a reason Algonquin was never banished. She’s just too big. The circle required to suck all the magic out of the Great Lakes would encompass the entire northern hemisphere, not to mention the mages you’d need to actually use it.”

“How many mages?” Emily demanded.

Myron thought for a moment. “At least a hundred thousand, which is ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and fifty-two more than the current world record for largest casting team.” He shook his head. “It’s not a bad idea, but it simply won’t work on this scale.”

“Not if I did it your way,” Marci said. “But I’m not talking about a draining banishment.” Her lips curled in a smirk. “I’m talking about dropping the hammer.”

Myron’s eyes grew wide, and then he pressed his palm to his face. “You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?” Julius asked. “What’s the hammer? And why can’t she be serious about it?”

Marci opened her mouth to explain, but Myron beat her to the punch.

“There are two methods of banishing spirits from the physical world,” he said authoritatively. “The most common is a draining banishment, which is where you trap a spirit in a circle and suck out its magic until it either surrenders or can no longer maintain a physical form.”

“That’s what I used on all our spirits back when we had our business,” Marci explained.

“Precisely,” Myron said. “Draining banishments are a staple mage tool because they are a safe, reliable, and highly effective method of controlling spirits. Also, draining banishments don’t require you to have any magic on hand beyond whatever was needed to trap the target initially. Since you’re sucking power out of a spirit, the process is always a net positive for the mage, which is fortunate because you often need that magic to fix whatever disaster inspired you to banish that spirit in the first place.”

“But that’s not what she’s talking about doing,” General Jackson said.

“No,” Myron said, shooting Marci a dirty look. “Miss Novalli is referring to the second type of banishment, colloquially known as a ‘hammer banish.’”

“Why?” Julius asked.

“Because that’s exactly what it does,” Marci said, taking over the conversation before Myron talked them out of the idea she hadn’t even explained yet. “The whole point of a banishment is to reduce a spirit’s magic to the point where it’s no longer a threat. Draining banishments do that by sucking magic out, but hammer banishments do the opposite. They work by hitting spirits with so much power, their own magic is blown to bits. It’s like throwing a rock into a puddle. Get a big enough rock with enough force behind it, and you can knock every drop of water out of that sucker, leaving the puddle dry.”

Raven grimaced. “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”

“Oh, it’s horrible,” Marci agreed. “It also takes an enormous amount of magic, which is why most mages never do it. But if you can land a hammer banish, it works instantly, which is its key advantage here.” She glanced at Julius and Chelsie. “Remember when we were fighting Vann Jeger, and it took me forever to banish him?”

“How could I forget?” Chelsie growled. “We both nearly died multiple times.”

The Qilin turned to her in wonder. “You fought the Death of Dragons?”

Chelsie nodded as if that was no big deal, but Marci didn’t miss the smug smile she was struggling to hide. Neither did the Golden Emperor, who seemed to be falling in love all over again.

“Anyway,” she moved on. “That’s the downside of a draining banish. Vann Jeger was only a fjord, but I still pulled on him as hard as I could for over half an hour without making a dent in his magic. Assuming being consumed by the Leviathan hasn’t changed her size, Algonquin is much bigger. Even if we could somehow get a hundred thousand mages working together, the Leviathan would probably kill us all before we drained him down to anything like a reasonable size. If we use a hammer banish, though, we won’t have to touch his magic at all, which means he won’t see it coming until the hammer lands on his face.”

“But how are you going to get that much magic?” Myron asked. “A hammer banish requires at least an exponential square of the magical mass of the target. Cubed, if you want to be sure. Where in the world are you going to get that kind of power, and where are you going to put it?”