“Was that a smart use of magic, boss?” El-One asked, keeping his volume barely over a whisper. “Do we need the extra light, or are we trying to impress the hot sorceress?”

“Impress? Yes. Because she’s hot? No.”

“When did you get so boring and holier than thou.” The clone sighed.

“We need her to teach us, genius,” Lukas said, trying to focus magic around his eyes. What El-One and the sorcerer didn’t know was that the spell hadn’t done what Lukas intended. The sphere was an unintended result. He had pictured his eyeballs and magic drawing more light into them. Instead, he had let his mind stray, thinking about all the other things Esther and he had practiced. The most basic version of the light spell had manifested instead. “Esther can only teach us so much. As incredible wizardry i,s it will take us far too many clones and years of study before we’re competent enough to get where we need to go.”

“Sounds like they’re mostly preparation casters anyway,” El-One said. “It doesn’t sound fun at all.”

“Or suited to us. Especially given our target specialization.”

“The lightning thing?”

Lukas nodded. “Once I can make more of you, I'll try to get us a job with another blacksmith. Maybe on the opposite end of the city. The faster we get good and the more money we have, the sooner we can start. It should be a hell of a lot faster than spending decades on arcane study and research only for our wizardry aspirations to never manifest.”

“We could save, steal, and splurge, and get that blacksmithing shard and get there even faster. The Heart and Mind abilities would make getting where we need to go much faster. Mold Metal might prove decent in combat, too.”

“You’re not wrong, but what if the pillar is better saved for lightning?”

He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it or whether it was even possible. Lukas had fallen victim to lightning magic one too many times in his former life and always wanted to wield it. Now that Earth-knowledge had returned to his mind with clarity, he wished for it even more. The Realm of Greater Beings limited technology. There was something in the native magic preventing progress, but the same didn't seem to be the case on Fracture. It was the perfect arena for attempted fusions of magic and the science he understood.

Shard ability. Essence-born upgrade. Magic. Lukas hoped one of the three would eventually give him what he wanted.

“Potent but limited,” Esther had said when Lukas casually broached the subject. “Lightning might be fast and devastating, but it's nigh impossible to aim. Even the most talented wizards with the most detailed spellscripts struggle to control it. Lightning has a will of its own and almost never follows the intended path. Metal around? The spell will find it. Sometimes, the air might be funny and will draw it off course. I’ve seen an archwizard’s fifth-tier spell useless strike the ground, avoid all targets despite abundance, and do absolutely nothing.”

Lukas didn’t care. He knew what he wanted and trusted himself to find a workaround. Sure. Countless had tried before him and failed. It didn’t mean he would too. Penelope claimed Intent and Understanding wasn’t enough to overcome the issue, but she hadn’t almost completed a degree in electronic and electrical engineering. Thanks to the clones, Lukas had the time and manpower to figure things out. He just needed more of them.

“Over there,” El-One said, pointing with his spear at a dark corner far in the direction he was facing.

It looked like nothing at first. Lukas saw another black patch among several other black patches. “What are you—” The darkness was darker than the other dark patches. While light from the fungi and crystals didn’t reach the other areas, it seemed to disappear into the corner. Lukas focused his arcane senses, trying to get a feel of the anomaly, but he lacked the range and ability.

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The dark patch moved. Lukas couldn’t be sure of it at first. Then, just as he started to look away, it moved again. The first time, it was lateral. The second was toward them. Lukas immediately started to gather ambient magic, using the time he had to minimize the drain on his personal magic supply and the sword’s stores.

“What is it?” Lukas whispered. “Did you get a decent look?”

El-One shook his head. “I wasn’t even sure I was looking at something. You’re my confirmation. I’ll bet our right nut it’s not friendly.”

“Don’t start.” Lukas sighed. “It’s not our right nut.”

“Yes. Yes. It’s your right nut. But if something happens to the prime right nut, all future clone right nuts suffer the same fate.” El-One grinned, casually standing next to Lukas but eyes not leaving the anomaly. “Hence, our right nut.”

“I hate you so much,” Lukas mumbled.

“Self-loathing is a bad look, El-Prime.” The clone sighed, shaking his head. “It’s why you're never happy. Also, remember to take time and savor every moment like I’m with Kat.”

“Easy with the prime and clone talk. Our sorcerer’s kitty probably has enhanced hearing.”

“I did a few tests. It's not as keen as he wants us to think. Especially when he’s focused on other things.”

“Or that's what he wants you to think,” Lukas whispered, struggling to condense ambient magic around himself. Penelope made the act seem far too easy. “You're not happy either. You're distracting yourself with an innocent girl who's going to be left heartbroken when we move on or don't commit.”

“I like her and think she's cute,” El-One stated. “Which means that you do, too, even though you won't admit it. Kat is a consenting adult and likes me—I mean us. It's not like we’re taking advantage of her.” He adopted an almost mocking tone. “Your ‘I’d rather be with someone age-appropriate’ thing is stupid. You're never going to hook up with an eighty years old. ”

“I had no such plans.”

“Good. But if you want to become happy.”

“Will you please shut the fuck up!” Lukas hissed.

“Don't get testy with me, El-Prime. I'm just your inner thoughts given physical form.”

“No. Shut up. That thing is speeding up.” Lukas took a step back, positioning himself behind El-One’s shield arm, and adopted a striking stance. “It's coming for us.”

Lukas struggled to identify the creature as it climbed a wall and crawled towards them along the underside of a bridge. Even when it passed through a luminous crystal’s beam, he failed to see it clearly. Light seemed to pass through it. Then, Lukas noticed a sudden change. A skinny quadripedal figure appeared for a brief, blink-and-you-miss-it moment before everything around it darkened.

Creaks and cracks spread across the bridge as the blackness intensified. Dust, fragments, and fist-sized chunks rained from it. When the mass of darkness fell, the stone bridge almost seemed to flex. The ground trembled and fractured when it landed. The tremor almost knocked Lukas off his feet. Cracks spread through underfoot stone, reaching the duo and the stairs they guarded. Bits of it fell away, but Penelope’s magic circle remained intact.

The creature’s first few steps were loud and thundering. Each added to the aftershocks of its landing, and more stone chunks fell from above. The intense darkness faded. Lukas saw the long, spindly figure again. It was almost humanoid but the rear limbs bent the wrong way. All of its legs seemed to sit in ball and socket joints, given how they rotated with every step. Then, light once again seemed to pass through the creature, making it hard to see, and all of its sounds disappeared.

Mass and density alteration?

“Bryna,” Lukas whispered, pressing a hand against El-One’s round shield. Its edges thinned, and the metal rim picked up a slight sheen. He did the same with his kite-shaped buckler, focusing magic around the narrow end that jutted out over his knuckles. Lukas didn’t know how much good it would do him, but he felt more secure having weapons in both hands.

The creature covered more than a couple of hundred feet in less than five seconds. Only the way light behaved as it passed through illuminated patches allowed Lukas to keep track of it. Visibility changed the moment it struck, making contact with El-One’s shield. The attack or impact didn’t seem like the source of the change. Instead, the striking limb lit up with azure flames as soon as it crossed the magic circle’s threshold.

A high-pitched growl sounded from the creature’s throat and transitioned to a deep rumble as it went from permeable to so dark that its carapace seemed to absorb all light. Both Lukas and El-One used the three-second window to strike. The three-stage spear failed to do much, rebounding off the shoulder it stuck. Meanwhile, the magically sharpened shortsword and Lukas’s right arm, momentarily enhanced by a modified speed spell, made a marginal difference. It bit into the still burning limb.