Private Finished Merger Monday

Adelaida herself took up a meditative stance, except with one hand on the crystals that pierced through the first layer of eclipse-script. "Let's begin."

She had prepared for this day, and waited for the spell to begin. It was coded so that once the topmost layer had started taking effect, the bottom layers would activate to store the excess power of the entities... as well as begin making her the artificial soul she would need to return to the fold of the magi.

All that was needed was for her to keep holding onto the crystal, and for Bastet to succeed.

"Don't get fancy with it! This is the part where you just brute force them in, because otherwise you'll never achieve full control," Adelaida said, noting the fluctuations in divine energy during the process.

"You have to make them submit. Let the circle weaken them. Your job is to just force them to accept what's going on." Adelaida remained in place, not touching anything and waiting for the next steps, but she had to emphasize how important it was to do things how she instructed. The system of eclipse-script was very rigorous and strict, and doing things out of step was a risk.

"Oh lord," Adelaida muttered to herself, watching the spectacle unfold. Some people really had it easier than she did, and this entire interaction was proof. The entire thing was a matter of life and death when she did it, and this ease made her uncomfortable.

Still, she'd held up her part of the bargain, and the drained energy was coalescing down below the floor and beginning to flow into her through the crystal she laid her hand on.

It was time to regain what was lost.

Well, chalk it up to fitting disposition. What should have taken more effort was about to conclude with ease, at least on the client's side.

Adelaida on her end focused for a bit. Her task was infinitely easier as she was absorbing something without a conscious ego resisting the process. While it was technically a soul, it was just a hollow facsimile.

But it would do.

It would do for now.

"There's no nice way to put it, you know. You're killing them both as they exist and making a new one," Adelaida said, feeling the power surge into her. It was weak, and feeble, but all that was needed was for there to be some power - an indication that what she was doing was on the right track.

She focused herself once more, letting the power absorb into her, forming an ethereal film around the ring of fire that was her core. This wasn't a particularly painful procedure, but it was important and precise, just as her magic always was.

Oh, good, they're focused on that, Adelaida thought to herself as she absorbed the artificial, hollow soul made out of the excess divine essence. It burned through her being, but she had plenty of experience with burning from the inside out and the pain was tolerable, even comforting to her.

With the process done now, she stood up, still in the circle as Bastet worked on reabsorbing her new little essences. "Well, a bit cleaner than I thought the process would go. Finish up, and we'll talk payment," she said, grabbing a ritual knife from the shelf.