The rest of the day was spent teaching and then playing dubious gambling games with Blue. The artifact picked them up pretty quickly, and it didn’t take long before Angel found himself entirely outclassed. His human brain couldn’t do much to compete with Blue’s perfect memory and processing power.

Lilian showed up late that night to take him to his room – which ended up being the door directly beside his workshop. She tossed him the key, shaking her head and muttering something under her breath, before heading back to her own room.

The next two days were spent entirely in training and research. Angel spent many hours trying to figure out if Soul had done anything to his core, but was unable to discover even the smallest hint of danger. He eventually returned his focus to the cubical relic, determined to make progress before their time at Molten Ridges ran out.

Whenever Tilly and Alison showed up, he trained both girls to the best of his ability. Tilly started actually listening and paying attention, and Alison was making leaps and bounds in her ability. The bags forming under the girl's eyes told him exactly the price she was paying for the rate of improvement, but he said nothing.

On the night of the second day, while Angel was instructing the girls on methods to link runes together safely, there was a knock on his door. He opened it to reveal Lilian.

“You need to look at my chest,” Lilian said, her tone somber.

A piece of metal clattered to the floor behind him. Angel burst into laughter and shifted so that Lilian could see his students behind him. They’d both turned bright red. Alison ducked under the table, scrambling to find the part she’d dropped.

“You didn’t tell me they were here.” Lilian flushed and swore under her breath. “This is a misunderstanding, he’s…”

She trailed off. Angel laughed even harder. Lilian couldn’t explain the situation without giving away that she was half Magitech.

“Clear this up,” Lilian said, prodding Angel in the chest with a finger. “Please?”

“We’ll give you some privacy,” Alison stammered, packing her work up into a small bag. “I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

“Lilian’s right,” Angel said, waving a hand. “This is an amusing misunderstanding. Lilian isn’t my type.”

“What is?” Tilly asked, eyeing the two carefully.

“Magitech,” Angel replied. “However, I’m going to have to ask for some privacy. Come back tomorrow. I expect you to both have a functional project when you get back, okay?”

Both girls gave him a firm nod and darted out of the room. Lilian groaned and rubbed her forehead. “I’m going to think about this in the middle of the night when I’m trying to go to sleep, I can just feel it.”

“You’ll live.” Angel sat down in his chair and interlaced his fingers. “So, what’s wrong with your chest?”

“I think your core is breaking down again,” Lilian said, sitting down on the edge of the table.

“That’s impossible. It’s only a few days old,” Angel said. He impatiently pulled her shirt back and flicked the latch in her side open. His eyepiece lowered and he peered at the core in her.

A curse slipped from his mouth. It was warped. Badly, too. The core was damaged worse than the first one he’d made, and this one had been in her for much less.

“What’s going on with?” Lilian asked. “Is my body rejecting your work?”

“Son of a bitch,” Angel cursed as realization washed over him. “Soul always trapped his work, and you’re no exception. It’s not that my cores are bad – the Magitech inside you is actively destroying anything that Soul didn’t make.”

“I’m done, then?” Lilian’s hands clenched.

Angel bit his lip hard. Copper trickled into his mouth like the bitter taste of defeat. “He won this one, I’m afraid. I’m sorry, Lilian.”

He pulled Soul’s core from his bag. “I’ve been trying as hard as I could, but I couldn’t find the problem with this.”

“It’s safe then!” Lilian said, latching onto his words.

“No. It’s almost certainly trapped,” Angel said, shaking his head. “I just don’t know how. If you’re playing another con on me and are still part of the Reawakening, well played. I don’t have the heart to let you die on me, though.”

He lowered Soul’s core into Lilian’s chest. It snapped into place between the prongs and dark energy traced lines across the orb. As soon as he pulled his hand out, the latch snapped shut and a shudder ripped through Lilian.

“Well?” Angel asked.

Lilian stared at the ceiling, unblinking, for several seconds. Her fingers twitched and she bolted upright, nearly headbutting Angel in the process.

“I feel whole again,” Lilian muttered. “It worked!”

“For now,” Angel said. “Be careful. If anything feels weird, let me know immediately.”

“I will,” Lilian promised. She slipped back to the floor. After a quick pause, she leaned in and gave Angel a short hug. “Thank you for believing in me. I’m on your side this time, I swear. I won’t betray you again.”

Angel grunted. Lilian left the workshop, leaving him alone with his thoughts and Blue.

“I don’t suppose you can tell if people are lying?” Angel asked Blue.

“Such a function is outside of my capabilities,” Blue said. “I could tell you that she spoke the truth if that would make you feel better, though.”

“I’ll think about it,” Angel said, a tiny grin playing across his face. “Right, bring up all the information we’ve currently got about my relic. I’m going to ignore Lilian’s core until that particular problem goes away.”

“Yes, Wonderful,” Blue said with a cheerful buzz.

Hours passed and the sun set beneath the skyline. Aided by Blue, Angel poured over the runes, meticulously trying every pattern he could think of to figure out how they were connected. Since there were no actual lines in the cube, it was pure guesswork.

“This combination is meant to issue a command, right?” Angel mused, organizing several dozen metal plates on the table.

“Correct,” Blue confirmed.

“Could be this, but I don’t know what it’s commanding. How many rune combinations for physical things do we have left?” Angel asked, scratching his head furiously.

“None.” Blue bobbed at his shoulder. “Judging by previously seen patterns and the likelihood of forming a functioning device with the remaining runes, the only possible rune that remains to finish this pattern is magic.”

“Magic? That’s a linking rune.” Angel shook his head. “That makes no sense. It’s too open ended.”

“Perhaps that is why this is a Relic?” Blue offered.

Angel frowned. He took the appropriate rune from his pile and set it in place. He scanned over the remaining pieces of metal. He knew all of them well – they were linking and stability runes to ensure a piece of Magitech worked properly. There were a good number of ways they could be put together that would change their function. So long as the pattern before him was correct, it didn’t matter what the other runes did.

“A relic that commands magic?” Angel mused. “I have no idea what that would actually do. Maybe its meant to cast Old World Magic somehow?”

“But there’s no spell being cast,” Blue pointed out. “It simply controls magic.”

“Meaning I might need to cast a spell on it. Granted, that might blow it up. I’m not exactly sure how resilient this thing is,” Angel muttered. “But still, this is something. It’s time for the next stage of the research.”

“Careful analysis of the other options to see if we’ve made a mistake?”

“No,” Angel replied, popping open a latch in his arm to reveal the glowing red cube. “Applied testing.”