Dean sat in the lotus position, eyes closed and bloodied palms pressed firmly against the formation, trying to keep control over the faint thread of qi making its way up his arms.

It was difficult for he had lost most of the sense of touch in both of them, Robin's doing. He had acted immediately, sealing his pressure points and veins so they no longer bleed or burned with pain. But now, as Robin had warned him, they were going numb. The lack of blood flow had finally started to take effect on him; if he didn't hurry, he would lose his arms.

Dean was not worried about becoming a cripple, however. If he could save Kael by giving up his arms, he would gladly sacrifice them. His only worry was over the qi anomaly that had occurred twice already. Dean concentrated as he felt the amount of qi going into him increase exponentially. It's happening again. He cursed to himself, tensing his arms as best he could in order to bear through what was to come. I hope I can take it…

The flow rose and then a massive wave—made of pure qi—entered Dean.

His arms burned with pain, but he gritted his teeth and focused on controlling the foreign qi, guiding it into his core. The wave entered his core, saturating it to its limits and leaking out into his meridians—bringing him more pain; then the wave died and the flow became almost nonexistent.

Dean took deep breaths, trying to regain some lost energy. That was the third time it happened, Dean thought, Why is the qi acting so strangely? It shouldn't be this way. Something must be wrong with the formation I drew…

It had been a few minutes since the elders surrounded him and began sending their qi to him. At first, everything went smoothly. The qi had traveled at a steady and bearable pace towards him; however, it had suddenly changed. The qi stream grew stronger and then morphed into a massive wave. It caught him by surprise and bombarded him with an insane amount of qi. He almost lost control over the formation at that time but, thankfully, it had only lasted a second before the qi flow reduced to a bearable flow.

It perplexed him at first, but he attributed it to an error in his formation. After all, he had drawn it hastily and in a moment of inspiration. It was also the first time he wrote something that used humans as its source of energy. However, once it had happened a second time, he knew it wasn't that for the wave had grown stronger and once it passed, the qi flow became almost nonexistent.

Now, he only hoped he could sustain a fourth or fifth wave in order to gather enough qi to overpower the tower’s formation; if his body could even take it that amount of qi.

Concentrating on his core, Dean watched it throb as it tried to contain the qi; he couldn't accept any more qi. He was at his limit. His second mending even showed signs of cracking. If this kept going…his core would burst. He would lose his strength and become a cripple. At least one more wave, Dean begged. Please, let my core hold on for one more wave…so I can save Kael.

As if rejecting his pleading, the qi flowed stopped completely.

"Why did you stop sending qi?" Dean said with confusion as he opened his eyes before becoming stunned.

The elders were all kneeling, some had even fainted, their strength fully sapped from their bodies. But what stunned him the most was the strange change in his blood formation.

It was a beautiful sight.

Just what is happening? Dean asked himself with wonder as he watched.

Qi glowed brightly along the outer circle—spinning and staying together. It never left the outer circle; only spinning faster with each completed revolution and glowing brighter. Soon, the qi was revolving so fast it began to drag qi from the atmosphere at an astonishing rate—making it visible to the naked eye.

The qi first appeared as a faint mist, then it formed tiny crystal clumps in the air. The glowed with an ephemeral beauty—each crystal with its own unique color.

Unconsciously, Dean extended his numbed arm and touched one of the smaller crystals lightly. Its green shell burst with an unreal amount of power, splitting his skin apart exposing the bone.

"This…is compressed qi!" Dean exclaimed with wonder before realizing how dangerous it was. "I have to get out before they surround me." He ran to the edge, cautiously avoiding any floating crystals, and stepped beyond the formation; or at least tried to before being pushed back.

It was as if a massive transparent wall, stood before him—blocking his path. He extended his hands toward the outer circle once more, but the wall rejected him again. Then he realized what it was. The spinning qi had reached a point where it was traveling so fast it created a disruption in the atmosphere—essentially, a seal around him.

He was trapped.

"Just what type of formation did I draw?"

##

Eztli had long discarded his human shape in order to extend the limit of time he could maintain his soul outside his vessel, but even as a formless cloud he was reaching his limit. It didn't help that his soul was in a constant state of breakage and repair. As he ingested fragments of Ior's soul, it would expand his own beyond the limit, cracking it. Then, he would use part of the soul to heal his own. Effectively, maintaining a fragile balance and at the same time gaining immense benefits.

He could feel his soul growing stronger with each mend. It was like his soul was metal in a forge, being broken and folded over itself in order to strengthen. Yet, it was also taking a huge toll on him. Such a fast increase in soul energy was no joking matter; he could barely even hold control over it.

If he couldn't finish the extracting process, he would lose himself and become a wandering soul. No longer holding any consciousness; only keeping his instincts. It was something he had experimented with. Using others as test subjects, he would implant and merge souls together—strengthening them multiple times over—but the result had always been the same.

The sudden increase in power would snap the soul, creating a mindless entity that acted on impulse. They would no longer feel anything. Even damage to their soul did not seem to affect them. It was like they lost connection with their soul and as long as any part of it remained, it would continue to act on its impulses.

He looked at Ior's soul and cursed at the fact that there was still about one-fourth of it left. Should I just end it here? Or risk it? He asked himself as he calculated whether he could take still take it or if it was best to discard the remaining part. No, the last fragments are usually the most important memories. I have to hold on.

A massive disruption in the atmospheric qi brought him out of his thoughts. He looked over to his side and noticed the qi gathering point. His soul shuddered with shock.

"How can that be?" He asked in wonder as he studied the spinning vortex of qi and the formation underneath. "An external qi whirlpool…such a powerful one."

It was surprising. The blood runes actually converged and formed such a rare occurrence. Eztli continued to watch as several rings of qi formed in the air, slowly gathering more qi and condensing it into crystals, then shifting into liquid. At its center stood Dean, completely surrounded and unable to move.

“That fool,” Eztli said with a mocking tone.

As the formation continued taking the qi, it affected the tower's own formation. It tugged at the barrier's energy and began to suck it. "Fuck!" Eztli cursed, turning back to his task a sense of urgency overcoming him." I need to finish this now. Before that fool fucks up my soul extracting." Knowing there was a danger of losing such valuable memories, Eztli made a decision; a gamble.

Using his whole soul, he enveloped the last remaining part of Ior in one quick motion hoping that he was able to take the large amount without snapping.

Then he felt it.

His soul expanded continuously, cracks forming across its surface. Eztli trembled with pain as, even in his formless state, his soul had started to snap. He growled and vibrated at his own frequency—trying to resist the snap—while simultaneously encasing his consciousness in a protective barrier. It was all he could attempt in order to stop it from dissipating—but even then he could no longer keep it together.

His consciousness shrunk down into a tiny sphere as the barrier he set was bombarded by the chaotic power of his own soul. Soon, he could only feel as his soul slowly make its way back to the other part remaining within the rabbit.

Then, he sunk into darkness.

##

Several qi circles rose into the air originating from the outermost layer of the formation. As they did, the qi spun faster—turning the qi crystals into liquid. The force grew large enough to drag Dean to the center of the formation; the converging point.

He could no longer escape. He could only watch the qi become stronger.

The liquid qi spun around Dean, each revolution bringing it closer to him and fulfill what the formation was meant to do: transfer it into his body.

If that amount of qi flows through my body… Dean shook his head trying not to think of the outcome for it was terrifying. Once the qi flowed inside him, bursting into a sun-like ball of qi would be the best outcome, though as the amount of qi was so large it would definitely cause massive destruction. At least one hundred-fold that of someone burning their core and exploding.

With his movements locked, Dean willed his qi to attack the formation in hopes of erasing part of it to stop the flow, but it was in vain. The liquid qi had picked up speed as it neared the center and had already reached him.

It flowed steadily into his body—from every direction. Sharp burning pain burst forth as the qi saturated him. His core no longer able to hold, began breaking its mends to allow for more space. His second mend disappeared followed by his first, but it didn't stop there. His core trembled as the qi continued to force its way inside his core. However, as the qi tried to further fracture his core, Dean's qi became alive.

Last will.

Dean stared in wonder as the last will acted for the second time and encased his core—trying to shield it from the foreign liquid qi. It glowed with a bright and powerful blue aura then it began merging with his core. It slowly surrounded and sunk into its surface, tinting it blue. With another sudden burst of power, his last will fully encased his core and died down.

Then, the fracturing continued. Ten mends became eleven, then twelve.

No! Dean thought, feeling the powerful new qi in his body. This is impossible. There is no way the core would break beyond ten. It was known that the maximum number of core fractures was ten. A perfect number. Those who tried to continue or even attempt going beyond always ended up dead or crippled.

Yet, he now had thirteen fractures.

Dean raised his hands in shock as the formation no longer had any effect on him. Then he turned them around as they glowed with qi. "It must have been last will…" he said softly. His last will had definitely done something to his core. He didn’t know if the extra fractures were a good thing, but he knew he now had the power to save Kael. Murmuring a small thanks to his last will, he dashed forward breaking his blood formation causing the qi to no longer spin.

He continued to rush toward the tower's formation and extended both his palms—placing them on the barrier trapping Kael.

With a formidable roar, he willed all of his newfound power into it. The massive force pounded the barrier, causing it to undulate heavily. His blue qi intertwined with the barrier’s red qi like snakes trapped in an endless fight. Suddenly, the red qi grew drastically weaker—as if something had swallowed it—giving Dean's qi the upper hand. It finally managed to overpower the red qi and flow within the barrier.

With a loud boom, the barrier shattered—red and blue qi bursting into the atmosphere.

Exhausted and worried Dean limped slowly toward an unmoving Kael and picked up his head to examine him. He let out a deep sigh as tears flowed down in torrents. "You're not dead. You're not dead. I haven't failed you, Ian. I managed to save Kael."

Hugging Kael, Dean finally lost his strength and fainted.