Otto and Crow were sparring a few days later. Synchronous wasn’t perfected, and Crow wanted to use it in combat. The only problem was Otto was a relentless bastard. Crow took a beating every time his focus divided too much.

On the one hand, his command over it had improved. On the other, Otto could pick out its weaknesses, some of which Crow didn’t have a way to offset.

The biggest weakness in combat was how long it turned to disperse his mass. Ironic that a time-related ability took too long to activate. It wasn’t so bad once Crow was in his Synchronous state.

Even Otto failed to harm him in Sync mode. He stepped back and let Mara fight. Crow kept searching for a way to attack, but the only method he found was to use Night Fire. It was a weird method of attacking and not one he’d try on his people. It was almost like he turned into waves of heat that could boil flesh within seconds. The part that scared him was that it also appeared to affect him somewhat.

Mara initially used her void abilities but found that even those weren’t all that effective. Crow shifted his mist cloud around, allowing the attack to pass. It harmed him, but it was minor, and he could take a dozen of those attacks before he’d have to solidify.

Out of frustration, she attacked Crow with one of the lighting spells she hadn’t used in a while. Once the lightning hit part of his Sync form, it chained to the other molecules, some of which were turned to dust.

Crow literally felt his Body disintegrating and screamed out in terror as he tried to solidify. His skin healed, cracked, fell apart, and he tried to heal again. The molecular structure of his body was destabilizing and coming undone.

“This is how I die?” Crow cried out silently. As he fell unconscious, he realized too late why ghosts and spirits were terrified of lightning.

The moment he collapsed, Song Lin came running over and instantly found the problem. Mara was freaking out and held Crow while crying.

“Snap out of it,” Song Lin commanded. “Pour this over him and keep doing it until we neutralize the lightning rampaging through him.”

Mara nodded and took the jug from Song Lin’s hand. The oil-like substance was splashed across his flesh, and she rubbed it in, trying to coat every part of his body.

Song Xue suddenly appeared beside her and helped. Lily was pouring her mana into Crow, too.

“His internal organs are failing,” Song Lin muttered to herself, but everyone heard her. Her Shield brightened non-stop as she kept pulling things out and started concocting on the spot.

“What the hell is this?” Acco asked, seeing everyone crowded around a fallen Crow. He sensed something in the Constellation, which is why he dashed over.

Song Lin stopped what she was doing and suddenly pointed at the Astrologer. She suddenly realized Crow’s ability was related to time, and the lightning excited it, causing this situation. “You!”

“Me what?”

“Go talk to Zoe. Tell them to immediately perform a ritual on Crow that can temporarily time-lock his body—or anything similar. They just need to agitate time around him. Don’t ask. Just go!” Song Lin took command of everything happening, and no one questioned her.

Song Lin needed to keep Crow long enough for the Coven to help. Expelling the lightning would stop the problem from deteriorating further, but it wasn’t enough. Crow’s body was disappearing because the molecules were aging too fast and turning inert.

Hours went by while the girls used every bit of mana, healing potion, and trick they had at their disposal to prevent Crow’s Body from turning to dust. It wasn’t even about his vitality which is why it was vexing.

“Incoming!” Lily told them. She’d been coordinating with the witches. “Stop touching him.”

The girls backed off, and a bubble appeared around Crow. They might not have seen it if they hadn’t watched for something to happen. After it was activated, they had to look at the space inside to recognize something was odd. Crow’s hair wasn’t moving, and the grass beneath his body looked stiff as razors.

“How long can they hold it?” Song Lin asked in a strained voice.

“Not long, but they bought you an hour at most.”

“It’s enough,” Song Lin nodded. “Rest. I’ll handle the rest from here.”

The other women nodded with heavy-lidded eyes. None of them left the yard. Mara summoned a bed, a trick she took from Crow because he always had a bed on him. Song Xue, Nadia, and Mara lay down, too tired to do anything else. As if they knew what each wanted, they hugged each other while they slept, seeking comfort at the fear of losing Crow.

Song Lin spent the time she gained creating a regeneration potion and spared none of her resources. She’d probably never find some herbs she had again, but she didn’t care. Without entering the time bubble, she tilted the potion bottle and let a drop fall into his mouth, which was frozen open because of the time freeze. The moment the drop entered the sphere, it stopped falling.

“They can release the ritual now,” Song Lin said. She barely had the energy to remain awake, so she needed to confirm the results in case there was another issue.

It was immediately obvious when the Coven’s spell ended because the drop of potion fell into Crow’s mouth. Song Lin poured three more drops of the healing potion into his mouth. She wasn’t even clear about what she had made—only knew it was a very potent regenerative liquid. It was why she didn’t dump the entire bottle in his mouth; she wasn’t even sure he could handle that little bit.

The potency was strong enough to offset the residual issues, and Crow’s organs and flesh finally started mending properly. She felt faint and almost fell, but Otto caught her.

“Put… him to bed,” Song Lin panted. “This potion. If he looks like… fading. One drop. No more. Understand?”

“Otto understand,” he said and put Song Lin on the bed with the other girls. He covered them up because the yard was a little chilly.

“Take room,” Otto told Acco, who only nodded and carried the girls into the master bedroom one by one. Meanwhile, Otto moved Crow to one of the smaller rooms at the back of the house. It was to make sure no one bothered him. Placing him on the bed, he checked his brother’s condition and then went to check on everyone.

Crow woke days later. He already knew what had happened and trembled a little at his recent brush with death. Without density, there was nothing left to resist it. It was already known that a body’s epidermis could protect him from lightning, and if he was on the ground, it’d also shift it toward the ground. It wouldn’t save him from death but would provide a chance. In Crow’s Synchronous form, he had almost no resistance. The fact he didn’t die was only because his body was no longer that of a normal human.

Because he was facing Scath and inside a cave system, he wasn’t worried about lightning attacks for their current plans. Exposing the weakness was just the first step to figuring out how to resolve it. It also allowed him to plan for it if they encountered a situation like it again.

Ghosting would also need to be tested because it was another ability that required a state change. It was one of the many things he wanted to test because it could give him clues about improving his resistance.

Rubbing his Shield, he eyed the grommet he assumed was lightning-related. There was a chance he could increase his resistance to lightning, which would also help offset Synchronous’s weakness, but he couldn’t be certain. While these thoughts seemed logical, his approach still seemed wrong.

Getting out of bed, his Body felt different—better. A calamity often brings unexpected gains, and this appeared to be one. It wasn’t an increase in his strength but energy. Or maybe vitality? He couldn’t be sure, but it felt like he could move and react faster. Even his metabolism felt more vigorous, which improved his self-regeneration.

It was in line with the benefits provided by the lightning element. Song Lin saw him up and moving when she entered the room with some soup.