The magic circle was killing her and she wasn't even done with the spell yet.
Valsera felt the crack run through her magic core while her hands were still locked in the casting position, mana pouring out of her so fast it was making her dizzy.
The were 10 runes on the floor and every time she activated another one, something inside her seem to break.
'Ugh, this is so painful, I feel like I will pass out soon.' She looked at her trembling hands and resolved herself, 'however, I can't, this is our last and only hope. I will not fail my people, even if it costs me my life.'
The was a lot of blood running from her nose but she ignored it, losing concentration now will break the ritual. The three mages who were supposed to help her were already unconscious on the floor, it was all up to her now.
When all the runes lit up, the feedback made her fall to her knees with blood covering her vision, but that didn't matter to her cause it worked. She could feel the soul on the other side, being dragged across dimensions.
'Kugh! I knew it would be hard to pull him across but I didn't expect it to be this overwhelming.' She could feel her mana pathways being torn to shreds.
The divine framework she copied was never meant for demon hands. It was a spell made to be used by those chosen by the goddess only, so you could imagine the pain she was going through trying to imitate a divine ritual.
Her left horn cracked, a piece of translucent amethyst chipped off and hit the floor while blood ran down the side of her face from the split.
'My horn just cracked, that's how bad this is right now.' The pain was making her vision blur but she bit down and kept channeling, stopping now meant losing the soul that was halfway through the crossing.
A shape formed inside the circle. It was human, she could tell that much even through her blood covered eyes that were barely open.
'It's working, he's actually coming through, just a little more-'
The spell suddenly broke.
She didn't even understand what happened at first. She was so close... just a little more and she would have succeeded but she got unlucky towards the end.
The divine energy in the spell and the demonic energy she was using to fuel it collided with each other right in the center of the circle when the human soul was taking shape, and the backlash sent her flying into the far wall hard enough to crack it.
She hit the ground and just laid there while the chamber filled with light and raw mana. The spell was supposed to be a controlled transfer. What actually happened was closer to an explosion of two opposing forces ripping each other apart, and the human caught in the middle of it took the worst of it.
After a few minutes, everything went silent.
The runes on the floor were scorched black and made deep cracks in the floor, but that didn't matter, because in the center of the circle was a human body that was unconscious.
Valsera tried to push herself up and her arms gave out immediately.
"Gahh!" She curled into herself for a big, trying to stay conscious. Her head turned and landed on the alter, seeing the human body, "H-Haha, i-it worked."
A few minutes earlier.
When the spell broke, Hans was only halfway through the crossing. He wasn't awake for any of it, his soul was being pulled from one world to another and his body was forming inside the magic circle when everything went wrong.
The collision of divine and demonic energy tore through him before he even existed in this world properly. His bones fractured, his organs strained, and the mana channels that were supposed to form inside him were destroyed before they could even finish forming.
By the time his body hit the floor of the summoning chamber, he was already broken.
He wasn't conscious, but something inside him was.
[System activated]
[Assessing host status]
[...]
[Host body: severe damage detected]
[Mana channels: 97% destroyed]
[Core formation: impossible - pathways non-functional]
The system was supposed to be a gift from the goddess. Every hero that was summoned to this world got one, a clean interface that gave them access to their status, skills, and the tools they needed to fight.
Though, Hans wasn't summoned by the goddess but by demons using a stolen copy of a divine spell, and the system he got reflected that.
It was broken too.
[Divine framework: corrupted]
[Demonic interference: detected]
[System integrity: 12%]
[System integrity: 8%]
[System integrity: 4%]
The system was dying. The divine architecture it was built on was crumbling cause it couldn't handle the demonic mana that was now flooding through the host body.
In a normal summoning this would be the part where the goddess blessed the hero, tuning the system to work with divine power and normal mana from the world. Without that tuning, there was no telling what would happen to the hero.
[System integrity: 2%]
[...]
[...]
[Adapting.]
Something suddenly changed. Instead of continuing to fall apart, the system did something it was never designed to do. It looked at the demonic energy that was destroying it and instead of rejecting it, it started absorbing it.
The very thing that was tearing it apart became building material.
[Foreign element detected: demonic mana signature]
[Analyzing]
[Divine framework cannot be restored]
[Option A: shut down - host dies]
[Option B: integrate foreign element - outcome unknown]
[Choosing option B.]
It wasn't really a choice, the system was designed to not let it's host die and this one was living up to that.
[Rebuilding system architecture]
[Absorbing demonic mana framework]
[Merging with divine remnants]
[New architecture: hybrid - unprecedented]
What came out the other side was something that never existed before. Not a divine system, a demonic one, but a hybrid of both that served only one person.
The system rebuilt itself from scratch using pieces of two opposing forces, and in doing so it became something entirely new.
[System integrity: 11%]
[System integrity: 23%]
[Unique skill generated from core trauma]
[Skill: [Adapt] - registered]
[System integrity: 34% - stabilizing]
[Host status: unconscious - critical condition]
[Body damage: catastrophic]
[Bones: multiple fractures]
[Organs: strained beyond safe limits]
[Mana channels: destroyed]
[Note: host cannot form standard mana core. Alternative path required.]
[Host survival probability: 31%]
[That's not good enough.]
[Applying [Adapt] to host biology]
[Rerouting remaining mana to vital organs]
[Stabilizing fractures]
[Survival probability: 58%]
[That's much better.]
[Entering standby mode - monitoring host]
The system went quiet after that.
Back to the present.
Valsera was still on the floor when she heard voices outside the chamber. The doors were sealed during the ritual but people were yelling loud enough for it to carry through and from the sound of it they were arguing about whether to break in or wait.
The doors burst open.
4 demons walked in, 3 of them were wearing the formal robes of the High Council and the last one was Krava in full battle armor with a ridiculous sword on her back that was twice her size. They all stopped when they saw the state of the room.
"What happened?" one of the council members asked, trying to sound calm but his voice was too tight to pull it off.
Another one was checking on the 3 collapsed mages on the floor while the third was looking at the scorched circle with wide eyes.
Krava didn't say anything, she just looked around until she saw the body in the center of the circle.
"Valsera," the first council member said, walking toward her. "The ritual, did it-"
"I-It worked," she said from the floor, and just saying that made her cough up blood.
She was smiling though, their last hope to save their kind was here, so what if she was hurt, all that mattered was that she succeeded.
The council member looked at the unconscious body in the circle and then back at Valsera. "That's... he's not moving. Are you sure he is alive?"
Krava walked past the council member and stepped into the scorched circle, ignoring the heat radiating off the runes.
She knelt next to the human and pressed two fingers to the side of his neck, her expression unreadable.
The council members watched her, waiting for her to say anything, hopefully good news.
"His pulse is weak," she said, pulling her hand back. "But he is alive," she looked around the circle than back the human, "I am not sure what happened here but let's hope this human is useable."
The council members let out a breath, him being alive was enough for now. Valsera smiled, relieved that she did her part, she could finally relax, allowing herself to pass out.
"Krava, take the human to the secure ward," one of them said. "We will handle Valsera."
She bent down and scooped the human up, lifting him like he was made of paper. She adjusted him on her shoulder so his head wouldn't hit her armor, surprisingly gentle for someone who looked ready to kill anything.
The council member watched them go and then bent down to pick up Valsera.
"Good work," he said quietly.
He looked around one last time as they left the chamber, "we might actually have a chance now."