Eli turned to the combined group. “I’m all ears.”

“If it were anyone else, I’d tell them trying to master a few spells two days before a major battle would be a fools errand.” Aria said. “With your abilities though…” She trailed off, looking at his hand.

“Right. I should be looking to increase my repertoire as much as possible.” He nodded. “Should we find somewhere else to do this though? I don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone while testing.”

“Actually, I think it might do people some good to see how powerful you are.” Zee countered.

“We’ll be here to keep everyone safe while you try the new powers.” Minerva promised.

Seeing the group united behind the idea like this gave him enough confidence to agree. “Well okay then. Where do I start?”

“I was thinking you could start with me.” Aria responded, stepping forward. “You’ve been talking about learning it for awhile anyways.”

His eyes lit up as he recalled a magical shield made of gravitational forces that repelled projectiles. “Gravity shield?”

“Gravity shield.” She confirmed with a smile.

He was almost giddy with excitement as she walked him through the motions. Despite their complexity he quickly mastered them, performing them over and over until they became second nature. When he felt like he was ready he turned to Aria.

“What’s the incantation?”

"Gravon Aeteris." She pronounced slowly.

"Gravon Aeteris!"

A golden bubble instantly formed around Eli, drawing gasps from the nearby crowd. Without thinking he pushed more mana into the spell, causing it to expand and encompass his bond mates. A moment later he minimized the effort, allowing it to shrink so that it only covered him. He split his focus between the spell and speaking as he turned to Lilly.

“Toss something at me?” He requested.

Hesitating for a moment, Lilly bent over and scooped up a clump of dirt before hurling it at his shield. It hit the barrier and stopped, remaining suspended in midair. With an idle thought Eli sent the clump flying backwards, breaking it into a mist of dirt that sprayed Lilly as well as anyone standing nearby. He gasped in response – both in horror at having potentially hurt one of his bond mates and because his mana reserves dropped precipitously from the action.

“Shit, sorry!” Eli shouted as he stopped the spell. “Are you okay?”

To his surprise Lilly laughed and jumped into his arms, giving him a dirt-covered kiss. “You know, if you’d wanted to get dirty with me all you had to do was ask.” She kissed him again. “I’m fine, my love.”

Aria shook her head in amazement as she watched the two of them break apart. “I have never, ever seen anyone master a spell that quickly. It’s not fair. It’s like you unlocked some sort of video game cheat code.”

“Up, up, down, down, left, right, left right, b, a, start.” Eli replied, causing her to laugh but everyone else to look at him in confusion. “If cheat codes help us win against the Titans, then I’ll take all the cheat codes I can get. Now, what’s next?”

“What do you want to learn next?” Minerva questioned.

“I mean, I want to learn all of it.” Eli replied before pulling out a mana potion and downing it. “But given how much that last one took out of me, I should probably focus on learning spells which fill a niche that I can’t with my existing magic.” He looked over at Lilly. “Someone wise once told me that it’s not about the specific spells, it’s about how creatively you use them.”

“I’m glad you remembered.” She smiled in response. “You could learn Oakenskin. It’ll make your skin naturally tougher for a time. Though, you could also just use your dragon form to do that.”

“I could teach you the silence spell.” Aratessa offered before taking a cue from Lilly and pointing out the flaw as well. “It may not be helpful though, given that you’d probably prefer to absorb the mana rather than supress the spellcaster.”

Freya shook her head next. “I can teach you how to cast a blizzard, but you’ve already got your darkness spell if you need to decrease visibility on a specific target. It affects an entire area, and given that you’re bringing guns we might benefit from more visibility rather than less.”

“I could ask Ziran and Sira to come teach you desiccation.” Zee replied. “It instantly dries out all the moisture in any target you touch. Good for taking out single, powerful targets – but you already have your mana beam for that.”

“I’ll learn all of it as soon as we’re back.” Eli promised.

The group went silent for a moment before Nyxie spoke up. “Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way. Aren’t there abilities which are exclusive to Royal Bloods? You should focus on training that instead. After all, that’s what makes you unique.”

In his mind Eli flashed back to the all-too-brief conversations he had with Athena, walking through her garden as she taught him about his birthright. “I’ve unlocked all my Royal Blooded powers except for two.” He said finally.

“Okay, that’s a good start.” Minerva replied encouragingly. “What are you missing?”

“The first one allows me to share my magic with my bond mates.” He recalled.

“What does that mean?” Zee asked.

“I’m not sure to be honest. All I know is that Athena said it was difficult to do. Even the other Royal Bloods struggled with it.”

“What about the second one then?” Freya pressed.

“I know even less about that one.” He admitted. “I don’t even know what it does. Every Royal Blood has a power that’s unique to them – something about being reflective of their ‘true nature’.”

“Maybe something about a shield then?” Aria hazarded. “You’re protective over the people you care about – especially us.”

“I hope not.” Lilly replied. “He’s already got a gravity shield, an ice elemental, and a custom shield spell. It’d be a bit redundant to have a fourth shield.”

“I think it’d be something about influencing others.” Aratessa countered before Eli could reply. “Look around. All these people are here because our man worked hard to form alliances. His power is probably some sort of influence-related spell.”

“That doesn’t seem right though.” Vespera shook her head. “He’s never liked using magic to influence others.”

“What do you think it is then?” Aratessa questioned, turning to the succubus woman.

She shrugged in response. “The one thing we can all agree on is that his cock makes us weak in the knees. Maybe he's got sex powers?”

Even as they laughed Eli caught the mischievous and lusty looks on the group’s faces, confirming that all their minds were now firmly in the gutter. To his surprise though, the same look was both on Nyxie’s face and the faces of several of the female onlookers gathered around their impromptu magic lesson. Shaking his head he decided to interject before anyone else could comment, bringing them back on-topic.

“If we’re abandoning the first power because it was difficult, we should abandon this idea too. She made it sound like it’s next to impossible to do.”

“So spell sharing it is then?” Freya asked.

“If I knew how to start I’d be happy to.” Eli replied.

Minerva stepped up and looked him in the eyes. “I believe you can do it. It’s worth trying.”

He took her hands and met her gaze. “If we had more time, I’d be happy to try. I don’t want to spend the little time we have between now and the battle flailing about aimlessly though.”

“There has to be some guidance she gave you.” She insisted, not willing to give up. “Think about your conversations with her – all of them. Close your eyes if it helps.”

Seeing the hopeful gazes around him, Eli decided it was worth investing at least a few minutes to try. He closed his eyes and cast his mind back over every word he could recall Athena saying, picking them apart for clues. Eventually his mind settled on the mental model she’d given him: that of his bond mates being represented by a constellation of stars around him, with their light shining on him when he needed to call upon their respective schools of magic.

Maybe there’s something here. He thought to himself, mulling over the idea for a moment.

In his mind, he focused on the light from Freya’s star as he’d done so many times before. The pure white illumination reminded him of freshly fallen snow in the forest, undisturbed by anyone’s footsteps. He felt Minerva release his hands, instinctively knowing that his body had started to glow gold.

Instead of turning the light from the pulsing star to face him, he instead directed it towards the astral proxy for Vespera. It thrummed with a dark red light, one that whispered wordless promises of passion and pleasure. With a surprising amount of mental effort he managed to envision the two stars shining together – not on him, but on each other.

An almost physical resistance built up within him the longer he held the vision in his mind. The vision of two strands of light gently intertwining was destroyed, replaced by one of them slamming into each other explosively. A well of frustration built up inside him as he continued to try to force them together until Athena’s voice echoed in his mind.

It’s about harmony.

Taking a deep breath in, Eli let go of the tension in his body. His shoulders and back relaxed, and his jaw unclenched. The fleeting vision of both women kissing him crossed his mind, causing a smile to tug at his lips. As it did the threads of light met in the middle of the two stars, weaving themselves together like some sort of cosmic tapestry.

A pair of feminine gasps caused his eyes to snap open. It was easy for him to locate the women he’d imagined, given that they were now connected by a visible thread of golden mana that brushed against their chests. As he looked down he realized the thread was also attached to his own chest.

A literal heart-to-heart. He thought to himself before looking up at Freya. “Try to cast a fireball?”

“What?”

“Fireball. Or demonic fire, I guess. The one that Vespera uses.”

“Eli, I don’t know the incantation.” Freya protested.

“It’s ‘Vraath’.” Eli replied.

“It’s not that simple and you know it. I need to learn the hand motions too.” She continued.

He furrowed his brow. “That’s not true though.” He turned to Aria. “You once told me that the motions and the words are just mental techniques to help us focus our intent.”

“I mean, yeah, but…” She trailed off, unable to find fault.

“So why don’t you use one of the other hand motions you already know?” He said, turning back to Freya. “Just say the fireball incantation instead, and envision fire instead of ice.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work.” Freya shook her head.

“Humor me? Just…make sure you point it at me. I can absorb the spell and make sure nobody gets hurt.”

She finally relented, squaring her shoulders to face Eli. Locking eyes with him she summoned her mana, causing her hands to glow gold. Her nimble fingers went through a series of practiced movements before thrusting outwards towards him.

“Vraath!”

The golden thread of light connecting them pulsed for a moment before a small fireball shot out of her hands. Her jaw dropped as it slammed into Eli, pushing him several feet backwards but leaving him otherwise unharmed. As the heat and light faded he saw that his bond mates were now staring at him with eyes wide open in shock.

He instinctively dismissed the thread of mana connecting him to Freya and Vespera before speaking. “So, I guess that worked?”

“That’s…one way of putting it.” Minerva said slowly.

“Do it again! Me next!” Naz demanded.

For the next hour, Eli humored his bond mates by granting them additional magical abilities. Minerva channeled instinctive orcish magic that instructed her on how to wield all manner of weapons, Zee floated across the training grounds using spatial magic, and Aria zipped across the courtyard using shadow teleportation. He continued until all of them had the opportunity to play with a new kind of magic before feeling something wet drip from his nose down to his lips. Reaching up he touched it lightly only to pull back his fingers and see blood.

“I think I need a break.” He called out, admitting defeat.

“Mana potion!” Isla called as she raced to his side.

Eli drank it without protest before shaking his head. “Ow.”

“What’s wrong?” Lilly asked.

“My head hurts. A lot.”

“Strange. That mana potion should have restored your reserves.” She replied, furrowing her brow. “Does it drain a lot of mana to maintain the connection?”

He tilted his hand back and forth. “Sort of. I’d say it’s a moderate amount – less than the mana beam, but more than the base version of most of my other spells. I think the bigger problem is that it takes a lot of concentration to maintain the connection.” He shook his head. “You’ve got no idea the mental gymnastics it took to get this working.”

Aria moved next to him and together with Isla they helped him to his feet. “I think we’re done for the night then. It's been a productive evening, and you need to get some rest.”

He nearly agreed before looking up at the mass of people around him. “Not just yet. There’s one more thing I have to do here.”

“Okay. What is it?” Aria asked.

Instead of answering her directly he gently brushed off her arm and staggered to the front so he could speak to the gathered masses.

“Look at you. All of you.” He started, raising his voice to catch their attention. “Coming from different realms, different backgrounds, different histories. Before this, most of you had never fought beside one another. Some of you might have even fought against each other.”

He paused for a moment to hold their attention. “You had every right to turn away from the call to arms. You had every right to hide in your realms, let your children or your children’s children or even further descendants deal with this problem when the Titans eventually came. You could have said no.” He grinned. “But you fucking didn’t.”

The orcs roared at his words, causing him to wait until they were done. “You might be thinking about why you said yes. Let me tell you why: it isn’t just because the Titans are the weakest they’ve ever been. It isn’t because their armies are scattered across their realms, terrified of us. And it sure as shit isn’t because we’ve handed them ass-kicking after ass-kicking after ass-kicking.”

“Eli, where are you going with this?” Zee muttered quietly enough for only him to hear.

Undeterred, Eli continued. “No! You didn’t join because our enemies are weak – even if they are! You joined because we are strong. Together, we are the most powerful fighting force in the universe!”

A chorus of cheers rang out, after which Eli continued. “Together, we’re the thing that causes them to be afraid – and not the other fucking way around!”

A louder cheer rang out, causing Eli to wait for a full 30 seconds before shouting at the top of his lungs. “Together we are the storm that will tear their citadel down so that no-one – no-one – will ever have to fear the Titans again!”

The loudest cheer yet rang out, forcing Eli to wait to finish his impromptu speech. “Look around you! Life might have made us strangers, but fate has turned us into brothers and sisters in arms! When we step through that portal, remember that when we’re together – united – we can do anything!”

The roar of the crowd in response to his words caused the stone castle walls to shake. Eli held one fist in the air before turning and allowing his bond mates to escort him through the courtyard. Even after stepping through the heavy wooden doors and moving towards their wing of the castle, he could hear their cheers continuing.

“That was an impressive speech.” Zee complemented him as they walked. “Did you practice that?”

“Not really.” He admitted.

“Really? That was off the top of your head?” Nyxie asked incredulously.

Eli shook his head and chuckled. “I stole chunks of it from sports movies, video games, and fantasy novels and just adapted it on the fly.” He held his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone though. It’d ruin the magic for them.”