“Why not?” Julius asked. “What’s the hammer? And why can’t she be serious about it?”
Marci opened her mouth to explain, but Myron beat her to the punch.
“There are two methods of banishing spirits from the physical world,” he said authoritatively. “The most common is a draining banishment, which is where you trap a spirit in a circle and suck out its magic until it either surrenders or can no longer maintain a physical form.”
“That’s what I used on all our spirits back when we had our business,” Marci explained.
“Precisely,” Myron said. “Draining banishments are a staple mage tool because they are a safe, reliable, and highly effective method of controlling spirits. Also, draining banishments don’t require you to have any magic on hand beyond whatever was needed to trap the target initially. Since you’re sucking poweroutof a spirit, the process is always a net positive for the mage, which is fortunate because you often need that magic to fix whatever disaster inspired you to banish that spirit in the first place.”
“But that’s not what she’s talking about doing,” General Jackson said.
“No,” Myron said, shooting Marci a dirty look. “Miss Novalli is referring to the second type of banishment, colloquially known as a ‘hammer banish.’”
“Why?” Julius asked.
“Because that’s exactly what it does,” Marci said, taking over the conversation before Myron talked them out of the idea she hadn’t even explained yet. “The whole point of a banishment is to reduce a spirit’s magic to the point where it’s no longer a threat. Draining banishments do that by sucking magic out, but hammer banishments do the opposite. They work by hitting spirits withsomuch power, their own magic is blown to bits. It’s like throwing a rock into a puddle. Get a big enough rock with enough force behind it, and you can knock every drop of water out of that sucker, leaving the puddle dry.”
Raven grimaced. “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”
“Oh, it’s horrible,” Marci agreed. “It also takes an enormous amount of magic, which is why most mages never do it. But if youcanland a hammer banish, it works instantly, which is its key advantage here.” She glanced at Julius and Chelsie. “Remember when we were fighting Vann Jeger, and it took me forever to banish him?”
“How could I forget?” Chelsie growled. “We both nearly died multiple times.”
The Qilin turned to her in wonder. “You fought the Death of Dragons?”
Chelsie nodded as if that was no big deal, but Marci didn’t miss the smug smile she was struggling to hide. Neither did the Golden Emperor, who seemed to be falling in love all over again.
“Anyway,” she moved on. “That’s the downside of a draining banish. Vann Jeger was only a fjord, but I still pulled on him as hard as I could for over half an hour without making a dent in his magic. Assuming being consumed by the Leviathan hasn’t changed her size, Algonquin ismuchbigger. Even if we could somehow get a hundred thousand mages working together, the Leviathan would probably kill us all before we drained him down to anything like a reasonable size. If we use a hammer banish, though, we won’t have to touch his magic at all, which means he won’t see it coming until the hammer lands on his face.”
“But how are you going to get that much magic?” Myron asked. “A hammer banish requires at least an exponential square of the magical mass of the target. Cubed, if you want to be sure. Where in the world are you going to get that kind of power, and where are you going to put it?”
“Um, dude,” Marci said, pointing at the glowing magic that was still rising from the ground beyond Ghost’s barrier like a snowfall in reverse. “I don’t think magic is going to be a problem. As to where to put it, that would be an issue if we didn’t already have access to the biggest magical circle in the world.”
Myron looked confused for a moment. Then his eyes lit up, and Marci knew she had him. “The Heart of the World,” he said, his voice trembling with excitement. “Ofcourse, it held all the magic in our plane for a thousand years. Assuming we could repair the seal, it would hold the magic necessary for a hammer banish, no problem.”
“So you’re saying it would work,” General Jackson confirmed.
“If we can gain access to the Heart again and fix the circle, it’s definitely possible,” Myron said. “But even if we could pull it off, I still don’t know if it would do any good. Even the hardest banishment is only temporary. You’re just sending a spirit back to the Sea of Magic, not destroying it permanently. All the Leviathan has to do is gather up enough magic to become corporeal again and he’ll pop right back in.”
“If he were a normal spirit, sure,” Marci said. “But as everyone’s gone to great lengths to point out, he’snota spirit. He’s just hiding inside one. He doesn’t have a domain or a vessel or any of the normal stuff spirits have to catch them when they fly apart. If we banish all his magic, he’ll have no power left and nothing to hide what he really is. Best case scenario, we explode Algonquin’s magic, the Leviathan’s left naked, and the plane kicks him out like it always should. Worst case, we still disperse all the magic he’s gathered, which means he has to spend time picking it up again, maybe alotof time. The bigger a spirit is, the longer it takes them to re-form after a banishment. I’m sure that cooldown is shortened now that we’re up to our necks in magic, but we’re still putting time back on the clock. That’s not small potatoes considering the death of everything we know might only be a few hours away.”
“Fair point,” Myron admitted grudgingly.
“Of course it is,” Marci said. “You think I didn’t think this through? Small banishments and curse breaking were how I paid my way through college. You just worry about fixing the Heart of the World. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Oh you will, will you?” Myron said suspiciously. “And how do you intend to gather that much magic before the Leviathan eats us all?”
“I’ve got a plan,” Marci said confidently. “You just make sure you’ve got your end.”
Myron looked highly skeptical, but Emily just nodded. “That’s settled, then. We’ll banish it.”
“Hold on,” Svena snapped. “You can’t just say what we’ll do. I don’t take orders from humanity’s dragon slayer.”
“Too bad,” Emily replied dryly, crossing her scrap-metal arms over her chest. “Because so long as our Merlins are the ones with the plan, humanity’s holding the cards right now.”
“Would you both knock it off?” Marci said. “We’re all in this barrel going over the waterfall together, don’t forget.”
“I forget nothing,” Svena said. “And I did not say your plan was bad, just that I would not take orders.” She glanced up at the Leviathan. “You will need time to pull this off, yes?”
