Ka-BOOOM!

"I told you it would work," you say, your shimmering form standing amidst the rubble of the destroyed wall.

"Yes Michael, you're very clever. Now, will you please let me work?"

"If I say no, what will you do?"

At an angle where Lily and Jowan can't see, she throws up her middle finger, a sour look on her face. With your hands raised in capitulation and the biggest of shit-eating grins on your face, you fade away.

"Ilyanna, how did you do that?!" Jowan exclaims as the three figures walk through the melted slag that once formed the walls of the Repository.

"Luck," is Ilyanna's immediate response, "Seems someone removed the limitation enchantment on the base of the rod. Too bad it's useless now."

"Really?" Lily asks, "I'm amazed Owain or any of the other Tranquil didn't catch something like that."

"Are you complaining?" Ilyanna asks.

"No, I just find it odd, is all," Lily replies.

The hairs on the back of Ilyanna's neck stand up when Lily speaks, but as Ilyanna turns to look at her, something else catches her eye.

"Look out!"

An arrow flies just past Lily's head. Around the room, several suits of armor jerkily begin to rise. Eleven in all, they take up battle stances and slowly begin to advance on the trio.

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy," Ilyanna muttered.

"What do we do?!" Jowan yells.

"We have come too far, Jowan," Lily said, drawing a mace and dagger from her back, "We will fight!"

Ilyanna levels her staff and unleashes a Lightning Bolt on the closest one, channeling your power to augment the Spell. The bolt tears into the armored construct, melting it to slag in mere moments. Lily, for her part, charges into the fray, bringing her mace down on the helmet of another, crushing it. Despite his initial hesitance, Jowan mustered his courage and began to fight as well. With a quick spell, Lily's weapons ignited in flame, just in time for her to swipe her dagger across the chest plate of another suit of armor, destroying it.

"On your left!" you shout.

Ilyanna didn't question his words this time. To her left, she saw another suit incoming with a large two-handed Warhammer, and she managed to move just in time to evade its swing. Gathering her power, she spun to face it. Just as the suit returned to its stance, Ilyanna let go of the spell she was holding, and a Stonefist the size of a bookcase collided with the construct fast enough to sweep it off its feet and embed it in the far wall.

"Thanks for that. Any more suggestions?" she asked.

"Well, I doubt Jowan will allow Lily to come to any harm, so you really needn't worry about her. But if you wish to keep her from harm, I suggest you wrap this up quickly," you reply, "And I know of several spells capable of such. You need merely take your pick."

Ilyanna feels a list enter her mind. Choosing quickly, she begins to cast. Lily swings her mace in a heavy arc, colliding with yet another suit. With another quick slash with her off-hand dagger, she brings down another. One of the suits gets behind her and makes a swift strike to her exposed back. Deftly, Lily dodges and turns to face her attacker. Unfortunately, she failed to notice the same suit bring up its shield in a wide swing. The face of the shield crashed into Lily's face, knocking her off balance.

"Lily!" Jowan screams.

In moments he casts a healing spell, healing her wounds. However, it seems to be too little too late as two of the other suits have begun to move in on her. But just as they are about to strike-

"Lily! DUCK!"

Ilyanna lets her power go, unleashing an incredibly powerful Chain Lightning onto the constructs. Lily ducks, and manages to roll out of the way as the lightning arcs from Suit to Suit, melting them all almost instantly.

The echoes of battle die down. Ilyanna collapses to the ground on her hands and knees. A phantasmal image of you appears before her as Lily and Jowan stared at the scene in shock.

"Ah. I'm afraid I owe you an apology. My power is great, but it seems there is a limit to the amount you can channel safely. You drew too much, and as a result, you have weakened yourself. I apologize. Had I known, I would have recommended a different course of action."

"It's alright, Michael. I'll be ok. Besides, Lily was being attacked. I would have tried something like that even if you hadn't been here to help me. The only difference is it wouldn't have worked."

Eyes even wider than they were mere moments ago, Jowan and Lily finally break from their stupor and turn to look at Ilyanna.