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Expectedly, they’d once again arrived at a stalemate. Hector wanted to attack Conall, but Karkash’s magnetism wouldn’t allow it; Karkash wanted to attack Harper, but Hector’s lightning rods wouldn’t allow it.

Then Karkash stopped attacking and just hovered there in the sky, looking down at Hector’s network of safety towers.

‘What’s he doing?’ said Hector.

‘Not sure,’ said Garovel. ‘Changing tactics, maybe? Be careful.’

Karkash thrust a hand down. Lightning flashed forth and expectedly crashed down on the spire nearest Hector, throwing up dust and cracking the stone beneath it. Already, Hector could tell that this was more power than Karkash had previously bothered expending. The man was focusing on a single lightning rod, and Hector wasn’t quite sure why. Karkash’s other hand moved as well, but a second line of lightning did not project from it.

‘It’s a diversion,’ said Garovel privately. ‘He’s trying to steal a tower behind you while your attention is focused here. It’s the one on the right at about forty-five degrees.’

Hector knew the exact tower the reaper was talking about. He annihilated it without even turning around.

‘You got it,’ Garovel confirmed. ‘Karkash doesn’t look too pleased, though.’

Hector concentrated on reinforcing the still-assailed spire, adding smaller ones around it to absorb some of the run off electricity. It wasn’t actually attached to the ground--none of them were, as that would have required Hector to materialize metal underground. Rather, Hector just made the foundations much broader than the peaks so as to allow greater stability.

Karkash used both hands now, converging two streams of electricity into one giant one, and the sudden additional force made the air tremble. The surge became blindingly bright. Hector couldn’t even open his eyes, but he could still feel the air crackling against his skin, wild sparks that would tear into him the moment he made a mistake.

And Karkash wasn’t letting up. If anything, he seemed to be putting even more into it with each passing second.

‘He’s just trying to overload the towers now,’ said Garovel. ‘Don’t let him.’

‘Easier said than done!’ said Hector.