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How curious they were. He’d seen them many times before. In his clashes with the other emperors, most commonly.

He knew the theories, of course. The lights were vestiges of soul power that were escaping during the extreme exertion of an emperor’s strength. Similar to beads of sweat escaping the body, perhaps. Or sparks flying away from a tempering metal. They certainly looked similar enough.

He never bought into that explanation, though, because this was a phenomenon that only ever seemed to occur when two or more very powerful servants clashed. If it were merely about the exertion of great power, then a single servant should have theoretically been capable of producing these mysterious lights, and yet Morgunov had never been able to do so.

No, he’d come to believe that they were not vestiges at all. Not little sparks of power being chipped away. Instead, he'd started to think they might be just the opposite.

They were entirely new energies. Being created from the clash of two great souls.

From the collision.

That theory had sparked all sorts of new queries in Morgunov’s mind for many years, but unfortunately, these lights were all but impossible to study. The problem, of course, was that they vanished upon the cessation of hostilities between the two great souls, so the only opportunity to learn more about them directly was in the midst of the battle. At the peak of the battle, even. When the most danger was posed.

But perhaps here and now, he might finally have a window? While Gohvis was buying him time.

Oh dear. The temptation was so very strong.

He needed to not give in. He needed to remember the danger. He needed to keep going. Stay on task. The workshop. That was what mattered now.

Even if he might never get a better opportunity than this one...

No! Foolish thoughts!

And not even true, besides. Because he remembered now. There was actually another instance in which this same phenomenon could occur.

Feldeaths. They could produce this effect, too. It was rarer for them, but Morgunov had most definitely observed it a couple of times during his tumultuous research of those stubborn buggers.

Not all feldeaths seemed capable of pulling it off, though. That was the trouble with them. Their unpredictability. With two clashing emperors, it was much more consistent.

But perhaps there was some other, still-mysterious environmental condition that needed to be met with feldeaths.