The battle was dragging on for Zadok. Although he was able to garner ample energy from his surroundings for his needs, he could not see any upper hand be gained throughout the duelling between the two polar entities, even with his assistance by firing bursts of holy light. He lost track of time inside the maelstrom of energy, but he knew that it had been a long time and that if any gains were to be made in this battle it would be over an even longer period of time. A battle of attrition, it would seem, except the combatants regenerated constantly. Zadok was not used to battles of attrition. Unlike some of his fellow Anti-Keepers he did not raise an army, which would end up fighting against the army of a Keeper in a long a bloody battle of the fields of war. Instead Zadok had relied on strength and speed to strike his opponents hard and topple them quickly. So when the Carver invited Zadok to depart he was relieved.

[b]That would be wise. You shall need to be able to dedicate all your energy to gaining the upper hand in this battle,[/b] Zadok said in reply. As the green magic enveloped him and the protection of the Carver faded, he wasted no time in departing the turbulent and chaotic storm of energy which comprised the Source's innermost layers. The clouds rippled and boomed around him as he travelled like a bullet through the gases until he was safely out of the Source's voluminous clouds.

Zadok now drifted in orbit around the Source, alternating his view between the red gas giant and the green and blue planet. He then attempted to establish a telepathic link with the Carver, for he knew that it would be beneficial to have contact with his ally who was battling with the Ripper deep inside the Source. The time he had spent in proximity with the Carver and the energy he had just received should be plenty to allow him that telepathy.

---

The addition to Calvartem's Heart was now complete. The quartz was placed on the end of the arm rests so that Calvartem's hands would rest on them as he sat. The quartz had been carved into the shape of a skull for decorative purposes. He sat down and rested his hands on the quartz and channelled his power into the stones, imbuing them with shadowy magic as he would the Death Spires. This complete, he allowed his consciousness the channel through the quartz, and immediately he was connected to all of his Death Spires. The village containing his Heart, the mining town to the west and the fortified town to the south all fell under his gaze. He could plainly see how devoid they were of living people, and how the Spires had been draining the life of the surrounding lands.

But he could do far more than scry across his domain. While the Death Spires on their own could only summon undead relatively slowly on their own, through his Heart Calvartem would be able to both raise and command his hordes of living corpses with almost as much vigour as if he were there in person. Clearly there are advantages to attending a battle in person, such as being able to fight personally and empower his side further, but having remote control would allow him to coordinate a defence without having to travel, or even defend two distant places at once. Calvartem even had the power to send and retrieve his Constructs via this link. Of course, he would not be able to perform such actions across his whole dominion if he was away from the Heart, which means that he was most vulnerable when out conquering, but that was a strategic risk that he had to take and had no viable solution to at the moment.

The best he could do to mitigate that risk, he realised, would be to ensure that any invading force would have to get through territory of lesser importance before they could hope to encroach upon his precious Heart. In order to do that, he would have to advance his conquest further, and do that before the armies of surrounding cities were roused, especially not that of the grand city to north. Arising from his throne, Calvartem exited the Heart and mounted Shadowmane. They set out northwards, in hopes of finding a small town to conquer and put as a shield between themselves and Paterdomus.