Akoni forced everything he had into the orb, focusing it into a beam to blast into the hatred. At first it looked like it was working, the beam struck and the demon recoiled from the sheer force of it alone. But the beam didn't last and the monstrous creature was fighting back again, even knocking aside the angelic champion like he was nothing. The mage bit his lips in frustration. He'd have to charge the artifact longer for a more concentrated blast, but he wasn't certain that his allies would be able to buy that much time. That's when reinforcements arrived. Lily, Fenn, and even Souta must have come across the battle waging outside and fought their way into the structure. Other champions of the Charred Council were now here, and the old man couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. This demon was going to die, painfully.

He had an idea. Since the hatred had already bonded with the orb's energies, it'd no doubt take a tremendous concentration of the thing's power to cause lasting harm. But now [i]he[/i] held the orb in [i]his[/i] hands, and the demon was nowhere near it. Akoni could potentially bond to it himself, but immediately rejected the idea since it hadn't yet been identified. His other plan was more agreeable, given the circumstances. If he held the source of the power, and the hatred had linked to it, then all the wizard had to do was reverse the link and suck that creature dry, leaving it a husk for the others to demolish.

Calling on the magical knowledge he possessed, Akoni allowed himself to tap into the orb's power once more. This time, instead of gathering what sat in his hand and sending it out, he focused on the energy it had already expended and imagined it to be a magnet, reclaiming what was rightfully its own. Hopefully that meant the hatred's connection would sever. Either way, Akoni closed his eyes and concentrated hard as he could. Once he opened them, they glowed with a bright blue aura.