The descent of one hundred million volts of world-size sky-trial lightning was not a flash of light.
It was a solid, falling pillar of violet star-fire, thick as a royal highway. It tore down the upright mantle chimney with the world-ending scream of a collapsing star.
The magnetic polarization of the Jiuzhou Continent had reached critical potential.
Between the spark-charged clouds of the upper stratosphere and the liquid iron veins of the lower mantle, a total spark difference of one hundred million volts had built up, seeking out the lowest-flow pushback guide-rod in the underground cave.
That guide-rod was the glittering, starlight-bronze I-beam resting on Shen Shitou’s shoulder.
Purple static crawled across Shitou’s knuckles. The air smelled of scorched copper and ozone so thick it burned the throat like swallowed acid.
“Master!” Shitou roared, his star-steel spirit veins beginning to emit a high-pitched spark hum. “The magnetic field has locked onto my skeleton! My bones are acting as a backup power-coil!”
Beside him, Princess Ling’er’s brass steam pipe hubs began discharging arcs of blue electricity into her apron. “Master, the static charge is invisible the boiler steam! We’re moments from a static-electric blast!”
