Above Prospero, vast quantities of psychic energy were gathering around Magnus.
That psychic energy flowed like invisible rivers from every corner of Prospero: from the towering crystal towers, from the deep libraries, from the Psychic Focusing Devices scattered throughout the city, and from the Thousand Sons warriors sitting cross-legged across the city, their eyes closed in concentration.
They converged in the air into visible streams of energy glowing with an eerie Blue Light. Like countless luminous ribbons, they wound through Prospero's pink-and-gold sky, finally gathering at the summit of the enormous Pyramid in the city's center.
For this Grand Spell, Magnus had assembled a hundred Beta-Level psykers and Legion warriors on Prospero.
A full hundred Beta-level Psykers offered their power to Magnus without reservation, channeling their psychic energy into his body through Psychic Focusing Devices covered in runes, like countless tributaries flowing into the sea.
Magnus stood at the Pyramid's apex.
It was a magnificent structure hundreds of meters tall, carved from blue and gold crystal, glittering beneath Prospero's sky.
He stood on the flat platform at its apex, wearing a deep blue robe edged in gold. In his hand, he held a staff forged from crystal and gold, its head set with a constantly rotating Psychic Gem that glowed with an eerie Blue Light.
His single eye gazed into the sky, its pupil burning with blue flames as brilliant as stars. Those flames leaped, swirled, and spread within his eye socket, bathing his entire face in an eerie blue glow.
The eight foremost Beta-level Psykers stood beside Magnus, arranged in an octagon around the platform at the apex.
They were the most powerful psykers in the Thousand Sons. Ahriman stood due east, his hands raised above his head, golden psychic light surging in his palms.
The other seven psykers