Sizzling through the mist the beam of concentrated heat energy impacts with the glowing red eye in the center of the specter. The heat grows, distorting the air, sending waves of heat shimmering from the jeweled eye. The mist begins to melt away in an ever expanding sphere as the heat beam changes shape into a sphere that floats before the eye. This sphere of expanding heat grows even as the beam itself shrinks down to a point no larger than a candle flame that seems to burn with a focused intensity beyond its destructive power that came before. The air around it melts away into super heated plasma, and for a moment it is as if a miniature sun has blossomed on the battlefield.

The tendrils clamped in the snakes mouths writhe and change shape, slithering from their grasp and sliding back into the earth, reforming into the folds of the specters cloak. It moves about, almost curiously, inspecting the point of intense heat from side to side. After a moment it seems to turn its attention back to Nergal.

"Prove yourself that is all you...know...?"

It is the same echo of Nergal's words...yet it carries an unmistakable question. The crackling beneath the echo takes on a more distinctive tone...as if there is another, silent voice just on the edge of hearing. The apparition makes a gesture that could best be described as a nod. In that instant, the point of focused heat hurtles back to its source. Would the staff be able to handle its own powers magnified? Would its master?