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One of the points that is made through the series though is that pretty much all the magic in the world comes from the Gods and that casting magical spells is basically accomplished by praying to them. The only exceptions being Klael, Bhelliom and, by extension, Sparhawk. Sephrenia makes some claims about the Delphae practicing witchcraft but it is never clear if that is just bigotry on her part or if that actually exists.

Near the end of the Tamuli, Zalasta shows up and tries to stop the wedding being held. He is clearly tossing around a fair amount of magical power even if Sparhawk has no problem blocking him. Where is he getting the power from though? All of the Gods he tried to work with are KIA by that point and I doubt any of the others would be inclined to help him given that it might put them in conflict with Sparhawk.

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    "Atans, Delphae, and Cyrgai all use magic independently of the Younger Gods" + "One trait shared by all Styrics is their incredible magical power, a product of worshipping a thousand more-or-less agreeable gods." - Take your pick, really.
    – Valorum
    Jun 25, 2019 at 0:43
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    Atans, Delphae, and Cyrgai used magic from their respective god - Delphae being the most unique because they were given the power to use unrestrained magic, as opposed to having to petition for each use of magic. When Cyrgon dies, Cyrgai magic stops working. Even Elenes theorise that they might have just needed to ask their own God during the series. The question is asking which God Zalasta petitions for magic given that 1) a bunch of Gods he used to be allied with are dead, 2) Every god alive is hostile to him, therefore 3) Who is answering the request for magic?
    – DariM
    Jun 25, 2019 at 4:41

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While this question was not asked the Delphae god granted them the ability to use magic without asking IIRC he did this because he was going to be away somehow, possibly so far away that he would not be able to hear the prayers requesting magical aid.

It has been awhile since I read the books and I thought Zalasta was taken care of before they went to Cyrgai but since the question was asked I must assume I am mistaken.

To address the question asked, it is not apparent, it could be a simple goof by the author it could be one of his previous patrons gave him the same thing the Delphae god gave his people and it persists even after the death of the patron, IIRC Azash was one of the elder gods which implies there are more and IIRC there are a thousand younger gods possibly one of them did not get the memo or depending if magic could be traced to a particular god maybe one of them agreed with Zalasta.

TL;DR

Never addressed in canon

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  • FWIW, I don't think we had an instance of a god denying a magic prayer anywhere in the series, so in theory whatever Styric god he prayed to as a kid would respond as long as he did the spell correctly.
    – pboss3010
    Jun 25, 2019 at 16:39
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    @pboss3010 I can think of at least one instance where a God indicates willingness to deny magic - Sephrenia was bullying someone by pretending to chant the death spell, and Aphrael responds by saying "I won't do that".
    – DariM
    Jun 25, 2019 at 21:29

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