The thought of the Glass Mounts came to mind as Dallion imagined what would happen if the archbishop unleashed what Emperor Tamin had on the Azure federation. As far as he knew, the Order of the Seven Moons had never done anything of the sort. Even in all the historical scrolls, it was said that the war clerics only targeted wilderness beasts or Star cultists. Everyone admitted that they were strong—with such an amount of awakened, there was no way they wouldn’t be—but no one could perceive them as an aggressor. How could it be otherwise if they hired hunters and mercenaries to do their bidding? That was, if they didn’t exert their political power to have some local noble do it.

Once the imperial ceremony started, the capital might well end up in the same state as the fallen south. The only way to prevent it was to warn Tamin, but to do that Dallion had to escape the domain of the island.

Unwilling to risk talking to anyone in his realm, in case the archbishop used one of his tricks, Dallion split into two hundred instances and flew straight up.

The IVORY TOWER realm prevents you from leaving its bounds!

A multitude of green rectangles emerged. It seemed that the void hadn’t exaggerated when it came to the archbishop’s power. The entity’s mere presence, however, had told Dallion that somewhere a crack had to exist. All that remained was for him to find it.

“Sorry, Harp.” Dallion unsummoned his aura sword, then took hold of the harpsisword with both hands. “I’ll need your help on this.”

Two hundred spark infused spiral attacks were cast towards the sky. Most of them abruptly stopped as they struck the invisible barrier mid-air. In one case, part of the force managed to leak through.

Turning that instance into reality, Dallion immediately focused on the spot. On close inspection, the barrier seemed slightly thinner, as if someone had eaten several layers of the surface. The spot was no larger than a human hand—not enough for anyone to squeeze through, but there were ways of making an exception.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion performed a series of spiral attacks on the spot. With each, the pain in his arm increased. Magic strands snapped along the outlines of the realm dome. Whatever the archbishop had done was giving way to the attacks.

One more, Dallion kept telling himself after every attack.

Stubbornly, the dome refused to fully break.

“One more,” Dallion whispered. “One more! One more! One more!”

He could no longer feel his arms, but kept on going.

Finally, the dome gave in. Part of the layer of protection shattered.

CAGE BREAKER

(+2 Body)

You’re the first person who’s broken through a Moon ray dome. Then again, very few have tried.

A blue rectangle flashed briefly. Dallion ignored it, flying straight through the opening. The last thing he wanted was to have a repeat of his fight with the archbishop.

Dal? He heard Veil’s voice within his realm. What was going on? It was as if you vanished.

Dallion kept on going. He wanted to put as much distance between him and the archbishop as possible. Only afterwards would he focus on the larger picture. From this point on, he couldn’t trust any echoes or realm voices, even his own.

Don’t trust anyone, Dallion thought. If that had been the real Veil, Dallion’s echoes would have conveyed the message along with all his other plans and fears. Right now, it was important that Dallion got back to Alliance as quickly as possible. Normally, that would be easy. Domain rulers had an obvious advantage when it came to travel, yet that required a domain and right now Dallion was in the middle of the ocean. Approaching the water, let alone trying to reach the bottom, would attract the attention of the nymphs and he wasn’t looking forward to facing Tiallia so soon.

Summoning his aura sword, Dallion cast several hundred magic messages and sent them to various spots in the world. While there was no known spell to determine his location, magic had a way around it.

The letters split up, each taking the shortest route to their destination. Immediately, two things became clear: Dallion was a lot closer to the east side of the continent and more to the south than he expected.

“Lux,” he said as he summoned his bladebow.

Boss! The firebird chirped. I knew you’d be alright!

“Never mind that.” Dallion cast a new torrent of letters. “Fly in that direction. As fast as you can.”

Boss? can you handle—

Stolen novel; please report.

“Do it, Lux.” Dallion had no patience, not right now.

With a chirp, the bladebow turned, coming into contact with Dallion’s back. He could feel the width of the weapon all the way from his waist to his neck. The sharp crescent bow touched both of his shoulders—a scary notion, which was why he strengthened his magic threads in the area, creating a magical cushion. Moments later, he experienced what it was like to suddenly be thrust into mach five speeds. Maybe the more alarming thing was that his current body was able to handle it without issue.

We need to talk, dear boy. The voice of a very alarmed Adzorg came from Dallion’s realm.

Just as before, there was no guarantee that the voice actually came from the old mage. However, with the collapse of the empire at risk, Dallion had to take the chance. As long as he didn’t share anything that the archbishop didn’t already know, there was nothing he’d lose.

“How much do you know?” Dallion asked.

Only what your echoes told me—not to trust anyone from the Order.

Given you’re from the Academy, I thought that would come naturally.

Stop playing games, Adzrog snapped. You’re really not that good at it. You go to form an alliance with the Order, against the advice of virtually everyone. You get on a boat then completely vanish to the point that even your echoes have no idea what’s going on; then you re-emerge and warn everyone not to trust the Order. It doesn’t take a Moon to see that something must have happened in-between.

If only the old man knew. So much had happened in that seemingly short amount of time that Dallion didn’t even know where to start. For the moment, it was best not to share that the archbishop was millennia old and had hired the void to assassinate the emperor.

The archbishop wants to kill the emperor. Dallion took the direct approach. I was supposed to be the bait, but now I know that he wants to take both of us out.

How? Adzorg asked.

In his mind, Dallion went through the possibilities. Either this was the archbishop probing to tell how much Dallion had made out, or it really was Adzorg who shared a natural concern with events. If Dallion said the wrong thing, the pan might be changed or hastened.

Make a Moon vow, Dallion said. Vow that you are Adzorg, the old archmage that I knew.

Isn’t that going a bit overboard? You know who I am. Ask any question if you wish.

The answer was untypically evasive. Maybe this was a trap after all?

Make the vow, Dallion repeated.

In the distance, the faint line of land was starting to peek above the horizon. It was tempting to split into instances and look back to check if there was any sign of the island, but that would be a costly mistake. The archbishop’s high mind trait would make him better at forced splitting, causing Dallion to experience the least preferable option.

I am Adzorg, the mage. The old man said with a sigh. The same that pretended to be your echo advisor during your time in the Icepicker guild.

The specifics were enough for the vow to take hold if this were a lie.

He’s planning on using rockets, Dallion said.

Emperor Tamin? Adzorg asked, surprised.

The archbishop. He has the knowledge of rockets as well.

Dear boy, that’s very difficult to believe. If that were the case, someone would have remembered. I know it’s said that the Order of the Seven Moons holds all knowledge, but—

They are also the only ones who curse, banish, and delevel people, Dallion interrupted. If they wanted an event forgotten, why are you so certain they would have failed?

They could, but people would have noticed the inconsistencies. I would have noticed them. Like the hidden Moons. Until you acquire their trait, everything written about them is blank, but it’s still there. It’s not like new lines appear in tones and scrolls. Rather, the spaces that previously seemed empty are now filled out. If the Order used rockets, where did they, exactly?

Dallion didn’t reply.

And please don’t tell me that they created the ocean. We have an entire species returned from banishment that would disagree.

I know how to make rockets! Dallion mentally shouted. I know how to make living armor. If I want, I could even make a machine gun!

Dallion wasn’t sure whether the last had any meaning to Adzorg, but the mere sound of it helped push his message through.

Why should they have this knowledge if they hadn’t used them in the past?

Now it was the mage’s turn to remain silent.

The archbishop said there was a ceremony taking place to honor the survivors of the dragon hunt, Dallion continued. The emperor must stop it.

Dear boy—

I don’t care about the optics! The city is infiltrated with copyettes as it is. Having the emperor in public would present the best opportunity for attack. My guess would be the copyettes would create enough confusion so no one sees the—

I can’t warn him! Adzorg almost shouted.

This was untypical in more ways than one, but also unhelpful.

Why not? Dallion asked.

Because of the vow you made me make before. I can’t tell the emperor anything relating to you and vice versa.

Are you serious?!

Very.

We’re talking about saving his life. Tell him just that. Don’t even mention me.

That’s not how vows work. If there were loopholes, people would have established a system by now making the entire concept of Moon vows worthless. If you want to warn him, you’ll have to come here yourself.

That was easier said than done. Dallion himself had declared war to the empire not too long ago. Having him charge into the capital, claiming he’d changed his mind, wasn’t an option. As the cloud forts moving towards the imperial palace were an indication, the place was tightly guarded. That’s what created the glaring weakness in the heart of the empire: everyone was so focused on outside threats that they’d be defenseless against an enemy within, especially if that enemy could change appearance.

Can you act on it? Dallion asked.

Even if we consider me doing so bordering my vow, there’s nothing I could do. The mage sighed. Technically, I’m still a prisoner. I’ve been granted huge freedoms, yes, but leaving the confines of my enormous room isn’t one of them. And if what you’ve said is true, creating a ruckus might have the opposite effect on what’s desired.

The coast was fully visible now. It would still be about five more minutes for Dallion to reach it, possibly ten, but it was close enough to tell Lux to start decelerating. Maybe after another minute, though.

I’m truly sorry, dear boy. The web of events prevents me from getting involved. You’ll have to deal with this on your own.

That was the worst possible outcome. After breaking out of the archbishop’s hold, Dallion had hoped there’d be a way to prevent the attack from happening. As things stood, all three powers in the world hated him one way or another. All they had to do was briefly combine forces to wipe him off the face of the world, along with everything he had achieved. Even worse, if the archbishop succeeded with his plan and took out the Tamin Empire, that would leave Dallion hopelessly outnumbered. The only solution was to form a new alliance, this time with the emperor.