As Dallion cast another pearl, he concentrated on future visions. Despite all his efforts, he proved incapable of glimpsing anything further than half a second away. As Simon had said, prophetic visions required a lot. Then again, half a second was a long time.
No sooner had he completed the spell than he released it in the air, then took a sharp turn.
CRITICAL HIT
Dealt damage increased by 200%
Darrar suddenly emerged, smack into the forbidden spell. Like Galatea, the Orange Moon grabbed the part of her body where the pearl had taken hold. Her fingers pulled it out of the magic threads that composed her being. Without sentiment or hesitation, the Moon tightened her grip, causing the spell to dissolve.
MINOR HIT
Dealt damage increased by 10%
MINOR HIT
Dealt damage increased by 10%
MINOR HIT
Dealt damage increased by 10%
A series of explosions flashed all over the Moon’s body, propelling her towards the horizon.
“And that’s the last,” Jeremy said, letting go of a rocket crossbow. It was of similar design to the one Dallion had made, only smaller—the perfect close-range weapon, provided one had the opportunity to use it.
“The last?”
“The last one capable of catching up,” Jeremy clarified as he cast a speed enhancement spell.
Both of them combat split, creating a new mass of instances. Several of them were instantly shot out of existence by Emion.
Aqui, get here, Dallion ordered. I need you to take us—
Suddenly, his clothes tightened. This wasn’t another realm of air being manipulated again. Rather, he felt someone gain control of the items’ realms all at once. Normally, that shouldn’t be possible. Realm invasions weren’t that fast and required direct contact. On the other hand, it could be said that every realm was in contact with the real world. As long as one had full dominion over it, they could easily invade anything.
I won’t let you, Dallion thought.
ITEM AWAKENING
The sky vanished, replaced by a room made of Moon platinum.
You are in a vast platinum domain.
Defeat the guardian to change the HARPSISWORD’s destiny.
The space was wider than Dallion remembered it. All the furniture and decorations were made of water that rose up from the liquid flood. In the corner of the room, next to a pair of massive windows, rose a large harp, but there was no one at it this time. Instead, Giaccia stood ready in hull nymph armor, holding a thin saber.
REALM INVASION
92% ongoing
A red rectangle glowed in the center of the room.
“You caught on, didn’t you?” Felygn said. Once again, he had taken on the appearance of a skinny human teen in green hair. Torn green jeans, a green t-shirt, and a pair of green rollers composed his outfit, making him seem even more menacing for some reason. “Maybe it’s better this way.”
“You could have done this from the start,” Dallion said. In his mind, he was going through options of what to do. Magic was the Green Moon’s weakness. As long as he could devise a method to use that adequately, there was a good chance for him to stop the invasions. “Why didn’t you?”
“I told you. Even we’re bound by rules.” Felygn smirked. “Actually, that’s not true. We’ve never had to fight to such an extent. All challenges so far lasted less than a tenth of this fight.”
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COMBAT INITIATED
Dallion didn’t wait, attacking right away with a magic music strike.
Threads of magic rose up from the floor, surrounding Felygn. Giaccia also joined in Dallion’s attack, causing thousands of water droplets to shoot out towards the Moon.
Vines emerged out of the Moon’s body, wrapping him as a shield as the projectiles struck. The threads of magic, on the other hand, managed to cut in deeper.
MINOR HIT
Dealt damage increased by 10%
MINOR HIT
Dealt damage increased by 10%
Two rectangles emerged, at which point the entire vine cocoon exploded, filling the room with projectiles of its own.
A wall of water rose up in front of Dallion, quickly stopping the vine fragments. Spikes emerged from it as it then flew in the direction of the Moon. Before it could do any harm, an identical wall rose in front of Felygn. Both blocks of water slammed against one another, creating a blast of thunder.
“You’ve really established a connection with your items,” the Moon said as the water splashed down to the floor. “A pity you never got the hang of dealing with people.”
“I’ve done well enough.”
“You certainly think you do.” Felygn sighed. “Anyone can succeed when facing someone weaker on all levels. It’s how you deal with those equal in strength that matters.”
More Moon-talk. Was that a comment on Simon? Or was it a warning about Jeremy? There was no way to be certain. Jeremy was definitely one to betray Dallion at the first opportunity, but he still needed him if they were to take down the Blue Moon.
Dallion summoned his aura sword and was just about to attack Felygn directly, when the deity suddenly vanished.
INVASION ENDED
That was suspiciously easy. Holding the sword, Dallion split into instances, in case any of the Moon tried to repeat the invasion.
“Too easy,” Giaccia agreed with him.
Come to think of it, the entire fight so far had been. Had the Moons had a bit more ingenuity, they could have killed off the challenges within moments. The aether wall, while wide and impenetrable, shouldn’t have been a deterrent. The latest attacks proved that. The Moons could have resorted to their domain powers of personal abilities. Instead, they acted like overpowered awakened.
Suddenly, a thought emerged. What if they really were overpowered awakened? The thought wasn’t new. They themselves had said that they were originally brought to this world by the Eighth Moon. Could that mean that they had started out as Dallion? After so much time in this world, it would be normal that their ingenuity and creativity would fade away as they focused more on rules relating to this place. The reason they had become stronger in the course of the fight was because they were copying what they had seen, adding elements of their own powers into the mix. Continuing that logic…
“Crap!”
Dallion immediately returned to the real world.
“We mustn’t take him on!” he shouted, splitting into instances. “Astreza is the epitome of humans!”
Unfortunately, it was already too late. Jeremy had been right when he had said that only Dararr could stop them from reaching the Moon of Awakening. Twenty miles away, staying perfectly still in the sky, was the Blue Moon. The deity wasn’t wearing any armor. He hadn’t summoned any weapons or minions to fight for him. He just stood there, looking and waiting.
Gleam, can you fly? Dallion asked.
There was no answer.
Ruby, I’m trusting you on this. Focusing on the world realm, Dallion pulled the entire crater of the fallen south, causing it to emerge beneath. Fill the skies!
The glow of a four-circle magic spell, thousands of miles wide, flickered below. Billions of shardflies who entered this world in magic combined their strength to cast a single spell, all aimed to make them as fast and deadly as lightning bolts. Days ago, during the wars of conquest, Dallion had considered using the spell to render them capable of cutting through any obstacles and conquering enemy cities. He had never expected them to use the spell on such a grand scale, but he was more than happy that they did.
Like reverse-rain, the insects flew up into the sky: only a few hundred scattered about, followed by more and more until an entire mass of emerald green rose up like a cloud.
“Nice touch,” Jeremy said. “That’ll give us a few seconds alone with Astreza.”
“That’s not the point! They’re to help us get away from him!”
“Why do that?”
“He’s the Moon of humans! The crossbows, the rockets, the living armor... He has the knowledge to create it all. Even if he’d had forgotten, he’s been watching us fight from the start and—”
“Gorgon!” Jeremy yelled. “Keep the Moons from interfering.”
The emperor’s armor transformed, growing to twice its initial size. That much could be expected. What Dallion didn’t expect to see was a pair of heavy machine guns attached to the armor’s arms. Not only that, but he could clearly tell that the alloy they were made from contained void matter.
“We’ll take care of the Blue Moon.” Jeremy started shooting.
At their speed, the distance between them and Astreza had been halved five times so far, making him well within range. The weapon terrified Aquilequia, who flashed out of existence appearing a mile away.
“Void tech?” Dallion asked in disbelief.
“Keep your trump card as the final resort,” Jeremy replied, completely missing the point.
Damn you! Dallion cursed mentally. There were some lines he didn’t want to cross, yet the Tamin emperor had done it for him. From here on, he had no choice but to resort to the most destructive weapons and abilities he knew would hurt Moons.
Letting go of his harpsisword, Dallion summoned his whip blade. As Jeremy continued forward, like a fighter jet zooming in on its target, Dallion extended his magic threads through his blades. Lines and symbols spread along the weapons until the entire aura sword and whip blade were covered from hilt to tip. Then, in the blink of an eye, both weapons turned dark purple.
That’s not a spell I taught you, dear boy, Adzorg said in amazement, witnessing his pearl of destruction be transformed into something equally horrifying.
“I’m an otherworlder,” Dallion said beneath his breath. “I excel in copying and modifying things.”
Massive sheets of Moon platinum materialized between Astreza and his attackers. The Blue Moon also excelled at copying what he had seen.
Sparks flew as void bullets struck the defensive sheets, shredding them to bits. That didn’t alarm Astreza one bit. Instead, pulled up a chunk of the ground below, moving it between him and his attacker.
Now it was Dallion’s turn. Striking with both swords, he performed two merged line attacks, like the letter X.
The massive chunk of rock was instantly split into four, despite its size, allowing Jeremy to blast it apart with another rocket bolt he launched from his armor.
Void bullets and rockets? Dallion thought. That definitely seemed like a lot of firepower, but the main issue remained: projectile weapons remained close-range weapons. Astreza, like all Moons, would find it child’s play to avoid them. That was unless Dallion managed to strike him with either of his mana devouring blades.
“I’ll take him on from the other side,” he shouted, splitting off from Jeremy. “Don’t hit me!”
The other laughed, but made no promises.
What about me? Aquilequia asked. As most powerful creatures, she was eager to take part in the fight, yet aware she was completely outmatched.
Go help Eury, he ordered. And keep an eye on Jeremy’s dragon.
The order was given loud and clear. Just because they were allies, Dallion didn’t trust the Tamin emperor. When the party was composed of seven, it was easier to guarantee he wouldn’t pull something fishy. Ironically, Simon had beaten him to that, wasting the party’s initial advantage. Now, there were only three left. If Jeremy would do any betraying, it would be now.
A range marker appeared on the Blue Moon’s shoulder.
Instantly, Dallion struck with his whip blade. The fragments split apart, held together only by a magic thread. The tip made an attempt to come into contact with the marker, but was blocked by a very common cast iron shield that emerged out of thin air.
Despite everything said so far, the Blue Moon didn’t seem particularly imaginative.
Splitting into two hundred instances, Dallion attacked again. This time, he pulled back his whip blade, performing a spiral attack with his aura sword.
In his mind, Dallion was already playing out actions three moves ahead. The longer the Moon remained defensive, the better for him it was going to be. Yet, deep inside, he knew that at some point, Astreza would go on the offensive.
A massive wave of water appeared out of nowhere, absorbing the force of Dallion’s spiral attack.
ATTACK NEGATED
Your attack has been absorbed by ASTREZA.
Attack has no effect.
Once that was done, the wave extended, heading straight towards Dallion.