Leveling up the World

Chapter 955: New Attack Strategy

Aurun, Aquilequia, and Dark combined forces, focusing all their destructive power on the aetherbird’s afterimage. The Purple Moon’s familiar should have vanished along with its owner, yet the magic within it allowed it to keep on fighting a bit longer after its demise.

Purple wings spread open, each made out of millions of aether-flames, then slammed together, sending out a wave of light in all directions. Within moments, all magic barriers vanished.

“Lux!” Dallion ordered.

Another mountain pillar rose up, then burst into fragments, allowing the firebird to send a meteor shower in the wide area of the Moons.

Realm section damaged

Overall completion 67%

A rectangle emerged. Sadly, while the attack proved devastating to the world itself, it didn’t appear to harm a single Moon in any way.

Suddenly, the terrain below changed. The imperial capital appeared, launching hundreds of rockets straight up. Fire filled a massive part of the sky, progressively spreading upwards.

“Focus!” Jeremy shouted, trading light beams with Simon.

The archbishop had caught on to his previous mistake and was careful not to allow anyone to complete a guard sequence again.

“Dark!” Euryale shouted. She remained the only one incapable of flight.

Since there was no point for Lux to continue with the meteor attack, Dallion ordered the firebird to become the gorgon’s wings.

“Thanks.” She winked at Dallion. “I’ll distract Emion. You deal with the archbishop.”

“Gem, Aqui, go with her!” Dallion was almost about to order Gleam and Nox, but stopped himself on time. Of them, one was gone, and the other had used up most of her strength, rendering her virtually powerless. Still, the armadil shield quickly flew after the gorgon, extending as it did.

With a snort, the orange dragon flew in her direction as well.

“Aurun,” Jeremy ordered.

Dallion could feel the burst of disdain emanating from the other great dragon. Still the creature obeyed the order of its owner.

The terrain below changed again, this time turning into a massive forest that only got bigger. Lyulak had also resorted to using his domain ruler powers in the fight. Like the other world conquerors, he was a copycat, and just like the Tamin emperor, he excelled in it.

Branches as thick as small houses surrounded the Red Moon, entangling him far more effectively than the portal vines. A line attack quickly sliced them in half along with miles of earth beneath.

Realm section damaged

Overall completion 65%

The dryad emperor flew off, starting a new complex spell. Hundreds of instances of the Cyan Moon followed, each attempting to attack, yet more trees shot out, keeping Lyulak and his own instances safe.

Leaves broke off the thousands of trees, flying through the air like a hurricane of razor blades. Red rectangles stacked over ninety percent of the Moon’s instances, forcing her to pause her attack.

“You’ve learned a lot since last time,” a calm voice said, as Felygn gently floated towards him.

Neither leaves nor branches did any harm to him, moving away specifically to avoid contact.

“All this time, and it took someone else to show you that the world was under your control as well.” The Green Moon kept on moving closer. It, too, was a dryad. He didn’t have any weapons, wasn’t casting any spells, just floated on surrounded by a bubble of calm.

“You never bothered to tell me.” Lyulak cast a ray of destruction.

Leaves and twigs moved together, blocking the spell’s path. A whole line of vegetation lit up like a matchstick, going all the way to the deity’s shoulder. Avoiding it would have been elementary, yet Felygn didn’t, letting the spell burn through his shoulder and continue onwards.

CRITICAL HIT

Dealt damage has been increased by 200%

Lyulak paused.

“You can still surrender,” the Moon offered. “You can tell what the outcome would be.”

“What happens if I do?” Several of the dryad emperor’s instances looked about. Euryale and the dragons had engaged Emion. Dallion was in a fight with Simon, while Jeremy and Dararr were nowhere to be seen. “Do I get banished again?”

“You never had to be banished. I could have returned you to your world.”

The vines and wooden armor on Lyulak turned red.

“There’s nothing for me there. I’d rather be banished for half an eternity more than go back!” A crimson sword of wood emerged in the dryad’s hand, threads of magic and spark flowing through it in large amounts. This wasn’t just any enhanced weapon—it was the weapon of a conqueror that in the past had slain through awakened, Star-spawn, and cities alike. “I was better this time. Next time I’ll take you d—”

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Lyulak wasn’t able to finish. The clothes he was wearing suddenly tightened for no obvious reason. He tried to adjust them, but quickly found that they had stiffened, effectively becoming a cage around his body. Even any attempts at venturing into their realms were treated as if he were an invader.

Even the sword Lyulak himself had created felt heavy, fighting to slip out of his hand. The dryad tightened his grip, but all that did was to cause the sword to burst into splinters.

“Never had a chance…” he whispered as all the leaves in the surrounding area spontaneously targeted him and his instances.

MAJOR WOUND

LYULAK’s health has been reduced by 50%

MAJOR WOUND

LYULAK’s health has been reduced by 50%

MAJOR WOUND

LYULAK’s health has been reduced by 50%

Hundreds of red rectangles emerged, surrounding the dryad on all sides like a crimson fountain.

“Sorry.” Felygn kept on watching. “There will be no third time.”

LYULAK has left your party

Damn it! One of Dallion’s instances looked at the cloud of leaves.

Already it was starting to clear out, and the forest itself had started retreating.

“No one has defeated a Moon,” Simon said, maintaining the protective aether sphere around him. Unused to fighting for so long, his plan seemed to have shifted to outlasting everyone else.

“You made a Moon vow, damn you!”

“Yes, and I was very careful not to harm you in the process. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Even if I had stayed on your side, you’d still have lost.”

Dallion finished casting a new pearl of destruction, then summoned an ingot to propel it forward. The forbidden spell burned through the archbishop’s aether sphere, yet no sooner had it done so than Simon cast a second, smaller one around him.

“The Moonstones aren’t enough to show me everything, but I still see enough fragments,” he said. “There’s still a way out for you. Change sides. The Moons will forgive you. The plan was mine, so I’ll be the one banished, but you’ll remain in this world. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“After what you did, you think I’ll trust anything you say?” Dallion infused his harpsisword with spark.

The pragmatic part of him considered the option. Only three remained against the Moons. Euryale wasn’t a real conqueror, so she wouldn’t be punished, either. Just Jeremy and Simon would get the blame, and Moons know they deserved it. It was the pair that had brought things to this point—plots within plots all for the sake of their own obsession. As long as they were gone Dallion didn’t need to become a Moon.

“You can’t take the step, can you?” Simon smiled. “That’s the difference between you and Jeremy. Those who follow the path of magic are willing to take any opportunity to get what they want. Those that follow the path of the empath hesitate to take any opportunity, fearing the effects it would have on everyone else. Neither’s a good fit for the world, but if I have to choose, it won’t be Jeremy.”

See the future. Dallion focused mentally.

He didn’t have any Moonstones left, but he didn’t need to see that far forward. All he wanted was a few seconds ahead, and that was something his mind trait should allow him. It was the trait of instances and echoes, so that meant it was also the trait of foresight. What was combat splitting but looking at slivers of the future? If one mastered it, they could see instances of the entire world. If they focused even more…

Dallion saw Euryale fighting her deity. The dragons and Lux did little to faze the White Moon. With the explosions of Jeremy’s rockets fading away, Emion effortlessly countered the chunks of rock that Lux was propelling her way. Flames and lightning bolts fared no differently, which was why Euryale risked it all on a final charge… and failed.

Dallin felt a jolt of pain as he saw two bolts pierce her chest, followed by a rectangle that she had left the party. His heart tightened in horror, yet that wasn’t the only thing he saw. Simon had taken advantage of the distraction and cast a protective sphere around Dallion. Once fully formed the sphere was impenetrable and spiral strikes were absorbed with no effect.

So, that was the plan—imprisoning Dallion wasn’t harming him. On the contrary, it could be considered keeping him safe from all the fighting going on.

The vision abruptly ended, ripped away from reality. Dallion didn’t quit, though, instantly focusing on another. This time, he ignored Euryale’s fight, anchoring his attention to Simon.

In this version of the future, Dallion charged forward, performing a multi attack. His strength, combined with the spark of his harpsisword, would shatter parts of the aether sphere, though never enough to allow a follow-up attack. It was as if Simon was deliberately allowing him to achieve just enough success to keep trying, but not achieve anything significant.

Suddenly, it made sense. He was stalling, waiting for the moment in which Euryale died. That was his opening. That was also what Dallion had to avoid at all costs. However, two could play at that game.

Gripping his harpsisiwrd, Dallion went on and performed a spiral attack. This, too, had been foreseen by Simon, for he moved down ten feet—just enough to let the attack shatter the sphere without harming him. Clearly, a lot more went into prophetic visions than a simple sliver of the future. The archbishop had probably been careful to observe all combat-oriented outcomes, which meant he had a ready plan of action.

What do you think about this, then? Dallion flew straight at him.

Similar to the vision snippet, Simon moved away, though at such a speed that Dallion could easily catch up. At this point, he’d maintain just enough of the protective spell to create the illusion that he was vulnerable. Yet, Dallion didn’t attack. Letting go of both his weapons, he continued straight on towards the aether sphere.

It took a fraction of a second for him to get there. At this speed, Simon didn’t have the means to move away to avoid collision, so he did the only thing he could—break the spell.

“Got you!” Dallion burst into instances. He had learned to be cautious when dealing with enemies of such caliber. As Hannah and Adzorg had taught him, it was when victory seemed inevitable that one was at his most vulnerable.

The harpsisword flew back to Dallion’s hand, but before he could use it to strike, a massive ray of destruction vaporized four-fifths of his instances.

Immediately, Dallion split again, expecting to face off against a Moon. Instead, he saw Jeremy less than half a mile away.

“Good job,” the Tamin emperor said without a note of apology. “Now for the final move.” He flew past Dallion. Lux, Gem, Aqui, get Eury away from Emion! Dallion ordered through his realm as he flew after Jeremy. Tell everyone to join us.

A trail of instances emerged after Dallion, making sure that the vision he’d seen didn’t come to pass. Thankfully, the outcome was different. With Lux still propelling solid objects, the White Moon couldn’t outright go on the offensive.

There was a sharp burst of annoyance coming from Euryale. She wasn’t pleased with the meddling, but smart and experienced enough not to make things worse by going against the familiars Dallion had lent her. What was more, she had continued the practice of summoning objects for the firebird to propel at the Moons. Since the world had become a realm allowing for awakened powers, she had no reason not to.

“Where are we headed?” Dallion caught up to Jeremy. “I hope your new plan is better than your aim.”

“You’re fine. I could risk Simon getting away.”

“With Lyulak gone, we’re still three against five.”

“That’s why it’s time to flip the script.” Jeremy’s face lost all expression. “We’re going for Astreza.”

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