“Prison?” Dallion asked.

Was the dagger a prison? The copyette had said something similar as well. So, the sphere items were prisons. Did that mean that fulfilling their destiny meant freeing the inhabitants? The last part felt like a stretch.

“If you don’t know it by now, you’ll never know,” the guardian replied.

Dallion couldn’t tell whether the guardian was being facetious, or this was a result of an information limiting curse put on him. His music skills told him that the scylla wasn’t lying, and also—interestingly enough—that he wasn’t as angry at him as the guardian pretended to be. There were shimmers of hope among the other emotions, along with an acceptance of fate.

“You won’t tell me more, will you?” Dallion shook his head. “Harp, do you want me to give you two some time before we start?”

The strings echoed a resounding no, to which the scylla laughed.

“Always contrary. Maybe that’s the better approach. It’s not good to cling to the past too much, but I just can’t help myself.” Spikes emerged from the tarry substance that covered the guardian, slowly turning into swords. “Dallion, is it? You keep asking realm beings to accept a draw or surrender. Since you’ve been nicer than I expected, I’ll give you a gift, one that you desperately need.”

The twelve swords emerging from him formed a semi-circle, then linked together, creating a spiked black halo behind the guardian’s head.

“A real battle,” the scylla added, and rushed forward.

COMBAT INITIATED

The speed was faster than Dallion expected, barely giving him a chance to react. Thankfully, the harpsisword did for him. Guiding his hand, it made a circular arc, parrying all the blades that threatened Dallion well before the green defense markers appeared.

For the slightest of instances the action caught him off guard, but he snapped out of it quickly leaping to the side, then back.

The guardian had no intention of giving him a break, quickly following up with another charge attack.

“Shield!” Dallion shouted. The metal gear extended over the entire left part of his body. The sound of blades crashed into it. Dallion felt the force pushing him back, but managed to keep his ground. Unable to handle the pressure, the black blades shattered like glass. The fragments then quickly melted and slid along the floor returning to the scylla.

He’s preventing me from using music, Dallion thought.

The intensity with which the guardian kept up the pressure made it impossible for Dallion to play a chord—his right hand was gripping the harpsisword, while the left was positioning the armadil shield to protect as much of him as possible. Both were necessary to keep him from getting sliced up.

This was so much harder than the thunder leopard, as if Dallion had jumped into an elite tournament after completing a game tutorial.

“You won’t win if you keep defending,” the scylla said. There was no malice in his words, just an observation. “Your sword won’t be able to save you forever.”

Counterattack, Dallion thought.

Red and green markers appeared, constantly moving about to keep up with the dynamic of the battle. Every attempt to follow a series of markers ended in failure mid-way, reminding Dallion of the difficulties he had upon first arriving in this world. It wasn’t that his skills were so low, rather his opponent was extremely good at disrupting every attempt as it happened. If Dallion was to win this one, he was going to have to create his own opening, and fast.

“Shield, inverse!” Dallion said.

The semi sphere bent in the opposite direction, covering the front of the guardian like a lid. At that point Dallion didn’t think. He knew that he would have a disadvantage if he attacked outright, but there was one thing that his enemy couldn’t counter, something that Dallion had become exceedingly good at.

“You can dance if you want to,” Dallion sang as he took advantage of the moment of respite.

Two sets of music targeted the scylla, as a blue marker appeared on the harpsisword. The guardian faltered. It was barely noticeable, no larger than a hairline crack in a door, but it was a start. All that Dallion had to do now was push the door open.

Completing his first chord, he immediately swung at the scylla. Guessing Dallion’s approach, the armadil shield contracted, allowing the blade to pass through what had recently been metal, striking the enemy.

MINOR HIT

A red rectangle emerged in the air. It was somewhat disappointing. After so many instances of critical and fatal attacks, seeing one without bonuses almost felt wrong. However, this didn’t matter. First blood had been drawn and it was Dallion who had ended up achieving it.

“Interesting approach,” the guardian said, holding the blade with his hand. Looking closely, that was the reason why the attack had done as little damage as it had. “A good start, though you forgot one thing.” He fastened his grip round the weapon. “Just because I haven’t been using my hands doesn’t mean I don’t have them.”

Crap! Dallion tried to pull his sword back.

The second he felt resistance, he let the weapon go. Persisting in this would only put him at a disadvantage, especially since there were better ways of handling this in the awakened realms. The dartbow emerged in his free hand, firing a bolt at the guardian.

MINOR HIT

The dartbow was also let go. As Dallion leaped back, the shield expanding in front of him… right on time to save him from a new set of black blades headed his way. Fragments filled the air like black droplets. This time, though, instead of falling to the ground, they morphed into needles and darted past the edges of the shield at Dallion.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 5%

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 5%

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 5%

The pain was insignificant, but it was a reminder that Dallion had to be careful. His gamer mind already started calculating his odds of success. At a fifteen percent loss, it was looking likely that he would be at half health when facing the final guardian, and that was being optimistic. This battle wasn’t over, and then there was the copyette to face.

Reaching out, Dallion summoned his harpsisword. The weapon appeared in his hand, ready for battle. Dallion could feel the guardian inside, wanting to clash against the scylla. Unfortunately, that was the one thing he couldn’t let her do. This was the turning point—the strategic gamble that would either win the battle or lose it.

Here goes nothing, Dallion thought.

“Shield, back,” he said, ordering the shield to contract once more. “Everywhere with helicopter,” he started singing again.

As before, the music attack caused the guardian to freeze for an instant. Dallion could see his emotions changing. A sliver of appreciation had started to appear. Dallion played another chord. Back on Earth, Dallion would have never thought he would be able to hold two different melodies in his mind at the same time. Thanks to the magic of the awakening powers, he was not doing it with ease while also avoiding any enemy attacks. The song, to Dallion’s shame, was one he knew through memes. The only times he had sung it were at parties. Thankfully, he could rest assured that no one in the present world was familiar with its history. At the same time, the chords he played were half a second off, bombarding the scylla with calm and a desire to surrender.

Initially, Dallion’s effort didn’t seem to have any effect. Always on the defensive, he barely managed to avoid the scylla’s attacks by the skin of his teeth. Every other moment was accompanied by flashbacks of game over screens. Slowly, though, the tide began to turn in Dallion’s favor. The attacks, while still ferocious, no longer seemed chaotic. A pattern of behavior emerged, letting Dallion know what to expect. Evading turned into a reflex that his body did on its own, letting him focus on the music attacks. Then, finally, the opportunity appeared—an undefended weak spot.

Part of Dallion’s mind analyzed this from a logical perspective. There was no doubt his opponent was skilled, so there always was the possibility that he was baiting Dallion into a trap. What appeared to be an opportunity could well end up being the cause of Dallion’s loss. Given that the scylla was still not using his hands in battle, it was likely he had another ace up his sleeve, so the best solution was to wait a bit before acting.

At the same time, the remaining ninety-five percent of Dallion’s mind yelled “just do it” and so he did. Still singing, he thrust the harpsisword forward, striking the guardian in the chest.

CRITICAL WOUND

Damage has increased by 200%

I hit? Dallion wondered, confused by the fact. This seemed to be a common theme—each time he thought his opponent was going to respond in some unexpected fashion, he had turned out to be wrong. In contrast, many of the times he thought he’d have an easy victory the enemy would surprise him, coming up with something completely unexpected. What made it even stranger, in this case the scylla didn’t even bother reacting in any way. He just stood there, a harpsisword sticking from his chest.

“Surprised?” the guardian asked, as the black blades sunk back into his shirt. “I’m still limited by the dagger. I can only use part of my skills against you.”

Dallion swallowed. While it was nice to have the sphere item match their strength, it also showed him what monsters existed out there in the real world.

“Also, the fight is still going on, only not against you.”

“Harp?” Dallion looked at the harpsisword. Only now he noticed that the weapon kept vibrating in his hand.

“She always was an enthusiastic one. Good to see she’s having fun, even in this state.” Streaks of blue started to mix with the tar that composed his outfit. “This is the second time you broke my monotony. As the copyette would tell you, that’s more than one could hope for here. We can probably continue the fight and I’ll cause you enough damage so you can’t win, but would there be any point?”

Dallion had stopped singing. He could see the calm in the guardian grow. Hopefully, it was he that had caused this. Either that, or the harpsisword was to thank for the scylla’s change of heart.

“Do you think you can make it all the way?”

“Yes,” Dallion said without hesitation. “I can.”

“Or at least you think you do.” The guardian smiled. “There are three of us you have to watch out for in this realm. The other is just a beast like the leopard. You’ve already seen the copyette, so you know what to expect. As for the last… the approach you used against me won’t work. Music is powerful, like magic, but relying on it too much will make you weak.”

CRITICAL WOUND

Damage has increased by 200%

“Huh?” Dallion stared at the rectangle.

“I told you the fight is still going on. With my present limitations, I’m no match for her. Still, it was nice sparring again. I missed that.”

A sense of regret appeared, pulsing in the guardian’s chest. Moments later, he disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

DAGGER Level 2 has been cleared!

Two out of five cleared. Now Dallion only had to face the copyette before venturing into the unknown. He was supposed to be happy with this victory. Despite a rough start, he had only lost fifteen percent of his health, which put him in a good spot moving on. And still, part of him was conflicted.

“Harp, are you okay?” he asked, looking at the harpsisword. The weapon had gone completely still. Even so, Dallion felt part of her emotions. The link he had formed let him get a glimpse of sadness very similar to the one he had seen in the scylla.

The strings vibrated, conveying “I am fine.” Dallion, though, could see she wasn’t being entirely truthful.

“It’s fine.” He looked at the entrance to the next level. “We did good.” Or at the very least, they had done well.