Fighting a Star wasn’t something Dallion thought could possibly happen. Up to now he had thought of it as a malevolent entity that had no actual form in the world. And still here he was, engaged in battle with it.

“Go ahead,” Arthurows said. “You have the first move.”

Dallion hesitated. Was this a trap? So far nearly all guardians were the ones who attacked first. After everything that Arthurows had done to get Dallion in trouble, it would be out of character to convert to fair play just now.

“You can’t fight against the entire guild.” Dallion used his music skills, though this time instead of targeting the enemy, he targeted himself with a dose of calm and courage. “They’re watching us right now.”

“Whatever should I do?” Arthurows laughed. “A pity all they can see is smoke.”

Smoke? “Nil?” Dallion asked. There was no answer. Strange, considering Dallion had never stopped hearing the haprsisword. “Harp?”

“You won’t win a battle if you count on the strength of others. Didn’t I tell you that before?”

Dallion had no memory of such a conversation taking place. Thanks to his increased mind, though, he spotted something—the Star seemed wary of the harpsisword, quite possibly ever since the selection trial. All the subtle remarks that he’d made to Dallion about it, the introduction to that shark, the general, even the mugging. The thieving fury had never targeted the coins. She had to have been there for the sword. Apparently, if Dallion lost it, he would cease to be a threat, even if he managed to somehow pass the selection trial without it.

He can’t kill me, Dallion said to himself. However, defeat in an awakened realm wasn’t killing. All he had to do was mess with the emblem, and Dallion could end up with his awakened power sealed. Or maybe he already had?

Instinct made Dallion touch his chest at the spot where the guild emblem used to be in real life. Arthurows smiled. So, he had done something to it.

“And before you ask, I won’t accept a draw, or a surrender,” the Star said. “Just in case you were wondering.”

There was no choice. A battle it had to be, but not the battle Arthurows would expect.

Attack and defense, Dallion thought.

Green and red markers appeared around Dallion, presenting several attack approaches. All of them were easy to execute—Arthurows had left himself wide open. That was precisely why Dallion didn’t pick any of them, deciding to play it by ear.

Without hesitation, Dallion charged forward, his feet matching the footprints completely. Halfway through the series, the Star made its move. Instead of retreating and counterattacking—as Dallion had imagined he would—Arthurows moved directly forward, aiming to interrupt the series, while also striking Dallion in the neck. The actions were swift and elegant, but nowhere as fast as Dallion feared they would be. Given the likely vast difference in levels that was hardly right… unless Arthurows was playing with him.

Dallion’s armadil shield extended to protect him from the attack. At the same time, Dallion twisted to evade, continuing the guard streak. The whole thing felt a lot like his fighting style in Dherma. There, he had been so weak that he relied on the buckler for attack; in fact, he didn’t even have attack skills back then and had to rely on improvisation.

Time slowed down, allowing Dallion to go on with his second set of defense moves. Arthurows didn’t seem overly concerned. The openings were still present, tempting Dallion to strike. However, he resisted. Circling the Star, he completed a second guard sequence, then a third. As before, each next one became easier and easier to execute. Finally, Dallion achieved what he had aimed for all along—the fifth sequence.

This was the point at which the escape option was supposed to appear. Having learned a lot since his fight against the Dherma village chief, Dallion already had determined that his only goal would be to escape. There would be no attempts to use the time freeze to attack, or any other funny business. The moment the green rectangle appeared, he was going to get out of the trial and let the entire guild know. Alas for him, the escape rectangle never showed. Confused, went on with the next guard series.

With each next completion time slowed down to a crawl, and still no escape option was present.

Maybe at the tenth, Dallion thought, clinging to the hope that maybe the sphere item had modified rules. Unfortunately, that didn’t prove to be the case.

“What the heck!” Dallion said under his breath, staring at the empty space in front of his head. At that precise moment, Arthurows attacked.

In Dallion’s mind he saw five instances of the Star going at him. In some cases, he summoned a dagger from nowhere, in others he had summoned a sword. In some cases, he went high, in some low. Dallion panicked. There was no way to tell which attack to tackle, so he did his best to guard against three of the attacker images.

MEDIUM WOUND

Your health has decreased by 10%

A dagger went past Dallion’s shield and pierced his chest inches from the throat. Quite fortunately, an inch higher and the wound would have been critical.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has increased by 5%

A second rectangle appeared as Dallion jumped away. As he did, Nox leapt at Arthurows. The attack seemed well timed, but was easily avoided and followed by a quick counterattack. Thankfully, the crackling had a sense of what was going on and vanished in the air as the tip of the dagger came towards it.

“Still letting others fight your battles?” Arthurows asked, a note of hidden anger in his voice.

“That’s what we mortals do.” Dallion replied.

Against a star he’d gladly take every advantage he could get. Levels aside, Arthurows had ignored the effects of the guard series as if they were nothing. Not only that, but his attacks were of the multiple type, making Dallion guess how he should protect himself. It was like playing with loaded dice.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has increased by 5%

“Fast healing as well? You really want me to get serious.” Arthurows smiled, letting go of his dagger. The weapon disappeared into nothingness. “Or maybe you’d like to make a deal?”

Dallion summoned the harpsisword with his left hand. The shield made holding the weapon uncomfortable and aiming twice as difficult, but he wasn’t letting go of the harpsisword. As far as he could tell, that was the only major advantage he held in this fight.

A bolt split the air, aimed at Arthurows’s torso… and was avoided with ease.

“I’ll surrender the fight,” Arthurows went on. “I’ll even stop hounding you. You get to keep your harpsisword, your shield, your guild status. All you have to do is just give me an oath that you won’t join March’s expedition.”

“March’s expedition?” Dallion blinked. It was the first time he’d heard of that. Thinking back, he went through all his interactions with the captain, then with everyone else. He had no memory of such a reference.

“Why do you think you’re the focus of her interest? People out of this world excel in party fighting. Why do you think your grandfather rose up the ranks so quickly?”

Dallion froze.

“What do you know about my grandfather?”

A wicked smile appeared on Arthurows’ face. Dallion had just given him ammunition to use against him.

“I know everything about your grandfather since he came here. And yes, I know he’s from Earth as well. And I’ll tell you all about it. Just make an oath that if March offers you a spot on her expedition, which might not happen, mind you, you’ll refuse. Do that and you get to enjoy your insignificant life in this fantasy world, and get information about your grandfather to boot. Who knows, maybe it will help you avoid the pitfalls he went through.”

There was no way to tell if the Star was being sincere or not. From what Dallion had seen, it was entirely possible that Arthurows was reading his mind and making promises he couldn’t keep. Dallion’s Earth grandfather used to say that the first rule about making a deal with a devil was not to. This seemed to apply in full force here.

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Dallion asked. “I can’t see any of your emotions.”

“Nice try, but no. You don’t get to see that. Let me just say that the oaths to the Moons are absolute. If it helps you feel better, I’ll make an oath to keep my end of the bargain. Unlike the general.”

Dallion gritted his teeth. He felt his anger peak, even if he couldn’t do anything about it. He was in a bad situation and there didn’t seem any way around it. He could try to fight, of course, maybe even risk getting his powers sealed in order to warn the guild. After all, he had seen that a person’s powers could be unsealed.

Anything advice you could give me, Nil, now would be the time, Dallion thought.

The more he thought about it, the more he could see only two options: selfishly agree to the offer, or sacrifice himself for the guild and whatever else might follow. Seeing that the Star had transformed people into chainlings only to stop Dallion from joining March’s party, there was little doubt he would do far worse to Nerosal, maybe the entire Tamin Empire. Sacrificing himself would help a lot of others, and still…

“No one will find out,” Arthurows continued. “I’ll add that to my oath. And I really mean no one. None of the not-directly-telling and legal loophole crap you’re familiar with. A guaranteed oath to the Moons that our little deal will remain nothing but a one time transaction that will remain hidden from the world.”

That scum! He was starting to sound just like the copyette! That guardian too had made a lot of long and logical promises, only to try and trick Dallion to a really bad deal. If Dallion hadn’t caught on he—

A sudden realization hit Dallion like a brick in winter. The Star was just like the copyette! If he held all the cards as he claimed he did, Arthurows wouldn’t have made an offer of any kind. It was already established that the Star couldn’t kill Dallion in the real world. Maybe he wasn’t as strong as he claimed either?

Did you pull off that entire performance just to put me on the right track, copyette? Dallion wondered. There was nothing the guardian would gain by choosing such an approach, yet it had done it nonetheless, and in the exact order Arthurows had: big talk, momentary illustration to strength, offer out of the predicament that was way too favorable to Dallion. No one made such an offer from a position of strength.

“What about Nox and Lux?” Dallion asked.

“Nox and—”

Before Arthurows could finish his sentence, Dallion pounced forward. Getting the hint, Nox also appeared on his shoulder, leaping at the Star as well. In his mind, Dallion split instances of himself attacking the enemy in three different ways. As he did, he also mentally saw Arthurows counter them all. Apparently, splitting wasn’t exclusive to attacking alone. To no surprise, when Dallion went through with one of the attack options, his attack was easily blocked. However, Nox’s wasn’t.

MINOR HIT

A red rectangle appeared in the air after the crackling had managed to sink its claws in the Star’s left shoulder. Similar to before, Nox then leapt back to Dallion’s awakening realm.

Surprised, Arthurows retreated a dozen feet, then looked at his shoulder. Disbelief streamed from him like blood, trickling from beneath the void cocoon that wrapped around him. It only lasted for a moment, but Dallion was able to get a glimpse.

I was right! the dagger is limiting you, he thought.

While the battle took place here, Arthurows was no stronger than a typical level twelve awakened. The Star might have defeated the previous guardian easily, but the guardian was not a person. According to the rules of the awakened item, it was the challenge who was always given the advantage. The Seven Moons had degreed it, and everyone else, even the Twisted Star, had to follow those rules.

If you’d only come in here with me using the proper way. Dallion smiled. As it turned out, he wasn’t the only thing that could mess things up.