A sphere of light surrounded part of the noble’s section. The mage had cast a barrier of some sort, holding off the chainlings that were attempting to attack the imperial. Judging by his power, the mage could probably take a dozen chainlings alone, even wild ones. However, his focus was to protect one person and one alone. Meanwhile, the nobles were doing a pretty good job themselves—slashing down chainlings with the ease an awakened would defeat a rather strong guardian. However, for every chainling that was destroyed, three more seemed to appear, most continuing to focus their attention on the overseer.

“They are just pups,” the Star told Dallion. “But there’s a few hundred of them. In fact, there’s just enough to let the people have the illusion of hope. It’s much more entertaining that way,” the Star winked.

“You’re destroying a city just for fun?” Dallion asked, the thought making him physically sick.

“Feeling unwell?” The Star laughed. “Too much empathy tends to do that. And yes, it’s partially for fun. You’ve only been here a year, so you’ve no idea how boring things get. Still, I’m not the one to blame. Arthurows begged for this. Even before I got involved, he was seeking out ways to join the cult and obtain power. He had one wish. Well, that’s a lie—he had a lot, but it all boiled down to one: make the nobles pay. In a way, they were the cause of their own downfall.”

The explanation sounded reasonable. One could see how the Star was acting as divine punishment. After all, they too watched awakened fight each other for amusement. However, beneath the apparent logic was a layer of lies Dallion could see all too well thanks to his music skills.

“You don’t believe a word I’m saying, do you?” Arthurows said, amused. “That’ll be really interesting. Watching you grow further will be exciting.”

That, too, was a lie. Dallion could feel the hatred oozing from the Star’s new form. The only reason he hadn’t attacked him was, most likely, because of the Green Moon. Dallion might have lost his favored status, but he was still a Moon follower. That meant that there still were options.

“Why the keys?” Dallion asked. “If your plan was to attack the city guardian all along, what did you need them for?”

“As stupid as ever.” The Star Smirked. “It’s not entirely your fault. Everyone else thought the same thing. Tell someone you’re searching for a key to open gates between realms, and they think you’ll summon a horde of monsters. Such a lack of imagination. The wilderness is full of monsters.”

Dallion tensed up. He knew where this was going. Most of all, he was annoyed at himself for not seeing the possibility.

I’ve started thinking too much in the box, Dallion told himself

“All I needed to do was pull the city into the wilderness. Where do you think the chainlings are coming from?”

“You used the Vermilion’s tears to get the chainlings in the city’s realm,” Dallion said. “That’s why there was no one protecting most of them.”

“Well done.” The Star clapped. “The rings were just the portal. If the nobles of this city had any common sense, they would have destroyed the ruins they erected the city on ages ago. However, there’s always that element of greed. What if there are more artifacts to be found? And trust me, there are. There are so many places beneath Nerosal that aren’t explored, not to mention the surrounding area. Even after it was destroyed, the Slime Capital was a thing of marvel and beauty. However, because of that, it still provides cracks that could be used to move people between the realms and the real world.”

Line strikes whooshed in the air, several dozen feet above Dallion’s head. March had joined the fight, along with other guild members. The sudden influx of reinforcements bumped up the people’s strength, but even Dallion could see it was temporary. All the awakened in the city wouldn’t withstand the waves of chainlings. In fact, he wasn’t sure that anything could.

“Oh, and don’t blame yourself. You weren’t the one responsible for all this. At least not directly. It helped that you showed those idiots in the mirror pool how to level up a Vermilion, but you weren’t the only one to succeed.”

“I can still stop you,” Dallion said.

“Oh?” The Star smiled widely. A dog-like chainling nearby growled, but Arthurows gave it a sign to remain quiet. “This should be good. Tell me.”

Astreza, Berannah, Ventor, Dararr, Emion, Felygn, Galatea, Dallion recited, drawing his Nox dagger.

“A single crackling against my chainlings?” The Star’s face twisted in disappointment. “I expected something better than this. Please tell me that’s not all.”

Nox, get out here, Dallion ordered.

The crackling appeared, landing on the ground a foot away. It didn’t hiss or make any aggressive actions, but rather stared at the Star dead on.

“Seriously?” Arthurows sighed. “What’s he going to do? Purr at me?”

“Who’s the one lacking imagination now?” Dallion asked. Now that he had an idea of the powers he was going to face, he felt very afraid, but even so he had the determination to see this through. “Nox isn’t going to do anything to you,” he went on. “He’s going to challenge the area guardian.”

The Star’s smile suddenly vanished. He too had realized what Dallion’s plan was. There was one single way to strengthen the guardian and at the same time to eject everyone out of the realm and back into the real world: defeat the overseer. Any other time that would be an impossible task, but given how weakened the overseer had become as a result of the constant chainling attack, he stood a chance.

“Fetch!” the Star shouted.

Instantly, the dog chainling leapt in Nox’ direction. Before it could get anywhere close, however, another entity appeared on the field. The entity had the same features as Dallion. In fact, any onlooker would have mistaken it for an echo of his. That was no echo, however. Rather, it was something far stronger that had been hitchhiking a ride on Dallion for several days now.

“I never doubted you’d do something like this,” the copyette said. “It was reckless, stupid, and I’m thankful to you for it.”

Dallion instinctively glanced at his belt. The crystal dagger he was wearing was still there, but now it seemed hollow, like a bottle of alcohol that had its cap removed for too long.

“The Moons won’t like it if you intervene.” The Star said, his voice gaining a slight tremble.

“Only in the real world.” The copyette-Dallion smiled. “But we aren’t there, are we? You saw to that. Go ahead, Dal,” Aspan said to Dallion. “You know the drill. I’ll take care of things here. You follow that crazy gut of yours.”

Blades emerged from the copyette like spikes from water. Several chainlings had gathered nearby, but neither of them, nor the Star itself, dared attack.

Nox, go for it! Dallion said.

GUARDIAN CHALLENGE!

Nox has challenged the guardian of Nerosol on your behalf!

The guardian has no choice but to respond to the challenge.

A whirlwind of black tentacles exploded in the arena stands, destroying half of the nobles’ sector. Debris and chainlings were scattered about like twigs. Not awakened, though. Since this was a realm, defeating them here merely meant they were returned to the real world, to wait for the resolution like the average person.

Think you can handle that, Gleam? Dallion asked.

The entire whip blade disappeared.

COMBAT INITIATED

That was fast, Dallion thought.

That’s the thing about cities, dear boy. They make sure that leadership transfers is done quickly.

Does that mean that if I win, I’ll become in charge of—

Green markers surrounded Dallion. It had been quite a while since he had seen whose appear. On the instant he split into fifteen instances, each following one of the provided defense skill options. Spear-tipped tendrils hit every single option. In all instances Dallion was hit, although, thankfully in a few of those, the tendril merely hit the armadil shield.

Lux, lift me up! Dallion ordered.

The attacks continued. Even all the way from the arena stands, the overseer was able to cause him such difficulty. The armada shield and invisible whip blade moved about, assisting as much as they could, which proved barely enough. If it wasn’t for the scores of chainlings still set on attacking the overseer, Dallion would have been ejected from the realm already. Quite ironic that they were instrumental in giving him a chance to get rid of them.

Nox, protect Eury! Dallion let go of the dagger. Moments later, the harpsisword appeared in his hand.

You need to defeat her before they do, Harp reminded.

I know. Dallion smiled. It’ll be just like defeating a chainling.

More awakened arrived at the arena. Most of them were far more skilled than Dallion, but still focused on the wrong things. Everyone seemed obsessed with protecting the countess and the top nobles, even if they were among the strongest entities there. In contrast, only the remaining city guards were trying to assist the overseer. That was the problem with secrets—sometimes they were so well kept that no one could see things for what they really were.

Meanwhile, the fight between the Star and the copyette was heating up. None of the two used weapons in that fight, the entities themselves were weapons capable of more destruction than everyone else combines. Tendrils clashed against one another in a high-speed tactical fight that blasted holes in the ground and any chainling unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire. Some of the tendrils even pierced the body of the enemy, causing a red rectangle or two to appear above them. That only presented a minor inconvenience, since in all cases the beings’ health was restored just as quickly as it was decreased. In the real world neither would be capable of such a feat. Here, though, their power was close to limitless.

“Dallion!” Euryale shouted! “Get out of here!”

It was a heartfelt, tempting offer, but Dallion didn’t even consider it. There simply was too much at stake.

Lux, Gleam, get me close to her, he said, playing a chord on the harpsisword to grant himself speed. I need one good hit. Just like in the crackling city.

This is a bit more difficult than smoke, the armadil shield commented, extending to provide as much protection as possible. You’re not even sure your spark will have an effect.

I’ll worry about that. You worry about getting me there in one piece.

AGGRAVATED WOUND

Your health has decreased by 15%

Two red rectangles appeared, as one of the overseer tendrils pierced Dallion through the right shoulder, then twisted like a hook and pierced him again from the back.

Dallion attempted to slice the tendril off with his harpsisword, but the weapon bounced right off, as if it were hitting steel.

Spark! Dallion thought, as he split into instances again.

Of the ten instances, in nine, nothing occurred. In the tenth, however, his weapon suddenly became surrounded by a bright white flame. That was it—the spark he was hoping to trigger. Once again, Dallion struck the tentacle. This time, the harpsisword sliced through, cutting it off. A red rectangle appeared, although the health decrease was exceedingly low. Still, it was a start.

Lux propelled Dallion forward, taking advantage of the missing tendril. Others tried to hit Dallion, but all were easily avoided… far too easily.

“Lux pull back!” Dallion shouted, aware he had entered a trap. Sadly, it was too late. The overseer had already used her previous tendrils attacks to create a spider web around him, before attacking directly with a whole cluster. At this range, even if Dallion managed to avoid half the tendrils, it would even be enough to get his health to zero.

“Dal!” Euryale shouted. “Look at me!”

Instinct made Dallion do just that. A split second later, he saw that her eyes were open.