Air currents strengthened around Dallion, keeping him from smashing into the ground. It wasn’t as elegant or intuitive as flying with Lux, but it did the job.

Palag’s fingers danced in the air, drawing symbol after symbol. There was a time when Dallion would have found the speed impressive. After having faced three powerful mages, though, it was like watching amateur hour—the fury was undoubtedly far better than Dallion, but it was obvious he was struggling against their enemy. This was also the first time that Dallion had witnessed spells being broken. The method was quite different from what Dallion had been doing. So far, both his own awakening trials and Nil had taught him that the best way to end a spell was to interrupt the mage midway. The reality chameleon took a more direct approach, breaking the lines of the spell circle with its own spells, causing the whole thing to fizzle away.

Gripping his harpsisword, Dallion did another spark infused line attack. The flash cut through the air currents, continuing to the mountain range. Same as before, it clashed against the walls of stone, slicing off huge chunks of rock in the process. The moment the rocks separated from the mountain, then quickly changed form shrinking to the size of small reptile scales.

It really is a chameleon? Dallion wondered.

It’s anything that would ensure its survival in the present environment, Nil said. No one has seen one. Heck, no one has even been able to see through its illusions.

Dallion was pretty sure the Moons had. If Gleam was still here, maybe she could as well. The thought came with its share of sadness. The familiar had been a friend and companion for a while. Even if she were on the aggressive side, her banter and advice were always appreciated, not to mention her combat skills. The only consolation Dallion had was the knowledge that she was in the realm of the banished somewhere.

“I need more time to complete my spell,” Palag said as he grabbed Dallion with a new set of air currents.

“Do you have anything that cuts through illusions?”

“No. Not at this level.”

Drat! That was a good spell to have. Illusions, as Dallion had seen, had their own way of creating their own limitations. If there was such a thing as specializing in illusion magic, he was definitely going to do it. Illusions created things that didn’t exist, changed reality, even made invincible items vincible. It was even possible that it was an illusion that had caused the death and disappearance of the Eighth Moon. After all, Dallion had just witnessed illusion magic stopping the effects of a spark attack.

Dallion kept attacking, sending off point and line attacks one after the other. Even if it were no different than throwing pebbles at a monster, that was enough to cause pain, or at least a distraction.

Scales kept peeling off the mountain, until all of a sudden it shifted again, transforming into the cone of a tornado.

That’s a poor match-up, Dallion thought. Fighting with air against a fury wasn’t the most logical of choices. Good thing that the chameleon had only been in the world for a short period of time. Is there a way to capture it? Dallion asked.

There’s usually a way to capture everything, the old echo replied. Though I’m not sure you’re equipped to do so. While it’ll be a huge waste, the best solution would be for you to chase it out of the world, and for that you’ll have to rely on the apprentice.

Didn’t you say he was incompetent? Dallion did a vertical line attack at the tornado.

The attack slammed the cone of wind, slicing through a few dozen layers of air currents, then was captured by the raw power of the wind. Point attacks fared no differently, merely bushing the whole cone backwards.

“Done!” the fury shouted.

Thanks to Dallion engaging the creature, he had managed to complete the spell—or rather, the chain of spells. Dozens of circles, each with twenty symbols each, floated around him, attached to one another. With one flick of the wrist, Palag had them assemble, creating a glowing sphere of symbols, which he then launched at the wind cone.

Instinctively, Dallion split into twenty instances, half of which covered his face and upper torso with the armadil shield.

The sphere or magic slammed into the cone. It didn’t distort it, nor was it pulled in by the wind. Instead, it stood there, both part of it, yet separate.

The tornado vanished, replaced by a flock of griffins. Screeching, they attempted to charge at Dallion and the fury, but the moment they did, an invisible force pulled them back.

Palag’s sphere grew, surrounding the flock like a cage. In an ideal scenario, this would have been enough. Unfortunately, this was far from an ideal scenario. The spell, even if it appeared somewhat complex, didn’t seem to have the strength to stop the creature for long. The griffins kept charging at it, creating cracks in the connections between symbols. No individual crash was enough to break the connection outright, but that wasn’t going to keep the spell from collapsing for long.

I didn’t know you could destroy a spell that way.

That’s not a spell, but its result, Nil grumbled. It’s a clumsy attempt at an opening. You’ll learn about those later. Right now, what’s important is—

“Grab my hand,” Dallion told the fury. “We’ll invade its realm.”

“What?” One didn’t need magic skills to hear the terror in the apprentice’s voice. “We can’t invade the realm of a creature.”

“Watch me.” Dallion tossed the harpsisword to his other hand. Lux, give me a shove!

The bladebow thrust through the sky, slowing down just enough to scoop Dallion before pushing him in the direction of the sphere. Before he reached it, the fractures along the magic lines grew to the point, causing the whole spell to shatter. For an instant of the second, the flock of griffins was there, completely free and vulnerable. Then, they were all replaced by a chunk of falling ice. Spell circles formed, launching icicles at Dallion with tremendous speed. However, this was to his advantage. Splitting into instances, he not only managed to evade them, but completed a perfect guard sequence, causing time to slow down. That only made things easier, letting him complete a second sequence, then a third, then more, until time froze altogether.

Got you, Dallion thought. It had been a while since he’d used guard skill bonuses in the real world. The advantages they provided in the air were a lot less than those on ground. Dallion didn’t have a means of movement other than Lux and the icicles he was evading. The moment he came into contact with any, though, and the time stop would end.

Do you intend to kill me? a voice asked.

It sounded similar to a blade of grass. In fact, it was exactly like the plants that Dallion had spoken to just before the fight. Only, he knew that it didn’t belong to a plant, mostly because there were no plants in the area. Everything, even the grass, had been part of the chameleon’s disguise. This area of the wilderness was completely barren and likely always had been.

“Depends,” Dallion replied. “Why are you here?”

I dropped out here. I was elsewhere when the mages entered. When I dropped out, they didn’t let me back in again.

“Is that why you attacked us?”

You attacked me first.

“You’re lying. When I asked about you, you pretended to be plants.”

The chameleon didn’t answer. Instead, it shifted again. In the blink of the eye, the chunk of ice was done, replaced by a swarm of bees occupying the exact same space it had. Even the icicles had turned into clusters of insects, all of them motionless, following the rules of the guard skills’ bonus.

How did you guess it wasn’t me?

“There aren’t many insects in the wilderness. You told me that you hadn’t seen such for months. That’s not something that’s part of this reality.”

You have an insect.

“The mage who’s hired me wants to capture you.” Dallion changed the topic. “Or kill you. I have no idea how strong you are, but with my help, he could achieve either.”

I can just run away.

“If you could, you would have done so before we got here. You’re stuck here, and I suspect you like it.”

If I’m captured what will happen to me?

“I don’t know. If the capture is painless, I can help you set conditions. It’ll be better than the alternative.”

You haven’t captured me yet. Maybe you’ll fail.

“Maybe I will,” Dallion said, using his music skills to add doubt in his words. “But once I do, others will come after me. The mage is a kid, and I just started learning magic. Real mages will come afterwards, powerful mages. They won’t have to negotiate—they’ll be able to pluck you out of your reality and place you in a chunk of aether crystal. There, you’ll be a prisoner and even reality shifting won’t help you.”

The chameleon changed again, this time taking the form of a lightning cloud, launching bolts of lightning.

“Where did you come from?” Dallion asked, sensing the creature’s hesitation.

Elsewhere.

Was that what magic was? One big elsewhere? There was no way to know, not until Dallion reached the necessary level of his magic trait. Until then, it was all guesswork and a lot of bluffing.

“What will it be?”

You don’t have the strength to capture me. I’ll run away before the ones after you arrive.

“We found you, so will they.”

The chameleon shifted into a tree, its roots hanging in the air, eager to bury into the ground. Even while frozen, the chameleon was using an exception of magic to wriggle out of its situation. Quite a clever approach. Given enough time, it might even find a way. That was why Dallion didn’t intend to let that happen. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the largest branch of the tree and did a point attack.

Normally, such an attack would hardly cause a scar. However, with time stopped, things were different. The reality chameleon didn’t have time to put up any defenses or cast a spell. All that the creature could do was shift form again, and so it did.

For a fraction of a second, Dallion managed to get a glimpse of the being’s real form. It was large—four times the size of an elephant, completely smooth, covered in scale-like tiles. Between the tiles, threads of magic glowed in various intensities, almost like lights on a circuit board.

The point attack struck, bringing an end to the time freeze. The chameleon’s front left leg flew, torn off. The rest of the creature collapsed into the shape of a crystal cube. Dallion followed up with a multi-strike of point attacks, but those just bounced off as the cube fell down to the ground.

Threads of magic emerged from all sides of the object, all flying towards the fury. This time, Palag didn’t bother to evade, catching them mid-flight. His fingers moved ten times faster than moments ago, composing spell after spell. With each new circle, a net of magic formed around the chameleon. The creature struggled, attempting to break out, but that proved impossible. The nets kept stacking up until they were the only thing that could be seen. Then, the struggle ended.

Isn’t that cute? Nil asked, his words soaked with sarcasm. I hope you get something good out of this, considering it’s an almost guaranteed promotion.

“What do you mean?”

The fury’s mage. He was the one who cast the final series of spells through his apprentice.

How?

You’ve experienced what it’s like to have limiting echoes, right? There are worse types, but also better. Consider them symbionts of a sort. I guarantee the apprentice has an echo of the master, which is why the young idiot was so eager to chase down something he knew so little about. As long as the going gets tough, the echo would just watch. The moment there’s a practical chance, though, it would step it and assume willing control of its owner’s realm, and by extension the owner himself.

Dallion felt a chill down his spine.

I thought that wasn’t allowed, he said.

It’s not, but magic allows for exceptions, especially if one is willing.