“A little late to the party, aren’t you?” Dallion said as he repaired the wall.

The albino shook his head.

“You shatter half the arena and still repair that?” He went to the general’s desk and slid a finger along it. “No echoes,” he noted. “Didn’t see that coming. Although he was just a greedy snob, we had to keep an eye on him.”

So much for the Order being omnipotent. Then again, the general had fooled the world for decades, if not longer. Or maybe there was another explanation.

Dallion split into instances, rushing at Cleric. Before the man could react, Dallion summoned his bladebow and shoved it into the other’s shoulder so that the kaleidevristo came in contact. The bishop’s entire arm turned translucent. There could be no doubt that Dallion was in the presence of another copyette. For some reason, the bishop didn’t seem the least bit alarmed. Sluggishly, he looked at the transparent part of his body, then slowly pushed the weapon off him.

“Should have guessed.” Dallion unsummoned the bladebow. “The whole losing magic never matched up. Was there ever a Cleric?”

“There still is. That part was mostly true. He gambled his magic at the Academy and lost. We took him in. He’s been a monk ever since. Quite happy to be sealed off from the rest of the world. I just took it from there.”

“So, the Order did keep an eye on my family.”

“Not you, though. We’re keeping tabs on your grandfather. The man has a knack for getting out of tight situations. He’s a bit like you in that way. And, of course, there’s the promise to House Elazni.” Cleric looked around. “Any other reason we should stay here? I prefer that the repairs start sooner rather than later.”

“You’ll repair this?” Dallion snorted. “Just like that?”

“Nerosal needs a symbol to mark its rebirth. This is as good as any. The general was despised by many.”

Dallion could see it now: the Hero of Nerosal returns as a noble to take down the evil cultist who’d held the city in his grasp. The story wouldn’t be far from the truth and, above all, it would put the mind of many at ease. Likely, the city guard would also take an active part, capturing their share of low-level criminals—possibly a few more cultists. With a bit of donations from the Order, even the slums could get leveled up.

“Sure.”

Walking out of the main entrance, one might almost forget what had happened behind. Dallion instantly spotted several guild masters along with their captains. No doubt they had gathered in the hopes of getting contracted for the repair words. Knowing how the Order operated, all of them would be hired for the job, along with every other able awakened.

The overseer was also present, observing the actions of the city guard. Unlike before, she pretended not to notice Dallion. Strangely enough, no one else seemed to notice him, either; as if he and the bishop were in a different realm altogether.

You still have some tricks I don’t know about, don’t you? Dallion thought.

The two went off the main streets, venturing into the quieter parts of the city. Initially, Dallion thought that they were randomly walking around, but soon he recognized the surrounding buildings. This was where Eury’s workshop had been before she had moved out to Lanitol.

“Do I get a prize now that my work is over?” Dallion asked.

“Who said it’s over?” The albino glanced at him.

“The general is gone. Or do you expect me to purge the world of all void matter?”

“A tempting suggestion, but no. The void, like the Star cults, is only a threat when there’s too much of them. Many of them have already gone into hiding. Some claim that the next Star has already emerged, but the archbishop’s prophecy isn’t clear on the matter.”

“You seriously believe in those prophecies?”

“Do you believe in instances?” the bishop asked, causing Dallion to quickly shut up. “That’s not the immediate concern.”

“Oh, give me a break.”

“The void is a force of nature. You can’t eliminate it, just prepare and deal with the consequences. A competent Star is a lot more problematic, but even they are second fiddle.”

“Is that coming from the prophecy as well?” Dallion smirked. “Or were you reading bad poetry?”

The bishop abruptly stopped. Eight more sets of hands emerged from his body, starting a multi-circle spell. Taking that as a sign of hostile intentions, Dallion leaped back, casting several spells of his own. Aether spheres surrounded him, while his harpsisword.

Concentrating, he looked at the symbols composing the albino’s spell. All of them were well known to him. Most were classic examples of distant viewing magic, combined with other elements of spying, as well as a basic aether creation spell.

A large purple map appeared in the air. The shape of the landmass unmistakably depicted the continent they were on. Seas and oceans were present to the west and north, along with vast swaths of unknown territories. Nearly every settlement, from the major cities to the smallest villages were there. Looking closely, Dallion recognized parts of the fallen south.

“You’ve become an expert on the Star,” Cleric said. “Throughout history, what did he do?”

“Seriously?”

“Indulge me.”

My foot will indulge your face, Dallion thought.

“The first Star yearned to be equal to the Moons,” he said with a sigh. “To become the architect of the world and create a utopia.”

The bishop kept quiet, waiting.

“After failing, the Star tricked several races into conquering the world,” Dallion continued. “All attempts failed and the…” his words trailed off.

What if it was never meant to be a trick? Each Star had provided knowledge, skills, and assistance to the respective conqueror, but never tried to conquer it on their own. They were in the very literal sense of the word a second fiddle to past emperors.

“One thing that’s lost throughout history is the sense of time,” the albino continued. “Some things you have to be there to feel what they really were like. In the old sagas it’s always written that one race or other tried to take over the world. What isn’t written is how long it took. There wasn’t one big war that came up out of nowhere and swept the world in a few years. A lot of planning went into it, a lot of subtleness. War only broke out when things failed.”

“It was never about conquering the world,” Dallion said. “It was all about the awakening level.”

The instructions of the Moons at the last gate were a lot clearer now. Indeed, it was no longer enough to fix his personal faults in order to grow. His will would be matched with that of others. In a way, the whole world was one big trial. Dallion, like many others, had thought having a domain was all about real-estate. The reality was that the domain was an expression of his will. By accepting to live in the capital as part of House Elazni, he had submitted his will to that of the Emperor and Dutchess Elazni. That’s why he wasn’t able to leave the city. In his mind, there always were other reasons, as if the whole world was conspiring against him. The moment he had started relying on others to let him go, he had lost his option of doing so. It was the Order that had nudged him to do so, using his experience with the void as a pretext.

“The level of each gate is double of the last.” As the bishop spoke, two areas of the map changed color. Judging by the location, one represented the Tamin Empire. The other had to be the Alliance of Stone and Steel. Settlements changed into numbers. “An awakened has to get to level eighty to become a domain ruler. That means that the next gate is at a hundred and sixty.”

Dallion added up the numbers.

“There’s a lot more than eighty points there.”

“That’s because you’re looking at it wrong. Creating a hundred villages won’t get you to the gate. Believe me, it has been tried.”

Given the number of monasteries scattered throughout the world, it didn’t take a lot to determine who had made the attempt.

“Countess Priscord managed to pull her shenanigans because she was aiming to decrease Archduke Lanitol’s power. The size of your domain represents the visual representation of your will in the world. The larger it is, the more you will exert. As such, each settlement level encompasses part of the world. The Imperial capital is the largest domain in the present world, as large as a province, yet it’s only level seventeen.”

That still didn’t sound right. If combined with the over provinces, that had to make well over a hundred.

“The land the domain occupies is the empire itself,” the bishop added. “Yes. Even if we include all the recent gains through “alliances” and conquest, the emperor is three quarters short. As the saying goes, getting to a hundred is easy. The hard part comes after.”

Dallion remained silent. It was still a bit difficult to swallow.

“You, for example, have the level of a count, should you decide to go along that route. Achievements help, but it’s impossible to reach the gate through them alone.”

“You think he’ll try to conquer the world?”

“It’s been the dream of all emperors. The current one inherited a lot, so it was natural for him to set things in motion to increase it. Now he’s nearly at the endgame.” On the map, the domain of the empire increased, until it filled up everything. “It’s believed that upon passing through the sixth gate, the awakened becomes a Moon and obtains the power to create their own world.”

Seven Moons—seven worlds. Had there been another Moon in the past—a Moon of Colossi? It sounded possible, although Dallion still had his doubts. If nothing else, he couldn’t imagine what the eighth trait would be.

The aether map crumbled into glowing dust that faded away into the air.

“You want me to help you take down the emperor?” Dallion went up to Cleric.

“The archbishop would be grateful for your assistance. According to his prophecy, if the emperor isn’t stopped, he’ll fail. Most of the human race will be banished as a result.”

It wasn’t lost on Dallion that the copyette said “most.”

“If the emperor passes the point of no return, succeed or fail, half the world would be banished. The Order only wants to keep the current status quo. If we didn’t, we would have gotten involved in the conflict decades ago.”

Helping the Order against the emperor. Back when Dallion had woken up in the room without doors or windows, he couldn’t have imagined he’d end up in a situation such as this. There wasn’t a single lie among anything that the copyette had said. The logic was clear, and so were the stakes. The Order wasn’t willing to enter the fight and Dallion was too weak to take the emperor on his own, yet if there was one new thing he had learned in the last ten minutes, it was not to submit his will to anyone.

“What about Eury?”

“Attempts were made to approach her.” The bishop gave a vague reply. “She’s too focused on the Azures to see the bigger picture. Hopefully, you’ll be able to quell any conquest ambitions once the main threat is dealt with.”

Yeah, right. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Dallion was just about to add a few more conditions, when all the water shot out from the nearby lake, creating a pillar up to the sky. It wasn’t the only one. More pillars followed, rising up so they could be visible from every part of the city.

People everywhere stopped what they were doing, staring at the unusual occurrence. So great was the allure that even the limiting echoes failed to extinguish their curiosity.

“People of the world,” a loud female voice boomed, coming from the pillars. As it did, they changed shape, transforming into a nymph in battle armor. “Recently, the so-called Tamin Emperor turned part of the coast to glass. He probably thought that his toys could deny us what was rightfully ours.”

Dallion felt the strings of his harpsisword tremble. This wasn’t her usual eagerness for battle, but pure unadulterated fear, emanating from the very depth of her being.

“Our conquest was cut short millennia ago,” the nymph figures continued. “But now we’re back and will finish what we started.”

Spell circles appeared in the air, launching dozens of aether blades at the water pillars. Within seconds, they destroyed the nymph forms, causing the liquid to splash back into its original locations. Sadly, it was too late—the declaration had been made.

Now, there were three players aiming for the awakening gate.