Dozens of buildings were scattered throughout the mountain peak, carved into the cliff itself. The architecture style reminded of Linatol, only with a few more Roman elements. Half of them were open, with walls of air stretching between thick columns of granite. The perfect weather in the realm made it more convenient, allowing a person to take advantage of a breathtaking view of peaks, skies, and clouds. If Dallion didn’t know better, he’d say that this realm was created by a fury. So much air and little land would give a huge advantage to anyone with the ability to fly. Fortunately, thanks to Lux, Dallion had that ability. Unfortunately, so did all of his enemies.

Dozens of bladerers filled the sky, looking at him with their soulless, empty helmets. Each was a suit of armor with wings made of swords, and not an ounce of mercy. Dallion had faced one in the past. It was from it that he had seen the effects of a line attack for the first time.

There had been a moment of dread the first moment he had seen it within Havoc’s realm. However, his harpsisword had vibrated, calming him down through her use of music skills.

The metalin was just the first line of defense, Dallion thought, maintaining a hundred instances.

They are used for underground areas, Nil explained. Bladerers are for open spaces.

And you’re telling all this now?

Of course. You’ve already seen them, so I’m free to clarify matters.

The rules of the Moons held true. Once all this was over, Dallion planned to tell Felygn exactly what he thought about the rules of this world.

“Don’t mind them,” Havoc said a few steps behind. “Focus on the buildings.”

“I told you to stay inside,” Dallion hissed.

“He is inside.” The man grinned. “I’m just an echo. When you killed the metalin our level jumped up to five. When you broke the seal into the realm, you got us to ten.”

One of the balderers flapped its wings, launching a cluster of blades in the echo’s direction. Echo-Havoc tried to leap to the side and evade them, but his speed was not enough. Becoming an instant pincushion, he disappeared in a cloud of dust, leaving the blades to drop to the ground.

“They don’t play around.” Havoc’s voice came from the opening in the mountain behind Dallion. “The good news is that they consider you strong, or they’d have attacked.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“When they’re convinced you’re alone, they’ll swarm you. Until then, they’ll only protect the important parts.”

“You seem to know a lot.”

“Do you think delevelleds just accept losing their levels? Why do you think I’m forbidden to leave the village?”

That made sense. Given how tightly important information was managed in this world, it was impressive that the man had learned as much as he had. Looking around, it became apparent that the bladeres had positioned themselves in relation to certain temples. Going by analogies, each temple had to be the result of a completed awakening trial. The ones surrounded in chains had to be the ones restricted.

All of Dallion’s instances flew off in all directions. The bladerers quickly followed, launching blades in multiple directions. It was as if they were able to see all of Dallion’s instances, but they themselves weren’t able to use combat splitting.

Shield, expand! Dallion ordered, moving his left arm behind his back while simultaneously deflecting all frontal attacks with his harpsisword. Gleam, cover my flanks!

You’re acting recklessly again. The whip blade extended like a spiral around him.

Focusing, Dallion then did three line attacks and a point attack in immediate succession. Lines of destruction flew forward, targeting a small, chained temple. There was no telling what the structure would grant Havoc once destroyed, but that wasn’t the point. All Dallion wanted to see was the bladeres’ method of defense.

The response didn’t delay. Half a dozen line attacks line attacks flew in Dallion’s direction.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by BLADERER

Attack has no effect

A red rectangle emerged as two of the line attacks collided. The rest missed each other, dealing devastation along the way. Rows of Dallion’s instances were swept away, and even those that weren’t were pushed back a considerable distance.

On the other side, red rectangles popped up, indicating the destruction of two bladerers.

Just two? Dallion thought, his arm partially numb from the experience. This was going to be a lot more difficult than he expected.

Dust filled the air, as several peaks were chopped off due to the attacks. The temple Dallion had aimed at was also affected. The chains had been completely shattered, as was most of the structure. The entire left part of the roof was gone, as if drilled by a cannon shot.

“That’s still my realm!” Havoc shouted, emerging from the arena chamber. “Find the chained tower and destroy—”

Before he could finish, several blades flew through him, causing the large man to disappear in a new cloud of dust.

Another echo, Dallion thought. That’s not a bad idea.

All of Dallion’s instances faded away. Simultaneously, another two hims appeared. The only issue was that they didn’t have Lux.

Hold on! Dallion thought as Lux propelled him forward.

The shield extended, creating a metal sphere that encapsulated all three Dallions within it. Just before it closed, the firebird moved off its owner and onto the outside.

“Lux, find that tower!” Dallion ordered.

At once, boss!

Metal blades hit the sphere with the consistency of rain. Too weak to pierce it, they bounced off, causing minimal damage. However, that didn’t stop the bladerers from persisting.

“Shield, how are you?” Dallion asked.

The line attacks are nasty. Even with Lux, I’ll only be able to withstand ten of those at most.

“Lux, avoid all such—”

Before Dallion could finish, the sphere suddenly thrust up, the inertia pushing him and his clones to its floor. A second later, the same happened, only this time throwing all to the side.

“I’d forgotten how annoying this was,” one of the echoes grumbled. “Be careful not to poof any of us before you get where you need to.”

“Yeah. Next time create us when we’re near the target, okay?” the other echo complained.

That was good advice. It was an oversight on his part due to not using echoes. Dallion’s natural reluctance combined with the real world hunting made him forget a lot of tricks he used to know before. That had made his awakening trials more challenging, although had given him clear advantages in real world battles.

The sphere changed direction, hit by an external force.

That’s one hit, Vihrogon said. Nine to go.

Lux, any progress on the tower? Dallion asked.

There are lots of towers, the firebird replied. All of them are in chains.

Go to the tallest one!

The sphere shook again as it was driven left, then up. The bladerers outside had stopped using bladed and focused on line attacks. Normally, that would mean that they were on the way to complete exhaustion, but since they were constructs, they could probably go on for quite a while.

We’re there, boss! Lux said just before the sphere shook again.

Bring us to the ground! Dallion said. Shield, open up before—

A strong crash resonated through the sphere, indicating that they were already on the ground.

“Open up,” Dallion said, bursting into instances.

The moment the shield contracted to his usual form, all three Dallions dashed in different directions. Each of them had a number of instances, as well as their own plan of action.

The tower that Lux had found was seven stories high, wrapped in barbed chains to the extent that nothing of the actual building was visible. Without any doubt, that had to be something important. If this were Dallion’s realm, he’d say that it held all of Havoc’s skills and traits. Maybe it was still the case. Havoc had been adamant that nothing in his awakening room was to be touched. Perhaps unchaining the buildings above ground would remove the skill restrictions as well? There was only one way to find out.

Evading the bladerer attacks, Dallion launched two point attacks at the target. Both hit without issue. Chain fragments scattered about like shrapnel, yet the tower remained enclosed.

How many layers are there? Dallion asked, launching as he performed two more line attacks.

The mass of chains burst into several spots. Sadly, the rest of the chains quickly moved, filling up the holes that had been created.

Nox, I’ll have to rely on you again, buddy. Dallion kept on running towards the tower.

Three bladerers blocked his path, each targeting a cluster of Dallion’s instances. No sooner had they done so, when the whip blade flew down from the sky, entangling the left of the three constructs.

Don’t say I never save your life, Gleam said in an amused voice.

“When did I say that?” Dallion smiled as he continued forward. His left hand reached into the air, grabbing the hilt of the Nox dagger that formed between his fingers. “Boost me, Lux!”

Time seemed to stop, while all of Dallion’s surroundings moved at a neck breaking pace. Bladerers changed direction, launching streams of blades towards the tower, but they were already too late. The hole in their defense created by Gleam had allowed Dallion to reach the base of the tower, at which point there was nothing they could do.

“Here goes,” Dallion whispered, and struck the mass of chains with the dagger.

A spiderweb of cracks formed around the point of impact. Then another, and another. Like ripples in a pond, zones of cracks appeared one over the over, causing the chains to shatter as the dagger kept sinking deeper and deeper.

Ten layers were punctured before Dallion’s very eyes. A second later the number had doubled, then tripled. Dallion’s entire arm had sunk into the increasing hole until finally, he saw the color of stone beneath all the chains.

UNRESTRICTED SUCCESS

(+5 Mind)

Removing restrictions is in accordance with the Moons rules, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Next time make sure you know what you’re releasing.

The chains burst from within, filling the air like burning confetti. Finally, Dallion was able to see the true shape of the tower. Even at seven stories high, it was far from imposing, looking a lot more like a fancy watchtower than anything else. Even so, there was no denying the difference it had brought to the realm, covering it with a layer of brightness.

Know anything that would return color to a realm? Dallion asked.

Five bladerers had gathered in the area, surrounding Dallion on all sides. The vast majority of them had ignored the echoes he had created, focusing solely on him.

Dallion spun around doing several line attacks at his enemies.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by BLADERER

Attack has no effect

“Of course you would,” Dallion said beneath his breath.

Shield, you’re good for five more?

Barely, Vihrogon replied. It’ll be painful, but manageable. I’ll need a long rest after that.

Okay, then—

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind appeared, slicing through one of the bladerers. Red rectangles emerged, proving its destruction. It didn’t end there. The winds increased in strength scattering the remaining constructs into the sea of clouds below the peaks.

“You really are something,” Havoc said.

The emotions of joy and eagerness emanating from him made Dallion know that his wasn’t an echo, but the real deal. What was more, the man was flying very much like Dallion and the bladerers were.

“You’re a fury?” Dallion could barely believe it.

“Quarter.” The man grinned. “I was lucky to get the gift. How do you think I was able to stand up to a bunch of wizards otherwise?”

That made a bit of sense, but Dallion strongly doubted it was enough. Right now that wasn’t important, though. There was still a lot of work to be done before all the restrictions were gone.