Leveling up the World

Chapter 805: Disciple's Return

Two beams of magic clashed against one another. The Azure battle mages were pulling out all the stops. They were determined to down the archmages cloud in a show of force, yet if nothing else Alien was more than prepared to deal with them. Apparently, part of the devices in his room were more than illusions.

The beam from the cloud fort pushed the ground spell back, scorching the caster and a few dozen people around him in the process. Unfortunately, that was a small victory. Thanks to the vortexes, the tide of the war was quickly turning. Already the wyverns had acquired air supremacy, forcing the cloud forts to go on the defensive. With the battle on the ground mostly over, the majority of the furies had flown back to their clouds to fend off the ever-growing flock of creatures.

Looks like we have better toys, Dallion said, doing a series of slash attacks as he ripped the air. The advantage of having an aura sword was that he didnt have to hit an enemy to cause damage. With only a bit of effort on his part, trails of completed spells formed right after the blade.

Unfortunately, his opponent was more than capable of countering the attacks while pulling back. Without a doubt, the boost of Dallions magic and his new spells werent comparable to a Moonstone.

Aether barriers appeared and disappeared around the cloud forts like the lights in a disco. Sadly, most of the time they were incapable of dealing with the battle mage magic on the ground.

Youre losing forts faster than youre killing battle mages, Adzorg said in a very calm tone. Ironically, being imprisoned in the imperial palace was a lot safer and more comfortable than being in charge of a few imperial legions.

The empire has already lost, Tisaku said almost in glee. Clearly, losing a large part of his troops and at least one fellow battle mage did little to sour his mood. Its still not too late for you, though. Give me your Moonstones and youll get a chance to join the winning side.

What about Grym? He didnt seem overly thrilled by the idea. Dallion did a series of spark line attacks with his harpsisword.

I said a chance. The other didnt even move a finger, letting the attacks slide off him just as before. Whatever created the effect, it definitely wasnt magic. Dallion didnt know what had the power to ignore a spark attack, and for some reason Harp refused to add anything on the matter. Our young ruler was promised many things. Too many, if you ask me. That has made him more eager than most.

So eager to kill me? Im touched. Dallion spun in the air, performing a multi attack. In addition to the normal strikes, however, he also cast the elements necessary to create an aether echo. Once complete, the entity split away, pulling back several hundred feet from the scene.

You flatter yourself. Tisaku cast a series of lightning launching aether shards. A few of the nearby furies unfortunate enough to try and attack him directly got singed to dust. Thankfully, Dallion and his echo managed to counter the spell with a few dozen aether barriers. You are just a minor ego booster. His real target is the emperor. Should he manage to kill him, then a lot of good things would happen to him.

And you think thats possible? Dallion made an attempt to copy the spell the other had just cast, but without success. Adzorg was right that even in a tight situation, proper mages tended to protect their spells so that they couldnt be copied by enemies. Youve seen the man. If one could call him even human. How can someone like Grym fight against that?

Seems youve seen a glimpse as well? Well, it doesnt matter. Win or lose, an emperor isnt an emperor without his army.

Youre betting on them taking each other out? Dallion asked. Youre aiming to take Gryms place?

Im just a mage. My role is to serve power and to do it well.

It was around that time that Dallion noticed that none of the wyverns had been giving him any grief. The creatures were bloodthirsty to the extreme, attacking everything in sight, yet ever since hed started his fight with the battle mage, none of them had approached.

Using a quarter of his instances, Dallion looked around. Several of the vortexes had already gone, leaving giant holes in the ground. In contrast, the sky had become black with wyverns in spots. At the same time, a perfect sphere of emptiness two hundred feet wide surrounded the battle mage.

Dont worry, therell be plenty more where those came from, Tisaku said. The cloud forts are holding up pretty well for the moment. If Katka was in charge I would have already won. But as much as they struggle, they cant win against a never-ending stream of creatures.

Overplay your hand and the Order might show up.

Thats not how they operate. The Order never interferes in wars. Its only afterwards that they move in, gathering the pieces and picking up the scrap no one wants. They dont care which side wins as long as that side knows not to mess with them. I think theyll welcome the Federation killing the emperor.

That really did sound like the Order. They were the epitome of a soft powerrespecting the laws in each country they had temples in, never openly fighting against anyone, other than Star cultists, and slowly expanding into the unknown areas of the world. If they were to create any settlements other than monasteries, Dallion would have thought that the archbishop was making a play for levels. However, as things stood, the gains were too small for the amount of effort involved.

Whats his secret? Dallion reached out to all the items the battle mage was wearing. Unfortunately, none of them responded. It wasnt that they were unwilling, or that the items had no guardians whatsoever. It was as if something was preventing them from acting openly.

My guess would be echoes, Vihrogon said. Used to be popular back in the day. Of course, that was when there were lots of empaths about. The only certain way to know what an item is thinking is to have a piece of you there with it.

Invasive, but without a doubt efficient. Nymph tactics, unknown spells, dryad countermeasures There was no chance for this war to have been a sudden development. There was a methodical mind behind thissomeone that had planned it for decades. More than likely, Grym himself was a piecea powerful one, but a piece nonetheless. In that case, who was the force behind him? Argus Tisaku? The mage had the mind and discipline for it, but not the desire. As he himself had said, he was one serving power, not being it.

Going on another bout of attacks, Dallion created another aether echo. Having three of him fight simultaneously wasnt something the battle mage had planned for and it showed. Gradually, his calm demeanor shifted. The spells became more vicious and numerous affecting large areas. Then, suddenly, a web of lightning shot out from the mans hands. Half of Dallions instances were burned out of existence. It would have been nice to say that the attack ended with that.

Even as it was cast, Dallion had noticed quite a few symbols that didnt make sense for a purely destructive spell. It almost seemed that his enemy was trying to mind control him in some way. A few moments later, the otherworlder saw that he was right. The only difference was that the target of the spell wasnt him, but the wyverns.

Symbiote echoes, Dallion hissed.

As much as he could claim to have excelled in the area of combat fighting, he remained one person. With one single spell, the battle mage had just got himself a highly competent and dedicated army. Two more spells of that nature flashed in different parts of the battlefield as the remaining battle mages joined in.

The end phase, Vihrogon said. Better brace yourself.

Hardly had he said it when ten vortex towers blinked out of existence. Dallion expected a torrent of wyverns to stream into the sky. He was half right. Five pillars of creatures emerged, but there was more: batches of rock and aether golems also joined in. Very much like the imperial golems, they rushed along the battlefield, killing any enemy in sight, and sometimes allies, too. With that, the Azures had not only gained control of the sky, but the ground as well.

I warned you, the battle mage said while directing the wyverns to fly at him like a deadly organic spear. Their sheer number was enough to slice through one aether echo despite the losses. It was only through Harp and his hundred instances that Dallion managed to survive a similar attempt.

Get out of here, Vihrogon said.

Dallion continued fighting. As bad as things were, at least he controlled part of the battlefield. If he fled now, the enemy would have the upper hand, not to mention that the emperor wouldnt be too happy about it.

The clouds are already leaving, the dryad guardian continued. Either theyre smart and dont want to get killed, or theyre already dead.

A cluster of lightning bolts spread from the archmages cloud fort, jumping to the rest. In a single moment, a mesh of electricity and death filled the sky. It was all very spectacular, with one obvious problem: it wasnt meant to get rid of the wyverns that were taking over the battlefield, but rather to create a buffer zone for the cloud forts to escape. Vihrogon had clearly been right; also, Alien turned out to be less afraid of the emperor than the prospect of imminent death, after all. If Dallion were to guess, his sudden demise had probably just come as a bonus for the old snake. At least he knew Diroh would be fine, unless she attempted something stupid like flying to try to help him.

Spinning around, Dallion sent out several spark infused line attacks, while simultaneously casting dozens of barriers around him with the aura sword. For the moment, his main goal wasnt to hurt the battle mage, but to get rid of the wyverns in his immediate vicinity. The rest would have to wait for a few minutes longer.

Its still not too late, Tisaku said. The Moonstones for your life.

I thought it was for a chance to join you.

That was the previous offer. There wont be a third.

Dallion gritted his teeth. The remaining aether echo had also met its demise in the face of a ground spell that had burned through it. With the skies clear, the battle mages on the ground had fewer targets to deal with, so they were targeting him as well.

Yet, among the tenseness of the situation, Dallion couldnt help but think that the battle mage was still playing for time. For one thing, he could have done a lot more damage. Based on how destructive he had been during their previous encounter, he was outright tame in comparison.

Why arent you casting destruction spells at me? He wondered.

You havent achieved your main goal, Dallion said, a new set of a hundred instances carefully examining the battlefield. The wyverns, the golems, they arent the main thing.

Trying to be smart?

No, just remembering how you work. Back at the Academy, the shardfly infestation wasnt the goal, it was just the means. You wanted to kill the archmage and as many senior mages as you could. Youre doing the same here. Distracting everyone until your real goal is underway.

He darted at his enemy, proceeding with a combination of line strikes and eleven-circle spells. This time, the battle mage was forced to retreat, casting three dozen aether barriers in front of him.

A hero without an army isnt a hero, Tisaku said. Youll die before you find out.

Suddenly, a torrent of green flame flew by. Piercing the layers of wyverns, it hit the ground, striking one of the remaining two battle mages there. The unfortunate man didnt have the time to scream, instantly evaporating as did everyone else within a hundred feet. The new attack hadnt come from a cloud fort or a fury, but from a dragon.

Getting rusty, old man? a familiar voice asked.

There was no doubt about it, despite growing considerably since the last time Dallion had seen him, the dragon was Dark, and mounted on his back was Euryale. Just as importantly, the two hadnt arrived alone.