Leveling up the World

It was naïve to think that facing the Moons would be without losses. Even so, it wasn’t something anyone could be prepared for.

Ever since Dallion had moved in with Eury back in Nerosal, he knew that each hunting job could be her last or his. Both of them had accepted it, confident in the other’s ability to return alive. With time and levels, the dangers kept on getting stronger and stronger until it had finally happened.

The truth was that Dallion always expected he’d be the one to go first. There had been several times that he almost had. During his latest fight at the Academy, it was Euryale that had helped him survive and win. Now she was gone. The sensation was so foreign that it went beyond sadness, numbing him to everything. The concept felt too foreign to grasp, making it seem unreal.

Realm section damaged

Overall completion 59%

Mountains shot through the layer of shardflies, getting sliced up in the process. Astreza was becoming more and more destructive in his fight, using the world itself against his opponents. As Dallion had become aware, though, the world was not only the Moon’s to control.

Reaching out with his domain ruler powers, he took control, shifting the target from himself to the Blue Moon. A brief tug of war ensued, resulting in massive chunks of mountain flying by and not hitting anyone.

That wasn’t the only weapon in Astreza’s arsenal, sadly. While not engaging in any actual combat, the wave of water around him had grown to the size of a large lake. Acting both as shield and weapon, it absorbed any and all attacks, often repelling just as much force at the attacker. Only two things seemed to be effective against it: Dallion’s blades of destruction and the void bullets that Jeremy kept firing with constant intensity.

The large projectile hit the sheet of water surrounding the Blue Moon and stood there, incapable of exploding. Fearing a counterattack, Dallion performed a multi-spiral-attack.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by ASTREZA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by ASTREZA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by ASTREZA.

Attack has no effect.

The strength and intensity weren’t enough to break through the Moon’s defenses, but they managed to hold the water back, preventing it from expanding in Dallion’s direction. The force was immediately converted to the other side of the giant blob, sending a wave towards Jeremy.

You’re not a nymph, Dallion thought. So, how do you control water?

As a domain ruler, there was nothing that said he couldn’t, but it still remained a weird choice. There had to be a reason for that particular choice. Either the Blue Moon was accustomed to using it as a weapon, or—

A strange thought popped into Dallion’s mind—one so completely absurd that only a middle schooler from Earth could come up with it. The issue was that in the awakened world, even absurd ideas could become true.

“Fly away!” Dallion shouted as he flew back, simultaneously summoning his armadil shield. “It’s not the rocket, it’s—”

Before he could finish, all the water surrounding Astreza transformed into fire that burst in all directions.

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

The shield extended, attempting to block as much of the flames as possible. The raw power was more than it could handle. Thankfully, half a second in Dallion unsummoned it, returning Gem to his personal realm; he had lost enough already.

The two blades combined in one double spiral attack, eating through the flames. This time, there was nothing that could stop them. Fire was meant for attack and didn’t have the density of water. Once the shield had taken on the brunt of the burning wave, the spiral attack easily tunneled through to Astreza himself.

For a split second, Dallion caught sight of the Moon’s face. The coldness he expected to see wasn’t there, just an entity stronger than him and countless of times older.

Astreza looked at Dallion, as an apprentice, but also as someone who could potentially replace him, then struck the air in front of him, meeting the air with a punch.

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ATTACK DE-LEVELLED

Your attack has been de-levelled to a level 50 point attack.

ATTACK DE-LEVELLED

Your attack has been de-levelled to a level 50 point attack.

ATTACK DE-LEVELLED

Your attack has been de-levelled to a level 50 point attack.

Three green rectangles appeared, after which a series of minute bruises appeared on the Moon’s knuckles. One couldn’t help but feel awe. Right before Dallion’s eyes, an attack that was able to destroy mountains was reduced to a low-level punch. Now he understood the Moon’s way of fighting. It didn’t involve magic, realm invasion, or even human ingenuity. The power he had was the ability to play with the awakened level of anything.

“Simon was your chosen,” Dallion whispered. “That’s why only he could de-level awakened.”

Darting forward, Dallion extended his whip blade, striking Astreza in the shoulder.

WHIP BLADE DE-LEVELLED

The whip blade has been de-levelled to steel.

WHIP BLADE DE-LEVELLED

The whip blade has been de-levelled to steel.

WHIP BLADE DE-LEVELLED

The whip blade has been de-levelled to steel.

Dallion’s weapon lost its venomous glow. Meanwhile, the simple fabric the Moon was wearing transformed into sky silver, easily deflecting the attack.

“The reason I don’t fight,” the Moon began, “is because I’m not good at it. And the reason for that is—”

“That you don’t have to be.”

Every awakened instinctively feared losing their powers. The moment a person reached level two, they dreaded going back to level one. The Blue Moon was that power. No one ever explained it, not even the Order, and for good reason. If people were fully aware of what it truly meant to be the Moon of Awakening, they would spend all their days cowering in fear.

Now that Dallion had come to that realization, what should he do? Facing a Moon came at a cost. In order to defeat him, the cost had to be greater. After everything he had lost, could he give up, though?

In his mind, Dallion went through the fight so far. What he believed to be a manipulation of water might as well have been that, or it could have been moisture level up to droplets that were leveled up to a mass of water… and then fire. The magic Academy had taught Dallion to select the material of improved objects, but that was merely a hack. Astreza didn’t have to select one among thousands of options—he created the options for others to select from.

“You’re not invincible.” Dallion let go of his aura sword. The harpsisword appeared in his hand.

“Your final guardian protector,” the Moon noted. “I can’t de-level you or her, but I can still de-level her shell.”

“I know. I’ll still try.”

The Moon nodded. There were no attempts to change his mind, no offers of a consolation prize or anything similar. Both could see Dallion’s determination to bring this to the end.

“What makes you think I can be defeated?” the Moon asked.

“You can. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have allowed the challenge. As you said, even you are bound by rules. This is a trial to pass the sixth awakening gate and there’s a way to pass every trial.”

“Maybe so, but there were many trials you didn’t pass on the first go.”

A layer of water covered the blade of the harpsisword.

“Then I just have to get better.”

Dallion split into instances. Just as he did, something hit him in the left shoulder.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 5%

All but one of the instances faded away as a projectile drilled through his armor, continuing towards Astreza. Instinctively, Dallion turned around.

Dozens more projectiles were flying at him. Even high-level awakened would have found the speed impressive, though not him. Increasing the density of the layer of water covering his harpsisword, Dallion deflected each of the projectiles, simultaneously seeking their source. There didn’t seem to be anything or anyone around, just cloudless sky. His empathy trait, however, let him feel a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time—the icy nothingness that could be associated with only one thing.

“Void,” he said, through gritted teeth.

“You really have invested a lot in that useless trait,” a voice said, though not the voice Dallion expected.

A segment of air rippled, transforming into a black silhouette. On the silhouette, the face of Jeremy became fully visible. There was more to him than that. The living armor he had been fighting with moments ago had turned completely black. This was no alloy, but pure unadulterated void matter.

“You’re the new Star?” he asked in disbelief.

“The Star is just a title,” Jeremy replied unapologetically. “Nothing but the means to an end.”

“But why?”

“I thought you, of all people, would have figured it out by now. There’s only one thing stronger than the Moons.” He aimed his void machine gun at Dallion. “Void matter. Simon did his best to erase the knowledge, but he couldn’t. Otherworlders aren’t fully affected, especially those tasked with helping him cover it all up.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Because I took advantage of what was offered?” Jeremy smirked. “Give me a break.”

“It will consume everything.”

“The void is a tool that only consumes those weaker than it. After centuries of fighting the stuff, I know its dangers far better than you. And, as I said, it’s only a means to the goal. Some might say becoming the Star is enough. I say becoming a Moon is better.”

Both machine guns aimed at Dallion and opened fire. The scene brought back memories of Dallion’s encounter with the Star’s echo years ago. Back then, it could be said that the balance of power had been the same as it was now. The difference was that Dallion had vastly fewer things to take advantage of. His guardians and familiars were gone or weakened to the extreme. There were no realm surroundings he could use to his advantage, and even magic was a field in which Jeremy was more than a match.

Music spark attack! Dallion slashed with his harpsisword, as he burst into instances.

If void matter had the power to injure Moons, spark had the strength to purge void matter.

Jeremy didn’t hold back, combat splitting to match. Hundreds of instances were everywhere, shooting, attacking and defending each other. Spiral and music spark attacks were met with void projectiles and rocket explosions. Dozens of instances would be wiped out every second, only to be recreated immediately after.

A sphere of water formed around the Blue Moon, in an attempt to minimize the damages. Even so, every now and again, a projectile would pass through, inflicting a certain amount of damage.

“You can’t win,” Dallion shouted as hundreds of spark infused sound threads struck Jeremy.

The Tamin emperor wasn’t in the least bit impressed, casting off all the void layers that had been affected by Dallion’s attacks.

“He can spark all your void out of existence!”

“Dal,” Jeremy laughed. “Have I told you the joke about the bear?” All of his instances tripled in size, turning into a massive living armor made entirely of void. “I don’t need to be stronger than the Moon, just stronger than you.”

Thousands of tendrils shot out, all aimed at Dallion.

Knowing what would happen if they reached him, Dallion did a series of spark infused spiral attacks, vaporizing the void tendrils out of existence. Unfortunately, that was a losing strategy. Just as in his early awakened fights, this had transformed into a battle of endurance. Although his level and trait had risen to near Moon levels, he remained mortal and, after so many spiral attacks, it was starting to show. For the moment, Dallion was managing to put up with the increasing tension in his arms, but each next attack took more and more effort.

Confidence emanated from Jeremy. While he, too, was putting a lot of effort into the fight, it was undeniable that he held the upper hand. In a few seconds, the difference in strength would become more apparent and unless Dallion came up with a game changing strategy, it was unlikely that he’d survive.

Let me deal with him, Giaccia said from within his realm.

No. Dallion was adamant.

There’s no other option. I was almost a world conqueror once. In a realm, I’m more than a match.

I’ll only lose you, too.

That’s my decision. When you saved me, I said I’d be with you until the end. The layer of water surrounding the harpsisword hardened, starting to slip from Dallion’s fingers. We are at the end.

Time seemed to stop. Dallion fought through the building pain in his arm to tighten his grip. Meanwhile, the harpsisword guardian kept on the pressure in her attempt to break loose. Before either of them could succeed, a blade of light emerged from the chest of Jeremy’s void armor.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Dealt damage has been increased by 200%

All of Jeremy’s instances but one faded out of existence.

“Did I tell you the joke about the bear?” Simon asked from the void armor’s back.

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