Leveling up the World

Chapter 990: Down the Rabbit Hole

Both Dallion and Jeremy leaped towards something elevated the moment the water hit the ground. Despite their ability to wield magic, the chaotic effects of electricity would be enough to cause considerable harm. Dallion’s goal hadn’t been that at all.

As Jeremy landed on a marble table ten feet away, and Dallion used his athletic skills to their limit running along an available wall, the building’s circuit breakers did what they were supposed to and stopped all electricity in the house.

“Not confident in your magic?” Jeremy asked, concentrating all the void of his body into a solid blade. It wasn’t much—barely longer than a dagger—but it was a weapon capable of causing significant harm.

At this point, Dallion regretted not restocking on car batteries again. Thanks to Alien’s illusion method, they were both useful and portable. However, his fear had been that Jeremy might catch on to him if he sensed so much magic approaching his home. Still, he had Nox and Lux. Also, it didn’t seem like Jeremy had reclaimed all of his skills. In fact, so far there was evidence of four, possibly five.

How the mighty have fallen, Dallion thought.

With the danger over, he landed back on the wet floor. The power outage had instantly collapsed the portal, stopping more water from flowing in. Now that it had done its job, it didn’t matter.

Ripples formed as Dallion hummed a tune in order to make use of his music skills. The emperor, unfortunately, was doing an extremely good job of blocking all of his emotions. There was no telling whether he was angry, afraid, or overconfident. Looking at him, one might say that he was treating the destruction of a large part of his house as a minor inconvenience.

“Security will be here in three minutes,” Jeremy said. “You won’t be able to explain it all away then,” he attempted a music attack.

“I won’t have to,” Dallion countered. “I just have to make them think you’re not who you’re claiming to be.”

The threat was an outright bluff. Even if Dallion were to use his music skills on anyone who arrived, Jeremy could easily negate the effect and revert things back to normal.

Dashing forward, he combined his attack and guard skills to perform another multi-attack. With spells out of the question, Dallion had the initiative. His plan was to make use of the emperor’s inevitable counterattack to trigger the effect of his guard skills. After that, Dallion would have the ability to finish it all in one clean hit.

Splitting into instances, Dallion continued with his strikes and kicks, all the time careful not to allow his opponent to complete a full guard sequence.

As expected, Jeremy did the same. The only difference was that he could only split into two instances instead of three.

“Conquered the world and you still messed up,” Jeremy said. The weapon in his right hand shrunk, allowing for another to appear in his left. Now he was equipped with two daggers, even if they were less impressive.

“I didn’t have much choice.” Even combining all his skills, Dallion was having difficulty.

It wasn’t by accident that the motions of his opponent’s actions were so fluid. One didn’t reach that level through traits and talent alone. He must have been training for years to develop that form. All the surfing, swimming, and other activities the gossip sites had been obsessing about hadn’t been just for show. Had he been expecting a visit from Dallion? Unlikely. Rather, he was sending a message just like Kraisten to the watchers and every other awakened in the world. Or maybe he was preparing for something else entirely?

The black blade flew by Dallion’s face, nicking him in the process. Lux made the wound quickly disappear, but it was a reminder that Dallion was far from invulnerable.

I need another skill, Dallion thought as he pulled back. Now that he no longer had the element of surprise on his side, he was being pushed into a corner.

Carving. That’s what he needed. With that and his other skills, he’d be able to turn the tables and—

A sharp pain pierced his chest. It wasn’t anything that Jeremy had done, but one of those spontaneous zaps that he’d occasionally experienced.

Last time I’m helping you! An annoyed, distant voice said.

What the heck? Dallion did a somersault, jumping over Jeremy, then retreating as far away in the room as possible. His actions were still a bit off from the zap, yet he was more worried about the circumstances surrounding it.

“Tired already?” Jeremy mocked. “You’re just as pathetic as Simon. All those opportunities and you wasted them all away.” He made his way towards Dallion, splashing water with every step. “You could have changed the world. You could have had what you wanted. Instead, you chose not to and blocked the path for those who needed it.”

For a fraction of a second, Dallion’s vision blurred.

No! Not now! He gritted his teeth. Don’t faint now.

Flickers emerged all over the blob that was Jeremy’s torso, then quickly faded away. This was beyond unexpected. Dallion’s fears quickly evaporated as he realized what had happened.

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Blood trickled from his right nostril, yet it wasn’t due to anything bad. True, he had received damage, in a way, but that was part of the price. What he had gained was a new skill; or, rather, an old skill relearned—carving.

“It’s not like I had a choice!” he said, continuing with a series of strikes.

his actions were no faster than before, though a lot more precise. Dallion wasn’t just aiming to hit specific areas of the body, he was focusing on precise points, like a sculptor removing just the correct amount of clay for a statue to gain form.

A series of finger attacks targeted points on Jeremy’s right hand, quickly making him drop the void blade he had been holding. It also helped that Nox would add a scar at two at every opportunity.

Acknowledging the sudden shift in the balance of power, Jeremy leaped back in an attempt to retreat, but Dallion matched his every move, moving forward without fear or hesitation. If one of his instances got wounded, it was simply faded out of existence and replaced by another in the next combat split.

There’s no way I’m losing! Dallion told himself.

The second knife melted away, covering Jeremy’s skin once more in an effort to reduce the damage he was taking. The effort was only marginally efficient. He kept on being pushed back farther and farther until at one point there was no place left to retreat.

Two and a half potential minutes remained until the arrival of the emperor’s security. And even if they were to arrive now, it wouldn’t matter. The once omnipotent ruler was up to the wall, reduced to a punching bag.

Dallion could almost see the red rectangles indicating the damage his opponent was taking. Jeremy’s reactions had become a lot slower and more chaotic, desperately trying to reduce the number of hits he was sustaining.

Got you, Dallion thought and struck with full strength.

His fist hit the wall, smashing dead center in the head of one of the emperor’s instances and less than an inch from the other. A massive spiderweb crack emerged, starting from the point of impact and spreading all the way to the ceiling. At this point, Jeremy knew that any resistance was pointless.

“I didn’t waste my opportunity,” he said, looking the emperor straight in the eyes. “Architects can’t remain in their world. I was cast out.”

Jeremy didn’t blink.

“You never died?” he asked, a spike of anger piercing through the calm.

“I never died.” Dallion pulled his hand back.

The anger coming from the emperor quickly faded away.

“The only choice I was given was to determine who else remained in the world.” He took a step back. And I chose everyone to get ejected except the one that counts. “I wasn’t allowed to stay.”

“Fucked over by the Moons,” Jeremy noted, though it was uncertain whether he was referring to Dallion or someone else. “Why did you come here?”

Dallion took a step back and looked around with his instances. The room looked as if a tornado had been through it. The floor was covered with water and glass fragments, not to mention that several of the walls had gaping cracks in them. The only reason that there weren’t piles of broken furniture was that the room didn’t have any to start with.

“I want to go back,” he said in a firm voice. “If anyone knows how to get there, Kraisten said it would be you.”

“That guy never could keep his mouth shut.” Jerem stepped away from the wall. “What makes you think I’ll help you? This is Earth. Moon vows don’t work here.”

“I know. But you know I can beat the shit out of you if I need to, and even your expensive security firm won’t be able to stop me.”

The point was well put. Jeremy didn’t respond, though it was obvious he wasn’t in a position to refuse. Instead, he made a gesture for Dallion to go into another section of the house.

Two minutes later, the sound of sirens filled the neighborhood. The team that arrived was very professional and quick to react. However, they were slightly concerned over why they had driven all the way for a simple power outage. Calls were made, explanations given, one person of the team apologized to Jeremy for the inconvenience and asked for a signature for his daughter.

Jeremy, naturally, was glad enough to accommodate, signing the cover of a magazine on the spot. He then saw the security team out and immediately phoned his agent to get a renovation team to fix the damages. After that was done, he went back to a section of the house that had remained intact. As it turned out, Dallion was waiting for him in the massive living room.

“Quite a place,” he said, examining a large and finely crafted painting. “Must have cost you quite a lot.”

“Seventy-eight million,” Jeremy replied, crossing his arms. “Plus about ten more for the contents. Alice in wonderland,” he explained. “A rather costly recreation.”

“Not as costly as the first editions in the bookcase.” Dallion looked over his shoulder. “Have anything to eat? I didn’t get much on the flight.”

“You alright with fruit and vegetables? I only eat steak at the end of the month.”

“No fish?”

“Only an idiot would touch fish.”

Dallion shrugged.

“They’ll be coming to fix up the room you destroyed in a few hours. I suggest avoiding that section of the house.”

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t want any more rumors,” Dallion smirked. For some reason, he still felt more animosity than he should have. “Let’s drop the crap. Do you know a way back?”

“I might,” Jeremy said vaguely. To Dallion’s surprise and relief, it didn’t seem as if he were lying. “Are you sure you want to, though? The watchers don’t mess with those who want to be left alone, but they could get dangerous when stirred. Just like a nest of hornets.”

“I’m sure.”

Dallion reached for the frame of the painting.

“Don’t!” Jeremy took several steps towards him. “It has sentimental value.”

Dallion’s hand remained where it was, inches from the frame.

“I can’t take you back there, but I think I know a way,” the emperor quickly added. “I spent years looking into it. You won’t get any better information than mine.” Concern was emanating from him, something that hadn’t been present during the entire battle.

Aware that he had made his point, Dallion took a step back from the painting. If Jeremy hadn’t told him, he would never have noticed the painting of Alice. There were enough details to catch it once one knew where to look, though she was quite different from the popularized depiction of her.

“Never took you for an Alice fanatic,” Dallion said in a mocking tone.

“You would be as well if she were your wife.” Jeremy went up to the painting. “The second empress,” he added.

“The real Alice of Wonderland was your wife?” Dallion looked at the picture again.

“No, not the “real” Alice, but her mother—the one who the story was really based on.”

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