Seeing his grandfather on the battlefield froze Dallion to the core. This was the last person he expected to see. The former Village chief, he could understand, but his grandfather… that was something he wasn’t prepared for.

“I see you’re doing well for yourself,” the echo of Dallion’s grandfather said. “In a guild and double digits. A bit disappointed you haven’t figured out forging yet. It took me less than a week.”

“He’s only following in your footsteps, Kraisten,” Aspion said with mild amusement. “As they say, those who can’t lead can only follow.”

“He’s got music…” the third figure said. She was less amused than the other echoes. Dallion could see her entire being vibrating with feelings of vengeance and betrayal.

“That doesn’t matter,” Kraisten smiled. Pride emanated from him like a lighthouse. “He can’t use it. Not against his old man.”

Old man? Dallion thought. As appearance went, they were pretty much the same age. Well, possibly the echoes were a couple of years older, but they weren’t the battle-hardened monsters Dallion had known them to be, growing up.

“Want to take him on your own?” Aspion asked, scratching his left ear.

“Would you like that, Dal?” Kraisten shouted. “Want to have a one-on-one with me? Who knows, if you win, maybe the rest of us will just give up.”

Laughter filled the battlefield, making the stench even stronger. Dallion remained silent. Deep down he knew what he was facing—the fear that his grandfather had been a monster responsible for thousands of deaths. Even worse, the fear that his grandfather had enjoyed it. If Aspion’s memories were to be believed, he was the one who resorted to creating a chainling on the battlefield. If he had gone that far, what had he done before? And if he had no regard for human life, was Dallion in danger of becoming the same?

“Why are you hesitating?” his grandfather asked. “Aren’t there goals you want to achieve? Being invited to a captain’s party is a pretty important gig. From there you can pretty much join any provincial army, and I’m not talking about the city guard losers—the real army that goes about the wilderness dealing with important stuff.”

Silence.

“Or maybe you’re considering joining the private sector?” Kraisten asked, getting a chuckle from Aspion. “Pay is worse, but the hours are better. Everyone likes a hunter. Good, bad, criminals, nobles… all of them will be happy to request for your services. Some may even invite you to a few social occasions. And let’s not forget, that way you’ll be closer to your gorgon.”

The word pierced Dallion like an arrow. His first impulse was to wonder how they knew about Eury. It took him a while to realize the obvious—they were part of him, so they knew everything he did. Possibly his current thoughts as well.

“I still think my granddaughter’s a better match,” Aspion said. “If it wasn’t for her, you’d have been sealed out by now. It’s obvious she likes you. Just like my sister liked your grandfather. Fate is in the blood.”

Kraisten looked over his shoulder. The woman next to him didn’t react. If there had been a spark between them, it was now gone. Could the same happen to Dallion? If he continued along his current path, would Gloria resent him?

Astreza, Berannah, Centor, Dararr, Emion, Felygn, Galatea… Dallion recited.

“He’s undecided,” Kierra noted. “About everything.”

“Of course he is.” A menacing smile appeared on Kraisten’s face. “We wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t. And if his echo was here, he’d say the same thing. Well, grandson, I have bad news for you. This is where you’ll stay.”

COMBAT INITIATED

The fight started in an instant. Faster than the eye could see, Kraisten summoned a pair of weapons and tossed them to Aspion and Kierra, who in turn darted towards Dallion. Their speed was substantial, letting them half the distance to Dallion before he realized what was going on.

“Shield!” Dallion went into a defensive stance. There was no time for him to resort to music, not against opponents as skilled as this.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Dallion cursed himself.

He was supposed to be the one to take the initiative. His music skills would have been the first blow, granting him an immediate advantage. He didn’t even need to play the harpsisword, he could have added some feelings of fear in defeat in his words while talking to them. If he hadn’t been taken aback by the way the echoes looked, he would have done just that. Now that opportunity was gone.

In his mind, Dallion split into four instances. Three of them charged forward, while one remained in its current defensive position. As they approached their enemies, though, things changed drastically. Aspion burst into half a dozen copies of himself. Thanks to Dallion’s music skills, it was apparent which ones were clones, but that didn’t help one bit. Three of them easily overpowered Dallion’s mental splits, slicing them to bits through a series of combined attacks. Meanwhile, the instance that attacked Kierra had its head pierced in a single blow.

With all of his attack instances defeated, Dallion chose to remain where he was.

“Good job splitting,” Aspion said while three of his echoes rushed onwards towards Dallion. “Echoes are so much more efficient, though.”

By the looks of it, that much was true. However, echoes had one considerable weakness—it only took one hit to destroy them. Retreating back, Dallion summoned his dartbow and fired as many shots as time would allow. Evading at this distance proved difficult, causing two of them to disappear. Seconds later the third one was gone as well, leaving only Nox in its place.

Good one, Nox, Dallion thought. This had been a rather close call, and the battle had only started.

Bracing himself for more echoes, Dallion split another two instances of himself, this time directing them directly at Kierra. To his surprise, the number of Aspions didn’t change. It seemed that there was a limit to how many echoes one could create. After this was over, Dallion was going to have to look into the matter. As much as he disliked it, creating echoes was becoming vital not only in awakened life, but in combat as well.

While Nox took out another of Aspion’s echoes, three mental splits of Dallion attacked Kiera in a different fashion. Ranged attacks proved useless, as did a direct blade contest. Pushing against her with an extended shield, though, seemed to have a considerable effect. Naturally, Dallion picked that version and continued on.

MEDIUM WOUND

Your health has been decreased by 10%

What the?! How did that happen?

Dallion stared at the rectangle, then looked down. For a split second, he saw a dagger sticking out of his left leg. With all the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he hadn’t even felt the wound. The weapon quickly vanished, reappearing back in Kierra’s hand.

Green markers appeared around Dallion for the first time since the start of the battle. After everything so far, this was the moment they finally caught up to the speed of fight.

“You won’t go far with guard skills,” Dallion’s grandfather shouted from his spot on the stone arch. “In real battle they only slow you down. Veil had the right idea. As long as you attack well enough there’s no need for defense.”

Remember the basics, Dallion told himself. There was no reason to panic. As long as he followed the basics, the bonuses of his skills would kick in.

No sooner had he thought that than Aspion attacked from the side. The blond was much faster than what Dallion had experienced in their Dherma battle, but then again, so was Dallion. With a twist and turn, he avoided the tip of the enemy’s blade, then continued his movement around Kierra, all the time holding the extended armadil shield between them. Moments later, time slowed down. Normally that would mark the turning point in Dallion’s fight, but here it didn’t. Just as he had used his guard skills to gain an advantage, so did Kierra.

Both had followed the same technique, and both had gained its advantages as a result. The only person partially slower was Aspion.

Harp! Dallion summoned his weapon and made a vertical slice. Kierra on her part parried with a horizontal one. The sword she was using was far smaller in size, but just as sturdy. Looking at it with his forging and music skills, Dallion wasn’t able to see any significant flaws in the blade.

The attack continued for a full second, during which over a dozen strikes were exchanged. Seeing that neither could gain the upper hand, both sides leaped back.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has increased by 5%

Dallion gritted his teeth. During a battle of such intensity, even the healing was of limited use. What was worse, there was no time for him to get a break. The instant he broke awake from one enemy, the other would attack with just as much ferocity. The only positive was that Nox had started tackling the last of the echoes, making the fight two to one in the enemies’ favor.

“You’re relying on guardians,” Dallion’s grandfather notes. “Good move. A lot of people will criticize you that it’s not something a true awakened should do. That’s a load of crap. There’s only one truth on the battlefield—use any advantage you have. If you don’t, why are you even here?”

“Is that what you did?” Dallion shouted, pulling back again. Using the dartbow, he shot a bolt at Aspion, though the attack was easily deflected by a sword strike. “Is that why you created a chainling to fight for you?”

“It won the battle, didn’t it?” The echo laughed. “And you agree with my decision, don’t you? That’s what has you so scared—that I’m a monster and you’ll end up becoming a monster like me. That is why you’ve been avoiding making echoes, that’s why you’re hesitant to use your music skills. If I had that skill during the war, I’d have used it every chance I got. And not only on enemy troops, but on mine as well. If I could remove the fear and pain that my side felt, everyone would have been better off. Well—” he laughed “—everyone apart from the enemies.”

That’s wrong and you know it, Dallion thought. But was it really wrong? In a real-world battle, there could only be one winner. Was it better to cling to one’s ideals at the cost of one’s life? Dallion wasn’t going to go as far as to create an abomination only to be on the winning side, but why not make use of the skills he was given. He had used music to make enemies lose the will to fight. Would it be different if he used it on people from time to time as well?

“You know what the funny thing is?” Kraisten asked, as Dallion blocked Kierra’s attack with his shield. “Despite everything you say, you’re already on the path to become me. In fact, you’re more than halfway there.”

Dallion didn’t reply, summing his harpsisword again and doing a series of circular slashes to push his attackers back.

“You’ve already found yourself a crackling familiar and used him in battle. You’re even using him to fight against us now.”

“That’s different!” Dallion shouted.

“Is it? Cracks are abominations too. They are the embodiment of ruin and decay that cause items to break. Just look at Nox, those lovely claws of his already have the power to kill minor item guardians. Did you think of that when you destroyed a stone or button? When you used him to defeat sphere item guardians, did you consider the effects he would have on them? You saw how your harpsisword reacted when a crack affected her blade. Is Nox all that different?”

No, Nox isn’t a monster, Dallion thought.

“And that’s precisely my point. There are no monsters in this world. It’s all about what we do with them. Was your crackling a monster when he helped unseal the awakened powers of your mother? No. It’s the same with chainlings. I used one to end a war that would have continued to rage for years. Is that wrong?”

Was it? Dallion no longer was certain. Maybe he was just like his grandfather, but refused to accept it. Deep down, that had been his fear all along, and now that he was facing it, he didn’t know how to act. There were things as good and evil in this world. The Star was a perfect example of it. But were the guardians? Or the cracklings? After all, they were merely true to their nature. After all, if it took bending the rules a little to do something good, wasn’t it—

Don’t listen to him, a voice said in Dallion’s head. That’s not how you’ll win this fight.