The bestiary claimed that Armalion was a creature of vast intellect. If that had been the case, turning into a crackling must have diminished that considerably. The creature had made an attempt to hide itself, which was smart, but done so in such a way that made its hiding place obvious. One look at the entire mountain was enough to show anyone that the whole thing was one hollow crust that was about to collapse on itself at any moment. Uprooted trees were everywhere, along with dark, brittle rocks. Whatever creatures had once lived here were long gone, making the area feel eerily empty. Finally, there was the massive wave of hate and anger that emanated from within the mountain, that almost gave Dallion a headache just by being near.

Ready? he asked, gripping the hammer tightly.

A direct attack might not be the best approach, Nil said. Dragons are larger than anything you’ve faced.

That was only partially true. Dallion had faced a colossus as large as a mountain back in the awakening shrine near Dherma. That was a realm, however. In real life, everything was smaller.

“Darude,” Dallion whispered, and thrust the hammer forward.

Half the strength in his arm suddenly vanished, as the point attack was triggered. A dot of force thrust forward, hitting the side of the small mountain. It was nowhere nearly as strong as it should have been in the real world, however, the mountain wasn’t as durable either.

A crater-like indentation emerged, pressing against rock as if it were melted cheese. The point of impact was no smaller than a three-story house, and that was just the beginning. Massive cracks formed, spreading up like a rip. The sound of crackling filled the air, causing flocks of birds in the area to head for the sky. Then, all of a sudden, the entire mountain top crumbled, collapsing on itself.

His arm still partially numb, Dallion split into two dozen instances, dashing in various directions to avoid the rockslide coming from the mountain. Fortunately for him, and the surrounding forest, the rocks didn’t manage to get very far, instead falling into the newly created chasm. The size was such that even Dallion hadn’t imagined it, going down from the point of the ground as much as the mountain had originally risen up.

Just like a rotten egg, Dallion thought.

A deep darkness covered the floor of the chasm, that even sunlight couldn’t reach. That was it—the shadow of the dragon. At first Dallion couldn’t see any of the creature’s features, no matter how much he focused. Soon enough, though, an eye emerged, opening in the fort part of the dark mass.

“Gleam, is what I’m seeing real?” Dallion asked, staring at a sapphire eye three times larger than him.

I can’t be sure from this distance, but seems so, the familiar replied.

A second eye opened. Just as large as the first, it helped Dallion imagine the outline of the dragon’s head. No sooner had it done so than flocks of avains flapped upwards, like black streams.

Careful! The whip blade moved on its own, positioning itself in front of Dallion. Those aren’t illusions!

Without hesitation, Dallion drew his harpsisowrd with his left hand, then did a line attack. The effort was enough to bring him to his knees, though, thankfully, nowhere as exhausting as the experience on top of the mill. Nil was right—his body was adapting to the pressure, and fast.

The thin thread of destruction sliced forward, transforming a large part of the cracklings into dust, and even chipping off a few rocks behind. Combat splitting into seven instances, Dallion braced himself for a following attack, but none such happened. The dragonlets scattered throughout the sky, in small groups, none showing any interest in him.

“Amusing,” a deep thundering voice said, causing the very air to fibrate. A giant head emerged from the pool of blackness, followed by a pair of wings. “A different pest has arrived.”

I shouldn’t have overdone it this early in the fight, Dallion thought, looking in awe of the creature. In comparison, he was no bigger than the creature’s tooth. Almost as large as the mountain itself, the dragon shadow flapped its way in the air. Anything that was touched by the massive wings was instantly reduced to dust.

“Armalion!” Dallion shouted, forcing himself back up on his feet. “You’ve caused enough devastation and suffering to the villages in the area.” Using his music skills, Dallion filled every word with reason and a desire to surrender. “You do not belong in the real world.”

“Puny threads of music,” the dragon snorted. As it did, Dallion felt all his music threads snap.

This wasn’t the first time such a thing happened in battle, but it was alarming with what ease the shadow did it. From its perspective, it wasn’t even a challenge, as if the creature was wiping away cobwebs.

“I can see you have a spark in you,” the dragon said. “Is that why you’ve disturbing me? You want to kill me?”

“You’re creating chaos in the area and it’s spreading,” Dallion replied. “You shouldn’t exist in this world. Maybe I can find a realm for you to—"

“The mage before you said the same thing.” Pure, unadulterated hatred flashed within the dragon’s eyes. In his mind Dallion felt them turning scorching red. “She was so sure dragons had no place in the world and had come to kill me. And succeeded.”

“No, she didn’t,” Dallion said.

This was a turning point. His music skills weren’t going to help him in this fight, but logic could. At this point there wasn’t much he could do. The Moons wouldn’t protect him in this fight, so he had to be inventive.

“You’re not the dragon, you’re only its shadow.”

The dragon flapped its wings. To Dallion’s surprise, the wind was far less than he expected it to be. Apparently, as much as cracklings affected the world, they also didn’t. They were almost like negative mass in some aspects.

“I am what remains of the dragon,” the creature snarled. “A fight that lasted hours, bending reality itself, all for nothing. Do you know what she told me when I lay broken on the verge of defeat? That I wasn’t the one she was looking for.”

That was stupid, Dallion thought. Antagonizing the dragon had caused its shadow to be fueled with rage. In a way, Dallion felt pity for it. Clearly, it wasn’t the creature’s fault to end up like this. By the sound of it, it had been sought out by the mage for a very specific reason, then killed. What remained was a bitter remnant that had become a crackling.

Do you think the Academy is behind this? Dallion asked.

Who knows? Nil shrugged mentally. Might just as well be a mage who thinks too much of herself. Whoever it was, has really done a mess of things.

You’d think they’d know what happens when a dragon is killed…

Oh, they knew, just didn’t care.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Dallion changed his approach. “But you spawning cracklings is causing serious problems. It’s only affecting a few villages for now, but if it keeps up—"

“I’m not spawning them.” The creature sounded amused. “I’m shedding my scales.”

Shedding? That was unexpected. All this time, everyone had assumed that the avian was a breeder. That had turned out to be completely false. In fact, Dallion doubted anyone had actually seen the dragon. The first avian was probably a “shedling” that had ventured far enough to be noticed, its size and abilities vastly exaggerated due to rumors.

“When I’m done, I’ll finally be able to fly again,” the dragon continued. “And find the Star I’ve been hearing about.”

The conversation was taking an unexpected turn. If Dallion hoped that he could avoid an actual fight, that notion was all but gone. His familiars and guardians sensed it as well, preparing themselves for the clash that would occur.

“And once I do, I’ll have my vengeance against that mage, even if the world is to rot beneath me.”

That was Dallion’s cue. Focusing as much strength as he could, he performed a line attack. At such a distance, the line hit the dragon almost instantly, splitting it in two halves as it was in the air. Massive clouds of dust emerged, slowly dispersing on the ground below. Unfortunately, Dallion knew that he hadn’t won—he could still feel the dragon’s anger. All that his eyes had witnessed was an illusion created by the beast.

Lux, keep in front of me! Dallion ordered as he split into instances, moving as far as possible from his current location. If there was a counterattack, it was going to be wide. As he did, the kaleiderfisto floated in front of his face, allowing him to look through it without using hands. The device was going to help him see the real enemy, hopefully also ignoring all other illusions.

Watch out! The whip blade slashed a tree not too far away. For a single moment, Dallion thought he saw the tree transform into a crackling mammoth. Armalion’s shadow wasn’t pulling any punches.

“Thanks,” Dallion stopped. Already he was breathing heavily. The second line attack had taken a lot out of him, making his lungs feel as if they were on fire. However, he was still standing. The level of exhaustion was nowhere nearly as bad as he feared, but even so, he probably had one more strike in him, possibly two. He was going to have to make them count.

A wolf-like crackling emerged out of nowhere, heading directly for Dallion’s throat.

Dallion’s reaction was instant. Splitting into six instances, he blocked the attack with his hammer, then twisted and pierced the attacker with a forward thrust. No sooner had he done so, than the creature vanished, replaced by the thick trunk of a tree.

“You missed one, Gleam,” Dallion said, looking around with several instances.

It’s not as easy as waving a sword around, the shardfly snapped back. Just consider every tree an enemy and you’ll be fine.

There was something to be said about Gleam’s sense of humor. Fighting every tree in a forest was somewhat of an impossible task, not to mention it wouldn’t get Dallion anywhere. The enemy was the dragon, not the illusion it cast.

Keep in mind that it can also invade your realm, dear boy, Nil reminded.

Apparently, even if I don’t, you’re there to take care of it, Dallion said, rushing back to the crater that once held a mountain. The one thing he knew about the dragon was that it still didn’t have the ability to fly, just hover a few dozen feet above the ground. With the trees of the actual forest rising hundreds of feet, that left it caged in a relatively small area, illusion or no illusion.

I really need to build myself a crossbow, Dallion said, looking at the sky through his kaleidervisto. For the most part, there was nothing, until all of a sudden, the edge of a black silhouette emerged.

Dallion didn’t hesitate, spinning around, then throwing his hammer at the perceived location of the dragon. If this was like any other crackling, one hit was all it would take to turn the massive being to dust.

The triangular hammer thrust through the air until it stopped, hitting an invisible barrier. There was a loud, hollow sound, accompanied by a roar.

Hey! Onda shouted. That hurts!

Lux will take care of you, Dallion said. Bear with it for a bit.

Despite being made of sky silver, the item still wasn’t fully immune. Any contact was likely to cause minor wounds.

Dallion felt a new wave of hatred sweep through him, as the hammer fell to the ground. The dragon was clearly hit, however, it hadn’t disappeared. That meant only one thing: that one hit wasn’t enough to defeat it. Suddenly, Dallion realized he was in deep crap.