Lux, stay close, Dallion ordered.

Having someone come so soon after another group meant one of two things. Either the new person was chasing them, or using them as bait to see Dallion make his move. Either way, that suggested he was going to be a bigger threat than the trio combined.

Disrupt him, Dallion told the trees, as he burst into instances, all heading in the general direction of the new opponent. The person must have sent that, for he too performed a combat split.

Concentrating, Dallion went through all possible instances, determining which to make reality. Sadly, in none of them did his enemy suffer any negative consequences. As far as he could tell, none of them seemed any different at all.

Stacking, Dallion thought. That was unexpected. At least his opponent knew how to fight.

Splitting again, Dallion performed a combination of line and point attacks. Other than devastating the immediate area of the forest, none caused any harm to the enemy. What they did was allow Dallion to determine the other’s exact location.

For a split second the enemy was within view among the falling trees of an instance. From this distance he seemed on the skinny side, dressed in standard traveling clothes and not wielding a weapon. One would almost thing that this was just a random hunter who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time; at least if it wasn’t for the blocking and disfocus items he was wearing. If nothing else, no hunter would wear disfocus in the wilderness.

Lux, target him.

The dartblade flew up in the air with a bolt already loaded. Meanwhile, Dallion tapped his harpsisword on the side of his leg. Not too far away the approaching sounds of buzzing insects and approaching branches became more and more audible.

Normally, those would be enough to put anyone at a disadvantage, though unlike the previous cultist, this one was apparently prepared for both. There was no telling whether the insects had any effect, but the trees were definitely proving unable to hinder him in the slightest.

Using his layer vision, Dallion waited for the precise moment, then did a point attack aiming for the other’s legs. The wave of destruction swept through the forest, taking out massive tree branches. Just as it was about to reach its target, though, the man twisted as if splitting in two. The attack swept cleanly through one, only to show that it had hit an afterimage.

“Ruby, slice him,” Dallion whispered.

The shardfly sprung to life, detaching itself from Dallion’s left shoulder. Spreading its wings, it let out a small tornado of slashes. Leaves, twigs, and branches filled the air. When they drew near to the enemy, he drew two large curve knives, deflecting them or with minimal effort.

In his mind, Dallion could almost see red rectangles pop up with the ATTACK NEGATED message. This had to be one of the non-brainless cultists the coin guardian had told him about. Thinking about it, facing one now was a good stroke of luck. This way he’d had an idea what to expect before reaching the Star’s temple.

So, you’ve boosted your reaction trait, Dallion said to himself, performing a series of attacks so fast that it seemed he was simultaneously attacking with three swords.

Two of the horizontal attacks were skillfully dodged, while the third was blocked with both blades. In the past this would have been good, but now it wasn’t good enough. The intensity of the harpsisword’s vibrations increased, tossing one of the knives into the air. Dallion was just about to proceed with a multi piercing attack, when his opponent briskly pulled back.

“Stop!” The man pulled off a ring from his finger, causing his nondescript face to come into focus revealing…

“Spike?” Uncertain what to do, Dallion split into instances, counting his attack in all but one case. The result was always the same: Spike managed to evade a mortal blow, though not without suffering some serious injuries. Unwilling to let that happen, Dallion chose the one instance in which no blood was shed.

“You trying to kill me?” The ex-guildmate asked. “They told me you’ve changed, but wow. You’re really gone wild.” A grin appeared on his face. “I fully approve. Just not here, okay? The guys will never put this to rest if I ended up dying after volunteering to play courier for you.”

“Courier?” Dallion somewhat lowered his blade.

I haven’t heard anything of the sort, Nil said within Dallion’s realm. Everyone’s still been lying low after your spectacular punishment.

“Hannah sent you?”

“Nah, March put me up to this. More like Vend guilted me. All of them are under watch. Some huge crap went down when you ran off. Vend’s been hiding with some old chums in the Mirror Pool. March was arrested and kept in some cell somewhere. Some say she’s in the countess’ dungeons. I think that she’s in one of the guard forts.”

Dallion expected as much. It was unexpected that Vend would go to the Mirror Pool, though. Then again, it was one of the best places to hide, considering what was to come. The countess had probably used Dallion as an excuse to fully consolidate her power prior to directly challenging the Archduke.

“Your funeral was touching, by the way,” Spike went on. “It had crowd speeches and all.”

“My funeral?”

“Naturally, you were killed by a group of assassins for hire.” Spike laughed as he said it. “It was an insult that the countess couldn’t ignore, and so soon after you caught the phoenix, too. A messenger was sent to the emperor in protest.”

Why am I learning about this now, Nil?

You really wanted to learn all the useless gossip? The versions change every day. In one version, you were working with assassins in their attempt to kill the countess. Spiks is the least reliable person to get your information from. He’s probably got half the stories mixed in one. For one thing, it wasn’t a real funeral. You were missing.

That made a bit more sense. This way, the countess left her options open no matter what might happen.

As for March, it is believed she’s locked up, but that also isn’t confirmed. The only true thing that Spike has said is that Vend went into hiding with the Mirror Pool.

Seems like some people never change, Dallion sighed.

Vend?

No, Spike…

Dallion looked at the man. Knowing him, Spike probably enjoyed the fight and only quit upon seeing the level difference. On a scary note, while Dallion was at least ten levels higher, the crazy Icepicker was no joke. If he didn’t have the limitations a non-awakened had, he would be outright scary.

“What did you bring?” Dallion went directly to business.

“Here you go.” Spike tossed him a small parcel wrapped in cloth. “With the general’s compliments. No idea what’s inside and I don’t want to know. That guy is bad news.”

“He’s useful.” Dallion unwrapped the parcel. The item looked identical to the one he had used when capturing the aetherbird. Hopefully, it was going to function in the same way. If not, Dallion could hope that the general would be next on the Star’s list for helping him in the past. “Anything else?” He ticked the artifact in his belt.

“Eury’s been asking about you.” Spike’s tone changed. “She didn’t believe the stories about you dying and all, but she knows you’re in trouble. Relations between Nerosal and Linatol are bad right now. It doesn’t look like she’ll be allowed to visit anytime soon.”

“Tell her I’m fine.” Dallion looked away.

“Yeah, right.”

“I disarmed you, didn’t I?” Dallion’s tone was as cold as his glance. For several seconds he and Spike started at one another, after which Spike shrugged.

“It’s your life. It’s rich coming from me, but being able to kick someone’s ass isn’t the same as being fine. You’re a wreck, you just don’t know it yet.”

You’re wrong, Dallion thought. I’m fully aware.

“How did you find me?” A spark of suspicion flared up in Dallion’s mind. He hadn’t told anyone where he’d go. He himself didn’t know he’d be east until a day ago.

“About that… The Star cults have a way of tracking you. Don’t ask me how. I don’t understand much of that crap. The general told me who to follow, and they led me right to you, just as he said they would.”

That wasn’t supposed to happen. Dallion had triple checked. There weren’t any spy echoes within his items. He’d gone through great pains to explore every inch of their realms and found nothing. Spike had to be lying, and yet to have found him in the eastern forests so easily had to be more than a coincidence.

“That’s why he told me to loan you this.” The man tossed a ring to Dallion.

“Disfocus?” Dallion wondered.

“Apparently not only. He said that it’ll help you and you better be appreciative. Really, how can you stand that guy?”

“Could you find a ring like this?”

“No…”

“There’s your answer.”

Silence followed, only interrupted by the rustling of the leaves. The fight over, Ruby flew down, landing on Dallion’s shoulder again. Uncertain what to do, Lux moved the dartblade through the air before floating back down.

“So, what now?” Spike broke the silence. “Off to fight the Star?”

“Someone has to.” Dallion grabbed hold of the dartblade and attached it to the back of his belt.

“Good luck. Have fun.” The man turned around. “Want me to bring back a message?”

Dallion shook his head. A few seconds later, Spike was gone, rushing north through the forest. Dallion remained vigilant for a few more moments. Only when the trees confirmed that there wasn’t anyone in the vicinity did he sheath his harpsisword.

That could have gone a bit better, Nil said.

“Things could always have gone a bit better. They could also have gone a lot worse.” He split on the disfocus ring. He didn’t feel any change. Hopefully, the effects would be apparent to others.

Once that was done, Dallion leapt back to the ground. He still had three dead cultist bodies to deal with.

Building an open fire in the forest was a bad idea in more ways than one. For a high level awakened, however, the dangers had a tendency quickly to fade away. There was no danger of the nearby plants of lighting up. Even without instances, Dallion was fast enough to prevent the fire from spreading just by using his blade. It was almost like making a pot out of clay, waving about the blade fast enough and in the right fashion kept the fire in a cone that rise up without touching anything unintended.

The stench of burning flesh was abundant, reminding Dallion of some of his awakening trials. This time, they were real—flesh and blood corpses being devoured by flames.

Did you get any memory fragments from them? Nil asked.

“No,” Dallion replied, thankful to the Moons that he hadn’t. “I can’t control when they happen.”

I’d strongly suggest you learn. If you survive this, it will be a skill that would considerably benefit you.

“If I succeed, the world will be different.” No one has ever defeated the Star. The words echoed in Dallion’s mind. Only now was it starting to sink in that many had tried, all of them stronger with better weapons and equipment. And still the Star had remained. Even when the Blue Moon had destroyed the past age, the Star hadn’t perished. Then again, the Star had never been wounded as far as Dallion could tell.

It’s never too late, Aether said.

“You never quit, do you?”

I have all the time in existence, both past and future. Why should I stop?

“I won’t release you.”

That’s what you say now, and I believe it. When you face the Star, though, but might not have a choice.

“If you could have killed the Star, you would have done it ages ago.”

You’re right. I can’t. But you can. I don’t want to kill the Star. I want to help you do it.