For someone who was trying to remain hidden, the Star’s security was incredibly lax. Dallion was able to go about the complex as much as he wished and, other than the incident with the cleric, no one asked him a single question. A few—all with disfocus items—even tried to score some brownie points. Apparently, hiding one’s identity was a sign of importance. As much as it made Dallion’s job easier, it was also scary. The notion that people from noble families were Star cultists wasn’t particularly surprising, but given the rules of awakening, Dallion had hoped that there wouldn’t be as many of them. It was a miracle how provinces weren’t in a constant state of civil war. The emperor had to be quite powerful and rule everything with an iron fist in a velvet glove.

In theory, there wasn’t supposed to be a border between the complex and the rest of the wilderness. Going towards the edge, though, Dallion was able to see the subtle signs of the “bubble” surrounding the area. It was unusual—neither an area domain, nor void, but something in-between. More importantly, it appeared to be quite breachable. Ruby had helped Dallion confirm that by flying several miles into the forest and back without issue. In the process, the shardfly had met up with Lux, as well as conducted a number of other errands. That left Dallion waiting for the right time to act.

You’re risking it, Aether said. He could switch the location at any point.

“He could,” Dallion said. “But he won’t.”

From the chatter, Dallion had learned that the shifts happened no more than once per day, always remaining in the same overall area. That tended to benefit cultists in the Wetie province since they could get there in a matter of days. The rest had been coming from all over the empire for weeks, probably ever since Dallion’s last fight with the Star. Everything made it clear that despite his power, considerable limitations were placed on the Star, otherwise he’d just be able to move his stronghold to whichever province he liked, whenever he liked.

“Everything needs to be perfect for this to work.”

Only I need to be perfect, the aietherbird chirped. And I am.

Dallion glanced up. No Moons were visible in the sky even if he was certain they were there. They had already said that they wouldn’t help, but even so, they were constantly watching.

“Hey,” a distorted voice said not too far from Dallion. “What are you doing here?”

Dallion turned around. As expected, the voice belonged to a cleric. The dark matter surrounding him had shifted into a cloak, a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. Funny how the top cultists were trying to mimic the Star without even knowing the origin of these clothes.

“Just providing a spectacle,” Dallion replied.

“Spectacle?” The cleric took a step closer.

At this precise moment, Dallion reacted, drawing his harpsisword faster than the eye could see. The blade of the weapon was already vibrating and full of spark as it split the air. The cleric didn’t react. That was one of the huge weaknesses for people perceived to have overwhelming power—they were slow to react to surprise attacks. Being always the one infiltrating, the cultists couldn’t imagine that anyone would infiltrate them. The cleric didn’t even have time to display signs of surprise as the spark infused blade sliced his head off. Only then did the void react, letting out a scream as part of it was devoured by the attack’s light.

Lux, now! Dallion ordered, as he focused on one of the massive chainlings by the temple and did a series of spark point attacks.

Destruction swept through the complex, drilling the massive entity full of holes. Fractions of a second later, an arrow enveloped in blue flames struck the head of the second chainling.

Screams that no human could produce filled the air, bringing hundreds of low-level cultists to their knees. One of the chailings exploded in a pop of void matter, the point attacks continuing on and bouncing off the inverted pyramid. Unfortunately, the other chainling wasn’t as affected. Despite the wound it had received from Lux’s attack, the creature was very much alive.

Should have known, Dallion thought as he tossed the harpsisword to his left hand and did four more spark infused point attacks. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to use as many before his fight against the Star. His initial plan was to kill off the chainlings quickly and efficiently. He had accomplished half of that.

Dazed by Lux’s initial attack, the second chainling had proved no challenge. Dallion’s greatest fear was that it would start jumping around, making it difficult to deal with. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and as an added bonus, a cleric was also killed. With that, it was time for the main event.

“Now,” Dallion whispered, tearing off his cultist cloak.

Swarms of birds of all types emerged from the surrounding forest, all descending onto the complex. Dallion had spent the last few hours using his zoology, herbalism, scholar, and music skills to gather the creatures, preparing for this attack. With more time, he could have done way better, but this was just as impressive.

Now it was clear why empaths had been so feared in the dryad army. With enough skill, they could devastate an entire area, not only the target of the attack, but everything around it as well. There was no telling how long it would take for the animal population to repopulate what had gone. In Dallion’s case, probably not too long, for he had only drawn everything in a thirty-mile radius.

It was astonishing how many creatures could be found in that area of forest. From insects to alpha predators, as long as one knew where to look, they could amass an army. The benefit of having the zoology skill was that one didn’t have to look, and if they were strong enough, they could talk to them.

The first few seconds were utter chaos. Birds attacked swooped down, attacking the already confused cultists. Waves of animals soon joined in, charging from behind Dallion like a living wave. All of them avoided Dallion himself, staying six feet away at all times. The cultists weren’t as lucky. The ones nearest to the edges of the complex were trampled before putting any resistance. After that, however, the chaos subsided.

Dozens of cultists burst, transforming into chainling cubs. They weren’t anything close to the real thing, but strong enough to deal with a bunch of animals. Black spikes and tendrils skewered many of the creatures, sometimes at the cost of the cultists’ own lives, but soon enough, they had gained the upper hand. The vicious attack had been reduced to nothing but noise.

“Here we go,” Dallion whispered, darting forward.

It would be half a minute at most before the attacking attack waves were thinned to the point that they were done with. During that time, though, he could fight pretty much unimpeded.

Bursting into instances, Dallion rushed to the nearest group of cultists. There was an attempt to force a specific instance, but it was weak and unrefined. It was obvious that a noble wannabe was making an effort to turn the tide, though to no effect.

Almost dancing his way through the battlefield, Dallion put down cultists like they were grass. Thanks to the spark in most cases one strike was enough to end them. At each kill, Dallion would combat split again and continue. Similar to his fights in the awakened realms, Dallion focused on the weaker enemies first. They were a lot faster to kill and reduced the overall mass. There always was the danger of the Star making an appearance and draining all of their void matter, putting Dallion at a severe disadvantage.

While Dallion was fighting his way towards the temple, Lux has also joined in, darting with the flaming arrow through any enemy he could, only moving from the temple outwards. His kill rate was significantly less, but unlike Dallion, he had the added benefit of becoming stronger after each success.

Tide is turning, Aether said.

Not yet, Dallion sliced through another cultist.

The animals and birds had been decimated, but the insects were still in large enough numbers to remain a distraction.

Grabbing the hilt of his weapon with both hands, Dallion spun in place, releasing a line attack all around him. Destruction went in all directions, cutting through anything and anyone that couldn’t defend himself. Hundreds of cultists were sliced in two, along with a large number of animals. The thread of destruction didn’t end there, spreading into the forest. Massive trees fell like matchsticks until the attack completely lost its strength. The buildings, on the other hand, remained intact.

For a moment, glimpses of the metal skeleton within them became visible, before the void matter moved to fill the cuts. All of them, without exception, were made of sky steel alloy, impervious to line attacks.

Just as Dallion was contemplating whether to do another line attack, the complex shifted. The trees surrounding it vanished, replaced by rocky nothingness.

Nil, where are we? Dallion kept on splitting, looking around with each instance.

It was obvious that this was a mountain, but not one Dallion recognized. Thanks to his scholar skills he had memorized all landmarks in the empire and surrounding countries all the way to the west ocean. Matching scribbles on paper to actual geography was never easy, but Dallion was certain this wasn’t a part of the world he knew about.

I have no idea, dear boy, the old echo replied. My guess would be a mountain.

We’re east, Aether said. Further east, beyond the forest. I guess the Star doesn’t want to risk you having allies. Dumb move since I’m still here.

It sounded like the Star to isolate Dallion, removing any possible advantage. At the same time, he still hadn’t made an appearance. This had never happened in the past. If anything, Arthurows had a flair for the dramatic, taking every opportunity to show how superior he was.

Are you sure the Star is here?

No doubt about it, the aetherbird chirped back.

Bolts of void matter rained in on Dallion from all directions. There were a tenth of the cultists left standing in the complex, nearly all of them with disfocus items. From here on, the real fight began.

“Shield!” Dallion said instinctively as he leapt for cover.

All but three of his instances ended up shredded by the bolts. The remaining ones managed to escape safely, though not unharmed. Dallion’s right arm had started bleeding again. Soon, the pain he was doing his best to ignore would flare up even more.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion looked out from behind his cover. The entire complex was full of animal and human corpses, at times stacking up to knee height. The stench of death had yet to form, though soon it would. There was a time when Dallion would have vomited at the sight of all this. Now, his only complaint was that they weren’t letting him get a good look at his surviving enemies.

Lux, tell me what’s going on! Dallion ordered.

It’s difficult to say, boss. They keep merging with the buildings, so I’ve no idea where they are.

Damn. Get out of there!

Are you sure, boss? the firebird chirped. I can help!

Find out where this is! I’ll need that later on.

Right, boss! The arrow shot up into the sky, disappearing from view.

Dallion reached beneath his clothes. The artifact that the general had given him was still there, as was his Nox dagger. Just as he was about to make a move, a new volley of void matter artillery flew in his direction. This time, the projectiles were larger, falling from an angle. His enemies were learning.

“Any advice, Harp?” he asked as he split into three dozen instances, all scattering in different directions.

Yes, the nymph guardian replied. Blank your mind.