Several things were wrong with what Dallion planned to do, not least of which was the potential reaction of the Moons. Already being in their bad books, this had a chance of getting at least one of them really furious. On the other hand, even the Moons had to follow their own rules.

Please let this slide, Dallion thought as he dashed towards the large glowing cluster of Moonstone within his realm. I’ll pay the price, just give me a bit of time to see this through.

He knew that the Moons could hear his thoughts. The question was whether they would punish him for it. That was one of the tricky things when it came to deities. Sometimes their punishment was swift, other times it took months or even years for the effects of their wrath to become noticeable.

Splitting, Dallion looked over his shoulder, half expecting Nil to see Nil rushing behind him in an attempt to stop him. The old echo had done no such thing. That made things a bit easier.

Upon reaching the Moonstone, Dallion stopped. Purple crystals, the size of high-rises, reached up to the sky. They had definitely grown a lot since the last time Dallion had checked. There was no telling whether that was a good or bad thing. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

Galatea… Dallion placed his hand on the smooth surface. The material resonated, sending vibrations through his whole arm.

“Sorry,” Dallion whispered. “I’ll need that boost.”

Dallion extended the magic threads through his fingers, then pulled.

The magic within the Moonstone felt like pure electric current. Dallion felt the raw energy sweep through him. The pain was combined with a euphoric high, wanting him to crave more while simultaneously wanting to pull away. He’d only experienced the sensation once when absorbing the magic of an aether whale in the Moon’s domain. The power he had briefly achieved had been out of this or any other world; even so, compared to what he was pouring into him now, it felt like rotten candy.

In the blink of an eye, Dallion remembered all the spells he’d seen, not only the one memorized through diligent toil and study, but anything he’d seen since the moment he’d entered this world. He could easily cast the spells Alien had performed during the Nerosal Festival—not that they were particularly useful—Katka’s combat repertoire, and also everything Palag had done. Magic that had seemed too fast and complicated now appeared childishly simple.

Magic kept flowing into Dallion, turning the sky and sea of his realm purple. In the distance, the Vermillion lifted its massive head, frightened by the sudden change. Seeing it was Dallion who had initiated it, the island serpent quickly submerged.

“There’s no need to be scared,” Dallion said. The power of the Purple Moon had also boosted many of his other abilities. He was able to hear the thoughts of every entity within his realm. Several of them knew exactly what he was doing, but even they were frightened, like all the rest.

It’s alright, Dallion thought. This was necessary if he were to defeat his opponent in the real world—no different from getting a level boost before fighting a chainling, or so he kept telling himself.

Time burst like threads of spaghetti. Dallion kept absorbing the Moonstone for hours, while simultaneously being done three six seconds after he started. This wasn’t a case of instances; both realities were just as true, as were the hundreds of others in between.

“Magic,” Dallion whispered with a smile. “The universal exception.”

There was no longer a trace of the crystal cluster. Dallion looked at his hand. It was so full of magic that he could no longer see the threads within it. Instead, his entire skin glowed purple, as if it were made of it.

Turning around, he expected to see all the inhabitants of his realm gathered there. However, there were only three: Nil, Harp, and Vihrogon.

“I have to admit, you’ve really outdone yourself this time,” the old echo said.

“In a good or a bad way?” Dallion lowered his hand.

“Frankly, I don’t have the slightest idea. I’d never have dreamed of using a Moonstone in such fashion.”

“Oh?”

“I doubt any mage would. You had an item that could be the answer to any question, and you used it for a temporary boost.”

Dallion couldn’t see the logic. His music skills clearly showed that the echo wasn’t lying or exaggerating, and yet that didn’t make sense. Argus hadn’t given him any alternative. Even if Dallion agreed to surrender, he’d still have to give the Moonstone away.

“How long is temporary?” he asked.

“No idea. This is undiscovered territory. Maybe five minutes, maybe a few hours. Not much.”

Minutes. That still allowed him to learn a few hundred spells, provided Nil and Harp cast them very, very fast.

“Teach me a spell,” Dallion said. “Something usef—”

REALM EXPULSION

A green rectangle appeared, pulling Dallion out of his own realm. Not too far away, the aftereffects of Palag’s destructive ray were still unfolding.

“Nil?” Dallion asked.

This wasn’t the first time he had been thrown out of a domain. To happen while being in his personal realm, though, made it clear that the Moons were involved. Seems like they had resorted to the Judgement of Solomon: Dallion had been allowed to make use of the Moonstone, though not receive any advice while containing that power. Still, it could have been a lot worse.

“Ruby, Lux, get out of here!” he ordered, removing all his guardian gear. “I’ll take care of this on my own.”

“What have you done?” the mage shouted through Palag’s voice. The pain in his words was palpable, as if he’d witnessed the utter destruction of his hopes and dreams. “You… you…”

“Just leveling the playing field,” Dallion bluffed with a smile.

“You’ll pay for this!”

It seemed that the offer for surrender had just been withdrawn. Palag started casting a spell—the same spell he had cast moments ago, only this time, Dallion was going to be the primary target.

Instinctively, Dallion did the same. He had seen that no manner of defense barrier would be able to match such destructive power. According to his physics class knowledge, a ray of equal strength would… or so one could hope.

Four sets of fingers moved in identical fashion, giving birth to power that could sink islands. Dallion’s movements were slightly faster, but he’d started with a slight delay, causing his spell to be released moments later. There had been no time for combat splitting, all his mental energy was focused on spellcraft and spellcraft alone.

Two rays of purple light flew at each other, clashing five feet from Dallion. Had standard physics been in play, the power released from the clash would have been enough to vaporize him and everything else in a substantial radius. Since this was magic, no such thing followed. Both rays formed a single line, then vanished just as fast as they had emerged.

That was too close for comfort, which was why Dallion immediately started casting a repeat of the spell. This time he intended to be first. Palag wasted no time either, casting a completely different spell. Thanks to his boosted state, Dallion recognized it being a summoning spell. As far as he knew, there was no creature capable of withstanding such destructive power. Still, he was going to find out.

Once again, the spells were completed simultaneously. A ray of destruction shot in the direction of the fury, only to have it hit the walls of a semi-transparent tower that had risen from the ground. The construct wasn’t able to stop the beam, but managed to deflect it, causing it to shoot straight up.

A reflection trick? Dallion wondered. That seemed too simple for a battle mage.

Acting on a hunch, he concentrated, combining his magic vision with zoology. The experiment worked. Deep down, beneath the ground, he could feel the presence of a creature—one that wasn’t supposed to be there, or in this reality, for that matter.

“The chameleon,” Dallion hissed.

The creature didn’t seem to be in a particularly good condition. Being forced to change reality throughout the area had probably tired him significantly even before Dallion’s last attack. Concentrating further, Dallion was able to spot a dozen of brands covering the chameleon’s body—restrictions to keep him obedient and confined to the real world.

That’s how you control him, Dallion thought. Sneaky and efficient. The sight also reminded him of his own seal. In theory, it wasn’t supposed to have any effect outside the learning hall, but why take the risk? With a swift action, Dallion grabbed hold of the brant, pulling it off his skin as if it were a loose thread. He couldn’t say he knew exactly what he was doing, but rather followed his intuition.

MAGE APPRENTICESHIP

(+2 Reaction)

Through skills and knowledge, you removed the obstacle keeping you from joining the ranks of apprentices. Or, at least, you would have if you hadn’t cheated your way there! Still, a pass is a pass.

“Not now.” Dallion waved through the purple rectangle that had emerged. Achievements could wait, the fight to the death couldn’t.

You’re magic, Dallion heard a distant whisper.

He quickly recognized it belonged to Ruby. It was followed by a chorus of others. It was not clear that the novice seal had done more than change his appearance into that of a child during class; it had also strongly diminished the effects of his empathy trait. With it gone, and thanks to his boosted magic state, Dallion could hear millions of voices. No, not voices—he could hear thoughts. He knew what every single one of the shardflies was doing, he could taste their anger, their determination to protect their nests, and their false conviction that they had been here before. In some other reality, that might well have been the case, not this one, though. The reality chameleon, under mage Argus’ orders, had seen to it that both realities merged, creating the current mess. Both sides refused to surrender what they viewed as theirs and were willing to go to any length to achieve victory, leaving Argus and his group free to aim at bigger, unsuspecting targets.

“Clever,” Dallion waved his left hand through the air. In his present state, that was enough to cast a dozen spells, sending hundreds of aether projectiles at the fury. “It almost worked.”

“It worked.” The mage couldn’t keep himself from having the last word, even as his puppet was busy casting barriers by the dozen. “I just need to attack. I just need to keep you here.”

That sounded exactly like what the platypain had said.

“But if I manage to kill you before the Moonstone wears off, I might be able to salvage something.”

Then let’s make things interesting, Dallion thought.

It wasn’t much effort to cast a flight spell. Dallion had spent weeks trying to learn the symbols that went into it, to little avail. Now, they came naturally, allowing him to rise into the air with little effort. Dallion had to constantly maintain the spell with one hand—flying was not as free as it seemed—but that was a minor inconvenience.

Shardflies, he thought, combining spellcraft, linguistics, and zoology.

It would have been faster to cast a mass telepathy spell, but that was one more thing Dallion didn’t know how to do yet. Besides, if he did, he wouldn’t be able to use another skill.

“There’s no point in keeping this up,” Dallion said, using music skills. “You’ve already started to lose, and even if you do, more mages and golems would come.”

Then what? Abandon our nests? A chorus of voices asked.

“Your nests were never here. Help me and I’ll find your nests. And if I can’t, I’ll find you a place where you could make new ones. I vow to the Moons that I’ve done it before.”

The attitude of the entire swarm changed. Instead of attacking anything in sight, as they had been doing till now, massive groups of shardflies pulled back away from the unprotected buildings.

Seeing the shift in attitude, the mages were smart enough to deescalate the situation. None were convinced that the fight had ended, but welcomed the pause to regroup and assess the situation, if nothing more.

“A reality chameleon caused your nests to exist where they shouldn’t, but there are plenty of places in the wilderness just as good and without mages.”

What will you want from us? Several dozen voices asked—likely the shardfly ringleaders.

“I just need to save the mage that rules over this place,” Dallion said. “And also beat up the one who caused the reality chameleon to bring you here.”

All shardflies darted in Dallion’s direction. Their glee was so intense he could scoop it from the air with a spoon.