Music, magic, attack, art! Dallion flew through the air, constantly waving his aura sword as he did.

There were no additional instances of him—he was too afraid that any use of combat splitting would reveal his location. And since any direct attacks would also have easily given him away, he resorted to a combination he had rarely tried before.

Normally, music attacks combined with magic were his trump card when dealing with waves of enemies. This time, the method was completely reversed: the magic threads coming out of the sword were turning into sounds whose melody completed spells, only they did so a fair distance away. Harp could, of course, see the threads, but since Dallion was in constant motion, she’d only see where he had been.

Perception is your weakness, he thought. Although calling it a weakness was very subjective. Most high-level nobles would have a tough time hiding from her. Even as a guardian, even archdukes would have an impossible time.

“Turning yourself invisible,” Giaccia said all of a sudden.

Dallion felt as if chunks of ice had formed in his stomach. It was too soon for her to have noticed. His instinct was to burst into instances to charge at her while he still had some sort of advantage. A moment’s hesitation made him delay just for long enough to see the nymph look away.

“It’ll be useless against my sister,” she continued. “She’ll be able to see that while making you think she hasn’t.”

Threads of music went in all directions as she spoke, in an attempt to interact with Dallion. Countering them would serve no purpose, yet not doing so ran the risk of them having an effect. The illusion had provided him with a momentary tactical advantage, and now it was time to use it.

Using his domain powers, Dallion punctured holes in the nearby sea surface. Jets of water mixed with rocks flew in Harp’s direction. The nymph turned around, taking control of the incoming water. It was at that point that Dallion made his move.

Spark flowed through his aura sword, consuming all the illusion patterns he’d drawn. A white glow appeared, culminating in a point attack set on Harp’s back.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 200%

The amount of damage was less than Dallion would have liked. That didn’t matter—it had proven that his attacks could land.

Dallion quickly followed up with a multi point attack.

Although off balance, Harp managed to evade most of the blows, though not all.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 200%

CRITICAL STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 200%

Two more rectangles emerged, reducing her health by close to two-thirds. Thanks to the numerous healing spells, Dallion wasn’t far off. They were at parity now, which gave him a slight advantage in the long term.

“Darude!” he shouted, summoning half a dozen clay cylinders.

Three were instantly shattered with a slice of his sword, causing three aether copies to emerge. The remaining three continued floating around him, waiting for the right moment to be activated.

In normal circumstances, the nymph would have no problem against his echoes. At the moment, every additional threat couldn’t be taken lightly.

Threads of water shot up from the sea, reinforcing Harp’s armor. Dallion’s spark attacks had burned through the magic threads, creating holes in the defense. In less than a second, there was no longer any trace; a sphere of water ten feet wide surrounded the guardian, providing a vastly superior protection than before.

That’s cheating, Dallion thought while his echoes concentrated their attacks on one spot.

Using spark attacks had proven capable of piercing through, though with so much, all they could manage was to break off chunks only to have them instantly filled up.

A new cliff peak emerged, striking the sphere dead center. That much force would have been enough to destroy a colossus, yet it only thrust the nymph upwards without a single red rectangle.

To a degree, this could be considered a win—Dallion had managed to force an all-out attacker to assume a defense position. Sadly, that wouldn’t win him the fight, nor would be a solution in a real-world situation. A complete defense didn’t prevent a person from casting spells, especially if they were considered a magic prodigy.

Gripping the aura sword tightly, Dallion flew after Harp. Point and line attacks continued to pour onto the water sphere, occasionally accompanied by a spell or two. The nymph didn’t seem in the least concerned, responding with attacks of her own. Bolts of hardened water would launch from the water’s surface, fading away echoes by the dozen.

“You’ll never win like this.” The surface of the sphere vibrated in Harp’s former voice. “You need to be able to withstand lethal attacks and pierce through unbreakable defenses.

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Dallion was already aware of that. He knew that the ray of destruction would be of no use; he had seen it deflected while fighting the nymph invasion not too long ago. As Adzorg would say, it was time to identify the question so he could come up with an answer. It was claimed that only awakening trials had answers, but that wasn’t strictly true anymore. Being a domain ruler, it was up to Dallion to find the answers in real life. Alternatively, it would be better for him to surrender and become a vassal of Emperor Tamin or the nymph empress.

Time seemed to freeze again, as he concentrated on making full use of his mind trait. An image of a sphere emerged in his mind. The ball had millions of magic threads creating a thick mesh that isolated the nymph from any outside force.

Using spark was an option, but only if it were strong enough to cut through the sphere in its entirety.

In Dallion’s image, a beam of white energy hit the sphere, barely causing a dent. Slowly, it grew to the point that it was as wide as the ball’s diameter. That would definitely be a solution, but could he even create a spark attack as powerful? His three echoes had attempted and failed. His own contribution would hardly add anything more.

Magic was another option. There was a vast assortment of spells that could poison the water, or heat it to the point that Harp would have to disperse it. It would be tricky to get close enough to apply the spells in question, though not impossible. No doubt, an immediate counterattack would follow, and that was if she didn’t use the new substance against him. Being scorched by boiling water was definitely going to inflict more than a bit of damage, likely enough to reduce his health to zero. Then again, Harp wasn’t the only one capable of creating defensive meshes of magic threads.

Focusing back on his surroundings, Dallion cast a dozen spells covering his body with additional layers of protection. Unlike the aether barriers and armor he usually used, these were a lot finer, covering him like a fine mesh. Special care was made to have them negate the effects of heat and poison. Once done, Dallion proceeded with the main plan.

All four Dallions darted at Harp’s sphere. Cutting through tendrils and avoiding water projectiles, enough instances of them reached the surface of the sphere. That was rather good—Dallion had expected at least one of his echoes to die in the attempt.

In pairs of two, they started drawing poison and heat symbols on the water’s surface. The attempt proved to be too rash. Without mercy, Harp thrust in the direction of an echo with her rapier. The sharp form pushed the water in front of it until an exact replica of the blade emerged from the surface, piercing an echo through the shoulder. Hardly a lethal attack, it proved enough to reduce the entity to a cloud of fading dust.

MINOR HEAL

Your health has been increased by 5%

Another rectangle emerged in front of Dallion. Taking that as his cue, he quickly pulled away and not a moment too soon. Multiple water rapiers emerged from the surface, missing him by a hair. The remaining instances weren’t as lucky. In their attempt to add one final symbol they were each pierced by a rapier attack and reduced to nothing.

Too late, Dallion thought. He could already see the symbols taking hold. Harp was trying to eject them from the water sphere, but they were entwined with the magic mesh itself, making that impossible. It would take a mage to diligently untangle them one by one, and from the memory fragment, it was clear that Harp wasn’t capable.

The whole sphere contracted, shooting out thousands of shards of hardened water. Dallion expected as much, slashing them with his aura sword. The few that hit dissolved a few layers of protection, though didn’t deal any additional damage.

Time for stage two, Dallion thought. As a massive chunk of rock shot up from below. This time, instead of slamming into the sphere outright, it changed form surrounding it like a prison.

POISONED

GIACCIA’s health has been reduced by 1%

POISONED

GIACCIA’s health has been reduced by 1%

POISONED

GIACCIA’s health has been reduced by 1%

Red rectangles stacked. By every account, Dallion’s plan had succeeded. Part of him was ready to rejoice, but another—the more cautious one—kept its guard up. There were countless times in which Dallion had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. There was no reason to think that Harp was any less capable.

To be on the safe side, Dallion grabbed one of the remaining floating clay cylinders and waited.

Several more red rectangles popped up, after which the entire rock prison cracked, sliced in two. Immediately, Dallion broke the cylinder, sailing forward.

The spell capable of destroying mountains struck the side of the rock, burning through as if it were paper. As the remains shattered, the ray continued towards the horizon, yet no new rectangles emerged.

Damn it! Dallion burst into instances.

Somehow, Harp had escaped. Even after Dallion’s meticulous planning, and a lot of luck, he had still failed to win outright. His pulse tripled in anticipation. The guardian had one course of action—attack.

A green cone flashed on Dallion’s chest. Taking no chances, he performed a spiral slash. The cone vanished, as Harp darted to the side just in time to avoid the lethal attack sent her way. She was still surrounded by water, though far less than before.

“I thought I poisoned you,” Dallion said, following up with two more line attacks.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been sliced in two by GIACCIA.

Attack has no effect.

ATTACK NEGATED

You have sliced GIACCIA’s attack in two.

Attack has no effect.

A pair of red rectangles emerged.

“You tried,” the nymph replied. “But I control water.”

That was true. Despite everything, she remained a nymph. Even when the water was poisoned, she could still move it away from her with the same ease a cat wagged its tail. Imprisoning her in rock had managed to earn Dallion a few points, but nowhere enough. He’d have to do a lot better. No doubt that was Harp’s way of giving him a taste of the battles to come. If he was expected to win against the nymph empress, he’d have to fight in her own territory. That meant fighting in the open ocean, where Tiallia was in full control.

That’s the question, isn’t it? He told himself.

Everything he used so far amounted to interesting—possibly ingenious—tricks, but they weren’t the answer.

What could one do when facing a nymph in its element? A split second later, a smile formed on Dallion’s face. It seemed so simple now, and something he could certainly pull off. It would be the same in the real world, but on a whole different scale.

“Yes, you do,” he said, flying right at the harpsisword guardian. “And here, so do I.”