Victory had many forms. There could be no doubt that the conflict could be considered a victory. The city had survived with what was left of the Alliance. The Azures had lost a massive fleet and their chance to gain a foothold; Dallion had obtained a Moon platinum weapon and gained a valuable ally, and yet he also felt that he had lost.

Everything said about cities turned out to be true: structures could be repaired and rebuilt in a flash; it was the inhabitants that were important, and a lot had been lost today. After summing up the dead and incurably wounded, over a hundred and eight thousand had perished. Most disturbing of all, the survivors didn’t seem terribly shaken up by the event. There was no telling how many times they must have gone through this to have gotten used to the brutality.

Dallion had attempted to raise their moods through his music skills, but Euryale had stopped him. According to her, fake bliss was the worst cure in times of war. Better for people to accept what was happening and not rely on dulling methods. Looking at the emotions emanating from the inhabitants of the city, she seemed to be right.

News of the Azures’ defeat quickly spread throughout the world. The Moon vow given by Adzorg had little effect, for by evening, the imperial palace was informed. The only possible explanation could be that the Order of the Seven Moons had a few copyettes among the enemy troops, or Dallion’s inhabitants. The chilling notion made him ask that Veil and Pan check through the people—and items—to seek out any hidden spies. While everyone in Dallion’s former cities had personally given him a Moon vow, Alliance had been created by Euryale, who was too focused on their survival to request such. Whatever the reason for the leak, it was likely that there would be a lot more hunters and furies making their way to the new domains. With luck, a few free nobles within the empire might also choose to take his side.

“I think I’m done,” Dallion said, examining Euryale’s side. “All that’s left are the effects and those should heal on their own.”

“I should be mad at you,” the gorgon said, her voice twisting in a suggestive manner.

The adrenalin from the battle had made her as flirty as back when they had first gotten together. Truth be told, if it wasn’t for the emotions of the survivors, Dallion would have felt the same. Making love was difficult when surrounded by pain and cries. He could easily get rid of that by putting on a blocker item, but had decided not to. The reasoning was that he, too, should get used to the consequences of war. This time he had won, and at a relatively low price. Next time, things might well be different. Furthermore, since Dallion aimed to conquer the world himself, it was inevitable that there would be a lot more battles such as this, possibly even larger.

“What’s wrong?” the gorgon asked. “You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Standing here while your mind wanders somewhere else.” Of all the people in the world, she was possibly the only one who could notice. “It usually follows a major decision.”

Dallion remained silent. There were many big decisions he had to make, though he felt one took precedent, overshadowing all the rest.

“There’s something that I need to do.” He went to the window. Three Moons were in the sky as night made its approach. “I won’t be long.”

“You know I can go along,” she offered. “Veil will handle things here. There’s Hannah too. “

“I need to do it alone.” Dallion fought the internal desire to agree. Part of him wanted her to come along, but that wouldn’t be right. He had to do this alone, for the sake of him as well as her. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

The snakes on Euryale’s head twirled with slight annoyance.

“You’ll owe me one,” she said.

“That makes a few so far.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

Dallion smiled, then quickly cast a flight spell. A moment later, he darted into the sky.

Smooth, Vihrogon said from his domain.

“Shut up,” Dallion whispered.

Normally, the flight to his destination would take days. That’s why Dallion didn’t go there directly. Instead, he went through his realm network, returning to his small domain in the imperial capital. From there, he immediately left his mansion and flew off in the direction of the mage Academy.

None of the city’s barriers or balderers stopped Dallion as he made his way. There was no denying that a lot more of them had cropped up. The emperor and nobles within the city of decadence could very much pretend the outsideworld didn’t exist, but they weren’t stupid. They knew exactly who they were fighting and had taken steps to maintain the illusion they were living in.

Crimson cloud forts circled the outer perimeter of the palace cluster. The war had decreased the number of crimson furies, so they had been pulled back to focus on the capital. Standard forts and battle mages aided the archdukes in their battle now.

Soon enough, the illusion barrier of the Academy came into view. There was a time when the illusion would prevent Dallion from even noticing it. At his current level, it had the opposite effect, glowing in bright purple light.

“Is that how you see illusions, Gleam?” Dallion flew on. Now he knew why it was so easy for her to determine what was an illusion and what not.

Similar, but different, the shardfly replied. Keep in mind you only see the ones you can see. The powerful ones remain hidden.

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“Good to know.”

Ignoring the main buildings, Dallion flew on. His main goal was the prison building. Massive golems looked up as he passed by, yet did nothing. In addition to his noble title, he remained an active battle mage. The current archmage was either too scared or too lazy to change the instructions given to the golems. Given that Dallion seldom visited, there probably wasn’t any point.

A hundred feet away from the structure, Dallion landed on the ground. As expected, two mages in dark green tunics appeared out of thin air. In the past, this would be the point at which they’d demand his business. Being a noble, however, came with its benefits.

“Your grace,” one of them bowed. “It’s an honor. We weren’t expecting your—”

“I need to check something with a few prisoners,” Dallion interrupted in typical noble fashion. “Where’s Palag?”

There was a moment of silence. Dallion could feel the fear emanating from the mages, despite their best efforts.

“I’m sorry to say that he didn’t make it,” the mage said.

That was new. Dallion hadn’t heard that particular piece of news. Then again, he was no longer in the know when it came to Academy matters.

“How?”

The mages looked at each other.

“It would help me in the war.” Dallion used his music skills to nudge the two in the right direction.

“Killed. The water we gave him to drink turned into a water golem and ripped his throat out.”

“Water golems here?”

“The prison runes only kept people from getting out. There was no reason to—

Dallion gestured to them to stop. He knew perfectly well that it wasn’t the nymph empire that had caused this. No spell could make it this far in the capital’s domain. His guess would be that the Order of the Seven Moons had orchestrated this or the emperor himself. The exact reason, though, eluded him.

“What about Phoil and Raven?” he asked. “Are they still alive?”

“Your former classmates.” One of the mages couldn’t help but smirk. “Yes, they are here and in perfect condition. Do you want to see them?”

“Since I’m here, I might as well.” Without any further explanations, Dallion continued forward.

Doors opened as he walked without him even having to lift a finger. The benefit of people seen as someone of power was that people fell over themselves to do favors. It wasn’t so much that they expected anything in return, but rather the knowledge that they would be punished if they didn’t.

The building had expanded quite a bit since Dallion’s last visit. Now there were hundreds of cells, all of them barred and most—occupied. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that other buildings of that nature had also been added within the Academy. Most of the prisoners were rogue mages, but there also were a few actual azures. Judging by their low magic traits, they amounted to nothing more than foot soldiers.

The wooden door was identical to how he remembered it. In a way, one could call the prisoners lucky, since they got some privacy, at least.

“Here we are, your Grace,” one of the mages said. “Just be sure to close the door before—”

“I know the procedure,” Dallion said with a slight hiss, making the mage take a step back.

Opening the door took him to a small closed off room. Closing it revealed a second door. Through it lay the cell he had come to visit.

“Dal?” a black-haired boy in his early teens said. He had experienced a growth spurt since Dallion’s last visit. His eyes, on the other hand, were those of an old man.

“Hello, Raven,” Dallion said, then turned to the other person in the room, who was leaning against the far side of the wall. “Phoil. You’ve changed.”

“Talking about change, what happened to you? Don’t tell me you’re a noble now,” he laughed. The polite smile on Dallion’s face made him stop. “You are?!”

“A few things have happened since my last visit.”

“How long ago was that?” Phoil asked. The former bully had lost a lot of his weight, though he hadn’t gained any muscle, making him a caricature of his former self. Even so, he looked healthy if ill kept. “Time’s been shifty here.”

“They put you back in a prison item,” Dallion said, a note of pity in his voice.

“A few centuries,” Phoil waved his hand. “You lose count.”

“The first decades are the toughest,” Raven agreed. “You get used to it afterwards. So, did you fight my brother?” he asked eagerly.

“Why would you ask?” Dallion’s suspicions kicked in.

“You’re here. Why else would you be?”

As much as he hated to admit it, that was true.

“I did just this morning.” The statement got both boys’ attention. “He tried to take over my domain. I stopped him.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No, but there’s nothing left to kill. He has a symbiote echo of the nymph empress.”

Time seemed to freeze as the prisoners struggled with the statement. Raven, in particular, was highly conflicted on the matter. His brother had used him to try and take down the Academy and get him killed in the process. Because of that, he knew perfectly well what the implications of being “puppeted” were.

“Did you know anything about it?” Dallion asked.

Raven shook his head.

“I only knew that we were to restore our glorious past and bring forth the Age of the Seventh Moon.”

“The puppeteers being puppets,” Phoil laughed from his side of the room. “What a beautiful irony.”

“That’s not…” Dallion began out of habit, but quickly stopped. “So, you never noticed any change in him?” he turned back to Raven.

“We weren’t particularly close. I’m sure that his character wasn’t due to his puppet. He always thought he was destined for greatness and fate cheated him out of it.”

“In what way?”

“By denying him two of the traits. It’s said that all great rulers in history have had all seven traits. The good ones only had six.” A mocking smile formed on the boy’s face. “And he only had five.”

Felt being denied something he was owed, Dallion thought. There was an uncanny resemblance between the description of Grym and all the Stars. They, too, felt they were owed things and had resorted to the seeming power from the Void to obtain it. In Grym’s case, he had come into contact with another power, one who had firsthand experience of working with a Star.

“What about the Order? Was there a change in their activity?”

“No.” Raven shook his head. “They’ve always been the same, before and after.”

Wait, what?! “The Order remained in your cities?”

“Yep, in all of them. It’s their way not to take sides and pick up the broken.”

Dallion didn’t say a thing. The point wasn’t so much what the Order had done, but rather that they hadn’t been attacked. The nymphs had no issues taking on two major powers at once, and still, the Order of the Seven Moons had remained untouched. Maybe the archbishop was a lot stronger than Dallion had initially thought.