Leveling up the World

Chapter 952: World Combat Initiated

The sky turned purple. Looking closer, a thin membrane glittered, keeping the endless void from pouring into the world.

All seven challengers prepared themselves, summoning weapons and casting spells. The Moons, though, remained completely unimpressed.

“I’ll give you an A for effort,” the Blue Moon went on. “Chances were, you would have killed each other before getting here. For making it interesting, you’ve earned a handicap. I won’t take part in the fight.”

The words would have sounded arrogant coming from anyone else. Being the first of the seven Moons put things into perspective. On the surface, that was supposed to be a good thing. It meant that if they took out the Moon of Magic, things might get close to a level playing field.

“We’ll also let you make the first move,” Centor said, holding a massive battle ax. “Get your armor, call your minions, finish your spells, then when you’re ready, come at us.”

That sounded a bit too favorable.

“What happened before?” Euryale asked in a loud voice.

“One with curiosity.” The Emion, the white Moon smiled. “I’d have thought your husband would ask the question.”

“He did,” Felygn noted. “He was just too slow.”

“The last time the entire world challenged a Moon, they all lost,” Astreza said firmly. “Every single living being was banished, leaving this place a barren rock. Then, the Moon summoned us.”

“The Eighth Moon…” Dallion felt himself say.

“Yes, finally the answer to the question you’ve been asking for so long. The eighth Moon wasn’t the eighth Moon, but the first. When all life was banished, there was nothing the Moon held dear. Using up all of its power, it did the only thing it was able to do to keep the world from being swallowed by the void—it summoned us.”

Back when Dallion was a child on Earth, there had been times when he’d often try to do something he wasn’t supposed to. He’d be fully aware of the risk, certain that it was bad, and moments before getting caught had felt an icy feeling within him. This was similar. Despite his fears, he’d seen this as the best chance there was of preventing the complete glassing of the world. Now, he had been made aware that should they fail, there wouldn’t be anyone left to appreciate his efforts.

“An entire world gone,” Galatea said.

“An entire world replaced,” Berannah added.

“Everyone who lived banished,” Emion said.

“The colossi,” Dallion said. “They were the true inhabitants of the world.”

“Yes.” Astreza nodded. “There were others, but they were the ones who challenged their Moon. And their Moon accepted the challenge.”

The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Dallion could feel it coming from his entire party. A fraction of a second later, the first move was made.

Now, Simon said, within everyone’s awakened realm.

COMBAT INITIATED

A red rectangle emerged, and was instantly followed by an array of spells and combat splits. Chained spell spheres emerged as Tiallia, Pan, and Lyulak cast a common mass area spell that aimed to isolate Galatea from the rest of the Moons. Two great dragons, along with all of Dallion’s companion weapons, emerged, as did the Purple Moon’s aetherbird.

Follow me, Dallion instructed as he darted towards the left flank of the deity.

Meanwhile, Jeremy and Simon also paired up, flying towards the right. The coordination of their movements was perfect, suggesting that despite the enmity of several centuries at some point, they had fought together against common foes and frequently at that. Curious what enemies they were fighting against. Wilderness monsters? Other high-powered awakened? The Star? Incarnations of the Void?

Five other Moons flew forward, summoning weapons. Astreza, keeping faithful to his word, flew away at a speed greater than Dallion could achieve, even with magic symbol enhancements.

Second barrier, Simon ordered.

The three mages cast another combined spell, creating a second sphere around the Purple Moon. Testing the waters, Dallion performed several spiral attacks in fifty of his instances.

ATTACK NEGATED

Your attack has been absorbed by GALATEA.

Attack has no effect.

On a certain level, it was normal to consider magic capable of affecting the principles of physics, even in a world such as this. Back in the Academy, Dallion had managed to draw a few comparisons, making him a lot better at it than the average student, though even he wasn’t able to come to a direct conversion. The Purple Moon undoubtedly had a lot of superior knowledge, but he also had one significant weakness—the supreme arrogance born of strength, that believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one could copy his spells. It was impossibly rare that a Moon would do magic openly in front of people, so he didn’t use any anti-copying spell techniques.

Moon spells can be copied, Dallion shouted in his realm.

Barely had he done so when Jeremy continued with his own attack, sending dozens of rays of destruction towards Galatea.

The Purple Moon didn’t react, letting them bounce off, as if they were a nuisance. The rays continued hitting the surface of the large aether sphere, only to bounce off of it as well.

“Useless,” The Purple Moon, then drew a new spell in the air.

The links and symbols were complex to the point that Dallion wasn’t able to make anything out. The effect, though, was a beam many times stronger than anything Dallion had witnessed so far. The same raw force that had created the fallen south flew towards Jeremy. Before reaching him, Simon cast a protection sphere. The new barrier proved strong enough to withstand the magic attack, although both he and Jeremy were pushed back in the process.

Magic music spark attack, Dallion thought, slashing the air with his harpsisword.

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“Careful!” Euryale flew right into him, pushing Dallion to the side.

A ray of destruction passed by them.

I didn’t even see that, Dallion told himself. If not for his wife’s observation trait, he could well have been dead by now. Galatea had timed the attack flawlessly for it to coincide with the moment Dallion paused to split into a new hundred instances. If the ray had struck, it wouldn’t have been only an instance that would have been vaporized.

SPELL NEGATED

Aether sphere has been shattered by EMION.

Spell has no effect.

SPELL NEGATED

Aether sphere has been shattered by EMION.

Spell has no effect.

Both barriers were instantly shattered and all by a Moon with a dartbow. Not only that, but the bolt also struck Simon’s protective barrier, cracking it as well.

“Keep him isolated!” Jeremy shouted.

From the world below, a host of rockets emerged like flickering stars, aiming at Astreza.

A new triple spell was instantly cast, creating yet another barrier between Galatea and the rest of the Moons. In the eyes of anyone else, the whole battle would have seemed like a desperate attempt at survival. So far, all the challengers' attempts had ended up in utter failure. Yet, there was one thing that no one took into account—close to three seconds had passed since the start of combat and the entire party was still alive. Each time before, the fight had already been over. Even a single opponent had proved too much for each of the world conquerors. All of them had undoubtedly used all of their skills to cast defensive or attack spells, only to be defeated by the Purple Moon. Now that they had moved beyond their death limit, they stood a chance.

Rows of aether spears emerged from the new barrier, shooting out in the millions. Each weapon was of high enough density to wound anything, possibly even a Moon.

“Amusing,” Cantor said, slamming the air in front of him in a point attack. The force was so great that it shattered thousands of spears in the air, sending them back into the barrier.

A short distance away, Berannah split into a thousand instances, finding the series of holes in the incoming attack and stepping in while the spears flew past.

Vines emerged from Felygn, grabbing any spear that would harm him tens of feet in advance. Next to him, Dararr almost sluggishly deflected each weapon through a simple series of hits at a mindboggling speed. As for Emion, she simply targeted all threatening spears with her dartbow.

Explosions resounded from below as giant balls of white flame emerged. Both Jeremy and Simon knew that no rocket would be able to hit a Moon directly, so their attack was aimed at using the strength of the blast to distract and hopefully wound some of them. In the process, huge chunks of land were also lost as the enhanced strength of the fireblast also touched them, melting mountains as they did.

“I’m relying on you,” Dallion said to Eury as he started casting a spell.

That’s not a spell that you should be casting! Adzorg said in terror. It’s not meant for this world!

“The Moons can only banish me once,” Dallion replied as he flew straight for Galatea again. Lux, do your thing!

Hundreds of ingots emerged around Dallion. One by one they were propelled in the direction of the Purple Moon, obtaining the destructive power of meteors.

Aware of the attack’s power, Galatea cast a series of aether parries of his own.

Copy that! Simon shouted just as another triple spell was complete. This time a multitude of spell circles emerged throughout the air, all shooting out magic draining chains.

Too proud to move from his spot in the air, Galatea cast a series of barrier spells, but even so, several of the chains managed to slip through, tangling around his left foot.

Yes! Dallion thought. All that he had to do now was to complete casting the pearl of destruction and—

“You never give up, do you?” a flash of purple emerged in front of Dallion. Quickly it gained shape, transforming into a giant purple bird made completely of aether.

Using one of his instances, Dallion glanced to where Aurun and Aquilequia had been fighting the divine familiar. To his mild surprise, he saw the battle still taking place.

“Magic is always the exception,” Dallion whispered.

The ingot projectiles changed focus, targeting the new creature instead. Unfortunately for Lux, they merely went through without causing any damage whatsoever.

“You didn’t have to reach this point.” The aetherbird’s feathers turned into aether shards. “You’d have been a lot happier before.”

“I guess I’m just that good.” Dallion completed the spell, causing a ball of dark purple to emerge in the air. Summoning a new ingot, he propelled it forward, straight at the atherbird.

CRITICAL HIT

Dealt damage increased by 200%

The familiar attempted to shift form, but no matter how many times he did so, the pearl kept on consuming parts of him, creating an ever-present hole in his body.

Taking advantage of the situation, hundreds of spark-infused tendrils shot out from Euryale’s armor, heading straight at Aether.

Scores of red rectangles emerged, dealing additional damage as the pearl kept on doing its thing.

In close to a hundred instances, the aetherbird exploded, releasing aether fragments like shrapnel.

“Expand!” Dallion ordered, summoning his aether shield in front in one instance.

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

GEM’s health has been reduced by 5%

Multiple red rectangles emerged, yet none of the shards affected Dallion and Euryale. Glancing at the dragon battle, it seemed that the aetherbird’s original form had also suffered some minor damage due to this incident. That was good, but even better—Dallion had a direct line of attack. The pearl of destruction remained in the air, seeking a new source of magic and Dallion was determined to provide it with one.

Sorry, he said mentally as he slammed the devouring spell in the direction of the Purple Moon with another ingot.

MINOR HIT

Dealt damage increased by 10%

The nearly black ball drilled through the aether barrier that the Moon had cast, burying itself in his chest. The damage wasn’t a lot by far, but that wasn’t the point. Now that the pearl was there, it would cause a serious drain to Galatea’s magic, allowing the others in the party to focus their efforts and deal with the issue before the rest of the Moons could join in.

“You hit me?” Galatea asked, as he calmly reached into his chest with his right hand and grabbed the pearl. A sound similar to metal clawing granite filled the air, following immediately by loud crunching, then silence. Once the Moon took his hand out, the pearl was gone along with his wound. “No more handicap,” he said with a frown. “From here on, I attack.”