Chapter 579: Fighting Chaos
Attracted by the guardians gravity, Dallion split into a hundred instances, each using a combination of athletics and acrobatics to move spread out in a larger area. It was outright impressive how well an awakened could move on their ownalmost as much as when swimming.
A titanic wing formed a second horizon on the left, slamming into the cloud of instances. Upon being hit, though, there was no immediate damage. It wasnt like any attack Dallion had experienced before. Rather, he found himself falling onto a forest.
All of Dallions instances hit the forest running forward. Fighting without weapons wasnt something he had done often, but that didnt mean he couldn't. One of the things Euryale insisted when they were living together was that they trained unarmed fighting in case there ever was a situation in which he couldnt use his weapons. At the time, Dallion didnt think that could ever occur, but humored her nonetheless. Now, he was thankful for her insight.
Taking a deep breath Dallion swung the arm of one of his instances, then performed a line attack. The force was considerably less than when he used a weapon, but it still managed to cut down a few trees. Dallion rushed to grab one and use it as a makeshift weapon, but before he could grab hold, the entire landscape changed, turning into a prairie. The trees, respectively, had transformed into blades of grass.
Cute, Dallion thought. In future, he was going to have to be much faster.
Several seconds later the prairie changed into a rocky mountain, pushing him up into the air. This, Dallion had already experienced from the time he was walking around. Rapid changes in altitude tended to be quite deadly if one wasnt prepared for them. This time, the guardian chose a different approach, having the landscape change into an ocean.
If thats the way you want to play it, Dallion said and burst again. The major difference was that he didnt burst into instances, but echoes of himself. Two dozen Dalions emerged from him, all pushing away to increase the distance between them. And then, Dallion performed his first attack. In perfect sync, all twenty-five of him struck the air in the direction of the ocean and performed a point attack.
A cluster of destruction dots flew forward, drilling through the ocean itself like a spread through wax.
MINOR STRIKE
Damage dealt is increased by 10%
A purple rectangle emerged. To an observer it would seem that Dallion was back to doing minimal damage again, but he felt pleased. At least he knew he could do damage to the creature. All his echoes had popped out of existence due to the stress caused by the point attack. It seemed that was too much for them to handle, at least in such an environment. Dallion made a note to keep that in mind when creating so many echoes. Meanwhile, he continued forward through the massive hole that had formed. As expected, the environment changed again, but the hole didnt.
Youre nasty! the firebird chirped. Most probably this was the first time it had been dealt damage.
For a moment Dallion hoped that would be enough to make the creature quit and end the fight. However, he was wrong. Pain alone wasnt enough to dissuade it.
Interesting effect, Eleria said, floating by him. Good to know that point attacks have such an effect.
Dont all Moon laws still have an effect on magic? Dallion asked, no longer surprised why she was here or how a simple echo had managed to survive such an attack.
Those of the Purple Moon, definitely. The rest are more like guidelines. They have some effect, but not always what youd think.
Any advice you can give now?
Im afraid not.
Why? Were already engaged in combat with the guardian. How can it get worse?
Youre still in the feathers realm, dear boy. As much as the aetherbird is annoyed with you, its also amused. If it stops being, itll just throw you out and never let you back in.
So, what am I supposed to do? Kill it?
That would be one possibility. More realistically, though, Id say just survive as long as you could.
After about a dozen seconds, the hole came to an end. Dallion suddenly found himself flying up towards the black sky again. The only difference was that this time he could see the Purple Moon in front of him.
This wasnt the first time he had met a Moon, but there was something to be said about the Purple Moon being different from all the ones hed seen. For one thing, its surface too constantly shifted, creating the impression that it was spinning at weird intervals. In one instance, Dallion could have sworn that the Moon winked at him.
Its not something youd understand. The mage shook her head.
I could have gone on for days, the aetherbird boasted. But the pain was too much.
So, what now? Dallion asked.
Now? The firebird grew smaller still until he was the size of a hawk. Ill give you a gift. Not her though. The guardian flapped its wings, glancing at Eleria. She didnt do much, just followed you in here.
Clearly, Dallion wasnt the only person who didnt like mages. Hearing that from the embodiment of magic sounded more than slightly funny.
Chance of a gift, Dallion thought. One thing that this world had taught him, when offered something from non-human creatures, the best course of action was to ask the impossible.
Can you give me magic?
Upon hearing Dallion, the mage stifled a chuckle. In general, traits werent something that could be acquired. The creation of skill gems changed that allowing people to obtain the empathy trait. However, when magic was concerned
No, the aetherbird replied in a slightly sad tone. Anything else?
How about the location of your home?
My home? The aetherbird sounded both surprised and curious.
Where you usually like to stay. Do you have a single favorite place? Or maybe a few?
I used to stay in the forest cl off Erekol. It was nice, but then it became noisy, so I moved. The bird flapped its wings again, then landed on Dallions shoulder, expecting praise.
Youre really vain, arent you? Dallion thought. The real aetherbird was probably hunted, but the feather was admired, treasured, and highly sought after. It was natural for it to become like this, especially with what it was capable of. From a certain point of view, Dallion was probably the first person who had stood up to it.
Thanks, phoenix, he said, patting the creature gently on the head. You did well.
There was a chirp of joy. The aetherbird remained several seconds on his shoulder, enjoying the pampering. Then, when he felt he had enough, he flapped off of Dallions shoulder. As he did, fragments fell off of him, as if leaving a trail of fine glittering dust.
You were fun, the guardian said.
Within seconds, the rest of it faded away, taking Dallion back into the mages chambers. The room felt small, cramped, as if someone had stolen the entire space and ticked it away somewhere. Looking at the box, the feather was no longer there.
Not what you expected? Eleria asked. She seemed particularly calm. Well, its not over yet.
No sooner had she said so, when a dot of light emerged in the empty box. Slowly the dot grew, forming the phoenix feather just as it had been before.
As I told you, you cannot kill the aetherbird, just as you cant destroy its feathers. The only way is to have it become consumed by a non-awakened.
Slowly, Dallion placed the ring he had been given on the desk.
Did you get what you wanted? Dallion asked.
To a point. Did you?
That was a good question. The city mentioned wasnt one he had ever heard. He didnt know its location or even in which country it was in. Still, it was a start.