Chapter 900: Spire Fragment

Chapter 900: Spire Fragment

Dallion quickly cast an illusion to hide his level. Supposedly, there were no mages in the current party, but even so he couldnt take the chancethere was no telling what artifacts they were equipped with.

In a single instant, the territory that Dallion controlled had increased five times, effectively putting him in control of the largest domain within the empire by far. The Order of the Seven Moons had been very devious with the territories they had given. On the surface, it was nothing more than five monasteries, among hundreds. Those five monasteries, however, came with territories that extended from the eastern borders of the Tamin empire all the way to the ocean, not to mention a small chunk of Wetie province. The latter was what Dallion considered the second most disturbing occurrence. Receiving control of Nerosal so soon after the civil war in the province was hazardous to say the least. He strongly suspected that was the reason the archbishop had given it to him. Even if Dallion were to deny it, no one would believe he wasnt making a go at the archduke title. Some might even accuse him of going against the throne.

You were right, great-grandma, Dallion said to himself. Theyve forced my hand.

Thankfully, there were still a few moves he could make.

The greatest concern on the matter, of course, remained his current level. From what he remembered of his brief interactions with the emperor, the man had a level of a hundred and twenty. Could it be that thanks to the archbishops generous donation, he had surpassed Tamin?

Thats wishful thinking, dear boy. Adzorg sounded rather amused. Keep in mind that the emperor rules over the archdukes. Your domain might be large, but its less than all of theirs combined.

There was no denying that, yet Dallion vividly remembered what he had seen. The only explanation could be that the emperor was hiding his real level as well.

It was unusually good for the Order to give the support they promised, the old mage continued. In my experience, they exclusively rely on promises. Would have been a lot more useful if they had provided the territory while you were actually facing the nymphs, of course.

Harp, Dallion said within his domain. Wheres the grand citadel?

The one I knew was a few eras back, the harpsisword guardian replied.

The Order of the Seven Moons rests on tradition. Where is it?

On an island in the ocean. You can only reach it by boat or swimming.

Or flying, Dallion added.

Thereve been other sightings, Astra told Abla. Single dragonlets most of the time. Pierce says he found a big one, but I doubt it was any bigger than ours.

Over two dozen dragonlets, the noble mused. Thats too many.

What do you expect when you have a pair of dragons that fly through domains? the Count asked. Its a wonder we didnt come across them sooner.

Yes, a real wonder Dal, found anything?

Yep, Dallion replied. Gleam had taken him to a spot which had a distinct presence of magic, as if the ground itself had recently soaked off some from a magic container.

A sudden idea came to mind, making Dallion summon his aetherizer. The device functioned as an advanced vortex finder, but given that dragons were largely magic, it was also possible that it might find them as well.

Would you look at that?

Three dots appeared. In terms of vortex strength, they were barely more than a level onethe type found in the Academy sewersbut they were there.

There are a few this way, Dallion said. Thirty, maybe forty miles. Dallion put the device away.

A few dragons, Tors snorted. Lets hope they arent bigger than the last bunch.

It was decided not to use magic to reach the destination, so as not to raise suspicion. By the time they got there, Dallions suspicions were confirmed. A total of three dragonsbetween a dragonlet and an adolescent dragonwere found fighting one another amid a series of strange rock formations. The fight must have been going on for a while, for scales were scattered on the ground. Just as the creatures before, these seemed feral, incapable of flight and magic.

The resulting attack was brief and non-consequential. Dallion and Tors bound the creatures with music and magic, while Abla, Astra and the Count directly went for the dragons eyes. Interestingly enough, the creatures bodies also evaporated in a cloud of magic.

There was no way to confirm any of the theories. From what Dallion remembered, magic creatures used to exist a lot in past eras. Back when the Purple and Green Moons were visible to all, dragons, cloud creatures, even aether beings were something natural. Even all the way to the dryad era, there were plenty of them in the wilderness, although by that time creatures of pure magic had diminished, giving rise to the magical hybrids.

Gleam? Dallion asked.

The place is empty; the shardfly replied. I wouldnt go here even if I was chased. Theres no way a dragon would willingly live here, let alone mate. The south is a lot better.

Ill go in to check, Dallion said and before anyone could stop him, placed his hand on a bare part of the column.

AREA AWAKENING

The familiar green rectangle emerged.

You are in the land of [SPIRE]

The lands destiny cannot be fulfilled.

Spire? Dallion looked closely at the second rectangle. The name wasnt supposed to be surrounded by brackets.

Thinking back, something similar had happened when defeating the colossus that came to the real world. His achievement had been covered by a layer of darkness that changed the text. Supposedly, that was due to the void that had partially made its way into Dallions realm, but was that the whole truth? If the colossi were awakened, they could well have means to hide any information on the rectangles, same as mages could do now.

Spark. Dallion tapped on the name of the land.

The moment he did, the rectangle shattered, as was its usual behavior. As far as one could tell, the name had remained unchanged.

That would have been too easy, Giaccia said, emerging a few feet away from Dallion in her nymph form.

It usually is.

Because its a fragment, she added.

A fragment?

Not all realms shatter once they are destroyed.

That was very true. Dallion had forgotten that the remains of Gleams home remained in his personal realm long after the whip blade had been shattered. Only when she had returned and the item was restored did the bridge connecting the main piece of land to the Vermillion islands become restored.

The realm is linked to something else, he said, looking around.

In typical colossus fashion, the surrounding realm was a combination of mountains and clouds. The difference was that unlike during his early awakening trials, Dallion was at the foot of a mountain, not on the top of it.

This isnt a pillar, its a building column. The column just isnt here.

The nymph nodded.

Then lets find if the link is still active.

Even with magic and combat splitting, exploring the realm took days. Despite the atmosphere of serenity that was created, there was no getting away from the sense of emptiness. Dallion understood all too well what Gleam meant when she said shed prefer not to live in an area such as this. The ground, the rock, even the clouds and the air emanated lifelessness. They didnt reject Dallions presence as the world of furies had, but rather just refused to interact with him in any way. The only way he could describe it was like living on Mars. Even worse, when night fell, he had to sleep beneath a moonless, starless sky.

Remnants of a link were eventually found, though it had been severed, preventing Dallion from venturing onwards. That didnt stop him from meddling a bit with the cluster of magic threads, though to no avail. What he did manage to discover during his attempts was that the Count was mistakenthe dragons were linked to the ruin. A few strands of magic had somehow gotten entangled with those of the realm link and managed to sustain themselves on its power.

A realm of dragons, Dallion said. Gleam, looks like youll get your wish.