Layers of the floor peeled off, constantly revealing new symbols. The spell Adzorg had created was rather ingenious in the way it worked. Rather than being a whole spell, it was semi-complete, merging with the symbols on the exit location. Once Dallion dispelled the top illusion, all he had to do was fill in the missing pieces in a calm and consistent fashion until a portal emerged.

The amount of skill involved was breathtaking. It was like looking at the inner-workings of a Rolex watch. Everything from the spell Dallion cast to the entrance symbols was arranged so elegantly, not a thread out of place. Dallion knew that it would take him years, if not decades, to be able to replicate something of that nature, let alone create one himself. Compared to such sophistication, his own spells were little more than fingerpainting.

“This will take me outside?” he asked.

Yes, Nil said. I’d advise jumping shield first. Escape portals don’t move along a straight line.

“I guess you didn’t use them a lot.” Dallion took the armadil shield off his back. In his current size, it was enough to cover half his torso. “I’ll still revert to normal when I go out, right?”

Most definitely, but other restrictions still apply.

“Restrictions always apply,” Dallion said beneath his breath.

Splitting into instances, he jumped into the portal. Gravity suddenly shifted as he was spat out from the side of the building’s wall, a considerable distance from the main entrance. Most of his instances rolled over, then jumped to their feet. Only two remained upright, though in the end it didn’t particularly matter. Being away from anything significant, the spot he had emerged from could be described as fairly safe, although that was highly relative.

The sky was green with shardflies. Torrents of them were roaming the clusters of buildings like tornado cones, slicing everything in their path. Mages were flying in all directions, casting spells like wild. Each purple blast would send thousands of insects to falling to the ground, yet that would do nothing to diminish the overall mass. Magic domes were everywhere. No longer keeping the creatures inside, their goal was keeping them out.

As Dallion was staring at the chaos above, a series of magic projectiles pierced through a flying mage’s shield barrier, then enveloped him in a ball of flames.

What the heck? Dallion thought, instinctively bursting into instances.

You didn’t expect that the people orchestrating this would just rely on a swarm of shardflies, did you? Nil asked.

“But I thought mages never fought mages.” Not openly, at least.

If they weren’t being subtle anymore, it meant that they would go directly for the archmage. As much as Nil would disapprove of the idea, Dallion would have to reach him first.

Strapping the shield to his arm—now that he had returned to his normal size—Dallion rushed away from the building.

Do you even know where you’re going? Nil asked.

Dallion didn’t reply. He didn’t have to know, not yet. For now, the most important thing was to get out of the gander zone and the Learning hall group of buildings. After that, he could worry about directions. Knowing the way mages thought, the archmage’s home would probably be something large and majestic made to be seen and identified from anywhere within the Academy.

Dallion had barely passed a hundred feet, when a stone statue covered with purple symbols emerged. That was a magic construct. Similar to metalins in the realms, they were massive golem-like creatures whose purpose was to guard certain areas. Dallion vaguely remembered Cheska boasting that she’d been admitted to a class that dealt with their creation, despite it being usually reserved for apprentices. All that he knew was that the creatures were fast, massive, nearly indestructible, and potentially capable of casting pre-set spells.

The statue’s massive hand flew at Dallion, crushing one of his instances. Thankfully, Dallion had managed to roll safely away in the rest of them. Knowing the difference in strength, Dallion punched in the direction of the construct, letting out a point attack.

A cone of force punctured the air, landing on the statue’s chest. It was enough to push the construct fifty feet back, but not topple it, let alone cause any damage. A fine glow emerged, covering its entire body like a layer of armor.

“Just great,” Dallion whispered.

Had things been different, he would have almost enjoyed trying out everything he had learned on the thing. With a sky full of killer shardflies and rogue mages, he couldn’t take neither the time, nor the chance. The only solution was fleeing past it.

Combining his acrobatic and athletic skills, Dallion split into instances, then dashed towards the statue, aiming to jump over it. The attempt ended in complete failure.

The construct reacted to each of his instances, slamming him mercilessly each time. Its speed was equivalent to Dallion’s own, and its reaction was even faster.

“Did you make that too?” Dallion asked, retreating with his remaining instances.

That would be quite the achievement, Nil said. This is one of the first emperor’s constructs, created back when the Academy was established. You might say that’s one of the reasons there were so few mage rebellions. They kept everyone loyal in the early days. Since then, they’ve acted as another layer of defense.

“Why is it after me?!”

No idea, especially since this one isn’t from here. All of them were moved out of the Learning Hall ages ago. The ones we have are local constructs.

Several thoughts went through Dallion’s mind at once. The most urgent was how to escape the situation. While splitting was giving him a slight advantage, the construct was keeping him pinned down. Eventually, he’d lose the stamina to keep up if the emerald shardflies didn’t ribbon him by them.

Drawing his harpsisword, Dallion did a vertical line attack. A line emerged on the ground, causing it to split all the way to the construct itself. Just as before, that wasn’t enough to cause a scratch on the statue. However, it was enough to let Dallion leap into the air and do three more line attacks. If his reasoning was correct, there was supposed to be a shardfly nest underneath; cutting the top layer of soil and rock would likely be enough to cause the patch beneath the construct’s feet to collapse, taking it with him. Sadly, no such thing happened.

The statue leaped up, reaching for Dallion’s right arm.

Lux, boost! Dallion ordered.

Blue flames surrounded the dartblade, pushing Dallion painfully to the side just quick enough to avoid the statue’s grasp.

Still in the air, Dallion’s immediate thought was how to protect himself from the swarm of shardflies, when he suddenly noticed: none of them had moved to his vicinity. As tempting as it was to think that it was all thanks to his empathy trait, Dallion strongly doubted it.

As both landed on the ground, the statue charged directly at Dallion. The construct simply knew no rest.

“Ruby, fly up!” Dallion said, splitting into instances. “As high as possible.”

The shardfly obeyed without question, darting upwards.

The construct was less than ten feet away. Yet, instead of continuing towards Dallion, it leapt up over him. Taking the opportunity, Dallion did a quick point attack, throwing the statue off course and safely away from the shardfly.

“Go till you reach the swarm!” Dallion shouted.

The moment Ruby did, the statue froze in place. The purple glow and magic symbols on it disappeared, changing the engine of destruction to a completely harmless decoration.

It was the shardflies, Dallion thought, still maintaining half a dozen instances just in case.

“Well done.” Clapping filled the air, coming as if from everywhere. It was just a single clap, yet seemed to surround Dallion. Moment’s later the source appeared—the fury who had instructed Dallion in his first steps of magic.

“Palag.” Dallion fastened his grip round the harpsisword.

“Unfortunately, my dear assistant isn’t available at the moment,” the fury said, flowing gently towards Dallion, two feet from the ground. “Not that I doubt his loyalty. It’s just that he hasn’t reached the level at which to defeat you.”

“You’re the mage who’s controlling him. The one who’s been controlling everyone.”

“I’m flattered, mister Darude. However, I’m just a large part in a larger plot. I did have echoes in all the children, though I wasn’t the only one. You didn’t have to be so rough when fighting Phoil. It would have been much better for all of us if you had just remained in the prison item. Everything would have been over and you’d have all the deniability in the world.”

“That’s not what the noble said.” Dallion tapped the tip of his harpsisword on his boot, causing the weapon to vibrate. “The real noble I was fighting.”

“Ah, some people tend to get a bit overenthusiastic. Killing you was meant as a final resort. After all, the former archmage still commands a bit of respect, even with the recent administrative changes. We would have let you live.”

If this were Palag talking, Dallion felt confident he could tell whether the fury was lying or not. Now, though, he could only guess.

“So, all this was just to… what? Kill the archmage? Destroy the Academy?”

“Adzorg was right. You’re still too naïve. The best plans have more than one goal. We’re already accomplished several of our goals, and there’s still time to accomplish the last.”

The fury cast a spell faster than the eye could see. A flash of lightning shot next to Dallion’s head, deliberately missing him by half an inch. The speed was such that only after the spell had concluded did Dallion’s instances move in an attempt to evade it. If it came to a direct confrontation, there would be no competition.

“Before that, there’s something I’d like from you.” Palag rubbed his hands. “Rather, a few things.”

“Why not just take them?”

“Because they’re in a place I can’t reach.” The fury narrowed his eyes. “I suppose I can get the obvious: the Vermillion ring, your crackling dagger, the kaleidervisto, that magnificent artifact that you managed to clear. Vortex finders will be quite useful in what’s to come. I could even take that magnificent weapon of yours. By the way you’re using it, you have no idea how valuable it truly is.”

Dallion took a step back. The thought of losing everything filled him with a sense of vulnerability that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Worst of all, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

“I’ll offer you a way out,” Palag continued. “I want the Moonstone you’re keeping in your realm, as well as the silver glass sword you made. Return that and the Vermillion rings and I’ll let you keep the rest.”

“What’s to say that you won’t kill me the moment I give them and just take everything else?”

“What’s to say I won’t kill you if you refuse?”

Any other day Dallion would count on the Moons protecting him. If he were a standard mage, they probably would, but through a series of events, he was both beyond their protection, as well as cursed.

“What about the shardflies?” Dallion asked, playing for time. There was one card he could play.

“What about them?”

“Did I make them appear?” Focusing, Dallion concentrated on the fury, trying to drill into his head with a glance. The approach was almost childish, but as he’d come to know, in this world, even childish things worked.

“Of course you did, back when you helped capture the reality chameleon. You don’t think that was an accident, do you?” Palag laughed. “I’d been luring to our reality for years. Spells alone weren’t enough to capture it. The moment the creature sensed a high magic presence, it hit back into its reality. A notice hunter and a weak fury apprentice, on the other hand, were just enough to find it without scaring it off. You helped catch it, and after some convincing, I made it slowly change the reality beneath the Learning Hall’s foundations, bit by bit.”

Sweat covered Dallion’s forehead. He could feel pushing through into the fury’s mind, but still wasn’t fully there.

Felygn, I know I’m cursed, but I really could use your help on this! He thought.

A split second later, reality changed.