Leveling up the World - Chapter 947: Alliance of Conquerors

There was nothing particularly special about peak Ullein. While it was undoubtedly the tallest point in the world—even after the recent series of destruction—it held no military or strategic significance. The ores within the mountain chain weren’t particularly abundant, it had no special resources, nor could it be used as a defense point. There wasn’t even a challenge in reaching the top. Anyone with an athletic skill over ten could easily manage.

Currently, the mountain was in the middle between the nymph and Tamin empires. It had never been contested, which was why it had been chosen as a meeting spot for the four world conquerors. For the moment, only half of them were there, along with two other awakened.

“They’ll show up,” the archbishop said. “They’re just making sure we aren’t aether echoes.”

That sounded just like something the archbishop would do—send an echo of himself, then flatten the entire mountain with rockets.

“Tell me about my grandmother,” Dallion said all of a sudden.

“Your what?”

“Everyone else couldn’t tell me because of a Moon vow,” Dallion ignored the question. “You don’t often make vows, do you?”

There was a long moment of silence. No emotions emanated from Simon, but Dallion could tell that he wasn’t pleased with the reminder. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that the Moon vows he had made earlier might have been his first ever.

“Are you sure?” the archbishop asked. “You’ll be disappointed.”

“Tell me.”

“I guess it’s a way to pass the time.” The archbishop shrugged. “Initially, nothing was supposed to happen to her. After the mess your grandfather made, Duchess Elazni came to me for help. I knew she would be inclined, but her eagerness surprised me. I had planned on sending a bishop to make the same offer, but she beat me by a few hours. Granted, I was focusing my prophecies on other things right then.”

Crimson lightning flickered in the distance, striking the ocean. Apparently, despite the meeting, not all the armies had stopped fighting.

“She offered the assistance of her House in exchange for her daughter’s life. Naturally, I accepted.”

I bet you did, Dallion said to himself.

“Your mother was also part of the arrangement. I suppose, if that had happened, there was a chance that you might have awakened as part of the imperial family. Or maybe you’d have picked someone else. I never was able to find the logic.”

“My grandmother,” Dallion said, nudging the archbishop to stay on topic.

“Yes, your grandmother. Just when everything was set, she chose to impose an additional rule: keep your grandfather alive.”

This Dallion didn’t expect that. In retrospect, he should have seen it. Kraisten had accepted a lot of things, but when it came to anything that would hurt his daughter or make her unhappy, he acted to the extreme. Deep inside Dallion suspected that was one of the reasons for the rift that had formed between them once Dallion went to Nerosal. Although Dallion’s mother had let him do it, there was no denying that it made her sad, and Dallion didn’t make things better by barely visiting.

“Jeremy wouldn’t tolerate what he viewed as betrayal, and after what your grandfather did, I didn’t feel very generous, either.”

“So, you punished them both.”

“All three of them,” Simon corrected. “Your grandmother’s request made your mother part of the deal. It was impossible to put on a curse or limitation on her because she hadn’t awakened yet. Still, she could be banished, which was what was done.”

Dallion waited.

“Your grandfather was de-leveled, a lot of things surrounding his life were erased from existence. I would have accepted your grandmother and her daughter in any of my monasteries, but she chose not to. Your grandmother knew that was the same as living in a prison, so she made another offer: she’d trade her freedom for that of her daughter.”

“You said that you’d accept both of them,” Dallion remarked.

“And I was, but she had more freedom to give.”

Initially, the comment didn’t make any sense. What more freedom could a prisoner offer? Then, Dallion figured it out.

Faster than a thunderbolt, he reached and grabbed Simon by the throat. His fingers never touched the archbishop’s skin. A protective layer had formed half an inch away, keeping the boy completely safe.

“You made her into a vortex guardian!” Dallion kept on squeezing. The barrier cracked, yet it didn’t shatter.

“She did it,” Simon replied with the calmness of someone who knows what the outcome would be. “One must volunteer to become a vortex guardian. I suspect Kraisten must have told her. The practice has been kept secret for two hundred years, which is why there’s so much void in the world. When she offered, I couldn’t refuse.”

The protective layer shattered, only to have another emerge beneath it. A quarter of an inch separated Dallion’s fingers from Simon’s throat.

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“I told you you’d be disappointed.” Simon didn’t smile, yet there was no telling what was going on in his mind. “Kraisten taking your mother back to Dherma, in exchange for your grandmother’s eternal service to protect the world. That was what was offered, and that’s what I accepted and have been keeping an eye on her ever since.”

“You let her become sealed!”

“And saved her life in the process. If she had remained awakened, she’d have done as you did. All newly awakened are arrogant and adventurous. She’d have learned to use her music skill and convinced everyone to let her see Nerosal and the rest of the world. Despite everything your grandfather went through, he’d have been helpless to refuse. Can you imagine how Priscord would have reacted? It was too soon after the Twelve Suns massacre. Jeremy was still uncertain who he could trust. If he’d have learned that Kraisten’s daughter was out there, what do you think he’d have done?”

“You swore you’d protect her!”

“No. I just promised to do it, and I did. Your mother is alive, and despite a bit of pain, she’s a lot happier than she would have been if she went against Jeremy at that stage.”

Dallion’s grip loosened. While he knew that Simon hadn’t done any of this from the goodness of his heart, there was no denying that he was right. Dallion had made a point of keeping the connection to his grandfather secret. That hadn’t lasted long, but it was too far away from a time perspective for anyone to care. The emperor had bigger plans to worry about than the grandson of a banished otherworld.

“Do you know what her name was?” Simon asked.

“You erased her name.”

“That’s true, but I gave her another.”

The second barrier reformed beneath Dallion’s fingers, in case he decided to strangle the archbishop again.

“Acacia,” Simon said. “Acacia Nilaton.”

Dallion’s hand dropped as he let go. The name was more than familiar. He had met such a person. No, he had faced her in battle not too long ago, back when he was hunting Adzorg on behalf of the Academy. Acacia had been the first banished human guardian he had fought in the vortex within Nerosal’s ruins. Had she been aware of who he was? Was that the reason for his victory?

“There shouldn’t be any logic by which vortex guardians choose their fights,” Simon said. “Possibly it was a coincidence, or maybe she wanted to meet you? We’ll never know.”

“Bastard.” Dallion moved away.

The storm in the distance intensified. Dozens of lightning strikes hit the watery surface, causing a water spout to emerge beneath. Meanwhile, a lone cloud was heading straight for the mountain peak. It didn’t take one with special skills to figure out it was an illusion.

“One’s here,” Pan spoke, turning to Dallion. “It’s not a good idea for them to see us arguing.”

Tendrils emerged from Euryale’s armor, ready to act should the need arise. While Dallion’s confrontation with the archbishop was seen as a personal matter, the approaching conqueror could mean trouble.

“On the contrary,” Simon straightened his clothes. “This little display is the reason they chose to show up.”

“You knew how this would play out,” Dallion said beneath his breath.

A hundred feet from the peak, the cloud transformed into Tiallia. This was the first time Dallion had seen her in person. She seemed slightly older than he remembered her from Giaccia’s memories. Dressed in a flowy long-sleeved shirt and loose dress, both made entirely of water, she carefully examined everyone present. Her clothes were no doubt finely decorated, but must have gone out of fashion a few millennia ago. Then again, the nymph wasn’t one to care.

“At least she’s with you,” she said, looking at the harpsisword on Dallion’s back. “Where’s Tamin?”

“Waiting for everyone to gather so he could be fashionably late,” the archbishop replied. “You’re looking well, Tia.”

“Thank you.” The nymph smiled. “And you still look like crap. Not enough Moonstones lately?”

“I’ve been getting by.” The archbishop didn’t flinch. “You could have chosen a better time to re-emerge.”

“Good old Simon, always the man with the plan.” The air a hundred feet away on the opposite side of the peak rippled. A massive dragon emerged. A permanent scar starting from his wing and going all the way to his chest suggested that the archbishop’s rocket attack had managed to inflict significant damage.

“There weren’t supposed to be dragons.“ Dallion instinctively burst into instances.

“There weren’t supposed to be other people, either, but I see two,” Jeremy countered from atop the dragon’s head. “You brought someone, I brought someone.”

There were a lot of ways to respond to that, most of them swears. Unsurprisingly, no one resorted to that. While none of the sides trusted the others, an offer had been made, and it was in everyone’s best interest to listen.

“So—” the dragon with Jeremy on it, approached further “—what’s this alliance about, Simon?”

“Simple. There’s no telling who’ll conquer the world, if anyone. And as a few people with experience can attest, challenging a Moon directly never ends well.”

Faint remnants of anger bled through Pan and Tiallia. Both of them were exceedingly good at hiding their emotions, but some things were beyond even their control.

“The reason for that is that anyone who tried wasn’t prepared enough.” He looked around. “Everyone tried to challenge a Moon when things on the battlefield started to go wrong. At most, you had conquered half the world. That would make you around a hundred and twenty, right?”

No one said a word. To Dallion’s surprise, Jeremy also seemed uncomfortable at the question.

“What would happen if your level was a hundred and forty?”

The silence was broken by laughter.

“Good one.” The emperor started a slow clap. “And of course, your new champion will be the one to become a hundred and forty, right?”

“All of us will.”

It wasn’t certain which was more shocking: that there was a way for all of them to raise their level to that extent or the archbishop’s suggestion that he would take part in the whole thing.

“I know you’ll agree, but I’ll go through the motions anyway,” Simon went on. “We form a single party—pretenders and contenders alike. All of us give to each other enough territory to compose three quarters of the world, then we move onto the next. Since we’re all in one place, no single person can take on…” he paused for a moment. “The other four. When all of us have reached the level, Dal will use his Moon emblem to issue the challenge. Since we’re one party, we—”

“Five,” Euryale interrupted. “The other five.”

Everyone looked at her. Dallion was about to say something, but sensing him, Euryale quickly continued.

“Six is better than five. My level’s not that far off from the rest of you.”

Jeremy’s dragon let out a guttural growl.

“Will you tell her, or should I?” the emperor asked.

“Six is better than five,” the archbishop agreed. “But you can’t be a sixth. You already gave your allegiance to someone else. The rest of us haven’t… even the copyette.”

Although he could feel the pain emanating from the gorgon, Dallion felt relieved. This way, she stood a better chance of coming out alive. The question now was, would Tiallia and Jeremy agree to the plan?