A Strange Moon's Multiversal Adventure

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Red Day 664, 10:07 (Day)
In a desolate manor hidden by a barrier a figure contemplated his shortening lifespan.
Said shortening lifespan was not caused by old age or illness, but by the shadow of death constantly closing in on him in the shape of a team of so-called Heroes who killed his Master and are currently hunting him down.
The figure was a human-looking 60 years old man with long white hairs and a short beard, a pale complexion and vivid red eyes clad in a noble-looking attire with his right hand covered in black gloves holding his head with his right hand as he reflected what he could do against his hunters.

“If I use all of my Ghouls could I kill them? No, it wouldn’t work and it would only be a waste of all my resources to buy a night at most, not nearly enough time.”
His mouth, twisted in a grimace, showed two sharp fangs as he talked aloud to himself.
“If I detonate the castle with them inside… No, if they are on guard they will survive. This alone won’t be enough.”
A sigh escaped him as he concentrated before nodding to himself.
“Let’s abandon all hope of survival. If I fight all of them with all of my Ghouls and detonate this castle upon my death… It could work. Very well, let’s say this work and I bring all five of them down with me. What about my centuries of work? Will all of that be for naught? No, I cannot accept it!”

His passion quickly cooled down towards a subdued tone.
“There is no chance of my survival. Maybe if I change bodies? No, one of them is able to see connection between individuals somehow. Think, Edgar, think.”
Only one option was in his mind right now, not of his survival, but the survival of his research.
As such his life was not the prize, but an additional resource to use to assure his success.

His need for a student was without a doubt certain now, but he didn’t have a convenient list of people he could teach or entrust his lifetimes of research and work to, not only that but they would also need to not be related to him as they would certainly be hunted down otherwise.
“I certainly can’t use one of my Ghoul for such a thing and I have the resources to change only one of them, if they are ready, in a Vampire. And they would still be related to me… Unless… Tonight is a Red Moon, isn’t it… I need to find the right Ghoul to Ascend. It should still be alive, after all it is too useful to be sacrificed.”

Upon having thought of a path forward the Vampire quickly went through all of his Ghouls, smiling as he found the specific one he was seeking and ordering it telepathically to go to the hidden laboratory where he himself was moving towards.
Upon reaching said laboratory he found himself before the Ghoul he planned to ascend, a 15 years old-looking Half-Elf girl with red hair, gray complexion and dull red eyes waiting for him.
He nodded and guided it towards a secret room within the laboratory, a room where the floor, ceiling, walls and even the inside of the door was made of a magical mirror reflecting the sky, if it was activated.
He proceeded to take a vial of blood gifted to him by his now former Master to use to Ascend a Ghoul that was ready in a Vampire and looked at its Servant.

“Listen well. In two hours night will fall and a Red Moon will happen. You aren’t allowed to leave this room until I give you an express order otherwise. The moment the Red Moon will manifest these special mirrors will flood this room with Moonlight and you will drink my Master’s blood starting your Ascension. While the Red Moon’s light shine in this room you will use your Unique Skill “Singularity” to absorb as much power as you can while taking care to hold back from Ascending until the Mirrors finished sending moonlight in this room. Do you understand?”
Upon the rhetoric question and the predicted response composed of a nod the Ghoul gently took the blood vial from its Master and moved towards the center of the room where, upon its Master’s exit and locking of the room, it sit down ready to activate its Unique Skill at a moment notice.

Meanwhile the two century and a half Vampire went towards the control room for the entire manor, where the control for the normally hidden rooms was in itself hidden.
The Vampire researcher went to access said hidden controls through a mix of his Blood and Mana using his own Unique Skill: “Soul Link” as a medium to interface with said controls.
The next step was simple: the lowering of all the energy use within the manor to the minimum except for the barrier with the role to hide said manor and preparing to redirect said energy to the mirror room while at the same time preparing to connect said room with the first of the Linked Mirrors that will recieve the ray of Red Moonlight.

While he was waiting for the coming of the Red Moon he was reflecting on his luck that it was happening right now as through said Red Moon that team of Heroes would have their travel options limited considering that they were on a different island from him.
In fact no boat or ship will travel two weeks before and two weeks after the Red Moon as it would vastly increases the power and aggressiveness of most Monsters.
The travel, a week long by sea minimum, would give him more than enough time to train his new student a little, give them his research and send them away from the island well before the Heroes would reach him.

Finally, after an hour and a half, the first ray of Red Moonlight shone on the receiver and his plan started in earnest with the transfer of said light to the Mirror Room where all the Energy that was being stored was used to amplify it such that the light was not that of a Red Moon, but that of a Blood Moon while the Ghoul took in his Master’s Blood and started integrating Energy from both.

It was being ripped apart.
It was being burnt.
It was being frozen.
It was being shocked.
It was being crushed.

And this cycle continued.

It was being destroyed.
It was being erased.
It would not fall.
It would succeed.

Its absorption of the Energy was hurting it.
It could stop.
It would not stop.
It would not yield.
It would not hesitate.
It will succeed.
It will surpass all expectation.

It will converge…

She will be one!

7/1 664 00:31 (Summer, Day)
It was barely after Sunrise.
After eleven long hours of Red Moon and around 90% of the manor’s energy reserves being exhausted it was finally over.
The old vampire was before the Mirror Room hoping that this final gambit was a success and hesitantly opened the shut door.
The first thing he saw was two crimson lights shining before him and he knelt down without hesitation, his eyes stuck firmly on the ground.
A light sound reached his ears, the sound of extremely soft steps as a shadow was cast on him.
“Look up.” It- no, she said in a voice that betrayed no emotion.

Having heard the soft command he remained on his knees, but looked up meeting for the second time the two crimson lights that he now identified as a pair of eyes with no pupil that shone of their own light.
Said eyes were in an incredibly pale face with long silver hair that were not owned by a Vampire as his own Skills helped him to understand what the figure before him was.
At her rebirth she had two Skill at E-Rank, a Racial Skill and her Unique Skill.
Said Skills were more than enough to acknowledge the miracle before him.

Racial Skill: Lunarian;
Unique Skill: Singularity;

A small smile was on the face of the newly reborn entity before him as wonder shone on his own face.

Racial: Lunarian E

Unique: Singularity E

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/1 664 00:32 (Summer, Day)
“Rise.”
The soft command from the Lunarian woke up the old researcher who, for the first time, properly studied the figure before him.
She maintained similarity to her previous self, the slightly pointed ears common in Half-Elfs, a similar slightly muscular frame, her hairs reaching her shoulders and similar somatic characteristics; however, she looked about 18 years old, had a much curvier figure and she grew from an height of 171 cm to an height of 180 cm.
Yet, even with all the similarities, no one that would have not known her deeply and personally would have recognized her.

Her hairs, before a vivid red, were now a shining silver, her eyes, before a deep blue, were now twin spheres of crimson light that he could only compare to the phenomena of a Red Moon, having never experienced a Blood Moon himself, her skin was now even paler than before and the various scars she had were now absent like any previous small imperfections.
She was clad in a tasteful white shirt with short black pants.
The being before him was without a doubt perfect.

The smile, adorned with sharp fangs, before him enlarged as he stared at her before she continued speaking, her tone calm yet full of pride.
“There is no need for you to bow, is there? Even if your worship of me is only natural, you should still be able to speak to me face to face, shouldn’t you?”
This words caused a cold wave to pass through him as he finally remembered why exactly he waited so long before turning her in a Vampire.

Even without any of the memories of either of her lives before, she was an incredibly proud individual that at 15 years old was willing and able to fight his Master, a 500 years old Vampire, and all his subordinates at once to buy time for her younger sister to escape while using no special weapon all the way from a little past sunset to almost sunrise.
She was now in a superior body and he could only be happy that he would never see what she would become when she fully matured as he would certainly be dead by that point.

“Now, why exactly did you help my birth as a Lunarian?”
At her question he breathed in before responding.
“I am going to die soon and so, before then, I want all of my work to mean something.”
“And so you Awoke someone to be your student. How much time do you have left?”
“At least 15 days and at most 45 days.”
“I see.” She nodded before gesturing for him to proceed. “Tell me your name and what your plan for me was.”
He nodded quickly before starting to guide her to his office where he once spoke with his late Master.

“Very well. My name is Edgar. My original plan was to use the blood that my Master gifted me to ascend a Ghoul in a Vampire. My Master had a maximum potential as a Vampire of B-Rank and so any Vampire he transformed had a maximum potential of C-Rank. I myself am at this Rank. However a newly reborn Vampire with so little potential would be quickly hunted down and killed. And then there is the previous you.”
They finally entered said room and the Lunarian moved to take the chair behind the desk, sitting there before gesturing the Vampire to continue.
“Your Unique Skill “Singularity” even at E-Rank would give you tremendous efficiency and so, with the same ammount of Blood, you’d reach a maximum potential of B-Rank, equal to my former Master, instead of C-Rank. The influence of the Red Moon should have been enough to reach A-Rank in potential and because of the amplification of the Red Moonlight to reach the level of a Blood Moon and your Unique Skill you Ascended into a Lunarian. How impossibly unpredictable.”

“Oh? What did you expect instead? Certainty you didn’t expect a simple Vampire, now, did you? It was just that you were aiming too low.”
“I suppose so, but from my point of view the fact that instead of a Vampire or an Ancestor, what I prayed for, I now find myself before a Lunarian can only be a sign that you are even more exceptional than I expected.”
“Obviously. I am the best, after all.”
A sigh escaped Edgar’s mouth before he nodded, after all, the proof was before him.

“Well, I want to teach you as much as I can before giving you all of my research before I die.”
She nodded before responding.
“Where do you want to start?”
“I would say to start by teaching you “Soul Harmony”, a Growth Skill I invented personally.”
“Hoh? Should I be impressed then?”

The challenge was heard and he smiled in response.
“At the start, it’s nothing much, but I trust its potential. But to do that I would need to use my Unique Skill “Soul Link” to help you.”
“Okay.”
He nodded and hesitantly held out his hand that was taken by the Lunarian.

She found herself in an empty void, looking down she saw herself looking back, their feet one on the other, looking up she saw another her looking back, their heads 10 centimeters away from her.
“I see.” She watched around her seeing the same situation in all directions before thinking to herself. *The name of the Growth Skill is Soul Harmony and the name of his Unique Skill is Soul Link. Consequently this must be… My Unique Skill, Singularity. Makes Sense. But if this is my Unique Skill, I should be in my Soul and so there should also be my Racial Skill “Lunarian”, but it’s not here. *
She looked around herself again before nodding and concentrating on the flow of her own blood and her own heartbeat.

Two minute later she found herself in a barren wasteland.
The floor was not dirt, but a solid layer of blood.
The sky was made by another layer of blood with only a big vaguely blue sphere beyond said layer.

She nodded accepting it quickly before moving back towards the empty void of before and again towards what she now understood as her image of a Blood Moon while on the surface of it.
She repeated this process over and over again, faster and faster until a good hour later the image of the two worlds were overlapping before stopping in the void.
She nodded to herself before closing her left eye and imagining herself on the Blood Moon.
Once there she opened her left eye bringing with her the image of her void.

The two worlds could and maybe should have destroyed each other, but there was no need of such conflict.
After all, she is one.
The two worlds separated and so did she.
The two worlds were still one and so, even if she was two, she was one.
The two worlds were now shaped not as worlds, but as two of herself, one made of a chaotic mass of energy of all colors and one a figure made of blood, shadows and moonlight.

7/1 664 02:26 (Summer, Day)

*Luna recieved the Growth Skill "Soul Harmony"

This was the message she recieved upon returning to the material world.
“Just one hour and a half… I’m impressed.”
“Did you expect anything else? I’m, after all, the best.”
“I suppose your pride is deserved. My former Master took a whole day.”
“It’s also a matter of compatibility with the Skill. Now, tell me, how was my former self?”

“Scarlet was wonderfully terrifying. As a 15 years old she was B-Class in strenght. All this with a Unique Skill that wasn't directly combat-related.”
“How did she fight?”
“No-Attribute Sorcery to enhance Unharmed Techniques while using her weapon based Skills through Mana Shaping.”
“As expected of the previous me. It’s without a doubt the most effective way to fight for someone in our situation. Tell me, do you know where nearby Monsters are? I need to fight something.”
“Are you sure? Your rebirth was less than 3 hours ago.”
“If I want to surpass the previous me, I cannot waste time.”

“Very well. This way. Tell me, how should I call you?” Edgar started to guide her towards a Ghoul that would function as a guide.
“A name, eh? Scarlet is an option, but I am not her anymore. Well, I suppose I am her, after all, we do share our Unique Skill so we are the same. However, it’s not an appropriate name for me. Hm, Luna? Yes, Luna it is. My name from now on is Luna.”
Edgar watched with a deadpan expression as she happily nodded to herself satisfied.
*Isn’t that just “Moon” in another language? Or even just an abbreviation of Lunarian? *

Stored Magicules 0

Racial: Lunarian E
Magicules: 0/1.000.

Unique: Singularity E
Magicules: 0/1.000.

(New)
Growth: Soul Harmony E
Magicules: 0/1.000.

Notes:

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/1 664 02:32 (Summer, Day)
The Ghoul Edgar was controlling guided the newly named Luna outside the manor and towards a nearby cave.
Upon exiting the manor they were illuminated by the rays of the Sun.
Differently from Vampires or Ancestors, neither Lunarians or Ghouls are affected by Sunlight and so they entered in a carriage led by a pair of black horses.

“The travel is around 30 minutes long.” The voice of the old Vampire escaped from the Ghoul.
“I see. Very well, I will meditate on my Mana.”

She concentrated on herself quickly finding the location of her Mana Core, a metaphysical organ that produces and stores Mana within all beings with a Soul.
She directed her will on the Mana Core, quickly taking control of said Mana.
A normal individual would have found it a simple, but lengthy process depending on their talent, but this was already the third time she did that manually and so, even if without memories, it was more instinct than anything else.
This process was rendered even easier by the fact that, because of her Unique Skill, her Mana was impossibly uniform and so it didn’t fight her or itself.
She nodded before opening her eyes to a message from the System.

*Luna gained the Innate Skill “Mana Control”

This was only the first step that she could do while in the carriage for the sake of efficiency and now it was time for the second step.
She quickly manipulated around 10 Mana within her body to strengthen it.
This process was also relatively quick thanks to the combination of her Unique Skill, her Growth Skill, her new “Mana Control” Skill until the Spell was Casted before being Dispelled.
At the 17th time this cycle was conducted, she smiled as she was now accustomed to the feeling of casting a No Attribute Sorcery as the System acknowledged soon after.

*Luna gained the Ability Skill “No Attribute Sorcery”

She Casted the same Spell again noting the difference with the support of the Skill being over 10% more effective.
She opened her eyes and asked her new acquaintance through his Ghoul.
“So, what can you tell me about the Monsters around here?”
As she asked Edgar, she started manipulating her Mana from her Mana Core to the outside of her body in a pointy shape.

“Normally this island only has Low-Ranked Monsters and not even that many. However a Red Moon literally just ended and while most of the Monster will have been killed by the few Low and Mid-Ranked Hunters on this Island, a lot will have survived, grown stronger and Evolved because of its influence. Now, what are you doing?”
He asked upon seeing her repeatedly make a pointy mass of Mana before Dispelling it and Casting it again in a slightly more pointed mass.
“I’m acquiring, reacquiring? Mana Shaping now that I have No Attribute Sorcery.”
“I see. Well, we are almost at a cave. There should be at least some Monster for you to kill and, as an insurance, this Ghoul is combat oriented so it should be able to protect you if necessary. All the same, if you see a D-Rank Monster, be extremely careful.”

She rolled her eyes while continuing to make and remake what could now be seen as a Mana Dagger.
“If you aren’t ready to risk your life, you will never be able to reach your full power. Any and every fight should be an opportunity for you to become stronger and an occasion to grow.”
A sigh escaped him at that answer and before he could properly comment on it, she briefly smiled as a perfect Mana Dagger appeared in her hand, a dagger that looked like it was made of glass.

*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Mana Shaping”

“Do you know why my previous self concentrated on these Skill for battles? Well, the reason is simple and I’m now certain of it. An higher Rank of my “Singularity” negates the sustain cost of my Spells in general and the Durability of my Mana Constructs. I have no doubt about it.”
“I see. That would certainly explain some things regarding the battle between the previous you and my Master. How precise, we have arrived.”
“As expected of me.”

She nodded to herself, a satisfied smile on her face, as she left the caravan before then entering the cave before them without hesitation nor tentative to hide in any way.
Edgar rolled his eyes in his real body while his Ghoul proceeded after the newborn Lunarian.
After a short walk she found herself before a one-meter tall figure with a green, coarse skin, a big nose, big dull yellow eyes and a twisted expression that was transporting some sticks deeper in, clad in some brown pelt.

“Hey, you vermin. As the most beautiful thing you have ever seen and the last thing you will ever see, you should be grateful, you green rat.”
At the sound it dropped most of its haul before turning towards her with a stick before jumping at her trying to hit her with said stick.
She made three steps to the side, beyond the reach of said stick, before stepping in after the swing of what she recognized as a Goblin landing a punch directly on the side of its head sending it crashing into the wall of the cave.
Before he could even fall to the ground, Luna was already on it landing a kick directly against the center of his chest to knock its breath out of him before kicking its falling head with her heel sending it crashing to the ground.
She did not hesitate, rising her left hand before punching down against its chest releasing a Mana Burst through her fist, destroying its chest and killing it in the process.
She took it by its head and forcefully bit down on its troat starting to quickly drain it of its green blood before dropping it, a bloodless carcass of skin and bones.

*Luna gained 360 Magicules

“How disgusting. Your blood tastes as foul as your worthless existence. It makes sense, after all, if your body had any worth, a plague like you would have been long since exterminated, pathetic and weak as you are.”
Having gifted her last comment upon its rests, she went forward without any hesitation.
“Did you gain any Skill?”
“No, obviously. This in not an appropriate target for me to grow against.”
“However you should have gained a considerable ammount of Magicules considering “Singularity”.”
“I suppose. If I was a normal Lunarian at E-Rank I would have gained a tenth, just 36 Magicules, while a Vampire or an Ancestor at my Rank would have gained only half of that,18.”
“Do you need to meditate on the Magicules to properly incorporate them?”
“There is no meaning in that. The stronger I am the lesser will be my growth against things like those. It’s more efficient if I incorporate them only when I have finished exterminating them.”
“What if you find yourself before a group of them? Or an higher Rank one? Or, even worst, a Mutated one, especially with a Red Moon, literally just over?”
“The group one is no problem. In the first place I fought it like that to measure its ability to think and strategize and I can only conclude that, at least at E-Rank, there is only a marginal difference in danger between 1 and 5 Goblins. Not only that, but there will be at most 7 remaining Goblins in this cave and the reason is because the Red Moon just ended.”

“Oh? Why don’t you explain more?”
She rolled her eyes, a superior expression on her face as she prepared to explain her point of view.
“Well, a Red Moon doesn’t just render Monsters stronger and more aggressive, but it also render them tireless and without any limit caused by Satiety yet it wasn’t Mutated nor Ranked Up and it was fully grown so at least one month old. Not only that, but all Monsters are born with an active Miasmic Core and so they can instinctively coat “weapons” to protect them yet it was bringing in sticks, not bones or weapons neither food. Goblins, in addition, don’t cook food because their tongue is not able to taste the difference, so the sticks are probably weapons. Consequently, there will not be any significant obstacles.”

“I see. You are bullshitting me, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean? Nothing I spoke is a lie, after all.”
“I know. However this is an excuse. You just want to fight them.”
“You do know me well, don’t you?”
An happy smile was on her face as she happily hummed, her eyes scanning the area around them.

They entered in another section finding themselves before a group of three Goblins that were communicating through grunts and gestures with no weapon or improvised ones nearby, clads in brown pelts.
She didn’t hesitate and stepped forward before calling out to them.
“Hey, wastes of space, get out of my way or die.”
Upon her taunt the three Goblins jumped in surprise before turning towards her and one of them ran at her.

She rolled her eyes before dodging the clumsy punch and responding with one of her own directly on his large nose stunning it before grabbing it by its head and throwing it towards a second Goblin that was running towards her sending them crashing towards the ground while, at the same time, she dodged the grab from the third before quickly Shaping a Mana Dagger with 20 Mana cutting it on the flank before Dispelling it.
“I see. Death it is, you wretches.”
Goblin 1 and 2 tried to stand up while getting in each other way while Goblin 3 was spilling its green blood on the floor turning again towards the Lunarian meeting one of her eyes with its own.
“How disgusting. You are not worth looking at me so die.”

Having said that she turned fully towards Goblin 3 and started to move towards it, quickly reaching it, dodged its last attempt to attack and smashing her right punch directly on its forehead with a Mana Burst killing the third Goblin first.
She quickly dropped to the ground dodging Goblin 2’s assault before kicking Goblin 1 on his chest using Mana Burst sending it flying back before rolling left dodging the second attack of Goblin 2, standing up and grabbing Goblin 2’s left arm, pulling it towards her and kneeling it in the back and launching it at Goblin 1 again, sending them crashing back to the ground.
While they were arguing again she stepped up to them and stabbed them both through their chest with a long shape of Mana, not a Mana Dagger, but a Mana Lance.
She nodded before grabbing the three dead bodies and proceeding to suck their Blood.

*Luna gained 360 Magicules
*Luna gained 360 Magicules
*Luna gained 360 Magicules

“Do you have better tasting blood in your Mansion?”
“Don’t worry. Once in the Mansion you will have it.”
“Very well. Just one left then.”

She said while regarding the Goblin that just arrived from deeper in, a 1,20 meter tall Goblin wielding a pointy stick in its right hand somewhat competently, clad in a black pelt and, the most noteworthy thing, having a third horizontal green eye on its forehead.
“I see. A Mutated D-Rank Goblin with some actual combat ability. This will be fun.”
She smiled as the two prepared to fight.

Stored Magicules 1.440

Racial: Lunarian E

Unique: Singularity E

Growth: Soul Harmony E

(New)
Ability: Mana Control E

(New)
Ability: No Attribute Sorcery E

Spells:
Stats Enhancement

Mana Burst

(New)
Ability: Mana Shaping E

Spells:
Mana Shape: Dagger

Mana Shape: Lance

Notes:

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/1 664 03:19 (Summer, Day)
The battle started without any hesitation from either of the two individuals.
Luna dodged a thrust from the stick and tried to slash it with a Mana Dagger that was dodged too before the two separated.
After a brief moment in which the two observed each other the battle restarted with Luna moving in slashing at it being blocked by the stick before punching its stick with a Mana Burst unbalancing it and being able to slash it.
Or at least she would have been if he didn’t forcefully step back dodging her slash and regaining its balance.

The two started circling each other, stick in two green hands wielded as a spear and the other two pale hands half open ready to be either a fist or to wield Mana Daggers.
The two of them had similar physical stats after all while Goblin are weak for their Rank and Lunarians are strong for their own, a difference of one Rank is more than enough to equalize things especially if the Goblin has gained both an Ability and an Innate Skill.
Its Third Eye was constantly monitoring its opponent's physical condition trying to predict her and the flow of combat while she was concentrating not on her opponent or the terrain around them, but only on herself and her own movements, refining them little by little.

Instantly she stepped forward her left arm forming not a Mana Dagger, but a Mana Lance closing the two meter distance between the two and threatening to impale it right here and now if not for the Goblin mostly evading the attack except for a scratch before responding with a thrust from the stick that she didn’t evade, but that instead she took in her right hand clenching it still before slashing it with her left hand now armed with a Mana Dagger across the chest the two separating again with her wound quickly healing as the two restarted to circle each other.
However, this time, it was the Goblin that started the attack thrusting with its spear before quickly rotating it to gain distance while stepping in before suddenly thrusting not at her chest, but at her knees forcing her to move sideways before trying to smack her with its stick, stick that was forcibly stopped with her hands to then kick the Goblin straight in the chest sending it away.
Before it could react it found itself having to drop to the ground to dodge a Mana Dagger thrown by Luna and rolling to the side dodging a stomp from her and rising while spinning the stick to make space around it.

She nodded to herself, a happy smile on her face, as the two continued their battle.
A thrust was dodged and so was the answering slash, a punch from Luna was blocked and the answering strike was evaded.
The two separated for an instant before she restarted the battle with a thrust from her Mana Lance held in her left hand that was dodged before her right hand swung in with a Mana Dagger that was dodged too before, instead of a Lance that covered most of her forearm, a long transparent spear was in her left hand thrusting not at the Goblin, but at its “spear” unbalancing it before kicking it straight in its chest sending it flying away.

She nodded the Mana weapons already Dispelled as she concentrated and she Casted another Mana Spear in her hand before swinging it around her briefly, a satisfied smile on her face.
The battle restarted again with a meeting between two spears, one consistent of a stick and one made entairily out of Mana.
The Ghoul controlled by Edgar was observing the battle and the nearby area to make sure they wouldn’t be ambushed while Edgar himself was thinking about the battle.
'She maximized Durability in exchange for attack Potency. Why? Why is she bothering to fight like this? She could just maximize Attack Power while Casting Stats Enhancement at full Power to instantly kill that Goblin. Why doesn’t she? Ah, I see. “Any and every fight should be an opportunity for you to become stronger and an occasion to grow.” How insane. Even if the Goblin has more skill with a spear for now and has a Third Eye specifically for melee combat, Luna is becoming better with a spear and growing faster that it can adapt to.'

As the thought passed his mind something changed.
Luna nodded to herself and Dispelled her Spear having learned all that she could about it from her temporary opponent before Casting a Mana Dagger with the same maximized Durability and restarting the battle again.
This time the fight was much shorter as Luna’s growth and adaptation was substantially faster and even through the Goblin was becoming better it didn’t matter.
The fight become even more one sided to the Lunarian’s favor as she proceeded to close her eyes while continuing the fight, her Health, Stamina and Mana already fully recovered even if her Satiety was starting to decrease before being refilled by converting Health into it.

She already memorized the area around her, her own weapon and physical characteristics, her opponent’s weapon and her opponent itself, both its physical characteristics, its reaction speed, its skill with a Spear and how it would behave when threatened.
There was no more threat, it was only a vehicle for her own growth.
Quickly she adapted to fight her opponent, her own slashes parrying away its own stabs and attacks while landing on it her own before Dispelling her Mana Dagger and deciding to end the fight, having learned all that she could.

She forcefully made space between them by opening her eyes and Shaping a mass of Mana in a transparent blade as long as she was tall to cut the area between them and making a spear in her right hand before moving in with a violent yet precise stab straight towards its heart.
Its eyes widened as it moved its own spear to block the attack.
However, differently from all other attacks launched in this fight, this attack could not be stopped with just that.
“Heavy Thrust.” As this words escaped from Luna’s mouth and her Satiety decreased, her Mana Spear flashed red and pierced through its Stick destroying it in the process and opening it up to a Slash from the Mana Dagger in her left hand.
“Heavy Slash.” Her Dagger flashed the same red as her Satiety decreased further and she slashed it through the fur around it and cutting it deeply, its blood erupting and staining the area around it.
It would have stained Luna if only she would not have made distance between them, what now was a transparent Bow in her right hand with a, transparent too, nocked Arrow direct towards its face; Arrow that was now launched and pierced straight through its third eye, killing it.

She nodded satisfied before jogging to her new meal and sucking its blood, even with its horrible taste.
The blood on the ground moved towards her as she devoured it all.

*Luna gained 465 Magicules
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Spear Technique”
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Knife Technique”
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Bow Technique”
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Unharmed Technique”

She had an happy smile on her face as she opened and closed her hands, feeling the difference from before.
“This is great. Very well, are there any more Goblin nearby?”
“No. That one was the last nearby. Let’s turn back to the Manor. You would certainly want to consolidate your gains.”
“I suppose so. Let’s go. I doubt there is anything of worth down here.”
The two moved on and at the exit of the cave the Ghoul rose its right arm generating a red Magic Circle.
“Corpse Cremation.”
Having said that, the circle greedily drank power from the Ghoul before releasing a wave of flames that could only burn corpses, while being quite efficient at doing that, one of Edgar’s own creation.
The two returned to the carriage and then Edgar’s Manor.

Once there Luna reached Edgar that was waiting in his hidden laboratory holding in his hand a sphere a centimeter long of a iridescent metal in his hand.
“This is Orichalcum, a special metal.”
“I see. Tell me, why will you die?”
“A party, called Iriblades, hunted down my Master and all of his Servants starting from about 3 years ago. I'm the last and this is my last safehouse.”
He took a photo from one of his pocket and showed her.

In that photo there was a group of five individuals.
The central one was a black haired, black eyed, fair skinned Human man of about 19 years, an armor made mostly of white and gold armor with blue accents and wielding a sword with a blade made entirely of light with a gem of iridescent metal at the center, smiling at the camera.
At his right a short brown-haired Dwarf woman that looked the same age, an heavy armor on her and an Hammer made entirely out of rock with red cracks that shined slightly with a band made of the same iridescent metal, smiling exasperatedly.
At his left was a tall 18 years old pale Human woman wearing blue witch’s clothes wielding a long dark wooden staff with a crystal made of iridescent metal, a smug smile on her face.
Behind and between the Human male and the Dwarf was a tall, blonde, 20-something years old male Elf with a clerics uniform, a short Healer’s staff made of a light wood with an iridescent band.

Finally, at the left of the witch, almost outside the picture, was a red-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, 190 centimeters tall Half-Elf that looked in her early twenties, with a Ranger’s attire and a long wooden bow with various gems made of iridescent metal on the branches with a white string, a pissed off expression on her face; she felt important, but Luna had no idea how or why.
“Why is it that they are hunting you down? Do you want my Blood? Do you want me to kill them?”
“To the second question, no. After all, they are finding me through my Blood and if I take in your Blood they will find you through me for an increase in power that will not be enough for me to win without a doubt. I have no interest in vengeance or things like that, I care much more for my research. And regarding the reason… Well, I really have no idea. There are many reasons why a Vampire could be hunted and I have no idea for theirs. It’s time to consolidate your Magicules, isn’t it?”
“How rare are red hair and blue eyes on an Half-Elf?”
“Around a tenth of all Half-Elf have both naturally so it doesn’t tell us anything in particular.”
“I suppose.”
Having said that Luna sit down starting to meditate quickly reaching her own Soul, finding herself before the two her, a slight mist of Magicules flowing around her.
Instead of moving deeper in, she moved towards the outside looking not at them, but at various crystals shaped like a bow and arrow, a dagger, a spear, a mirror, an orb and a sphere made of mist, her own Ability Skills.
She nodded before moving back towards her own Inner Soul taking control of the Magicules flowing around her Soul and directing it towards her own Skills.
Her own Singularity Skill gained 1.000 Magicules reaching its limit for now, While both Lunarian and Soul Harmony gained 100 each, because giving more than that would be a waste for now.
The change in power felt great as she smiled to herself, her fangs peeking out from her lips and her pupil-less eyes observing her hands opening and closing.

Stored Magicules 705

Racial: Lunarian E
Magicules: 100/1.000.

Unique: Singularity E
Magicules: 1.000/1.000.

Growth: Soul Harmony E
Magicules: 100/1.000.

Ability: Mana Control E

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery E

Ability: Mana Shaping E

(New)
Ability: Spear Technique E

(New)
Ability: Knife Technique E

(New)
Ability: Bow Technique E

(New)
Ability: Unharmed Technique E

Spells/Technique/Crafting
Stats Enhancement
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery

Mana Burst
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery

Mana Shape: Dagger
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Knife_Technique

Mana Shape: Lance
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Spear_Technique

(New) Mana Shape: Spear
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Spear_Technique

(New) Mana Shape: Greatsword
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery

(New) Mana Shape: Bow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Bow_Technique

(New) Mana Shape: Arrow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Bow_Technique

(New) Heavy Thrust
#Spear_Technique

(New) Heavy Slash
#Knife_Technique

Notes:

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/1 664 04:50 (Summer, Day)
She was just done consolidating and thinking about it when Edgar caught her attention.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but there is another matter to discuss.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“Well, I have some informations to give you. The Growth Skill I have teached you, “Soul Harmony”, can only be used by someone with an active Unique Skill so if you want to teach it to someone be sure that they have one. I have two additional matters to discuss that should be related. Another is your new Casting Aid and the Growth Skill “Unique Arma” that I will teach you.”
“Not your own Growth Skill, is it?”
“It is not. This is a Skill that we copied from the Iriblades. It normally uses a lot of Orichalcum, but I learned how to substitute most of the Orichalcum with a lot of the blood of the User.”
“It seems like Orichalcum is not as rare as I thought.”
“No, it is. Natural Orichalcum is incredibly rare, but that party started to sell small quantity of it every other month. I think their blacksmith is able to refine or increases Orichalcum from other materials.”
“And they are free to Hunt down a Vampire and all of its subordinate instead of being chained somewhere?”
“They only started officially selling it around one year and a half ago and by that time they had already made a lot of friends. While the leader” he indicated the central one “and the Half-Elf have no particular background or protection, they are very talented. Additionally, the Elf has a lot of allies in high places in various Churches and both the Witch and the Dwarf are nobles, even if not in too high positions. Additionally, by that time, all of them were famous and looked up to by the general population of their country rendering them well protected from the less scrupolous nobles.”

“I see. How did you find out about this Growth Skill?”
“Well, you know how it is. If someone has a lot of trusted friends, some of these may have different friends that they trust themselves and so on.”
“Very well, when could you start to make this Unique Arma?”
“I’m sorry to say, but I can’t make your Unique Arma. I can help you, but you would need to make it personally.”
“I see. I have no idea how to make it.” She said proudly.
He sighed, a sweat drop flowing from his forehead.
I suppose this is what it feels like to speak with a newborn God.
“Very well… I suppose I will teach it to you too. It’s technically easy to make it, you just need to have an Ability Skill regarding Crafting of D-Rank or higher.”
“So do they all have a Crafting Skill of that Rank?”
“I don’t believe so. With enough Orichalcum, you don’t need to personally make it, and a drop of blood should be enough. However, this is terribly inefficient regarding it’s use of Orichalcum.”
“I see… Yes, I suppose so. Well, after you give me the blood you promised me, you may teach me a Crafting Skill.”
“Very well, while I guide you towards the forge in one of this manor’s basements, one of my Ghoul will bring you much tastier blood, even if I doubt you will gain anything, but taste from it.”
“It’s fine, I want it only because of the taste anyway.”

7/1 664 05:41 (Summer, Day)
Having drunk a glass of blood, sighing slightly in pleasure at the taste, Luna refocused on Edgar gesturing for him to continue.
“The Crafting Skill I want to teach you and that you would use for your Unique Skill is the Ability Skill “Mana Forging””
“I see. Does the Crafting Skill impact it?”
“Not at all. The Crafting Skill is irrelevant to the final product. Mana Forging would be useful to you regarding also Mana Shaping.”
“Very well, let’s begin. Teach me.”
“Mana Forging is the Skill to apply Mana to objects to Cast Spells through them. In your case, at an high enough Rank, you should be able to automatically use it with Mana Shaping to make more efficient and stronger weapons.”
“How strange. The previous me had no idea about how to use such a Skill…” A pout was on her face as she thought about that.
“That is only natural, to use it with the Skill at E-Rank or lower you need a specific and costly Magical Item. Well, let’s begin.”

Edgar brought her towards a great Magical Item.
It was pratically a separated room by itself, three meters tall and a good four meters both in width and in depth with a door opening to a comfortable seat in the center.
“So, how does it work?”
“Well, this Magic Item is, in reality, a mix between a Creative Focus and a Disenchanter. You’d need to Mana Forge an object with a Spell, the object will be Disenchanted, and you will Mana Forge it again until you gain a D-Rank in Mana Forging. This one” he touched the machine “will render Mana Forging much easier and efficient until you gain the Skill. Our objective, for now, is for you to gain the Skill as soon as possible.”
“I see… It seems like my first D-Rank Skill will be Mana Forging. Well, let’s begin.”

She nodded to herself before entering the Mana Forge and sitting comfortably on her new chair.
Once there she watched the room noting how in the room there was a metal arm holding carefully a staff before handing it to her.
She held it softly with one hand, the other going to the opposite space for it, connecting with a, mostly empty, well of Mana.
She enveloped the staff with her own Mana concentrating on a specific Spell, Stat Enhancement, and the Forge helped to direct her Mana until, 25 Mana and as many minutes later, the Staff was properly Mana Forged thanks to the fact that the Mana was forcibly held within the staff.
She could not even stop to admire her new creation before the arm reacted to it and moved the staff to the Disenchanting portion of this room where it passed the staff to a machine that drained the staff’s Enchantment and converted it to Mana that was then flowing towards the Mana Well within the Machine before, 5 minutes later, the staff was offered to her again, she nodded to herself full of determination.

7/1 664 08:37 (Summer, Day)
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Mana Forging”

She smiled exhausted as she noted her new Skill that she gained after her fifth success.
Much faster thanks to the machine that negated any chance of failure in the Mana Forging and her own Mana Control that lowered the minimum required Mana to 25, having spent a massive 125 Mana.
She didn’t hesitate, she sat up, went to the door and left the machine, finding herself before a Ghoul waiting for her.
“I need a pause” she told the Ghoul, “I have low Mana and I am liable to kill something if I need to enhance the same thing another time.”
After a pause, the Ghoul’s bearing changed and Edgar’s voice rang out.
“I see. It is still day so if you want to leave I would need to send you with one of my Ghouls to function as a guide or you can come in my library if you want to.”

She pouted before nodding to the second option.
“Very well, I’m coming there.”
“Okay, the Ghoul will-”
“There is no need for that, I will reach you alone.”
Before he could comment further, she left the room in search of his library.

A good 40 minutes later, Luna found herself before the amused Vampire in his library looking at his, for now, books.
“Quite the collections of book here.”
“After all this is my favorite room except for the laboratory and, as such, is only less than two minutes away from it.”
An amused chuckle almost escaped him, but he was more than able to suppress it.
He lived more than two centuries, such a feat was not hard for him.
Luna meanwhile showed no outward signs of any embarrassment at having needed various Ghouls to search her and bring her here from the opposite side of the manor.
Edgar was taking entire bookcases and moving them towards a ring that quickly absorbed them.

“I reached Mana Forging E-Rank, so I am taking a pause. Entertain me.”
A sigh escaped his mouth at this before he focused on the young, bored Lunarian.
“Before that, may I ask you a question?” At her nod, he continued. “How much information do you actually know? A newly Rebirthed Vampire normally can barely talk or move at first, yet you…”
“I see. I’m probably the most knowledgeable being in the World technically. I just cannot access most of the information from my sources.”
“Oh? What sources? Now I am genuinely curios.”
“I have three sources: the previous me, all of the creatures whose blood I have drunk from my Rebirth to now and the Moon.”
“I’m sorry… did you… did you just say the Moon?”
“Yes. One of my sources is the Moon. It’s a giant… library? Well, it knows a lot of stuff. So much so that it is too much and so all of my knowledge is purely subconscious, for now at least.”
“I see… well, what do you want to learn?”

“Well, let’s start with… ” After a long pause during which Edgar restarted to push bookcases in the ring, she nodded. “Red Moons and Blood Moons.”
“Very well. I already told you that during a Red and Blood Moon the Monsters are tireless. Monsters whose Racial Rank increases during a Red Moon, gain a new Unrelated Innate Skill, always. Instead, during a Blood one all Monsters gain an Unreleated Innate Skill and if their Racial Rank increses they gain another one and they grow, in general, much faster. Monsters with an Unrelated Innate Skill of D-Rank or more, can Evolve in a superior variant. Or at least that is what I was told by my previous Master, who himself wasn’t alive during the last one.”
Luna, while Edgar was explaining, Shaped a Mana Dagger and cut her own palm, carefully not to shed her own blood while still taking damage before nodding to herself.
The next step was obvious, she converted her own Hunger in to Health to instantly regain it before converting Health in Satiety and continuing this circle of conversion until, 5 minutes later…

*Luna gained the Innate Skill “Regeneration”
*Luna gained the Innate Skill “Blood Gift”

She smiled, condensing her Magicules while listening to Edgar continuing to explain.

7/1 664 23:59 (Summer, Sunrise)
It was the moment before the end of her first day as a Lunarian when all living being on the planet received a message.

*Emergency Alert
*The Limits upon all living being on Gaea will be loosened.
*All statuses will be updated.
*Total Magicules will now influence their Owner.

Total Magicules 1905 (IV)
Stored Magicules 505

Racial: Lunarian E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
A superior existence alien to the world of Gaea, a fleeting dream made real by the blessing of the Blood Moon and her own nature as a natural Singularity.
The owner has no need for breathing and this body will not be affected by time, and the owner’s body will find it easy to store and use their Vital Energy, that will slowly regenerate automaticaly.
The owner can see in the dark perfectly, will never forget anything they experienced personally, with the addition of the knowledge obtained from the Moon’s database even if at this Rank, this knowledge is mostly subconscious.
The owner will have increased resistance to both Dark and Curse Attributes, with a slight weakness to Light and Holy Attributes and a natural resistance and vulnerability to Bloodloss derived by the fact that they are able to store up to 100 leters of blood in their shadows and the ability to convert it in Vital Energy and the conversion of it in Magicules.
The owner will also, normally, have an increase to their affinity to both Dark and Curse Attributes, however, this time, because of the owner’s Unique Skill, will instead be towards non-elemental affinity.
Finally if the sucking of Blood kills or the victim has died shortly before, the Soul of the victim is stored within the owner’s of this Skill’s, even if at this Rank it has no particular effect beyond the addition of their knowledge to the Moon’s database.

Unique: Singularity E
Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)
A Skill that denotes the nature of the owner’s Soul being a black hole in which nothing will ever escape.
The owner of such a Soul cannot use any elemental magic of any type.
However magic that doesn’t depend on any element will be vastly enhanced and so will be the ease in the control of Mana and energy in general and the efficiency and speed of any energetic conversion and transfer.
Additionally limits on magical affinity, Mana control and conversion efficiency will be nullified.
The final effect at this Rank will be that the increases in an elemental affinity will, instead, increases non-elemental affinity.

Growth: Soul Harmony E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
This Skill denotes that the owner’s Soul is moving towards harmony guided by their Unique Skill, their Soul being strenghtened by this process and increased ease of use of the owner’s energy in general and both their growth speed and their potential.
Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules equal to the total Rank of all their other Skills.

(New)
Innate: Regeneration E
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
This Skill denotes that the owner is able to passively and automatically generate and heal themselves using Vital Energy.
In this case, however, this Skill function as an enhancement towards the healing caused by the nature of the owner as a Lunarian.

(New)
Innate: Blood Gift E
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
This Skill notes the owner’s affinity with Blood, healing and Vital Energy in general by allowing it to convert the first in the latter.
However, this function as an enhancement to this process if, like in this case, the owner can already do such.
Finally, if the previous situation is true, it allows the transfer of Vital Energy to heal others by allowing them to drink the User’s Blood at a reduced efficiency, except in this case because of the owner’s Unique Skill and so the efficiency isn’t lowered.

Ability: Mana Control E
This Skill enhance the efficiency and ease with which the owner can activate their own Mana Core and the control they have on their Mana.
Additionally this Skill will slightly increase their Mana capacity.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery E
This Skill denotes the ease and ability with which the owner uses No Attribute Sorcery increasing the owner non-elemental affinity and the Power of No Attribute Sorceries.
No Attribute Sorcery is based upon the use of Mana untainted by any attribute within the owner’s body and without any chant, magical circle or other similar ways based entirely on the owner’s willpower.

Ability: Mana Shaping E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner to shape Mana outside their body throught willpower alone.
This Skill enhance additionally the Power of the owner’s Shapes and the control of their Mana.
The process by which Mana Shapes are made depends on the owner’s control of their Mana, this Skill and the Skill and magical affinity in a type of sorcery from which the shape is formed dealing damage based on it.
In this case, however, the Mana efficiency derived by the owner’s Unique Skill “Singularity” is such that all Mana Shape are transparent except for their outline.

Ability: Spear Technique E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner with a spear or similar armaments and increases the Power of Techniques used with a spear.

Ability: Knife Technique E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner with a knife or similar armaments and increases the Power of Techniques used with a knife.

Ability: Bow Technique E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner with a bow or similar armaments and increases the Power of Techniques used with a bow and an arrow as projectile.

Ability: Unharmed Technique E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner without the use of a weapon or with only fist-type weapons and increases the Power of Techniques used with their own body.

(New)
Ability: Mana Forging E
This Skill denotes the owner’s ability to actualize the process to enhance something, using the owner’s own Mana as a medium, with a Spell.

Spells/Technique/Crafting
Stats Enhancement
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
Increases the owner’s physical body by using Mana as fuel.

Mana Burst
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
Release a burst of Mana from the user’s body.
Size and strenght of it depends on the Mana used as fuel.

Mana Shape: Dagger
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates a dagger made of Mana and its durability and sharpness depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Mana Shape: Lance
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates a lance made of Mana and its durability and sharpness depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Mana Shape: Spear
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates a spear made of Mana and its durability and sharpness depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Mana Shape: Greatsword
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates a greatsword made of Mana and its durability, sharpness and weight depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Mana Shape: Bow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates a bow made of Mana and its durability depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.
Additionally, this bow can be used as a medium throught which to cast Arrow-type Spells to enhance and to use bow techniques throught them.

Mana Shape: Arrow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery
The user creates an arrow made of Mana and its sharpness depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Heavy Thrust
A technique to imbue Vital Energy to enhance a thrust.
It’s more effective with an heavy weapon.

Heavy Slash
A technique to imbue Vital Energy to enhance a slash.
It’s more effective with an heavy weapon.

(New) Mana Forge: Stats Enhancement
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Mana_Forging
This Enhancement has the simple function to increases all the basic attributes of an object, physical and magical caratteristics.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity
A process to convert 100 leters of Blood in Magicules, the number of which depends on the owner of said blood.
The ammount of Magicules gained is equal to 100 plus the total ammount of Magicules the former owner absorbed.
This process is 1 hour long every 100 leters of Blood to convert them, with a 10% conversion efficiency, however with the combination of Unique Skill “Singularity”, the time is instantaneous and the efficiency is of 100%, however this process kills the victim without a doubt.

#Soul_Harmony
A process to automatically gain Magicules equal to the sum total of all other Skills the owner possess depending on their Rank.
E=1; D=3; C=5; B=7; A=10.
At the moment the Owner possess 12 E-Rank Skills other than Soul Harmony and so, every day, the owner will gain 12 Magicules.

Notes:

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/3 664 16:29 (Summer, Night)
*Luna gained 12 Magicules
*Luna gained 12 Magicules

It was two days later.
She already mastered the change in the rules that she lived throught.
It was, after all, only natural for her to easily master herself.
The funny thing is that, even with the loss of the stats, she was actually stronger than before.
However, the more important thing was that, after her circle of Mana Forging, Recovery of Mana while studying and training both her Regeneration and Blood Gift, training with her various combat Skills, drinking tasty blood to recover faster and Mana forging again, it finally happened.

*Luna’s Ability Skill “Mana Control” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Mana Forging” Ranked Up to D

It was finally time to start in earnest.
Before such, however, she needed to Cast a Spell in specific and so she went to the inner garden of the Mansion.
She Casted a Mana Shape: Bow and then a Mana Shape: Arrow.
She prepared to fire it, but before that, she used her new D-Rank Skill, Mana Forge on the Arrow with, not the No Attribute Sorcery Stat Enhancement, but the No Attribute Sorcery Mana Burst.
The result was an Arrow that, once within a target, released a burst of Mana, destroying it.

She went back to the Vampire who had a complicated expression on his face, asking for the next step for the creation of her own Unique Arma.
“Very well. Let’s get you started for it right away.”
Having said that, Edgar guided her back towards the hidden laboratory to an empty bowl.
He then took a sphere of Orichalcum with a 1 cm radius out of his Dimensional Ring and indicated her to near it.
“The next step is simple. You need to personally activate this Magic Item with your own Mana and keep it active as long as you can. It will consume i every second and it will be completed when it will have absorbed 250.000% of your total Mana. Additionally, you will need to fill this bowl with your blood at the start of every session and it will need to be higher that this ammount. At least, that was the situation before the change in rules.” He indicated towards the line that marked the minimum ammount of blood.
Her expression, that became more and more deadpan as the explanation proceeded, showed what she thought about it.
“Is it really worth it? Because, frankly, I doubt it can be worth the effort.”
“Well, it is the minimum ammount of Orichalcum you can use and so it is the maximum difficulty, but I suppose if it is too difficult for you…”
“You can not manipulate me so easily. The challenge is not my problem with this procedure, my problem is if all of this is worth the ammount of time it will consume when I could simply train and hunt down enemies to kill and grow stronger.”
“I’m sorry to say, but it is. It will give you a perfect armament that will grow stronger with you for the rest of your life.”
“Fine, whatever. Let’s start already.”

She neared the bowl before he placed the sphere of Orichalcum in the center of the bowl and so she cut her palm causing her blood to slowly fill it.
Upon this, Edgar jumped back, covering his nose and eyes and turning his back to her, leaving the room and leaving a Ghoul behind to speak with her in his stead.
She rolled her eyes before, once enough blood mixed with her own Vital Energy was accumulated in the bowl, starting to power it with her own Mana, the crimson liquid starting to slowly boil and concentrating, needing to continue filling it as the power agonizingly slowly condensed within the Orichalcum.
It was terribly boring work.
Finally, after a little more than two minutes, she ran empty of Mana and so the first session concluded, with the remaining blood slowly evaporating in a red mist.
She sighed exhausted.

7/10 11:39 (Summer, Day)
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules
*Luna gained 16 Magicules

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Regeneration” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Blood Gift” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Ability Skill “No Attribute Sorcery” Ranked Up to D

It was a good seven days later, but finally she succeeded.
After seven days of expending all of her own Mana, regaining it while studying as much as she could with Edgar’s help and finally expending her Mana all over again, she was done.
And her prize was now before her, a small pearl two centimeters of radius, that looked now like a sphere made of liquid darkness that was somehow perfectly solid.
She took it and looked through it finding it to be, somehow, transparent in the right angle while from another being like an hole on reality.
She smiled before opening her mouth and swallowing it whole.

*Luna gained the Growth Skill “Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity”

Her smile, growing even further at this message, exploded in laughter as she freely expressed her relief at being finally done.
She was finally done!
After a whole 7 minutes of laugher, she finally stopped.
“I’m not doing something like that ever again. At least not for months.”
“Well, you certainly shouldn’t need to anytime soon, but just in case…”
Without any hesitation he took the bowl and inserted it in the ring too before, after thinking about it a while, inserting most of the room in along with it.
A sigh escaped her as she decided to activate her new Skill, forming a glove covering her right hand.
This glove was principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.

“Quite small to be armor, isn’t it?”
“Well, after all, it grows with both its own Skill Rank and your Unique Skill Rank, so… it will grow, I suppose. At E-Rank the effect is passive and always active, but at higher Ranks it will need to be active. At even higher Ranks, it will have a further transformation to activate.”
He indicated towards his own Unique Arma, a pair of glasses with the lenses made of a small layer of Orichalcum and a frame composed of a dark and opaque material.
“Well, I will see in the future, now… I waited way too much, it’s time to kill something.”
Edgar sighed before smiling wryly.
“I suppose so. Thanks for your patience.”
At this words a smug smile was on her face.
He sighed before nodding towards a nearby Ghoul who started guiding her towards the previous carriage.

7/10 12:30 (Summer, Day)
They found themselves before the cave they already explored finding only a couple of Goblins at E-Rank there comunicating between themselves.
She didn’t hesitate to end the fight before it could even begin.
“Hard Strike”
Before they could even react she moved and punched one of them straight in their back, her hand coated in red energy, releasing a Mana Burst and knocking it outside of the fight for the foreseeable future instantly before, a Mana Bow Forged with Stats Enhancement in her right hand clad in her Unique Armament and a Mana Arrow Mana Forged with Mana Burst her left hand, she turned towards the other Goblin, before releasing her Arrow, itself clad in red energy.
“Fast Shot.”
The Goblin could not even react before being hit by her Arrow, the explosion destroying its head and leaving it to slowly regenerate.
She took the now headless Goblin and thrusted her fangs in its neck drawing in its blood and its Soul before doing the same with the other one.

*Luna gained 103 Magicules
*Luna gained 103 Magicules

And finally she gained another Innate Skill.

*Luna gained the Innate Skill “Vampirism”

The next step was even simpler.
100 Magicules condensed in her new Innate Skill increasing her power even more and the Goblin that was trying to sneak attack her was stabbed in its heart with a Mana Sword in her left hand, before the weapon was Dispelled and a second Mana Sword in her right hand was swung, severing the top of its head to then bringing its neck towards herself and finally killing it too.

*Luna gained 103 + 1 Magicules

*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Sword Technique”

She smiled before moving on, there were no more Goblins in the area and so she moved back towards the carriage, the Goblin’s corpses being burned behind her.
“The ammount of magicules I gained is even lower than before and, even if only slightly, they are actually stonger, even if it doesn’t seem like it considering so am I... Hm, what is the next place?”
“…In this Island, the Miasma is particularly scarce, so there is a low number of Monsters and their Rank is in average low. Not only that, but before and after Red Moons, Monsters are hunted as much as possible to render the place the safest it can be. Most Monsters, 10 days after a Red Moon are extinct only to be reborn from Miasma at a basic level, later. But there should be a Monster that would function as a proper challenge for you. A challenge that could kill you even if you are carefull.”
“Hoh? Now I am interested. What is it?”
“It originally was a Mad Bear at E-Rank that increased in Rank during this Red Moon gaining a defensive Innate Skill. It additionally Evolved recently.”
“I see. What is it’s Rank, D or C?”
“D-Rank, for now at least. If it was actually an active threat an emergency Hunt would be called to subjugate it. However, with the fact that the rules changed, its power may be too much for you.”
“Hoh? Now, I am curious. The new rules render everything easier, both in direct power and in growth speed, both throught training and living. The fact that in ten 10 days, it was able to reach from a new D-Rank to almost C-Rank is already impressive. However, they also render everything less bound from the rules of Rank.”

Silence stretched between them before, with a sigh, he continued, his eyes closed, as they started the journey towards her new target.
“I want you to be D-Rank before you leave the Island.”
“Makes sense. What is my next destination once I leave?”
“I must know nothing about it. Do not tell me nor anyone else within this island. You just need to choose a Port that isn’t in the nation of Astrar. That is the nation where the Iriblades are now. I will give you a magical item to hide your presence and you will take a boat that would go in a port there, the moment travels throught seas will restart.”
“I see. Very well. I will choose my next step alone in my room once we are done here.”

-
7/10 15:13 (Summer, Sunset)
As the Sun was slowly falling behind the horizon, Luna found herself before her target, a beast that, as they already knew, was not a Mad Bear anymore, but was instead a type of four-legger Drake covered in dark brown scales, without any horns nor wings, that surpassed three meters in height at the shoulder, two meters and a half in width and a length of over five meters.
Even with it being with four paws on the ground, it was almost double her own height with her needing to look up to meet its eyes.
As she beholded her first real opponent, she smiled, a savage glint in her eyes as she opened and closed her hands ready to at any moment start Shaping a weapon.
The two beings that enjoyed the blessing of a Red Moon within the small island were preparing to start the battle of their lifes up to this point.
As laugher escaped the Lunarian, her right hand clad by her own Unique Arma and transparent shapes materializing within it, and the mouth of the Earth Drake started glowing of a red light, magma cooling in lava starting to fall, drop by drop, from its mouth as it roared in challenge; the two started their fight, an almost solid sphere of lava meeting in the middle of the twenty five meters between them with a Mana Arrow enchanted with Mana Burst, the two projectile exploding, as the two were running in to kill and devour their opponent.

Total Magicules 2340 (IV)
Stored Magicules 828

(New)
Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity E
#Singularity
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
A person is considered such if they have an Unique Skill, whether it is active or not.
This is nothing, but the use of Orichalcum to manifest it in a physical form able to be wielded only by its owner.
This particular Unique Arma is derived by the Unique Skill “Singularity” and, as such, is extremely efficient to convert, transfer and amplify Energy in general, whether it is Mana, Vital Energy or other types.
This armament is able to strenghten both its owner’s existence and their Spell, Technique and Crafting by increasing the ammount of Energy in them without actually using any automatically.
Additionally, this Skill increases the quantity and the recovery speed of Energy of the owner, depending on the Unique Skill “Singularity”’s Rank.
This Skill manifests for the moment as a glove principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.
At this Rank, there is no difference between it being manifested or not.
Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules depending on this and the corresponding’s Unique Skill Ranks.

Innate: Regeneration E -> D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)
This Skill denotes that the owner is able to passively and automatically generate and heal themselves using Vital Energy.
In this case, however, this Skill function as an enhancement towards the healing caused by the nature of the owner as a Lunarian.
(New) At D-Rank this Skill also further increases the well of Vital Energy and Mana of the owner.

Innate: Blood Gift E -> D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)
This Skill notes the owner’s affinity with Blood, healing and Vital Energy in general by allowing it to convert the first in the latter.
However, this function as an enhancement to this process if, like in this case, the owner can already do such.
Finally, if the previous situation is true, it allows the transfer of Vital Energy to heal others by allowing them to drink the User’s Blood at a reduced efficiency, except in this case because of the owner’s Unique Skill and so the efficiency isn’t lowered.
(New) At D-Rank this Skill further increases the speed at which Mana and Vital Energy are generated in the owner.

(New)
Innate: Vampirism E
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/1k (III)
A Skill that denotes someone’s thirst for blood, both biologically and mentally.
In someone who is not naturally vampiric, this Skill allows them to gain sustenance and some Magicules from Blood.
However, in a natural vampiric being, it enhances the effects of said process slightly and further increases the owner’s Vital Energy and Mana Well.
Additionally, in either cases, it allows the ability to sense Blood nearby.

Ability: Mana Control E -> D
This Skill enhance the efficiency and ease with which the owner can activate their own Mana Core and the control they have on their Mana.
Additionally this Skill will slightly increase their Mana capacity.
At D-Rank this Skill further increases the speed of the recovery of the owner’s Mana.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery E -> D
This Skill denotes the ease and ability with which the owner uses No Attribute Sorcery increasing the owner non-elemental affinity and the Power of No Attribute Sorceries.
No Attribute Sorcery is based upon the use of Mana untainted by any attribute within the owner’s body and without any chant, magical circle or other similar ways based entirely on the owner’s willpower.
(New) At D-Rank this Skill increases the use with which the owner can manipolate Mana.

Ability: Mana Shaping E

Ability: Spear Technique E

Ability: Knife Technique E

Ability: Bow Technique E

Ability: Unharmed Technique E

Ability: Mana Forging E -> D
(New) At D-Rank this Skill increases the passive generation of the Mana of the owner and greatly reduce the time needed to activate this Skill with the same ammount of Mana.

(New)
Ability: Sword Technique E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner with a knife or similar armaments and increases the Power of Techniques used with a sword.

Spells/Technique/Crafting
Stats Enhancement
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Burst
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Dagger
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Lance
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Spear
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Greatsword
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Bow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Mana Shape: Arrow
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma

Heavy Thrust

Heavy Slash

Mana Forge: Stats Enhancement
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Mana_Forging #Unique_Arma

(New) Mana Forge: Mana Burst (No Attribute Sorcery)
#Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Mana_Forging #Unique_Arma
This Enhancement has a simple, but powefull function even if in most cases it is quite useless.
This function is to destroying itself to produce a powefull explosion of Mana.

(New) Heavy Strike
A technique to imbue Vital Energy to enhance a strike.
It’s more effective with an heavy weapon.

(New) Fast Shot
#Bow_Technique
A technique to imbue Vital Energy to enhance a projectile.
It doesn’t enhance its power directly, but it enhances mainly its speed.

(New) Mana Shape: Sword
#Mana_Shaping #Mana_Control #Singularity #No_Attribute_Sorcery #Unique_Arma
The user creates a sword made of Mana and its durability and sharpness depends on the Mana used and the user’s Mana control.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
(New) Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 101%.

#Soul_Harmony
25 Magicules a day.

(New)
#Unique_Arma #Singularity
A process to automatically gain Magicules every day equal to the value of Unique Arma’s and Singularity’s Rank.
E=100; D=300; C=500; B=700; A=1k
At the moment Unique Arma and Singularity are at E-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 200 Magicules.

Notes:

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/10 15:14 (Summer, Sunset)
The two didn’t hesitate.
A swing of a Mana Sword enhanced with Stats Enhancement from her right hand was blocked by its left paw, the barrier around it flickering slightly as the damage was negated, and she found herself having to dodge its retaliatory swipe from its right paw by jumping back, 3 Mana Arrows being launched from the air above where she was.
It jumped forward, dodging two of them and following her, the third being able to destroy its barrier, as magma started to accumulate within its maw.

A stomp from its right paw was dodged left only to find herself before its maw, the vaguely spherical mass of lava being released almost at point blank range at her.
A two meters tall and one and a half meters large rectangular shield was Shaped before her out of her own Mana, blocking the blast, before she rolled underneath its following bite to then cut its leftmost back paw with a Mana Knife, before leaving from beneath it, a Mana Greatsword falling on its back, causing, however, only a cut on its side as it dodged most of it.

She nodded to herself.
This was too inefficient.
She spent a lot of her own Mana and its Vital Energy was proceding to slowly heal the damage.
The reason was simple.

Her own Skill Rank in both Mana Shaping and Singularity is too low for herself to combat it like her past self would.
She nodded to herself again before starting to move her own Mana within her body as she moved towards it, his barrier already fully restored in the breaf seconds in the lull of their fight.
She jumped over its swipe from its left hand, jumping from it over its biting head before, once over it, she punched down, her right fist clad in her Unique Arma and Vital Energy, Mana releasing in tandem with the blow.

“Heavy Strike.”
This blow was enough to shatter its barrier before the following attack was dodged at the last moment, its tail striking in her side sending her crashing throught a tree before she quickly converted some blood she stored during this last 10 days in Vital Energy to instantly heal most of her damage, leaving the rest to heal of its own.
During this, however, he had enough time for it to charge another lava blast where she just was, dodged by her creating a Mana Spear to launch herself away to then hook herself with its point to a branch, to land on another one, her eyes examinating her opponent that was charging another one of its lava breath.

“Fast Shot.”
A Mana Bow in her left arm, she launched a Mana Arrow clad in her red energy and enhanced with Mana Burst.
Differently from their first exchange, the arrow burst the lava ball less than a meter away from it, damaging it slightly before its barrier went up again.
However the newly-reborn Drake didn’t hesitate.
It charged her tree, its eyes covered by a trasparent coating of scales, as it sent it and the nearby ones flying.
She, however, was not on it anymore as she jumped above it before falling down on it, her leg clad in red energy.

“Heavy Strike.”
Its barrier was damaged, but she moved away, dodging a strike from its tail.
She needed to save as much of her own Mana as possible while continuing to destroy its barrier and inflicting damage.
Without a doubt, this will be fun.
A smile on her face, she launched herself at it again, punching on its side of the head before crossing her arms to block a retaliatory strike from its left paw being sent flying away again, its barrier destroyed for the third time in this battle.
As the two obserbed each other the barrier around it was rebuilt.
“I see.” She thought aloud. “Your barrier is passive and completely automatic, isn’t it. You don’t need to think about it nor spend either Mana or Vital Energy… I understand now why you were able to reach this level of power so fast. I’m impressed.”

Her smile, enlarging until her fangs shone in the light of the ending sunset, remaned even when the D-Rank Ghoul that accompanied her neared slightly, preparing to intervene at any moment.
Two Mana Arrows formed above her right and left shoulder being sent towards her enemy, a third in her left hand already being nocked in her Mana Bow and following the others.
When it was about to dodge her arrows, the first two exploded prematurely, distracting it from the third that shattered its barrier by bursting too and opening it to the fourth arrow, clad in red that burst against it damaging and further opening it to a swing of a Mana greatsword clad in red energy too.
This was the first real damage he received since its evolution and so he roared its rage and hatred, the temperature around it increasing greatly as its Mana went berserk turning the ground around it into lava and solid rocks.
The Lunarian found herself having to dodge from rock to rock, the trees in the clearing burning and falling in the lava, and the rocks in the surface periodically being submerged to break her footing as it charged a giant mass of lava in its mouth.
She didn’t hesitate and charged a Mana Arrow straight in said mass, making it explode in its face covering the rock around it and stunning it even more giving her enough time.

“Heavy Piercing Shot.”
This technique was not Activated using a simple Mana Bow and Arrow, but a Mana Bow whose branches were each almost 1 meter and a half and an arrow that was instead a slightly modified Mana Spear using a combination of Heavy Thrust and Piercing Shot to deal as much damage as efficiently as possible before the area would become actively harmful to her.
The arrow, if so it could be defined, traveled towards its still stunned target before stabbing it in the left shoulder instead of its head as it was able to dodge at the last second, turning a lethal blow in merely a crippling one, as its arm fell off because of the detonation of said arrow.

Before she could celebrate her first use of a combined technique, she found herself having to jump towards another rock as her previous one was quickly drowned beneath a wave of lava as this blow, instead of enraging it further, allowed the Earth Drake to calm down its destructive instinct and guide them more effectively.
It was not growling or snarling anymore nor considered her with the same natural pride as before.
She was not a challenging prey nor a somewhat strong meal as it reguarded her initially.
Neither was she an inferior being that dared to challenge and hurt it as it thought before.
She was now an hated enemy to destroy.
But she was strong and so it would need to go all out without any thought running throught its head, but her death.

Luna smiled as she correctly guessed her opponent’s thought as the night began to cover the sky over them, the Moon starting to rise and the ground illuminated by the molten rock flowing on the surface.
The Ghoul, remembered by neither of the two adversary, merely made distance with the lava while preparing various Spell to end the fight if necessary.
The battle restarted, a wave of lava being dodged by jumping on another rock only for that rock, while she was still in midair, to fall in the lava beneath them making it so she would have suffered the same fate.
Without any hesitation she formed briefly a small circular platform of Mana before using it as a stepping stone to jump over the platform and towards a still on the surface one, a Mana arrow flying not towards the Drake, but its platform, trying to make it fall in the lava to damage it.

It noted this fact and, for the first time since it changed the area around them, jumped at her to fight her physically, its pride destroyed in favor of a more pragmatic and combat effective mentality.
The fight between the two would finally proceed to the second phase, with the Moon and the Ghoul controlled by Edgar as the only observers.
The bite was dodged and so was the swing of its remaining frontal paw while her own swing was dodged too.
Its following release of lava was not a sphere like the ones at the start of the battle neither was it an almost solid beam of magma like the one he was charging before, but was instead a simple, but a fast release of lava that forced her to vacate the now melting platform.
Before it could follow up on the assault, it found itself having to dodge a Mana arrow.

The Earth Drake roared, a scream that resonated with the flow of lava that instantly solified a larger platform of lava around it while all other rocks fall beneath the surface, Luna finding herself having to remain standing on a small platform of Mana, high above it.
The two opponents studied each other, the battlefield a 50 meters large wasteland of lava that was causing a fire around it, with a ten meters large solid rock platform, the air full of smoke and volcanic ash and the two opponent studing each other, one above said platform and the other on a small one made entirely out of Mana, the distance between the two of around 35 meters counting the difference between their relative heights.

One consistant of an enormous Earth Drake whose right front leg was starting to regenerate and the other a Lunarian looking down on her favorite opponent yet.
All the while the Moon watched on from high above, from the now night sky.

Total Magicules 2340 (IV)
Stored Magicules 828

Racial: Lunarian E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Unique: Singularity E
Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity E
#Singularity
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)

Innate: Vampirism E
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/1k (III)

Ability: Mana Control D

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D

Ability: Mana Shaping E

Ability: Spear Technique E

Ability: Knife Technique E

Ability: Bow Technique E

Ability: Unharmed Technique E

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Sword Technique E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
#Soul_Harmony
#Unique_Arma #Singularity

Notes:

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/10 15:31 (Summer, Night)
A Mana Sword in her hand, Luna jumped in the offensive dodging the responding burst of lava, to thrust it throught the Earth Drake’s left eye.
This attack was dodged at the last second as it jumped aside, its eyes seeking the threat and making sure to keep her in its vision.
She, in response, moved towards its left minimazing the threat of her opponent as much as possible as its left arm was still in the process of regenerating slowly throught Vital Energy, depleting slowly its reserves.

Differently from it, however, she had more than enought time to simply regain all of her own Vital Energy during this fight and her own Mana returned to around 75% thanks to her own Unique Arma that allowed her to use less Mana while still being able to deal damage even with its now fully riformed barrier and its scales.
The two were on the platform now, face to face and ready for battle as evident by the swing from the Earth Drake’s tail as its mouth spewed forth only for it to be a distraction for a strike from its right arm sending her straight towards the lava only for her to create a Mana platform to jump back on the rock platform, two Mana arrows being launched in before her to distract it from her as they collided with the platform and forcing it to maintain it stable and allowing her to return on the platform already swinging a Mana greatsword at it, blocked with its completely regenerated left arm, its barrier tanking the hit.
A smile on her face her greatsword exploded, destroying its barrier, and she swung up with a Mana sword clad in Vital Energy colliding with one of the claws of its right arm, being knocked back only for the rock beneath her to vanish forcing her to jump over the swing of its right arm, using it as a stepping stone to jump behind it dodging its tail and striking it in the back with a Mana spear clad in red.

The differences between the two were clears.
While it regenerated Mana faster than she herself did, it regained Vital Energy so slowly that it didn’t matter in combat while she, even with its larger reserves of both, was in an advantage even if she was physically inferior.
After all, differently from true Dragons this process to convert the terrain around it costs exactly the same ammount of Mana it would regenerate and it didn’t master this move enought to pull back the range to lower its cost.

Additionally she had no need for breathing and so the smoke didn’t interfere with her and neither was she affected by heat of this level, so long as she didn’t fall directly in the lava.
And so, even if she was weaker than her opponent, she was actually in a much better situation.
So much so that she decided to experiment a little.
First she enhanced her existence with Mana and then she did the same with Vital Energy cycling them within her body until they mixed together, causing a purple aura to manifest around her.
This would have been immensely harder with the previous rules, but thanks to their increased flexibility, her own nature as an energetic Singularity and her being a Lunarian, it was possible at her level of Power to fuse together Mana and Vital Energy into what was unoriginally called Vital Mana.

She moved matching and exceding its speed and punching it directly in the side as it was turning against her releasing a burst not of Mana, but of Vital Mana sending it crashing away from the platform and into the lava.
It was an Earth Drake and so the lava, especially that it conjured itself, would deal much less damage, but reduced is not nullified and it had no esperience on swimming and so it found itself forced to make a new rock platform while melting down the previous one consuming even more Mana and Vital Energy.
She looked down on it, safely on a Mana platform 5 meters in the sky, a Mana bow in her right hand and a Mana arrow in her left, already nocked and clad in purple.
The arrow was launched as she had no more need to chant the name of her techniques or spells at this point.

The arrow was stopped by a wall of lava, but the second one wasn’t, hitting it in the paw and wounding it before the barrier regenerated.
The former Mad Bear’s situation was certaintly dangerous.
Not only was almost 60% of its Mana spent, but its Vital Energy was only at less than 30% and falling slowly as it healed the damage it just occurred.
If it wasn’t for its barrier it would have already spent it all only to then die a little time later.
She nodded to herself before cutting her left hand letting her blood cloak her Mana greatsword enhancing it greatly as she fell on it cutting throught its barrier and burying it throught its spine before detonating, forming an hole one and a half meter wide.

She found herself jumping away, most of her left forearm destroyed by its retaliatory explosion of lava, a muffled scream ripped from her troat, before her Vital Energy quickly regenerated her arm.
The battle was in the final phase now.
Its Vital Energy may be able to keep it alive for now, but this would quickly change as its reserve was dropping quickly.
It would die.
Its death was now certain.

The terrain returned to the normal one, lava quickly cooling down in rock and the smoke and ash dissipating slowly from around them.
It fell down, its legs incapable of holding it anymore.
Luna walked up to the Earth Drake, a Vital Mana sword enhanced with her own blood in her right hand.
The two observed each other, their eyes meeting without any hesitation, before the young Lunarian rose her hand holding the sword and it thrusted throught its head, killing the D-Rank Monster.
She held its head before thrusting her fang in its neck, sucking the whole of its blood in an instant.

*Luna gained 219 + 2 Magicules>
*Luna’s Racial Skill “Lunarian” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Unique Skill “Singularity” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Growth Skill “Soul Harmony” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Mana Shaping” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Bow Technique” Ranked Up to D
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Sword Technique” Ranked Up to D
*Luna Gained the Innate Skill “Blood Forging”
*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Vital Energy Manipulation”
*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Vital Mana Fusion”

She smiled before condensing the Magicules, 900 in “Lunarian” and 100 in her new Skill “Bood Forging.”
Before sitting cross legged in the middle of the cooling rocks entering in her Soul, more specifically within the world of her Racial Skill.
It was different from before.
Said world was still a shining Moon with a sky of liquid yet solid blood and the earth in the distance.
However she moved in the equivalent of the Moon’s dark side where, instead of a Moon made of white light, it was made entirely out of shadow.

She stepped in the shadows, sinking deep in them, finding herself before 9 shades, the 7 E-Rank Goblins, the D-Rank Goblin and the newcomer Earth Drake.
Without hesitation, she exercized her authority on them, rendering the two D-Rankers her familiars and sending the E-Ranked ones in the cycle of reincarnation of the Moon.
The choice of Skills of theirs to concentrate on was obvious, Third Eye of Physicality and Imperial Scale.
“Your name is now Vision” she nodded towards the more humanoid shadow. “And yours is Warden.” she nodded towards the four-legged one, while nodding to herself, unaware of her own terrible naming sense.

The two were now made of shadows and their outline and eyes made of red light.
She nodded to herself before leaving the Skill World and waking up in the real world, her Unique Arma now covering most of her right forearm.
“Well, D-Rank obtained. When will the ships return to travel?”
“In less than 5 days they are supposed to.”
“Very well. But before that…”
She rose her hand and cut it, letting her blood flow out controlled by her Vital Energy in the shape of a sword.
She nodded before doing the same with her own Mana controlling shadows.
She nodded to herself again before deciding to process with the next step.

If with Vital Energy she could now actively control her own blood and with Mana she could manipulate and solidify shadows, what about with Vital Mana?
The result was before her, a sword made entirely out of black blood, entirely liquid, while being at the same time, entirely solid.
She smiled happily before proceding to the final step of this test.
A test that thanks to Singularity was more than a success.
A blade that was made by combining Mana Shaping, her control over blood and shadow, Vital Mana Fusion, Mana Forging and Blood Forging, a blade that she swung lightly without using any technique at a rock, cutting in two completely and without any resistance as if it was air.

It was a blade that looked like black glass without any imperfections outlined by a small purple aura.
She waited smiling as she felt no cost to sustain it thanks to her D-Rank Singularity and no need to think about it anymore as she demonstrated by indicating a faraway tree as the target and the shape, no longer held in her hand, but floating around her, pierced that tree and only that one, before returning to float around her thanks to the D-Rank in Mana Shape.
A laugh escaped her as she dispelled it, satisfied for now.

7/10 17:13 (Summer, Night)
“Do you know what is the difference between a Dragon and a Drake?”
“The most important one is that a Dragon is a Person while a Drake is a Monster. When it comes to ability the difference is large, but at the same time very small. The two of them will combat similar, but a Dragon is much more skilled. Additionally the process to convert the terrain is passive when it comes to changing the terrain. For example, a Fire Dragon will slowly convert a region in an hotter one to then gain Magicules from it while a Fire Drake could instead instantly convert it to gain an advantage during a fight for Mana. The second biggest difference is, however, that Dragons, all of them, have Soul Sight.”
“Correct. Do you know what it is?”
“As Phoenix have Heat Sight and Lunarian have True Sight when at C-Rank and above, Dragons have Soul Sight. The ability to see the Soul of all living beings.”

“Correct. Be careful around Dragons. The Growth Skill “Soul Harmony” render our Souls incredibly attrattive to them. And Dragons tends to be quite possessives by nature. However, I have another question for you, if I can.”
“Go on.”
“Why do you trust what I say without much hesitation?”
“I see you don’t know. Try to lie to me.”
He shrugged before trying.
No words escaped his mouth, even after a couple of minutes of trying.

“The rapport between a Lunarian and a Vampire is the same as the one between an Ancestor and a Ghoul. The scale is Lunarian, Ancestor, Vampire and Ghoul. At one step you must obey direct orders. At two steps you cannot, cosciounsly or not, harm the higher one. Three steps? Your will is dependant entirely on the higher one, to the point that if I were to order a Ghoul to see the sky as green, this Ghoul will see the sky green, independently of anything else.”
“I see. I understand now.”

“Are you sure you don’t want my blood to become an Ancestor?”
“I’m sure. I’m not a fighter. It would be a waste and a danger for you.”
“Very well. Let’s continue my training and studying until I will have to go on that boat.”

Total Magicules 2561 (IV)
Stored Magicules 49

Racial: Lunarian E → D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)
(Up) The owner has no need for breathing and this body will not be affected by time, and the owner’s body will find it easy to store and use their Vital Energy, that will regenerate automaticaly.
(Up) The owner can see in the dark perfectly, will never forget anything they experienced personally, with the addition of the knowledge obtained from the Moon’s database even if at this Rank, this knowledge while mostly subconscious, can now be accessed actively.
(Up) The owner will have increased resistance to all attributes and a natural resistance and vulnerability to Bloodloss derived by the fact that they are able to store up to 300 leters of blood in their shadows and the ability to convert it in Vital Energy and Mana and the conversion of it in Magicules.
(Up) The owner will also, normally, have a large increase to their affinity to both Dark and Curse Attributes, however, this time, because of the owner’s Unique Skill, will instead be towards non-elemental affinity.
(Up) Finally if the sucking of Blood kills or the victim has died shortly before, the Soul of the victim is stored within the owner’s of this Skill’s, at this Rank it has the effect to add their knowledge to the Moon’s database.
(New) At D-Rank the owner can now either create Familiars out of the stored souls or, given enought Mana and Vital Energy, can resurrect them.
(New) The Familiars created are derived by one of the non-Racial Skill of the original Souls, but with one lower Rank than its highest Ranked Skill.
(New) Also at D-Rank you can now use Vital Energy to control your own Blood and Mana to control and shape shadows.

Unique: Singularity E → D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)
(New) At D-Rank, all sustain costs are negated and the stability of any construct made of energy is brought to the maximum.

Growth: Soul Harmony E → D
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
(Up) Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules equal to the total Rank of all their other Skills times 3.
(New) At D-Rank the owner’s Vital Energy and Mana well are further increased.

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity E
#Singularity
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
(Up) This Skill manifests for the moment as a glove covering up to most of the owner’s forearm principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)

Innate: Vampirism E
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/1k (III)

(New)
Innate: Blood Forging E
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 100/1k (III)
This Skill denotes the ability to use the owner’s blood to enhance an object beyond its limits.

Ability: Mana Control D
#Singularity

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D
#Singularity

Ability: Mana Shaping E → D
#Singularity
(New) At D-Rank Mana Shapes can now be considered as independent creations, no longer needing explicit mental commands.

Ability: Spear Technique E

Ability: Knife Technique E

Ability: Bow Technique E → D
(New) This Skill increases further the owner’s Vital Energy well and restoration.

Ability: Unharmed Technique E

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma

Ability: Sword Technique E → D
(New) This Skill increases further the owner’s Vital Energy well and restoration.

(New)
Ability: Vital Energy Manipulation E
#Lunarian #Singularity
This Skill enhance the efficiency and ease of use of Vital Energy.
Additionally this Skill will slightly increase their Vital Energy capacity.

(New)
Ability: Vital Mana Fusion E
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner to fuse together Mana and Vital Energy into Vital Mana, a more effective version.
Because of Singularity this process is 100% effective and instantaneous rendering it incredibly effective, increasing immensely the power of all Spells, Technique and Crafting using either, and especially both, of the two.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism

#Soul_Harmony

#Unique_Arma #Singularity

Familiars:
(New) Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality
(New) Warden E
Imperial Scale

Notes:

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/15 1:29 (Summer, Day)
*Luna Gained 400+114 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 400+114 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 400+114 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 400+114 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 400+114 Magicules.

*Luna Fused together “Spear Technique”, “Knife Technique”, “Bow Technique”, “Sword Technique” into Ability Skill “Weapon Mastery”.
*Luna Fused together “Mana Control”, “Vital Energy Manipulation”, “Vital Mana Fusion” into Innate Skill “Vital Mana Authority”

*Luna’s Growth Skill “Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Vampirism” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Blood Forge” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Mana Shaping” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Unharmed Technique” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna Gained the Innate Skill “Familiar Combat.”

This gains of Skill Rank was evident if someone would watch how exatly Luna was training at the moment.
She was flying with wings shaped out of Vital Mana, blood and shadows, both Mana and Blood Forged, with 5 weapons made the same way constantly swinging around her and changing shape while her two familiars were training themselves.
Vision was shaped as a humanoid mass of shadows, 1 meter tall, with a red outline and three shining red eyes while Warden was four-legged, 75 centimeters tall at the shoulders, around 1 and a half meter long and with a 1 meter long tail.
While she was praticing how to fly she was also shooting down her weapons, shattering the barriers that Warden was Casting while Vision was observing the two of them and praticing with another of the weapon Casted by Luna, constantly changing shape in its hand.
The Lunarian’s eyes, all the while, were closed as she watched throught the eyes of her own Familiars alones.

One of Edgar’s Ghoul was watching said training, more specifically the Ghoul that followed her in her battle against the Earth Drake five days prior.
And the progress of its temporary charge was without question from the previous her.
Without a doubt the beings in D-Rank equal to her would be few.
But with the new rules, they could certainly exist.

It nodded before calling out to Luna as Edgar comunicated throught it.
“The earliest boat will start in an hour so it’s time to prepare.”
Luna sighed before nodding to herself, her wings beating slowly, lowering her to the ground, before all her Shapes and her Familiars were Dispelled following the Ghoul back to the Mansion.

The island’s port connected to the ports of four different countries: one in Astrar, three in both Midrar and Higrar, a grand total of five in Lowrar and four in Terrar, split in total between the two nearby landmassess of the eight major ones.
Her choice was one of the three in Midrar.
Specifically the highest one in Midrar and her ship will depart around 6:00.

Not that she would need a lot of time to prepare.
All that she would need was already given to her in her new ring necklace and additionally she had no need for baths as she would not dirty nor would she sweat.
Neither was sleep a requirement for her, even if she sometimes did it for her own enjoyment.

Once she returned to her room, she quickly changed before grabbing a Magical Item shaped like a mantle that she clad herself in, with the intention not of hiding her presence, thing that would not be possible considering her own Vital Mana and her lacking ability in hiding in the first place.
No, the mantle had a simple effect, that of suppressing her impression on others.

“A work of art, right? I made it using a Unique Skill of one of my Ghouls as inspiration. Like the other Magical Items I gave you. That you are not wearing. Nor do you plan to either…”
A sigh escaped him at that, thing she must have found fun as she laughted at that, a small smile on her face.
Not that her eyes showed any amusement in it.
“You are terrible at showing emotion. Even with all the training we did for it.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I think I am great at it.”

Another sigh escaped him as he waved her goodbye.
Wave she reciprocate as this will be the last time they would meet in this life as he would probably die within the month.
Finally after hours of waiting, hidden by the Magical Item, she sneak in one of their free rooms, fact that was quite easy considering that not even half of the rooms were occupied in said boat, as she prepared for her long voyage, starting to meditate on her previous self, after all she should train as much as possible and only within her body is she hidden.

7/20 19:32 (Summer, Night)
It was swimming.
It was hunting.
Large wooden vessels had a lot of prey.
It found a boat.
It stopped.
Upon it stood the Moon.
It recently recieved its Blessing as it become C-Rank, gaining greater feeling.
It would spare that vessel this time as thanks to the Moon.
It continued to swim hunting for another one.

7/21 8:51 (Summer, Day)
“Are you still pouting.”
“I’m not pouting, witch. I’m just waiting.”
“Are you still mad that we didn’t start to travel immeditially? Must I remember you that the reason we are late is because the mission was longer than predicted because of the change in the Rules?”
“I don’t need your consolation.”
“Ah yes, right, you are not pouting. You are just gloomly watching the horizon to seek land while holding a photo. Silly me.”
“Shut up.”
“No.”

A grumble escaped the red-haired beautiful Half-Elf, wearing a ranger’s attire and an ornate bow.
The winner of this exchange, wearing a smug grin, was a witch specialized in the Water Attribute and she felt right at home in the boat, even if she was only C-Rank and the other was B-Rank.
From the back, a black-haired Human swordsman was watching the exchange, a shepish expression on his face as he was talking with the vice-captain of the boat.
“I’m sorry for the unprofessional way in which my team is acting.”
“Don’t worry. With 2 B-Rank and 3 C-Rank Adventurers, a little bit of that is no worry. Especially considering that the cost of the escort is just the travel.”
“I thank you for your generosity.”
“No need to be so humble, boy. The fact that you are B-Rank at your age is worthy of merit. Well, I will join my captain. If you have any question…”
“I will ask for you, don’t worry.”

At his nod, the vice-captain left with a smile on his face while a short Dwarf joined him also watching the two other members of their team.
“So, how is she doing?” She indicated towards the red-head, near the brown-haired witch.
“Well, soon she should feel better. You know how it is with her.”
“The fact that she is an unstable… How did you call her that one time? Ah, yes, an unstable obsessive siscon yandere.”
“Please don’t call her that. However, this should be the last of that Vampire’s safe houses.”
“Well, yeah. The sooner we find her, the better.”

At that the fifth member of their team joined them to watch Marine continue to annoy and act smug at Azure, a soft smile on his face like he was watching two children play.
“Your previous world certantly was useful to make interesting comments on other people.” He half complimented and half reprimanded both of them.
“You know how it is…”
“I know. But she certaintly made a lot of progress from before.”
“I know right. Now she just threatens to shot someone first instead of shoting them and then threatening them.”

At the deadpan delivery of the Dwarf, both the Human and the Elf could do nothing more than softly laught at this true fact.
“Well, you know. Everyone has their own flaws. But she did reach B-Rank first in this team and I have the advantage of both early training and the memories of my past life to support me .”
“Fine. However-”
Before she could finish the phrase, the Half-Elf interrupted them.
“Enemy incoming! It is underwater!”

At the advise the whole team focused instantly without any hesitation nor fear preparing to the fight.
The water was still, there was no trace of movement nor any Monster was visible yet none of them doubted its esistance.
A couple minutes later, it emerged.
It was a light blue C-Rank Water Drake, shaped like an aquatic snake and with vivid red eyes watching its prospective meal and instantly attacking by releasing a mass of water at high speed towards them.
The Elf, Klevel, didn’t hesitate conjuring a shining golden Magical Circle before the blast to block it while at the same Marine stepped in, controlling the water around them, Shaping them like blades and sending them against the Drake scoring some light scratches on it.
Meanwhile, none of the other hesitated.

Evan took his blade that, once it recognized as a target the Drake, started to emic electricity before swinging it, releasing a wave of electricity towards it while the Dwarf, Fora, took position between Klevel and Marine, ready to defend either of them at a moment notice.
Upon seeing the element the sword released, Azure nocked an arrow, locked as the Target, throught her own Unique Arma, the Drake and shot it high in the sky.
Upon it, electricity condensed before a lightning bolt fall.
It was able to dodge at the last second however said bolt twisted in mid air, following it and striking its barrier, destroying it.

Before it could react it found itself bound as the water around it formed chains to stop it.
However it roared, the chains shattering uselessy if not for both Evan and Azure attacking in the brief moment it was stopped, an arrow composed of electricity impacting its barrier and destroying it again while it hastily dodged a blade made of lightning.
This assault seemed to be over only for the first arrow the red-head shot at the start to fall on it, piercing throught its scale and damaging it as it roared in pain, the water starting to push the boat away from the naval route.

The only people remaining on the bridge of the boat were the Iriblades as all other people already retreated, protected by the barrier common in boats.
Additionally the crew members were already in their battle position, to power the barrier and ready to support the B-Ranked Party as much as possible as its power in this place was equivalent to B-Rank.
The cannons of the ship fired against the Drake that was able to dodge them.
However, this opened it to an attack from both Evan and Azure, one slashing and the other piercing it with an arrow, dealing heavy damage before its Vital Energy repaired the damage.

“Let’s see if I can’t help. Blessing of Existence.”
The Cleric Casted an Holy Attribute Spell to Enhance another person only for his staff to take it in and Casting said Spell on all of his Team enhancing all of them, instead.
Marine concentrated on the enhancement before Casting a Spell in return, thanks to Klevel’s Unique Arma’s special ability.
“Life Link: Protection of the Blue.”
By using the Blessing as the target for the Spell, she Casted on all those affected by the Spell.
A slight layer of water was surronding them to protect and heal them.

She wasn’t the only one to do such as the rest of her team followed suit.
“Life Link: Burning Mantle.”
“Life Link: Spirit’s Blessings.”
“Life Link: Attribute Enhancement.”
The three Spells were activated, an aura of flames forming around all of them to further weaken all incoming damage from the Water Attribute while they were enhanced further both Spirit’s Blessings and Attribute Enhancement, derived from Azure’s Innate Skill, “Blessing of the Spirits”, and from Evan’s Unique Skill, “Attribute Amplification”, both of them intensifying the previous boosts.
In response the Water Drake roared furiously with its mouth already capable to devour a person whole, its Mana and Vital Energy being converted in pure destructive power as it roared, a multicolored aura around it forming an even bigger version of it, its power increasing sharply as the sea battered even more against the 25 meters long boat.
The two groups prepared to return to fighting, this time with much greater strength than their first round.

*Luna Gained 600+114 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+114 Magicules.

Total Magicules 6045 (IV)
Stored Magicules 633

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity E → D
#Singularity
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)
(Up) This Skill manifests for the moment as two gloves covering up to most of the owner’s forearm principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.
(New) At this Rank, once it is manifested, the owners resistance to damage is increased and so is the quality of all Energy of the owner.

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 100/100k. (III)
(New) Thanks to Vital Mana Authority, this Skill can transfer Vital Mana, Mana or Vital Energy to the target.

Innate: Vampirism E → D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 100/100k (III)
(New) At D-Rank this Skill allows the owner to store objects and non-living beings within the owner’s shadow.

Innate: Blood Forging E → D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 100/100k (III)
(New) At this Rank the ammount of Blood needed to activate Blood Forging is greatly reduced and the owner’s Vital Energy recovery is increased.

(New)
Innate: Vital Mana Authority E
Magicules: 100/1k (III)
#Singularity
This Skill denotes the authority of the owner over the use of Vital Mana.
It automatically fuses together Vital Energy and Mana within the owner and counts it as either parts with much higher efficiency, quality, control, quantity and recovery speed.
Thanks to Singularity, the efficiency of the fusion of Vital Energy and Mana is set to a minimum of 100%.

(New)
Innate: Familiar Summoning E
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 100/1k (III)
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner to fight with summoned Familiars, made with Mana or otherwise.
In this case, the number of Maximum Familiar is negated because of the owner being a Lunarian, so long as all Familiars are made by the Lunarian Skill, even if they still require Vital Energy and Mana to be Summoned.
Additionally the growth of all Familiars is increased.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Mana Shaping D → C
#Vital_Mana_Authority
(New) At C-Rank Mana Shapes can now be freely manipulated depending on Mana Control both in aspect and function.

Ability: Unharmed Technique E → D
(New) At D-Rank this Skill increases the owner Vital Energy Quantity and Recovery.

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Vital_Mana_Authority

(New)
Ability: Weapon Mastery E
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner to use weapons and techniques at their maximum possible potential in combat or not.
This Skill will also absorbed all other weapon Skills in itself being strengthened for each.
This Skill greatly increases the owner Vital Energy capacity and regeneration and the power of technique, spells and crafting related to weapons.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 101 → 103%.

#Soul_Harmony
3 E-Rank;
10 D-Rank Skills;
1 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 38 Magicules times 3, 114.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
A process to automatically gain Magicules every day equal to the value of Unique Arma’s and Singularity’s Rank.
E=100; D=300; C=500; B=700; A=1k
At the moment Unique Arma is D-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 400 → 600 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality
Warden E
Imperial Scale

Notes:

Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/21 9:38 (Summer, Day)
A rain of Arrows coated in lightning fell upon the Drake only to be destroyed by tentacles made of water as it roared before releasing a stream of water from its mouth in response towards Azure only for her to dodge, an arrow already nocked in her bow.
Marine controlled the water around it, slowing it down even if she could not stop its ability to manipulate water.

Meanwhile Evan launched himself at the Drake, his blade wounding it throught its aura, cleaving its scales before jumping over a platform made from solid water by Marine, dodging the swipe of its tail.
This opening was not wasted as it gave enough time to Azure.
“Oh, Roaring Spirit, respond to my plea.”
Upon this prayer, a mass of lightning formed in the shape of a vaguely humanoid figure floating around her, as spark started to fly around them as she rose her bow to the sky, clouds amassing overhead as the lightning around her was concentrated in her arrow.
“Fall, oh thunder, and strike down the enemy before me.”
She launched the arrow high in the sky before a three meters wide lightning fall upon the False Dragon, being guided by her Unique Arma straight towards it.

Upon seeing such, the Drake did not hesitate.
It roared, its aura intensifying and mixing with the Barrier as water rose from the sea and forming various layers of shields to disperse as much of it as it could while expanding its territory to stop the barrier.
The B-Rank Party observed the cloud of vapor obsuring their opponent before it roared in pain, showing itself.
Most of its scale upon the top of its head were completely destroyed and its flesh burned as its eyes were exploded in its skull.
Upon seeing such, Evan went in to end the fight before it could heal itself completely, his Unique Arma having a blade made of lightning, as he slashed through its brain using the fact it could not see anymore.

Or at least, that was his plan as it dodged at the last second, being saved by its new Innate Skill, Extra-sensory Echo, retreating under the water.
The Iriblades kept their guard up before, after a good 13 minutes of waiting, seeming to relax.
A couple of minutes after even that, the boat shook as it was attacked from below, waves of water attacking it in conjunction, trying to capsize it and all those on the vehicle.
Fortunately, they already advised the staff of the boat to keep all other travelers safely hidden within the barrier if a Monster appeared until they signaled them, thing they hadn’t done yet and they are sea-men by profession.

Unfortunately, they found themselves having to improvise ways how to not fall in the water as falling in it with a Water Drake hunting them would be a death sentence.
Hurriedly Klevel and Marine held onto Fora for dear life as she rose her hammer, the head directed towards the boat, before slamming it in and anchoring all three of them in place, manipulating gravity around them so that they would not move.
Meanwhile Evan stayed stable by jumping and creating a platform of almost solid light under him while Azure just jumped, her feet landing on Fora’s shoulder as she fired an arrow clad in water, precisely striking the Drake passing through the water without any resistance.
The Drake rose from the sea, fully healed thanks to the time from its injury and most of its Vital Energy and Mana restored, before releasing a jet of water at high pressure towards Fora only for her to rise her Unique Arma and striking said jet, shattering it in drops of water that Marine quickly took over, shaping them in blades that cut it in various places.
The swordman jumped in, the blade of his Unique Arma made of lightning again, slashing through its left eye before jumping away from its answering bite, a rain of arrow coated in lightning falling down upon it, shattering its barrier, followed by a single arrow, it too coated in sparks, piercing its scales and destroying its right eye.

A roar of pain escaping it as it regenerated both eyes, both Evan and Azure landing back in the boat as Klevel was chanting as an enormous golden Magical Circle was being created slowly high in the sky above them, increasing in size as time passed.
Marine restarted to weaken the Drake’s control over water while both Evan and Azure prepared to distract the Monster before them.
The battle restarted, the water continuosly attacking the barrier around the ship as Evan launched himself at the Drake releasing slashes made out of lightning as he went and Azure continuosly launching arrows to support the assault as it manipulated water around it as fast as it could to block the attacks while launching its own.
It roared, the water rising around it forming not tentacles, but blade intent on ripping them to pieces and, without hesitation nor any problem dodged the attacks, before Azure prayed again.

“Oh, Flowing Spirit, respond to my plea.”
A mass, this time made instead out of water, formed in the shape of a vaguely humanoid figure floating around her.
“Rise, oh water, and chain the enemy before me.”
The plea was heard and obeyed as the sea rose in chains to immobilize it.
“How much time do you still need? After this I can’t use Spirit Magic with Water Attribute for another hour or Lightning Attribute for another 20 minutes, so move it.”
At her barking, Klevel merely sighed before continuing to pray in a tone barely above a murmur as the Magical Circle above them was slowly reaching full completition as the Witch started to weaken the Drake’s attack against the chains to lenghten the time it will be stopped for.

Meanwhile Evan was in place, his Mana and Vital Energy rising and being absorbed by his Unique Arma and his Unique Skill converted it in electricity while Fora posed her right hand on his back, her own Unique Skill amplifying its quantity and potency both.
Finally it was able to break the chain around it and resurface only for the Magic Circle, now around 100 meters in range, to be completed and activated, generating a barrier around both the boat and the Drake, generating the biggest Spell he ever Casted.
“Holy Field.”
This Spell, normally used to protects Temples and Churches by being linked to a Mana Capacitor, was Casted for the first time by a Person during a battle, being boosted by his Skills, his Staff and the lenght of his chant, and had a very simple function.
The function was the weakening of all Monsters and the strenghtening of all People within it.
Furthermore, thanks to his mastery of the Holy Attribute and his Unique Skill, Life Link, this barrier consumed the Water Drake’s Mana and Vital Energy to maintain itself instead of the Caster’s.

This gave Evan enough time.
“Awaken!”
The order was heard by his Unique Arma at B-Rank.
His Unique Arma ceased to be material and become made completely out of iridescent energy that quickly become pure lightning.
He rose the sword even further, stepped forward and swung releasing a slash made of lightning, using his Unique Skill to negate all possibilities of the attack being dodged.
“Lightning Fall Slash.”
The Drake could only widen its eyes before it was cut in half, its parts falling apart before being taken in a Magical Ring by the Party to be sold afterwards by them.

The journey restarted, even if thanks to the Drake, they will arrive even later, after all a lot of Mana was spent to protect the boat and so its speed would be quite reduced to make sure the barrier would still be up.
At that information, Azure scowled to herself before returning to her room under the gaze of the rest of the Iriblades, to sulk while observing Her photo.

-
7/24 22:31 (Summer, Night)
*Luna Gained 600+123 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+123 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+123 Magicules.

*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Artifact Proficiency.”
*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Meditation.”
*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Presence Suppression.”
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Vital Mana Authority” Rank increased to D-Rank.

Luna smiled as her boat finally arrived in her destination.
She quickly jumped from it before it could even stop, quickly hiding within the crowd.
She smiled sneaking through the port before reaching the city itself, jumping high in the air and moving from rooftop to rooftop towards the protective walls around the city.
Finally she passed the barrier around it and created a pair of Wings quickly flying where she thought nord was after storing away her Artifact.

*Luna Gained 600+138 Magicules.

She smiled as the day finally ended as shown by the fact she gained even more Magicules.
Her objective was to move for Midrar to Higrar and use the fact that Gaea was a sphere to then pass briefly throught Terrar and then into Dunrar, a continent-spanning nation that is, more or less, made entirely of small city-states in a wilderness full of Dungeons.
A Dungeon is a place, most of the times a cave, in which Miasma naturally gather in large quantities forcing the birth of many Monsters and their successive growth in power.

An ideal place for her own growth, especially considering how the only rule there is the rule of power and she would not accept orders from any other.
The fact that she “obeyed” Edgar was caused merely by the fact that this was his dying wish and to thank him in her own way.
There was, however, no need to grieve him.
After all, as a Vampire his Soul would join the Moon in time, as it should.
As the Sun was slowly rising she slowed down, searching a road that was going where she was before starting to run following it, unaware that she was already lost, Shapes being manifested and controlled around her before being dismissed.

-
7/29 16:13 (Summer, Night)
It was finally time.
They finally arrived even with the delay caused by the Water Drake.
Azure smiled, her Unique Skill, Blood Hunt, pointing her towards her target.
Finally, she would find Her again.
The rest of her Party was following her as she ran.
They quickly found themselves within a mansion, their target, a white-haired human looking Vampire waiting for them, ready to battle, the barrier shut off to conserve as much Mana as possible for the fight.

*Luna Gained 600+138 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+138 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+138 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 600+138 Magicules.

*Luna Gained the Innate Skill “Black Blood Manipulation.”

Somewhere else, Luna found herself in quite the situation, being surrounded by around a couple dozen people while in a place of the road among a forest, weapons aimed at her, an hollow smile on her face.

Total Magicules 10476 (V)
Stored Magicules 464

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity D
#Singularity
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Vital Mana Authority E → D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity
(New) At D-Rank, the potency of Vital Mana is increased further.

Innate: Familiar Summoning E
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

(New)
Innate: Black Blood Manipulation E
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 100/1k (III)
This Skill shows the ability of the owner to fuse the shadow and the blood of the owner within and without the owner’s body to create a black fluid that is considered as both blood and shadow.
Additionally, thanks to both Singularity and Vital Mana Authority, both the blood and the shadow of the owner is passively changed to this substance, enhancing the owner’s existence further.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Unharmed Technique D

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Weapon Mastery E

(New)
Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma
The power of all Artifacts attuned with the owner is increased slightly.

(New)
Ability: Meditation E
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony
This Skill normally lowers the time needed to sleep however a Lunarian has no need for that and, as such, this Skill instead increases the efficiency of the use of all Energy of the owner.

(New)
Ability: Presence Suppression E
#Singularity
This Skill shows the degree of the owner to hide one’s own presence.
Thanks to Singularity, all form of Energy within the owner is passively hidden.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 103%.

#Soul_Harmony
6 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
1 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 47 Magicules times 3, 141.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality
Warden E
Imperial Scale

Notes:

Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/29 16:13 (Summer, Night)
Edgar didn’t hesitate, linking himself with all of his surviving Ghouls, observing the battle from various location, while combat capable ones were in position depending on their role and abilities.
The Mana Well formely powering the barrier ws connected to every single one of them, ready to be used.
Meanwhile, the other side of this battle was in position, Evan and Azure in front, Klevel and Marine in the middle and Fora in the back to guard their back and especially the last two.
Evan was the first to speak.
“Should we start fighting now or do you prefer a dialogue first?”
“Oh? You speak of dialogue yet you are the one who destroyed my gate, entered without even asking and in a position ideal for fighting. Additionally, that one is barely holding herself back from a rampage, isn’t she.”
He nodded towards the Half-Elf, who as he was saying, was barely holding herself back from shooting arrows everywhere.

Evan smiled slightly at this, his eyes observing the enemies around them, before responding calmly.
“You know how it is. Once someone is as enraged as she is, you can only be out of her way. But don’t worry, if you sincerely answer to our question, your death will be much faster than otherwise.”
“Oh? No offering to leave me alive if I answer?”
“I’m sorry. This is already as much as I could compromise. Now, ” he turned towards the red-head, her eyes piercing through the Vampire before them. “is she here?”

A snarl on her face, she answered.
“No, She is not. Not even in this waste of an island. But maybe he knows where She is.” The air around her briefly sparked, her bow now trained on him.
“How curious. Who should I know the location of, pray tell?”
A snarl on her face, Evan quickly interfered before the negotiations would break down right then and there.

“We are seeking someone you took.”
“Oh? I don’t remember taking anyone so important that a B-Ranked Party would hunt my Master and all of his Servants.”
Her snarl worsened further, her left hand already holding an arrow, her intent clear.
“Her name is Scarlet!”
Silence stretched between them, as Edgar actually and actively observed Azure finally understanding.

“I have no idea who you are talking about.”
For the first time in the manor, Klevel intervined.
“You are lying. You may be a couple of centuries old, yet you are still younger than me and a much worse liar than even many children. You know exactly who she is and probably even where she is.”
“I see… I didn’t think that a man of the faith would be so well-versed in lying, but it seems I was wrong. However, you don’t doubt she is alive at all… I see, I understand. Your Unique Skill…” he nodded towards the archer. “You can only find people by using their blood. And you cannot “hunt” her by using your own blood, can’t you?”

Silence fell between the two sides before being interrupted.
“However, I am quite disappointed in you. Even now when you should be in your early twenties, you are still inferior to your sister when she was fifteen, even with your special weapons.” He closed his eyes as if grieving.
However, this taunt didn’t land the way he expected.
“Obviously. She is the best after all.”
This response was certaintly unexpected for him, but none of her party reacted at it.
After all, they knew very well how much Azure worshipped her sister.
Yes, worshipped was the correct term for it.
She didn’t look up to her as a big sister, but she worshipped her as something wholly superior for her to admire, without any equal.

Klevel spoke up again.
“It seems to me as if you are very calm for someone in your position. While your natural power as a Vampire is quite high, you are not a warrior. Additionally, your master was stronger than you are and we are stronger than we were when we killed him.”
“You are right. I, however, am a scientist and view losing control of myself because of emotion to be a fatal flaw. Especially when I find myself the weaker party.”
“I see. However, it seems like you have no intention of telling us where she is.”
The Vampire smiled calmly, his Mana and Vital Energy starting to glow around him and some of his Ghouls around them, various Magical Circles manifestating before them as the battle started.

Fireballs, lightnings and blade of winds and water rained down upon them, only for Fora to respond.
“Earth’s Protection.”
At the command, the floor of the mansion rose around them forming a dome around them, being converted in an hard metal by her Unique Skill before being enhanced further by her Mana, blocking the assault.
It wasn’t the end as Azure proceeded with the next step, rising her bow towards the sky, her target for her Unique Arma being the white-haired one.
“Piercing Heavy Shot.”

A red clad arrow was shot towards the sky before suddently turning, barely being stopped by a barrier that suddently sprang around him, caused by the automatic barrier generator prototype, before it entered in cooldown.
He didn’t hesitate, the Ghoul that had the previous role of guarding Luna activated its Unique Skill.
The fact tha it had a Unique Skill may seem like a contradiction considering how Monsters are not able to acquire them, however if someone is turned in a Ghoul while they have awakened their Unique Skill, it remains awake at E-Rank while a Ghoul cannot awaken one on their own.

Its Unique Skill was simply called Acceleration and, at D-Rank as it had at the moment, sped up time for itself or others to around four time the normal and so the cooldown on his barrier was quickly finished while he was chanting for a Spell and making a red Magical Circle.
“Bright Flare.”
A jet of white flames was released from it, being amplified by various Artifact on his person, piercing through the dome and blasting it apart from the inside.
He didn’t hesitate and his Ghouls obeyed his orders trasmitted through his Soul Link, a second bombardement of Magic Spells raining down on the cloud of smoke without any hesitation while various Ghouls were seeking the Iriblades through various different methods, ranging from sensing Mana and Vital Energy, to sensing heat, sounds and smells.

He suddently moved, dodging a swing from a blade made entirely out of light as Evan rose from beneath him, before his barrier sprung up around him, stopping another arrow from piercing through him, before hastily jumping back, evading the second swing from Ethan.
This was only possible because Acceleration was activated on himself, otherwise he would have been hit from that slash or the following ten.
However, this wasn’t enough.
Suddently from behind him, Fora rose from beneath the floor, her hammer already swinging and striking at his back.

His barrier sprung up, only for it to be destroyed as a rain of arrows fell, just in time for the swing of her hammer to send him flying.
Evan accelerated, instantly cutting off his left arm almost at the shoulder.
Edgar was faster than Evan because of the fact that he was a C-Rank Vampire affected by Acceleration, however Evan was a B-Rank Human and was actually skilled when it comes to battle.
The old Vampire was faster, yes, however he was much more wasteful with his movement than any of the Iriblades and found himself being slowly, but surely cornered.

While the damage caused by Fora was already fully healed, his arm was in much worse condition as the light charred his wound, making it much harder, much more expensive and time consuming to heal.
Fortunately he already activated a pain nullification artifact or the pain would have ended the battle already.
Before it could react, water blades rose from underneath the floor, cutting into him.
He understood now were the others were as Evan attacked again.
He made to dodge only for two arrows to pin his feets to the ground and for Evan to cut off both of his legs at the knees at once, charring them.
He fell, barely able to stop himself by using his one remaining arm, before looking up, a sword made out of light at a centimeter from his neck and a nocked arrow staring at his face, chains of water holding him in place while a dome of the same steel as before was around them, separating them from his Ghouls.
“Maybe you don’t understand. You have answers that I want.”
Azure told him, a cruel light in her eyes.
He sighed, finding himself having to use the ace up his sleeve already.

-
7/29 16:13 (Summer, Night)
Meanwhile, in a forest in the central-meridional Midrar, Luna was surrounded by people.
“Tell me, what is a cute thing like you doing all alone.”
As the leader spoke, his subordinates spread out, ready to attack her.
Luna didn’t bother to answer him, uncaring of his existence as she continued to walk on the road.

Upon being ignored like that, the leader red in the face because of anger, attacked her with the sword in his right hand, trying to cut off her right arm.
In response, her Unique Arma manifested herself around her hand, blocking the sword as she ruthlessly attacked, her fist crashing in his hastily raised guard, making him step back as his subordinates prepared to attack.
Five arrows fell upon her, only for her wings to appear around her and block them all.

Suddenly her wings forcefully opened, sending the three… bandits?… trying to attack her, flying away.
A fireball was cast on her, only for her wings to separate from her body and become a pair of shields, one blocking said fireball and the other sending another one of her future meals crashing away.
Before she could press on the attack, she found herself having to dodge as a mace fell where she was previously.
“Sorry Boss. It seems like we cannot capture her alive.”
“You are right. What a shame.”
He responded, rising his sword and taking it with both hands.
The two were the strongest warriors of his group, composed mostly to high E-Ranks to low D-Ranks, equivalent to an high D-Rank Adventurer and specialized in battles against other people.

Without hesitation, every single one of his group started to actively circulate Vital Energy, preparing not to capture her, but to kill her.
She smiled in answer as she prepared to an actual fight, happy to not have killed her previous targets instantly.
After all, conflict is a way to grow she was quite familiar with.
Her Shapes turning to float around her and her Familiars being Summoned from the shadows casted by her newly reformed wings, away from the battle itself, but near enough to observe and interfere in it if necessary.
Her Vital Mana flowed around her, her claws and her body ready to kill and her fangs shining in a bloodthirsty smile as bloodlust shone in her eyes.
This was, after all, the only emotion that her eyes could show.
The battle started as both arrows clad in Vital Energy and another Fireball were launched towards her as her wings started flapping.

Total Magicules 10476 (V)
Stored Magicules 464

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity D
#Singularity
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Vital Mana Authority D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning E
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation E
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 100/1k (III)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Unharmed Technique D

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Weapon Mastery E

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation E
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony

Ability: Presence Suppression E
#Singularity

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 103%.

#Soul_Harmony
6 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
1 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 47 Magicules times 3, 141.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality
Warden E
Imperial Scale

Notes:

Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

7/29 16:18 (Summer, Night; Edgar and Iriblades)
Edgar was without a doubt in an incredibly dangerous situation, surrounded, chained, with three limbs missings and trapped within a dome of steel.
He activated his ace.
He instantly disappeared, changing place with one of his Ghoul bearing his previous wounds that had already activated a self-destructive Spell, exploding between them.

A yellow Magical Circle manifested around it, safely suppressing said explosion as the dome vanished and they were able to see the fully-healed Edgar and his horde of Ghouls ready to continue to fight.
Various blades made of wind rained down on them, only to be stopped by a solid layer of water with a slight golden light within, a combination Spell between Marine and Klevel.
“Oh, Crushing Spirit, respond to my plea.”
An humanoid mass of rocks now floated behind and to the left of her, but differently from the other times, she did not Cast a Spirit Spell, as she Summoned it with the intention of using it only for support.
Fora lowered her hand to the ground, spikes rising out of the ground to try to impale the Ghouls, with the Spirit increasing the potency and speed of said spikes.

Hastily, various Spells were Casted to destroy them, buying the Iriblades enough time.
Klevel rose his Cleric’ Staff, consuming most of both his Vital Energy and Mana to Cast a specific Spell, only possible because his Holy Magecraft reached B-Rank after the battle with the Water Drake.
“Potential Release.”
Instantly, the power of the Iriblades was amplified to as much of their potential power as possible.
This Spell was incredibly specific in requirement to Cast, requiring the target, or in this case targets, of this Spell to not have any active Strenghtening Spell Casted on them nor can they be activated on them for the duration.

But, it was more than worth it.
The effect was to temporary bring all of their Skills to a Rank equal to the Caster’s own Holy Magecraft Skill, in this case B-Rank, while creating enough Temporary Magicules to increases all Skills’ Grades by 4 in this case.
The Iriblades enjoyed the feeling of having their Potential released for the first time, after all this increase in power was much more intimate than any other previous one.

“Oh, Howling Spirit, respond to my plea.”
A person-shaped tornado formed itself behind and to her right, her increased Rank in Blessing of the Spirits allowing her to handle two Spirits at the same time while strenghtening them further.
She rose her bow, an arrow whose shaft was made out of rocks and with an arrowhead made out of solified air, nocked and launched high in the sky.

“Endlessly Raining Arrow.”
The Technique was activated.
The arrow shattered into pieces and said pieces became new arrows.
This process repeated itself again and again until a veritable rain of arrows fell upon all of her enemies.
Edgar’s eyes widened as he hurriedly activated an Artifact, covering all of them in a barrier while all of his Ghouls Casted various Spells and Technique to destroy as many arrows as possible before they could multiply further.

Fortunately, this Technique vastly decreases attack potency and durability in exchange for… well, a lot more attacks.
Unfortunately for Edgar, the original arrow was a Dual Attribute Spirit Arrow, much more dangerous and sturdy than normal arrows.
Fortunately the barrier would be able to mostly defend against the arrows, as spread out as they were.
Unfortunately for him, however, his reaction was already foreseen as the arrows instantly changed direction and target, without any loss of speed, charging directly at one point of the barrier.
Edgar’s eyes widened in shock as his barrier was shattered into pieces, arrows piercing his body in various places while he constantly switched his wounds to other Ghouls, using his own Regeneration and his Ghouls’ to barely survive the assault.

This, however, was only the start as the floor underneath him turned first into steel and then into spikes piercing his body and the Ghouls closest to him, killing five of them and wounding himself even further.
The distraction was enough as Marine charged her Mana, the water responding to her temporary increase in Rank, forming a figure inspired by the Drake they fought previously, a great serpent made entirely out of water, its eyes shining white as it roared, its power equal to the Drake they fought while they were in the ship, its body crushing Ghouls as it devoured various others.
Evan’s blade made entirely out of light was raised horizontally.
“Shining Flash.”
A white light was drawn through the Ghouls, before they all fell apart, dead.

Edgar’s eyes widened before he closed them, falling to the ground.
“Where is she!”
A growl escaped Azure as she stamped on his spine.
He, in response, didn’t hesitate.
Once the rest of her party neared them, he activated his final card detonating himself and his whole manor at once, to negate them any possibility of gaining any information on Luna, a resigned smile on his face.

Thirty minutes later, when the smoke started to dissipate, the Iriblades left the former manor after carefully exploring it, noting how even the basement was destroyed, leaving no trace of where to find Scarlet behind, a grim expression on their face.
Additionally, they only survived because they were under the effects of “Potential Release”, being able to shield themselves from the worst of the explosion while protecting the exhausted Klevel.
Azure gloomly observed Her photo, before she slapper her own cheeks, her eyes clear and her will resolute.
“I will find you. No matter the cost or time.”

She moved faster, deciding to ask the people of this Island for informations, hoping and praying for answers.
After all, even if her Unique Skill didn’t indicate the way towards her, it indicated that she was still alive somewhere.
She did awaken her Unique Skill only after She was taken from her for the expressed desire to find Her.

7/29 16:14 (Summer, Night; Luna)
She smiled before using a Technique, normally used with Shields, through her Wings, shielding her.
She didn’t hesitate, converting her feathers into knifes, before throwing them all around her.
The group of bandits scattered while the mace-wielding one shielded both himself and his leader, before swinging, releasing a shockwave towards her.
“Pressure Wave!”

She jumped left, dodging the shockwave and blocking a sword swing from another person with her Unique Arma’s left gauntlet before blocking a slash from another sword with one of her own in her right hand, Shaped from both Black Blood and Vital Mana, before swinging with a second one in her now armed left hand, blocked by a shield from a third bandit, before she jumped away.
‘How should I call my Shapes? They are not Mana Shapes anymore… Can I call them Blood Shapes? No. Moon Shapes? No. Hm, True Shapes. Yes, True Shapes, it is.’
At the end of the thought, she proceeded with a less important, but more immediately relevant, one.

‘Now, is it Sorcery, Magecraft or Naturecraft. Sorcery for ranged attacks needs either B-Rank or Mana Shape and the power of the Spell was way too low for the ammount of Mana contained for it to be the first option. It was also too stable and, at the same time, too unstable to be Mana Shape. So it is either Magecraft or Naturecraft.’
She nodded to herself, her newly-renamed True Sword, cutting straight through a swordman arm before she quickly cut off the top of his head with no hesitation.
At the sight of one of his men dying, the enraged leader joined the fight with his second in command following close behind.

“How dare you kill-”
“Yeah, yeah, “how dare I kill” whoever that was. Listen well, if you attack someone you should be prepared to the possibility of death. Being furious that someone you attacked, defended themselves is absolutely ridiculous. But you did the right move by attacking first, after all I planned to attack your back when I passed you before.”
She provoked, the smile on her face never wavering.
“You bitch!”
“Calm down, boss. If you attack without thinking, we will die.”
He breathed in and out, calming down as he prepared to fight.

Meanwhile a Fireball fell upon her, only to be blocked again by a True Wing, and Luna nodded to herself.
‘Considering the time between the Fireballs, the stability of the Spells, the location of their origins, their speed, the difference in quantity of Mana and the resulting differences in power between them...Yes, there is only one possibility especially considerating how he never strenghtened any member of this group.’
“I’m certain of it now. Your Mage is a Fire-specialized Wizard with a Fire Magecraft and Mana Control Skills of D-Rank with a reasonable affinity for Fire. Additionally, he is not particularly good at projecting Magic Circles away from himself and he is right there.”

Having said that she created a True Arrow floating above her before it started its flight towards the one she identified as a new D-Rank Fire Wizard, a person that was more than 130 meters away from her.
He was, however, fortunately saved by the second in command that smashed apart the arrow before it could leave the clearing and Luna’s smile widened at having her theory confirmed, her eyes litteraly shining with bloodlust in the dark of the Night.
The reason her Shapes could be seen was because a certain Vampire that died shortly before made quite a bit of money by making and selling Artifacts that granted Darkvision while equipped to various criminal organizations on the nearby continents, some of which were then stolen by various people, among which this group of bandits.
Artifacts that they used extensively to capture many people across the last 7 years.
Artifacts that were the only reason why only three people died when Luna simply rose her left arm, releasing spears from the ground around her, wounding at least that many more that were too slow to react.

This time, the leader didn’t hesitate running in.
“Heavy Slash!”
His sword clad in red met a similar weapon in the True Shape wielded by the Lunarian’s right hand, being stopped in midair as she rose her other hand only to hastily moving it towards the indoming mace forming a shield instead of a blade to stop it.
“Pressure Wave!”
The wave of force met the shield, weakening it enough that the continuing swing broke it into piece, forcing her to step back to dodge the attack, swinging a pair of daggers to block various arrows shot at her while she was retreating before forming a mace in her left hand, forcibly swinging it.

This was the same Technique that the mace-wielding one just used on her, however the power was on a whole another level as derived by both the quality of the Weapon and the use of Vital Mana, creating a two-meters wide wave of force that shattered three trees completely while unrooting many more, before it ended as they jumped away from there.
She nodded to herself before doing the same with a sword releasing a slash that cut a line straight through various trees and rocks, killing another one of the bandits she was fighting.
A laugh escaped her as her targets from 21 become 16, ready and willing for the number to become zero, a new pair of True Wings appearing on her back, a True Bow in her right hand, a True Sword in her left and her Unique Arma covering both of her hands and most of her forearms.

The smell of blood in the air became more and more intense as the Moonlight shone above and cruel, but beautiful, laugher washed away all other sounds.
The real battle finally started as the 16 remaining bandits, these of D-Class, prepared to fight the D-Rank Lunarian.

Total Magicules 10476 (V)
Stored Magicules 464

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity D
#Singularity
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism D
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Vital Mana Authority D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning E
#Lunarian #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation E
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vital_Mana_Authority
Magicules: 100/1k (III)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Unharmed Technique D

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Vital_Mana_Authority

Ability: Weapon Mastery E

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation E
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony

Ability: Presence Suppression E
#Singularity

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 103%.

#Soul_Harmony
6 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
1 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 47 Magicules times 3, 141.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality E
Warden E
Imperial Scale E

Notes:

Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

7/29 16:36 (Summer, Night; Luna)
7 arrows were shot at her at once from one of the two Elves in the group of outlaws as she quickly blocked them all with her wings, her sword floating around her as she drew back a True Arrow nocked to her bow.
Before she could shot, a silent Pressure Wave was sent at her that she was able to dodge as it was vastly slower than the Chanted variant, but buying his leader enough time to reach her and try to cut her in half.
She responded by retaking the Sword floating around her and parrying him away before blocking the skillfull thrust of the second and last Elf within the group.

As she was about to kill him, the two Beast-kins, one of the Deer-Type and one of a Fox-Type, interfered.
The second of the two, looking like a Human with the addition of the tail and ears of a fox and nails that looked like claws, swung at her with said claws from both of his hands clad in Vital Energy while the first, looking like a slender human with the horns of a deer, jumped over her before stomping down on her, his foot clad in Vital Energy.
In response, she formed two small platforms under her feet, launching herself not away, but towards the first of the two of them, letting her weapon go and grabbing his wrists before forcefully pulling him in the way of the other Beastkin’s stomp, sending them both crashing to the ground.

They were saved from a rain of lances from the sky by one of the three Dwarfs, shielding them with a Tower Shield 3 meters tall and two wide, a shield that was massively bigger then he was, with his barely meter and a half of height, using a Technique to increases immensely his balance, being able to keep himself and the other two safe.
Meanwhile a Fireball launched by the Human Mage away from them was blocked by a True Barrier over the head of the Elf, distracting him from the arrow that he was preparing and buying herself enough time.
After all, while a group of this size is dangerous, there is a reason most Adventuring Parties are comprised out of an handful of People to minimize the variables of a fight.
Against a single Person, only so many People could attack at once effectively.
And that number was well within her calculation ability.

Sixteen True Lance that looked like drills materialized above her and started to spin, faster and faster, before they were launched at high speed, one towards every single one of her targets as distraction while she nocked an Arrow in her Bow, shooting it at the Wizard.
She really needed to call them something to distinguish them.
Dwarf 1 used his door of a Shield to protect himself and Beastkin 1 and 2 while Dwarf 2 and 3, a pair of twins, blocked with their mace.
Human 3 to 6, Elf 1 and 2 and the Leader evaded the attack without any problems while the two remaining Humans barely dodged, being wounded in the leg one and in the side the other.
Finally while the Mage was able to dodge the Lance because of the distance between them, the Arrow that followed was fortunately broken by Right-Hand who ignored the one sent against himself, accepting a hole in his left shoulder, his non-dominant arm while sending another shockwave back.

She calmly dodged it by flying a couple of meters away, before dropping towards the ground trying to stomp the Deer Beastkin with her left foot clad in purple, to reduce the number of inconsequential opponents.
He hurriedly dodged as a crater formed there, cracks expanding outwards before Human 3 and Dwarf 2 jumped in the hole, one armed with a katana while the other with a mace.
“Fast Slash!”
“Strong Blow!”
Both weapon clad in red were swung at her, the katana from her left being quickly drawn by its shealt while the mace fell from above on her right.
The response was immediate.

A mace formed in her left hand and she used Hard Blow to overpower the bladed weapon and stopped him dead while a katana formed in her right hand, using Fast Slash to deflect the mace to the ground, before she jumped and used the two’s chest as a jumping pad to dodge a third attack.
“Heavy Thrust!”
The rapier wielded from the falling Human 4, that used his own whole weight to increase the damage as much as possible, pierced where Luna was before until the hilt.
She nodded to herself while falling noting what she felt when she was using the Techniques and what she was seeing through her Familiars.
Her copying of both Techniques was because Vision’s sight was connected with her own and so she could see how they manipulated their Vital Energy and copy this manipulation with her own ability to manipulate Vital Mana.
Fast Slash was a Technique to maximize the speed of the swing while Strong Blow, instead, was a Technique to use all of the body to maximize the power of a blow.
The two Technique cannot be normally used together, but she was more than able to use them in quick succession and so, the next step was obvious.

She used Strong Slash combined with Pressure Wave to create a powerful, but slow, air blade that was followed with a Fast Slash combined with Pressure Wave, fusing the two of them in a terrifying fast and strong air blade that was able to cut Human 4 in two, killing him and forming a vertical three-meters deep fessure in the ground as blood flowed.
“15 to go. Come on, teach me more.”
Her provocation was answered as a red Magic Circle formed under her before a pillar of fire enveloped her.
The rest of the group didn’t hesitate as Elf 1 shot various arrows where she was as Human 3 and 5, armed with two swords, ran in to cut her only to be stopped by a pair of swords.
She walked out of the fire, her Vital Mana covering her being solidified in a barrier to protect her from the fire before she nodded.

‘As I thought, he is no threat. Nor are most of them. 13 to go.’
She thought as her blades instantly changed in a couple of scythes, trapping the necks of the two Humans between the blade and the shaft before the two heads fell with a movement of her own wrists, her weapons dissolved in Energy before turning in five blades that were sent forward to buy time.
She stepped forward, her rapier piercing straight throught the armor of Dwarf 2 and his shoulder, impaling him against a tree before she ripped him apart by expanding her weapon and ripping him apart from the inside.
This death stunned them enough for her to shot an arrow through his twin, Dwarf 3, that exploded killing him.
A Fireball fell upon her.

“How boring. It seems like you will continue to bother me.”
Vision moved until, while still hidden, it could observe the Mage.
Warden then used Vision’s eyes as target mechanism to create a barrier within his forming Magic Circle, disrupting it in various critical places and blowing him up.
She returned to the fight, her sword meeting with Right Hand’s and Dwarf 1’s mace while both Human 6 and Elf 1 shot her with various arrows blocked with her newly-reappeared Wings, her right leg moving in a kick at Dwarf 1’s shield sending herself away before kicking at a tree, jumping forward again and punching it.
Before he could react, she grabbed his shield, pulling it towards herself, forcefully rising him in the air before smashing him in the ground on his back, creating a crater with his resistant body, stepping on his hands to stop them before, with a smile, piercing through his eye with a True Rapier, her Wings’ feathers becoming knifes and raining in the area around her.

A sword approched her neck before a True Staff blocked it as Leader continued the assault with a punch to her solar plexus dodged as she spinned, kicking him back before she stepped forward, her following punch being blocked by him crossing his arms before him, flying back.
As she jumped after him, a mace blocking his sight as she dropped to the ground, dodging the attack and taking the mace’s handle, stopping it before, with a smile she thrusted with her palm against his chest, using both Strong Blow and Pressure Wave at the same time throught her palm.
As the result, Right-Hand was sent flying, breaking various trees.
Beast-kin F jumped at her, his claws clad in Vital Energy as he attacked with a flurry of blows and she dodged while observing the way he used them.
After a while she nodded to herself before, her nails extended into claws, she ripped into him.

He fell as she stepped forward, stopping the kick by Beast-kin D by grabbing his ankle before stabbing him with a True Sword.
Human 6 slowly stepped back, his bow trembling, before he dropped it and ran away.
At seeing that, Luna’s expression worsened.
Her judgement was followed by her attack, a True Lance piercing his back, as Right-Hand, Leader and Elf 2 attacked her while Elf 1 shot her with various arrows.
Human 1 and 2 attacked her from the back, both of them using a pair of knifes.
She responded by Shaping a shield equal to Dwarf 1’s to block their and Right-Hand’s way while allowing the blade of Leader to pierce her right palm until the hilt she forcefully grabbed with barely a wince, moving him in the way of the arrows.

He was able to minimize the damage as much as possible from the arrows however this left him open to Luna that, bored of him already, pierced through him with her left hand clad in a spear.
Human 1 and 2 followed him in death because Spears fell from above, stabbing their arms and legs before they exploded through Mana Burst.
Elf 1 was next as she dodged mace and sword before, forming two True Arms as big as she was, she grabbed Elf 2 and Right-Hand and throwed them far away from herself.
She went forward, her Wings accelerating her as she dodged his arrows before, once she was before him moving outside his point of view with a sudden burst of speed, no more sounds being heard by his sensitive ears before feeling it.
A blade cutting him almost in two from behind as he, slowly, fell dying.

Elf 2 was able to land on his feet first, an hateful expression on his face as he reguarded her pointy ears.
“Oh? How interesting. You hate me, don’t you? How selfish. There is no meaning in an hate you cannot use to grow and you certaintly will not be able to use it as such. But I suppose, it is only natural for an Elf to despise an Half-Elf.”
The reason she said it was only natural was quite simple.
An Half-Elf was the child of an Human and an Elf with a Human’s Racial Skill with an Innate Skill derived by an Elf.
This Skill normally can be: Enhanced Senses, One with Nature, Skillfull Nature or Enhanced Agility.
This would not cause any issues for the Elfs, however this are not the only Skills a Half-Elf can hereditate from the Elf parent, merely the ones an Elf can obtain.
An Half-Elf can be born, even if very rarely, with two Skills that, indipendently of either effort or talent, will never be gained by an Elf causing immense envy in them because of their value and significance.
One of the two was "Blessing of the Spirits" that a certain Adventurer of the Iriblades currently possessed.
The other, possessed by Luna’s previous self, was Spirit Body, a Skill that she will be able to regain once she will become a B-Rank Lunarian.
Her smile expanded as she opened her Wings wide before flying towards her wounded opponents while weapons fell on them.

-
7/29 17:19 (Summer, Night; Luna)
*Luna Gained 4087+114 Magicules.

*Luna’s Growth Skill “Soul Harmony” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Regeneration” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Vampirism” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Familiar Summoning” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Black Blood Manipulation” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “No-Attribute Sorcery” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Unharmed Combat” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Weapon Mastery” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Meditation” Rank increased to D-Rank.

*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “High-speed Processing”.
*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Parallel Processing”.

She was not finished.
As their blood finished to being absorbed in her mouth, she reguarded the 21 Souls she stored now within her.
They had no worth to her and so they passed on to the Moon.
The 5 at E-Rank left nothing behind.
The two most important Shades were Mage’s, leaving behind the Ability Skill “Fire Magecraft”, and Dwarf 1’s, containing “Physical Resistance.”
The rest of them were Ability Skills based on weapons that were then absorbed in Vision, forming a “Weapon Mastery” Skill based on her own, while Warden absorbed “Physical Resistance”.
The Shade formed by “Fire Magecraft” was then called Ash by Luna.
She smiled, satisfied, before regarding the corpses around her.

“Now, what do I do? If Edgar was here, he would use Corpse Cremation, but I can’t use that Spell because of "Singularity".”
She tounched an arm on the ground, experimentally, Mana Forging it with Mana Burst before getting away from it and launching a Mana Stone enhanced with the same Spell against it.
The result was the simultaneous explosion of both.
She nodded to herself.
“Not this way. In that case…”
She cut herself, her blood invading a nearby corpse before activating its properties.
Quickly, the body was restaured to peak performance even if without any Soul within before it dissolved into Black Blood that joined her shadow in storage.
She nodded to herself before taking a branch from a tree, and follow the direction it fell towards, unaware that it indicated towards sud-est, the exact opposite direction she should be going towards.

Total Magicules 14677 (V)
Stored Magicules 3765

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Growth: Soul Harmony D → C
Magicules: 1k/10m. (IV)
(Up) Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules equal to the total Rank of all their other Skills times 5.
(New) At C-Rank, the owner’s Soul is further in harmony with itself reducing sharply Cooldowns while enhancing their existence

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity D
#Singularity
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration D → C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m. (IV)
(New) At C-Rank, the owner is more resilient to alteration of status and heals even faster.

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism D → C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)
(Up) Additionally, in either cases, it allows the ability to sense and read Blood in a range depending on the Grade this and the Racial Skill.
(New) At C-Rank, this Skill increases temporary the power of the owner by consuming Blood, either their own or others, depending on its quality.

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning E → D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
(New) At D-Rank, the Familiars can increase in Rank.

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation E → D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
(New) At D-Rank, this Skill changes the nature of the blood further, enhaning the recovery and the quantity of both Mana and Vital Energy of the owner.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery D → C
#Authority:Vital_Mana
(New) At C-Rank this Skill increases the Non-elemental Affinity of the owner.

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Unharmed Technique D → C
(New) At C-Rank this Skill enhance the owner’s body even further.

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Weapon Mastery E → D
(New) At D-Rank, this Skill decreases the cost of all Techniques using weapons.

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation E → D
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony #High-Speed_Processing #Parallel_Processing
(New) At D-Rank, the owner can now enter in Deep Meditation.
Deep Meditation:
While in Active Meditation, the user becomes more resistant to Status Alteration and recovers from them faster.
To activate it, 1000 seconds of Meditation is the base activation time required.
(New) Thanks to High-Speed Processing E, Deep Meditation’s Activation Time and Recovery are both 1,1 times faster.
(New) Because of Parallel Processing, it is possible to mantain a permament Deep Meditation by using 1 Process.

Ability: Presence Suppression E
#Singularity

(New)
Ability: High-Speed Processing E
This Skill speeds up the perception of the owner.

(New)
Ability: Parallel Processing E
This Skills shows the ability of the owner to process information through multiple thoughts at once.
At this Rank, it allows 1 extra Processing.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
(Up) Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
(Up) A process to automatically gain Magicules equal to the sum total of all other Skills the owner possess depending on their Rank times 3 every day.
E=1; D=3; C=5; B=7; A=10.
At the moment the Owner possesses, other than Soul Harmony:
4 E-Rank;
11 D-Rank Skills;
6 C-Rank Skills.
(Up) Every day, then, the owner will gain 67 Magicules times 5, 335.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is D-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 600 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality E
(New) Weapon Mastery E
Warden E
Imperial Scale E
(New) Physical Resistance E
(New) Ash
Fire Magecraft E

Notes:

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/29 20:01 (Summer, Night; Iriblades)
They found themselves reunited in the room in the local inn they rentend.
“So, did you find anything?”
“I asked the Guild if they remembered seeing any Half-Elf or Vampire within the last three month, but they didn’t.”
The first to answer Azure’s question was Evan only to then be followed by Klevel and, then, Fora.
“I asked the same of various seamen and neither did they.”
“Idem for the Crafter’s Guild.”
“Haha, listen well and rejoice, for I, the great Witch Marine have obtained vital informations for this quest of ours. There are voices on the streets about a mysterious caravan stopping just outside the city from which a beautiful white-haired Half-Elf looking around 18 years old exited, with a mysterious individual covered in an heavy coat as a guard.”

“That makes sense. It seems like he did Turn her. However, if she was a Vampire, it makes no sense that she would be in the sunlight. Even an Ancestor, the highest Class of Vampires at the highest Rank, would find it painfull to stand in Sunlight.”
“Fora is right. Additionally, I somewhat doubt that Edgar would have been able to create one of those abomination. And why not ask for her Blood? While we can only base our knowledge on her from Azure’s very biased story, she is not one to easily forget a debt, positive or negative. He should have been able to convince her of it, but he didn’t. Maybe she is an irregular Vampire?”
“No, Klevel. I’m sure she is an higher Species from Vampire. However, it would not have mattered. He knew we were somehow hunting him so…”
“So, this way she was safe. To think that he was able to resist his impulse so… How surprising. I have read little records of Vampires turning down free blood. But how did Scarlet handle the Sunlight? Maybe she has an Artifact?”
“No chance. She would not accept to use an Artifact for something as fundamental as that. Either she has a Resistance Skill already or she had no problem with it from the start. As expected from Her.”
As she distracted herself, thinking about her sister, the others continued to speak.

“So we are now certain she is still alive. However, none of the seamen met her, right? When exactly did she pass by? And are your sources reliables?”
“The day the boats returned to travel and don’t worry, after I beat them up a couple of times, they were very cooperative.”
A sweatdrop on his forehead, Evan continued.
“Fora, do you have the list of travels of the boats?”
“Yes.” She took a list and quickly searched for the 15th. “The destinations are in Terrar, Astrar, Higrar, Midrar and Lowrar.”
“I’m still surprised when it comes to the name of the countries.”
“Well, they were named after the old Champion that created our calendar and the first map of this World, Akirar. But, Azure, do you know where she would go towards?”
“She will go towards Dunrar. It was where we were going towards before...well, before.”

“You do understand that a Vampire that Ascended from a Ghoul will lose all of their memory from before, right? Even if we find her, she… will not remember you and we just killed what could be called her father. We may need to…” Klevel stopped himself from saying ‘kill her’.
It certaintly would not happen considering her, before continuing.
“… We may need to fight her to a standstill.”
“No worries. We never had a strong sense for family in the first case.”
Silence stretched between them as the whole of the Iriblades looked at her, especially Klevel, the one to find and take her in after the two sisters were separated, before Evan spoke the question in everyone’s mind.

“Can you explain, please?”
“Well, you know how it is. My Sister was born with both an incredibly powerfull Innate Skill and an awakened Unique Skill, without even considering Her immense talent. The old leach was understating Her talent. If we never met them, today She would without a doubt have reached A-Class. Our parents were terrified of Her to the point that they made me solely to function as a chain to limit and stop Her from going rampant, Her much inferior sister that She needed to look after. Then when She was 12, our parents vanished and we started traveling.”
Silence streched between them before Evan asked his question.
“Are you sure she was not a Reincarnated Person?”
“Without any doubt.”

The first four members of the Iriblades spoke quickly to each other, using a Sending Stone to make it so Azure didn’t hear them.
Evan: ‘Her sister killed their parents, didn’t she?’
Marine: ‘Without a doubt.’
Klevel: ‘No plausible other alternative.’
Fora: ‘Duh. I just wonder if arrow-for-brain suppressed that information or just never seriously thought about it.’
Klevel: ‘I believe the second. She didn’t care enough to analyze the facts to understand that her sister probably killed them.’
Marine: ‘I mean, from how she described them… It’s not like she was exactly wrong to.’
Fora: ‘Wrong or not, it doesn’t matter. Neither of the two would care.’

“Well, ok, then. Let’s go to Dunrar. How long will we need?”
“Hmm… considering the travel itself, the acquisition of funds and food and all the permission we will need to travel there… We should arrive there a month after the incoming White Day.”
“In that case, we have enough time to investigate. Did you find anything in the mansion.”
“No. The leach destroyed it completely. The only thing we have is this.”
She held out an Artifacts shaped like a bracelet.
“I see.” Fora neared her, gently taking it from her. “The Artifact made using Singularity as the inspiration. Are you sure I can analyze it? It may be destroyed in the process and from when we took this from the old Vampire, you never let it out of your hand.”
“I know, but… there is no other choice.”
“Very well. Let’s return to our base. I will need my smithy.”
“I will make preparations with the Guild then.”

-
9/13 10:32 (Summer, Day; Luna)
*Luna gained 600+335 Magicules times 43.
*Luna’s Growth Skill “Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity” Rank increased to C Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Meditation” Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Presence Suppression” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “High-Speed Processing” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Parallel Processing” Rank increased to D-Rank.

*Vision’s “Weapon Mastery” Rank increased to D-Rank.
*Warden’s “Imperial Scale” Rank increased to D-Rank
*Ash’s “Fire Magecraft” Rank increased to D-Rank.

She nodded to herself at her progress before sighing.
“It seems like I have hit a wall. My progress is slowing down massively and my Familiars cannot acquire Skill of their own. What a bother. Oh well, I already reaquired all, but two of the Skill the Half-Elf me had, while I am missing only Crafting from the Ghoul me. I need to increase the Rank of either my Racial or Unique Skill to surpass this wall, but the C-Rank of the two Skills is special. If I don’t find anything to give me a proper fight or a lot of very high-quality blood, I won’t be able to obtain them in time. Let’s concentrate on Spells and Techniques for now, then.”
She quickly started to manifest her Vital Mana to surround her only for it to cause an explosion from her, 5 meters in range, destroying various trees.
She sighed at this error caused by the fact that she was too familiar with Mana Burst before nodding to herself, calling this Spell [Release] in her mind.

It was a simple Spell capable to generate a shockwave around her at the cost of a vast quantity of Mana.
It was quite inefficient when it comes to the force and the radius of said explosion, however.
But now that she did it once…
“[Release]!”
While she wasn’t one to use a Chant to Cast Spells, she could do an exeption every now and then.
The following explosion was a more powerful and larger one than the previous one, with a radius of around 15 meters.
She nodded to herself before manifesting fully her own Arma around her.

“Okay, this can be useful if I just... Let’s try this. [Release]!”
This time she used Mana Shaping to create a 5 meters diameter, thin sphere around her.
The shockwave released from her own body was contained by her barrier, being reflected and amplified within it, creating what, from an external sight, would look like a shining purple sphere whose surface rippled like water continuously everywhere, lasting a whole five seconds.
The result was an assault on everything within the barrier, herself included, by continuous shockwaves from all sides, as they were being reflected back by the barrier and passing through each other, ripping everything within the barrier apart.

She stood at the bottom of the crater, her clothes completely gone, her skin presenting deep gashes and bruises all over, her left eye being crushed in her head, her right ear cut almost in half and, most worrisome, her own being, still a lie forcing itself into reality, was damaged deeply, lowering her lifespan by a couple of days from her original remaining 6 months.
The only parts of her that were spared were those clad by her Unique Arma, that survived the process unharmed.
She smiled as she breathed heavily, some teeth missings, before her own Vital Mana quickly started restoring her damaged body, before nodding to herself.
She would need her Unique Arma to cover her completely to be able to use it safely, before she observed the damage around her.
Within these 5 meters of the barrier, she herself was the only thing remaining as earth, stone, rocks, branches and leaves were completely erased within.

She sighed before cloaking herself in her Vital Mana.
Thanks to her experiencing blowing herself up, she grasped what she should do.
She now could suceed where she failed before, the Sorcery called [Mana Clad-Warrior], a Spell that changed effect depending on the Attribute used by the Caster.
In her case, this Spell manifested as a semi-trasparent purple layer around her, barely covering her naked body.
However, the most important matter with the Spell was the effect on her.
A non-Attribute version of this Spell simply formed a barrier around her to weaken incoming attacks while slightly enhancing the Caster.

She smiled before moving to the next step, her True Wings being Casted upon her shoulders, two Weapons in her hands.
She sighed deeply, her eyes closed as she concentrated.
If this was her progress in Spells, it was time for her to progress in Techniques.
Her next step was simple, her various basic Techniques being used one after another before she nodded satisfied.
These Techniques consisted of the use of Vital Energy, Vital Mana in her case, to manipulate her own body so that she could apply her whole body into the various blows with her Energy further amplyfing the desired effects.

A simple and effective way to use Techniques, able to quickly and easily output around 135% of her potential when it comes to her blows, but… She had no need for such a thing.
Her smile grew, her eyes opening wide before she laughed, her blood flowing within her body, faster and faster.
She had no need for Techniques to manipulate her body as she wished, she was more than able to use her “Black Blood Manipulation” to bring the most out of her own body.
It was a shame that she needed that Skill for it, but at least for now, this would be the most efficient.
She quickly reworked all of her Techniques to no longer be able to manipulate her own body, streamlining the process further to instead maximize both her use of Energy and the power of the Techniques themselves.
Her new Techniques reached the same efficacy of before at only around 45% of the cost, a process that allowed her to bring out around 180% of her power with the same quantity of energy.
This was, however, not the final step.

The next was shattering the rigidity that binded her Techniques and her Shapes to the weapons by repeatedly and forcefully changing them mid swing from one to another.
From whip to sword to dagger to hammer to mace, back to whip and to scythes, to staffs and finally to weapons that had no names, that constantly changed shape, her smile growing even wider as a laugh escaped her at her success.
Dispelling her Spells and Techniques, she took a change of clothes from the storage ring she hid within her blood to protect it.
Once she was done with that, she restarted her travel, unaware that she was approching the border between Midrar and Lowrar, instead of the one between Midrar and Higrar.

-
9/13 13:02 (Summer, Day; ?)
High above the skies of Lowrar, two beings prepared to fight.
One was a great bird made out of golden flames with a wingspan of around 20 meters while the other was a light-blue scaled True Dragon, their wings beating slowly as the two of them were mostly being sustained in flight by their Mana.
The two of them, even in their more monstrous form, were people and so someone could mistakenly think words could resolve the situation.
However, the two of them were a Phoenix and a True Dragon, a pair of Races that were fighting each other since before recorded history and the two individuals in particular had an enmity lasting literal decades.

The D-Ranked Ice Dragon started this battle by releasing her Breath of pure cold shaped like a line to try and freeze her opponent solid.
In response the other one casually dodged the opening move before releasing a rain of fire in response, a rain of fire that was shut off by a second Breath, this time shaped like a cone, before it narrowed to try and take the Phoenix by surprise.
A surprise attack that failed as she agily dodged it before launching a fireball a couple dozen meters large in diameter towards the Dragon.
The Dragon quickly flew down before releasing an aura of cold around her, blowing out the flames that would have landed on her before creating and launching a spear made out of ice to impale her adversary.
This attack didn’t land, after all they were both too used to fight each other for such a simple strike to matter between the two of them as fresh as they were at the moment.
A cloud of fire was released from the Phoenix around the Dragon, trying to limit her possible steps.
In response, she roared releasing cold mist to blow out the fire before hastily dodging a concentrated beam of fire and answering with her own beam of cold, it too being dodged with a graceful twirl.

“I wonder, Aurora. When will you cease to challenge me? We both know how this will end. Like the last 60 times we fought. Why don’t you save us both time and you just give up.”
“Keep dreaming, Amber. This time, I will beat you.”
“Sure, sure. Well, good luck. You will need it. [Rising Sun]”
The Spell, that was a mix of Elemental Sorcery mixed with the Innate Skill “Pyrokinesis”, Casted by the Phoenix was activated, creating a sphere of golden flames high up in the sky, the temperature around them increasing and so was the power of the Fire Attribute.
“Don’t look down on me, you overgrown burned chicken. [Frozen Armor]”
The answering Spell, a mix between Elemental Sorcery and Naturecraft common between True Dragons, created an armor of ice around herself that she specialized in the past to resist fire and heat.
Quickly, the two ran at each other, claws, teeth and cold fighting against talons, flames and sheer heat.

The battle started in truth.

Total Magicules 57462 (V)
Stored Magicules 1550

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity D → C
#Singularity
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)
(Up) This Skill manifests for the moment as two gloves covering up to most of the owner’s forearm and armor that covers the owner’s feet and most of their foreleg; principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.
(New) At C-Rank, while it is manifested, it additionally enhances the existance of the owner further and it will be able to awaken by using the command “Awaken!”.
(New) Awaken State:
While in the Awakened State, all incoming damage is sharply reduced while the power of all Energy Uses is sharply increased further.
The cooldown is of one hour plus the Activation Duration.
While it is Awakened, it constantly absorbs Vital Mana from the User.

Innate: Regeneration C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation D → C
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony #High-Speed_Processing #Parallel_Processing
(New) At C-Rank, this Skill increases the owner’s control over their Energy and boosts Deep Meditation.
Deep Meditation:
(New) While in Active Meditation, the user’s Energy is recovered faster.
(Up) Thanks to High-Speed Processing D, Deep Meditation’s Activation Time and Recovery speed are both 1,3 times faster.

Ability: Presence Suppression E → D
#Singularity
(New) At D-Rank, the owner’s Presence Suppression is spread also to their Weapons and Familiars.

Ability: High-Speed Processing E → D
(New) At D-Rank, this Skill is applied also to the owner’s Familiars and other Processing-Type Skill.

Ability: Parallel Processing E → D
#High-Speed_Processing.
(Up) At this Rank, it allows 3 extra Processing.
(New) At D-Rank, this Skill increases the control of the owner on Energy.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
1 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
8 C-Rank Skills.
(Up) Every day, then, the owner will gain 77 Magicules times 5, 385.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
(Up) At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality E
(Up) Weapon Mastery E → D
Warden E
(Up) Imperial Scale E → D
Physical Resistance E
Ash
(Up) Fire Magecraft E → D

Notes:

Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/13 13:03 (Summer, Day; Amber & Aurora)
A talon, leaving behind a trail of golden flames, was launched to try and cut her head, attack that was dodged before a tail covered in cold mist was swung in response.
As Amber floated around said tail, she roared releasing a wave of fire all around her, wave that was stopped dead by an incoming wave of freezing air before a narrow Dragon Breath was casually dodged as the Phoenix generated flames around her that she then shaped into burning red strings through both “Pyrokinesis”, an Innate Skill common in Phoenixes, and “Blaze Crafting”, another Skill common in the same Race, being an Ability Skill instead.
Strings that she then used to bind the Dragon’s limbs and her mouth around the frozen armor that started to slowly melt, before she released a rain of golden fire in the zone around them.

Hurriedly, Aurora created a wall of ice through Mana Shaping to block the wave of fire directed at her, a sigh of relief released by her, before she froze, her eyes widening.
The fire that was directed away from her froze in the air before being turned into crimson spears that surrounded her, spears that quickly tried to pierce her from all directions.
Aurora’s eyes quickly widened before she roared, doing something rare for True Dragons to do.
She forcefully changed the area around her, freezing the flames solid before they shattered in ice crystals, both the spears and the strings, before the area returned to normal.

“How surprising.” Amber praised, while her flames melted down the ice around her. “It seems like you studied how Drakes fought to learn how to actively amplify your Domain the way Drakes do. I must offer my praises to you.”
“Shut up! I don’t accept any praises from someone that is holding back like you are!” At her roar, another Breath Attack was launched from the Dragon.
At her words, the flames of the Phoenix rose as a snarl before she completely ignored the Breath piercing her body, flying up to Aurora and cutting her heavily across her chest before sending her crashing to the ground with a wave of flames.
As she breathed in and out to calm down, the hole in her chest refilled with flames as she quickly healed thanks to both her own Skills: Innate “Regeneration”, various Vital Energy-based Skills and especially her own Racial Skill “Phoenix”.

This allowed her to heal herself extremely quickly and cheaply while her “Undying Body” keep her from losing Vital Energy because of injuries, rendering the previous tactic of exchanging blows more than usable for her.
However just because this tactic was effective, it didn’t mean that it was the right one as evident by the fact that the shards of ice around her instantly become sharp, wounding her further.
This was far from their first fight and, as such, their respective weak points were easy to exploit by each other.
As the ice pierced her, she calmed down before heating up the area around her until the ice sublimated into water vapor before arrows made of fire rained down on Aurora.
A wall of ice rose up, meeting the fire half-way up and being constantly destroyed and recreated before finally this bombardment calmed down.

“Ahh, sorry, I lost my cool, I suppose. I should not lose control because of the words of a sore loser that isn’t able to beat a young girl two decades younger once in the last fifty times? Sixty? Sorry, I don’t remember how many times I beat you in a row. Tell me, do you remember how many times did you lose onesidely?”
“You piece of shit. You have an Innate Skill that, even at your age, you never Ranked Up. You could Evolve in a stronger Race and increase in Rank yet you are still a simple D-Rank Phoenix. If you had ever bothered to increases that Skill’s Rank, you would have long since reached C-Rank. What a waste, isn’t it?”
“I see… It seems like a certain frozen lizard forgot that for a bird, it is no more than a potential meal, didn’t she? In that case, why don’t you wait, while I proceed to cook my next meal.”

Fire covered the sky around her, before falling down as a rain of crimson arrows, rain that was stopped by yet another wall of ice before she fell down, her flames dancing around her as she started to spin, her flames being quickly condensed around her to form a drill that pierced straight through the wall.
Aurora hurriedly dodged as Amber almost drilled her, before the drill glowed and exploded in a wave of fire that battered her armor, before the Phoenix flew from the fire and cut into her with blazing claws.
The wounds distracted her enough for the Fire-Attribute one to release a breath attack made of condensed flames, in a mocking imitation of a Dragon’s Breath Attack, sending her away from her even as she shielded herself with her wings protected by her armor.

As she rose, the Dragon didn’t hesitate, releasing a breath of cold all around her to stop the incoming flames before narrowing into a beam that was fluidly dodged by the bird before she flew high in the sky to dodge spikes of ice.
Before the battle restarted in earnest, Aurora roared forcing the temperature around them both to sharply decreases, before a cyan Aura covered her.
She quickly regenerated her armor before meeting her opponent halfway as talons met claws again in a fierce battle as heat and cold fought incessantly.
Aurora roared again, releasing a Breath upon her rival, opponent and enemy, making a new hole in her body and that quickly healed again before quickly dodging two blades made out of flames that the recently wounded one was wielding in her talons that exploded to oscure her sight.
Which was quite a strange thing to do considering how her “Soul Sight” was more than able to see Amber through her smokestream and she should have been more than aware of that.

She didn’t hesitate, releasing another Breath Attack to pierce her opponent only for the fire that was hiding her to solidify in a barrier to block it before fire rained down on her.
She swooped down, dodging the fire that however stopped dead before it followed moving around her to limit her possible movements as much as they could.
As she somewhat clumsily moved to dodge the fire, she released a Breath to interrupt Amber from sending further waves of attacks at her, before encasing herself in a block of ice that dropped straight to the ground ignoring the fire directly.
Once there, the cube exploded, sending sharp shards everywhere.
Said shards were quickly melted down by Amber before she fell down in a nosedive while covered in almost solid flames.

In response ice spikes rose from the ground trying to skewer her.
Having noted that Amber stopped in the air while letting the crimson flames around her advanced forward, meeting the spikes and exploding, leaving the way open for her to resume her attack in earnest, her talons wielding and being covered by two great crimson and flaming blades.
As she descended, they were swung in parallel, trying to cut the Dragon in three parts, trying and failing as ice rose to intercept and break them before a Breath attack was released at point blank range, sending her away.

“I must offer my compliments. You are quite a bit stronger than you were 3 years ago. And you are even more capable in a fight. Did the little lizard finally start to train seriously now?”
“Ah ah, I could say the same to you. What is the meaning of all these swords, eh? Taking inspiration from those ones, aren’t you?”
“Obviously. If I find something interesting it only makes sense to be able to reproduce it myself, doesn’t it? However, it is quite surprising to hearing you disparage the little ones considering the fact that you bothered to make an armor for yourself. Afraid of a little bit of heat?”
Amber mocked as her “Rising Sun” continued to shine upon the area, increasing slowly the temperature to combat the lowering temperature caused by Aurora’s nature as an Ice Dragon and forcing her to use even more Mana constantly, after all the purpose of this Spell was to force Aurora to spend as much Mana as possible.

While Aurora was preparing for the continuation of the fight, her limbs pressed against the ground and her wings and tail moving slowly to prepare, while Amber was slowly flying in place, her talons wielding a couple of crimson blades in her talons.
“Tell me, why don’t we fight in a humanoid form?”
“I see… it seems that your pride is doing its best to crush you, you overgrown lizard. But if you want to lose AGAIN, who am I to refuse?”
At this point the two of them glowed, one a warm gold with a tiny purple core, while the other glowed a cold azure before leaving behind two humanoid figures.

In the place of the Phoenix, there was a 19 years old cute girl, 163 centimeters tall, with flowing golden hairs reaching just past her shoulders, pale skin and orange eyes, wearing a crimson battle dress made entirely by flames and wielding a blade in her right hand made of the same, with a pair of golden wings shining brightly phasing through her dress.
In the place of the Ice Dragon, instead, there was an 18 years old attrattive girl, 188 centimeters tall, with long flowing azure hairs, pale skin and vivid red eyes, with her distance from other living beings shown by her azure scales all over her body, a pair of horns, wings and a tail, wearing a light blue dress open on her back for her wings, before a layer of ice formed as armor covering her limbs, chest and forming a crown of ice upon her head.

The momentary pause in the fight ended as the two of them rushed in, a blade made of flames meeting a blade of ice once, twice, thrice before the frozen blade finally melted into pieces even with Aurora constantly cooling it, before she found herself hastily dodging the fifth swing, a small cut being burned on her side, her armor blocking most of the damage, before a kick from Amber coated in fire sent her away being followed by a cutting trail of fire.
Trail that was stopped by a wall of ice before Aurora flying back, ice forming claws around her hands as she swung multiple times, being able to hit Amber with her palm and sending her flying, her crossed arm minimazing the damage before she stopped herself, fireballs being generated around her, fireballs that she launched towards her opponent.
As fireballs rained down upon a wall of ice, Amber ran in, her sword forming a line of ash in the ground, before it was swung meeting one of the ice claw and piercing straight through most of her left hand, before it released a wave of flames.

From the flames, the Humanoid Dragon jumped out, her armor being slowly reconstitute as was her wounded right hand.
While her scales and her skin in general were quite sturdy as she was a Dragon, she unfortunately didn’t have the “Imperial Scale” Innate Skill yet, a matter that wounded her pride further.
Meanwhile the golden flames grew hotter and hotter, as slowly Amber exited from them, the flames moving in around her, as her wings opened wide on her back as she prepared to restart the battle, her sword wielded in her left hand starting to vibrate slightly.

9/13 14:21 (Summer, Day; Luna)
Luna smiled at what she saw.
She watched what, at first sight, looked like the entrance of a normal cave within a mountain.
She smiled, entering it only to find herself in a completely different location, still something similar to a cave, it was instead a crypt or at least a place similar to that, with skulls in various places within the ground or in the walls, various candles lit by purple flames illuminating of purple the black stone that is the wall of the entrance.
She watched behind herself, finding the entrance to be not an hole in the ground, but a great gate made of the same stone with various carvings of skeletons and similar undead creature.
She nodded, a True Arrow launched to one of the skulls.
After the Arrow ceased to be, there was no damage on anything already present before her.

Her hypothesis was proved correct, this was a Dungeon, a place where enough Miasma was accumulated to the point that a Core was formed and so a new Dimension was created by and around it, a Dimension united yet separated to the external World.
She heard it.
Pained groans from voices unable to speak intelligently.
She saw them.

Figures of skin, bone and flesh in various stages of decomposition entering the room she was in.
A group of around 7 Zombies, their empty eyes seeking her while an almost physical Aura of black Miasma pulsed from their bodies before they yelled, a piercing noise that seemed to suck the will of those that heard it.
Luna’ smile widened as she prepared for combat.

Total Magicules 57462 (V)
Stored Magicules 1550

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
#Singularity
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation C
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony #High-Speed_Processing #Parallel_Processing

Ability: Presence Suppression D
#Singularity

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D
#High-Speed_Processing.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
1 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
8 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 77 Magicules times 5, 385.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden E
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash
Fire Magecraft D

Notes:

Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/13 14:21 (Summer, Day; Amber & Aurora)
Amber moved, her sword burning a line in the ground, before it was swung meeting a shield made of ice.
Before said shield cound be pierced, it changed shape forming spikes that tried to impale the Phoenix’s arm, tentative failed as she jumped down, flames trailing behind her as she used them to boost her speed.
Before she could even land, her wings opened wide, stopping herself in the air before launching herself back with a thrust.
Her sword pierced straight through the shield in Aurora’s right hand, causing a small cut in her arm as she forcefully redirect the strike, the shield shattering into quickly melting pieces and her following swing was interrupted by another frozen blade in the Ice Dragon’s left hand before Amber blocked a strike from a right hand clad in a claw made out of ice, flying back a couple of meters while releasing a couple of trails of fire.

Trails that were quickly blocked by a wall of ice.
The reason the two of them were moving and reacting faster than when they were bigger was because their power was concentrated in a humanoid form.
This however had consequences.
The two of them when in their more monstrous-looking forms were incredibly more efficient in their Energy use to the point that with the same ammount of energy Aurora would theorically use to regenerate a whole limb in her Dragon form, a form with a wingspan of 40 meters and 17 meters long, would regenerate only a little more than a forearm if she was in a humanoid form.
Additionally the change is proportional to both Vital Energy and Mana; their stamina, physical, mental and even spiritual, is much reduced while in their non-humanoid forms they had no cooldowns and all Spells are considered automatically Chanted.

However, even if the scale of their power was much reduced, their intesitity was on another level entirely, their being in their entirely was boosted incredibly.
The area around Amber was starting to smoke and lit ablaze because of the temperature while the area around Aurora started to freeze and a slight mist was manifestating passively even with the power of the Spell “Rising Sun”.
“Let’s see what this will do. [Blazing Fang Slash]!”
Flames were released from all over her body, the area around her starting to being lit ablaze as her “Rising Sun” lowered itself from the sky, exploding into fire, as the temperature increased again and again as the flames condensed in her curved blade wielded in her left hand as it quickly lightened from red to orange to yellow to an almost transparent white, her wings opening wide as she prepared.
Aurora’s eyes widened in terror as her Territory opened between the two of them causing ice to spawn between the two of them to deflect and minimize the incoming attack as much as possible towards her own left, her wings opened wide as she moved towards her own right at full speed.

The blade was swung.

A line was burned within the world rendering everything touched into ash.

Aurora fell, a scream of pain escaping her mouth.
She was luckily able to turn a blow that would have certainly split her in three, with the central part of her body remaining only as ash, into a blow that merely ended the fight, her left arm, wing and part of her tail being cut off with the cut being cauterized.
She was barely able to drag herself up panting, needing her remaining arm, to look up at the calmly walking Amber, her left hand presenting some burn marks on her hand that were slowly healing and her blade nowhere to be found.
Her own Vital Energy being barely able to heal the burns on her remaining body thanks to her armor that however melted down into a pubble under her.

“This is my victory, again. As you can see, I’m not quite used to the last attack, after all this is the first time I used it seriously. For the next time, you should really start to handle your pride seriously, yeah? See you.”
A small fireball formed on the Phoenix’s right hand that was held to the Dragon’s face, before it exploded sending her crashing down into the ground and almost uncosciousness, her last vision being Amber flying away from her, her own eyes full of a vicious hate for the one before her.

She was younger than her by 2 decades.
She was not even bothering to use her Innate Skill!
She was stronger than her!
She was growing faster than her!
Even with all of her own training!
Even if she herself was equivalent to a 180 years old Dragon while only being 165!
She was stronger than her!

She hated her!
Hate! Hate! Hate! HateHateHateHateHate!
An hate that quickly exploded once her enemy was outside of her vision.
An hate that was the birth of a spark.
A spark that unleashed an inferno, an inferno that functioned as a trigger.

There are only three methods to obtain one’s own Unique Skill.
The first being born with one already active, either because of an Irregular Reincarnation like Evan of the Iriblades or because of the otherness of the person like Scarlet's; the rarest method.
The second was limited to specific races that automatically obtained them at a certain Racial Rank, like Dragons and Phoenixes at C-Rank for example; the most common method even with the relatively low quantities of such races.
The third was caused by an overwhelming amount of emotion, often negative ones, that forced the activation of an Unique Skill.
An example of such was Azure of the Iriblades whose despair at the loss of the only person she ever had and ever mattered to her caused the Awakening of her Unique Skill, “Blood Hunt”.
However, Awakening a Skill in this way has as a conseguence the amplification of the emotions that caused the said Awakening in the first place, the less power of the owner, the more the emotions are amplified in response and the more specific and intense emotion is needed to awaken it in the first place.
Azure’s obsession with her sister, Scarlet, become even more twisted as she was just a 12 years old girl being trained by her sister at the time.
Aurora finally lost consciousness, barely able to hear the messagge from the World.

9/13 14:22 (Summer, Day; Luna; Dungeon)
As the 7 Zombies moved slowly towards her, Luna pointed towards them.
Instantly True Spears appeared around Luna before being launched to her targets.
Said targets were pierced through their hearts as they groaned.
However they didn’t react further than that, their eyes locked on her without any hesitation.

“I see… “Undying Body”, is it? How strange, you all are too weak to naturally have that Innate Skill, especially considerating how all of you are normal Zombies at E-Rank. This is a Dungeon of undeads, after all. I suppose this is to be expected from such a place.”
The Zombies casually ripped the Spears out of their bodies, starting to walk towards the only being there alive.
Luna measured the way the Zombies handled the damage.
“Normally wounding someone or something would constantly consume Vital Energy to keep them functional until the wound is healed. However, “Undying Body” negates this drain while keeping the owner fully functional, so long as the owner has Vital Energy.”
She watched as the wound regenerated extremely slowly without the use of any Vital Energy or Mana.

““Undying Body” at D-Rank judging by the fact it automatically heals and the slowness of such healing. Oh well, at least it is not C-Rank.”
This judgement was calmly and positively uttered as she was quite well aware of the effect it gains at this Rank, which would render fighting them so boring she may have been tempted to just blow everything up and leave right then and there.
Before they could reach her, she simply stepped forward and punched the one nearest to her, releasing a Mana Burst in tandem with her punch, sending it flying back with its chest caved in.
The other six tried to grab her, but she casually stepped back, out of their own and their Auras range, before thrusting with a True Spear through another one, spear whose head quickly changed into a scythe that she used to forcefully separate said Zombies into two while the scythe continued on to impale another one.

Without any hesitation, her weapon transformed again, separating the blade from the shaft that became another spear.
Meanwhile the impaled zombie was immobilized as a True Viper was manifested from the blade and started to constrict it.
While Zombies had no need for breathing, if a Zombie cannot move it is easy to ignore.
As the upper part of the bisected Zombie tried to regenerate the missing parts passively, she grabbed it with a True Tail, a very recent Shape inspired like her True Viper by, well snakes.
Said scaled tail used it as a weapon to smash it against another one, sending it crashing towards a third one, before clenching hard around the one she grabbed, crushing it.
As a result of the first part of the combat, one Zombie had its chest caved in, another was cut in two with its upper half reduced to bloody chunks and two were sent to the ground.

The remaining two moved in to strike at her, their Auras surrounding them ready to suck the life out of her, and nails ready to rake her body.
This tentative assault was casually dodged before a True Greatsword two meters long and 40 centimeters large, misuring only the blade, was swung by Luna’s hands, severing the Zombies legs at the knees before with the same movement, slamming the Greatsword down into one of them, smashing it in two.
The Greatsword was Mana Forged not with “Mana Burst”, but with “Release”, that proceeded to convert it into its entirely into pure destructive power released to the sides, leaving behind only the end of its limbs.
As it struggled to regenerate from its left leg, she Casted another True Viper that attacked the limbs that started to regenerate.

A True Viper was a semiautomatic drone she made with the express purpose to fight without any need of being directly controlled once it had its orders and rules.
In this case, Viper 2 had the order to attack the limb that started to regenerate until it stopped and a new one started to.
The reason is that “Undying Body” started to heal by the most important piece, whether by size or organs amount, independently from its Rank.
The Lunarian moved towards the other Zombie on the ground, True Arrows rained down upon it.
As the first Zombie hit and the other two sent away rose from the ground, Luna was thinking about how to render her Vipers more effective.

She Casted another one around herself before breathing in and out, concentrating on her own Familiars, more specifically Vision and trying to Summon it in a particular way.
The Innate Skill “Familiar Summoning” allowed someone to Summon Familiars using Mana or other things, in her case her own Black Blood and her True Shapes were made mixing together the Skills of “Mana Shaping” using Vital Mana and “Black Blood Manipulation” and so the next step was simple, but complex.
She Summoned her first Familiar using the third Viper as its body to a simple result.
The Viper gained a third eye on its front while all its eyes started to glow slightly and its tail and eyes become sharper.
She nodded to herself before doing the same with the other two, the first Summoned, the one that was holding a Zombie stationary, now held Warden, becoming slightly bigger and whose scale become even more sturdy.

Meanwhile the second Viper was now holding Ash, her newest Familiar, obtaining red flaming eyes and a red glow from its mouth from which flames leaked every now and then.
This Viper watched the remaining pieces that it broke apart into 9 pieces before opening its mouth, releasing a wave of flames to start to burn the pieces of flesh to ash.
This forced the Zombie being burned to spend its Vital Energy to quickly heal as much as it could before it died completely.
The Viper ceased to release the fire after a total of around seven seconds, entering a fourteen seconds cooldown for the version of the Ability Skill “Fire Magecraft” it had, before biting down on the healing Zombies and trying to bind its regenerating limbs in place.

Neither of the Vipers had any problem with the “Miasmic Aura” as they had no life to suck in the first place and so, while the first Viper was stopping a Zombie with great ease thanks to “Physical Resistance”, she used “Imperial Scale” to create a barrier, that was effected by the previous Skill thanks to its effects, to slow down the incoming Zombies, entering a two seconds cooldown for this Skill because of the size of the Cast barrier.
Luna didn’t hesitate, Casting various True Knife in the air around her, Mana Forged with Release, ready to fire a couple of moments before the barrier broke.

She turned back to the Zombie impaled by Arrows forming an Hammer and smashing heavily down on its chest, triggering the Mana Burst within the arrows and making numerous holes within the body while transforming her own Tail to a great Viper’s head that opened wide before closing violently around the Zombie, crushing it into paste before spitting the resulting paste in the ground as the legs that were starting to regenerate instead were crushed against the ground by said tail.
The paste quickly regenerated using most of its Vital Energy and as the barrier broke, it and all the free Zombies were rained down upon by the knifes that exploded on contact with them, reducing all of them to small chunks.

Before they could regenerate fully, the cooldown of Ash finally ended and so they prepared.
The Zombies held by her two Vipers were thrown were the others’ chunks were before Luna and Warden made a barrier around them before Ash released a stream of fire within it, turning the inside of the barrier in a lake of fire while leaving the barrier intact.
The Zombies finally died before she sucked in the blood that was on the ground by using “Black Blood Manipulation” as the way to move them.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules. X7

Unfortunately, Monsters owned by a Dungeon had no Soul for her to absorb, being more similar to her own True Vipers than actual Monsters or living beings in general.
She nodded to herself before moving to the next room, her Vipers returning to her, reducing in size until all three of them could be underneath her clothes.
She found no problem with that, considering how she they were a part of her and that she liked snakes.
It was now time to proceed.

Total Magicules 58197 (V)
Stored Magicules 2285

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
#Singularity
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation C
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony #High-Speed_Processing #Parallel_Processing

Ability: Presence Suppression D
#Singularity

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D
#High-Speed_Processing.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
1 E-Rank;
12 D-Rank Skills;
8 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 77 Magicules times 5, 385.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden E
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash
Fire Magecraft D

Notes:

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/13 14:41 (Summer, Sunset; Luna; Dungeon)
Luna barely entered the next room before she had to make a barrier to shield herself from arrows launched by a group of three Skeletons guarded by a group of five Zombies that started to walk towards her, their “Miasmic Aura” covering all of the Undeads before her.
She analyzed them quickly in her mind.
“Skeletons are less defensive than Zombies, especially when it comes to blunt weapons, however they are more… intelligent, i suppose, even if without having any actual brain and actually being able to use weapons.” She noted the Skeletons’ bows.

The second valley of arrows from the skeleton, sent as a distraction for the Zombies, were met by a volley of True Arrows that exploded on contact, sending them off course, before she moved towards the Zombies, her Wings spreading around her, becoming sharp as if made of swords, Mana Forged to maximize the sharpness of the blades, and falling on the Zombies, cutting them into ribbons.
Without any hesitation, her Ash-Viper released a breath of flames to the Zombie while Luna stepped forward hard and launching a True Mace to one of the Skeletons.
As it moved towards its left to dodge, the Skeleton crashed against a barrier from her Warden-Viper, stunning it enough for her Mace to shatters its ribcage, bringing it to its knees.
She watched as its bones started to passively heal before nodding to herself.

“It is not only the Zombies. Almost certainly every single Undead of this Dungeon will have “Undying Body” at D-Rank, at least. Let’s hope D-Rank is the highest Rank of this Skill present.”
From the Mace, Vision-Viper attacked with its tail, whose tip was now an hammer head, the fallen Skeleton by swinging down on its skull, crashing it, before forcefully taking its bow and stringing it by using its tail and mouth, shoting an arrow through the head of another Skeleton, distracting it and the third enough for Luna to grab its head and crushing it in her hands before shattering one of its legs with an harsh kick.
As it fell, Luna grabbed it by its shoulder with one hand and by its remaining knee with the other, rose it high before breaking its spine on her knee while releasing a [Mana Burst] to split it in two, with the two parts still grabbed by her hands.

Without any hesitation, she slammed the two parts in the ground, releasing another two [Mana Burst] from her hands, reducing most of its body to shards of bones.
Luna arose then, Ash-Viper leaving from her sleave with the order to burning the bone shards the moment its cooldown ended, before turning towards the one with an arrow in its skull and running at it.
This one dropped its bow to take the sword at its side to try and hit her only for its right leg to be destroyed by Vision-Viper’s tail causing the skeleton to fall while Luna dodged to his right, two swords in her hands cutting twice straight through its body before she spun around, a great hammer falling upon the body and exploding in a wave of force.
As the Zombies were healing, she rained down True Arrows, Mana Forged with [Release], on them.

This buyed her enough time to reflect on the first Spell she ever Casted as a Lunarian, “Stats Enhancement”.
That was a Spell made when the Rules were much different than now and so it is time to change it in a new one, especially considering how she had “Mana-Clad Warrior”, a Spell already incompatible with “Stats Enhancement”.
And so, it comes times to make a new and original Spell.

“[Awaken]!”
Instantly, her Arma manifested and ascended its material composition, becoming pure energy, even if with the same coloration of a mostly black light with white and iridescent accents.
This sharply enhanced her use of Energy and the Energy themselves in their entirely; her control was the most important thing in this situation as a wrong move with her Energy and she would destroy her own organs.
Her “Black Blood Manipulation” was spreading within her own body while her “Meditation” was active in a Parallel Process, making sure to concentrate to the maximum.

This, however, was only the first step as she surrounded herself in her [Mana-Clad Warrior] to both make sure her new Spell will be compatible with this one and to held herself in place if, for example, she exploded into pieces to minimize the needed Vital Mana to heal if necessary.
At this, and only this, point she started to move the Vital Mana within her body to enhance not only her own body or magical abilities, but every aspect of her being being enhanced, Soul included.
And this enhancement spread affected three Skills in particular: Growth Skill “Unique Arma” C, Growth Skill “Soul Harmony” C and, most importantly, Unique Skill “Singularity” D.
As a result, the speed of the Regeneration of Energy is vastly increased, being able to regenerate more than her own “Unique Arma” will consume while Awakened with the power of her Unique Skill increased slightly while the sustain cost of all of her active Spells, in this case [Mana-Clad Warrior] and her new Spell, was negated by the enhancement on her Unique Skill.
She smiled at this before naming her new Spell.

“[Greater Self]. Yes, this is an appropriate name for this Spell.”
She watched as the Undead were healing before calling her Vipers back to her.
The next step was a simple experiment, the Shaping of a rain of True Daggers Mana Forged with her new Spell to test it and the result certaintly was worth the process as not only were the Shapes enhanced as much as if she had Mana Forged them with “Stats Enhancement”, but it also had an additional effect.
That of being able to Mana Forge it again, with a different Spell that would be boosted slightly by [Greater Self].
She choose [Release] as the Spell.
The difference between [Mana Burst] and [Release] when Mana Forged is simple.
[Release] destroys the object Mana Forged and renders it more unstable in exchange for much more destructive range and power.

The knifes fell.
The room exploded continuosly and so all the Undeads present shattered into pieces.
Her Black Blood scoured the room breaking down everything they found into blood for her to drink.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules. X8

Once they finished, she sighed before looking at her Wings, Tail and the three Familiar-Viper and Dispelling them.
She was in no danger, after all none of the Undead survived behind ripped apart by the previous waves of force ripping the room apart while she was unharmed thanks to her Awakened Unique Arma and [Mana-Clad Warrior].
She Shaped a pair of True Wings, her True Tail and the three Familiar-Vipers before Mana Forging all six of them with both [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior].
The result was simple, her Wings and Tail covered in a dense layer of additional Vital Mana and so were the True Vipers in which she Summoned her Familiars.

Her Familiar-Vipers changed even further than that depending on their Skills.
Vision-Viper presented even sharpers blades and, in addiction to the third eye in the center, it presented various addictional eyes all over to maximize the use of its original Skill.
Warden-Viper was even larger with the start of horns growing from its head and its scale were forming a spine of spikes going from the base of its head to its tail.
Ash-Viper’s layer of Vital Mana was hot and composed entirely of flames that however didn’t burn either herself or her Shapes.
This process vastly increased the power of her Familiar-Vipers and her own options in battle.
Her creation of her new Spell was without a doubt worth it.
Blood flowed to her mouth and so did a small amount of Magicules.

As she laughed, moving to the next room, she found herself before another, even bigger group of Undeads.
Eight Zombies, four Skeleton armed with bows and swords for emergencies and two Liches at the back wielding long staffs made out of bones with a skull on top, already chanting “Curse-Attribute Magecrafts”, a much more threatening Room than any of the previous.
She smiled even wider, letting them continue Casting while casually observing them, all of her Spells except her Shapes already shut down before she even entered the room as was the Awakening of her “Unique Arma”.
The E-Ranked Undeads didn’t attack her, content to wait for the Curses from the Liches to be Casted on their enemy.
Finally, after a couple of minutes the two finally finished Casting the Spells, as signaled by a final and loud groan, causing the Purple Magical Circles above them to glow and releasing a purple Aura all over the floor, Aura that quickly converged on Luna.

“[Curse of Fragility] and [Curse of Instability]. Yet this took too much time to Cast for such a simple effect. Hm, I see. An increase Chanting time in exchange for a lower cost. Additionally it also increased the ability of the Curses to ignore defenses. But this doesn’t explain the biggest differences from other Curses.” She watched as the two Liches started to Chant again, noting difference between the Curses of now and before.
“This is strange. I suppose with the two Curses on me, they can afford to lower the armor-piercing quality, saving on time, but this doesn’t explain another thing. At the time they are Chanting, the previous Spell should have been started around when I entered this Dungeon. Not only that, but my Vital Mana is not fighting it nor are the two Curses fighting each other.”
As the two Liches continued to Chant, she observed them, finding her response to the last question.

The Spell was anchored to the Dungeon itself, both in targeting and maintenance.
A very interesting way to use Dungeons and one Dungeon Monsters would never used on their own without directions.
Without someone to give them direction.
Someone that without a doubt modified all Monsters within which also explained the fact all of them had “Undying Body”.
It was to buy time.
She watched the two Liches noting how their “Miasmic Auras” weren’t simple like the other Undeads, but instead consisted of hands and skulls grasping at life.

Their “Miasmic Aura” was not No-Attribute like the other Undeads, but Curse-Attribute instead, able to actively suck Energy out of everything within towards the owner instead of damaging everything within, thing that would actually affect her Shapes.
“However, only two Curses were Casted on me when there should be stronger Undead on the lower floors, so there is a limitation.” She continued to observe the two Liches before understanding downed on her. “I see. While the Curses will last beyond the Caster’s death, so long as I am in this Dungeon, they can only be targeted in the same Floor. Additionally, while they exchanged Mana Cost for Casting Time, the plan was for the rest of this floor to buy at least enough time to inflict the Curses, Curses that would render the next floors quite a bit harder while lowering my Resistance to Curses in general. How smart.”
Her flow of Vital Mana within her body was only marginally affected by the [Curse of Instability] considering her own immense Control, however this would still slow down her healing and the use of Energy in general.
And, additionally, this should be the last Room before the Floor Boss.
She saw all she cared to see.

It was time to restart the battle then.
She went straight for the Liches, moving at full speed differently from any other of her fight within the Dungeon.
She was a D-Rank Lunarian, her body was simply superior to any other Person and her opponents were slow E-Rank Undeads.
She was fast enough that none of them were able to react to her instantaneous movement as she moved to between the two Liches, her Wings becoming two blades, one within each of her hand, two blades specialized for decapitation that were swung, severing two heads and interrupting the Chanting, causing the Circle to malfuction released a rain of Curse-Attribute on everyone within the room.
This didn’t matter much, after all every single Undead within was already Resistant to Curse and Luna was at D-Rank.

The silver-haired one didn’t hesitate, her blades becoming Great Hammers that fell upon the two corpses, reducing them to bone shards and ending the draing of Vital Mana from her and her Shapes.
Ash-Viper opened its mouth releasing a vast torrent of almost-liquid fire to the cealing, torrent that rained down upon the whole room except the area immediately around Luna that was protected by a Barrier made from Warden-Viper.
The reason fire was so effective against Undeads was that, not only were they normally particularly weak to it, but because of the nature of the Fire Attribute, the Undead, even those with “Undying Body”, were forced to continuosly burn Vital Energy to survive until either the flames went out or they became ash and died.

“Undying Body” could simply be bypassed if the owner of the Skill was ripped apart into enough small pieces or had no Vital Energy to heal anymore.
Thing fire was very effective in, especially considering how thanks to the upgrade to Ash-Viper, her flames were vastly hotter, more than able to destroy every Monster in the room.
She nodded to herself at the confirmation, her Curses were still present and showed no semblance of weakening.
She drunk the blood in the room as the battle already ended.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules. X12

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Familiar Summoning”’s Rank increased to C-Rank.
*Luna’s Familiars “Vision” and “Warden”’s Rank increased to D-Rank because of “Familiar Summoning”.

She smiled happily at the increase in power of her oldest Familiars before moving towards what she was now sure was the gate leading to the Boss of this Floor, her wings again at her back and her Familiar-Vipers underneath her mantle.
She opened it, causing an iridescent light to burst forth.

Once she could see again, she found herself in a completely different place, an arena with the floor made of bones floating in a sea of darkness, alone if one didn’t consider her opponent.
An Undead Abomination, made of dozens of corpses fused together in a mass of flesh and bones, with eyes observing every directions, mouths smiling cruelly at her and a Curse-Attribute “Miasmic Aura” even stronger than the Liches’ one as the D-Rank Monster, boosted further by the fact it was a Dungeon Boss, prepared to fight, releasing a scream of pain from its innumerably mouth with a specific effect, even if with a somewhat long cooldown of 10 minutes.
Luna groaned at the sound as her Curses flared up, increasing in potency and not temporaly, but as long as they were active, ergo so long as she was in the Dungeon, probably even after the death of the Boss before her.

“I see, so this is the function of the first Floor. Cursing whoever entered with as many relatively weak Curses as possible and then strenghening said Curses with the Boss as many time as possible. A relatively cheap and efficient strategy to make use out of limited power.”
The battle started in earnest.

Total Magicules 60297 (V)
Stored Magicules 4385

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
#Singularity
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Blood Gift D
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k. (IV)

Innate: Vampirism C
#Lunarian
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)

Innate: Blood Forging D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Unique_Arma
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
#Singularity

Innate: Familiar Summoning D → C
#Lunarian #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/10m (IV)
At D-Rank, the Familiars can increase in Rank when it comes to Skills, up to the Rank of this Skill.
(New) At C-Rank, the Familiars can increase in its own Rank, up to 1 Rank lower than this Skill’s.

Innate: Black Blood Manipulation D
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Vital_Mana
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Mana Shaping C
#Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D
#Singularity #Unique_Arma #Authority:Vital_Mana

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E
#Unique_Arma

Ability: Meditation C
#Lunarian #Soul_Harmony #High-Speed_Processing #Parallel_Processing

Ability: Presence Suppression D
#Singularity

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D
#High-Speed_Processing.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Vampirism
Additionally because of the Innate Skill “Vampirism” the efficiency is further enhanced to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
1 E-Rank;
11 D-Rank Skills;
9 C-Rank Skills.
Every day, then, the owner will gain 79 Magicules times 5, 395.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E → D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden E → D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Spells
(Lost) Stats Enhancement
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
(New) Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/13 15:02 (Summer, Sunset; Luna; Dungeon)
The types of Original Magic that existed in this world were only three: Magecraft, Sorcery and Druidry.
This, however, didn’t mean that the relative Skills were only three, ignoring their Attributed version.
Instead, through the ages new ways to use Magic were researched and created, one of which was the Skill “Mana Shaping” and “Mana Forging” made to supplement Sorcery and “Formalcraft” to enhance Magecraft.
But this were not the only new Skills made to use Magic, what was normally called Pact Magic.
Borrowing power from other entities and similar things, like Clerics borrowing power from Gods to Cast a form of Magecraft, Paladins using Oaths to automatically Cast Holy-Attribute Sorcery on themselves, Spiritualists borrowing power from Spirits to Cast Druidry and Warlocks making a deal with various entities to Cast Spells, whether Demonic or just dangerous in most situation.
What Luna observed, however, was none of these ways to use Magic.

The “Undead Abomination” roared, a roar that caused a brief tremor in this empty dimension.
This was more similar to a combination of Magic, specifically Druidry, and Skills, similarly to a True Dragon using a Territory Skill.
This, however, was still not quite the perfect example as demostrated by what happened a little bit after the roar.
The ground under Luna rose in spikes, trying to impale her as she dodged by jumping high in the sky, her wings opened wide, watching carefully both the Monster and the area around her thanks to the Vision-Viper’s many eyes.

“I see. I was wrong. This is much more complicated than that. It is not simply a combination of Druidry and Skills.”
The 5 meters tall Monster before her, shaped like a pyramid of corpses, was constantly moving, with Skulls emerging from it before returning under its flesh casually and all over its body.
It roared again with some of its mouth as she launched herself to the ground, the air where she was pierced by pointy bones.
She nodded to herself, certain now.
“I see. It seems like I was quite naïve. This is not just a Skill mixed with Druidry. This is also mixed with Pact Magic. More specifically it is an explicit Pact between you and the Dungeon Core itself, isn’t it? I’m impressed. Your maker was, no is, much more ingenious than I ever thought.”

There was no need for any other word.
Ash-Viper opened its mouth, releasing a wave of liquid fire that rained down upon the Boss, only for it to roar causing bones to appear over it, blocking it before sharp bones appeared a couple of meters above Luna, falling on her.
She casually stepped forward, dodging them, before moving to the next step.
She could not use “Mana Shaping” to fight the Undead as its Aura would absorb a lot of Vital Mana from them, with the strenghtening of the [Curse of Fragility] and, especially, of the [Curse of Instability] rendering the situation even more dangerous, especially considering how the Cooldown of the Monster’s [Cursed Amp Roar] will eventualy end.
She had terrible compatibility with this Boss when it comes to combat.

In other words, her smile grew even wider, this was the perfect opportunity for her to exceed the previous her.
She formed a Weapon in both of her hands, two long one-handed blades in her hands as she played with them casually before nodding to herself.
She swung twice, once with a combo of Techniques to maximize sharpness while sending a shockwave and the other a combo to maximize speed while sending another shockwave.
The two shockwaves fused together.
The Abomination was cut in half vertically.
She nodded, her Techniques unaffected by the Aura as she suspected.
As it repaired itself passively, she noted the speed and her smile fell into what could be called a pout.

““Undying Body” C-Rank. I see. I will find whoever designed this place and I will rip them to pieces slowly while they are still alive. This will be boring and more than anything a waste of time. At least you will be able to Restore yourself completely only once.”
She Shaped a True Tower Shield in her left hand before swinging it before her, with another Combo Technique, one to impress the force of the Strike with the Hardness of the object, quite high considering her natural Control and various Skills influencing it, the other to project forward the strike itself.
As the wave of force ripped forward she followed closely behind, her two blades again in her hands.

The impact of the shockwave was enough to briefly destabilize the “Miasmic Aura” around it.
Enough for her to attack.
Her swords, Blood Forged and Mana Forged with both [Greater Self] and [Release], pierced its body deeply before violently exploding, ripping it apart from the inside.
This was only the start as her True Wings released a rain of True Knife upon its inside, Mana Forged in the same way, Knifes that exploded too, additionally damaging it before Ash-Viper released Fire upon its body, further damaging, before finding herself jumping back as it roared.
Bones pierced the place where she was before as she looked at it rapidly healing by using its Vital Energy.
She nodded to herself in satisfation, she needed to concentrate on Techniques to open it up for Spells.

But this was not enough.
Just this would not allow her to grow.
Her blades vanished into nothing and in their place, blood started to pool from her shadow, rising quickly before stopping.
She nodded to herself.
“I must give you and your master my thanks. This next move is inspired by what all of you showed me.”
She opened her arms wide as if she wanted to embrace this whole dimension before she made her order.
Most of the Black Blood fell leaving behind only a 10 meters large Magical Circle made of her blood.
The Monster flinched back in a mix between surprise and appriention at it.

“I learned this from you. “Formalcraft”, the Skill the two Liches used to change the parameters of Magecraft. This is my version.”
She had finished one of the books on “No-Attribute Magecraft” while she was on the ship, but she never planned on using it.
After all, even if it was versatile, it had terribly low efficiency and efficacy before any other element, in attacks, defences and even in support when alone.
This however was not a problem anymore.
By using “Formalcraft” and the circle of blood, she could surpass this limit.

“[Awaken]! [Greater Self]!”
Her Unique Arma, Sorcerous Armor of the Singolarity, fully manifested and Awakened, while her whole being was brought to beyond her limit.
She exchanged complexity for pure destructive power, enough to completely destroy her target even with its Aura while the Blood Circle, made of her own incredibly high quality Black Blood, her Vital Mana and her various Skills boosted the Spell to beyond its limit.
Around her Magical Circle, another Manifested itself, this time with a range of 20 meters, before nine additional identical copies were made behind it, linking them together in a single Magical Circle, what she made to use Formalcraft.

“[Roaring Destruction]!”
The Spell was Casted.
Sound was overwhelmed by an overwhelming silence.
A wave of absolute violence ravaged everything before her, destroying everything within its way.
It had no color.
It was a wave of nothing destroying everything before her.

Silence stretched on as the greater abomination of the two simply laughed in joy while breathing hard, well more than half of her Vital Mana spent in an instant.
Red light shone before her as the Abomination reappeared in a flash of Vital Energy, whole and with all of its abilities reset to the start.
It roared and she winced slightly as the Curses on her were strenghtened again as its Cooldown was restored by the activation of “Undying Body”’s effect gained at C-Rank.
A complete Resurrection with a Cooldown of 24 hours.
That was the ability gained with C-Rank in “Undying Body”.
She smiled satisfied before looking at it again.
She had no more need for its existence.
Her Tail detached from her, fusing temporarily with Ash-Viper.
It hissed as multiple Magical Circles made out of her Black Blood made themselves known before its mouth, not to release destruction upon this Fake World, but to amplify the power of the following attack.

“This is my compliment to you for this fight. [Magnificent Ray].”
Attack that consisted of a concentrated beam of fire at incredible temperature which, upon passing the circle, grew to 5 meters in range, reducing the Boss to ash as it exploded in a wave of extreme heat on contact with it.
Silence stretched on as her Familiars returned to within her shadow and her True Shapes were reabsorbed by her as two gates appeared before her, one leading to the next floor and one leading to the exit.
She had no Vital Mana left, to the point that she was barely able to stand in place, even after reabsorbing her Shapes.
However, the battle was over and her price was before her.
Beyond the two Gates, another object manifested itself before her, a crystal that shone slightly in all colors made entirely out of Magicules.
She grabbed it satisfied, before shattering it in her hands, absorbing its power quickly and efficiently, gaining Magicules and increasing her potential.
This was, however, the reward for beating this Floor Boss for the first time.
The second and beyond would have no prize.
Said reward consisted of Magicules and an increase in Potential.
Potential that allowed her to gain two new Ability Skills and to grow massively.

*Luna gained 10.000 Magicules.

*Luna gained the Ability Skill “No Attribute Magecraft”.
*Luna gained the Ability Skill “Formalcraft”.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Authority: Vital Mana” D-Rank Expands.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Blood Gift” D-Rank, Innate Skill “Vampirism” C-Rank, “Blood Forging” D-Rank and Innate Skill “Black Blood Manipulation” D-Rank Fused together into “Authority: Black Blood” E-Rank.

But the most important gain was one that could not be quantified.
Time.
She gained 10 days on her temporary lifespan.
Thing that was priceless for her as she was.
She was, after all, still a fleeting dream so long as she remained at D-Rank.
She turned around and left the Dungeon.
She was confident in her own capabilities, but confidence is not stupidity.

As she was now, continuing would be the high of foolishness.
As she entered the Gate to exit, she found herself back at just before the gate of the Dungeon, her Curses dissipating on their own.
Before she almost faceplanted on the ground because of sheer exhaustion, dragging herself to a tree to rest against.
If she was at full power with no Curses on her right now, with both “No Attribute Magecraft” and “Formalcraft”, the slight increase in Mana and Vital Energy caused by the condensation of Magicules within “Blood Gift” and her Control over Energy, she could use [Roaring Destruction] twice before dropping to the ground, completely unconscious and with the stress of the Spell on her body causing her to lose at least 7 days from her lifespan.
Additionally, while the power of this Spell would be more than enough to deeply wound if not kill outright a C-Class enemy and even a B-Class one if it were to hit, thing quite improbable, this Spell simply caused indiscriminate destruction on a too big of a range to be used outside of a Dungeon or with any allies around.
It was in all effects a situational Spell that could only be used rarely.

But she was very satisfied with it.
This was a Spell that the previous her never knew and she acquired two Skills that neither of the previous her ever obtained.
She laughed, a sound that would have without a doubt caused terror in any that heard it.
She was still quite distant from her previous self that was able to stall for 13 hours a B-Class Vampire, his 9 C-Rank Vampires, his 4 D-Rank Vampires and his Ghouls, but she will reach that level of power.
Differently to both Edgar and Azure, however she had no bias when it comes to Scarlet’s ability and she could accurately judge their difference in power.
The only advantage the Half-Elf would have on her, beside Ranks and Grades, was the Innate Skill “Spirit Body”.
A Skill that even now, with a Race that would grow faster and stronger, she missed dearly.
Oh well.
With time and lots of blood and fighting, she will regain it.
But not yet.
She closed her eyes, relaxing against her tree as she fell asleep for the first time, not for want, but for need.

?/? ?:? (Luna; ?)
Luna woke in a place that she was very familiar with.
She smiled as she beholded her Soul.
Soul that was quite a bit different from before.
At the center were the two her, the her made out of Energy of all colors and the her made of blood, shadows and Moonlight.
Or at least they should be there, but the situation was much different.
Both of them were clear in their form.

The Luna representing her Lunarian nature’s skin was made completely out of Moonlight while the rest of her was made out of Black Blood.
The one representing her nature as a Singularity was somehow more and less similar to before, still being a chaotic mess of energy.
However, it was wielding her Unique Arma in the Awakened form and Vital Mana was perfectly controlled yet rampaging within the area around her.
Her two Authorities fused with the two Lunas within her Growth Skill.

She watched them carefully, noting how they were perfect naked copies of her except for their material composition.
“I see. Without a doubt, I am the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
She was more than able to observe her own body even through the “Singularity” her as she was more than familiar with her own body.
She observed the area around her, a slight incolor mist flowing around while a large Magic Circle covered the whole place, constantly changing shape.
Various weapons made of Energy and her three Familiars flew around the area.
She relaxed, letting the flow of her World lull her as she recovered from her lack of Energy and from exhaustion.

9/14 0:13 (Summer, Sunrise)
*Luna Gains 340+800 Magicules.

As the first rays of Sunlight illuminated the girl resting against the tree with a serene expression on her face, creating a scene fit for a painting capable to charm any that laid eyes on it, especially with the contrast with the dark cave in the back that was absorbing a small quantity of Miasma from the area around it.
Calling Luna beautiful or pretty was an immense error.
She simply had no physical flaw, with the only flaw being her twisted personality, to the point that, even when she was the 15 years old Scarlet, people would struggle to view her as a Person.
That young woman was seen in such a picturesque scene by a group of three young Adventurers that accepted a Quest to patrol a certain area of the border for any strange movements or behaviors.
They froze, not knowing what to do.

“Um, excus-” the D-Class cleric, a young man with black hair and pale skin, made to speak before being rudely interrupted by the hand of the E-Ranked Swordwoman who forcefully dragged him away.
“Shut up! Don’t wake her up!” She loudly wispered, trying to not look at the young woman before them; trying and failing as her eyes, almost unwillingly could not bear to not look at her. “Just because you can seduce most women you meet, does not mean that you can lower your guard around someone you don’t know!”
“I am not seducing anyone!” He rebuffed, unaware that he was. “And why should I not wake someone to ask if they are okay? It is my role. Come on, Jay, tell her I am right.”
“There is waking someone and waking someone. And your role is to not step first into any potential danger without thinking or we are all dead. And Jay will tell you that I am in the right.”
“Oh? At least I can look away from her without any problem, differently from someone else I know.”
“What are you talking about, you pervert!”
“I am the pervert here? Do you even recognize the fact you are undressing her with your eyes, you bisexual in denial!”
“D-don’t be r-ridiculous you p-pervert. I-I am… I am making sure she is unharmed! Pervert! Lechearous pervert! Corrupted priest!” The rain of flustered insults continued for a while, her face red and her voice rising because of embarassed rage. “And I am not in denial! Tell him, Jay!”
“Yeah, Jay, tell me how this bitch that spents half her time looking at girls in a way that if she was a man would get her smacked hard is not a bisexual in denial!”
The two looked to the third member of their team, their rogue, finding him completely ignoring the two of them and instead busy drawing the young woman before them.
A deadpan expression was now on their face as he continued, without any hesitation.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 525

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)
(New) It allows the owner to feel Vital Energy, Mana and Vital Mana around them in a range equal to the sum of the Grade of this Skill and the Total Grade multiplied depending on Rank [(5+5)*3m = 30m].

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

(New)
Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)
This Skill denotes the authority of the owner over the use of Black Blood.
It automatically fuses the Blood and Shadow of the user, rising the quality further and vastly strenghtening the owner’s existence and their Energy when it comes to all aspects.
Said Black Blood can transfer all kind of Energies from and to the owner or be turned into Energy, with the additional ability to boost an object or a Spell to beyond its limits by mixing in Black Blood.
It also allows the owner to absorb the blood of others into themselves to convert it into Energy or, if the process is fatal or done on a corpse freshly killed, Magicules.
This Skill can also store objects and non-living beings within the owner’s Black Blood.
It allows the owner to feel Blood, Shadow and Black Blood around them in a range equal to the sum of the Grade of this Skill and the Total Grade multiplied depending on Rank [(4+5)*1m = 9m].

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Mana Shaping C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

(New)
Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E
This Skill denotes the ease and ability with which the owner can uses No Attribute Magecraft, it also increases the owner’s non-elemental affinity and the Power of No Attribute Magecrafts.
No Attribute Magecraft is based upon the use of Magic Circles or chants to, through Mana, manifest a phenomenon upon the World.

(New)
Ability: Formalcraft E
A Skill that denotes the ability to modify the price and result of Magecraft, depending on Mana Control.
This Skill additionally increases the owner Mana Well and Mana Control.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
(Up) A process to convert Blood in Magicules, depending on the amount of Magicules the victim had.
(New) The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision E → D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden E → D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

(New) Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 0:21 (Summer, Sunrise)
As the Cleric and the Swordswoman decided to ignore their artistic rogue and restarted to bicker at each other with slowly rising voices.
“I was only trying to make sure she was alive!”
“Oh, yeah, you bi-disaster?”
“Yeah, look! She is not even breathing!”
“Yeah, sure, so you can tell me that I am a pervert because I looked at her chest. And even if she is not breathing, she is alive. Her Vital Energy is slowly rising. Thing you would have noticed if you bothered to observe her instead of perving over her body. As you are doing right now.”
“W-what are you talking about! I-I’m not p-per-”
“Shut the fuck up you two, I’m drawing and you are so loud I can’t concentrate!” Jay finally shut them up.

This was only a first draft and so he concentrated particular care on the Half-Elf before them, especially her peaceful expression, and the cave in the background where Miasma was slowly ammassing.
The two ceased their quarrel, knowing very well how the oldest of the Party thought about things and his priorities and so they merely sat down, launching each other challenging looks, while Sabel tried to not look at the one before them.
A good 30 minutes later, once the draft was finally finished, Jay carefully posed it in his place for new drafts before doing the same with his instruments.
“Done. Now we can proceed.”
“Finally.” Hale took a stick and slowly neared the sleeping one.
“What do you think you are doing?!”
“I’m making sure she is okay.”

Having said that he rose the stick before, carefully and slowly, he went to poke one of her shoulders.
As a result, the stick was forcefully grabbed before he could even touch her, being conseguently shattered into splinters that failed to even pierce her eyes to not speak of her skin.
The three quickly backed down, their weapons hesitantly raised to try to defend themselves.
Efforts that would have been futile considering the differences in power between them.
While Jay was not officially D-Class when it comes to the Guild Ranking, that was only because of his problematic behavior of caring only about his paintings.
He was very good as a rogue as he was very attent to details so when he relaxed his guard after carefully observing their potential enemy, the other members of his Party slowly following his lead.
As she rose to her feet, the Adventurers stepped back while she calmly stretched.

“What do you three want?” Her indifferent voice echoed in the area, a shiver passing through their bodies at the sound.
Sabel stepped forward, the most competent direct fighter of the three and the one who, except for her closeted nature, had the most ability to interact with other people as someone who was born in a noble family even if she was somewhat rusty with the so-called noble speach.
“I’m sorry we disturbed you, my lady. We were investigating the area when we found herself upon your body and wondering after your health.”
“I see. I was merely resting. Now, what would you be seeking in this place?”
“We recieved a Quest to investigate the area as a disturbance was felt.”
“Oh? Yet you are quite weak. I doubt you would be able to resolve a situation causing such a disturbance.”

This could have been interpreted as an insult or a threat however, it was quite true.
Even if all of the three of them attacked her at once while she was sleeping while they were fully prepared, she would have simply and casually murdered all of them, after all none of them had any special way to survive being ripped to pieces.
“You are correct, we are merely to examine a section of the affected area to see if it is the cause or if there are any other strange occurance.”
“I see. In that case,” what the Party was now thinking a Dhampir rose her left arm, indicating the cave behind her. “That is an anomalous Dungeon. Not only it is at least a D-Rank Dungeon with a minimum of two floors specialized in Undeads and Curses.”
“Could you please explain more?”

That request had two motives, one was simply the fact that they needed informations for their Quest.
The other reasons, however, was quite a bit more personal.
Sabel, the official spokeperson of this Party, simply found the voice of the person they just meet to be the most beautiful sound she ever heard and she wanted to hear more of it.
The other two members of the Party were to the side, well aware of the reason she subconsciously thought more important.
“Very well, but I suggest you don’t enter it. You are too weak to leave that place alive. All the Undeads on the first floor had “Undying Body” at D-Rank and the moment you enter the Dungeon, two Liches will start to chant to Curse you and the Boss has “Undying Body” at C-Rank and an ability to amplify Curses.”
“But that would mean…”

“Yeah. Addictionally I’m quite certain that it was at least in part modified by a Person.”
“What?!” Sabel.
“Are you sure?” Hale.
“How interesting.” Jay.
“Yes, I’m sure. The Liches were teached Formalcraft and the Boss had a Skill based on a Territory and was teached a version of Druidcraft, Skill that an “Undead Abomination” would never have.”
“This is terrible. Would you like to accompany us to the Guild?”
“Nope. I have no intention to.”
“I-I see… O-okay, I’m sorry for asking.”
“Oh? Why so disappointed?”
“She is disappointed because she finds you attractive and wants to spend more time with you.” Hale responded with Sabel not being able to refute it.
“Makes sense. I’m, after all, the most beautiful being on the World and she is not the first person I lead outside their closet.”
“Oh? Does it happen often?”
“All the time.”

Unaware that the previous her caused the sexual awakening of her own sister when this last one was 16 years old, further worsening her obsession and lowering her self esteem even further at the fact she found her sister attractive as a prospective partner or the fact that a couple broke up because of her and both of said ex tried to ask her out, unaware of each other.
“W-wait, I never said-”
At Sabel’s protests, their new acquaintance started to walk towards her until she found herself with her back to a tree.
“My name is Luna. Remember it well.” Her left hand slamming against the tree at the side of Sabel’s head while Luna’s right hand held her chin, rising it until their eyes met, before one of Luna’s finger caressed Sabel’s bottom lip.
Sabel became more and more red, her eyes swimming, as her embarassement and other emotions grew and grew while her brain heated up again and again until…

Luna’s arms moved, keeping the black haired, 17 years old’s body up as she lost consciousness.
She turned around, a smug smile on her face.
After all if you are attractive enough you can get away with behaving like this if you want to and she certaintly was attractive enough to.
She held her in what would be called a princess carry before moving back towards her tree before sitting down with the fainted swordswoman resting on her lap, her head leaning against Luna’s shoulder.
As they waited for the 17 years old to wake up, the other members sit down nearby starting to converse with the other one.
“So, where are you going?”
“I have something of a temporary destination in mind, but not really a definitive one.”

“You are a Dhampir, right? How does blood taste like?”
The reason why all of them thought her a Dhampir was simple, all three of them had seen her fangs and red eyes and she was standing calmly under Sunlight.
Ancestors were already unknown to Humans that didn’t specialize in Vampires with their origin having so many theories ranging from a blessing or curse of an unknown God of the Moon or Blood, by a scientist that altered themselves or some subjects to make the first Vampires to even some more absurd ones like the theory that the first Vampire was a high-rank Cleric falsely accused of a crime and executed for it only for their corpse to rise again; Additionally the only People that knew anything substantial about Lunarians were Dragons, Phoenixes and some Vampires themselves.
Jay’s questions could be considered quite rude, but Luna didn’t particularly care about that.

“Something like that. And about the blood… it depends on whose blood is drunk, their strenght and taste, and the likings of the drinker, both flavourfully and sexually. In my case, I have an heavy leaning in favour of women.” One of her hands gently touched the waking up Black-Haired girl’s neck, rendering her red in the face again and she started to stutter uncontrollably.
Hale and Luna enjoyed her embarassment, one mostly because of a sense of schadenfreude and the other because she simply loved being admired, whetever because of her power or her beauty didn’t matter, she just loved it, her previous lives or no didn’t change it.
Sabel jumped away from her, her face completely red as a whine escaped her mouth, while Luna rose to her feet, her Vital Mana restored fully as she stretched before moving back towards the Dungeon.

“I will travel the First Floor of this Dungeon again. I need to test something.”
“Can we-”
“Why not. I’m strong enough to be able to babysit the three of you.” She said confidently.
This time she would have to fight quite differently from before as she needed to save as much time as possible.
Without any hesitation, she Shaped a True Curved Sword, Mana Forged with both [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior] in her right hand and for the first time Summoned Ash within not a Drone, but a Weapon.
Her Curved Sword, seemingly made out of black glass and outlined in purple with an hilt long enough for her to use two hands on it if she wanted to, transformed.

A purple pattern was etched in the sword, from hilt to the tip of the blade, portraying a savage flame ready to consume everything, before said flames bursted from it, surrounding it in a dense layer of flames passively.
She entered the first room, finding herself before 7 Zombies again.
She didn’t hesitate.
She launched forward, [Mana Burst] released from her feet to accelerate and a Magic Circle formed behind her out of her Black Blood, releasing a shockwave on herself that she modified with “Formalcraft” to have minimum power, but maximum knockback, accelerating her even further.
“[Knockwave].”

Before anyone could react, she already crossed the whole room and swung down, bisecting the central Zombie and leaving behind a trail of fire.
She didn’t wait anything, her sword changing direction as she cut straight through its right leg, releasing a wave of fire that burned the three on that direction before she continued the swing, spinning in place and cutting in half both the already bisected one and the one at its immediate left.
As they burned in pieces, she moved to the final twos Zombie, launching her sword in the air and grabbing their heads with her hands, ignoring their Auras as she destroyed their heads by forcefully clenching her hands, shattering bones before taking back her falling Sword and cutting both of them in half.
She finally activated the version of the Skill of Ash she had access to, causing her flames to violently burst and burning the corpses to ashes.

She didn’t wait, moving to the next room finding herself before the group of Zombies and Skeleton and releasing a shockwave of flames that bisected all the Undeads.
As they fell, she moved in, cutting the falling Undeads into pieces again and again until, their Vital Energy exausted, they all died.
In the next room she was even more savage, moving to the Liches instantanously, severing both of their heads, their arms, their legs before cutting them further in half.
She calmed down, they would no longer be able to Chant their “Curse-Attribute Magecraft” and so her time limit was destroyed with the two of them.
But that was no reason to slow down in her destruction.
Her sword changed shape, becoming a whip and grabbing on to the other Undeads, pulling them into a single place before, her flames exploding as for the second time she used Ash’s Skill to make all of the Undeads burst into flames, ending all of them before they could even use Vital Energy to heal.

“So, next room is the Boss. What do you think until now of this Dungeon?”
“Well, on one hand we finished this floor in around one minute and everything died immediately, on the other hand if we were in the place of any of them, we would have died in a similar matter, so it’s hard to misure power appropriately.”
“I suppose so, but the Boss should help you understand at least a little, even if we don’t have any Curses for him to Amplify.”

Luna fought in a way vastly different from before for two important reasons.
The first was that she already understood the threat of this place.
The second was very simple yet incredibly important.
She was not alone.
And while their… leader? May have been fascinated by her, as was natural, that didn’t mean they would not indeer her, directly or not, in the future thanks to the knowledge of how she fought and this way, this possibility would fall in her favor as their misinformation would prove to be another weapon in her favor, if necessary.

It’s the reason why she didn’t correct their assumption she was a Dhampir while still giving them her name instead of a false one or why she didn’t drink the Blood of the Undeads.
She moved towards the Gate to the Boss Room, guiding all of them to the final fight of this Floor.
They may have been too weak to properly fight the Boss, but she was more than strong enough to beat the Boss while protecting the others.
As she found herself in a plane of bones, before the “Undead Abomination” again she could not help but smile, her eyes showing the playfull sadism of a predator finding an amusing prey to play with.
“What is this situation called, I wonder? Ah, yes. Déjà vu, correct? Now, be entertaining before you die!”
She swung her blade casually in the air, a trail of hungry flames following it as it roared, some of its hands and heads already Chanting “Curse-Attribute Magecraft” as it prepared to fight, rembering well the one before it.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 525

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Mana Shaping C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
(New) Knockwave

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 0:57 (Summer, Day, Dungeon)
As the Magic Circle grew she ran in, a trail of fire behind her, while bone spikes rose from beneath her, spikes she casually dodged by jumping over them before landing on one of the said spikes with the point of her left foot, before swinging hard.
The wave of flaming air released from the swing slashed the mass of corpses however the fire on it was forcibly extinguished by its Mana.
“I see. A natural “Parallel Processing” Skill. Makes sense considering how many heads it had. Let’s see if I can’t outpace the amount of thinking you can do.”

She moved, breaking the bones under her with the force of her jump, her feet meeting the ground for an instance before jumping directly over it, slashing numerous time in the air to release various fire air blade at it before landing and sending a final one, causing various wound in it, whose flames were slowly spreading.
It had no time to react as the Skill was activated, causing the hungry flames to burst violently before being negated forcefully while it healed and continuing to Chant and groan.
As spikes appeared around her to try and impale her, she simply transformed her sword into a whip again, grabbing all of said spikes before throwing them back at the Undead, impaling it various times before releasing various slashes raining down on it again and again, more specifically they were targetting the hands and mouths Chanting, forcing it to continuosly switch heads least the Curse destabilize.

The reason it concentrated its attack on her while ignoring the other People there was simple.
It was the only way for it to survive.
At the moment, its concentration was split between the minimum required to Chant the Spell and fighting Luna.
It could not lower the concentration of the Chanting and the moment it did not thought about her, she would inflict immense damage faster that it could kill any of the three.
Not only that, but so long as the three were alive she would not be able to Cast any of the two Spells she used to kill the previous one, without killing them too.
So long as they wouldn’t attack or interfere with it, they could be ignored especially considering how it didn’t know their Skills and one of them was a Cleric and so was able, at the minimum, in Clerical Magic of the Holy Attribute that was most effective against Undeads, to heal and to Buff others while it had no idea if any of them knew Magic of any type or had any special Skills.
It would be best if it concentrated on the vampiric one until she died as long as the others would not interfere.

This was an error, an error that would prove fatal yet an error that wasn’t its fault, but the fault of its programming and modification.
The non-modified one would have been weaker, sure, however…
That one would not have hesitate like this one did.
Once it had felt no Curse on her, it would not have started a lenghty Chant for a Curse consuming Processing Power for a long term possible gain while fearing possibilities, it would have and should have simply attacked at full force from the very start, raining down blow after blow on all of them, forcing her to spend a significant amount of Energy to protect them, unknowlingly attacking her pride to gain an advantage.

After all her twisted personality was her only flaw.
Flaw that it could have attacked, but didn’t.
This half-hearted misure was simply a waste of time and Energy for it, waste that she was more than happy to capitalize on as she made a large Magic Circle out of her own Black Blood high in the sky above its own, thanks to “Formalcraft” to instantly finish it by spending a quantity of Vital Mana and Black Blood some would consider great, linking it with the Spell it was Casting, being activated together.
She pierced the ground with her blade, leaving behind a line of fire as she started to circle the Undead.
She stopped suddenly, launching various slashes at it before running in.

It moved, launching itself forward trying to rake its claws on her, arms that were quickly cut off by Luna before she punched it directly in one of its skull, Casting a Mana Burst to damage it heavily before jumping over it and slashing various times, causing various wound on it.
It forcefully stopped itself dead thanks to its numerous arms before throwing itself to Luna again.
She didn’t hesitate, impaling it with her blade that was now a scythe before using it to launch herself high in the sky, her weapon now a spear, before she swung all around her to shatter the one meter long bone spikes the Undead launched at her.
The Party merely watched as the fight continued, Luna’s bloodthirst evident in her continuos assaults to the point that her weapon was digging in the ground with every exchange between the two.

“Well, what do you think?” Hale asked his friends.
“I would say that they are both at least high D-Class. It is to strong for a First Floor Dungeon Boss.” Jay confirmed, as the most experienced of them when it comes to Dungeon and Monsters in general.
“I believe Luna is at least somewhat holding back. She is also very Skilled with a lot of different weapons. To not speak about her Magic use.” Sabel was the most experienced of them when it comes to People, expected considering her background.
“So, the next question is cronological and biological age. I would consider around early twenties for one and late teens for the other?” Hale
“More or less. Most long lived race age depending mostly on their maturity. However, I would guess in her case on the lower side considering her power.” Sabel.
“Hoh? Yet she is very strong for that age.” Jay.
“Yes, but that is the force and grace of talent mixed with effort and she is too weak for that combination to be significantly older. I have seen some Adventurers like that and they grow fast.” Sabel.
“I suppose so. Especially if she already killed the Boss before. What do you think that is, “Mana Shaping”?” Hale.
“No, I don’t think so. Or at least not “Mana Shaping” alone. They changed shapes too fluidly for it.” Sabel.
“Oh well, do you think they will believe us at the Guild?” Hale asked, refering to both the Dungeon and the Dhampir.
“They should. All of us are D-Class in power, the reason behind the fact only you are officially D-Class is because of external matters.” Sabel.
“Right. The fact your father is Guildmaster means you are probably stuck at E-Rank for a while.” Jay thoughtlessly infiered the Swordswoman’s pride.
“Hale, remember me to punch this idiot once we are safe to teach him to shut up.” Sabel.

They concentrated back on the fight in time to see Luna impale the Abomination with her weapon, before it bursted into flames.
They noted something strange however.
Luna was stalling while dealing more damage than it regenerated, bleeding it of Energy.
Instantly Sabel watched high in the sky noting the forming purple circle of the Curse and the complete black circle high above it before watching the ground noting how the scars carved from Luna’s weapon had a pattern.
“I see. So that is why.”

The battle continued for a further 30 minutes of attacks from both opponent before Luna nodded to herself upon seeing the Magic Circle almost being completed.
She thrusted her True Lance in it before said Lance exploded in various Spikes that pierced every single one of its skulls and hands as its Magic Circle briefly flickered, almost collapsing, before stabilizing because of its Link with her own.
She didn’t hesitate, activating her Familiar-Weapon’s Skill to cause the Boss to burst into flames starting from within its body, being reduced to ash.
She immediately jumped away to beyond the scars she inflicted in the ground.
It roared as it was Resurrected in a flash of Vital Energy, being fully Restored, and finally finishing the preparations to Cast its Curse.
This was its last lethal mistake.

The Curse it Casted was a simple one with the purpose to Drain the Vital Energy and Mana of the Target to the Caster’s reserves and in this case the Target would be all four of them while ignoring their Resistences.
Its Magic Circle released a wave of purple light everywhere.
“[Curse-Attribute Modification]!”
The Magic Circle made out of Black Blood shone on them all, the purple light being absorbed by it to the shock of the Undead before Curse Attribute light rained down on it, the parameters of the Curse changed to instead release a beam and affect everything hit by it with the Curse while doubling in Potency.
A massive smile appeared on Luna’s face, violent madness in her eyes as the second Magic Circle, the one she carved in the ground, started to shine.
“[Curse-Attribute Reflection]!”
The beam launched by her own Magic Circle, landing on the “Undead Abomination”, stroke the line of white created by this last Spell, reflected the Spell doubling its Potency again, landing against the Boss once more, Cursing it.

As a conseguence of its Casting, not only did it spent a bit of Mana to accelerate the Casting of the Spell, but it was Cursed with “Energy Drain” at six times the Potency, all because of a couple of basic “No-Attribute Magecraft”.
And while they both could recover more than even what a double or triple Potency of the Curse, this was a time bomb on its life as it would continue to weaken in time while Luna would instead recover faster, driving it into a corner.
The final effect Luna was not certain of, but thought it probable.
It was no longer able to use its [Cursed Amp Roar] as that Spell, Technique, Skill? Would target its own Curse too, as she expected from such a troublesome ability.

It roared, bone spikes trying to impale her from all sides before they were shattered by her Ash-Whip, a returning swing branding its body, shattering various skulls and burning him.
Every single use of its Vital Energy or Mana would, inevitably bring it closer to death as while having no Vital Energy or Mana will not kill, it would render it incapable of fighting back against its enemy or even healing from any subsequent injury.
She had already driven it into a corner and it realized that she fought like that to make sure it would die for the first time shortly before the Curse would be finished to maximize the time it would spent Cursed.
In other words, its death would now only be a matter of time.
So the next step was simple.

If it would die either way, considering how it could not leave this room and the Curse would last as long as it would be in the Dungeon, the obvious next step was to kill as many people as it could.
Bone spikes appeared around the three Adventurers.
Before the three could defend themselves from the spikes, a line of fire shattered them as Luna went all out, using a combination of [Mana Burst] and [Greater Self] to maximize her speed, before she glared at the “Undead Abomination”, her weapon starting to vibrate slowly with the blade heating up, an almost feral expression on her face.
“I see. It seems like I was too merciful with you in our last fight. It’s a shame you don’t feel any pain or I would make sure to teach you how to behave thoroughly. Oh, well.”

Her blade was swund, releasing an arc of flame forward while she stood near her new acquaintance to protect them.
It didn’t bother defending itself, attacking instead not Luna, but the other three, trying to kill someone before it was killed, its Mana being used aggressively and without any reguard as spikes continuosly rained down on the three of them from all directions only to be slashed apart by quick swings.
She quickly grew bored of this.
While the combination of her natural recovery and the Curse assured that she was outpacing what she was spending, this wouldn’t mean that she was satisfied to stall until her target was defenceless and defanged.
As another wave of spikes was in the air, she made her move.

She ran forward, her blade becoming a whip and grabbing all of the bones in the air, dragging them after her and coating them in her Vital Mana before launching them forward to impale the Boss.
It didn’t hesitate, roaring again and summoning a wall of bone from the ground in the way of both the spikes and Luna as it recognized it as the distraction it was.
Before it could attack the party again to force her back, one of its head saw her.
Instead of being stopped or even meaningfully slowed down, she simply used the wall as a ramp and the spikes stuck there as supports to quickly scale it and attack from above.
It recognized its final error too late.
With the wall in the way, she could afford to go all out without any prying eyes on her.

A second True Blade in hand, this one housing Vision, becoming sharper and more dangerous with jewels similar to eyes all over while her body was covered by a True Armor, a Shape she based on her [Mana-Clad Warrior], housing Warden, gaining a scaled pattern, claws and a pair of horns, a Barrier fully covering her.
She started ripping into it, again and again, faster and faster, her weapons constantly changing shape and ripping into it while its owns were blocked by her Barrier.
It could do nothing else, but being ripped apart until it died, its carcass exploding into Miasma.
She grabbed the crystal resulting by its death, her Weapons ans Armor ceasing to exist well before the three could see them before throwing it to them and moving towards the exit.
She already absorbed the maximum amount of Magicules and Potential she could from this Boss and so this crystal had no meaning or importance to her.
They followed after her, shattering it and absorbing 1000 Magicules each as the reward for four people beating the Boss Room.
Once outside, Sabel turned to the other woman.
“Do you have a place to stay? Because we know an hotel in the nearby city that gives a discount to Adventurers. We can pay for it, it’s the least we can do considering that you gave us the Boss reward.”
“I may as well, nothing better to go.”

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 525

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Mana Shaping C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
(New) Attribute Modification
(New) Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 3:57 (Summer, Day)
The Party that she now knew as “The Outrejects”, an E-Ranked Party because of politics even if all three members were equivalent, more or less, to a D-Class one, guided her back to the city they were based out on while making small talk.
“And so, because my father and the Guild Master of this city don’t get along we find ourselves, well in situation like this one.”
“I see. Wasn’t your father a Guild Master himself?”
“Yeah, but father is the Guild Master of the Capital and the one in this city was in competition with him for the position, only to lose, quite badly at that. So once I became an Adventurer in his city, well… let’s just say, it was a chance for him to mess with my father, even if only indirectly.”
“Why did you choose to work for him, then?”
“It was the only place where my achievement would not be thought of as nepotism. Either directly from my father or indirectly from people wanting to please my father.”
“I see. Makes sense.”

At the aknowledgement, Sabel beamed at the “Dhampir” walking near her, a composed expression on this second one’s face, while Jay and Hale silently followed behind, an amused expression on the last one’s face.
They were fast approching the gate for the walls around their city of residence.
“Ehi, Sabel. Who is the gate?” Once at the gate, one of the guards asked her, his tone suspicious as his hands neared the trigger to allarm for an emergency.
He was very experienced when it comes to discern the threat level of other People and in this case his Skill caused this reaction.
Said Skill was called “Threat Evaluation”, a Unique Skill he awakened when he was young, and it had two functions.

One was the ability to misure the power of a Person or Monster compared to his own based on their Souls, things that only misured precisely only up to a certain point.
Even if her power was vastly greater than his own, this was not the reason for this hostile reaction.
The reason was the second effect of his Unique Skill that misured someone’s willingness to hurt other people, which in her case was too great for him to allow her within the city without at least an explanation.
Said willingness was not caused by her reincarnation as a Lunarian, but was a natural aspect of her being, a deep aspect that survived unscathed her time from her birth, as a Ghoul and finally now as a Lunarian.
An aspect that caused her to gain the Innate Skill “Spirit Body” upon her birth purely for affinity and causing her sister to acquire “Blessing of the Spirits” as a consequence and a response of this fact.
A nature that was part of the reason behind her Unique Skill “Singularity”.
A nature that was way too dangerous for him to ignore.

Sabel quickly interfered before anything… untoward was to happen.
“She has very important information to share and she is not going to start any fight.”
“And I suppose the ones starting fights will end up dead, won’t they?” The hostile response caused a snort to escape Luna before she attacked back.
“Oh, please. You are talking as if I will kill anyone that displeases me. I will just kill anyone who will get in my way without an important enough reason.” Her response was even more hostile, however, considering how the one she was responding to was in her way at this point.
“Hoh? Are you threatening me?”
“Do you feel threatened then? In that case you don’t have any reason to get in my way, don’t you?”

The hostility between the two was quickly reaching its boiling point while two third of the “Outrejects” awkwardly observed the situation, trying to decide how and when to intervene in what would soon become an outright fight if they didn’t intervene.
Jay intervened, speaking when he finally noticed they were still at the gate, taking his eyes from a notebook he was drawing in, confused by the loss .
“Why are we still here? Weren’t the news we have urgent or something?”
This was the perfect opening for Sabel and Hale.
“Right, right. I’m sorry, Buld, but we need to enter urgently. Even if Luna is suspicious, it’s too important.”
“Ah yeah, now that I think about it, how is Cora doing?”

His tone softened a bit.
“He is doing better now. He should be fine.”
This was the simple way to handle him, first lowering his guard with Jay then distracting him with something important while making sure that he knew she had important informations to share.
A necessary measure considering
Luna watched the interaction, a bored expression on her face, before she calmly walked past the Guard nearing the ability of a C-Class Adventurer.
He sent her a mean look before nodding to the Party and making a gesture to keep their eyes on her.

The Party moved to reach her before guiding her to the Guild, Sabel in the front with Luna starting to speak with this last one.
“I’m sorry about Buld, he is-”
“No need to worry. I know very well the effect a Unique Skill has on the psyche of a person.”
“You seem to know a lot about them.”
“Obviously, I studied them deeply considering how I had one since birth.”
Based on her own feelings and the research of Edgar she learned at the mansion.

“However, isn’t it different between someone born with one and someone Awakening one?”
“That is the common thought, but it is incorrect in the way you think about it. If someone Awakens an Unique Skill because of an Instability, they are twisted by it, sure. However, they are still People that know what being a Person meant when it comes to morals or similar things, being able to understand and being understood by other People when said Instability is not involved. If you are born with an Awakened Unique Skill, you understand no one. You are understood by no one. You innately think differently from every single being alive, even other People with Unique Skills.”
This all was said calmly as if it reguarded someone else while Sabel watched her, worried for her.
“And what about you? You said it yourself that you were born with an Unique Skill, so does that mean…?”
“From what I could study about other People, I have naturally no reguard for other lifeform, I don’t accept anone authority over me, I am incapable to share anything with other lifeforms and I was told that I’m incapable of expressing or feeling emotions in addition of being an egocentric narcisist omnicidal maniac.”
“Someone called you that?!” Sabel exclaimed, offended for her sake.
She shrugged, indifferent, before continuing.

“Don’t worry, I am not offended by the last words of people I have no interest in.”
Said words were the dying words of her Half-Elf’s parents in a tentative to hurt her.
Tentative that not only didn’t work, but didn’t even buy them any time at all before she indifferently ended their lifes.
Sabel continued to guide her to the Guild, an akward expression on her face at the casual confession of murder.
Once there, Hale advanced towards the receptionist, a grave expression on his handsome face.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but our Party needs to urgently meet with the Guild Master.”
“Hoh? I suppose that young lady matters reguarding your mission then.” This last phrase was not a question, but the young Cleric nodded anyways in confirmation as she then continued. “Very well. However, he is busy at the moment so why don’t you three take her to the recreational room until he is free?” She half-asked half-commanded him before he nodded, leading the young “Dhampir” there.

“I’m surprised that you are so accomodating.” Sabel exclamined once there as Luna casually took some of the food offereded in the room.
“Oh, don’t worry. I count this as a favor to all of you and the Guild Master of this City. And I expect this favor to be answered in the future.”
This was not said as a threat, but as a simple fact.
A fact that all three of them, Jay comprised, understood that they better answer in a way that satisfies her or there would be conseguence.
Around half, if not three quarters, of an hour later, the Guild Master finally finished to being “busy”.

“So, what exactly did you three wanted to tell me?”
The Guild Master, a 35 years old Human, told them as he entered before noticing the young lady in the room with them that was busy continuing to slowly savor various pastries on the table before her with a single one of them being shared with Sabel that was half eating it and half just watching her.
Said Guild Master, named Heldov, pegged her instantly as a noble lady from both her tastes geared towards sweets and the grace and beauty of every single one of her gestures, grace and beauty that were not being made on purpose but out of pure instinct yet precisely made and following one after another.
A wealth of experience and talent in both fighting and manners.
He carefully observed her even more, noting her facial traits, her skin tone, her red eyes, her slightly pointed ears and her fangs before reaching his own conclusion about the being before him.
While Vampires are treated even now as dangerous beings, being considered even as Monsters by most nations, Midrar comprised, Dhampir are instead considered as People, even if potentially dangerous ones.

Additionally while Elf don’t like Half-Elfs, which the being before him probably is at least a descendent of one considering her ears, they are very popular when it comes to most other races for various reasons, so it wouldn’t be strange for a Vampire to take in an Half-Elf as a lover or whatever they would be from which the Dhampir before him would be born.
This would also explain her movements and what she did at the moment of his entry, her eyes briefly scanning him before turning back to eating her sweets.
“So, could you tell me who she is and what did you want.” The following was more an order than a question, order that roused Sabel for her distraction and Jay from his drawing.
Hale, the only one of the three paying attention, could only laugh awkwardly at that before starting to explain the situation.
“Luna found an anomalous Dungeon that we think is important to our Mission and that the Guild Master should know about it as soon as possible.”
“Hoh? How anomalous are we talking about?”
Luna sighed before taking an empty page from Jay and quickly drawing it while speaking.

“Every single Undead there had the Skill “Undying Body” at D-Rank except the Boss that had it at C-Rank. The two Liches and the “Undead Abomination” that is the Boss had both “Curse-Attribute Magecraft” and “Formalcraft”, with said Boss additionally having the ability to double the power of all Curses.”
“I see. This is strange. Are you sure your drawing is accurate?”
“Yes, the Dungeon is incredibly and surprisingly direct and short. There are no traps nor any indirect method of damage. However the Liches will start to Cast Curses on you the moment you enter not their room, but the Dungeon and said Curses are bound to the Dungeon itself once landed. I would suggest testing it with a Party full of C-Class Adventurers, at least one of which is well-versed in the Holy-Attribute.”
She took another sweet before continuing.
“I am certain that this Dungeon was heavily modified by a Person.”
“Then why make it so direct?” It was a response made out of shock, a question she already thought about and which she already had an answer to.
“Because of a question of Balance. It’s probably the reason it can be as hostile as it is.”
He sat down, resting his head on his hands, as he thought about what to do and Luna enjoyed herself.

“The three of you, what do you think?”
Hale continued to speak as the official spokeperson of their Party when it comes to the Guild Members.
“She took us within it and we can confirm that she told the truth about the Dungeon.”
“I see. Ahh, what am I going to do… Thank you for informing us. I will need to confirm this information before calling Headquarters. What is your name?”
“Luna. And don’t bother trying to search me in a register, I shouldn’t exist in any of them. I will rest in this city today and leave tommorrow at dawn. Sabel, you will accompany me around this city. Let’s go.” There were no more sweets and so the silver-haired one commanded, command that even if with a quick salute, she followed happily at the thought of spending more time with her.
Hale could only laught nervously at that.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 525

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Mana Shaping C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 5:41 (Summer, Day)
Sabel showed Luna around the city, both of them ignoring that the Guild Master still had questions for her, leaving the other two behind, in that case almost exclusively Hale, to answer as many questions as they could.
Meanwhile the two girls stopped at a sweet shop were the black haired one paid for her sweets for the exploration.
Someone may wonder how she was able to eat so much without worries or using Vital Mana in her case, but the reason was extremely simple.
The process of eating in her case was considered as a process of Conversion, Conversion that was brough to such efficiency that it simply tranformed all that mass into energy then into Black Blood that was absorbed within her shadow.
It was a similar process that rendered the previous her completely tireless thanks to the combination with Skills that Converted Satiety, Health, Stamina and Mana into each other with perfect efficiency thanks to “Singularity”.
Especially considering how at C-Rank the effect of her Unique Skill changes the floor for Status Resistence to Nullification, negating the conseguence of such even without using “Authority: Black Blood” to evade the conseguence of said actions.

Sabel moved to follow as Luna simply wandered off once satisfied as she explored the town.
Meanwhile in the Guild Master’s office, place where the Guild Master and the rest of the Party were speaking about both the Dungeon in more details and about Luna.
“Which gate did the four of you enter from? And who was the guard that let you in?” The Guild Master asked the rest of the Party.
“The Nord Gate and the guard was Buld.”
“Buld, eh? In that case…” He activated a button on his desk, sending a message to his secretary, his desk being a Magical Item given to all Guild Masters from the Guild. “Call Buld as soon as possible, I have some questions for him.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
Once his order was sent, he turned back to them, continuing the questions about the Dungeon as a map of the surrounding area appeared on the floor.

Said map was only an approximation of the area based on the Guild Master’s memories and various maps he saw, an essential instrument for the Guild, both in general to have as precise a map of the world as possible and in specific to control that no Guild Master would abuse their power by copying their memories once a month.
The two reasons why he could give a mission that was officially higher in difficulty than the “Outrejects” were simple.
In the first place, while their memories were recorded once a month as part of their position and the Contract they signed to be a Guild Master, this Contract also guarantees these Records are kept private with the only way to access them being for the Guild Grandmaster and at least 7 Guild Masters to decide to access them in response of a grave enough accusation with serious proves or if the Guild Master in question explicitly wants to review or share them.
Additionally nothing he did was illegal or particularly frowned upon as he was well aware that all three of the Adventurers were equivalent in ability each to a D-Class one, more than enough to examine a part of the area and then retreat.

The map enlarged, most of its precision being immediately around the city and the Guild Hall especially with progressively less precise details.
Finally Jay found the place where they found Luna and the Dungeon.
Conseguently a marker appeared there, a marker titled “Anomalous Undead Dungeon Ranked D+?” that once opened would lead to the temporary map of the first floor he saw, an incredibly important function of the Magical Item to integrate any map the user saw.
In this case, the map of the first floor of the Dungeon was linked with the marker.
He nodded to himself, a ripple centered upon the Guild Hall manifested upon the map before it stabilized, the now seven Dungeons around the city shone slightly, the higher amount in the nation even if the highest Ranked one was only C-Rank.

“She said that this Dungeon is artificial or at least heavily modified by a Person, right?”
“Yes.”
“If this is true, we need to analyze every single one of the remaining Dungeons in the area and the area themselves to see if there are any other new Dungeons. And with a Party made entirely out of C-Class Adventurers at least while stopping any entry in known Dungeons for security.”
He tapped his desk a couple of times with a finger before watching the nearest Dungeon to the city that was originaly a Dungeon City, just a couple of kilometers away.
“What are the chances this Luna is the one that modified the Dungeon?” The Guild Master asked Jay.
“I would say not likely. She doesn’t seem like the type to bother to be this indirect and half-assed if she wanted to harm this city or nation. It could be marginally more likely if she did it to train or to try out a new ability, but I personally doubt it. She would have no particular interest in such an ability and the Monsters didn’t seem to view her as anything in particular.”
“I see. Then -”

A knock sounded on the door and after his “Enter”, his segretary and Buld entered the room before he turned back to his segretary.
“I need you to bring me the list of casualties of the last five years separated by periods. And also the Adventurers dead or missing this year until now.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
He sighed before turning to Buld, someone that wasn’t weird for him to know about considering how he himself tried to recruit him to either work directly for the Guild or at least as an Adventurer because of his Unique Skill and his power being equivalent to a D-Class Adventurer while being a Guard mostly stationed to Gate duty, job that doesn’t see much combat with People or Monsters.
His Awakening of the Unique Skill, however, made it so he needs to make sure the city, and especially the orphanage he grew up in, would be safe and so he enlisted as a Guard, job that is not renumerative relatively to his capabilities.

“Good day, Buld. I need information about someone that entered the city today, a certain Dhampir named Luna.”
“Yes, Guild Master. When it comes to overall level of power, she register a little lower than you as a threat.” The Guild Master hummed in response.
He was after all a former B-Class Adventurer when he was still active and from his measure he was now equivalent to an high C-Class one because of his years of rust and the lack of any threatening Dungeon in the area for him to grow, especially considering how he carefully studied all of the ones previously known, maxing out his rewards from them, but not being able to surpass his wall, differently from that bastard in the Capital.
“About her willingness to kill, I would absolutely not allow her within the city if not for the fact that the “Outrejects” interfered. I would suggest she leaves this city as soon as possible.”
“Do you think she is here to harm someone?”
“No. However, she will kill someone without any hesitation the moment they bother her enough.”
“I see… Well, that is worrying, but on the other hand I doubt she will stay long in this city and she did give us valuable information if it’s true. I will need to send a message to the Guild Headquarters about this information. You can go, Buld, and if you ever want to be an Adventurer, our door is always open. Until then, continue to do a good job.”

“Before I go, Guild Master, what information was that important?”
“I would not normally tell anyone outside the Guild or immediately relevant to the situation, but you can be trusted to keep it to yourself. It seems like either someone created a new Dungeon or a prevously unknown one was modified.”
“Is that… Is that even possible?”
“An Unique Skill at a very high Rank is probably not enough on his own. Not without extensive training if this one is not the training in the first place.”
“Training? You mean that-” Hale asked, his eyes wide.
“Yes, this is probably a test to see how much they can change in a specific direction. It’s why we need to carefully examine nearby Dungeons for any changes in them.”
“I see. Thanks for the information.” Buld calmy nodded before standing up. “I will need to return to the Gate and my job.” Once he understood that this matter would not be a direct threat to the city and, especially, the orphanage he exited under the gazes of the other three.

“Well, ignoring that. What do we need to do?”
“Once she leave the city, I would like to ask you three to continue to search the area. Naturally your Mission is considered already completed and this one is considered a new one. Do not enter any Dungeon and don’t interact with any Person you don’t know, especially if near a Dungeon entrance. We don’t know if the culprit already knows your faces or even cares at all. Consider today a free day to rest and recuperate. All the same, good job.”
“Yes, Guild Master.” Hale saluted before the two of them left the room as his secretary returned from the Archive with the files in question, bringing with her bad news.

9/14 7:13 (Summer, Day)
Meanwhile Luna and Sabel were exploring the city, stopping at a weapon’s shop looking at various armors.
Or at least, Sabel was as Luna had no major interest in such.
After all, she had her “Unique Arma” that would eventually become a full armor to protect her and her [Mana-Clad Warrior] Sorcery, her “High-Speed Regeneration” and two different Autorities that helped her to keep herself safe differently while Lunarians in general are made to survive, her need for armor was pratically inexistent especially considering her own Rank and the Rank of the armors.
As such she was interested somewhat in the weapons to model her own Shapes after.
She however didn’t find any unique weapon type as the bladesmith making this weapons didn’t seem to be particularly revolutionary, or for that matter high in Rank as a Bladesmith.
However she nodded to herself before turning to the one at the counter while Sabel was analyzing various armors and weapons and confronting them with her owns and their prizes.

“Hey, do you have any guide on Blacksmith, Bladesmith or Crafting in general?”
“I-I’m not s-sure if-”
“Don’t worry, I am not competition for this store. I leave this city tomorrow morning. Additionally, I’m not asking you to give them to me free of charge. I will naturally pay for them.”
“Are y-you sure you want a book on that?”
“Yes. It would be more useful to me in the long run that anything else.”
“O-okay. I will ask my Master the price then.” Said assistant quickly ran in the back towards the forge, his face crimson because of her while Sabel sent him a brief hostile glance.
Luna turned back to the weapons, a satisfied smirk on her face at seeing her reaction.
Around 15 minutes later, the assistant came back, three small books in his hands before he went back to the counter, waiting for her.

“They cost around 10 Dirrar Silvers Coins each or-”
Before he could continue, the books in his hands vanished and 20 Dirrar Silvers and 1000 Dirrar Copper, the equivalent of 10 Dirrar Silvers, appeared on the desk while Luna started reading the Crafting one, the most immediately important one in her situation, all the while Sabel watched this with a small smile on her face.
This was because of the difference in favor the two of them enjoyed from the “Dhampir” in the store.

The reason why she was interested in the books was simple, really.
The three Skills related to the books would without a doubt help her out in her Shapes.
More specifically while her “Mana Shaping” Skill is not considered a Crafting Skill, her making a True Shape is because of the definition of Crafting employed by the Sistem requiring a material component before and after construction.
This however would be even more important and relevant for her than just affecting her True Shapes and her “Mana Forging” Skill as “Crafting” would influence a lot more of her Skills than just those if her theory about the limitations and absences of such from said Skill.
A theory that she can’t wait to prove correct once she obtains said Skill.

Meanwhile “Bladesmithing” would help her to make more effective Shapes for weapons and “Blacksmithing” would help her with her next project, the combination of [Mana-Clad Warrior] with her True Shapes to make a new Spell capable of holding her Familiars, thing that would vastly increase her options in combat offensively and defensively.
Thing that was only a positive for her.
She was able to read half the book before Sabel was done, thanks to a combination of “High-Speed Processing”, “Parallel Processing” and her ability to retain all of her memories derived from being a “Lunarian” combined with her experience with “Mana Forging”, a Crafting Skill in the first place.
Reading would however only help so much, the real prize would be obtained once she would really and actively practice.
All the same Sabel couldn’t afford any substantial upgrade to her gears with the money in hand while she certaintly would not ask Luna for a loan and so the two left the shop going back to explore the city.
One may wonder how could she read so much in such a short time considering how she was bored out of her mind by the process of making her “Unique Arma” or for that matter how she could handle staying hidden for more than a week in a single room on a boat, but the reason was simple.
She simply loved the process of becoming stronger indipendently from any other situations and so she could stomach things like reading books or meditations while the indirect method of the creation of her “Unique Arma” bored her.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 525

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Mana Shaping C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Mana Forging D

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 8:19 (Summer, Day)
Luna and Sabel left the weapon’s shop, this last one having bought nothing this time, but keeping in mind the range of prizes for what she would want in the future, once the team’s fund was big enough to afford it without too much trouble.
The black-haired Human turned to her companion.
“So do you want to visit an Enchanter?”
This was after all a Dungeon City and so, while the smith of this place wasn’t able to make a Magical Item, no, because the best Bladesmith and Blacksmith of this city at once had no talent when it comes to Magic at all, there were numerous Enchanters in this city, specialized in various ways to turn weapons and armors into magical ones.
Thing that while potentially interesting, she didn’t particularly care about observing enhancements right now as it would only distract her and spread her attention too thin right now.

“No. I have nothing to enchant, I would not allow anyone that I don’t know and am not interested in to enchant anything of mine and studying enchanting would only distract me right now even if they fully adapted to the change in rules, thing very likely after all this time.”
“Yeah, I suppose that the reason most of the enchanters around here closed down for around a month after the change in rules. None of my team had any problem adapting, not even Hale with his Magic, but I know for a fact that other Parties did. What about you?”
“I had no problems with it. Magi, the individuals that directly use Magecraft, are those that would have the most things to change and adapt, especially enchanters based on that.”
An additional point about this was the specific rules everyone operated under now, Rules she was quite familiar with as they were the very same ones of around 63000 years ago, the time Lunarians invaded this World whose memories she could access subconsciously from pratically the start of her Rebirth, further acceleration her adaptation to the new Rules.

Sabel continued to guide her, passing by the church in the city square with neither of them reacting to it.
While most Humans and around half of those considered People did worship Gods in general, some more actively than others, Sabel instinctively understood that the other had no interest about said worship or places for such activity, thing quite common between Vampires or other very long lived sapient races.
After all Gods’ purpose was only to support their weak followers, protection that she had no need nor desire for.
They passed through various stall, buying a couple of sweets, before finding themselves at the door to a particular shop? Well, shop was correct enough considering how in this place someone was paying for a service, within a deserted road.
In this case said service was a conversation with an Elf medium to commune with the souls of deceased Persons.

Thing that upon hearing made Luna smile mockingly to herself, well aware that in this World this was only a way to commune with Records of the deceased and not the deceased themselves, as they would be long reincarnated as her innate knowledge and understanding of a Lunarian told her.
Upon seeing her interest, Sabel moved, opening the door for and letting Luna enter within the shop before her.
“Thank you. Now, how do you think this place works?”
A smile formed on Sabel’s face at the thanks before a frown formed on her face.

“I dont know. I have no idea how being a medium would behave as an occupation. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry.” Luna calmly replied as she entered the place, the door being open and the two found themselves in a completely dark room, the only lights being the opened door behind them and the slightly ajar one before them from which a soft purple light flowed from, the walls and floor around them being completely black.
Luna calmly proceded with Sabel following closely to her right, ready for any incoming attack.
As she opened the door that separated them from her passing curiosity, purple light almost blinding them.
Various candles with purple flames flickering on top illuminating the dark purple walls of the room they found themselves in, various curtains softly flowing because of an absent wind.

Luna calmly turned to the one waiting for them, what looked like a slender Elf in her early to mid twenties, long flowing gray hair covering a light blue, tending towards lavender, dress, very pale skin and purple eyes shining and flickering slightly.
Around her a visible Aura of Curses was similarly flowing around her, various limbs briefly forming before collapsing back into her Aura, a short spear in her left hand pointed to Luna as Runes flared within the room as purple shades rose from around them.
The Lunarian stood there, curiously observing the shades, runes and the Elf before them as the Shades finally fully manifested, twenty copies of the woman before them made out of purple smoke, each one of them wielding an exact copy of the spear and her clothes.

“How curious. These are not made out of Mana, Vital Energy or Vital Mana. Additionally while I do believe you are using a Familiar-type Skill, I would guess these copies are more similar to automatic Drones than proper Familiars. Additionally... ” She passed her hand through one of them, finding no resistance as if it was an illusion.
“What do you want, you soul-eating abomination!”
At this exclamation the two visitors had very different reactions.
“Wow, rude.” Sabel.
“I see, you are able to see Souls then.” Luna was able to understand how this Shades worked now. “They are pieces of your Soul, separated from the whole and possessing this shells.”
“Taking pieces from her own Soul… Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It could have been depending on how she did it, but to explain…” Luna in response simply took an hair and cut a piece off before showing it to her. “This is the equivalent of the process.” She took a second, third and fourth before knotting them together while her hairs grew back and she took another part and joining them together with the previous ones. “This is a rappresentation of the way she uses her soul to make her Drones. But I have a question for you” She turned back to the Elf which stepped back from her hungry gaze.
In response to said step, the Clones thrusted their spears at her, trying to impale her to the wall behind her.
She stood still until the instant she felt the first spear pierce her skin, causing her Black Blood to grab said spear and impale the Drone in response.
Said attack however passed straight through the Drone like the spear within her.

She noted as the Drone became physical the moment both Vital Energy and Mana flowed within it and it ceased to be physical when they didn’t anymore.
Not only that, but the unstable mix of Vital Energy and Mana the Drone inserted into her was trying to Curse her.
“I see.” The Drones hesitated around her as her Black Blood formed a sharp circle around the neck of all the Drones, ready to decapicate them the moment said Curses became material.
“I would say that it’s quite rude of an Elf, even if a beautifull one like you, to try and impale me before even dinner, but after all you are not a real one, aren’t you?”
“Wha- Are you sure? But the Wards should have-”
“They would have reacted if she was a Monster taking the shape of an Elf, but this is not the case, isn’t it? She is instead a much more complicated situation, right, Former Second Floor Boss of the newly discovered Undead Dungeon?”

A flinch was made from both Human and “Elf” at the words of the false Dhampir, one because of pure surprise and the other a flash of fear.
“How could she be the Boss?!”
“How do- What do you mean?” The medium stepped back another couple of times, her Shades slowly moved before her even with their new collars.
“Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? First of all, the Runes and the Shades are both Curse Attribute and while an Elf specialized in that is quite rare considering how Spirits exist only in the five elemental Attributes, it is not impossible to reach this level of ability. Your ability to see and manipulate Souls however is quite outside the bonds of what you should be able to.”
Luna stepped forward again causing the former Boss to step back again, her concern now firmly becoming fear at the soul-eater in the room with her.
“Additionally you don’t have any relations with True Dragons to inherit their “Soul Sight” and the only other beings with it are Undeads. Finally you already have a Unique Skill unrelated to Souls, don’t you? The ability to turn malice and negative emotions into a form of immaterial Curse Attribute Energy different from Mana, Vital Energy or a combination of the two.”

“How can she be here then? If she is a Dungeon Boss, she should be unable to leave her room let alone the Dungeon itself.”
“Exactly. That is the reason I said she was the former one. And the reason why she is not anymore is quite simple. We are not the first to complete the first Floor of that Dungeon. The one before us reached the second floor’s Boss, a Ghost of some kind, that possessed and fused together with her body giving birth to the being before us, a new Person with her own Unique Skill Awakened with the Evolution of her Racial Skill to a new one.”
As her Shades prepared to attack, this time together, she stuck first, stakes of Black Blood piercing them all through the heart and holding them in place, this time physically touching them despite their own and the “Elf”’s effort.
“How could you-?”

“It’s very simple really. They are only physical if fueled by a combination of Vital Energy and Mana so I forcefully filled them with Vital Mana until they are physical, even if this cost quite a bit. And now…”
As Sabel watched curiously, Luna’s Black Blood started forcefully pumping within all the Shades, faster and faster and in a pattern similar to a beating heart, until the “Dhampir” opened her mouth wide before stabbing her fangs into the river of blood piercing the Curses, sucking in her own Black Blood and the fragments of Soul within them, forming 20 spheres of condensed Curse within her mouth.
She moved her tongue, crushing the sixteen of them into a single mass of Black Blood, Curses and Soul Energy, fusing them and repurposing it into a new purpouse.
While she could use said mass to create a new Familiar, she had another purpouse, the creation of a thing the previous her never succeded in creating, a Growth Skill of her own.
A Skill she could now create because of her knowledge and ability to manipulate Souls, her ability to devour others for power and the adaptability she retained from the Human half of Scarlet and most importantly as a base her own Unique Skill “Singularity”.
An ability that she was finally able to enjoy, the ability to convert the Magicules she could have absorbed from her prey and the potential Familiar she could have created from their Soul into an expansion on her own Skills and an increase of her own Potential.

*Luna Gained the Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution”.

The other four, skillfully and carefully kept in her mouth, were quickly swallowed to function as fuel for her new Skill.

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Authority: Vital Mana” absorbs the Ability Skill “Mana Shaping” and Ability Skill “Mana Forging”.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Authority: Vital Mana” Expands because of the Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution”.

Luna smiled at the flavor, equivalent to around 4/5 of a soul, before concentrating on the change of her Skill as it was time to test it out.
Her Vital Mana flowed outside her body before condensing in five clumps around her, forming into perfect copies of herself made out of purple energy, each one of them standing there waiting for orders.
She carefully examinated them, one at a time, before reabsorbing them and recreating them, in different time order and quantities, a satisfied expression on her face.
Her ability to shape Mana or enchant Items was maintained and enhanced slightly as was her Vital Mana.
She stretched before nodding to the former Boss Monster and sitting down on a chair made out of her Vital Mana.
“I’m in an excellent mood right now, so this is your chance. Explain yourself and maybe you can convince us to spare you. I’m well aware that the former Boss you should have been around high C-Class while the Elf you should be low C-Class at worst, but the process of Rebirth should have lowered you back to E-Rank and at the moment you are around mid D-Class. Com’on, you have our curiosity for now.”
The older-looking one grimanced, well aware that as she was right now her chances to kill the soul-eater before her were quite slim and she needed time for her Runes to channel Vital Energy and Mana to fuel her Unique Skill if she were to fight back.
“Fine. My name is Mafel.”

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 425

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

(New)
Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)
This Skill denotes the ability of the owner to devour other Beings and take in their power to expand the owner’s own Skills and increases their Potential at the cost of any potential Familiar or Magicules.
Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules equal to this Skills Grade times 100.

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)
(Up) This Skill denotes the authority of the owner over the use and creation of Vital Mana.
(Up) It automatically fuses together Vital Energy and Mana within the owner and thanks to Unique Skill “Singularity”, the efficiency of said fusion is set to a minimum of 100% while the process itself is instantaneos.
(New) This Skill can be used to boost an object with Vital Mana to shape an existing Spell within it, power depending on the Rank of this Skill and the Rank of the Sorcery Skill in question.
(New) This Skill can be used to make independent Shapes out of Vital Mana, depending on this Skill, Control and the affinity of the owner towards the chosen Attribute; they are transparent except for their outline and can be manipulated freely.
(New) Devouring Evolution: The owner can make a maximum number of copies of themselves equal to this Skill’s Grade [5]; each one of them has all the Skill of the owner with a Rank equal to the lowest between this Skill’s, the Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution” and the Skills; Additionally, all the Shapes made from this Skill inherit a single one Skill of the owner at E-Rank

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 61 Magicules times 5, 305.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

(New)
#Devouring_Evolution
A process to automatically gain Magicules every day equal to the value of the Skill Grade times 100.
At the moment the Skill Grade is 3 and so, every day, the owner will gain 300 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

7/13 17:23 (Summer, Night; Second Floor Boss Room of the previously unknown Undead Dungeon)
The second Floor was quite different than the first right from the start.
The only physical beings in it were rares “Undead Abominations” of D-Rank, lesser versions of the First Floor Boss, with a lower Rank of “Undying Body”, without any Magic Skill or the enhancement derived from its status as a Boss.
All other Monsters within it were incorporeal Undeads like Ghosts, Ghasts and Banshees in hidden rooms while the floor was also full of traps, from crossbows in the wall, false floors leading to spikes and false walls leading to hidden rooms.
And so the party of five that was able to beat the First Boss without too much trouble reached the Second Boss Room as only a Party of three because of the Enhanced Curses on two of them with the other three being wounded to various extent.
After all, the only way to leave a Dungeon is if you beat a Floor Boss and leave through the door then.

Additionally you can not travel through floors once you pass the door to the next floor you must beat the Boss to leave the Dungeon again.
And so the second Floor Boss, a Specter, found itself fighting only three enemies, none of them at 100% and only one of which was at C-Rank, an Elf paladin.
The battle was long and arduous considering how the Boss, a Specter, had “Undying Body” at C-Rank and “Holy Resistance” at D-Rank with a natural Immunity to Physical Damage derived by the fact it was incorporeal however the battle was approaching its end.
Only two Beings were left, the Elf and the Boss, both of them at the brink.
The still nameless Elf walked up to the fallen Undead, her sword clad in Holy Attribute and preparing to finally end the Boss’ life before it did something it was never programmed to of its own initiative to save its own “life”.
As her blade was falling to end the Monster, it reacted grabbing one of her ankles before pushing its Essence within its soon to be killer.

A scream escaped the Elf as her being was being invaded.
She would lose.
She had no chance to properly resist this encroachment in her state so she didn’t even try.
Instead she made her choice.

“I Vow: I will not resist this Encroachment and I will give my body, mind and Soul to be absorbed.” Her Vital Energy and Mana spiked sharply as this was what could be considered a Death Oath. “In exchange this process will become a Fusion, giving birth to a new Person.”
The Oath was actualized and a new Person was born.
Said Person opened its, their, her eyes before reaching for the crystal manifested nearby, crystal she calmly shattered absorbing the full prize for the C-Class Boss, a large quantity of Potential and 100.000 Magicules, more than she could properly integrate considering how she was at E-Rank before moving to the exit.
She briefly examined her Status, noting her new race of “Spectral Elf”, her new Innate Skill “Holy Curse” and a new Unique Skill, not the Elf’s but her own, “Malice Generator”, the ability to automatically generate a form of immaterial Energy based on Malice.
She still needed to find out how to use said Energy for now but the smartest move right now would be…

“I Vow: ” Her Mana and Vital Energy rising with her words in a specific pattern. “I will never use any of my Affinities, except to the Holy- and Curse-Attribute, in a fight to the death.”
At her words, a golden and purple Aura manifested around her, an automatic Sorcery with the price being adhesion to said Vow.
She sighed, moving slightly around to adapt to her level of power as her Innate Skill made it so that her “Oath Magic” triggered both a Holy- and Curse-Attribute, ignoring how only one of them should have been Casted or the loss in potency that should have occurred.
She smiled satisfied to the message from the World that told her she acquired both “Holy-Attribute Oath” and “Curse-Attribute Oath”, with other various Skills following right after.
There is more than one reason for her immense Potential that allowed her to grow so fast while Luna didn’t.
The first was the fact the for now nameless one was a fusion of two individuals, their Potentials included, one of which made an Oath to share her everything, and the immense Potential she gained from the reward for killing the Second Floor Boss.

She left, moving towards the Gate leading to outside the Dungeon, enjoying the light from the Moon as she went to the nearest town she remembered from the Elf’s memories while figuring out her new name as she was quite different from her Elf half.
“Mafel, it is.”
She moved on, a calm expression on her face.

---
9/14 9:12 (Summer, Day)
Upon the end of the story, the two concentrated intensely.
“Oh, wow. How interesting.” For “two” Sabel and Mafel were the two that concentrated as demostrated by these careless words from Luna.
Said Lunarian was currently playing around with her Vital Mana and Black Blood while floating upside down.
A deadpan expression formed on both the other People there as they observed her.
“There is no need to look at me like that, I understood the story and I am certain you are not lying. Not only that but the Runes still need sometime until they would accumulate enough Energy for you to fight at full efficiency, dear Mafel. So let’s play a game. We ask you a question, you answer it and then you can make us one that we will answer. Or instead of answering you can offer me your blood, if you prefer that.”

This last part was said with a smile, a smile full of malevolence while not having any actual malice, a smile that was somehow more threatening than if actual malice was present.
“Fine.” Mafel nodded, a grimace on her face as she understood that she was dancing on the palm of the other’s hand, but as she exclaimed she needed more time.
Meanwhile Sabel was simply using this time to learn as much as she could about the situation and the two People with her.
Even if she found Luna attractive, that wouldn’t mean she would be okay with someone that would be a threat to the city and so it was only natural for her to try studying the two of them.

“Now, who altered the Dungeon you were born in and when?”
“I have no idea who they are, misuring time is impossible in a Dungeon and I have no memory from before the change. Now it’s my turn. What are you really?”
“Oh? Curious about me, are you? Makes sense. Now how should I answer you, in a mean way, in a criptict way or an informative one? Well, let’s be gentle for now. The name of my Race is Lunarian, you can consider me as a superior variant of a Vampire. Now, our question can be made by Sabel.” The intention of this offer was to also study said Human in addition to the other anomaly in the room.

“What are your intentions for this city?” Sabel.
“None in particular. I’m only here until I conquer the First Floor of all nearby Dungeons and reach C-Rank. Now my question. Why and how can you eat Souls, Luna?” Mafel.
“By sucking blood I can take in Souls to make or enhance Familiars. My turn now. Mafel, once you leave this place where will you go?” Luna.
“My target is Yggrar, the ancestral home of the Elves that houses the oldest Driad alive, Rediliv.” Malef.
“Ah, yes. It makes sense for you to search the oldest Person alive, the one able to survive for 31 Blood Moons and protect those seeking refuge for the last 13 of them.” Luna smiled confidently while casually dropping an information about the former Tree they themselves don’t know about, their age, as they were not aware for the first 8 Blood Moons they, it at the time, lived through.

After all, the Moon somewhat gave up to the idea of killing them for right now and decided to wait until more continents fall to Monsters, as was the case for the continent now called Mosrar did, before simply assaulting them with too many Monsters of too high a Class for them to resist.
“I see.” This is a bait, she though; she wants me to waste my question on it impulsively; she just wants me to refuse to answer one of her question so that she may drink my blood; I must not ask; concentrate; don’t ask.
She made an error, she looked at Luna’s smiling face and her decisive eyes.

“How do you know that?” She wasn’t able to resist asking before grimacing as she found the answer on her own.
After all the one before her was too weak to be of similar age to the Driad, Driad that she herself confirmed being the oldest Being on Gaea and the only source for their age would be a God or… she looked to the sky, the Moon considering the name of her Race.
“Your thinking is correct. I access reconds from the Moon. Sabel, your question.”
“Sure...Hm, are you really a medium?”
“Yes. I am a fully realized one thanks to my affinity with Incorporeal Undeads and Souls in general. Now for my question, what do you two plan to do with me?”
“This is a question requiring for both of us to answer and so expect two questions in return.” Luna.

“You-” Mafel.
“It seems only fair to me. In my case, I have no particular plan for you but the question is what should I do with this information and how should I present informations about the Dungeon to the Guild.” Sabel.
“A medium is the one that told you the informations, wasn’t she?” Luna.
“I suppose that could work, yes.” Sabel.
Mafel frowned both at being ignored and the fact her answers would be shared but at the moment she was at their, more specifically Luna’s, mercy until all of her stored Vital Energy, Mana and Malice was prepared and available to use actively.

“In my case, I’m probably going to try to work out if I want to actively pursue you and Sabel. All the same you don’t need to worry about me killing you even if I decide not to seduce you.” Luna smiled, confidence oozing from her as Sabel’s face reddened and even Mafel flushed in a mix of embarrassment and anger.
“You-!” Mafel.
“Your question, Sabel?” Luna.
“Yes, right!” Said black-haired Human jumped before asking. “This is my last question because I’m too distracted to think properly for now. How many Floors does the Dungeon you were from have?”
A grimace on Mafel’s face because there will now only be tricky questions from Luna, she answered after calming down.

“I believe the Floors are a minimum of four and a maximum of six.” Mafel.
“I see.” Sabel.
“Well now it is my turn to question. Why do you bother using Vital Energy and Mana instead of Vital Mana for your Runes?”
Mafel clicked her tongue at what she perceived to be mockery.
“Because I don’t know how to use it. Why should I make Vital Mana in the first place?” This question of Mafel was curious to Sabel too, curiosity that Luna was more than happy to satisfy.

“Good question.” A smile on her face, Luna answered. “The first reason is because Vital Mana cannot be sensed to methods that sense Vital Energy or Mana and is harder to sense in general. Vital Mana can also easily be used as either Vital Energy or Mana but the most important reason is quite simple. Power.” Luna’s smile widened greatly before she continued.

“The four major characteristics of Energies in general are the Quantity, the Recovery, the Control and the Quality. Now, let’s take a Person with 100 Vital Energy and Mana, and a theorical value of 2 in Control and Quality with a Recovery of 1 in both every second.
“Let’s also take a Spell that they are planning on Casting with a minimum base Cost of 20 and a maximum base Cost of 40 that would inflict the exact amount of Damage as the Mana Cost.
“They Cast said Spell at the maximum amount of Mana they can, thanks to their Control of 2 both the minimum and the maximum Cost are halved one and doubled the other to a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 80.
“The Spell is Cast with a Damage equal to 160 because of the Quality of 2 and after 80 seconds all the spent Energy is regained.
“Now let’s use Vital Mana. At E-Rank, the Efficiency of the creation is 10%. The same individual Casts using Vital Mana.
“First thing first, 100 Vital Energy and 100 Mana make 20 Vital Mana at E-Rank. The minimum and maximum of the Spell are respectively 5 and 160 because they are affected by the Control of both Vital Energy and Mana, even if for now it doesn’t matter.
“The Spell is Casted with 20 Vital Mana, the Quality of both influencing it to a value of Damage equal to 80 with a complete Recovery of 100 seconds.
“Before you comment about it, it is very inefficient and ineffective at E-Rank but if you bring it just to C-Rank, ignoring any other benefits of the Skill the situation changes greatly.
“The user has a total of 100 Vital Mana that would be used fully to Cast the Spell for a Damage equivalent to 400, more than double the initial Spell, all that would be recovered in 100 seconds.
“To match the Damage of the one using only Mana, 40 is enough and would be recovered fully in just 40 seconds.
“At A-Rank, the efficiency would be at 100%, allowing 200 Vital Mana, more than enough to fuel the maximum of 160 Energy to Cast the Spell with Vital Mana left over while dealing the equivalent to 640 Damage and recovered it all in 80 seconds thanks to their efficiency.
“Finally while the Quantity and the Recovery are additive, Quality and Control are multiplicative between the ones of Vital Energy and Mana.”

“You are...quite proud of this Vital Mana…” Mafel commented slowly.
Sabel meanwhile was trying hard to remember all of her words.
“It’s only natural after all the use of Vital Mana is incredibly important to the way I fight and I live. However your Runes are ready and so here it comes, the real question. How do you want to proceed now?” Luna’s answer and following question was made casually, casually enough that Sabel took a second more to jump on her feet in guard.
“It’s very simple, really. I will kill you!” The answer was certain and full of determination as the Runes around her glowed a mix of Purple and Gold, said lights converging on a point high above Luna before she continued. “I Vow: With this Spell I will attack only the Being known as Luna. I Vow: Once this Spell ends, I will not use any of my Skills’ active effects for 24 hours.” As she completed Vow after Vow, her Mana, stored and not, started resonating and increasing in Quality over and over again.

Sabel made to attack her but- “Wha- More of you!” She exclaimed as five Shades appeared before around her, preventing her from interfering.
Luna stood up, her eyes shining in delight, as Black Blood and Vital Mana exploded from her planning on winning.
Having seen that, Mafel made an additional Oath, this time completely silent, as a nebula of purple and gold formed high in the room around the point, it itself changing to a space similar to the Room of a Dungeon Boss, isolating them from the outside.
It fell, a light made out of a combination of Curse-Attribute, Holy-Attribute and No-Attribute Magic.
It fell and Luna tackled it head on, laughing escaping her, as purple and gold light met the black and red tipical of Black Blood and the purple of Vital Mana.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 425

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 61 Magicules times 5, 305.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
At the moment the Skill Grade is 3 and so, every day, the owner will gain 300 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D

Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E

Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 9:43 (Summer, Day)
Purple and gold fought for supremacy as they fall upon a flowing mass of black, red and a purple outline surrounding Luna.
“[Awaken]! [Greater Self]! [Mana-Clad Warrior]!”
Her “Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity” fully manifested around her and Awoke before Vital Mana coated and enhanced her.
Black Blood completely covered her forming an armor around her, armor enhanced with the same two Spells of before with the Skill “Artifact Proficiency” shared with the Shape.
Another mass of Black Blood formed at her back into great Wings with [Greater Self], as is common for her nowadays, and the Spell [Mana Burst] with the Skill “Parallel Processing” while a third mass formed before and around her left arm rosen to meet the light, forming a drill enhanced with [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior] supported by her “Regeneration” Skill.

The reason she did not make clones of herself was simply because in this situation she should concentrate all of her power in a single place and about her power…
She Summoned her Familiars, Warden within her new armor transforming it into a scaled one, Ash within her wings causing them to burst into flames while her third Familiar, Vision, was Summoned within her drill, causing it to start rotating faster and faster while various blades emerged from it.
A barrier from Warden formed around her drill as it met the mass of Mana, her barrier deflecting most of the impact from the drill to the area around her together with the flames released by her wings in violent bursts to stabilize her while the claws on her feet pierced in the ground.

Her barrier was damaged while slowly healing before shattering, her drill starting to crack before her barrier formed again around it, resisting long enough for part of the damage in the drill to be regenerated.
This process repeated itself over and over again, the drill being eroded time after time, Luna’s legs trembling slightly at the force, before she forcefully stilled them as the assault continued for minutes, her drill from its lenght of 10 meters to a mere meter and a half, her wings continuously releasing fire to keep her stable and her armor being damaged and healed.
Finally after another 2 minutes of this process, her drill shattered into pieces, the beam rushing in to engulf and kill her as she waited, her eyes focused and resolule, even as her left arm was starting to being ripped apart until the right moment.

“[Release]!”
A wave of force made entirely out of her remaining Vital Mana exploded from her, deflecting as much of the attack from her as possible.
The attack ended and so the result was clear to Sabel, the observer of this battle that was forced to shield herself from the impact whose eyes were wide open and locked on a certain Person, her face crimson as the Shades around her vanished.
Mafel was on her hands and knees, the staff she used to support this last Spell fallen from her hands to the ground, and breathing heavily, nearing unconsciousness and having no Vital Energy or Mana.
Luna meanwhile stood straight, her left arm almost completely gone as was her right forearm while her Shapes and clothes were completely gone, destroyed by the [Release] she unleashed.
Any later and she would be dead, any sooner and the last of the attack would have landed on her while she was defenseless.
Yet again Luna’s instinct was the reason for her survival.

Panting heavily, she moved to the “Spectral Elf”, her steps sure yet unstable as she was running the emptiest she ever did in all three of her lives.
Finally Luna reached her prey, the Isolated Room falling back into the medium’s office, the Runes dull and empty of Energy.
She reached out, using her newly reformed right hand, to take the Elf by the collar of her cloak and setting her into one of the soft chairs she had for clients.
Her staff, rings and cloak were all Magical Items however they were armless at the moment as she had previously made an Oath to only use their effects within a space similar to a Dungeon Boss’ Rooms, space which her office wasn’t normally.
Additionally she already made multiple Oaths about what she could do, like for example the fact she was incapable to activate the Runes within this room before 10 of her Shades were to be destroyed by another Individual.

Mafel watched as Luna straddled the former Boss on her legs before piercing her neck with her fangs and starting to suck her blood.
The Lunarian closed her eyes in bliss as she tasted her prize, moans escaping from the Elf’s mouth as her blood was drained, pleasure overwhelming her.
Hurriedly Sabel covered her eyes with her hands but this was far from enough as her traitorous fingers opened without her permission, allowing her to see very well their bodies, especially the naked body of the sensual Lunarian before her.
Said Lunarian separated herself from her prey momentarily, her mouth nearing one of her ears before whispering to her.

“You are really bold at offering yourself to me, aren’t you?” At her words, Mafel flinched proving a confirmation to her hypothesis. “The last Oath you made, that silent one, was that if I survived your last attack you would belong to me.” Her newly-regenerated left arm rose caressing her “Spectral Elf”’s cheek before her fangs pierced her neck again, intent on making the white-haired one her own the way Lunarians did.
Mafel died in her arms, her last breath stolen by Luna as her Soul fell in an abyss of shadows and blood, her body being invaded by her new master’s Black Blood that proceded to maintain her physically alive all the while.
Mafel breathed again as, instead of sending her to the Moon or consuming her Soul to feed her new Growth Skill, she moved that Soul through her own Blood back in her own Body, resurrecting her in a cheaper way than to rebuild her body later.

Once she was done with fully resurrecting her, Luna smiled, moving away from her pale neck and near her mouth.
Mafel twitched as her mouth felt the pressure of something soft, another pair of lips that forcefully pushed against her own, a moan escaping her again as her tongue was played with by another one until she was left breathless and barely able to sit up as she felt Luna calmly petting her head a couple of times before she left, calmly moving towards the E-Rank Adventurer.
This last one was too distracted to react in time, not that she would have actually resisted as she was, being pushed on another chair with a muscular yet soft body keeping her immobile, fangs piercing her neck as pleasure overtook her.
After a good 10 minutes she was finally freed of this at the same time heavenly and hellish condition.
Luna, satisfied by their dazed expressions and their reactions, draped herself upon the couch in the office, still naked, while a smug aura oozed from her as she took the book about the “Crafting” Skill and continued to read from where she last left off while waiting for her Mate and potential Mate to recover.

Her Black Blood quickly closed the two doors to here, filling in both the keyholes and the doors themselves so that they would no longer open.
It wouldn’t do for someone to stumble upon them, after all.
Meanwhile she decided that waiting for the two was no reason not to train as such she Summoned a Vision-Viper, with the Skill “Parallel Processing” to test it out.
This caused an interesting effect.

At D-Rank her Skill “Parallel Processing” granted her a total of three Processes, one of it being in a costant state of “Deep Meditation”, another was controlling her own Vital Mana and Black Blood within her own body so that they would both move fluidly and to accelerate their recovery while feeling the Vital Energy and Mana in the area around her, finally her third natural Process was concentrating on her book and studying.
However, she had a forth one at this moment, one controlling her Familiar-Viper as if it was an additional body, able to use the “Third Eye of Physicality” Skill to help her examine the Runes in the room with the support of the sense of what is now her Main Body in all effects.
She was able to finally end the Guide before the two finally rebooted, and she with a smile stretched again, enjoying the way their eyes were fixed on her body, drinking in as much as they could of her body while she drunk in as much as possible of their reactions.

She retracted her Familiar, languidly standing up, before finally taking a new pair of clothes from her Storage Ring and starting to calmly get dressed under two pairs of eyes.
Once done she turned to the others before simply walking to Sabel, taking her in her arms in what would be normally called a princess carry before walking back to her couch, her blood grabbing Mafel and dragging quickly there too.
By the time the two least inhuman People there were able to recognize their positions, that being with Luna at the center with an arm around both of their waists with their heads leaning against her shoulders before they were both kissed on the lips, their tongues being played with repeatedly one after another until they could taste each other’s taste in her mouth, their hands exploring freely Luna’s body while this last one’s hands did the same in response.
A good half an hour later, Luna finally stopped this attack on her mates, a satisfied expression on her face as she beholded their red faces and heavy breathing, causing Sabel to release a whine in protest.

“Sorry but if I don’t stop now, I am not going to be able to stop before having my way with the two of you and the first time should be a one-on-one, shouldn’t it?” This last phrase was barely a whisper yet caused a shiver to travel in both of their backs.
The reason Mafel didn’t fight or try to resist her at all, was not because of her Oath as this last one merely obligated her to obey direct orders and no order was made, vocally or otherwise.
Instead it was because she was Luna’s Mate, something that is not a simple title but instead a fact, a fact that granted her a new Innate Skill, “Unique Mark: Singularity”, freely, a Skill that beyond other things allowed her to feel Luna’s emotion as her own, thing that quickly overwhelmed her, especially when it comes to preasure coming from both herself and the beautiful Lunarian corrently holding her.
This was extremely intense in the period immediately after the Mark is placed as the sudden feelings are amplified and shared with each other in an exponential increase, an increase Luna forcefully put an end to before she lost control of herself to the emotions and feelings of both of them, especially considering how as a Lunarian she had much higher physical desires than when she was an Half-Elf.

She fully turned her head to Sabel while continuing to pet Mafel head and made her proposal known.
“Do you want me to Mark you?” Luna.
“What do you mean with “Mark”?” Sabel.
“It’s the way a Lunarian signals a Mate. My mark looks like this.” Luna stretched out her hand, taking Mafel’s cloak and opening it and stripping her of her shirt, leaving her bare if not for her bra, thing both Luna and Sabel enjoyed seeing, even if she was not very big in the chest department as was common for Elves.
The thing Luna wanted to show her potential Mate however was not the Elf’s chest but the tatoo a little between her neck at the center, a tatoo quite complicated to explain.

The basic layer was a series of concentric perfect circles the largest of which was 5 centimeters wide while having round connections from every single one of the circles leading to the center of it, both clock- and counter-clockwise.
This was not even the most unique part of the Mark considering its coloration, a coloration that changed continuously and presenting a variety of multiple colours at once, a black that seemed like a hole and a blinding white included.
Not only that but Sabel noted how the number of circles was impossible to count as even from right before it she could not find the last and most internal one.

As she was distracted she felt a pair of arms encircling her waist, pulling her against Mafel’s chest before this last one rose her chin and stole another kiss from her as the arms she recognized as Mafel’s started to explore her body and Luna leaned herself against her back before this last one pulled both of them to her so that Sabel would be between the two while Mafel’s tongue explored her mouth and two pairs of hands explored her body for a while before Luna ended this session, leaving Sabel red in face and gasping for air.
Meanwhile Mafel was being restrained by Black Blood to stop her from further “attacking” Sabel who was being carefully caressed by the silver-haired one.
“Sorry about this. It seems like my desires are too overwhelming for her to handle right now but don’t worry. This is only temporary until she is able to properly separate her own emotions and feelings from my own and stop accidentally amplifying her own continuosly until she is not able to hold back. A temporary situation as even without any help she would be able to adapt without too much trouble.” Luna.
“And how long would this adaption take?” Sabel asked, worried for the former-Monster before them.

“The time needed to adapt changes from Person to Person but the longest time recorded was a full weak and the shortest was of around one hour. But it does have its positive points.
“Speaking only of the effects active at E-Rank, the first is that our Lifespan is now linked. Once you reach your prime, you will never age past it so long as I am alive.
“If you die, your Soul will reach my own and I will be able to create a new body for you to use.
“Your blood would become more effective and tasty for me while the opposite would happen when it comes to other Vampiric existences.
“And the final effect, as you can see, is a connection between our Souls” Luna calmly reassured and tempted as if a Devil while not stopping from caressing Sabel’s body while Mafel looked at them, slowly calming down as she was coming to term with Luna’s emotion and desires.

“I see.” Sabel responded as she watched Luna start to pet Mafel and playing with her hair, calming her further.
The reason why she wasn’t fighting back was quite different from the other, she simply found the way she was being caressed and touched acceptable considering how she was allowed to explore Luna’s body right back as she was doing at this very moment.
Sabel decided.
Even if she knew for a fact that Luna was taking advantage of her own emotions and the fact that she couldn’t hold back now that she was conscious of her attraction to her, the fact was she wanted more of her and so the choice was obvious.
She accepted.
At this, Luna smiled before pushing Sabel against the coach so that she was lying down before opening her mouth, her fangs shining as they pierced her neck while Mafel was properly immobilized, especially considering the rush of pleasure and desire all three of them would feel soon.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 425

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)
(Altered) Devouring Evolution: The owner can make a maximum number of copies of themselves equal to this Skill’s Grade [5]; each one of them has all the Skill of the owner at E-Rank; Additionally, all other Shapes made from this Skill inherit one Skill of the owner at E-Rank.

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 61 Magicules times 5, 305.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
At the moment the Skill Grade is 3 and so, every day, the owner will gain 300 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D

Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E

Ash E
Fire Magecraft D

Magecraft
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection

Sorcery
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self

Notes:

Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 15:57 (Summer, Night)
Sabel returned to rationality after hours to find her head resting on Luna’s shoulder while being gently pet, her hands bound by shackles of Black Blood with Mafel in the same situation so that they wouldn’t .
Or at a second look, a similar situation as the former Boss was still under the influence of the Mark as she noted from the fact that the white-haired one had an expression of bliss in her face, her eyes closed in contentment.
“How is…?” Sabel.
“She is fine. She needs a bit more time to separate my emotions from her own as she is less used to feeling things than you.” Luna petted her head as her bonds dissolved.
“How long was I out?”
“No idea. It’s night right now. Can you walk?”
“Yes, I-” Sabel tried to stand up only to almost fall, barely able to stop herself before Luna helped her with her blood to lead her back to the coach and her arms.

Sabel found herself embraced by her front while Mafel leaned against her back.
She sighed, relaxing, while hugging Luna back before she noted something else.
“Why am I not hungry? Even with Vital Energy, I should be.”
“Simple really. I am transfering my Vital Mana to you two to feed you.”
“I-I see. Thank you? How long do you think she is going to be out of it?” Sabel asked Luna about Mafel only to recieve an unexpected answer.
“Why don’t you try to feel the answer using your Mark?”
“How do I- no. You are right, I must find out myself.” Sabel started to concentrate on herself, more specifically on the warmth in her chest, deep within her heart, calling for her attention.
No, she corrected, deep within her soul she found the Mark, a tether connecting to something, no someone, else.
As she concentrated on it, she saw.

Information almost blanked her mind before she slowly was able to slowly start to navigate the information, noting how the information was her own memories, even those she forgot, mixed with her own, Luna’s and even Mafel’s emotions.
As such, slowly she was able to concentrate until the influx of memories slowed more and more until they became just a trickle, trickle that quickly ended.
She sighed, exausted, before concentrating again, this time on the tether itself and not the part of herself connecting to it.
Their Link was not very strong yet, barely born, yet was more than enough for her to send a request for information, request that was answered almost automatically by Luna’s Soul not with words but pure information.
As such she understood the other needed an additional hour before she regained full control.
She turned to her own body, relaxing against Luna as this last one continued to pet her head.

“I’m sorry, you must have been bored this hours…”
“Not at all, fending the two of you off was quite entertaining and I had more than enough time to finish reading the three books and practice.” Luna responded, a True Self manifesting before them holding one of the books for them to read before saluting and Dispelling, the book vanishing back in her Ring.
“I see. Then I’m relieved.” Having said her piece Sabel leaned her head back on Luna’s shoulder and started to doze off.
“Very well. Now that Sabel is calmly sleeping, my Mafel is even more passive and so I can properly train all out.”

A mass of Black Blood rose from her shadows enveloping the three of them in an hollow sphere, mixing together with Vital Mana forming a True Sphere, enhanced with [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior], while sharing with it one of her Skills, “Presence Suppression” to hide them.
A second one formed within it enhanced with the sames Spells while with the Skill “Artifact Proficiency” to enhance the effect of the Shapes within and around it.
The third and final sphere finally formed within it with the Skill “High-Speed Processing”, accelerating the inside slightly.
Immediately after her 5 True Images appeared within the sphere, being complete, naked, copies of herself made out of liquid darkness with bright purple lights in the place of her irises.
This caused another reaction because of the Skill “Parallel Processing” joining them to the network that was her mind.

Finally she Summoned her Familiars within three of her True Images causing them to change even further.
The one harboring Warden changed the least, its skin becoming densely packed scales as part of her hairs became horns, the one holding Ash changed the most when it comes to material, becoming made entirely out of solid flames.
Finally, the one holding her oldest Familiar changed the most, its nails and fangs becoming sharp as knives, a third light appearing on its forehead while its hairs became similar to sturdy whips ending in a spinning drill to impale individuals.
She smiled analyzing the changes within them caused by their Ranks and the presence of her Familiars and the way she herself would behave in that situation to find and correct any inefficiencies.
Starting from the most important and numerous change was that her own Unique Skill was inherited as an Innate Skill in their cases while her own Growth Skills don’t allow them to gain any Magicules in the first place.

But the most interesting thing was the effect of “Singularity” upon Ash.
This last one had as Skill only “Fire-Attribute Magecraft”, a Skill that needed a minimum Affinity towards the Fire Attribute, thing that should have been rendered useless because of her own Unique Skill only for said Skill to change, showing a new side to it.
Instead of reducing all Affinities to nothing while boosting the No-Attribute Affinity to the maximum, in this case it instead reduced all Affinities, the No-Attribute one included, to nothing while bringing the Fite-Attribute one to the maximum.
She smiled as another piece of the puzzle she and her Unique Skill were being revealed to her before the test even really started.

The battle started in full with her Images using Vital Mana to nullify the damage to her, her Mates and the office itself while she observed them attently, in movements sure but especially her three Familiars-Images’ version of her and their own Skills.
Immediately she recognized that her Warden-Image and her Vision-Image had the advantage, one when it comes to defenses, thanks to the combination of “Imperial Scales” and “Physical Resistance”, while the other had an advantage derived by its perception and its sheer versatility derived from its natural weaponry.
Meanwhile Ash was instead being slowly but surely being driven back as it was incapable of using “No-Attribute Sorcery” and “No-Attribute Magecraft” as it had no No-Attribute Affinity.
Some may wonder why she was bothering to train in this way, thinking she was merely trying to became better at fighting but while this is true, it is not the only reason.

The main reason for such, the one not normally actively known about, is that someone could use an immense amount of training to slowly drill against the Wall of their progress to decrease the Burden of the Skills on their Soul, training that because of the sharing of “Parallel Processing” the Images’ is counting as her own.
As she observed the battle royal before her, she noted how her Images were behaving, carefully concentrating their assault on the Ash-Image.
This from the outside may have seemed like the four of them decided to eliminate the weakest of the bunch but the truth was quite different, as shown by the fact that it was surviving in a battle against four Beings with the same stats as it using “No-Attribute Sorcery” to enhance themselves.

The truth was that the four of them were driving it into a corner to force it to adapt, leaving it no chance to survive otherwise, as the thought that a copy of Luna channeling a Familiar would be weaker than a copy of Luna alone was unacceptable to all other Lunas.
The only thing they could accept as behavior was to drive it to a corner until it could properly fight back.
Method that worked as evident by the fact that flames quickly started enveloping its fists, a Sorcery of the Fire Attribute used without the Skill to increase its power and ease of use, thing quite easy for Luna to do considering its naturally high Control caused by “Singularity”.
This caused her to actualize a Sorcery normally called [Burning Grasp] through pure knowledge, intuition and will, Casting quite the high-level Spell with the ease of a master.

This was evident from the analysis Luna made of its effects as it struck one of the Images, causing two, no three Complex Alteration of Status at once, “Burning Resistance Down (Self)”, “Burning Damage Increase (Self)” and “Continuous Burning (Self)”, both of them lasting a whole 10 minutes even if she herself was the one recieved this attack.
Attack that didn’t end even now as its hands were still clad in a flaming red aura while the struck Image was periocally bursting into flames from the inside out.

The effects of these Alterations were simple, really.
“Burning Resistance Down (Self)” lowered the Resistance to the Status “Burning” of who has it, “Burning Damage Increase (Self)” increases the damage the “Burning” Status inflicts once Active and finally the “Continuous Burning (Self)”, a Status that constantly inflicts some “Burn” every second.
Simple Status Alterations like “Burning” have three layer of effects depending on the Resistance and the amount of Status Effect inflicted.
In this case the “Burning” Status Effect has the following effects with the basic potency depending on the source: The first is that the Target recieves more Fire Damage from following attacks and is always active so long as “Burning” is present; the second is the Active effect, happening once the inflicted Status is equal or superior to the Resistance, that contiuously inflicts Fire Damage to the Target; finally, the third and final effect is an amplification of both the previous two effects relative to the difference between the Status and the Resistance.

Luna watched studying the following battle as Ash-Image started to use “Fire-Attribute Sorcery” and “Fire-Attribute Magecraft” to fight back against Warden-Image’s barriers and the attacks of Vision-Image who’s even its missed attacks were dangerous as the area around it was sharp as a blade.
She felt it, the Progress Wall being slowly grinded because of their efforts and her own constant passive trainining.

Time passed as Luna examined the slowly stabilizing connection between herself and her two Mates deep within their Souls while analyzing her own emotions and the desires natural of a Lunarian, much more intense than even that of an Half-Elf.
It was the reason why she couldn’t stop herself from taking the two of them as her own in such little time while the previous her never even thought about People in any romantic way or even simply cared about other’s People existence.
The truth was that as a Lunarian she was more similar to a normal Person than when she was an Half-Elf thanks to both her time around the old Vampire to analyze how he behaved and the stronger desires of a Lunarian helped her understand other People’s emotion.

She concentrated back to the fight, noting how the Skills her Familiar-Image were using would be quite different from the same Skills if used by her.
The “Fire-Attribute Magecraft” of Ash was able to generate, control and amplify flames; “Third Eye of Physicality” of Vision was able to roughtly see the opponents’ Vital Energy while its “Weapon Mastery” rendered its body a natural weapon; finally, when it comes to Warden, its “Imperial Scale” allowed it to create Barriers all over the place because it was incorporeal as just a Shade while its “Physical Resistance” was being channeled through her barriers.
All these were things she wouldn’t be able to do without her Familiars.
As her Images continued to battle, destroying and being destroyed in return, she felt it, her Soul growing in power enough to lessen the Burden to the point that it finally happened, she gained a new Skill surpassing her Wall, a Skill she wanted intensely.

*Luna Gained the Ability Skill “Crafting”.

She smiled, satisfied, and it was just in time too as Mafel finally was able to focus on reality, her Images vanishing.
Differently from Sabel, she instantly found their Link together and mastered its use, sending and asking informations with the same, if not greater, ease than simply asking to Luna’s pride to her Mate.
Meanwhile Luna examined the difference in her abilities from before noting no particular change from before, just a slight increase in power, at least for now.
“So what do you want to do?”
“I’m going to leave this city tomorrow. You are free to accompany me if you want to but you will be mine all the same.”
This response was only partial as all the same very soon they would always know each others’ location and she planned to come back to bring Sabel back with her.
This wasn’t hidden from Mafel and neither was the completely absent sense of direction that is part of Luna’s being, thing she understood easily throught their Mate Link.
“I see. In that case I will search you once I conquer the Dungeons nearby while keeping my new sister? Company.”
“Very well.” Luna accepted easily before kissing her Mate softly. “Let’s relax for now.” Her five Images, three housing her Familiars, were Summoned to restart her training.

Total Magicules 71437 (V)
Stored Magicules 425

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 100/1k. (III)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

(New)
Ability: Crafting E
A Skill that increases the Quality of every single Item Crafted by the owner.
Thanks to “Authority: Black Blood” and “Authority: Vital Mana”, Items, Spells and Shapes Casted using either Black Blood or Vital Mana are influenced by this Skill as if a Crafted Item while the Quality of the Black Blood and Vital Mana themselves are passively increased.

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 62 Magicules times 5, 310.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
At the moment the Skill Grade is 3 and so, every day, the owner will gain 300 Magicules.

Familiars:
Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D

Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E

Ash E
Fire-Attribute Magecraft D

Magecraft
No-Attribute
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection
(New) Fire-Attribute
(New) Fire Ball
(New) Firethrower
(New) Fire Rain

Sorcery
No-Attribute
Mana Burst
Release
Mana-Clad Warrior
Greater Self
(New) Fire-Attribute
(New) Burning Grasp

Notes:

Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/14 20:08 (Summer, Night)
It didn’t take long for Sabel to join Luna and Mafel in full consciousness, blushing slightly at her position before calming down.
“So, you are going to leave tomorrow morning, right?”
“Yeah but don’t worry, I’m coming back for you very soon.” Luna caressed her cheek. “But why don’t we pass this night together?” She smiled, hungry for companionship.
Sabel blushed heavily before looking at Mafel for an escape.
This last one noted the look and smiled reassuringly in response before said smile became a smirk of amusement.
“Obviously, after all it seems only natural for us to enjoy some quality time together.”

The Elf was much more relaxed now that she could feel the Soul-eater’s emotions for her own and her Oath to belong to the Lunarian was overwritten by Luna’s Mate Mark.
In other words, she was free of the conseguences of her Oaths and the only thing missing to return to her previous level of power was time to recreate her Shades and store enough Vital Energy and Mana.
Or… Or instead… Mafel decided to ask her Mate for information of the creation and use of Vital Mana through their Link to modify her Runes to store it instead.
It should be quite a bit more efficient in the long run, or at least more effective.
This Link, while slightly biased in favor of the Lunarian, was actually quite fair and so a request for information requires an offering for information in response.

In this specific case, the information Mafel shared as the offering was the way to create Oaths, things quite precious to Luna considering how she had no idea of the process to make a Vow.
The exchange was accepted without much trouble as the informations was quickly shared between the two Mates.
So Luna started to experiment with making an Oath by constantly making and dissolving it with variable amounts of Vital Mana to measure the difference, noting something very curious.
Neither the ammount of Vital Mana used in the creation of the Oath, the Control over the Energy or various Affinities mattered, differently from the Quality of the Energy.
And the Oaths she made were simple and concise.

“I Vow: I will always be in a state of “Deep Meditation”.
“I Vow: I will never use Vital Energy and Mana separated.
“I Vow: I will never use Blood and Shadows separated.
“I Vow: I will never use an Artifact made by other’s hands if they aren’t made explicitly for me.
“I Vow: I will never Manifest my “Unique Arma” without Awakening it.”

Purple chains manifested briefly around Luna after this declaration, clenching tightly around her and trying to soffocate her.
Tentative that failed as her Vital Mana flared intensely.
Luna closed her eyes, stretching and examining the changes in her being caused by her Oaths.
She sighed before freely giving Mafel and Sabel information about her own three Growth Skills to help them grow in the future while she was away.
As her eyes watched her two Mates dealing with the information she just shared with them, she decided to speak.
“Why don’t we do to sleep? Sleeping on it should help you two integrate the informations properly.”
The proposal was accepted without any particular objection as the three retreated to the Elf’s bedroom on the floor just above her office, after this last one made sure that the door was properly closed.

--
(Yggrar)
In a continent far away, a continent constituited by a circle with a diameter of 3000 kilometers, emerged the oldest and biggest Being on the planet, an enormous tree whose bark was seemingly made out of crystal of every colors while its black leaves drank in all the light it could to fuel the enormous tree and the barrier it was sustaining to protect the nation built around it, seeking its protection.
This tree was simply without any comparison to anything else in the World of Gaea, being what could be called a weeping willow as wide as it was tall, in other words, around 2900 kilometers in either direction.
Within the second biggest building within the continent of Yggrar, both of them being right next to the trunk of Yig, being the Adventurer Guild’s Headquarters, the Guild Grandmaster, looking like a young androginous Human, was sprawled on their desk bored out of their mind as they had already finished the paperwork for the next eleven days, wondering if they should proceed further.

“Come in.” They spoke before one of their assistant could even knock upon the door, door that quickly opened to let in their newest segretary, a position mostly for show as they had no need for such.
“There is an urgent message from the Guild Master of the city of Nealet, Midrar.”
“Oh? What does he want?” Their curiosity was evident as they turned to fully sit on their desk, eager for information and amusement in equal misure.
“It seems like at least a Dungeon in the area was created and modified.”
“Hoh? You sure? Gimme details.”
A sigh escaped their assistant before she continued.
“Yes, he sent a Party to make sure the information was real.”
“I see. In that case, ask him for the memory and offer an E-Rank Ability Skill of his choice in recompense. Additionally, Rediliv. I have some informations for you.”
“Grandmaster, are you sure-”
“What do you want, brat.”

A voice rang out from all around them before a new figure made entirely out of energy appeared in the middle of the room, long green hairs and a dress made entirely out of leaves.
“As expected only the oldest granny in the World would ever call me a brat. And it seems like someone was able to create and modify a Dungeon.”
The Driad, as beautifull as she was indifferent, merely rose a simple eyebrow, her golden eyes showing no interest to this information.
“And so? I have no interest in Dungeons.”
“As expected from the oldest living Being, Rediliv the God Tree’s Priestess to be blind to quick changes and their causes.”
“I am not the oldest Being alive, my Master is. And you cannot even try to Imitate my Master.” Rediliv protested with strenght before in answer Stere Hapu, the Grandmaster, rolled their eyes.
“You know as well as I do that your “Master” ” they indicated towards the great tree. “is long dead, being a Soul-less existence before you were even Awake.”
“I reject your reasoning.” They were lucky to be one of the top ten strongest People in the World that this exclamation was the only conseguence for what she would recognize as heresy.
“Ahh, speaking with religious fanatics is so tiring, especially if they are the religious and political head of the continent you are in.”
“You will never be able to Imitate Master.”
“I know. Considering its size and its material composition I would need more raw power than is present in this World at any moment in time. If Orichalcum is a metal so imbued by Energy that it transforms in a new metal, it absorbed so much Energy that its leaves are even superior, to not speak of its bark or I suppose its wood.”

Rediliv smugly grinned at hearing praises for her Master and Creator before turning back into energy and leaving without any further comment.
“As always Spiritual Beings, especially Created ones, are as big a pain in the ass as they are aesthetically pleasing. She left, you can stand up now.” The Doppelganger told the still bowing one before activating an Artifact, more specifically the one that connects with the memories freely shared with them, more than could be thought about as some individuals like their segretary is required to have their memory fully opened to them while in other places its tradition to share memories with them.
This was not as much a breach of privacy as it could be with another Guild Grandmaster as they had absolutely no interest in sexual or romantic relationships.
“Ah, before you leave. Tomorrow is a male day.” The youngest Person within the Top Ten, just under 400 years old, finally found the memories the Guild Master shared with them, analyzing them.
“This is becoming more and more interesting.” The Being with the highest amount of Skills in the World murmured at low volume to themselves, a sharp grin on their face, as they observed the memories the Guildmaster sent them in advance reguarding this Luna and what she told him.

--
(Nord Lowrar)
As the night was ending, two Persons met for another match.
Flame and ice met fighting for domination as Phoenix and Ice Dragon prepared to fight again but the situation was quite different from the last fight.
While Amber was a little stronger than before as demonstrated by her more concentrated flames that started to mix in the Light-Attribute, Aurora was completely different from their last conflict as demonstrated by her apparent age being higher and the much more intense cold, freezing the area around her.
Not only that but, despite her blank expression, her eyes were full of an intense desire to kill the one before her.
This battle would end quite differently from their previous one and both of the Legendary Creatures could feel it as shown by the fact they were both in an Humanoid form and ready to fight at full power.

--
(Dunrar)
In a completely different continent, more specifically within the deepest point of a Dungeon in Dunrar in the Core Room, a man was kneeling before a floating blue jewel that was pulsing regularly.
Said man looked like an handsome man in his early-thirties with long black hair and traits some Otherworlders would call asians.
This, however, was no being coming from the World of Earth but a Cultivator from another World, more specifically a Demonic Cultivator whose former Sect specialized in poisons and insects in general.
“This lowly one give his thanks to the venerable Master for the opportunity they generously offered.”
The bowing Human exclaimed while the Dungeon Core before him, pulsing at the center of the circular room it was in.
This Dungeon Core was being used as a medium to allow comunication between him and his Master, Master that just granted him the way to grow stronger.
Said way was simple considering his origin as a demonic poison cultivator and the Dungeon whose Core Room she was in, a Dungeon specialized in Insectoid Monsters.
And his plan was quite simple, really.

As the Core ceased its blue coloration and returned to being its natural transparent color while he proceded with his plan thanks to the control of the Dungeon’s Monsters he was gifted with.
All the Monsters within the unknown C-Rank Dungeon moved to the center of the last Boss’ Room, with various silk-making insects trapping them all within, condensing it more and more.
Meanwhile the Nameless Cultivator, as the tradition of his Sect was to remove the Names of all the disciples until they reach a certain Stage and they are at least an Inner Disciple, spread his Vital Energy and Mana around the silk, starting to slowly compress it while keeping the poison, blood, other liquids and especially Energies sealed within.
This was an approximation of the process to make a Gu, thing that he learned in secret while in his Sect, and an interesting experiment when it comes to his Master.

This process was slow, sure, but the Dungeon was made and modified in an hidden place explicitely for him and so he had more than enough time to succed.
His Master, meanwhile, continued to divide their attention between both the Cultivator and all their various Dungeons, noting how one of them was discovered.
They nodded to themselves while keeping some of their attention to their subordinate, well aware he was planning on betraying them later, as was his nature and nurture.
It was only natural they had an ace in their sleeves.
More specifically, the 10th Ranked Person in the World, the Ancestor that was Sealed by the hands of the 7th and 8th Ranked ones to definitively stop their Rampage.

The formless Dungeon Maker observed said Ancestor, a surprisingly beautifull androginous Human-looking Person, their eyes closed as they were still within what looked like a glass coffin but was quite the different material.
The one active between the two was quite aware of the difference in power between the two but was also aware of the fact that they would grow in time while the other was stuck, unable to even gain Magicules.
And they would grow fast considering how every single Being dying in their Dungeons would allow them to grow further.
Dungeons whose number they were carefully but continuously growing, between those they conquered, those they created and those they altered.

While the Cultivator started to laugh maniacally, his eyes and smile full of madness, the poison, Vital Energy and Mana started to fuse slowly together within the cocoon forming a new type of Energy and the Beings within were melting down in a new Lifeform, a Gu the Dungeon Maker was observing one of their Dungeon being conquered by a Party called the Iriblades that seemed to be quite irritated by the Dungeon to their amusement.

--
9/15 0:48 (Summer, Day)
*Luna Gains 310+800+300 Magicules.

It was time, Luna left the city of Nealet, saluting Mafel, Sabel and the other two member of the Outrejects, restarting her travels after a night spent with her two Mates, unaware that she was going the wrong way.

Total Magicules 72847 (V)
Stored Magicules 935

Racial: Lunarian D
_Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
_Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
_Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
_Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
_Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
_Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Ability: Crafting E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
_The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
_Every day, then, the owner will gain 62 Magicules times 5, 310.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
_At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
_At the moment the Skill Grade is 3 and so, every day, the owner will gain 300 Magicules.

Familiars:
_Vision D
_._Third Eye of Physicality E
_._Weapon Mastery D

_Warden D
_._Imperial Scale D
_._Physical Resistance E

_Ash E
_._Fire-Attribute Magecraft D

Magecraft
_No-Attribute
_._Roaring Destruction
_._Magnificent Ray
_._Knockwave
_._Attribute Modification
_._Attribute Reflection
_Fire-Attribute
_._Fire Ball
_._Firethrower
_._Fire Rain

Sorcery
_No-Attribute
_._Mana Burst
_._Release
_._Mana-Clad Warrior
_._Greater Self
_Fire-Attribute
_._Burning Grasp

(New)
Mates
_Mafel (Spectral Elf D; US Malice Generator D) E
_Sabel (Human D; US Unknown) E

(New)
Vows:
“I will always be in a state of “Deep Meditation”.”
_The Recovery and Control of Energy of the User is increased by 100%;
_The owner’s Negative Status Alterations Mitigation is increased.

“I will never use Vital Energy and Mana separated.”
_The Quality, Recovery and Control of Vital Energy and Mana is increased by 100%;
_The Quality, Recovery and Control of Vital Mana is increased by 10%.

“I will never use Blood and Shadows separated.”
_The Quality and Control of Blood and Shadows is increased by 100%;
_The Quality and Control of Black Blood is increased by 10%;
_Buffs effectiveness on the owner will increase by 10%.

“I will never use Artifact made by other’s hands if they aren’t made explicitly for me.”
_The power of all Artifacts attuned with the owner is increased by 100%;
_The power of all Artifacts made by Luna is increased by 10%.

“I will never Manifest my “Unique Arma” without Awakening it.”
_The Existence of the owner is increased by 30%;
_The Awakening’s Cost is lowered by 30%;
_The Awakening’s Cooldown is lowered by 30%;
_The Damage Mitigation of the owner is increased.

Notes:

Chapter 28 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/15 3:29 (Summer, Day)
As Luna was running semi-seriously, moving at a speed no Unenhanced Person could ever react to, towards the border between Midrar and Lowrar without knowing, only to suddently stop as the place she would otherwise be in was suddently struck by lightning.
Looking up, the Lunarian smiled as she saw her opponents.
Twenty three “Metal Thunder Living Golems” were floating, surrounding her as static electricity started to fill the air above and around her, shaping into a double-layered cage as they floated in formation around her, one covering only her and the other all of them.

“Living Golems” are unique when it comes to Monsters as they were born thanks to a Reincarnated Person’s Unique Skill capable to breath life into Golems and allow them to pseudo-grow.
Once this Person died, however, the Golems slowly died one after another until only one remained, the Golem with the ability to create new Golems.
This last one followed on by creating new ones to modify and upgrade itself repeatedly until it had no more need for that as it now counted as a Living Being, more specifically a Monster called “Living Golems Sorce”, a Monster capable of making “Living Golems” and using the blueprint from its former Master and Maker to create new types of Golems.
Golems that spread upon the World, Evolving, Changing and being Changed by the People and the habitat like the “Metal Thunder Living Golems” before her.
Another, very important, characteristics of Living Golems in general was that they could not absorb Magicules, Gain Ability Skills or Increase the Rank of any Skill that is not a Racial Skill however they will automatically gain 3 Innate Skills and increase the Rank of all other Innate Skills they own every time the Racial Skill’s Rank increased.
As was common between “Living Golems” their sense of individuality was quite weak as shown by the fact that the electricity they were continuously generating from around their bodies was perfectly in sink thanks to and as shown by their Innate Skill common between “Living Golems”, "Coordination".

The Lunarian quickly counted the metallic bird-like Monsters, noting thirteen at E-Rank, seven at D-Rank and 3 at C-Rank.
Without a doubt they were retreating from something but this didn’t tell her much as she doubted they were in the same group for long and this wouldn’t change her situation any as “Living Golems” would never fight between each other, for any reasons.
Luna took out a piece of metal and threw it in the air were it remained, suspended by the same Skill “Magnetic Amplification” that allowed the bird-like Golems to fly despite the Skill “Metallic Body”.
Her eyes moved from the E-Ranks to the D-Ranks that were preparing to rain their metallic feathers on her through the Skill “Projectile Fire” while flying in the air at high-speed with “High-Speed Flight” and raining down lightning bolts on the ground around her with the Skill “Electrify”.
Finally the three at C-Rank were amplifying the power of the electricity in the area through their Innate Skill “Lightning-Attribute Amplification” while flying in the air at even higher speeds thanks to “Acceleration”.

Instantly Black Blood and Vital Energy erupted from around Luna, solidifying into her True Armor, True Wings and a True Spear in her left hand; Shapes that quickly changed because of her Summoning of her Familiars within them.
Her Spear lenghtened and sharpened thanks to her Vision, a shining gem forming at his tip and a dagger on its heel while a bloodthirsty Aura formed around it because of teh Skill she shared, “Vampirism”.
Her Armor became scaled, horns growing from her head and claws from her hands while its Aura became a solid barrier around her, “Regeneration” being shared with it.
Her Wings bursted into solid flames while maintaing their shape.
But this was far from the end of her preparations.
She was fighting, after all, against a force equivalent to between 4 and 5 C-Class enemies.

“Awaken!” Her Vital Mana exploded around her at a greater intensity than before as the battle started in earnest.
Her Spear shifted into a Whip as it shattered the metallic feathers sent against her while quickly dodging and deflecting the lightning bolts falling from the sky while making various Magical Circles in the air with her Black Blood to send back miniaturized versions of [Roaring Destruction], her new Spell she called [Mana Laser].
Finally the three at higher Rank entered in the battle actively, ranning at her covered in electricity while sending forward metal knifes linked with lines made out of electricity.
Lines that she dodged by forming a sphere out of Vital Mana she spread Warden’s barrier too before it exploded, sending them off course before sending back various True Arrows at the C-Rank Golems.
Golems that didn’t bother defending themselves as they created a barrier to stop them in advance using their “Barrier” Skill.
The Person swung her Sword sending in advance a flying slash before turning her Vision-Weapon into a Spear and jumping forward to thrust her Spear throught the wing of one D-Rank one thanks to a sudden burst of fire before retreating immediately after, lightning hitting the place she just was in.

She needed to kill as many of the Living Golems as she could as fast and efficiently as possible because “Coordination” would passively strengthen all of them.
Otherwise she would die without any doubt even if she was equivalent to a mid C-Class Adventurer.
[Mana Lasers] constantly harassed the Living Golems trying to distract them from properly fighting back by forcing them to continuously dodge while she herself was dodging the lightnings thanks to Ash and shattering the feathers with her Whip.
“This is doing nowhere fast. I’m losing Vital Mana while they are able to maintain full capacity by working together.” Luna noted, a smile on her face.
Suddently her Wings opened at maximum width, releasing a Burst of flames and Vital Mana at the cost of a good chunk out of her Vital Mana, to shatter the metal feathers she deflected previously that were falling back against her thanks to the altered magnetic force in the place.

She looked to the Living Golems that were slowly fying around the lightning cage, preparing to attack, her Vital Mana surging around her, a wild smile on her face as her Magical Circles in the area shut down to conserve as much Vital Mana as possible.
As new metal projectiles were shot towards her together with lightning bolts as she danced around them, laugher escaping her as she shut down her Unique Arma’s Awakening to start Recovering Vital Mana faster that she could spent it.
Her Weapon changing and swinging continuously around her, her barrier deflecting away projectiles and her Wings beating and releasing Bursts to dodge the lightning bolts falling from the sky while her laugher rang out in the plain.

Quickly her Weapon and Armor were enveloped into flames as she accelerated more and more, waves of cutting flames being released repeatedly all over the place.
Vital Mana started pulsing as she found the pattern of their attacks becoming gradually more and more efficient with her fighting.
Living Golems had a fatal weakness, they had almost no individuality even at B-Rank and so they were predictable once someone adapts to their timing.
Her flames concentrated in a luminous point upon the tip of her Vision-Spear before she stepped hard on the floor, shattering it, and throwing it throught the chest of one of the D-Rank ones and exploding in a blaze of heat with Luna applying “Vampirism” through her Spear to take in its Soul as it died by being shattered into pieces.
Instantly the Soul was sent on to the Moon, her new Familiar containing “High-Speed Flight” being Fused with Ash, hastening their flight immensely, while weakening all of her living preys because of the cessation of one “Coordination” Skill.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Ash Gains the Skill “High-Speed Flight”.

More and more, faster and faster, she dodged the attacks from all around her, adapting to her own new speed, flames quickly rising from around her releasing various [Fire Rains] being Casted, Magical Circles forming in the sky, causing fire to fall all over the place in repeating waves, while her Ash-Wings sent forward concentrated beams of fire towards them.
This assault was far from enough to significantly injure any of the Golems working together but that was not its purpouse but merely to distract them and stopping them from strengthening their electric cage any further by constantly damaging it from both the inside and the outside.
As the E-Ranked ones were carefully observing and attacking her from a distance, the C-Ranked ones were continuously maintaining and strengthening the cage and the D-Ranked ones were protecting themselves and their superiors, it finally happened.
Luna’s plan succeded as shown by two of the E-Ranks being stabbed throught their chest by the Spear Luna previously threw that took advantage of their distraction.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Warden Gains the Skill “Metallic Body”.
*Luna Created a new Familiar called Blitz based on the Skill “Magnetic Amplification”.

At that moment Luna launched herself forward with a Burst of flames and Vital Mana abusing her new Skills to close in to a C-Ranked one by ignoring the layer of the barrier separating her from the Living Golems, tanking the attacks of the two closest D-Ranked Living Golems guarding it thanks to the increase in defensive power because of this newly acquired Skill to grab its wings with her hands, pulling back her head and slamming it into the Golem’s chest, goring it with her horns before slamming it against one of the D-Ranks, her returned Spear becoming a Greatsword and severing the other D-Ranked in two.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Blitz Gains the Skill “Electrify”.

Electricity mixed in with her Aura of Vital Mana and Fire as her newly created Familiar was Summoned within her Tail, a long Viper’s head, its eyes observing the recovered Golems.
Her Aura’s individual parts weakened further because of the discord between them however the whole was still greater than the sum of its parts.
Her newly transformed Spear became coated similarly in her Aura before piercing precisely the wing of the D-Ranked one she previously wounded, pinning it to the ground before its handle split in two to stab its legs as she dropped to the ground with an explosion, dodging a lightning bolt.
The ground under her shattered deeply because of her weight and speed, her Ash-Wings forming something like a “V” out of flames from her back, her Blitz-Tail splitting this formation, its head opening its mouth and releasing a bolt of electricity to strike down a faraway E-Ranked “Metal Thunder Living Golem”, Shocking it.
Luna forcefully pierced the ground under her with her fingers, forcefully ripping it up and coating it in her Vital Mana, throwing it to the sky blocking a thunder from the sky, before exploding forward, kicking the C-Rank she previously wounded and piercing it with the claws in her left foot, keeping herself stuck to the Monster.
As such, it was simple for her to grab its head with her hands, forcefully opening its mouth, and releasing a wave of Black Blood, filling it completely and shattering it from the inside out before taking it back in while her Spear finally killed the struggling D-Ranked one.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Blitz Gains the Skill “Lightning-Attribute Amplification”.
*Luna’s Familiar Vision Gains the Skill “Projectile Fire”.

She stretched, releasing an explosion of Vital Mana, Fire and Lightning to offset a rain of metal feathers before making her five of her True Images ten meters away from her as the place she was in was devastatingly assaulted by a five meters across lightning, her Armor doing its best to deflect as much as possible of the electricity to the ground thanks to its “Metallic Body” while minimizing the damage to Luna with its barrier.
As she swayed in place, her Armor slowly rebuilding itself on its own around her thanks to the “Regeneration” Skill while she used her Vital Mana and Black Blood to Resummon her other Familiars around her, her laugher echoed in the zone.
Meanwhile the inner portion of the Lightning Cage they tried to lock her in decompressed in static, rising the electricity in the dome.
It was time for both sides to go at it at full tilt, between the Lunarian and the remaining 2 C-Rank, 4 D-Rank and 11 E-Rank.

Total Magicules 73372 (V)
Stored Magicules 1460

Total Grade: X + V + V + V + V + IV + V + V + V + IV = LIII

Racial: Lunarian D
_Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D
_Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
_Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration C
_Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
_Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
_Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
_Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Ability: Crafting E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
_The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
_Every day, then, the owner will gain 62 Magicules times 5, 310.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
_At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at D-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 800 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
_At the moment the Skill Grade is 4 and so, every day, the owner will gain 400 Magicules.

Familiars:
_Vision D
_._Third Eye of Physicality E
_._Weapon Mastery D
(New) _._Projectile Fire E

_Warden D
_._Imperial Scale D
_._Physical Resistance E
(New) _._Metallic Body E

_Ash E
_._Fire-Attribute Magecraft D
(New) _._High-Speed Flight E

(New) _Blitz E
_._ Magnetic Amplification E
_._Electrify E
_._Lightning-Attribute Amplification E

Magecraft
_No-Attribute
_._Roaring Destruction
_._Magnificent Ray
_._Knockwave
_._Attribute Modification
_._Attribute Reflection

_Fire-Attribute
_._Fire Ball
_._Firethrower
_._Fire Rain

Sorcery
_No-Attribute
_._Mana Burst
_._Release
_._Mana-Clad Warrior
_._Greater Self
(Moved) _._Mana Laser

_Fire-Attribute
_._Burning Grasp
(New) _._Heat Ray

Mates
_Mafel (Spectral Elf D; US Malice Generator D) E
_Sabel (Human D; US Unknown) E

Vows:
“I will always be in a state of “Deep Meditation”.”

“I will never use Vital Energy and Mana separated.”

“I will never use Blood and Shadows separated.”

“I will never use Artifact made by other’s hands if they aren’t made explicitly for me.”

“I will never Manifest my “Unique Arma” without Awakening it.”
(Altered) _The Awakening’s Cooldown is now equal to just the Activation Duration;

Notes:

Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/15 3:54 (Summer, Day)
Immediately various electric attacks rained down on the Paralyzed Lunarian only to be stopped by the combined efforts of her newly restored Familiars and her True Images before this last ones returned fire by Casting various Spells.
Lightning bolts were blocked by barriers Casted by the True Images attuned to negate the Lightning-Attribute while her metal knifes were blocked by her Familiars effort while she was recovering from both the Paralysis and the Damage she recieved from the previous lightning bolt.
A group of 2 D- and 4 E-Ranked Golems flew towards the Images led by a C-Ranked one in a “V” formation while the others Golem continued the bombardment of ranged attacks only for the E-Ranked ones to be suddently struck by blades of Black Blood launched by her Vision-Weapon wielded by one of her True Images through its new “Projectile Fire” Skill, piercing their body and sending them crashing to the ground thanks to the “Presence Concealment” Skill.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.

*Luna’s Familiar Vision Gains the Skill “Coordination”.
*Luna’s Familiar Warden Gains the Skill “Coordination”.
*Luna’s Familiar Ash Gains the Skill “Coordination”.
*Luna’s Familiar Blitz Gains the Skill “Coordination”.

The reason for such a choice was simply and exclusively based on her future more than her current situation, sure, but even now it helped her Familiars defend her against the continuous assaults of the other Golems.
Slowly, painfully, Luna restarted to move just in time to block the ramming at high speed from another of the C-Rankers, being dragged away, her feet digging two deep trenches in the ground before slamming against the solid barrier of lightning, her Warden’s barrier doing its best to shield her from the damage.
Slowly Luna found purchase around the Living Golem’s “Barrier”, before ever-so-slowly deflecting her aggressor to the ground before burying it under a flurry of punches covered in Vital Mana, flames and lightning, trying to shatter its “Barrier” and its body at once, the ground around them being bombarded in assaults.
This was far from enough as her Ash-Wings started to release explosions from her back with Luna redirecting all the force of the explosions in her blows, that accelerated more and more, faster and faster, the ground around them continuously shattering as rocks were reduced into nothing around them by waves of pure destructive power.
Finally, after a good thirty minutes, the Golem fell apart as Luna was breathing heavily, the bones of her hands completely destroyed even with her Armor, only not bleeding because she was manually moving her own Black Blood while regenerating.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Warden Gains the Skill “Barrier”.

She smiled, exhausted, as the barrier caused by “Imperial Scale” ceased to be before reappering around her fused with Warden’s new Skill, compressing the Aura around Luna in a dense layer just two centimeters large.
Not only that but the barriers she could previously Cast by taking advantage of the fact Warden on its own is more or less incorporeal that were half as resistant as the one around herself and even more fragile, was completely rebuilt thanks to its new Skill in a Barrier vastly sturdier and capable to share her own and Warden’s Resistance Skills with the “Barrier” as shown by the fact that her barrier was recovering faster than the feathers could damage it and its “Metallic Body” Skill increased its defensive power further.
Stretching slightly to regain feelings in her arms and especially her newly regenerated hands, she turned back to her remaining preys.
It was time for her to feast, smiling as her Barriers formed directly before the C-Rank Living Golem’s flight path, making it crash into it and disturbing its flight long enough for the Vision-Weapon to return in Luna’s hand, joining its Aura to her own.
And so what would in the future be known as the Whole Moon raged, the electric cage around her being overwhelmed in an instanct and destroyed by her black Aura exploding in a wave of pure power.
Wave that quickly condensed in a black pulsing sphere around her with a range of two meters, before rainbow cracks formed in the black surface, cracks that slowly grew, until the sphere reached its limit, collapsing and releasing a rainbow-colored beam of annihilation that enveloped and erased the last remaining C-Rank Golem and two of the remaining D-Rank, this last ones being fed to her “Devouring Evolution”.

*Luna Gained 100 + 5 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Ash Gains the Skill “Acceleration”.
*Luna’s Unique Skill “Singularity” Rank increased to C-Rank.

*Luna Gains the Innate Skill “Lunar Resistance”.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Familiar Summoning” Expands thanks to “Devouring Evolution”.

Luna breathed, in and out, repeatedly calming down her aching body from her failed tentative to activate “Annihilating Conversion”.
All Unique Skill had an active effect and that was the failed Activation of her Unique Skill’s.
Yes, this failed Activation had this much power, sure, but that was but a pale shadows to what a successfull Activation would entail.
The only reason why she was able to Activate it while not being at the right Rank to theorically use it was because she concentrated on raising her own Aura and her Familiars’ as high as she possibly could while being familiar with it’s Effect, having activated it when she was still Scarlet.

The purpouse of this Activation was simple, really.
A complete Conversion and subsequent Domination of all Matter and Energy within its Range to rebuild herself completely into a superior version.
However she wasn’t able to completate this Process and the Energy she wasn’t able to integrate into herself was released as that wave of destruction.
Luna proceded to Summon her Familiars again as they were annihilated by the Activation of this Process, feeling her own and her Familiar’s Power rising with every single one Summoned thanks to their “Coordination” Skills and the change occuring within her own “Familiar Summoning” Skill making it so it would count as a “Coordination” Rank E Skill when it comes to her Familiars.
Meanwhile, she felt it.
The power of her targets fell significantly because of the elimination of the relatively high-Ranked Golems, losing in Existence, Energy Recovery and Energy Quality.
Not only that but they had no more chance to recreate the cage of before having neither the Total Quantity required to sustain it or enough Quality for the barrier to matter even if they could.
The battle was over, the only thing left was for her to clean up.
And clean up she did as her Aura exploded from around her, mixing with the Aura of her own Familiars into a perfect mix, as she jumped towards the remaining Golems, her Aura following with her blows to bring an end to this fight.
After all, on their own Living Golems are actually nothing special at equal Ranks and Lunarians are pratically one Rank higher that what they should be even if they are specialized in survivability.
Now that they were at equal Rank, this battle was over.

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Lunar Resistance” Expands thanks to “Devouring Evolution”.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Familiar Summoning” Expands thanks to “Devouring Evolution”.
*Luna’s Spells [Mana Burst], [Release], [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior] and [Burning Grasp] fuse together into the Innate Skill “Unleash Aura”.
*Luna Dissolves the Oath “I will never Manifest my “Unique Arma” without Awakening it.”

Luna closed her eyes, stretching slightly in pleasure at her newfound power, her Unique Arma Manifesting around her arms and legs, her Rings accepting the bodies of the bird-like Golems.
She moved around, adapting to the difference from before as it now completely covered her forearms and forelegs, while being slightly more armored then before.
Once done with it she Summoned her four Familiars but the result was quite different as before thanks to their new “Coordination” Skill and the change in her own “Familiar Summoning” Skill.
Where before four different Familiars existed, now only one Collective Familiar was Summoned made of their temporary partial Fusion.
Not only that but also their looks were quite different.
Her new Armor looked like a skintight suit made out of what looked like black scales with purple highlights surrounding them, her long silver hair passing throught her helm, this last one being a perfect copy of her face except for the eyes shining like purple stars, three of them, two her own and an additional one on her forehead, with a pair of horns growing from between her hairs.
From her back grew a pair of great wings, a strange fusion between Draconic and feathery ones, and a long tail ending in a snake’s head, it too having shining purple eyes.
And not only that but those eyes were present all over her body, granting her well above 360° vision, while her claws digged in the ground and the claws of her hands cut in the air.
Her Black Aura exploded around her thanks to her new Skill, before changing thanks to her Familiars’ Summoning, becoming composed by both Fire- and Lightning-Attribute in addition with her own Vital Mana.
She stepped casually to the left, noting the increase in speed derived from the Skill “Acceleration” active at the moment from her Familiar and the effect this Skill had on her own Aura.
This last one having in base higher power than her previous combination of [Greater Self] and [Mana-Clad Warrior], even without considering the Boosts from her Familiars.
She neared a tree outside of the area where the battle had place and punched it, voluntarily missing it by over 5 centimeters, only for her Aura to still shatter it into pieces, these last ones being attacked by both Fire and Lightning simultaneously with her blow.
Her curiosity was concentrated, however, on what the two groups were running from before uniting into the group that challenged her.
Curiosity that she was more than willing to seek an answer to.

-
9/15 5:17 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)
The battle between the Humanoid-form Phoenix, Amber, and the Humanoid-form Ice Dragon, Aurora, was at this point lasting by hours and approaching its end, even despite this first one’s desperate attempts.
Her Resurrection given her by the Innate Skill “Undying Body” was already spent as she panted heavily, her right arm completely encased in ice.
Ice that wouldn’t melt even with her flames and heat but was instead biting deeply and painfully her arm even with the combination of her healing caused by “Regeneration”, “Undying Body” and her natural regeneration and her natural Resistance to Cold in general.
Not only that but the bruises and scratches she sported were healing very slowly while her opponent, even if sporting burns and cuts, was standing there, furious but focused, an almost feral grin on her face as an armor of what looked to be ice covered her body together with the Barrier of her newly Gained Innate Skill “Imperial Scale”, the only major injury Amber was able to deal her, a cut from left shoulder to the waist, already sealed shut by ice.

And all of this progress was only possible because of the Awakening of her Unique Skill “Bestower”, the ability to grant Names, and conseguently her Skills.
Some may wonder at the usefullness of said Unique Skill but in truth it had immense potential as it shared all of her Skills at the same Rank as she possessed them and changed to fit the thing or Being that was Named, at a minuscule Initial Cost and no Cooldown.
In other words, everything she was wearing was something she personally Bestowed a Name to, from her “clothes” to her Ice Armor, her Ice Claws and even every single one of her Spells and Technique recieved a Name, vastly amplifying the Potency of every single one of them.
As such, even Amber’s strongest attack that she was able to refine slightly thanks to her experience with using it previously, found itself having to pass through three different Barriers and then two extra layers of Armor, one made out of Ice, and the other out of Aurora’s own Scales, weakening the blow enough that the attack barely damaged her, especially considering her newly Gained “Fire Resistance”.
As Amber trembled because of the spikes of ice buried within her legs, Aurora started to walk towards her, leaving behind frozen footprints on the ground, as the ice grew slightly around her body.

“Don’t worry, Amber. I have no intention to kill you. I have a much better idea.”
These threatening words were more than enough for Amber to guess her intent considering how she understood that the other forcefully Awakened her Unique Skill, thing that in a True Dragon rendered them even more similar to a False Dragon, only while maintaining all of their intelligence, power and sapience.
And False Dragons had the terrible habitude to store their still living preys in blocks of ice to function as addition to their hoards.
And considering how she was unable to melt it and how painfull it was, she was quite certain what her future woud be if she lost, an eternity as a frozen statue.
Thing that was slightly wrong as Aurora didn’t intend for her to be a pretty statue but was planning on forcefully rewriting her Name with her Unique Skill so that her enemy would become nothing more than her obbedient pet.

All the same Amber refused either futures flames exploding from all over her body, Mana and Vital Energy becoming flames that formed a sphere before her, air distorting because of the heat concentrated into a miniature star that she launched at her opponent as a beam of concentrated flames.
Hurriedly Aurora move to continuously create various walls of ice, each of them granted a Name by her, to stop this final attack.
After a long ten minutes the attack finally ended, as Aurora moved back to the barely conscious Amber, ready to claim her as her own.
In that instant she was distracted, her left arm, burned by this attack, was grabbed from behind her before she was thrown away, a punch exploded against her chest sending her away.
The newly-arrived Person, the only Lunarian alive, quickly grabbed the Phoenix and retreated with her to safety.

Total Magicules 74002 (V)
Stored Magicules 90

Total Grade: X + V + V + V + V + IV + V + V + V + IV + IV + IV= LXI (61)

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity D → C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)
(New) At C-Rank, the User’s Energy is too dense for other’s to interfere with it, upgrading’s the owner’s Status Resistance to Nullification.
(New) At C-Rank, the owner can also start the process of “Annihilating Conversion” but is not able to be properly brought to completion, releasing instead a beam of Energy influenced by all the Skills of the owner by consuming all the Matter and Energy in the area, activated at no cost and only once every Month.

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

(Altered)
Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)
A person is considered such if they have an Unique Skill, whether it is active or not.
This is nothing but the use of Orichalcum to manifest it in a physical form able to be wielded only by its owner.
This particular Unique Arma is derived by the Unique Skill “Singularity” and, as such, is extremely efficient at Converting, Transfering and Amplifying Energy.
Additionally, this Skill increases the Quantity and the Recovery of Energy of the owner, depending on the Unique Skill “Singularity”’s Rank.
Manifested State:
_At E-Rank this Skill increases the Existence of the owner and their Spells, Techniques and Crafting are Activated as if with extra Energy depending on this Skill’s Rank.
_At D-Rank the owner’s Damage Resistance is increased and so is the Quality of all Energy of the owner.
_At C-Rank, while it is Manifested, it additionally enhances the Existence of the owner further and it will be able to awaken by using the command “Awaken!”.
_This Skill manifests for the moment as two armored gloves covering a little beyond the owner’s forearm and armor that covers the owner’s feet and a little beyond their foreleg; principally made of a black scale-like material, had a circle made of Orichalcum on the center of it, both in the palm and the back of the hand with details in platinum around them connecting with a bracelet made of the same material around her wrist.
Awaken State:
_While in the Awakened State, all incoming damage is sharply reduced while the power of all Energy Uses is increased further.
_The cooldown is equal to one hour plus the Activation Duration.
_While it is Awakened, it constantly absorbs Vital Mana from the User.
Finally, every day, the owner will receive Magicules depending on this and the corresponding’s Unique Skill Ranks.

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)
(New) _Devouring Evolution: The owner of this Skill has the Effect as the Skill “Coordination” D when it comes to the owner’s Familiar.
_Coordination D:
__The owner is linked to the Coordination Link.
__All those in the Coordination Link no longer interfere with each other while Casting.
__All those in the Coordination Link have their Existence increased by 3%.
__All those in the Coordination Link have their Energy Recovery increased by 3%.

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

(New)
Innate: Lunar Resistance E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)
This Skill denoted the ability of the owner to comfortably live in an active hostile territory with no effort.
This Skill also increases the owner’s Damage Resistance and Status Alteration Resistance.
_Devouring Evolution: The owner is even more Resistant to Physical and Lightning-Attribute Damage and related Status Alteration.

(New)
Innate: Unleash Aura E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)
This Skill shows the ability of the owner to Unleash an Aura of Energy to enhance their combat power.
Unleashed Aura:
_The owner’s Existence Value is greatly increased.
_Every single Melee hit from the owner will inflict extra Magical Damage and Knockback.
_At any time the owner can deactivate this Aura to inflict Damage to all Enemies in a Range inversely proportional to the Damage.
_It is fulther altered depending on the owner’s other Innate and Ability Skills and, especially in this case, thanks to the Familiars.
_Familiars influence:
__Vision: Increased Energy Control; Every Melee hit from the owner will inflict extra Damage; Melee hits have an increased range of 10 centimeters or an increase in Damage.
__Warden: Reduction of all incoming Damage; Reduction of all incoming Physical Damage further; Reduction of incoming Knockback and Backlash; Once every 10 minutes, fully block a lethal hit.
__Ash: Every Melee hit from the owner will inflict extra Fire Damage and the Status Alteration “Burning”; Increase the Speed of the owner; Increase the Flying Speed of the owner further; Singularity Effect: Fire-Attribute Affinity is considered equal to the owner’s No-Attribute Affinity.
__Blitz: Metal Weapons Wielded by Enemies will be slowed down; Every Melee hit from the owner will inflict extra Lightning Damage and the Status Alteration “Paralysis”; Lightning-Attribute related effects from the owner will be Strenghtened; Singularity Effect: Lightning-Attribute Affinity is considered equal to the owner’s No-Attribute Affinity.

Ability: No Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Ability: Crafting E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 66 Magicules times 5, 330.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at C-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 1000 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
At the moment the Skill Grade is 4 and so, every day, the owner will gain 400 Magicules.

Familiars:
_Vision D
Third Eye of Physicality E
Weapon Mastery D
Projectile Fire E
(New) Coordination E

_Warden D
Imperial Scale D
Physical Resistance E
Metallic Body E
(New) Coordination E
(New) Barrier E

_Ash E
Fire-Attribute Magecraft D
High-Speed Flight E
(New) Coordination E
(New) Acceleration E

_Blitz E
Magnetic Amplification E
Electrify E
Lightning-Attribute Amplification E
(New) Coordination E

Magecraft
_No-Attribute
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection
(New) Attribute Barrier
_Fire-Attribute
Fire Ball
Firethrower
Fire Rain

Sorcery
_No-Attribute
Mana Laser
_Fire-Attribute
Heat Ray

Mates
Mafel (Spectral Elf D; US Malice Generator D) E
Sabel (Human D; US Unknown) E

Vows:
“I will always be in a state of “Deep Meditation”.”

“I will never use Vital Energy and Mana separated.”

“I will never use Blood and Shadows separated.”

“I will never use Artifact made by other’s hands if they aren’t made explicitly for me.”

Notes:

Chapter 30: Chapter 30 (Part 18+)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 30
9/15 21:14 (Summer, Night, Nord Lowrar)
Luna gently settled the Humanoid Phoenix on the bed of her newly-formed refuge within a cave she personally excavated thanks to her Familiars, before hiding it thanks to Artifacts made previously by Edgar, the late Vampire.
She carefully observed the very cute girl she just saved, noting how ice crystals were growing slowly all over her body while she seemed to be hibernating, thing that could happen when it comes to graveously injured Phoenix and Dragons.
She neared her, cutting her palm and letting her Black Blood gently flow from her new injury to the other’s mouth, sneaking through her lips to feed her Vital Mana to help her heal from the damage.
This, however, caused the blonde to frown even more at the smell of her blood that was very intense, overpowering all other smells in the room.
Luna curiously felt it, her own Vital Mana being drained to the Phoenix before her from her blood.

“This is the Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” of the Succubi, isn’t it? But the drain is almost insignificant considering how I’m not resisting at all and that I am at less than a meter away.”
Luna nodded before nearing the Succubus-blooded Phoenix, leaning on her and, after biting her own tongue hard enough for her blood to flow from her new injury before gently kissing the other girl, letting both her blood and saliva flow down the Phoenix’s throat.
After all “Energy Siphon” was more effective on saliva then on blood and this would let her increase the output of Vital Mana to heal her.
As Vital Mana flowed into her, her temperature rose slightly trying to fight back against the ice within her body thanks to the support of the Lunarian.
But this was far from enough, thing Luna quickly realized.
With narrowed eyes, she Manifested her Unique Arma to increase the Quality of her Energy and her newest Skill, “Unleash Aura” while suppressing all of its effect that would harm the other while leaving active the Burning Effect as Phoenix naturally Gain “Fire-Attribute Absorption”.

The purpose of such was to both increase the external heat and the internal heat to melt down the ice, thing quite hard as it seemed to have various Resistances and it was slowly growing in size and coldness in time.
In that case, it was time to experiment.
Luna Summoned Ash within her Aura, it changing to a phantasmal image of a flaming bird with great wings, wings that quickly enveloped the two of them, Luna surrounding the other in a warm embrace, the ice’s melting slightly faster.

Meanwhile three of her Images appeared around her, becoming Familiar-Images.
Vision-image carefully observed the process so that Luna would be able to increase the efficiency and efficacy of the it as much as possible while the other Images were simply training to maximize the effect of the Skill “Coordination” and, as a consequence, accelerating the melting down of the ice and the healing of the patient while trying to wore down her Walls.
Luna wasn’t discouraged by the fact that she was barely on par with the progress of the ice but instead decided to continue this process without any hesitation as long as needed.
A faster way to heal her would be for Luna to kill her and reform her new body out of her own Black Blood but that would render the Phoenix her newest Mate, thing she wouldn’t do without some form of consent from the other or at least knowing the other’s name.
This process went on for hours and the day ended.

*Luna Gained 330 + 1000 + 400 Magicules.

Vision noted it first as expected, a clump of Vital Energy forming within the other’s heart.
The Resurrection of “Undying Body” was active once more.
Luna smiled as some of her blood within the other moved to her heart gently following her veins before, carefully and precisely, killing the Phoenix in her arms before the blood turned back into Vital Mana for her to absorb.
As a conseguence, the Resurrection stored within the other’s body was forcefully Activated, releasing a wave of Vital Energy and heat that rushed all over her body, damaging the ice and repairing some of the damage instantly while waking her up from her Hybernation.
For an instant, the Succubus-blooded one attacked with an explosion of fire before stopping upon feeling the Vital Mana hard at work to both heal her and attack the ice.
And so the orange-eyed one closed her eyes, her arms rising to embrace the red-eyed one and actively kissing her back.
“My name is Luna.” The low whisper preluded another intense kiss before the blonde briefly separated to respond.
“I’m Amber.” The kiss restarted at full force.

(Start Section 18+)
Hands explored each other bodies, both of them naked, one because of the recent blast of fire and heat, the other because her clothes made by the “Blaze Crafting” Skill ceased to be to regain as much Energy as possible, the bed surviving only because it too was an Artifact.
All the same neither of the two mythical Beings tried to stop the kiss anymore, not until the wounded of the two would fully recover at least.
Amber moaned in pleasure as her tongue was dominated and played with ruthlessly, her body being caressed and explored.
The shorter one tried to invert their position as her natural pride as a Phoenix was starting to ache at being dominated so long but the taller one had at least as much pride as her future Mate and so she forcefully maintained her position to the top of the two, a smirk on her lips as she leaned her weight down on the other.

And in response Luna’s hands opened Amber’s legs, pulling her more firmly against herself, before they traveled the other’s body, teasing her all over, before her right hand played with Amber’s left nipple and her left hand traveled downwards, stopping to the other’s ass and groping it.
Amber moaned in the other’s mouth again and again, her claws digging in the other’s shoulders, while her legs encircled the other’s waist.
The heat in the room increased as ice melted and evaporated, her Familiar-Images leaving after making a True Sphere around them to hide them and the ever increasing heat.
Finally the last of the ice evaporated and the two could go all out, their make out section ending as Luna, after briefly licking her lips, lowered herself again, licking and biting her neck enough to leave a mark before continuing down her body leaving behind various marks, even if they quickly healed, before stopping to the nipple she wasn’t continuing to tease even now and started to suck and bite it, while making sure not to seriously wound her new... paramour.

Luna lowered her head further, leaving behind a trail of kisses as she went, teasing Amber’s lower lips, her hands caressing the other’s thighs and legs with her hands, before finally and eagerly entering her.
Moans and mewls escaped, only for the True Sphere to suppress these sounds, as Luna went all out on and in Amber, a satisfied smirk on her lips as she hungrily explored her future’s Mate insides, before this last one came with a loud yell as Luna eagerly drunk her in.
Luna rose, happily admiring the mess she made out of her Phoenix’s body, licking her own lips to clean her face from the other’s juices before laying down next to her, pulling her in her arms and against her chest.
It was evident that this was the blonde’s first time considering her reactions, it was only natural for Luna to take care of the other.
(End Section 18+)

Luna and Amber quickly fell asleep in each other arms, exhausted but satisfied.

-
9/16 6:14 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)
Amber woke up only for her eyes to widen when they fell upon what she was seeing, jumping away from the arms embracing her and falling out of the bed and into the ground, trying and failing to look away from the rising red-eyed Person before her.
This last one looked at her, amused by her reaction, as she stood up while stretching, blatantly showing off her body at the same time as she stood up.
“Amber, you can look. After all we did more than just look at each other.” The other’s smile widened, showing her pointed fangs.

Amber’s face exploded in red as she hurriedly turned her back on the other young woman in the room.
Thing that was a mistake as this was an opening Luna certaintly would not waste.
Amber found herself being embraced from behind again, a soft yet sultry voice whispering in her ears.
“How cute, you are adorable when you are embarassed. I could just eat you up. Again.” This whisper was joined by Luna biting softly one of her ears, forcing a whelp from the blonde, that exploded into flames because of embarassement.
At that the Vampiric Being exploded into soft laugher while holding the one currently on fire, her Aura-Ash protecting her from the undirected heat while her Image-Familiars returned to within her, their training done for now.

“Now, why don’t you tell me about what’s up with that Ice Dragon?”
Amber breathed in and out, forcefully calming herself down, thing quite hard considering how her Succubus blood was flaring harshly, excited by both her current companion and the fact that this morning she subconsciously used “Energy Siphon” for the first time in her whole life.
“Before that, can you tell me why you interfered in our battle?”
“Do I really need a reason to rescue a cute girl like you?” The flirt came out immediately and without much thought, causing the blonde to sigh, her desires and emotions already forcefully suppressed, thanks to her age.
“If it comes to fight a soon-to-be C-Rank Ice Dragon, yes.” Amber.
“Soon-to-be C-Rank? Wasn’t she just at around 90% of her progress to that Rank?” Luna.
“Yes but now that she won against me, her Mental Block should have been surpassed completely and she will quickly advance. I give her a month at most to reach C-Rank.” Amber.
“Mental Block, eh? Could you explain a bit more about that?” This response from Luna caused Amber to recalculate the other’s age and experience.

“It’s different than the phenomenon where someone’s will accelerates the Growth of a Being. Instead, the Growth of People is slowed or even fully stopped in certain cases because of emotional or psicological unstabilities and once they are surpassed, their Growth spikes suddently.” Amber.
“I see… This is a new phenomen for me as I am too stable for my Growth to be influenced by such things.” Luna’s exclamation full of confidence and pride was actually and factually correct.
Even when she was Scarlet and she killed for the first time, the victims being her own parents, she never experienced such a thing and neither did she at any other point in time, even once her loss against Edgar’s Master was a fact.
And while her emotions do influence her Growth as shown by the fact her Images training is not as effective as fightning, it certainly was not a waste considering the Growth of her Familiars themselves and her newest Skill, “Unleash Aura” that was still active even now as it had no actual Cost and her Parallel Processing negated the necessary Concentration.

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Unleash Aura” Increased to D-Rank.

*Familiar Vision’s Skill “Third Eye of Physicality” Increased to D-Rank.
*Familiar Vision’s Skill “Projectile Fire” Increased to D-Rank.

*Familiar Warden’s Skill “Physical Resistance” Increased to D-Rank.
*Familiar Warden’s Skill “Metallic Body” Increased to D-Rank.

*Familiar Ash Increased to D-Rank.
*Familiar Ash’s Skill “Fire-Attribute Magecraft” Increased to C-Rank.
*Familiar Ash’s Skill “Coordination” Increased to D-Rank.

*Familiar Blitz’s Skill “Magnetic Amplification” Increased to D-Rank.
*Familiar Blitz’s Skill “Lightning-Attribute Amplification” Increased to D-Rank.

Amber nodded, her situation largely similar to the other’s, before looking at Luna with narrowed eyes.
“Clear. However my answer doesn’t change. I just saw a cute girl in trouble.” The tease worked, Amber’s face became crimson again, especially when Luna pulled her back into her arms and then trapped between her and the bed, the other initiating another short kiss between the two of them.
“You intend to seek a re-match, correct? In that case I can help you.”
The orange-haired one breathed deeply to calm down, thing quite hard considering how she was more than able to smell both the young naked woman pressing against her bare body and the activities the two of them had partaken in this same day.
But she was after all part Demon and so she could, figuratively, smell that she needed to be very carefull of the fine prints in their deal.

“What do you offer me then for a price that will only seem to be reasonable.” At Amber’s response Luna smiled eagerly before lowering her lips from near her own to barely brush against the Phoenix’s neck.
“What I offer you is simple. I am aware you have the Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” at E-Rank. I offer you my help for you to reach D-Rank in that Skill, causing your Evolution, a Growth Skill and all the informations and Energy you want until you are ready to fight your opponent.”
This was way too good of an offer, especially considering how if she didn’t hunt down and then beat Aurora fast, she would have no more chance too.
Instinctively Luna was also careful not to wound the other’s pride in offering direct assistance with the fight itself and successfully tempting the other.
After all the burning one herself had previously observed the effect Growth Skills had on to the little ones’ power.

“I wonder which of us is the real Demon here. Tell me what do you want in exchange.” Amber.
Luna smiled, rightfully secure in her victory in the negotiation, before lowering herself to lightly bite the other’s neck, carefull not to hurt her.
“Your blood. While you are learning and training under me, I want to drink your blood. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Fine. I know it is a trap somehow but fine. I accept.”
“Before we start training in earnest could you tell me why you didn’t want to increase or even use your Innate Skill?”
Amber grimaced, closing her eyes, before sighing.
“Because of my mother.”

Total Magicules 75732 (V)
Stored Magicules 1820
Magicules a Day 340 + 1000 + 400 = 1740

Total Grade: X + V + V + V + V + IV + V + V + V + IV + IV + IV= LXI (61)

Racial: Lunarian D
Magicules: 10k/100k. (V)

Unique: Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Soul Harmony C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Unique Arma: Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Growth: Devouring Evolution E
Magicules: 1k/1k. (IV)

Innate: Regeneration C
Magicules: 10k/10m. (V)

Innate: Authority: Vital Mana D
Magicules: 10k/100k (V)

Innate: Familiar Summoning C
Magicules: 10k/10m (V)

Innate: Authority: Black Blood E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

Innate: Lunar Resistance E
Magicules: 1k/1k (IV)

(Up)
Innate: Unleash Aura E → D
Magicules: 1k/100k (IV)
(New) At D-Rank the User can imbue their Aura in every single one of their Melee attacks when the Aura is not Unleashed at the cost of some Energy.
Unleashed Aura:
(New) _At D-Rank the owner’s Spells and Arts are considered as Melee Hits when it comes to additional effects from this Skill.
(Up) _It is further altered depending on the owner’s other Skills.

Ability: No-Attribute Sorcery C

Ability: Unharmed Technique C

Ability: Weapon Mastery D

Ability: Artifact Proficiency E

Ability: Meditation C

Ability: Presence Suppression D

Ability: High-Speed Processing D

Ability: Parallel Processing D

Ability: No-Attribute Magecraft E

Ability: Formalcraft E

Ability: Crafting E

Magicules sources.
#Lunarian #Singularity #Authority:Black_Blood
The final gain of Magicules is 100 plus the Magicules absorbed by the victim, all of it increased to 105%.

#Soul_Harmony
Every day, then, the owner will gain 68 Magicules times 5, 340.

#Unique_Arma #Singularity
At the moment Unique Arma is C-Rank and Singularity is at C-Rank and so, every day, the owner will gain 1000 Magicules.

#Devouring_Evolution
At the moment the Skill Grade is 4 and so, every day, the owner will gain 400 Magicules.

Familiars:
_Coordination Link
All those in the Coordination Link no longer interfere with each other while Casting.
All those in the Coordination Link have their Existence increased by 9%.
All those in the Coordination Link have their Energy Recovery increased by 6%.

_Vision D/D
(Up) Third Eye of Physicality D/C
Weapon Mastery D/C
(Up) Projectile Fire D/C
Coordination E/C

_Warden D/D
Imperial Scale D/C
(Up) Physical Resistance D/C
(Up) Metallic Body D/C
Coordination E/C
Barrier E/C

(Up) _Ash D/D
(Up) Fire-Attribute Magecraft C/C
High-Speed Flight E/C
(Up) Coordination D/C
Acceleration E/C

_Blitz E/D
(Up) Magnetic Amplification D/C
Electrify E/C
(Up) Lightning-Attribute Amplification D/C
Coordination E/C

Magecraft
_No-Attribute
Roaring Destruction
Magnificent Ray
Knockwave
Attribute Modification
Attribute Reflection
Attribute Barrier

_Fire-Attribute
Fire Ball
Firethrower
Fire Rain

Sorcery
_No-Attribute
Mana Laser
_Fire-Attribute
Heat Ray

Mates
Mafel (Spectral Elf D; US Malice Generator D) E
Sabel (Human D; US Unknown) E

Vows:
“I will always be in a state of “Deep Meditation”.”

“I will never use Vital Energy and Mana separated.”

“I will never use Blood and Shadows separated.”

“I will never use Artifact made by other’s hands if they aren’t made explicitly for me.”

Notes:

Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 31
9/16 7:06 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)
Amber breathed in deeply, being embraced from behind by the Lunarian with her head resting on the other’s chest, before starting to properly explain.
“Well, I guess the fault I’m not comfortable with “Energy Siphon” and the Succubi blood within my veins is not entirely my mother’s but all the same I give her most of the blame. Even with the fact that it seems like I am not that different. You should already know about this but when a Phoenix or a Dragon reaches C-Rank they automatically Awaken a Unique Skill.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s a natural characteristic of both Phoenixes and Dragons like the fact that your maturity is dependent only on power and not on age itself with E-Rank being equivalent to a Human between 1 and 10 years old and D-Rank between 11 and 20 years old.” Luna confirmed while leaving behind some details like the fact that Lunarians have an Awakened Unique Skill right from creation.

Yes, creation was the correct term when it comes to Lunarians.
After all as a Race they are completely sterile, being even less alive than Undeads or normal corpses, and were previously automatically created by the Moon itself before Red and Blood Moons happened, thing that was no longer possible now that no Lunarian was Active yet.
Yes, this last phrase was correct.
No Lunarian was Active at this time as a Lunarian can only exist once it reaches C-Rank and is able to forcibly and passively reach and maintain themselves into Reality on their own.

“Well, my mother had just recently reached C-Rank and let her pride get the better of her. Conseguently what would now be called a Party of Adventurers recieved a request to hunt her down because she burned down… Well, I don’t know what exactly she burned down but this “Party” found her and she underestimated them, with her barely able to escape with her life through pure luck.”
Amber relaxed within Luna’s arms, this last one’s Aura surrounding her warmly thanks to Ash being still Summoned within it.
“However she was still severely injured by this battle and so she decided that she needed to leave behind a child just in case she died. However reproduction for the Immortal Races is extremely difficult as you should already know yourself. In particular a child is conceived between two Phoenix only one time out of one hundred tentative. A more realistic option would have been the use of a Human as the other parent.
“However, while the chance are much higher to about one in ten, only one out of ten child would be a Phoenix while the rest would be a Human with an Innate Skill of a Phoenix. This was unacceptable for her to have a child with a shorter lifespan than the life she already lived. And so the option she chose was to summon a Demon, a Succubus more precisely, to mate with as one of their characteristics is an immense fertility capable to reproduce with anyone so long as both are willing, ignoring the question of gender and capable of choosing the Race of the child at will.
“If this was all that happened I would have no problem with my Innate Skill however the result of the process is that my mother became addicted to the feeling of, well, my other parent. To the point that she was exiled from Phorar considering all that she did to Summon her again and again and that she was completely submissive to her orders.
“I cannot trust myself when it comes to sexual relations wherever I am the dominant or submissive partner. And now I am in the same situation as my mother despite all my efforts” Amber confessed, her eyes closed because of her mental pain.

“The same situation? Ah, yes, right.” Luna nodded to herself, her chin pressing against the blonde’s crown while her hands caressed the other’s thight teasingly. “So are you giving up?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just because I probably will lose, is no reason not to fight back against your temptation.”
Luna exploded into laugher, a happy grin on her face with her fangs shining sligthly.
Amber blushed even more as the feeling of the other’s naked body against her own and the gentle and inviting sound she was making.
“How cute. I can’t wait for you to be mine. Meanwhile, however…” Luna’s hands moved suddently to underneath the other, turning her around and nearing their faces together. “Why don’t we train your “Energy Siphon” until you Evolve?” This false question led to another make-out session in which Amber tried to use her Innate Skill willingly.

Another half an hour passed this way before she finally reached D-Rank in it.
As a conseguence Amber exploded into flame in her arms, flames that raged out of control before condensing back into a Humanoid shape, over and over again, until the now golden flames had a small black and purple core shining at its center and they condensed again into Amber, her pupils being a very light purple, same as some of the highlights in her hairs, her body slightly more curvy, a centimeter taller and, the greatest change, being a pair of horns made of solid purple flames upon her crown.
“So, how do you feel now?” Luna ceased the kiss only for Amber to push her to the bed, her hands on the other shoulders to make sure the other would stay under her before forcefully starting the kiss again.
In response Luna rolled her eyes at this assault, her left hand gently but firmly exploring the other’s back while the other rose up to feel the blonde’s chest, allowing herself to be underneath her future Mate until she would be emotionally stable.

Not that she minded particularly, even when the orange-eyed one inserted her tongue in her mouth during their kiss, the action calmly allowed as the silver-haired one’s Vital Mana was taken in by the other’s not only through their saliva but her whole body only for it to be returned, in a continuous cycle that increased slightly their Potential until Amber was satisfied.
“I explicitly remember you telling me you would do your best to fight back against my advances, didn’t you? What an impressive resolve…” The teasing words were met with Amber narrowing her eyes and biting on the tip of one of her ears in revenge.
This was an error as she quickly found herself with her back pressed against a wall, her hands bound above her head with Black Blood and her neck being lightly but roughly bitten.
Instantly she bursted into flames only to turn them off immediately upon meeting Luna’s glowing eyes.
The former red-head had two places of her body that functioned as triggers to cause an instinctive response, those being her neck as was common for all Vampiric Beings and her ears as was common for all Elfs and Half-Elfs.

In this case Amber was safe only because of the fact the other was interested in her and she submitted immediately otherwise she would have died, right here and now.
But fortunately Amber’s instincts were good enough to save her without too much harm, a short-lived bruise on her neck, before Luna retook control from her instincts.
“Don’t do that again.” This warning was unnecessary as the now Demon Phoenix already understood such without any further remainders. “Meanwhile it’s time for you to start training in full for your rematch. Don’t bother making your new clothes, there is no need for them.”
Luna, while being still naked, retreated the Bowl from her Ring before sitting down in the center of the room, offering one of her hands to Amber as an invitation to join.

The blonde breathed deeply a couple of times before accepting this offer, sitting on her crossed legs, their hands joined together over the Bowl after a small sphere of Orichalcum. “Don’t resist now, okay?” The retoric question preceded the Lunarian’s Black Blood cutting into her palm, invading her body and letting the blonde’s blood flow from her body and into the Bowl. “You need to use the “Blazecrafting” Skill to send your Vital Energy and Mana to fuse with the Orichalcum. Don’t worry about your Reserves, I will help you out.”
This last phrase was followed by Luna joining together their lips, sharing with her Vital Mana for the entirety of the process.
This was her method to quickly and efficiently complete the other’s “Unique Arma” by constantly fueling their Energy with each other, keeping both of them from being bored out of their mind by this process, training both of their Skills and increasing both of their Potential because of the caratteristics of the former Phoenix new Race and increased of both Potency and Rank of her “Energy Siphon” Skill.
Meanwhile the three available Familiars formed three Familiars-Image, Vision-Image carefully monitoring the process to guide the other to maximize Efficiency and the other two, Warden-Image and Blitz-Image, starting to read a book each while praticing with their Skills.

-
9/17 9:26 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)

*Luna Gained 340 + 1000 + 400 Magicules.

The Orichalcum finally finished transforming into Amber’s Unique Arma and only then did the two of them separate from each other, the Black Blood within Amber quickly evaporing now that Luna was no longer maintaining it and Amber was no longer holding back from evaporing it.
The blonde quickly ingested the sphere to obtain her own “Unique Arma: Blazing Blade of the Piercer”, process accelerated to this point because of the increase in Efficiency of the Process and the fact that Luna was Healing and giving her Vital Mana all the while, immensely shortening it to just a little more than a full day.
On the other hand the increase in Potential was still mostly irrelevant as it would take a month straight of intercourse to significantly increase it but was just a bonus for the long term and to increase the Efficiency of “Energy Siphon” as much as possible.

“Let’s train that new Skill of yours now.”
Luna opened the door of their hideout to show a True Sphere made to isolate and hide the inside from the outside, her Familiar-Images dissolving and her Familiar-Aura shutting off for the first time in almost a day and a half as it had no Cost, Cooldown or any restriction of the sorts.
Instead her Unique Arma Manifested around her body.
“Let’s see if I can’t teach you how to properly use an Unique Arma and a sword at the same time.”

This taunt was more than enough for Amber to join her, flames cladding her body and solidifying into clothes through her Innate Skill “Blazecrafting”, her own Arma Manifesting in her left hand.
A medium lenght curved blade more similar to the claw of a great bird of prey, the blade a dull red and a golden guard similar to wild flames with a rainbow gem at its center and a similarly golden hilt enveloped by red silk and ending in a small purple blade.
Blade that was mirrored in her lover’s hand by a True Blade to better teach her to combat.
“The training starts now.”

Notes:

Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 32
9/17 9:49 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)
Two identical swords clashed rapidly once, twice, thrice and then more in a single second, each being skillfully and precisely deflected by the one in Luna’s hands.
“No, no, no. You leave too many openings with every single attack.” Luna’s blade hooked on the other’s, dragging it away and opening Amber up for the following swing, stopping just before this last one would be cut. “Not only that but you are not using your Unique Arma properly. Unique Armas are indestructible and even if they could be broken they could be repaired at any time and at no cost. You should redirect all the force of my hits and deflections on the sword itself.”
As Amber swung her blade, Luna demonstrated such by simply raising her left hand and taking the swing calmly on the back of the hand, her glove recieving no damage from it and Luna barely needing to make a step back to handle the knockback before stepping forward and slashing precisely at the guard to open the other to the following attack.

Attack that Amber was barely able to block, being forced to retreat before entering in a pose for the second time ever in combat, flames condensing around her new sword.
Luna, upon seeing the analysis from Vision, scowled.
“No, you are not understanding how to use a Unique Arma correctly.”
Her blade vanished back as she moved in a more confortable position for punching the incoming attack.
“[Blazing Fang Slash]!”
As Amber’s attack, a long line of white flames that caused the air itself to superheat into plasma to increase its destructive power even further, approached Luna this last one made no move to dodge or even offset it, watching the incoming attack with a small but present scowl.

“Don’t just stand there! Dodge it!” At seeing such, the shorter one panicked as this attack was made only with the purpouse of making the taller one move in a more advantagious position for her.
“Naive. Naive and inexperienced despite your age.” This solemn declaration was the thought that Luna had about most individuals belonging to long lived Races and their tendencies to train little and without the desperation that shorter living Races feel.
And so this is a result, an imprecise and predictable attack that squandered an immense amount of Energy and whose only good point is that the other was a Phoenix and as such an increase in temperature was an advantage and nothing else.

A waste of an attack made by someone that had no experience for the sweet taste of growth that shattering someone’s own limitations was.
A taste that Luna decided for the sake of her own pride, she would force the other to truly savour.
The necessary action she then needed to undertake was simple.
Amber watched horrified as her Sight was overwhelmed thanks to the heat and the light released by her attack before seeing a black spot, an absence of all heat, that exploded in a wave of force, instantly erasing all the flames she created.
“[Annhilation Point].”

*Luna Converts the Ability Skills “Unharmed Technique” C and “Weapon Mastery” D into Ability Skill “True Calamity Eterrnal Mastery” E.

Luna nodded to herself once at the Skill she finally was able to reaquire, born when she was still Scarlet, the mark of someone approaching the top of B-Class, the ability to manifest someone’s own Unique Skill into a combat style unique to them, however her expression was still grave once Amber met her eyes.
She was not satisfied by the other’s attack, at all, nor from her standing there, mystified by her attack’s failure to even inconvenience her.
But the most immediate thing right now was for Amber to understand the Durability of her own Arma.
Amber found herself flying back because of the shockwave of Luna’s attack she blocked by crossing both her arms and wings before her only for her flight to be stopped as this last one appeared behind her, grabbing her by one of her shoulder before with her other hand grabbing her blade hard.

“The way you use this Art is completely wrong.
“I suppose the way in which you used to do it originally was by first making a Sword through “Blaze Forging”, Enhancing its Durability, Enhancing its Sharpness, Condensing your flames around it and finally swinging it, your usage of Energy in units should be around 10:30:20:20:20. This makes sense, I suppose, considering the Efficiency of Enhancing an Item varies depending on the Base.
“However…” This word was enough for Ember to stiffen considering the dangerous light within Luna’s eyes. “You maintained an use of Vital Energy and Mana equivalent to 0:34:22:22:22, thing that wasted an enormous quantity of Energy.
“You have no need to reinforce your Arma’s Durability and so the optimal rate of Energy used should have been 0:0:25:35:40 for maximum amount of destructive power.”
Quickly Luna took Amber’s Arma from her and threw it lightly before moving in position.
Her Vital Mana quickly surged around her together with her Aura, concentrating around her fist before she punched forward, all the force condensing in a single point.
“[Annhilation Point].”

The Art was Casted again and now Amber could admire its profound and horrible might.
At the moment of impact with her Arma, the Energy and force was Converted directly into pure destruction, a blast that Converted every Matter and Energy within its Range into rampaging Energy, as shown by the fact that even Heat Sight could no longer see any heat.
Following such, a shockwave was released and she could finally observe, her eyes wide open, the reason for such a demonstration.
Her Arma was sent flying away by the shockwave, sure, but was completely unharmed by the attack that would have without a doubt graviously injure, if not kill her outright.
“Do you understand now?” Luna.
“Yes. But how could you…” Amber.

“Hah, how inexperienced. What I did was manifest my Unique Skill into an Art. Oh, don’t worry. I should be able and intend to force you to make your own even without an Awakened Unique Skill thanks to your Arma. Now take it back.” Amber made to move towards it only for Luna to move before her and stopping her, an eyebrow higher then the other as challenge and a stern expression on her face.
Amber moved left and Luna did the same, barring her way again.
Amber moved right and the scene repeated again and again, Luna blocking her way with a merciless attitude.
“Didn’t you ear me? Take it back.”
“I see, so you want me to take it back by force, don’t you?”
Amber without hesitation attacked again as Luna neither agreed nor disagreed with it.

Whether Amber understood what Luna really wanted her to do or not, didn’t matter.
If she realized she could recall her Arma at any time or she could force her way to it, Luna would be satisfied all the same.
Amber and Edgar, the old Vampire, both of them were incapable of bringing the maximum combat potential out of their Armas, both because of inexperience as one was too new to actual fights to the death as a pratical immortal and the other a researcher at heart.
The Demon Phoenix attacked, her flames forming claws around her hands, as Luna deflected each blow precisely before striking back with a furious flurry of slashes, each precise and deadly, forcibly creating opening in the other’s guard and then ruthlessly targetting them.

Amber quickly found herself retreating as cuts, deep and not, formed all over her body even with her clothes made out of solid flames before healing.
All the same the reason only this much damage was inflicted was because the other stopped her blade at just that to force her to learn.
Some Reincarnated individuals from more peaceful or at least less actively in a constant conflict may wonder at the harshness of the training but this was nothing special for the habitants of this World that were aiming to become high Class melee based fighters and, considering how the one recieving this training was a centuries old Demon Phoenix, most of the dedicated melee fighters of this World would find this training to be excessively gentle.
After all Luna finds no particular joy in other’s pain despite what it looks like, especially not in People she wants to be her own.
Through a combination of “Pyrokinesis” and “Blaze Forging”, Amber made a copy of her own Arma to fight with, causing Luna to nod in acceptance.
The battle restarted with Amber trying to first imitate and then adapt Luna’s movements to her own body and abilities.

“You know, I had always a question in mind.” Amber.
“Hoh? There is no need for you to fear making any.” Luna.
“Very well.” The two blades collided again and again, Amber bettering her technique to the point that only light stratches formed briefly on her skin.
“In that case, I always wondered whether you are “hot but psycho” or “psycho but hot”.” This tentative to umbalance the other fell completely flat as Luna calmly assessed the question finding it to be a correct one to ask.
“Why don’t you explain to me what you see as the distinction between the two options?”

“Well,” the swords crossed again, flames exploding from Amber’s sword as she used her wings to quickly reposition herself above Luna and launching a thrust straight to Luna’s head in a two pronged assault. “The second adjective outshines the first, with as they say, either the psycho part overshadows the hot part or other wise.”
“I see.” Luna’s sword clad in her Aura rose to cut in half the explosion before meeting the other’s sword and cutting it in half too. “The question is incorrect in the first place. The most correct definition is hot and psycho.” The half sword flying away quickly combusted in a mass of fire that rained on her while the other half held firmly in Amber’s hand restored itself with a flash of “Pyrokinesis”, her wings flapping slightly but with enough force to readjust her for a second precise swing.

Luna without any hesitation dropped her blade from her right hand, took it with her left and swung, her Aura exploding before the fire, quickly creating an area free of any air to extinguish the fire “[Vacuum Wall]” as the air was concentrated into a single point and exploded before Amber’s eyes, leaving her completely undamaged thanks to “Fire Absorption” but blinding her and so opening her up for a ruthless blow from the back of the other’s blade.
“This is cheating!” Amber complained childishly at the unfairly powerfull Skill but Luna merely responded with laugher.
“You are right, I love this Skill, it renders using my Arts so much easier and manipulating or releasing it doesn’t cost anything but concentration. But not to worry, I will make sure you will learn how to use it.” Luna attacked, her sword sending out a crescent made out of concentrated Aura, her latest Art invented right here and right now, [Reaping Moon].
Hurriedly Amber rose her blade only for it to be shattered by another projectile sent in advance to shatter it.

She was weaponless and the incoming attack was too near for her to react as imbalanced as she was at the moment.
Her hand closed around something that wasn’t there before, an hilt, the hilt of her Arma that appeared out of nowhere cutting what was in all reality an extremely weakened version of the attack made only to scare her enough to summon her Blade.
“Do you undertand now? The Unique Arma is not an object, it’s one of your Skills, a part of you made manifest. You don’t need to worry about it being lost or stolen, you will always be able to recall it back to you. Now, let’s continue where we left off.”

Notes:

Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

9/17 10:12 (Summer, Day, Nord Lowrar)
The blades met again and again, faster and faster, as Amber tried to copy Luna’s movements while adding in her own attacks using her wings and claws made of flames with this last ones covering her Arma too.
The silver-haired one smiled wider, both her blade and her body enveloped in her Aura as she carefully surrounded the other’s flames deflecting them away from herself, using this as practice for her newest Innate Skill as this was only the third time she ever used it in combat, counting that time with the Living Golems and once when she was still Scarlet and recieved Support from her Azure’s “Blessing of the Spirits”.
“Try to imitate how I am using my Aura with your fire, Vital Energy and Mana, this Skill while different depending on the owner, is shared between all Beings.”
While Luna instructed Amber she manipulated her own Aura shaping it into additional blades following her own, severing the flames and forcing her to be carefull from all sides as the wrong dodge and she would be cut by what Luna now refered to as [Phantom Strikes].

Aura and flames met again and again as they both started to get used not only to their own abilities and weapons but also to each other, slowly starting to better the way they fought.
Blades danced, fire and Aura covering the bodies of the two Higher Order Species, as the fight intensified more and more, cuts forming and rapidly healing on Amber’s skin thanks to the Fire Attribute Luna’s Aura was imbued with, thing this last one could have negated but didn’t.
“Why do you insist I gain “Unleash Aura” right now? I can see that it is a very powerful and versatile Skill but if I can aquire it all the same, why the hurry?” Amber asked, her blade thrusting to Luna’s face from her right hand, her left hand releasing a blast of fire to the white haired one’s chest while her left leg tried to sweep the Lunarians legs from underneath her.
“Very simple really. If you acquire it throught your own efforts it is an Innate Skill but if you acquire it when your Race Skill reaches A-Rank, it becomes an Ability Skill instead.” Luna calmly explained, her own blade deflecting the other’s towards the other’s left while moving to the other’s right, dodging the strikes by passing to behind the blonde.

“I see, I understand.” Amber kicked behind her, flames exploding from it, flying away while forcing her opponent back, expanding the distance between the two and giving herself enough time to attack with a rain of fire.
A Magic Circle formed before the flames, shining in all colors briefly before vanishing together with the flames just in time for Luna to cut the flaming slash in two.
“I told you my story but what about your own?” Amber asked, fire, Vital Energy and Mana slowly forming something like an Aura around her while various Blaze Arrows forming all around the two of them.
“Well, I don’t mind telling you my story from a Person with parental issues to another.”
“Oh no, maybe I gave you the wrong impression but it’s not like I particularly have or even dislike either of my parents. I talk with each of them at least once, often twice, a year.” Amber felt like precising her familiar situation while the flames fell on Luna.

“Really? Ah, okay.” A pout briefly formed on her pale face before she moved forward, her flames cutting the Arrows into pieces before she decided to explain regardless, her important memories from when she was still Scarlet fully regained by this point. “Well, you see, I was born as a Human with the Innate Skill “Spirit Body” and my Unique Skill “Singularity” fully Awakened. Conseguently my parents were terrified of me and they took in a barely born young girl with the Innate Skill “Blessing of the Spirits” and changed her to look more like me so they could control me. Once I grew beyond their means of control, I killed them both, took everything I cared about and left.”
Almost scared to ask, Amber forced herself to anyway. “What happened to your… to the other one?”
“I took her with me, obviously. She was, is and always will be mine.” Even if at the moment she wasn’t around her, Luna didn’t find it hard to connect the Half-Elf in the “Iriblades” with her Azure once she had enough of her previous self’s memories or the fact she was searching her.

Amber hesitated, wondering if she should ask her question, before deciding to bite the bullet as they said. “Who were your parents?”
Silence stretched on as Luna tried to remember their names before simply shrugging. “I have no idea.” This was the truth as she quite simply forgot and then never recalled their faces, voices or names finding all of them irrelevant and unimportant.
The training and the explanation then restarted in full, fire and Aura meeting in the middle of the battlefield in a wild battle.

“Well, continuing my explanation. I was turned into a Ghoul before I was able to become a Lunarian. Before you ask, a Lunarian is to an Ancestor what this last one is to a Vampire. That is our rapport as the Ancestors were created exclusively as the Lunarians’… Servants, you could say.
“Lunarians were made by the Moon with the intention to create its own perfect Vessel however it cannot naturally host life on its surface and so it created a vast internal Illusion in which the Lunarians were slowly made. Once a Lunarian reaches C-Rank, thing quite difficult within it, it is able to force itself on Reality passively, becoming real, and increasing the power of the Grand Illusion, accelerating the creation of new Lunarians.
“As such the mature ones moved to Gaea to take in Souls for the Moon throught either converting People into Ancestors or taking Souls, increasing the number of Lunarians that would be created and the speed of such creation. This caused a war between the abitants of this World and the abitants of the Moon, ending in this last ones complete extinction.
“Extintion that is still ongoing as some True Dragons and Phoenix decided to work together despite their rivalry, left Gaea to reach the Moon, become a single Race and, even now, are continuously killing every single Lunarian that Manifests on its surface.” This long explanation was said while Luna and Amber were continuously meeting blades, Aura and flames raging all in the Sphere.

“Ah. I… Should I apologize?” Amber started to panic because of the informations. “And how did they lose? I mean, considering how Vampires are enhanced while under a Red Moon and Lunarians are stronger than that, they should have been… well, very strong, shouldn’t they?” Fire roared out in an imitation of a Dragon’s Breath Attack only to be casually dodged by Luna that responded with a blast of Vital Mana of her own.
“Yeah but I think you have quite a bit of a misunderstanding. First of all the total number of Lunarians that reached Gaea is only 666, 600 at A-Rank, 60 at B-Rank and 6 at C-Rank that gave rise to the Ancestors. Not only that but at the time there were no Blood Moon or even Red Moon as these phenomena were the manifestation of the Moon’s hatred towards Gaea and all of its inhabitants. Finally the originals continents on this World were nine.” Amber flinched, well aware that only eight remained at this time and one of them was overrun by Monsters before she was even born. “Ah, don’t worry. No one responsable for it is even alive by this time on this Planet but I will, once I am strong enough, eradicate the ones on the Moon.”
“I see…” To protect her own safety of mind, the Demonic one decided to no longer ask any potentially incriminating question like if the other wanted to continue the past Lunarians’ plan, deciding to just deal with things as they happened.
The training restarted in full.

-
10/5 1:13 (Autumn, Day, Nord Lowrar)
19 Days.
That was the time the two spend together between fighting, studying from Edgar’s research and enjoying themselves in each other’s arms while Luna comunicated with both of her Mates to offer informations and guidance.
And the result spoke for themselves.

*Luna Gained 33335 Total Magicules.
*All of Luna’s Familiars reached their Maximum Potential.
*Luna’s Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution” E Strengthens.
*Luna Gained the Ability Skills “Bladesmithing”, “Blacksmithing” and “Oath Making” at E-Rank.
*Luna’s Skills: “Parallel Processing” D,“Authority: Black Blood” E, A“High-Speed Processing” D, “True Calamity Eternal Mastery” E, “Presence Suppression” D, “Crafting” E and “Lunar Resistance” E; Increased in Rank.

*Luna’s Mate Mark with Mafel and Sabel Increased to D-Rank.

*Amber Gained the Innate Skill “Unleash Aura”, “Enhancement: Fire” and “Self-Enhancement: Heat”.
*Amber’s “Unique Arma” E, “Energy Siphon” D and “Sword Technique” E Increased in Rank.
*Amber’s “Sword Technique” D Increased in Rank again.
*Various other Skills Ranked Up.

The two of them were currently fighting but the battle was completely different from the first entirely.
On one side of this conflict Amber and her even sharper Unique Arma was enveloped by a blazing Aura as flames constantly attacked the area around her together with various Techniques launched from both her blade and her body.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Luna was clad in her Aura, it violently raging around her and being Shaped into constant attacks towards her opponent, destroying the flames and launching her own strikes at the same time, strikes that were also dealt with by her lover.
Not only that but Amber already started to create her own Unique Style similar to Luna’s own “True Calamity Eternal Mastery” thanks to the influence and support of her own Unique Arma while Luna already fully mastered all the Arts she knew as Scarlet and thanks to her Aura they were much easier to use and train with.

The area between the two was completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind, without the two needing to even move, their Auras rampaging freely before the two moved, attacks surpassing the speed of sound were launched as if with the greatest ease.
This conflict lasted 10 minutes of constant attacks capable of rending steel as easily as paper before the two stopped, satisfied of their warm-up.
After all, today was the day, Amber would deal with Aurora once and for all as they already knew where this last one formed her Hoard, a cave in a nearby mountain.
There they easily found their target thanks to the fact that Amber was guiding the way, the newly Evolved C-Rank “Ice Tyrant Dragon”, and her Hoard, a group of 90 Beings, 75 being a mix of corpses of People she killed and 15 Adventurers she was able to Overwrite into her own loyal worshipers.
Aurora, now having reached full maturity as a True Dragon and Evolving into a more dangerous and destructive variant especially with other followers around, looked at the two of them, the obsession and desire for both evident in her heated gaze.
The battle started without any conversation necessary.

Notes:

Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/5 1:57 (Autumn, Day, Nord Lowrar)
The battle started in full with neither side holding back at all.
Instantly Amber turned back from her Humanoid form to her original one, her eyes made of orange flames with purple sphere shining in the center, her horns made out of solid purple flames attracting Aurora’s attention for a second before this last one too returned back to her Dragon form too.
A wave of heat and cold clashed in the middle of the two as Amber unleashed her Aura in full while Aurora enhanced her Territory, the cave and most of the mountain, with her Mana to rapidly cool down the area while her Dragonoids used their “Elemental Manifestation” Innate Skill to launch forward spikes of ice clad in various Attributes.
Said spikes were shattered by Luna as she sent forward five True Darts each seeking and piercing multiple targets before Amber released a wave of golden fire that became a rain of spears.

In response a wall of ice appeared from nothing, blocking them and the following fiery explosions but this was far from enough as Luna used this attack as a distraction to launch her own attack.
“[Annihilation Point].”
The ice shattered from the point of impact, black cracks expanding furiously on the ice, forming a hole big enough for Luna to boldly step in clad in her most combat effective form, a draconic armor presenting a vast pair of wings and a long tail, her Aura fully Unleashed around her, as she ruthlessly attacked one of the twenty three D-Ranked “Frozen Corpses”, grabbing its head with one of her hand and punching through its chest, grabbing its heart and expanding her Aura within the other’s body, erasing the other’s upper body, shattering the skull within her hand before forcibly draining her target of all its blood thanks to her Aura to then rip its Soul from its former body and .

*Luna Gained 100+7 Magicules.
*Familiar ‘Warden’ Gains the Skill “Cold Immunity” E-Rank.

The deadly cold previously being Resisted by Luna with the continuous use of a minuscule amount of Vital Mana, was now insignificant as her Aura alone would now negate it even without the manifestation of her Familiar as an Armor.
Suddently ice rose around her trying to cage her but her response was as simple as it was direct.
Luna simply released her Aura in a wider range than normal thanks to an effort of will, the ice’s growth being slowed before she accumulated electricity and fire around the tip of her tail that opened wide in a mouth, releasing a condensed beam towards a group of E-Rank “Frozen Corpses”, bisecting 15 of them instantly and exploding into flames that completely charred the bodies, their Souls being sucked into Luna’s body.

*Luna Gained 100+7 Magicules.
*Luna Gained 100+7 Magicules.
*Luna Creates a New Familiar “Spirit” E with the Skills “Undying Body” E and “Coordination” E.

*Luna Gained 7 Magicules time 13.
*Luna’s Skill “Lunar Resistance” and “Regeneration” Skills Expand because of “Devouring Evolution”

Enraged at the loss of part of her Hoard and full of desire to acquire her in recompense, Aurora tried to attack Luna only to be intercepted by Amber that released a beam of fire concentrated to the point of being solid, sending the True Dragon crashing through the back of the mountain, creating a new entrance to the cave.
As the Dragonoid made to follow their Master, Luna appeared between them, a large quantity of Vital Mana and Black Blood to create 5 of her True Images.
“I’m sorry but I promised my Mate that their battle will be a one-on-one.” Ignoring how Amber didn’t explicitly ask or accept to be her Mate yet, ten large Magical Circles formed above her, releasing ten great beams of Vital Mana to push them back and away as ferocious roars sounded in the distance. “Why don’t you all keep me company for a while.” Her Images ran in underneath the falling lasers buying Luna enough time to Summon her newest Familiar within her Armor too, forming armor similar to bones around her forearms, forelegs and her chest.
Luna herself quickly stepped forward, the Aura around her exploding into long and sharp tendrils piercing four more “Frozen Corpses” and forcefully rip their Souls, running forward to grab one of the two C-Ranked “Frozen Corpses” and decapicating it without any hesitation by concentrating her Aura in a minuscule yet sharp blade before crushing simultaneously its head and its heart and lungs.

*Luna Gained 7 Magicules time 5.

She needed to eliminate as many and as high a Rank “Frozen Corpses” as quickly as possible or otherwise she would lose once her Images were no longer capable of holding back the C-Ranked “Dragonoids”.
Quickly she launched herself to one of the D-Ranked “Dragonoids” in what would be called a dropkick, sending them both to the ground before she flared her Aura to the maximum before compressing it down to a point briefly.
The following explosion shattered the remaining E-Ranked Frozen Corpses and the D-Ranked Dragonoid she previously attacked, Luna hungrily Devouring most of the suddently free Souls.

*Luna Gained 7 Magicules time 30.
*Luna Gained 100 + 7 Magicules time 2.
*Luna Creates a New Familiar “Core” E with the Skills “Dragon Heart” E and “Coordination” E.

The result of this Familiar’s existence and Summoning were simple really, her horns, eyes and claws of her skin-tight armor started to shine in a bright white light, acting as additional foci for Luna’s Energy.
Her Aura rampaged again around her as she prepared to deal with the others as two of her Images dissolved, causing Luna to click her tongue at the waste of both Vital Mana and Black Blood as she made two new ones and send them back towards the C-Rank Dragonoids that were able to kill them.
Without any further waiting she ran forward, her Aura preceding her body as it washed over the D-Rank Frozen Corpses, smashing them to the ground, before they were crushed into paste by a second violent explosion of power as blood flowed within her mouth.

*Luna Gained 7 Magicules time 22.
*Luna’s Skill “Devouring Evolution” Increases to D-Rank.

An hungry smile on her face, Luna turned to the rest of her next meals, her Aura changing to match her own true and basic nature, immense claws and fangs crushing the ice and the ground around her, reduciding it first into dust and then into nothing at all, growing furiously again and again.
The reason for such was the immense amount of Potential she just acquired by devouring this immense amount of Magicules.
Immediately her Images moved to end the fight as soon as possible as her facade of strenght and invincibility was just that, considering how an immense quantity of Black Blood was consumed in the creation of her Images, Armor and various Shapes while more than 40% of her Vital Mana was spent to amplify the damage she inflicted and various other miscellaneous expenses.

Fortunately, however, her Aura was not linked to her Energy Quantity but merely Luna’s willpower, thing that she had in such an abundance as demonstrated by the monstrous feat that was her ability to keep it active even while sleeping or endaging in an intercourse.
And as shown by the following ridiculous feat.
Immediately Luna’s Aura erupted not only from her body but also from all of her Images, fueled by the Lunarian’s willpower alone.
Suddently the Aura formed a sphere based on her experience making True Spheres to isolate her meals, assuring they would not be able to escape her to support their master.
The temperature in the frozen cave slowly started to increase as electricity started to fill the air but the most important and threatening thing was that her Aura was continuously Draining blood from all living being there with the implicit threat of instantly killing them once the last drop was taken by ripping their Souls from their bodies while at the same time turning the blood into more Energy for Luna.

Immediately one of the Dragonoids tried to escape by using the original entrance to support his Master only to be stopped by the Barrier of her Aura in a bastardization of a Territory Skill based on her fight with the Earth Drake in the past.
Luna launched a brief look back at the fight between her future Mate and her future meal in Humanoid form, before concentrating on her own fight with a feral grin, well aware that thanks to the Innate Skill “Hoard Creation” and the Racial Skill of “Ice Tyrant Dragon” each Dragonoid was part of her Hoard and this last one could absorb power from them if they are alive.
As a conseguence, if she wanted to help her Amber while keeping her pride safe and sound, she needed to kill the True Dragon’s Hoard as soon as possible to make sure they will not support her Phoenix’s adversary.

-
Meanwhile, Aurora and Amber in Humanoid form prepared to fight.
The first one changed from their last meetings, aging to being in her early twenties, a beautifull yet threatening armored dress made out of dense blue and white ice, her Mana raging around her.
The second too changed.
While her age increased to almost her twenties, the most prevalent changes were the purple pupils and the flaming purple horns utop her crown escaping from her golden mane while her equally golden clothes presented deep purple contrasts all over while wielding a long curved sword clad in purple flames with a small layer of golden ones immediately around it.
No words were exchanged as Aurora’s ability to think rationally was considerably weakened after her sudden Evolution in an Ice Dragon variant especially with her instincts demaniding she force the one before her and the owner of that beautiful Soul into submission and she had no intention to fight this instinct while Amber had nothing to say to her enemy.
Immediately the battle between the two centuries old rival started, a long burning blade meeting a claw of ice.

Notes:

Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Amber vs Aurora)
A blade wrethed in a tornado of golden and purple flames rapidly met a pair of great claws made of ice again and again, the area around the two rapidly cooling and heating again and again while the area directly near the two was completely destroyed by the immense heat and cold, without speaking of the shockwaves released by each collision between the two.
While what was once Aurora was without a doubt vastly superior in all physical matters, Amber was without vastly superior when it comes to ability in combat thanks to that merciless and forcefull Luna’s training, forcing her to behave in a similar timescale to a Human’s.
In the first place even with her much greater skill, Aurora could only fight back effectively because at the moment of impact between the two she released her Aura to match the other’s strenght for just an instant as differently from her white-haired companion, she wasn’t able to manifest her Aura for an illimited time but needed some time to recover and feared that if she kept it active for a long time, there was a chance the Dragon would start to imitate her and earn this Skill.

Flames followed every single one of her strike and thanks to her C-Rank in “Energy Siphon” each of them absorbing both Vital Energy and Mana from her opponent to their maker, attacking and destroying the ice ignoring their unnaturally high Resistances by simply absorbing the Energy within them and shattering them this way instead.
All excess Energy beyond what she could safely store were instantly converted into flaming explosions to try and weaken the other’s barriers caused by the Innate Skill “Imperial Scale” without significant progress as Aurora’s natural Energy Recovery was immense, offsetting both the damage and Drain.
Yet Amber lost no hope nor determination, focusedly continuing the battle, deflecting the other’s direct strike to deflect the immense force of each devastating blow.
‘This amount of force...How many Magicules did she absorb, one million? No, at least ten millions. How? Ah, she must have taken it from her Hoard.’ This thought led the way to the one she tried to suppress from when she first saw said Hoard. ‘Is that what she was trying to do to me? Impossible, a Phoenix cannot be turned into a Dragonoid. No, don’t think about it. Concentrate on the fight!’

Amber’s rising fear and anger led to ever more savages assaults, her Energy starting to heat up because of her emotions as her Unique Arma was masterfully swung to maximize the damage to the barrier.
Suddently Amber punched forward in her own rough and incomplete version of Luna’s Art [Annihilation Point], golden flames with purple streaks and Aura condensing around her now shining fist causing the area around it to distort because of the heat.
“[Melting Point]!” An explosion of heat sent the Tyrant flying back, her barrier caused by her Innate Skill “Imperial Scale” shattered and slight wear on various parts of her armored dress, the ground around Amber completely melted down into lava.
Amber clicked her tongue at the little damage she inflicted but the amount of Vital Energy and Mana she forcefully stole, thanks to the combination of her “Energy Siphon” that at C-Rank allowed her to take in Energy through her flames and the influence this Skill had on her “Unleashed Aura”, from her enemy was the more significant thing.

The fact so little damage was inflicted was because of the protection derived by the combination of her natural Resistances, her Innate “Imperial Scale”, her Ability “Fire Resistance” and the influence this Skills had on her dress thanks to her Unique Skill “Bestower”.
Before Amber could launch the following attack, she found herself jumping left, dodging a rain of ice spikes launched by the rising Dragon that started to breath deeply before launching a large “Elemental Roar”, a two-meters tall beam of concentrated Mana at a terribly low temperature.
Hurriedly the flames generated by the other’s Energy and her own Aura roared up around Amber before concentrating around her Arma, both of her hands firmly grasping her weapon’s hilt.
Said Arma’s higher Rank changed only the quality of the weapon as her Unique Skill was still dormient.
All the same, her now shining blade of her Sword violently rose in a new version of her previous special attack.

“[Burning Flash]!”
A line of golden light reached from the ground to high up in the sky, severing the beam into two.
Amber breathed deeply a couple of times, two long lines of frozen ground except for immediately around her.
She stepped forward heavily, her blade swinging back down to meet the other’s assault, flames bursting from her back to erase the ice spikes falling from above before Aurora opened her mouth, cold light accumulating within her mouth.

The blonde widened her eyes, her Aura violently burst from her body as she forcefully jumped over the blue-haired one before thrusting down in a second [Burning Flash], a piercing light that forced Aurora to jump away.
As the orange and purple eyed one made to follow up, she stopped suddently when she met the other’s red eyes, more specifically the rationality that returned within said blinking eyes.
“Hello again, Aurora. This time I am not sparing you. I will kill you.” Amber calmly affirmed, flames rising along with her temper.
Along with that, came the simultaneous and full of desire answer from the True Dragon. “Do not worry, you and your companion are too fascinating to kill. I will make you mine!”
Ice savagely rose to meet with golden and purple flames as the two ran in to restart their final battle.

(Luna vs Aurora’s Hoard)
Luna observed her targets, her expression composed and calm, her slightly slitted eyes narrowed in deadly focus.
An error and she could die.
All the same a feral grin slowly formed upon her face, the Aura Sphere around them pulsing slowly as she stepped forward.
“[Awaken]!”
Underneath her True Familiar-Armor, her manifested Unique Arma changed, turning into a strange mix of Energy and Matter whose composition she was not really fully aware of yet.
She stepped forward hard, creating an inprint on the ground, before launching herself forward, releasing a wave of fire and electricity to destroy the ice spikes falling from the sky enveloped in various Attributes, her left hand clenching hard before she punched one of the D-Rank Dragonoid with an Art she created during these last 15 days based on both her previous battle with the D-Ranked Earth Drake and what her Amber’s Unique Skill will be in the near future.

“[Collapse].”
The calm command resounded in the Aura Sphere as she punched forward against the Dragonoid’s chest.
For a second nothing happened to the surprise of all present individuals except Luna herself, even the one just struck.
Yet this hesitation lasted only a second for a reason as Luna lightly pushed forward with her left fist, causing shining cracks to spread upon all over the Dragonoid’s body before this last one fell to the ground, blood exploding from its mouth and various other orifices, the previous attack causing so much internal damage that a light push was enough to destroy all of her organs at once.
Yes, all of the Dragonoids were mostly beautiful women of various ages, chosen both for their power and to follow Aurora’s tastes.
Luna quickly drew in both the blood and Soul before turning to the incoming “Breath Attack” from three different Dragonoids.

*Luna Gains 100 + 7 Magicules.
*Luna’s Familiar Core Gains the Skill “Breath Attack” E.

She didn’t hesitate, the face-plating of her armor opening breathing deeply once before opening her mouth, rainbow light being emanated shortly before a savage wave of destruction with similar proprierties to the result of both her [Annihilating Conversion] and her Spell [Roaring Destruction], a destructive ray that met incoming [Breath Attacks], causing an explosion that sent all the individuals within the zone flying away, the Lunarian included.
“This Skill is really fascinating, especially considering how it changes from user to user.” Luna’s opened and closed her hands a couple of times before stopping mid-air, her Armor’s Wings opening wide, as she sent forward a rain of fire arrows before various Magic Circles formed around her, sending forward various lasers to harry her meals, her tongue subconsciously licking her lips, as her narrowed eyes focused on the only remaining “Frozen Corpse”.

In an instant, a second “Breath Attack” was ruthlessly launched forward, this time not a wave but a concentrated beam, only to be stopped by a wall of ice made of the collective efforts of the last remaining Frozen Corpse and the Dragonoids borrowing the power of their master to reinforce said ice wall with their own Affinities.
This clash continued for five whole seconds before the beam finally petered out with a last explosion, finally shattering the wall and sending forward some ice shard as Luna jumped, landing on the roof of the cave to then launching herself at one of the Dragonoids D, only to suddently open her wings and stopping as she blocked the assault of one of the four C-Ranked Dragonoids, the impact sending the Lunarian flying back despite her crossed hands, grabbing onto the wall before she sent back a rain of True Arrows.

“Show me what the power you borrowed from that oversized lizard is like, you slaves!” The challenging phrase of Luna incensed the other’s rage further.
“How dare you-! How dare you call our glorious Master-! Die!” The leader of the Dragonoids, a beautiful blonde former Human, exclaimed enraged, flames burning from her throat.
“Yes. Just like that.” Luna murmured to herself, a wild light in her eyes.

Notes:

Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Amber vs Aurora)
A block of ice violently rose from the ground, blocking some of the fire for long enough for Aurora to use it as a ramp to jump over the wave of fire before it shattered under the continued assault.
The airborn Dragon opened her wings wide before launching upward, cold trailing behind her before it formed into a cold mist that fell down into long sharp branches that fell upon Amber.
This last one didn’t hesitate, releasing a burst of flames to dodge most of the branches, cutting the remaining ones while sending back her own flames in response.

Amber was very thankful she accepted the training of her Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” with Luna as it Ranking Up would increase not only the amount of Energy Absorbed but also the methods she had available to Absorb Energy with.
At E-Rank, in order of Efficiency of the Absorption, three ways are present, from sexual fluids to saliva to blood; At D-Rank, with the same order, the ways are from sexual fluids, saliva, blood and, finally, contact between naked skin or equivalents; At C-Rank, her own hard-earned Rank, the ways would be from sexual fluids, saliva, blood, naked contact to the most important for her way of fighting, Energy could be drained from the direct effect of other Skills.
Normally this would allow a Demon of Lust to drain Energy from everyone under the effects of either “Charming Gaze” or “Charming Presence”, but in her case she was able to use the Skill through the flames generated by her “Pyrokinesis” Innate Skill, increasing significantly her combat prowess.

More Energy was accumulated around Amber in the forms of violent flames before they condensed into a dense cloak surrounding her, ready to be unleashed at any moment.
Aurora fell down in a dive, transparent ice forming before her in a mix of armor and spearhead to increase the power of the attack.
Immediately the Demon-blooded one sent forward a wave of fire while jumping away from there, her mantle flaring slightly with the incoming rush of Vital Energy and Mana, starting to slowly mix them together into Vital Mana taking advantage of the immense quantity of Energy she was constantly Absorbing from her enemy to keep herself full while, even if inefficiently, starting to store the fused Energy deep within for the future.
Meanwhile, in the present, she unleashed her “Pyrokinesis” Skill in full to generate flames that she then used her “Blaze Forging” to make into Arrows; Arrows that were strengthened, similarly to the Skill “Mana Forging” Luna previously possessed, depending exclusively on the heat of the flame involved in this process.
The result was an increase of the power of her constructs as demostrated by the fact her Arrows were still able to pierce and shatter the vastly sturdier ice that rose from the point of impact between the diving True Dragon and the ground.
As a conseguence, the explosion released by the Arrows were able to shatter the ice spikes that started to rapidly grow from the ground around Aurora.

This last one opened her mouth, a flash of Cold Mana being released in an instant showing the difference between a True Dragon’s “Elemental Roar” and a lesser Draconic Species like the Dragonoids for example, People that worshiped True Dragons until they changed, “Breath Attack”, without considering its power alone is the ability to change its characteristics at will.
As such the wave of Cold was almost instantaneous, barely giving Amber enough time to release a wave of fire to mitigate the incoming Damage.
Aurora admired the result of her attack, a frozen iceberg containing a frozen Amber, still in a defensive pose.
However she did not let down her guard and as such was not surprised when the blonde broke out of the ice in a blaze of glory, some small ice spikes shortly imbeded in her body before they q uickly sublimated even with Aurora’s Resistance Skills.

“How scary, tell me how did you become so strong without Ranking Up?” This question may have seemed to be honest or impressed but the truth was quite different.
This question was simply and directly made to mock and deride the other, knowing full well that this progress would not be natural to the other, especially without the Awakening of a Unique Skill.
The area around the Ice-Related one rapidly cooled in temperature, rime and ice spreading to cover an ever-increasing zone, her “Soul Sight” carefully monitoring the other’s Soul for any threatening movements.
Amber merely smiled, her eyes almost literally shining with desire to kill, before the flames around her condensed into a single point that started to float high in the sky, a version of the “Spell” she Casted in their second-to-last fight improved thanks to both Luna’s support and research made from the old Vampire.

“You are wrong, it’s all thanks to my own efforts guided by my Luna.”
She was refering to the fact Luna forced her to operate on the same timescale as Humans, thing quite different than her own original sense of time, that allowed her to train harder than ever before.
As such, her new Spell was vastly greater in both Efficiency and Potency, adding in influence from her demonic side to further magnify the destructive Potency of all Fire-Related Events.
“[Hellish Sun]!”
Light, warm and golden and purple, glowed upon the zone, the ice’s spread slowing significantly.
Before the two could continue their final battle, they were interrupted.

The two immediately looked to the True Dragon’s former mountain to see a terrifying spectacle.
Luna’s Aura that formed a cage to entrap all of the blue-haired one’s Hoard expanded to cover the entirety of the upper half before becoming a black so deep that it looked like an hole in the World.
This lasted less than ten milliseconds as Luna failed to properly Control this Spell?
It raged, passing from none to all colors and light, becoming a storm of destruction that annihilated the entire mountain in a single instant, producing a strong enough shockwave that it reached even the two of them, various trees and the ground in the way shattering into dust because of the force.

In response the ice suddently concentrated, forming a wall vaguely in the shape of a dome before her while lowering down to the ground, her Armor thickening around her as she flared her Mana to protect herself.
Meanwhile Amber jumped away from the… explosion, her wings opening wide as instead of fighting it, she flowed with the wind, being able to outlast it with no particular use of Vital Energy or Mana while Aurora was forced to spend a considerable amount of Energy to stand the wave of force unharmed.
As the red-eyed one rose from the ground, the orange-eyed one interposed herself between her enemy and her lover, having no problem in believing the other would win.
Even then, the True Dragon’s eyes were concentrated beyond her, admiring and desiring the Soul shining brightly in the distance ever more as it changed, shattering her chains and becoming ever closer to shattering the Wall before her.
Even so both of them were surprised that the mountain was indeed destroyed.

Some may wonder about this surprise but the truth was that this World, Gaea, was overlapping with the five Elemental Planes in various places, one of which was everywhere enough of an element appeared like for example a mountain overlapped enough with the Elemental Plane of Earth to passively increase its sturdiness and defensive ability in general the bigger the source of the connection with it being further enhanced by Aurora’s Mana naturally bleeding into the cave.
The two concentrated fully on the battle between them, exchanging blow after blow until three whole minutes later, the area around them left barren and destroyed completely by their clashes, the Aura around Aurora changed, solidifying into a more active one without a need for Mana, causing Amber to click her tongue while fully manifesting her own Aura.
The True Dragon had gained the Innate Skill “Unleash Aura” by observing both the way the Phoenix fought and the massive attack Luna previously used from a distance.

(Luna vs Aurora’s Hoard)
A little before, the being that will soon become a full-fletched Lunarian was in quite a bit of a spot.
While Frozen Corpses did possess the “Coordination” Skill naturally, they were naturally even less intelligent than normal Ghouls but the Dragonoids were all People and now they decided to put aside their constant conflict to be their idol’s favorite in exchange to subdue their idol’s target.
As such Luna found herself in quite a bit of trouble as they were starting to roughly copy the way she used her Aura with their own Mana.
She nodded to herself before trying something for the first time, activating for the second time of this life [Annihilating Conversion], manually and forcibly spreading it’s effect not in a small sphere around her but instead to the entirety of her Aura.
However she wasn’t able to control it, everything without a Soul in the range was simply turned into Energy that ran rampant, destroying the entire mountain.

*Luna Gains 7 Magicules times 7.
*Luna Gains 100 + 7 Magicules times 3.

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Authority: Vital Mana” D Expands because of the Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution”.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Artifact Proficiency” E Rank-Up.

*Vision Gains the Skill “Soul Sight” E.
*Core Gains the Skills “Draconic Affinity” E and “Elemental Manifestation” E.

Luna stretched, her eyes focusing on the four survivors of her latest mistake, the four C-Ranked Dragonoids, while calculating where precisely she went wrong as she breathed deeply, the time until Gaea would be able to Dispell her first lowered and then elongated to around three and a half months.
Various different Spells were immediately Casted at her from two of them while the other’s immediately jumped at her, clad in an approximation of her own Aura.

Notes:

Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Luna vs Aurora’s Hoard)
Luna unleashed her Aura at full power yet again, her Images, Sphere and Familiars Dispelled by the previous explosion to the point that she could no longer Summon them for a while and similarly she could no longer Awaken her Unique Arma for the rest of the day.
As spikes of stone made to rose from the ground underneath Luna, she stomped lightly, releasing a wave of Aura that disrupped the Mana within it, stopping the attack before it could even really be launched.
Her Aura further expanded, creating a vacuum to extinguish the fireballs sent by the other Casting Dragonoid, before concentrating it in a dense layer around her body, forming a thin suit of armor around her, with an undersuit made out of her Black Blood, and two long vaguely blade-shaped rods, both of them formed out of concentrated iridescent Energy and held within her Manifested Unique Arma.
Energy that she found quite conforting as this was not the first time she used as when she activated the C-Rank ability of her former self’s “Spirit Body”, her body would be completely Converted in a fully material Spirit made entirety of this Energy.

She casually started to walk forward, her blades digging twin trenches in the ground from when she was dragging them while her feet left behind visible footsteps burnt in the ground.
As she walked forward, one of the two Dragonoids, the only male of the four remaining ones, ran in, a pair of hand-held axes made out of ice enveloped in two different Attributes, his left clad in Water-Attribute while his right clad in Dark-Attribute thanks to the Skill “Elemental Manifestation” borrowing the Element of his Master.
Luna swung mercilessly with her left blade, it and the other’s axe meeting, releasing a wave of force released in the area around the two, long cracks forming from both the Lunarian’s feet and from around the point of contact of the weapons.

While the coat of Water-Attribute helped to deflect most of the damage caused by the contact with the other’s weapon however…
Luna’s Aura was influenced by both her own and her Familiars’ Skill, being made out of the same destructive Energy released during the previous loss of control, for now Shaped precisely.
As such, the Dragonoid’s weapon was inexorably digging into it without any problem, forcing the Dragon-Blessed one to drop it before his wrist was cut too, his second axe rising from low dodged casually by Luna moving to the Dragonoid’s left to dodge the Dark-Attribute one before swinging with her right blade, forming a long cut on her target’s back however she was forced to jump away before she could stab the other’s heart to dodge the punch enveloped by wind of the other melee-focused Dragonoid.

A wall of frozen ground suddently rose from behind her mid-flight trying in vain to stun the material illusion as she rolled in mid-air, landing on it and Shaping her Aura Weapons into a Bow and Arrow she nocked and launched.
A wave of destruction was released in an instant, a miniaturized, weaker yet free version of her Spell [Roaring Destruction] that blasted both of the melee-focused Dragonoids away while damaging them and draining both their Vital Energy and Mana even with a wall of Earth raised hastily by one of the Casting Dragonoids while the other sent forward multiple lightning bolts.
Her Aura Bow quickly returned back into a blade while Luna breathed deeply, her eyes closed before they opened in an instant, her blade flashing in an instant as she bisected the seven incoming Spells before sending back a quick [Reaping Moon], a cutting slash that forced the two ranged Dragonoids to retreat.

The red-eyed one advanced, jumping towards the two Casters to end them only for earth spikes to violently rise from the ground to impale her.
She didn’t hesitate, her blade becoming something like a staff she stroke the ground, sending herself higher and destabilizing the Spell itself before rolling in the air, the Staff becoming something similar to a spear she ruthlessly and immediately threw it towards the Earth-Attribute one, accepting the lightning strike the other Dragonoid sent towards her.
Thanks to both her Aura Armor and her “Lunarian Resistance” she didn’t recieve much Damage, rolling in mid-air to land on her feet, landing on the former spikes.
Just in time too as she found herself crossing her arms, barely blocking a concentrated burst of wind that still however send her flying back, breaking her flight on a tree trunk, shattering it and the following two before finally stopping on the fourth, her eyes unerringly focused on her meals as she was licking her lips, her hunger stimulating her Aura.

-
(Amber vs Aurora)
Aura clad strike met Aura clad slash, fire and ice exploding from the contact between the two’s Aura, Amber ducking to dodge Aurora’s strike as she was not able to offset the other’s power, launching a simultaneous kick that created distance between the two of them while sending a wave of fire.
The blue-haired one created a block of ice underneath her to launch herself over the wave of fire, beating her wings once before sending forward a cold mist that froze the ground solid while the blonde ran forward, dodging underneath the mist before sending a pillar of flames towards her enemy that responded by closing her wings around herself, being blasted away without too much damage.

The True Dragon quickly cooled down the air around her, sending ice spikes coated in Aura flying forward while the Demon Phoenix carefully and hastily flew around them, fire trailing behind her before launching towards her enemy, as both an attack and distraction for her own following attack.
However this wasn’t enough as Aurora simply tanked the fire before grabbing her target by the throat and slamming and slamming her into the ground, their Aura’s battling for dominance shortly, before the Demonic-blooded one hooked her legs around the other’s waist before trying to stab her in the brain with her Arma coated by her golden and purple flames.
Hurriedly the Dragon grabbed the other’s wrist to stop the attack in its track as while a destroyed brain would without a doubt stun her enough for the other to wound her deeply in the time she would take to heal from the attack.

However this triumph was short lived as, with a smirk on her cute face, Amber changed the hand her Arma was in before, taking advantage of the fact she had a free hand, stabbed her “Blazing Blade of the Piercer” clad in fire and Aura this time directly in the other’s heart, the combination of the two enough to disrupt shortly the barrier caused by “Imperial Scale” and weakening her enemy’s hold on her throat and wrist.
Immediately the Phoenix tightened her hold on the other’s waist, grabbed both of her wrists tightly, leaned fully against the other and released a blast of fire and Aura directly against her previously wounded chest, ripping a scream of pain from her throat, before inverting their position with a movement of her pelvis she praticed this last month with her lover in another situation.
Once on top the Demonic one concentrated her Aura and flames around her blade before thrusting down on the other’s skull.

It, however, only melted the ground as the Ice-related one quickly moved her head to dodge what would be an heavily debilitating, if not fatal, strike before kicking her target away from her.
The two stood on their feet at around the same time, Auras flaring around them yet the differences between the two’s and their uses was evident.
Aurora’s was wild and unrestrained, forcibly using her own and her Hoard’s Mana to fuel its usage beyond what she would normally be able to, freezing the ground around her, while Amber’s was focused, and burning, exclusively in the area immediately around her, minimizing the effort needed to maintain it, and thanks to the influence of her Skill “Undying Body” on it, her Aura lasted a full second even without being fueled at reduced potency and she took advantage of it by continuously activating and deactivating it at precise one second intervals thanks to the intense training of this last month.

The battle resumed, ice rising in tendrils all around the burning one and trying to impale her as she quickly dodged them, her burning blade stopped by a claw made of ice as the two clashed again and again, the advantage quickly being taken by Aurora as now that she had an Aura of her own, Amber could no longer compensate for the difference in Rank and being forced to use her ace.
Her Unique Arma was quickly clad in a mix of Aura and dense, almost solid, flames, an Art that she made by maintaining her previous special attack exclusively around her blade thanks to both her increased knowledge on the Fire-Attribute itself and her Aura containing the fire.
Her blade started to cut straight throught the claw and the arm underneath it at once, the Dragon immediately releasing an Elemental Roar to send the Phoenix back, ice forming around her wounded arm in its shape before slowly being turned in a new arm for her, a faster and cheaper process to restore her arm invented in the past by True Dragons using “Elemental Manifestation” and their immense natural Quantity of Energy to reach the Phoenixes when it comes to Healing.
Amber stepped forward, breaking the ice crystal formed around her, her flames and Aura raging around her before returning to be controlled, her eyes narrowed in focus.

Notes:

Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Luna vs Aurora’s Hoard)
Her Aura quickly condensed back into her Armor and Weapons thanks to the influence of her Crafting- and Artifact-related Skills on it as she launched herself back into the battle, her left blade thrusting to the throat of the axe wielding one, this last one barely dodging by falling to the ground before quickly spinning around to try and sever her head with a long blade made out of solid darkness from the ground.
Luna didn’t hesitate, rising an hand and stopping the other’s attack dead by grabbing the blade within her hand, stunning the Dragonoid long enough for her to step on him hard, embedding him deeply in the ground before the Weapon she just let go of, turned into a circular shield upon the Vampiric one’s back to block the Wind-infused punch without moving atop her next target.
Her foot upon his body rose slightly before falling back down with force upon him, her hand holding his construct clenching hard and shattering it into pieces, spinning her Weapon in her other hand once before thrusting it violently down towards his heart.

The earth under them suddently moved thanks to the influence of one of the Dragonoids to try and save their Hoard-mate while this last one sent various tendrils of water to pierce his opponent’s body but she did not hesitate, releasing briefly her Armor and Weapons in a burst of Aura to forcefully destabilize the attack thanks to the influence of “Authority: Vital Mana” before reforming, her feet no longer landing on the ground but on a solid layer of Vital Mana.
Luna immediately thrusted, impaling the retreating Dragonoid on the ground by the shoulder, barely missing his heart before breathing in deeply once, Vital Energy being forcefully channeled to within her Spear before it exploded in a blast of destruction starting within his body.

Fire and Lightning ravaged the ground, cracks and cuts spreading violently all around, further simultaneous blows raining forward and underneath the two of them.
The Water and Dark Dragonoid found remains of his right arm flying away, seriously damage, a hole consuming most if not all of his chest as the rest of his body was ravaged by Fire, Lightning and slashes as most of his blood simply ceased to be in an instant, bleeding Vital Energy in an effort to not die immediately following the previous blow.
This however didn’t leave him any option to resist the following blow, Luna rising her left foot before stomping on his head, hard enough to destroy it completely, forcefully draining his blood and taking in his Soul.

She quickly examined his Soul in search of a Water- or Dark-Attribute Skill she could make a new Familiar out of but she found none to her displeasure as he merely used the Skill “Elemental Manifestation”, before she was about to devour it, however, she found an Innate Skill that Humans rarely are born with.
Skill that she did not hesitate to take for her own.

*Luna Gains 100 + 7 Magicules.
*Familiar Warden Gains the Skill “Adaptability”.

This Skill was without a doubt incredibly useful starting from E-Rank.
Upon recieving Damage it would increased both temporarily and permanently the Resistance of the owner to the source, even if with a limit.
And the effect she enjoyed from her Aura was easy for her to understand as her Aura Shield was being assaulted by all manners of attacks and, as a conseguence, her Aura in general became more and more Resistant to them, even if in her case by only a slight amount and only temporarily.

Even so this Skill was useful to her in reducing the amount of both willpower and Vital Mana she needed to deal with the attacks of her meals while she fully turned her attention towards the other Dragonoids dodging one after the other the boulders sent forward by one of the mage while the other was Casting a large-scale Spell.
Luna let her, concentrating on the rapidly approaching Fist-based C-Ranked one, wind bending around her to accelerate her movements as the two quickly met, fists and claws clad in wind and Mana being deflected by hands covered in gauntlets made of solid Energy while at the same time deflecting the answering blows, spikes appearing from all around the two trying to impale the Vampiric one.
The ground underneath the two suddently rose, the two being violently and suddently sent flying up by a Spell of the Earth Dragonoid while electricity condensed high above the two in a single point.
Before Luna could dodge, the Air Dragonoid grabbed her hands in a moment of surprise to keep her still.

Thunder overwhelmed all other sounds as a five meters wide lightning fell similarly to a ray of light on the two of them, the rock underneath the two shattering immediately to ground level.
Immediately a dome made out of hardened stone rose around where the Dragonoid believed their target to be, assuming her survival without hesitation or doubt before starting to swiftly Chant, reinforcing the defense of her shield.
The Air-Attribute Dragonoid posed herself before her two Hoard-mates, her eyes continuously searching for any traces of her Master’s latest fascination, the air around the three solidifying in a shield to protect them while the Lightning-Attribute one was slowly increasing the static in the air to render following Spells easier and to try and Paralyze their future Hoard-mate.

Silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity.

A fist clad in violent iridescent Energy pierced the dome keeping its owner trapped.
The dome subsequently shattered as Luna used the hole she just forced in the wall to widen it enough for her to walk out of it, her Unique Arma altered slightly under the influence of the mysterious Energy surrounding her, her red eyes shining brightly as her bloodlust raged without limits.
The battle restarted as Luna released from her Auric Bow a beam of Energy.

-
(Amber vs Aurora)
The blonde accumulated fire around her before releasing it in an instant, closing the distance and causing a line of melted rock in the ground as her Blade rose in a violent slash.
The azure-haired one stepped forward, ice quickly covering her arms hand as she punched forward with her left hand, the ice forming something akin to a lance to stab through the other’s body and a shield around her right arm.
Both attack landed at the same time.

An arm covered in ice flew away, golden and purple flames slowly spreading and devouring it.
A lance of ice pierced straight through Amber’s chest and beyond her back.
The Demonic one’s Aura expanded for an instant together with her grin as she forcefully grabbed her enemy’s hand.
A fireball above the two destabilized, releasing a rain of fire that covered the two in an instant before the Phoenix punched with a fist covered in Aura and flames, sending the Dragon flying away from the still raining fire.
The reason for such was simple, really, and based entirely on her specific type of Resistance against Fire Damage.
To explain Damage Resistance easily, giving as an example a Resistance Threshold of 100.
With a Resistance-type Skill, Damage under 100 is halved; With an Immunity-type Skill, Damage under 100 is negated; With a Nullification-type Skill, the Damage is mitigated by 100; Finally with an Absorption-type Skill, like Amber’s “Fire Absorption”, the Damage is mitigated by 100 and she would gain Vital Energy and Mana equivalent to half the mitigated Damage.

In this situation Amber used a previously Casted Spell, altered to the point it would have theoretically woulded herself to recover the Vital Energy spent to heal from the previous attack and more Mana that the Spell itself required to be Cast.
Aurora watched carefully as Amber stepped away from the fire only to step back suddently, her leg suddently encased in short-lived ice caused by her own efforts.
Said efforts being her Bestowal of a rock with a Name, rock that Amber inadvertibly stepped on just now.

All the same this was not a significant attack as it was merely a rock to be Named yet this was a tactic that she was quite familiar with as her plan was to become strong enough to be able to Name her entire mountain at once as a single Entity to function as both fortress, focusing array to expand and increase her control over her Territory and accumulate Magicules for both herself and her Hoard both more efficiently and at an accelerated speed.
At thinking about her mountain, she forlornly observed where her mountain formerly resided before sighing and returning to the battle.
So long as she could make hers both the Phoenix and the Vampiric one, it didn’t matter even if her entire Hoard would be annihilated as the twos value was much higher when it comes to being part of an Hoard and she could always seek a new mountain.

Amber sent forward a wave of fire that Aurora blocked with a wall of ice before she dodged the sword covered in fire thrown by the blonde, this last one falling in a kick centered towards her new location.
The Tyrant crossed her hands, blocking the harsh kick from the Phoenix, her feet shattering the ground underneath her in an instant, her legs briefly bowing before she straightened, sending away the Demon Phoenix that rolled while still in the sky, landing on her feet before immediately dashing back to her enemy, her hands clad in a mix of Aura and golden-purple flames launching fist after fist that Aurora dodged one after another, her lost arm slowly healing.
Suddently, as Amber made to punch, she opened her hand, her previously thrown Arma appearing back in her hand transforming what would have been a dodged blow into a deep slash that opened the red-eyed one for an harsh punch that sent her flying back.
Aurora breathed in deeply once before releasing an “Elemental Roar”, a wide beam of Cold Mana that froze solid the ground before her, Amber having previously jumped hign in the sky to dodge it before falling down in a dive to kick in the back of the head her enemy.

Notes:

Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Luna vs Aurora’s Hoard)
Everything before Luna was instantly destroyed in a wave of force while the Air Dragonoid hurriedly grabbed her two Hoard-mates and threw them away from the blast, air solidifying before her in a barrier to buy herself enough time to dodge most of the incoming blow.
Thing that she succeded in doing with just some burns and cuts on her formerly crossed arms before she sent forward her own “Breath Attack”, a wave of concentrated wind that Luna casually stepped around before sending in response her own attack, but this one was quite different from her previous ones.
She nocked an Arrow into her Bow, pulling it with force, before pointing at the sky.
“[Ruinous Star].”
At the calm declaration, the Arrow was launched at incredible speed.
It spun on itself, seeming to drill into the air faster and faster while at the same time twisting on itself, in a way that seemed to be incredibly slow while being too fast for the eye to see, becoming first a line then stopping high in the sky, becoming a small sphere floating .

One second passed.
It rippled once, becoming smaller, the sky above the four of them becoming an empty void illuminated only by its light.
Two seconds passed.
It rippled twice, becoming even faintier, the empty void being gradually filled by various lights as if stars in the night sky.
Three seconds passed
It rippled thrice, ceasing to be.
And once the ripple reached the other stars, they too released a ripple.
And once this ripples reached other stars, beams of iridescent Energy fell upon her three future meals continuously, ripples causing further ripples and beams of Energy.

And so Luna admired the spectacle with a smile on her face, a continuous series of light falling from the sky as if a meteor shower only for them to impact the ground and explode in waves of destruction and for new meteors to follow their way.
The explosions continued endlessly, a minute straight passing without any sign of it stopping or weakening at all, as she continued to admire her Art, absolutely bewitched by the sight as was natural.
After all, even if altered to become a combat-specialized Art, this was in origin an Art Scarlet made to show Azure a meteor shower as a gift, Art called [Falling Stars] when employed as a spectacle instead.

All the same it was still a beautiful yet deadly Art, capable of lasting theoretically forever as the explosions were used as fuel for further attacks and so was the Energy all around them even that of the various defensive measures by her targets, being incanalated for further attacks.
And this was not all as she was able to modify her Art further, thanks to the old Vampire’s research and teachings combined with the Moon’s Records, granting it the ability to seek its specific targets, in this case the three Dragonoids, in its radius and, additionally, it is now rendered indipendent from her own will and needing no concentration or to stand still anymore.
Suddently Luna lifted her right leg, dodging a pair of hands made of stone rising from the ground that were trying to grab her before stomping down, releasing a wave of Aura down in the ground to negate her meal’s influence on it.
Luna nodded to herself, forcefully dragging her attention away from her own attack and towards her opponents.

It wasn’t strange that even now they were surviving under her assaults, proof of the Dragon’s intelligence even while deprived of rationality, as the four Dragonoids at C-Rank had each a different main Affinity manifested by the Skill “Elemental Manifestation”.
The Dark and Water axe guy would normally be nothing special as it had a low Affinity with his Attributes or Magic in general however it had the Skill “Adaptability” that rendered the Conversion from Human to Dragonoid faster and cheaper and rendered him a natural long-term shield for the other three and his Master.
The Air fist girl was instead the most effective at both supporting the others and the fastest outside of short bursts.
The Lightning Caster was able to make bursts of speed if necessary but she had also the highest direct offensive potential while the Earth Caster had the greated defensive potential, being able to shield them if necessary as she was doing right now by defending all three of them by her attack.
Her interest in their Master was increasing as she decided the other would be hers once her Amber finished her battle.

All the same, however, it wasn’t enough as demonstrated by the desperate attack just now as they must have understood her attack would not stop anytime soon and their Energy would be depleted with them later dying.
The Earth-Attribute one must have tried to attack her to disrupt her concentration and hoping to end her attack but she failed and instead led to Luna remembering her meals still existed.
The Vampiric one quickly calculated the location of the three remaining Dragonoids, using the trajectories of her “stars”, finding them to be slowly and gradually sinking deeper and deeper underground.

In response, she had only one thing left to do.
Quickly the Material Illusion jumped high in the sky, above the bounds of her Art and precisely above its center, Arrow yet again nocked.
Said Arrow was launched, spinning on itself quick enough to twist the air around it as it fell violently on the three Dragonoids’ hideout, this time without the use of a particular Art.

The ground ruptured at once, causing an eruption that sent most of the cover protecting her targets away and weakening the ground enough for her “meteors” to shred the remaining barrier before further raining on her meals.
Luna slowly and calmly floated down from the sky, the void in the sky slowly dissipating as were the stars, her feet landing on the ground as she looked down on the three or more precisely on the one still alive, three blades made out of Black Blood floating above her and ready for her to take them in.
“Any last words?” She asked the last remaining Dragonoid alive, the Lightning-Attribute one.
This last remaining one merely glared back before suddently grabbing her ankle with force.

While the Air- and Earth-Attribute Dragonoids were forming the barrier to block the other’s assault, by solidifying wind and Shaping and fortifying the stone respectively, and protecting her with their last breathes, she was preparing this Spell, a Spell based entirely on her Skill of “Lightning-Attribute Druidry” that she normally used by manipulating her “Elemental Manifestation” instead of manipulating Energy from and to the Plane of Roars.
What she did was simple and based on a legend of the past, that of the birth of the Emperor of Flames, an ancient Spiritual Mage long dead.
According to said legend, he had a teacher that was a Fire-Attribute specialized Druid that was nearing his death.
In a story that would have been quite familiar to Luna, instead of fighting it, he searched for an apprentice to impart his knowledge to before his passing and found said future Emperor, noted his talent and decided to teach him.
Once he learned as much as he could from him, the old Mage led the two of them in a vast forest and proceded to burn it and his own life at once, creating a vast, even if temporarily, Gate to the Plane of Rampages where said student formed a Pact with a Spirit King, this last one impressed with both teacher and student.

Similarly to that example, the Dragonoid sacrificed her life to manifest a brief Gate to the Plane of Roars not to allow a Spirit or an Elemental through but to release a giant mass of Lightning Energy directly within the white-haired one’s body.
Luna fell, a scream of pain being torn from her throat as she fell on her knees, her organs being gravely damaged as she was barely able to remain concious thanks exclusively to her Mental Skills mixed with her high natural Resistances.
All the same she was not able to move or to even use her now fallen blood to devour the three Dragonoids’ corpses or heal for a while.
Barely breathing, Luna once again grieved the fact that she really did not understand the motivation of other People.
However her eyes were focused on her preys well aware that at their level of power, their Souls would take a little over one hour before returning to Gaea’s Core, while she was thinking about her Amber, wondering briefly if she would succed in her battle before starting to concentrate on healing from the last attack.
This battle was over and the winner was Luna.
However she needed at least 35 minutes before she healed enough to take in the three Dragonoids and before then she certainly could not interfere with Amber’s fight.

-
(Amber vs Aurora)
The kick landed hard as Aurora fell briefly on her knees, flames washing over her before she released a wave of Aura in turn, pushing her away from her, before striking with a tail covered in an armor of ice and Aura, ice spikes following after the bird-like one.
In response Amber concentrated her flames around her Unique Arma and precisely severed the spikes, thing she was quite accustomed to thanks to her training with the hot and psycho that was known by the name of Luna.
As such she was more than cognizant enough to dodge the next attack, a miniaturized iceberg being thrown without any hesitation, flying well above it and preparing to attack with a fireball held in her right hand only to hesitate upon seeing her enemy’s expression.
“They all died? How dare she?! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable! She will pay!” Aurora focused on the target before her, a cruel yet obsessive light in her eyes.
Amber shuddered, moving slightly away from her enemy before concentrating on the fight before her, aware of the fact it was now either much harder or easier depending on how the other would behave.

Notes:

Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

(Amber vs Aurora)
Immediately Amber dropped low with an explosion, dodging the immediate “Elemental Roar” launched by her enemy before launching herself left to dodge a spike of ice three meters wide.
Before the Phoenix could attack, she found herself having to make an explosion underneath herself to dodge ice spikes rising suddently from the ground before opening her wings wide and flapping her wings to gain further altitude while launching various fireballs back to test the other’s reaction to her attack.
Aurora in response roared, an inhuman sound somehow escaping her Humanoid-shaped throat as a blizard violently was unleashed around her to extinguish the fireballs before expanding to cover their whole battlefield.
That was proof enough of the other’s temporary sloppiness as, differently from her own still active [Hellish Sun] that increased the temperature of the area slowly and additionally stole Energy from everyone she would consider an Enemy and their various constructs and attacks to maintain itself and increase in effectiveness over time or as an additional reservoir for an emergency, this “Spell” constantly Drained the azure-haired one’s Mana to fuel itself and eventually her own Spell would overtake and consume it.

And so, she was now certain of her next step.
The flames composing her clothes became once more living flames and she Shaped them into a Magical Circle that shone brightly in yellow and purple as she Casted for the first time a Spell that she originally planned to use on Luna to take her by surprise.

“[Cursed Holy Flame]!”
At the center of the Circle a gold and purple sphere manifested briefly before shattering, releasing a wave of force that formed itself into an Aura around her enemy before forming into sofly burning chains restricting her movements.
This was a special Spell derivative of the operation in conjunction of Fire-, Holy- and Curse-Attributes, which Amber naturally possessed an high Affinity as a Phoenix in the first two Attributes and the third Affinity grew once she became a Demonic Phoenix and thanks to the increase in Rank of “Energy Siphon”.
The effect of the Spell was as simple as it was deadly.
It interfered with all uses of Vital Energy or Mana of the one being enveloped, absorbing around 1% each use, converting it into fuel for the Spell, similarly to her [Hellish Sun] but with the difference being that it influenced only one individual and, while it was Active, it would gradually inflict the Status Alteration “Burning” and passively weaken the afflicted individual further.

Following that, Amber dived at her opponent, a new layer of flames covering her to form a drill that she used to pierce the blizzard before she twisted into a stand, most of the flames surrounding her Unique Arma, while the remaining reformed her clothes, as she swung harshily her blade to cut off the other’s head.
Aurora made to dodge but she felt it, her movements being impeded and slowed down by the chains, deciding at last to create a shield of ice to block the attack, shield that was able to deflect the attack only once it was coated in Aura.
All the same the imbalance caused by this was more than enough for Amber to spin around and kick her enemy in the back with a foot clad in flames and Aura.

The two separated, the Dragon turning in mid-air to release an immediate “Elemental Roar” that the Phoenix dodged with an explosion before rising an hand covered in brilliant flames.
The flame erupted, nine long ribbons being sent forward to drive their maker’s enemy back, curtailing her further and further away from the Demonic-blooded one while she herself moved, the ribbons no longer needing any instructions or guidance towards their target.
Meanwhile the shorter one hurriedly ran forward, trying to take advantage of the other’s distraction to stab her in the back but this was quite the hasty and naive attempt to end the fight immediately.

Naturally, even with the ribbons trying to entrap her, the True Dragon’s eyes did not lose sight of her target as demonstrated by the tail coated in a fine layer of ice that surrounded the orange-eyed one’s arm, stopping it and her cold, before she turned around and punched in the stomach with a fist clad in frozen armor.
In response the blonde exploded in a wave of fire, muffling the impact and damaging slightly her enemy, and being sent flying back violently.
Spinning while still in mid-air, Amber landed on her feet only with a widening of her eyes for her to drop to the ground to dodge a tail covered in spikes of ice before releasing a burst of fire to send herself over the spikes of ice rising from the ground, her wings beating twice to further increase her altitude.

Before the redhead could reach her in the skies, the nine ribbons reached, clinging to her limbs and her body in general to still her briefly, sure, but long enough for the blonde to make her move.
Instantly the previously Casted Curse fused with the ribbons together, forming a single chain that then ceased to be, using as material the entirety of its stored Energy to become a small cage of flames around the ice-related one, immobilizing her completely for three whole seconds while bathing her in flames and heat.
And while her enemy was distracted by the flames, the Phoenix rose higher and higher, reaching her [Cruel Sun] and touching it lightly, forcibly absorbing the entirety of the stored Vital Energy and Mana to within her own body, converting it in its entirety to Vital Mana, in order to compensate for it having stored more than what she herself could safely store, ending up with a much weakened [Cruel Sun] and a full Well of Vital Mana.

Aurora broke the cage on her own upon the two second-mark by forcefully freezing the flames by mixing together Vital Energy, Mana and her Aura to cool down, for an instant alone, her own body to absolute zero, before looking up to her target high in the sky that was floating there surrounded by a dense Aura of flames.
She narrowed her eyes back in challenge as the blizzard intensified until she could not be seen anymore, her own body temperature lowering until it matched that of the air around her, rendering her invisible to the other’s “Heat Sight”.
Amber clicked her tongue in displeasure before falling in a dive, the air around her bursting into flames before it anticipated her, melting part of the ice being flung around by the freezing winds and parts of the ground Amber landed on, her blade piercing deeply in the earth underneath her, before she breathed in and out deeply once.
Fire erupted from the ground in an instant, chasing away part of the blizzard and distracting the Dragon that was trying to grab her from the back.
The remaining [Cruel Sun] fell from the sky and exploded against the Dragon while she spun around, her Unique Arma being wretched from the ground, her flames and Aura concentrated around it, as Amber stabbed Aurora’s heart before she pulled it up, cutting her head in two.

And so, Aurora died at the hand of what she desired to be hers, her plans foiled.
And, following that, Amber increased in Rank as a “Demon Phoenix”, naturally Awakening her Unique Skill “Piercer” and activating the effect of her Unique Arma while.
Once done having enjoyed her newfound increase in power she explored her own body, noting how she aged to the equivalent of a 21 years old young woman, finally reaching 165 cm in height while, with a grimace, she gave up on the thought of ever having curves comparable to her lover.
Sighing she opened her wings wide, ignoring the corpse of her enemy now returned to her shape as a Dragon upon her death, a Dragon much greater than the one she was previously.
From high in the sky it was easy for her to find her lover and, conseguently, it was easy for her to reach her.

Said lover was at the moment lying down, her eyes closed as she rested after her battle.
Amber should have been irritated at seeing Luna enjoy herself so much while she just finished fighting for her life but she was too distracted by the other’s state of dress, or more precisely her state of undress considering how she was completely naked, to entertain any annoyance or to even think at all.
“Are you going to keep watching me all day? If you do, you should first bring me to the Dragon’s corpse at least. After I take her blood, you are free to do whatever you want.”
A smooth, confident voice broke the Phoenix from her stupor and, thanks to the subtext evident in the other’s words, she obeyed immediately, turning back into an Humanoid form and taking the other in her arms, despite the notable difference between the two in both height and physique.
Meanwhile a small liquid mass finished to take in the blood of the three dead Dragonoids.

*Luna Gains 100 + 7 Magecraft times 3.

*Familiar Vision Gains the Skill “Air-Attribute Sorcery”.
*Familiar Warden Gains the Skill “Earth-Attribute Magecraft”.
*Familiar Blitz Gains the Skill “Lightning-Attribute Druidry”.

Luna simply relaxed within her soon-to-be Mate’s arms, enjoying the feeling of the wind on her face as the two moved to the other Soul she would obtain while ignoring for now the hands that were taking advantage of the fact that even now she could barely move to eagerly explore her body.
The flight back was much quicker as Amber was eager to complete their deal, sure, but the thing she was most eager for was celebrate her victory.
The two found themselves before the enormous corpse of the fallen Dragon as Luna nodded, satisfied.
Her next step was obvious, then.
A small quantity of her Black Blood entered within the corpse, quickly converting her blood to Vital Mana for Luna, while she took in the other’s Soul, storing it safely deep within her own body.

She gained no Magicules, new Familiar or Skill and neither did her Potential increase as she did not sent to the Moon the Soul she just took in.
She simply stored the Soul within her own so that one day she could Resurrect her, once Aurora would be hers.
She had more than enough to safely reach C-Rank, especially once Amber would formerly accept to become her third Mate.

And speaking of her third Mate, this one did not hesitate.
Once Luna had finished storing the corpse within her Ring, she flew away again, still with her in her arms, back to their previous hideout, her intentions clear to Luna.
Intentions that this last one had no intention of fighting for long.
“Before that. Do you accept to be my third Mate?”
“Yes, I do.”
That was enough for Luna as the two started in an intense and breathtaking kiss.

(Start Section 18+)
Said kiss started in full, Luna, at the moment still being incapable to move too much, was lying down on their bed being for the first time the one in the bottom while Amber stood on the top, her hands groping the other’s chest eagerly while the white-haired one’s hands were holding on the other’s waist.
The kiss deepened, the Phoenix’s tongue forcefully exploring the Lunarian’s mouth, enjoying the taste immensely while her fingers toyed with her lover’s nipples before she ended the kiss, breathing deeply a couple of times.
Her narrowed eyes were fixated on the Vampiric one’s body, licking her lips upon observing the other’s abundant curves and dense muscles.

Upon seeing the other’s still form, Luna made to speak only to be interrupted by a moan caused by the other’s assault, her Mate’s lips falling on her own before lowering, exploring and tasting the other’s neck only briefly before lowering even further, leaving behind a trail of kisses all along her upper chest before taking in her mouth her left nipple, the right one being merciless teased by the blonde’s left hand while her right explored well below.
The Demonic-blooded one left her lover no respite, her right exploring first her abs before lowering even further, caressing first her waste then her behind to finally end up caressing her nether lips and, between her lover’s approving moans, finally thrusted within the other, pumping in and out of her fast, trying to take revenge for this last month.
Without any hesitation, Amber bit down around the nipples in her mouth, trying to mark the other’s skin while adding another finger within her body, enjoying greatly the moans her lover made until, finally, Luna came underneath her.

The one of the two with still living parents observed carefully her lover’s reaction before bringing her fingers to her mouth and taste the other’s nectar, her own eyes narrowed in pleasure before she turned her attention down on her lover, witnessing her expression twisted in pleasure before kissing her again on the lips briefly, incapable of thinking rationally anymore.
Once done with their brief kiss, Amber moved away from Luna’s lips before she lowered her face, licking and kissing the other’s body without pause until she reached her nether lips and while looking passionately back at the other’s red eyes, forcefully penetrating the other, tasting the other from the source.
Luna’s legs closed around Amber’s head while one of her hands joined them in making sure she would not leave a job half-finished, intent on if the other wanted to take advantage of her moment of weakness, she would enjoy as much as she possibly could.

Said Mate, instead, was incapable of thinking anymore, completely overwhelmed by the other’s scent, taste and sounds, without speaking of the feeling of her skin and body against her own, her hands ex on the other’s butt and thight, going deeper and deeper within the other until…
Amber stayed there, drinking in her lover’s pleasure until she finished cleaning her nether region and, taking advantage of the other’s pleasure, the Phoenix freeing herself from between the other’s legs before deciding that the other should reciprocate.
Quickly she took advantage of her temporary freedom to sit upon the other’s face, closing her eyes in bliss as a long tongue entered within Amber’s body, her hands holding onto Luna’s hair as she kept her lover into position while the white-haired one’s hands caressed the other’s legs.
The Lunarian herself did not hesitate, returning her Mate’s pleasure with her own, her tongue tasting deeply of the other’s essence once she too came.
This continued, Luna fully recovering as the day became night and became day again, and despite Amber’s higher physical abilities caused by her increase in Rank, this last one found herself underneath the other more often than not.
(End Section 18+)

Notes:

Chapter 41: Chapter 41

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 0:57 (Autumn, Day, Nord Lowrar)
*Luna Gains 410 + 1.000 + 500 Magicules.

Luna woke up, her eyes opening slowly while her arms rested upon and around her blonde Mate lying down utop herself, her Mark glowing slightly upon Amber’s neck from last night.
She smiled satisfied as she entered briefly in contact with Sabel and Mafel, making sure they were safe before quickly exchanging informations with them, thing rendered quite easy as during this last month she regularly communicated with them to the point that their Marks advanced to D-Rank, rendering their communication even more efficient, capable at this point to send memories.
Thing that in the last month she used extensively to communicate with her two Mates despite the distance while all three of them were sleeping to share informations about their newest Mate and the situation in general.

All the same, Luna quickly concentrated back into herself, following the beating of her heart and the flow of her own blood and Vital Mana within her own body, quickly falling deeply within her own Soul, ignoring her own Soulscape to dive even deeper, in a part of her Soul she never previously needed or bothered to ever access.
This was not the part of her Soul that functioned as a tether connecting with her three Mates but even deeper in, a part of her Soul not entirely her own as she floated forward as an approximation of her own body made out of Black Blood and shining in Vital Mana.
She was not alone as was only natural for this specific place.

In the void she now was in, various amorphous shadows floated peacefully, constantly assuming forms and then collapsing back into darkness, brightly glowing purple lights shining from all over their bodies.
Luna floated forward, ignoring the way the shadows’ attention focused on her while her own attention was focused on one thing and one thing alone, the only thing that was in discord within this place was a Dragon-shaped mass.
Luna advanced, noting with interest how the other anomaly’s temperature was, even as just a mass of Soul and Magicules, actually colder that the Tyrant was while alive.
The shadows moved towards the Lunarian suddently, enveloping her in an embrace while she continued undeterred, her movements if so they could be called not being slowed down at all, instead being spurned on as the amorphous shadows melded together with her into a single entity.

The “Dragon” concentrated on the incoming threat, the space around her cooling down even further as her disorientation gave way to wariness as a humanoid mass of darkness neared her, feathers, horns and spikes emerging from all over its body together with small luminous crystals shining purple and jutting out of and into her body into long spirals.
The frozen Aura was unleashed in full to stop the advance of the threat, the temperature lowering sharply around her before it billowed out in a cloud of freezing will.
In response the chaotic Aura released by the figure condensed into a single point, quickly and efficiently piercing the wave before it exploded directly into Aurora’s Soul, sending her flying back.

Luna flowed forward, the emptiness around her parting easily as she reached the Dragon stunned because of both the blow and the loss itself and landed on her head before patting it a couple of times in a way that Aurora quickly and easily interpreted as condescension.
In response the Dragon Soul roared, a wave of power forcing the soon-to-be complete Lunarian to retreat, her Aura solidifying to deflect most of the impact while her own body distorted into a long shape similar to a feathered horned serpent.
Serpent that flew back and encircled the four-legged one’s mouth closed before expanding further, encircling her prey’s limbs and wings before long feathered tentacles erupted from its scales, further trapping her before starting to constrict more and more, its Aura suppressing Aurora to the point she couldn’t resist.

The thing that was and was not merely Luna opened its maw before biting down on the Dragon’s neck, filling her with her own essence.
Such a process was not to hurt but to instead fill the other with her own being, not intending on overwrithing the other yet still intending on suppressing her will with the purpouse of dominating the other.
Luna shrunk, forcing Aurora to do the same or being crushed until finally…

Aurora stood there, being forced in a humanoid form, her arms, legs, wings and tail immobilized by long feathered tentacles while her throat was pierced by a pair of long fangs, an attractive feminine humanoid body pressed flushed against her own while an hand caressed her hairs and the other was around her back, holding the two of them close together.
This lasted only a couple of seconds before Luna finally separated from her prey and pressing her hand against the other’s cheek, both mockingly and sincerely.
“For now, I must go. Ah, but don’t worry, you are going to be mine one day.”
The Lunarian vanished again, leaving behind a gasping Dragon Soul in humanoid form on her knees unable to concentrate on anything but the place where the other just vanished.

*Luna Gains the Innate Skill “Presence: Charm” E.

Luna stretched slightly in the World outside her Soul, satisfied by both her new Skill and the effect she had on the guest within herself, before relaxing and continuing to embrace her Mate.

-
10/6 4:30 (Autumn, Day, Yggrar, Guild Headquarters)
The Guild Grandmaster, the Doppelganger known as Stere Hapu, was interrupted from her pause by the knocking of one of her assistants, the young Elf bowing briefly once before handing their boss a sealed envelop containing schematics and data on a specific type of Skills and Artifacts, more precisely all the Sensor-types the various Guilds recieved permission to study.
Hurriedly she stood up from lying down on her desk, her at the moment feminine form moving quickly, to take from their hands said reports and starting to quickly read and compare their characteristics, quickly separating the files in three piles.
The first pile was for the useful ones, the second for these useless for her purpose and the third and final ones was for for the “maybe” pile because of ethical concerns caused by the use of this Skills and Artifacts.

The next step was simple.
As the Rules changed ahead of the Guild’s prediction, it is only natural that her organization changes with it to stay in steps with the coming times.
And her project would be a way for the Guild to further refine her Guild’s precision when it comes to misuring her Adventurers’ and various threats power now that the Status Page no longer shows numerical Values.
She quickly started to draw a rough sketch for the blueprint, starting to calculate the needed costs, both material- and time-based, for the creation of the Artifact while refinining the blueprint and thanks to the fact she had already completed the work for well beyond just the rest of the Month she had no worries outside of various potential emergencies.

The Elf bowed once before leaving the room, unaware of the way one of their Boss’ eyes was examining them.
She had ten assistants at a time and each one of them must work as her own personal assistant three days a month, chosen between all of her assistants at the start of the previous one as demonstrated by the fact that she already had the schedule of her assistants of not only this month but also of the incoming one, while the rest are split between various miscelaneous duties, combat training, even if only rarely within Dungeons considering how no Dungeon could exist within Yggrar, and general vacantion and relaxation.
There was no particular irregularity between the schedules of her assistants in general and this one in particular, nor were there irregularity in their behavior, speech, smell or anything else wheter physical or magical.
Not only that but all of her assistants must be equivalent to an high C-Class at a minimum so replacing one of them would be quite an undertaking, an undertaking she doubted was the thing that happened.
All the same she had no doubt in her mind, something was off with her assistant, and so she started the investigation, wondering at the culprit.

-
10/6 4:52 (Autumn, Day, Dunrar, Hidden Dungeon)
The former Cultivator carefully observed as the threads shone golden as the final insect finally finished melting into poison, poison that slowly started to condense into a single existence together with all the Energy he accumulated.
He neared it, breathing in deeply a couple of times.
While he was able to maintain his Cultivation Stage, the third Stage of a Cultivator called Core Formation, thanks to this Dungeon his temporary master created to imitate his Worlds rules as much as they could, however he was reduced from the Fifth Step down to the Third and he was unable to regain any Qi at all considering how the Planet didn’t Generate it at all.
Consequently not only he would not be able to Cultivate but it also meant that he would not be able to regain Qi once he would use any of it and living alone consumed a little bit, quantity that as he aged was increasing, limiting even further his Lifespan.

As such he could only do one thing.
He lifted an hand before posing it on the glowing cocoon, his own Qi being quickly absorbed by it and joining the nascent pseudo-Gu to familiarize it with Qi.
His own Cultivation dropped further from the third Step of the Core Formation Stage to the eight Step of the Foundation Establishment, most of his palm destroyed by the brief contact.
All his hopes, if so they could be called considering how he was hoping for something that would bring ruin to most of this World, rested on the being that will be born soon.

Meanwhile his master was observing him secretely with part of their attention while most of their remaining attention was split between their various Dungeons, recording the data on all their various Mutations to render them more and more efficient, and their spy within the Guild Headquarters.
Not the Person themself but their spy, a cell-sized Plant Monster deep within the Elf’s brain that was able to share its host’s senses while having no Mana or Vital Energy signature by sacrificing its ability to influence its host entirely, explaining how it was able to, even if only partially, elude the Guild Grandmaster.
All the same the rest of their attention was always stuck on the Ancestor, making sure they would not do any strange movements and considering how they were struck in a coffin made entirely out of Enchanted and Enhanced diamonds, any movement at all would be extremely strange and worrying.
Their time would come, soon.

Notes:

Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 2:18 (Autumn, Day, Nord Lowrar)
“So, what is our plan now that the bitch is finally dead?” Amber asked Luna, the two still starting to rise from their bed.
In response, Luna merely stretched briefly, enjoying the way her Mate’s eyes were fixated upon her body, before explaining.
“I have no particular plan in mind but my short-term destination is Dunrar.” Luna stood up, her new pair of clothes appearing in her hands as she started to dress under the distracted gaze of the Phoenix.
The Lunarian smiled, her fangs shining even with the low level of light of their hideout, at the other’s expression and above all she was satisfied by her Mate’s rising lust before nodding to herself.

“Would you mind if I try my newest Skill, “Presence: Charm” on you?” Luna finished to dress back, her shirt covering back her pale skin and bringing Amber back to reality.
The Phoenix stammered a little in embarassment before remembering the other’s question and, under her Mate’s amused gaze, she hastily replied.
“Sure, I don’t mind. The “Charm” condition is not that bad when around Allies.”
“Okay, here I go then.”

A small part of Luna’s Vital Mana was spent as a wave was released instantly as Amber closed her eyes before reopening them, the wave of Energy solidifying around her briefly before vanishing, leaving behind a light pink sheen covering the Demon-blooded one’s irises as she blinked a couple of times.
“How do you feel?”
“Well, it’s curious how it immediately caused the “Charmed” Status Alteration but it functions as it should, with a decrease on all of my Status Resistances and my Skills automatically consider you as an Ally even if I try to View you as an Enemy.”
“And its Duration?”
“The same time it would take me to Recover naturally from the Alteration and not an instant more.”

“I see… And what about now?” Luna activated her newest Skill once again, a wave of pink Energy filling the air for a brief moment.
“Nothing changed, it only restored the little bit I Recovered but nothing more than that.”
“Interesting. In that case, then…” The white-haired one’s Aura was Unleashed at once, slowly inflicting additional “Charm” however not enough to fight back against a Demon Phoenix’s natural Status Alteration Recovery but slowing it down all the same.
“I will need a way to inflict the “Fear” Status Alteration to lower the Recovery Speed, then.” The red-eyed one reflected on her own before being interrupted by her Mate.

“Speaking of tests, I have my owns to perform on my Unique Skill if you don’t mind.” The rhetorical question waited no answer as she immediately Materialized her Unique Arma, now changing as her own Unique Skill was activated.
Flames briefly raged within her left hand before solidifying into a quite changed version.
A great curved sword, with a crimson blade that seemed to be burning brightly as vivid as it was, an as bright long purple line as its core while it had a golden hilt with a red gem at its center and ending in a dagger-like sharp purple gem.

Calmly the blonde rose it before swinging down at her Mate in a semi-serious attack while a Shield rose in turn to stop the blade, or at least to try and stop it as said blade cut straight trought both it and Luna’s wrist.
In response this last one merely grabbed her falling hand before reattaching it casually first with strings of Black Blood and then back with flesh throught a flash of Vital Mana before calmly commenting.
“I see, does your Arma now ignore Defense?”
“Not precisely, strikes involving my Blade simply consider all Resistances to be a Degree lower. Absorption to Nullification, Nullification to Immunity, Immunity to Resistance, Resistance to Neutrality and this last one to Weakness.” Amber corrected before Unsummoning her “Blazing Blade of the Piercer”.
“My Unique Skill, instead, allows me to designate a Spell or an Art, whether my own or someone else, and, once every 30 seconds, allow them to similarly consider all Resistances to be a Degree lower. And yes, their Effects stacks with each other. My Aura, instead, simply boosts all of my Arts and Spells.”

Luna simply imagined what would happen if her own [Annihilating Conversion] was Boosted with her Mate’s Unique Skill, an eager look in her eyes, while Amber subtly stepped away from the dangerous Person in the room before deciding to distract her.
“So, our next stop should be Higrar, shouldn’t it? In that case, you should introduce me to our Mates, they should be on the road for it, right?”
Luna blinked a couple of times in evident confusion.
“What? I mean, yes, I planned on taking you to meet them especially considering how soon it will be Sabel’s birthday but what exactly do you mean by they should be on the road?”

Silence stretched out between the two before, a sinking feeling in the blonde’s gut, as she responded.
“We are in Lowrar, to reach Higrar we need to pass throught Midrar and they should be around the border of the two, shouldn’t they?”
Yet again silence filled the air between the two before the blonde smiled, genuinely content of having found a mistake made by her Mate.
This last one merely blinked once at seeing her Phoenix starting to slowly laugh at her expression before her laugher increased in intensity upon seeing her expression.

Her response was obvious, then.
The Lunarian stepped forward, embracing her blonde before pressing a specific point of her back and making her yelp and jump in her arms.
Subsequently Luna proceded to throw her on the bed and attacking her weak points, reducing her to a laughing mess.
Only once she herself was satisfied with her revenge on her Mate did the white-haired one let up on her lover before sitting down next to her, petting her until she calmed down.

“Very well, considering how you found so much amusement about such a small mistake then you will function as my guide. Prepare yourself.”
Luna pressed a light kiss on the other’s lips before standing up herself, stretching lightly before holding her Phoenix in her arms, leaving their base and moving it back into her ring.
Amber composed herself fully, jumping down from the taller one to the ground before stepping a couple of paces away from the vampiric one and transforming back into her original form of a vastly bigger Phoenix than she was before made of a mix of gold and purple flames.

“Come on, it’s going to be faster if you jump on.”
“How hasty.” Luna jumped on her head, making herself comfortable between the other’s purple horns before sending a message to her other two Mates indicating that the two of them were coming and asking where the four of them could meet, bringing with her a gift she spent the last ten days of their training days to complete while Amber did her own private session and by using True Images all the while.
In response Sabel indicated the Dungeon the two met for the first time as the place while Mafel sent her own approval of the plan and the Demonic-blooded one started to flap her wings to fly there, guided by the positions of their Mate and basic geographic sense, thing she was certain what would one day be called as the Whole Moon had no sense for at all, a laughing thrill escaping from her beak.

-
10/6 2:18 (Autumn, Day, Anirar)
Meanwhile, in a continent far away, in a city nearby the coast, the last to be discovered by the general populace of this Age and known as Anirar, what looked to be a tall and muscular young woman with dark skin, bright silver eyes, long wild black hair, a pair of wolf ears and a long and fluffy wolf tail, dropped from the window of a large manor, slowing her fall by stabbing her elongated claws in the wall before transfering the kinetic energy of her fall into a launch that sent her over the roof of a nearby building.
From there she simply jumped from rooftop to rooftop, her route long since chosen for this exact moment in which the security around her was at their most negligent, quickly, especially thanks to her immense physical capabilities, reaching the port and more specifically a previously prepared naval vessel for her to escape on, her thirst for adventure driving her forward even if it meant leaving behind her position and everything she ever knew.

Once on board she activated said vessel’s core, it being an Artifact that quickly and forcefully sent her boat and with it herself away from the coast with a burst of speed, barely being able to dodge pursuit from her parent’s guards, at least for a while.
She sighed in relief before turning towards what is generally known as a fridge, starting to have a snack while she waited to arrive, unaware of the distance between herself and the nearest safe, for her purpose at least, landmass or at the boredom she will suffer until then.
The Werewolf moved to the deck of her dark blue boat, almost ripping her dress off in her haste to free herself from it and leaving herself in a much different outfit, one made for the purpouse of fighting while still being able to show off her musculature, her size and her natural beauty to everyone around her.
She lied down while waiting to arrive, her boat driving itself in a stable manner while leaving her balanced.

Notes:

Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 6:32 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar)
Luna relaxed in an almost dormant state upon the head of her Mate, the warmth of the flames gently enveloping her in a comfortable hold as she sleepily played with the feathers near her hands.
Amber meanwhile was fruitlessly trying to concentrate on flying alone, thing quite difficult considering how her beautiful silver-haired Mate’s body was draped all over her own, even if she herself was not in an Humanoid form.
Especially because she was not in an Humanoid form considering how as a Phoenix she had no clothes and felt the other right against against her.
It was no wonder, then, that she did not go to the Dungeon at her maximum possible speed to enjoy it for as long as possible.

Their flight continued on undisturbed, her majestic flying figure enough to scare away any potential Enemies before they finally arrived at her destination as she started to fly high in the sky, circling the tip of the hill in which the Dungeon was in a couple of times before landing near their Mates.
Luna jumped down before Amber could even fully land, awakening by feeling the proximity of her Mates to herself and their emotions.
More specifically she simply launched herself at them, grabbing the two and dragging them back to the now Humanoid form Phoenix.

This last one was barely able to open her arms before the four of them fell on the ground, Luna easily manoeuvring the four of them, the white-haired Elf being on the bottom of the four, her arms opened wide to embrace Amber and Mafel, these last two having their heads resting on her shoulders, while Luna herself was straddling her taller and tallest Mate.
“Before anything else, I have a couple of gifts to share, don’t I?” The Vampiric one waited for no answer, quickly lowering herself and kissing her black-haired Mate.
The kiss deepened, her Human’s mouth opened to allow her tongue in.
The gift, however, was not the kiss.
It wasn’t only the white-haired tongue’s that invaded her Mate’s mouth but also a dense little sphere, sphere that melted instantly within her.
Luna broke off the kiss with Sabel before kissing Mafel and doing the same thing with her.

*Sabel Gains the Growth Skill “Unique Arma: Bracelet of the Rebel” E.
*Mafel Gains the Growth Skill “Unique Arma: Malevolent Staff of the Generator” E.

“What- How is this possible?” Amber widened her eyes, feeling the event thanks to the Mate Mark. “Shouldn’t they have made their Unique Arma themselves?”
“We could say they did. I worked out how to make it for them during your training.” Luna smiled, a smug little grin on her face, waiting for the question.
The Phoenix closed her eyes before sighing, her attention moving briefly to their two shared Mates that were examinating their newest Skills before sighing again, being forced to ask.
“How exactly did you make their Unique Arma, then?”
“Very simple really. Mithril and Orichalcum are the two most extreme metals that can be actually used to Craft with by the hands of People. Mithril actively rejects all forms of higher-order Energy and it is found mainly within the Core of this World with some veins reaching up to deep underground while instead Orichalcum actively accepts all forms of higher-order Energy, changing to match it once exposed to enough of it to ease its Channeling.”

“So…?”
“Right, to make a long story short. I’m a Lunarian, even if incomplete for now, so altering Orichalcum is natural for me. More than that I altered my blood, Vital Energy and Mana to match theirs thanks to the Mate Marks and my Unique Skill “Singularity” and then I made their Unique Armas.”
“How is it natural for a Lunarian to manipulate Orichalcum?” Sabel asked, turning back from her examination of her newest Bracelet to ask her Mate, her cheeks slightly red, thing quite normal considering how she was in close contact with three beautiful People.

At her question Luna turned back to her and kissed her again, softly this time, before answering.
“Well, because quite simply the Moon is entirely made out of concentrated Orichalcum. All the natural Orichalcum on this World is derived from bodies of proper Lunarians, more specifically the gradual and automatic process that converts the entirety of their body into it. It would function much better like that as a Vessel.” The red-eyed one explained matter of factly without any particular emotion.
Mafel startled, her memories inherited by the Elf Paladin sending a red flag at the last word.

“When you say Vessel, what exactly do you mean by that?” She questioned, hoping to be wrong only to be mostly right instead.
“It is the same thing you mean if you are talking purely about the official definition of Vessel but the result itself would be quite different than what you are thinking. The difference would be between the Gods and the Moon. The firsts are egoisticals, self-centered parasites worshiped because of what they are and needing said worship to properly exist in the first place. Instead the Moon itself needs nor wants such worship, or anything else for that matter.” Luna affirmed before sitting up as much as she could on her Elf’s legs.
“Not only that but there is more for me to explain. At C-Rank, the blood of a Lunarian would start, drop after drop, to Convert in liquid Orichalcum until it is fully Converted. At B-Rank the Conversion would proceded from the blood to the Lunarian’s single internal organ, our heart-lung-stomach-brain equivalent. Finally, at A-Rank, the Conversion would gradually progress to the rest of the Lunarian’s body.
“The Vessel chosen by a God would burn itself out after some time and give control exclusively to the divine one of the two, even with the highest possible Compatibility between the two. Differently the Moon has no actual consciense, the closest equivalent being a mass of informations and wills, and choses as target for this fusion a body made entirely out of Orichalcum, the Metal most capable to adapt to sudden changes and the same Material it is entirely made out of. The result will be quite different from a Divine Vessel, I assure you.”

Luna lowered herself again, pressing a kiss on each of her Mates’ lips, before standing up fully and porging her hand for them to grab and to subsequently stand too.
Once they were on their feets, she kissed each of them once again, sending forth Vital Mana in each of them made by precisely matching the feeling of each of their Vital Energy and Mana to try and teach them how to better use and Sense Vital Mana.
“Well, let’s make some quick introductions.
“Mafel, Sabel, this is Amber, a newly C-Ranked Demon Phoenix and my newest Mate.”
Said Phoenix briefly waved to her two new Mates while examining them.

“Amber these two are Mafel, a D-Ranked, even if she won’t remain such for very long at this point, Spectral Elf.”
The willowy one smiled lightly, her eyes misuring the much shorter one both as a woman and as a warrior both, while inwardly preening at her Mate’s acknowledgement of her forthcoming increase in Rank.
“And Sabel, a D-Ranked Human, Adventurer and soon-to-be birthday girl.”
Said Human shily smiled at her newest Mate, her black eyes shining slightly.

‘Am I the shortest?!’ The blonde thought to herself noting her Mate’s height with dismay. ‘Am I really so short I cannot be seen by the average Person?!’ She continued, remembering an insult she recieved from a certain Ice Dragon in the past, around the proper start of their animosity towards each other.
‘No, no. I’m not short, my Mates are just tall, that is all.’ She nodded to herself, temporarily satisfied, unaware that both Mafel and Luna were able to more or less guess her thoughts thanks to her emotions and their Marks, deciding to for now keep their response within their own heads after exchanging a brief look.
Sabel, instead, didn’t hesitate.
“You are very cute, Amber.” She was not able nor was she willing to stop her next action, peting the top of her newest Mate, carefull of her horns, taking advantage of the fact she was actually around 10 cm taller.
“I’m not short!” She protested immediately, her voice rising briefly.

Silence stretched on, her face growing more and more hot, before her tallest Mate, the 192 cm tall Elf, stepped to her and petted her too, a small teasing smile on her face.
“There is nothing wrong with being short, Amber. This only renders you even cuter, you know?” Considering the difference in height of around 27 cm between the two, this felt even more mocking yet she could do nothing considering how she needed to strain her neck to look the other in the eyes.

Before she could properly defend her honour, a pair of arms embraced her from behind before a soft kiss distracted her and she was taken in Luna’s arms, being distracted and creating an opening for Sabel.
The black-haired one didn’t hesitate, stepping forward and lightly kissing on the lips her shorter Mate and Mafel followed suit with her own kiss.
After all while Luna was at the core of their relations, all four of them were Mates together.
The four of them left together, moving towards the Dungeon with Sabel starting to explain the latest on the Guild’s research on it.

“So, from what the Guild shared with our Party, this Dungeon was created around the change from the fifth and sixth month of this year and it has 5 Floors in total. The Guild was able to conferm someone’s influence just after it’s creation and the same was true for various other Dungeons all around the World and of various different types. The oldest of the altered Dungeons we know about is just about seven months old and is in Drarar.” Sabel.
“I see… I would say that the Unique Skill owner is a non-standard Existence then. It is the only way to justify the speed and anonymity of their travels across the World.” Luna affirmed mostly to herself.
“The Guild Master is of a similar opinion, thinking them to be either a Driad-like or Specter-like Person.” Sabel.
“It depends mostly if they have somewhat of a physical form or not at all.” Luna concluded, gently letting the Phoenix down on her feet. “Let’s explore this place, shall we?” She indicated the entrance of the Dungeon with a nod of her head.

Notes:

Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 44
10/6 9:07 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar)
Luna for the third time entered the Undead Dungeon, her own and Amber’s Aura flaring around the four of them in unison and crushing all the Undeads coming towards them, their Defenses already weakened thanks to the influence of the Unique Skill “Piercer” on their Aura.
“As expected, our lack of the “Coordination” Skill lowers the Potency of our combined Aura quite a bit from what it should be at.” The Lunarian noted while concentrating on both of their Auras, taking on the mental burden of maintaining it on her own and leaving Amber free to help maximize the Damage being dealt by the Aura itself.
Damage comprised mostly out of the Status Effects “Burning”, “Charmed” and “Bloodloss” activated by her Aura on all of the Undeads while their Mana and Vital Energy was Drained by both the Aura and the Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” itself throught the Aura.

Vital Energy and Mana that Amber was slowly merging together within her body while the living illusion functioned as a natural inspiration on how to handle and make Vital Mana even if she was not actually a good teacher for most of the populations, another flaw that went entirely unrecognized in her previous life as Scarlet.
Meanwhile this last one was carefully observing her own Vital Mana imbued within the dying Undeads before, using her Aura as a medium, she forcefully directed her own Vital Mana to feed said Energy causing it, and more specifically, the Status Alteration “Charmed” to burst violently, spiking in intensity.

She repeated the process again, Targetting not the “Charmed” Alteration but the “Burning” one and then finally the “Bloodloss” one, nodding to herself satisfied at her newest Skill.
Some may wonder at the effect of the Status “Bloodloss” on a bunch of Undeads but while they were Immune to that Alteration, that merely meant that they would not recieve its Effects until it would activate and at that point they would immediately lose a lot of Vital Energy and Mana at once.
The Undeads finally died, their Magicules and Pseudo-Souls being condensed in a single sphere that she then devoured in a similar phenomenon to her creation of her Growth Skill by using as model one of Amber’s Skills.

*Luna Gains the Ability Skill “Enhancement: Status Alteration” E.
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Lunar Resistance” D Expands because of Growth Skill “Devouring Evolution” D.

She nodded, satisfied, the last remaining couple of Undeads within the First Floor dying fast as their Status Alterations instantly worsened thanks to her her newest Skill and its effects on her Aura, leading to their demise.
Only one thing remained on this Floor.
“So should I kill the Boss?” Luna asked her Sabel and Mafel.
“Don’t worry about it, the two of us should be more than enough to handle it.” The Human responded, her sword held securely into her hand while her newest Bracelet was Manifested around her right wrist, a golden Bracelet with a iridescent gem, even with no particular effect without an active Linked Unique Skill.
Mafel didn’t bother to respond to either of her Mates, her own Unique Arma taking the place of her previous Staff, looking like it was made out of an ashen wood, the highest part separating out in sharp branches revealing an iridescent sphere at its center while the Staff ended in a spiraling tip, functioning as a spear in case of things needing to be stabbed.

She stepped forward, her Staff forming a brief circle, forming a Magic Circle while various Artefacts upon her body shone lightly, Vital Mana being Channeled within her newest Staff and subsequently within her incoming Spell.
Before the Undead Abomination could interfere in any way, the Human ran in and, sword and body both clad in Light, pierced one of its head to the hilt.
This on his own would not have been enough but the swordswoman was far from done.
The Light around her exploded violently in an instant, blindingly bright and scorching it violently before jumping back, ready for following attacks.

“[Curse of Fragility].” This cruel Spell was one she learned by observing the Liches of this very Floor and was Casted at much greater speed in comparison because she forgo the Resistance-Piercing Effect.
This would have theorically rendered the Spell useless against something like the Undead it was Casted on however her Innate Skill, “Holy Curse” C, took care of it.
Said Skill had very important effects for her style of combat and the situation in particular.
The first relevant effect was the balancing of her Curse- and Holy-Attributes with increases to own applying to both while the second, instead, was for Curse- and Holy-Attribute Spells to count as either of the two against Resistances, in this case all of Mafel’s Curses will count against the Undead Abomination’s terrible Holy Resistance.
It was no wonder then, that the Curse landed in full.

Sabel didn’t hesitate, running back into the fold and unleashing a series of blows clad in violent Light that seared its undying body again and again while Mafel was Casting another Curse.
The Undead roared, bone spikes appearing all around her, but she ignored them after all this was not the first time the two had fought this specific Monster and as such their response was sure.
A wave of Light exploded from her body, deflecting most of them before she used her new Bracelet to deflect the remaining ones using its indestructibility, causing Luna to give a brief look to Amber, an eyebrow rising in challenge and causing this last one to blush in embarassment remembering back to her disadventures with her own Unique Arma.

The battle between the three continued, Light condensing around her blade before being released in a thrust.
A line of white that formed a hole around 40 cms wide within the Undead’s body, giving herself enough time to ending the distance between the two and swinging again and again, a torrent of Light swings that cut it again and again while her Light violently rejected the Monster’s Aura, burning Vital Energy and Mana constantly to fight at this level.
And meanwhile the Spectral Elf was not hesitating, Casting Blessing on the Human while Casting Curse after Curse, to slow it down, weaken it, disrupt its Control over Vital Energy and Mana and render it less and less combat capable.
It was no wonder then, that the battle for its first life ended without too much trouble even if it was a long one.
However the real problem would be its next life.

The First Floor Boss died.
It’s “Undying Body” Skills activated, bringing it back to life, every single one of the Curses on it wiped away in an instant, the entirety of its Vital Energy and Mana was Restored while Sabel and Mafel’s reserves were nearing depletion.
The Lunarian quickly checked her Mates’ emotions, making sure that they knew what they were doing and finding them to be unconcerned enough with the situation for her not to intervene.
The tallest of the four moved forward, her Staff spinning once before she stabbed forward with the blade at its end taking advantage of its distraction caused by the presence of Luna and Amber and the fact it had memories of their previous battles and was confident that Sabel’s Party together with Mafel was only able to kill it thanks to the addition of Hale’s Holy-Attribute Spells and Jay’s Critical Hits caused by the Skill “Sneak Attack”.

“[Malevolent Resurgence]!”
This was not a power it was familiar with as this was a power granted by her Unique Arma that, obviously, it encountered for the first time.
All the Curses that the use of “Undying Body” rejected concentrated around the Elf’s Staff, converting into Energy before being released.
The spiraling, sharp tip piercing its body released a shockwave within it that ruptured its body from the inside out, hastily burning most of its Vital Energy and Mana in an instant and leaving it open for a blade wrethed in Light that swung down violently, cutting it in two and ending it.

The two based their strategy on Luna’s battle against it, using its first phase to build up enough power to kill his second one in an instant as otherwise they would be too exhausted to survive its attacks.
Sabel fell on her face, too exhausted to move anymore, and Mafel followed suit, causing the Human to cry for help as the Elf fell upon her.
“Help me, Luna! Amber!” The black-haired begged, her voice raising as her back was under the unconscious medium causing Luna to smile, entertained, as she stepped up to near the two, watching them.

The black-haired one smiled in relief at being saved only for her smile to freeze on her face.
Luna had lowered herself, posing her elbows on her knees while standing on the tip of her feet, an impish smile on her face, as she poked her still aware Mate on her cheeks again and again.
Amber facepalmed at feeling the Lunarian’s enjoyment, joining her Mates before deciding to enjoy herself too, sitting down and posing the former Boss’ head on her laps, petting her.

Once Luna satisfied her desire for entertainment she lowered herself, cut her tongue with her fangs before kissing her trapped Mate and using her own blood as a medium to fill her with enough Vital Mana to suppress her exhaustion and restarting her Recovery before doing the same with her other Mate.
Mafel slowly woke up from her unconsciousness, finding herself opening her eyes to her blonde Mate’s thight before hearing her black-haired Mate cries for help to finding her being teased by their most dangerous Mate to her satisfation.
She closed her eyes again, posing her head back on her Mate’s legs, relaxing back to the sound and feeling of her squirming Mate, deciding to fall back asleep.
Sabel squeaked at her abandonment at the hands of her Mate before rising her eyes to meet the cruelly shining eyes of her red-eyed Mate, a despairing breath escaping her under the amused gaze of Amber that decided to enjoy herself by playing with the taller of the four’s hairs while waiting for the two to recover fully.

Notes:

Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:01 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
Luna, once she was satisfied and her Mates finished recovering, moved to recover the Magicule Crystal, playing with it shortly before enveloping it within her own Vital Mana and Black Blood and shattering it herself curiously.
As the Magicules were released from it, of the 10000 contained within it, 3000 of them were quickly absorbed between her three Mates while the remaining Magicules tried to disperse.
The Lunarian narrowed her eyes in concentration, the fleeting Magicules stilling as her blood and Energy forcefully condensed them into a very small sphere, sphere that she brought to her mouth before she devoured it.

*Luna’s Ability Skill “Enhancement: Status Effect” E Expands because of the effect of “Devouring Evolution”.

She smiled, her fangs shining slightly, at the success of her trial before turning to her Mates.
“Well, let’s go team. We still have a couple of Floors to clear.” The Lunarian exclaimed before turning to the Gate leading further to the depts of this Dungeon.
Her Mates followed after, Luna moving in front and Amber in the back to make sure both Mafel and Sabel, the most fragile of the four, would be protected in the incoming Floors from both enemies and traps.
The four crossed the Gate without any remaining hesitation, finding themselves in a dark corridor, various skulls entombed in the walls and flooring and illuminated only softly by sparse candles high in the cealing illuminating screaming skulls and bones that seemed to be trying to escape from the wall.

Luna didn’t hesitate, cutting with her nails her own nail as her Black Blood spilling forth before spreading around her in a fine mist moving with the four to try and find any Monster in advance.
Amber quickly observed the area around them, her wings emanating enough light to illuminate the area around them, however she found no trace of any Monster around them even with her “Heat Sight” active, deciding to instead observe the Black Blood around them, trying to seek any irregularities in its temperature in vain before clicking her tongue in irritation.
“Hey, Mafel. What Skills do the Specters in this Floor have?” Amber asked.
“The most important ones are “Undying Body” D and “Null Presence” D.”

“In that case the blood will be useless to find the Ghosts as they will not interact with it until they personally attack.” Luna noted calmly concentrating then on finding traps.
The four proceded carefully, eyes trailing all around them carefully, as they went deeper and deeper in.
Without any word various layers of blood solidified, floating over what looked to be normal pieces of the floor, pieces in which she found an irregularity when it comes to their height, as they proceded carefully, Luna in front for very simple reasons.

First, Lunarians were made with naturally high defensive capabilities between Resistances and regenerative capabilities with her additionally being the most skilled of the four when it comes to fighting.
Second, even if not rare in this specific group, she had no problem with the low light level of this Floor and had very fine senses in general.
Third, she had the highest weight of the four even considering Sabel’s leather armor and Mafel’s much greater height thanks to being a mix of tall, curvy and muscular, and so where she stepped it should be safe for the other three.

Luna carefully proceded, every single one of her steps measured, with her Mates stepping only over the floor she herself was stepping on.
Her blood preceded her, pressing against the ground before her own steps, as she stepped over the trap with no reaction nor did it trigger once the other members of her Party passed it.
This process repeated for the next trap before the four of them finally were sure something was off.

“Mafel, did you ever enter this Floor before?” Amber questioned the former Monster.
“No, I didn’t.” She answered, confused.
“This is the Floor the previous you was a Boss to, right? Is it possible that they aren’t attacking or showing themselves before you are with us?”
“They shouldn't. They should attack normally. I don’t know why they aren’t right now.”
“Strange.”

The four proceded, passing another trap indisturbed, and doing the same with a further one.
Or at least Luna and Sabel did but as Mafel walked past the trap, it activated on its own, sending a bolt of solid steel straight towards her head.
The moment said bolt passed the mist of blood, both Luna and Amber reacted.
The Lunarian moved to between the Elf and the incoming bolt and the Phoenix, thanks to her greater physical power derived by the increase in power, swung her Unique Arma cutting it in two.
The Human attacked, sending a ray of light back, but nothing reacted or was wounded.

Sabel clicked her tongue, her eyes narrowing into focus, as she searched the area around her.
Luna released her Aura fully, indiscriminately attacking any and everything around her that wasn’t her Mates, objects included, to kill or at least wound the Specters in the hope that this brute-force way would surpass the anti-Targetting effect of the Innate Skill “Null Presence” D; and Amber followed suit, her own Aura blazing violently and mixing with her Mates.
The heat spiked violently, Luna breathing in deeply a couple of times, before she directed her Vital Mana to her Aura, using as a blueprint the adaptation of her “Enhancement: Status Alteration” she gained thanks to the Undead Abomination, forcefully actualizing its effect on the area all around the four.

The air in the room violently bursted into flames, the roar filling the space around them except for immediately around the four Mates.
“I gained no Vital Energy or Mana, it did not hit any Monster.” Amber confirmed thanks to her Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” activated throught the flames previously generated by the two working together.
“None of them are in this room, meaning that there is another one connected yet separated from this one. Not only that but the hole the bolt came from doesn’t exist. At least not anymore.” Luna affirmed, her Black Blood pushing against the wall yet finding no give in any part of it.

Sabel moved to the slightly higher step before stomping down on it to no effect.
“This is not a pressure plate, it’s a fake to build a false sense of security if someone notices it.” She exclaimed, light starting to sligthly emanate from her body, before she quickly rejoined her Mates.
“In that case…” Luna’s Aura exploded, filling the room completely and pushing against the entirety of the walls around them, searching for any flaw or incoming attack, while straining her five senses to the limit.

Thing she quickly found as a hole in the wall opened to launch another crossbow bolt from a completely different direction than the previous one.
As a conseguence, her Aura filled the additional room completely, spelling the Monster’s death while the bolt was deflected by Sabel.
While the Specters of this Dungeon could not be directly Targetted for an attack, this didn’t matter to their Aura as this was not an attack but equivalent to an enviremental effect, thing it was not Immune to, as Luna absorbed it completely.

*Luna Gained the Innate Skill “Enhancement: Senses” E.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Presence Suppression” C Expands thanks to “Devouring Evolution” D.

The red-eyed one nodded, satisfied at her gains, before the four proceded without any further hesitation carefully.
And as they walked, the floor underneath the four vanished suddently.
Amber opened her wings with enough force and speed to create a shockwave behind her before floating down, Sabel used her sword and her feet to slow her fall enough for the Phoenix to grab.
Luna instead accelerated further, grabbing the Elf while in fall before opening wide her Wings stopping herself in mid-air and releasing a destructive beam straight under them, in the vane hope of killing the culprit of this trap.
She clicked her tongue, moving upwards to return to their previous room only for the hole to close before they could move back.

Luna looked on in displeasure before making it known to said colprit by releasing a wave of destructive Energy that filled the corridor in its entirety, quickly destroying anything that wasn’t a Fixed part of the Dungeon, including the wall that functioned as temporary roof for them, also erasing in the process another Specter momentarily in the corridor.
The four quickly returned to the previous one and instead of walking, Luna simply started to float forward, her Wings and a suit of Armor forming around her, holding her afloat.
She simply decided to ignore the ground entirely, all the while still holding her Mafel in her arms and Summoning the entirety of her Familiars in full within various feathered serpents flying around the four of them, keeping an eye on all around them while a Barrier fused with their Auras surrounded them all, growing stronger and stronger.

She wasn’t satisfied, however and as such her next move was only natural in her opinion while being in actuality completely insane.
Her Aura blazed higher and higher, completely filling the Barrier and going even beyond that to the point of burning her own Vital Mana and Black Blood as fuel for the creation of more and more Aura.
Finding no more space to fill and the three Mates being protected by their Mark and Amber’s own, it filled to the brim the Summoned Familiars until they, in response to the rising stress, started to emit their own independent Aura.
The scream being released by the Lunarian’s mouth intensified in a roar, a shockwave emanated in an instant from around her as the Aura melded into a single one, the air around them trembling and distorting around them.

*Luna’s Innate Skill “Unleash Aura” D Increases to C-Rank.

The Barrier around them vanished into nothing before forming again, stronger than ever before and much more precise in its protective power.
“Let’s go, girls. It’s no time to dwaddle now, is it?” The Lunarian laughed, stepping forward without hesitation.
Amber and Sabel followed, the first warily watching her Mate while the second simply stared at the Familiars swimming in the air around the four full of curiosity before moving towards one of them and starting to pet it, enjoying the warmth it emanated.
The red-eyed one smiled at her more excitable, satisfied, before turning to the one still resting in her arms that was on her own, her eyes glazing at her Mate in wonder as she was actually able to feel the Soul all around them, embracing them.

Traps were triggered, bolts and rain of various liquids falling on them causing no issues as their Auras simply and violently deflect all of the attacks.
Luna stepped forward, false walls shattering all around them because of the Aura that was constantly being emanated by the Vampiric one, until they found themselves before the Boss Room.
This was quite simple for the four of them considering how the Monsters of this Floor were entirety incompatible with direct fighting and the traps of this Floor were useless against someone that could fly while still having a constant Barrier around themselves capable of killing the fragile Specters, to her satisfaction.

Notes:

Chapter 46: Chapter 46

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:32 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
The four Mates found themselves in a vastly different Boss Room than the previous one, being covered by a dome made out of bones and with no apparent Boss or source of light actually there.
The Human didn’t hesitate, Casting a very basic Light-Attribute Enhancement on herself to illuminate the area immediately around her, the Demon Phoenix and the Spectral Elf worked together, combining the Holy-, Curse- and Fire-Attribute with the Unique Skill “Piercer” and the Innate Skill “Holy Curse”, creating a Barrier around the three of them against the Boss and to support Amber’s Aura.
And yes, three as the Lunarian simply moved forward, her Armor and Familiars both being Dispelled at once while her Unique Arma Manifested around her forearms and forelegs before her blood completed said Armor, her Familiars being Summoned within it in an instant and without any waiting.
Their densely packed Aura flared once before condensing in a small layer around their combined form, a vibrant mess shifting between all possible colours, while destructive rainbow-colored Energy irradiated from her body.

Silence stretched on for a couple of terribly long-feeling minutes before seven ballista bolts from different directions rained down on Luna and this last one’s eyes, previously closed shut, opened wide.
Her Aura exploded, forming various tentacle-like limbs that grabbed the incoming attacks before instantly throwing them back covered in her Aura, her tail opening in a snake’s mouth and releasing a beam of energy while the sharp feathers of her wings were sent all over the Boss Room, trying to wound it enough to force its “Null Presence” to deactivate.
However, not only was this ineffective but for some reason she found herself being picked off the ground by a strange force and thrown towards the Barrier surrounding her Mate, trying to either use it to hurt her or force them to Dispell it to protect the Lunarian.
But this was far from the white-haired one’s first fight and consequently her Wings transformed into six different tentacles that launched backwards, taking advantage of the fact that this Room presented walls and somewhat of a roof, to press against them and keeping herself in place against the force that was trying to force her back.

“How is it possible?! The “Possession” Skill should not have been able to do all of that in so short of a time.” Mafel, well aware of what the Boss should and should not be capable of doing, exclaimed in surprise.
Almost in response to her words, nine different ballistas fired on the Lunarian at once from different directions than the previous ones, taking advantage of the fact that her mobility was quite a bit restricted fighting back against the force trying to throw her at the flaming barrier.
The red-eyed one didn’t hesitate, her Aura forming into three chain-like tendrils that deflected most of the incoming bolts before finally grabbing the last two of the nines and bringing it closer to herself for inspection.

Said bolts were made entirely out of a single mass of bones and having glowing Runes inscribed on the entirety of its surface and probably even deep within it.
Next she took its shaft and broke it in two near its tip upon her knee, confirming her hypothesis on its constituition and the way they were built, in this case being constructed automatically following a simple blueprint.
And in this case the Runes had the intent on letting the bolts phase throught the wall, more precisely they were made to pass through all corpses, Undeads and Items derived from formerly living Beings to ignore both the Wall, Monster-derived Armors and Shields and possible Undeads within the Room to only strike Living Beings, Beings that in an Undead Dungeon can always be considered as Enemies.

She quickly memorized the Rune’s pattern in both of the bolts before destroying both bolts layer after layer, memorizing all the Runic patterns written upon and within it.
Once done with this process, quick because of her perfect memory, she dropped the spear-sized bolts to the ground, her interest in them satisfied.
“Hey, Mafel. How many ballistas did the past you have? How long would it take to recreate ammunitions?”
“It had 25 and around 20 seconds each ballista to recreate a bolt, why?”
“To be sure. The current Boss probably only has around 20 of them and would need at least 25 seconds. Not only that but it doesn’t have the Skill “Possession” at D-Rank like the previous one did, instead it has the Skill “Telekinesis” at E-Rank which would explain how it launches them and is holding me in place at the moment.”

“Telekinesis? Are you sure?” Amber questioned, surprised and worried because of the implication of this Skill but Luna herself was certain of it and, almost as if to want to demonstrate her correctness, the force upon her body instantly inverted, launching her away from her Mates and right towards two bolts trying to impale her.
She immediately released a burst of Aura and Vital Mana underneath herself to jump over the twin bolts, grabbing the two with her hands before precisely throwing back covered with her Aura in the same movement, trying to damage not the Spected but the ballistas themselves.
This tentative failed confirming for her that the Ballistas moved right after firing considering her own immaculate aim.

The force on her immediately changed directions but this time she simply rejected being moved, controlling her Armor and forcefully keeping it, and conseguently herself, in position even with the “Telekinesis” pressing against her.
She closed her eyes in concentration, pushing all of her Senses, both biological and Skill-based ones, to the limit to fell any change in the area around her.
Finally her tentacles moved, grabbing four more darts out of the air, coating them in her aura, and then launching three of them back in slightly different directions from the ones they were shot from, earing well how one of her projectile struck its mark in full, breaking at least for a while one of the ballistas.

The force imposed on her repeatedly changed direction, trying to confuse and distract her but she didn’t let herself be moved from her spot thanks to her control over her own blood, both within her own body and her Armor.
Not only that but she continuously and indiscriminately attacked everything around her thanks to six sharp Tentacles, her Tail and her Wings with three Aura whips thanks to her increased control over her Aura caused by the C-Rank of her “Unleash Aura” Innate Skill.
She planted her feet solidly on the ground, joining together her hands, a Bow taller than she was forming in her hands, and, making sure the Boss would not be able to interfere with her next shot, she nocked the fourth harpoon-like dart as if it was an arrow.

“[Parallel Arrow].”
The so-called arrow was launched, one at either side of it made entirely out of Energy following suit.
The three arrows, one real and two exact duplicates, passed right throught the wall of bones, destroying two different ballistas at the same time. “Three down, around 17 to go.” She confirmed to herself, her Aura grabbing another bolt from the sky and firing it, and two duplicates, with her bow soon after, striking this time all three of her targets.
She had, after all, already adapted to the manner in which the ballistas moved and guessing their position relative to each others was child’s play at this point.

To add insult to injury she manipulated her Black Blood to form a long spear-like Arrow with a runic pattern of Vital Mana, moving her Vision to within it, that she then shot forward in an instant.
The Arrow ignored the wall completely as it destroyed the ballista before the worst possible event for the Boss happened caused by the fact that the moving ballistas were in a single room and moving utop railways and then the Arrow became a Viper as it destroyed the rest of the ballistas.
Soon after her Familiar returned to within her Armor, the force emitted by the Specter’s “Telekinesis” Skill changed immediately from trying to throw her around to trying to crush her.

Luna narrowed her eyes before grinning, a savage light in her eyes.
She immediately released her Aura at full power in a violent explosion that filled the entirely of the Boss Room, well aware that the intensifying of the pressure showed how the Boss itself needed to be closed to herself than before, in range of her response.
And thanks to said response, the Lunarian found her prey.
The Skill “Null Presence”, deactivated thanks to the not inconsiderable amount of damage she just dealt it, revealed the Undead Monster that quickly was blasted with as many Status Alterations as she possibly could before she punched it all over its body with hands covered in Aura again and again, each blow releasing a burst of Energy in tandem with it.

The Specter twitched a couple of times as it slowly floated to the ground under the merciless gaze of the Vampiric one, her hands holding its head firmly as its “Telekinesis” was shut down because of the series of attacks.
Without waiting or hesitation of any kind, and elliciting a wince of simpathy from Mafel, she pulled back her left hand upon which a drill started to quickly spin before she thrusted it right into the other’s head before it exploded into a wave pf destruction that shattered its body in an instant.
The Magicule Gem of this Floor appeared and the four absorbed its power, 10.000 Magicules each while the 60.000 that would disperse were forcibly absorbed by the red-eyed one without hesitation, increasing her Latent Potential even further before they proceded to the next Floor.

*Luna Gains 10.000 Magicules.
*Luna Gains the Ability Skill “Divine Power” E-Rank.

Notes:

Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:34 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
The four of them proceded forward, even deeper in the Dungeon, reaching the Third Floor together for the first time and more precisely a circular room.
Differently from the previous one, this one was properly illuminated letting the four Mates view the kind of Room it was.
Before them was a group fifteen large of D-Ranked Undeads, composed of five Undead Abominations, three Liches hidden at the back, four Giant Zombies wielding differents armor and shields even bigger than their immense, over ten meters tall, stature and three two-and-a-half meters high Skeletons armed with large and long bows with a quill containing bone arrows inscribed with softly glowing Runes.
There was no need of a genius that already saw it before to figure out that the arrows had the same effect as the bolts shot in the previous Boss Room.

A sense of foreboding emanated by Mafel followed soon after by a mental warning thanks to their Marks, leading to Sabel jumping away from where she previously was as a bone bolt pierced the air where she just was.
After the previous Boss fight, the Rank of her “Spiritual Gaze”, a Skill similar to the True Dragon’s “Soul Sight”, increased allowing her to see the Runes inscribed within the bolts themselves.
Luna’s Aura exploded, taking advantage of her newest Skill, “Divine Power”, to deflect the bone spikes sent by the archers towards them away from the four and towards the general locations of the ballistas moving in a room beneath their own as indicated by Mafel.

Amber’s Aura followed suit, expanding at full force while her Mate bore the burden, the Giant Zombies in response roared, a small amount of Mana being spent by both to create two Barriers around the three Liches with different purpouse, deflecting physical and magical blows directed at them to the two armored ones.
Arrows were launched immediately by the archers and the Phoenix moved forward in an instant, her Unique Arma covered in flames flashing out and subseguently she swung straight throught the arrows, cutting them in two.

Luna concentrated on protecting their Mates in the meanwhile, her own Senses pushed to her limits while she used her “Divine Power” throught her Aura and the Black Blood mist around her, deflecting any incoming attacks.
Mafel would normally start Chanting for an Holy-Attribute Spell to support her allies however she needed to concentrate on the ballistas beyond this Room to make sure none of them would be taken by surprise by unseen attacks.
Sabel started to channel her Mana around her, generating light thanks to Mafel’s and Luna’s previous teaching about Magic in general, concentrating it around herself and her sword, her Bracelet shining slightly around her wrist.
After all they decided their roles before even entering the Dungeon itself without the use or need of any words.

Amber launched herself at one of the D-Ranked Undead Abominations without further hesitation, thrusting her sword wielded in her left hand clad in fire into its head, charring him from the inside out before she formed a fireball in her right hand that she slammed into it, causing a golden explosion.
She moved on, her Aura continuously sapping the dying Abomination she left behind of its Vital Energy and Mana while moving towards her next targets, fireballs flying from her beatings wings towards all the Undeads in the circular room they found themselves in.
The Demonic one mercilessly punched one of the Giant Zombies’ shield, it stepping back a couple of times to deal with the force of the impact before it moved forward again, launching the woman back, this last one spinning a couple of times in the air before landing precisely on her feet.

The blonde breathed in a couple of times before exaling a wave of fire, forcing the two shielders to step in the front to block the destructive wave for their more fragile allies, continuously roaring in order to create a wall of force before them with the purpouse of blocking Amber’s attack.
The Skeletons drew back their arrows before shooting right throught their guards without any hesitation, their arrows phasing both their bodies and armor, they too made entirely out of bones, and Amber decided on her own to grab two out of the four arrows, launching them towards Luna for this last one to analyze them before destroying all the others with a mix of flames and sword swings.
All the while the Liches continued to Chant undaunted and indifferent to the battle in progress around them.

Amber’s Aura exploded at full power, the air in the room itself starting to violently lit ablaze with her not showing any reguards for her Mate trusting them, more specifically Luna, to be able to handle it without any issues.
Luna’s Aura safely coated her Mates while she herself was busy analyzing the Rune pattern and the difference between the arrows and the bolts, memorizing them, before sharing the information with Mafel considering how she already had a “Runecraft” Skill.
Subseguently she made a couple of True Spears floating around her manipulated by her newest Skill, inscribed with a Runic Pattern both on and within them derived by the one she just examined, that she then threw towards the ballistas indicated by her Elven Mate, those that were preparing to shoot her Mates from underneath the floor before they even could.

Amber instead seemed almost to dance, the flames following her movements gracefully as she relentlessly attacked, fireballs forming around her briefly before they exploded, filling the room with heat and fire while Draining both the Vital Energy and Mana of her enemies, Vital Energy and Mana she slowly and carefully combined into Vital Mana within her own body.
In a burst of speed she exploded forward, a flaming trail roughtly following her movements, as her sword swung again and again, the shield of one Zombies being battered continuously, forcing its wielder to step back lightly with each blow while shielding itself from the following explosions.
The Liches finally finished Chanting at this moment, Casting their combined Spell with a wordless, silent roar.
Curse-Attribute Mana exploded, the three Liches shattering under its weight as they sacrificed their lives to fuel the Spell, and said Mana raged out of control for an instant before it coalesced into a great Gate, the shards of bones floating in the air before condensing into a single skeletal figure slowly manifesting in the Dungeon.

The World of Gaea was overlayed with a semi-Plane, the so-called Divine Plane where Gods resided, and nine different actual Planes from which the Attributes found their origins.
Only two type of Beings could be Summoned from the Attribute Planes, the Spirits, a Race composed entirely out of masses of Attribute Energy with Sentience.
This Gate however was not for a Spirit but for a member of the other type of Beings that could be Summoned from the Planes, an Elemental, a wild mass of Cursed Energy coming from the Planes of Grudges in this case, using the bones as a temporary Vessel for its might until they would inevitably shatter.

The shards formed a long serpentine skeleton while the Curse Energy fled from the Gate, coating the bones in it before the now flying mass of purple acidic Energy released a silent roar.
The Barriers formerly around the Skeletons were devoured in an instant, forming additional fuel for the newly Summoned Grudge Elemental before it enveloped the Undeads without any resistance the following second, their flesh melting down in an instant while their bones shattered into dust before proceding to add to its Vessel, it growing further stable.
Amber twitched, her eyes narrowing in focus at her opponent, before with widening eyes jumping to the side, the place where she was just in attacked in an instant by a wave of Curses, even the Floor of the Dungeon being slowly eroded because of the interference from another Plane.

The Phoenix moved back, flames covering her body completely before exploding from her body and towards the temporary manifested Elemental, it flying right trought the wall of flames without any issues before trying to devour the Demonic-blooded one.
With an explosion she dodged the mass of Energy before sending back swords made entirely out of fire towards her opponent and then flying back out of range of its answering strike, her own wings beating fast a couple of times and sending a rain of embers upon it.
Luna watched from a distance, ready to interfere the moment her Mate was in danger, while her Aura flared before calming down multiple times before it took advantage of the damage the Elemental dealth to the Dungeon Floors to invade the Room underneath this one, destroying and killing anything within it, filling it entirely and starting to slowly build up power.

Amber quickly moved all over the room, dodging strike after strike while dancing in and out swinging her Unique Arma clad in concentrated flames, flying slashes raining down on the inhabitant of the Plane of Grudges, trying to shash apart as much as possible of its Vessel to Dispel its Summoning while starting to Drain its Energy.
This, however, was an error.

Amber dropped to her knees, starting to vomit blood as its violent Energy started to erode her, her organs and even blood slowly starting to rot from the inside out, pain wrecking her body while her natural healing was trying to fight back.
The Elemental didn’t hesitate, floating towards the fallen Phoenix and intending on consuming her to increase greatly the Stability of its Vessel and subsequently its time on this World.
Upon seeing the incoming mass, she directed her stored Vital Mana to her hands, releasing a violent blaze before her despite the Curse Energy disrupting her use of Energy in general and using for the first time her Unique Skill to increase vastly the amount of damage it would do.

It passed throught the flames, more than half of its bones burned badly and some of them even reduced to ashes, but its direction and intent, if so it could be called, were unchanged.
As it opened its mouth like frontal part, a wall of solid Aura interposed between them, slowing its progress down to nothing.
Luna calmly walked to between her Mate and the Elemental before them, her Aura enveloping it completely before starting to crush it from all over thanks to her “Divine Power”, trying to destroy its Vessel directly.
The pressure she exerted slowly increasing, forcing it to release more of its power to fight back and accelerating the degragation of its Vessel.

“Spirits and Elemental in this World are made out of two components, the Energy composing them and the Vessel. However the amount of power either of the two can manifest depends entirely on the second of the two as the more Energy it uses, the more it is damaged in response. So, what will you do now!” She instantly caused the Status Alteration “Charmed” in it through her “Presence: Charm”.
This may seem to be counter-intuitive considering how, while it did not have a Status or a presence in the System, Elemental had an equivalent to Status Alteration Absorption that converted them into more Attribute Energy for them however this was all according to her plan.
As more and more Vital Mana was converted into Curse Energy automatically, the burden upon its Vessel caused by the amount of Energy it was composed out of increased in response.
Amber rose, the time her Mate gained more than enough for her to finish healing.

The Elemental tried to lower the amount of Curse Energy it was outputting but the pressure it was under didn’t allow it to under threat of even more damage to the Stability of the Vessels.
“I’m sorry but the affinity between the two of us is terrible for you.” The false platitude from Luna was followed by her forcefully filling the Grudge Elemental with Vital Mana again and again as with a final silent roar, its Vessel finally shattered because of the ever increasing stress.
The mass of Curse Energy, now without a Vessel, made to explode but the Aura surrounding it quickly compressed it into a small sphere that she brougth to her mouth, opening her jaws before eating it in an instant.
Luna twitched a couple of times in pain, before her own Vital Energy finished integrating it into herself.

“Well, just the Boss remaining.” Luna confirmed.
“Why do you think whoever made this Dungeon allowed the Summoning of a Grudge Elemental?” Sabel asked, confused about why someone in charge of a Dungeon would Summon something capable of destroying it.
“Two possible reasons. Either they don’t care at all about this Dungeon or they are convinced they can Dispell it if necessary.” Amber affirmed before Luna expanded on it.
“In this case the second. The Spell was altered specifically to Summon an Elemental from the Plane of Grudges. The normal Spell to create a Gate is a general Spell that changes depending on the Mana used as fuel but this one was specificly altered from the roots. Not only that but the previous Floor Boss could probably use its ability to use Telekines to deal damage to it easily, the First Floor could use its Curse Amplifying ability to destroy its Vessel by overloading it and this Floor’s Boss is a Lich with a way to take care of it.”

“And I suppose no Adventurer spoke about the Summoning of a Elemental because we -” Sabel looked at each of her Mates making sure they all knew she was speaking of only the three of them, the former Second Floor Boss turned Person, the Demonic-blooded Phoenix and the Lunarian, more specifically. “- are too dangerous to be left alive.”
“Probably.” The red-eyed one confirmed casually before moving to the Boss Room, causing the one with the most common sense between the four to sigh before she followed in, finding herself in a large throne room.
Upon it, rested a great skeleton, golden crown resting upon its head, various bright gems embedded in it, a great purple mantle at its back, a black light armor covering its body, various golden rings around its fingers and silver bracelets dandling around its right wrist.
“---” A breath escaped it, bright purple flames dancing in its empty sockets as it rose, its left hand closing around a long staff made out of bones from which a pair of skeletal hands grabbed its left wrist to increase the connection between teh two, increasing its Casting Efficiency and Control in general.

Notes:

Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:46 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
The Lich stood up, its large and imposing four meters tall body possessing comparable physical abilities of the previous “Giant Zombies” even while being only a mass of bones and a Magic-specialized Monster at that, its necklace gleaming slightly because of its movement.
The long staff ended in a great, ivory skull with identically bright flames in its own sockets, its mouth opening wide in a silent screech, a shockwave emanating from the staff washing over the four of them while at the same time the Lich itself Casted a second different Spell.
“[Famine].”

Luna’s Familiars vanished in an instant because of the Spell the staff automatically Casted, the Spell [Banishment], the same combination of Spells it would have used to deal with the Elemental if needed.
[Famine] was a relatively direct, even if complicated, Curse-Attribute Spell that forces upon all of its Targets the Status Alteration “Hunger” in a way similar to “Presence: Charm” and similar Skills because of the fact that Curse Elementals and Fire Elementals are the two that damage their Vessels the most and fastest and this Spell would accelerate said degrading.
[Banishment], instead, was a No-Attribute Spell composed of three different yet linked effects: the first is the fraying of the bonds of Vessels and body-less Entities; the second was the creation of a Zone with increased Dimensional Walls to negate any possible Summoning from Enemies surrounding this throne room; and finally, the third was an ever-increasing Rejection force upon all body-less Entities within the previously created zone.

Luna’s Familiars returned to within her while additionally sealing her ability to Summon them again but the most dangerous thing was the other Spell as demonstrated by both Mafel and Sabel dropping to their ground in pain, hunger assaulting their bodies.
Amber didn’t wait an instant, sending forth a wave of fire, using it as a distraction before launching herself at it with drawn sword while Luna instead was manually feeding their Mates by enveloping them with her Aura.
“Hunger”, after all, was a very dangerous Status Alteration to endure especially considering how it would worsen with time passing and even at its lowest function it would increase the Energy requirements of Arts, Spells and any other action while also weakening the Being.

Amber was still suffering its Effects but had a strong enough Existence as a C-Ranked Demon Phoenix to fight for a while but this was not a sustainable effort as she would degrade more and more with passing time.
Or at least that would have been the case if Luna didn’t Cast the Spell [Burning Grasp] on her Mate without waiting a second, even if at minimum possible power and landing only thanks to Amber allowing it to, as for Phoenix specifically the act of using their “Fire-Attribute Absorption” Innate Skill is equivalent to feeding and the Status Alteration “Hunger” is lowered by that and only that.
Luna however had no need to consider her own “Hunger” and so was free to support Mafel and Sabel, thanks to the combination of the facts that as a Lunarian the act of feeding, drinking and breathing were considered one and the same; because she had a Nullification towards all Status Alterations by her Unique Skill; and, finally and most importantly, because when she was still Scarlet she figured out how to actively evade that specific Alteration without bothering to actually eat.
After all while she could drink and eat sweets without any issues, she hated the act of eating itself to the point that even her mostly mindless previous Ghoul self did this process automatically.

Amber’s sword fell upon the Lich without any hesitation only to be stopped by a Barrier-covered shield made entirely out of the same Bonesteel, a Metal made out of a combination of iron and bones, as its armor.
No, not one Barrier, the Demonic-blooded one noted but multiple Barriers generated by the Skill “Multilayered Barrier” as she confirmed with a wave of fire released from her body that was Nullified before ever reaching its target.
In an instant the blonde kicked forward, launching herself away from the incoming swing of the Lich’s staff covered in Curse-Attribute Mana, fireballs flying forward with a beat of her wings while a minuscule amount of “Burning” Alteration was constantly being applied and subsequently Absorbed by her to fight against the “Hunger” Alteration and refuel her Reserves.
She quickly glanced at her Mates only to find them close together, Luna sharing her blood with the other two’s mouth by a kiss while her Aura surrounded to three as a defensive measure, seeing her fingers indicating the same place from multiple directions.

She obeyed the suggestion without hesitation, her Unique Arma flashing out as a flying slash went forward while simultaneously sending fireballs from multiple directions to try and hit it despite its Barriers and shield both being moved in the way by her skeletal opponent.
The Floor Boss moved the shield to block the slash as it was the only attack able to actually deal damage to it, thing that was correct even after it shielded the attack based upon her blade only to become false as Amber used her Unique Skill to grant the ability to ignore a layer of Resistance entirely to one of her fireballs.
This meant that the Fire-Attribute Nullification present within the Barrier was degraded to an Immunity.
An explosion of fire covered the Lich only for them to dissipate a couple of seconds after, revealing an unhurt one except for a couple of cosmetic scratches, its eyes blazing malevolently towards its opponent.

The Lich opened its own mouth suddently, releasing a strident sound that brought her to flinch back in pain at the sound, her “Hunger” worsening further for an instant before alleviating as Mafel recovered enough to Cast an Holy-Attribute Sorcery on Amber, increasing her natural Resistance to specifically the “Hunger” Alteration.
This wouldn’t suddently negate the activated Alteration but it would lengthen the time it needed to worsen further, Amber noted, before Unleashing her Aura at full power immediately around her body without using Luna’s own as support, her blade starting to vibrate as flames condensed immediately around it and causing the air to distort because of the rising heat.
Luna noted how the two where preparing to return to their fight before nodding to herself, her Aura starting to pressure Sabel and Mafel while at the same time reinforcing them.
Her mind, however, was focused on the Spells that the Boss launched from the start of this battle, analyzing them second after second.

Amber didn’t hesitate, jumping back in the fray with a thrust of her sword directed to the other’s skull while fireballs rained down upon the Lich.
This last one without any waiting rose its shield to block the sword while its staff Casted on its own a [Fire-Attribute Barrier] to further shield itself from Amber’s fire just in case while trying to bash her head in with its staff.
Before she could be hit, the Phoenix kicked forward sending her flying back and evading it while launching a wave of fire from her mouth to serve as a smokescream, confirming that the other had Physical-Damage Immunity and Fire-Attribute Nullification and she was more than able to guess the reason, its pieces of jewelry lowered the magnitude of their Resistance while changing the type of Resistances.
Luna intervened, activating the effect of “Presence: Charm” on the Lich only for one of its ring to shine slightly before the pink glow of the Status Alteration was shattered by a purple light generated by it, confirming it also didn’t have Status Alteration Nullification considering how it was effected before the interference from one of its rings.

Amber didn’t hesitate, trying to take advantage of its brief confusion to jump back in and slash at its neck to decapicate it in one fell swoop but this tentative to end the fight or at least taking the lead, was a complete failure as the Monster dodged the strike by jumping right before trying to smash the skull on its staff on her head while at the same sending a beam of Curse-Attribute Mana towards the three non-combatants to distract the one with the most Fire-Attribute Affinity.
This failed because this last one had complete faith in her, or rather one of her, Mates’ ability to deal with the attack continuing on her assault on the Lich, her blade creating red hot lines all over the air as this last one found itself having to hurriedly move as any of her attack could suddently Pierce its Barrier and wound it.
Meanwhile the beam it released and the Curse it was imbued with, splashed harmlessly against a [Curse-Attribute Barrier] that Luna casually Casted before this last one started to absorb her Mate’s Vital Energy and Mana, manually using them to create more Vital Mana that she then gifted back.

At seeing that the Lich, at the moment still continuously and rapidly stepping away from the swings of the half-Succubus, before releasing a strident yet silent yell, causing the blonde to flinch away in pain as a couple of purple Magic Circles formed in the ground near it.
Within the Circles, an empty void showed itself briefly before a long bony hand emerged from both of the Circles, the Spell [Summon Skeleton], a version of an Undead specific Spell.
With another couple of silent roars, the Skeletons ripped themselves out of the void from which they were formed from, each of them emitting their own strident yet silent yell.
The battle intensified soon after.

Notes:

Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:48 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
Amber swung her Unique Arma at the two Skeletons only for one of them to force her to step away as its sword thrusted right for one of her eyes, buying enough time for the other Skeleton, this time armed with a bow, to shot right through the Lich and forcing the Phoenix to move away from the three.
This was an error as the two Monster brought the Lich enough time for it to Cast its Spell.
A bright purple sphere formed above it before it exploded, releasing a wave of Negativity the next instant that washed over the Lich, the two Skeletons and the four Mates all together.

Mafel and Sabel were fortunately unharmed from this attack as Luna deflected the Curses that would have landed on her Mates with her Aura to concentrate them on herself and herself alone, her Nullification being overwhelmed by the triple assault as she trembled briefly as did Amber.
Meanwhile the Undeads were not only unharmed even if all three of them were actually Targetted by the Spell itself.
Not only were they unharmed but they were also strenghtened further, all that thanks to their Innate Skill “Minus Reversal”, an incredibly dangerous one that as a start greatly lowered the Magnitude of Holy Resistance while not only turning Curse Resistance into Curse Absorption but also enhancing the owner’s Existence if they fully Absorb a “Cursed” Status Alteration.
And differently from the Grudge Elemental of before, there is no chance of the Undeads to die because of too much power as this Skill explicitely and safely Boosted their Existence and Existence alone.

Amber roared, a wave of fire released in an instant from her mouth to rain down upon her three opponents only for the Lich to intervene, Casting a Barrier against the Fire-Attribute to once again block the attack to protect its Skeleton guards from the attack and creating an opening for the archer to shot the Demon-blooded one right in the heart.
She hurriedly rose her sword, blocking the arrow and being sent flying back, landing on the balls of her feet before launching herself left, dodging a purple beam sent by the Boss before rising her blade to hastily block the sword held by the Skeleton swordman, her legs bending slightly because of the weight of the blow.
Her eyes narrowed in concentration, flames fleeing from her mouth as she roared in concentration, her blade sending the Monster flying back as her strenght suddently and explosively increasing.

“Good. She started to actually use her increase in strenght following her C-Rank advancement.” Luna commented satisfied as Amber moved at speed higher than ever before despite, or more precisely because, of her weakening caused by the Curse.
After all now she found herself having to bring to bear the entirety of her power to fight properly despite the Curse’s weakening her body.
Amber jumped forward at full speed, even faster than she was just moving with her explosions to the point that she reached the swordman before it could even react, her blade burning brighter and brighter as it fell again and again upon the Skeleton and as time passed, her strenght and speed increased as she started to consciously use her newfound power at her best.

At seeing that Sabel didn’t hesitate, her eyes narrowed in focus as she started to push against the Aura around her using the Vital Mana gifted her by Luna and moving it within and around her own body until, a short but very long-feeling two minutes later, her own Aura started flaring violently from her own body before fluidly mixing with Luna’s.
This last one, after all, had already mastered how to mix her Aura with others’ thanks to her experience with combining with Amber’s and her Familiars’ own and was more than able to synchronize with Sabel.
Following the black haired one’s gaining of her newest Skill, Mafel herself started to imitate her with her own Vital Mana following the memories of all three of her Mates about the use of Aura itself.
After all with Sabel’s Innate Skill “Status Alteration Resistance” in effect on all Allies within her Aura, she had enough concentration to try and copy her Mate’s process.

Amber, meanwhile, was concentrating on the Boss and its two followers, at the moment consisting of two Skeletons armored and wielding swords as its previous minions were killed by her, her sword flashing all over the pace as the Curse on her already ran its course and she moved now with even greater speed and strenght than even before.
She moved left, dodging a beam of No-Attribute Mana Casted automatically by the Lich’s Staff while it itself was Chanting another Curse, the sixth in total from when the battle started and the forth for this specific set of skeletal subordinates, before responding in kind with a wave of fire to try and disrupt its Casting and the corrisponding Spell.
It stopped its chant only for the skull upon its staff to continue on in its place while it proceded to fortify its Barrier against the flames and its two minions jumped out of the way, sending flying slashes at the Phoenix to push her away from the Boss.
A purple mass concentrated above the Lich’s head, pulsing before exploding in a wave that would wash over all seven of them.

Or at least that is what would have happened if Luna didn’t suddently open her eyes and released a roar, sending forth a pulse of Vital Mana that precisely disrupted the sphere, destroying it and sending a backlash back at the Lich, forcing it to still as Vital Mana coursed throught its body.
Amber saw that and more specifically the Lich twitching in pain as flashes of Energy erupted from its body in irregular intervals, its body trembling because of the continued assault.
She didn’t hesitate, her lips stretching in a sharp smile as she launched herself at one of the distracted Skeletons, impacting it with a kick followed by an explosion that sent it flying beyond the border of this Floor.
A couple of seconds later, it reappeared above it, only to fall an additional 10 meters at high-speed, landing hard on the ground and creating an opening for the one covered in flames to sent a bursting sphere at the occupied Lich.

Fortunately for it, the other Skeleton jumped in the way of the attack, shielding it with its own body.
The Lich tried to Cast another Spell only for it too to be destroyed by the Lunarian and Energy violently erupting from its body and bringing it to its knees again, a strident yell escaping from its maw.
The Skeletons didn’t hesitate, moving in response to its command one towards Luna to try and stop her from interfering with the Lich’s Casting while the other jumped Amber, intending on distracting her and in so doing prevent her from helping her Mates.
The blonde merely smirked, confident on not needing to help or even turn towards the three and concentrating on her opponent alone, trusting them to handle themselves, before attacking the sword...man? Swordbone, yes, she nodded to herself, satisfied by the name she just came up with.

Luna turned towards the newly named swordbone, her Aura opening slightly to allow it entry before closing down around it hard, forming long tentacles that immobilized it completely while not killing it, well aware of the fact the Lich could not Summon anymore once its limit of two active was reached and the process of Dispelling them would require either time or Energy.
However this was not all as the moment after it was captured, Mafel finally Unleashed her own Aura, her Holy- and Curse-Attribute mixing with their Aura thanks to her Innate Skill “Holy Curse” as Blessings filled not only Mafel, Sabel and Luna but also the so-called Swordbone and the reason for such was very simple.
The Skill “Minus Reversal” had a very important and relevant downside.
To easily explain it, if you consider the Existence Value of a Being to be “100”, Blessings increase that value by, for example, “10” while Curses instead lower that value by let’s say “10”; however with this Skill, the Value would be “-100” and following that, the same Curses of before would render it to the value of “-110” while the same Blessing would render it at “-90”.
In other words, Blessings would actually weaken them instead of strenghtening them.

Following that Luna’s Aura filled the floating platform completely, proceding to heal and strenghten all four Mates while weakening all three Undeads thanks to Mafel’s influence.
Amber released her Aura fully before severing the Skeletons limbs in an instant and kick it to the ground hard, the Aura forming even more tentacles to immobilize it.
The next second the Lich that was futilely trying to Cast, had its Spell destructively interfered with before the Aura solidified around it and bringing it on its knees, smashing its head in the ground hard and forcing it to look up to Luna, the Lunarian’s eyes shining brightly before she rose her left leg and stomping on its head hard, cracks spreading all over its body before Energy violently erupted from it, killing it.
The Magicule Crystal appeared in the air and was quickly shattered, Magicules absorbed quickly and efficiently by all four of them.

*Luna Gains 10.000 Magicules.
*Luna Gains the Ability Skill “Counter-Spell” E.

Notes:

Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 10:58 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
*Luna’s Innate Skill “Lunar Resistance” E Expands.

This was the only thing Luna achieved by absorbing the remaining Magicules that would disperse but it was more than enough for her considering the Skill she learned on her own previously and her increase in Potential left her just a couple of steps away from her desired Rank-Up.
She longingly watched the gate to the next Floor before sighing, well aware that even if she herself could probably survive it alone considering how she was actually built for survivability she would not be able to protect any of her Mates and it would take her days to finish the next Floor, long enough to miss Sabel’s birthday.
The four left the Dungeon soon after, Luna once outside starting to experiment with the Spell previously Casted by the Lich, the only one she could Cast of those she copied from it, the “No-Attribute Magecraft” Spell [Banishment] by repeatedly Casting and Dispelling it, analyzing it until she found a countermeasure against it just in case she would not be able to use her newest Ability Skill “Counterspell”.

The four Mates moved towards the city, more precisely towards Mafel and Sabel’s mix of house and shop, while praticing with Luna’s newest Skill.
Sabel, Mafel and Amber Casted some Spells without any warning to Luna or each other while this last one precisely countered them by using Vital Mana and without causing any backlash to her Mates by using no excess Vital Mana that the amount strightly needed, using her “Authority: Vital Mana”’s Sense for Mana alone to guide both the amount of Vital Energy to use and when to use it.
Especially considering how thanks to the difference between Vital Mana and Mana alone, she needed a lot less Energy to fight against a Spell than her opponent and this led her to understand the fact that she could without a doubt be defined as a “Mage Killer”, considering her ability to Sense Vital Energy and Mana and, if she was willing to bring herself to the brink of unconsciousness, she could simply use “Counterspell” while using the entirety of her Vital Mana to inflict an immense amount of True Damage, Damage that would ignore any defensive measures or Resistances.

A while later…
Sabel felt a mix of amusement and embarrassment, together with Mafel’s and Ember’s disbelief, as they beholded Luna once again found herself in trouble with the same guard as her previous misadventure, before she jumped in to intervene between the two before a fight could happen.
“I promise to look after her and make sure she doesn’t do anything wrong.” She said only to be rebuffed immediately from both of them.
“You aren’t strong enough to stop her.”
“You aren’t strong enough to stop me.”

The combined statement from both led to her stepping back, an awkward expression on her face at the truth of said statements before Amber stepped forward, her eyes trying to conceal her own newfound amusement.
“I’m going to make sure Luna doesn’t cause trouble in this city.” The blonde bore the guard’s judgement calmly before this last one calmly for a couple of seconds before he nodded, satisfied by the combination of her strength and her being much less inherently dangerous than their companion.
“Fine but keep her under control.” He launched a last bad look towards the red-eyed one while this last one was looking back at the Phoenix, one of her eyebrows raised in a silent challenge and causing a shiver to travel her back.

“Oh? You will keep me under control, will you?” the challenge in Luna’s tone was evident as she looked at her Mate with half lidded eyes, promising either great pain, pleasure or maybe even both.
The Phoenix stepped back, her shiver returning with a vengeance, while Mafel and Sabel both tried to stop their amusements, even if of the two the Elvish one was much more skilled at hiding it of the two, by starting to lead the other two back in the city and more specifically in Sabel’s and Mafel’s temporary home.
Once within Mafel’s shop, the door closed behind them, she led the four of them first in room where she met her clients and then moved away one of the curtains revealing what looked to be just a normal wall before she posed her left hand on it and pulsing Vital Mana she specifically made.

The wall shone with Runes briefly, opening up and revealing a dark drop into seemingly nothing even to Luna’s eyes before she simply stepped forward dropping only four meters before a soft landing pad broke her fall.
Sabel followed her fearlessly, well accustomed to this method of travel, before Luna launched a look and a smile at Amber as the two soon fell after their Mates noting once they landed how Mafel posed her hand on another pattern on the wall, this time a visible one, that closed the wall behind the four of them.
“Wow.” Amber commented, watching the complex array of Runes carefully carved in the wall presenting multiple places for the former Boss to place her hands on to cause different phenomens while instead Luna was studying the entrance to the basement, noting how the walls, the pillow and even the door was painted in a black so dark no light could reflect off of it, made with the explicit purpose to fool Dark Vision.

Mafel smiled at the attention before explaining while subtly praising herself.
“I have a lot of knowledge about Runes from both the previous Boss’ and the Elf paladin’s memories. Not only that but it also converts light into more Vital Mana stored within a battery that helps fuel the entire Runic Array.” After a brief pause, she sighed noting the expecting gaze of Sabel. “And Sabel helped me by releasing as much light as she could to help me measure the amount of light that is actually absorbed by the walls.”
“You kept me up for days to fine tune the Runes, you know? In fact you teached me Sorcery jus for me to help you.” Satisfied with her praise, she turned to the amused Lunarian. “Having said that, Mafel is also nearing the C-Rank in her Ability Skill “Medium Comunication”.”

“I see, how impressive. That will be a very important Skill for your growth in the future.” Luna complimented, causing some almost visible question marks to form atop the Phoenix’s head causing the Lunarian to turn towards her. “How much do you know about that Skill?”
“That it allows Mediums to comunicate with dead People?”
“More precisely, it asks informations from this World about dead Souls. However at C-Rank, a Medium can borrow a single Ability Skill from the World that they could theorically learn or improve one of their Skill by one Rank, up to C-Rank. And by using said Skill, whether improved or gained, they naturally build more proficiency with it, gaining it significantly faster than otherwise.”
“I see, that will be certainly very useful for you in the future.” Amber nodded, impressed.

Meanwhile said Medium was looking away in embarassment at the appreciative looks sent her way by her most recent Mate before speaking up to distract them from herself.
“The real prize will only be at B-Rank, there is no need for me to be praised. Why don’t I show you two around, after all this is the first time either of you visited this place, right? And I made this as something I would easily be able to bring with us.”
“A single portable Runic Array, correct? In that case, can you bring me to its Core?” Luna.

Mafel had no problem with it, leading the three of them to yet another hidden yet confortable room with a perfectly circular stone upon a table, the Runic Core that she could use in case she needed to monitor, modify or move the entirety of the Array if necessary.
A luminous circle shone from its carving upon her Keystone, reacting to her Vital Mana and showing the entirety of the Array in an instant and easily allowing Luna to memorize it, her mind proceding to confront it with previous instances of Runes to form patterns and start on understanding the entirety of this Runic Language.
Sabel and Amber both instead wandered off to one of the couch in the room, laying down and starting to rest after the day’s stress while admiring the determined expression on Luna’s face.

-
10/6 10:59 (Autumn, Day, Yggrar, Guild Headquarters)
The Guild Grandmaster, at the moment being a pretty woman with long black hair, was boredly spinning on her chair with nothing better to do before suddently stopping, her eyes moving straight to the door and pressing the Rune on her desk, calling her assistant of the day.
Not even a second later, her door opened precisely as her oldest, both in age and time spent following her around, assistant entered her office, standing on attention and Sealing the door behind her.
“What is it, mistress?” She asked, her azure eyes completely focused on her Boss while her pointed ears searched for any sounds that shouldn’t be in this place, more especially for anything suspicious as shared in their previous and private meeting.
“It’s finally done.” Stere Hapu cheered, satisfied. “It needs only to be fused together now.”

“Congratulations, mistress.” The blonde calmly congratulated her mistress before moving on the more pressing matters. “Did you finish your homework?”
A groan escaped the, at the moment, black-haired one. “You are not my tutor anymore, or my maid for that matter. And I don’t need anyone to tell me to do my work, Ladere.”
“Don’t you? What a change. I still remember that cute child running away the moment I showed myself because they didn’t want to study and me needing to hunt and capture them before dragging them by force back to the study.”
A shudder went throught the Shapeshifter’s back, memories filling her mind of her assistant hunting her down while raining down arrows, Arts and Spells all over the place, before forcefully changing the topic.
“I will need to move to my laboratory to recieve its parts and fuse them together.” A smile spread on her face.

Notes:

Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 11:06 (Autumn, Day, Yggrar, Guild Grandmaster Private Laboratory)
The Guild Grandmaster stepped within her laboratory, her Senses examinating the entirety of it to seek anything off within it, things that certainly wouldn’t be hard to find considering how, upon the closing and Sealing of the room, time is automatically stopped for everything inside.
Stere Hapu needed only to remember the state she left this laboratory the last time while controlling both the age of the objects within, confronting them with their age upon her previous Sealing of the room while controlling all of the times her laboratory was opened at all from its creation, searching for any irregularities.
Not even ten seconds after this process started, the Shapeshifter finished examining the entirety of the four hundred meters wide laboratory before confronting the age of the objects with each others and with the passage of time from when she herself opened up her lab.

Similarly Ladere herself Casted various Spells, both throught Magecraft and Spiritual Magic, to scan the entire laboratory for any other being while closing the door behind them and Sealing it, and them as a consequence, had in a completely separated space.
Thing quite easy to do considering how this laboratory was surrounded by the World Tree’s roots and so more than enough Energy was present to passively twist space, time and even Reality itself slightly and it just needed a little push to activate this effect.
Once satisfied that her Spells, her five Spirit Lords and both her “Hunter’s Instinct”, “Threat Detection” and “Enemy Detection” Skills found nothing that shouldn’t already be present, she moved to almost the opposite part of it in a separate but important part of this place by, with pure speed alone, crossing almost four hundred meters in a tenth of a second while negating the impact her speed would have had on the area around her at her shattering the speed of sound ten times over.

“I see you are feeling lazy today.” The Grandmaster commented calmly at her former tutor.
And she was mostly correct as normally the blonde would have moved at a slower, even if similar, speed while not damaging her surrounding by using pure skill alone, without Casting any Spell or her Spirit Lords help in safeguarding the laboratory’s equipment.
Stere Hapu sighed before smiling, eager to finally complete her pet project, ceasing to Mimic the mental-focused Guild Master in charge of Astrar in favor of one of her more physical B-Ranked Adventurers, her own Existence and physical capabilities increasing, easily reaching her waiting assistant.
There waiting for the two was a great, 10 meters of diameter and 1 meter wide circular table with another smaller circular table two meters wide at the exact center, both of them floating while bright crystals illuminating the room from the roof.

The currently black-haired woman carefully jumped over the external table and between her steps her shape trembled, turning into a grey slurry that scattered into multiple masses, masses that grew until all eleven of them formed new copies of the Grandmaster’s current form, ten moving in concern and stopping each one before a predetermined section of the larger table while the last remaining one climbed to the top of the central table before nodding to her tutor.
Said tutor, a naturally aggressive especially for an High Elf, nodded in response sitting down, entering a Deep Meditation and breathing in deeply once before, as she breathed out, showing off the might of an High Elf as her five Spirit Lord leaving from their previous Vessels within her own body.
Five mass of Fire-, Water-, Air-, Lightning- and Earth-Attribute Mana condensed within their own forms, each one of them a slightly altered version of her own body, showing off the depth and age of their Bond, as they moved to between the two tables, each one of them being paired with two of her student’s copies.

All ten Copies started to Mimic each a different individual before Stere Hapu’s primary body, as she had no true shape or body, recalled all her copies spread around this World to maximize the reach of her Unique Skill and starting to copy a specific Person; the Number 7, “Magic Queen”, intending on using her mastery over all Magic to Cast a Grand Ritual, to actually be reductive in its nomenclature.
The black metal forming this entire separated room shifted, following her will, creating a vast complex Runic Array while she retrieved the Magic Items made by her Clones working together with various other Beings.
And the final step of the pre-Ritual preparations was completed by Stere retrieving 10 A-Ranked Dungeon Cores, glowing iridescent crystal orbs with a range of one meters, the enormous Offering to Fuel this Grand Ritual.
If a E-Ranked Magicrystal is comprised of 10k Magicules; a D-Ranked one of 100k Magicules; a C-Ranked one, one million; a B-Ranked one, 10m; a A-Ranked one, 100m; a Dungeon Core, finally, offers 10 times what an equivalent Ranked Magicrystal would.
There were 10 of such A-Ranked Dungeon Cores, floating utop the outer table, presenting a treasure worth 10 billion Magicules and an equivalent amount of Potential.

The Doppelganger casted a last, longing look towards the fruits of the lasts two centuries worth of labor, both her own and Ladere’s, containing enough power for her to immediately jump to become Number 7 and vastly increasing her Potential, sighing before starting to Chant, Runes starting to violently glow, the separated dimension of this Room trembling because of the amount of Energy being Channeled.
The Cores followed that example, glowing brighter and brighter, before slowly shattering into small mites that started circulating, waves of Energy being constantly released only for them to be deflected by the Runes to further function as Fuel for the Ritual itself.
While the eleven Clones were harmoniously Chanting, each one a different one, the Spirit Lords intervened, bridging the gap between Planes to direct and control ever more Energy to the Ritual itself, anchoring it ever deeper into Reality and starting to forcefully Manifest it in its entirety.

Hours passed as the Cores finally finished shattering, their pieces condensing in a single perfect and blinding sphere over Stere’s central body, shaking and pulsing with power, the Runic Array constantly changing to balance the immense amount of Energy from the Planes, before finally the Chanting slowed down to a stop.
And the moment the central Doppelganger stopped, the orb shattered in an instant releasing a wave across the entirety of this World, a satisfied smile formed upon the Guild Grandmaster’s face before she laughed, glad.
This was only possible because the Rules were still unstable.

*Emergency Alert.
*The Rules upon the World will change.

-
10/6 13:09 (Autumn, Night, Dunrar, hidden Dungeon)
The nameless Poison Cultivator felt the change on his Status but didn’t bother visiting it as he looked down upon this World’s System, viewing it as vastly inferior to his World’s Cultivation and being too pridefull to use it.
The only thing he cared about was its positive effect on his creation, noting the acceleration of his Gu’s birth, and braming the time that it would be born and he would kill his current master.

Said master was instead covertly watching him, being disappointed in his lack of intelligence and foolish pride.
He, after all, was not the first Cultivator to arrive on this World and being Suppressed by the World’s Rules and a way to survive and even thrive was long since found.
A Cultivator just needed to train and grow with the System, adapting to it.
In fact he was not even the weakest of the Cultivators that reached this World as the weakest of them arrived at a lower Step that he currently was and by using the System reached Immortality, the Fifth Stage of Cultivation, within ten years of arriving while having like no knowledge of Cultivation.

And his visit held immense repercussions to this age as before he left this World, he took the seed of a weeping willow, brought it in a safe island and shared with it his own knowledge of Cultivations.
Seed that over the millenia grew to the World Tree, the Living Core of Yggrar.
They sighed, their own and their Monsters’ Status already controlled to make sure they didn’t lose any combat capabilities, before deciding to ignore for now the surprising naive so-called Poison specialist.
Instead the Dungeon Maker controlled the Sealed androginous Ancestor, making sure the situation was under control, and for the first time using their Authority over Dungeons to force the unresponsive Vampiric being to share with them their newly gained Title, function added with the recent change in the Rules, feeling their Existence, that of their Boss and even that of their Monster increase as they were now the “Subordinates” of one of the Top 10.

-
10/6 13:09 (Autumn, Night, Astrar)
The Iriblades stopped momentarily upon feeling the change in the rules of the World before resume their previous actions, that is to say they restarted their training to adapt to the changes as they were already training in a private and secure room.
After all Klevel just increase in Rank and all five of them needed to make sure they mastered the changes caused by the strengthening of his Holy-Attribute Magic and the Guild previously sent a message to all high Ranking Parties to be carefull around this period, evidently reguarding this event.

-
10/6 13:09 (Autumn, Night, Midrar)
Luna observed this last message, wondering at the culprit behind the change of the Rules and the reason why, eager to know, before turning to her Status, a sharp smile spreading on her face.
Her Mates, likewise, were monitoring their own Status, this alert distracting them from their previous conversation.

Notes:

Chapter 52 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 13:09 (Autumn, Night, Midrar)
The changes were immediately visible to be mostly in the way that informations were shared with the Beings by the System, showing Luna her own Vital Mana Quantity, her own Vital Mana Quality, her Control over it and her natural Recovery; additionally it showed her Affinities, in her case only her No-Attribute Affinity, and her Resistances to both Damage and Status Alterations, things that before she, as well as mostly everyone else, needed to guess at.
This alone would not be worth of much attention however the newest Rules changed other very relevant things.
First of all, the presence of both the Essence Points, or EP for short, and Existence Value, or EV being similarly shortened, raffigurating one the stability of the owner’s Soul, body and mind while the other represented the Floor the owner operated at, their natural state it could be said.
Second relevant change, Skills no longer could store Magicules and Skill influenced by their Grade now were influenced instead by their owner’s Grade while, as Luna tested by swinging her left arm at empty air, their Grades alone influenced now their power even if at a much greater magnitude then before, a way that actually helped out naturally weaker Beings more than anyone else.

The third and most promising major change was the new type of Skill presented on everyone’s page, the Title Skills that Luna had as an empty list, at least for right now.
And about this list, someone unexpectedly spoke up.
“I have a title!” Sabel exclaimed in surprise, surprise that grew when, betraying her expectation, none of her Mates had one too, being greatly surprised when all three of them looked at her in curiosity.
“Am I the only one?” She asked hesitantly at the three pair of eyes stuck on her only to recieve an affirmative feeling throught their Bonds from all three of them, despite the three being much more Unique Beings than herself, a simple Human with the only anomaly being an inherited Innate Skill “Status Effect Resistance”, yet of the four she was the only one that had a Title.

“Don’t keep us in sospense, what do the Titles do?” Amber moved towards her and poking her chest in curiosity again and again, pushing her to answer and satisfy their inquisitiveness immediately.
“I have the Title Skill “Adventurer”, it doesn’t have a Rank and increase my Essence and Existence by 1%.” She finally answered, pulling herself together despite the repeated pokes near a very distracting place in her body.
Luna, seeing her reaction, smiled amusedly before moving to the red faced black haired one’s back, embracing her from behind and kissing her Mate on the neck once, enjoying the chaos she was able to cause in her little Human’s mind with so lacking of an effort before commenting her thoughts.
“The goal of this Rule Change probably was the addition of the Titles themselves. However it would not make sense if the only Title is a single one, one that increases Essence and Existence alone and only by 1% at that.”

“I am at C-Rank, a Phoenix and a demi-Demon so we can probably assume that there is no title directly reguarding someone’s Race or Rank.” Amber commented, excluding some possibilities, maybe hurriedly but with an high value of certainty in her opinion.
“None of us are nobility, so we don’t know if that matters and with a single example of Titles we have no idea behind the criteria of the acquisition of Titles.” Mafel affirmed before continuing. “I have no Title derived by my profession as a Medium nor my past as a Dungeon Boss but I believe that actual Dungeon Bosses, or at least the final Boss of a Dungeon, will have one.”
“The next thing to figure out is the Being responsible for the change in the Rules. The previous change was accelerated by the presence of a Lunarian, even if the Moon does not consider me such yet, on Gaea itself but would have happened by the next Red Moon.” Luna expanded. “But the second happened because someone took advantage of the temporary instability after the recent one to enforce a new one.”

“Changing the Rules is an issue derived by both power and knowledge.” Amber expressed what all three of them knew very well before continuing. “We can safely exclude anyone that isn’t in the Top 50 as the massive amount of Energy needing to be Channeled for this phenomena would instantly kill everyone lower in power and at least the bottom half of the weakest ten of them. We can also exclude the Top 5 as while they have the power and the knowledge, certaintly, to do that, they wouldn’t bother.”
“Number 10 is still in their Sealed Sleep and none of the Vampires currently active knew anything about the incoming change, however a couple of Vampires -” And here Luna considered, as did every single Ancestor, Dhampirs to be Vampires. “- in various Guilds, those both high in Rank and trusted greatly by the higher ups, were advised to be free around now. So I suppose Number 9 is either involved or at least aware that something would happen.”
“Mother is stated to reach A-Rank before the next Red Moon and mom is quite powerfull, a Lust Demon and an expert when it comes to make someone speak their secrets; the two of them would have told me at least something if either of the two knew anything about it at all and it would be hard for them to not know something so important.”

“Maybe they did know something but they didn’t know it would be important. After all this is the first time the Rules were directly changed by a Person instead of by the World and I don’t believe it would be easy to narrow the possibilities to, well, what happened in specific.” Luna affirmed.
“In that case our primary suspect would be the Grandmaster, correct?” Mafel asked rhetorically before concentrating fully on said Guild Grandmaster, searching through this World’s Records for their intent on altering the Rules or any strange movements recently, moving to their bed and being embraced by Sabel, already waiting there from the very beginning of their conversation.
The Human, well accustomed by this point to the mental stress such an in depth search without a relevant Anchor would cause the Elf, started to caress her hair all the while humming a calming song to help her out.

The World slowly faded away, the former Boss Monster’s mind falling down, deeper and deeper, the voices of her Mates being muffled ever more as what felt like water fell down upon her, first in dripplets then in intense rain that seemed to drive her down, down to the ground and even further down as the rain became a waterfall trying to drown her under the weight of this World’s knowledge.
This was only natural, a Medium normally had an Anchor, that is something belonging to the deceased Person that they are planning on Calling upon, and a Being that is close to said dead to tune the Medium to recieve only the memories relevant to the Being’s questions and safeguarding the Medium from the phenomena she was experiencing right now, being buried under the weight of the World followed soon after by her Soul being drowned in what was colloquially called the Sea of Souls, in what was in some places and time a form of ritual suicide.
The pressure increased ever more as the waterfall became first a lake, a sea and then finally in a vast ocean that pushed her down, deeper and deeper, in the cold abyss that was its depth, her senses useless by this point as the massive amount of water drowned everything else out under its enormous weight.
Not that the Elf’s senses worked at all as she was no longer in the material World but as a Soul alone and the only reason why she was able to understand the situation around her as she could was because of her Innate Skill “Soul Gaze” ereditated by her Specter-Self but this would not matter as it merely meant that she would die being able to observe the reason.

Data inondated everything and by sheer quantity alone, even without any hostile intent present at all, threatened to make her Soul forget the direction of her body and mind, trapping the Medium’s Soul within it forever and slowly proceding to dissolve and add her to the Sea of Souls itself well beyond Luna’s capacity to rescue.
Fortunately, however, she had no need to worry as demonstrated by how, even or more precisely because she was a Soul alone, Luna’s Mark shone brilliantly in all colours in the same place as on her body, iridescent stars that she could see high in the sky that she alone could see beyond the “surface” of this Sea even with the distance between them, marking the way back to her body.
The Spectral Elf turned away from her Mate’s directions, looking towards the depth and “swimming” deeper.
She focused her eyes on the waves of informations, trying to narrow down the waves of data around the period of the last three months, seeking any informations about the Guild Grandmaster.

An immense amount of information fell upon her, overwhelming her processing in an instant and slowing down her analysis to a crawl, the process starting in the same way that the World recognize information, strictly cronologically and starting instead from the newest informations to the oldest belonging to every individual at once.
Despite the challenge, however, Mafel did not hesitate in starting to analyze the flood of information, her Skill “Soul Gaze” rappresented by her eyes, closed off and opened again a couple of minutes later, trying to adapt to the equivalent of being repeatedly forced to look towards the Sun in a process that actually disrupted her analysis.
However, around one hour later, her “Soul Gaze” Skill sharpened enough for her to deal with the light while she became more effective at dealing with the massive amount of knowledge trying to overwhelm her, allowing her to start searching for her target.

The Spectral Elf groaned, her eyes closing as despite her being stronger than before, she only had an increase tollerance to the light, tollerance that had its firm limits as she was right now experiencing a period of intense pain, pain that wrecked her Soul, making her tremble.
All the same once the pain receded, she immediately returned to analyze the data as much as she could in as long as possible in a cycle of analysis, pain, recovery and analysis again.
Time passed monotonously as her attention started to drift even against her will and her continuous tentative of refocusing, a droning sound reaching her ears, a call, a call that grew progressively fiercer and more insistent, dragging her attention away from the mass of data, a violent challenge and promise at once.

“What is…?” She asked, before widening her eyes in alarm as she felt herself being grabbed and forcefully dragged away from the depth and to the surface despite her efforts.
There she saw the three stars rappresenting her Mates, vibrating just a step above the surface, releasing that keening sound and bringing her back to beyond the surface.
Mafel opened her eyes immediately, her eyes meeting Luna’s red ones before her lips were pulled in a soaring brief kiss before she looked around herself, noting how both Amber and Sabel were holding her by either side with Luna laying on her, all three of her Mates’ Aura surrounding the four of them and Luna’s Marks shone on their bodies.
“Next time, you at least tell me you are going something I can’t bring you back from.” Luna commanded, her eyes narrowed before kissing her again.

Notes:

Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 18:12 (Autumn, Night, Midrar)
After Mafel separated from Luna, short on breath because of the long kiss, she felt herself wilt slightly under the other white-haired one’s heated gaze, immediately speaking in her own defence.
“It wasn’t that dangerous and it would have been very important for us to know how to behave in the future and what Titles mean, right?”
Luna sighed briefly closing her eyes before pinching Mafel’s arm, hard, dragging a yelp from her Mate. “Except if I was five minutes late in starting to call you back, it didn’t matter what you would have learned as I would have lost you beyond my ability to restore you.”
Before the Elf could speak further, she felt her face being turned towards Sabel, the Human pouting in displeasure at her. “Remember that time a grieving mother visited us? It was supposed to be just a normal visit except the mother had conveniently forgotten how her baby boy made a Deal with something, probably a Demon, and it gave you a crushing headache lasting three hours straight. You were lucky they did it unintentionally and unknowingly or my presence alone wouldn’t have been enough to bring you back fully.”

“She what?! When did she do that?! I would have felt it!” Luna exclaimed in a mix of surprise and some sort of threatening determination while Amber on the other side of the purple-and-gold-eyed Elf flinched at hearing about a Demon, even if only partially, almost ripping away one of Luna’s Mate from her.
“You two were busy at the time with fighting that Ice Dragon and I was able to pull her back on my own very quickly and relatively easily that time.” Amber groaned at this knowledge shared by the Human, in furtehr emotional pain as she was the reason the two were distracted at the time.
Mafel tried to shut up Sabel only to fail as both the Human and Amber were more than able to block her arms considering how the Elf was the weakest physically of the four and by a not insignificant amount.

“It was not that bad…” Mafel said quietly, her protests slowly being silenced by the looks from all three of her Mates. “She just wanted to speak with her son and I couldn’t even help her…” She told them sadly, her eyes finally meeting the solid red of the Vampiric one, before this last one sighed and started to pinch the Elvish one on the cheek, making her yelp again.
The black-haired one kissed her in the newly-wounded cheek to reassure her before she spoke up to change the arguments. “Do you know what kind of Demon it could have been, Amber?” Causing this last one to explain after a brief pause at feeling the others’ honest curiosity.
“Well, considering the fact that it probably weren’t only his memories that were messed with but his Soul… I would say this doesn’t exactly reduces our options, depending on their Deal. Demons, Spirits, Gods, Angels and Elementals don’t have a Status like the Being of this World normally but can obtain one given enough time and power. All the same they each have their own way to grow stronger. In particular, Demons gain their power from the Sin associated with them, both in feelings and in actions.”

At seeing the raised eyebrows and the wondering of her Mates, she coughed once in embarassment before moving towards her point.
“Particularly old, twisted or prodigal Demons, if there is a difference between these last two categories, are able to twist every single one of their actions and feeling to suit their Sin. For example a Gluttony one will turn the act of breathing, sleeping and even fighting into an act of Gluttony or at least as a way to ease said Sin.
“Not only that but all Demons mess with Souls naturally and while their two Affinities are derived only by their Sin alone, two Attributes are fixed, no Demon has a Holy-Attribute Affinity, all Demons have a Curse-Attribute Affinity. And when it comes down to corrupting Soul, well, any Demon could do that.”
“I see…” Mafel murmured, sad at being unable to find the source of corruption belonging to that individual.

“Returning to the previous matter, what happened this time?” Sabel asked her in curiosity.
“I was only able to analyze one hour of memories in total and they were not only disjointed between each other, none of them were earlier than today or even linked at all to the Guildmaster.” She answered, disappointed in herself.
Luna sighed before yet again pinching her cheeks, hard, making the Elf yelp and beg for forgiveness. “You do remember that you are not alone, right? In that case there is no reason to risk yourself for to find that out when you can just ask us, no?”
“But none of you have any particular Affinity -” and here Mafel looked briefly at Amber before correcting herself. “- well, Amber probably could but I am not a good enough teacher to, well, train her. And reguarding you -”
“Yeah, it’s impossible for me to become a Medium. I am not, after all, connected to this World at all but to the Moon and with quite the different function to your own. But you are misunderstanding my meaning. You could simply watch it while sharing the complete memory to me.”

Silence streched between the four before, hesitantly, the former Boss Monster tried to explain. “The information within the Sea of Soul is, not hidden exactly, but is, oh, what is the term, encrypted, yes encrypted. My “Soul Gaze” helps me to translate it faster, sure, but it’s my “Medium Comunication” Skill that render it possible at all to translate it so…”
The former Half-Elf sighed while shaking her head in mock-disappointment, as her emotions rendered clear. “How naively direct. You are right when it comes to the analysis, I can’t do it in your place -” Yet, she added to herself. “- But I can store that information for you. The reason why you found it so hard to analyze that information is because you were experiencing it while at the same time trying to both remember and translate it. Next time you go to the Sea of Soul, and it better be with the three of us present and aware of it, -” The silent warning was heard loud and clear.
“- concentrate only on sending the data at me without bothering on translating or remembering it. Then, calmly and safely, you can Translate it from my memory.”

All three of Mafel, Sabel and Amber knew her very well thanks to their Mate Mark and so were more then capable to understand she had an ulterior motive behind her gesture but they were also aware that she was genuine in her worry and were also aware that its better if they didn’t know the Lunarian’s additional reasons for her proposal.
In response this last one would have offered her reasons calmly however the three did not ask and so she didn’t offer her own, that being that by using Mafel’s memories of the Records from the Sea of Souls, the translation of said Records made by Mafel and most importantly the Language that Gaea used for its Records around 63000 years ago, Language that the previous Lunarians already fully Translated, so that she would learn the Language of today.
Luna, once satisfied the other understood, layed back down over Mafel and closed her eyes, sending feeling to relaxation to lull her Mates to sleep, well aware that the Elf was mentally and spiritually exausted.

-
10/6 18:12 (Autumn, Night, Middle of the Ocean)
Sider, at the moment laying down upon the bridge of her boat basking under the moonlight gently illuminating her body, suddently opened her eyes in alarm, her ears twitching a couple of times.
As she jumped to her feet, her fingers clenching as her nails and the top of her fingers becoming long claws, her teeth sharp canines, her eyes narrowing in focus and preparing to jump in an attack, her posture lowering like a beast on the hunt as she searched for the prey that deluded herself to be the predator.
Her waiting was not long.

The water under her boat rippled, violently shaking it and the Werewolf upon it, before she jumped back barely dodging a tentacle larger than even her own 2 meters tall frame that erupted from the water around the boat.
Eleven more tentacles exploded from beneath the boat, encircling and grabbing it with force, before this last one was shaked with immense strenght all over, trying to send the black-haired one overboard and right in the water.
She immediately jumped high in the sky, dodging the tentacle trying to impale her from behind before noticing the tentacle standing tall before trying to crush her under its weight, pulling her hand back with force, silver crystals briefly forming around it for an instant before she punched it straight on.

Said crystals upon contact with the tentacle before her shattered in an instant, releasing a wave of sharp yellow crystals and a wave of force and electricity that pulped the part of it before her in an instant, the top part of it flying in the air before she landed on the bottom half of the tentacle.
She turned her attention towards the other tentacles trying to sink her ship, despite this last one being built for her private use and as such was more than able to last a while against the attacks of even very powerful Monsters especially if she helped defend it.
Before she could do this last thing, however, the tentacles upon which she temporarily landed writhed violently before from the wound emerged small fanged worm-like tentacles that tried to knot around her feet to immobilize and subseguently devour her, either whole or in pieces, stealing her attention.

Sider’s silver eyes narrowed in obvious hostility, a snarl forming on her face before she forcefully rose her left foot, being briefly covered in the same crystal as before, before stomping down and destroying even more of the tentacles, small pieces raining down upon the ship.
Two more tentacles moved in, trying to crush her between them only for the Werewolf to groan in displeasure, her month twisting in displeasure before she released a loud howl, various shockwaves repeatedly being released and stopping the two tentacles long enough for her to adjust to being mid-air before causing an explosion right before her, sending her flying to the ground.
Once she landed on her naval vessel, she turned her sharp eyes towards the shreds of the tentacle she previously shattered, noting how they were trembling and rippling before exploding into worm-like Monsters? No, they weren’t proper Monsters but part of the greater whole that was even now trying to sink her present, causing an even more ferocious expression to form on the Amazon’s face.
“You will regret this!” Her hands sprouted dense black fur as her claws enlarged while her teeth sharpened and her hairs spiked up even more in an unconscious threat display.

Notes:

Chapter 54 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 18:21 (Autumn, Night, Middle of the Ocean)
Sider’s body was quickly enveloped by Lightning-Attribute Mana, frying the worms that tried to bite into her and those immediately around her beyond their ability to regenerate.
The Werewolf scowled further at seeing a tentacle moving away from her boat and towards the part she previously pulped, grabbing it from the water and bringing it back to the boat before she opened her mouth, electricity starting to condense deep within her throat before she closed her mouth, breathing in deeply and releasing a yellow shockwave together with her howl.
The vermins nearest her were burned and crushed while the ones farthest from her were merely sent flying from her boat landing on both other tentacles and the sea around her boat, well aware that this last thing was made such to be not only unharmed but was able to channel the little noble’s attack into itself to fuel its own barrier.
Barrier that was sent into overdrive upon this flaring of power, releasing a pulse of power that charred all the nearby vermins even if the greater tentacles were unharmed.

Upon seeing such the black haired woman scowled even further before deciding to activate the Innate Skill “Enhancement: Physicality”’s Active effect, causing a silver glow to emerge from her body before it receded, leaving behind as the only change from before that her eyes now glowed an intense silver light.
She bent her knees slightly, her force pressing down on her ship slightly before launching herself forward using her newfoundly increased physical ability to land straight on another nearby tentacle, her right hand closing around what was previously empty air but was now occupied by her weapon of choice, a large two-handed, two-sided axe made of incredibly highly compressed black stone.
Some may wonder at the fact that the axe was blunt but the reason for such became obvious when Sider’s typical by this point yellow crystals formed along one of its blades.

She didn’t wait further, swinging her weapon horizontally with the entirety of her strenght.
A sharp shockwave emanated in an instant, the top of the tentacle falling in the sea below them as a section one meters tall was completely destroyed while the tentacle twiched violently, electricity coursing throught the newly formed wound.
The Werewolf held her axe comfortably on her shoulder, the crystals shattered to release the previous blow, before jumping back down to land on her boat for an instant and launching herself towards another one of the tentacles, her axe rotating once and leaving behind a circle made entirely out of electricity that then shortly after proceded to crystallize into a floating yellow ring that started spinning towards her.
There was no earth near Sider after all and so she was forced to improvise.

A spike of yellow crystal formed between her axe’s blades and she thrusted it deep within another one of the tentacles, the crystal exploding into a directed wave of electricity that blasted a hole straight through it, charring the flesh around it, before stretching out her left hand and catching her previously created crystal disk.
Spinning in place once, Sider threw her temporary weapon at full force towards a faraway tentacles before snarling, noting how all the tentacles she previously damaged had already fully recovered.
Not only that but she noted with a vast amount of rage how one of them was trembling before finally splitting in two, a couple of fanged maws opening as did small, empty white eyes covered by transparent protective membranes opened all over the now thirteen tentacles.
Her giant circle chakram made to reach the Hydra-like Horror of the Depths only for its eyes to open wide, beams of light being released in an instant to prematurely detonate it while it was still mid-flight.

Sider clicked her tongue in displeasure before jumping away from the hole in the tentacles that started to close around her, well remembering the stories from her father about what happened to people trapped within the body of an Horror of the Depths and wanting nothing to do with it.
She fully transformed her left arm, her muscles expanding even with their already high density and quantity while a thick black fur covered them and her nails becoming sharp claws in a partial transformation made easier by her Innate Skill “Enhancement: Transformation” while strengthening the result itself.
Her axe spun once, lightning following it before concentrating in a sphere that exploded in a dome of electricity that blocked the rays of Evil Light released by the Mutated Horror, shielding the noble.
The Werewolf breathed in deeply once, lightning sparking in her mouth before she howled, releasing another blast of electricity that confused the acquatic Monster’s senses briefly, buying herself enough time to create some more of her yellow crystals around her axe.

The water churned more and more violently as the tentacles started to thrash around, battering the boat from all directions and even trying to squash the Werewolf under their weight.
Said Werewolf was moving all over the place, releasing bursts of electricity together with her howls to fuel her ship’s shielding and to Shock the marine Monster, only for it to Recover pratically immediately after the Status Alteration landed, barely being able to buy her enough time to survive, especially once its eyes started to glow and released rays of Evil Light, a product of the combination between the Light- and Curse-Attributes similar to her own exposive Thunder Gems, made using Lightning- and Earth-Attribute together.
Having understood how she wouldn’t be able to last long if the situation continued this way, Sider triggered her transformation even further with the Innate Skill common between the Werewolves called “Form: Humanoid Wolf”, even with the backlash she will suffer because of fully activating this Skill without the presence of a full Moon.

Normally Werewolves were no different from their Beastkins brethrens when it comes to their physical characteristics outside of their transformations and on average an adult Werewolf while transformed reached the two meters mark n height while her own dad was even shorter than the average for a male Werewolf, reaching only around 190 cms while transformed.
Thankfully however her father was not a Werewolf but an Amazon and an especially tall one and she eredited her height from him, as was shown off in her Humanoid Wolf Form being a 225 cm tall mass of muscle, fur, claws, fangs and the death that would result from her use of such.
A tentacle fell upon her with great strenght but she moved at a speed much higher than before, severing it in two in an instant with her Thunder Gems.
With an heavy step on her boat, Sider sent herself towards another one of the thirteen tentacles, jumping side to side to dodge rays of Evil Light raining down upon her, trusting her increased Existence, Resistance and Recovery to deal with the blows that she wasn’t able to dodge.

Her axe and claws clashed with one of the tentacle’s flesh, ripping it into pieces of flesh that fell all around her, her electric cloak charring the slivers that fell upon her own body as she savagely tore into it before she jumped back into her boat, her body releasing a beam of Lightning-Attribute Mana that her boat absorbed before this last one’s Barrier was converted shortly into a Lightning-Attribute Barrier that fried the shreds of Horror on it.
Before the Barrier could be temporarily converted however, she had already jumped away from it as she herself would not be left unharmed by the Barrier’s shielding, her one meter and a half greataxe was completely covered in her Thunder Gems before she proceded to throw it hard towards one of the now fourteen tentacles.
Before its flight was even completed she turned her attention back to the tentacle she jumped towards, crossing her arms before herself to block the blows coming from it, spinning in mid air before stopping herself on a small layer of Earth-Attribute Mana that crumpled soon after because of the force and weight of her rough landing.

Her Thunder Gem-covered axe exploded, a wave of force and Lightning-Attribute Mana being released in an instant obliterating one of said tentacles completely, at least when it comes to the part of it that emerged from the water and sending Sider flying back because of the shockwave.
Said Werewolf landed on another tentacles, her claws and her arms burying themselves up to her elbows within it, electricity starting to flare up around her before it was violently unleashed in an instant within the tentacle itself, frying it repeatedly despite and because of its natural Regeneration, slowing it down and trying to fight and stop the multiplication of its tentacles.
For a while this process even worked however she was forced to stop her assault soon after as another tentacle smashed where she just was, Sider dodging by forcefully ripping herself away from the shreds of flesh trying to entomb her body within the Monster and launching herself down towards the sea, a snarl on her lupine face.
While she was falling, the Amazon-blooded one impaled the claws of her left hand and of her feet into the tentacles to slow down her fall to a crawl while rising her right hand.

The noble breathed in deeply before howling again, a sharp call that was answered soon after as her axe flew back in her waiting hand, before being buried into the tentacle hard before Sider was bucked away from its thrashing only to safely land back on her boat, her focus shortly moving to examine the status of her gift from her parents, noting how only one of its blades was still intact, if so it could be defined as considering the fact that it was heavily chipped and with present and obvious cracks, and its shaft was at least 30 cm shorter.
She growled as her single piece of jewelry, a choker that grew in size at the same rate she did, started to glow, converting Vital Energy and Mana into Earth Qi to repair her weapon.
Meanwhile the Qi, still Unaligned at her Step, stored within her own body started to circulate faster, increasing her battle power and in addition accelerating the process of tempering her body and soul in a process equivalent to Cultivation taught to the Amazons by her great-great-something-grandfather, an Earth Body Cultivator, around 750 years ago, and her Lightning-Mana coating intensified around her, glowing silver eyes meeting the dull yet cruel white eyes belonging to four of the now sixteen tentacles.

Notes:

Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/6 18:39 (Autumn, Night, Middle of the Ocean)
The Werewolf held her left paw up, condensing electricity in a long spear that she threw towards one of the tentacles in tandem with her own launch towards another, her axe’s blades glowing with Lightning-Attribute Mana thrusted deeply into another one of them before impaling it with her other, lightning-covered hand up to her elbow.
Eyes focused on her, beams of Evil Light being released upon her the next instant only for her to react in time, her Qi flaring and converting her entire body, fur included, into living stone, holes forming all over her body because of the rays released by the empty eyes only for her to continue attacking.
Sider ripped away the arm impaled within the Horror’s flesh while leaving her axe stuck in it, before she, using her much higher weight caused by the fact that she was made out of highly compressed yet still flexible stone, crushed the tentacle she landed on with pure physical might thanks to the Living Stone Cultivation Technique passed down to the Amazons by their Cultivator Ancestor.
This may seem to be a contradiction considering how so grave damage would lead the Horror to increase the number of heads again but after all there was only three ways to kill an Hydra and, in order of least to most dangerous, they were: negating their healing and then killing the Hydra; dealing so much damage and at so high a speed that it could not heal; and finally destroying their heads again and again, it gaining new ones until no more will be made and then ripping it apart.

The Werewolf well knew that the third option was the most dangerous of them all for the very good reason that the Horror would gain more tentacles and subseguently more power to attack her with but she also knew that every single Being had a limit, said limit could be surpassed sure but accumulating too much power in too short a time would be deadly.
In the case of an Hydra’s temporarily increased heads the limit was based entirely upon how much food it would have devoured and how much Energy they have stored within them and she imagined that the same would be true for the Mutant before them.
Sider jumped back on her boat under the empty, vicious gaze of the now 17 tentacles focusing on her stone-like body before moving suddently, dodging the tentacles that tried to impale and crush her and she responded by slashing those that came nearest to her with her lightning-covered axe and claws, her brightly glowing eyes constantly searching for any incoming attack.

The natural regeneration she gained by being in her Humanoid Wolf Form in the meantime was busy slowly repairing the damage inflicted on her by the Horror, well aware that she could only turn off her Technique if she was unharmed but if she rans out of Qi while she cannot turn back, the type of rock she was made out of would lose the “living” part of its description, leaving her behind as just a pretty statue, destiny not uncommon for Amazons.
She firmly held her axe, made with some small pieces of her ancestors’ statues as was the tradition shared with the Amazons by the Cultivator, covering it in lightning before striking down on her boat with its knot once, twice and then finally thrice.
At every single one of her strike, a light chime emanated from deep within her ship, a pattern belonging to a specific command to her personal naval vessel that proceded to respond properly, ramming a still unharmed tentacles with as much speed as it could while in this situation.

She immediately jumped, lightning ammassing around her left hand before she threw the newly created lightning spear towards one of the tentacles, impaling it and then bursting in a wave of sparks in one of its eyes, to an insignificant amount of Damage all things considered however the real purpose of it was not the Damage but to build up the Status Alteration “Shocked” to open it up to following attacks and lowering its Lightning Resistance.
As she was falling, Sider spun her lightning-coated axe in midair before smashing its end on a precise spot of her boat once, the lightning absorbed in an instant by her ship before it was released in a shockwave once again following its command.
This time, however, the shockwave had not been unleashed to deal damage to the tentacles but was instead Channeled to inflict as much Status Alteration as possible upon the Mutant Horror of the Depths while lightning intensified further around the Werewolf, sparks of electricity constantly being emanated from her body while her Qi was being absorbed by her axe, it becoming slowly denser and larger.

She stepped forward but before she could attack, she was interrupted as the tentacles moving as one attacked her ship, grabbing it with force and then proceding to lift it higher despite its weight, causing the Werewolf to lose her balance and barely stopping herself from falling on her face, landing on her palms before narrowing her eyes in focus, standing up before throwing it hoverboard, its blades encased in her Thunder Gems.
She then created another lightning spear and threw it towards one of the seventeen tentacles, this time however remaining phisically impaled on it long enough for Sider to recall her axe, axe that upon contact with the spear detonated in a massive burst of electricity that fried the tentacle completely, the boat shaking slightly at the suddent lack of one of its supports but the other sixteen were more than capable of handling the increased weight.
The Werewolf jumped, spinning in the air, grabbing her axe and using their combined weight, she kicked down on one of the tentacles, causing a shockwave with pure physical power alone, forcing it to slightly weaken its hold on her boat and leading her to to see the emerging body of the Horror, a vast circular maw that opened to a cave of fangs, eyes and smaller tentacles, with several flesh spheres of various different sizes held within it, impaling her axe into one of them to keep herself mid-air.

Lightning ammassed around the Amazon’s body before it condensed around her left hand, forming a spear that she threw towards the Horror’s mouth, the Target not being the Monster itself but another thing entirely.
The preys of an Horror of the Depths are not killed, at least not immediately.
Instead they were captured deep within the Horror’s own body and tormented until they die of Hunger with the Horror feeding off them with their Innate Skill “Energy Siphon” while they have an immense amount of Energy Storage, enough to fuel “Hydra’s Regeneration” even if such an Innate Skill would force it to hunt much more than before.
As an interesting fact, the fact that the Horrors have naturally the Innate Skill“Energy Siphon” is part of the reason behind the hatred of Lust Demons in costal cities and by professional sailors as a commonly-held theory behind this Monster Species’ Existence was the work of one of them while, in truth, they were innocent of such as the “Horror of the Depths”’ creation was the work of a certain Goddess, Goddess whose Chosen were safe from meetings with those Monsters at all, even if no Being currently alive remembers that their creation was work of said Divine Beings.

Sider’s attack was not Targetted at the Horror itself but at one of its suffering prey, one of the tortured Being feeding it with their Energies and pain both, with the intent of killing the poor Being as a form of mercy and depriving the Monster of some fuel for its Skills, after all the less fuel it had the less temporary Limbs it could create and maintain.
Some may wonder at the way she attacked without any hesitation at all but after all, despite all tentative to heal them, not a single one of an Horror of the Depths’ victim ever recovered from the torture suffered by them, killing themselves soon after they were recovered, further intensifying the scorn towards both the Horrors themselves and Succubus, as planned by the Divine Being herself.
Returning to the fight currently in progress however, the lightning spear launched by Sider was struck, impaled in the Horror’s mouth tentacles that moved in order to block the attack from reaching and killing the captive victim, especially considering the absolutely terrible state they would be left in.

The black-haired one scowled, leaving her axe stuck in the tentacle to create a spear made of lightning in each of her hand and throwing them towards the previously stuck spear.
One of said lightning construct impacted the stuck spear, detonating the two in a burst of electricity that incinerated the flesh of the mouth-tentacles and opening it up for the second thrown spear that impaled and killed the silver-eyed one’s previous target, depriving the Horror of the Depths of some fuel for its additional limbs, well aware that she could only win if she was to starve it to death.
Mid-air Sider spun before kicking down, Qi flaring as she solidified the air beneath her, launching herself back towards the bottom of her ship, grabbing onto it firmly thanks to an handle on the bottom, what was in reality a trap recognized her and so remained inactive at her touch.
Vital Energy and Mana flowed down from her boat’s storage to Sider herself, restoring her own spent Energies in full while she twisted herself using the handle as a lever to turn towards the slowly rising Horror, its head emerging from the waves fully, eyes opening all around its mouth as it concentrated on its latest prey, with an ever increasing glow.

The Werewolf breathed in deeply before howling at full force, lightning joining said shockwave with the aim of disorienting the Monster’s Senses and conseguently it too, trying to open it up for more attacks, while careful to not Target the Horror’s stored preys, at least for right now.
Her Qi’s circulation slowed down gradually as she breathed in and out slowly, her eyes focused completely as sparks started to being emitted from all over her stony body, this last one finally finished to be repaired thanks to the Vital Energy she absorbed from her vessel.
A tentacle moved in, trying to squash her against the bottom of her ship causing her canine lips to snarl even more violently, her fangs shining with a metallic gleam as the electricity intensified.
She loosened her grip on her weapon, before closing her now free hand in a fist, punching the incoming tentacle.
A shockwave was emanated in an instant as the tentacle was crushed completely, as Sider activated her Unique Skill to increase massively the Potency of the attack.

Notes:

Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 56
10/6 18:45 (Autumn, Night, Middle of the Ocean)
Sider held her arm as still as possible, thing quite difficult to do considering how both the fact that she dandling from her boat and the recoil.
Fortunately, however, she was currently not made out of flesh and muscle but stone, lowering both the damage the black-haired one suffered from the blow of her previous blow and the complexity of the healing needed to recover from it.
Her right hand currently holding the silver-eyed one in mid-air by her ships handle pulled her higher up, before grabbing her axe in her left from mid-air and swinging hard, a shockwave being released in an instant and pulping another one of its tentacles, trying to starve it.
Cracks spread all over both her treasured weapon and her arm yet again, showing off the bright, molten lava taking the place of her blood, something that was not damaging her right now but would have been incredibly painfull if she could feel anything at all but she was made of stone, her nerves included.

Sider’s Qi Circulation sped up again, concentrating on healing the damage she just suffered as fast as possible, trying to ready herself for the Horror of the Depth’s next attack.
And speaking of its following attacks, the Horror’s eyes within its mouth started shining more and more brightly, before it closed its maw except for a very small opening from which a blinding light started to emanate violently, starting to boil the water all around the Monster because of the massive amount of power being condensed and readied; an attack it specifically chose because it could not kill Living Being.
Sider didn’t hesitate, switching the hand holding her afloat, well aware that hesitation would lead to her death at this very moment, stopping the healing of her wounds in an instant to concentrate on creating a bright, yellow spherical gem that she threw hard towards the Horror’s mouth, breaking her fingers because of the use of her Unique Skill to maximize the speed and precision of her throw.

The Thunder Gem accelerated, sparks flying off in all directions as it pierced the air at an incredible speed, reaching the slowly surging light, detonating in a violent explosion of lightning, destabilizing the attack from the much larger Being.
The naval vessel responded to her will expressed throught her Mana, expanding its barrier to its full power around both it and the Werewolf, uncaring of the massive expense this would mean for her ship’s Energy Batteries.
The light erupted, not in a concentrated beam like it planned but in a violent explosion of light within the Horror’s body, the water all around them boiling in an instant even with the body of the Monster suffering the brunt of the burst, its flesh being cooked alive because of the intensity of the light it could no longer control.
Sider closed her eyes immediately, turning her face away from the Horror as an immense wall of light exploded underneath her, her ship’s Barrier shattering instantly upon the blow, the remaining force smashing her against the keel of her boat, molten lava flowing from her lips in guise of her blood.

The raven-haired one fell, barely able to grab onto the handle as the Horror’s tentacles launched her vessel away, the violent impact with the water briefly making her mind go blank before she started to swim away from underneath her ship, her eyes wih difficulty trying to find and confirm the status of the marine Monster.
She quickly moved, pulling herself back on her ship, breathing heavily while looking all around herself, finaly finding the Horror a couple of meters away, the tentacles ripped and smashed away from its main body, this last one being opened wide as if it was ripped away with enormous hands by its mouth.
A dull, grey liquid flowed freely from its remains, none of its previous victims being left alive by the previous explosion, especially considering their previous terrible state.
The naturally dar-skinned one closed her eyes after seeing how her opponent did not move even a whole minute after the explosion, she relaxed, laying down on the deck of her ship, barely able to stay conscious as she started to breath in even deeper, circulating her Qi to accelerate as much and as safely as possible her recovery from the previous fight, sitting down with crossed legs while preparing for the incoming backlash of having forced the activation of the Werewolves’ Innate Skill, “Form: Humanoid Wolf” without a full Moon in the sky.

A minute later, her still stone torso was perforated by 13 rays of light.
Five centimeters wide holes formed upon her body, her eyes opening wide from her Deep Meditation, molten rock flowing from her body as she was barely able to stop herself from falling, her gaze focusing back on what she thought to be a corpse only to see how the various parts were joining back together, reforming it.
In the previous fight, the Horror used none of its own reserves of Energy, whether Mana or Vital Energy, but only that of its victims, exhausting them while keeping its own stores full.
This was the reason why it now had enough Vital Energy to recover from the previous explosion, its eyes focusing on her.
More Evil Light fell upon her body only for her to throw herself to the side, her eyes moving towards the Monster as she saw one of its tentacles trying to crush her.

With a snarl, Sider rose an arm and flicked once, her Unique Skill being applied to create an immense amount of force, smashing it apart and shattering the finger she used into small pieces, shards of stone and liquid rocks falling upon her boat.
Her Unique Skill “Berserker” was quite complex, increasing immensely the Potency of a physical attack only to recieve in response a Recoil in both Damage and Increasing all Status Alterations Inflicted to herself; not only that but every single one of her blows within a certain time period using this Skill was stronger than the previous one, as was the respective Recoil she would suffer.
It was no wonder then, that the next finger flick she was forced to make to defend herself by another one of its tentacles destroyed not only the finger she used but also both the rest of her hand and even part of her forearm.

The silver eyes belonging to the Werewolf narrowed in a combination of hatred and determination, focused entirely on her enemy, ready to bring them both down if necessary.
Said enemy swum back a couple of meters at its target murderous intent before calming down, rage rising explosively as it prepared to feed off its target.
As the two of them prepared to return to fighting, the water churned too lightly for either of the two of them to notice.
But even if the two didn’t notice the slight movement of the ocean, both of them noticed with widened eyes when the water violently smashed the various parts of the Horror of the Depth in a single place before it violently erupted, forming first a couple of enormous jaws made out of water before it became a gigantic maw.
Maw that violently closed around the Monster, crushing it into paste before the Being before Sider, despite its enormous size and mass, gracefully fell back on the surface of the water, showing themselves off to the Werewolf’s widened eyes.

The Being before the black-haired one looked like a dark blue scales covered whale-like Being with great fins and despite various parts from different marine creatures’ species, they were an ordered Being; an ordered Being whose lenght could be easily measured in hundreds of meters.
Their green, gem-like eyes, themselves a lot bigger than Sider’s body, focused on the Werewolf briefly before they breathed, Energy filling the air around them in an instant before most of it was reabsorbed by the Being except for a small, relatively to their natural Well, amount that filled both Sider’s and the ship’s Reserves completely before they submerged once again.
Under the astonished gaze of the Werewolf, Leviathan vanished completely between the water, causing Sider to fall on her face immediately in a mix of relief and exhaustion, commanding her ship to start repairing its Barrier and its hull from the previous battle, thanking her luck that the battle attracted the attention of the Divine Beast of the Sea towards one of its favorite prey, an Horror of the Depth, and reminding herself to try and avoid any future sea travel if possible.
Sider started to heal herself with her newly gifted Vital Energy, spending a lot of it to accelerate her Recovery and once she finished healing, she deactivated her Form Change, falling on her face as pain assaulted her body all over, senzation similar to muscle cramps spread all over her body, as the backlash for Transforming without a Full Moon.

-
10/7 1:01 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
*Luna Gains 1945 Magicules.

Luna woke up, her eyes drinking in the faces of her Mates for a moment before they moved automatically towards a certain point in the distance, a feeling similar to instinct trying to guide her towards an unknown destination.
Her eyes narrowed while a cruel smile formed upon her lips, her Aura surrounding the four of them protectively as she readied for the mayhem and bloodbath that would follow.
After all, she may not be bloodthirsty but she found no reason to reject such an invitation.

Notes:

Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/7 1:14 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna turned her attention back towards her Mates from the depth of her own Soul, having finished finding and isolating the part of it that was trying to lead her to what she was almost certain was a trap, while examining every single one of her thoughts to search for any other extraneous ones within her head by using her “Parallel Processing” Skill to examine them and work out their origin.
Once done for the moment, she turned back to her sleeping Mates and started to poke them on the cheeks repeatedly to wake them up, hearing them groan to being woken up.
“Why are you so excited right now…?” Sabel, the one more accustomed to waking up early, sleepily asked her fully awake Mate.

“Because someone made a trap for me and is trying to guide me there without my knowledge!” Luna exclaimed, excited for the incoming fight.
“But you know about this trap. What do you plan on doing now?” Amber asked, fully awake upon hearing what the Lunarian just said.
“I am planning on waiting until well after my little Human’s birthday and then spring the trap on them at my convenience. If they want my attention so much, they can wait for it, can’t they?” The words may have seemed to be surprisingly gentle but all three of her Mates could feel the murderous glee hidden underneath those.

“Don’t Compulsion worsen over time?” Mafel questioned, well aware and worried from the memories she eredited from the Elf Paladin.
“Yes, at least normally. However this Compulsion was made particularly weak to try and escape my notice, thing it failed at, and because I am aware of it’s existence, my Status Alteration Nullification would lenghten further the time before it would matter. And because of what and who I am, it will not be able to interfere with me by the time it should be able to.” The Vampiric one explained.
“I see. Who do you think is trying to… find you?” Sabel hesitantly asked the red-eyed one.
“They could be after me because of what I am, because of who I am, because of who I know or because of what I did. All the same, it doesn’t particularly matter to me the reason or even who it is.” Luna indifferently explained, before she fully rose up from their bed, stretching shortly before extending her left hand to help up the Human.

Said black-haired girl was easily pulled up by her physically more imposing Mate, being securely held in her arms before their lips met in a short kiss before she was gently set on her feet.
Afterwards Luna did the same with both Amber and Mafel in the place of a “good morning” before moving towards the Runic Array’s Keystone functioning as its controller.
Once there, after a brief look over it, she confirmed the changes she intended to make.
First she Converted her own Vital Mana’s imprint to match Mafel’s own and then she very carefully started to make change in the Runes under the focused gaze of Mafel and Amber that were making sure to memorize the changes, noting how she was mostly affecting the Energy Well of their base.
“I calculated these alterations while I was sleeping, based upon mostly my Unique Skill with some details from various memories I acquired.”
And almost as if to congratulate her for her research and planning for it…

*Luna Gains the Ability Skill “True Calamity Runic Supremacy” E.

Luna instinctively understood the Cipher she acquired at the same moment as she gained her new Skill and the Runes she just learned together with it.
Beyond the Runic Language belonging to the World, every single Being has their own Runic Language based on their understanding of Reality and even if Luna could access only a small part of her own Cipher, based upon her own nature as a Lunarian, her past lives, her twin Authorities and her Unique Skill, that was more than enough for the red-eyed one to seek within the Keystone every single Concept they shared and integrating them together.
This increased the complexity of the Runic Array and needed her to give up even more Vital Mana to finalize the changes, sure, but on the other hand the Array became much more efficient in the long run when it comes to the creation, storage and use of Energy.
In addition to that her changes increased the defensive measures of their base, both by reinforcing them in Durability and by creating a paper-thin membrane around it to absorb Energy.

Mafel and Amber analyzed the changes, noting how Luna’s personal Runes were all made out of single, flowing movements that spiraled towards their center while seeming to lean on each other to make a greater whole than its component.
The Phoenix quickly tore her gaze away from them, embarassed by the insight she gained towards the way her Mate understood Reality, the only one of the four that had been taught that this was an incredibly intimate gesture, a very deep look at the inside of the red-eyed one, fleeing deeper in the base with a slightly flushed face, joining Sabel.
“What do you want for breakfast?” The black-haired one asked, smiling at the blonde when she saw her enter the kitchen where she was currently preparing to cook their first meal of the day.
After all Sabel was the only one of the four that would think about their meals, Mafel adapting too well to company to the point that she required someone to look after her needs, Amber being able to feed off either fire or Energy if necessary and finally Luna did not eat, except for sweets, and actually hated the act of eating itself.

“You know how to cook?” The orange-eyed one wondered, curious at the fact a noble knew it.
“I learned from Hale, my Party’s cleric, how to cook. He himself learned while working to help various churches where he helped out and he taught Jay and me after he recovered from a sickness and us “Outrejects” needed to spend a lot of money in food. Fortunately, even if he is terrible with money, Jay is rich thanks to the combination of an eidetic memory and very high artistic talents.” Sabel explained calmly.
“I see… In that case I don’t particularly mind what you are doing.” Amber answered calmly, moving closer to observe and trying to learn how to cook from her Mate’s example, mostly to pass the time.
The Human offered her affirmation with a thumbs up, starting to properly cook breakfast for all four of them.

-
10/7 1:28 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna and Mafel looked up from their now joint project, the two having expanded because of their excitement, working to refine the Runic Array together, their Aura flaring in a single blaze of power.
Vital Energy and Mana within the Spectral Elf was quickly Converted into Vital Mana, joining the Lunarian’s before gradually filling the Array to the limit, the Energy being digested to finalize each change.
“Here.” Sabel gently placed two different plates on the table supporting the Runic Keystone, one full of various fruits carefully cut into small slices before Mafel while the other before Luna had some pieces of hard, but not too hard, pieces of sweet candy for her to chew while she worked on the Runic Array.
“Thank you.” The Curse-Holy User expressed her gratitude while instead the No-Attribute Sorcerer immediately took one of them, tasting them while analyzing the Runes, her gratitude being sent throught their Mark to both of her swordswomen.

Amber sat down too, posing her own and Sabel’s breakfast on the table before, after thinking about it, releasing her Aura in full, trying to get used to the feeling and strain of it.
The black-haired one looked up, confused before understanding downed on her and she herself released her Aura in full.
The four of them, Vital Energy and Mana being taken in by Luna before being turned into Vital Mana and fed to her Mates and then to the Runic Array, started to talk with each other, planning what to do in the future.

-
10/7 1:29 (Autumn, Day, Ocean)
Sider, currently using her [Living Stone] Technique, was meditating deeply, her eyes closed as she circulated her Qi at high-speed, her Qi smashing against her Meridians at as a high a speed, while being careful to tear but not to shred them, as possible.
Meanwhile her Vital Energy and Mana was slowly, very inefficiently, being mixed with the Energy of the World all around her, forming Qi that was then split between her Living Weapon resting on her lap, her Necklace and her own body.
This process was only possible because of said Necklace around her neck, the only thing she was currently wearing, an Artifact made out of Living Stone with the express purpose of slowly making Neutral Qi for her to take in.

From her body, currently naked except for her Necklace to maximize the rate of absorption and minimize both the Qi that was returning to the World and the damage her clothes would suffer, liquid stone flowing down as small parts of her body were being melted down deep within her body, replaced by stronger parts before being sweat from her body, impurities being expelled from her system.
This last part was caused by one of the two Major Paths of Cultivation, not Qi Irradiation but Qi Reformation, more specifically Body Reformation, a process to melt and then flush out impurities in the body to substitute them with more effective ones, depending on the Cultivator.
This was a process that a Cultivator at her level normally would not have done, or at least they would have been much more careful than she was currently being however she had no need to worry as her [Living Stone] Technique and her Skills working in tandem meant that at least for a little while she could safely Reform herself, accelerating her growth for the future.

Ten minutes later she stopped, slowly and gradually returning to her normal state before dragging herself towards her meal that, considering how she was forced to use her Form Skill, was consisting mostly of meat to help her muscles to recover faster.
Sider then started to eagerly devour her breakfast.

Notes:

Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/7 3:02 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
“For now we are done with the Runic Array.” Luna commented, finished finalizing the changes in the Keystone, stretching herself back lightly before standing up, a last cookie being eaten by her before she moved towards a new addition to their base.
“How did you survive on sweets while keeping yourself in form?” Sabel wondered only to recieve an absurd answer.
“I figured it out what I needed to do when I was five. I hate eating but at the time I still needed it to survive so I worked out what every single one of my cells needed and then I figured out how to turn Energy into them before learning how to Convert whatever I breathed, drunk and ate into Energy and then to Convert it into whatever I needed in my body.” The Vampiric one explained calmly the process throught which she lived twenty years with never needing to eat; yes, twenty as even while she was a mostly-mindless Ghoul, she still maintained this process going on automatically.

“Now that we are done with this, let’s get to training. We need to prepare for our ambush after all.” The pale, red-eyed one smiled, her Aura flaring even more intensely then before, a roaring challenge towards the three of them.
Her Mates followed soon after, reaching the room she added, their training Arena, a vast black room that upon the closing of the door became encompased by a small, transparent Barrier with the purpose of isolating the inside from the outside.
Luna’s Aura was Unleashed in full, trying to drown her three Mates under its weight, her Pressure pressuring the molecules around her in an instant while her Unique Arma, “Sorcerous Armor of the Singularity”, Manifested around her limbs.

Amber’s Aura exploded in response, the air around her violently bursting into flames, as she manifested her Unique Arma, “Blazing Blade of the Piercer”, her weapon clad in a dense, bright layer of flames.
Mafel’s own Aura surrounded her body as she manifested her Arma, the “Malevolent Scepter of the Generator”, and it was then surrounded by a twister made out of Curse- and Holy-Attributes as five masses of Miasma formed around her, her Shades forming copies of her own body before the butt of her staff rang against the ground, Casting a Holy-Attribute Spell on herself before it was reflected on her Shades by her Unique Arma.
Sabel saw that the five Shades were quickly enveloped in golden, Holy-Attribute Mana before it concentrated into copies of Mafel’s own mantle around her Shades naked bodies before each one of them closed their hands around copies of the Elf’s own staff.
Soon after, she materialized her own Unique Arma, “Bracelet of the Rebel” around her wrists, her Aura flaring around her before it and Light mixed, concentrating around her sword, even if she was the least dangerous, or more specifically the most normal, of the four of them.

Luna smiled, her Aura condensing immediately around her to maximize its effects for the following battle, battle that she then proceded to start immediately, pointing at her Mates with her index finger as Vital Mana concentrated in as small a point as possible thanks to her Aura, in a manner similar to an [Annihilation Point], before she flicked it, a concentrated beam of destruction being released towards her Mates.
Amber was the first to react, holding her sword firmly, a wave of fire briefly inondating the place before it concentrated around her blade as she swung it, the arc severing the beam in twine long enough for the [Annihilation Beam] to end, the source of the Lunarian’s attack causing an explosion that extinguished the last embers of the attack.
Curse-Attribute rose from around Mafel and her Shades before those waves fused together in a storm and then a great cloud of Mana that then fell upon both Amber and Luna in the form of rain, turning the fight into a three-sided affair like the Lunarian intended it to be from the start.
Both Luna and Amber found Curse-Attribute Mana invading their bodies, the second finding herself gradually growing weaker while the first smiled, after all her Nullification would negate it, at least for a little while.

Sabel concentrated, Light blazing around her sword as she carefully watched the fight between her two Mates, Energy, heat and flames exploding from every single one of their clashes.
Amber was the more powerful of the four without any doubt even to the Human’s judgement but the vampiric one’s combination of superior skill, repeated use of Arts at minimum power and the currently weakened status of the Phoenix was enough for her to keep pace with the higher Ranked one, at least for a while.
Sabel closed her eyes, an Holy-Attribute Spell Casted on her by Mafel to help her concentrate, Light slowly starting to emanate from her body, taking full advantage of her Mates’ distraction to prepare in full thanks to the Elf’s support.
Amber’s golden and purple flame- and Aura-clad blade met Luna’s Aura-clad Armor around her limbs repeatedly, shockwaves being generated by the meeting between the two of them.

The blonde’s Blade was thrusted towards the white-haired one’s face, causing this last one to dodge by moving down before she punched towards the orange-eyed one’s torso, herself being dodged because of an explosion that sent Amber flying high.
Fire accumulated around Amber’s right hand, the one currently free of her Unique Arma, before she used her own Aura to condense the flame and released them as a beam down on to Luna.
As this last one moved to the side to dodge the golden ray, it impacted the ground detonating in an explosion that forced the white-haired one to move back to dodge the wave of fire.
Amber’s great golden wings opened wide, beating a couple of times to both stabilize her mid-flight and to release flames raining down upon Luna.

In response Luna inhaled, closing her mouth, before exhaling violently, a wave of force and sound being released from her mouth together with Vital Mana and Aura, washing over the flames and putting them out in an instant, forcing Amber to close her wings before her, deflecting the blow with an explosion.
She fell in a dive soon after, trying to impale her Mate upon her sword while sending forth a sphere of flames, sphere that exploded prematurely, trying to blind or at least limit her Mate’s vision from her attack, a second blade, this time made completely out off flames in her right hand that she stretched to cut off Luna’s escape way.
Amber bursted through the cloud of flames, her blade’s being held differently than before as she swung horizontally, said Unique Arma being stopped by Luna’s own Unique Arma-, Black Blood-, Vital Mana- and Aura-clad forearm, their Aura neutralizing each other, Amber’s flames being held off by Luna’s Black Blood coating while her Vital Mana was staving off as much as she could Amber’s “Energy Siphon”.

Amber smiled before she exploded into flames, pressing down on her Mate and using her higher strenght and her flight to forcefully send Luna flying away from her before launching a spear made of physical fire after her.
Luna answered her smile with her own, spinning in mid-air before landing on the ground for an instant, shifting her kinetic energy enough to change her direction diagonally, dodging the spear, while at the same time creating an orb of Energy in her left hand.
She held it firmly while landing before thrusting her right hand forward, the sphere being pressured in an opaque circle fifty centimeters wide before it fired in a cylindrical shape.
The blonde rose her own sword to deal with it like the first [Annihilation Beam] only to widen her eyes in alarm at the contact between them.
Her Aura and “Energy Siphon” did not influence the attack like the previous one, she noted confused, before the force of the blow reached her and force her to step back again and again before she, holding her Unique Arma with both hands, detonated in fire and Aura, channeling the force of the explosion to deflect the surprisingly solid attack, it exploding in the distance.

“How did you do this?” She wondered, curious as she was well aware that the attack contained almost no Vital Mana despite its strenght, before swinging up to meet the black-clad left punch of the Lunarian.
Before Luna’s hand and Amber’s curved sword could meet, the white-haired one’s fist opened before clenching around the orange and purple-eyed one’s weapon, adding the entirety of the force of her fall to her own to stop the clash between the two.
“Very simple, really.” Luna’s face opened in a small, smug smile as she used the hand around the blade as a lever to twist herself in a kick towards her opponent’s face. “My attack was not a Spell or an Art. It instead was the launch of a Crafted Item made out of my own blood, Aura, Vital Mana, Runes and hightly compressed air.” She explained, her kick being dodged at the last moment by the Phoenix.
The blonde’s wings opened wide, flames erupting from her back in an instant as she moved with immense speed behind Luna before striking down upon her with her right fist clad in super-heating Aura.

Luna moved to the side, tanking the blow with her shoulder instead of her back, before she twisted with the blow to strike back at her Mate, Aura and Vital Mana condensing around her fist before causing a wave of force that sent both of them flying back.
The white haired one continued her turn in mid-air, launching a couple of Vital Mana Spears back to slow down the Phoenix’s approach, concentrating her Vital Energy and Black Blood into a single point deep within her heart, concentrating ever more of that mixture deep within her own body while landing firmly.
Heat filled the Lunarian body as her blood boiled because of the massive amount of Energy she was forcefully Channeling it in such a minuscule amount of Matter but fortunately her own Black Blood was able to handle it without instantly exploding thanks to the support of her other Authority to keep the Vital Mana fluid yet stable.
All the same, the quickly rising power contained in her body reached a point of no return, her heart-equivalent bursting in a wave of power that would have been fatal to Luna if she didn’t use her Aura to direct the power within her own body safely and she didn’t use her Soul’s nature as a Singularity to trap the power within her own body before Channeling it to strenghten herself.
The result spoke for itself after all.

*Luna Gained the Growth Skill “Core Implosion” E.

Luna’s eyes opened wide, her piercing, glowing red-eyes seeking Amber in an instant before she moved, crossing the space between them as the Phoenix was barely able to cross her arms before her to block the sudden attack, an attack that the previous Lunarian would have been unable to launch.
And upon meeting her eyes, shining bright, the blonde understood enough.
The process the white-haired one just completed led to a temporary increase in every single one of her Skills’ Rank, gaining much higher physical and magical abilities and even in her temporarily obtaining True Sight, all this at the cost of half her Essence and Vital Mana and something more.
Amber’s wings opened wide to stop her mid-air as she created a wall of flames before her to block the massive, silent distortion launched by Luna long enough for her to launch herself away from its trajectory with an explosion, the rain of Curse-Attribute on her ceasing to affect her entirely while warm Holy-Attribute Mana started to help her out.
Fire accumulated around her sword before she launched her own attack.
“[Flashfire Severer]!” She screamed the name of her newest Art, made by her thanks to the combination of her Vital Energy, Aura, “Pyrokinesis”, “Fire-Attribute Sorcery” and “Energy Siphon”.

A bright line of flames split the air in an instant, heat spiking violently as the zone immediately before her was inondated in flames.
Before Amber could even find her Mate, thing quite hard all things considered as her previous attack blinded her own “Heat Sight” because of all of the heat, her shoulder was grabbed by an hand behind her before she, eyes widened in alarm, was punched in between her wings.
Mid-flight Amber saw how she was punched from a mass of Black Blood that just now returned to being her Mate, Aura taking the shape of a monstrous beast around her that she could not describe, her gaze focused somehow on both everything and nothing at once.
Aura and flames exploded from Amber’s body with even more intensity, her own challenge attracting the distracted yet still paying full attention, Luna, red, pupilless eyes smiled in the darkness of their training room.

Notes:

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/7 3:25 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Amber watched, her eyes carefully waiting for any incoming signal of the fight resuming as Luna was slowly adapting to the immense change from before, for now focusing mostly on what she could now do following her increased Skill Ranks, like her previously turning into Black Blood.
Under the heated gaze of the Phoenix, the Lunarian dematerialized her Unique Arma from around her limbs before Manifesting it once again, now being a skin-tight suit covering everything but her neck and up made of the same black, scale-like materials, platinum bands around her wrist and ankles with details of the same material marking her body’s shape.
Vital Energy, Mana and Aura flared violently around Luna’s body, mixing together and spurning Amber to act, now before it would be too late.
Using her own “Energy Siphon” she fused together her Vital Energy and Mana, makeshifting Vital Mana, flames erupting from her body, the air around her lighting on flame while with each beat of her flames, the wind around her stirring as she started to use all four of her highest Affinities, Fire-Attribute, Wind-Attribute, Curse-Attribute and Holy-Attribute.

Thanks to the Blessing Casted on her by Mafel and her descendance from a Lust-based Demon, she was able to fuse together her Curse- and Wind-Attribute into Ominous Winds, a purple twister forming around her while her Fire- and Holy-Attributes fused into Blessed Flames, thing that was somewhat common in high-Ranking Phoenixes.
Soon after her Ominous Winds fell upon Luna, Amber being careful to add in her own Techniques to increase their Damage by considering the winds as her own sword, purple and sharp wind blades continuously raining down on Luna’s body, the attacks first landing on the Auric Beast before proceding on Luna herself as much weaker attacks that left gashes all over her body even with her Armor, gashes that were quickly healed.
Even so Luna did not move, her gaze focused on everything yet nothing at all, still adapting to her now much higher capabilities, being slightly distracted as she needed to manually heal every single one of her wounds with Vital Mana, one of the conseguence of the Activation of “Core Implosion”, at least at E-Rank.
Her Auric Wings opened wide before beating violently, Feathers belonging to her multiple set of Wings with Black Blood and Vital Mana at its core, rained down all over the area, piercing right through the rain of Curse-Attribute to fall down upon the entire arena in instant, spinning on themselves and drilling into place.

Amber’s Blessed Flames raged around her, combining with her Aura before exploding violently, deflecting the Feathers that would fall near her, surviving the first wave of projectiles without any issue.
Sabel meanwhile grabbed Mafel in her arms before jumping away, a burst of light sending her flying away while the Elf in her arms was Casting Spell after Spell to strenghten the Human and deflecting the Feathers that Sabel would not have been able to dodge.
Luna beholded the result of her attacks, her three long Auric Tails whipping the air around her at high-speed, batting away the flames launched by the blonde with trivial ease before closing her eyes completely, her concentration focused on her own Black Blood and Vital Mana, forcefully initiating the same process as her newest permanent Skill within them.
As a conseguence of such the Feathers, unable to deal with the immense pressure, violently exploded in waves of force, forcing her Mates to barricade themselves down to block the explosions.

This bought the Lunarian enough time for her to concentrate on her newest temporary Growth Skill, she will permanently Gain once her Racial Skill reaches C-Rank, “Orichalcum Conversion”, the Rankless Skill that starts to convert a Lunarian’s body to Orichalcum, starting with their blood.
In her case, thanks to her blood being Black Blood and her Soul’s nature as a stable black hole, she was able to start this process right here and now to accelerate her progress in the future, her Essence being slowly drained down to fuel this process, thing that forced her to spend even more Vital Mana to balance out the constant drain while ignoring the pain of said draining.
Thankfully, while her Vital Mana reserves where slightly lower than before, her Vital Mana Recovery in itself was more than double her normal and in combination with all her other higher Ranked Skills, she gained more than she used in the fight.
Her Aura moved on its own, swinging one of its limbs backwards on its own in order to scatter a Fire Arrow that Amber secretly launched previously, a Fire Arrow that Luna previously would not have been able to Sense as it contained no Vital Energy or Mana but that thanks to her True Sight she saw without any trouble even from behind.

Amber launched herself forward, bursting right through the explosions in an instant to reach Luna and trying to punch her in the face, her Aura fusing briefly with her Blessed Flames and concentrating around her fist.
Once again, the red-eyed one vanished in a mass of Black Blood that flowed around the Demonic Phoenix before reforming into her body but this last one was ready for it this time, a purple twister sending Luna flying back before she stopped mid-air, her Auric Wings opening wide before she pointed forward with her left hand, a beam of power being launched in an instant.
Said beam met the Demon-blooded one’s own equivalent, the air where the two met instantly catching on fire before it was extinguished by a shockwave and relitting on fire soon after in a continuous cycle.
While the two were distracted by their clash however, someone else decided to intervene.
Light shone in the area in an instant as Sabel held her sword clad in a mix of Mafel’s Holy-Attribute and her own Light-Attribute before she slashed down on Luna.

The Lunarian rose her right arm, blocking the blow but being pushed back, thing that the Human normally would not have been possible but with the combination of Luna’s focus being on Amber and the Elf’s Blessing on the Human, she was able to unbalance her.
The Phoenix seeing such intensified her attack further, breaking their headlock and forcing Luna to retreat before she could use her strenght against her black-haired Mate, the white-haired one being forced to shield herself with one of her Auric Wings to deflect a Curse-Attribute beam launched by her grey-haired one.
Aura mixed with Black Blood and Vital Mana, forming a long and thin blade in her left hand that she swung, parrying away the rapidly nearing Unique Arma, the brightly glowing red sword sending forward a wave of fire that Luna dodged, Aura forming together with Black Blood and Vital Mana, a pair of long blades.
In an instant the air was rent asunder as Luna swung furiously, Amber barely being able to survive as her Mate rampaged in place, sharp shockwaves filling the area around her and forcing the Phoenix to keep moving or risking Critical Damage.

Vital Mana accumulated around the blonde’s right hand as she tried to fight back, actively not making it a Spell but a simple exercise in control to dodge her Mate’s “Counterspell” but this proved meaningless as all the same, even without the activation of said Skill, the Vital Mana vanished into nothing, something rendered possible because of her Authority over Vital Mana.
“How…?” Amber exclaimed, surprised and in so doing opening herself up to an hard kick that lifted her up entirely before she was kicked further away.
“You need to remain focused while in a fight, Amber.” Luna half-mocked before her Tails pierced high, deflecting the falling thrust launched by Sabel before slamming her back down to the ground with one of her Wings, stepping on her chest to keep her under control before progressing to the next level, activating the function of her “Familiar Summoning” temporarily at B-Rank, the function to temporarily Gain a Skill from each of her Familiars.
Her eyes opened, her eyes now able to actively observe the Souls of all the Beings around her, from her Mates to her Familiars, her own, the Dragon that was even now trapped within her before she briefly concentrated on something that shouldn’t be, a piece of a Soul alien to her own but that was all the same resting within her.
With a smile she temporarily left it be to deal with later before attacking.

Using Core’s “Elemental Manifestation” and Channeling Blitz’s “Electrify” within it, Luna formed a spear made out of Lightning, bypassing her own entirely absent Affinity for the Lightning-Attribute completely, before hurling it high in the sky, precisely targetting the center of the Curse.
And from there, vibrant black lightning passed through it and nearby droplet of Curse, destroying them all before rapidly spreading out of control, filling the sky with somehow shining black lightning.
“I’m sorry, Mafel, but I want you to be more active in this fight and you will not if your role as a support is not disrupted. Now then, let’s restart.” The Lunarian excitedly explained herself, her Wings opening rapidly before shifting Blitz’s Skill towards “Magnetic Amplification”, attracting the lightning to fall down violently.
Sabel did not hesitate, rising her Unique Arma, surrounding it in Holy Light before releasing it over Mafel, counting on Luna’s body to shield her while helping in shielding the grey-haired one from at least the initial wave, long enough for her to poke her own Unique Arma to the ground, gold-tinted Malice violently erupting to drown out the shocks nearby.
Amber instead merely released her Aura in full, combining her four highest Affinities in a single attack, outshining the lightning for an instant.

Notes:

Chapter 60: Chapter 60

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/7 3:31 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
“You know, you are quite unfair, Amber. You are lucky you are cute or I would have stabbed you.” Luna commented calmly once the overwhelming light and sound ceased, her Auric Beast’s Wings and Tails, previously having formed a cocoon to protect her and Sabel, opened up to reveal the two of them, the black-haired one being held securely in the other’s arms.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” The Phoenix corrected, a teasing smile on her face. “You are going to stab me all the same. The previous attack changed nothing about it but the fact that you find me more impressive than before.”
The previous explosion was caused by the Wind-Attribute amplifying the Fire-Attribute while her Curse- and Holy-Attributes destructively annihilated each other to vastly increase the Potency of the resulting blow.
This attack’s only advantage was its Range while its attack power was actually quite disappointing for its effort, it was still more than enough to completely eliminate Luna’s [Thunder Fall] and force Luna to shield both herself and Sabel from the blaze.
The Lunarian’s and Phoenix’s gaze met for an instant before the fight restarted in full.

The swordwoman landed on her feet, her Aura concentrating around her blade and in so doing reflecting and containing her Light within her sword’s edge before she swung towards Luna, the white-haired one stepping back outside of the sword’s reach only for the Light to go forward, her variation of a [Flying Slash], Art that was immediately destroyed by Luna’s own [Reaping Moon] launched by one of her Auric Tail, forcing Sabel to dodge sideways in an hurry.
Before Luna could take advantage of her distraction however, she was stopped by needing to close her Wings around her as a concentrated, spinning purple beam with a golden core started to slowly drill within the Aura Wings, at least for a little bit.
As the Wing resisted this process, the Holy- and Curse-Attributes making up the attack soon enough were forced to interact with each other and as was only natural between the two Attributes in particular, both of them were directly converted into force, covering the red-eyed one in an explosion that sent even the black-haired one flying back.
Sabel spun in mid-air, twisting her body enough to dodge the Lance made out of Auric Feathers launched by within the explosion, before sending forth another [Light Slash] that was this time pierced by an Auric Tail that was stopped from trying to impale her by being forced to join the others in blocking Amber’s attack.

The blonde’s sword and her arms were enveloped by the three Tails, stopping the thrust dead on before she was pulled forward, a punch burying itself in her stomach before slamming her in the floor, the air around Luna’s fist starting to hum dangerously before a wave of force rippled from there, slamming Amber to the ground even harder than before.
The blonde swung up with her Unique Arma and causing the white-haired one to retreat or risk the Unique Skill “Piercer” being activated on any possible attack, the reason she was also being carefull of Mafel’s and Sabel’s attack as the Unique Skill could also be activated on them.
Flames ammassed in Amber’s right hand before she released a concentrated wave of flames that forced the Lunarian to jump sideways before this last one created a blade of Black Blood and Vital Mana in her right hand to block Sabel’s own Light-clad one.
Luna stepped forward, forcing her Human Mate back while pointing her left hand back to block another one of Mafel’s Spells, the purple and gold bullet shattering over an hastily created wall made out of compressed air, Black Blood and Vital Mana, taking advantage of the secondary effect of her Oath about Artifacts she gained thanks to her temporarily increased Rank in “Oath Making”, she could substitute the Quality of the air with the Quality of her own Black Blood.

Amber fell from above, her high-speed kick being blocked by one of Luna’s Tails before jumping away with an explosion to dodge the answering swing of one of her Wings, her Feathers being launched at high speed to follow her movements and distract her.
A vast Magical Circle was created above the red-eyed one, her gaze while looking at nothing was still concentrated on every single one of her temporary opponents, as shown by her Tails rampaging in the area around her to block the Curse-Attribute Bullets sent by Mafel with the intent of destroying said Magic Circle before it could be activated.
Air was quickly condensed within Luna’s mouth released before she released it in a roar, exploding forth in a wave of destruction that blocked the concentrated Cursed Flames released by Amber, the fight between the two attack continuing on for a significant amount of time before Luna was forced to break the deadlock, twisting her blade to deflect Sabel, pulling her forward before kicking her away outside of the range of the flames and jumping away herself.
Energy concentrated around Luna’s fist before she punched forward, a wave of force rippling forth from her and forcing Sabel back various steps, the Vampiric Being stopping in mid-air, held afloat by her Auric Wings before the Magic Circle above them fully activated.

Light erupted from it before falling down in the shape of rays of force that bombarded the entire training room, giving Luna enough time to finish adapting to her increase in power.
From Amber’s body an immense wave of flames erupted, fighting back against the continuous waves, soon joined by a wave of Miasma released by Mafel.
Sabel took advantage of the distraction caused by the clashing attacks to sneak behind Luna, golden Light accumulating around her blade before she thrusted through her Mate’s back in a surprise attack, enhanced by Amber’s “Piercer”.
Her sword pierced Luna’s heart, her red eyes opening wide in surprise that all three of her Mates could easily have recognize as false in other circustance before, unable to hold back her expression twisted in a grin, her body dissolving in a mass of Black Blood that surrounded the Human’s body, trapping her, before she was thrown back to the ground at high speed.

High-density Energy accumulated around Luna’s hands before she unleashed various beams of force towards all three of her Mates, significantly increasing the pressure her attacks posed on them, and buying herself enough time for her next step.
Her Wings straighten out fully before separating from her body and joining together, forming what looked like a Bow that Luna held on to firmly, her Auric Beast shattering into motes of Aura that then condensed in a large mass larger even then her own 182 cm tall frame.
Black lightning caused by Blitz’s “Electrify”, based upon her Vital Mana Control instead of her nonexistent Lightning-Attribute Affinity as was natural for this Skill, emanated violently from the mass before Warden’s “Barrier” surrounded it and condensing both the mass and electricity in a vaguely arrow-like Shape.
The Arrow, if so it could be called considering the differences in size between it and its maker, leaned on the makeshift Bow before launching down, the air screaming as an high-speed Arrow more similar to a ballista’s bolt then otherwise fell down, its target not any of her Mates but towards the floor, in an empty area away from all of them.

The Bolt fell, the air screaming as it spun on itself to help keep its shape, as her three Mates joined in together, their Attributes and Auras massing together before exploding forth.
Attribute-less black lightning exploded forth from the point of impact, filling the entirety of the arena, at least before a wave of Fire, Air, Light, Holy and Curse Attribute infused Aura fought back against it, pushing it back and winning the confrontation shortly before it itself exhausted.
Luna nodded, satisfied of their spar, her Auric Beast forming around her body again before she gently lowered herself to the ground, landing firmly. “Well, this is enough for right now.” She nodded to herself before finally turning off her “Core Implosion”.
And as a conseguence of it, she immediately after dropped unconscious, her Aura holding on around her for a little bit longer, missing the Status update because of the stress caused by the immediate increase in Rank.

-
10/7 12:25 (Autumn, Sunset, Ocean)
Sider looked to the slowly rising in the distance, breathing in deeply as she tried to figure out where exactly she was right now as she in theory she should still be at least three weeks, as she was being safe, away from land yet she was able to easily see land.
“Where am I?” She lamented, in part towards nothing at all and in the other towards the Divine Beast Leviathan, the one responsible for moving her away from her previous trajectory, and doing it willingly as it not only moved her but while refilling her boat’s Well, it also modified her boat’s command to account for the new position.
The black-haired one shook her head quickly, leaving behind her previous hesitation and deciding to wait until she would reach her new destination and trying to figure out what the Divine Beast wanted with transporting her here, but without too much apprehention.
After all, the three Highest Divine Beasts were made long ago by all the Gods working together to safeguard all the People of Gaea.

Notes:

Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

?/? ?:? (???)
Luna woke, her eyes quickly exploring the air around herself to confirm that she was in her room within their base and noting how she was currently alone.
She made to rise but was only able to sit up, finding herself barely able to move as her eyes quickly noted the differences in the room itself before focusing on her clothes, a soft pajama cladding her body.
Soon after her eyes turned to the door, earing hurried footsteps nearing her room before she saw her door slamming open violently as a grey-haired Amber’s eyes swelled with tears upon their meeting before she launched forward in a desperate embrace, throwing the two of them back to the bed.
“For how long was I unconscious?” Luna calmly wondered, her arms rising to embrace her now-grey haired Mate, her Senses stretching sluggishly because of her still present Soul-based stress, sitting up again with Amber on her laps.

“You were in a coma for 98 years.” Amber sobbed before she raised up and then kissing Luna hungrily, pushing her Mate back before deepening their kiss in an instant before a little while later the Lunarian separated the two.
“Seriously, how long was I sleeping?” Luna asked yet again before nearing their faces together in a light kiss again.
“98 years…?” Amber answered, traces of panic starting to surface in her eyes once she saw the amused gaze of her Mate.
“No, Amber. I know very well that 98 years didn’t pass while I was sleeping.” Luna calmly asserted, her left hand playing with Amber’s hairs.
“Wha-what are you talking about? Y-you must still be confused but don’t worry, everything is going to be okay, just…” Amber panicked, her eyes unfocusing from her white-haired Mate and subconsciously seeking help from the area around her before a pair of fingers belonging to Luna’s right hand gently grabbed her chin and stilled her movements.

Luna’s smile widened, her eyes glinting as if she found a delicious prey, prey that Amber quickly recognized as herself as with a deft movement the Lunarian twisted their position, the Phoenix quikly being forced down, trapped by the Lunarian’s arms between her and the bed.
“Should I count out all the way I know you are lying?” Luna breathed out, her half-lidded eyes trapping Amber underneath her even more than her arms ever could before taking her silence as an assence. “First of all, Phoenix go not go gray. Your hairs would go from yellow to orange, then red, then would gradually darken until, less than a week from your death by old age, thing that is possible for the Phoenix that don’t reach a certain Rank by a certain age, they become black. Your nature as an half-Demon should not impart this process majorly outside of giving you even more time, sure, but you would not naturally go gray.”
“I didn’t know you knew that…” Amber’s complaint was quite low in volume, most of her attention being on something other than the explanation at the moment.
“In addition to that, I can see your still blonde roots from here and in a Phoenix they are the first thing to change. Before you say that you are dieing your hairs, I am certain that if you really cared to change hair colors, you would most likely dye them completely. In addition you are still at too similar a level of power then before I lost consciousness.” Luna sit up fully, her gaze at least for the moment more then enough to maintain her Mate underneath her. “And speaking of power, thanks to the Mate’s Mark I can easily gauge the status of any of my Mates, giving me both more than enough proof that neither Sabel or Mafel lived that long and letting me feel from their emotions that they are currently watching us.” At that she launched a look towards their current location, amusement clear in her gaze while the Phoenix trapped underneath her flinched in confirmation.

Before the currently grey-haired one could stummer out a response, the Lunarian continued. “In addition, even if I was sleeping, thing I wasn’t actually doing as I was meditating the entire time -” The pointed comment caused a flinch in Amber before she continued. “- I would have automatically reached at least C-Rank and probably B-Rank. Finally and most importantly I am still connected to the Moon and at a minimum I would have felt the passage of the Red Moons and the near Blood Moon.” Having finished her explanation and being entertained by both watching her physically present Mate squirm and by feeling the emotions from her other two Mates. “Now, how long was I asleep for?”
Amber closing her eyes, her lips twisting in a pout as her hairs erupted in golden flames before settling down in her normal blonde with purple highlights hairs, the dye burning away. “You were sleeping -” the orange-eyed one ignored the ‘Meditating’ that Luna corrected. “- for around two days. Do who ever is trying to ambush you knows that you were, well your situation?”
“Excellent, I am still in time for Sabel’s birthday then.” And at the second question, Luna smiled viciously, launching a look to until then ignored System Notifications. “And reguarding the five of them, well, let’s just say that I prepared a wonderfull gift for them while I was unconscious.”

*Luna Gained 2090 x 2 Magicules.
*Luna’s Growth Skill “Soul Harmony” C, Innate Skill “Lunar Resistance” D, Innate Skill “Presence: Charm” E, Innate Skill “Enhancement: Status Alteration” E and Ability Skill “Meditation” C increases in Rank.

“Oh, foreboding. Now could you please rise, I can’t move.” Amber asked, trying to show no weakness before her Mate, all this with the very present desire to, not run but make a strategic retreat.
“No, I won’t.” Luna refused calmly but decisive, her gaze having found victory. “After all, you like being under me.” She smiled, her fangs glinting dangerously.
“But Sabel and Mafel are - ” The once-again blonde tried to protest on deaf ears.
“- Watching us, yes. So? I don’t mind at all if they watch or even join us.” The white-haired one shamelessly affirmed, her gaze alone filled with enough desire to make the Demonic blooded one red in the face. “The fact is, I was sleeping for long enough and now I want you and you want me. I don’t see the problem.” The Lunarian layed down upon her Mate, nearing her neck before biting, her limbs’ torpor melting away before they engaged more deeply.

Within the Base’s securety room, presenting around 15 screens letting the inhabitants gaze anywhere both within their Base and …
A red-faced Sabel hurriedly stood up, covering her very red face with her hands because of the result of their little pranks.
“Wha- Shut it off!” She exclaimed hurriedly towards Mafel only to recieve in response an half-lidded gaze, an amused expression within this last one’s face before she turned back to the screens, changing most of them to Luna’s temporary bedroom, letting them see the two from various angles.
“I’m sorry but I’m not going to. If you really don’t want to see them go at it, you should actually close your eyes instead of peeking between your fingers. Not that I think you will be able to resist for long. After all, even if Luna can stop herself from sending out her own feelings in the middle of something like that, Amber cannot do the same for long. So, Sabel, I suggest you prepare for the night.” The Elf smiled, amused before going what she just suggested as she fully turned towards her monitors, crossing her legs as she fully relaxed.
“Pervert, no, perverts. All of my Mates are perverts!” The Human lamented, currently very red in the face, before being able to barely stop herself from moaning at feeling a wave of pleasure belonging to Amber, thing that her tallest Mate did not bother doing at all.
“I can assure you, you will greatly and personally enjoy that fact very soon.” Her grey-haired Mate promised in a low whisper, the gaze in her purple and gold eyes more than enough to cause the black-haired one to step back, swallowing hard as a ‘pervert’ escaped her mouth.

-
10/9 12:11 (Autumn, Sunset, Mysterious Island)
Sider looked out from her ship slowly circling the island, her silver eyes narrowed in focus as she tried to figure out both where she was and why she was moved here.
From her voyage around the landmass she was unable to find any trace of civilization upon its surface yet she was sent here specifically and none of the three Great Divine Beasts did anything upon a whim at all.
All the same the black-haired Werewolf was certain that something was off with the island, considering how in the over a day she spent in observation, she was unable to find any living Beings upon the island.
Without hesitating, Sider threw herself in the water, capturing a turtle swimming nearby before moving towards the apparently-empty island and, carefully not touching its beach before gently posing the animal on its sand, examining its reaction.
Under her expectant gaze, the turtle examined their new position before stilling, their eyes glazing over and then the little turtle started to move on their own towards deeper in, Sider hesitantly and carefully following them from a distance.

Notes:

Chapter 62: Chapter 61.1 (NSFW)

Notes:

Chapter Text

As Amber’s deliciously warm blood flowed freely in Luna’s throat and the Phoenix’s moans of pleasure filled the room, her left hand was buried in the Lunarian’s glowing white hairs, holding her steady, while her right hand buried her nails in her Mate’s back, eagerly ripping the back of her sleeping wear’s shirt open.
Luna separated herself from her neck a couple of minutes later, sitting up with her legs trapping Amber, satisfied at least for now as her tongue darted out to lick her lips, cleaning them from the remaining last couple of blood drops, their slowly-fading glow guiding Amber’s gaze down Luna’s mouth then her neck before lowering ever further towards her inviting breasts.
The red-eyed one smiled before stretching out fully and, taking advantage of the damage the orange-eyed one already did to her shirt, she finished what Amber started, she finished what her Mate started, ripping it apart under her three Mates’ heated gaze, her Mark partially opened so that she could fully enjoy their emotions.
Amber admired her Mate’s muscles and abundant curves, her eyes eagerly exploring Luna’s body before her hands, almost without her imput, stretched forward, her left hand rising before it closed around the Lunarian’s right breast, experiencing its firmness, while her right hand found itself resting on Luna’s left leg, enjoying her Mate’s muscles and bottom even despite the short pants in the way.
And reguarding said pants, the Phoenix did not hesitate, her nails growing into bird claws that cut the Lunarian’s pants open in an instant, her hurry leaving some very small stratches on her leg that Luna silently healed before Amber could take notice of what she did.

Luna smiled before pulling Amber in a brief but searing kiss, her own hands eagerly exploring the lithe body underneath her, concentrating mostly on the blonde’s legs, her right hand playing with her Mate’s hairs while her left hand’s fingers soon entered her Mate’s nether lips.
The Lunarian ended their kiss briefly before lowering, her lips enjoying her Mate’s neck, then shoulders, before lowering further to Amber’s moans, her mouth closing around one of the blonde’s breasts, her tongue playing with her Phoenix’s nipples before, once she was satisfied by her Mate’s pleasure, she continued on her trajectory down her body, leaving a trail of kisses on her Mate’s fair skin.
The white-haired one wandered the blonde’s stomach, going lower and lower until she stopped between her Mate’s legs, her tongue darting forth, penetrating Amber’s fold and exploring her insides, her hands massaging the orange-eyed one’s behind.
Amber’s legs closed around Luna’s shoulders while her left hand grabbed the back of her Mate’s head, negating any possibility for her to dipart from her current position, not that Luna had any intention on doing such at all, instead moving even closer to her Mate under the Demon-blooded one’s incessants moans until her Mate released, being left grasping for air.

Even then Luna kept herself in place, her tongue darting forth to clean both her own face and her Mate from her fluids, enjoying her taste, before pulling herself up fully and, with a smile, kissing her Mate on her lips.
Said kiss continued for a while, their tongues furiously meeting in a battle that Luna was able to win thanks to Amber’s distraction, their bodies pressing flush against each other while their hands eagerly roamed each other’s bodies.
The kiss ended before, with a smile, Luna flipped changed their position, Amber once again found her insides being invaded by her Mate’s tongue while her own gaze quickly finding the Lunarian’s own legs above her and she did not hesitate, her hands rising immediately to explore the very pale legs and back while tasting her sweet nectar.
Amber closed her eyes in bliss, enjoying both the sensation of being eaten out by her Mate and Luna’s taste before being moved again, Aura rising around the Vampiric one and forming into vague limb-like Shapes that supported Amber until she was brought back in Luna’s arms, their legs crossing over each other and their nether lips grinding against each other.

Before she could react properly to her new position, Luna leaned forward, pressing Amber against the wall of their room and initiating another kiss, the two lovers being able to taste the mix of their fluids in between their tongues, the Phoenix’s hand moving forward, one moving to the back of her Luna’s head to hold her closer while her other one instead moved to grope all over her Mate’s body, enjoying both her dense muscles and her big breasts, ending the kiss on her own this time before going on the attack herself.
Her lips found her way to Luna’s neck briefly before moving down, kissing her Mate’s body down until she reached her Mate’s breasts, eagerly groping and kissing them while enjoying their bodies’ constant push against each other and the hands currently caressing her own body before she returned to kissing Luna’s lips, the two losing themselves in each other’s body and feelings thanks to their Mate Marks.

Chapter 63: Chapter 62

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 16:05 (Autumn, Night, Midrar)
Luna stretched, enjoying greatly the way her body felt right now, full of Energy as she left their bed, careful not to disturb her Mate, her silent steps leading her outside, stopping briefly at the door as her Aura released in full and gently covering her sleeping Amber, adjusting her blanket, her smallest Mate being exhausted by this point because of the combination of their intense, over three hours long activities and the use of “Energy Siphon” to help the red-eyed one recover from her Limit-based stress caused by her “Core Implosion”.
The white-haired one quietly opened the door, her Aura expanding into various ephemeral copies of her own arms to silently open the door and adjust Amber’s blanket around her to leave her as comfortable as possible while she was absent.
Afterwards Luna casually followed her Marks towards her other two Mates, her Aura being constantly Shaped in different forms based mostly upon her own body with arms and legs protruding to both help and hinder her progress while various wings and tails forming before they collapsed back into Aura, quickly finding them together in the monitoring room.
“Amber is going to be out for a long while more and you two still need to sleep, so cease peeking and let’s go to bed.” Luna firmly yet gently ordered, her voice causing Sabel to jump on her feet because of her suprise.

“We- I wasn’t pe-peeking, I-I just- Why are you naked?!” She startled in surprise before screaming and partially covering her eyes at the Lunarian.
“Because I didn’t bother with wearing clothes before I came here?” The red-eyed one answered, confused by the fact that the question was ever made in the first case, finding the cause to be self-evident. “And it’s useless to lie, you two were peeking on us, I felt your emotions for the entirety of the last hours, denial is useless.” She smugly explained, satisfied.
“Didn’t you shut off our emotional Link while you were with Amber?” Mafel wondered even while her golden eyes were focused on enjoying the show freely offered.
“I mean, sure, I could shut off our emotional Link at any time and I sometimes do to limit my transfer towards all three of you but why should I shut it off completely? Your emotions are all so wonderfully vivid, after all.” Luna wondered, enjoying Amber’s contentment, Mafel’s curiosity mixed with lust and Sabel’s own mix of confusion, embarassment and her own lust.

“I see, yeah, it makes sense considering how young your Soul is.” The Elf exclaimed to herself, satisfied, before upon seeing the curious gaze of said Mate, explained. “the age of a Soul is measured not in years but in lives, in perspectives. Amber had seventy-two lives before this one, Sabel had ninety-three and I, if we consider my previous self and my current one as a single life, had eighty. You instead are only on your fourth one if we consider Scarlet and you to be one and the same. And in addition to that your Soul is a self-made one. It’s no wonder then that your emotions and perspective are very muted in comparison to other People.”
“I see.” Luna calmly said before asking something that just popped up in her mind. “Do you know anything about my previous Lives?” She asked calmly, more curious that really interested in the answer.
“Well, I can confirm that your first Life was something akin to a Monster that obtained a Soul of their own through the consumption of small pieces of other Souls over a very long period of time considering their still massive influence over you. I would say that they were very passive before their death, as evident by your own mostly-reactive nature. Having said that, I can only be sure of your first life because they were, by an immense margin, the strongest one, with none being able to reach it. At least up to now.” The Medium added this last part upon noting the gaze of her Mate but she had no need to wonder if she hurt her feelings as Luna was merely trying to wonder about her previous life’s power.
“Make sense. In that case I think my first life was either plant- or spider-based considering my distaste for eating and the fact that neither eat solid foods.”
“Right, something like that. The bleeding of such characteristics would be common in so small a number of Reincarnations, especially in erroneous ones that maintain their Unique Skill, like your own.”

“Hey, how could you two speak so normally in this situation?!” Sabel exploded with embarassment and stress caused by the two speaking so calmly all the while Luna was just standing there naked, causing two pair of eyes to fell on her, amused.
“Sweetie, a professional Medium needs to be able to maintain composure regardless of their situation or present company.” Mafel calmly corrected before, with a small dangerous smile, she proceded towards her black haired Mate, moving and then embracing her from behind causing their Human to yelp in surprise and briefly trying to fight back.
Said protests were silenced soon after by Luna’s lips in a brief kiss before the Lunarian ended it soon after, her Aura shaping itself into multiple limbs that lifted up both of her Mates up before resting the black-haired one within the white-haired one’s arms and the grey-haired one was gently posed on Luna’s back.
Quickly Luna left the observation room, Sabel being carefully held in Luna’s arms while Mafel’s arms encircled her shoulders in an embrace, the red-eyed one adjusting them with Aura limbs before moving back to their room.
Sabel stammered in embarrassment before closing her eyes, trying and failing to ignore the fact that the two of them were flushed tight against each other while Mafel instead just enjoyed their situation and her Mate’s emotions in silent bliss thanks to their Marks’ sharing their feelings.

-
10/9 12:11 (Autumn, Sunset, Mysterious Island)
Sider hesitantly stepped on the island, her body at the moment composed of Living Stone as she was careful not to directly enter in contact with it, following behind the turtle she just set free on the beach while ready to jump away the instant she felt any thought that wasn’t her own.
“I don’t like this. At all.” She affirmed, her senses stretched to the maximum to find anything off with the air around her.
Her Qi surrounded her stone body, finding a trace of the culprit behind this anomaly.
The air and everything else in the island was filled with Qi and if this was all, it would be a wonderful news for her and her clan’s future as a source, even if the Qi itself was very thin.
However she did not dare to take in any of the Qi around her to accelerate her Cultivation as she was able to quickly feel the Miasma making up most of the Qi itself, granting it a powerful corruptive influence that, so long as she didn’t take in any of it, she would be able to resist.

Her stone muscles, Living Stone being somehow both flexible and rigid at the same time, clenched before relaxing with every single one of her steps, the magma taking the place of her blood slowly flowing within her veins, warming her body from the inside to fight back against the coldness natural to this island.
While Sider followed the turtle at a significant distance, she tried to understand the Qi around her, thing rendered quite a bit easier considering how step after step the concentration of Qi slowly increased as she neared the center of the island, more specifically the mountain at the center of the island she was able to glimpse in the distance.
Electricity coursed around her body before it moved deeper in her body, flowing within the melted rock functioning at least for now in place of her blood and as a conseguence the Werewolf shuddered, her muscles spasming briefly before she forcefully retook control of her muscles.
The Lightning-Attribute Mana flowing within her body was released in repeating pulses, helping the black-haired one in analyzing the false Qi surrounding her as static shocks circled the area around the silver-eyed one as an additional form of defense, just in case.

The turtle proceded unimpeded, their steps sure despite the lack of any familiarity with the terrain around and, step after step, cracks spread all over its body with scales falling down around it to no particular reaction from the reptile before new, much sharper and darker ones violently exploded from beneath them, expanding their cracks.
This process continued as more and more of its parts fell apart behind them, red blood, bone, scales and flesh slipping down its body before being substitute by new ones, they, no, it, as step after step it became victim of the process called Monsterization, ignored the pain completely, its fascination forbidding it to react to said agony.
It breathed in deeply before, with its exhale, it rejected its previous organs, new ones forming underneath its shell and pushing its now obsolete organs from its mouth, a minuscule layer of Miasma starting to generate around it while its shell pulsed, cracks forming in it as cancerous new flesh solidified to form a new, bigger and sturdier shell.
Step after step, this process repeated itself as the turtle slowly Mutated into a Monster and if this was all, it would not be that strange if not for its speed but the thing that caused a shiver in Sider was the fact a Qi Circulatory System was forming within its body as its false Qi sluggishly flowed within it.

Notes:

Chapter 64: Chapter 63

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/10 0:03 (Autumn, Sunrise, Midrar)
*Luna Gains 2.346 Magicules.
*Luna’s Ability Skill “Crafting” D Increases to C.

Sabel slowly woke up, trying to stretch only to find it impossible as she quickly recognized her position.
Her eyes, upon opening, met the amused red ones belonging to Luna before she was able to fully understand her situation, her face quickly reddening.
The Human was currently resting her face on the Lunarian’s chest while the Phoenix and the Elf were resting their head on the white-haired one’s shoulders in either side of the two, held down by her other two Mate’s arms.
The red-faced one would have found it much less embarassing if not for their state of dress, or more specifically state of undress as while Mafel and herself were both in just their sleepwear, Luna and Amber both were completely naked with all four of them being gently enveloped by Luna’s Aura, as were they during the entirety of the previous night.
“Happy birthday, my little Sabel.” Luna whispered before her Aura formed a pair of arms to guide her in a brief kiss before the Human was led back in her previous position. “Now, rest a little more.”
Sabel closed her eyes, falling back asleep as Luna’s Auric Hands gently lulled her back to rest, her gaze barely able to make out another Luna made out of Black Blood entering the room while holding something, what she was quickly able to figure out was a newly-created Artifact, covered by bandanges, a very cruel light in Luna’s eyes.

-
10/9 12:26 (Autumn, Sunset, Mysterious Island)
Previously, Sider beholded as the turtle, step after step fell apart before reforming, bigger, stronger, sturdier and a little, even if just a touch, faster.
Not only that but as the Cultivator focused on feeling out the Monster with her Qi Sense, a process that should have been instinctively considered as an immediate attack but was instead completely ignored by the turtle, noting the formation of a rudimentary Qi Circulatory System within it, thing normally impossible with so tiny a quantity of both time and Qi.
This denied to her that her initial hypothesis of a very strong Cultivator died here and in so doing twisted the area.
Something was actively messing with the Magicules in the air, rendering it similar to a twisted variant of Qi and corrupting all of them, creating a Monster with a biological makeshift Qi Circulatory System with a single Meridian in comparison to her own eight Meridians.
The black-haired one silently prepared, her right hand opening and closing a couple of times before it transformed in a mass of fur and claws, electricity vibrating around her metallic claws before she sent forward a very light shock, trying to prompt it to react to a more direct form of attack.

The turtle fell briefly before planting its limbs firmly to the ground, pulling itself up before continuing on its journey indifferently, its vacuous gaze not moving from its destination.
At seeing such, the silver-eyed one did not hesitate, Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulating around her rocky right hand before she swung forth at full strenght and with a thunderclap, the Monster exploded violently, parts of its body sent flying all over the place.
By this point she already figured out where it was moving towards and so she had no more need for its life nor could she risk it becoming an obstacle in the future.
Sider continued forward, her gaze and Qi sense focused on her destination as her rocky body enveloped in lightning burned her footprints upon the grassy terrain underneath her at a fast but manageable pace, without the use of any of her Vital Energy, Mana and above all of her Qi, her senses stretched out fully to feel out any changes in the area around her towards the mountain at the center of this island lost in... wherever she was.

During the whole of her running there she found no recent traces belonging to any living things, Monsters or otherwise, with the latest traces, excluding the now deceased turtle, was to more than three weeks prior and belonging to Monsters at that, while the latest traces of animal life were more than a month old with traces of insectile life were even older than that, and significantly at that.
She stopped at the foot of the mountain, her imprint involontarily being left in the ground, before stretching lightly, her body while temporarily being comprised of rocks still more than flexible enough to do just that.
Electricity surged briefly around her before shutting off completely to dodge its cumulatively increasing in its cost, her body turning back into flesh to similarly minimize the stress from her [Living Stone Technique] while her Living Weapon was being kept dormant to eliminate the risk it would absorb any of this island’s quasi-Qi.
She sat against a tree, resting underneath its shade while eating a snack she brought with her to help recover faster before closing her eyes, faking having fallen asleep to try and invite an attack.
A good twenty minutes later she sighed, ending her impromtu session of meditation on her Qi with no attack on her nor was there any change in the area around her, before standing up at her full two meters height, turning in full towards the mountain and moving forward.

“I hate mountain climbing.” Sider complained half-heartedly, her boots stored within her spacial ring, a difficult Artifact to create, sure, but even so the most widespread as their invention was popularized by an Otherworlder long ago with an Unique Skill capable of easily mass production them around four to five centuries ago.
Her skin after all was more than durable enough to deal with the ground underneath her feet between her high Rank, her status as a body-focused Cultivator and her various Skills.
Pebbles were crushed underneath her feet as she started up on her hiking trail, if so it could be called, jumping from rock to rock, her senses especially her Qi one searching incessantly for any particular anomaly in the flow of the fake Qi.
And finally after another ten minutes searching for traces, she was able to find the precise direction it was flowing from, process rendered quite a bit more difficult by the fact that she was actually quite bad at feeling out the ground around her, paradoxically for an Earth Cultivator being better with Lightning than Earth itself, as shown by her use of Thunder Gems in battle and her altering the [Living Stone Technique] to integrate electricity into it to increase her ease of use.

“A Dungeon? No, this is not a Dungeon. It’s more similar to a Divine Realm but not exactly.” She scowled at the cavern from which the fake-Qi flowed, well acquainted with both of those kind of places, the first where Magicules and Miasma massed together until they created a Dungeon Core, distorting then space until Monsters start to automatically generate within it, while the seconds was a similar type of place as Dungeons however, instead of Magicules and Miasma, Qi is the thing that accumulated until it distorts the laws of physics until it matches the flavour of the Qi until it is exhausted.
The black-haired Werewolf proceded forward, stealthily entering the mouth of the cave, or at least as stealthily as she could be as a two meters tall and very muscular Werewolf-Amazon hybrid that was never properly taught how to fight as a rogue, and finding the air around her to flow wierdly while being strangely heavy and hard to walk through.
Finally she met the first inhabitants of this Dungeon-Divine Realm combination, a group of four Goblins? No, they were certaintly similar to that kind of Monsters but on the inside they were quite different considering how they had a more refined version of the same One-Meridian, biological Qi Circularory System that was being built within the now very dead turtle.
Sider stepped forward, a grave expression on her face, a loose rock being crushed underneath her feet and in so doing alerting the four “Goblins” that hurriedly turned towards her, three immediately taking up spears while the fourth, the one farthest from her turned and ran deeper in.

The Werewolf stepped forward further, her hands opening and closing, before she moved left, dodging the thrust from one of said “Goblins” moving at an unexpected speed considering their E-Rank, leading Sider to raise an eyebrow in surprise before she herself attacked, grabbing it by its face before smashing it into the ground, electricity couring her body before exploding forth, charring it immediately from the inside out, killing it.
Differently from a Dungeon Monster, said Goblin did not start to dissipate at high-speed immediately, instead behaving like a Monster unbound from a Dungeon in remaining stubbornly existent, her gaze moving towards the other two “Goblins” still currently in the room, noting how the other two were now surrounded by an Aura of Miasma, their fake-Qi starting to actively strenghten them instead of passively only.
Another “Goblin” jumped towards her, its Aura concetrating around its spear before it swung rapidly multiple times, sharp shockwaves flying from every single one of its attacks, this still far from enough to let it hit her.
The proper Cultivator observed the way her prey’s used its fake-Qi before nodding satisfied, her own Qi moving towards her right hand, before she punched, crushing its heart and most of its chest at once before a sharp shockwave destroyed the rest of its body at once by imitating its attacks.

The black-haired one fully turned towards the last of the Monsters still in the room, her silver eyes meeting its dark gaze, its Aura concentrating around her spear before it thrusted forward towards her own heart, crossing the ten meters between them in an instant.
In response Sider simply moved right while striking the shaft with a left palm strike covered in her own Qi to deflect the attack away from herself before she attacked back, Qi sharpening around her right hand for an instant to create a [Qi Blade] that she used to decapicate the last of the “Goblins”.
Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulated around her left hand again before it fell, frying the body of her opponent and decisely ending the fight.
“This Fake-Qi is much less effective than normal Qi at boosting a Cultivator but is probably much easier to create, I suppose. As demonstrated by the fight itself, I guess. Their strenght, even considering how I am a B-Rank Werewolf and they E-Rank Goblins, was way too low to be Cultivators at the same stage as myself, [Foundation Establishment]. However they were way too smart and skilled for what they were. Is it better at enhancing that in respect to power itself? No, I strongly doubt that.” Sider sighed, emotionally exhausted. “It’s no time to stop, Sider. Let’s take care of this as fast as possible.”

-
10/9 13:02 (Autumn, Night, Oceans)
The Leviathan moved, Their body currently composed by water alone attraversing the oceans, lazily hunting for any other Abomination to devour while most of Their attention focused on searching any major irregularity in the Layer of the World They were the Guardian of.
They briefly wondered if this Werewolf would be able to deal with the island, differently from the other four People They previously sent before deciding.
If she also failed, They would call upon support from Their two Siblings and simply erase the whole island, any living thing on it and all of its Energy.
After all it was as good an excuse as any for the Guardians to meet again despite Their different Roles.
In an instant the Guardian of the Middle Layer decided, Their Will expanding over the entire World, before conveying Their message to Their Siblings, casually and instantly doing something that would have left a fully-Incarnated God absolutely exhausted and in their cases needed previous preparations.

>-[“‘ L : POTENTIAL THREAT ISLAND CORRUPTED QI BEINGS MEETING SOON ’”]-<
Soon after, They recieved Their first, unsurprisingly curt response from Their Sibling whose Role was taking care of the Bottom Layer, the Behemoth, currently busy in a free-for-all with Beasts larger than most manors.
>-[“‘ B : AGREEMENT ’”]-<
A couple of seconds later, a significant wait for Beings like them, their other Siblings, the one whose Role was the Protection of the World from external Threats, the Ziz responded too, in a manner not unlike Their usual Self.
>-[“‘ Z : RISK THREAT EXTERMINATE ’”]-<
The response was not unlike Theirself as of the three They were the most ruthless and most solitary of them, well accustomed to simply erase all possible threats to the World immediately and deeply disliking having to leave Their Topmost Layer, an emotional response caused from when Their past immaturity was taken advantage of by the Lunarians to launch their invasion.

But They knew very well Their Siblings and so Their response was already prepared in advance.
>-[“‘ L : AGENT EXCUSE DESIRE ’”]-<
>-[“‘ Z : TREE STRANGE DESTROY ’”]-<
>-[“‘ L : TREE USEFUL PURIFICATION ’”]-<
>-[“‘ Z : DISTRACTION ’”]-<
This contined for a while, neither of Them willing to cede Their position as the Ziz offered excuse after excuse only for the Leviathan to shatter Them, this process repeating itself various times and as the Leviathan planned from the start, where They would be unable to win…
>-[“‘ B : DISRUPTION MEETING ’”]-<
The Behemoth would for Them, as shown by Their order, bringing an immediate end to Their argument in an instant and accepting no rebuttal as They all were well aware that the Ziz would like to meet Them and was only Their rampant paranoia that fueled Their negations.
>-[“‘ L : AGREEMENT ’”]-<
>-[“‘ Z : HESITATION AGREEMENT ’”]-<

Notes:

Chapter 65: Chapter 64

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 64
10/9 13:08 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider, unaware that her death would mean the complete annihilation of the island she was in by the Three Divine Beasts, proceded forth without any further hesitation, well aware that by this point night fell outside of the cave but unwilling to give any further time to the Goblin that previously retreated from her.
She moved forward, her ears and nose searching for any possible ambust, incredibly weak eletric shocks releasing from her body, mixing with her Qi sense to try and find any trace of her targets, her eyes, well adjusted to the lack of light, pierced the darkness of the cave immediately, her Mana flowing in the ground to subtly alter it, thing impossible in a normal Dungeon.
Lightning-Attribute Mana coalesced into a physical form, crystallizing into her Thunder Gems, while rocks rose from the ground, the two materials fusing together to form in a vague approximation of her own greataxe
The Werewolf twirled her new weapon around, quickly adapting to its vastly different weight in comparison to her Living Weapon, weapon that she trained with from when she was but a child.
Some may wonder at the lack of hesitation in directly creating a weapon using the ground filled with this Fake-Qi using Mana while refusing to use her own Qi directly on the ground or the air around her however her sense of security had its foundation on the difference between Qi, Vital Energy and Mana.

She left the initial room, finding herself in a corridor that opened up in various directions, before nodding to herself, entering the first branch she found, still making sure to be carefull not to be ambushed from behind.
Mana flared around her body, solidifying in a short-lived and rough barrier that deflected the three spears thrown at her enough for Sider to dodge them, before she sent back a lightning bolt towards one of her newest adversaries.
Said adversaries consisted of another group of Fake-Goblins, seven this time, with at their lead a much more developed one surrounded by a dense layer of Fake-Qi wielding pratical clothes and with a sword in its right hand.
Immediately, with a sneer on its face, the D-Rank Fake-Goblin 1,6 meters tall jumped forward, swinging its sword with a mix of both great ferocity and surprisingly high skill, Fake-Qi and Mana sharpening around its blade in a [Sword Flash] directed towards the Werewolf.
Said Werewolf crossed her arms before herself, Earth-Attribute Mana flaring around her body to block the attack but to her immense surprise not only was the Mana somewhat ignored by the flying slash but it was also able to cut into her skin and flesh despite their natural toughtness as both someone with “Enhancement: Physicality” and as a Cultivator.

Sider scowled, her lips twisting in a sneer as the Fake-Qi tried to invade her body, slowly starting to rot from her wounds on her arms before she without hesitation cut off her forearms, spending a lot of Vital Energy to start her recovery while her Mana flowed in the ground beneath her, causing it to violently erupt into spikes that impaled its feets to the ground.
Soon after the black-haired one Channeled Lightning-Attribute Mana throught her feet, the ground and the spike themselves, causing the D-Rank Fake-Goblin to spasm as its nerves lit ablaze in pain, buying enough time for her next move.
She jumped forward, twisting in mid-air to land a savage kick to its head, forcing it to bend before landing an axe-kick directly on its neck, breaking it.
As the Fake-Goblin fell, she spun on herself, dodging two spear thrusts before blocking the third between her slowly regenerating forearms, Mana flaring around them to stop the Fake-Qi from invading her body, thing only possible because of its unfocused state.
Using her stumps roughly, she forcefully pulled the third spear and its wielder towards her and more specifically in a rising knee that sent it up, twisting on herself hastily to line up a kick on the side of its head, smashing it on the ground hard.

Without a moment of hesitation, Mana flared around her violently before it detonated with the force of a lightning bolt, deafening all five previously unharmed Fake-Goblins, killing the E-Ranked one she just subdued and putting out of commission the D-Ranker.
Taking advantage of the opening, she stomped on the ground, Mana flowing before the ground rippled underneath them, rising in cuffs around her targets’ ankles, making sure they would not ran away.
The next step was transforming her left leg from foreleg down in its more bestial form, stopping on the only threat of this group’s neck before pressing down hard, decapicating the Fake-Goblin at once.
Aware that it was a Cultivator, even if it was using that Fake-Qi, Sider did not stop there, solidifying Earth-Attribute Mana around her transformed right leg, before crushing its chest with a powerful stomp, its limbs flying away because of the force of the impact.
Immediately after she kicked its head away from herself and the rest of its body as a safety before falling down upon the rest of the Fake-Goblins, dodging their retaliatory strike from their weapons and limbs before continuing the fight, transforming fully with “Form: Humanoid Wolf” and using her “Enhancement: Transformation” to accelerate her recovery immensely, using her left hand to pick up her makeshift-greataxe to decapicate the remaining Monsters at once.

After carefull observation, the Werewolf was sure of the death of all seven Fake-Goblins and the absence of any further presence in the room, she dropped her Transformation at once, trembling briefly because of the backlash caused by it.
Sighing and thankful for the briefness of the fight, Sider stood straight up, turning towards her axe and swinging it around a couple of times to fully adjust to her new arms, before turning towards the arms she cut off previously but not finding them or for that matter any of the corpses, anywhere in the room.
She sighed. “I have a terrible feeling about this.” She lamented quietly before proceding deeper in the cave, quickly and to her immense displeasure finding it to be a dead-end. “Oh, come on.” Before her rant could start in full, she jumped left, mostly dodging a crossbolt bolt except for a scratch forming on her right cheek as her hand flashed forward, burying itself in what she felt as one of those Fake-Goblin’s stomach, before ripping her target apart with electrified claws.
As its now visible corpse fell, its Technique or Artifact no longer hiding it, she quickly turned her full focus towards the cut on her face, scowling even harder once she felt the burning liquid present in her wound, liquid that was keeping her wound open while worsening it, before concentrating a burst of Mana and Vital Energy there, quickly expelling this poison as the dart vanished into nothing. “Oh, I hate this place!” She affirmed her displeasure for everyone nearby to hear. “And now you vanished too.” She lamented to the now absent corpse of the Fake-Goblin she literally just killed.

-
10/10 2:31 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Somewhere else, in a slightly different time and place…
A sweet smell fille d the four Mates’ room, waking up Sabel once again as her unfocused gaze tried to find the origin of said scent, quickly finding a copy of Luna made out of Black Blood holding a tray with various pastries on it, all of them seeming to be homemade ones.
At seeing her confused gaze through her clone, Luna smiled confidently and, considering how her arms were currently busy by Amber and Mafel, she firmly embraced her cute little Human with Auric Arms. “Surprised? Even if I dislike and don’t need to eat, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to cook for other People. Especially when it comes to sweets.” She affirmed, the last part said at a much lower volume.
Amber followed suit Sabel’s example by waking up, stretching slightly before noticing the new for her presence of Sabel and Mafel in their bed and remembering her current state of dress, or rather undress, blushed slightly, looking away from the eyes of her Mates in embarassment before forcefully calming down and resolutely meeting her Mates’ eyes, unwilling to back down.
Luna smirked before turning her gaze towards Mafel, the Elf still sleeping despite all the movements around her, her smirk widening as a teasing light formed in her eyes.
Taking advantage of the fact her two Mates were awake, Luna slowly and casually leaned towards her grey-haired Mate before teasingly playing with one of her ears, making her jump up with a yelp and a pout on her face.

“You do know that you don’t need to fake being asleep to remain in my arms, don’t you?” Luna teased, sitting up while holding the now-very flustered black-haired one on her lap.
“How could you accuse me of so blatantly taking advantage of my Mate’s trust. You wound me.” The grey haired one commented calmly, blatantly sitting up to more easily enjoy the sight of her three Mates all close together, especially considering how two of them were currently naked and leading Amber to hide back beneath their blanket with a yelp while Sabel, embarrassed, hid her face in Luna’s chest.
Luna’s smile widened further in amusement. “In that case, I offer my excuses on my erroneous assumption about the motives behind your action of feigning sleep. I am sure that you just decided to guard our bodies while we were sleeping, didn’t you?”
“Exactly.” The former Boss Monster nodded, her eyes not leaving Luna’s body in the slightest, distracting her just enough for her to yelp at feeling a couple of Auric hands poking Mafel’s spine.
Luna sat up fully, embracing Sabel from behind with her pale legs trapping the Human in place while her arms embraced her other two Mates to either side of her, Auric limbs emanating from Luna and proceding to offer breakfast to the four currently busy with planning their day and their later ambush.

Notes:

Chapter 66: Chapter 65

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

MChapter 65
10/9 13:19 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider quickly emanated another wave of Mana, Earth-Attribute one this time to manipulate the earth behind her to create a, even if thin, wall between herself and the previous room as added security, before concentrating all of her senses to find any disturbance in the air, releasing a wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana to fill her current room, trying to fry a possible unknown presence.
The black-haired one sighed in displeasure, keeping her gaze on the earthen wall she just created to make sure it would not suddently vanish nor would it be broken without her noticing considering its fragility, derived primarly not on her own skill with Earth Magic but the fact that the ground fought back against her manipulation.
Fortunately the use of Vital Energy or Mana would not open her up to being twisted by the Fake Qi as while they were both types of Energy naturally generated and stored in a body, or well within someone’s Spiritual Body to be exact, once it is used, except for sustained Spells, it is no longer part of its former owner.
On the other hand, this would mean that she needed to be extra careful to not reabsorb her used Qi to refuel some of the spent one within her body while the Monsters belonging to this island would have no such issues if they are at the “Foundation Establishment” Stage and she didn’t want to gamble on what happens at the end of the day, once she would gain more Magicules from Gaea.

Sider did not hesitate any further, creating a javelin of Lightning-Attribute Mana in her right hand before throwing it in her previous room, piercing the fragile wall that separated the two rooms before impacting the axe she left behind, channeling the electricity through it before it was released in an explosion, detonating and in so doing reassuring the Werewolf that no one was there, at least for right this very moment.
The two-meters tall Person moved back, the rest of the wall easily destroyed by her movement alone as she repaired her temporary weapon and wielded it in her hands once again, quickly looking at her surrounding, cautious that her previous attacks should have allerted other nearby Monsters and being immensely suspicious that none of them were currently moving towards her.
Sider returned to the initial corridor before carefully proceding deeper in, gazing all around her for any trace of life, a thin coating of Lightning-Attribute Mana erratically and willingly unregularly spiked around her body while she constantly twisted the ground beneath her feet and the area immediately around herself to make sure it would not be altered without her knowledge and to feel any step near her.
All the same her foreboding feeling only magnified with the passage of time and the frown etched on her face as a conseguence worsened with every empty corridor or room she explored, finding traces of Beings leaving through nonexistent passages.
Even by breaking through three whole meters of stone she found or felt no corridor nearby leading her to a single certaintly.

“This is a trap.” She affirmed calmly and aloud to herself, still continuing on the initial corridor deeper in. ‘Either that or a way to make me waste time because of paranoia until the day ends and I become vulnerable to subconsciously absorb this Fake-Qi instead of Magicules. I hate this place.’ She thought to herself, idly swinging her axe around her a couple of times to pass the time.
Her gaze moved all over the place as the Werewolf jumped all over continuously, electricity erratically filling the air around her, all these being enacted as measures to render an ambush on her as difficult as she possibly could.
The black-haired one suddently threw her weapon in the air and dropped to the ground, dodging the thrust of a still-invisible spear, her hands on the ground before quickly launching herself up, dodging the following orizontal swing and she spun around in mid-air, kicking the approximate location of her assailant, Earth-Attribute Mana cloaking her foot as she felt ribs cracking and breaking under her kick, quickly deviating the force to smash her still hidden prey to the ground under her foot.
Her silver eyes gleamed as Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulated around her right hand before she pointed down, lightning raging downwards and charring what was now revealed to be another Fake-Goblin.

Her right hands stretched to the sky, grasping her falling weapon before she swung down at full force, the Thunder Gems impacting against empty air before detonating in a burst of electricity and force, killing the Fake-Cultivator.
The silver eyes did not leave the Fake-Goblin at all and finally after a whole twenty minutes further, its body parts, as if giving up on being discrete at all, started to rot at an incredible speed, becoming first a purple mess before it was reabsorbed by the ground underneath.
“Fine, be that way!” Sider howled, her Thunder Gems reforming around her greataxe’s blade as she prepared to what would be a very long and annoying fight.

-
10/10 2:54 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
In a cave near Nealet, expanded and changed in a proper base containing a map of the nearby region, currently rested two Beings waiting for their upcoming fight, the other members of their Party continuing their preparations outside...
“Do you know how soon our target will reach this place, Rose?” Asked the taller one, a tall, broad shouldered, dark-haired Human fidling with an hammer even taller than his own more than two meters tall frame.
The one being inquired was a young Human woman with long flowing pink hair and pale skin, currently busy meditating that upon being asked sighed once before opening her eyes, her pink Aura rising up around her body as pink light erupted from her gaze, moving towards the far city in which their target currently resided. “She should reach our trap around 11 tommorrow, Grug. I already told you this.” She commented calmly, the light within her eyes mostly fading away, leaving behind two bright pink orbs, the Innate Skill of her non-Human father, her “Magic Eyes of Psychic Might”.
“I know, I know. But I was hoping you could convince her to move up her plans…?” He hesitantly asked only to turn away at his comrade’s reproachful gaze.
“First of all, as you should already well know, I need eye contact to influence someone and was only able to influence her at all thanks to Mark’s knowledge on her and Lilze’s Unique Skill “Karmic Connector” and only to the point of making a suggestion she could accept without too many issues. Second of all, the more time we have, the more we can stack the cards in our favor with traps and other preparations for our ambush. As you already well know. If you are so bored, you could just try to Craft something for the battle. Mark said you have a talent for it.” She half-complimented.
“What, just because my father was a Dwarf doesn’t mean that I am automatically good at metallurgy. And Mark was talking about past-future-me? And he is not me.” He complained once again, more bored than anything else.

“He is quite literally you. And you know that. I don’t see where the issue lies with… him, if you want me to say it like that.”
“I already live in the shadows of my father and brothers, I did everything I could so that I am not being compared with any of them and now I am in a constant comparison with a more experienced version of myself. Who knows where my issues come from!” The half-Dwarf almost shouted, irritated, leading Rose to lean back slightly before she sighed.
“Fine, I understand. Even if I do not share in your emotions, I am sorry that I didn’t consider your feelings.”
“I accept your excuses!” The hammer-wielder exclaimed smugly, his hurt feelings swiftly suppressed only to be met with a pair of glowing, skeptical eyes.
“You do know that hiding your emotions while I am actually paying attention, don’t you? If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, but if you do, I can lend you my attention for a while. Or you can go entertain Lilze, I guess.” Grug in response thought about it a little bit, nodded to himself and, his gaze burning with new-found determination met the pink-haired one’s eyes… before standing up and going right out of their Party’s cave, searching for Lilze.

“As I thought. Why is everyone in this Party a psycological mess, Mark?!” She asked to the air, expecting an answer and not being disappointed or surprised once she recieved one from someone that shouldn’t have been there.
“Well, in my defense, it’s not like I knew what everyone’s hang up was at the start. I just wanted to assemble a team to find out and avenge my sister’s death and all of you were quite proficient in masking your problems at the start.” Mark half-teased, appearing from the shadows of the cave, his newly-created Artifact shutting off. “And by the point I learned of your issues, I was already attached. How did you figure out I was here, by the way? This thing should have been more than enough to hide me from you.” Mark wondered, curious.
Rose looked at him, an eyebrow arched at the sight of the blonde Human that functioned as their Party Leader and the reason the Party existed in the first place. “You are a time-traveler. Even with the small number of travels you did, you were trying to make something you already did before. It was obvious that you would be quick in making it and so I guessed you heard my conversation with Grug. What do you think we should do about him?”
“If he offers to talk, we will listen to him but we cannot force it. It would be… dangerous considering the upcoming fight and, while he intellectually knows he can trust us, emotionally our Party’s creation was too recent for him to really open up.”

“I guess. It would be much easier if you could bring back everyone else’s memory with you but it’s impossible.”
“My Unique Skill “Time Walker” doesn’t allow me much when it comes to time travel. The point of arrive is the time I Awakened my Unique Skill and I can only send my memories back in time once “Time Walker” reaches A-Rank.”
“It’s impressive all this you did in just twenty days, like how you were able to transform a loose collection of strangers into a competent team. However some things need time to mature even if done perfectly, as you well know.” She calmly half-comforted and her Party Leader merely sighed before asking her with a look if everything was fine reguarding their target, his sister’s murderer.
“Everything is proceding according to plan.” She confirmed calmly before relaxing back into Deep Meditation once her Party Leader vanished, intent on storing as much Psychic Energy as possible for the following battle.
All of them remaining blissfully ignorant of the ways that her eyes flashed red for but a brief moment.

-
10/10 3:04 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Luna’s smile widened further, her attention shifting briefly to the distance as her eyes briefly flashed pink, her gaze containing an intense yet somewhat playful ferocity.
“It seems someone is looking down on me. They will regreat it. Very soon.” She affirmed, malice filling her tone for but an instant before vanishing as if inexistent the following second, turning back to her Mates with what for her passed as a cheery smile. “But until then, let’s celebrate. Ah, what about your Party?” She asked Sabel curiously.
“Well, they will pass here in another couple of hours but our Party is probably disbanded, at least for a while. Hale was recalled to his church’s headquarters while Jay is a noble, apparently, and needs urgently to return home. A family emergency, apparently.” Sabel sighed, trying to calm down her sadness at having to say goodbye to her friends but happy that both of them were able to still visit in her birthday.
“I see.” Luna calmly affirmed before leaning forward and kissing her black-haired Mate to reassure her.

Notes:

Chapter 67: Chapter 66

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 13:51 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
“I hate you!” Sider’s scowl widened even further once she found the end of the corridor, no more rooms or other corridors leading anywhere but at further walls, her axe held securely against her right shoulder, before she prepared to do something that would be incredibly annoying for her.
The nails of her left hand lengthened into claws covered in Earth-Attribute Mana to alter their proprieties before she neared them against her hardened stone greataxe, closing her silver eyes while focusing some of her own Qi within her ears to both sharpen her earing and fortify her wolf ears in advance before she scratched her claws against the shaft of her weapon, generating a very shrill sound and leading her to wince in pain.
An high and immensely annoying scratching sound filled the corridor completely, her canine ears leaning up to feel as much of it as possible before she proceded to the next step, her Mana flowing in the rocky floor of the cavern to continuously alter the ground, electricity flaring from her body in as casual a pattern as she could make before stepping hard on the ground repeatedly, the sound of her steps joining the chaos she was causing in the room.
After a further ten minutes of this painfull acoustic mess, she found her way thanks to her sore ears nodding satisfied to herself, before stopping, grabbing her axe firmly with both of her hands, turning towards one of the walls of the corridor, running forward at full speed before swinging at it, channeling her Vital Energy and Unique Skill “Berserker” through it.

Her temporary weapon’s blades and top half shattered immediately because of the pressure exerted by her Unique Skill, the Thunder Gems detonating and their force being dragged along with the shockwave and being forced into crashing against the wall that was in her way.
Its durability showed no resistance towards her attack’s raw destructive power, quickly and violently exploding apart in a shower of dust that rained down upon her Mana barrier as Sider, unwilling to take any risk with the flying stone shards, released her Mana in an explosion to deflect the shards away from her.
Sider did not hesitate, bursting right through the cloud of dust, swinging her axe immediately around to decapicate a Fake Goblin that was waiting to ambush her, her right foot kicking forward to send its body flying away from its head, grabbing this last one and crushing it with a show of overwhelming physical prowess, electricity coursing through them both the next instant.
She threw the head away from herself soon after, trying to nail another one of the Fake-Goblin’s chest, before jumping over the swing of a sword launched by a third Fake Cultivator, spinning in mid-air while transforming her right foot in a bestial version before kicking forth, her claws disarming it of its sword before she grabbed its wrist, pulling it in close, twisting around herself and smashing it into the ground beneath her feet, her hand gripping it firmly.

“Now let’s see how you work!” She affirmed, threateningly.
She twisted her wrist, breaking as a conseguence the Goblin’s own before punching down, shattering its elbow and observing both the speed of its own healing and its durability, before turning her other hand into a bestial version and cutting it open, trying to observe its physical Qi Circulatory System, confirming the presence of a single Meridian compared to the eight that a proper Cultivator at the [Foundation Establishment] Stage would have, while being careful to maintain a layer of Mana between herself and her test subject.
“I see, so you skip the First Stage entirely by being born with an already present, biological [Foundation] that you merely need to fill with Qi… An ingenious trick, I must say.” She complimented, before crushing her dying opponent’s head into paste with a flex of her hand. “The First Stage, [Qi Condensation], doesn’t offer anything in particular, it’s merely the point when someone can actively use Qi and is being irradiated by their own Qi, facilitating their growth, but it’s nothing more than a start to either processes and is nothing particularly important in the grand scheme of things. The only flaws of this method are the low quantity of Fake-Qi stored in their Qi Circulatory System and its inefficiencies in its use.
“This would explain why that one at D-Rank was so much more dangerous than the rest of you, it was older and had more time to accumulate Fake-Qi and to learn how to use it and this would confirm another thing. You Fake-Goblin do not Gain Magicules like natural Monsters, do you? In its place you gather this Fake-Qi. Which means that I should not be here once the days end or I would inadvertently do the same.” She nodded to herself, satisfied, before opening her hand and letting the corpse drop to the ground.

Sider concentrated her awareness down deeper in the ground, forcibly altering the ground beneath her feet into a chasm that led deeper in, a process that was much more temporary and costly as evident by the fact she needed to constantly emit Mana to maintain it against the island, falling down around ten meters before, her silver eyes focused, impaling the sharp, crystalline butt of her greataxe, the only remaining part, into the wall of her newly-created chasm, stopping her fall in mid-air and detonating it by using her Unique Skill on it again, blasting a hole in the wall she launched herself in, finding a new, occupied at least for now, room.
She stood up fully, her Mana flaring around her body to dust off her clothes, left hand throwing a sharp stone towards one of the Monsters she found herself before, a reptilian, humanoid Monster, around 160 cm tall with dark blue scales and glowing red eyes, a Monster that was probably descendent from this place’s version of a Kobold
Around its body a visible aura of Fake-Qi manifested itself, easily shielding it from the force of the attack, especially considering its hard scales, sure, but allowing the Werewolf to observe the way it used its Qi to either learn something herself or at least better understand the level of her future opponents and in so doing she saw that while it was still at the [Foundation Establishment] Stage, it was much more advanced in quantity of Qi itself and refinement of both its body and Qi Circulatory System, being probably at the Fifth Step equivalent.
“I see. This will be harder than I thought” She affirmed to herself, punching forward once and being unsurprised when her semi-casual attack was dodged with surprising, or perhaps not all things considered, martial skill and she found herself having to dodge a coordinated flurry of blows from six of its seven compatriots while the seventh moved away from them, starting to quickly Chant and form a Magical Circle before itself.

The Kobolds, the counterpart of the Dragonoids created by either True or False Dragons using Monsters, mostly Goblins, instead of People as its base, showed off their Draconic descendency, if so it could be called, by opening their mouth and releasing small but quick bullets belonging to various different Attributes, forcing her to continuously dodge and interrupting her attacks before she could ever really take the advantage in their confrontation.
Sider quickly grew weary of this tentative of theirs to buy time yet found their coordination to precise to just rampage, deciding to improvise a solution to her problem that wouldn’t necessitate the use of her Unique Skill as it would be the third time she used it in too short a period and was starting to become dangerous if she used it so casually.
The dark-skinned beauty stomped down hard, the ground rippling beneath her as a small boulder ripped itself away from the earth beneath herself, being kicked up before compressing in a small sphere that she launched forward with a second kick, aiming to disturb their harmony.
With the same purpose of it was the quick release of Lightning around her body, buying herself enough space to stretch out her arms, two long staffs of compressed stone erupting at her sides, her hands pulling from the soil underneath her control a pair of large, single-bladed axe.
“Let’s go!” She exclaimed, her excitement exploding as her eyes shone more intensely.

-
10/10 3:52 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Luna carefully analyzed the map of the area around Nealet that Sabel was able to recieve thanks to her father, map that specifically showed the locations of the known Dungeons around the city and a brief description of them.
She nodded before indicating a certain Dungeon somewhat away from the city and the route that was currently calling to her. “Here is where she . Do you have any idea of anything in particular happening in this place?” She asked her Mates calmly only to recieve a negation from both Sabel and Mafel, her eyes moving to her remaining Mate, her face stuck in a pensive expression.
“Can you show me a map of the whole of Midrar?” She asked simply, nodding once she recieved it by Mafel as her fingers quickly moved over it to find the approximate location of the Dungeon and the city of Nealet, percorring the path numerous times before finally stopping at a certain point between the two.
“The ambush will probably occur around here.” She nodded satisfied before explaining herself once she saw the curious gaze of her Mates. “Well, Luna is explicitely the target and she is a Lunarian, right? Well, even if they don’t know what it means to be such, they should still know that she is a Vampiric, right? Well, around four, five centuries ago, in one of the last battles of the Moonlight Empire, a Curse was Casted Targetting all Vampiric Beings to weaken them greatly and, even if it weakened over time, it is still present and effective to this day.”

“I see, an ideal place to battle a Vampiric Being then. How did you know?” Mafel asked, curious about both the information she just asked and the Curse itself.
“Well, my mother helped to both develop and Cast it and, well, she was very proud of her work.” The blonde sheepishly affirmed, turning her gaze away from her Mates’ own, embarassed by their interest. “It was apparently a very reguarding offer when it comes to her reward, considering the type of Summoning it was. She apparently gained the equivalent of more than two years of worth in just a month between Energy and materials. In addition if a Vampiric Being dies while the effect of the Curse, well, it not only lenghten its duration but it also transfers a little bit of Energy to her.” The Phoenix explained quickly, trying to brush off her Demonic parent’s actions.
“Impressive.” Luna calmly complimented. “I will endeavour to memorize the feeling of the Curse then. It wouldn’t do to forget the works of one of my mothers-in-law, especially if I experience them myself.” She shamelessly affirmed, a sharp smile on her face before she turned her attention towards the forth member of their group, their little Human currently very distracted by both the fact she was on Luna’s laps and the arm currently trapping her against the Lunarian’s chest, poking her in the cheek a couple of times to take her attention. “Tomorrow, you three are going to leave towards a Dungeon before going towards my fake destination and slowly move back towards me. Once the ambush starts you can be free to rush back.”
A sharp grin formed on her lips as she continued to silently plan her future battle and, as if to crown her animosity to the whole World…

*Luna’s Ability Skill “Oath Making” E increases to D-Rank.

Notes:

Chapter 68: Chapter 67

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:12 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider stepped forward, her twin axes being swung around her body, forcing the Fake-Kobolds to retreat, Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulating within her mouth before she howled, sending forth a wave of electricity towards a small group of her opponents.
None of the Kobolds hesitated, even those that weren’t directly the Targets of her attack, each of them Chanting a different part of a Spell and creating a different part of the same Magical Circle in a stunning display of Concurrent Casting causing an half dome made out of compressed stone to rise up to block the attack.
Impressed, the Werewolf continued her assault, throwing one of her axe towards the head of a Kobold belonging to a different group that the one she previously attacked while stomping hard on the ground, a line of spikes violently erupting from her position and moving to skewer yet another group of Fake-Cultivators in a two-pronged assault act on testing out their reaction.
The Kobolds roared all together, their soundwaves joining together thanks to their Fake-Qi in an high pitched frequency that was somehow able to shatter the stone belonging to the cavern’s floor, and consequently blocking both the earthen spikes and letting them dodge the thrown axe by falling down in the lower room.
Before the cracks could reach the pavement beneath her feet, she jumped, holding out her hastily made weapon in her right hand and throwing it once again, aiming to cut in half a Kobold’s head while Lightning accumulated around her left forearm before most of it roared forward in a spear.

The Fake-Kobold she attacked nodded to itself, a resolute light in its gaze as it moved sideways, turning a bebilitating strike into merely a grave wounds, her thrown axe impaling it in its shoulder and leaving it free to join in on its comrade’s Chanting while another Fake-Kobold shattered the axe, small fragments still imbedded in its body that were ignored by both of them in order to join their next combined Spell.
And again, the Fake-Kobolds behaved quite similarly to natural Kobolds with the exceptions of even higher Cooperation and stronger Druidry, as demonstrated by the falling piece of the floor joining together in a massive boulder to block the lightning bolt.
But this was far from Sider’s first fight and she certainly didn’t lack experience in a fight as demonstrated by her next, clenching her left hand still connected to the lightning and in response, her lightning spear erupted before it could impact the boulder on its way, dividing into a rain of very-thin Lightning knives and, sure, most of them were blocked by the rock and only a small number of them stabbed into the Kobolds, but she didn’t mind this at all.
While she was still falling down, Sider rose her right hand and formed a spear of Thunder Gems that she threw towards the Kobolds’ defense, shielding herself by curling up in a fetal position in mid-air, that upon impacting the Lightning-Knives detonated in a violent shockwave that sent her flying back into a wall, her feet cracking it as she bent her knees to help deal with the impact while she impaled her left hand in the ground.

Her eyes narrowed, quickly searching for her opponent, immediately finding six of the nine Kobolds but being unable to flush out the other three even with her incredibly enhanced senses as both a Werewolf and a Cultivator, Earth-Attribute ammassing around the hand currently imbedded in the wall, the whole room pulsing in a violent shockwave.
Before the shard of the previously destroyed boulder could finish landing on the ground, she launched herself towards one of the Kobolds with a dropkick that sent it flying back against the floor, her feet firmly keeping it stuck to the ground before she rose her left feet and stomping down violently, again and again, until she was forced to jump away with the purpose of dodging the claws of two other Kobolds covered in Fake-Qi, her right hand flashing out to grab the neck of a fourth Fake-Kobold that was trying to attack her.
“It’s not going to be that simple!” She affirmed, her smile widending with a violent gleam before she stepped hard on the ground, spinning around on herself before smashing the Fake-Cultivator against another one of its comrades, her left hand covered in Lightning-Attribute Mana pulled back before she thrusted it backwards, impaling it upon the stomach of one of the Monsters that was trying to ambush her from behind.
The Lightning expanded forming a spear within her opponent’s body before the black-haired one threw it up over her body by the shaft impaled in its stomach before she flipped around and smashed it in the ground, her right hand being coated by her Earth-Attribute Affinity to punch to her right, casually shattering a small boulder sent flying towards her before jumping upwards, dodging a pair of grasping hands rising from the ground around the fallen Fake-Kobold, belonging to a seventh one.

In mid-air, Sider stomped downwards with cratering force, cracks spreading beneath the Kobolds impaled with her Lightning Spear, her arms stretched out to her side and calling masses of the still falling rocks from the destroyed roof in her hands to create a pair of long, pointed staffs, electricity coursing through them, before she thrusted them downwards, impaling the two Fake-Qi users into place and landing hard on them.
“I don’t appreciate being looked down on.” She frostly declared, her eyes narrowed dangerously, her previous enthusiasm freezing down in a dangerous and murderous intent, her eyes shining slightly, her hairs and the fur on her ears and tails standing up straight, before she transformed her hands in their more bestial versions, her thick black fur highlighting the sharp shine of her claws.
She twisted around, dodging the two meters long spike sent flying at her from behind, before continuing with her spin to kick it, changing its trajectory of the projectile with a burst of Vital Energy so that it was sent flying towards a group of the Fake-Kobolds, her Mana flaring violently around her form in mid-air before she stomped down, trying to kill the two Fake-Kobolds but fortunately for them, the ground rose up to drag them beneath its surface, hiding and protecting them.
Her eyes narrowed, her body fluidly moving sideways to dodge the claws enveloped in Fake-Qi belonging to another Fake-Kobold, her hands grabbing into its wrists before she fluidly smashed it in the ground a couple of times, her feet rising briefly before smashing down on its neck. “This is not going to be enough.” She affirmed frigidly, her claws piercing the arms of the Fake-Kobold, her body slowly starting to grow slightly.

-
10/10 3:59 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Luna luxuried in the power she just gained, examining briefly the increased values of her Oaths before concentrating on the Expansion derived by her Skill increasing to D-Rank.
While she was moving around to quickly master her increase in power, she proceded to do the same with her newly gained possibilities, most of the Black Blood outside her body was flowing freely around her and eroding a weak Artifact gifted her with the purpose of accelerating her Mana Recovery, triggering her “Devouring Evolution” and slightly accelerating her natural Recovery but mostly with the purpose of memorizing how it was made and how it worked so that in the future she already had a model if necessary.
Her Vital Mana stretched around her, encircling the area in a False Domain that she used to attack the area around her by constantly imbuing it with her “Divine Power” Skill to compesate for its immateriality, the area around her darkening slightly as proof of this process, while the rest of her Black Blood was instead fusing with the air into various short-lived Weapons flying around her, the air’s Quality, the lowest between the two Materials, thanks to her Oath being brought up to the Quality of the second lowest, in this case the only other Material involved in said Crafting, her Black Blood.
Finally, her most automatic Oath, the one reguarding her constant Meditation, had a very rare and likewise useful extra effect that she gleefully observed, the extension of her Resistances to the entirety of her own body, mind and Soul, negating even the small amount of influence she was currently under.

Amber decided to test her Mate’s False Domain at once, launching a rain of fire balls upon the 6 meters wide Domain using her “Pyrokinesis” alone and in response Luna’s Vital Mana flared and attacked the flames with bursts of force, almost on their own, the Lunarian’s gaze meeting the blonde’s own while small spheres of Vital Mana floating around her.
“Amber, this is a False Domain, be more careful.” She half-scolded, causing the Demonic-blooded one to look away.
“Reguarding Domains, what’s the difference between True and False Domains?” Asked Sabel, half in actual curiosity and half to distract them from Amber’s action, not that it worked considering all four of them could check on each other’s emotions at any time thanks to their Mate’s Mark.
Luna smiled briefly at her, deciding to forgive the impulsiveness. “Domains are abilities that create a space around the user with different rules and are divided in three categories, from most to least rigid, being: False, True and Unique ones. False Domains are incredibly specific in their abilities, for example my own creates a space where Vital Mana is easier to control, like moving my own limbs. A True Domain is an Innate or Ability Skill that Channels one of the user’s own Skills in the whole Domain. Finally a Unique Domain, as shown by its name, Channels in the affected Territory the user’s own Unique Skill and they are automatically acquired once an Unique Skill fully reaches A-Rank.” She calmly explained, knowledge she gained mostly because of the research left behind by Edgar.

Sabel nodded, satisfied at her new knowledge, while both Mafel and Amber started to wonder about their possible Unique Domains, daydreaming on all of their possibilities until Mafel returned to reality first to notice the amused gaze of her other two Mates.
“There is no need to look at me like that, rather you two should be curious too, shouldn’t you!” She defended herself, feeling challenged and wanting her Mates to stop, her exclamation bringing Amber back down to reality too.
“I still do not have my Unique Skill Awakened, thinking about things that require A-Rank in that seems rather premature, doesn’t it? But don’t worry, it’s very cute the way that you lose yourself in your thoughts.” And in a twist that burned the grey-haired Elf greatly, the black-haired Human stretched out and in half-reassuring yet completely mocking, petted her head.
“And I can already guess what my Unique Domain will be like.” Luna calmly commented, the reason behind her disinterest rendered clear. “It will be a Territory that turns everything within to Energy for me to devour. Boring on its own but it will help me out a lot to grow even faster and further.” She contined with her experimentation, moving on to trying to fuse her Aura with her False Domain while briefly wondering if she could sustain a fifth Oath long-term.

Notes:

Chapter 69: Chapter 68

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:27 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider stopped herself before she fully transformed, well aware of its drawbacks, but still wanting to make the most she could out of the Innate Skill “Enhancement: Transformation”, Innate Skill that she was forced to exercise by remaining fully transformed from dawn to dusk, before being forced to deal with the pain and strain by herself as an additional way to train both the Innate Skill she was born with, “Enhancement: Physicality”, and her Cultivation.
As such, it was no wonder then that she very quickly learned how to regulate her transformation while being careful to maximize her resulting power as much as she needed at any time, power that she brought out to express in full her rising annoyance towards her opponent and her situation as a whole.
Her hands clenched hard, shattering the wrists belonging to the Fake-Kobold currently stuck under her foot before accumulating Lightning-Attribute Mana around her whole body, rising her foot before Channeling her electricity in her raised limbs before she stomped down on the Fake-Cultivator’s chest, a thunderclap overwhelming all other sounds as she mercilessly yet quickly killed the Fake-Kobold she was able to capture.
The Werewolf turned her attention back towards the other seven Fake-Kobolds, still stunned because of the incredibly loud sound she just caused with her stomp, jumping forward with a newly created Lightning Spear that she threw forward, anticipating her own attack, all the while unaware of the way that the fallen Kobold’s Vital Energy, Mana and Fake-Qi flowed down, deeper in.

Sider moved forward, her strenght and speed enough to crumble the rocks underneath her feet with her steps alone, especially considering how she was not bothering to hold back or control her strenght at all, her gaze dangerously focused on her current target alone while she pulled back her left fist.
The Kobold she was aiming at responded by coating all ten of its claws in a dense layer of Fake-Qi before it clawed forward, sending ten flying slashes towards the Werewolf and in response she simply jumped, spinning in mid-air before creating a pillar from the ground that she grabbed to redirect herself from her previous trajectory to dodge by another couple of attacks, the pole being pulled with her as a temporary weapon for the near future.
The dark-blue scales present on her target’s reptilian mug broke under the weight of her improvised staff as she masterfully swung it on it without any hesitation multiple times, her ears twitching and causing her to retreat, dodging a sharp, two meters long spike of concentrated stone in her previous location, lightning accumulating around her right hand before launching behind her to fall upon another Fake-Cultivator.
The proper Cultivator skillfully yet brutally twisted herself in mid-air, despite her significant size, to land on the ball of her feet before launching herself towards another group of Fake-Kobolds, using her pole to dodge over another series of attacks, spinning in mid-air before lenghtening her staff to smash it over one of her opponent’s head, sending it to the ground.

Before she could reach it to finish off another one of her opponents, she thrusted her staff to the ground, throwing herself high in the sky to dodge a Kobold trying to hug her from behind with the intent on stopping her in place long enough for its comrades to gain an advantage, before she swung her staff down on it, blocking it in place against the ground.
Before her opponents could retake initiative, she threw herself down on a double knee strike directly to the stuck Fake-Kobold, cratering the ground beneath them both before joining her hands over her head, Lightning-Attribute Mana and Earth-Attribute Mana fusing together in a different configuration than her Thunder Gems.
Normally, excluding the Curse- and Holy-Attributes, fusing two Attributes together had two major ways of Manifesting, with the Form of one and the Substance of the other, as demonstrated by her Thunder Gems made using the Form of the Earth-Attribute and the Substance of the Lightning-Attribute but this time, for the first time in her life and led only by her murderous instinct, she inverted her Composited Attribute’s composition.
Earth-Attribute Mana raged chaotically and erratically around her joined hands, her eyes focused on the target of her next attack as she separated her limbs, black and yellow lightning raging around her closed right hand, before she punched down.

From the point of impact, a violent shockwave was released, the rock floor beneath them shattering completely and a miniaturized earthquake filled the room, dark bolts of golden lightning raining down upon the whole room and forcing the other Kobolds in an hasty retreat.
Sider stood back up, her gaze trailing curiously between her hand still clad in small, dark sparks and the result of her previous blow, the upper half of the fallen Fake-Kobold being unceriously ripped apart, its blood and bones flowing on the hungry floor.
The Cultivator looked towards the other six remaining Fake-Cultivators, her Terran Lightning starting to hesitantly coat her body in place of her previous Lightning-Attribute Mana, her feet shattering the rocks around her body upon contact with the immense force shaped like lightning bolts constantly raining down upon the area around her.
Her shaft flew in her waiting right hand, coating itself in her Terran Lightning and spinning on itself, shattering and deflecting the gravelous spears launched towards her body before she sharpened one of its tip and threw it at full force.
Her spear flew true, piercing through an hastily raised earthen wall and the Fake-Kobold it in vain failed to protect, demonstrating once more the immense destructive and quite Physical force that was the difference between her Thunder Gems and Terran Lightning.

The struct Fake-Qi user had barely any time to scream in pain, its chest destroyed at once by her thrown weapons, its head and limbs flying away, its remains melting down in a purple flurry that under her curious silver eyes was drunk in by the walls and floors.
“Is it being this blatant because I already know how it works?” She wondered to herself aloud, her current excitiment reguarding her newest discovery having cleared her murderous intent enough for her to wonder once again of this place.
Her dark skin was more than capable to deal with the backlash caused her by her Terran Lightning thanks to her efforts in Cultivation, resisting the shocks that illuminated her while her eyes and other, less protected parts of her body were instead protected by a thin, protective layer of Earth-Attribute Mana, her Qi Sense together with various other senses, more than enough to deal with her loss in sight.
Sider mid-run thrusted her hand in the ground and, taking advantage of her new Composite Attribute, flipped up part of the floor to create a wall before her, wall that she threw forward at full force, forcing the Fake-Kobolds to separate and opening them up for her follow-up attacks.

-
10/10 5:13 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Luna stopped her efforts, accepting that at least for now she couldn’t fuse her False Domain with her Aura, aware by this point that the first of the two was too rigid to mix properly, even with her very best trial being a very short-lived False Domain reguarding her Aura alone that, as was natural between the contact of two different Domains, caused both to fall apart in an instant and stalled her progress for a good five minutes because of the backlash.
Result that, almost as if to mock the rest of her training, was not even able to properly reproduce during all of her time trying to, her lips twisted in a brief pout before she rejoined her Mates, joining their conversation, or more specifically the conversation that Mafel just started, the Artifact generating Mana having finished in being Devoured.
“So what would you three do if you met another you?” The Elf asked curious only to recieve three, very different, answers.
“I’d probably just start a battle to the death, winner takes all. I’m not very good with equals and challenges and death matches are much simpler to deal with.” Amber hesitantly answered, her gaze evading her Mates’ own.
“I, it’s probably a less, interesting answer but I’d probably try to become friends? I mean, if I meet another me, she’d probably like the same stuff as me and a new friend is always welcome, right?” Sabel embarassingly answered second, awkwardly trying to distract them from the Demon-blooded’s own answer only to be flustered under her Mates’ gaze.

“How cute.” Mafel teased, entertained by the gentle answer, especially in comparison to Amber’s much more dangerous one before turning her purple eyes towards Luna, curious to were her answer would fall in between the answers only for said answer to greatly surprise her.
“I’d seduce me.” The Lunarian indifferently and bluntly replied before continuing on almost insulted once she felt her Mates’ emotions. “What? What’s so strange about my response? I’m more than hot enough for me to seduce. I’m instead surprised and worried you three don’t think of yourselves as attractive.”
Her three Mates looked at each other before turning back to the white-haired one in unison silently deciding to start explaining, starting with Amber. “No, see, we do recognize we are attractive, it’s just that we aren’t attracted to ourselves.”
“Why not?” Luna asked genuinely confused. “I find myself attractive, I even find my previous self, Scarlet, to be attractive.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a difference in perspective and your confidence is very cute. I doubt however that we could desire ourselves, sexually or romantically.” Mafel tried to reassure her Vampiric Mate only to choose the categorically wrong words to use.

“In that case, it’s a very simple thing to change, you all just need to use your Mate’s Marks to feel and share in my attraction towards you.” She affirmed before concentrating on sharing her feelings and the things she loved about her Mates with them, the way that Amber and Sabel were easily able to sit on her lap, the feeling of resting her head on Mafel’s legs, playing with her Mates’ hair, their heated gazes upon her, their flustering under her attentions, the teasing made by Mafel, the passion they shared during their nights together, the bewitching taste of their blood upon her tongue…
Luna was stopped from continuing on to shamelessly share even more by Mafel, the only one of the three still functional enough to intervene. “Enough, please stop. We understand, there is no need to continue.”
“Are you sure? I can still go on for a long while.” Luna calmly affirmed slowing down from further observation upon feeling all three of her Mates’ desire for her to both stop and continue in her sharing.
“Yes, please. In the future, don’t do it without warning us before. It’s embarrassing.” Amber affirmed, her flushed face covered by her hands to try and quite uselessly hide as much of her reactions as she could. “And this did not change my opinion on another me! At most it changes my opinions on our Mates, not on myself.”
At feeling the concord between all three of her Mates, Luna could but shrug her shoulder, judging them all to be quite strange but still fascinating existences, deciding to chalk the difference to their biases alone.

Notes:

Chapter 70: Chapter 69

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:41 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
As the Fake-Kobolds separated to dodge the wall of rocks thrown towards them only for Sider to jump up from behind it, using it as a ramp from which she launched herself high in the air, spinning in mid to land feet first against the roof, her Terran Lightning condensing around her right hand, before she hurled herself down in a kick towards one of her still mid-air opponents.
Before her attack could land and with the Monster crossing its arms to protect itself, a gust of wind struck it, sending it flying away from the Werewolf but this was far from enough to dissuade her from her attack as she demonstrated by unleashing her previously condensed Composite Attribute in a thunder bolt-like attack towards the still-stunned Fake-Qi user.
Said Fake-Kobold crossed its darkly scaled arms in front of itself to minimize the Damage of the Terran Lightning bolt, one of its arm being crushed in a rain of blood, muscle and bone shards that fell upon the ground near it, long glowing cracks spreading on the remains of its arm while its other limb had a hole in it, a dim yellow light that illuminated its other limb from the inside through other cracks caused by the blade of the bolt that was able to, even if only in the tip, pierce its scales through its other arm.
The Kobold fell with a brief scream of pain, air coalescing around its wounds before encasing them, a Spell belonging to the Air-Attribute Druidrcraft activated with the same collective Casting as before and with the purpose of helping the Kobold’s Vital Energy in mending its wounds before a second Spell was Casted, a Spell that was a mix of Druidcraft, Sorcery and Magecraft, causing the air of the room to be filled with Mana.

Sider stepped towards the wounded Kobold before it could finish healing intent on finishing it off, immediately noting the increased air pressure, as if a strong wind was erect as a wall in her way, far from enough to stop her, sure, but being able to either slow her down or make her waste some Energy to compensate for the loss of speed.
The black-haired one scowled, Terran Lightning, her newest favorite Composite Element despite it being even harder to control that the regular Lightning-Attribute, flaring around her left foot as she stomped on the ground.
Ground that she used as a medium by taking advantage of the fact that all six of them currently held contact with it to strike at them all, four of them taken by surprise by the sudden even if weak attack and flinching at the shock while two others, the one she previously injured included, were able to jump over it, assuring that not all of them would be too stunned to try and resist the invader’s next move.
Move that came immediately, Earth-Attribute Mana flowing around her right foot that pierced the ground beneath them with a second stomp, before she used her left leg as a counterweight to rise her grounded foreleg and the boulder she picked up thanks to her Mana flowing within the ground, boulder that with a kick she threw towards the already injured, mid-air Monster.

While the Kobolds on the ground writhed in pain and the one Sider aimed at with her block was forced to swing for it with its wounded arm, despite knowing that doing such would only worsen its previous wounds, its Fake-Qi flaring around its sharp claws and shattering the rock, blood exploding from both of its arms, before it reabsorbed the excess to reignate some of the spent, thing to dangerous for Sider to do in a place as filled with the Fake-Qi as this one.
The Werewolf during this was far from still, taking advantage of their distraction to attack the Kobold most unharmed between them, the other one currently mid-flight, by leaping at it with a new pair of stone staffs held in her hands, launching in a series of strikes that, even while weakened by a dense layer of wind between the two, were still enough to start a one-sided beating.
Sure, by using her Unique Skill over any of her stuff strike it would certaintly kill her target in a single hit but this would not only destroy the weapon she used but would also increase the counter of her “Berserker”.
After all every time the Unique Skill’s ability is activated, Sider would recieve a Stacking Status Alteration called “Berserker Impetus” with a timer that not only refreshes completely upon being recieved but also increased its lenght for each Stack that caused its effects to become more pronunced, both the positives, the increased boosts it would provide, and the negatives, the backlash she would suffer at each activation of the Unique Skill’s effect.

And so the Kobold she struck at was sent flying down to the ground, bouncing once before the Werewolf fell upon it with a rain of blows, the ground beneath it shattering rapidly, stones flying up before stopping in mid-air, clad in the half-Amazon’s Mana while bolts of Terran Lightning created a net around the two to slow down the other Monsters’ interference.
The Fake-Cultivator did not let itself being bombarded without response, its Fake-Qi enveloping its body, its scales shattering into pieces before reforming into slightly more effective scales, a subset of Qi Reformation called Tempering that consists of enduring blows and hostile conditions while in a meditative state to increase mostly their defensive prowess once healed while its Vital Energy accelerated said healing and its Mana muffled the strenght of her blows as much as it possibly could.
This defensive measures, however, could be considered an half-assed measure if it wanted to maximize its defense as it should have used its Qi purely defensive in that case as it should have been well aware that it would not survive long enough for this measure to proceed, especially considering how its comrades were not even trying to interfere with her assault.
And in the midst of said attacks, Sider was able to note how within the Fake-Kobold’s reptilian pupils, there was a small, dimly lit flame that burned weakly, leading her to immediately try and understand and leading her to being forced to jump away when it noticed her distraction and tried to impale her with its claws.
“That purple light…” The black-haired one murmured to herself, trying to remember if any of the Fake-Goblins had a similar thing to it and falling short, before with a quick glance she noted how every single one of the Fake-Kobolds had it. “Is it a result of the Fake-Qi? No, I don’t think so, I would have notice if the Goblin had something similar. Then is it because they are Kobolds and so are close to Dragons? It’s possible but it’s not a self-destruction mechanism or the Kobold would have activated it while I was holding it and it wouldn’t explain why every single one of them has those flames.”

The Amazon bent the knee, dodging a claw swing from the Kobold she had trapped before, once the arm passed where she was, jumping over a low kick from the Draconic Monster, her left arm rising to block a tail swipe while she was in mid-air before her right leg blurred forward, sending an harsh kick to the Kobold’s mouth.
“It’s not a Spell to increase their power in exchange for lifespan.” She continued on, trying to figure it out, her curiosity getting the better of her. “They are too weak for that to be the case and they aren’t bleeding out Essence. What are you planning?” She asked aloud, being unsurprised when she recieved no answer, sighing aloud before deciding to end her current opponent to see if any of the others changed in response.
One of her staff sharpened to a spear, spear that she casually thrusted forward to force the trapped one to deviate their trajectory while kicking at full strenght, Terran Lightning bursting forth together with her kick and shattering its shoulder, noting once again the non-reaction of the rest of its pack and its refusal to use a suicidal move to try and bring her down with it.
“Why? Well, I guess I’ll figure it out in the future.” She murmured to herself, her right arm fully transforming in a bestial one covered in Terran Lightning, her newest favorite Attribute, before swinging mercilessly, severing its head from its shoulder with the combination of her sharp claws and raw destructive force.
As its body rapidly, too rapidly, fell apart, Sider turned her attentions towards the rest of her opponents, her arm turning back in her more natural one.

-
10/10 5:52 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Amber watched as Mafel and Luna poured over the base’s Runic Array, working together to first add in the Rune that Luna just acquired by devouring both the Mana Regeneration and her Storage rings, the increased Complexity helping to increase the efficiency of the whole, even if only marginally.
The Runic Array quickly spread all over the air in its entirety, allowing the two to easily seek out any irregularies by enlarging the image to more easily see them both as a whole and in specific parts, their eyes quickly roaming over it before, once they both decided the Runic Array was stable, they moved towards their real objective, Luna bringing one of her hands to her mouth before biting down, her bloodied hand moving over the Runic Keystone and letting drop after drop fall upon it.
Said stone greedily drank in the black fluid and Vital Mana, gradually staining itself ever more until it became something like a materialized shadow somehow both solid and liquid at the same time before shattering, leaving behind only a solid flat disk of Black Blood, glowing with a faint iridescent light shaped like the Lunarian’s Mark, a circle with multiple points as the epicenters for the corresponding concentric ripples, a combination of Artifact and Keystone with a very simple function.
“It’s done. At least for now.” Luna affirmed calmly before dropping the result of their work in her shadow, satisfied when it easily sunk beneath the surface of her shadow while still being able to maintain the Runic Array and their base without any issue while making sure that it would be easy to bring and set up their base once they set up in a new place.

“It now has a bigger Well, generates Vital Mana automatically and at an higher speed, is more capable defensively, even harder to sense and can be manifested in the Material World either as a fortress or as an hidden room in a set building as is required.” Mafel said, satisfied by their changes. “Additionally, Luna can now access this base’s Storage from her shadow or blood as needed, eliminating the necessity of any Storage Rings, especially considering how once she reaches C-Rank we will be able to access her shadow at will too.”
“Changing topics, Hale and Jay just arrived and are waiting outside the door of the shop.” Sabel avverted from her current position in the Security Room, the Runic Array easily being able to transfer the sound of her voice to her Mates before the Human went to let them in, allowing them access to their base of operation without any particular hesitatio from her or any of her Mates.
Luna and Mafel calmly shut down the reproduction of their Runic Array without any particular care, the Lunarian standing up and stretching slightly, inadvertibly giving somewhat of a show to her two present Mates before turning towards the Phoenix. “So, ready to meet our Sabel’s friends?” She asked calmly, her voice presenting not a shadow of concern.
“Wha- Why are you asking me if I am ready?!” The blonde exclaimed, rising to her feet in an instant.
“Because you never had any friends?” The white-haired one answered, confused why she was even asked in the first place.
“Y-yes, I-I had some friends when I was in Phorar!” The shorter one of the three affirmed, embarassed, only for that to arouse Mafel’s attention.
“No, you didn’t.” The grey haired one teased, unable to stop herself from playing with her oldest Mate, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “You yourself defined them as friendly acquaintances, if that.”
“I-I am not going to suffer these baseless accusation!” the Demon-blooded one affirmed before retreating at full speed, unwilling to cede victory in even this.

Notes:

Chapter 71: Chapter 70

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:38 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Terran Lightning condensed around Sider’s left hand, before it collapsed in on itself, separating explosively into its components of Lightning- and Earth-Attributes, the two grinding against each other before exploding in a wave of force that the Werewolf was forced to defend herself from with more Earth-Attribute Mana, a dense layer of it remaining to surround her body.
“Tsk.” Sider clicked her tongue at her failure, opening and closing her left hand a couple of times, bruises covering it as she held it to her gaze, quickly going over the Damage she suffered because of her brief loss of focus. “It’s harder to control than I thought. Or hoped.”
Her gaze quickly moved towards her opponents, the Kobolds moving to surround her and each of them Chanting for another Collective Spell, the air quickly filling with the smell of sulfur and embers flying gently in the wind of the room before they flowed together forming a glowing Magic Circle that filled the entire roof.
The silver-eyed one did not hesitate, her Earth-Attribute Mana flowing down to the ground before rising and bringing with it a dome of compacted earth, forming a shield to protect herself from the rain of flames falling down on the whole room, Sider needing to actively reinforce her body with Vital Energy to contrast against the heat, even despite her wall.

The sweating Werewolf scowled even harder, her wall protecting her while concentrating solely on herself and to properly bring her newest Composite Attribute, her Terran Lightning, to heel despite its naturally stubborn nature in preparation for her future battles waiting for her in the deeper layers of this damned island.
She joined her hands together in an instant, small electric shocks arcing around them while a small layer of Earth-Attribute Mana accumulated around her joined limbs, her silver eyes closed to help her concentrate better, small strands of Earth-Attribute Mana moving to join her Lightning-Attribute one’s erratic movement before falling down on the greater mass, their metaphorical weight hardly allowing them freedom from their own gravity, the Attribute stubbornly refusing to combine with the much more spontaneous one.
At the same time however Sider was more than stubborn enough to continue trying to force the two opposing Attributes to work together in unison despite their protest, her hands starting to bruise with her skin flaking away, before her Vital Energy started repairing the damage immediately and, taking advantage of her training to become a Cultivator and since then, she decided to ignore it until she could deal with it safely.

What Sider was doing was not trying to recreate her Terran Lightning once but instead was understanding and mastering the process that she used to form the Composite Attribute in the first place as the faster and more successfully she could create it, the better would be her condition in future battles.
More and more strands of Earth-Attribute Mana flowed freely between and around her conjoined hands, the yellow of her Lightning progressively darkening in a dull gold, her silver eyes suddently opening, a golden flash ripping right through her own wall as the bolt struck one of the Kobolds, sending it flying back and creating an hole in the wall of the room from which it soon fell.
As the Werewolf’s wall started to crumble around her starting from the point of exit of her attack, she jumped forward grabbing a bunch of rocks mid-fall, Shaping them into a mace before swinging with all of her strenght, activating her Unique Skill on it, impossible force rippling forth and severing the falling flames and the Magic Circle their origin in two, creating a safe zone for herself and forming an explosion of hot wind that expanded outwards.
She landed with a single foot on the ground before launching herself upwards, her feet landing on each part of the opening she opened on the roof of this room before launching herself back down, the ground shattering beneath her feet because of the force, black and gold bolts concentrating around her hands before her newly-created claws fell, piercing right through her opponents’ wall risen in desperation before impaling two Kobolds in the chest.
The Terran Lightning exploded, ripping the two Fake-Qi users apart from the inside and slowing her down none as she turned around, her newest Composite Attribute being recalled around her before being launched forward in a spear intent on impaling the Kobold she previously threw through the wall.

This last one was fortunately for it saved by the efforts of the other three remaining Kobolds, pulling it away from the strike by causing the earth around it to erupt and sending it hurling away, making it bounce a couple of times painfully, sure, but saving it from what would be certain and immediate death, at least for right now.
Sider breathed heavily a couple of times, sighing, before stomping down hard, the ground rising violently into a series of spikes that tried to skewer her remaining four opponents at once, forcing them to jump away or risking opening themselves up for further attacks.
Not that this was not a potentially dangerous move, sure, but better a potential danger than a sure one, especially considering how their opponent could Channel her Lightning-Attribute through it to strike at them, mistake that they certainly couldn’t afford in as dangerous a situation as they found themselves in.
Mid-air they once again started Chanting together, a much longer process, reduced as they were from their initial numbers, but they were still able to produce a large wall of wind to deflect the spear of Lightning-Attribute Mana that Sider sent forth to impale one of them, protecting themselves from the immediate strike while landing with their feet on the ground and being able to quickly move again, preparing to dodge further assaults from the Werewolf.

The silver-eyed one didn’t hesitate any, bending down slightly, the floor beneath her feet soon exploding and lending her an even greater speed when she combined it with her own jump, a couple of lances in her hands, one made entirely out of Thunder Gems in her right one while her left wielded one made out of Terran Lightning, throwing them at once, towards the same location, deciding to try out what would happen.
The two thrown spears impacted mid-air, collapsing in on each other in a single mass of Earth- and Lightning-Attribute Mana before destabilizing in an explosion of Terran Lightning, more electricity that was contained within the Thunder Gem and all of it converted perfectly in Terran Lightning.
Black and gold branches erupted immediately, shattering the wall they impacted in an instant, causing a rain of debris to fill the room together with long thunder bolts, destruction spreading chaotically all around the room and beyond, the floor and roof of this room both shattering at once while forcibly distracting all the Kobolds to shield themselves from the attack.
The black-haired one didn’t wait an instant, crossing the distance between herself and the previously wounded Fake-Kobold, grabbing it by a shoulder with one hand before punching it through its back with her other one with a Mana Burst, ending it and their defensive spell in an instant, the body much too quickly dissolving into a purple mess that was quickly drank in by the ground beneath them.

-
10/10 5:55 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Amber and Sabel led this last one’s friends down to their base and their Mates, exchanging greetings while Jay was studying the way it was constructed, rapidly drawing on his notepad various notes for one of his future drawings, his gaze moving everywhere around him while also drawing in another page a draft for Amber.
“Could you create a little bit of fire around you?” the artist asked, ignoring their current conversation entirely and causing both Sabel and Hale to sigh, the first in resignation and the second in embarassment.
“Ah, I don’t mind.” Amber reassured mostly her Mate’s friend, as it would cost her nothing, understanding well what it seeked, golden flames surrounding her and forming her wings once again, showing herself off in as majestic pose as she could, the air immediately around her rippling because of the heat while she perfectly controlled it to make sure not to affect either the Humans or any nearby object.
Jay moved around her, quickly drawing more and more notes on his notepad about the Phoenix and her flames while the four walked in deeper, flames artefully moving all around the blonde, quickly reaching the other two. “You are a Phoenix with the blood of a Succubus, correct? In that case, are you able to use both Blessed and Cursed Flames?” The rogue asked casually intent on drawing them too.
Silence stretched out as everyone else looked at him, wondering what he was talking about long enough for Jay to notice their gaze and turning up. “What? She should have more than enough Affinity towards the Fire-, Holy- and Curse-Attribute to create those Composite Attributes.”

“What is a Composite Attribute, Jay?” Hale asked, his curiosity being shared by all other People in the room to Jay’s own surprise.
“Why don’t you know? No, why do none of you know?” His gaze moved from Person to Person, before proceding to explain all the same. “A Composite Attribute happens thanks to the combination of two different Attributes, excluding Holy- and Curse-Attributes, with the Form of one and the Substance of the other. The Holy- and Curse-Attributes together cannot be merged together as they tend towards strenghtening the other Attribute they are merged with.”
“I was raised in an orphanage and concentrated only on Clerical Spells, they are based on the Holy-Attribute alone and are very time-consuming to learn and mantain.” Hale defended himself.
“And I suppose I was never taught because I have terrible Affinity with any Attribute except the Light one.” Sabel sighed with a small pout before turning her gaze towards Luna, thinking she should have been aware of them only to find her thinking.
“I see…” Luna thought aloud to herself before noting the gazes on her. “What? I recieved only a single lession before being deemed too dangerous to be taught anymore than that and I was just three. I figured out everything I know myself, even reading by using a combination of my System page and various books that I stole when I was a child.” She proudly affirmed.

Silence stretched before Mafel decided to distract them all. “My highest Affinities are towards the Holy- and Curse-Attributes and they don’t mix.”
“Blessed Flames are somewhat natural for Phoenix to create as are Ominous Winds for Lust Demons. I never thought about what they are especially because without Luna my Affinity towards both the Air- and Curse-Attributes would be insufficient to use them in combinations so I guess I was never taught.” Amber figured out, wondering about the possible Composite Attributes she could now access.
“Seriously?” Jay murmured. “Well, I am a noble with enough Air- and Water-Attribute Affinity that with a little training I would be able to wield a Composite Attribute and was taught the basics just in case I needed them for some reason.”
“What would this be then?” Luna asks, her Blitz and Core being summoned for just a couple of seconds, her Black Lightning forming around her hands curious of the difference considering how it was a combination of “Electrify”, “Elemental Manifestation” and her No-Attribute Affinity.
“That is probably an Altered Attribute, not a Composite Attribute. It’s a non-standard Attribute that is not a direct combination, like a Being that uses Earth-Attribute to manipulate magma.” He explained before murmuring to himself. “How is it that the non-Mage knows all of this and none of the Mages do?”
Luna ignored him completely, moving towards their gym and Summoning five of her True Images, summoning within each one of her Familiars except for Spirit.

At the center of the group of five Images was her Core-Image, a copy of Luna in a much more Draconic version, a pair of horns crowning their head, a long tail moving behind them while a large pair of Dragon wings opened behind them.
On their right stood her Vision-Image, a third eye on their forehead, their nails sharpening to a paint while their hair now ended in something like arrow-heads while her Warden-Image was on their left, a slightly taller and more muscular copy of Luna covered in metallic scales.
On the far right stood her Ash-Image, clad in violent flames that formed in a pair of large wings behind them with on the far left instead was her Blitz-Image, an exact copy of Luna if you were to not count the sparks of electricity surrounding their body.
Luna looked at her Images satisfied, before starting to experiment with combining the Attributes, opening fully her False Domain with her Core functioning as such for this process thanks to the combination their “Draconic Affinity” and “Elemental Manifestation” with two of her other Images serving as sources for the Attributes, quickly figuring out the Composite Attributes she had access to with her four Attributes before gradually moving on to her current exercise.

Four masses of Vital Mana floated behind her, each of them maintaining their Substance as a different Attribute while constantly cycling between the Forms she had currently access to, Casting various attacks to her targets with a miriad of effects thanks to her Composite Attributes, all this only possible because of her immense Control over Vital Mana, her constant Deep Meditation and the efforts of her Familiars.
Amber, having studied the way that Luna was making her Composite Attributes from both her observations, “Heat Sight” and the feelings being freely shared by Luna and her own previous efforts with her Blessed Flames and Ominous Winds was able to invert them, figuring out how to create both Cursed Flames and Revered Winds, black and purple flames surrounding her body and flowing together with gentle golden winds.
Relatively nearby the rest of the group could only watch in dismay the fruits of a single somewhat-basic explanation to Luna, Lunarian that quickly grew to dislike the way she needed to fully Summon almost all of her Familiars when she could demonstrate a much higher destructive potential alone, soon deciding to work on a work around.

Notes:

Chapter 72: Chapter 71

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:44 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider didn’t hesitate, turning her attention towards the three remaining Fake-Kobolds, moving left to dodge slashes of Fake-Qi sent by one of them before jumping over some earthen spikes and using a long stone staff to moving herself over wind slashes covered in that malevolent Qi of theirs, the staff breaking apart underneath her.
She spun in mid-air, rejoining the pieces of the staff, twisting it into a spear and throwing it at a Fake-Kobold, Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulating around her hands before it rained down in the form of lightning bolts upon her three opponents, her feet landing on the ground only briefly before launching herself towards one of the scaled ones.
The Amazon-blooded one spun again on herself, a heel kick brutally landing on her target’s head and sending it crashing against the ground, her still raised leg raising even further before falling in a deadly axe-kick, Earth-Attribute Mana coating her foot and increasing its weight at the moment of impact, the floor beneath the two shattering as were the bones of the Fake-Kobold’s neck, upper chest and lower head.
Only two Kobolds remaining, thing that wasn’t strange considering how they all had the “Coordination” Skill and various Skill that would increase their Existence and Efficiency depending on their number and with so little of them left, it was only natural for the battle to quickly turn to her side.

As an explosion of Lightning-Attribute Mana helped destroy the body beneath her feet, Sider stepped forward, Terran Lightning forming an orizontal lightning bolt before her, hands opening before closing around the black and gold lightning bolt before it condensed in a single spear, spinning it around herself a couple of times before posing with her new spear resting upon her shoulder.
Her left foot stomped forward hard, shattering the floor beneath her feet, rocks rising to entrap her feet to help with her stability before twisting on herself, maximizing the strenght of her thrown lightning bolt, the wall before her being erased completely.
The earth beneath her feet cracked open, Sider holding a pair of long rock rods that she swung, her Vital Energy fueling the strikes and sending forth a pair of twin shockwaves that crossed the distance between herself and the two Fake-Kobolds, already distracted as they were from the previous lightning bolt, sending them crashing back to the ground.
She blurred forward, her staffs fusing together into a single greataxe that she swung down with full force, decapitating one of the Fake-Cultivator in an instant before rising her transformed left hand and sending it flying down, erasing its heart in an instant before slashing it in two by swinging her claws down.

The black-haired one made to turn towards the last remaining Fake-Qi user only to stop immediately and bringing her gaze back down to the ground, her Qi-sense expanding around her guided by her instincts, stretching to beneath the floor and following the purple gunk, for the first time finding another hidden Fake-kobold, more specifically a member of the initial group of Fake-Kobolds that hid in her initial assault.
Under her Qi-sense, Sider was able to quickly identify how it was surrounded by the liquid remains, Vital Energy, Mana and Fake-Qi of the other Monsters of its group while Chanting and in what looked to be Deep Meditation.
Feeling a terrible sense of foreboding, the Werewolf joined her hands, forming a compressed Terran Lightning lance and preparing to spear the reptilian one beneath the ground, intent on interrupting the Ritual it was currently preparing, only for her weapon to be struck by a pair of [Qi Slashes] sent by the only remaining one still in the room with her.
Sider’s eyes widened greatly, taken by surprise as her spear, already unstable by its own nature as a weapon made out of Terran Lightning, destabilized further by the strike and exploded violently in her hands, the Werewolf barely able to flare her Mana and Vital Mana to deflect most of the harm and being even forced to create a thin layer of Qi to handle the remaining force before immediately after shedding the Qi that formed her barrier, supremely unwilling to risk being Corrupted in any way.

The Ritual being currently underway beneath various layers of stone was completed, the Kobold making a stone knife from the rocks around it before plunging it into its own heart, ending its life and liquefying to join together with the mass surrounding it before violently erupting upward, encompassing the only remaining Fake-Kobold entirely before exploding with a wave of power.
The focused gaze of the Werewolf finally were able to find their opponent.
The Kobold grew even more, reaching the two meters in height, its scales darkening and sharpening, hiding even larger muscles, its eyes ceasing their glow entirely to give way to a visible purple Aura flaring vibrantly around its body before it stepped forward, the air, no, the way that space around it was shaking on its own demonstrated how not only it increased in Rank but also it having ascended to its equivalent of the Core Formation Stage.
Sider’s sighed to herself. “I see, the light within the other Kobolds’ eyes was the Mark for the sacrificial Ritual and not something natural to you, right? It seems like I was behaving quite arrogantly before, doesn’t it?” She nodded, abbandoning completely her previous pride as Terran Lightning started sparking around her even more violently.
Her Mana and Vital Energy flared while the Qi within her body started to accelerate, quickly analyzing its scales and noticing their increase refinement, individuating them to be caused by that previous Kobold using her blows to refine itself and also explaining why it behaved like that instead of directly defending itself from her blows.

-
10/10 6:17 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Luna did not hesitate in building her work-around, starting first with Spirit to make sure it would work without any issue or problem by Summoning her Familiar within another one of her Images, quickly examining her Image and noting its more frail-looking appearance before continuing on her experiment.
She took the Black Blood forming her Image containing her Familiar, it being included within the mass of liquid darkness and condensed into a small amount around a sliver of Orichalcum she retrieved, her Aura flaring and surrounding them before starting to compress it even further, shaping it with thousands of small implements and the support of the rest of her Spirits to regulate the temperature a single object, an Artifact to be precise.
A couple of minutes passed before the Lunarian carefully examined her new fully-realized Artifact, a beautiful necklace made of a softly-shining grey metal raffigurating an upside-down skull holding in its mouth a dull grey gem with a string made of chains of the same semi-liquid metallic material, necklace that with the help of her Aura was able to wear around her neck.
Within the skull resting between her breasts, the dull gem started to shift and glow once Spirit was Summoned within it, transforming into a liquid-like crystal that rippled continuously, skulls forming on its surface as if trying to escape only to be pulled back down soon after.

The red-eyed one smiled before recalling her Spirit from the necklace and resummoning it to within it a couple of times, making sure she found no issue before turning to Mafel and communicating with her through their Marks the next experiment.
And in so doing they were able to test the Extra, always active, Effect of the Artifact caused by her Oath, a purple colored glow surrounding her body and increasing her Existence temporarily, caused by a Buff Spell of the Curse-Attribute capable of Enhancing Undeads, before Mafel launched two Holy-Attribute Spells, one with the purpose to damage an Undead and the other Enhancing an individual with Holy-Attribute Mana.
Differently from what it would have happened to an Undead, Luna not only was ignored by the Anti-Undead Spell but was also Enhanced further by the third Spell, being able to easily maintain the Buff from both the Curse-Attribute and Holy-Attribute Spells simultaneusly.
The principal effect active only while the Artifact functioned as a Vessel for Spirit was, unfortunately, impossible for them to test properly as it simply helped in holding together Luna’s Soul, increasing its Durability and in so doing her own survivability, even if not in a measurable quantity.
Satisfied the Vampiric one moved on to the next set of Familiars, the four Attribute-related ones, crafting a series of rings shaped like simple metallic bands with a circular opaque gem of their own and occupying Luna’s left index finger and her right index, medium and ring finger.

She smiled, leaving Core for later and starting to first experiment with the rest of her new Artifacts in order, starting from the ring containing Ash, the only one on her left hand for now.
The gold-like metal of her ring glowed in the light slightly, the red gem embedded in it starting to heat up and transforming into a solid yet vivid flame once her Familiar was Summoned within it before she pointed to one of the targets, some of her Vital Mana concentrating before her before easily converting into flames that she was easily able to wield Fire-Attribute Sorcery, the Vessel Effect of the Artifact that allows her to use her No-Attribute Affinity in place of her absent Fire-Attribute Affinity.
Luna smiled, the Extra Effect of her ring already fully explored as seen by the increasing and lowering of the temperature immediately around her, before quickly doing the same with the Vessel Effects of the rest of her rings.
The dark red of the ring belonging to Warden and resting around her right ring finger, its orange gem constantly spinning on itself while seemigly to compress and expanding cyclically; the bronze one belonging to Blitz circling her right middle finger, its blue gem revealing a mass of sparks at its center; the light blue metal of the ring housing Vision around her right index finger, its vibrant green gem rippling like a violent storm.

She casually punched forward with her right hand, a lightning bolt erupting at once from it, before swinging her left hand as a blade, sharp winds moving with her gesture, the target being severed in two at once before she pulled her right arm up, stone spikes erupting beneath the twin halves of the target, fire and lightning fall upon the two the next instant.
Satisfied she threw a couple of steel blades in the air over herself, noting satisfied how they started to slow down in their fall, before moving around to dodge most of them, the wind herself assisting in her movements before letting a small blade fall upon her body, clanging against the barrier surrounding her, causing her smile to widen even further in satisfation.
Without any additional wait, she turned towards her last remaining Images turning into a mass of Black Blood that melted together with another very small sliver of Orichalcum to form another Artifact, a much more complicated and larger ring resting around her left ring finger’s entire phalanx, its black, scale-like metal shaped like the head of a dragon, the only sign of color being a pair of twin opaque gems of all colors functioning as its eyes.
The gems started to quickly light up, a violent iridescent Aura being emanated and surrounding first the Artifact and then Luna herself, her pupils sharpening into slitted ones while the rest of her irises became more jewel-like, her skin hardening into flexible yet hard scales before the ring’s Aura erupted from her body to form a pair of horns, wings and tail.

Luna stretched lightly before rising her hands, expanding her Fake-Domain fully, enjoying the effects of the Innate Skill “Enhancement: Territory” E granted her passively by her newest Artifact, before activating its Vessel Effect to grant herself the “Elemental Manifestation” D Innate Skill and experimenting with it briefly before moving on to the real motive behind this experiment.
She raised her hands upwards, immediately and easily recreating her previous exercise, four spheres of Vital Mana floating behind her, each belonging to a different Attribute and quickly and freely shifting their Substances and Forms entirely at her will, satisfied, and turning her gaze towards the last of the targets, striking at once.
A spear of Blaze Gems, bright red crystals that seemed to be containing a vibrant flame, struck one of the target at once but before it could release its flames in an explosion, it was simultaneously struck by three different fireballs, each made by a different Composite Attributes with the Fire-Attribute as the Form, Solid Blazes, Free Flames and Galvanic Embers.
The result, reflected in the bright red eyes of the Lunarian, was a wonderful wave of bright pink, soft green and luminous blue flames that covered all the targets, shredding and vibrating them apart while at the same time sticking to them and functioning in a mix between normal flames and acid.
The concerned Jay nodded to itself at seeing this, already stretching in his notebook. “Teaching her was a beautiful mistake.” He correctly and shamelessly deduced, earning himself a number of very nonplussed gazes.

Notes:

Chapter 73: Chapter 72

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:47 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider and the Fake-Kobold ran towards each other, the two crossing the distance between them in just a couple of seconds, a flurry of claw attacks leaving behind short-lived spacial fissures that the Werewolf was forced to carefully avoid or risk suffering damage that would ignore her defenses entirely thanks to their nature as spatial distortions.
Meanwhile her own blows slipped between the cracks only for them too being hastily dodged by the Draconic one, well aware that it couldn’t afford to take her Terran Lightning-infused blows casually in such a situation as otherwise it would be opened to the black-haired one’s devastating attacks.
This continued on for a while longer before Sider stomped downwards, the earth beneath her feet erupting to disrupt her opponent’s footing, forcing this last one to jump away while breathing out a small amount of fire, thing that it learned how to do thanks to its increased Rank, to stop her from taking advantage of its distraction.
The two of them barely landed away from each other only to immediately jumping back in, Sider covering her hands in a more dense layer of Terran Lightning that she launched forward before moving suddently left, trying to trap the Fake-Kobold in a pincer attack and forcing it to jump over both the attack and the Cultivator, pulling back one of its fist covered in a dense layer of Fake-Qi before punching downward.

A long fissure opened in the air beneath it, an attack made by weaponizing the natural spatial distortion of a Cultivator at the [Core Creation] Stage combined with the corruptive and malevolent essence of the Fake-Qi to create a flaw in the World, a powerfull yet incredibly short-lived attack that would have brought her to ruin if it had landed.
However, “if” was the correct term to use as while the attack was incredibly fast when it comes to reaching its target, the preparations needed to actually launch it were obvious enough that, when combined with its obligatorily straightforward trajectory, rendered it quite easy for her to dodge.
Even so Sider’s guard did not lower any but instead intensified as she was well aware that if she was struck by its attack, in the best case scenario she would simply die while in the worst case she would be immediately filled with enough corruptive Fake-Qi to be twisted into becoming either a Monster or an Abomination in a manner not dissimilar to the stories of Liches forcing enough Negativity in a Person to turn them into various forms of Undead.
She immediately kicked downwards, a long staff rising behind herself as she jumped back, taking it firmly in her hands before using it as a lever to pull up a boulder before immediately throwing it at full force to her still-airborne opponent, this last one reacting by simply slashing the projectile in two with an hand elongated like a blade clad in Fake-Qi, using the two halves as platforms from which to launch itself from.

Sider raised her staff in an instant, forcefully absorbing the rock around her into it to increase her staff’s lenght in an instant to try and spear the Kobold through the heart, the scaled one crossing its hands before itself and grabbing the spear around its blade, intent on pushing it away from its body, the spear continuing on past it while the Kobold itself continued on its flight towards the Werewolf.
Suddently while it was still mid-flight, it was struck from behind by a boulder, the spear having flown past it, impaling in the roof before retracting and bringing with it a rock half-sphere that she smashed into the Core Creation-Stage Cultivator, the Foundation Establishment-Stage one stepping sideways and the staff retracted even further, smashing the scaled one in the ground and leaving it struck between the boulder and the floor.
Sider didn’t hesitate, jumping high and twisting, black and gold lightning focusing around her hands and exploding around her body in small lines of Terran Lightning fusing together in a long spear that she then threw towards the stuck Kobold, her lightning bolt impaling right through the boulder and impaling both the Monster itself and the little pieces of Thunder Gem that she previously spread all over both the floor and the boulder itself.
It detonated in a burst of long destructive rays of Terran Lightning, the ground detonating in an instant, while the Werewolf impaled her claws in the roof above her, pulsing her Mana in the rock before with an effort of both will and physical abilities she pulled the rest of the roof down in its entirety down on the Kobold, connecting them with the room above and forming a dome around the reptilian.

Silence stretched on for a couple of seconds, Sider landing and starting to breath in deeply a couple of times to make sure that she would recover as much of her energy as possible, all of her senses stretched out fully and to her limit without transforming any further, searching for any and all traces of her opponent, unwilling to believe it could die with just that.
Belief that was proved true when she suddently jumped back, a spatial distortion appearing horizontally to sever the dome in two in an instant, before another one appeared vertically, bringing an end to its short-lived entrapment before turning towards its opponent, absorbing as much of the Fake-Qi around itself as possible to Reignite the amount stored within its Core to accelerate its Qi Circulation.
The Kobold swung an hand, its claws lenghtening fully and sending forth three different spatial distortions, the Werewolf not esitating at all into both creating a pillar beneath her feet to rise herself up over the incoming slashes before grabbing the topmost part of it, reinforcing it with her Mana and bringing it down in a merciless swing, trying to hammer her opponent in the ground immediately.
The Kobold smashed on the ground immediately rose despite the column trying to press it down before roaring, its Fake-Qi exploding and causing countless spatial distortions to destroy the area immediately around it together with its roar, leaving itself heaving because of the inefficiency of this assault, being far from mastering its newfound abilities as a Cultivator.

Sider did not hesitate, reaching out with her joined hands towards the Kobold and releasing long, thin tendril-like Lightning-Attribute spears that connected back to her hands and stabbed into the exausted Kobold’s body by navigating around the distortions in space it created and was currently trapped by, paralyzing it with their electric charge.
A core of Earth-Attribute Mana formed between her hands before, taking advantage of the fact that the Lightning-Attribute was the easiest to convert into various Composite Attributes by using Forms derived by the Lightning-Attribute, spreading her Terran Lightning through her attack, her black lightning striking the Kobold and sending it on its knees.
Sider carefully proceded onwards, the black electricity moving only around her left hand while more Lightning-Attribute Mana formed a spear in her right hand, nearing the Kobold enveloped in the spatial distortions it itself created, being careful to stay as far away as possible from the slowly spreading cracks.
She struck at once, lenghtening her spear, passing around the cracks in the air and piercing the Monster’s head at once without any hesitation, pushing it through a series of cracks and ripping it into pieces using the spatial distortions it created itself, disappointed in its latest overreliance on the powers it gained with its increase to the [Core Creation] Stage.

-
10/10 7:21 (Autumn, Day, Midrar, Base)
Sabel quickly led her two friends away from the gym, unwilling to assist to what her Mate was playing with while also scared of what Luna could learn from Jay considering how just behind them the white-haired one was at the moment sending forth a rain of attacks of all kinds of Composite and Primary Attributes.
Just before the Humans could leave the room entirely, she caught a glimpse of her next barrage of attacks caused by Jay’s previous and quite casual remark about Altered Attributes and under Sabel’s black eyes, Luna started to Alter her Composite Attributes by adding in her No Attribute Affinity and fuel them with her blood thanks to her access to the “Elemental Manifestation” D granted by her Familiar Holder Artifact #11, the Ring she made to serve as a Vessel for Core.
And so the Composite Attributes corrupted even further, twisting into even more destructive versions that continued to rain freely upon her targets, her lips widening in a smile that showed off her sharp fangs, her eyes shining brightly upon seeing the rampage before her.
The black-haired one quickly turned back and started to push her friends away faster to quickly remove the three of them from her Mate’s reach, unwilling to risk being pulled into a situation where Luna would ask how exactly Clerical Spells worked before somehow starting to Cast them on her own, despite her very low opinion on Gods.

*Luna Gains the Ability Skill “Attribute Conversion” E.

Mafel stood behind with Luna, carefully observing the way she was wielding her Attributes to create new Curse-Attribute Spells for the future, more specifically Spells with the purpose of weakening her eventual opponent’s Resistance to the Altered or Composite Attributes as needed.
And it certainly did not hurt her decision any the fact that watching Luna create so much destruction called out to a very deep part of her and she couldn’t help but admire her Mate, especially once combined with her own physical attraction to her, meant that she had quite the difficulty to drag her attention away from the red-eyed one.
Meanwhile Amber herself quickly followed her youngest Mate away, wanting to spend more time around other People and certainly not wanting to make some friends now that she had the opportunity to, moving quickly but suppressing her desire to run after the three Humans and trying to converse with them, intent on gaining some friends for what was actually the first time in her very long life, relatively to the rest of her Mates at least.

Notes:

Chapter 74: Chapter 73

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:49 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider continued on her travel, shattering the ground beneath her feet over and over again, following the flow of the Fake-Qi right to its origin, destroying a path right to it, scowling at the lack of any form of resistance once she passed the Kobolds.
Irritation that grew massively at the lack of any form of trap or ambush, her Earth-Attribute Druidry combined with her use of Terran Lightning to create a path for her, her other senses stretching to their limit in trying to find any traces of Monsters nearby and having a terrible feeling when she found none of them present despite all this time searching for any opponent.
Meanwhile a small but significant portion of her concentration was focused on the way that her latest opponent was taking advantage of its spatial distortions in battle, comparing it with her previous experiences with one of her Elders at the [Core Creation] Stage and quickly finding the differences.
Even ignoring the corruptive influences contained within the spatial distortion, the separation caused by the Fake-Qi and regular Qi itself was clear to her.
Maybe, even if it was unlikely in her opinion, it was only because of the Kobold’s inexperience with it, but [Spatial Slash] launched using Fake-Qi was very similar to a large jagged blade, violently tearing away at the space itself, while instead one launched using Qi was a thin clean cut.

The Werewolf’s mind additionally confirmed that a Fake-[Spatial Slash] was much more damaging to the enviroment, remembering the way that the Fake ones were slowly growing before into spatial distortions, thing that would never happen with a regular [Spatial Slash] without explicitly desiring to.
Sider continued on, scowling even harder once she judged how, thanks to the presence of Vital Energy, a [Spatial Slash] was relatively easy to deal with, being relegated mostly on shattering defenses or Magic Circles, her pride as a Cultivator being wounded by the fact that a knock-off surpassed the original in any possible way.
She shook her head once more, continuing on her way to deep beneath the layers and layers of the slowly hardening rock beneath her, leading her on towards the area the Fake-Qi originated from, a place in which she was more than certain that her last of the challenges within this island waited for her, her Qi Sense finding a brief trace of a Fake-Monster that vanished before she could track even their approximate location.
Challenge that she at last met as, with her last push against an especially tough layer of stone, she fell down and easily landing on her feet, her gaze already meeting her opponent’s own orbs.
The one before her could only make her smile with a strange sense of amusement, a roar literally shaking the space within the makeshift arena, as demonstrated by the strain she was able to sense with her Qi Sense in the fabric of space-time around her.

Sider stepped forward, her gaze carefully examinating her opponent, four long limbs cracking the ground beneath its massive body, dull black scales accentuating its great yet thin body, twin wings opening wide, a long tail falling down on the ground with an immense weight, six bright purple eyes glowing in its face and illuminating a long pair of deer-like black horns erupting from the pale scales covering the upper half of its head, rib-like spurts of bones protecting weaker parts of its body and finally thick, short fur around its back.
The Werewolf’s last obstacle roared again, space fraying slightly at the sound, leaning up on its very long frontal limbs and turning its full attention to her, the one that she easily understood to be a Drake, its own existence obvious thanks to the former presence of Kobolds in this island and judging from its elongated limbs, relatively thin shape and the bone-like armor covering its limbs and encircling its torso, she was almost certain it was a Monster that Evolved into a Drake, even if she was uncertain about its origin.
The battle started immediately, the Drake swinging once with one of its frontal paws, space immediately rupturing in the place Sider was just in, severing the wall of stone she rose in her place to more easily examine the result of its strike and the way it weaponized its spatial distortions, confirming that while it was at the [Core Creation] Stage, it was in the Fourth Step.
The Monster before her was without a doubt not an altered, or as she defined them Fake, one but instead a natural one that somehow learned how to Cultivate using the Fake-Qi all around them, the black-haired one mused to herself before jumping back, dodging a spatial distortion that suddently sheared the space she was just in.

Sider’s black eyes quickly met with the purple ones of her opponent, immediately finding its mouth opening wide to release another spatial distortion together with its breath, the Werewolf moving left before sending forward a Terran Lightning bolt, closely following behind her own strike.
Her erratic attack quickly crossed the distance to the Drake only for the Monster to answer immediately by beating its clawed wings once, the fabric of space before it distorting to neutralize her attack before it roared, its second spatial disruption able to paradoxically repair most of the damage it brought into reality immediately, leaving behind just a temporary fraying of the space it just distorted.
The black-haired one stopped herself by stomping down hard, the ground rising up around her feet to ground her in place before she jumped, dodging the arm that tried to grab her while at the same time launching a spear of Terran Lightning to try and impale the scaled limb.
Tentative that failed as its body was enveloped in a thin, membrane-like barrier generated by its scales, reducing what would have been an impalament to merely an hole within part of its frontal left limb, far from enough to debilitate it or even slow it down and more than enough as a reason for the Monster to open its mouth and roar out, a translucent, purple wave forming an enormous circle around its body, a False Domain that covered the room completely, including the Cultivator’s own body.

Sider widened her eyes, her stamina slowly starting to be drained and in so doing allowing her to guess with an high probability of accuracy by this move alone that it was a Wendigo that became the Drake before her, a fact that caused her to frown even harder in disgust, well aware that Wendigos are Monsters that do not appear in Dungeons nor can they reproduce at all, being completely sterile.
Instead even only being complicit in the creation of such Monsters was considered a crime worthy of immediate execution and whose accusation alone requiring the immediate viewing of all the memories of the accused to make certain it was false by at least ten different individuals unrelated to both the accuser and accused.
That was only natural as a Wendigo is born from the twisting of a Person into a living curse of starvation against all other living Beings, a mindless agent of destruction that she found before her own eyes now Evolved into a Drake.
The Cultivator growled in displeasure, noticing how while looking at her wih the Wendigo’s common hatred towards all living beings, it was behaving way too calmly for something that should have been in a constant state of starvation, leading her to understand how either its Evolution or its status as a Cultivator was the reason behind it.
This thought then led her to her, in her opinion perfectly justifed, reaction to the Monster’s own very existence, especially considering how it was trying to feed off of her, impaling her hands in the ground and causing it to erupt violently, spikes rising up intent on skewering the former Wendigo.

-
10/9 15:04 (Autumn, Night, Unknown Dungeon)
The one that had created and altered numerous Dungeons across the last year watched carefully multiple screems floating screens showing images from very different Dungeons, one of them showing a very strong Party quickly and efficiently dispatching one of their Dungeon, one of their favorite Parties to observe, a second showing a recording of that Vampire-like one, a third monitoring the Cultivator that was their subordinate and the giant golden cocoon that would be their Gu, and various smaller screens floating around their temporary body and showing a number of other Dungeons, whether they were currently being explored or not.
Still, most of their attention was actually concentrated on their more central screen, showing the battle between the Cultivator and their Drake, reminiscing of their luck in finding and then leading it while it was still but a newborn Wendigo down towards the island they experimented with reproducing Qi in and feeding enough of their experiments down its gullet that it started to sate itself little by little by using the Qi around it.
Another screen briefly appeared, showing the data that they were able to understand by studying its biology, satisfied by the information gained on the Wendigo, Qi and Cultivation as a process before finally turning their attention to the three presences they led to their physical form, their gaze calmly passing over the three Dragonoids kneeling to them before concentrating on a pair of arms currently being offered, a pair of strong, bronze arms, previously belonging to a certain Werewolf currently on their screen.
“Excellent job.” A thousand voices congratulated at once from all over the room except for the body in question, a couple of drone-like Monsters appearing to take the limbs in question. “It’s a shame losing the island but if the Leviathan sent someone like that, it seems obvious that whether the Drake wins or loses, it intend on destroying it itself and I cannot remove the Malice Core from it. I already prepared a different habitat for your Master if it survives.” They calmly reassured, already starting to study the limbs they just recieved.

-
10/10 13:04 (Autumn, Night, Midrar, Base)
Luna left their gym satisfied, currently wearing only a simple black sleeveless shirt that left her abdomen bare and short black pants that ended above her knees, their color contrasting immensely with the Lunarian’s incredibly pale skintone and showing off her muscles for all to see, in this case the privilege being reserved to her Mates alone.
“Where did your friends go, little sparkle?” She calmly asked her Human, her eyes closed as she yawned, stretching slightly before opening her eyes again once she heard no response, wondering about the silence after her answer.
Her lips twisted upwards, her gaze holding a mix of amusement and sadistic glee at seeing the identical reactions of her two Mates, their eyes wide open, their faces burning bright red and mouths opened.
“I could just eat you two up. You react so adorably even with having already seen me wearing nothing at all.” She commented calmly, enjoying immensely both their attention and emotions now that she was activally paying attention to them throught their Mark, moving towards them and taking advantage of their stunned state, pulling them in a brief but searing kiss before sitting down again, returning to analyze the information they already knew about the location of their next battle, waiting for Sabel and Amber to return to full awareness, Mafel following behind shortly and, while enjoying the spectacle before her, still remaining fully functional and proud of herself for it.

Notes:

Chapter 75: Chapter 74

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:50 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
As spikes erupted from beneath the Drake’s feet, it answered by jumping, opening wide its wings and beating them once, releasing sharp winds infused with its Mana, the gusts of sharp winds falling upon the rising spikes and shattering them apart, before immediately swinging once again with one of its frontal limbs, grabbing onto an enormous spike sent flying at it by Sider.
The former Wendigo landed silently, two of its eyes focused on the Werewolf, keeping her in its sight, while the other four navigated the room, seeking possible way of attack, both for its own offense and defense as was needed for this battle, its tail swinging behind itself and knocking away a boulder thrown at its back.
Sider’s eyes met its own, a dark realization filling the Cultivator at its behavior, understanding at once that with its boundless hunger muted, it could now fully bring to bear its intellect at the same time as any Person, differentiating itself from both Drakes, that normally reach that level of sapience and sentience at the A-Rank, and Wengidos themselves, too mad because of their eternal starvation to ever think at all but of devouring everything living they could reach.
She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again, all of her emotions immediately and mercilessly suppressed and crushed, leaving behind only a sharp core of determination, her cutting gaze alone trying to rip her enemy apart.

The Werewolf stepped forward, a long spear of highly compressed stone spear appearing in her right hand, pointing it with a brief flourish towards the Drake, Terran Lightning covering it to enhance its destructive potential, jumping backwards to dodge one of the Drake’s limbs that tried to crush her into paste.
The scaled one did not hesitate, a rain of blows beng launched towards its prey and shattering the whole room thanks to the immense shockwaves it constantly emanated together with its blows, Sider stretching her senses to the limit to dodge the blows, the shockwaves and the rocks sent fying all over.
The Amazon stepped forward suddently, entering within her opponent’s reach, rising a wall to stop one of its limbs from crushing her before continuing on forward, dodging beneath the Drake’s body, jumping over its tail to land in a swift roll, turning around, impaling her hands in the ground, pulling up a great pillar horizontally and trying to smash it in the Monster’s chest.
This failed as the Drake jumped, its wings opening wide before it grabbed the pillar with two of its long limbs, stopping its movement immediately before trying to drag the Werewolf up by using her own creation causing the young woman to scowl, channeling her Terran Lightning into her created pillar, causing it to burst into sharp shards that bored into parts of the Drake’s paws and upper limbs.

The two’s eyes met at once, both of them understanding at once the threat the other posed to their continued survival and considering such absolutely unacceptable and requiring the immediate extermination of the threat in question rendering the next step obvious to both of them.
Sider jumped over the deadly spatial distortion sent by the Drake, spinning in mid-air and launching forward a long spear of Lightning-Attribute Mana, trying to impale her opponent in place while at the same time moving sideways, posing an hand to the ground before pulling it and conseguently part of the floor up violently, intent on attacking it in a two-pronged assault; all the while her Qi Sense was focused on the Monster, trying to figure out any weakness in its body filled with Fake-Qi.
The Drake wasted no time, swinging a limb upwards and releasing a vertical spatial distortion to deal with the lightning spear before turning its head towards the rising ground and breathing out briefly, its Mana amplifying the Potency of its breath and immediately after thrusting with the blade in the tip of its tail.
Everything before the former Wendigo’s mouth was pulled towards the wall, the rocks being crushed in a single point before radiating outwards in an explosion, the wall collapsing immediately and creating an opening towards a neighbouring room, a maneuver that would have been incredibly deadly to Sider, if only it would have hit.
The Werewolf dodged the attack by launching herself to the roof before remaining there, waiting out the passage of the spatial distortion, her eyes quickly finding her thrown spear bisected and mostly erased, grabbing onto the sparks remaining of her attack, taking control of them and ammassing together into a single bolt that fell upon the Drake’s eyes.

Sider took advantage of the scaled one’s temporary blindness to launch herself from the roof, it shattering because of the roof, towards her enemy, spinning in mid-air to land a ferocious kick to its skull right between its horns, dragging away a brief roar of pain, maintaining her momentum just enough to grab onto on of its horns with one of her hands.
Immediately a long spear of Terran Lightning formed in her free hand before she smashed it down, trying to impale its head in the ground and only being able on creating a long gash on the side of its head as it twisted around, dodging most of the blow and then continue turning at a very high speed, sending Sider flying away because of its sudden movement.
Sider twisted around, swinging her hand sideways and in so doing causing a column to rise at a very high speed, deflecting the limb of the Monster away from its previous trajectory and saving itself from being grabbed by the Fake-Cultivator, safely landing on her feet, her Qi Sense allowing her to easily observe it in its entirely and almost confirm that it either wasn’t able or didn’t know how to use its equivalent by the way that it missed her actions, instead needing to use its other senses alone.
And speaking of its other senses, it was only thanks to them that the Drake was able to rise its hind legs, leaning only on its two frontal ones, to dodge the earthen spikes that rose behind it before falling back down immediately after, releasing a shockwave that shattered the ground immediately around it, some of its eyes meeting Sider’s own.

The Werewolf dropped down, barely dodging a sharp spatial distortion sent by the Monster before posing her hands on the ground and pulling them up, causing various stone pillars to erupt towards her opponent, the ground beneath her feet opening up and letting her flee from the conseguence of the Drake’s attack, the fabric of the space-time in the room straining because of the continuous distortions.
The black-haired one mentally examined various Cooldowns and Duration of various Skills intent on waiting the perfect time for her to act, Lightning-Attribute Mana flaring around her body before raging forth in a rain of lightning spikes, intent on wearing its Vital Energy down with small, cheap hits while preparing more intense blows.
Her silver eyes traveled all over both this room and the nearby one, her Mana seeping in the ground, fighting off the Fake-Qi within it to take control of the area immediately around her, causing cracks to start spreading upon the walls around her.
The ground rippled further, cracks spreading faster and farther before it rose into sharp spikes, electricity being channeled through them to erupt in a very luminous display of electricity, forcing the Drake to jump upwards or risk being shocked and in so doing create an opening for the Amazon to take advantage of in battle.

Its great wings beat several times to maintain its altitude, quickly observing the area around it, releasing a brief roar intent on stabilizing the strained space around them, observing the area thanks to its six eyes before roaring once again, causing the earth to quake.
Sider scowled, taking note of the fact that the ground beneath her feet was now much harder for her to modify, turning more fully towards her enemy, her silver eyes narrowed in concentration, her left hand now wielding a long stone staff that she spun around herself a couple of times, stepping forward hard and shattering the ground behind herself.
The Werewolf launched herself forward, dodging the beam of Mana that cratered the ground in her former position before needing to constantly move or risk being struck down by the other, smaller beams sent by the claws upon the Drake’s wings, it being intent on guiding her movements while preparing its next move.
The black-haired one scowled, her gaze quickly moving all over the place, seeking both any sign of weakness and the ideal trajectory to deal with all the attack raining down on her, before despite the distance between the two rising her weapon high and swinging down violently, impossible force filling it before being unleashed at once.

-
10/10 17:21 (Autumn, Night, Midrar, Base)
Luna stood up fully, stretching slightly and letting her Aura expand fully, covering her three Mates, gently pulling them up with Auric Limbs as with a gesture she shut off the screens of their base, done with the planning and preparations.
“Let’s go, after all we are going to start up early tomorrow.” She commented calmly, Sabel being laid in her own arms as she moved towards their bedroom, her Human being left sputtering in embarrassment at the feeling of the Lunarian’s body against her own, especially considering how her current clothes left very little to her immagination.

Notes:

Chapter 76: Chapter 75

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:51 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
An immense wave of force filled the room, launching an enormous pressure wave that severed it in two vertically in their entirety, rock shards exploding upwards as the downwards force impacted against the floor, the top half of Sider’s staff exploding in her arms because of the stress her Unique Skill “Berserker” caused to it.
The Werewolf’s hands relaxed from their rock shattering grip over her staff, swiftly repairing the cracks in it and forming a spear that she pointed towards her opponent, yellow crystals forming its sharp point, Thunder Gems that glowed brightly and in so doing illuminated the Cultivator’s powerful body.
The Drake fell heavily, crashing down on the ground on its stomach as blood flowed freely from its new wound, a long and deep cut that pierced its humanoid body from its left shoulder down to its right hip, scales, skin, muscles, bones and even organs being destroyed, its pained screech forcing the Werewolf to cover her wolf-like ears with a wince.
The floor shook at its weight before the Monster forced its limbs under it being able to pull itself up despite its wound, its neck twisting and leaning its scaled head towards her, its eyes alight with a boundless mix of murderous intentions and endless hunger as its wound closed together with its roar, poisonous drool flowing down from its mouth and mixing with its blood, causing it to hiss and corrode because of the acidic nature of the liquid, the tail of its surprisingly humanoid body pointing at its opponent threateningly.

The silver eyes of its opponent narrowed in concentration, the Werewolf being able to understand at once that her enemy activated a Berserk-type Skill, and considering its former nature as a Wendigo, the Skill was without a doubt “Living Famine”, a Skill that they are created with it always active, a Skill that beyond granting to the user the Status Effect “Frenzy”, had the additional effect of, in exchange for a permanent hunger, granting the user an endless source of both stamina and Vital Energy.
Sider dropped down immediately, evading the claw that was meant to destroy her whole torso before rolling away to dodge the tip of its tail that tried to impale her, rapidly moving away to dodge the Drake’s other limbs as it rampaged, freeing itself from the spikes that impaled its clawed paws by simply and forcefully crushing them, ignoring the quickly healing damage, not stopping at all from its rampage.
Under the worried gaze belonging to the Werewolf, not only did the damaged scales and flesh underneath almost immediately healed under the influence of its endless Vital Energy but they also reformed slightly stronger than before, sturdier, more Resistant and even, the most worrying part of all, more efficient in Conducting its Fake-Qi.
The space around its body trembled slightly, forcing the Cultivator to retreat with a much larger margin than what should have been strictly necessary to be safe from its attacks, resting her hands on the ground to quickly move away from beneath the Monster, unwilling to be crushed into paste by its weight.

Sider pulled herself up in a jump, dodging the tail swipe of the Drake before landing on it, forming a long spear of Terran Lightning that she thrusted in said long tail, trying to impale it to the ground, before the Earth-Attribute currently with the Form belonging to the Lightning-Attribute shifted back, becoming a long pillar of stone that stuck the limb to the ground.
The Monster twisted in on itself, one of its frontal and posterior limbs swinging in a simultaneous blow above and below its tail, freeing its tail except for a small part of stone remaining stuck in it, rocks that the former Wendigo shattered with a later blow, letting it free to regenerate without worrying about the stone in the way.
It opened its mouth, a loud roar unleashed in an instant and causing a wince in Sider because of her acute hearing, stepping backwards to dodge the stomp and jumping left, barely evading the beam of Mana that cratered the ground, the resulting shockwave sending her flying back towards one of the wall, easily landing on her feet and using a thin layer of Earth-Attribute Mana holding her up to the wall.
Electricity flaring around her body, the Cultivator launched herself back towards the Drake, moving under the Fake one’s arm, landing on the ground for an instant before launching back up, landing an heavy punch to her opponent’s abdomen, launching it in the air slightly and forcing a breath out of it.
While the two were still mid-air, Sider spun in on herself, carefully activating her [Living Stone Technique] and launching a devastating kick on its side, activating her “Berserker” Unique Skill on the blow and, thanks to the increase in power derived by both this being its second relevant activation and it rebounding on her own body instead of an object, destroy her target’s waist entirely, severing it in two.

The black haired one landed on her single remaining left leg, balancing herself quickly while being careful to keep her right leg up, her stone foreleg reduced to a mess of crushed gravel, the molten rocks taking the place of her blood slowly forming a puddle beneath her, her gaze immediately concentrating on the two parts of the Drake that fell hard on the floor.
A bright yellow crystal bounced off the bottom half of the Drake once before it was struck by a Terran Lightning spear, erupting into long branches thanks to their Resonance that proceded to eradicate the bottom half of the Drake, the Werewolf unwilling to let it devour itself as in so doing, considering how its healing was even now proceding rapidly amd its nature as both a living curse and a Cultivator, even if a Fake one, it would Refine itself, becoming even better at the purpose behind its existence.
Finally, taking advantage of the time she still had and the distance between herself and her opponent, she concentrated hard, pushing her Mana outwards to fill the area around herself, twisting it further and activating her own False Domain, the area previously tinted slightly purple because of the one belonging to the Drake, now returning to normality, the contrast between two Domains of the same level causing them both to be Sealed.
It was a shame that she wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the Domain that the World grants to those it recognize as a Cultivator while properly being part of this Gaea’s System, a False Domain that simply lowers the Rejection of the World against the foreign Energy, a fundamental ability both in combat and during Cultivation but she couldn’t risk it being properly active for long in this Island or risk it being somehow copied.

The Werewolf turned fully towards her opponent, noting how it was already running towards her despite the fact that most of its tail was still missing, some rocks rising to build a cast around where Sider’s wounded leg would be, being very careful to neither claim it as a part of herself or filling in the parts were her leg would be if whole, intent on maximizing the efficiency and speed of her recovery while still being able to support her in combat.
Sider didn’t hesitate, jumping over the Drake’s large yet thin body in an instant, landing on the roof of the room before launching herself back down, landing on its back, right between the two wings that she proceded to grab, forcing the formerly flying one back to the ground before holding on for dear life as it jumped upwards trying to crush her against the roof she just launched herself from.
The one currently made by stone did not hesitate in jumping away from the Drake, one of her hand pointing to the ceiling and the moment it impacted with the ceiling even if only for a brief second, with a smile Sider lowered her hand in a flash, a large earthen stake following her trajectory and impaling the Drake’s chest from the back before it expanded in various spikes that stuck it to the ceiling, at least for a while.
Sider’s hand closed around a long spear of Terran Lightning that she aimed at the impaled Drake, the black and gold lightning bolt crossing the distance between the two in a blink, impacting against the former Wendigo and detonating in a pillar of destruction that obliterated its torso, causing its limbs to fall down around her, her gaze focusing on its head that was currently starting to regenerate again, a scowl forming on her face.

-
10/11 0:29 (Autumn, Sunrise, Midrar, Base)
Luna smiled, the Sun slowly starting to rise in a new day as she walked towards her trap, letting the small fragment of Soul she was holding within her both leading her way and warning them of her incoming arrival, dodging her terrible sense of direction by simply not choosing a direction at all.
Her step easily lead her forward, while she used her Mark to feel her Mates leaving in the direction of their previously explored Dungeon, telepathically sending and constantly recieving feelings and memories to help them both project the way the two groups would need to land a successful counter-ambush.
Far away a pair of pink eyes flashed red for an instant as their owner woke up and alerted her Party of the incoming Lunarian, unaware that they were discovered, the youngest of them reassuringly finding the rest of Luna’s allies moving towards a Dungeon away from them.

Notes:

Chapter 77: Chapter 76

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:52 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Long strands of flesh erupted from the falling head, connecting with the rest of its limbs and forcibly rejoining them together in a single whole, making a facsimile of its previous form made of flesh before its scales slowly started to regrow around its new flesh.
If fell on its four limbs, claws digging in the floor beneath it before it rose up, new flesh devouring the old one and rebuilding itself in a better configuration, its new frame being quite a bit bigger than the previous one to compensate for the lenghts of flesh needed to join it back together.
The Werewolf did not hesitate, running back in before it was even close to done healing and raining down blow after blow on its body, electric shocks filling its body before the silver-eyed one jumped sideways, barely dodging the tail that tried to skewer her before clapping her hands together, the ground erupting up to briefly trap the tail, the Amazon landing on the tail before forming a long spike of Terran Lightning that impaled its tail.
Sider jumped from its tail, landing in an harsh kick against its still scaleless shoulder, her hands joining together in an hammer blow against the side of its face, near one of its eye and forcing it to lean away from her, her body twisting in mid-air to land an axe-kick right in the point that its neck connected with its new shoulder, forcing it down.

The clamp around its tail shattered as it used it to rebalance itself, its scales rippling outwards and expanding to cover even more of its flesh, its frontal limbs smashing upwards and sending the Amazon-blooded one right to the cealing, creating an imprint of her body because of the amount of force she suffered, her claws punching through the wall as she secured herself up, dodging the bite that would have closed around her if she let herself fall.
The black-haired one launched herself away from the wall just in time for the Drake close its mouth before opening it again, a beam of Mana crashing against the roof of their arena and shattering it, forming a hole that went right through it as she Werewolf fell, a long spear of lightning forming between her hands.
Said spear was quickly twisted around before she thrusted it in the former Wendigo’s mouth, impaling its brain and at least temporarily stopping it from reacting, a long stone axe forming within her left hand, swinging at the head at full strenght while using her Unique Skill.
Sider’s axe and her whole forearm shattered, sure, but with them so did the Drake’s head, neck and the upper parts of its shoulder.
The black-haired one landed on her foot and stone cast, her silver eyes observing the swaying Monster, scowling when she saw it stop and stabilize even without an head.
“I suppose even a Fake-Cultivator is still a Cultivator deep down.” She noted its lack of true weak points as her Qi Sense more deeply analyzed its body and the way its Qi flowed within its body.

-
10/11 0:42 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Sabel, Mafel and Amber walked towards their temporary destination, the Dungeon they found, the Human decided to sate a curiosity she always possessed about one of her Mates. “So, Amber I had a curiosity before I was too…” Briefly her mind turned towards what exactly stopped her from asking this question, blushing brightly at the memories of last night’s embrace. “distracted to ask. Isn’t reproducing incredible hard when it comes to the immortal Races like Phoenixis and Demons, especially when a Human is not one of the parents? And you have two mothers, right? Isn’t it even harder between People with the same sex?” Her voice sped up during her questioning.
“I would need quite a bit of time to explain everything, give me a little time.” Amber started to explain, breathing in deeply, as Mafel started to pay attention, curios too now that her black-haired Mate asked. “First of all, both Angels and Demons are extra planar Entities like Spirits and Elementales, requiring a Vessel to inhabit to deal with the Rejection of this World. Angels mostly makes their own Vessels similarly to a Divinity, requiring a Person lending them their body.
“Demons’ Vessels instead are most often created by the Demons themselves at the moment of being Summoned by using the offered Sacrifice as Materials while the Pact made during the Summoning functioning as an Anchor to further reduce the Rejection, with the strenght of the Vessel depending on the quality of the offered material. In my mom’s case, her Vessel was made of my own mother’s blood and Energy, helping explain their high compatibility together.
“Moving back to your question, beyond their compatibility, the term Succubus and Incubus is actually an incorrect simplification of the reality to explain Lust Demons. Demons are split between the Seven Deadly Sins and when it comes to the Lust specific ones, their gender and sex depends entirely on their will, being able to become male, female, both or neither as needed and to easily Mate with anything if they really want, the resulting child if born in a Material Plane being the Race of the other parent with some Demon blood flowing through their veins.”

At the end of the long explanation by the Demon Phoenix, Mafel nodded, her own new curiosity being satisfied by the lenghty explaination provided to them, while Sabel instead was distracted by another, new question. “Hey, what is the difference between the Vessels of Angels, Demons, Spirits and Elementals?” She asked their resident expert on extra-Planar entities.
“Well, an Angel’s control over their Vessel depends entirely on both the more effective for their purpose of the two Beings and the Pact between the two while the power it can output depends on the Angel’s own power limited by the Vessel’s Compatibility with the Angelic Entity and the power of the Vessel, with the addition of being able to use the full Status of the Person involved, including their Unique Skill if it is Awakened.
“The power that a Demon can output depends on the power of the Demon limited by the Quality of the Sacrificed Materials, the experience of the Demon in making a Vessel, the skill and strenght of the Summoner and the Pact between the two parties involved, with the addition of special characteristics of any specific Material involved in the Sacrifice, for example Phoenix’s blood grants an increased Fire Affinity, regeneration speed and Resistance to both the Fire- and Holy-Attributes.
“Spirits to fully manifest have as an Anchor a Spiritual Mage’s Soul with a Vessel made mostly out of Mana of the same Attribute as them, their power being limited by the Quality and Quantity of the Mana, their Affinity towards the Attribute and the Spiritual Arts themselves of the Person involved, without considering any particular Skill involved.
“Differently from the other three extra-Planar Entities, Elementals don’t require any Vessel in particular, merely changing the amount of power it can output because of the affinity between the Elemental and the Vessel itself with no other factor in particular influencing it, either positively or negatively.”

“I-I see. What do you think will happen with the Elemental within Luna?” Sabel asked curios and in so doing causing Amber to swallow.
“I don’t want to think about it.” The Phoenix commented, moving faster to evade thinking about it and in so doing signaling to her two Mates that this particular discussion was over.

-
10/11 1:53 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna casually walked forward, letting the little fragment of a Soul within her guide her direction and being careful both not to move too fast so that those that believed themselves her hunters would have enough notice to prepare their trap while not being slow enough for them to suspect her of knowing about this trap.
Her fingers joining together behind her back, her index fingers tapping boredly against the back of her hands, her senses moving all over the place to seek either her opponents or if she could steal the secrets of the Grand Ritual against Vampires that was completed nearby.
The Lunarian stopped just upon stepping on the ground, her gaze focusing immediately as she felt the blood within her body slowly, drop after drop, being drained down in the ground beneath her, slowing down her Regeneration slightly.
The white-haired one stepped back, noting how the drain immediately stopped, and then moving sideways before advancing, trying to work out its maximum Range and its center, all this to more effectively analyze it but she quickly stopped, figuring out almost immediately that the effect was not circular but applied in an irregular pattern, probably to follow the shape of the long since destroyed fort.

Having understood that Luna didn’t hesitate, passing throught the invisible border around it, paying attention towards the rate at which she was being drained, searching for the highest drain and following it, seeking both the center of this effect and the ambush awaiting her all at once, moving towards the remains of the fort that once stood here, passing beyond the long since crumbled wall that once protected it.
The red-eyed one enjoyed the scenery around her, a somewhat-empty looking smile on her face as her ears twitched, immediately jumping forward to evade a three meters long spear that impaled the area she was just in, her gaze immediately turning towards its origin and in so doing almost missing the second and third moving to impale her from a different direction, evading them only thanks to her reflexes, grabbing onto the second bolt and using it to deflect the third away from her.
As her smile widened slightly, a savage glint illuminating her fangs, she pointed towards the direction of the first fired bolt, launching a destructive sphere of Vital Mana, an explosion erupting in the distance, jumping backwards to dodge a lightning bolt that cratered the place she was just in, her gaze moving towards the Human now before her.
The first thing she noticed, and the thing that caused a burst of savage glee in her heart-equivalent, were the hate-filled yet concentrated blue eyes that tried to skewer her in place, his body masterfully cloaked by its Aura that mixed with the lightning covering his hands.

Notes:

Chapter 78: Chapter 77

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 14:54 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider corrected herself, thanks to the Drake’s own use of the [False Life Technique] that the Monster was not a Fake-Cultivator with a Qi Circulatory System functioning as a physical organ but was instead a legitimate Cultivator using as fuel the Fake-Qi around the area.
The process called Cultivation that both Sider and technically the Drake itself employed by fueling it with Fake-Qi instead of Qi, more specifically the one that was not based on biology alone like the Fake-Monsters residing on this island with their Organic Qi Circulatory System, was derived and limited by the user’s own Spirit Roots, a metaphysical organ within every single Soul.
The [Qi Condensation] Stage is nothing particularly hard or even complex, merely requiring the condensation of the Qi of the World around them in a liquid-like state that was then contained within the Spirit Roots of the Cultivator, the different Steps simply being derived by the amount of Qi contained within the Roots, the amount needing to reach the maximum possible one to proceed to the next Stage.
Following that, the [Foundation Establishment] Stage absorbs even more Qi to create a System around the Cultivator’s Spirit Roots within their Soul and while this doesn’t actually change the amount of Qi that they could contain, the Cultivator no longer loses Qi when using it, except for very specific instances, turning Passive and just requiring some Qi to turn Active again, the higher Steps increasing mostly the efficiency of this process even if always requiring external Qi to not be at a loss.
The final Stage when it comes to their specific situation, the [Core Creation] one, is based on the creation within the Foundation previously made of various Cores by greatly condensing Qi, Cores that with the [False Life Technique] can count as substitutes for the Cultivator’s vital organs if necessary, even if this is normally nothing more than trying to take your enemy down with you at this Stage.

The Werewolf’s eyes narrowed in focus, observing how its Vital Energy was hurriedly healing its missing body parts, trying to heal it before its Qi was exhausted by needing to keep itself alive to try and dodge its death, causing Sider to run in immediately, intent on either outputting damage faster that it could recover from it or at least forcing it to waste Qi.
Sider dashed in, jumping over the Drake’s claws, spinning in mid-air to land on its arm, twisting to dodge one of its wings trying to smack her away before jumping over its incoming tail and punching it downwards with pure brute force alone, taking advantage of her currently stone body and the increased stability it offered her to slam it down against its own arm before landing on it.
Her hands held before her own body were connecting with thin strings of lightning, strings that she quickly concentrated in a sphere of electricity that she immediately threw towards the still headless body, intent on racking up as much damage as she possibly could while her opponent was still blind, the small strings of lightning remaining around her hands falling down upon the Drake and chaining its tail and limb together briefly.
The black haired one did not hesitate, jumping away from its tail, landing on the roof above the two before launchign herself back down immediately, spinning in mid-air to land a devastating kick simultaneusly with the impact of the lightning ball, an electric shock exploding from their collision point before it was channeled entirely around her foot before falling down upon the still healing neck.

The Drake’s bones in its chest shattered, lightning ravaging its insides and causing it to twitch painfully a couple of times before she activated her “Form: Humanoid Wolf” fully, using her “Enhancement: Transformation” to psh her transformation to beyond what would be her natural limit, growing in size even further its claws gleaming sharply.
Her hands covered in Terran Lightning smashed into the electricity within the Monster, converting it directly within her opponent and erupting from its body into long branches, rupturing its scales, flesh and bones from the inside out, her hands ripped their away deep within her opponent before ripping them and some more of her opponent’s body.
She stood up on two fully reformed feet, her temporary transformation having forcefully and immediately repaired her wounds, her new height in her Boosted state reaching a terrifying 250 cm, fangs and claws gleaming before falling down on her prey, her glowing eyes illuminating the madness currently filling her within the dark of this cave, not that either of them noticed the lighting considering how both could see in the dark.
The Werewolf ripped in her opponent at once, the madness of her boosted state being the only thing that allowed her to actively use her Qi externally to release destructive shockwaves upon the Drake while paying enough attention to safeguard herself from the Fake-Qi around them, the Drake falling apart and crumbling down into a mess around her, the Person landing on her feet before after a brief silence to assure her opponent’s death, returning to her more Humanoid form, falling to her knees and embracing herself, breathing deeply to help deal with her pain.
After all such a transformation would naturally have its own, very painfull, conseguences and strains.

-
10/11 2:47 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna nodded to herself satisfied at its gaze, subly sending a message to her Mates to start moving towards them with their previously decided route, stretching her senses as much as possible to both seek any nearby enemy and help analyze her enemy’s abilities, more specifically the way its Aura and Lightning-Attribute Magic combined in a new, more combat effective way to use it.
Luna moved sideways, dodging a lightning bolt launched by the Human, confirming that he was the one that launched the previous thunder attack and leading her to wonder. ‘Invisibility? No, the previous attack had its source high in the sky. Super speed? No, so fast a movement would cause a shockwave and I would feel it. An Item capable of storing an attack to launch it later then. Well, either that or teleportation.’
Her expression didn’t waver at all yet her opponent already fully understood what she thought like, being the one that best understood her and how she thought and causing his hate to only grow, Aura flaring around his body before joining together with his lightning and raining down upon the Lunarian.
The white-haired one did not move, carefully watching the sparks until they were right around her, her own Aura flaring and precisely striking down every single one of the attacks around her, Vital Mana accumulating around her right hand as she felt the attacks having been made using Vital Mana alone.

Luna deflected the punch that tried to carve her face in with her right hand, the layer of Vital Mana isolating her hand from the electricity enveloping his fist, her left hand flashing forward to bury itself within her opponent’s chest, the Human suddently vanishing from before her only to appear at her left side, his own fist colliding with a small Barrier that blunted most of his force, especially considering how she leaned away from the blow.
Her Aura flared, forming a spike that would have skewered his arm but he already jumped away, almost as if he knew what she would do. “Why do you hate me such?” She wondered aloud, her eyes flashing with curiosity while she casually released a burst of Vital Mana from all over her body, deflecting various electric shocks away from herself.
Luna dodged left, dodging the spear of Lightning-Attribute Vital Mana sent by the Human, her Aura filling the area around her immediately with long gashes that forced the Human back. “You killed my sister!” He affirmed, his hate being leashed by his experience and concentration as he focused on the fight.
“Oh, I see.” The vampiric one calmly noted, a single nod being the only sign that she ever really cared about his reason, trying to search her own, Scarlet’s and her Ghoul-self’s memories of her opponents, searching throught the small number of faces she bothered to remember before giving up completely.

After all Scarlet was even worse about killing People than she was, having no concept of mercy and being less a Person and more a natural disaster that indifferently culled every Being on her way except for the only one allowed to reside in the eye of the storm.
Some may wonder about how she easily accepted the fact that she was the culprit behind her opponent’s motivation but even excluding Scarlet’s own tendency of “kill first, ask question maybe later”, the Human’s hatred is not a new one, having matured and intensified over a long period of time, too precise to be born of a simple misunderstanding about her culpability.
The area over her head immediately filled with blades made by Vital Mana, blades that immediately rained down upon the Human but instead of retreating, he advanced, moving precisely between her attacks and without any hesitation or issue launching his strikes between the Lunarian’s own, being able to score two impacts right in her arms and numbing for an instant her defending arms.
Luna’s eyes narrowed, understanding at once that her opponent was someone intimately familiar with the way she fought yet he was both an Human around the early twenties and way too weak to be this determined and any older, her smile widening more. ‘Experience in fightning me specifically yet I have no memories of this nor would I have spared someone that fought me more than once.’

Notes:

Chapter 79: Chapter 78

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/9 15:09 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider wearily stood up, her frame trembling in a mix of pain and exaustion, but she had enough time to recover, especially with it being night at the moment, turning towards the thing that appeared, or to be more precise the thing that was no longer concealed, upon the death of the Drake.
After all while this place was not strickly speaking a Dungeon, it still functioned as one, needing a possible way to connect not only to the Dungeon itself but also to the World of Gaea to help the Cycle of Souls be as efficient as it could possibly be, her eyes meeting the gate that led deeper in, towards the source of this maddening mix of Miasma and Qi.
She stabilized herself, her body and mind having already recovered as much as it could from the stress her transformation caused without her being able to actually rest, moving towards her final stop for this damned island, her False Domain opening fully to help examine her own Foundation and making sure the strain would not negatively affect it and herself long-term.
Once certain, she coated her body in a dense layer of Earth-Attribute Mana, isolating herself from the outside and more specifically from the Fake-Qi around her, a somewhat-extreme measure considering how the one in the air did not try to invade her body at all, sure, but a measure that she didn’t hesitate any in taking.

She breathed in deeply a couple of times before moving in, opening the gate fully and immediately almost being trampled by a wave of Fake-Qi, barely able to stay on her feet, her barrier flickering slightly at the impact before she stubborly stepped forward, walking through the so dense it was almost liquid wave of Qi with some difficulties, step after step moving deeper in.
The pressure increased rapidly while Sid advanced, immediately pushing her Innate Skill “Enhancement: Physicality” to the limit as she burned Essence to gain more and more power, her steps gaining certainty as she crossed the gate fully, bearing the weight of the Miasmic Qi that was being emanated by a shining gem identical in shape to a Dungeon Core, even if an intense purple one instead of being their natural clear color.
The Werewolf stilled, her gaze beholding as she saw Mana and Vital Energy being absorbed from the Core, fusing together before integrating themselves into it and being transformed into Fake-Qi, her attention unable to move from it at all, her Qi Sense immediately concentrating on it with wide eyes upon finding a small amount of real, natural Qi at its center.
She stepped forward before stopping, almost silent whispering sounding from within her head, a desire to take it for her own to study to help her Clan advance, maybe even enough for an Immortal to rise from them.

Step after step she neared the crystal, her silver eyes glazing over slightly more as she progressed, her hands rising almost without her imput, her barrier slowly starting to fade as she barely remembered to maintain it in the face of ever increasing pressure, her gaze remaining fixed to it alone.
She was only three meters away from it before stopping entirely, rivers of blood flowing from her mouth, her feet stopping immediately as a long spear of Lightning-Attribute Mana impaled her in place through her stomach, her eyes reacquiring lucidity at once as she breathed in and out deeply a couple of times.
She did not hesitate, a ray of Terran Lightning falling upon the Core immediately, shattering it in an instant, before a rain of Terran Lightning bolts destroyed the whole room, her wide silver eyes shining murderously in the dark, her killing intent clear in her snarl.
Her attacks didn’t slow for a whole ten minutes, until even the Fake-Qi contained within the room was dispersed as much as it could, leaving herself panting heavily, her senses stretched out fully to seek any of its remains and moving away once she was sure that nothing of it remained in existence, trembling slightly.

“I hate this.” She wispered to herself, hating both the fact that she needed to destroy the Core whose study could have helped her whole clan greatly and also her own weakness that led her to even now desiring it, knowing well that it was amplifying her own greed and desires.
Her way was free of any obstacles, her mind too unfocused and distracted to think about the reason behind such a convenient factor as she smashed her way through various walls, finally seeing the sky again, her mind recieving a shock once she saw that it was no longer night but instead day, confirming that the mass amount of Fake-Qi mixed with regular Qi had the additional feature of distorting the time of the separated room holding the Core.
Her eyes, until then stuck to the sky distracted, saw some signs of movements downwards, her breathing stopping as she beholded the enormous Being that appeared before her, far beyond this island’s beach, the completely silent body belonging to the Leviathan that she would never be able to forget, the liquid turning into ice before giving way to luminous blue scales, six bright green eyes observing her despite their distance.
The Werewolf stepped back briefly before forcefully calming down, keeping their eyes meeting, shivers traveling her body at once before she started to move towards the gigantic, shark-like Guardian, her steps hurriedly leading her towards them, unwilling to make them wait anymore than she absolutely needed to, forcefully suppressing all of her emotional stress at once, at least for a little while longer.

Sider stopped at the beach, her head held low with only her eyes indirectly looking at the Divine Beast, their eyes flashing before a wave of Will fell upon her at once as carefully as an enormous Titan holding in his arms a small and fragile yet ever so precious glass sculpture.
In a blink the Werewolf’s Vital Energy and Mana were fully restored, her wounds immediately healed and her fatigue immediately erased, her mental stress being carefully left alone for her to deal with safely by herself, her eyes seeing how she was currently back in her boat before turning back to the enormous body of the Leviathan.
Before she could react any further, the Leviathan expanded their Will fully, the World briefly shaking for an instant before a mountain erupted from the sea bed immediately, bursting into flames and exploding outwards and then inwards, forming an enormous firestorm high in the sky, rocks melting into lava before it collapsted back, liquid stones joining with solid flames, metals, glass and gems joining together as one to form a living mountain, its enormous mass falling from the air only to stop an inch above the sea, their heat perfectly contained within their body, the size involved rendering the black-haired one incapable to even properly view them.
Sider stepped back in her boat, her eyes opening wide but this was far from the end of all of it, the sky being completely covered by clouds from horizon to horizon, casting everything into darkness, lightning bolts hundred of meters wide and pieces of sharpened hail dozens of meters wide fell down at immense speeds, sharp winds capable of ripping her apart moving chaotically with enough strenght and speed that it could bodily pick her up and smash her into pieces.

Sider fell to her knees, her eyes incapable to as the clouds, hail and lightning bolts joined together in a vast storm that, despite its immense destructive power, the surface of the sea and even the boat itself remaining still despite its immense might, expanding and constricting until only a vast cumulus remained, floating in mid-air, flashing with lightning bolts that exploded violently around it.
After a couple of seconds that felt more like centuries later, the cloud dispersed, leaving behind the third member of the Guardians, a long, vauely Humanoid figure covered in crystal-like growths shining brightly in all colors, countless long feathered wings covering its body as it floated there, somehow both still and in constant movement before a mist rose between them to hide the flying Guardian.
The sound of a drop falling upon Sider’s bridge distracted Sider, leading her to turn towards the wood and seeing a lot of new red stains, the covering of the Ziz being the only reason that this more recent drop woke her up, rising an hand to her face and feeling the blood currently covering her, coming from both her nose and her eyes, the sight of the Ziz too much for her to manage.
Sider turned towards the Leviathan, meeting their reassuring eyes, a wave of Will healing her again before, after a brief pause, a second wave fell upon her, both as a sort of additional apology for the damage that their Sibling caused her without caring about it and to also reward her for her efforts, the most that the Werewolf could safely handle recieving at once.

*Sider recieves the Innate Skill “Enhancement: Soul” E.

A mist rose from the sea shore covered the black-haired one’s view in an instant, teleporting her far away from the island, sure, but still near enough to let her see what the three Guardians would soon do as an additional prize, the inspiration for how she could grow even further in the future.
Under the astonished gaze of the Cultivator, the three Guardians preparing before unleashing their Will in their entirety, concentrating around all traces of both the island itself and each trace of Fake-Qi present before both time and space stopped entirely, the whole island and some of the sea around it twisted in a single, small point before it was erased utterly under their Will, not so much destroyed or turned into energy or sent to another time, space or even World but simply and utterly turned to nothing, the sea around behaving as if the island never even existed.
A mist rose around Sider before vanishing, the Werewolf finding herself in a much different place, her ship moving back towards her original destination, having been moved even further on that if she simply didn’t meet either the Leviathan or even the Abomination itself.
The Cultivator opened and closed her hands a couple of times, her eyes shining in a mix of admiration and fear at the pinnacle of power, understanding at once that even where she to become an Immortal such would not let her reach them, before desire devoured both of the feelings, reigniting her ambition and want for growth as she vowed to herself to reach that height, concentrating immediately on restarting her training, starting from what she saw in the last moment.

“Lord Leviathan is known to masquerade as a Person, both being taught by and teaching us across the ages. They let me see that last event for a reason.” She told herself, half genuinely believing it and half merely wanting really hard to believe in it, starting by trying to learn from the last spectacle she admired, her Vital Energy and Mana starting to cover her body together, thanks to her newest Skill being able to retain stability and unknowingly to her starting to work towards obtaining what a certain Lunarian possessed, the Innate version of the Skill “Unleash Aura”, the much lesser variant of the Guardians’ Will.
All the while her boat safely traveled towards her destination.

Notes:

Chapter 80: Chapter 79

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/10 2:14 (Autumn, Day, Hidden Dungeon)
The one that created and altered various Dungeon stood there, multiple screens floating before them, each showing a different Dungeon, Party or even specific Monsters, more specifically their biological Data for them to research.
Still the screen that they payed the most attention to was the one that replayed the very recent attack, if so it could be defined as, that destroyed their experimental island, trying to learn as much about it as they possibly could.
“I see, this is not simply destroying matter but even Energy, time and space itself. I didn’t think this could be possible at all but after all this is a different World with the presence of Magic and other similar impossibilities.” They noted to themselves before sighing, soon understanding that further analysis was pointless right now as they recognized that they did not have enough data to analyze the properties of the attack properly.
Their attention moved back towards another group of screens, the ones that showed the three Dragonoids that worshiped the now dead Starving Drake, currently residing each within a capsule of a glass-like material filled with a liquid solution of the formless one’s own creation, their body underdoing a very sci-fi inspired medical procedure.

They smiled satisfied, noting how the three were gradually adapting to the changes in their body and even if the Drake died before it could increase in Rank and in so doing Evolving in a unique speciment, they were still able to use its data, combined with their analysis of the Werewolf Cultivator, the Poison Cultivator that was currently thinking he was decieving them and especially the Being that the poisoner was currently creating.
The three Persons were being slowly ripped apart only to then be pulled back together, Vital Energy, Mana and Qi slowly being absorbed not only by their body but also by their Soul, their Spirit Roots slowly growing within them enough for them to Cultivate properly.
The Qi was not the Neutral Qi that the black-haired Werewolf was taught how to use, sure, but it was not the Fake-Qi she looked down upon but merely Attuned Qi like that Poison Cultivator that used Poison Qi instead of Neutral one; the Dragonoids similarly were not being showered with Neutral Qi or even Poison Qi but instead were being filled with Miasma Qi, a variant similar to Poison Qi but more specialized towards studying and twisting other life forms.
Their attention moved on from the three Dragonoids, turning towards the crystal coffin currently holding the Ancestor, smiling wide as thanks to their own new use of Miasma Qi they were able to restart their analysis that until then was stuck, progressing at a snail pace, sure, but still progressing now.

Another screen appeared floating before them, showing the data of various Vampiric Beings that died within one of their Dungeons to speed up her analysis of the Number 10, part of them grieving how they were unable to kill that anomalous, silver-haired, red-eyed one even with the resources burned and the risks involved to Manifest that Grudge Elemental, before discarding their emotional investment in that matter.
After all, they strongly doubted that as anomalous as the young woman was, her data would be that revolutionary for their research on the highest Level of Vampiric Existences.

-
10/11 2:49 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
The actual above mentioned highest Level of Vampiric Existence, the same white-haired, red-eyed one that the Dungeon Lord just half-dismissed in their mind was currently facing off against the Human that for some reason knew how she fought, a sharp smile resting upon her lips, her mind guessing that he Awakened his own Unique Skill and guessing it to be either time- or space-based.
After all either of the two most likely option would explain how her supposed hunter knew her location, how she fought and also how he moved from high in the sky to right before her without causing any disturbance in the air, disturbance that she would have felt if his movement was based upon speed.
While her mind was calculating and analyzing the way that her opponent did and could attack, her shadow writhed briefly for an instant before returning to normality, her eyes narrowing for an instant as an immediate beam of Vital Mana exploded forward towards the Human, intent on studying the way he would react to her attack.
Said blue-eyed one did not hesitate, acting before she even could finish her attack, dashing left and while still mid-movement releasing a wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana crossing the distance towards the Lunarian as a distraction.

Luna watched the lightning trying to strike her down, noting their nature as a Spell Casted with either Lightning-Attribute Druidry or the Spiritual Magic-equivalent, her body being shielded by a dense layer of Vital Mana that impaled itself on the soil, grounding it at once, thing only possible because it was natural lightning.
An harsh impact landed on her back, her eyes immediately moving towards the place where the Human previously was, confirming that he vanished into nothing as a spike of Black Blood erupted from her shadow, trying to skewer the Human in place but failing as he dashed right briefly before stopping, dodging the burst of Vital Mana that would have struck him otherwise.
The blonde moved back towards her, fists clad in Lightning-Attribute Affinity Mana as he rained down blow after blow to her body, blows that while being perfectly deflected to the point that none landed on her, still impacts struck her by slipping her senses completely.
Luna calmly analyzed, her interest peaked as she memorized all the place her enemy struck, both on her body and the air around her, judging the force of the strikes and even letting herself be hit just to confirm that the strength of the sudden blows was more or less the same as that belonging to the body before her.

From defense she moved to offense immediately, ignoring the punches to land her own attack on her opponent, only for him to anticipate her with a lightning-infused kick to one of her knees, simultaneusly launching himself away from her body before her savage swing could smash his shoulder apart.
Before he could even land, the Human twisted in mid-air, dodging a Vital Mana spear before responding with his own lightning stake, a very appropriate weapon if used while hunting a Vampiric Being in his own opinion.
Naturally the Lunarian dodged the spear but she was unable to dodge the force of an impact coming from what looked to be nothing at all, causing her to immediately blast the area around her with a sharp Burst of Energy, confirming that the blows were not caused by an invisible opponent once her Energy found no resistance at all.
Her white hair moved at once as she nodded to herself, confronting the force of the invisible blows with the force of the Human before her and leaving her certain that the Human was the one responsable for it.

‘Time or space…’ She thought to herself before deciding on the first one of the two as the most probable and continuing her analysis with it as the hypothesis. ‘Not super-speed or super-acceleration, too little damage to the environment to be caused by them and even by accessing my memories stored within the Moon, I cannot see any extra trace of his presence or blurs in his movements.’
Luna swung her hand carelessly, a great mass of Black Blood forming above her head before falling down in a rain of swords to try and impale him in place, her eyes stuck to his figure and making sure to maintain his exact position in mind, trying to brute force her way to the solution.
As her swords harried the Human with ever increasing precision as she was quickly growing accustomed to the pattern he tended to move in, the errors that were but natural for those that still refused to discard their own imperfections entirely, like breathing, depending mostly on their five physical senses and the present even if small time lapse between thought and action, his movement being read and predicted with ever increasing accuracy.
The blades impaled on the ground ripped themselves up from the ground, turning towards and then homing in after the Human, forcing him to move constantly or be skewered and in so doing providing more data to speed up Luna’s analysis even further, a little mass of Black Blood from each having separated and drilled their way beneath the ground.

Mark, the Human that attempted to ambush the Lunarian, was slowly starting to breathe heavier because of needing to run continuisly, unwilling to risk having her blood enter his own body, his mind calculating the time until his plan could move to the next phase, his lips twisted in a focused frown before his eyes widened greatly as the earth before him exploded upwards.
From the earth beneath his feet, long black tendrils, almost similar to roots, erupted to impale him in place, the only way to dodge the swords that were following him now being blocked by the Lunarian’s new attack, assuring for him to be struck down.
The watchful gaze of the Lunarian saw his eyes widening in surprise at the sudden attack, well aware that he had no way to escape and understanding well that he would not think about using his Lightning-Attribute Magic to escape it if surprised enough as his use of Magic was not like her Mafel’s, the core of the way she fought, and neither like her Amber’s, a central part of the way she fought, instead being more like her Sabel’s, a way to enhance their attacks or to launch simple ones.
It was only natural as someone can only grow so much in a certain amount of time, depending on both talent and luck, and while her opponent was very experienced when it comes to using his Energies and fighting itself, his Skills and body both were lagging behind and he was not talented enough for them to grow to match the difference between the two.

The instant before her blows could connect with him, he vanished completely, leaving behind only empty air and her attacks colliding in mid-air, Luna’s lips rising slightly as she casually turned around to meet the scowling face of the Human.
“Teleportation, eh? Good to know.” She affirmed calmly and aloud, intent on letting him know before continuing on in her thoughts alone, no trace of any extra emotion present. ‘Is that what you wanted me to believe? How naive. This was not teleportation, it was something like stopping time.’
‘Yet stopping time in its entirety is not possible, and the Selves that I left far away did not feel any difference despite the distance and such a large distance is way too much considering the amount of power he has. A targetted effect then, towards me to effect my other Selves? No, as otherwise my Mates would have felt it and they felt nothing much. An effect Targetting only himself then.’ She figured out, the Black Blood left behind flowing back to within her shadow.
“I hate you.” Mark said outloud, his face twisting in an hateful sneer as he understood at once from his experience fighting her that he was figured out.

Notes:

Chapter 81: Chapter 80

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/11 2:50 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
To the everlasting declaration of hatred contained deeply within the Human’s three very simple words, Luna could not help but smile, her shadow wavering for a single instant before returning to normal before anyone could notice it, the needed change having already been completed.
Luna dodged sideways, evading the Lightning-clad fists of the Human before responding with her own lethal punch, Mark shifting with his own blow to move around her on her right while simultaneusly striking back at her with a left low kick to her right ankle, intent on breaking it for at least a little bit.
The Lunarian leaned into the incoming kick, meeting it half-way down with her own kick to mitigate the force that the blow could bring to bear, a thin layer of Vital Mana isolating her leg from his electricity before she took advantage of her being able to output a much higher amount of pure brute force to continue on her kick, trying to break his own left knee.
In an instant the Human vanished into nothing, a force striking simultaneusly against both her head and right shoulder, trying to make her step forward and failing at it as the single-hit Barrier she erected right before she launched her own attack, confirming at once both her adversary’s ability to “stop time” and that he could attack while in “stopped time”, the Damage being applied at once at the end of the effect as otherwise her Barrier would have stopped only one of his blows.

Judging from his physical might and speed, his starter and ending position and the force contained within his two blows, Luna guessed that he could only use his Unique Skill for a couple of seconds, ten at most but most probably even less than five seconds at a time.
Not only that but the fact that this was a fight at all, instead of simply continuously attacking her while in stopped time with a blink of flowing time in between, meant that either his Unique Skill costed Vital Energy or Mana, thing that wasn’t true as she was able to confirm thanks to constantly Sensing the amount of Energy it stored how he it not only didn’t Cost Energy but he also Recovered some while the Skill was active, indicating the presence of a Cooldown as otherwise his Soul would collapse in on itself.
After all, most of the stress caused by prolonged use of Skills attacked the Soul alone and healing it is a much more involved and time-consuming process that just healing the body.
Luna smiled, her eyes sharpening in an instant before she rose her left hand, Aura and light being emanated from the eyes of her Core-Holding Ring, gradually amplifying itself again and again, temporarily confering to its Wielder the Innate Skill “Elemental Roar”, a great Magic Circle glowing in all colors forming before her.

Mark’s eyes widened in a very foreboding feeling of alarm, aware that the fact he didn’t recognize the Artifact was terrible as either she didn’t bother using it the last time or for some reason he changed something without knowing that led her to create something she didn’t bother making the previous Timelines.
After all, Luna only bothered making them once she knew that she was actively being hunted while still not being a proper Lunarian; conditions that in the last Timeline were instead absent as she didn’t feel the need back then.
His decades of experiences were the only thing that saved him from the conseguences of his split-second hesitation caused by the rise of a new variable in his equation, jumping away just in time to dodge the concentrated beam of destruction that exploded from the Magic Circle.
The Human, having landed on his feet thanks to his sheer amount of experience fighting her, immediately dropped down on his back to dodge the kick that would have crushed his skull had it landed, his blue eyes opening wide as he saw a mass of flames forming around her left hand, a burning punch directed right at the center of his chest.

The blonde scowled, using his hands resting on the ground to flip himself sideways, dodging the blow that could have shattered his ripcage at once, his eyes noting the lack of a Barrier protection his opponent before widening in alarm when he saw the flames surrounding her fist destabilize before exploding outwards in a burst of flames directed at him.
Luna calmly watched as Mark’s body vanished into nothing, her gaze immediately moving to where he currently reappeared, noting the slowly-healing burns on his skin and mentally calculating the times involved. ‘Five seconds between the last time stop and when he was struck. Considering the speed of his healing and the time when I lost sight of him, six seconds passed between the two activation. I didn’t make a Barrier to try and invite him to strike me but he didn’t.
‘He stopped time for three seconds with a Cooldown of six. I am certain that this time he didn’t stop time for three seconds, rather if one considers the progress of his healing, he stopped time for only a single second. His Cooldown is either two times the amount of time stopped or the time stopped plus three seconds. It should be direct enough to confirm for me.’
Luna jumped forward, leaning underneath a lightning bolt sent by her opponent before pointing forward, Mana, shifted directly to Lightning-Attribute thanks to her “Attribute Conversion”, covering her right hand to deflect her opponent’s next lightning bolt away from herself before sending back her own string of lightning, forcing her opponent back.

Luna ran after Mark, her eyes unerringly focused on her opponent, while she started to experiment with her various Attributes, wind blades, rock spears, fire wips and thunder bolts raining down unceasingly upon the Human, trying to force him to use his time stop again, as often as possible to confirm her supposition.
The blonde stepped sideways again and again, his eyes moving constantly to find the escape routes that he needed to use to dodge the continuous attacks, scowling upon noticing that the opening were just big enough for him to evade her attacks which, when combined with his knowledge of her most liked mode of combat actually being unarmed combat, led him to understand at once that she was merely testing him, to better understand him.
Mark ignored the openings provided to him by his opponent, burning Vital Energy to strenghten himself as much as possible before rushing right through it, accepting the slashes and burns to close the distance between the two, the Lunarian having allowed a way to herself, and launch a punch right towards her head.
Luna calmly prepared to deflect the blow away, her eyes widening in shock as she suddenly felt a much greater amount of force smash into her face, her right hand flying up to cover one of her eyes, yet even so the surprise did not slow down her reaction at all, her left hand flying back, her claws staining red as she cut in the Human’s arms that he raised to defend himself.

The white-haired one stepped back violently, twisting around in a kick with her right leg tensed, the violent swing creating a second gash, this time in the blonde’s side.
Luna didn’t follow her opponent further, instead removing her right hand from her now-healed face, concentrating on the amount of damage she just recieved, noting how it was much too great to be caused by a single punch instead being more than what three of his attacks should be.
The only reasonable explanation was that the force of his blows launched in stopped time were applied together at the end of the Skill’s effect, undergoing the target’s Resistances as if it was a single instance of Damage.
She smiled at once, her left hand surrounded by a vicious Aura that formed a Magic Circle, an iridescent beam of devastation being released the next instant, taking advantage of his Cooldown to force him to retreat.

Naturally the blue-eyed one could not afford to hesitate an instant, launching himself away, intent on turning this battle in one of attrition, counting on the Ruin’s effect to thin out the Lunarian’s blood and in so doing weakening her enough for him to gain an advantage.
Mark did not hesitate, running around the Lunarian with long strings of Lightning-Attribute Mana held between his fingers, forming various circles with his strings surrounding his opponent before clenching his fingers, the lightning string collapsing in on the white-haired one, immobilizing her with his glowing yellow strings.
Luna did not react other that just observing, more interested in the attack itself than the Damage it could inflict on her, calmly analyzing both the Human before her and her own currently bound state, adding various variables in her mental equation about her opponent and their fight.
The white-haired one noted how the light of the strings around her started to gradually intensify, leading her to act right there and then, a Magic Circle forming beneath her feet and radiating a glow upwards, an Anti-Lightning radiation that weakened the strings, causing them to soon enough fray apart entirely, leaving Luna free from her opponent’s attack.
However before she could strike back at the Human, he vanished, reappearing right before her with his hands resting upon her abdomen, Lightning-Attribute Mana and his Aura condensing in a single point that invaded her body, creating a Gate right towards the Plane of Roars, a phenomenon that caused her red eyes to widen in recognition.

Notes:

Chapter 82: Chapter 81

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/11 2:51 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark stepped back, breathing heavily, his hands opening and closing to work through their pain while he mentally thanked his Contracted Spirit, Joules, for helping him to create and maintain the Spirit Gate and also to deal with a great majority of the backlash involved, recieving back a tired feeling of acceptance of his gratitude.
The Human calmed his breathing at once, his eyes returning to scan the dust cloud made by the explosion of lightning that they caused by ripping a short-lived hole right to the Plane of Roars, his sister’s sure-kill Spiritual Spell that he was only able to work out how to fully reproduce with their current level of power last Time, once Luna was already well beyond his reach.
Even so, the blonde was way too experienced when it comes to his enemy to lower his guard any, his blue eyes focused on finding any trace of his opponent’s current location, already assuming that she survived his blow and trying to figure out her condition and position.
His Joules started paying attention towards the World around them, their attention no longer being occupied by preparing for their previous attack, now being able to bring to bear their full support for their Contractee.

The Human dropped down, dodging the pale fist that would have caved in his skull otherwise, his right leg rising immediately to block the low kick launched by the Lunarian before he struck back at Luna’s still elongated arm, causing a twich in it before she ruthlessly slammed down, forcing him to retreat.
A second dust cloud covered the Vampiric one as her arm smashed on the ground with immense force, the blue eyes of Mark narrowing in focus before Joules interfered, launching an immediate lightning bolt that was deflected away by an exact mirror-copy sent by the white-haired one hidden within the fading cloud.
Mark prepared to join his Spirit only for his eyes to widen in alarm, noting how the Lunarian was dark not because of the shade or an armor but because it was a copy of her made entirely by Black Blood, the ground beneath his feet trembling before a pale hand erupted from it, grabbing his ankle firmly.
Without waiting a second, Mark activated his Unique Skill, time in his perspective slowing down to a complete stop, the World dulling to a grayscale, his Magic and even his Joules stilling completely and leaving him completely isolated, at least at this Rank.

The Human concentrated before bending down, launching as many blows as possible to the hand currently holding him in place, taking full advantage of it to land as many Aura-covered attacks as he possibly could on her in the three seconds that his Unique Skill, “Time Walker”, allowed him to activate while still at C-Rank.
Finally after a whole three seconds of fists raining down upon the hand, he sighed, breathing hard briefly before calming down, the Time Stop ending as all the damage he would have inflicted upon the hand happened all at once.
The hand holding his ankle exploded in a mess of Black Blood at once, his blue eyes moving immediately to the ground before him, seeing Luna rise and trying to attack him with long and sharp tendrils intent on carving their way in his body.
The Human jumped back, his eyes scanning her immediately, noticing first her right hand, the substitute being made roughly of Black Blood taking the place of the hand he destroyed and subsequently seeing the way her body trembled in a mix of pain and shock.

The blonde jumped back towards the white-haired one, intent on taking advantage of her wounded state to land even more attacks on her, his fists covered in both Lightning-Attribute Mana and Aura closing in towards both his opponent’s face and chest while his Joules started to launch their own lightning bolts independently from his own actions.
Luna, however, did not hesitate in her actions despite the pain that she should have felt, her own Aura rising explosively and mixing with her Black Blood and Vital Mana together, flipping to the Lightning-Attribute and neutralizing the incoming Lightning-Attribute Spiritual Magic Spell altogether, while she herself flowed in between his punches, already fully accustomed to the way he fought.
Frustration threatened to swell within the Human’s heart at seeing his attacks being brushed away like nothing before he forcefully calmed down, well aware that if he lost control he would simply die as, even with his immense amount of experience, he was unable to fight at the fullest while under the influence of overwhelming emotions.
Another proof of his lack of talent despite the more than fifty years experience fighting, especially when he held himself in comparison to the monster before him.
Even with the efforts of Joules joining his own and the Lunarian not using or even actively healing her right hand, he was barely able to hold off the Lunarian, being not only forced to retreat constantly but even recieving some, thankfully minimized, wounds.

As he breathed in and out, his eyes narrowed in harsh focus, his Aura joining under his Spirit’s guidance, understanding at once that this would be the most impactful way for him to progress in the fight against the Lunarian, at least when it comes to this stage.
Thankfully for their efforts however, while he could not bring Joules back with him from the future, Spirits not only possessed immutable memories but they could also share in the memories of their Contracted ones.
This was the only reason behind Mark’s own continued survival as thanks to their accumulated memories and the Spirit’s own alien Senses, the Roaring Spirit twisting one of their lightning bolts to move back towards the Human himself, striking him and sending him flying back, dodging the Black Blood spikes that would have impaled his feet to the ground otherwise.
The blonde twisted in mid-air, being unsurprised by the blow, as Lightning- and a small amount of Light-Attribute condensed in a single point in his hand, erupting in a thin line that crossed the distance to the Lunarian at near-light-speed, an attack that the Spirit could only use thanks to his barely-relevant Light-Attribute Affinity, his Aura and the memories, both of his past life and previous World and those belonging to the previous regressions he lived through, that he freely shared with the Spirit.

Mark landed, his eyes immediately moving to the effect of his attack, noting with a scowl the almost perfect circle that he burned into his enemy’s shoulder instead of her heart.
He knew well that she was not fast enough to dodge his attack and once again he lamented his own lack of talent; after all, she did not dodge his attack but him, turning a debilitating wound into nothing serious.
But he could remain disappointed only briefly, dropping down to dodge the clawed hand that would have severed his neck apart at once, crossing his arms before himself to block the knee strike that would have broken his nose otherwise, bending back to deflect the force away from himself.
His arms separated themselves immediately before closing down on the leg that tried to kick him, his own legs trying yet failing to make the Lunarian stumble as she simply used a small layer of Black Blood to support her body in mid-air, the Human soon finding himself being slammed in the ground because of a kick.

Mark barely rolled away, a second axe-kick destroying the ground where his head just was, rising to his feet in an instant before he widened his eyes at seeing the fist less than 10 centimeters to his face.
Thankfully however, the six seconds of Cooldown were over.
Time immediately stopped, Mark breathing in deeply once in relief before hurrying to dodge her attack.
Or at least that was the plan.
He briefly flailed around upon feeling his feet being stuck to the ground, turning his attention there and finally noticing the extremely fragile masses of crystalized Black Blood shaped like small bands that surrounded his ankles completely, bands that normally he would have broken without even noticing.
Bands that he was unable to break.
A second did yet did not pass.
A terrible feeling filled the Human at once as he confirmed that his enemy figured out one of his most important limitations reguarding his Unique Skill, his inability to actually damage things while in his Time Stop as the damage is applied only once it was shut down and all at once at that.
He hurriedly applied enough force to break the shackles, already aware that he wasted a considerable amount of his very limited time in his surprised state, punching his opponent’s extended fist once before stopping, noticing the barrier that covered her body and understanding that further hits would be meaningless.
With a sigh, at the two second mark, the Human deactivated his Unique Skill.

A punch continued in its trajectory, mostly missing the target that despite everything was able to slightly move in the previous split-second, the barrier around the Lunarian and the bands stuck to the Human, both made explicitly fragile from the very start, shattered in the same instant because of the force that struck all of them simultaneously.
The blue eyes of the Human met the glowing red eyes of the Lunarian, old hate rekindling anew once more.

Notes:

Chapter 83: Chapter 82

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

10/11 2:51 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna maintained the momentum of her previous movement, smashing into the Human with her shoulder, adding in both the minor force caused by her mass, a relatively negligible amount when considering the physical strenght of the two involved, and the much greater force caused by her Black Blood and Divine Power working jointly.
Mark was sent flying back only briefly before Luna grabbed him by the hand, pulling him towards her and striking fast with a merciless knee to his face.
As the Human retreated, an hand rising to cover his wounded face, the Lunarian continued on her assault, her already extended limb stretching out in a kick that struck the Human between the neck and shoulder, spiking him downwards, the blonde smashing against the ground and bouncing once.
Luna continued on, slamming on the blue eyed one’s chest with the total amount of force she could bring to bear with her weight and her Black Blood, her left hand rising up high towards the sky above as some of her Black Blood accumulated within it before bursting ablaze, becoming vivid red flames with a much darker core, an Altered Attribute called Blood Flame.
The fire mixed in within the Lunarian’s Aura, being condensed first in a fireball as a rough imitation of the way that her Amber used fire like an extension of herself, the sphere expanding to form a long spear of flames that she thrusted downwards.

Mark’s eyes opened wide in alarm, pulling as much Mana as he could with his Spirit’s help before blasting it outward as fast as he possibly could, sending himself away just in time to evade being impaled to the ground.
Before he could even rise on his feet, he found himself crossing his arms, Luna’s previous spear, now rendered a mostly solid javelin, being immediately thrown at him, piercing his left arm before he forcefully deflected his arm and the spear to the side, saving his head, before concentrating his Aura and Vital Energy together to fight back against the flames that slowly caused his own blood to start boiling from inside his body.
Joules joined in their own Aura to his efforts, helping to stiffle to blaze from growing even more by devouring his blood, while Mark himself ran forward, meeting Luna’s rush half way there with his own, his Aura condensing in a mostly solid layer around him, an armor that helped him fight back against the Lunarian’s much greater physical might.
Mark’s wounded arm, precisely held together by the Spirit’s own manual control over the Human’s Vital Energy blurred forward at once, trying to smash into Luna’s forehead in a punch, punch that the Lunarian deflected away from herself with a pale right arm and a brief burst of Vital Mana, continuing on her way to grab the Human’s shoulder.

Before the blonde could react to her action, Luna forced him down by at the same time pulling herself up, her legs rising from the ground in a flash and violently slamming against the avenger’s chest, one at heart height while the other at the height of his stomach, spinning in mid-air to slam him in the ground violently.
Luna soon landed on her feet easily, her back to the time traveler currently laying down on the ground, a single one of her red eyes peeking over her shoulder down at him, disappointment clear in her gaze, almost as if she wanted to ask ‘Is this all that your hatred and thirst for revenge amount to? Is this really where your endless hunt for a way to slay me will leave as the place for your grave?’
The abomination waited no further, content by having stoked his hatred even further, launching over her shoulder a bright scarlet gem and a casual Blood Flame bolt, their trajectory meeting right before his head.
His blue eyes could barely widen, his death now but a breath away, before a force collided with his body, sending him flying away from certain death even if not saving him from slamming in the ground, being briefly left deprived of breath.

Mark pulled himself up, observing Luna and more specifically the way she was quite casually studying the pink-covered stones that constantly moved to block her way to himself, being somehow even able to resist a couple of her probing attacks despite they normally being more than enough to destroy the rocks currently harrassing her.
He concentrated on speeding up his recovery even faster, fighting back against the flames that even now were burning him from the inside out, his and Joules Aura concentrating on extinguishing the Blood Flames currently within his body, forcefully suppressing it.
With an heavy breath, he turned his full attention back towards the Lunarian, just in time for her to use her Innate Skill “Presence: Charm”, causing the rocks to tremble in mid-air before falling back on the ground, Rose’s “Magic Eyes of Psychic Might” being overwhelmed at once without even a fight.
Thing that didn’t surprise Mark at all as he himself warned her, maybe even excessively to be honest, to never actively fight back against the Lunarian, and as he warned her, she did not fight her nor use her Magic Eyes on her body.
After all, he knew very well that an active use of her Magic Eyes upon an enemy would entail a contest of will between the two of them and thanks to the memories of his previous Times, he knew well that said contest would end terribly for his pink-haired friend.

Mark was barely able to rise his guard as the Lunarian’s moved towards him, body currently enveloped in a thin layer of her Skill, a thin layer that chaotically expanded before contracting back, ensuring that her way would be free of any telekinetically-controlled obstacle.
Luna’s right punch was deflected away from Mark’s body by his left arm while his own fist was easily parried away as well, their legs meeting between the two as their kicks connected with each other mid-kick, their hands blurring between the two in an instant as punch after punch was launched.
Quickly the Lunarian, even without using her Aura to her fullest, was able to gain the advantage, landing punch after punch on the Human’s chest and arms while constantly pulsing her Presence Skill all around both of them, assuring that the psychic one would not interfere in their fight without entering in a contest of will with herself.
Bruise after bruise formed upon the Human’s body before healing, until finally his Cooldown was done, activating immediately his “Time Walker”, the World graying and slowing down to a crawl.

He breathed in deeply, immediately noting his inability to move caused by thin tendrils of Black Blood that locked all of his limbs in place, without allowing him to move at all in any direction, incredibly thin, to the point that he was incapable of seeing them without actually serching for them, strings of Black Blood a centimeters from his body that he could break without even noticing them.
Strings that because of his own Unique Skill, now served as both an impenetrable barrier to keep him in place even during his absent time and as an alert system to identify when he used his Unique Skill in the first place.
Immediately he shut off his Unique Skill’s effects before it reached the two seconds mark as otherwise he would have wasted even more time, especially considering that his Cooldown would be derived from the time it was actually active and so better waste a single second than two.
Before he could even confirm that he shut off the Skill in time, a punch crashed into his face, sending him flying back into a briefly created panel of Vital Mana and in so doing Mark found himself open for Luna’s following attack, a pair of chops that fell right on his shoulders and bringing him down to his knees.

Mark could not even begin to deal with the previous strike that the following blow homed in on him, a spin kick that sent his face crashing down on the ground, immediately turning around to cross his arms before his body, rolling with the punch to make distance between the two before forcefully jumping to his feet.
In so doing, the Human thankfully was able to dodge the low kick sent by the Lunarian, landing fully on his feet before turning around and launching a great lightning bolt with Joules support towards his hated enemy, trying to either injure her or force her back.
Neither of his intention worked as Luna not only didn’t hesitate but also accelerated until she was a breath away from his attack, only to pulse, the Spell unraveling before her, leaving her way completely free for the Lunarian to cross.
Luna’s whole body pulsed once more, her “Counterspell” using her “Presence” Skill to function as an enhancement towards the influence of the first of the two, as she rapidly closed the distance towards the blonde, her right hand lenghtened in a spear, trying to pierce her opponent’s heart.
Just before she could end the fight right here and now, however, a great boulder created entirely out of solidified Earth-Attribute Mana enveloped in a light pink glow shadowed her form, falling upon her from on-high; Without any hesitation her Counterspell ripped the glow and the boulder itself back into harmless ambient Mana, leaving behind only the magmatic core hidden deep within, magmatic core that unlike the boulder was actually a physical material and not a fabbricated one.
Luna’s eyes opened slightly more in surprise as a wave of rapidly cooling magma fell upon her.

Notes:

Chapter 84: Chapter 83

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:51 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark breathed in deeply a couple of times, his Vital Energy slowly healing his damaged body as he did his best to recover as much as possible in the time that the magmatic boulder bought him, his eyes scanning it for any trace of his hated enemy.
He knew that this was far from enough to bring her down and similarly he knew very well that the by now cooled magma would be unable to hold her for long, the air and the absence of Fire-Attribute Mana having cooled it down soon after having covered the Lunarian, creating a rocky formation around her to at least slow her down some.
“Thank you, Grug.” The Human murmured to himself quietly, well aware that the previous boulder was heated up and then sent flying thanks to the Half-Dwarf’s Innate Skill, “Volcanic Strenght”, before being redirected with a much greater accuracy thanks to Rose’s own “Magic Eyes of Psychic Might”.
After all he had long since discarded his past impulsive desire to be the one that would personally kill her and found no fault in accepting help from his friends, especially once he thought back to the failure of the Timeline between his second and third Regression, the one where he was actually closest to in killing her and in which he made the terrible mistake of discarding everything out of a desperate pride for power alone.

Mark concentrated back on searching for any traces of his enemy, static electricity slowly accumulating in the air around them, building up to grant the two of them an easier time when it comes to launching future attacks.
His eyes focused on the boulder as his Aura merged with his clothes, now being supported by them as a way to lower the strain that it would cause him, especially considering how Joules was not currently assisting him in controlling his Aura but was instead focused on maintaining the electricity without spending Mana for it by using their Authority as a Roaring Spirit.
He did not let his guard down at all, well aware that this would be far from enough to bring the Lunarian down.
Yet even so he was taken by surprise when the ground directly beneath his feet erupted at once, a pair of hands, one pale and one covered in a thin layer of Black Blood, grabbed his ankles at once before Luna pulled herself up in a kick right to the Human’s face.
As Mark flew upwards, twisting in mid-air to both bleed off the force of the impact and turn towards his opponent, crossing his arms before himself to block the punch that Luna launched at his chest.

The Human fell back down, bending his knees to absorb the shock of the landing, not bothering to look towards the Lunarian but instead immediately jumping forward, dodging the stomp of the white-haired one falling from the sky, with a somersault fully turning towards his enemy, natural electricity accumulating around his body before exploding forward.
Luna looked casually at the incoming lightning bolt, understanding the nature of the attack at once and forgoing using her “Counterspell” to counter it and instead decided on using the Fire-Attribute, an Attribute naturally kindred with the concept of consumption.
Red hot lightning-shaped flames created a connection between her gold and bronze ring before being absorbed within her scaled one, her Aura accumulating and condensing before erupting as her “Elemental Roar” in a long line of Ardent Lightning, the ground beneath the beam and her feet being immediately charred by the continuously rising temperature of her Skill.
As the two lightnings met in between their two, an explosion erupting at once, a burst of gold and crimson ripping apart the area in the middle, thunder falling back down from their collision point to rain down on and carving deep fissures all around the ground.

The crimson lightning showed off the reason she chose it over the other Composite Attributes of Lighting-Attribute itself that she had access to, the Ardent Lightning slowly consuming more of the golden one and in so doing creating long, even if short-lived, branches that passed through the golden one, necessitating being washed away by even more electricity from the Human’s and Spirit’s efforts.
As Mark channeled more and more of his Mana in his attack, he understood at once that this clash between the two was doomed to his inevitable loss as, even without considering the fact that Luna could recover and output more power, faster, more precisely and at an higher concentration than himself.
Even without considering such factors, Joules could feel and then transmit him that their electricity was slowly being converted into even more of Luna’s Ardent Lightning, forcing them to waste ever more of his Mana to fight this continuous process; in other words his loss was assured and following that so was his next move.
Mark, aware that more and more of his gold lightning was transforming into the hungry scarlet one of his opponent including a small branch that was way too close for comfort, released an immediate and violent burst of Lightning-Attribute Mana to gain a temporary advantage, adverting Joules before activating his Unique Skill.

The World became grey, the clashing thunders dulling into different shades of black and white under the Human’s timeless gaze as he once again entered the realm for him and him alone.
The blonde moved quickly, using the sudden increase in the volume of electricity that he sent out to mask his sudden assence and to force the white-haired one to meet the increase in his attack’s strenght with her own efforts, well aware that she would never retreat if the only one at risk was herself.
Mark moved at full power towards the Lunarian, aiming on attacking her from behind while she was distracted, only to bounce back from what seemed to be nothing at all, his eyes straining and finally seeing long string of Black Blood in his way, forming a rough cage around the Lunarian to safeguard against his time stop.
He sighed again, shutting off his Unique Skill to conserve as much time as possible.
Immediately his previous actions applied, the previous burst of lightning catching the Lunarian’s attention and causing her to simply intensify the rush of her Ardent Lightning to overwhelm that sudden increase in the power of his attack, her eyes moving immediately to meet the Human’s very own thanks to the strings of Black Blood that he broke during his passage in his stopped World.

Mark dropped left, dodging the sharpened wind blade that would have cut him in half vertically otherwise, the Air-Attribute Spell having been instead made with a Composite Attribute between the Air- and Earth-Attributes and in so doing demonstrating a much higher stability, instrumental in creating the long fissure that extended from Luna all the way to his previous location, grass, dirt and rocks being severed at once as if nothing.
As he made to attack again, he found that the Lunarian vanished from his sight before feeling something pick him up and forcefully throw him away from his previous location, something that thanks to his vast experience with it, he was able to recognize as Rose’s own telekinetic ability, leading him not to fight her in it at all.
And almost as if to demonstrate the reason behind his sudden movement, the currently pink-clad Human watched as a clawed hand suddently thrusted in the place where he was just thrown away from, Luna’s own hand having almost ripped his heart from his chest.
He scowled, understanding that she used his own distraction to activate “Presence Suppression” and almost killed him right then and there, his life having been saved by Rose’s impromptu intervention, rising his Aura fully to shut off her Magic Eyes before the incoming “Counterspell” activated by Luna could impact her with its backlash.

Mark’s arms blurred forward, deflecting away from himself the clawed hands of the Lunarian, noting how this last one only half-paying attention to him, her eyes calculating various variables while blatantly allowing him to see her inattention to him, intent on provocating him greatly.
Thing that almost succeded if not for Joules calming down their Contractor, the time walker breathing in deeply a couple of times before releasing a wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana to force the vampiric one back, buying himself a single second, the last second needed for him to activate his Unique Skill.
At the same instant as Mark activated it, Luna cut her own wrist, her blood raining down in crystal-like patterns in the air, the World stopping in an instant around the Regressor, his eyes narrowed in displeasure at his Unique Skill being predicted to this point, moving his gaze to the sharp clusters surrounding him.
In the same way that walking in an hot flame was deadly for him so was walking in a sharp point.
He clicked his tongue, his eyes turning back to the Lunarian and watching with a scowl the taunting curve of her lips, stepping forward only for his blue orbs to widen greatly, his body stuck in place.

Yet even with him trying his hardest to seek the strings binding him in place, causing him to waste a whole extra second before he ended the Time Stop, freeing himself and then being forced to release a second wave of lightning to destroy the clumps that were flying towards him.
Mark stepped forward only to feel something stab in his chest, his blood flowing around what felt like a spear impaled in his stomach, his legs trembled before he forced himself to stand, his hands rising in bewilderment before closing around what should have been nothing at all but was instead a physical object, an object that from its sensation he was able to recognize as a mass of solid Black Blood.
His eyes opened wide before he clenched his hands firmly, shattering the spear and feeling the blood returning to a liquid form and its original black color, his eyes meeting his opponent’s very own smug bright red orbs, standing up fully to watch as the Black Blood, almost as if wanting to taunt him, repeatedly shifted color, becoming eventually completely invisible.

Notes:

Chapter 85: Chapter 84

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:51 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
“It’s exactly how you think. I made an Artifact that allows me to freely change the color of my Black Blood while keeping all of its properties fully functional.” Luna smiled fully, her fangs glowing ominously in the light, almost as if she was gently mocking him.
Mark stepped back, his eyes widening in fear caused by surprise as his knowledge that he obtained through his regression failed him. “But you never…” He murmured to himself, causing Luna’s smile to widen even further, her theory confirmed by his reaction.
“Obviously because I never needed to use it in any of our previous fights.” She calmly asserted, her eyes full of cruel certainly that caused the Human to step back. “What is this, the tenth fight between the two of us? No, this is the fifteenth, isn’t it?” She continued on, a long spear of Blood Flames burning in her hand.
Terrified, Mark stepped back. “Y-you can’t remember! It’s not possible!” He exclaimed, his eyes wild at the mere possibility that Luna followed him through time, possibility incensed by her having made the Artifacts she was currently wielding, Artifact that didn’t exist in any of his previous Regressions.
“You may believe as you feel more comfortable. Reality doesn’t change with mere belief, sure, but creating an illusion for yourself is much more affordable.” Luna affirmed almost gently before taking advantage of his momentary distraction to lob the spear at his heart.

Mark blinked back into full awareness, his gaze snapping back towards the spear, moving right to turn a fatal injury into what would merely be a grave one, if it wasn’t for a wave of force that smashed into him and sending him flying further away from the attack, the only damage he recieved being limited by the force of the throw and a small burning scratch on his shoulder.
With a flare of his Aura, he extinguished the flames that were slowly trying to spread upon his skin, focusing back fully on the fight only to be unbalanced by the Lunarian’s deadly yet calm next words. “Do your friends know, by the way? That you failed.” The Human stepped back, his expression twisting before her next words made him feel even worse. “And more importantly, that you even discarded them before.”
The blonde stilled, trembling slightly as memories from That Timeline flared again in his mind, the Regressor scowling as he forcefully suppressed them, launching a quick lightning bolt to the Lunarian to silence her and calm his own overwhelming need to hurt her.
Said Lunarian merely sighed while shaking her head, launching back her own lightning bolt, this time being made not by Ardent Lightning that shaped the hungry Fire-Attribute into the Form of Lightning but by instead using the Lightning-Attribute itself but being Altered with her No-Attribute Mana, manifesting as a lightning-shaped void.

The two attacks met in the middle of their casters and immediately the difference between Ardent Lightning and No-Lightning was clear.
While the first of the two was specialized in favor of prolonged battles against Lightning by taking advantage of its ability to devour other forms of lightning to create more of itself, the second had a much simpler central characteristic, pure and neutral destructive potential.
And as if to demonstrate said capability for destruction, her black lightning bolt pierced right through the Human’s own golden one, the blue-eyed one barely able to launch himself sideways to dodge the attack that struck a boulder behind him, making it explode and sending rocks flying at high-speed all over the plain they were fighting in.
Luna stepped forward, ignoring the raining rocks completely thanks to air-thin tendrils of Black Blood that swung at them from her shadow, her body blurring forward to land a vicious punch to Mark’s chest, flipping around to take advantage of his opening for an heel-kick to his head that sent him crashing down to the ground.

Luna flipped again to a more normal position, lining up and immediately launching a fierce axe-kick to her opponent’s neck, aiming on beheading him yet resulting only on a crater on the ground, Joules having forcefully taken control of the Human’s Aura to send them both flying away just in time.
The white-haired one didn’t hesitate, moving to follow her prey briefly before stopping, punching backwards to smash apart a boulder thrown at her back, her head turning slightly to examine the new arrival, the more than two meters tall Human behind her being enough of a physical threat that she was unable to not turn her attention towards him.
Mark took advantage of her distraction to fully stand up, using for a single second his Unique Skill while being careful not to move at all to accelerate his own recovery while not arising any undue suspicions from the Vampiric one.
Without waiting a second further, Grug rushed forward, his frame showing off enough strenght to being comparable to an avalanche, his momentum increasing rapidly as his feet left a trail of burning footprints behind because of the immense heat that emanated from his body.

Luna focused most of her attention on her much bigger opponent, calmly studying him and the dense, almost solid, flames that surrounded him and his heavy-plated armor in a second dangerous protective layer as he launched blow after blow at the Lunarian, remaining a threat comparable to Mark despite his much inferior skill and experience thanks to his much greater physicality, the damaging armor surrounding him and the time that Mark managed to stall to show them the way that Luna fought.
It was only thanks to his efforts, after all, that Grug could force the Lunarian to step back to dodge the Half-Dwarf’s blows, needing to be carefull towards both the strenght and range behind his blows, covering her own body in flames to fight back against the heat emanating from the tallest individual present.
Blood Flames condened around Luna’s left arm before she blurred forward, her left fist clad in dark red flames intent on impaling the more physically imposing one’s in the chest, forcing him to rise a wall of stone in the way to block her strike.
Luna pulsed with her Counterspell, weakening the reinforcement naturally caused by his use of Earth-Attribute Mana enough that her punch passed right through the shield, forcing Grug to retreat briefly, yet only briefly as he well understood that giving her any time to think would be deadly for them.

The rocks she pierced immediately solidified, entrapping her arm in place long enough to create an opening for Grug to strike, his flame-wreated arms closing in on the white-haired one from both sides.
Said Lunarian did not wait, using her trapped arm as a fulcrum to pull herself up and kick her opponent’s arms wide away from her, continuing on her spin to land on her feet again and simply pulling her arm from the hole, willingly cutting into her own arm to use her Black Blood to ease this process, coldly viewing it as the most efficient way.
With her wounds still open, she swung her bloodied arm at the Half-Dwarf, striking him in full and sending him flying back only three meters thanks to his reflexes allowing him to anchor himself to the ground.
Earth-Attribute Vital Mana flowed between the Lunarian’s hands before erupting forward in a long line of Terran Lightning that crossed the distance towards her more pressing distraction, Air-Attribute Vital Mana soon accumulating around her body before swinging in an invisible yet deadly line that aimed at bisecting the Human’s now empty original position.

Noting his absence, Luna opened her False Domain fully, the ambient Vital Energy and Mana around her falling under her complete control and melding together into Vital Mana that was then made to detonate in a shockwave all around her, a wave of force that rippled the ground around her apart, creating a crater and sending both Grug and the hidden Mark flying back from her.
The white-haired one made to move towards her original opponent before being forcefully stopped by steel harpoon raining down at high-speed towards her, forcing her to stop to deal with them and giving her two more direct opponents time to compose themselves for her.
The red-eyed one, having survived the seven steel pillar-like spears unharmed, casually studied the weapons, more precisely both their composition and the quality of their making and the various Runes belonging to multiple Runic Cyphers that glowed softly.
That was after all most of the purpose behind the Runes in on themselves, to take advantage of the Lunarian’s natural propensity towards being easily distracted by new things, especially if she could learn new things from them.
Mark and Joules immediately worked together releasing a long branching wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana towards the Lunarian, striking one of the spears instead as she dodged and demonstrating the secondary objective of the steel pillars, being deflected outwards from it and forming a cage between the seven harpoons made by static electricity alone, trapping Luna.

Notes:

Chapter 86: Chapter 85

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:53 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
An invisible message was sent out from the Lunarian, taking advantage of the distraction caused by her temporary imprisonment to send a signal to her Mates unnoticed.
Her eyes meanwhile were examining the seven upright steel pillars that formed the boundaries of her cage, noting down the Runes inscribed on them with much higher interest before pulsing a Counterspell around her at the lowest setting, the one that disrupted only Attribute-having Magic.
The trap did not react as both the lightning and the steel pillars counted not as Manifested Matter but Natural one yet she did not increase the Potency of Counterspell to deal with the Runes that actually directed the lightning to form her cage was the simple fact that while she was certain some of them had the purpose to both Paralyze and create a Seal to contain her, others served to guide the lightning itself towards a stable form.
And without said Runes, the lines of electricity that stuck her in a single place would detonate, damaging and opening her up for further while, so long as she was inprisoned, her enemies would need to be extremely carefull of any large-scale or even particularly Energy-dense attacks or risk freeing her in advance themselves.
They probably intended to buy time to recover as much as possible and to be able to overwhelm her Status Alteration Nullification to inflict her both “Paralysis” and, more importantly, “Seal”.

Luna watched the Runes, studying their placement only briefly before huffing, understanding that she could only see a small quantity of them with the rest buried as they were within their shafts, and considering that the seven pillars themselves looked exactly the same and she was unable to recognize their function or even which ones were true or false.
Having memorized the placement and looks of the Runes for later analysis, Luna concentrated towards the real threat of her current situation.
Not the being trapped in a single place while her enemies could prepare and recover for the next round, especially considering how they could not risk major attacks, or even the eventual overcoming of her Status Alteration Nullification reguarding the “Paralysis” that the Runes were trying to inflict on her that would cause a weakening of her Resistance to the Lightning-Attribute and slowing down.
No, the real threat was the application of the “Seal” Status Alteration on her and its effects to progressively weaken and then Seal her Skills entirely excluding her Unique one, her use of Energy, her ability to move and then even to think at all, Sealing her very Soul in place.

She highly doubted that he was able to ammass or manipulate enough Mana and Vital Energy to even reach at Sealing her use of Vital Mana but she could not be certain of the limit to his preparations or knowledge and even if her assumption was correct, she would be too limited under her new restrictions to fight back effectively in a one-on-one against an opponent that already possessed experience in how she fought.
And her fight would not be a one-on-one but at least a three-on-one, considering the one that constantly used her psychic powers to support her two opponents.
While she could interfere directly with the third one’s Soul and stop her from interfering in this battle anymore or even to disrupt the Seal through the link between their two Souls, this would show all of her opponents the existence of said Link, thing that she didn’t want to if she had any other way out.
And fortunately for her, she had already prepared another way out of her situation without resorting to something that her time traveler opponent was evident didn’t know about, her influence over the Magic Eye-having one.

Before she actually executed her plan to escape the Seal, she first rose one of her legs before stomping down hard on the ground beneath her feet, causing not the noise of ground behind struck but of metal, the dirt being revealed to be now more like a broad slab of dense metal.
Not only that but as she noted the shockwave of her attack not only did not move the seven upright pillars but did not even reach them at all, stopping a small distance before them.
Casually she punched forward, her fist stopping against what looked to be nothing at all yet felt like an incredibly solid wall, electricity sparking around and in her fist, a second punch crashing down against the air with much greater strenght, causing it to flash bright yellow, revealing that in truth the Seal was composed by the seven pillars that created a sphere surrounding her body while reinforcing the ground beneath her feet and isolating the inside from the outside, physically at least considering how she could still feel and comunicate with her Mates.
Luna breathed in deeply a couple of times, noting how the quality and quantity of the air around her was slowly lowering, caused by the Lunarian rapidly consuming the air for her breathing, confirming the complete isolation of the barrier.

The white-haired one nodded to herself, her attention focused on studying the expressions on her opponents, noticing the unsurprised one on Mark’s face and the slight insecurity on Grug’s own, eliminating the last one from being the creator the more functional of the Runes involved.
Vital Mana flared around her body, trying to seep in the ground to find the limits of the sphere surrounding her only for it to being drained at a much higher rate than before, not only that but her Vital Mana was actually being redirected to fuel the barrier itself.
This made no sense as the drain of the ruin was far from significant enough to impact her active use of Vital Mana at such speed unless an additional function of the barrier itself was to concentrate and greatly amplify said anti-Vampire draining effect upon her.
Luna’s body was enveloped in her Aura, her Vital Mana condensing within her own body as she launched a full force blow against the barrier again, causing its upper half to be completely illuminated, flickering for a brief instant before fully stabilizing, allowing Luna to feel the Vital Energy and Mana being drained away from the ruins to the steel pillars, fuiling them and confirming the link between them.

She stretched lightly, calculating out the speed and quantity of Energy that would be transfered to the pillars to repair the barrier, figuring out how much and how fast she would need to damage it to escape, however she had no idea about the amount of Energy currently stored within the ruin and so this method was way too risky to use this method and exhaust herself before her fight continued and giving her opponent more time.
Especially considering how she did not need to do this.
Under the attentive gazes of the two Humans, Luna showed them her rings, letting them see the irregularities within the gems before Summoning her Familiars, being carefull to show their now dull gems.
Instead of simply attacking the barrier with her Familiars, however, she simply grabbed the necklace hidden beneath her shirt and showed her opponents, being carefull to demonstrate the dullness of the gem at its mouth.
The two Humans were barely able to understand what she meant before a crash sounded down from one of the pillars, a mass of Black Blood shaped like a thinner, taller Luna attacking one of the pillars, grabbing it before starting to pull it up and away from the others.

Mark activated his Unique Skill, the World graying down again around him to stop the Familiar yet feeling himself being struck in place despite apparently nothing holding him.
He deactivated his Unique Skill, finally seeing the strands of Black Blood that, having been now destroyed, shifted back to their regular color instead of being transparent, turning towards the Lunarian, meeting her knowing smile.
“You can move during your stopped time, don’t you? Yet you do not wear specialized Artifacts to allow them to move in stopped time nor can you grant anyone else the possibility of moving in stopped time.” Luna calmly affirmed. “Conseguently your ability to move despite your clothes is not derived by your Aura as no Unique Skill depends on another Skill to be functional, especially one as rare as “Unleash Aura”. In other words, your Skill automatically allows certain objects to move with you.
“It was easy for me to understand then, that the way your Unique Skill recognize if it can bring an object with you without damaging it is extremely simple to understand, it depends entirely on if an object offers in any way a resistance to your movements, and in that case I could just bound you with threads with no momentum nor force applied to it. To trap you, I just need to apply force on my threads the moment you start your Unique Skill.”

Luna calmly affirmed, her eyes narrowing in the expression of a predator about to devour her prey as her Familiar-Image outside the barrier that grabbed the steel pillar finally was able to fully pull it up from the ground, taking advantage of the psychological attack launched by the Lunarian to start dragging it away from the ground and the rest of the pillars.
The further away from the rest it was, the more the barrier started to destabilize, flickering wildly around Luna.

Notes:

Chapter 87: Chapter 86

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:53 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Upon seeing the barrier’s flickering, none of the Lunar Shatterers hesitated any, Grug stomping downwards and causing the ground around the steel pillar to erupt into long branches that enveloped the pillar, reinforcing its position against the Image’s efforts while forcing the mass of Black Blood to slow down slightly in her efforts to separate the pillar from the others or risk being skewered.
Luna, seeing how the barrier was slowly starting to repair, did not hesitate in launching forward an harsh Aura-covered punch against the slowly-recovering barrier, stopping its stabilization and causing it to repeatedly flash yellow, threatening to unravel it right here and now despite the Half-Dwarf’s efforts in keeping the barrier safe.
““Volcanic Strenght”, correct? I see, an Innate Skill exclusive to the children of Dwarfs and Humans with not only the function of increasing the physical might of the owner but also their Earth- and Fire-Attribute Affinity and Resistance both. The counterpart of the Half-Elves’ Innate Skill “Flowing Grace”.” The vampiric one casually commented aloud.
Mark immediately moved, intent on reinforcing the barrier with his own efforts and to distract the Lunarian from his friend, activating his Unique Skill and crossing the distance to the copy of the Lunarian, only to widen his eyes mid-travel when he heard a light sound from his chest.

Time slowed down even further in his perspective, turning towards its origin and finally noticing a stain of Black Blood on his chest, stain that was currently burning bright.
He barely had time to widen his eyes, flaring his Aura by instinct alone to minimize the damage, before the stain detonated in his chest, and being sent flying back against a tree, half-shouting to vent his negative emotions before they could influence the way that he fought too much, pulling himself to his feet and ending his Unique Skill at once.
“How?!” He couldn’t help but ask aloud before he worked out the answer himself. ‘Luna figured out the requirements to bring something with me in my stopped time. Then she simply set some of her Black Blood on me to detonate a certain amount of time after I activated my “Time Walker” as a test, either once Luna was no longer connected with her or she simply guessed when I would activate my Unique Skill and prepared in advance. In other words…’
His Aura exploded outwards, turning on himself and washing his body with a destructive wave of electricity so intense that he even damaged himself despite being its source and the influence of his Spirit.

And demonstrating that his own guess was correct, upon his body traces of Black Blood disguised to be indistinguable from the rest of his clothes boiled and evaporated, saving himself from further explosions, Lightning-Attribute Mana flaring around him before precisely striking at the Image, sending it flying back and in so doing stopping its own efforts to free Luna even further.
However the Lunarian herself did not hesitate in advancing her progress to her liberation, not only continuing on with her Aura-enforced blows but also cutting into her own limbs and using it to create long blades of Black Blood that stabbed in the barrier in the exact opposite place simultaneusly, increasing the stress on the barrier especially once her Familiars joined in cyclically.
As the barrier flashed faster and faster, the white-haired one maximizing the efficiency and precision of her own and her Familiars’ attacks and cooperation, causing it to be struck in a semi-constant illuminated state, sparks and short-lived protrusions starting to show up on it despite Grug having put the pillar back in its rightful position to help stabilize it.
Having understood that the situation was worsening, especially with the free Familiar having retreated and hidden beyond her own and her Party Mates’ senses, the Magic Eyes-owning Rose decided to intervene despite her Party Leader’s request to be as gentle as possible in her support of their battle to not rouse too much Luna’s attention.

As her eyes started to glow even brighter, a pink light started to mix with the yellow light before she with her effort forcefully brought it back to its original dome-like shape before she was compressed even more, the pink light demonstrating Rose mastery over it and Mana itself by not only not distorting the barrier but to even interface with the Runes and the barrier to reinforce and stabilize it.
Immediately, Luna’s full attention was fixed on the pink lights that combined with the barrier, exactly the reason that Mark told her not to interfere so overly as the Lunarian would easily become intrigued by her capabilities, thing he did not want at all considering his memories from the previous Timelines.
Yet even so Rose’s action was the only thing that now maintained the barrier around Luna, hopefully long enough for Aler’s preparations to be completed.
The Lunarian, meanwhile, was much more carefully examining the barrier, pushing against it to make sure that the now visible wall would not crush her, Aura flaring around her body before filling the space in the dome entirely, trying to enter in contact with the glow and in so doing with their origin yet finding the barrier to be stubbornly in the way of her efforts.

Luna pouted briefly once even her ‘Presence’ proved unable to reach outside the barrier before simply attacking not it but the ground beneath her feet, Black Blood freely pouring out from her body and completely filling the barrier except for a very brief space around her, her Spirit retreating within their Artifact.
Mark barely had time to widen his eyes in surprise before the long string of Black Blood connecting Luna’s fingers and the rest was severed, a dark spark igniting over her left index finger that slowly floated to the string of blood, bursting into flames and consuming it to grow rapidly.
Immediately the barrier found itself in a much more dangerous situation as burning flames powered by Luna’s blood and maintained by her releasing even more in the form of mist that fueled the Blood Flames, causing them to blaze ever more intensely.
“Grug, run now!” Mark screamed, causing the immense Half-Dwarf to immediately create a sphere of incredibly dense vulcanic stone around himself, instinctively moving to protect himself instead of dodging when considering his not exactly spectacular speed.

Even with his sight completely obsured by the dark flames that fed upon her blood, Mark was still able to visualize with his imagination alone as Luna held upwards one of her hands, a new flame held afloot there before it gently floated down, meeting the Blood Flames and rapidly consuming them, showing off the Fire-Attribute tendency of growing out of control.
The dark flames filling the dome immediately were consumed by grey flames that ravaged it, growing out of control, distorting the sphere violently until, despite Rose’s best efforts, sparks of the No-Attribute-based Altered Fire-Attribute escaped from the barrier and rapidly spreading over it.
Immediately after, the Blank Flames, empty as they were thanks to the influence of her No-Attribute Affinity joined together with the Fire-Attribute, spread around the barrier, enveloping it completely and causing it to simply cease existing, the Energy forming and fuiling it being devoured to make ever more more flames in an accelerating cycle that exhausted the left-over Anti-Vampire Spell’s Well.
And instead of simply exploding out of control, the flames’ size having grown enormously thanks to devouring the considerable amount of Energy, it spiraled in on itself, condensing and forming a small sphere that levitated just a little bit over the Lunarian’s floating form.

As Luna landed down calmly, her Aura flared up even more, surrounding the sphere of grey flames and starting to compress it even more, being left with only a small grey sphere that illuminated her body only briefly before she brought it to her opened mouth that closed around it, gulping it whole.
Small sparks of densely packed Energy were allowed to escape the container of Aura holding them, ravaging her body from the inside out, burning her and slowly melting her insides, Luna devouring and then recreating her own body cyclically thanks to her Unique Skill “Singularity”.
Her Spirit-Image fell down from the sky, melting back in a waterfall of Black Blood that forced Grug to retreat, dodging the sharp blades it formed in its way down, most of the mass sinking back in her widened shadow while the smaller one, the part actually holding her Familiar itself, was absorbed back within her necklace, the gem now writhing and showing a pattern made by skull faces and limbs trying to escape it.
Immediately, her Soul’s Durability increased, becoming sturdier and more easily letting her handle the strain caused by the constant burning of her insides, her Simple Domain opening fully to increase her control over her Vital Mana, especially thanks to her F.H.A.#11’s Extra Effect that granted her the effects of the Skill “Enhancement: Domain”, increasing this way her precision even further.

The Lunarian stretched before calmly ordering outloud. “Core, grant me the Skill “Dragon’s Heart” at D-Rank.” Immediately, the white haired one felt her connection with her ring increase significantly, as she felt it, and following that her Familiar, join the network of her Vital Energy and in so doing reinforcing her against her Blank Flames.
As her Aura let small amounts of Blank Flames at a time free to rampage within her body, Luna focused on her opponents, her smile widening even more upon the constant damage from the flames she was currently feeling and the growth they would cause as she digested the massive amount of Energy currently stored within her body.

Notes:

Chapter 88: Chapter 87

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:53 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark recognized at once both that Luna was currently in a very unstable state and that once that unstable state ended, she would almost certaintly increase the Rank of her Racial Skill, becoming a proper Lunarian and becoming beyond his reach at this point in time.
Yet this was their greatest opportunity to slay her, considering how even if the Well of the lingering Spell against Vampiric Entities was completely spent and it would soon cease functioning in its entirety, the constant internal Damage she was currently suffering lowered Luna’s Regeneration speed significantly.
In addition to that, her ability to use Vital Mana, her Aura and even the amount of power that her Familiars could bring to bear was significantly hampered, the white-haired one needing to constantly dedicate a great part of her attention to deal with the Energy that she was currently in the process of devouring.
Mark silently signaled Aler, the final member of their Party if one was to exclude their Lilze considering how she was way too young and not-combat focused to partecipate in this battle directly, to continue preparing for his turn thanks to the subtle comunicator that he helped make by using blueprints that he remembered from the previous Regressions and inspired from the memories of his previous life.

Immediately after, Mark worked with his Joules to combine the Lightning- and Light-Attributes in a long yet thin string that aimed not for Luna’s Cores or one of her Artifacts with the purpose of weakening them even if only temporarily but instead aiming for the sphere of Blank Flames within her body, trying to destabilize it and harm the Lunarian greatly at a pratically absent cost.
His attack was not especially large or powerful on his own, sure, but what he did was exchanging those things to maximize his piercing power and more importantly his speed, as expected of the result gained by combining the two fastest Attributes.
While this last thing was far from reaching the speed of light, or even the speed of lightning to be completely honest, it was still a movement that vastly surpassed the speed of sound various times, crossing the distance between the two.
Fortunately for Luna, however, she had already prepared in advance a ressponse to that kind of attack, well aware of her own momentary vulnerability at this moment, the air before her twisting in on itself as her automatic defense composed by No-Attribute Altered Earth-Attribute, her mirror sheen barrier appearing around her and deflecting the ray of Mana away from herself.

Luna smiled wide, almost taunting him to try again as her latest barrier vanished once more, invisible but ever-present around her body, before she jumped away, evading the stalagmites that erupted underneath her, spinning in mid-air to gently land on one of them before launching herself at Grug, landing only briefly to move left around a pillar that would have otherwise sent her flying upwards.
Aura and Vital Mana briefly accumulated in her left hand before she smashed it in the pillar that was now to her left, grabbing it and throwing the mass back towards Mark, interrupting him from Casting another Spell and crossing the distance separating her and the Half-Dwarf.
Grug did not hesitate, stomping hard on the ground and in so doing causing a shockwave to emanate from there, following soon after by the earth spiking up violently rom around her, trying to impale her once she was distracted by having to deal with the shockwave.
This failed, naturally, as Luna jumped over the shockwave before landing briefly on one of the spikes and using it as a launchpad for her following leap, the taller one raising one of his arms before himself to block the kick launched by the red-eyed one.

Luna launched herself back to dodge the follow-up swing of the black-haired one, land shortly away from him before throwing herself down to dodge the boulder thrown by the more Earth- and Fire-Attribute-aligned one aimed right at her head, landing on her hands before flipping herself upwards in a brief handstand and continuing on to land back on her feet while sending back a sharp, vertical wave of Vital Mana.
Before she could continue attacking her out-of-balance adversary, she was stopped by trees being uprooted before being thrown at her as a group of high-speed make-shift spears, Luna turning towards them and scowling slightly, the wind around her starting to twist and more importantly burn.
Before the trees could reach her, the air-currents around her catching aflame thanks to her use of the Composite Attribute called Smoldering Winds, made by using the Fire-Attribute with the Form of the Wind-Attribute and in so doing creating a storm that ripped apart the trees and reduced them to ash.
However the fact that she bothered to use even more Vital Mana instead of simply letting her barrier handle the blow rendered clear the fact that her Earth-Attribute Altered by No-Attribute that functioned as the center and cause of her barrier was not good against more physical-based attacks, being specialized against more energy-based ones.
Almost as if to test this out, Grug launched a wave of fire from his mouth, a roar that washed over the Lunarian.

Soon after, he flared his own Mana, tightening around his body as he created an highly condensed armor of Earth-Attribute while at the same time reinforcing his body with his Vital Energy to increase his Durability.
Just in time too as from the wall of fire emerged the unscathed form of the Lunarian, her body surrounded in a transparent layer that from this distance he was able to recognize as being crystalline in nature.
This may mean absolutely nothing for most individuals, sure, but his mother was very intent on him being a smith and so he was able to understand what it would have meant for the barrier to not be metal-like but instead similar to crystals in nature, which would complicate the way to surpass it and deal real damage to their opponent.
His own arms blurred forward, his right one moving forward to block Luna’s heavy punch while his left swung back his own punch while at the same time ordering the ground beneath his feet to ripple upwards in harsh spikes that moved to impale the Lunarian’s feet to the ground, their opponent shifting downwards underneath his attack while responding to the stakes by releasing a weak shockwave underneath her to create long cracks on the ground that disrupted the barbs.

Luna’s hands grabbed onto Grug’s arms, pulling herself upwards vertically over his body before letting herself fall in a knee strike to his shoulder, throwing herself away from the taller one’s body to dodge the elbow strike that would have otherwise struck her, red eyes carefully watching as the black-haired one fell to one of his knees, their gaze briefly meeting before her own eyes widened.
The ground beneath her feet brightened slightly before erupting in a series of burning spikes that impaled her feet to the ground, tearing a scream away from her mouth, the rocks burning her body from the inside out, her eyes narrowing ssharply as the pain caused by the burning stakes flipped her intentions from playfully murderous to a chillingly calm intent to destroy and kill.
Grug waited no time at all, rising a wall before himself just in time for a crash to sound out, Luna having forcefully smashed apart the stone sticking her in place before launching herself at him at full speed, almost smashing the wall apart at once, wall that did not survive long as the Lunarian released various sharp shockwaves that ripped the wall apart and left deep gashes in the Half-Dwarf’s body.
Yet even so Grug did not hesitate, having long since trained to deal with life as an Adventurer and especially having prepared himself to a fight with the Person before him thanks to Mark having shared informations about what exactly to expect in a fight with this opponent. “Her barrier is specialized to absorb energy but I don’t think that it is any good against kinetic one. And it has a similar pattern to the Earth-Attribute Forms of Composite Attributes. She cannot move too fast while it is active and a good physical blow should be enough to destroy it.”

Luna’s eyes glowed brightly from amid the falling rocks and dust as her mouth opened wide to release a shockwave, sending him flying back despite his increased weight and his preparation, Grug thrusting his hands downwards against the ground, flipping himself around and forcefully stopping himself, using his “Volcanic Might” to turn the ground around in a sea of magma, stopping his adversary from pressing her advantage.
The Lunarian made to move in before being stopped by a series of lightning bolts falling on her position, forcing her Void Crystal barrier to flare up more strongly and stopping her from just crossing the distance between the two, mostly confirming his guess that the barrier while in an active state was way too fragile for her to go all out physically.
Yet this did not explain where exactly the energy that she absorbed actually ended up in as all of them doubted that she simply ate it too, considering how she was already being limited by needing to digest the previous amount and taking in even more of it would be way too dangerous and foolish, if one would want to be brutally honest, for her to do.

Notes:

Chapter 89: Chapter 88

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:55 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Soon enough Mark forgo pelting Luna with small bolts and instead decided to send a large, pillar-like lightning bolt that covered her form in its entirety, paradoxically obscuring her with the overwhelming brightness of his attack.
The pillar continued on for a while, too long in Grug’s opinion for the crystal to contain all of the energy contained in the continuously falling lightning bolt yet the barrier had no sign of exploding despite this fact.
He could guess that some, most probably a minimum amount to be completely realistic, of the force of the lightning was let through to rain down upon Luna herself, bypassing the crystal barrier only to then be blocked in its entirety by her weak yet present Damage Mitigation yet this was far from enough to justify the lack of destabilization caused by the rest of the force falling upon her.
The Half-Dwarf examined as best as he could the continuous stream of lightning, scowling when he noticed nothing in particular messing with the attack of his Party Leader, deciding that he didn’t know enough about Lightning-Attribute Magic to find any possible reason behind the barrier’s continued existence.

Grug scowled, giving up on searching the lightning bolt for any irregularies and turning his attention away from it and towards something that he would much more easily being able to interpret and understand, to his own chagrin to be completely honest given the material involved.
His eyes examined the ground underneath the Lunarian and after a couple of seconds, his lips twisting in a frown as he noted the cracks rapidly expanding in it, thing that shouldn’t be as the blonde explicitely trained to use the Light-Attribute to contain the Lightning-Attribute inside and in so doing concentrating the energy entirely towards his target.
Immediately he understood.
Luna was using her crystal barrier as a lightning rod, channeling the lightning that fell upon her directly to the ground, safeguarding herself from needing to deal with it while otherwise busy while at the same time being able to bleed off her barrier’s excess energy.
Grug immediately sent a message to his whole Party. “Luna is channeling the electricity in the ground, she is unharmed from Mark’s attack.” Following that message he stomped downwards, trying to send a spike of condensed stone upwards from beneath Luna to impale her, well aware that the condensed lightning would impede him if he tried to simply throw a boulder at her.
Yet his plan failed as the continuous release of lightning in the ground disrupted his control over the earth, stopping his attack before it could ever really impact their opponent in any way.

Mark’s blue eyes widened once he recieved the message, briefly moving his attention away from controlling his attack, leaving such a job to Joules, and towards the ground underneath his target, noting for the first time the cracks caused by his own attack, cracks that shouldn’t exist.
His lips twisted in a pronunced grimace upon seeing the confirmation of what Grug warned his Party of, stopping his attack and once more seeing his hated enemy, finally understanding how she could have possibly survived his deadly strike.
Luna’s body was covered in two thin layers of Black Blood with different purposes to each other, the inner one that he was barely able to see was a thin coating with bright yellow stripes while the outer layer was a much heavier, metallic and armored layer with scale-like patterns on it.
His eyes moved downwards, towards the feet of the white haired one and noting them to be impaled in the ground, a way to maximize the ease involved in deflecting the electricity away from her body.
“Simple, right? I just need to use my Blitz’s Magnetic Amplification, Electrify, Lightning-Attribute Amplification and Lightning-Attribute Druidry to deal with your electricity, especially once I involved my Warden’s Metallic Body.” She explained mockingly gently to the Human, her eyes narrowed in a visible smile.

The blonde instinctively moved towards his adversary, his hands opening and closing as he struggled to calm down his raging hatred, stimolated by the Lunarian’s continued existence and mockery.
After all while he could handle insults and mockery from other People just fine, the one before him was the only Person from whom he was unable to endure being looked down upon or being insulted by, thing that didn’t change despite all the times he Regressed back in time.
It was only thanks to the pink glow surrounding his body and stopping him from moving was he able to contain his temper enough to still his anger and focus fully on his adversary without letting his emotions cloud his judgement.
Soon after the glow vanished back into nothing, dodging the pulse emanated from Luna that was intent on inflicting her the Status Alteration “Charm”, not so much for the Status Alteration itself that, to be completely honest was not too effective in a fight, but to enter in a contest of will and remove her from the fight that way.

The Lunarian’s armor vanished into nothing once more, subtly inviting him to try again and maybe this time he would succeed.
But Mark didn’t bite, trying instead to seek with his eyes any traces of the layers around her. “I see, you are still surrounded by your layers of armor, aren’t you? You just rendered them invisible.” He realized aloud. “And not one or two but at least one for each of your Familiars so that you could Channel any or even all of them in your armors without wait, maximizing the options you can access at a time both offensively and defensively.”
“You are correct.” Luna smiled, her deadly cold eyes clearly showing how despite her current almost playful stance she was even more murderous than ever before, Mark’s death becoming a certainty in her future, causing the Human to step back as briefly memories of all the times he was a step away from death returned to a lazer-sharp focus, her gaze alone being more than enough to force him to step back.
Mark forcefully calmed himself down, well aware that otherwise he risked losing control of himself in a fit of rage and then as a conseguence causing himself and his friends to lose and probably die soon after.
While by this time he was well accustomed to losing the People he comes to care about, this doesn’t mean that this cyclical loss would hurt him any less, especially if their death would become permanent.

At his silent signal, seven more steel pillars were launched to rain down upon Luna only for six snake heads to appear around her, their identical liquid forms made of Black Blood quickly separating into various different configurations in order.
One of the heads started writhing faster and faster, a bright third eye opening on its foreheads, long blades forming in the connection between its head and “neck”, a violent whirl accumulating between its jaws; The second becoming metallic and scaled as within its maws, Earth-Attribute and barriers formed and then dissolved, condensing power over and over again.
The third head was quickly enveloped into flames that formed vaguely feather-like patterns, its opened mouth holding a flame that spun faster and faster, forming a blazing tornado that was barely held in place; The fourth snake quickly gained lightning bolt-like patterns on its hide before it was enveloped in electric shocks, electric shocks that accumulated rapidly.
The fifth was the one that changed the least, an ashen skeletal pattern forming on its scales, a simple mass of Vital Mana accumulating in its maw before it was tainted by shadow and blood; Finally the sixth head changed, losing its snake-like traits and becoming the head of a serpentine Drake, horns and mane forming on it as it opened its mouth, pure force accumulating within.

Under the gaze of her opponents, six destructive beams erupted upwards, fusing together into a pillar that connected her to the sky before it exploded in a tornado of power imbued with four different Attributes entirely that sweeped over the seven pillars, washing over them again and again, shearing apart their delicate Rune patterns and their much less delicate steel frames with heat, electricity and pure destructive force.
After all she had already the other pillars for later analysis, she had no need to store any more of them for the future.
Mark was barely able to raise a wall of solid Light-Attribute Mana in front of himself before it shattered, the luminous sparks falling around him as Luna crashed into it at full speed, the Lunarian being barely slowed down by his wall as she launched a rain of blows against the Human, forcing him to retreat farther and farther back while using his body as a shield against his allies.
The ground beneath his feet constantly shattered, rippling upwards and destroying the blonde’s footing as shockwave after shockwave were being emanated by the white-haired one’s whole body, dust and grass being constantly ripped apart while forcing the Human to augment his own body to deal with the force raining down on him.

As bruises and cuts formed on his body only to then be healed by his use of Vital Energy, he decided that remaining on the defensive for any longer would be a terrible idea, especially considering how Luna’s digestion was not being affected by her fighting.
In other words, the longer this continued the closer his Party would be to simply lose.
Mark released a wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana from his whole body, condensing around his immediate body to fry any traces of her blood on his body, stopping time for a brief instant to grab onto one of the Lunarian’s arms with his hands, launching a kick to one of the Lunarian’s knees.
Yet upon his end of his Time Walker’s effects, the only thing damaged by his blow was the thin layer of Black Blood that she erected around her body and not only that but the Lunarian took advantage of his own grapple to pull him to herself, grabbing his shoulder and launching a knee strike directly to his chest, forcing her adversary to his knees before a second strike landed on his face.
Seven steel pillars were thrown precisely upon the Lunarian, forcing her to dodge away from the Party Leader and in so doing moving right into the flight path of a great, glowing boulder launched by the Half-Dwarf.

Notes:

Chapter 90: Chapter 89

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:55 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna looked up at the three meters wide boulder falling down towards her, noting its slightly melted state and guessing the use of Grug’s Vulcanic Might, her senses examining as Mark was briefly enveloped by a pink glow before being thrown away from the Lunarian, as Rose took advantage of Luna’s need to deal with the mass of super-heated stones to rescue the Human.
The white haired one did not wait for the boulder to near her any further, stretching out her right hand towards the sky as a blade-like motive, winds accumulating around the limb, condensing together and then sharpening in a thin blade.
No-Attribute Altered Attributes had the effect of applying a compatible effect from a No-Attribute Spell on it; for example, Fire-Attribute converted Energy into more of itself; similarly, Earth-Attribute stores Energy so that it could later be used or released; Lightning-Attribute becomes pure and wild destructive power released towards a predetermined direction.
As Luna slashed her hand downwards, the blade followed her movement, launching what was nothing else then No-Attribute Altered Air-Attribute, a gust of wind condensing down and sharpening in a single line that severed the falling boulder in two, the cut continuing on to slash the ground beneath it, forming a fissure that went a good 25 cm deep.

Luna turned back towards Mark, ignoring the two halves of the rock that fell at either side of her body and immediately dashing after her prey, the layers of Black Blood surrounding her body appearing fully, intensifying, changing and unifying to become a single layer of armor, all of her Familiars transfering from her Rings to within her armor, using their Coordination to allow them to work together in this new configuration while at the same time recalling all of her blood that was not within an Artifact to herself, the only way for it all to have enough Durability for her plan to be successful.
Rock-like scales now covered Luna’s body, horns crowning her head, all the while a pair of great, draconic yet feathered wings opened wide behind her back and a long prehensile tail swung at the air all around her; various lights bloomed all around her body, functioning as additional eyes to help analize both the situations she was in and her possible enemies.
An additional, light layer of white fur formed as a mane that covered her neck and some of her chest, bone coverings starting to cover and protect her body, at the same time accentuating her, before finally electric shocks and flames started to emanate from her.
Luna crossed the distance to Mark in an instant, her hairs left free to flow by her armor trailing behind her as she twisted around, her tail violently smashing against the Human’s crossed arms, sending him flying back down to the ground, the red-eyed one flying in mid-air thanks to her wings, looking down on the Regressor.

Mark landed with a somersault, bleeding off the force caused by Luna’s tail slam, even if this did not stop him from wincing upon feeling the burns on his arms, briefly moving one of his eyes to see the state of his arms, noting the mix of bruises, cuts and both electric and fire-based burns caused by the brief contact between the two.
Examining them only briefly, the blonde turned his full attention back to his opponent, watching how she was bent down slightly, flames erupting from around her body before it exploded, sending the Lunarian flying towards him.
The white haired one adjusted mid-flight, her wings and tail’s narrowing in nearby to help regulate her flight as she rapidly released more and more flames, crossing the distance that separated the two of them.
Before the blue-eyed one could even react to his rapidly approaching enemy, she smashed her hands in the ground, causing another explosion to flip herself around, sending at him a scorching crescent-shaped blade of condensed flames.
Mark launched himself away from his previous location, Lightning-Attribute Mana trailing behind him before it erupted into long branches that rained down upon Luna’s general position, barely able to see her through the light of his attack.

Even so the Human was more than able to see how most of his attack was simply deflected away by his enemy’s own thunder, her body simply blurring forward and aiming right at him, ignoring the small amount of his attack that was able to actually and directly affect her beyond her defense.
Mark was more than able to understand that he could not afford to let her come anywhere near him or he risked being killed on the spot, especially once he noted how every single one of her movements spread her disruptive and destructive power around, even without any active effort.
Even so, he found that stopping her progress was much easier to say than to do, noting with displeasure how the Lunarian was suddently accelerating in her movements as she grew accustomed to her new temporary speed and her access to her Familiar’s Skills, especially once she started using the assistance of her Divine Power Skill to enhance her Authorities, both of which were already being used to deal with the Blank Flames within her body and to allow her to fight properly.
Luna stilled briefly, judging the distance between the two of them to be appropriate for her plan and then she opened fully her False Domain, an area around her immediately gaining a slight opaque filter as her control over Vital Mana was amplified to beyond even her already impossibly high peak.

The Lunarian leaned forward, her tail rising and pointing towards the Human in a position vaguely similar to a humanoid scorpion, her horns shifting and then rising to form a ring before her tail.
Similarly, her wings straightened out and impaled themselves on the ground, functioning as additional stabilizers before finally her tail itself shifted, becoming a vaguely draconic head, its mouth opening wide and showing off an iridescent light that grew more and more brightly.
Mark’s eyes widened fast, Light-Attribute Mana accumulating before his body to create various layers of barriers to buy himself time, immediately after activating his Time Walker and hurriedly launching himself far away from his previous location, deactivating it and the instant after launching his own attack back, this time a concentrated beam of Light-Attribute Mana, testing out her current defenses.
Yet even with his use of the fastest Attribute in his attack and the fact that she should have been umbalanced from her strike and its force combined with his Unique Skill’s activation, Luna casually leaned fully upwards and in so doing transforming a strike aimed directly at her head into a complete miss, her tail returning to normal while instead her wings became four spider-like limbs, that stretched out backwards and grabbed onto another boulder thrown by Grug as a failed distraction.

Counterspell pulsed from the red eyed one’s body, the heat emanating from the mass of rocks behind her being rapidly cooled, clenching and then shattering it entirely in between them, the remaining shards falling down behind her as she casually launched herself towards the blue eyed one, crossing the distance between the two in a breath.
Mark barely was able to dash left, dodging the vammpiric one’s body that slammed in the place she was just in, his widened eyes desperatly following the movement of the various limbs possessed by his hated enemy, only thing that saved him from the tail that tried to stab him.
He rapidly retreated, barely dodging the rain of blade-like feathers launched by the great wings that beat a couple of times behind her back, the ground being riddled by the impaled masses of Black Blood that would have otherwise pierced his body otherwise.
Lightning-Attribute Mana accumulated around the Regressor before it erupted forward in a thunderbolt that struck the Lunarian, sending her flying back briefly, spinning in mid-air to land on her feet, a shockwave emanating from her body and beyond just flattening the area around her and in so doing also breaking the Human’s footing.

His blue eyes widened in alarm, barely able to stabilize in time to dodge most of the combined assault of the armored Lunarian’s arms, wings and tail, landing away with just a cut that cut into the side of his chest.
Lightning-Attribute Mana flared around his body, trying to force Luna back, failing as she simply launched herself right through his attack to land an hard kick on his abdomen, being him in half before she simply twisted her momentum to smash him in the ground, bouncing him once before punching downwards right in his head, the Human forming a crater in the ground.
Luna’s body was soon surrounded by an intense iridescent glow before it exploded outwards in a nova of power that would have washed over the Human if this last one didn’t hurriedly launch himself away thanks to his timely activation of his Time Walker.
Upon the ending of the Unique Skill, the explosion continued, destroying the rocks and the ground within its area, leaving behind only a dust cloud from which she emerged easily, her tail smashing on the ground briefly once as her head turned immediately towards the location of the reappeared Human.
Yet before she could move towards him to press her advantage, she found a wall of highly compressed stone appearing in her way before it soon expanded to surround her in a cube, intent on slowing down her momentum.

Notes:

Chapter 91: Chapter 90

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:57 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
The cube currently imprisoning Luna darkened under the combined gaze of the Party called “Lunar Crackers”, hardening into harder and denser version of stone, Grug being careful to strenghten it starting from the inside so that Joules had free reign to delicately carve their previously worked out Runic Array over its surface, further reinforcing the whole, starting from the inside.
“How much more do you need, Aler?” Mark asked using his Artifact, the same one that connected all of his Party members together to speed up the transfer of information as much as possible, the final combact-focused member of his Party, the Elf that until now did not actively partecipate in this battle.
“A minute should be more than enough for me to be ready.” The quiet answer soon reached him back, causing the Human to nod once, continuing on with his own preparations, mostly being completed by Joules precisely manipulating his Mana.
“Grug, can you maintain this for three minutes?” The Party Leader asked the sweating and breathing heavily Half-Dwarf, well aware that reinforcing and sustaining the cube would be extremely hard and costly for a prolonged period of time, especially if Luna went all out in order to escape her current binding.

“Three minutes?! Are you crazy?! If we are lucky, I can last two!” Grug exploded, sweat flowing freely from his forehead as he needed to repeatedly clean his eyes from it before he was actually distracted by it, gasping heavily as the continuous Channeling of Mana to sustain, reinforce and repair the wall was slowly starting to burn him from the inside out.
Having barely finished his exclamation, the tallest member of the Party was forced to bring one of his hands to his mouth, coughing blood as some of his internal organs were briefly destroyed before his Vital Energy and various Artifacts he was attuned to patched up the damage. “Oh, I am rea-really g-going to-to feel this t-tomorrow…” He wheezed in pain, barely able to stop himself from hurling, before shaking his head, unwilling to lose concentration in so crucial a moment, especially considering how Mark was almost done carving his Runic Array into the walls of his cube.

Meanwhile within said cube, Luna was calmly analyzing it, all of her limbs being held far away from her body and each other by long pillars made of the same condensed rock that formed the rest of the cube, a similar mass enveloping the rest of her body and doing its best to stop any chance of her being able to free herself.
She carefully tested the strenght of the stone, taking note of the way that the Half-Dwarf’s Mana was constantly reinforcing and slowly converting it into harder and more Mana efficient Materials. “[Annihilating Conversion] is more than enough to free me, even enough to kill one of my opponent if the beams reaches them.” She affirmed aloud, her closed eyes opening as the cold light within pierced the complete darkness held within the inside of her prison.
“He should know about this ability yet both the previous barrier and this one should be easily able to be dealt with. I suppose, considering how Counterspell is included in it, it is hard to respond to. Yet to not have included anything to even try to stop it would be extremely foolish, especially considering how I could just launch it at any time.
“It’s possible that he just has nothing to respond to it, sure, but it’s extremely unlikely that he didn’t find any counter to it, considering how he has Regressed to fight me at least three times. At least for now, let’s work on the assumption that he does have a counter to my ability. In that case, the main purpose behind both the previous and current cage would be to push me to activate it, especially considering both its power and long Cooldown. He didn’t even line himself up with anything relevant to me as a way to stop me from launching it without reguard.
“In addition considering the power of my attack, I doubt that a Skill or even a Spell would be even close to enough to fight it on pair, considering their level. I suppose in that case that an Artifact is the easiest way to stop the release of my [Annihilating Conversion]. And the more efficient and easier way to hide such an effect would be by using a Runic Array whose Language I don’t understand.” She calmly asserted, the complete absence of light negating her ability to expand her shadow at all.

Having understood from the way that the stone enveloped her that she shouldn’t wound herself as otherwise she risked the stone invading her wounds, Luna’s Familiars returned to her Rings and in so doing causing her armor to destabilize once it was no longer held together by either her own or her Familiars’ efforts, exploding in a soft rain of Black Blood that stained the inside of the pillar she was held into, solidifying and pushing against her container, taking advantage of the difference in volume now that she no longer had her wings, horns or tail to create a brief opening in the pillar, launching herself free.
As her lips moved upwards to form a twisted smile born of a mix of contempt and calculated killing intent, her Aura flared wildly and in so doing flickeringly illuminating the new area she found herself in, her short-lived shadows being used as the origin points for the incoming eruptions of Black Blood, eruptions that she rendered even more dangerous by actively using her Divine Power to push her Black Blood and Vital Mana even further, starting to erode and eat into the rocks, especially those that kept her stuck in place.
Her ring containing Core started to glow even brighter, its Aura pulsing in tandem with her own as she shared in the Skill Dragon Heart, increasing her ability to handle the Blank Flames currently rampaging within her body as a single-center system became a bicentric one, in so doing lowering the stress of the flames enough for her to release another Attribute that she Altered to function using only her No-Attribute Affinity.
Sparks the deepest black it could be started flaring around her body uncontrollably as the Energy that she devoured from her would-be-cage was not added to her body, a risky proposition in her current situation, but was instead directly used to fuel her Ruinous Thunder, the black sparks growing more and more violent, more and more eager to destroy and rampage.

All of her No-Attribute-Altered Attributes were at their core an extremization of their nature set free to rampage.
Hollow Jewels stored an immense amount of Energy but at the first mistep and they could detonate in an equally immense disaster if someone, even the wielder, was not cautious about their use; Blank Flames simply devoured everything and converted it into more of itself, possibly aiming their fangs even towards their wielder at the first mistep, as demonstrated by their attempt of eating her from the inside; Vacuous Gale was simply a layer of almost solid air sharpened enough to cut even wind itself in half, a wild gust that would not allow itself to be stopped.
Similarly to those example, Ruinous Thunder was simply the extremization of a lightning bolt’s sheer destructive power that simply aimed on piercing the wall of her prison, entering in a contest of power that sapped more and more of the cube’s Energy, scouring everything in the vague direction of the initial release and branding long scars in the wall, repeatedly destroying the constantly repairing wall.
As the cube’s Energy was being used to repair itself to stop the creation of any exit from the prison, less of it was being Channeled to repair the pillars that formerly enveloped her, giving her enough time to cause further detonations around her body, escaping her initial binding and allowing her eyes to peer through the darkness around her, fully revealing the new layer she found herself in.

“Multiple layers of protections and layers to assure I would waste as much time as possible. Yet “Seal” is not being inflicted on me despite the fact that it is evident that they know how to cause the Alteration in other individuals and this process would cause me a much greater amount of hurry, probably enough to force me to activate [Annihilating Conversion] yet they are not trying to cause it in me.”
Luna thought to herself aloud, analyzing the progress of the Status Alterations currently affecting, watching as they were being rapidly drained, this continuing on even once she turned her Presence: Charm on herself to inflict aforementioned Alteration, noting how it was rapidly weakening.
“I suppose this is an additional function of the prison itself, devouring Status Alterations from me to help fuel itself and in so doing lowering the stress it would cause in its Caster.” Her red eyes explored the room briefly, noticing how the pillars that previously caged her did not reform together, the Energy that would have caused such instead moving to reinforce the rest of her would-be-prison.
The two meters wide room she now found herself in presented presented itself to be too small as once her black thunder exhausted all the Energy she had previously used to form its form, detonated in an explosion that ripped a hole right to the next one, forcing her to shield herself with a release of her Aura and Vital Mana, her Senses trying to stretch to the next room through the room.

The hole in the meter-thick wall rapidly closed, sure, and in so doing painfully slamming down on her Senses, almost enough to cause an headache but not rapidly enough to evade a lump of Black Blood being thrown in by the Lunarian, infiltrating the deeper layers while she made sure to cost as much Energy as possible.
This prison could never hold her for long after all.

Notes:

Chapter 92: Chapter 91

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:57 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark carefully observed the cage they, mostly Grug to be completely honest, constructed around the Lunarian, sighing once before turning to the struggling Half-Dwarf, stopping himself from asking Lilze to connect the two of them by using her Unique Skill to help him handle the physical burden caused by his constant use of Mana.
He knew very well that this would be a terrible idea for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that this assistance would require Lilze moving to the two and touching them with the intent of connecting them; that type of connection is always equal and his own physique was much lesser when compared with his friend’s, necessitating much more constant medical attention and the final reason being that, quite simply, once Luna escaped he could join the fight himself and help distract her long enough for the rest of his Party to recover him and bring him in a safe place to recover.
Upon seeing the strain upon his friend growing, he retrieved from his Storage Ring a Potion derived by studying the Undeads and Phoenix’s ability of ‘Resurrection’ and forcefully pouring it down Grug’s throat, the dense liquid rapidly evaporating to flood the Half-Dwarf’s body with pure vitality, his cells going on overdrive and rapidly repairing all the damage he was suffering, his lips twisted in a disgusted expression.
Yet even despite the thickness of the Potion he drunk, Grug did not lose concentration from maintaining his cage, fact from which they needed to give thanks to their experimentation with the Potion’s taste to make sure it would not be revolting enough to distract him, considering the intensity of the concentration of Vital Energy needed to create a consumable ‘Resurrection’.
Mark frowned, calculating the time until Aler was done and how many other Potions he possessed and how many of them he would need to use considering the damage that Grug was constantly suffering, already preparing the next Potion.

Meanwhile Luna herself examined the walls surrounding her, manually taking control of the Black Blood she succeded in slipping throught the hole in the wall that fully repaired itself, briefly exploring the next layer of the prison, finding nothing in particular, while at the same time paying attention to breath carefully of the air within the cage.
With a soundless sigh she proceded to move forward with her plan, her own body moving towards one of the vertices of her cubic cell while her mass of Black Blood moved to just beyond the wall on the opposite vertice and then starting to emit glowing red gems, being careful not to press the volatile crystals directly against the wall.
Once they both arrived to their respective destination, bright pink flame patterned like a gem started to burn around her left hand while the air around her right one started to tremble and distort.
She soon attacked, a fireball of Solid Blaze flew true to meet the opposite vertice from herself while swinging her right hand almost as if wanting to form a line to separate the two of them.
The Earth-Attribute Vital Energy that obtained the Form of the Fire-Attribute ate in the wall, stubbornly clinging to it with the same tenacity normal to the Earth-Attribute and starting to erode the condensed rock, boring an hole into it that slowly expanded and deepened while before her body a wave of Vacuous Gale created a border empty of any air between the Lunarian and the rest of the section she found herself currently in.
The flames progressed throught the wall, drilling into it with single-mindend hunger, digging a hole in the stone until it soon reached the crystals, causing a detonation of Solid Blaze that filled the entirety of the room, destroying the wall that separated her from the next section in its entirety.

Luna emerged from the flames unscathed, the area around her safely isolated from the flames by the thin vacuum that she caused, the lack of air that separated the two zones allowing no passage to them and in so doing creating a straight-forward way for the Lunarian to launch herself past the second layer of her prison and right in the third one.
Her eyes explored the new layer, confirming her success in passing the second layer by the way that the Energy previously flowing in the wall of the second layer now reinforced the rest of the prison, increasing its sturdiness even more as she examined her new cell, the three and a half meters wide room she now found herself in.
Her senses explored her newest layer, scowling when she felt it to be more or less the same as the previous ones, sighing before turning her crimson eyes to the pink flames that even now were trying to devour the ground and failing at that, caused both by the greater volume involved and increased density of the cubes.
Her feet waded through the flames, feeling the slight resistance to her movement caused by the thickness of the flames that almost seemed to almost grab onto her feet, trying to consume her yet now that they weren’t fueled by the immense destructive release of a great mass of Blaze Gems, they were unable to affect her as even with the reduced amount of Aura she currently had access to, it was more than enough for her to comfortably pass it.

“As expected of a mix of Earth- and Fire-Attribute.” She thought aloud, her eyes observing the flames that even now clinged to her in their attempt to devour her. “A stubborn hunger that would not allow a meal to escape its fangs. Unfortunately for you, however, I am not your prey.”
Her eyes flashed, illuminating briefly the room, before her Aura and Vital Mana mixed together and rained down upon her temporary cell, drowning the flames entirely under an overwhelming wave of power, reducing them to mere embers that soon went out, the light disappearing with them and leaving the cube’s inside once more in darkness.
“As I thought, multiple layers. Considering the proportions of the boost that it recieved after its increase in Mana -” She launched an harsh punch against one of her new walls, measuring the effect. “- without a doubt, at least another two layers. It’s time to speed up then.”
Her layer of Hollow Jewels briefly manifested itself around the Lunarian’s body. “I cannot use the Energy stored in here directly, I can only decide to detonate it all at once. Ah, well, it’s not like this is particularly hard to compensate for.”
A long, crystalline mass formed around her left hand, gently rising in a transparent pillar that started to glow with an inner light all of its own, the Energy stored within the layer of crystals around her immediately passing to within the new crystal growth.

Grabbing it firmly, Luna almost crushed the crystals in her grip, the fingers of her right hand submerging in the luminous gem to meet the warmth and pressure at its core, grasping it firmly and then connecting herself with it, carefully passing the Energy through her body and into her left hand.
Sparks of electricity surrounded her limb, their light coloration rendering clear that its Substance was Air-Attribute, the Lunarian pointing her hand to the sky and unleashing it, freeing it to rampage and rain down upon the entirety of the cell in long strings of lightning-like blades that pierced the rock.
Her red eyes and vast Senses measured the strenght of the lightning she unleashed, sighing upon being able to confirm the difference between her Altered and Composite Attribute. “In my situation, the former is much more effective.” She asserted aloud.
“At equal Affinity the latter is more efficient. In my case, however, while the Affinity involved theorically should be the case, in truth when it comes for my Affinity towards the Attribute they are stuck to 100% considering how I don’t have any Skill that increase the maximum of my Affinities beyond the natural maximum, value that I have long since surpassed in No Attribute Affinity thanks to my Singularity.”
Stretching slightly, the white-haired one indifferently released a second, a third and then a fourth rain of lightning bolts, some a bright red, some a dark gold and the final group being an intense yet almost liquid-like scarlet.

The cell was quickly filled entirely with light, the hard stone shattering repeatedly again and again, dust and rock fragments falling down around the Lunarian, her body protected and safeguarded by a layer of Hollow Jewels that forced her to stay still, absorbing the lightning bolts that fell upon her, being Channeled to the crystal mass and then to fuel the lightning itself again.
The crystal started to tremble and vibrate, cracks expanding upon both its surface and depths at once, the constant Channeling of power straining it ever more until it destabilized completely, dissolving into a fine layer of crystal dust.
Luna nodded, satisfied by the effects her Composite Attributes had on the walls around her, noticing the destructive power of her Terran Lightning, the cutting power contained within her Wuthering Thunder, the incredible heat contained within her Ardent Lightning and finally the Potency of the Ichor Flash derived by turning her Black Blood itself into the Lightning-Attribute.

Notes:

Chapter 93: Chapter 92

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:57 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark groaned, the third empty Potion of Resurrection falling down and shattering in shards of glass around his feet, his eyes quickly moving from the Half-Dwarf at his side back towards the cube that contained Luna.
“At which point is she at?” The blonde asked, his brows furrowed in concentration and upon hearing the taller one’s answer of her being in the third out of five protective layers, knowledge that did nothing to reassure the Party Leader of their current situation and everything to worry him. “And she still shows no intention of using her Singularity, doesn’t she? We need to make her use it before Aler is done with his preparations. How did she reacts to the difference in air between layers?”
“She noticed the difference instinctively but she barely cared about them.” Grug affirmed, breathing a little bit easier for right now as the damage of maintaining his Spell did not yet cause him pain thanks to his latest drinking of the third Rising Potion.
Mark tsked, his lips twisting as he memorized this for the next Time as Grug wasted some Mana to change the air in between the layers of the prison, even if this was not too much of a strain all things considered, not bothering to contact Aler as he knew very well that the other was a professional and that he would contact him on his own either if in trouble or he was done.
-
Luna stood at the center of the cube, her eyes closed as four spheres floated around her composed of her different types of lightning, excluding her No-Attribute Altered one, from which they emanated in bolts that filled and illuminated the entirety of her temporary holding.
She nodded, her Senses having stretched out fully to grasp as much as possible of the composition of the rocks around her, taking note of its density, heat retention, melting point, electric conductivity and resistance to both cuts and crushing force.
The Lunarian stretched out, her eyes widened in a flash, opening her mouth and forming a sphere of densely packed flames within that she launched out in a concentrated beam of light and heat that bore into the wall before her, constantly melting some of it and forcing it to repair itself, wasting even more of its creator’s Energy.
The lent D-Rank Elemental Roar screamed out violently, the air around the beam twisting, being pulled in and then radiating outwards in a constant wave of heated air that rapidly filled the cube, almost immediately rendering it pratically inhospitable for any standard Human.
However she stood there calmly, unbothered by both the heat and the aridity caused by the sudden evaporation of all the humidity contained within her layer, her various lightning bolts being redirected to rain down upon the wall around her beam, condensing its destructive power enough to rapidly carve into it, rock shards being flung at full force all over the inside of the room.

Luna walked through the rising dust caused by her attacks continuously ripping apart the concentrated rocks forming her prison, her body remaining safeguarded from the airborne stones thanks to the rapidly spinning winds belonging to the Composite Attribute called Deafening Storm, the Lightning-Attribute raging all around her form and painfully shredding apart everything nearby.
What almost looked like a dense layer of wind spinning around her body was in all actuality composed of thousands of writhing and incredibly fast currents that grinded violently against each other, sharpening and then shredding apart any traces of matter they came in contact with.
So ferocious were the winds that they would even turn against their own maker, shredding them apart at once, the real reason behind most of the deaths of those that use this unstable and destructive Composite Attribute; fate that would have befallen Luna too had she not shielded herself with a thin layer of Vacuous Gale, separating herself from the the air itself and in so doing dodging the damage at its source instead of trying with much effort to block it.
Luna calmly calculated the speed of her destruction, carefully and slowly rising an hand to point at the cracking wall, her Lightning-Attribute with the Form of Air-Attribute following the path of her limb, using her Vital Mana to lead the violent Composite Attribute right to the meeting point between her various attacks and the wall, causing a localized firestorm that shredded apart the wall completely, her various lightning bolts being attracted to the center of the storm and detonating in an explosive release that demolished the entirety of the wall she struck at.

Luna carefully breathed in deeply, calming down her Energy and slowly suppressing the storm before it could envelop her, using a mixture of Vacuous Gale and Hollow Jewel to safeguard herself from the backlash of the massive detonation of the Energy contained within her artificial squall.
After a sigh she stretched, moving on to beyond the reach of the third layer and landing on the fourth layer, a five meters wide cubic room that caused her to sigh. “There is another layer after this one.” She confirmed aloud, judging by the amount of Mana that was redirected to flow within the walls around her.
The Lunarian blurred forward, launching an immediate punch towards the next layer, her Vital Mana being accelerated even further by Divine Power and then condensing and tightening to form a dense layer around her hand, crashing against the wall simultaneusly with her blow, concentrating the entirety of the power behind it in a single point.
And almost as if to mock the stone’s defensive ability, the Energy the Lunarian released did not detonate, instead solidifying in a dense mass at the rough center of the half a meter large wall, intent on interfering with the flow of Mana through the wall itself, slowing down both its ability to restore itself and weakening its ability to reinforce its rocky materials.

Luna calmly stepped back, casually observing and calculating the flow of the Mana within the stones and how it would behave now that its natural path through it was blocked by her Vital Mana.
The white-haired one waited only a couple of seconds, observing the cracks that slowly spread in the surface of the wall, the Half-Dwarf’s Mana having met her own Energy and unable to breach the obstruction it created, caused an explosive reaction that damaged the stone around it.
Yet this would not last long as she felt how her Vital Mana was slowly being eroded by the continuously flowing Earth-Attribute Mana within the prison, causing her to nod satisfied at her discovery, Aura accumulating around her left hand and forming a long blade that she thrusted forward, maximizing its piercing power.
Her spear-like Aura emanation warmed up immediately, wind and electricity surrounding its hardened body and spinning faster and faster, smashing against the portion of the wall that was previously weakened and starting to drill into it, stepping forward into the stone divider and sending rocks flying all over the room, protecting herself from them by constantly releasing pulses of winds to send them away from herself.
Her spear met the mass of Vital Mana contained within the wall and upon their contact, they detonated in a destructive burst that opened a brief hole to the next layer, just big enough and just for long enough for her to launch a small mass of her Black Blood to the next layer, the one she was able to confim was the final one considering its size and the size of the walls involved.

The purpose of that mass of vital fluid was to be used and stretched out to figure out the exact dimensions of the last two remaining layers involved in her prison, easing significantly the calculations required to figure out her way.
The chamber she currently resided in was five meters wide and possessed half a meters wide wall in either side while the next inner cell was, if one were to include the inner cell in her calculation, instead was eight meters wide surrounded by walls one meter large, for a total width of ten meters.
This meant that she could not use the room beyond the walls around her to create a Magic Circle as drawing a circle held between two squares with those sizes was impossible, leading her to move on to another plan to get away.
The red-eyed one’s Black Blood started to spread by converting her Vital Mana into more of it, flooding the fifth layer with her vital fluid completely to use its weight to press against the two remaining walls of her cage and, thanks to the fact that the Energy was currently split between two layers to strain the wall of the fifth layer, wall that would not be strengthened as much by its creator’s Mana to damage it.
-
Meanwhile, outside the cube, Grug coughed hard once more, his eyes narrowing in pain. “She is, she is in the fourth l-layer but she is at-attacking the fi-fifth.” He was able to grit out in pain.
Mark scowled, his eyes hardening in displeasure. “We somewhat prepared to this possibility, sure, but this doesn’t mean that we were able to completely relieve your cube of this weakness.” His grimace soon smoothing out as he recieved a message from Aler.
“I am almost ready on my side, Mark.” He recieved the much soothing call from his Party Mate, causing him to relax and breath out in relief for but a brief moment.

Notes:

Chapter 94: Chapter 93

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:58 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna, currently residing in the fourth layer, concentrated on the massive amount of her Black Blood that was currently filling the fifth layer and was currently trying to assert pressure on the last two remaining walls at once, straining both of them together.
Quickly the vital fluid started to writhe and boil, its temperature rising violently and rapidly, to the point that even with the 50 cm large walls separating her from it she was still able to feel the heat washing over the sealed room she found herself in, being saved from cooking alive thanks not only to her own nature as a Lunarian but also to her own Skill-based Resistances.
‘Hey, Amber, Sabel, Mafel, they should be concentrating entirely on me at this point. You three are free to move in.’ Luna sent to her Mates her message thanks to their Mark.
‘Finally! I was so tired of waiting in the second Floor’s Dungeon Boss.’ Amber sounded out, her voice spiking up to mirrow her rising excitement as she quickly led their two Mates to the exit.
After all, Mark and his Party waited to attack her until a good ten minutes after her Mates would have dealt with the Floor Boss, when the three of them should have already stepped in the third Floor; her Mates instead, having anticipated the attack on Luna, bode their time until her signal while waiting and preparing within the second Floor’s Boss Room itself.
-
Almost immediately after her message, a majestic golden bird made of flames exploded from the exit of the Dungeon, her luminous feathers made of solidified flames surrounding protectively her Human and Elf to both hold them in place and to help them deal with the sudden pressure caused by her acceleration.
Mafel and Sabel meanwhile were holding on to the purple horns belonding to said golden bird for dear life, ethereal feathers and mane gently enveloping and covering the two.
Sabel, having nothing to do beyond just maintaining her grip, turned her attention to her tallest Mate, intent on asking her a question to distract herself from the speed of their movement, question that was however completely forgotten once she saw her incredibly pale face.
“Are you, are you scared?” She asked incredulously, her black eyes opening wide as her amusement started to rise, unable to stop either her smile or her rising emotions, more precisely her desire to tease her Mate.
This desire was certainly not helped by Sabel remembering all the times that the ashen haired one teased her from their meeting, both the more innocent ones during the day and the much less innocent teasing that she suffered during the night, teasing that was especially prevalent once all four of them started to sleep together.

Mafel heard the mocking tone contained within Sabel’s words and immediately turned towards her, paying full attention on the Human and most importantly being careful not to watch the ground that passed at sickeningly high speed beneath the three of them.
“I am not afraid!” The former Specter instinctively protested, her mouth opening before her mind could process the situation and in so doing unwittingly confirming her own trepidation to both of her present Mates.
Mafel could only whine once Sabel started to mockingly reassure her by petting her head as if she was a scared child. “Aw, don’t worry Mafel, we will take care of you. There is no need to fear any heights with the two of us here.” The Human embraced the taller one at once, almost as if she wanted to calm her down, a way to both make fun of her but also a genuine attempt to distract her from what really bothered her.
“I am not scared!” Sabel’s provocation worked, Mafel’s pride being stung and causing her to stand up fully, her fear completely forgotten in favor of manifesting her righteous anger towards the black-haired one, launching herself at her and pushing her down. “You are lucky that we are too busy for me to punish you or I’d make sure that you wouldn’t be able to walk!”

Sabel shivered at the light in her purple and golden eyes, gulping once before hesitantly commenting to try and redirect her attention away from herself. “We are currently over Amber’s body, you can’t-”
“Oh, if that is the only obstacle, you don’t need to worry. I don’t mind at all.” The golden flames around them flared gently, flickering in amusement as the voice of Amber sung out from the flames. “After all she teased you reguarding your very obvious fear, punishing her for this would be only natural.”
Amber did her best to stoke the passion burning within Mafel for her own amusement, her own golden flames rising up to firmly envelop Sabel and Mafel with transparent flames, obsuring their bodies from the outside with golden light, keeping them safe from the speed she moved at and at the same time, would easily enable her to enjoy watching the two of them from all sort of angles.
Mafel’s eyes narrowed further, glowing slightly because of the intensity of her current emotions, as Amber’s words did their dual purpose of both not-so-gently pressing against the Elf’s pride and stimulating her desires even further.
Sabel gulped. ‘Well, at least she is not thinking about her fear right now…’ She thought to herself, knowing that she could stop her Mate but not really willing to unless the Elf would go too far.
-
Mark scowled, watching carefully the ground and grass around the cube rapidly charring because of the heat that escaped from the earthen cage, understanding that she was trying to stress both Grug himself and their stock of Healing and Mana Potions. “Shit!” He couldn’t help but exclaim, full of rage towards his enemy, already preparing another batch of his Rising Potion for the Half-Dwarf.
“Come on, Grug, you can do it.” Mark encouraged his friend briefly, his lips twisting in a frown once he saw the rivers of blood and sweat that stained both his body, clothes and the ground underneath him.
His blue eyes focused back on the cube, noting how the stone was darkening significantly, the rocks forming it starting to crumble apart and erupt into brief and angry embers of Blood Flames that then were smothered by more grounded up rocks that rose up and then fell down upon the crimson flames.
“Blood Flames feed on blood to both heat up and grow, the fact that they seem to be raging without slowing down any and are instead growing more intense, means that she must be burning an ever higher amount of her blood. Considering her passive Recovery and the speed at which she could Convert her Vital Mana into more of it…”
The blonde scowled, finding that while she was losing more Energy than she was regaining, the rate involved would be far from enough to exhaust her significantly, even considering the fact that Blood Flames tend towards demanding ever more from their wielders.
-
Within her temporary prison, in the meanwhile, Luna sat down calmly, her eyes closed softly as she breathed in and out gently, a small bloody mist being emanated with each of her exhale.
Luna was in a much more precarious situations than Mark actually assumed, however, as because there was no remaining connection between her body and the mass of Black Blood in the next layer, she was forced to use much more Vital Mana that the Regressor previously calculated, needing to constantly create more of her vital fluid through the wall, being forced to drown some of her Blood Flames herself to assure the stability of her scarlet flames.
After all Luna needed to make sure that the flames had both enough of her liquid to burn and allowing them to both grow and heat up while needing to maintain the existence and liquid state of her blood despite the ever increasing heat of her flames.
If Mark had known this facts and when considering the amount of Vital Mana she was constantly spending and Channeling, he would have correctly calculated that she would have freed herself with around 50% of her Vital Mana remaining, enough to still be a very significant threat, even if in a much worse situation that the Human actually guessed.

Luna calmly continued on her meditation, intent on saving as much as possible of her Energy, judging the heat that washed over her and moving on to emanate a wave of cold blood from her shadow, creating a pair of layers around her separated by a vacuum that allowed her to ignore the rising heat, thing only possible thanks to the lack of air to transfer heat between the two layers.
And even if this would only last just as long as the external layer of Black Blood would not evaporate, it would still comfort her in the meanwhile, allowing her to recover some Energy that would have otherwise been spent to recover from the heat and the theoretically Burns.
The white haired one calmly waited, doing her best to patiently focus on the flow of her Blood and her Energy all around and within her body, progressively increasing her efficiency with it as she eagerly waited for her freedom while at the same time enjoying the emotions coming from her incoming Mates.

Notes:

Chapter 95: Chapter 94

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:58 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna breathed in deeply, feeling the rising heat that surrounded her body and finally deciding that the desired moment was way too close for comfort, as confirmed by her eyes being able to see how the last layer of Black Blood surrounding her was slowly starting to boil, despite the vacuum separating it from the rest and her own Vital Mana being used to reinforce the vital fluid.
The white haired one did not hesitate further, standing up fully as she carefully created a bow of almost solid Black Blood taller that she is and then needing to use all of her strenght to pull back the string of her weapon, a long spiraling arrow of Black Blood being nocked and pulled back with immense force.
As scarlet tongue started to press ever more against her dome of Black Blood, causing it to start boiling and writhing ever more intensely, and leading her to what some would consider a very risky procedure.
Just after a Runic Array formed in the inside of her arrow, a wide hole in her barrier forming and in so doing allowing her wild flames a way towards herself, as demonstrated by the flames that were quickly devouring her blood and falling down upon her body.
As the heat of the dark flames reached her, Luna calmly breathed out and together with her vaporized blood, her arrow was launched.

As two of her Skills were imbued in the bow and arrow, her Divine Power in the bow to maximize the force of her throw and True Calamity Eternal Mastery within her arrow itself, the Runic Array within the arrow starting to suck in more and more of her Vital Mana through her Black Blood to activate itself fully while still in mid-air, traveling not even a single centimeter thanks to its incredibly fast flight, starting to collapse in on itself.
“[Annihilation Burst]!” Luna’s voice sounded out the name of her newest, experimental Art, activating it.
Luna’s arrow shattered, the Energy and Black Blood involved crumbling together a forming a dense, almost line-like mass of force that shattered and pulled at everything around itself with its own gravitational pull on, shattering and devouring her bow itself before attracting the Blood Flames into itself, growing bigger and heavier.
Her projectile slammed against the wall of the fourth wall, impaling itself into it to form a link between it and the fifth wall, connecting with the flames and blood on the other side, starting to pull them in too and rapidly expanding in size until it could no longer remain stable.
The arrow detonated, releasing a directed beam of destruction that demolished an hole right through the fifth wall, opening an escape for Luna.
The Lunarian calmly blurred forward, crossing the distance between her and freedom in less than a second, easily landing on her feet well outside of the cube, her eyes immediately finding Grug and Mark as she prepared to attack them directly from within the burning trench caused by her previous attack.

The blonde activated his Unique Skill, running forward in stopped time to stop Luna from reaching Grug, his Time Walker allowing her to reach her just before it ended, their fists crossing immediately and forcing them both to step back and launch further blows to their opponent, dozens of punches being exchanged in a single second until this clash was ended by Luna hooking one of her feet around Mark’s knee and pulling his leg out from under him, unbalancing and opening him up for further strikes.
The blue-eyed one landed on his hands, immediately launching himself sideways and in so doing dodging the axe kick that crashed down on the place his head was just in, the ground shattering as she released a wave of Vital Mana in concert with her attack, the ground rippling upwards violently into spikes that forced the Human to retreat even further.
Mark slammed one of his feet to the ground, launching himself to his feet while simultaneusly kicking towards the Lunarian’s own foreleg, forcing her to step back briefly before she stepped forward again, ammassing Vital Mana around her fist before releasing it in a concentrated beam that tried to skewer him in place.
As his eyes widened in alarm, he was only saved by the ground beneath him rippling sideways and throwing him away, his eyes involuntarily moving to Grug to thank him for his prompt intervention despite his Soul-deep ache caused by the constant Channeling of Energy, noting how he already drank another of their Rising Potion to be able to intervene at all.

Mark concentrated back on his opponent, Lightning-Attribute Mana flaring wildly around him and causing Luna to raise a wall of Aura before herself, the Lunarian barreling right through it and slamming against the Human, sending him flying and crashing down on the ground away from herself, stunning him just long enough for Luna to stomp down on his chest, a wave of Aura pulsing from her body and slamming him even harder against the ground, creating a crater underneath them.
The Human breathed out in pain, wheezing even more once the white-haired one’s foot crashed down hard on his body, his hands weakly trying to grasp his enemy’s ankle. “Y-you - ” He tried to sound out only for the red-eyed one to smile, Vital Mana accumulating around her foot before it detonated, tearing a yell from him.
Luna raised one of her hands, Air-Attribute accumulating around her right hand and forming in a long blade that she swung at her opponent’s neck, aiming to beheading him right then and there.
Before she could bring to an end the Regressor, she alted her action, swinging her blade sideways and deflecting away a steel pillar, resulting in the other six following suit and leaving her unharmed from their attempt at impaling her.
And having struck one of them, she was able to confirm with her own eyes from the way that all of them reacted at the same time to her strike that they were currently being treated as a single whole, which meant the confirmation of another Unique Skill being involved in the fight.

Her eyes moved to the tall Half-Dwarf, wondering if he was the culprit behind the spikes launched at her but excluding him for two major reasons, the first being how he was way too exhausted to intervene in the fight by this point, especially considering how if he had a similar Unique Skill he could have used it either in their previous fight or to at least ease the burden caused by the creation and maintenance of his prison.
There was the possibility of a presence of an Oath that prohibited the direct use of his Unique Skill while in a fight to explain his lack of use, certainly, but she excluded such once she considered how the feeling of his Mana did not show the same limits and irregularities common to those that have an active Oath.
Her eyes made to focus back on the Human currently struck beneath her feet, lighting up at once as her lips quirked up and showed her fangs, petrifying Mark at once. “You have some other friends nearby, don’t you?” She casually asked, her gaze searching for the others People fighting her and causing Mark to freeze briefly.
Before the blonde could properly react to her words, the white haired one disengaged from him, launching herself away and this way being safe from the high-pressure water that would have pierced her chest otherwise.

“Oh?” She sounded out curious, her eyes moving to meet the humanoid mass of softly glowing water that now separated her from her preys, watching the blue light that flowed to form their body, spiking up slightly in various different, ever charging locations. “A Flowing Spirit with a fully manifested physical form?” She asked full of curiosity as she had never fought one of them.
Luna attacked at once, a wave of Black Blood flooding towards the Spirit and clashing with a crystal clear wave of water, causing her eyes to widen in pleasured surprise as she watched her vital fluid being dissolving into its derivative, becoming first a mix of solid shadows that sunk down and blood, the second dissolving further into water and its other components.
“This is not just a Spirit’s power.” She sounded out, her lips twisting up in a full grin as interest flared brightly in her heart, a wave of Vital Mana being released towards the Spirit at once and meeting a similar fate to her blood, destabilizing and collapsing at once.
“This is… Purification?” She asked in wonder, her eyes opening wide and being followed soon after by her smile as a feral desire for destruction started to shine in her piercing gaze. “But natural Spirits cannot be formed by multiple Attributes and Purification requires at least the Holy-Attribute and you are a Flowing Spirit, a Water-Attribute one. How did you do this?”
Her question went unanswered, Luna being forced to concentrate back on her newest opponent as they passed on the attack again by creating small spheres of glowing liquid floating around their body that launched an high-speed rain of projectiles towards her body.

Notes:

Chapter 96: Chapter 95

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 2:58 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna immediately dashed towards the glowing mass of water, slipping in between the various jets of highly-compressed water that flew towards her, rapidly crossing most of the distance to the Flowing Spirit before stopping immediately, dodging this way the second wave of projectiles that impacted before her in a burst of glowing water.
The Lunarian’s red eyes and her Senses working together were the only things that let her observe how the water that expoded before herself collapsed in on itself briefly before it detonated itself, hardening into sharp bullets that precisely rained down upon her current location.
In response and after a brief cut on the white haired one’s left arm, a wave of Black Blood erupted from her newest wound, forming a wall that was able to briefly block the rain of purifying pellets, just long enough for Luna to launch herself to her right, a thin beam of Vital Mana flying towards the Spirit, her previous barrier soon collapsing in its component materials because of her opponent’s Purifying ability.
Luna did not hesitate, burying her fully healthy hand in the ground almost to her elbow, grabbing it firmly before immediately rupturing upwards a boulder coated in Vital Mana that she then threw towards the glowing humanoid mass while at the same time rising on her feet and aiming right at the sky.

The Spirit without any hesitation of their own moved the twelve spheres floating around them to before themselves, writhing brightly before erupting first in a light wave that washed over the stone’s Vital Mana coating, rapidly eroding it and leaving behind only the boulder thrown by the Lunarian, boulder that was then split in two by an highly-pressurized vertical beam of water that split it in two.
Yet before the humanoid mass could continue in their attack against the Lunarian, they were able to see how inside of the boulder rested a mass of solidified shadows that started to glow, erupting in a wave of heat that tried to overflow the Water-Attribute Emanation.
They were able to raise a protective layer of Purifying water in between the two to protect themselves, sure, however this meant that Luna had more than enough time to launch her own Arrow towards the sky, the arrow arcing to aim right at the Spirit, activating a weak but cheap Art. “[Star Shower]!”
In an instant the arrow split into hundreds that rained down upon the Spirit’s general location, a very weakened version of her [Ruinous Stars] Art that she choose for two reasons, the first being that it was vastly cheaper and quicker to use, thing very important considering her current reserves.
But the second reason, the more important one currently, was the fact that the arrows that proceded to rain down upon her opponent were exact copies of the arrow she launched.

As the Spirit moved their pure water in the way of the arrows that would strike her directly, quickly dissolving them into their component and then dissolving most of them entirely, leaving behind of them only liquid shadows that flowed down around their body, the area around them being littered with the remaining arrows that impaled the ground around the one that came from the Plane of Flows.
Before they could return to suppress the Lunarian, the Spirit was able to notice how the arrows around them started to glow and heat up slightly and causing them to immediately release a wave of Purification-infused water from around their current Avatar, the glowing liquid being able to rip apart those closest to their body immediately before rising up defensively in a dome around them.
The arrows detonated, not in waves of Vital Mana or fire but simply being released in a violent wave of heat, their coating of water rapidly starting to boil and evaporate despite their every effort, their temporary Vessel’s Stability having degraded significantly because of the suddently increased heat by the time the arrows finished burning up.
The stunned Spirit did not have time to react before the left half of their Vessel exploded, the water forming it splattering all over the ground behind it as their body trembled lightly at the sudden lack of around a whole third of their body mass, their attention demonstrated by a number of more intense and regular lights all over their body concentrating on Luna, the originator of the attack.
The humanoid mass of Purifying Water immediately flowed left, being able to barely dodge a second shockwave emanated from the Lunarian’s bow, a strike based on a silent Art launched from the white haired one that did not sent forward an arrow of Black Blood or a wave of Vital Mana, merely releasing a shockwave with air pressure alone and in this way dodging the their Purifying effect.

Mark almost felt as if he was forgotten by the Being he hated the most in the World, scowling briefly before moving to Grug and proceding to rapidly bring him away from the red eyed one. “Even if Luna is adapting to fight against Flux, they should still be more than able to buy us enough time. Drink a Rising Potion, try to recover as much as possible but be ready to run away at any time.”
He almost ordered, his eyes hard because of the concentration he was under at the time, barely able to ear the assent coming from the exhausted Half-Dwarf, his brain working overtime to calculate how long the Lunarian would be distracted by the fight and in testing out various ways to bypass Aler’s measures, his scowl expanding in displeasure.

Meanwhile back between the one coming from the Plane of Flows and the one from the Moon, said battle restarted in full.
Luna watched her adversary with a smile growing on her face, understanding well that their use of the Purification Attribute, the Composite Attributes born from the combination of the Holy- and Light-Attributes, was being limited to only the water already under their control.
And almost as if they wanted to stop her from using her previous tactics of just using natural elements in their battle, thing quite useless considering how she already decided on experimenting in searching another way to bypass the Purification-Attribute Infused water, was now surrounded by sixteen orbs of water floating around their body that continuously released high-speed jets of water towards the Lunarian.
Said target watched carefully the projectiles flying towards her before rising various different shields for each of the bullets, some made by Vital Mana, others by Mana or Vital Energy alone, even more by Black Blood, solid shadows or blood and finally others were created using Aura alone.
This was naturally only because she wanted to test out the exact properties of the Purification-Attribute involved.
The bullets rained down upon the shields, leading her to smile wide at the results and the new informations she gained with her latest move, observing how all of them, except for some of the shield made by shadows, were quickly being broken down and dissolving.

“I see.” Luna said calmly, her lips forming a smile. “This Purification-Attribute was Altered. My Vital Energy, Mana and especially my Aura should not be affected by a natural Purification. Meanwhile the only shadow shields being destroyed were those made by my own shadows, those made by other shadows being left completely unscathed. This is an Anti-effect.”
The Spirit didn’t react to her voiced understanding, merely sending forth a new volley of bullets that smashed against a new wall of shadows that emerged from around the Lunarian, unwillingly confirming her theory.
“Let’s see.” She casually continued on with her explanation, a playfull expression on her face. “This is not an Anti-Vampire effect as it would not affect me in that case. Similarly this is too intense for it to be Anti-Vampiric. It’s impossible to make an Anti- Ability without enough experience with the subject matter so this is not Anti-Moon as neither the Spirit nor their Summoner would have enough intimate knowledge about it and it would still be too wide in its Range.
“The narrower a Range, the more intense the Anti- effect and otherwise. They are not using any Mana or Vital Energy to maintain the effect...” She was reasoning aloud, the playfull light in her eyes reaching an apex as she finally reached the answer that was obvious to her by this point. “It's clear now that this is an Anti-Luna Effect, isn’t it? The time until your entrance was to make sure you all had enough information to create this Effect.”

Soon after her words, she returned to the attack by doing something that she didn’t do in so very long.
Shadows erupted from around Luna, none of them her own, before stretching towards the Spirit, impaling them in various places before branching off to violently rip their body apart, forcing the Flowing Spirit to recall the droplets back into form and in this way stalling them from launching their own attacks, at least for a little while longer.
As the water accumulated again in their form, they hurriedly shifted away, dodging the next waves of shadow spikes, their processing too busy dodging to properly find the Lunarian, Lunarian that took advantage of it to simply vanish entirely from their Senses.
Yet this absence lasted only a couple of terribly long seconds as the ground underneath the humanoid mass of water erupted, the living Singularity having appeared from beneath them and launching a punch right to the Spirit’s abdomen equivalent.
Luna hissed, feeling the skin and flesh of her right arm slowly starting to be dissolved too yet not being detered at all, a smile growing on her face as she punched again and again, forcefully healing herself after every single one of her strikes to try and adapt to the Anti-Luna, Purifying Effect itself; her eyes glowing ever brighter as the grey flame she previously created tried to devour her from the inside out.

Notes:

Chapter 97: Chapter 96

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

664 10/11 3:01 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Luna’s fists rained down upon the humanoid mass of glowing pure water, steam leaking out from her fists as they were being rapidly dissolved and rebuilt, every single one of her punch sending the Spirit hurling back as shockwaves were being released from her whole body with each of her movements, battering Flux constantly.
After slamming her feet hard on the ground, she twisted in on herself, shadows coating her limbs before whipping forward in twin, simultaneus blows towards both their heart- and head-equivalent, shadows erupting violently from her fists and ripping the humanoid mass apart.
The droplets forming previously their body pulled themselves back together, the previous rush of attacks having left little lasting damage beyond their use of their Contractor’s Energy to speed up their reuniting.
On the other hand Luna had lost around 10% of her Vital Mana as a conseguence for the two Vows that she broke, their benefits being nullified completely and being unable to restore her Oaths for a whole seven days.
‘It’s a real shame that I broke both of the two Vows when breaking only reguarding my Black Blood would have been far better, saving 5% of my Vital Mana and letting me maintain my Vital Mana Efficiency, Recovery and Control or especially my ability to create a False Domain based on it. On the other hand, I needed to test out the characteristics of their Purification… Ah, how fun.’ She smiled sharply, glad for the challenge, her eyes focused on the Spirit before her.

She didn’t wait, not even a second passing between the two separating that she exploded forward, spinning in mid-air to launch an axe kick aimed on separating the Spirit’s body in half.
Flux allowed the kick to land on them without any resistance, opening before closing down around her leg, sticking it in place and starting to dissolve it gradually, sixteen orbs of glowing water moving around Luna and aiming right at her, sending a rain of bullets towards her body while swinging their arms as a pair of whips to grab onto the Lunarian’s arms, stopping her in place and starting to dissolve her from there too.
Luna smiled even wider, her fangs shining as she prepared to test out another, very promising theory on how to fight back more properly against the decomposition, and more effectively fight back against the Purification-Attribute itself.
From around her body pulsed a wave of Counterspell, her Aura flaring wildly and precisely surrounding and containing the wave in a single point, detonating in a wave that washed over the two of them in an instant, the glowing within the Spirit flickering and dying, even if this was only temporary.
Luna’s Aura flared up violently, freeing herself from the Flowing Spirit’s hold and simultaneusly releasing a shockwave that battered the bullets of water away from herself.

The white haired one easily landed on her feet, her Aura surging around her before detonating in a wave of force that sent the water forming the one coming from the Plane of Flows all over the place, leaving her more than enough time to think how exactly she could properly deal with it.
‘Their body is made of normal water, physical force is not an effective measure to fight them, merely a way to buy some time while they recover. However because they are made of natural water, there are other, more effective way to fight back.’ Her eyes opened wide.
Luna stood up, her Aura flaring around her hands before they joined together, breathing in once and concentrating deeply.
If she had accessed Ash or Core’s assistance, or even if she was still able to expand her False Domain, what she planned on doing would be incredibly easy for her to do, yet this newfound difficulty served only to excite her even further.
Her Aura concentrated, vibrating and heating up until it turned into violent flames that started to surround the red-eyed one in an instant before they were condensed in a sphere that started to float around the Vampiric one, a rough mirror to the Spirit’s very own spheres.

Flames erupted, being condensed by using No-Attribute Magecraft into a long and thin beam that pierced right through the wall that Flux hurriedly rose for their own defenses, water rapidly starting to evaporate as the heat she unleashed caused their reforming body to start boiling as the Spirit’s Vessel involuntarily trembled because of the heat involved.
Flux’s water body rippled sideways, moving to dodge the heat while at the same time using Energy to cool down their body to try and increase the water’s Resistance towards heat in on itself.
Water bullets rained down upon the Lunarian, being deflected away by her Aura that hardened in a manner that resembled the solidity innate to the Earth-Attribute.
Soon it started vibrating around her body faster and faster and falling down upon the Spirit in a series of lightning bolt-like strikes that led ever more of their water to evaporate under the might of her attacks, finding themselves needing to retreat fast and needing to use their water to conduct the electricity away from themselves.
Soon Luna started to experiment even more, changing the properties of her Aura to match the sharpness innate to the Air-Attribute and causing a rain of slashes to fall down upon the Spirit, having little effect however as they were naturally not very effective against a living mass of water.

‘Hey, Sabel, can you send me what you feel while using the Light-Attribute?’ She sent out to her Human Mate, her eyes lighting up once she recieved the almost instinctive, because she was quite busy at the moment, message from her dear swordwoman, one of her Parallel Selves starting to work on decoding the recieved memories, separating the feeling of the Attribute from those of their owner.
Meanwhile another one of her Parallel Selves was working on studying the way the Spirit used the water, the third was concentrating on how she could manipulate shadows more effectively, with the fourth and final of the available ones being the one in their constant state of Deep Meditation.
Luna dashed towards the Spirit, her Aura focusing around her right hand in a blade and starting to heat up and vibrate more and more violently, sharpening and at the same time hardening, a rough way to use the four Attributes she was by this point quite familiar with thanks to her Familiars together in a single whole.
The Auric Blade flashed forward, Luna being carefull to use no Vital Mana or Black Blood, experimenting what she could do with manipulation of Aura alone.
Her sword flashed faster and faster, thrusting it and slashing into the Spirit’s body, the temperature and electricity contained within the Aura evaporing more and more of their Vessel’s materials, driving them back continuously as she ripped them apart, her use of Aura refining itself swing after swing.

Luna lowered herself to dodge a water whip, her fist clad in her Aura smashing into the Spirit’s chest, forcing them to retreat rapidly to make sure that they lost the least amount of water in the fight. “I see, so this is how it works.” Luna commented calmly, her eyes flashing.
Luna’s Auric Blade flexed, changing its properties to become almost liquid in its texture, acquiring access to the fluidity natural to the Water-Attribute, swinging upwards and easily cutting off both of the “arms” owned by Flux thanks to aforementioned unpredictability.
Her progress thereafter instead of slowling down because of the addition of a new Attribute to her previous set, especially considering how she theorically had the least amount of experience with that one, instead accelerated as she took advantage of her experience with manipulating blood and Black Blood to compensate for said absence.
Luna laughed outloud, her newly no longer engaged Parallel Self starting to examine her memories of the Curse- and Holy-Attributes, memories that were irrevocability linked together in her case considering how both her two more relevant connection with them, Amber and Mafel, had access and often used both of them simultaneously.

Flux did not waver, responding by sending down towards the Lunarian a rain of sharp water blades, slowing her down just enough for them to disassemble in a mass of water and reform themselves far away from the red-eyed one, beyond her immediate reach.
As the white-haired one made to follow them, she was suddently struck by a violent jolt, flinching briefly as Mark struck her with an immediate lightning bolt from outside of the Range of her Senses, an attack that traded most of its destructive power for sheer speed, enough to surpass her reaction speed, even if only slightly.
Luna soon rebalanced herself, swinging her Aura upwards in a claw to bat away the blonde’s falling form, an Auric Spear being launched to try and impale him in the stomach, blurring left to evade a jet of high-speed water coming from the Flowing Spirit.
“Oh, you are still here?” She casually asked towards the blue-eyed one, half as a genuine question and half purely to attack him emotionally, just because she could and felt like it.
After all if he were to lose his cool, she could potentially remove an important future threat much sooner that she came to expect and she would gain a lot of data thanks to his nature as a Regressor.
Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for his Party, he was way too experienced thanks to his Time Walker Unique Skill for so transparent a ploy to work, beyond just pissing him off.
As sparks accumulated around his body and the Spirit returned to glow, as the effect of her Counterspell on them was finally no longer able to suppress their Purification-Attribute, and Luna enveloped her Aura in a dense layer of solid shadows to try and protect it from the Purification effect, something moved in the shadows of the battle, at the moment yet unseen.

Notes:

Series this work belongs to:

Part 1 of Strange Moon

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