Dark Moon

"Hold the line! Just hold them! Once I put this bastard down, I'll come help you!"

Mons bellowed.

I knew what he meant. He was saying it because I was a mage. By the common sense of this world, mages were weak in small-scale combat. The place where a mage truly blossomed — where that flower opened in full, beautiful bloom — was the battlefield of a large-scale war.

That's for ordinary mages, though.

Not every mage was the same. Some preferred small-scale fights. I was one of them.

KRAAANG!

Kayson, the third son of the Jupiter brothers, hammered his gauntleted fist against my barrier. A small explosion bloomed from the punch. Not gunpowder — something else. One layer of barrier shattered with almost insulting ease.

Magitech engineering?

Four barriers left.

BANG! KRAAANG!

One punch, one barrier gone. I figured out the gauntlet's secret. It wasn't just exploding. On contact with mana, it scrambled the array of the mana formula itself — injecting a kind of poison into the mana structure and destroying it in a single stroke.

A solid barrier broken in an instant. The efficiency was top-tier, no question.

Now I get why he cheered when he saw a mage. Mages are his prey.

The barrier was what let a mage contribute anything at all in small-scale combat. And he could smash that barrier like it was nothing? Ordinary mages would be so stunned they'd forget how to think. That gauntlet might as well have been a Dispel.

It'll do the same to every other spell, not just barriers.

So how do I fight him? Simple. Cast magic he can't touch with those gauntlets — while dodging his movements.

Fortunately, the barriers weren't completely useless. He wasn't ignoring them. At the very least, each one stopped a single blow.

KRAAAAAANG!

The last barrier shattered.

Kayson pulled his right fist back and grinned.

"You like shellfish? Me, I love lobster best of all. Cracking that hard shell and chewing the soft meat inside — pure delicacy."

Before he could swing at me, I used the spell I'd already prepared. Did he really think I'd just stand there watching my barriers break like an idiot?

An air explosion detonated right in front of him and flung him backward. A normal person would have been blown apart. He wasn't normal. His body's durability had to be at least rock-level.

"You little shit!"

Kayson, who'd been thrown back, came stomping toward me. By my standards, he wasn't fast. In game terms, it felt like his Vitality was maxed out while his Agility was less than half of that.

Kayson faltered.

"What the hell was that?"

THUD-THUD-THUD! He charged again.

I gave a bitter smile. I'd expected it, but I hadn't thought it wouldn't even slow his feet.

Microwave is a failed spell. Better to scrap it than keep refining it.

Kayson closed in. I backed off, opening the distance. He was slow by my standards — but still faster than me. I couldn't keep playing tag forever.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Kayson laughed and picked up speed. He was enjoying the chase.

I launched three spears of lightning. With telekinesis, I bent their trajectories to strike from the front and both flanks.

Two gauntlets. Even if he swats two Lightning Spears, what about the third?

Kayson punched the two spears coming from the sides. Small explosions bloomed, and the Lightning Spears collapsed and vanished. My improved Lightning Spear was supposed to detonate on impact and deal area lightning damage around the strike point — but the moment those gauntlets touched them, they failed and disappeared.

One spear left. Kayson did nothing and simply charged straight through it. He tanked the Lightning Spear with his body. It exploded, current lashing out in every direction — most of it pouring into Kayson himself.

"Grrrrrr…! That was a rush!"

"…You're a brute."

"I hear that from my brothers every day. Looking at the way you move, you're no ordinary mage… so I'll kill you with everything I've got."

Kayson thumped his own chest with a gauntleted hand.

Immediately, mana surged and roiled through his body.

A self-buff?

Not magic. Like the gauntlets, I figured it was magitech.

He hit his chest. A magitech heart?

Something Rose had said not long ago came back to me — that if you had enough money in this city, you could become massively strong. Looking at Kayson, I was more certain than ever that she'd been right.

Kayson kicked off the floor. He crossed ten meters in under a second, appeared in front ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of me, and swung.

KRAAAAANG!

The barrier shattered. His face twisted.

"What? When did you put that barrier up?"

"Maintaining a barrier is a mage's basics."

I blasted Kayson — who'd closed the gap — away. He shifted his center of gravity mid-flight and redirected himself upward. Planting both feet on the ceiling, he bent his knees, then launched and came screaming down at me.

In the slowed time, I locked onto the trajectory of Kayson's fist and calculated the formula. Once the calculation was done, I twisted my body and slipped past the punch. KRAANG! His fist cratered the floor. The ground gave way, revealing a dark underground space below.

"You dodged that? What the hell was that just now? How does a mage move like—"

I bound Kayson's body. It wouldn't last long — five seconds at best. But five seconds was enough. I had Charna.

I dragged a chunk of rubble in front of me.

Using alchemy, I temporarily transformed the stone into metal.

The metal that would serve as a bullet was small, and the distance was short, so the electromagnetic rail I could lay down with magic was brief. Not an environment where a railgun could show its full power. That didn't mean the power was weak. It was more than enough to punch through Kayson's body.

The railgun drove straight for Kayson's heart. I didn't aim for the head because I rated him highly — he was more likely to dodge a headshot.

Just before the round hit his chest, Kayson twisted his waist with raw force. He didn't fully clear it. The railgun pulverized his left shoulder. In the same motion, he kicked me in the gut. I barely managed to throw up a small barrier over my abdomen, but it was improvised — it couldn't fully ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠absorb the impact. I flew backward and hit the floor.

"Guh—!"

One kick, and I was coughing blood. Mage or not, the gap in physical ability was ridiculous. And for the record, that kick hadn't even been a proper, fully committed strike from Kayson.

…This is exactly why mages get called weak in small-scale combat.

A body absurdly frail next to a warrior's physique.

But in raw power and versatility… the mage still comes out on top.

I ignored the pain in my gut and got back on my feet.

"AAAAAARGH! My arm…!!! Big brother! That bastard took my arm!!!"

Kayson clutched his left shoulder, writhing in agony. Watching him, I was reminded of the past. When they'd injected me with Mana Essence, the pain had been beyond description. I'd genuinely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought I was going to lose my mind.

Thanks to that, ordinary pain barely registers anymore.

Before Kayson could fight through the pain, I pulled a metal round from my coat pocket.

ZZZZZT.

Brilliant blue lightning wrapped the bullet.

The accelerated round flew in a straight line and punched through Kayson's skull. It didn't stop there — it tore through the wall beyond and vanished into the night sky.

I wiped the blood from my mouth and turned my attention to the other fight.

"Kayson! You goddamn bastard!!"

Bald Jupiterain, the second son, roared at me in pure rage. He twisted toward me, ready to charge — but Mons stepped into his path.

"How rude. Don't ignore me."

I asked Mons,

"Need my help?"

"You've already helped enough. I'll take this one down myself."

Mons said it with full confidence. It wasn't bluster. Bald was covered in minor wounds; Mons was untouched. Anyone could see Mons had the upper hand.

"Mage. Go underground. The way Philip Jupiterain bolted down that secret passage… there's something down there. Go help the ninja and deal with Philip."

"Will do."

I headed for the secret passage behind the table.

"Stop right there!!"

Bald shouted after me. I ignored him and entered the passage. As I descended the stairs, I restored my barriers.

Five layers.

Stacking more than five wasn't efficient.

At the bottom of the secret passage, a corridor opened up.

This space wasn't on the blueprints I studied beforehand.

Those blueprints were from when the casino building was first constructed. Meaning this area had been built in secret after the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠casino was finished. It reeked of something dirty.

I walked the corridor. Broken machine wreckage littered the way. Looking closer, every piece was soaked with water.

Water.

That woman — Invisible Blade's work, no doubt.

How did she get into this space? Other than the secret passage, I don't see any entrance.

I remembered she was a ninja.

Infiltrating a place like this was exactly why they called her one.

WHIRRRRR.

The sound of machinery turning came from inside the walls. There might be another space behind them.

I spread a mana formula. It hit the wall and vanished. I stopped walking and examined the wall carefully.

They engraved part of a barrier formula into it to block detection.

Labor-intensive and expensive.

"You crazy bitch! Don't even think about dying clean…!!"

From ahead, a man's voice — thick with rage — thundered down the corridor. I stopped studying the wall and picked up my pace.

I shoved a leg through a half-destroyed steel door and stepped inside.

A laboratory. No — something closer to a mage's laboratory. Inside that space, a man and a woman were locked in combat.

A blond man with a clean center part, and a fox-masked female ninja in a skintight cyber suit that left nothing of her sensual figure to the imagination.

Philip Jupiterain, boss of the Jupiter Gang Alliance, and Invisible Blade.

Philip raised a hand and pointed at the female ninja. A massive bolt of lightning poured down like an energy beam, chasing her. She flipped through a dazzling series of tumbles and dodged it. In the same motion, she leveled her arm and swung with crisp precision.

Shuk-shuk-shuk.

Water shuriken formed in her palm and flew at Philip.