346. Return of Radiance
346. Return of Radiance
***
As the sword wreathed in pure-white aura carved beautifully through space, it soon produced new light in an instant.
SWISH!
The light crossed the space in a flash, and Serin met it with acrobatics bordering on the miraculous, countering the light without a single inch of error.
She did so by gripping the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight directly and meeting it head-on. To anyone watching, it was an utterly reckless act, and clashing a sword against the blade of a Crescent-Moon Weight looked dangerous.
The blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight had a shorter reach than even a dagger. Meeting the aura that surged in like a flash of light every moment with that blade seemed not just unrealistic but bizarre.
It was something everyone would deny even as a theoretical exercise.
Clang! Clang! Clash!
Serin was making all of it real. Massive shockwaves erupted continuously from the space where moonlight and pure-white aura collided, enveloping them, yet Zernati showed neither surprise nor alarm at Serin's acrobatic movements.
From Zernati's perspective, she was a being capable of even this.
But on the other hand,
Serin, who was rapidly swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight to counter, was far from composed.
'There's definitely... a difference.'
Compared to the Zernati in my memories, and compared to myself back then.
By any measure, an undeniable, enormous difference existed.
I had past experience watching and responding to Zernati's sword.
Reading the sword's trajectory and countering with the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight itself was not difficult.
But the aftermath that followed could not be ignored.
Massive shockwaves kept erupting from the space where the Crescent-Moon Weight and aura collided, continuously transmitting impact to me.
Originally, I should have neutralized even that, but... for now, the situation felt ambiguous.
BOOM!
Then, as Zernati released his energy as if detonating a massive force, I blocked the aftermath and was sent floating through the air. Even as I spun my body to disperse the force, I kept my eyes on him.
The silver knight calmly met my gaze, still radiating aura.
He neither launched himself after me nor fired his aura at me.
That composure made me grip the Crescent-Moon Weight until it seemed it would shatter. I bit my lip hard and assessed the situation objectively.
'Stay calm.'
Compared to the equipment and various traits I had possessed in Black Ark, I was incomplete. However, my proficiency with the Crescent-Moon Weight and my enlightenment itself were higher than back then, so I had thought I would not be pushed back. But Zernati was stronger than I had expected.
To put it bluntly, that was why this gap was occurring now.
Tap.
The moment I landed, I lightly kicked off the ground again. Zernati appeared right in front of me almost as if by magic.
At that speed, worthy of his epithet "the Flash," I swung the Crescent-Moon Weight without room to breathe, and the exchange continued.
As I swung the Crescent-Moon Weight without even a small opening to deploy a skill, my thoughts naturally drifted to one thing.
Using my Awakening Skill, True Moon Princess.
'But...'
It was still Phase 3.
Phase 4 lay ahead, and Zervallua, the Beast of Destruction I would have to face, was in Phase 5.
Was it right to use my Awakening Skill now?
At that moment.
—!
As I forcibly countered a massive diagonal slash of pure-white aura, the ground burst apart as if a huge force had exploded, and my form was floating in the air again.
Damage had accumulated from the continuous shockwaves, and my HP gauge could not keep up even with the regeneration of Moon Princess state.
My HP gauge had already dropped below half.
And unlike before, when he had watched with composure, Zernati now pressed the attack, and white flashes surged in repeatedly as if severing the air.
—Single Kick.
Urgently spinning my body and kicking off the space, I deftly twisted the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight to face forward and poured energy into it.
ZZZZZT!!
The pure-white aura that arrived in an instant rebelled fiercely against the Crescent-Moon Weight as if trying to swallow the blade, but I deftly deflected it, letting it slide off the blade.
The aura's trajectory was skillfully diverted.
Whoosh!
The white aura blazed brightly as it passed between strands of my fluttering silver hair.
Then Zernati withdrew his sword and immediately assumed a special stance, thrusting the sword forward as if extending it toward me.
Tap.
The instant I landed on the ground, my body reacted before I could think.
—True Moon Princess (眞月姬).
Pure white light burst from beneath my feet, and brilliant moonlight warmly enveloped my entire body. Then a massive power surged through me, and I had no time to register that my appearance had changed.
I swung the Crescent-Moon Weight forward and urgently deployed a skill.
—Moonlight Heaven-Breaking.
Moonlight erupted from the Crescent-Moon Weight, brightly illuminating the space, and it met the incoming white flash, exploding into a massive burst of moonlight.
The erupted moonlight seemed to split into hundreds, thousands of branches, then soon coalesced into a single enormous beam of moonlight and shot forward.
As it met the flash, the two forces canceled each other out and annihilated each other in an instant, almost anticlimactically.
Fwoosh... WHOOOOSH!
From the canceled forces, a great burst of light scattered, and a fierce wind exploded outward.
And at the sight of the knight beyond, I let out a small breath.
My changed appearance now had silver hair cascading down to my legs, covering my body, but my heart was heavy.
'...I ended up using it.'
I had wanted to save the Awakening Skill for Phase 5. Or at least use it in Phase 4. All of that had fallen apart.
Zernati, meeting my gaze, slowly parted his lips.
"So you finally reveal your full strength."
As Zernati's cold voice reached me, I nodded slowly without denying it.
What was there to hide now? I had no particular desire to hide it.
If I hadn't used the Awakening Skill, I would have kept being pushed back, and I would have had to use it eventually.
I decided to accept the situation instead.
Thinking about it now, expecting an easy victory against Zernati had been nothing but greed.
"..."
I glanced to one side of my vision, and a notification caught my eye.
[Unique Domain]
As the state called Unique Domain, created by the current duel, entered my view, a small pang of regret arose.
'If only it weren't for the Unique Domain...'
If not for that, I could have used "Moonlit Night," the special skill of the mythic Crescent-Moon Weight, Moonlight, instead of my Awakening Skill.
But I soon shook my head and let go of the lingering regret.
An untimely silence hung in the air, and the fierce exchange from moments ago felt like a dream as neither of them moved. Compared to the relentless onslaught from before, the gazes they fixed on each other now held a deep chill.
Then, without either being first, they raised their weapons.
Two massive streams of light began to embroider the space fiercely, illuminating it.
***
TSJ headquarters. Yoo Eunha's private room.
Eunha and Seola, who had been watching Serin's stream, had stopped talking at some point.
"..."
"..."
No, to be precise, from the moment the duel between Zernati and Serin began, the two women had been watching the stream as if entranced.
For raid content, the broadcast screen was split, making it possible to view each party member's perspective, and they could select which user's view they wanted to see. But their gazes remained fixed on one woman, as if locked there, and did not change.
—Rin.
Even though the stream had already been going for nearly three hours, the two women watched only Serin. They paid no attention to the rapidly scrolling chat window, keeping their eyes on Rin's movements.
BOOM! BOOM!
Massive explosions rang out continuously, and Rin and the knight called Zernati exchanged blows without pause on the screen.
As Rin moved as if blinking, riding the moonlight that brilliantly illuminated every corner of the space, the knight wreathed in pure white caught up to her like a flash of light.
Brilliant moonlight and white flash—two different clusters of light—resonated with each other as they crazily wove through the space, clashing, and in the process, the space was devastated by the aftermath of their immense power.
And even while watching the stream, Eunha could not hide her astonishment at how new things kept appearing around Serin.
'Even this knight called Zernati is a being I've never seen before.'
When the status window had appeared, his movements and combat sense had felt alive, as befitting an S-grade knight.
Compared to the S-grades she had seen before, he seemed even higher in level. That was how it looked.
The trajectories of the sword and Crescent-Moon Weight, thrust toward each other's vital points, clashed fiercely without a shred of mercy, and in a span of time hard to call even a few minutes, hundreds of exchanges had occurred.
It was a brutal situation where it would not be strange for the match to end at any moment, or for either of them to be gravely wounded. It was like trading blades on the edge of a sword.
Even in the midst of it, Serin on the screen shone even more brilliantly. Perhaps she was gradually adapting to the Moon Dancer class as time passed.
Serin's attacks were sharper and more ferocious, and her movements were utterly natural.
While watching the stream like that.
"Eunha, do you think Rin can win?"
At Seola's cautious voice, Eunha nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on the screen.
"It's Rin. She'll win."
Then she spoke as if asserting it as fact.
The movements of Zernati as he thrust his sword on the screen were clearly extraordinary even at a glance. But they could not quite reach Serin.
The white aura that kept cleaving through space but never touched.
Even as it surged in with countless variations, dizzying the eye, Serin met it with even more variations of her own.
How was that possible? Curiosity arose, and her heart pounded loudly in her chest.
'Serin has definitely gotten stronger.'
The moment she thought that, an irrepressible smile formed on her lips without her realizing it.
Because she was not the only one growing.