Master of the Moon and Night (1)

"I can't believe a resort would have a training arena of this caliber…."

"It's a hunter-focused facility first and foremost, you see."

Diana let out a gasp of admiration the moment she stepped into the arena.

"Astonishing. This could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Magic Tower's security facilities."

It was worth having Wiz reinforce the durability to the absolute highest grade.

At this level, there would be no catastrophic accident of the arena collapsing mid-sparring.

"W-why do you keep dragging me along…?"

"It's a duel. You'd want someone watching to observe and confirm the results, wouldn't you?"

"…Hrk."

Ji Yeon-ha trudged over, whimpering pathetically.

The sight was so unlike her usual self that I nearly let a laugh slip out.

"By the way… are you serious?"

She drew close to me and whispered.

"Are you really going to duel Lady Diana? With Horizon on the line?"

"Yes."

"Have you lost your mind?! It's reckless!"

Even for her, this was no spectator's affair.

Ji Yeon-ha was the one responsible for designing Horizon's magic tools, after all.

Depending on how things went, her source of research funding could vanish entirely.

"I know you're strong. But Lady Diana is… she's a World Ranker!"

A name that never failed to appear when listing the strongest hunters in the world.

Ordinarily, facing her head-on would be a struggle, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠let alone dueling her.

'And that's exactly why.'

All the more reason I had to clash with her while the chance remained.

"Sitting still won't stop me from being attacked anyway. If that's inevitable, better to take the fight to her."

If Diana chose to squeeze Horizon deliberately, covering our tracks completely would be next to impossible.

Cutting off that possibility cleanly, here and now, was the tidier path.

"Still…."

"Don't worry."

I flashed an easy smile at Ji Yeon-ha, who was watching me with a worried expression.

"I have no intention of losing."

"Even now, if you hand Horizon over, I'm prepared to trade on the same terms as before?"

"I take it you dislike dueling me that much. Is it because you're afraid you might lose?"

"…What a joke."

Diana's expression turned grave as she took her stance directly across from me.

"Realistically, there's no way I lose. I'm a World Ranker, and you're an F-rank hunter."

At the same time, she released her mana in a threatening surge, weighing down the air across the entire arena.

"Even if you truly are an Irregular, the gap between us won't close so easily."

"That's something you only learn by clashing directly."

The world does, after all, contain eggs that shatter boulders.

"For all you know, I might beat you."

"Your pride borders on awe-inspiring."

She lifted her chin and smiled, as if the thought of her own defeat were simply inconceivable.

"Fine. But don't expect any mercy. I have no intention of going easy on you."

"Likewise."

I drew the Lance of the Pilgrim from my subspace.

Diana, too, pulled a silver-gleaming staff from her own.

And then, floating up at the center of the arena—

The duel-start notification.

I gave her no opening, igniting the Karma Flame at once.

Fwoooosh!

The Flame Soul dyed itself blood-red and transformed into the shape of a colossal arrow.

'Go.'

Blood Soul Arrow

The arrow launched in a single breath, hurtling straight for Diana.

"Just as I heard—you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wield skills that are hard to believe from a warrior-class hunter."

Yet without so much as a change in color, she poured her mana into her staff.

Brilliant moonlight spread in a rounded wave, forming a protective barrier.

KWAAAKABOOM!

Even with several Blood Soul Arrows striking true, the barrier didn't carry a single scratch.

I smirked as I stared at the mystical currents of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠energy floating around Diana.

'So that's it.'

Diana's power—Moonlight.

Like the blood the Knight of Sky-Sundering wielded, or Moss's dragon mana, it was mana transformation—mana reforged into a form optimized to its user.

'So she's truly reached that realm.'

Not every powerhouse achieves mana transformation.

But everyone who has is disgustingly strong.

'A transformed power is, in essence, the optimal shape for its wielder.'

It's easiest to think of it as a personal, exclusive weapon—one only that person can handle, one that displays transcendent performance in their hands alone.

That is precisely what makes mana transformation so formidable.

"Then, shall I attack as well?"

Diana smiled slyly and swept her staff through the air.

HWAAAAAA!

A massive volume of moonlight converged upon a single point, tracing a sleek line of light.

Moonlight: Shining Moon

A torrent of immense, power-laden moonlight crashed down upon me head-on.

Just looking at it, I could feel the destructive force carried in that light.

'What kind of output is that?!'

For what was clearly a casual probing shot, it was viciously lethal.

I immediately channeled my mana and shifted my footwork.

Shadowless Step

The light that missed me slammed into the mana field behind me instead.

KUGUGUNG!

A violent tremor rolled across the entire area.

Anything short of top-grade equipment would have been well within its rights to break apart from that blow alone.

'A monster, through and through.'

I would have to discard every instinct honed against ordinary mages.

The magic Diana deployed wasn't powered by mana—it was her own unique magic, invoked upon moonlight itself.

'Moonlight Magic.'

It would be considerably different from every mage I'd fought until now.

"So you don't fall in a single exchange."

"I have a reputation to maintain, you see."

"Hm~ Then how about this?"

As Diana snapped her fingers, countless swords of moonlight materialized behind her.

Moonlight: New Moon's Claws

Everything from tiny daggers to greatswords the size of a grown man.

The moonlit blades all leveled themselves at me in unison.

"Shred him."

At her command, the swords surged forward like a deluge of lances.

There was no blocking all of that.

'Which means—'

Interception was the only option.

'I truly didn't want to use this in front of people from the Magic Tower unless I had no choice, but.'

A World Ranker is simply not an opponent you can fight while carefully metering your strength.

Hissssss…!

I drew forth the power of the higher species from within.

Scales sheathed my body, and wings erupted from my back in an instant.

Leaping skyward, I manifested the authority through surging dragon mana.

Countless magic circles formed along both my flanks, violet mana shells loading into each one.

TUDUDUDU! KWAAKABOOM!

The mana shells fired and collided with the swords of moonlight.

Tremendous impacts detonated in quick succession as the two magics annihilated each other.

"Wha…?!"

Perhaps she couldn't believe her magic had been stopped cold.

Diana gaped, the air gone out of her.

"You… are you really a warrior-class hunter?"

"That's what it says."

"Lies! That form, that magic—it's…!"

Her jaw trembled faintly.

"…A dragon's. How on earth—"

"If you're curious, win and ask me."

I released the Draconification and settled back onto the ground.

"That is, if you can win."

"Ha! You've been needling me this whole time, haven't you?"

Diana stirred up a storm of moonlight and floated serenely into the air.

Behind her, a vast sphere of moonlight took shape.

'That is….'

A moon.

With the moon now at her back, Diana pointed her staff at the ground.

"As long as my mouth can still open, it doesn't matter if every bone in my body is broken, does it?"

She closed her eyelids and focused her mind.

"Descend, Polar Night."

The moment the words left her lips—

HOOOOOH!

In an instant, the entire space shuddered, and the scenery transformed.

Centered on the moon, the night sky bled outward like a watercolor painting, unfolding into a world of violet dusk.

"This is…."

A familiar sensation.

The feeling of being severed from the original world.

As though I'd stepped through a gate—the world itself had been overturned.

"A domain technique?"

The power of a domain was blooming at Diana's fingertips.

"To be precise, you could call it my signature—a creation modeled upon domain techniques."

Hearing her explanation, I could see how it differed from the domain techniques I knew.

A domain restricts a space and bestows effects upon it, exerting influence over a wide area.

Yet the territory Diana had unfurled carried no discernible effect at all.

"I agonized over it for a long time. What means could make a magic already incapable of perfection even more powerful?"

The night wind brushed through my hair.

The alien force mingled in the air set my nerves on edge.

"The answer is changing the battlefield. Lightning born from storm clouds outstrips a bolt from a clear sky. A flame that burns dry kindling is mightier than one igniting from nothing."

GOOOOOOOO!

The moon hanging in the night sky glowed with icy radiance, erupting with an explosive outpouring of moonlight.

"For moonlight shines brightest in the dead of night."

Lines of moonlight—at the very least three times more radiant than before—rained down in their hundreds, gouging the earth to ribbons.

"Kgh?!"

It was a scene reminiscent of divine punishment pouring down from the heavens.

I forced my way forward, threading through the seams in the light.

KUUNG! KWANG!

Even as she hurled attacks of this magnitude without pause, Diana looked utterly serene.

Isn't there any way to break through? Shattering the domain, for instance?

What is that, a cheat?

'If it were a proper domain technique, I could smash it one way or another.'

But this was Diana's signature magic.

Similar to a domain, yet built on an entirely different structure.

'An unbreakable domain, huh.'

Wouldn't that make it a strict upgrade over domain techniques in every way?

It doesn't vanish unless the caster herself wills it away?

'…As if such a thing could exist.'

If something like that had existed, it would have reached my ears before my regression, one way or another.

The fact that it hadn't meant only one thing.

'Unlike existing domain techniques, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it must carry a fatal flaw.'

Exploiting that flaw would be the first stair to defeating Diana.

"You won't win by running forever, you know?"

The corners of Diana's lips curled upward.

Moonlight: New Moon's Claws

A storm of moonlit blades—far more numerous than before—came pouring down like a squall.

"Tch."

I clicked my tongue and draped the aspect of the Yaksha over my body.

Nameless Spear Art

Tiger Havoc Ascension

Fangs that cleaved all creation carved gaps into the downpour of blades.

Fwoooosh…!

A relentless chain of flame-spear thrusts followed.

Flame Soul Moon Blade

Fire Stake: Chain

Pillars of fire stretched out toward Diana, who stood before the moon.

She frowned and unfurled her barrier of moonlight yet again.

KWAANG! KUNG!

The moonlight barrier blocked the Fire Stake perfectly.

"That one was almost useful."

Even so, the number of attacks that had touched her: zero.

Her barrier had apparently been reinforced as well—it was considerably sturdier now.

"But wouldn't you say it falls a bit short of beating me?"

KUUNG!

The light scattered by the moon struck me with brutal force.

"Kgh."

The crushing impact transmitted straight through to my core.

Still, refusing to yield, I ignited the Karma Flame once more and let it fly.

Flame Soul Thrown Spear

The spear of Karma Flame hurtled through the air in a streak.

Watching it come, Diana gave an annoyed flick of her staff.

"These won't work on me."

She raised her barrier.

The Flame Soul Thrown Spear sputtered out against it.

And at that sight, I—

"…Just as I thought."

broke into a knowing smile.

"Here's the trick."