Chapter 906: Lunatic Lunations |
“Giving me the first strike?” Astelia asked the tournament master, who stood resolutely in place down below, a hand on the handle of his sheathed sword. “Don’t regret it.”
Astelia held two extended fingers at the ready, Moons’ rune briefly flashing at her fingertips. She sent all of her flying swords flying down toward the tournament master, creating a series of deafening bangs as they pierced the sound barrier.
Waxing Crescent.
Astelia’s flickering form appeared atop the stairs behind the tournament master, instantly unleashing a curved blade of moonlight
[Directionless Hegemony] pressed down on the enemy, preventing him from easily turning around, Astelia layered her spells together, leaving very little room for defense.
The tournament master did not seem surprised. A giant silver shield appeared behind his back, protecting him from the moonlight blade, and the momentum the attack transferred to him was enough that he could push through [Directionless Hegemony]’s control with minimal effort, jumping up and out of the trajectory of the rain of swords flying toward him.
Under Astelia’s control, the swords turned mid-air, following him. Finally unsheathing his own weapon, he parried each and every flying blade that reached him, his thin longsword tracing silvery arcs through the sky.
Astelia appeared behind him again. As if having predicted it, the tournament master spun through the air, his sword tracing a clean semi-circle, cleaving straight through her waist.
First Quarter.
He blocked the kick with one hand, while a silver hatchet replaced the sword in the other, immediately sent flying toward a seemingly random point in space.
[Directionless Hegemony] stopped the hatchet centimeters away from Astelia’s face. Her upper body appeared first, and her lower body was teleported to it an instant later, free of injury.
The tournament master on the other hand, had switched his attention back to the flying blades that constantly attempted to backstab him. He flawlessly blocked them one after the other with calm sword strokes. “Is that all you can do?” he asked as he flew around like this, not letting a single attack even scratch his armor.
Astelia smiled. Such a cheap taunt coming from someone who fought so cleanly was amusing.
“I am just getting started.”
With a flick of her wrist, Astelia sent all of her swords flying straight up into the stratosphere, while a genuine sword appeared in her hands, the result of an unexpected collaboration between Erredis and the Vampire Queen, an Asterite-Mithrium blade.
Astelia teleported right in front of the tournament master, and their swords clashed.
[Weight of the Moon].[Gates].
Their styles were complete opposites. The tournament master unleashed an endless flurry of swift strikes, attacking from all angles, relentlessly, taking constant steps forward through the air and putting more and more pressure. On the other side, Astelia defended with minimal movements, her sword barely ever leaving its neutral stance, instead, she used short bursts of [Directionless Hegemony] on her opponent’s blade to kill the momentum of strikes she could not properly deflect, chained short-distance teleportations to give herself openings to strike back with straight stabs. Her armor took a few hits, never fully cutting through, while she managed to land a few jabs at the articulations of the tournament master’s armor.
After a full minute of constant exchange, they had flown over half the city, the shockwaves created from their attacks leaving it a pile of smoking ruins, yet neither had landed a single solid blow.
The tournament master jumped back. “Exhilarating. But enough of that. The real fight starts now.”
An array of flying weapons appeared behind the tournament master. His sword was enveloped in bright divine light, and was joined by a huge war-hammer coursing with electricity, a bow encased in thick ice, a pair of flaming daggers, and a tall wooden scepter covered in green vines and leaves.
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His hands clenched into fists, the tournament master and his weapons attacked in conjunction.
Astelia stood still as the attacks arrived. She felt no need to change her plans. If anything, she appreciated how straightforward this final fight was.
She activated [Sunless Infusion],coating her sword with a dark glow, and switched to a high guard.
The tournament master came at her with a straight punch while all the other weapons attacked. Astelia feigned defending, only to teleport back at the last second, causing the tournament master to impale his fist against the tip of her blade instead. The [Sunless Infusion] helped it pierce his armor.
The downside of this move was her inability to avoid the following strikes from the weapons, so she had to make it count.
Waxing Gibbous.
A straight trait of moonlight shot through her sword, piercing through the tournament master’s arm and shoulder as the weapons collapsed on her.
Vines pinned her in place, the daggers stabbed her hands, a frozen arrow hit her head, the sword cut off her legs, and the hammer crushed her chest.
[Gates].
A spatial gate cut the space between her and the staff, slicing off the plant magic, leaving her free to teleport again as soon as the short cooldown of [Flicker] was over.
She teleported as far as she could manage, reappearing above a lake far away from the city. Her body quickly healed, her legs regrowing explosively as the ones she had left behind disappeared into a mist of mana. Her wounds closed, her chest inflated back to normal, and the ice covering her head quickly melted from the heat of her burning blood.
He will be here soon.
Astelia could tell the tournament master was still far from going all out, so she slowly built up her [Lunatic lunation] phases while also keeping her trump cards for later. She had a bad feeling that her current hardship to inflict any damage at all was only the beginning of the struggle.
Sofia held her breath watching Astelia fight above the lake reflecting the moonlight. The tournament master’s enchanted weapons kept putting more and more pressure on Astelia, who had to carefully conserve her mana and stamina.
Such a methodical fight.
It’s like he’s testing her point by point.
Offense, defense, duel, group fight.
She barely takes any damage but the same goes for him. She’s starting to get overwhelmed.
Survive just a bit more Asty! We trained this move together, almost there!
Over time the tournament master added more weapons. First the shield flew off of his back, flying around and giving him extra protection, then a flail joined the dance, each strike accompanied by concussive bursts of wind, and a musket came last, firing dangerous shots of pressurized water that left deep bumps in Astelia’s armor.
It was clear to everyone watching that the vampire was starting to really struggle, she had a hard time just fending off the endless attacks, not to mention striking back.
It was too much. Her mana started to run out, and the tournament master gave her no room to breathe. Just as she barely avoided an arrow and a sword strike, a high knee sent her flying like a rag doll.
It’s not… Over.
As her opponents chased her to deliver the finishing blow, a giant Moon rune enveloped Astelia’s body.
FULL MOON! [Celestial Realm]! [Gates]!
A smaller copy of the actual moon appeared, like an illusory cocoon enveloping Astelia. The tournament master’s attacks bounced off of the silvery illusion as Astelia quickly recovered to her prime fighting form, her mana replenished and her fatigue gone in an instant, washed away by the moonlight.
The space horizon beyond the lake disappeared, encased between an hexagon of giant teleportation gates lining all sides, the lake was turned into an infinite prison only a space mage could easily escape.
Stuck in the center of the [Celestial Realm], the tournament master started to take continuous pure mana damage, his flying weapons deteriorating at a rapid pace, eroded by the moonlight. Instead of trying to flee, he redoubled his efforts to attack, unleashing everything he had against the illusion of the moon, which started to crack.
His punches were not as devastating as Tartaros’, but there was hardly anyone at this level who would dare claim to stand between the two of them. Adding to that the weapons that burned their remaining mana to fully unleash their elemental powers now that they were going to disappear anyway, the illusion was not going to hold for long.
But Astelia stood calmly in the center of the transparent moon, eyes closed, her mana pulling on invisible strings, strenuous connections to the heavens above.
The tournament master finally noticed the movements of her mana. He looked up in understanding, and, seeing no escape, unsummoned all the other weapons and raised his shield, infusing it with all the mana he had left.
Astelia opened her eyes.
