Chapter 363: Polar Bear

Luna’s claw cut through the frigid air as it descended towards the bears flank, at the same time 4 illusory copies of Luna appeared all around the beast and swiped down simultaneously.

Yet the bear was not one to be easily caught, its fur instantly bristled with a thick coating of ice as vicious spikes of that same ice sprouted all along its body.

The bear didn’t both to defend more than that, trusting in its sturdy defences to protect itself from the sudden attack. Instead it opted for going on the offense.

Luna, along with 2 of her other illusions managed to strike the ice armour of the bear, one of her illusions hitting an ice spike and shattering upon impact. As for Luna and the other copy they managed to impact the beast, yet only left shallow gashes in the impressive armour.

As for the other two illusions, they were on the receiving end of the bears attacks.

Its jaws clamped down on the copy that appeared before it, whilst a thick spear of ice impaled the other that had appeared to its right side. Both illusions shattering instantly upon impact.

Luna grimaced slightly at that, having lost 3 of her 4 illusions near instantly in her opening move, meanwhile she only managed to inflict superficial damage to the beasts armour, not even impacting its actual body.

Still, this was something that Luna had long accepted about how she fought.

She was not like Violet who attacked with overwhelming force right from the get go. No, Luna took a more methodical approach when dealing with sturdy foes.

She would flitter around them, slowly building up momentum and power with her chain strike skill. She steadily built up her power to the point that her ever atta k was able to pierce through her foes defences. Only then would Luna go in for the kill.

In the meantime she bided her time, slowly chipping away at her foe, staying just out of reach and limiting how often she would receive a retaliatory attack.

Yet despite Luna’s natural acclimation to this type of combat, it was still a risky endeavour. A single mistake could spell disaster for the leopard, so she relied on skill and speed to evade attacks, landing an attack of her own at ever opportunity she created.

Yet now Luna had an entirely new paradigm to consider in this battle, one she had only just unlocked. That of domains.

It was a strange thing to consider battling whilst their domains also clashed.

It was a direct contest of will, as opposed to the more physical aspect of the primary battle. Not to say that fighting lacked the use of ones mind or will, but it was undeniable that the domain side of the engagement was silly reliant on will.

So Luna engaged in this two pronged fight.

Her body blinked around the beast, landing the odd attack, all the while her illusions distracted and tried to capture the attention of the bear.

Simultaneously an array of ice weapons manifested, they floated around Luna and the bear, constantly lashing out to strike at the bear or try to divert an incoming attack.

The ice weapons ensured that the illusions had enough support to not instantly be shattered anymore. Their presence never allowing the bear to fully commit to any action without fear of reprisal.

Not that the bear necessarily feared reprisal. It was a sturdy beast, its defences were one of its strongest points and as such it it did not have to worry about defending as much as most beasts.

Instead the bear would lash out any everything in its way. Constructs of ice being created by it in a simple yet brutally effective manner.

Their was little to no grace in how the polar bear controlled its ice. It was simple and straight forward.

A wall of ice there to block a handful of swords aimed at its flank. A row of frozen spikes emerging from the ground to impale an approaching illusion.

Then came the domain side of the battle.

Whilst Luna sought to infiltrate the bears domain before reinforcing her position, only then branching out to lay siege to another part of the domain. The bear took a much simpler approach.

The polar bear was a creature of strength, straight forward strength. It did not bother with petty tricks or anything as convoluted as strategy.

For what need did the bear have of strategy when it could just overwhelm any plans put before it with brutal efficiency.

Its will would condense, then lash out at the nearest fortification that Luna erected. It would crash straight through the somewhat flimsy defences and reclaim the territory from the Arctic leopard.

Yet that was fine with Luna, for whilst the beast would focus entirely on the simple fights, she would instead strike at a separate location, only putting up a token resistance to ensure that the bear did not back down from the strike and instead fully committed.

It was similar as to how Luna fought the physical battle.

She would appear at its side or back, lash out with a quick strike before dancing away as the bear unleashing a furious counterattack.

It was a delicate balance, one that Luna thrived in.

She appeared at the bears flank once again, this time her tail lashing out as a vicious blade of ice encased the fluffy limb.

This time the blade sheared through several of the meter long spikes that dotted the bears ice armour, at the same time it dug deep into the flesh underneath the armour, drawing blood against the enemy sovereign for the first time.

The bear responded with a brutal spike of ice that rose from the ground, Luna being forced to react instantly tho the incoming attack.

Her body twisted in an impossible way, narrowly allowing for the spike to harmlessly pass by her. Then a halbard forged from ice struck down on the raised paw of the bear as it went to swipe out at one of her copies.

The halbard narrowly managed to deflect the incoming strike, allowing for the illusion to slip past the strike and land a rapid blow of its own.

The fight dragged on like this, the bear being forced to be constantly adapt to Luna’s tempo, never able to break out of the flow that she had established

All the while Luna slowly but surely built up stack after stack of chain strike. Her power increasing with each attack she landed, be that with her own body, one of her illusions or even from one of the multitude of weapons left available.

Yet as Luna was continually altering how she fought, constantly working to maintain momentum and altering how she engaged each time.

The bear stuck to its simplistic approach, yet all the while the bear seemed to get more and more frustrated with ever passing moment.

Until, seemingly all at once the bear manifested that frustration at being unable to land a true attack against Luna. A bloody red aura surged from the beast as it unleashed a soul shaking roar that entirely banished the blizzard that still lingered around the two powerful combatants.

The bears power surged to unprecedented levels, each attack seemed to be imbued with that latent rage built up within it.

Yet even as this happened, Luna could only smile as she too upped the tempo of the battle.