Chapter 131: The Black Moon Rises

Bouncing forward with light hops, swapping up her stance, and puffing out sharp breaths to flood her system with oxygen, Rachel waited until the last second as Conner cautiously scooted forward to find a grapple.

Flooding her thighs with power, she jumped to the ceiling, flipped around, and launched back to the legend’s back in quick succession. Landing, she spun out to trip him, only to be caught slightly off-guard when one of Conner’s legs gave way.

Caution bells went off in her gut, and she pulled her leg away, diving into a roll to get upright; he was trying to fake a fall to catch her leg under his shin and take away her momentum. So long as he was touching the glass, she wasn’t going to do any damage.

Flipping upright, Rachel dashed across the bars, kinetic energy keeping her stable as she ran around the legend before jumping from side to side. Rocketing around the cage, she aimed both of her feet to land against the back of his heel; he’d left an opening for her on purpose, but that was all a part of the plan.

All momentum leaving her the second she touched him, Rachel’s arms stabilized herself against his back, dodging a backward elbow and grabbing Conner by the waist. A grin spread across her lips as she picked him up to throw him against the ground, only for a wet sensation to crawl over her skin.

In disbelief, she felt her arms and hands slide right through the legend as she tumbled to the side, tucking to dive; she felt the slick substance condense around her hair, but she managed to yank it out before it fully solidified.

Chest heaving, Rachel’s vision widened as she saw Conner’s body partially liquified, slowly taking on a physical state again. "No way..."

He chuckled, flexing his strong fingers. "You didn’t think after everything I saw you do so far, and that mind of yours, that I wouldn’t think you’d try to pick me up? Babe, that was the first Feat I got when the opportunity came. Three tries! Three strikes!"

"Nia, go big!"

"On it!"

Conner’s gloves materialized, a wicked grin on his face as he smashed them together, Solar Energy pulsing out of them. Nia’s attributes reignited, causing her outfit to shimmer as the hammer appeared in Rachel’s hands. However, it wasn’t meant for the legend.

Delphinus darted for Nia, Conner shooting one ball of Solar Energy at the bar that would release his holy waters, and another at her. Rachel wound her arms back and chucked the maul like a frisbee, swiping away the solar ball and sending the spiked hammer’s flat end right into the surprised dolphin’s face.

Thrown off course, he struck a random bar, shattering it as Nia screamed a warrior’s cry, twisting to slam her heel into another. A rumble shook the cage as the bars grew into pillars, and their stage expanded to comfortably fit a boxing match between giants; Conner’s little ball barely left a dent against the thick glass, and Rachel grinned as Nia hopped onto the pillar next to the one she’d destroyed.

"You—what the..."

Hair drifting to the left, Rachel let herself flip into a free fall as gravity shifted, and she landed against one of the bars, Nia three pillars to her right.

"Nice work, Captain!"

"Sir, yes—eek!" Nia squeaked as a flurry of bullet-like rain fell around her. "Ouch! It stings!"

Rachel resummoned her hammer, spotting Delphinus scoop Conner out of the air before falling into the void through the bars; the dolphin broke the gravity-swapping bar as Nia shattered the size increase to the stage. If the peppering hail was hurting Nia past [Less is More], then it would probably make her bleed since the child was currently tankier with the Feat.

You got Delphinus?

"Leave him to me, Boss! Ack! I was spying out his powers while playing like a sneaky bunny!"

Attagirl. Well, let’s get this party started.

The dolphin carried Conner up toward his main water source as Nia ran for the ceiling to flip gravity again and chase after the pair. On the other hand, Rachel brought her hammer down hard on the pillar, causing cracks to run along it and brightening her weapon’s crystals. She managed to strike it one last time, running the fissures clean through before jumping into the void.

Nia touched the ceiling just as Conner jumped off his mount to punch through the giant pillar, sending a shockwave through the column, but his foot didn’t touch it, making him fall to the ceiling.

Gravity shifted for Rachel, her fall swapping to drop in parallel with the rails, and a burst of kinetic energy flung her back to slide across the ceiling; the bar she’d broken started to crumble, igniting a bright purple light inside all the pillars: she’d broken one of Shiva’s attributes, making the entire stadium more fragile.

Conner landed on his feet and broke his holy sea affix just as Nia and his dolphin clashed near him, and Rachel tossed her hammer at the Black Moon column; it shattered on contact, her weapon twinkling into dust to return to its storage. She was unable to summon it back for a second, finding a hidden internal timer after recalling it once already, but that didn’t matter.

Bright light glistened above them as the sea filled the heavens from their inverted position on the ceiling, holy water whipping up in waves as a solemn, purplish ring of negative energy spun into existence below.

Rachel felt a familiar pulse beat within her breast as the Black Moon’s unholy rays reached up like ten thousand invisible hands to pull her into their cursed embrace.

Delphinus disengaged to spin out of the ring, shooting into the heavens to pull down the holy water, but it didn’t matter; her large clover eyes changed to reflect the hollow hole in reality, pink leaves dyeing an orchid purple as the nightmare stilled her soul.

Breathing a slow stream of air, voices filled invisible spires just beyond the veil, the prayers for deliverance, aid, and hope reaching out to pull more unsuspecting victims into the hope-consuming abyss. A dark, slow corrosion twisted hope, breaking down heroes into the inevitable despair that claimed all those who came to understand the horrific truth of the Black Moon.

[Black Moon: Active]

[Curse of the Wise: Active]