The Crepuscule Night was a skill meant to make night fall in any location. Whether it was during the day, underground, underwater, or in a world without a sky; the night would fall.
The truth was that it called upon the Realm of Twilight, the forgotten land of Tiamat, as well as what Nyx’s first Sub-Path skill relied on. But it did not fully invoke it. The real Twilight rejects life that lives with time, summoning it onto oneself is paramount to suicide.
However, there is one specific kind of invocation that allows a workaround.
“A Half-Dimension,” Zasha remarked as he looked around. The cityscape of Zero was still there, but it had been altered beyond recognition. The lights had turned off, the people had disappeared, and the buildings were now covered with vegetation, moss, and vines.
The sky had turned into a mass of writhing shadows, sometimes blinking like red stars, and then pooling into an inverted well of darkness, below which a full moon was hanging.
A Half-Dimension was a spell that partially manifested a dimension into the real world. This meant that this scenery currently existed both in reality and its source dimension. As a matter of fact, it was due to this small detail that one could still hear noises coming from outside or even see fading silhouettes akin to wandering ghosts.
“So…? What is this supposed to--?!” The scorpion interrupted himself once he focused back on his opponent. He reflexively took a step back as bone-snapping noises echoed in the air.
Obfuscated by the shadows of the Half-Dimension, a silhouette twisted and grew. Turquoise fur grew and tails sprouted out to join the other five already there. Then, completing the set, the third pair of wings was unfurled.
“Ah… I should have realized. Those wings,” Zasha said as he quietly clenched his fists to his side at the same time, feeling the influence of his magic returning. “Krow brought us information about it; of how the eminent Rakna Xiorra was a tailed werewolf with eagle wings. In the end, my hunch was right and Ranka was an anagram. A bit bold of you, no?” He chuckled but the werewolf didn’t reply.
The transformed creature’s purple eyes shone with power, the light of the moon wrapping around it and forming a protective membrane.
“The full moon, huh?” Zasha muttered under his breath as he glanced at the sky. “A werewolf with nine tails… as impossible as it sounds, what would happen if they were affected by it?”
His question was carried by the breeze and when the echo of his last word completely faded, the werewolf’s body blurred before disappearing, reemerging higher up in the air with his six wings emitting silver dust.
Zasha shuddered and looked up to see a crystal disc manifesting at the tip of Sonata’s blade, whose form had already been switched to a Guandao a second prior.
“[Cataclysm of the Celeste. Spinning Untoward the Birth of Life.]”
The chant of the werewolf reached the scorpion’s ears and he couldn’t believe it. “Oi, oi… what the hell? How can you already use magic without System support?” He uttered and urgently pulled in his mana as well.
He already had experience casting magic without the System, so it didn’t take him too long to form a large magic circle in front of his hand. He personally had awoken two elements, and one of them was a tremendously rare dual-aspect.
“[Arcana Amp,]” he intoned and the magic circle expanded instantly. Amplification; this was the first aspect of his magic. “[Cast Tamp,]” he added and the mana inside the circle fast-forwarded and finished the preparation time. Compression; the second aspect that could even decrease the time it took for a spell to charge.
“[In Silence, It Seethes, Thriving Entropy and Unleashing Destruction.]”
The werewolf’s voice boomed again and Zasha clicked his tongue. He quickly invoked his second element and the magic circle lit up. A large cylindrical construct emerged from within and aimed at its target in the sky.
“[Load up,]” Zasha uttered and a sound eerily similar to a shell being loaded into a mortar sounded from the construct.
“[Everfrost…]” Rakna raised his Guandao and the spinning disc gushed with stardust. “[Nova.]” He swung and the spell was released with a strident clatter.
“[Ether Cannon,]” the scorpion responded in kind and the conception of his Cannon Magic fired at the incoming attack. A pure white light filled the muzzle of the weapon and was then fired as an unrelenting pillar of raw energy.
Upon collision, the Nova exploded and the darkness of the dark dimension was caught up in the shockwave of reversed entropy. A temperature so cold it could freeze an undead to the bone was spread from the epicenter.
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The Ether Cannon’s energy spread out from the point of impact and enclosed the upsurge of frost with an inescapable prison. The spells fought for dominance, freezing and smashing surrounding buildings in the hundreds.
Eventually, the cannon stopped firing and the nova lost its momentum, ending the bout in a rain of crystallized ether.
“Tch, if my attributes were full, that spell would have disintegrated him,” Zasha complained to himself and brought up his greatsword, manifesting his Nirvana Skill into it. He was done using kiddy gloves. He was fighting against a drugged-up Nine-Tailed Werewolf high on lunar energy.
Who knew how far that could go?
“[Quad Amp,]” he muttered and the violet energy around his toothed sword burst. With that much power, he could easily shred an entire Zone of Plateau Zero. As he was about to release it out into the sky where he could still sense the werewolf gathering moonlight, something stopped him.
In the spur of the moment, he had forgotten one important thing. This was not a one-on-one fight.
“[Eternal Night Art – Way of Destruction,]” he heard a feminine voice speak from behind him and his eyes widened; he hadn’t sensed a thing. “[Abyssus Hortus.]”
Zasha was promptly swallowed by a sphere of black and red lightning. However, the real danger of this spell wasn’t what it was made of, but what it created within its core. Abyssus Hortus was one of the God of Eternal Night’s weakest trademark spells, but it nonetheless represented power beyond mortals. It twisted space and time to kill those trapped inside of it.
Nyx jumped back after having cast her Path Skill but didn’t relax. She knew it was powerful but it was not enough to keep Zasha down, especially after he had amplified his Nirvana right before.
She slammed her hands on the ground and invoked her only Ultimate Excelled Skill, causing some strange liquid to pour from under her palms; it flowed like blood but had the color of shadows.
“[Legion of the Dark Queen,]” she breathed out and figures began to claw their way out of the shadowy blood. Goblins, Dreorins, Orcs, Ogres, Sand Worms, Yetis… monsters that she had killed herself since she stepped into the System, raised into servants of the shadows for her to wield.
‘How nice it would have been if I could summon those I’ve slain before that,’ she lamented internally with a small smile. It would have been a grand show of power to call upon the titans of strength she had killed during her life, which included dozens of dragons as the simplest example.
“[Shred!]” Her thoughts were cut off by a shout that preceded a surge of violet energy. It tore open the sphere of Aeter and shredded the air itself.
Zasha leaped out of it with a deep cut across his shoulder and back. He grimaced in discontent, not so much for the damage that had already started being healed by his regeneration, but at himself for allowing it to happen.
“Ah, Nyx Nocta Regysnite, The Eternal Maiden,” he sighed with a shake of his head “I really should pay more attention during the Clan’s meetings,” he muttered to himself and immediately slashed one of the shadow monsters into pieces as they began to swarm him.
“[Mystic Natcattiram Cataract.]”
The scorpion’s expression twitched as the werewolf chanted once again. He looked up and couldn't help but let out a snort in exasperated amazement. While he had been distracted, his opponent had conjured a spell, that didn’t look to be any less than Tier 5, at least a dozen times and to top it off, he had infused it with Mystic Energy.
‘This brat… no, cooldowns, huh?’ Zasha snickered and cast Amplification Magic on himself. He let out one last wave of Shredding Force to decimate the shadow undead before kicking the ground and jumping toward the werewolf.
If Rakna was surprised by such a move, he didn’t show it and simply waved his glaive, firing the manifested catapults of Everfrost Energy.
Zasha smirked at the incoming danger, each probably powerful enough to level entire cities. “You are not the only ones with an Ult-Exceled,” he uttered and extended his empty hand toward the first Cataract.
Inconceivably, he grasped it as if it was made of some sort of foam and then shoved it to the side where it collided with another. The two spells merged and then imploded, taking down a few more with them.
“Damn, it’s a bit chilly,” the scorpion joked as he propelled himself away from the outburst, kicking aside another of the Cataracts as if it was a playing ball. He blew on the cold vapor around his hand and dashed toward the werewolf.
“[Natcattiram--!]” Rakna came to a halt as he was about to cast another spell. His mystifying eyes widened in surprise, breaking the emotionless façade, and then a network of circuits shone around his heart, shoulder, and arm; flaring in pain and paralyzing half of his body.
“Do you get it?” Zasha’s voice sounded as he flashed into existence right in front of the werewolf by ‘compressing’ the distance that separated them. He swiftly clutched the werewolf’s throat with his amplified strength and smirked, “You’re right, you know? Cooldowns don’t exist without the System. In the first place, it is meant to be a regulating feature, so once it’s down, you can ‘abuse’ it a bit. But there’s a reason for its existence in the first place.”
“…”
“Most Hosts don’t know about the inner workings of Magic Circuits and Circuit Pathways. A spell that is overused will overheat the path it takes to be cast; crippling that particular spell and in rare cases, sealing the use of an entire element until it recovers. Under the moon’s influence, you can use even more spells in rapid succession indeed, widening the pathways from the influx of lunar energy, but even that has a limit. The more powerful the spell; the more pertinent that is.”
“Your weapon’s perks are a bit different as it’s tough enough to resist the brunt of it,” he explained with a smile. “But now… you’re in a state of half physical and soul paralysis. I wonder… what should I do?” He jested. “You know about us scorpions’ deadliest trait, right? Let’s see if you can deal with that.”
As soon as Zasha declared his intention, all of his nine appendages pierced the werewolf’s stomach and injected their venom. The nine different substances met each other inside their victim’s body and fused into a terrifying black-colored substance.
The effect was instantaneous, Rakna’s whole stomach caved in on itself and was then melted right off by a half-gaseous liquid which then proceeded to spread outward, eating more bones and flesh to widen the hole it had already created.
Without a word, Zasha followed up by raising his sword and cloaking it in violet energy. “[Amp In Loaded,]” he muttered and threw the werewolf aside with his grip. The shredding force of his skill transformed and took on the form of a cannon barrel. He pointed it at Rakna and aligned it with Nyx’s army below.
“It wouldn’t do if you forgot that I’m also a Nine-Tailed,” he spoke mirthfully, a new energy joining up with the rest and boosting his power. “[Unity Craft – Mystic Shred Shell,]” he intoned and the spell fired.
The violet energy whirled around the toothed sword and shot out in a spiral with spikes. It shook the earth and swallowed the werewolf who barely could even move. It continued on its path and was about to hit when one of the shadow undead stepped up and faced it head-on. It was a giant turtle found in the 80th Plateau that had a highly resistant physiology toward magic.
Zasha’s attack nonetheless speared right through, but a dozen more were summoned from within the darkness and sacrificed themselves to fully stop it. Nyx lowered her hand with a ragged breath afterward and at the same time, a mangled figure crackling with dimensional energy crashed right next to her.
The repercussion blew her air to the side but her eyes remained determinedly set on the scorpion above her, who was slowly clapping.
“Incredible,” Zasha complimented condescendingly. “Good job. But honestly, I expected a bit more from--!” His words got stuck in his throat when an entire array of runes manifested around him in a ring.
Then, a crunching sound echoed, like a multitude of pills being chewed. Ensuing it, a surge of mana and lunar power pierced the sky from where the werewolf had crashed and even Nyx gulped at the well of power currently rising beside her. Despite night being her domain, she couldn’t hope to refine that much mana out of lunar energy.
Truly, only a Nine-Tailed Werewolf could hope to do that.
“[Mystic…]” The weak but strong voice of Rakna resounded and Zasha barely had the time to react before the runes did their job; cast the spell of their creator right where they were positioned. This was a common practice of magic-circle-casting; Auxiliary Relocation.
“[Natcattiram Carivu.]”