Over and over and over again, Noll was useless. Every situation that Luna found herself in, he couldn't do anything to help. It was like he was a pet, just there to talk to her and occasionally bother her about his memories.
It wasn't hard for Noll to think of himself as a burden. The more he was with Luna, the more human he felt. Guilt kept growing in his non-existent heart. He just wanted some way to help her.
He could feel her pain during the fight against the beast. Somehow that thing was lowering her sanity. It made her more apart of this world. The pain over time kept increasing. It got to the point where she felt like fainting. Noll had a connection with Luna, a connection that made him feel her true emotions.
Pain, fear, hopelessness, he felt everything. But she kept going. It was some strange drive of hers that Noll didn't understand. He already knew she was a being that wasn't tied to this world. So why is she going so far for something so small?
It was a desire to fight.
Something Noll had long forgotten about in this world. He was already willing to die with Luna. But even in this state, she still was trying to fight. Her body was ravaged and torn to the point death. If it wasn't for her equipment, then she would have already disappeared.
After he watched Luna fall into this state he couldn't bear to look at her. But when he looked back up, everything around him had changed. It was different, an image of an alleyway appeared. Almost as if a memory was being played in front of him.
A young girl appeared, she looked to be 15. Her black hair was disheveled. Men surrounded her and laughed. A pain was felt in his non-existent chest. A suffocating feeling of regret. He knew something was wrong and tried to yell for help.
But his voice was muffled by something. It was like something or someone was preventing him from speaking.
He realized then that this wasn't his memory... it was Luna's.
Her hands were held back and she wasn't able to move. Her legs were restricted by something heavy pulling them down. The black haired girl was then forced to do unspeakable things. Luna's eyes burned fiercely. Unable to help, Luna felt guilty.
Her anger gave her strength, but it didn't change her situation. Each step she made trying to get closer to the girl, made it more difficult for her to move. The world around her shifted into a black rage. There wasn't anything that she wanted more than to kill those men right then and there.
Noll knew this feeling. It was every time they fought something. Anger filled him each time Luna was hurt. Over time he learned what this emotion truly meant and how dangerous it really was. But Luna's brute force nature and risky personality always got her hurt. He knew he couldn't hold back much longer.
So
He let it all out.
-
[Your Chrysalis is forming]
Luna's body surged with a blackish aura. The wounds covering her body were sticking back together. After a couple of seconds, the hole in her chest was repaired like nothing happened. Her body slowly raised itself from the ground.
Each healed wound left a scar on her body. An aura of evil could from be felt from her body. The whites in her eyes became black. Her pupils glowed a haunting yellow. 'What's going on?' Luna thought. After that last attack she thought she was done for good. But after opening her eyes, she was standing back up again.
[Your Chrysalis has formed]
The system answered her question.
[It's name is The Book of Nightmares]
A black smoke covered her body almost like it was protecting her. The depleted strength from before was back. With the 30 second sleep, her mana was now full.
"Is this you Noll?" Her voice sounded corrupted. She looked at her body in wonder.
"That didn't answer my question..."
<…Yes it's me>
Jessica looked at Luna with fear. "Luna... is that really you?"
Luna smiled. "Yep! Now let's see what this Chrysalis can do!"
"Sleepless-" The sword reoiled into a charged stance. A surge of energy exploded from her body. She lined up her shot as accurate as possible. Aiming her sword right at the lich. A black vortex forming at the tip of her blade.
"-Inception!" A black streak shot out from her sword. It instantly cut through the hoard of undead and pierced through the three armed ape. Finally reaching the lich and shattering his left arm.
"OWWW!" After the strike, Luna's right arm hung limply. The force of the thrust had dislocated her own arm. The black smoke surrounded her arm and pierced it back together. "That seriously hurts!"
"Huh? Sorry? That's the first time I've heard yo-"
"YOU!" A screech came from across the room. Luna looked over at the lich. "How is it possible?! How are you still alive?!" The lich screamed.
"I'm not going to die in one hit dumbass!" Her childish insult flustered the lich.
"Just like those scum..." The lich muttered something, but Luna didn't hear it. Her speed started to increase as her body flew across the room at frightening speeds.
"Gus! Kill that girl!" But the ape wasn't moving. It's body laid there silently on the floor. A message appeared in front of Luna.
[You have earned experience points]
General Braggart didn't waste the opportunity and was already striking the lich from above. His blade glowed a brilliant light. "Radiant cut!"
"Invincible Barrier!" A hexagonal shield appeared around the lich. It cracked under the strength of the general's attack. The lich laughed. "I'm already beyond the point of immortality! There isn't anything that can break through this shield!"
The lich opened his right palm and blasted the general with a wave of mana. He went flying back, dropping his sword. The general's body created a crater in the floor. He could barely stand after using his full strength.
His health was already reaching the bottom. There wasn't much fight left in his spirit.
But there wasn't a need for him to worry. His attack was only there to create the opportunity.
For someone else.
[*World message: An unknown hero is awakening*]
[*The first chapter of the legendary heroes is being written*]
"Sleepless Storm!"
Luna appeared from below the lich and demolished his shield with one hit. The skill stopped as it was suddenly interrupted.
"AHHH!" From the force of smashing the shield, the bones in her hand shattered. The damage was far beyond what her current status could handle.
[The durability of the Sylph blade has dropped by 31]
Instead of shooting out an attack like before with inception. She was now directly feeling the reverberations of her sword against an unmovable force. Unlike in real life, there was no adrenaline for Luna to rely on to numb out her pain.
[*Their pain echoed in the forgotten cave of death*]
[*The Undead's invincible shield was broken by the hero's single strike*]
Luna saw the messages and felt a strange feeling coming over her. The pain from her arm being held together was overwhelming. A tear rolled down her face. But it was like the game spoke to her. Telling her to keep going, It was her story.
It was her fight.
She grit her teeth and smiled. "Come on lich! Show me what you got!"
[*The hero stood strong against the Undead*]
[*With each attack, their body took irreversible damage*]
[*But their spirit wouldn't fall*]
A torrent of bones flew around the room. Luna's eyesight was already blurry from her sanity dropping. Now she couldn't even see the lich beyond the wave of corpses.
"Bone wave!"
Even if it felt like her body was healing. Each second in this state still felt like it was tearing at her insides. She needed to finish the fight quickly.
[*The hero regretted their previous choices and wanted to take the burden on alone*]
[*But someone else knew their pain.]
[*They knew fighting alone wasn't the only path for a hero*]
Her feet sprung off the floor. She was able to leap over the wave of undead. Her entire right arm hung limply. It was going to be impossible to swing her sword in this state.
So Luna switched her sword to her left hand. This was had to be her final attack. She only had enough mana for one skill.
The lich shot out several attacks at Luna to stop her.
A shattering rain of chipped bone fired and directly hit Luna. But were blocked by a thin barrier of wind. Bone limbs rose from the ground and tried to crush and grab her.
But her accelerated agility allowed her to dodge each hand with lightning speeds. "Why! Why is someone like you here!?" The lich couldn't understand Luna's sudden growth. He assumed her power was hidden this entire time. If the lich hit her once then her death would be guaranteed.
"Wind blade!" Her sword shot out an invisible blade of air. The lich's skull cracked from the attack. "You can't kill me that easily, yo-" A streak of black came from above. The Sylph sword cut off the lich's words.
[*The hero of dreams is rising*]
His body started to fall as his skull caved in. The bones around Luna turned to dust. A ghostly figure rose from the lich.
The necromancer's original appearance of an old man appeared as a phantom. He opened his mouth.
"What... are you?" He asked.
"I'm *pant* *pant* the DreamWalker"
[*The first chapter has been completed*]
"You're scum just like the other two. You don't understand the real world around you!"
"Yeah... maybe you're right. But that doesn't mean I can't tell the difference between what I think is right and wrong."
"My research was for the betterment of both kingdoms!"
"Just shut up already." Luna sat on the floor of the cave. Her breathing was erratic and rough. "I won, so just pass on already." She waved him away.
"I will never forget this! You will regret what you've done here today!" The necromancer's ghost tried to strangle Luna. But his arms went right through her as he was only a soul. The longer he stayed, the more he body disappeared into nothing.
But the necromancer chose to stay. "I'll kill you!" He shouted over and over again. His body's soul faded into nothing as his last words resounded in the cave.
"...Finally..." Luna's body gave out and she fell backwards.
"Luna!" Jessica ran over to Luna. Her consciousness faded out as the black smoke dissipated.