Luna stood on the battlefield, her broken sword clattering to the ground. The silence that followed was shattered by her calm yet chilling voice as she called out, "Matt, it's time."
Sam's eyes narrowed, suspicion creeping into his thoughts.
Luna met Sam's gaze, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous resolve. Without warning, she lifted her sword and plunged it into her own stomach, the blade slicing through flesh with a sickening sound.
Sam's heart lurched in his chest. "What the hell are you doing?"
In unison, Luna and Matt intoned with an eerie calmness, "Rise. Eclipson, Darkthar."
Luna pulled the sword from her belly, the blade now slick with her own blood. The crimson liquid dripped from the weapon, and before Sam's horrified eyes, it began to reshape. Her sword, once broken, was now reforged in blood—dark, sinister, and pulsing with an ominous energy.
Sam cursed under his breath. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
On the other side of the battlefield, Alan had also backed away from Matt. Matt's sword was no longer a sword but had morphed into a massive, jagged hammer, glowing with a deep, earthen energy.
Sam glanced at Alan, disbelief clear in his voice. "You too?"
Luna swung her newly formed blood sword with a fluid grace, and in that instant, the entire battlefield transformed. The ground beneath their feet turned into a river of blood, thick and dark, while the sky overhead became a void of absolute blackness, swallowing all light.
Luna's voice echoed in the suffocating darkness. "Don't worry, it's just my Hollow World. The battleground can withstand my power."
Sam, trying to steady his breath, asked, "Okay, but could you please tell me what's up with this 'Rise Eclipson' thing?"
Luna smirked, her eyes glowing with dark energy. "This is my Arcon."
"And what is that?" Sam demanded.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you more," she replied, her voice dripping with a mix of condescension and mystery.
Sam gritted his teeth. "Alright, but can you at least tell me if you're from that so-called organization, the 'Shade Society'?"
Luna's expression turned serious, almost offended. "Shade Society is not an organization, you fool. It's a holy place for the greatest magicians of the world."
"Holy, you say?" Sam scoffed. "So you are from Shade Society then. Okay, I'll torture you until you tell me everything about it."
Luna's eyes glinted with a dangerous light. "We'll see."
Without wasting another moment, Sam dashed forward, his speed blurring him into a streak of flame. He swung his sword with lethal precision, aiming to cut through Luna's defenses.
But as his blade made contact, Luna's blood sword turned fluid, absorbing the impact. Sam's sword sliced clean through, but instead of striking Luna, it passed through the liquid, only to sever her arm.
For a moment, Sam was confused. This shouldn't have been possible.
Then, in a heartbeat, the blood solidified again, and Luna's sword slashed across Sam's chest with terrifying speed. He staggered back, feeling the searing pain of the wound as blood oozed from the gash.
But what shocked Sam more was what he saw next. Luna's severed hand was not lying on the ground; instead, it was merging back with her arm, reconstituting itself using her own blood.
"This... this isn't just magic," Sam muttered, his mind racing.
Luna's voice was cold as she said, "In this world, my blood is my power. Every drop is mine to command, to reshape, to regenerate. You cannot defeat me with mere force."
Sam tightened his grip on his sword, his mind calculating his next move. He was facing something far beyond ordinary magic—a terrifyingly versatile and deadly power. But this wasn't the time to hesitate.
"I don't need to understand it," Sam said, his voice steady. "I just need to break it."
With that, he reignited his sword with fierce flames, the intensity of his power crackling through the suffocating darkness. He knew he was walking a fine line, but the stakes were too high to hold back now.
The battle wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.