Mutagen

Chapter 1153: The Dance of Moonlight, The Fight Between The Night Goddess and the Descendants of Moonlight

Day 368 - 6:13 PM - Mountain Back, Balong, Pucakwangi, Pati Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

"Just what in the world happen to those two?"

Bajing could not help but voice out her confusion as they all watched the leaving figures of Luna and Edge.

The confusion was reasonable. After all, Luna was unconscious all this time. Edge, on the other hand, although he looked fatigued since this morning, he was still the usual since a few minutes ago.

But within the short span of the battle against the Night Goddess, Edge, who left to protect Luna, came back like a different person.

Furthermore, the mysterious power that Luna only displayed once long ago appeared. And it was, without a doubt, under her control.

"Is it the case of getting power-ups through dreams or something?" Ellie spoke, making everyone turn their heads towards her. "What? It happens in Anime, right?"

That was right. It was something that could happen in Anime and fiction. But would it really happen in reality?

Then again, there was no other explanation they could think of.

BOOOM!

Suddenly, everyone's thinking stopped as they turned back toward the Night Goddess by reflex.

KRRYAAAAA!!!

The Night Goddess' broken cry echoed loudly, making everyone cover their ears.

***

Leaving the mountain on the Giant [Infected Turtle's] back, Luna and Edge charge through the sky toward the gigantic enemy.

A giant blob of despair as large as a mountain was the closest description fitting the current appearance of the Night Goddess. A mountain-sized pile of corpses would be fitting, too, if not for the fact that all the heads, limbs, tails, and other body parts sticking out of her body were squirming independently from each other.

It was as if each body in that pile were alive, stitched together into a massive blob of living flesh.

And the fact that each of them moved independently made the Night Goddess appear even more grotesque.

"It's huge."

Edge spoke as he and Luna stopped and hovered in the air.

"Yeah, we're like ants in front of it."

Luna agreed.

Then, the two glanced at each other and smiled. There was no way that just the size difference would make them retreat.

After all, during their last moments in the Lost Era, Anaelldenalia and her warrior fought a far bigger foe. It might have been the cause of their deaths, but the fear and pressure in that battle were incomparable to the enemy they were currently facing.

"I'll go first," Edge said as he tapped the mane of his mount. "Gaar, charge!"

"AROOOOOO!"

With a loud howl, Gaardenalia ran through the air as fast as light. The wolf-like creature and her master turned into a streak of light flying towards the mountain-sized enemy.

Sensing the incoming enemy, the mountain-sized pile of bodies stopped squirming and froze. All their eyes moved, locking on Edge and his mount in a very eerie manner.

The eyes made Edge's back feel cold. It was like he was being stared at by countless creatures that held malice towards the world.

Those stares alone represented all the despair and hate these bodies experienced. They might not have souls. All of them now belonged to the Night Goddess. Yet, in each part of their bodies, the pain and suffering they had before their deaths emanated from every inch of their flesh.

THOOOM!

The space around Edge warped. Tentacles emerged and charged at him.

Seeing the tentacles, Edge felt stifled. Unlike the tentacles Mei and the others fought clad in darkness, the tentacles attacking Edge were all bare. Each tentacle was a massive clump of grotesque and squirming bodies of different creatures. Each had countless limbs and body parts. And all of them had eyes staring straight at Edge as they attacked.

Amazingly, although Edge was charging through the sky at nearly the speed of light, the grotesque tentacles kept up with his speed. All the tentacles attacked from all angles at a precise moment, leaving Edge and Gaardenalia with no place to retreat.

But Edge smiled instead.

SHING!

Shining blades shot from behind, severing the tentacles surrounding Edge and his mount.

BOOOOM!

The severed tentacles fell to the ground with a loud boom.

KRRYAAAAA!!!

And feeling the pain, the Night Goddess let out a broken cry.

The cry was far creepier than the screeches she let out before. It was because the cry just now came out of all the mouths littered all over her body. It was like a choir of death and despair.

"Edge, go!"

Luna shouted from behind. As she moved her left arm, rings of light formed around her. The rings then shot toward the Night Goddess, slicing parts of her body.

Flesh and blood spilled like a broken fire hydrant. However, that amount of damage was insignificant compared to the mountain-sized body of the Night Goddess.

Following Luna's voice, Edge continued to charge forward. One would think that what he was doing was stupid. What could he do by charging onto a mountain? That was what it looked like. It felt like a recreation of Don Quixote's story but much worse.

But Edge did not stop. Together with his mount, they turned into what seemed to be a spear of light that flew towards the Night Goddess.

The grotesque tentacles appeared once more, trying to block the spear. But it was already late. The momentum and power was already there.

The spear of light was already unstoppable.

WHOOOOM!

And with a flash, the spear of light shot through the body of the Night Goddess. A gaping hole appeared at the center of her body as the spear of light finally disappeared, shattering like glass.

Edge and his mount appeared behind the Night Goddess. Despite being the spearhead of the spear of light that passed through the enemy's grotesque body, there was not a single drop of blood on him and his mount.

But most importantly, Edge wore a frown on his face.

SQUISH!

There was no cry of pain from the Night Goddess. Instead, all the eyes of the creatures behind her turned to Edge.

And then, the gaping hole slowly closed. The bodies destroyed by Edge's attack also began to regenerate as if nothing happened.

"One more time!"

Edge shouted as he commanded his mount to run further before turning back. Creating another momentum, Edge and Gaardenalia turned into a spear of light once again.

WHOOOOM!

SQUELCH!

The spear of light pierced through the body once more, followed by the disgusting sound of flesh and blood squirting out of the gaping hole.

Once again, there was no cry. And the eyes kept on following Edge everywhere he went.

What was happening? Why did the Night Goddess stop her cries? Did her sense of pain dull after the damages she received?

But the answer came soon enough.

A warping in space appeared in front of the Night Goddess. Expecting another tentacle attack, Edge and Luna prepared to intercept.

However...

THOOOOM!

"Wha-!"

Edge was caught off guard as a spear of darkness shot out of the warped space. Unable to dodge because of the sudden attack, Edge raised his shield and poured all his strength into blocking the spear.

However, even with the footing created by Gaardenalia, it would be hard to block such an attack in midair.

As such, Edge and Gaardenalia were thrown by the impact. They then fell from the sky.

"Edge!"

Luna shouted in worry. Unfortunately, the Night Goddess would not allow her to rescue him.

SHING!

Rings of darkness formed in front of the Night Goddess. As for the number? It was hard to tell.

And like a torrent of raindrops, those rings of darkness shot toward Luna.

With a serious expression, Luna conjured her own rings of light.

The rings of darkness and rings of light clashed. All of them began negating each other upon impact.

Nonetheless, it seemed that the Night Goddess was growing crafty. A warped space appeared behind Luna, and a giant tentacle shot towards her back.

Facing such a sneaky attack, Luna scoffed.

SHING!

A giant blade of light shot upwards behind Luna. The tentacle was severed and fell to the ground.

Behind Luna, the blade of light dissipated, revealing Edge and his mount.

"You okay, Edge?"

Luna asked without looking behind her.

"My arm hurts," Edge replied. "That attack was unexpected."

"Yeah, I agree," Luna stared at the enemy as she continued to negate the rain of rings of darkness. "It looks like the enemy is focused on copying our attacks for some reason."

"And she's succeeding," Edge shrugged. "By the way, look below."

Luna was quite confused. Why would Edge say that while she was blocking the enemy's attacks?

Nonetheless, Luna sneaked a glance.

"Geh!"

An unpleasant, upset sound escaped Luna's mouth.

It was because, below them, fleshy creatures began to gather.

Deformed bodies made of flesh and blood. Some were humanoids, some were insectoids, and some were beasts. But no matter what species, they sported that birthday suit appearance with visible deformities.

"Where the hell did all those come from?"

Luna asked in a fluster.

"The tentacles we cut off," Edge replied. "I saw it while falling. The bodies that formed the tentacles were detaching themselves after the tentacles fell."

"Does that mean..."

Luna's eyes fell on the body of the Night Goddess.

"I awfully wish not."

Edge wanted to deny it.

The possibility that all the bodies forming the Night Goddess could detach themselves and move as different individuals.

Just how many bodies were there to pile up to the size of a mountain? What if all of them could move individually while each one wielded the will and power of the Night Goddess?

It would be a nightmare, to say the least.

What was worse was the fact that the Night Goddess could regenerate the damaged bodies. It meant that her current state was pretty much immortal.

"Then, what are we going to do?"

Edge asked Luna.

"Not like we have any other choice," Luna replied. "Just pelt it with everything we have! Don't let her regenerate at all!"

Luna and Edge smiled. The two then left their position, letting the rain of rings of darkness fly without hitting anything.

Luna flew around the northern area. Edge went around the south. As the two moved in the air around the Night Goddess, they left a trail of light, forming countless blades.

The two then shouted in unison.

""[Moonlight Song: Dance of the Blades of Light!]""

As the two commanded, the blades of light showered upon the Night Goddess. And it was not just a simple scene where the blade-shaped beams of light fell in one direction. The blades of light rained in different angles and directions, and some even flew in a curved path.

But just like before, the Night Goddess did not utter a cry. Her countless eyes tried to follow the two who were flying around her.

"KRYA?!"

A cry of confusion escaped from the countless mouths on the Night Goddess' body.

The Night Goddess failed to watch her targets properly.

Edge and Luna reached the furthest back of the Night Goddess and met each other's path. The two then smiled at each other as they continued to circle around the Night Goddess separately.

As the two continued to rain the blades of light upon the Night Goddess, she finally realized what was happening after her eyes decreased even more.

The blades of light the two rained upon the Night Goddess were precisely piercing each eye on the surface of her body. Furthermore, the blades of light were not dispersing after hitting their target, preventing the Night Goddess from repairing her damaged vision.

This way, not only did Luna and Edge stunt the enemy's recovery, but also prevented her from copying their other attacks.

But, of course, it would not be enough to finish the Night Goddess.

The two then continued to circle around the Night Goddess. They began to accelerate. They flew faster and rained more attacks on the enemy. It did not take long, and their movements began to leave not just blades but a thick trail of light.

Now, the Night Goddess struggled as her mountain-sized body was currently surrounded by many rings of light.

At this time, the two trails of light converged above the Night Goddess. Luna and Edge appeared at the end of the trail. With Luna's right hand and Edge's left, they held each hand, and their free hand faced the Night Goddess below.

""[Moonlight Judgement: Sinners' Decapitation!]""

The two chanted.

Then, the trails of light the two left around the Night Goddess tightened. And with a little bit of resistance and the smell of burning flesh...

KRYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The loudest cry of the Night Goddess echoed. Blood and flesh rained as her mountain-sized body was brutally severed into countless piles of grotesque corpses.