What kind of "Arcane Missiles" are these?! This is more like a missile storm!
Andreas complained wildly in his mind as he watched the sky fill with arcane projectiles. However, his body didn't hesitate for a single second. Before the missiles could strike, he lunged to the side, transforming into a tawny Cheetah.
The moment he hit the ground, Andreas utilized the cheetah's explosive power to begin sprinting around the perimeter of the field.
Because his speed was so immense, his running path appeared as a blur of afterimages in Leticia's eyes. The Arcane Missiles were completely unable to keep up with his pace, all of them striking the ground behind the cheetah and failing to hit their mark.
"Quite a few tricks, but..."
In a short span of time, Azshara calculated the cheetah's maximum running speed and movement trajectory, adjusting the attack path of the Arcane Missiles accordingly. "If you think you can simply dodge like this until time runs out, aren't you being a bit too naive?"
While experiencing the thrill of the wind pressure against his face during his high-speed sprint, the fur on Andreas' back suddenly stood on end. A powerful sixth sense, rooted in his animal form, screamed a lethal warning.
His body moved before his brain could process the thought. Andreas slammed on the brakes mid-sprint, using the recoil to leap toward the right. The Arcane Missiles that had been trailing him immediately struck the spot directly in front of him; had he maintained his original path, the probability of being hit would have been one hundred percent.
Leaping into mid-air, Andreas shifted forms once more. Transforming into a Golden Eagle, he took flight, using an erratic aerial route to evade the pursuing missiles.
"Trying to hide by taking to the skies? Two and a half minutes... I've played enough."
With a wave of her hand, Azshara dispelled the sky full of Arcane Missiles. She raised her left hand high and pressed her right hand downward. Suddenly, a crushing pressure—as heavy as a thousand tons—surrounded Andreas as he flew.
"This is... a gravity spell?!"
What surprised Andreas the most wasn't the spell itself, but that Azshara's gravity magic seemed targeted solely at him. Leticia looked at the struggling eagle with a confused expression, clearly unaffected by the spell.
Highly compressed arcane energy gathered in Azshara's hands. The gravity Andreas felt grew stronger and stronger. Out of necessity, he was forced to shift back into his original form, lying painfully on the ground to resist the surging gravity.
An unreadable expression flashed in Azshara's eyes—a mix of disappointment and a strange sense of relief. "This is the end. Farewell, Andreas Moonshadow."
"Ugh!"
Andreas could already feel his internal organs being damaged. Crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. He gritted his teeth and sent out a deep, desperate call within his mind.
Elune, please grant me strength!
...
Vashj had been hurrying toward the training grounds, but as she passed the room where Tyrande was being held, a sudden devilish thought struck her.
Her Majesty isn't paying attention right now. What if...
Once such a thought appeared, it was difficult to suppress. Vashj ultimately failed to talk herself out of it. With her expression shifting, she arrived at Tyrande's room and pushed open the door as the armed handmaidens bowed respectfully.
Tyrande, who had been meditating in the moonlight, opened her eyes. Upon seeing Vashj, she let out a helpless sigh. "You again, Head Handmaiden Vashj. Do you have more business with me?"
As Azshara's most trusted servant, Vashj understood the Queen's charisma better than anyone. She believed that once Tyrande lost the Moon Goddess' protection, she would eventually bow down before Azshara. At the thought of Tyrande competing with her for the Queen's favor in the future, Vashj's expression grew twisted with malice.
The killing intent radiating from Vashj made Tyrande frown. "Do you still wish to kill me? It's useless. As long as Elune's protection remains, I am invincible... Huh?"
Though Tyrande's fearlessness annoyed Vashj, her logic told her the woman was right. Aside from some petty, disgusting methods, Vashj truly had no way to kill her directly.
But at that moment, something neither of them expected happened. The lunar shield protecting Tyrande suddenly vanished like ripples on water. Both women were stunned by this sudden change.
"Elune?!"
The normally calm and composed Tyrande finally lost her cool. She sat up from the bed in a panic, looking out the window at the bright crescent moon and praying. "Why withdraw your protection while your divine power has not yet been exhausted? Do you intend to abandon your faithful believer?"
The opportunity came so suddenly that Vashj actually found herself at a loss for what to do. Although she had always been wary and jealous of Tyrande's presence, killing her now would surely invite Azshara's wrath. For a moment, Vashj hesitated.
...
According to the law of conservation of energy, the divine power lost from Tyrande naturally appeared elsewhere.
As Elune had stated herself, she could not remain in the physical world for long. The divine power she had left on Tyrande as a shield was the "last ripple" for a set period.
In the moment of Andreas' mortal peril, the lunar power that had been protecting Tyrande suddenly transferred to him.
Entering a state of critical injury, Andreas—whose consciousness was beginning to blur—suddenly felt the pressure on his body lift. Surprised, he looked up and immediately noticed a solid, deep-purple shield surrounding him. It was this shield that completely blocked the effects of Azshara's gravity spell.
Azshara was equally surprised by the sudden appearance of the shield. She had clearly felt that Andreas had lost all strength to resist and seemed destined to die in the next second.
"Could it be?"
Watching with uncertainty as Andreas shakily stood back up, a flash of fanaticism and hidden jealousy flickered in Azshara's eyes. "Elune..."
Cough, cough!
After forcing himself to stand, Andreas couldn't help but cough up a large mouthful of blood. Leticia, who had been struggling to understand the situation, finally realized the severity. She instinctively moved closer to check on him.
"Don't come over!" Andreas raised a hand to stop her. He gave the girl a difficult smile. "Wait for me just a little longer. It's almost over."
Cough...
Unlike Tyrande, who held Elune high on a pedestal, the pragmatist Andreas had no qualms about absorbing the divine power granted by Elune into his body. As the incredibly pure Shadow energy entered him, it didn't heal his injuries, but it reminded him of a powerful survival skill used by Shadow Priests.
"Dispersion!"
Under the astonished gazes of Azshara and Leticia, Andreas' entire body turned into pure energy, becoming a deep-purple humanoid figure. In this pure energy state, Andreas ignored all damage and crowd-control effects of the physical world.
However, this form could only be maintained for about ten seconds. Any longer and his body would permanently assimilate with the Shadow energy. There were now only about fifteen seconds left until the three-minute limit.
Channeling the last remnants of Elune's divine power, Andreas—in his energy form—raised his right hand toward the moon in the sky.
"Elune, release your fury! I shall take your wrath in hand and sweep away all enemies!"
"Fury of Elune!"