"Shhhhh—clack-clack-clack!!"
The crackle of raw electricity was the only sound filling the air—like the hiss of a thousand enraged serpents, like chaos itself trying to tear nature apart.
The two girls stood locked in a deadly stalemate, a brutal clash of will at the heart of the ruined battlefield.
Chloe, her expression strained with pain, gripped Luna's arm with an iron hold, pouring a continuous, high-voltage current into her body.
"Shhh!!"
Luna, on the receiving end of the torment, convulsed violently. Yet she remained standing, resisting with the unyielding resilience of [Testudo Bastion], which had begun to crack under the immense pressure. Thin lines of blue light spread across its hexagonal pattern.
It was a pure battle of endurance. Who would burn out first? Who would collapse under the crushing weight of electric agony?
One second passed. Then another. Then a third…
Each felt like an eternity.
Chloe began to feel it. The feedback heat from her own energy was scorching her hands. It felt as though her blood was boiling, her arm muscles screaming under the strain of overload.
"Kh—!"
She watched Luna's shield fracture—but not break. It was unbelievably stubborn.
'Her defense… tougher than I expected!' she thought, a bead of sweat sliding down her forehead only to evaporate instantly in her electric aura.
'I can't keep this up! My energy… it'll run out before her defense fully collapses! I need more power!'
"Ghhhhh!!"
With a muffled cry, she forced more energy into the attack. The blue light around them intensified, and the buzzing grew louder, sharper.
Meanwhile, Luna was in her own personal hell.
The electricity was ravaging her nervous system. The pain was so sharp it nearly drowned out all her senses.
She felt [Testudo Bastion] groaning under the pressure, on the verge of shattering. Her spiritual link with the "Great Tortoise" was weakening, her energy draining—not just to maintain the shield, but to resist the current invading her body.
'I can't hold on much longer…' she thought, her vision starting to blur.
'This pain… it's unbearable. But if I let go… I lose!'
Her thoughts were those of a cornered beast.
In that frozen moment, as both pushed themselves to the brink, Chloe's eyes flashed with a new idea.
A mad, brilliant… and cruel idea.
She realized brute force alone wouldn't break Luna's defense.
Still gripping Luna's arm with her left hand—maintaining the electric flow to keep her pinned—she slowly freed her right hand.
"Clack-clack-clack!!!"
Luna, overwhelmed by pain, didn't notice at first.
"W-what… are you… doing?" Luna whispered weakly.
Chloe smiled through the pain. "Winning."
She extended her free hand and, instead of launching another attack, pressed it directly against the surface of [Testudo Bastion].
[[Overcharge]]
Description: Touch a conductive object and pass an electric charge through it. Usually used on metals, but it can affect anything capable of conducting energy… including aura.
Normally, this would be useless against a shield made of mana.
But Luna's shield wasn't just mana. It was the manifestation of a spirit—a distinct entity… or so Chloe believed.
More importantly, it was directly connected to Luna's body.
Chloe wasn't trying to break the shield.
She was trying to charge it.
"Shhh!!"
The hexagonal pattern of Luna's shield began glowing with electric blue light—not just at the point of contact, but across its entire surface.
Luna was no longer being shocked from a single point.
Her own shield—her source of protection—had become the source of her torment.
Electricity now wrapped around her from all directions, seeping through the cracks, attacking her body from every angle.
The pain multiplied tenfold in an instant.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
This time, Luna screamed—a raw, agonized cry of a tortured animal.
Under this merciless dual assault, she could no longer endure.
"KRAAAAAACK!"
With a sound like shattering glass, [Testudo Bastion] broke apart completely.
The hexagonal pattern dissolved in a flash of light, leaving Luna's body exposed.
She took the full force of the current directly.
"SHHH—KLAKKK!!!"
"BOOM!!"
Her body convulsed violently, and the massive shockwave hurled her backward, finally breaking Chloe's grip.
She crashed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably as smoke rose from multiple points where burns formed across her skin.
"Huff… huff… haaah…!"
Chloe, on the other hand, collapsed to her knees, gasping for air.
She had poured a massive portion of her energy into that relentless, calculated assault. Her hands were burned red, barely able to move.
"Finally… down," she whispered with a tired, victorious smile.
She looked at Luna's trembling body on the ground.
It seemed the battle was over.
But something about Luna's endurance until that very moment left her with a faint sense of unease.
Chloe remained on her knees, breathing heavily as she stared at Luna.
"Finally… down," she repeated.
It had been a savage fight. She had pushed herself to the limit, devised a tactic mid-battle, and emerged victorious.
Or so she thought.
She tried to stand, but a sharp pain shot through her shoulder where Luna's claws had struck. She collapsed onto one knee again, exhausted.
Her hands were burned, barely responsive. She had spent too much.
'But… I won,' she told herself, trying to believe it.
"Ugh…!"
Then she heard it.
A sound she wasn't supposed to hear.
A faint groan. The scraping of movement against the ground.
Slowly, she raised her head—her eyes widening.
Luna… was moving.
Driven by sheer survival instinct, she was crawling, trying to rise. Her body was badly injured, burns covering parts of her arms, but her eyes…
They still burned with an unextinguished, stubborn fire.
"Y-you… how…?" Chloe muttered in genuine shock.
Luna didn't answer.
All her focus was on one thing: standing.
Slowly, with unbelievable effort, she braced herself against a piece of rubble and pushed herself upright onto trembling legs.
She didn't look like a threat.
She looked like a ghost on the verge of collapse.
But she was standing.
"You still… want more?" Chloe laughed in disbelief. "You're insane."
"Maybe…" Luna whispered hoarsely. "But… you haven't won yet."
"Tch…"
Chloe realized she was in real trouble.
She had burned through most of her energy in that last attack. She didn't have enough left for another powerful strike.
Luna, despite her injuries, still had the will of a beast.
In a final desperate move, Luna used the last fragment of her spiritual link—not for attack, but for disruption.
[[Manifestation: Ursa Roar (Residual Effect)]]
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
It wasn't a loud roar, but a low-frequency subsonic pulse—a deep vibration released from her chest.
It wasn't painful.
But it was overwhelmingly disorienting.
"Kh—!!"
The ground began to tremble violently beneath Chloe's feet.
Not an earthquake—something more focused. A vibration that made it impossible for an exhausted body to maintain balance or concentration.
Chloe stumbled again, the world spinning around her.
"Damn you!!—" she shouted, trying to stand.
She saw Luna slowly advancing toward her, step by step.
Luna was using the last of her strength to reach her—and end it with a single punch.
Chloe realized that if she let her get close, she would lose.
She had no choice.
Only one technique remained.
Amid the disorienting tremors, she raised her head—and laughed.
Not a normal laugh.
It was hysterical. Desperate.
And thrilled by its own desperation.
The laugh of someone about to blow everything up—including herself.
"KYAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Luna froze, instinctively sensing danger in that laughter.
She saw Chloe place both hands on the ground.
[[Unstable Electrostatic Explosion]]
Description: An unstable technique. Detonates all remaining energy in a spherical explosion of pure electricity. A wide-area attack—chaotic and dangerous, even to the user.
"Playtime's over!" Chloe shouted.
"Fwoooosh!!!"
A small sphere of unstable white lightning formed between her hands, rapidly growing as it absorbed every last drop of energy in her body—and every ounce of her madness.
The ground around her began to crack. The air thickened with the smell of burning ozone.
Luna saw it—and knew she couldn't dodge it.
Couldn't block it.
She was too close. Too exhausted.
There was only one option.
She activated her final manifestation—focused entirely on defense.
[Testudo Bastion]
Her skin hardened once more as she took a defensive stance, bracing for the storm.
Chloe unleashed everything.
The sphere detonated.
"BOOOOOOOOM—KRAAAAAACK!!!"
A spherical wave of pure electricity swept across everything within a ten-meter radius.
It was a violent explosion of blue and white light, illuminating the entire battlefield in a single blinding instant.
"FWOOOOSH!!!"
Luna—despite her defense—was swallowed whole by the storm.
The force shattered her fragile protection and hurled her body far beyond the combat zone, where she collapsed, unconscious.
"Shhh…"
When the light faded, silence fell.
At the center of a scorched crater, Chloe lay on her back.
"Huff…! Haaah… h—huff…!"
She gasped for air as stray sparks flickered uncontrollably across her body.
Her clothes were burned in several places. Her body was covered in burns and bruises.
She had completely exhausted her energy.
Yet a tired, satisfied smile of victory rested on her face.
She looked toward Luna's unconscious form in the distance… then whispered:
"That… was a good fight."
Then she closed her eyes—
And lost consciousness as well.
She had won.
But she had paid a heavy price.