*!!!!*
“T-T-T-THAT RED HAIRED BITCH IS UP AGAIN?? AND SHE’S IN THAT RIDICULOUSLY POWERFUL STATE AGAIN?!! FUCK THIS!!” said the Game Master with shaking tone.
The Game Master points his cane at ‘Hana’ and shoots a see-through drill at her. ‘Hana’ simply folds her right wing and blocks the see-through drill with ease.
*DAHK*
She flaps her right wing and deflects the see-through drill away.
“H-Hana-san. . . Can you control that form now?” asks Kasumi.
“. . .”
‘Hana’ looks to Kasumi, but she doesn’t answer, nor does she say anything.
“(Something’s different. I don’t feel any fear coming from her. What is going on??)”
“Tch! Of course, she can easily block that. Claire! Be careful! Remember how fast she moved when she fought Kasumi! Be on alert at all times, alright!!” shouts the Game Master.
. . . . .
Claire did not respond.
“Claire?”
The Game Master looks below.
*!!!*
And he was shocked when he saw Claire lying unconscious next to Luna’s cage.
*!!!*
But then he was even more shocked and confused when he saw that Hana was also lying unconscious behind Luna’s cage.
“W-What is going on. . .? Why is that red-haired bitch still down there, but her angelic/demonic form is over there?”
The Game Master starts sweating, and his facial expressions spiral negatively.
“Did her demon/angel escape her body, and it’s going to run amok here?”
*FLAPS*
‘Hana’ descends rapidly but carefully towards the floor. She puts Kasumi down on the floor gently and releases her hold over her.
“T-Thanks, Hana-san!”
‘Hana’ only looks at Kasumi without saying anything.
*!*
But Kasumi soon realizes, upon further observation, that there is something different about how ‘Hana’ looks. There is a thin black smoke that constantly flows throughout her entire body. It looks more like it's how she looks than the black smoke is actually physically there, engulfing her entire body. The black smoke is very subtle and is only noticeable once Kasumi stares at her long enough.
“(What is this?)”
Kasumi looks towards Luna.
*!!!*
Luna signals something to Kasumi without saying anything. She moves her lips and moves her hands to convey some kind of information to Kasumi without alerting the Game Master.
Kasumi smiles to herself afterwards.
“(Luna-chan! You’re amazing! You continue to prove yourself useful every single time an opportunity arises! Well done, Luna-chan!!)” thinks Kasumi as she closes her eyes, making a proud facial expression towards Luna.
“. . .”
*SNAPS*
The Game Master snaps his finger and teleports himself to the left of Luna’s cage.
“I see now. I understand!”
*GRANG*
*!!!*
The Game Master hits the roof of the metallic cage with his right fist as he crouches to see Luna inside.
“IT IS YOUR DOING, ISN’T IT YOU STUPID BRAT?!”
Luna was almost startled when the Game Master hit the roof of the cage, but she held back her body from reacting. She was looking at Kasumi and turned her head towards the Game Master.
“Huh?”
“DON’T YOU TRY PLAYING DUMB WITH ME!! I THOUGHT I SAID I KNOW EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS INSIDE THIS INFINITE MAZE?!”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
*!*
The Game Master points his cane at Luna from the outside.
“Goodbye, shitty brat!”
There is swirling energy gathered at the tip of the Game Master’s cane, similarly to how his giant cannon gathers energy at its barrel.
*FLAP*
‘Hana’ suddenly appears next to the Game Master. She grabs his cane and points it upwards before the Game master realizes because of how fast she moved.
*BLAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR*
His cane shoots the same energy beam, but smaller in size, towards the tall ceiling above. It disappears as soon as it hits the ceiling above.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
*!!!*
“GH! LET GO OF MY HAND!!”
*FLAP*
*DAHK*
“AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!”
The Game Master was slapped by ‘Hana’s’ left wing, and he was sent flying 10 meters away.
*BWOOSSHHH*
Kasumi jumps towards the flying Game Master. She doesn’t hold her katana, and she clenches her right fist. She appears in the direction where the Game Master is heading.
“HRAAAAHHH!!!”
*BAAAAMMM*
“UAAAARRRGGHH!!!”
*THUMP*
Kasumi punches the Game Master in his face and sends him crashing down towards the floor. His face/mask hits the floor first, and it cracked on impact.
*thud*
She lands near his head on the floor. She summons her katana and places it against his neck, and it almost tears his skin.
“Get us out of here, or I’ll have to kill you in order to free everyone!”
“Urrgghh. . .”
The Game Master did not answer as he’s still trying to endure and absorb all the pain and damage he just received.
“Kh kh kh kh! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
The Game Master laughs amidst the katana against his neck.
“DON’T WASTE MY TIME WITH YOUR BS, COLDHART-SAN!! YOU THREATENED TO KILL ME? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! YOU?? WHO STRUGGLES ALL THIS TIME JUST SO YOU DON’T KILL EVEN YOUR ENEMIES? WHO WOULD BELIEVE THAT COLDHART-SAN?! HAHAHAHAH!!”
The Game Master is openly mocking Kasumi.
“. . .”
Kasumi retracts her katana from his neck
“You’re right! I cannot betray my own character! So instead. . .”
*FLAPS*
‘Hana’ flies and lands next to the Game Master. She stands up and stares quietly into the Game Master’s eyes behind his mask.
“. . .”
The Game Master points his cane at ‘Hana’s’ face.
*BLAARRR*
He shot a smaller-sized energy beam as previously. It hits her face, and her entire form disappears and disintegrates.
*!!!*
“HANA-SAN!”
*SNAP*
*!*
The Game Master vanishes from his spot and appears next to Luna.
“THERE’S NO NEED TO ACT LIKE YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT HER, COLDHART-SAN! YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT THAT’S NOT THE REAL RED-HAIRED BITCH, RIGHT?”
“. . .”
*GRANG*
*!!!*
The Game Master kicks Luna’s cage and startles her.
“IT'S YOUR FAITH POWER ISN’T IT, BRAT?! EXPLAIN TO ME HOW IT HAPPENS? AS FAR AS I REMEMBER, THAT’S NOT HOW YOUR FAITH POWER WORKS, RIGHT?”
“. . .”
Luna doesn’t answer.
“Oh, you wanna play games, little shit? LET’S PLAY GAMES ALRIGHT!!”
The Game Master opens his palm above his head, and a giant see-through anvil appears 5 meters above Luna’s cage. The anvil is 5 meters in length, 2 meters in width, and it weighs around 5 tons.
*WUUUSSSHHH*
The giant see-through anvil immediately falls fast towards Luna’s cage below.
*!!!*
The Game Master looks towards Kasumi and sees that her Vein armor is glowing bright once again. Her Vein armor hasn’t been glowing again since the first time Hana and Luna regained their consciousness.
“Kasumi style!”
The giant see-through anvil was only 1 meter away from hitting Luna’s cage and absolutely flattened her.
*BWOOOOSSHHH*
Kasumi jumps forward to where Luna’s cage is and lands on top of the cage.
*ZAP ZRRRRTTT*
“HIGH VOLTAGE CIRCULAR SAW!!”
Kasumi swings her katana vertically in a full circle.
*GRAHK GRAHK*
She easily cuts the giant anvil above and the roof of the cage below. The cut was so clean that no matter where Luna was under the roof, she was never in danger.
*SNAP*
*THUMP THUMP*
The cut giant anvil falls to either side of the cage to the floor, and the Game Master snaps his finger to warp away from his position. Kasumi lifts up the cut roof of the cage and throws it away.
“Kasumi-chan!”
Luna climbs out of the roofless metal cage and hops off to the floor.
“Luna-chan!”
Kasumi also lands next to Luna.
“That was amazing, Luna-chan! How did you do that??”
“I-I don’t know. . . All I did was have a strong desire to change myself so that I could prove useful in combat scenarios. And then my Faith power felt like it evolved and gained new abilities that I never had before.”
*!!*
“Your Faith power. . . evolves?”
“I don’t know if that is even possible, or if there is any name for it. It just feels like the most appropriate term for what happened.”
“How does it work, Luna-chan?”
Luna proceeded to signal Kasumi to lean her head down. She does what she asks, and Luna whispers into Kasumi’s ear.
What happened was that Luna’s Faith power evolved as she suggested. Upon finding an answer or solution to a personal problem, or having a new desire or goals in their life, Believers sometimes will go through a change regarding their Faith power. It is a condition that is quite rare, which isn’t a topic talked about nearly as much as it should be in public.
Luna, upon having a strong desire to fight alongside Kasumi and Quroe, has acquired a new ability within her already existing Faith power, Fear Gaze. Her new ability will allow her to conjure or pull out ‘FEAR’ out of people’s hearts of her own choice, but limited to one fear and one person at a time.
To use this ability, Luna needs to focus her gaze on a specific target with her eyes transformed. But the difference with her stun capability is that she needs to look at a target from a distance, rather than eye to eye at close range, without needing to lock eyes with her target. After five seconds of staring into the target, they will feel unreal fear out of nowhere, and then Luna can peek into their heart, and their heart will reveal to her what they fear the most. Luna can then project that fear into reality, though there are certain exceptions regarding the type of fear people have, for example, if someone is afraid of heights, Luna cannot project anything, as it is a fear based on a concept rather than something concrete with forms and shapes.
*!!!*
“L-LUNA-CHAN!! THAT IS AMAZING!! THAT IS REALLY STRONG!! IF THAT’S THE CASE, TOGETHER WITH MASTER QUROE, THEN YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ABLE TO USE THAT ABILITY IN COMBAT!!”
“Hehehehehe!!”
Luna smiles widely as Kasumi bombards her with compliments.
“Can you use it on me?”
“Hm? Yeah, I can, but are you gonna be okay, Kasumi-chan? What if it’s something that used to haunt you in the past?? I’d rather summon that form of Hana-san again so we can corner that Game Master.”
“You can summon it again? You don’t have to stare at him?”
“Once I locked on a single target and projected their fear, I could use it as many times as I wished!”
“THAT’S INSANE, LUNA-CHAN!!!”
“Hehehehe! Thank you again, Kasumi-chan!”
“You two finished talking?”
*!!*
The Game master suddenly appears 5 meters in front of them. He held Claire’s unconscious body on his left shoulder.
*SNAPS*
He snaps his finger, and Claire disappears altogether from this entire room.
Luna transforms her eyes once again. She closes and opens her eyes, and black mist appears suddenly out of her palm. The black mist forms and shapes itself into Hana’s demonic/angelic form.
*FLAPS*
‘Hana’ flaps its wings, and it floats a bit off the floor.
“Okay, Luna-chan! Let’s end this stupid killing game together!”
“Alright, Kasumi-chan!!”
Kasumi and ‘Hana’ enter their battle stance.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! NORMALLY, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT TIME TO USE MY SECOND STATE!! HOW UNFORTUNATE!!”
*!!!*
“You have Second State?” asks Kasumi.
“Hm? Yeah, I am!”
“Then why didn’t you already use it??”
“Because there is no point! We all know Second State doesn’t boost our Faith power output! All my Second State does is allow me to do everything I can as if I’m inside my pocket dimension while I am outside. For five minutes, I can become the god of the world outside and do whatever I can!! There is no point using Second State inside my own maze! I won’t get any benefit from the form, and I’d just be wasting it!”
“. . .You said that your Faith power allows you to erect a giant pitch black dome outside, but it only has a limit of 5 kilometers. I was wondering the whole time, how are you planning to involve the entire world in your stupid killing game! So that’s what you would use your Second State for!”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! RIGHT ON THE DOT, COLDHART-SAN!! YOU REALLY ARE SMART!! UNLIKE MOST OF MY OFFICERS FROM THE UNDERWORLD WHO KNOW NOTHING BUT MURDERING PEOPLE!!”
*THUD*
The Game Master slams his cane against the floor.
“But enough talking! Let us finish this, Coldhart-san!! And you too, stupid brat!!”
“MY NAME IS LUNA ERINIVA YOU NOBODY WHO WISHED HE WAS POPULAR!!”
“L-Luna-chan. . .”
*SNAP*
The Game Master snaps his fingers, and he creates five giant futuristic cannons, floating above his head next to each other.
*WUUUUNNNNGGG*
They all start gathering energy into their barrels.
“Let’s go, Luna-chan!!”
“Right behind you, Kasumi-chan!!”
Kasumi’s Vein armor glows brighter, while Luna commands Hana through her will to enter her battle stance.
