Chapter 449: Fighting The Pavilion Spirit
The ice sword came down. The fireball and crackling wolf rushed forward, each heading towards their target.
The collision erased the center of the sanctum.
The explosion of ice, fire, and lightning expanded outward in a sphere that shattered every pillar, every shelf, every container in the room. The shockwave cracked the walls from floor to ceiling. The floor beneath them cratered and collapsed.
Moon felt the ice tear through his chest before the darkness took him.
The spirit felt the lightning and fire burn through her body at the same instant.
Both of them died.
[You have died.]
[You have lost 10,000 Lives]
The death penalty within the pavilion vicinity had increased from 2500 to 10,000.
Moon respawned in the ruined sanctum a moment later, gasping, the phantom pain of having his chest carved open still echoing through his nervous system.
His eyes snapped open immediately, looking for the spirit.
"She hasn’t spawned yet..."
Suddenly, Moon felt a surge of energy ripple outwardly from a specific point in the room. Moments later, the spirit spawned across the room her body reforming from pale light. Her wounds were gone, she was back in top condition, as if her injuries didn’t matter.
"So there it is." Moon thought, his gaze locked on the exact spot. It came from beneath the collapsed floor, directly under the meditation platform that now lay in rubble.
Moon was staring at the floor beneath the shattered platform with a grin on his face.
He had found the core of the pavilion spirit.
At the same time, the spirit’s eyes tracked his gaze. She saw exactly where he was looking. The ruined floor. The shattered meditation platform. The spot beneath it where the pulse had originated.
’He knows.’
She rushed forward, placing herself directly between Moon and the collapsed platform. Her body became a wall, her aura flaring outward in a wave of freezing pressure that pushed against Moon’s chest.
Moon didn’t stop her or attempt in using a detour to reach for the core. He remained in place, his eyes meeting hers once more.
"You are dead. And you know that." Moon said, calmly. Unbothered by her glaring eyes. "I will offer you once more. Surrender, I will make you stronger than you could ever be, I will grant you dominion over stronger shelters, stronger spirits. Accept, or die. A death of someone that will be forgotten and never remembered again."
As the battle raged on, Moon was increasingly more inclined into taking this spirit as a subordinate. She was really unique, an ice wielder would be really useful to him.
The spirit didn’t reply. The defiance was still there, burning behind those pale eyes. She was no longer treating him as mere prey, she was now taking him seriously.
Moon wasn’t just a nuisance anymore. He wasn’t an insect that had wandered into her home. He was a threat that had killed her once, and found her core, and was standing in her sanctum with the means to end everything.
Her spiritual energy surged. Ice formed along both of her arms simultaneously. Then, a sword took shape in each hand.
"Dual swordsmanship?" Moon’s eyebrows rose.
Even with his Weaponmaster skill pushing his proficiency to near-mastery levels, Moon couldn’t wield two blades proficiently. It wasn’t a matter of strength or speed. Dual wielding was its own discipline.
The benefits were obvious. It solved weaknesses that single swordsmanship carried inherently. Defense and offense could happen simultaneously. Attack patterns became less predictable. The hit rate climbed because two edges covered twice the angles.
The spirit held both blades at her sides, frost curling off the edges in thin wisps. Her stance was low, balanced, ready to move in any direction.
Moon adjusted his grip on the staff. Purple lightning crackled in his left hand, casting violet light across the frozen floor between them.
’I’ve used a little more than half my mana. The next exchange will be important.’
The fight resumed with a ferocity that shook the sanctum’s remaining walls.
Moon directed his beasts during the fight, utilizing their powers well. "Hydra, pressure her left. Hound, circle behind. Mirage, your doppelganger. Spirit, bind her legs when she commits."
They obeyed simultaneously. The Hydra lunged from the left, four heads striking in staggered intervals. The Fire Hound darted behind the pavilion spirit, flames lashing at her back. Mirage and his doppelganger harassed her right side, forcing her to split her attention between two identical targets. The beast soul’s vines crept along the frozen floor, waiting for her to plant her feet.
The pavilion spirit fought them all at once. Her twin ice swords moved in independent arcs that shouldn’t have been possible from a single body. The left blade deflected the Hydra’s lunging heads while the right carved a gash across Mirage’s body. She kicked backward into the Fire Hound’s jaw, then pivoted and shattered the beast soul’s vines with a wave of ice that froze them solid.
Moon attacked between every opening his beasts created.
Bolts of purple lightning, thrusts of his staff when she committed to an attack against his beasts. An [Explode] aimed at her feet when she landed from a dodge.
Most of his attacks landed, increasing her injuries.
But despite being outnumbered, she gave as good as she got.
Her left sword caught Moon across the thigh, the ice edge cutting deep enough to scrape his femur. Moon cast [Minor Mend] without breaking stride. Her right sword took one of the Hydra’s heads clean off, making it cry out in pain.
Moon healed the stump before it could bleed out. The spirit did not waste that opportunity, a wave of ice spikes erupted from the floor and impaled the Fire Hound’s legs. Moon cast [Cleanse] to purge the frost spreading through its body.
He was fighting and healing simultaneously, keeping his entire army functional while trading blows with a Three Star spirit.
But through it all, Moon noticed something.
She never moved far from the collapsed platform. Every time the battle rose in intensity, she made sure to maintain her position at the center.
She was anchored to it.
