‘I’ll cut you down.’
Thoughts clashed. The standoff didn’t last long.
Roka grabbed her sword and leapt up. Phoenix, with its arrogant gaze, glared down at the small figure beneath it. Both were fully intent on killing the other, and the battle began immediately.
Whoosh!
With every step, it felt as though a faint image of the moon became her stepping stone. The Moonlight Walking Technique, a skill from the memories of the Moonlight Blade, was just that kind of technique. Using the moon’s magical power, it created a kind of magical field to offset gravity.
Naturally, her steps became as light as a butterfly’s, and even when she touched the ground, no footprints were left. If she pushed off to leap, she could glide effortlessly to faraway places.
In truth, flying through the sky wasn’t something rare for experts. What mattered was how long and how efficiently one could fly.
‘It feels like my body has become as light as a feather.’
It wasn’t that her weight had disappeared. She was merely using the moon’s magical power to offset the gravitational pull of the earth.
The downside was that the magical power consumption wasn’t small, but considering the power, it was actually quite efficient. Roka could handle this level of magical consumption just fine.
‘But…’
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Had Phoenix learned to mimic human laughter after being with Grimudo for so long? It laughed—not with the laughter of a bird, but by imitating a human voice.
To Phoenix, anyone other than its master, no matter how great a human they were, was no different from a monkey in its eyes. Look at this fool, daring to challenge it just because she could fly a little.
Phoenix spread its wings wide, as if daring her to come. It seemed accustomed to gauging human strength and deliberately underestimated Roka. And honestly, it had reason to.
Even a single feather on this bird was older than Roka. This ancient creature had lived through countless years and had encountered humans often.
Roka lacked the unique aura that strong humans possessed. Phoenix knew from experience that unless one was a Master, they couldn’t even make it flinch.
“Die.”
Roka gripped her sword with both hands and shot upward. The image of the moon appeared on the blade, and the gravitational pull guided the Moonlight Blade.
Phoenix was above, and Roka was below. With this height difference, even a single falling pebble could be deadly. No, it would definitely kill.
The bird held the high ground, and it was a bird. In terms of aerial combat, Roka was so outclassed that she should feel ashamed and consider ending herself.
But within the memories of the Moonlight Blade, there was definitely a technique for such a disadvantageous situation.
‘I’ll cut you down.’
Moonlight Slash. A technique that Moonlight Teresa would always use against those who arrogantly held the high ground.
Roka entrusted her body to the sword technique that Teresa had cherished, and leapt. The moon guided her, pulling her toward Phoenix.
Ha!
As if mocking her, the bird laughed. It spread its wings as the Moonlight Blade surged toward it with increasing speed.
The creature’s wings and the Moonlight Blade collided. The blade, forged by dwarves from moonlight ore, should have torn through the wings like paper.
“Ugh!”
Clang! Clash!
But instead, the sound of metal clashing rang out, and her upward momentum was abruptly halted. No matter how much the moon pulled Roka upward, if the blade couldn’t pierce Phoenix’s wings, it was meaningless.
Up close, the creature’s size was truly terrifying. Its beak and even a single claw were larger than Roka. From a distance, she hadn’t realized, but up close, even its eyes made her knees weak.
‘This is impossible. What…’
The Moonlight Blade, imbued with the moon’s power, could slice through even an iron golem. But this thing was a monster. Phoenix smirked, opened its mouth, and spewed out flames.
A pillar of fire, almost like a beam, shot toward Roka. The girl quickly distanced herself, using the Moonlight Walking Technique to evade.
‘Cutting won’t work. Then maybe…’
No matter where she flew to escape, its eyes followed her precisely. She couldn’t keep draining her strength like this. The Moonlight Walking Technique consumed a lot of magical power, and if she ran out, she’d have no choice but to fall to the ground.
Roka made a crucial decision. She gathered the Power of the Sun in both hands. The sword, which wasn’t helping, was just heavy, so she stuffed it back into its unremarkable sheath.
‘That old man lied to me. All that talk about the legend of Moonlight Teresa…’
The young wolf swallowed her anger. But no matter the weapon, its power was entirely proportional to the user. If Teresa, the previous wielder of the Moonlight Blade, had used the Moonlight Slash, it would have been enough to tear through the wings.
There was no weapon in the world that granted invincible power just by holding it. Not even the Imperial Palace had such a thing. Even if such a weapon existed, it would control the wielder, not the other way around.
A human wasn’t the main body—the sword was. Who would want to be born a human only to become a slave to a weapon?
‘I’ll use this instead!’
The image of the sun formed between her hands, radiating immense light. The blazing heat surged forward, piercing through the pillar of flame.
The small sun swallowed the flames Phoenix had shot and grew stronger, but the bird laughed mockingly and opened its beak wide.
“Ah…!”
It swallowed the Sunfire Orb whole and chuckled. Its red eyes gleamed.
Flames began to flicker on its feathers again. It had swallowed the Sunfire Orb and regained its strength. Instead of an attack, it had been given a top-tier elixir.
Heh. Heh. Heh.
Roka clenched her fists at the mocking creature. She drew the useless sword again and gripped it with both hands.
The Moonlight Blade alone couldn’t cut even a single feather. Of course, if the blade could think, it would blame its owner, Roka. But that didn’t matter now.
Now, there was only one thing to believe in. One technique. The single slash left by Master Heron. The Light of the Sunset was her only hope.
“Is this your best? It’s not helping at all.”
Roka, frustrated, channeled the moon’s power into the blade and quickly scanned the memories within. There was nothing useful in this situation.
The blade hummed, expressing its dissatisfaction. What technique could it recommend to its unworthy owner who hadn’t even become a Master?
Weapons choose their owners, and techniques choose their users. Among the techniques left by Teresa, many required one to be a Master to use.
While they blamed each other, Phoenix tilted its neck. It spat out a spherical object, and the moment it touched the air, scorching winds erupted in all directions.
The sun. A small sun, three times larger than the Sunfire Orb Roka had shot, was hurled toward her. This was an unavoidable attack—she had to block it head-on.
“Gravity…!”
The absolute gravity of the sun pulled Roka in. No, it pulled everything toward itself.
Just like jumping up only to fall back down, this attack would pull her back even if she tried to evade. Teresa would have calmly used the Moonlight Walking Technique to maintain balance, but that required skill.
Or at least composure. Balancing all these variables and escaping with minimal effort wasn’t Roka’s style.
Attack was the best defense, and defense was for dogs. The girl charged the Power of the Sun again, concentrated it between her hands, and fired.
Whoosh!
The large sun and the small sun approached each other, altering their trajectories as they pulled each other. They orbited each other and missed entirely.
The large sun fell downward, and the small sun shot upward. Along with the real sun in the sky, the sunlight became three times stronger for a moment.
Zing!
The light was so intense it was hard to keep her eyes open. If the Bluebird’s feathers hadn’t blocked the excessive light, she would have had to fight with her eyes closed.
Phoenix, amused, opened its beak and spat out another sun. This time, Roka didn’t counter with a sun. A battle of attrition like this would only lead to ruin.
‘I’ll kill it.’
A flash of sunset light in her eyes—was it an illusion? The moment she resolved to kill it, the Power of the Sun pulsed and took on the color of the sunset.
Whoosh!
The girl swung the sword horizontally. As it cut through the air, the Light of the Sunset flickered.
Both Phoenix’s and Roka’s vision turned red. The edge of twilight was captured, and the sunset curved.
