The Moon Eater's power surged through Krad's veins like molten silver, burning away pain, fear, and hesitation. His broken body had been remade into something beyond mortal limits, every cell thrumming with ancient, ravenous power.
Han stumbled backward, silver blood dripping from her mouth. For the first time since her corruption, since Xerxes had twisted her into this domain-bound monstrosity, she felt something she'd forgotten... fear.
"You cannot win," the Moon Eater's voice rumbled through Krad's throat. "Your illusions are nothing before me. I have devoured greater than you pretend to be."
The Mirage Palace was collapsing. Each mirror that shattered wasn't reforming anymore—the silver light was consuming them, pulling their essence into the void that surrounded Krad like a corona of hungry stars.
Han created another wave of copies, desperation fueling her magic. A hundred reflections of herself, each wielding domain-level power.
The copies ceased to exist, pulled into the gravitational well of the Moon Eater's appetite. The technique consumed them so completely that even Han's domain couldn't reconstruct them from memory.
[ Damage Dealt to Han: 47.3% ]
"No... no!" Han's perfect composure shattered. She'd fought Celestial-ranked Slayers before, had killed continent-destroying threats without breaking a sweat. But this? This was something beyond her experience.
"Master! Master Xerxes, help me!"
But Xerxes was long gone, having left her as nothing more than a test for his prized vessel.
"Krad!" Mist voice was weak, barely audible over the power erupting from the boy. "Krad, listen to me! You're losing yourself!"
The silver eyes flickered, just for a moment. A flash of gold struggled beneath the lunar light.
"Kid!" Dani's voice joined Mist's, hoarse and desperate. She was on her knees, her mana completely depleted, blood streaming from her eyes and nose from the strain of her final binding spell. "Please! Come back!"
Kora crawled toward them, her staff broken in half, her healer's robes torn and bloodstained. "Don't let it consume you!"
The Moon Eater's attention shifted toward them, and in that ancient gaze, there was nothing human. Nothing that recognized friends from food.
"Insects," it murmured, raising one hand toward them. "You dare---"
And then his body froze.
Inside Krad's consciousness. He stood in darkness, facing a creature of impossible size. The serpentine dragon of legend towered before him, with eyes that held the cold light of a thousand devoured moons.
"You resist?" The Moon Eater's voice was everywhere and nowhere. "Even now, when I offer you the power to save your companions? How pathetically human."
"They're not my companions," Krad gasped, his voice small in this place of cosmic scale. "They're my friends. And I won't let you hurt them!"
"Friends?" The beast's laughter was the sound of dying stars. "The tracker and healer mean nothing to you. You met them minutes ago, why do you care if they live or die?"
"Because!" Krad's fists clenched, and somehow, impossibly, golden light began to glow around them... his own power, not borrowed. "Because when I was broken on the ground, when my wrists were shattered and I couldn't fight anymore... they stood up for me! They threw themselves at an unbeatable enemy to protect me!"
The darkness rippled.
"Sentiment... weakness."
"No!" Krad's voice grew stronger. "That's what makes us strong!"
Images flashed through the darkness—Dani and Kora, fighting back-to-back. The way Kora had screamed in rage when Krad's wrists were broken. How Dani had burned through her entire mana pool, literally dying from the inside out, just to give them a chance.
"And Captain Mist!" Krad continued, his golden light growing brighter. "He's been training me, protecting me, even though I'm just some random kid he barely knows! He broke his limiter and revealed his true level just to save me from you!"
"They are using you," the Moon Eater hissed. "The fog master needs your power to defeat his enemies. The women see you as a weapon against the mage who killed their captain. You are a tool to them, nothing more."
"You're wrong!" Krad's shout echoed through the infinite darkness. "Even if that's how it started... Captain could've let Xerxes take me! He could've run and saved himself! But he stayed! He fought Han knowing he'd probably die!"
The Moon Eater's form rippled, and for just a moment, Krad thought he saw something else in those cosmic eyes. Not hunger... sadder.
"And there's something else," Krad said, his voice dropping to barely a whisper. "Someone else I made a promise to. I made a promise to Hanan, a girl who lost everything because of monsters like Damos. I told her I'd get strong enough to make him pay. That I'd never give up, no matter how impossible it seemed."
The Moon Eater was silent.
"And I made promises to myself too," Krad continued. "When Xerxes corrupted those Pure Slimes, when he turned their innocent blue light into that horrible color... I swore I'd hunt him down. I swore I'd make him answer for every creature he's tortured!"
"These promises are meaningless," the Moon Eater finally said, but its voice was quieter now. "You will die long before you can fulfill them. The Goblin Lord will kill you. Xerxes will dissect you for his experiments."
"Then I'll get stronger!" Krad shouted. "I'll train harder! I'll find a way because that's what you do when you make a promise to someone! You don't give up just because it's hard!"
The darkness rippled violently.
"And what of our deal?" the Moon Eater asked. "You agreed to let me awaken to 15%."
"I know," Krad said quietly. "I've known since the beginning that using your power would kill me eventually. But that just means I have to get strong enough on my own before that happens! I need to become powerful enough that I don't need to rely on you anymore!"
"Impossible."
"Maybe!" Krad grinned, that wild, determined expression that drove his Systems crazy. "But I'm going to try anyway! Because I won't let you control me! I won't become a mindless beast! I made promises, and I'm going to keep them!"
The Moon Eater's form began to shift, its cosmic vastness compressing.
"You truly believe this?" it asked, and there was something new in its voice. Not mockery... curiosity.
"With everything I am," Krad replied.
The darkness was silent for a long moment, then...
"Very well, vessel. I will grant you this chance again. But know that each time you call upon me, the percentage increases. Each time you lose control, I consume more of your humanity. The clock is ticking on your mortal soul."
"I understand."
The darkness shattered like glass. Krad's body had been frozen mid-motion, hand raised toward Mist, Dani, and Kora, the silver light of the Moon Eater blazing around him like a miniature supernova.
Then, suddenly, the light flickered.
Gold bled back into his eyes, pushing back the lunar silver until only his natural color remained. The horns that had been forming on his skull dissolved into mist. The reality-warping aura collapsed inward, condensing back into his body.
Krad gasped, stumbling as his own consciousness reasserted control. His hand, which had been about to unleash a devastating attack on his friends, dropped limply to his side.
"I... I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice hoarse and entirely human. "I almost... I almost..."
"Krad!" Mist's shout was followed by the sound of the captain collapsing to his knees, relief flooding his battered features. "You stopped it. You actually stopped the awakening."
[ Moon Eater Awakening Status: 15% → 10% ]
[ Warning: Awakening percentage reduced. This should not be possible. ]
[ System Buddy: What?! How did you push it back?! ]
[ System Alpha: Insufficient data. No recorded instance of a Mythical Beast vessel reducing their awakening percentage through force of will alone. ]
But Krad had done it. Somehow, through sheer stubborn determination and the weight of his promises, he'd forced the Moon Eater back down to its sealed state.