CHAPTER 442: MOON VS CHAOS – PART 1

"..." I follow Tsukuyomi as she leads me to the castle courtyard. A few curious servants watch while I think about how hard I should hit Tsukuyomi so she never challenges me again.

"I’m ready, Pandora..." she says, turning to face me directly. I crack my knuckles, preparing for this.

"Then let’s begin..."

"Palace of the Shadow Moon." She immediately uses magic, and the entire environment changes in an instant. I look around, seeing a smooth floor covered with various Japanese characters, all representing the moon, while noticing the gravity here is slightly reduced.

’An arena...’ The place seems enormous, but it’s not the actual moon—I know because I can sense the ambient mana. I deduce it seems more like another dimension.

"More suitable for our fight, don’t you think? No one will interfere, and you won’t have to worry about anyone interrupting... And don’t worry, if I die, you’ll leave this place and reappear in the same spot," she says as two fans materialize in her hands.

"Yes, it’s perfect for putting you in your place without Eclipsya getting in the way." If Eclipsya saw the fight at the castle, she might try to interfere.

"..." She immediately charges at me, but she’s somewhat slow, to the point where this duel feels ridiculous. It’s obvious to me that she can’t win.

I lunge at her with a punch, but contrary to my expectations, she blocks it, and I immediately receive dozens of slashes. I see some kind of object resembling a crescent moon, all of them embedded deep in my body, down to the bone.

I use my tail to push her back while my body expels those things, and I watch the wounds close.

’How?’ I have no time to think as she charges at me again. She leaps, spinning in the air and landing while aiming an attack at me.

"[Fragmented Moon]," she says as she descends. I try to use my hands to block the fans, but the moment her attack connects, both my arms are torn off and sliced into several pieces as I’m thrown backward.

’Again!?’ She literally shattered my mana armor in a single strike. My arms grow back, but I don’t understand.

This isn’t exactly going as expected. She’s breaking through my mana armor far too easily, which is strange because I have twice her power.

"[Lunar Shard]," she says, firing dozens of purple crescent moons. I dodge every single one, refusing to let her attacks touch me again. I analyze them, trying to see why they injure me so easily.

As I close the distance and advance toward Tsukuyomi, I throw hundreds of punches, but even though she’s slower, she blocks every one.

"[Moon Breaker]," she does it again as my left arm goes flying and she breaks my guard. She swings her fan upward, delivering a severe slash across my chest, cutting through my ribs and striking my heart.

I leap back, watching the wound close almost immediately, and finally realize I’m not defending myself as I should.

The open area also doesn’t favor my mobility since I have nothing in the environment to use. I charge at her again, this time taking it seriously. I throw a punch, which she tries to block with her fan.

But just before it connects, I stop and use my tail to sweep her legs. While she’s still in the air, before she can fall, I kick her, sending her flying.

"[Grand Waning Moon]," she fires another moon before I can advance. This one has a yellow hue and is as large as a building, leaving me no room to dodge.

"[Kamino Eien]," I use the infinite element magic, creating a distorted zone that traps her attack in place. Tsukuyomi appears behind me, trying to strike me with her fan, but I block it by grabbing her wrist with my tail.

’Is it the fans?’ I spin her rapidly and slam her back-first into the ground, shattering the floor. I repeat this until my tail is severed by a small crescent moon.

’How annoying...’ Something feels off. I feel somewhat slow and weak—not by much, but normally, I shouldn’t be having this much trouble dealing damage to someone weaker than me.

’I’m holding back, but that shouldn’t explain why I’m taking so much damage.’ Even though I’m deliberately using less magic in my attacks, I’m still using normal magic for defense.

"[Lunar Rainbow]," she uses another ability as six purple slashes advance toward me. I think about dodging, but before I can, my legs are severed by two crescent moons.

"!!!"

’It bypassed my detection? This is the third time... HOW? SHE’S SLOW!!... How do I not notice these crescent moons appearing near me?’ I slip into the shadows to evade her Lunar Rainbow, my legs regenerating as I emerge from her shadow, only to be struck by a blow from her fan that tears my jaw off.

"..." I leap back, puzzled by how she found me so quickly, as my jaw regenerates.

’Is it this place? Is it some kind of debuff zone for me?’ Maybe it’s similar to [Abyssal Reflection], where everyone inside receives debuffs when I use it.

"You’re not weaker, Pandora. This is just the difference in experience..." she interrupts my thoughts.

"What..."

"You have no experience. You’re just pure, brute power, and even your martial arts have zero refinement. In the end... you’re exactly what I expected: a monster who relies solely on brutality and raw power to win. And if that’s the case, you’ll never truly defeat me," she says with a mocking tone that infuriates me.

"It would be ridiculous for me, with millennia of life, to lose to a girl who doesn’t know how to use the power she has. You only defeated me before due to pure... circumstance. You caught me in a vulnerable moment when we were on Earth." I ignore her arrogant nonsense as I advance.

But before I can touch her, I receive hundreds of dangerously deep slashes—one deeply into my neck and another nearly splitting my brain in two.

"..." I retreat, noting that Tsukuyomi hasn’t bled at all, while my blood is already splattered everywhere here.

"You rely too much on your power... What do you think happens when you face an enemy whose attacks you can’t sense? I don’t use mana, Pandora. I don’t use the natural force of this universe. I use my own power, and that’s not something your body understands."

"I could even use mana... but why would I? After all, in this universe, my power remains undetectable as long as I don’t use mana."

"Knowing that, I ask you to surrender this fight and give me the victory." When she says this with that condescending tone, it makes me realize—she truly believes I can’t win.

"H-Hahaha... YOU BITCH, YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME?" I scream furiously. I’d been deliberately holding back to avoid killing her.

"Yes, I think so. And not just think—I know I can... [Lunar Dispersion]." She uses another attack, and quickly, by instinct, my tail holds my head in place.

I realize I was decapitated instantly by something I didn’t even see. If I lose my head, I could truly die. My body can’t regenerate another head in my normal form because it loses all command structure, and the mana becomes chaotic.

However, if I’m decapitated and my head is still in place, I can regenerate. This seems to surprise Tsukuyomi.

"That reminds me... of Yamata-no-Orochi in some ways... though less versatile," she says, making an insulting comparison as my neck reattaches itself.

I realize I could have died. This makes me see Tsukuyomi not as the girl I’m going to teach a lesson, but as an enemy who threatens my life.

[Pandora, I think you’ve realized it too, haven’t you...?] Pandora Yandere speaks to me. For some reason, she can communicate with me outside the sea of consciousness, but I understand what she means.

’Ah, yes... I think so...’ I leap back, creating distance.

"I’m sorry, Tsukuyomi..." I apologize, leaving her surprised.

"I underestimated you... greatly. You were so weak in our first fight that I didn’t expect much from you. My mistake... yes, it was my mistake..."

"So..." She starts to speak, hopefully thinking I’ll give up, but I interrupt her because I’m not someone who gives up, especially when it involves my wife.

"That’s why, Tsukuyomi, I’m going to show you... a gap so monstrous that no amount of experience in the universe could make you win against me..." I say with a smile, allowing Pandora Yandere to intervene.

The most notable and interesting thing about those Pandoras inside the sea of consciousness is that they can all interact with the outside, controlling aspects of my body.

And they’ve always done this—usually controlling my mana, mana emission, and how much mana I expend. This reduced the unnecessary waste I used to make and gave me more control over my magic.

And now, thanks to Tsukuyomi, I have the chance to try something Pandora Yandere proposed, something she’s been eager to do: allowing her to control the inhuman aspects of my physical body while I fight.

"Tsukuyomi, you called me a monster and compared me to monsters, making it clear you think your experience is enough to defeat me... but you’ve never seen me fight like a monster."

"And now... now is a good time to show you." Cracking sounds erupt as my body changes. Tsukuyomi’s expression slowly shifts from shocked to disgusted.

My face gains two more pairs of eyes, leaving me with six, while dozens of eyes open on the inner part of my hair, all staring at her. Dozens of mouths appear across my body, along with eyes that observe every angle.

Giving me perfect vision of the entire area, two more pairs of arms emerge, leaving me with six arms to fight. Tsukuyomi finally looks at me as the monster I am, her gaze turning icy.

"I will never give up... you’ll have to kill me if you want to win," I speak with all my mouths, generating a distorted, monstrous cacophony of my voice.

Immediately, seven of my mouths bite down on those crescent-moon-like things. All of them tried to strike vital points, but the bites stopped them, preventing any damage. This is exactly why I made extra mouths and eyes.

Eyes from every angle see the attacks, and the mouths stop them by biting. After all, I can devour anything, and as I suspected, her attacks are solid enough for me to chew.

"You’re right, Tsu-dear... I have very little experience... Hahahaha... but does it really matter? I don’t think so." It never mattered.

I’m aware of my lack of experience, and honestly, I’ll probably never have great experience with martial arts, swordsmanship, or anything like that. I can "refine" the power to its maximum, but experience isn’t something I’ll chase.

Because experience requires effort and time. That’s where the reason comes in: I don’t need experience, which naturally comes with time, because I have adaptation. I never have and never will need experience when I can adapt rapidly.

’It’s all a matter of time...’ The longer I last, the harder it becomes to defeat me. Experience is useless against a monster like me who uses adaptation.

"Now, Tsu-dear, let’s play." I speak with this distorted tone, a mixture of my desires and Pandora Yandere’s.