Chapter 94 – Shadows Beneath the Red Moon

  The forest burned red beneath the full moon.

  Snow churned underfoot, stained with blood and mana residue. The air reeked of iron and ozone. The trial—once meant to test survival—had become a battleground where reason and instinct tore at each other.

  Seven’s breath fogged the air in ragged bursts. His rifle vibrated with heat, the mana cell whining under strain. Across the clearing, Fluffy and Erika closed in, their movements feral and unnaturally fast, the red mist clinging to their skin and armor like living fire.

  “Fluffy! Erika!” he shouted, stepping back, raising his rifle defensively. “You’re burning out—you’ll tear your mana channels apart!”

  No response. Just the guttural growl of exhaustion and fury.

  Fluffy’s ears flicked, eyes glowing crimson. “You’re holding back,” she hissed, her tone low, animalistic. “You think we’re weak.”

  Seven gritted his teeth. “I think you’re not in control.”

  Erika lunged before he could say more. Her shield slammed into his rifle, the shockwave rippling through his arms. Sparks flew as the prototype arm compensated, servos whining in protest. He twisted his body, parrying Fluffy’s sword a heartbeat later. The blade screeched along his rifle’s barrel, shearing through the upper plate of his shoulder guard.

  Metal tore.

  Skin followed.

  Warmth spread across his jacket.

  Seven stumbled back, his shoulder bleeding freely. “Damn it…”

  The bionic arm locked for a split second, mana pathways overloading before the internal vents hissed to cool. He forced the arm to move, his breathing heavy. She’s faster… stronger. Both of them are. And I’m still pulling punches.

  Fluffy charged again, her twin blades slashing in a blur. Seven barely ducked under the first strike, blocking the second with the reinforced butt of his rifle. The weapon screamed under the pressure. Her strength doubled under the moon’s influence, each blow threatening to shatter his guard.

  “You’re not my enemy!” he barked, shoving her back with a mana pulse from his prosthetic. “Snap out of it, Fluff!”

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  Fluffy’s tail flicked, her grin savage. “Then fight me, human.”

  Her sword came down again—fast, precise, deadly. The tip nicked his cheek, cutting clean through skin. The heat of his own blood shocked him back to focus. Seven countered with a sweep kick, forcing her to leap back.

  Erika took the opening, shield forward, slamming into him like a battering ram. Seven hit the ground hard, his breath knocked out. His rifle clattered away, spinning across the snow.

  “Damn it!” He rolled just as Erika’s sword plunged down, burying itself into the ice where his chest had been.

  Seven surged to his feet, bionic arm sparking. The weapon hummed, charging with energy drawn straight from his core. His vision blurred, red at the edges. “I didn’t want to do this…”

  Enchanted Combat.

  The world slowed.

  The glitch-sigils flared around his body, shimmering through the blizzard. Time itself seemed to bend.

  He moved—faster than instinct, faster than thought. His rifle snapped back into his hand with magnetic precision, and the next three shots tore through the night, blinding flashes that cut through the mist. The impact didn’t kill—it disarmed, forcing the bunny folk back, staggering under the concussive shock.

  Both Fluffy and Erika landed hard, their breathing ragged, but the red haze still burned in their eyes.

  “This isn’t working,” Seven muttered. “If I don’t stop them soon, they’ll collapse—or worse.”

  He turned his head, hearing a sound that made his heart drop.

  A low, rumbling growl.

  The kind that made even beasts go silent.

  The ground trembled.

  The snow around them began to vibrate, flakes lifting into the air as if gravity itself had forgotten its purpose. The red mist thickened, coiling toward the treeline.

  Erika froze mid-step. Even Fluffy’s blades dipped slightly, her ears twitching. “...What was that?”

  Seven’s instincts screamed. He pivoted toward the forest’s edge, rifle raised, scanning.

  At first, he thought it was a trick of the moonlight—a shadow stretching unnaturally long. But then it moved.

  The trees bent. One snapped in half. Then another.

  A massive shape emerged—taller than any wall in Novastra, broader than a warship hull.

  A single dull-gold eye flickered open.

  Then it turned red.

  The snow rippled under the weight of each step. Steam rolled from its nostrils.

  “No…” Seven whispered. “That’s not a WMB.”

  The silhouette loomed, humanoid but monstrous, its presence warping the air. The moonlight caught on skin matted with frost and scars.

  Gorm.

  But not the Gorm known to the Aku.

  His eyes glowed crimson, veins pulsing beneath his skin, mana boiling from his form like fire. The red mist clung to him, merging with his aura, turning his breath into toxic vapor. His teeth bared as he exhaled a low, guttural growl that shook the ground.

  Seven felt the vibration in his chest. Fluffy and Erika instinctively stepped back, their earlier hostility faltering into instinctive fear.

  “What... is that?” Erika whispered.

  “Not something we can fight,” Seven said, voice tight.

  The titan’s gaze locked on him—the only human standing beneath the moonlight. The blood-red eyes narrowed.

  And then—

  The giant moved.

  The world exploded in motion.

  Trees shattered, snow erupted, and Seven dove aside as a hand larger than a cart crashed into the ground where he’d been standing.

  He rolled, grabbing his rifle, adrenaline flooding his veins. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

  Fluffy screamed, her blades flashing as she tried to parry a strike that was more like an avalanche. The impact threw her back dozens of meters, slamming her into the base of a frozen boulder.

  Erika’s shield shattered like glass.

  Both women were knocked unconscious.

  Seven’s instincts took over.

  He fired upward, mana cells sparking, his bionic arm locking from recoil. The shot struck Gorm’s shoulder—a flash of blue light against a wall of skin and muscle.

  The titan barely noticed.

  The ground cracked under its next step.

  Seven steadied his aim, teeth gritted, the sigils of Enchanted Combat still glowing faintly on him. “If this thing reaches the city…”

  He chambered another round, eyes narrowing.

  “Not happening.”

  The red mist coiled tighter. The moon glowed brighter.

  And as Gorm’s shadow fell over the battlefield, the last thing Seven heard was the thunder of the titan’s roar shaking the mountains.