"..." I follow Tsukuyomi as she leads to the castle courtyard. A few curious servants watch while I think about how hard I should hit Tsukuyomi so she never challenges again.
"I’m ready, Pandora..." she says, turning to face directly. I crack my knuckles, preparing for this.
"Then let’s begin..."
"Palace of the Shadow Moon." She imdiately uses magic, and the entire environnt 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 dinsion.
"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 sa 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 imdiately charges at , but she’s sowhat slow, to the point where this duel feels ridiculous. It’s obvious to that she can’t win.
I lunge at her with a punch, but contrary to my expectations, she blocks it, and I imdiately receive dozens of slashes. I see so 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 ti to think as she charges at again. She leaps, spinning in the air and landing while aiming an attack at .
"[Fragnted Moon]," she says as she descends. I try to use my hands to block the fans, but the mont 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 again. I analyze them, trying to see why they injure 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 imdiately, 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 environnt to use. I charge at her again, this ti 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 no room to dodge.
"[Kamino Eien]," I use the infinite elent magic, creating a distorted zone that traps her attack in place. Tsukuyomi appears behind , trying to strike 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...’ Sothing feels off. I feel sowhat slow and weak—not by much, but normally, I shouldn’t be having this much trouble dealing damage to soone weaker than .
’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 . I think about dodging, but before I can, my legs are severed by two crescent moons.
"!!!"
’It bypassed my detection? This is the third ti... HOW? SHE’S SLOW!!... How do I not notice these crescent moons appearing near ?’ I slip into the shadows to evade her Lunar Rainbow, my legs regenerating as I erge 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 so quickly, as my jaw regenerates.
’Is it this place? Is it so kind of debuff zone for ?’ 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 refinent. 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 ," she says with a mocking tone that infuriates .
"It would be ridiculous for , with millennia of life, to lose to a girl who doesn’t know how to use the power she has. You only defeated before due to pure... circumstance. You caught in a vulnerable mont 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 sothing 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 the victory." When she says this with that condescending tone, it makes realize—she truly believes I can’t win.
"H-Hahaha... YOU BITCH, YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ?" 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 sothing 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 becos chaotic.
However, if I’m decapitated and my head is still in place, I can regenerate. This seems to surprise Tsukuyomi.
"That reminds ... of Yamata-no-Orochi in so ways... though less versatile," she says, making an insulting comparison as my neck reattaches itself.
I realize I could have died. This makes 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 . For so reason, she can communicate with outside the sea of consciousness, but I understand what she ans.
’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 soone 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 ..." 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 more control over my magic.
And now, thanks to Tsukuyomi, I have the chance to try sothing Pandora Yandere proposed, sothing she’s been eager to do: allowing her to control the inhuman aspects of my physical body while I fight.
"Tsukuyomi, you called a monster and compared to monsters, making it clear you think your experience is enough to defeat ... but you’ve never seen fight like a monster."
"And now... now is a good ti 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 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 perfect vision of the entire area, two more pairs of arms erge, leaving with six arms to fight. Tsukuyomi finally looks at as the monster I am, her gaze turning icy.
"I will never give up... you’ll have to kill if you want to win," I speak with all my mouths, generating a distorted, monstrous cacophony of my voice.
Imdiately, 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 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 sothing I’ll chase.
Because experience requires effort and ti. That’s where the reason cos in: I don’t need experience, which naturally cos with ti, because I have adaptation. I never have and never will need experience when I can adapt rapidly.
’It’s all a matter of ti...’ The longer I last, the harder it becos to defeat . Experience is useless against a monster like who uses adaptation.
"Now, Tsu-dear, let’s play." I speak with this distorted tone, a mixture of my desires and Pandora Yandere’s.
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