The Awakening of the Lunar Sky Piercer

(K-THUMP... K-THUMP... K-THUMP-K-THUMP-K-THUMMMMM!!)

The primordial heartbeat did not stop; instead, it expanded.

(BA-DUM... BA-DUM... BA-DUM...!!!)

In the millisecond that the web of shadows, stone stakes, and supersonic shrapnel from the amalgam titan converged upon Shija, the sound of the weapon's awakening acted as a detonator.

(BA-DUM... BA-DUM... BA-DUM-KRA-SHHHHHHH!!!)

In that moment, the roar of the abomination and the thunder of the attacks vanished from Shija's ears, replaced by the rhythmic beating.

"Yes... I can hear you..."

Time did not stop, but it slowed down to a subatomic scale for the perception of Shija who, with his body fragmenting and his maniacal laugh frozen on his lips, felt the pull.

(SHIIIIIIII-IIING—BOOM!!!)

In response from the chromatic sky, piercing through the cotton candy clouds and the black steam, a bolt of light descended with a perfect vertical trajectory.

{So that was what you were waiting for...}

What descended onto the field was no longer a sword; it was a comet of crystallized will.

"COME AT ONCE!!"

In mid-air, Shija, in an exhibition of hyperbolic perception and absolute speed, did not wait for the sword to arrive.

{This is an epic moment... Of course I must take the chance to say something!}

He lunged toward it...

{SHIJA, NOW!}

His feet, surfing over the attack vectors frozen in time, propelled him upward in an ascending spiral.

{TAKE CONTROL!}

As he ascended, his residual body executed thousands of micro-evasions.

(ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM!)

Stone stakes passed within microns of his skin; tar tentacles writhed to catch residual images of white light.

{RIDE THE WIND!!} (Satisfaction)

Amidst the excited cries of the doll's consciousness, Shija rose and at the peak of his trajectory...

(KRA-TA-KOOM-B-ZZZ-T!!!)

His right hand closed around the hilt of his reborn sword.

(... I see.)

As a result, an explosion of multicolored energy in constant fluctuation erupted from the point of contact, instantly clearing the air of tar, steam, and clouds in a radius of 70 kilometers.

(This power... it’s absurd...)

However, upon catching the sword, the fragmentation of his body accelerated instantly before the continuous flow of boundless energy emanating from the weapon.

{IS THIS AN OVERLOAD?!!!}

As he gripped it, his ash-white hair glowed with the intensity of a supernova, and his concentric eyes fixed upon the abomination below with a frigid clarity that replaced the madness.

"Hey... can you keep going...?"

In mid-air, Shija did not land...

{OF COURSE I CAN?!!!}

And upon hearing the doll's response, Shija used the shockwave of the impact to pivot in the air, changing his diving trajectory.

"THEN LET'S FINISH THIS!!"

The frenetic combat began.

(FSSSHHHH-ZING—CLANG-VRAAAAAAASH!!!)

Shija descended like a meteorite of lethal geometry.

(ZRAAAAKKKK-KSHHHHHHHH-EEEEEEEE!!)

However, in his descent, they were met by the beastly roar of the colossus...

(ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM!!)

But in response, Shija did not throw a slash; instead, he unleashed a conceptual bombardment.

(ZHUOOM... SHIN! VRAA-SHIN! ZHUOOOOM!!!)

In a single second, as the sword formed, it traced thousands of crescent moons of pure light that enveloped the tar titan.

(BHHHOOOOOOOO-MNNNNNNGGGGGG-GRRRR!!)

The sound was a constant metallic rattling, a high-frequency hum so fast it merged into a symphony of destruction, making the colossus howl in pain.

"NOT YET!!"

Shija moved like a flash of light, appearing on the titan's shoulder to disintegrate a stone tower, and in the next microsecond he was already beneath its jaw, slicing through liquid tendrils at a molecular level.

(ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!)

For every attack from the abomination—stakes, whips, tides of tar—Shija responded with three cuts of surgical precision.

"¡¡!!"

His perception, now in tune with the flow of existence, allowed him to see the "junction points" where the ground matter fused with the tar.

(Here it comes!!)

Thanks to that, at that moment he perceived how the energy flow was not rising; it was sinking.

(VROOOOOOOO-RRRRRRR-BOOOOM!!!)

From the ground, a volcanic eruption of negative energy in a liquid state exploded.

{... OK... I'LL GO BACK TO MY QUESTION... DO YOU HAVE A DAMN PLAN?!}

Billions of hectoliters of tar, compressed by the pressure of suppressed trauma, erupted toward the firmament in a black geyser that devoured the light of the aurora.

(G-ZRAAAAAA-KKKKKK-SHHHHHHH!!!)

That volcano of pitch did not disperse; and as if drawn by a gravitational magnet, the torrent instantly merged with the cursed colossus.

"I HAVE ONE!!"

The size of the abomination began to expand with geometric speed, defying any logic of mass.

{SERIOUSLY?!}

It grew beyond the monochromatic firmament, surpassing the cotton candy clouds and continued to ascend until Shija, in his Zenith state, looked like a speck of dust before a fallen god.

{WHY DOES IT SEEM TO BE UNDERGOING SUCH A MASSIVE POWER INCREASE!!}

What was once an enemy was now an ecosystem of hate.

"IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!"

And in response to a god of trauma that now occupied his entire visual field, Shija...

{ARE YOU CRAZY?!!}

Provoked it.

(HUO-OOOOOOO-SHHHH!!!)

As a result, the air was displaced with the force of a hurricane when the abomination launched its attack.

"LET'S GO!!"

Due to its massive density and liquid nature, there was no slowness; there was hydrostatic violence.

(ZHUOOM—VRAA-SHIN—KRA-KOOM!)

In that manner, thousands of tentacles, each with the thickness of a tower, shot out from the central mass toward Shija.

(You haven't stabilized yet... have you?!)

In response, Shija initiated an evasion sequence that burned his very nerves.

{WE WON'T HOLD ON MUCH LONGER!!!}

At their limit, both Shija and the doll moved like a flicker, evading the pressure that threatened to crush them, bouncing off the void, turning at ninety-degree angles in milliseconds to pass between the whips of pitch that sliced through the space around them.

(CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-KRA-SHHH!)

Shija wasn't just dodging; he was taking advantage of the attack.

(Neither that monster... Nor you have stabilized... Right, partner?!!)

Amidst the rain of supersonic shrapnel, his arms became a blur of absolute motion.

(Against that thing, you can release all that pressure!!!)

In reaction to Shija's thoughts, his crystallized sword began to vibrate as the unstable energy it was imbued with screeched.

"KYŌGETSU STYLE!!!"

In a fraction of a second, he executed ten thousand cuts.

"GETSURIN SHŌ!!!!"

The blade was not seen; only a web of silver moons that enveloped the titan's arm as it attempted to crush him.

(... Mireya... That night... Did you think I was sleeping...?)

The stone was reduced to sand and the tar to a fine mist of black steam before they could even brush his skin.

(When you tested that attack... When you shattered that mountain... I knew...)

Shija was literally running over the vertical surface of the colossus as it ascended; a flash of white light climbing a mountain of shadows that regenerated at the same speed he destroyed.

(BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!!!)

They were constant clashes, a deafening rattling of steel against pressurized trauma.

(... In that moment... No, maybe even before... You were holding back...)

Each step Shija took in the air generated a sonic wave that cleared the pitch for an instant, allowing him to see the thousands of faces in agony trapped within the mass, screaming in an eternal silence.

"More! Fill this void with everything that hurts you!"

Shija's maniacal laughter blended with the beast's volcanic roar, creating a symphony of madness on the edge of collapse.

(HUO-OOOOOOO-SHHHH-KRA-TA-KOOM!!!)

Billions of liters of pressurized trauma, a hydrostatic tide of pure hate, converged upon the white spark that dared to defy the immensity of the colossus.

(... The name of that technique... I still remember it...)

Shija, his ash-white hair glowing like a supernova as the sword in his hand fused deeper and deeper with his arm.

(ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM!)

In an exhibition of mastery bordering on the divine, Shija began to shift constantly between all known forms of the Kyōgetsu style.

"GETSURIN... SHŌ!!"

There was no transition, no pause; only a hyperbolic sequence of techniques that merged into a single, lethal flow of energy.

(SHIIII-IIING!!!)

Without halting his upward momentum, Shija pivoted in mid-air, his concentric eyes spinning at a speed that distorted perception.

"Oborozuki... MANGETSU...!!"

Stone stakes that sprouted from the titan's chest pierced through empty shadows, while the real Shija reappeared meters above, slicing through shadow tendrils with molecular-precision micro-cuts.

"LET'S GO!!"

With one last lateral thrust, Shija slid down the beast's neck as if it were a ramp of energy, his sword leaving a furrow of light in its wake.

{THAT STANCE... COULD IT BE?!!}

And then, he surpassed the horizon of horror.

"AURA WAVE...!!"

With a final exhale that evaporated the air from his lungs, Shija raised the sword, aiming at the absolute void...

"LUNAR SKY PIERCER!!"

... Unleashing a wave of light that collided against the darkness.