A tightness overwhelmed her chest, reaching up to her throat.
She tried to resist that violent suffocation.
She blinked quickly,
and the reflection of empty eyes wept blood onto her pupils.
The void itself was staring at her.
"This isn't good~... kghg—"
she muttered, words unclear.
She opened her mouth,
and mysterious expressions flickered across her face.
In the moments when that entity's body took shape,
scribbles of irregular white lines appeared.
Luna muttered: "So you're #@&, aren't you?"
His eyes flared with madness.
The entity stopped pressing on her spiritual body,
its hands incomplete in form.
An unsettling smile appeared on Luna's face.
"It's an honor to meet you," she claimed, "I am Luna,
the one who made you exist."
She added in her mind: who would have thought I'd meet him.
She looked at him with a confident gaze,
despite her stance at the edge.
"But... the end won't stop here,
so allow me to do what I came for."
She finished her words as her pulse resonated into the space around her.
It was like ocean waves rippling amid tremors.
Strange blue patterns appeared along her cheeks.
The void trembled.
A golden-purple ring expanded above her head, spinning with celestial weight.
Directly behind her, giant transparent cubes appeared, rotating around each other in silent harmony…
as if the laws of reality had rearranged themselves for her.
In the moments of her transformation,
the entity glared with an angry, displeased look,
speaking in a dual-toned voice that shook the ear:
"I want no obstacles! Get out of my sight!"
"Your fate doesn't concern me; I will reach what I desire!"
He stared with eyes full of terror, licking his jagged lips.
His form was unstable, chaotic lines trembling with every word.
A few moments of silence passed.
He approached Luna, standing before him, with a light brighter than before…
"But! Since you accompanied that fool! He's begun to hesitate in his decisions."
The entity spoke with a cruel smile, devoid of intent:
"I want to devour that person… hmm.
I will find out who has been meddling with him."
A roar surged toward Luna, shaking the space around them.
But Luna, maintaining her usual confident expression, did not flinch.
A small smile, a cold gaze like frost.
She repelled the roar with semi-transparent petals fluttering beside them.
Meanwhile, she spoke in her usual gentle voice:
"I have a deal…"
"Huh?..." the entity asked.
"I have a deal, will you hear it?"
"A deal? Why? All I need is for you to leave this fool's life—" the entity replied loudly,
as an aura of monstrous pressure engulfed the place.
Luna turned slightly to her right, interrupting him:
"I will help you, and you will reach your goal through me.
I understand your wild determination, and it affects Toki as well."
Luna fell silent.
Her dress rippled like a cloud in the sky.
"As long as you are determined, trust me.
But—beware the consequences of your choice."
The entity hesitated for a moment.
The threads forming her body rose upward.
After a brief silence, he said:
"Is this the reason you came to meet me? I refuse. I'm not in the mood for negotiations."
"This is not the sole reason.
If you refuse, you will never find it, and you will die as you were," Luna answered.
The entity felt a disturbance pierce his soul,
a headache clawing through the very space around him.
While she turned away from the entity, hands behind her back, she continued:
"What I truly want,
is… for you to cooperate with Touki, and to trust him, as well as yourself.
I cannot bear to see you both like this."
Every step she took generated ripples beneath her feet from her celestial blue-and-white aura.
"After all, I've shown you a part of your memories, and it was enough. I truly thank you both,"
she paused, tilting her head toward him with a joyful expression.
Suddenly…
her body was pierced by blades shaped like overlapping gray monsters.
She smiled faintly and brightly, as her body gradually vanished.
She whispered, staring at the entity,
as if looking beyond him:
"If—until our next meeting."
The entity muttered during his gradual disappearance:
"I will see for myself if the situation unfolds this way… then I will decide."
---
Luna opened her eyes slowly, tears streaming down her face.
She didn't realize it until she straightened up and surveyed her surroundings.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks,
and turned to Toki's face.
He was still lying down, but his expression looked more relaxed.
Bright light from a window began to fade.
An hour later,
Luna started preparing an easy meal for Toki.
She picked up a wooden ladle and gently stirred the warm soup.
The faint smell of flame, like a quiet fire, filled the room.
She replaced the lid on the pot,
walked to the faucet, and washed her face under the gentle trickle of water.
She was lost in the melodies of flowing water,
and the words of that entity echoed in her mind, faint but sharp:
"I see holes in the wall… I see them always… I never wished to perceive them."