The One Luna

A young girl clad in white could be seen dashing towards the battlefield with a worried expression on her face.

"Quiet. It's too quiet. The battle should be raging on by now, but what is this eerie silence," Ines thought to herself. She could see a cloud of dust ahead and she couldn't see past it despite her exceptional vision.

Suddenly.

*BOOM*

Ines skidded to a stop as the impact she heard caused the surrounding dust to be swept away. Maxene who had used her control over the wind element to sweep away the dust noticed an Ines with a horrified expression on her face.

Noticing this, Maxene grinned at her. It was obvious to her whose side this girl was on based on the worried look she was giving Vizicsacsi. "It seems we have another challenger."

Matching Ines' expression, Vizicsacsi was even more horrified.

"Ines! Run!" The old General had purposefully stopped himself from referring to her as the Princess to avoid exposing her identity. Unfortunately, no matter how one saw it, as soon as Luna and the rest found out that she was from the enemy side, her unique features made her a target regardless of Vizicsacsi's quick-thinking.

"General!" Not hesitating at all, Ines dashed towards him. As she as halfway to her intended destination, a slender figure appeared in front of her.

Seeing this, Ines who was confident of her Agility executed her movement skill to dodge.

Alas.

"Eh?"

What greeted her was a clothesline to the neck from Sura.

*BANG*

Before she could even fully comprehend what happened, she had spun multiple times in mid-air before she landed on the ground. Her hands reached towards her neck as she struggled to breathe. Her Princess-like demeanor was now gone. She had never faced combat as real as this before. Her trainers were always scared of injuring her for fear of her father's anger.

Unfortunately for her, Sura had no qualms about beating the living hell out of her.

"Princess!" Vizicsacsi quickly realized his error as he stiffened. "What can I do?" Thoughts and ideas ran through his head and were discarded as soon as he thought of them. He had no options. If Ines were to die here, that was it. Not even her father could do anything at this stage. Even worse, if it caused him to do something rash and try to charge in through all of this world's current Gods, he might fall into a trap.

The only consolation that Vizicsacsi could think of was that news of the Princess' death or at least capture, would not be able to get to her father any time soon.

"Oh?" Luna who had paid no mind, in the beginning, stopped pummeling his newly-found punching bag. Luna broke the Half-Gorilla General's neck as EXP flowed into him. He started walking towards Ines' location.

As she saw the man she recognized before, the same man that Josh and the other citizens had talked about with such admiration.

"You, you're Luna, right?" She struggled to stand up despite already starting the process of healing herself. Glanced at the woman she had already guessed was Sura. If it was Luna, he might have even caught him by surprise with her speed. But the woman in front of her was was one of the legendary Asura whose natural capabilities sat on top of the other races.

Luna looked down at her maintaining eye contact as he thought to himself, "Now that I look at her, I don't quite know how to feel. Her race is responsible for the world's current state, and yet at the same time, it's because of the world's current state that the Gods were forced to employ the 's power which allowed us to have the opportunity to transcend and have limitless possibilities."

As Luna was thinking, Ines and Vizicsacsi were on high alert. What this man said next might very well decide what their fates were going to be. Much to their surprise, however...

"Luna. Pleased to meet you," extending his hand, he greeted the young girl.

Meanwhile, Elder Aran and the rest were observing Luna's actions closely.

"Oh? Interesting. Interesting indeed," Elder Aran stroked his beard.

"Mm? How so old man?" Maxene was curious as to what the Elder was thinking.

"Lord Luna's approach, that is. You and I both know how smart and cunning your father is. I would have to say that his approach definitely surprised me. I can't quite see through it just yet," He replied.

Maxene who couldn't quite understand what the Elder meant exactly, had at least assumed correctly that he was complimenting her father's actions. "Mn! My father is indeed the best!"

"That he is, young one. That he is," Elder Aran patted her on the head like a grandfather would his granddaughter.

Ines, who now had her mouth agape was frozen for a second before regaining a bit of her composure as a Princess of the Void reaching out her own hand, "Ines, p-pleased to meet you...?" Her confusion was reflected in the fact that her introduction sounded almost like a question.

"You do realize what your capture means, do you?" Luna who was still shaking her hand felt it clam up as he said so.

"Capture?" She didn't know whether she should despair or be relieved. As someone who was always used to doing as she pleased, the thought of losing her freedom was a big deal to her. But at this point, her life was more important and being a hostage was not the worst choice. She looked towards General Vizicsacsi and worriedly asked, "What about him?"

"Oh him?" Luna grinned, "He's dinner." He was referring to the General being EXP, of course, but Ines had taken his reply literally.

"Ah! No! You'll get infect--" Realizing what Luna meant, she stopped herself, "Wait, no, please don't." Ines started tearing up as she begged for Vizicsacsi's life. The old Donkey had always been kind to her and treated her as if she was his own granddaughter.

"Why wouldn't I? He's good nourishment for us, he's also an invader, we have every right to kill him. What reason do we have not to kill him?" Luna asked with an almost condescending tone towards Ines' plea.

Ines was utterly speechless. The man in front of her was completely right. They were invaders. How dare they ask for mercy when their people have razed planets?

"Princess, it's okay. If it means sparing your life, I would gladly lay down mine," The old General had already resolved himself to die.

"You see? Even this old Donkey knows," Luna then signaled for Sura to kill Vizicsacsi.

"It has been a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e serving you, Princess," he said as he resigned himself to his fate, "Go on then, get on with it."

Ines felt helpless as she stared blankly towards Vizicsacsi.

"Sura, rub your blades together," Luna silently communicated.

"Hm? Oh, whatever you say, love," she didn't quite understand why, but did it out of her absolute trust in her husband. A ringing noise sounded as she did it. As soon as the noise reverberated in Ines' ears, it was as if she woke up from her stupor.

"Ah! No, no, no!" She didn't know what else to say.

"As I said, he has to die," Luna coldly replied before he added, "Unless."

And there it was. The thread of hope Ines had been looking for.