As I ran through the night and eventually the sun rise I thought about what the oni masked man had said, "I'm here to warn you of the people you'll meet.", whatever the man had placed in my way I wouldn't let Luna get hurt, but for some reason I felt as though the masked man was trying to test me for something instead of killing me. I didn't understand for what or why he would want me to grow stronger but I would accept the chance at any other time, but right now I couldn't risk Luna dying before I reached her homeland.
I kept running while keeping all my senses open for an attack from the back, the front, the side, and even above and below. I wouldn't let anything hurt Luna even if I had to die, I wouldn't let anyone have her. But even with all of the precautions I had taken, I knew that it wasn't enough when I was kicked into a mountain several kilometers away. I almost passed out from the impact, but I held on and absorbed all the nature magic I could, flaring into nature mode stage two and getting back to where I was kicked away from in a second, killing the man who had kicked me and grabbed Luna before continuing to run. But this time I had my nature mode stage two active while running determined to not get hit again, but I was kicked back once again, not as far since I was stronger, but the woman who had kicked me had taken Luna from me once more. I powered into my light mode stage one on top of my nature mode stage two and kept running after crushing the woman's head and taking back Luna. But I had not even been running for two minutes before I got punched in the stomach and lost Luna again, I added on a little dark magic to my already powered up form and killed the man, grabbing Luna and continuing. And as the next enemy tried to attack I noticed for the first time and kneed him in his chin before continuing to run. But right after this I was surprised by a kick that sent me straight into the ground, at this point I felt myself getting more annoyed as time went on, so I stopped using light magic and entered a half-and-half state of nature and dark magic like when I fought Dryadalis during the third level of training.
As I got beaten down more and more, and started to lose Luna more and more, I finally gave up on holding back and entered my strongest form which at the moment was the triple magic cloak which I realised as I entered it was a terrible name, from this point on I just killed all of the enemies on sight and eventually found myself in front of an enemy which didn't die in one strike, I got punched in the gut and knocked into a mountain wall that was about seven miles from where I was standing. As I lay there and slowly lost consciousness I could only feel anger at myself for not being strong enough.
When I finally woke up it was the middle of the night and I was covered in blood, I stood up and felt my entire body telling me to rest, but I refused because I knew that the man who had left me in this condition had also taken Luna. I absorbed all the nature magic I could as I tried to heal my body, but as I pulled in nature magic I also felt dark magic coming with it, I tried to find where it was coming from until my eyes finally stopped when I saw the moon, I realised that when it was night the air wasn't just filled with nature magic from the planet and the life on it, but also the dark magic released from the moon. I sat down on the top of the mountain and tried to absorb the dark magic, but for some reason I felt a resistance as if it didn't want to, I thought this was strange since the nature magic naturally came to me but the dark magic resisted.
After about an hour of trying to absorb magic I felt that I couldn't absorb any more nature magic since the air was sucked dry and I couldn't absorb anymore dark magic since it just didn't want to. I stood up and powered up into nature mode stage three with dark mode stage one stacked on top, I rushed in the direction that I felt the magic of the one who had taken Luna.
I arrived in front of an iron door that I slammed open, and on the other side I found a man holding a katana leaning against the wall.
"Are you the one I need to kill?" I asked as I got ready to fight
"Our master said to kill you, but I just want that girl for myself so I'm going to kill you myself for a price." The man replied
"You seem overly confident for a dead man!" I shouted as I slashed my black sword towards his neck
"Too slow." The man said as he blocked my attack with his sword
"You're stronger than I thought. Who are you?" I asked as I jumped back and unsheathed my other sword
"I'm Bushi, and you are?" The man said as he got ready to fight
"I'm Loki, it's a pleasure to meet you." I answered as I rushed at him
As we clashed I slowly shifted my form into the triple magic cloak without him noticing but for some reason I felt that the dark magic I had absorbed was resisting me. I jumped back from Bushi and tried to force the magic to do as I wanted, which seemed to work.
"You're strong so I won't hold back! This is the triple magic cloak!" I shouted as I powered up to full power
"Triple magic cloak? That's a terrible name." Bushi said as he started to get ready for round two
"I couldn't come up with anything else!" I shouted at him
"Then how about Manpai." Bushi said as we clashed for a second time
"Manpai?" I asked
"It's better than the name triple magic cloak." He said as I blocked his attack
"I guess so." I said as I jumped over him
"Shall we continue our battle?" He asked
"Yes we shall!" I said as I slashed at him
Now that I had entered the Manpai form, as it was now called, I had gotten a significant boost in power and speed which Bushi couldn't overcome. I slashed his left shoulder leaving him unable to use that arm. As he tried to counter attack I slashed both of his knees leaving him unable to walk and made him fall to the ground.
"Out of respect I won't kill you." I said as I leaned him against the wall
"Why? What have I done to earn your respect?" Bushi asked
"You gave my technique a better name." I replied
"I don't want you to let me live."
"Then join me." I said as I entered the next room and left him to think about that
In the next room I found a man meditating, I tried to just walk past but narrowly dodged a fire ball aimed at my head.
"Where do you think you're going?" The man asked as he stood up
"To the next room." I said as I got ready to fight
"I don't think so, we have been ordered to not let anyone near the girl." The man said
"Guess I'll just have to kill you then!" I shouted as I rushed at him
"That wouldn't be good." The man said as a wall of water appeared in front of me
"Ranged magic." I said as I jumped back
I knew that dark magic was primarily close combat, nature magic was versatile in both, and light magic did best in ranged. So I went into a version of light mode stage one that incorporated nature mode stage two, while saving the dark magic for later.
I stepped back to the entrance of the room and got ready to use thunder magic to counter his water. But just as I was about to launch my attack there came a tornado from my left, I jumped to my right to avoid it but as the first tornado dissipated there came another from my back. After trying to avoid the first tornado, I knew that avoiding the next tornado would be impossible, so instead of trying to avoiding it completely I jumped into it and used the momentum from that to jump through it and shoot a lightning arrow at the man who was controlling them, but before the arrow hit I jumped up to the roof and used it as a springboard to attack the man from above.
"Good job." Was all the man said before I he got electrocuted and then slashed in two
"You may have stood a chance if you had used fire magic inside those tornados." I said as I sheathed my swords and powered down
After resting for a second I powered back up into my Manpai form and rushed into the next room ready to instantly kill whatever was inside. But instead of meeting someone's neck with my sword I was greeted by a huge man who had blocked my attack with a giant battle axe. I tried to get ready to parry the next attack, but instead I was forced to let go of my sword to dodge the attack which left me with only one sword and a significant blow to my fighting power.
"Stay still you little rat!" The giant man shouted
"No thanks." I replied as I jumped back
In a battle like this I knew that balance would only hurt me, so I went all in on the dark magic's offensive magic. And as the man tried to strike me again I rushed to grab my sword while entering dark mode stage one. This along with the physical boost that the sword gave me made my strength on par with the mans, but I was a lot faster than the movements that the man had shown so far. I knew that I could speed blitz the man and decapitate him, but I knew that he had something more hidden inside, and the dark magic wouldn't let me go through without seeing it.
"Show me your full power!" I shouted at the man
"Cocky brat!" The man shouted back
"Then show me my place!"
"Ohh! I will!" He shouted as a flame started to surround him
My blood was boiling with excitement at the prospect of fighting someone with this much raw strength. I launched myself at him ready to experience a blood boiling battle again after so long, a battle where the winner lives and the loser dies, a fight that would really push me to my limits. As I swung my sword and was just about to cut the giants neck he disappeared only to reappear next to me and kick me into the wall, as I looked at him from my little hole in the wall I saw that he was in a fire magic stage two form much like dark magic in how it boosted the users attack but I also noticed that the magic was being burned at a considerably faster rate. I knew that if I wanted to beat him now I would need to at least triple my strength, but for that I had to enter dark mode stage two, maybe even stage three, "But can I control it? Will it even be enough?" I thought to myself, and just before I was about to give up I heard a deep twisted voice.
"It's enough… The power you want… I can give it…" The voice said
"And then what? You'll take control of me?" I knew that I needed power but I wouldn't listen to a weird voice
"Well… You did take my dark magic…" The voice said
"What do you mean?" I asked the voice before narrowly dodging one of the brute's strikes
"The moon… You took its power…" The voice continued as I was slammed into the wall again
"Just shut up and give me the power!" I shouted at it while trying not to die
"Alright then… Here it comes…"
As the voice said that I felt a rush of dark magic, as if all the dark magic that I couldn't absorb before was coming to me, and now, just like when I fought the goblins when I first meet Lupus and when I fought Jin for the first time, I felt that the only thing interesting, the only thing worth living for in this world was… KILLING EVERYTHING THAT WAS IN THE WAY… As I accepted the power and the brute tried to punch me again I dodged, I kicked him into the opposing wall to where I had been sitting, I launched at him, slashing at him with my black sword completely disregarding the other one and focusing solely on the dark magic in my body using it to its fullest, and as the brute finally died after countless strikes that had torn through his body I felt the dark magic trying to leave me.
"You're mine now." I said as I refused to let the dark magic escape my grasp. "But you, you can leave." I said as I pushed the voice and intent out of my body and destroying it
After doing that I felt that the dark magic naturally flowed into me, not only the magic that had tried to escape me but also the magic in the air, almost as if I had passed a trial. I ignored it and just used it as an excuse to recover slightly, I walked over to the door of the next room and entered the Manpai form before entering, but as I reached for the handel I noticed that the cloak was slightly longer and that the circles of both nature and light magic had grown bigger, I wondered if it had something to do with the dark magic I had absorbed, and so I sat down and looked into the cloak and what had happened and I noticed that the cloak had not only changed in appearance slightly but also increased in power by about one third but also increased the rate that it absorbed magic by one fourth, I knew that it wasn't a new stage as each new stage of magic modes were at least twice as powerful as the previous one, so I figured that it was just the strongest version of the Manpai stage one that was possible. And with this new increase in power I opened the next door and found only a throne, it reminded me of a popular anime I had watched before arriving in this world.
"What? Is a knight going to appear or something?" I said as a joke
"You're quite perceptive." A white knight said that had appeared
"A shit." I said in surprise at how similar this was
"I see that you managed to beat all of the boss's henchmen, but you won't beat me." The knight said as he unsheathed his sword
"Let's just start the fight." I said as I launched at him
As I swung my white sword at him he blocked with his own sword, and as I tried to strike him with my other sword I felt a knee in my stomach before getting launched into the roof, I realised that this guy was even more powerful than all the other guys in every field. I cut the nature magic that was being poured into my head as the perceptive abilities of nature magic wouldn't be very useful during this situation same with the dark magic, and as the color faded from my eyes and the only thing visible was the rings that separated all of the different parts of the eye, all wounds healed and my speed and power increased exponentially, I had split up all the magics into fields that they were best in, and poured the overflowing magic into my swords, and this time when I launched at the knight, instead of him blocking effortlessly, I managed to push him back a little, even if the amount was barely noticeable, but when I went to strike him again he blocked again this time with two hands on the sword and alot more power. After he blocked he tried to strike me again but he dodged his knee by jumping and kneeing him in the chin, but immediately after that I just barely managed to block a strike from his sword that launched me a significant distance away but this time I landed on my feet and recomposed myself before launching a light magic blade at him, but after he dodged it I appeared behind him and struck him in the back causing him to tumble forward before I gave him an uppercut, I increased my speed as much as possible without sacrificing power but as I was prepared to cut his neck I was launched away by a powerful blast that sent me a couple meters away. I looked at the knight and saw a brilliant light emanating from him, like that of an angel.
"I see, so that's it." I said as I looked at the man
"I congratulate you on pushing me this far." The man said
"I don't need one of those speeches, let's just get on with it." I said, not wanting to waste time talking
"I suppose you're right."
As we continued our battle I could feel my light magic supply getting drained while my dark and nature magic was still as healthy as ever, I knew that if it was day I could reach Manpai stage two and at least match the knight's strength, but as I held my own fairly well I saw that the knight had entered light mode stage two, at this point I knew that I had no chance of winning, his strength before starting to use magic was just below mine when I used my power as efficiently as possible and light mode stage one was already too much, so light mode stage two would be certain death. "What do I do? What can I do?" I thought to myself, but as I was ready to give up I remembered something from early in my training in the elf kingdom.
"Hey, Loki!" Lexia shouted
"Ohh! Lexia, have your friends gone home?" I asked
"Yes! By the way, why did you need me to show you magic earlier?" Lexia asked
"Oh, I just wanted to try something."
"Can I see what it is?" She asked curiously
"Sure." I answered as I formed a magic sword out of thin air
"A magic sword?" Lexia asked while inspecting the sword
"Yes, but it will probably become useless after I get the celestial metal sword." I said before releasing the magic
"Why's that?"
"Because I'll have a better weapon of course."
"Can't you just use them as projectiles then? I mean I did hear an explosion earlier." Lexia said referring to when I mixed fire and thunder magic into the sword
"That's not a bad idea Lexia." I respond
"Will it work?"
"Not right now but maybe when I'm stronger." I said while patting her head
As I snapped back to reality just in time to block an attack from the knight I knew that Lexia's idea at that time was the key to winning this fight. I jumped back in order to make distance between me and the knight before I created a dozen swords around me out of fire and thunder magic and launched them at the knight, there was a big explosion and I jumped in and stabbed the knight in one of the tiny cracks of the armor and pierced his heart.
"I'll need to thank Lexia for this one." I said to myself before pulling out the sword from the knight
I looked around the room trying to find where Luna was until I spotted a tiny box, just enough to fit a child in, I walked up to the box.
"Luna?" I asked hoping for an answer
"Huh?" I heard from inside the box
"Are you in the box?" I asked on guard
"Yes! Loki, I'm in here!" A voice from inside the box said
"Well, someone is in there, or something." I said while unsheathing my sword
"Can you help me out?" The voice asked
"Just a second." I responded while slipping a leaf in between one of the cracks of the box and looking through it. "As I thought."
"What do you mean?" The voice asked
"You're not Luna." I answered as I cut the box into pieces
"So you're not as stupid as I thought." The thing said, now in a deep demonic voice
"It was pretty obvious since Luna called my big brother and you didn't." I said as I got ready to kill the monster
"I see." The monster said before I cut it in two
After dealing with it I focused my magic in order to locate Luna, and found that she was inside the throne of all places.
"There you are." I said as I lifted her up
"Big brother Loki!" Luna shouted while crying
"You're safe now, but these guys really don't give up." I said while taking her back out
"Who are they?" Luna asked
"I don't know." I responded, as we were making it through the first room I entered. "So he decided not to join us then." I said while looking at the corpse of Bushin who had his own sword in his chest
"Are we going home now?" Luna asked me
"Yes we are." I said as I started running towards the beastmen village again