"1st Stage- Three Moons Dispersion"

[Hecate's torches activated]

'It activated again!! This...it's more than what I could ask for!! I might win with this!'

It is said that during Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone, Hecate helped by using her torches to light the goddess' journey through the night. The conditional-passive skill which Nate had but never relied on was Hecate's torches. However, the reason he assumed he would win wasn't because of that skill. It was because he could use Three Moons Dispersion again, meaning he could enter the state of Ἑκατα.

Stropholos was another passive skill that created a crescent moon every time the skill Three Moons Dispersion was used, and when the number of these said 'crescent moons' reached 3, the user enters the state of Ἑκατα.

'It hit him. It actually hit. Do I use Three Moons Dispersion again and enter the state of Ἑκατα?' It made sense to think about it for a second, simply using the skill again would immediately put him into that state, however, there were things he could do to fully utilize this situation.

While Nate wondered what the next was, Night was baffled, he was slightly confused as to how his friend could use his skill again. Did he lie to him so that he could have the advantage when they fought? But back then they hadn't even decided on what events they would take part in.

'Unless....That has to be it, you had another skill hidden all along huh? I'm surprised.' Night said as he pulled out his sword and backed away. There wasn't any reason for him to do so but now that he knew there were skills he didn't know about, he couldn't take the risk. They were far too many factors to simply rush in.

'Such a skill...it should have a low chance of triggering, did he really get that lucky?'

"You foresaw quite a bit huh? I'm genuinely surprised by the grasp you have over your skills. It's been a few weeks I think? and a week for some of them. Perhaps the name you've been given suits you." Night laughed nervously, his entire plan crumbled. Since the introduction of another spell, he couldn't fully rule out the possibility of another such spell existing.

"You give me too much credit. What about you? that armour of yours, it scared the living shit out of me, I forgot about the entire match for a second. Did you make that up on spot? It was something you thought of just now wasn't it?" Nate asked as he lightly chuckled, the crescent moons around him bounced up and down every time he laughed.

"Not really. I mean yeah, but like it's whatever you know?" Night said as he waved his hand, "let's not waste any time, both of us needed this to think about what to do next. There isn't any point in hiding that."

"You aren't wrong. I was curious as to what I should do, it looks like you have your answer. Fortunately, I have mine as well, so.." Nate said as he raised his hands, ignoring the blinding pain in his shoulder.

"Burn what stands ahead, Fire Wall"

"Water Arrows"

"Earth Needle"

"Anemo Blade"

"Air Blast"

"Blaze Burn"

"Aqua Shot"

A sudden barrage of spells, since Nate wasn't picky or didn't neglect any element, the damage dealt by the attacks would be above average regardless of the element. However, the issue that Night faced was the unannounced attack, they were far too many spells, each of them accurately placed so that he was bound to get hit by one or more of them. Besides, now that he couldn't use his skills, flying or using pure speed to escape was out of the option.

'What the fck??? but why?? this is a waste of mana no?? I don't get it??' Night was slightly worried, he was sure that this would be nowhere near enough to completely kill him off but it would do significant damage. Especially considering the fact that his magic damage was doubled thanks to Hecate's Symbol.

"Damn it all.." Night cursed as he prepared to get hit by at least one of the spells.

*BOOOOOOOM*

Naturally, the aftermath was colossal, the arena tiles that seemed to be cracked even before the match, now completely disappeared. Craters were formed where the spells landed and dust was scattered around everywhere.

*Cough* *Cough*

"Haaah....what the hell in Bandalf is this...the damage was far more than what I thought, ten percent of my health?? you're joking!" Night cursed out loud, his armour made from his darkness was chipped away so much in certain parts that his skin could be seen.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end, just when he focused his gaze on Nate, he could see the familiar sight of the skill, Three Moons Dispersion being used. At this point he wasn't even surprised, this was the reason why he remained cautious and didn't blindly rush in.

"Fcks sake..." Night cursed as he jumped sideways, barely dodging the skill. It was so close that he wouldn't question it if he got hit. However, that wasn't what worried him. He knew that once there were three moons, Nate would enter the state of Ἑκατα.

His entire body began trembling, the skin and the hair on it all stood upright. His senses were as sharp as ever, he could feel his body glowing. However, despite the positive changes that took place, Nate felt a stinging pain in his eyes, however, it was nothing compared to Hecate's symbol or Gaia's curse. He was welcomed by the sight of purple-blueish strands of nothingness floating around in the air in front of him. He could see it flowing, slowly moving towards something or the other, however, after blinking a few times, he noticed that these strands were moving towards him. To be more specific, they moved into him.

Of course, he had no idea how he looked right now but the others that did were awestruck. It was a beautiful sight, his entire body emanated this strong but faint white glow. Right above his head and near his shoulders were crescent moons, three in total. Both his eyes shared a similar image, a familiar symbol, Hecate's symbol was seen in both his eyes, however, the stropholos rotated in opposite directions to each other, the stropholos in the right rotated anti-clockwise whereas the eye in the left rotated in clockwise.

Once again, it was cinematic, a being in full dark armour that was badly damaged was on his knees looking straight into the mysterious eyes of the being that radiated brilliance. Would anyone in their right minds believe them to be normal players? It was a surprise that both, Nate and Night were just above level 100.

"Hah...you managed to pull it off.." Night said as he dusted himself. He rotated his double-edged sword and held it in front of him. It was an awkward and raw stance but it was something he found comfort in.

"Let's not waste time.." Nate said as he stepped forward. As soon as he did, he could feel the mana flow into him, power surged into him with every step he took towards Night. On the other hand, Night could feel the mana leave his body, it had a dark tinge to it but it was definitely his mana. The feeling of weakness, it was psychological but it was hard to avoid it.

[00:56]

Nate had no time to waste. The past four seconds felt like a lifetime but he knew for a fact that the remaining time would simply just slip away. There was a reason as to why he randomly spammed those spells, it was planned. Those were spells that had a cooldown of less than a minute, and now that he was in the state of Ἑκατα, the cooldown of all the spells would reduce by 50%, allowing him to spam them once again.

"You were saying something?" Jace asked his friend with a smug look.

"....I believe in him...watch," K replied in a confident tone.

His confidence wasn't misplaced. Night didn't show any signs of hesitation, just when Nate commenced his spell spam, he dashed forward, tanking whatever hit him, at this point he had no other choice, he used his own shadow to try and ward off the spells that shot towards him, of course, it didn't make too much of a difference but he didn't stop. Once he reached right in front of his opponent, he could see Nate's face tense up slightly.

He crouched down and struck him right in the gut, making Nate's entire body lean forward. However, that wasn't the end of it, it was his turn, he went full auto-pilot, he relied fully on his instincts and let his body and mind synchronize.

*BAMMM*

*BOOOM*

Up until this moment, the technique he used was completely different. His body simply flowed, his movements flashed by and nobody could see what was happening. Other than a dark and white streak dancing around, there was nothing.

There was one thing that Nate noticed while he was getting thrashed. It was a dangerous situation for him, not because the timer for his "state of Ἑκατα" was dropping, there was another reason. Perhaps it was a glitch but were such things possible in Genesis? Nate couldn't help but gulp, it was his MP bar.

It was empty.