Chương 47: Episode 44: Fury on the Moon

We were suspended above the moon like gravity had given up pretending. The surface below wasn't still—it was fractured, alive with trembling fault lines and glowing scars from earlier clashes. Every movement we made sent delayed ripples through the lunar crust, like the world was reacting too slowly to keep up with us. Ultraviolet fire poured off my body in unstable waves, folding and unfolding like a storm trying to become a star.

Across from me, Dark Don burned in ultrawhite lunar radiance—clean, oppressive, almost surgical in how it erased the darkness around him. The space between us warped, stretched, and tightened again like reality couldn't decide if it should exist. Neither of us moved for a second. Just staring. Pressure building. Then I spoke, forcing my voice through the weight crushing the void between us.

"Dark Don… I'm not here to kill you. Why are you fighting me like I'm the enemy?" Something flickered across his face—so fast it almost didn't exist. Then it broke. His aura detonated outward. The moon surface below us spiderwebbed instantly, chunks lifting into orbit before falling again like the planet forgot how to hold itself together.

"I'M PUSHING IT AWAY FOR A REASON!" he roared, and the sound didn't just travel—it overwrote space, shaking starlight loose from the sky.

"Silicia is gone! Gone!" His voice cracked through rage.

"Prophecy, war, destiny—I don't care about any of it!" His energy surged into a vertical pillar of ultrawhite flame, punching through the void above us like it wanted to burn a hole in existence itself.

"I ONLY CARE ABOUT ERASING THE CELESTIANITES!" he screamed.

"THEY MADE ME LIKE THIS!" The force of it hit harder than any attack he'd thrown so far. Not physical—worse. Personal. Heavy enough to slow my breathing for half a second. I steadied myself anyway.

"You didn't get shaped," I said quietly.

"You got hollowed out. That's not the same thing." His head snapped toward me. The moon cracked again, deeper this time.

"YOU DON'T LIVE IN MY PAIN!" He moved. The ground didn't respond—it just shattered after him.

"I wasn't born under your skies!" he shouted, voice tearing between fury and exhaustion.

"I survived extinction, got rebuilt into a weapon, then thrown into a world that never stopped trying to kill me!" Step by step, his presence got heavier, like pressure turning into mass.

"I built systems that outlast death. I kept collapsing worlds running when nothing else could!" Silver lightning crawled up his arms now, threading into his aura.

"I met her after the crash," he said, voice tightening.

"After all of it. And she still—she still laughed like tomorrow wasn't a lie." A pause. Smaller. Sharper.

"She stayed." Then it snapped again.

"And your people took that away." His aura surged violently, twisting into a spiraling crown of ultrawhite light.

"I burned Moonforge down!" he roared.

"I freed them all!" The moon trembled like it was trying to pull away from him.

"And it still wasn't enough!" Silence hit like a vacuum. Then his voice dropped.

"They put a gun to her head," he said, almost calm now—worse than the shouting.

"Told me to choose." A laugh broke out of him, but it wasn't humor. It was fracture.

"So I dropped the weapon." His gaze locked onto mine, burning straight through me.

"She said my name," he continued.

"She said something else too." His aura destabilized, flickering like it couldn't hold shape anymore.

"I DON'T REMEMBER IT." That was the real explosion. A shockwave ripped outward, pushing me back through empty space.

"That's what you don't understand!" he shouted.

"Not that she died—" A blade began forming in his hand. Not summoned. Built. Layered ultrawhite energy compressing itself into something sharp enough to divide meaning.

"—that her last words are gone from me!" You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I felt my chest tighten. His grip trembled. Not weakness. Control barely holding rage in place.

"I didn't forget because I wanted to!" he roared.

"I forgot because everything after her erased everything before her!" The blade fully formed. The moonlight bent around it.

"I don't get to fix that." He lifted it. And for a fraction of a second, he hesitated. Then he launched. The moon split under the acceleration. But I was already gone. My first strike landed clean across his guard. The impact didn't just hit—it rang, sending him skidding across the lunar surface in a carving trail of shattered stone. He recovered mid-motion, twisted, grabbed my arm— —and threw me like momentum didn't apply to me.

Ultrawhite projectiles erupted from his hand instantly, tearing through space with high-pitched distortions that bent light around them. I raised a barrier. They struck in rapid succession, each impact blooming like tiny collapsing stars against the surface.

"You're starting with projectiles? Really?" I snapped. I vanished forward. Spun kick. Impact. He didn't stagger. He appeared above me in the same breath, as if the space between actions didn't exist for him. His fist dropped. The sky cracked. The moon surface imploded beneath the strike, sending me straight through a collapsing ridge of stone and dust. I caught myself mid-flight, surged back up through the debris field— Only for him to already be there again. Close range. Too close.

His punches came in a controlled storm—chest, jaw, ribs—each one compressing air into violent bursts. I blocked what I could. Took what I couldn't. The final hit launched me across the surface again, carving a trench through lunar rock. I spun mid-slide, fired a burst of ultraviolet energy upward— He split through it instantly. We crossed paths in opposite directions like twin comets refusing to slow down. I snapped my fingers. Space folded. A rift opened behind him.

He stumbled through it— —and I detonated it with a pulse of ultraviolet force. He was forced out into open space again. I followed immediately. We collided again mid-air. Impact first. Then sound. Then everything else. A second hit drove him into the moon's surface hard enough to send a circular shockwave racing outward for miles. He answered with a beam—pure ultrawhite, straight line annihilation.

I weaved through it, the light scraping past my face, and returned fire with cascading violet blasts that tore the terrain apart in layered explosions. He twisted through them, absorbing some, redirecting others, and fired back with a wider, heavier surge. I blinked sideways. The beam detonated behind us, turning the horizon into a whiteout of collapsing dust and energy. And then— We stopped again. Across from each other. Breathing heavier now. Auras no longer stable—just raw pressure leaking into reality.

Ultraviolet and ultrawhite light grinding against each other so hard the space between us visibly bent, like the universe was straining not to tear. Dark Don rotated slowly toward me, ultrawhite energy curling around his fists like live wire caught in orbit. Each pulse didn't just spark—it crack-CRACKED the air apart, slicing invisible grooves through the lunar dust with a harsh SHHHRIP that lingered in the silence after every step.

His white, spiked hair flared brighter, whipping behind him like it was being dragged through a collapsing star. The ground under his feet fractured with soft, delayed KRRR—KRRK—KRRK, like the moon itself was realizing too late that it should be afraid. He walked forward. Slow. Certain.

"I'm ending this," he said, voice low enough to feel heavier than sound, "and when I'm done… there won't be anything left in Celestia worth calling survivors." My eyes burned violet. The horizon stretched endlessly behind him—crater fields, broken spires, floating debris still drifting from earlier clashes—everything trembling like reality was holding its breath too long.

"DARK DON—REASON WITH ME!" He vanished. FWSSH—! The uppercut hit before my words even finished landing. My body snapped upward as the moon's horizon bent behind me like a warped mirror. Before I could stabilize— KRAK! He grabbed me mid-spin and slammed me sideways, ultrawhite aura peeling off him in streaks of heatless flame. A second afterimage flashed— FWOOM! —and he was on my other side, twisting my arm, locking me in place.

"I'VE ALREADY REASONED!" he snarled directly into my face.

"THIS IS REVENGE!" His grip tightened.

"THEY TOOK HER FROM ME!" ZIP—ZSH—ZIP! Blink-teleports shredded the space around us. A rib shot hit first. THUD! Then another strike launched me upward. A beam ignited instantly from his palms— VRRRRRR-KOOOOM! Crescent-shaped blades spun inside it like orbiting saws, tearing a spiraling tunnel through the sky as it pushed me higher and higher. He appeared above me in a snap. Flipped. And drove both feet down— WHAM—! The impact drove me straight into the moon's surface. BOOOOM—KRSHHH!

Crater expansion rippled outward in jagged rings. Before I could recover, something whipped around my side— SWAP! His tail caught me mid-rise and flung me through vacuum like a broken comet. I twisted, stabilized—"STOP—JUST LISTEN!" I shouted.

"I GET IT! BUT THIS ISN'T THE WAY!" He was already gone. Not moving through space— orbiting it. A blur of ultrawhite streaks circled me, firing rapid blasts that shredded the sky in chaotic bursts. PEW—PEW—PEW—PEW! The beams carved glowing scars across the void. I swatted two aside— KSH! KSH! —spun through another volley, caught one mid-flight— KR-TCH! —crushed it into glittering dust. Then— A white fist dropped from above. KRAAAACK! Space itself fractured on impact.

The uppercut snapped my vision sideways, twisting stars out of alignment.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT—!" he roared, appearing instantly beside me. TOK! THMP! Elbow. Forehead. Rib. Three hits in a breath. Then— ZIP-ZIP-ZIP! He circled again, faster, feral now.

"WHEN YOU HAVEN'T LOST ANYONE LIKE I DID!" He slammed his head into mine— KRA-DOOM! —and I was launched downward like a broken meteor. I crashed into Venus. BOOOOOM—! Molten plains erupted outward in shockwaves of orange and crimson heat. I forced myself up through burning terrain— Only to see the sky split open. A colossal ultrawhite beam descended. SCREEEEEEEE—KOOOOOM! It hit. Everything went white.

The beam swallowed the landscape, carving valleys in real time with violent CRRRAAASH-CRACK-CRACK distortions as it dragged across the planet's surface. Inside it, my barrier flickered— KRRK—KRRK—KRRK! Barely holding. I pushed back against the pressure— But Dark Don was already there. FWOOM! He appeared inside the beam, twisted mid-motion, and kicked my face with brutal precision. I flew— A violet streak tearing through volcanic ridges. KRSSHHH! Rock and lava exploded around me.

I burst out of the crater, already moving, aura flaring. FWOOM-FWOOM! I shot forward through the heat haze, body cutting through distorted air like a blade. He met me head-on. My fist connected first. THWAK! His head snapped back, body launched like a fired projectile— KRSSHHH! He smashed through a mountain peak, debris raining down like burning meteors. I landed hard, skidding across molten sand, shouting up at him—"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS LOSS!" My aura flared brighter, unstable.

"YOU'RE JUST A KID WHO GOT BROKEN AND NEVER HEALED!" The air around me trembled.

"And hurting people won't bring her back—it'll just destroy you faster!" Silence. Then— Everything stopped. Dark Don hovered above the shattered ridge. Ultrawhite energy spiraled upward from him like a screaming pillar, splitting clouds, bleaching the sky into pure static light. The atmosphere dimmed around his presence, like color itself was being drained. His eyes warped—no longer human, just glowing pits of grief and rage collapsing inward. A sound tore out of him. Not a shout. Not a roar. Something worse.

"HRRAAAAAAAAH—!" And then he dropped. A divine missile. FWOOSH—BOOOOM! Straight at me.