Aria stepped forward.
Where Luna had torn the world open with violence and thunder, Aria simply arrived.
Moonlight gathered around her in a slow, reverent hush, as if the battlefield itself had decided to hold its breath. Silver radiance spilled downward, bathing her form in soft brilliance.
Her hair, already pale, caught the light and became outright unreal, every strand glowing as though spun from starlight.
Her eyes lifted.
And the moon looked back.
They brightened from within, luminous and serene, reflecting endless night skies and distant constellations. There was no strain in her posture, no aggression in her stance, only poise, grace, and an overwhelming sense of rightness, as though this was exactly where she was meant to stand.
The chat lost its mind.
— AriaBestGirl: She’s actually an angel!!!
— MoonlitHeart: So beautiful it hurts! I think I’m crying?!
— SilverPetal: That ain’t a woman, that’s a piece of art!
— PrincessHalo: Put her in the museum of beauty!
— SoftStar: That’s it. I accept my fate. Take me, moon queen.
Even seasoned viewers went quiet for a heartbeat, stunned by the contrast. Storm and space raging above, while below stood something tranquil, radiant, and impossibly feminine.
Aria inhaled slowly.
Then she turned her head.
Her gaze slid toward the flanking Skirmeshade Stalkers advancing along the right, shadows darting between debris, blades flexing as they prepared to strike from the side. Her serenity didn’t vanish, but it receded, folding inward like a curtain being drawn.
The moonlight sharpened.
Aria reached back and pulled her staff off her back.
She glanced at it.
Paused.
Then, with a tiny, almost apologetic smile, she shrugged and let it fall.
It hit the ground and rolled away, forgotten.
No need.
Her hand lifted instead, delicate fingers extending, wrist relaxed, the gesture almost dainty. If not for the narrowing of her eyes into dangerous slits promising nothing but pain, it might have looked like she was pointing out stars to a lover.
Moonlight condensed at her fingertips.
Not rushed. Not explosive.
Focused.
The crescent sigils snapped inward.
The attack sang more so than roar.
A blinding crescent of compressed moonlight carved through the air, silent and impossibly fast. The first Skirmeshade didn’t even realize it had been targeted, its body split cleanly from shoulder to hip as the arc passed through. The second and third fell a heartbeat later, torsos sheared apart as the wave continued, cutting through shadows, stone, and flesh alike.
However, the rest of the Skirmeshade Stalkers reacted instantly.
They blurred.
Where lesser creatures would have panicked, these things moved with predatory intelligence, torsos twisting mid-lunge, limbs snapping into new angles as crescent light skimmed past where they had been. One vaulted off a shattered slab, claws scraping sparks as it rebounded into cover. Another skidded sideways in a low, spider-like scuttle, shadows clinging to its frame as it advanced instead of retreating.
They weren’t even fleeing; while dodging, they also moved to close in, using speed and reflexes that befit mighty monsters.
Aria fired again.
Another crescent sang out, clean, precise, but this time it only clipped. One stalker lost an arm, black ichor spraying as it rolled and kept coming. Another took the blast across its chest, the moonlight biting deep but failing to bisect. They snarled now, guttural and wet, voices scraping against the air as their eyes locked onto her.
"Moon-thing," one hissed, shadowed maw splitting into a grin too wide for its skull. "We will peel you alive!"
Another echoed it, blades flexing. "Your light will go out screaming!"
Speaking monsters... This displayed that they truly were intelligent beings, telling Aria she needed to step up her game, or it would be over.
The Moon Valkyrie’s gaze slid toward Kaiden’s position. Toward the space behind him. Toward the blind angle, he couldn’t watch while fighting. For a single heartbeat, her eyes softened, possessive and fierce emotions flickering beneath the serenity.
He trusted her.
She inclined her head in a small but resolute nod.
It was decided.
The moon answered her resolve.
Light gathered, not softly now, not reverently. It condensed, pressure building as silver radiance sharpened until it became brutal and merciless.
Sigils layered over her skin, crescents interlocking along her arms, her collarbone, her thighs, each one humming with restrained violence. Her entire body ignited into luminous silver, beauty pushed past elegance into an otherworldly, unreal figure who was too radiant, too perfect, to belong to the battlefield... Or the world.
The ground beneath her feet cracked.
Aria lifted.
She simply rose, moonlight carrying her upward until she hovered high above the shattered terrain, hair and cloak drifting as if submerged in liquid starlight. From above, she looked down on the Skirmeshades with cold, absolute authority.
"No one," she decreed, voice calm and razor-edged, echoing unnaturally through the ruins, "shall hurt my Kaiden."
Both hands lifted.
Wrists crossed.



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