10/11 2:50 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
To the everlasting declaration of hatred contained deeply within the Human's three very simple words, Luna could not help but smile, her shadow wavering for a single instant before returning to normal before anyone could notice it, the needed change having already been completed.
Luna dodged sideways, evading the Lightning-clad fists of the Human before responding with her own lethal punch, Mark shifting with his own blow to move around her on her right while simultaneusly striking back at her with a left low kick to her right ankle, intent on breaking it for at least a little bit.
The Lunarian leaned into the incoming kick, meeting it half-way down with her own kick to mitigate the force that the blow could bring to bear, a thin layer of Vital Mana isolating her leg from his electricity before she took advantage of her being able to output a much higher amount of pure brute force to continue on her kick, trying to break his own left knee.
In an instant the Human vanished into nothing, a force striking simultaneusly against both her head and right shoulder, trying to make her step forward and failing at it as the single-hit Barrier she erected right before she launched her own attack, confirming at once both her adversary's ability to "stop time" and that he could attack while in "stopped time", the Damage being applied at once at the end of the effect as otherwise her Barrier would have stopped only one of his blows.
Judging from his physical might and speed, his starter and ending position and the force contained within his two blows, Luna guessed that he could only use his Unique Skill for a couple of seconds, ten at most but most probably even less than five seconds at a time.
Not only that but the fact that this was a fight at all, instead of simply continuously attacking her while in stopped time with a blink of flowing time in between, meant that either his Unique Skill costed Vital Energy or Mana, thing that wasn't true as she was able to confirm thanks to constantly Sensing the amount of Energy it stored how he it not only didn't Cost Energy but he also Recovered some while the Skill was active, indicating the presence of a Cooldown as otherwise his Soul would collapse in on itself.
After all, most of the stress caused by prolonged use of Skills attacked the Soul alone and healing it is a much more involved and time-consuming process that just healing the body.
Luna smiled, her eyes sharpening in an instant before she rose her left hand, Aura and light being emanated from the eyes of her Core-Holding Ring, gradually amplifying itself again and again, temporarily confering to its Wielder the Innate Skill "Elemental Roar", a great Magic Circle glowing in all colors forming before her.
Mark's eyes widened in a very foreboding feeling of alarm, aware that the fact he didn't recognize the Artifact was terrible as either she didn't bother using it the last time or for some reason he changed something without knowing that led her to create something she didn't bother making the previous Timelines.
After all, Luna only bothered making them once she knew that she was actively being hunted while still not being a proper Lunarian; conditions that in the last Timeline were instead absent as she didn't feel the need back then.
His decades of experiences were the only thing that saved him from the conseguences of his split-second hesitation caused by the rise of a new variable in his equation, jumping away just in time to dodge the concentrated beam of destruction that exploded from the Magic Circle.
The Human, having landed on his feet thanks to his sheer amount of experience fighting her, immediately dropped down on his back to dodge the kick that would have crushed his skull had it landed, his blue eyes opening wide as he saw a mass of flames forming around her left hand, a burning punch directed right at the center of his chest.
The blonde scowled, using his hands resting on the ground to flip himself sideways, dodging the blow that could have shattered his ripcage at once, his eyes noting the lack of a Barrier protection his opponent before widening in alarm when he saw the flames surrounding her fist destabilize before exploding outwards in a burst of flames directed at him.
Luna calmly watched as Mark's body vanished into nothing, her gaze immediately moving to where he currently reappeared, noting the slowly-healing burns on his skin and mentally calculating the times involved. 'Five seconds between the last time stop and when he was struck. Considering the speed of his healing and the time when I lost sight of him, six seconds passed between the two activation. I didn't make a Barrier to try and invite him to strike me but he didn't.
'He stopped time for three seconds with a Cooldown of six. I am certain that this time he didn't stop time for three seconds, rather if one considers the progress of his healing, he stopped time for only a single second. His Cooldown is either two times the amount of time stopped or the time stopped plus three seconds. It should be direct enough to confirm for me.'
Luna jumped forward, leaning underneath a lightning bolt sent by her opponent before pointing forward, Mana, shifted directly to Lightning-Attribute thanks to her "Attribute Conversion", covering her right hand to deflect her opponent's next lightning bolt away from herself before sending back her own string of lightning, forcing her opponent back.
Luna ran after Mark, her eyes unerringly focused on her opponent, while she started to experiment with her various Attributes, wind blades, rock spears, fire wips and thunder bolts raining down unceasingly upon the Human, trying to force him to use his time stop again, as often as possible to confirm her supposition.
The blonde stepped sideways again and again, his eyes moving constantly to find the escape routes that he needed to use to dodge the continuous attacks, scowling upon noticing that the opening were just big enough for him to evade her attacks which, when combined with his knowledge of her most liked mode of combat actually being unarmed combat, led him to understand at once that she was merely testing him, to better understand him.
Mark ignored the openings provided to him by his opponent, burning Vital Energy to strenghten himself as much as possible before rushing right through it, accepting the slashes and burns to close the distance between the two, the Lunarian having allowed a way to herself, and launch a punch right towards her head.
Luna calmly prepared to deflect the blow away, her eyes widening in shock as she suddenly felt a much greater amount of force smash into her face, her right hand flying up to cover one of her eyes, yet even so the surprise did not slow down her reaction at all, her left hand flying back, her claws staining red as she cut in the Human's arms that he raised to defend himself.
The white-haired one stepped back violently, twisting around in a kick with her right leg tensed, the violent swing creating a second gash, this time in the blonde's side.
Luna didn't follow her opponent further, instead removing her right hand from her now-healed face, concentrating on the amount of damage she just recieved, noting how it was much too great to be caused by a single punch instead being more than what three of his attacks should be.
The only reasonable explanation was that the force of his blows launched in stopped time were applied together at the end of the Skill's effect, undergoing the target's Resistances as if it was a single instance of Damage.
She smiled at once, her left hand surrounded by a vicious Aura that formed a Magic Circle, an iridescent beam of devastation being released the next instant, taking advantage of his Cooldown to force him to retreat.
Naturally the blue-eyed one could not afford to hesitate an instant, launching himself away, intent on turning this battle in one of attrition, counting on the Ruin's effect to thin out the Lunarian's blood and in so doing weakening her enough for him to gain an advantage.
Mark did not hesitate, running around the Lunarian with long strings of Lightning-Attribute Mana held between his fingers, forming various circles with his strings surrounding his opponent before clenching his fingers, the lightning string collapsing in on the white-haired one, immobilizing her with his glowing yellow strings.
Luna did not react other that just observing, more interested in the attack itself than the Damage it could inflict on her, calmly analyzing both the Human before her and her own currently bound state, adding various variables in her mental equation about her opponent and their fight.
The white-haired one noted how the light of the strings around her started to gradually intensify, leading her to act right there and then, a Magic Circle forming beneath her feet and radiating a glow upwards, an Anti-Lightning radiation that weakened the strings, causing them to soon enough fray apart entirely, leaving Luna free from her opponent's attack.
However before she could strike back at the Human, he vanished, reappearing right before her with his hands resting upon her abdomen, Lightning-Attribute Mana and his Aura condensing in a single point that invaded her body, creating a Gate right towards the Plane of Roars, a phenomenon that caused her red eyes to widen in recognition.
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