It was as if the entire island had morphed into a battlefield. Members of Cassian's faction were going after Rafael's faction for what had happened to Conner. I thought it would be a scramble for the supplies being dropped, but it seemed more like an act of vengeance than anything else. Luna and I managed to weave our way through the conflict without getting involved.
"Oh no," Luna exclaimed, a disheartening look crossing her face as we ran toward one of the supplies that had been dropped.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The curse I sent to guard the supply—someone just managed to beat it."
That meant someone had reached it before us. Luckily, we weren't far from where the supply was dropped. When we arrived on the scene, we saw the people who had managed to get to the supply before us.
We didn't let our presence be known; instead, we stealthily took cover in the bushes. There were four of them in total—not that many, to be honest—and to make things better, they looked weak. They were all injured after fighting Luna's curse—a curse that was weaker than a single goblin. It was a wonder they had survived on the island for so long. They must have relied mostly on others to get by.
Since they didn't seem like much of a threat, I decided to make my move. They were slow to react; it felt like I had ambushed a bunch of children. I paid no mind to the others and went after the one with the supply bag.
He let out a startled yelp when he saw me and turned to run, but I grabbed the back of his shirt before he could get far and pulled him to the ground.
"Hand it over."
His hand was wrapped around the supply bag as if he were cradling a loved one.
ROAR!!
Just then a loud roar came from behind me. I glanced back at one of the boys; his face was twisted, with veins popping out of his head, his eyes blood-red, and pools of saliva dripped from his mouth.
"What the hell is that?" The sight was too disturbing for me not to ask.
"Y-You better let us go," the boy on the ground stammered. "Our friend has the Berserk system. He completely loses his mind and gets a massive increase in all his stats."
Looking back at this fiend of theirs, I couldn't help but notice that this granted us the perfect opportunity.
"Luna."
"Uh, um, yes?"
She looked like she had barely moved from where we were in the bushes and was now taking a few steps back.
"Take care of him."
"W-what? You want me to fight him? I can't; I'm not strong enough!"
"You still have two out of the three curses you created, don't you? Use them."
So far, since we had come to this island, I had done all the fighting for her. She was no better than them, to be honest.
"Let's make a deal," I turned back to the boy holding the bag. "The two of them will fight. If your friend wins, you get to keep the supply bag, but if Luna wins, we will keep it."
The boy gave a confident smile as he looked at the trembling Luna, who seemed ready to run away.
"Fine, we have a deal," he said with a proud grin.
Surprisingly, Luna stepped forward with little to no resistance at all. She stretched out her hand, and a swirl of purple energy formed.
"Come forth."
Out of the purple energy emerged two creatures that looked like a cross between the Malgeckos and the wolves I had killed. Their heads resembled wolves with sharp, razor-like teeth, while their bodies took on the form of lizards. Their skin was a shimmering purple tint.
The boy with the Berserk system was growling deeply, foam forming at the corners of his mouth. He looked like a feral beast. As Luna stepped closer, he quickly shifted his attention to her and, without a moment of hesitation, charged. His movements were wild as he ran, swinging his arms erratically.
Luna's curses didn't hesitate either; they ran to intercept the boy. However, they were soon overpowered as he lifted one of them off the ground by the stomach and slammed it into the earth. He then turned his attention to the other curse, punching it wildly.
This fight was slowly confirming my suspicion about how Luna interacted with her curses—she was the one controlling them.
Wild beasts like these were all the same; they always went for the kill, which made them easy to predict. But Luna's curses were different. As crazy as it sounded, it looked like they weren't trying to hurt the boy at all. While he was pounding on one of the curses, the other one—the one he had body-slammed—got back up but instead of sinking its teeth into him, it swung its tail and knocked him off his feet.
This was as effective as knocking down the main character of a shounen manga—he only got back up, seeming stronger than before. The other boy smirked as he saw this, which gave me an idea about his system: he must get stronger the angrier he became.
It was a tricky situation for Luna, someone who would rather not injure her opponent while fighting.
I had no intention of forcing her to do so; she could win this battle however she pleased. The way she chose to do so was of little concern to me. If I were in her situation, I already knew how I would handle it—
Just as I was thinking about how I would win this fight, I noticed something. The battle had changed completely. Luna's curses had switched to a defensive position; they were now running circles around the boy as if they were toying with him.
What is she doing?
I couldn't help but wonder. Her strategy was simple: she was baiting the boy into attacking and then dodging at the last second. I glanced over at Luna and saw a look of determination on her face that I had never seen before.
This continued for a few moments until I finally realized what was happening. The boy's movements were becoming sluggish. His eyes weren't as red as before, and his growling diminished. Soon, he collapsed onto a the ground.
"Impossible!! She cheated! A girl like her couldn't—"
Before he could finish his complaint, I grabbed the supply bag from him and walked over to Luna.
She looked exhausted, as if she had been fighting the battle alongside her curses.
"How did you do that?" I asked. I still couldn't piece together everything I had witnessed.
With her hands on her knees, as she caught her breath, she answered, "Berserk systems have a short duration, and the cooldown is even longer. I just needed to outlast it. I learned all sorts of things about different types of systems at my old school."
"Wow, I'm impressed that you actually took this seriously and fought back."
Her face turned into a slight frown as she stared at me accusatorily.
"You never intended to let them go if I lost, did you? You would've used them as an example."
"You can't do this!!" one of the boys shouted, interrupting us. "The supply bag belongs to Amelia! When she finds out, she'll hunt you down!"