Hour 20
"The Moon Eater isn't just power," Mist explained, pacing in front of Krad. "It's a living entity with its own will, its own desires. Right now, you treat it like a weapon you occasionally borrow. That's wrong."
"Then what should I do?"
"You need to understand it." Mist tapped his temple. "It's sealed inside you, but that doesn't mean you can't talk."
[ System Buddy: Oh boy, therapy session with an ancient horror! What could go wrong?! ]
Krad closed his eyes, reaching inward to that cold, hungry presence in his core. The Moon Eater stirred at his attention, its voice a whisper of frost and starlight.
"The vessel returns. Have you come to beg for power again?"
"I need to understand you," Krad said aloud, though the conversation was internal. "We're stuck together, so we might as well figure out how to work together."
"Work together?"
The Moon Eater's amusement was like shards of ice.
"I am a force of nature, you are a temporary container. We do not work together."
"Then you're just going to stay sealed," Krad shot back. "Because I won't let you control me."
Silence. Then, surprisingly, something like grudging respect colored the beast's response.
"You have spine, vessel. Very well... ask your questions."
"Why do you want to consume moons?"
"Because I am hungry, do you ask the river why it flows?"
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only answer I have."
A pause.
"I was created to devour. In the Age of Creation, when the gods shaped the world, they needed something to regulate celestial bodies. To prevent moons from growing too powerful. I am that regulator."
Krad frowned internally. "So you're like... cosmic maintenance?"
"I am the inevitable entropy of all lunar bodies. I am the end of---"
"Yeah, yeah, very impressive," Krad interrupted. "But why do you need to possess people to do it?"
Another pause, longer this time.
"I was sealed because I became too efficient. The gods feared I would consume their precious power entirely. They bound me to mortal vessels, limiting my power, forcing me to experience linear time and physical limitation."
"That sounds lonely," Krad said before he could stop himself.
Outside his internal conversation, Mist, Queen Hania, and surprisingly, Dani, who had left Kora's side briefly to check on the training, watched as Krad stood perfectly still, his eyes closed, silver light occasionally flickering across his skin.
"Is this safe?" Dani asked quietly.
"Safer than it looks," Mist said, though his own hand rested on his sword hilt. "The kid's got more willpower than sense. He won't let it take control."
Queen Hania's expression was troubled. "But he's relying on it. Building a relationship with it... that's dangerous in a different way."
"What do you mean?" Dani asked.
"The more he uses the Moon Eater's power, the more natural it becomes," Hania explained. "Eventually, he won't remember how to fight without it. He'll become dependent on borrowed strength instead of developing his own."
Mist's jaw tightened. "You're right. Damn it, you're right."
"What do we do?" Dani asked.
"We interrupt," Hania said firmly. She stepped forward and placed her hand on Krad's shoulder.
The physical contact jolted Krad out of his internal conversation. His eyes snapped open, still flickering with traces of silver.
"What---"
"That's enough communion with the beast," Hania said, her tone brooking no argument. "You're falling into a trap, Krad."
"A trap? I was just learning to---"
"To depend on it," Dani interrupted, her voice sharp. "To treat it as your primary source of power instead of your last resort."
Krad blinked, confusion clear on his face. "But Captain Mist just said I needed to understand it, to communicate---"
"Understanding it is one thing," Mist said, his expression serious. "Becoming reliant on it is another. I wanted you to stop fighting it, yes. But I don't want you to start using it as a crutch."
"I don't understand," Krad said, frustration creeping into his voice. "You all saw what happened with Han. Without the Moon Eater's power, I would've died. We all would've died."
"And what happens when the Moon Eater decides it wants more than 15%?" Hania asked gently. "What happens when it pushes for 20%, then 30%, then full awakening? Each time you call on it, you make that negotiation easier for it."
"She's right," Dani added, crossing her arms. "I've seen mages who relied too heavily on external power sources. Demon contracts, cursed artifacts, forbidden techniques. They all told themselves they were in control. They all ended up consumed by what they thought they controlled."
Krad looked at his hands, remembering the silver light, the raw power that had flowed through him. "But I'm not strong enough on my own. You said it yourself, without the Moon Eater---"
"Without the Moon Eater, you're still a Level 300 Slayer," Mist interrupted. "Do you know how many Slayers never reach Level 200? How many spend their entire careers stuck at Level 100 because they hit their natural limit?"
"But---"
"You reached 300 in days, kid. Do you understand how unprecedented that is?" Mist's eyes were intense. "That's not the Moon Eater. That's you, your potential... your natural talent."
Queen Hania nodded. "The Moon Eater gave you an awakening, yes. It catalyzed your growth. But the foundation was already there. You had the capacity for this power before the beast ever touched you."
Dani stepped closer, her expression softening slightly. "Kora didn't burn three weeks of her life force to heal a Moon Eater vessel. She did it to heal you. The kid who stopped himself from killing someone even when every instinct screamed to let the beast win."
Krad felt something twist in his chest. "Then what am I supposed to do? Fight Liyab with just... basic techniques?"
"Not basic," Hania corrected. "Your own. Developed, honed, and perfected. The Moon Eater should be your trump card, not your fighting style."
"Think of it like this," Mist said, sheathing his sword. "Right now, you're a Level 300 fighter who occasionally borrows Level 1000 power. That's dangerous and unstable. What we need to make you is a Level 300 fighter who fights at Level 400 or 500 through pure skill, and only touches Level 1000 when there's no other choice."
"How do I do that?" Krad asked.
"By learning to fight like a human," Dani said simply. "Just you, your body, and your determination."
She walked to the center of the plaza and drew her twin daggers. "Come on. Let's see what you can actually do when you're not relying on silver light."
---
Hour 21
Krad faced Dani across the plaza, his hands empty of any glowing power. She held her daggers in a relaxed grip, her stance casual but ready.
"Rules are simple," she said. "No Moon Eater techniques. No Devouring Palm, no silver light, nothing that draws on the beast. Fight me with what you actually know."
"That's not much," Krad admitted.
"Then you're about to learn quickly." Dani's smile was sharp. "Begin."
She moved like water, her daggers flashing in the moonlight. Krad barely got his guard up in time, her blades deflecting off his forearms with precise, controlled strikes that stung but didn't cut.
He tried to counter with Merciless Strike, but without the Moon Eater's enhancement, it was just a strong punch. Dani sidestepped easily and tapped his ribs with the flat of her blade.
"Too slow," she said. "And too committed. You're throwing everything into single strikes because you're used to them being empowered. When they're not, you're just overextending."
Krad reset his stance, trying to remember Mist's lessons about power flow and body mechanics. He threw a combination, jab, cross, hook... and Dani blocked them all, but at least she had to move to do it.
"Better," she acknowledged. "But you're still thinking like a brawler. You've got reach and youth on your side. Use them."
They circled each other, and Krad tried to analyze her movement. Dani was smaller, faster, more experienced. Her daggers gave her an advantage in close quarters. He needed to---
She lunged, and his thoughts scattered. Instinct took over, and the silver light flared.
Dani's blade stopped an inch from his throat. "What did I say about Moon Eater's techniques?"
"That was instinct!" Krad protested.
"Then your instincts are wrong," she said flatly. "Again. And this time, if you use any silver light, I'm going to have Mist throw you through a building."
They reset. Dani attacked again, and this time when Krad's instinct screamed to use Moon Eater's power, he forced himself to just dodge normally. He was slower, clumsier, and Dani's blade drew a thin line of blood across his shoulder.
[ Damage Received: 12 ]
"Good," Dani said, and she actually sounded approving. "You took the hit instead of cheating. That's progress."
"Progress hurts," Krad muttered, pressing his hand to the cut.
"All progress hurts," Queen Hania called from the sidelines. "That's how you know it's real."
They continued for another twenty minutes, and slowly, Krad began to adapt. His dodges became more efficient. His strikes more measured. He learned to read Dani's tells, the slight shift of her weight before a lunge, the way her eyes flickered toward her target a split second before she struck.
He still lost every exchange, but he was losing less badly.
"Enough," Dani finally said, breathing only slightly harder than normal. "You're learning. Slowly, but you're learning."
Krad collapsed to his knees, breathing hard. Every instinct wanted to reach for the Moon Eater's power, to heal faster, to fight better. Resisting that urge was almost harder than the actual fighting.
"How do you do it?" he asked Dani between gasps. "Fight without any enhancements? No beast, no borrowed power, just... you?"
Dani's expression softened slightly. "Because I've never had a choice. I'm a tracker, not a powerhouse. My magic is for finding things, not destroying them. So I learned to fight with what I had... my body, my mind, my weapons."
She sat down beside him, setting her daggers carefully on the ground. "But I had help learning. Someone who showed me that human limits aren't as limiting as they seem."
"Your Captain?" Krad guessed.
"Yes." Dani's voice went quiet. "And Kora."