The first strike never came from Lunaria.
It came from the world itself.
The ruined city groaned as if waking from a nightmare, the stone lifting and shattering under invisible pressure. Streets cracked open like wounds, ancient dust spiraling into the air as Lunaria's berserk aura expanded—black and violet chaos rolling outward in violent tides.
Ash moved first.
Not because he was ready.
Because hesitation meant death.
He vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing at Lunaria's flank with his blade already descending, killing intent compressed to a razor edge. The strike should have cut through anything living.
It didn't.
Lunaria turned his head.
Just slightly.
The blade screamed as it met Lunaria's bare forearm—metal shrieking, sparks exploding as Ash was hurled backward like a broken projectile, his body smashing through three collapsed buildings before skidding to a stop.
Kael roared and charged immediately, lightning detonating around him in uncontrolled arcs. This wasn't refined berserk anymore—this was survival-fueled fury. His fists crashed down like falling stars, each blow capable of leveling a fortress.
Lunaria raised one hand.
Caught Kael's punch.
The impact vaporized the ground beneath them, a crater expanding outward for hundreds of meters. Kael screamed as the feedback tore through his arm, bones fracturing—but Lunaria didn't let go.
Instead, he leaned closer.
"Too shallow," Lunaria whispered.
He flicked Kael away.
Kael flew like a missile, crashing into the remains of a tower that collapsed instantly, burying him under stone.
Riven and Juno attacked together.
Shadows and chains intertwined—strategy forged in months of shared blood and failure. Juno's chains wrapped around Lunaria's legs and torso, abyss-resistant links screaming as they tightened. Riven appeared above, blade descending in perfect synchronization, targeting the neck.
For a heartbeat—
They had him.
Then Lunaria's aura surged.
The chains melted.
Not shattered.
Melted, dissolving into black smoke as abyssal energy devoured them from existence. Riven's blade never landed—Lunaria stepped forward, passing through the shadow itself, and drove his knee into Riven's abdomen.
Riven vomited blood mid-air before slamming into the street hard enough to split it in two.
Ash forced himself upright, vision shaking.
That was when he saw it.
Lunaria's hair—once cut short in the earlier battle—was changing.
With every surge of power, every step, every heartbeat, it grew.
Black strands spilled past his shoulders, lengthening rapidly, flowing like liquid night streaked with deep violet light. Mana coiled around each strand as if his hair itself had become a conduit for chaos and abyssal power.
By the time Ash charged again—
Lunaria's hair had returned to its original length, cascading down his back, wild and untamed, moving as though alive.
"This isn't berserk," Ash realized hoarsely.
This wasn't loss of control.
This was release.
They attacked together.
Ash from the front.
Kael erupting from the rubble with a thunderous roar.
Riven striking from blind angles.
Juno reforging his chains mid-fight, blood streaming from his nose as he forced control through agony.
Four wills.
One monster.
The sky darkened.
Each clash rewrote the city—mountains reduced to brick-sized rubble by shockwaves, entire districts erased by missed strikes. Ash felt his bones crack again and again, pain dulled only by the berserk state screaming through his veins.
And still—
Lunaria stood at the center.
Laughing.
Not mockingly.
Not cruelly.
But alive.
"Yes," Lunaria said, voice layered and distorted, eyes burning violet-black. "This is it."
He spread his arms.
"Fight me."
The aura exploded.
Ash felt his lungs collapse as pressure crushed inward. Kael dropped to one knee. Riven's shadows evaporated. Juno screamed as his chains disintegrated once more.
Lunaria stepped forward, hair whipping violently around him, abyss and chaos entwined so tightly they distorted space itself.
"You wanted my berserk," Lunaria said, eyes locking onto each of them.
"You wanted to see the part of me I buried."
He raised his hand.
"Now survive it."
The ground vanished beneath their feet.
And the true battle—
Not of strength,
Not of speed,
But of existence—
Finally began.