Clash of Wills Under the Crimson Moon.

Ayumu's eyes widened in shock as he watched Viktor's silhouette appear through the cloud of dust.

The warrior's bloodshot eyes were filled with wrath. They had an almost unnatural red tint to them. It almost looked as if they were glowing.

N-no way, Ayumu thought, I didn't finish him off!?

The controlled projectile should have had the same power as a normal strike of lightning. A powerful blow that would be enough to immediately kill most monsters. Just one of those lightnings should have been sufficient to destroy the barrier in its entirety. On top of that, Viktor's shield was already slightly damaged from the fight. There should have been no way for him to preserve through the attack.

D-did I screw up the spell...? Is it... Is it because of all of the effects I applied to it?

Because so much of Ayumu's focus went into making sure that the magic could control magnetism, that detracted from the other facets of the spell. By overly focusing on one aspect of lightning, he reduced its effectiveness in all of the other areas. Ayumu knew about that tradeoff, but he was confident that the reduced strength should have been enough.

Or... was it my concentration at the end?

When Ayumu deflected Viktor's blow, for just a second, when he became confident he had won, his focus slipped. Constant concentration was pivotal for prolonged complicated spells such as controlled projectiles. Just a moment of distraction was enough to weaken the mana flow and reduce the magic's potency.

D-don't panic, Ayumu. You can reflect all you want once you're done. You still have a duel on your hands. Even if he lived through the blow, Viktor's mana is practically nonexistent at this point...

Ayumu was correct. Even by the most hopeful of evaluations, Viktor only had enough mana for a single lightning. He had already switched off his buffs and no longer had enough energy to use them again. Without those, he couldn't win against Ayumu in close quarters. No matter the difference in skill, the physical gap between having and not having magical enhancement on was too vast. Viktor's only chance of winning lay in striking Ayumu down with a good, old-fashioned lightning.

"You bastard... You bastard!" Viktor screamed, "Think you're amazing, don't you? To finish the battle in my greatest strength—confrontation of cold steel! ...Like hell I will give you that privilege!"

The warrior was infuriated. Even though his body wasn't physically damaged—courtesy of the coliseum's magical barrier—his features were so ragged that Ayumu could barely recognize him. Something about him was uncanny, downright terrifying. The red glow of his eyes seared itself into Ayumu's mind.

Were they... were they always red...?

But he didn't have leisure to observe his opponent. Viktor's blood-curdling scream pierced through the arena.

"My lightning... My lightning will crush you!"

Realizing that Viktor was about to cast, Ayumu replied with his own spell. At the end, it all came down to a single clash of lightnings. One spell against another. A pure battle of will.

Ayumu was first.

An arrow of pure light. Nothing can stand in its path as it pierces all the obstacles in its way. The beautiful lightning flies forward indefinitely, never stopping for a single second. Venture forth on an endless journey of dreams!

And Viktor's cast followed it.

A ball of all-absorbing thunder that swallows everything in its path! A spell to bring down the accursed genius... A crystallization off all of my efforts, all of my desires—years of training and practice! A greedy, devouring, mass of pure avarice! Consume everything in its path! And give it all to me! All of his talent and skill, all of his reputation and fame, all of the respect he gathers from others! Absorb. It. All!

"Ab manō fortis fulmar ferrit!"

"Ab baculō fortis fulmar ferrit!"

And the lightnings collided. 

Once again, it was an arrow of light versus a mass of avarice. For the third time, they clashed in a battle of wills. 

Both of the spells were similar, yet so different from the previous times. A reflection of the boys' paths.

The arrow wasn't as quick as before, but instead had a more reliable presence. Its outline was clear, and it shined beautifully, never faltering for a single second. It would never stop on the path to its goal. An amalgamation of excitement and passion. The unstoppable arrow of light.

The mass had a deep red hue that invoked unease in everyone who saw it. It was meant to completely consume its enemy. But it wouldn't stop there. After that, it would continue uncontrollably devouring everything on its path, leaving nothing behind. The crystallization of pure greed and desperation. The red thunder of avarice.

Seeing Viktor's spell shocked Ayumu beyond belief.

N-no way—he still has that much mana! H-how? And... and what's with that color...?

Viktor's lightning was infinitely more powerful than anything Ayumu had seen so far. It was the strongest spell that he had witnessed in this world. Its strength was completely unnatural and far exceeded anything that Viktor should have been capable of. 

Ayumu's spell was the strongest he had ever produced. But it was not enough.

More... More! I need to put even more energy into it!

He had no reason to hold back. And no leeway either. This was the very last moment of the fight. He only needed to withstand this attack...

Viktor's cry echoed through the coliseum.

"Aaaaaaaaaaagggggh!"

The scream was filled with pain. Viktor wasn't even looking at the clashing spells. He held his head in his hands and stared at the crimson moon in the skies.

N-no way, Ayumu thought, is that...?

***

"The Curse of the Red Moon..."

Dion Au Darius was in pure shock, watching the climax of the duel. The spell that his son released was going on a rampage. It shone with a sinister crimson glow and absorbed everything in its path.

"...That fool..."

There were two reasons why people found The Red Moon so terrifying. The first reason was the increased monster activity, and the second was the risk of a curse. It happened rarely, but sometimes, Deos Heios "blessed" humans with his desire to destroy. It manifested in different ways, but without an exception, brought chaos and death to the human world.

That desire to destroy originated from a distaste of what the world currently was. It was imperfect, flawed, and at times twisted. In order to change it into something better, it needed to be rebuilt. But how could a world be rebuilt without being destroyed first?

It was that contradiction, that elusive pursuit of perfection, that stood at the core of Deos Heios's blessing. It caused negative emotions to run rampant in casters and made their spell go completely out of control. On top of that, it was infused with the power of the Deos.

"I have to stop him... As his father."

For the first time in the past week, Dion's voice wasn't filled with exasperation or disappointment towards his son. Instead, he felt a sense of guilt. There were many things he had expected, and most of it was within his plans, but this wasn't what he desired.

He wanted his son to learn about the price of his arrogance, and the mysterious, contradictory nature of success firsthand. But after witnessing the spell before him, Dion realized that he was blind to the real problem.

The spells affected by the Red Moon weren't easy to stop. Especially if he had to do it without hurting Viktor. This one was greatly charged with his son's negative emotions. But no matter how difficult it was going to be, he couldn't back off. He had the responsibility to take care of it, even if he was going to pay a price.

But just as he stood up from his seat, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't worry. I will subdue the spell."

It belonged to the man who Dion wanted to get involved into this the least. But at the same time, there was no one more fitting for the task. And so, worried for his son's safety, Dion reluctantly conceeded.

***

The mass of avarice became even more intense. Not just Ayumu's arrow, even the shield that was covering the entire arena was being attacked by it. It didn't discriminate between enemies and allies—it merely consumed everything. 

Would that ever satisfy it? Would it ever find what it truly desired? The answer was no. And that was the cruelest part of it all.

Amidst the sea of crimson, Ayumu struggled as he did his best to keep the faint glow of his arrow alive. With every second, his spell was being consumed and pushed back.

N-no... I have to... I'm already at the finish line... I-I can't fail here!

The boy strove to surpass his limits as he channeled more and more mana into his spell. At this point, he was running completely dry. Every last bit of energy was used up. His beautiful lightning shone brightly as it struggled against the odds.

And then it sparkled for the last time before finally getting consumed.

The rampaging spell closed in on Ayumu. After putting every ounce of energy into the arrow, he lacked the strength to move out of the way. But even if that wasn't the case, Viktor's cast was already so massive that there was no escape from it. From the zone of the clash, it was already on the verge of covering the entire arena.

The spell touched Ayumu's barrier. The magical shield rapidly changed its colors. From orange to red. From red to deep crimson.

Oh, is that it? Is this... my end?

His shield was on the verge of breaking. Only at the end, Ayumu realized that the arena's safety functions weren't enough to stop the spell. Even the overall barrier that surrounded the coliseum was struggling to hold under the power of the lightning. Once the boy's barrier broke, nothing would stand in the way of the red thunder. It would consume the shield, consume the arena whole, and then consume the boy in his entirety.

For the second time, death was approaching Ayumu.