725. The Red Barron and The Moon

725. The Red Barron and The Moon

The waiting room quickly burned hotter than a furnace. Bullets struck the windows, allowing the Tear Retrievers to retreat. As Anpu stood before the Red Barron with an expressionless face, he motioned for Lucy to immediately vacate the perimeter.

“Get as far away from here as you can! I cannot guarantee your life!” Anpu warned. He was normally a nonchalant person with a stern, near tired demeanor.

When one such person displayed abnormal emotions, it greatly emphasized the severity of their words. A blue slash of energy whizzed silently through the air again, striking the Red Barron’s chest to surprisingly little effect.

It pushed the Red Barron back as he held his heavy arms in a cross before his body, blocking the bullets that seemingly phased through him. The walls behind crumbled as it travelled for another fifty meters.

“Isn’t it formidable? Adamantium could never dream of defending an attack from a Moon!” The Red Barron heaved, smashing his fists together to create a shockwave that sent every instrument, furnishing, and ornaments flying like shrapnel. “Hand me what is mine, and we can skip the formalities!”

“Are all Colors just like this bastard!?” Lucy exclaimed, covering for Gerina as she threw herself out of the window.N/nêw n0vel chap/ers are published o/n n0v/e/(lb)i(n.)co/m

“You’d be surprised with what Colors can get away with.” Anpu commented as he stroked the air.

Glyphs of an unknown language and symbols of esoteric origin glowed and began to orbit him like rings as he pressed forward, bringing the fight straight to the Red Barron.

This Skill was called [The Protector’s Aegis], which was a powerful defensive Skill that defended the user from physical, magical and conditional effects. Few of the words began to burn under the presence of the Red Barron’s unthinkable heat. This was because this Skill took the Burn Stacks for Anpu, allowing him to close the distance in the blink of an eye.

“I’ve never seen a Moon try to protect someone! Are they your client!? Or did you pity this Empire’s useless princess in the hopes of gaining its Gift!?” The Red Barron scathingly accused, his expression making it clear that he was trying to psychologically attack Anpu.

But this Moon has seen a lifetime’s worth of mental tricks, which was why his face remained unbothered as his fists collided with the Red Barron’s chest.

Unbelievable... It didn’t go through. Just what is that armor he’s wearing?

Anpu fully expected his fist to cut through his armor. His hand was enveloped in dark light this time, and he had aimed for the Red Barron’s heart. [Guide of the Dead – Verdict] was an Active Skill that allowed him to grab the essence of his target’s heart. Afterwards, it would be put on a scale using his Passive Skill [Scale of Judgement] which would further bolster his powers against a certain target.

What he gathered in this split second were two things:

His RESIST is either too high, or there is another force that is stopping me from reaching into his heart. Could it be the Corrupted’s doing? No, it could very well be that armor. It’s resonating loudly, like a bell... I see, it must be amplifying his defensive stats.

“That is the product of this Kingdom’s Gift, no?”

“Amplification at it’s finest. More than what the Kingdom could thirty years ago! Aren’t you curious how that is possible?” The Red Barron smashed his fist into where Anpu was.

The Moon clicked on his pocket watch, sending him seconds back in time to avoid the attack.

* * *

It was an experimental ability of the Traumatic Clock which was assigned to the Lunar Haruspex. It was commonly used to turn back time on projectiles, but it had a very limited use for entities.

Anpu came to the conclusion that his armor was a bluff. He became certain now that the Corrupted he adorned – the flaming mantle – was responsible for the abnormality. This was finally confirmed by an Aspiring Moon.

“There is no Risk Classification associated with it, but we believe it’s an Eternal Night at the minimum. The mantle on his back is a Corrupted. The Conditions explicitly amplify his stats, but it comes at the cost of...?”



A cost. How unsurprising given it is a Corrupted.



“... It comes at the cost of being subservient to the mantle. He is what he wears. We’re not sure what the meaning of it is.”



We have 60 seconds till the Amalgam arrives. I can already feel her presence in the change of the winds. Leave the interpretations to her. This may be one of the Main Sequence Corrupted. If that is the case, then this is all the more reason for us not to interfere.

It was difficult for the Aspiring Moons and the Tear Retrievers to remain calm. The Red Barron’s mere presence caused their bodies to lock into place against their will, as though their limbs were chained by heavy weights.

“You’ll wait there for me, dear Healer.” With just these words alone, Lucy was nearly thrown to her knees. “I’ve always wondered why Moons didn’t indulge in the gravity of their... powers, so to speak.”

“We have no interest.”

“A shame. All that power wasted on people who don’t even worship you like they do with Colors. It’s the responsibility of a sovereign to make them remember where people stand.”

“But aren’t you a baron, rather than a sovereign?”

“A baron in title and name. Where my orders come from is exclusively from being different from you and I! I’m a king of man; a sovereign in all my right and glory. ‘Prostrate’.”

His words were an authority, and the mantle glowed in response. Anpu could feel it affecting him minimally. He could not imagine how difficult it would be for regular people to resist such an order.

“They rise and fall to my word, because I am the decider of their place. Everything we know and love is governed by the strong.”

“Commandments. That is your power as a Color.” Anpu continued to stall for time.

“The Seal of Commands.” The Red Barron proudly announced the full name of his ability. “Those beneath me in this hierarchy of power are my subjects. My words, like my strength – absolute. The masses to a king!”

He laughed, speaking as though Anpu would understand him. A look of displeasure formed on the Color’s face when Anpu expression remained unchanged. Instead, the Red Barron approached from a different avenue as he hurled himself at Anpu.