Somewhere inside an abandoned warehouse in Academy City Eden.
Luna’s consciousness slowly awakened from the chaos. Her hearing returned first, catching the faint crackling of a campfire.
Then, the distinct, charred aroma of burning wood wafted into her nose.
She struggled to open her heavy eyes.
Her vision was blurry at first before slowly coming into focus. Right in front of her was a small, orange campfire.
The flames danced, consuming a few dry logs and emitting soft, snapping sounds.
Almost by instinct, Luna tried to stir the magic within her body. Her mind reached inward, but there was no response.
Panicking, she concentrated again, attempting to sense and guide the flow of energy through her Magic Circuits.
However, her once-submissive mana felt as if it were locked deep within her source, unable to seep out even a single drop.
Furthermore, she could not even feel the active elemental forces in the air. It seemed that the connection between her body and the external magical elements had been forcibly severed by some power.
The power source of a Goddess Angel seemed to have completely dried up at this moment.
This realization sent a chill through Luna’s heart. Subconsciously, she tried to move her body, but a strong sense of restraint immediately came from her wrists and ankles.
Looking down, she saw her hands were tied behind her back and her feet were bound together.
The restraint was a kind of Dark Silver Rope that looked thin but was exceptionally tough. It was wrapped tightly, even biting into her fair skin and leaving deep red marks.
Luna tried to struggle, but the rope moved like a living creature, writhing slightly and tightening as she exerted force.
Without the enhancement of magic, the physical capabilities of a Goddess Angel, which far exceeded those of ordinary people, seemed greatly diminished.
Still, she refused to give up. Gritting her teeth, she began to twist her body in an extremely awkward posture.
She hoped to use the flexibility gained from years of dance practice to find a gap in the bindings and “slip” out of this invisible web.
However, the Dark Silver Rope truly seemed to possess life and will. The more she struggled and squirmed, the tighter it coiled. It even began to automatically adjust its knots, firmly locking every joint and muscle she might use to exert force.
Finally, during one desperate, all-out twist, Luna lost her balance. Along with the unstable old chair she was sitting on, she fell heavily to one side.
Bang!
The side of her body and her arm hit the cold, hard concrete floor first with a dull thud. Sharp pain shot through her joints and bones, causing Luna to let out a short, suppressed cry of agony.
Dust kicked up, dancing in the halo of the campfire.
“Stop struggling.”
As Luna curled her body in pain and continued to squirm fruitlessly like a trapped insect, trying to break free or at least find a comfortable position, a calm male voice drifted from the darkness ahead.
Luna’s movements froze. She followed the sound and looked up.
On the other side of the campfire, about 3 or 4 meters away, sat a chair that looked relatively intact — completely out of place in this abandoned warehouse.
A man sat on it in a casual posture.
The man wore a sharp, long, pitch-black trench coat made of a peculiar material that almost merged with the surrounding darkness.
On his face was a bizarre and striking pure white mask.
The mask had no unnecessary patterns, except for a prominent capital letter — “V” — sketched in a slowly flowing, bright red liquid near the top center.
The red letter V seemed alive, slowly circulating and flowing under the dim light, emitting an ominous, faint red glow.
It added a bone-chilling sense of eeriness and pressure to the featureless mask.
In front of the man was the crackling campfire.
A simple grill sat over the flames, where several skewers of meat were roasting.
Fat dripped onto the charcoal with an inviting sizzle, sending up puffs of white smoke and a rich aroma of grilled meat.
“You… you are the Adjudicator of Eternal Night Gospel — V?!”
Luna recognized him almost instantly. Her voice trembled slightly from shock and realization.
As a Goddess Angel who had dealt with the extremist organization Eternal Night Gospel many times, she was well aware of its structure, which included a cadre level known as Adjudicators.
Every Adjudicator was powerful and acted with great secrecy.
They all wore these iconic white masks inscribed with different letters.
The Adjudicator she had fought earlier was no exception.
Wait…
Luna suddenly remembered something. Her thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the moments before she lost consciousness.
Above Academy City Eden.
A figure floated silently in the sky.
It was a young girl with smooth, pink hair tied back into a high ponytail. The ends of her hair fluttered wildly in the high-altitude winds.
She wore a pure white, skin-tight combat suit that traced the perfect curves of her figure.
White over-the-knee socks covered her long, straight legs, and she wore a pair of matching white high-heeled boots, adding a sense of divinity and elegance to her floating posture.
Most striking were the six sleek, futuristic Floating Turrets hovering around her. They acted like loyal satellites, slowly orbiting her while their muzzles flickered with a faint blue light, ready to fire.
Above the girl’s head, a halo emitting a soft pink glow floated quietly like an angelic crown, announcing her extraordinary identity.
She was one of the Goddess Angels, known by the code name “Annihilation Angel,” Artemis. Her true name was Luna Florea. Bathed in Goddess Grace and wielding powerful magic, she bore the heavy responsibility of defending human civilization from the claws of twisted monsters called Crystal Husks.
At this moment, Luna looked down from her high vantage point. Her pale gold eyes were like those of a deity looking down upon the mortal world, calmly watching the dark, roaring army of Crystal Husks below.
These grotesque monsters, radiating an ominous black aura, were rampaging through the once-prosperous city streets. However, all civilians had been evacuated long ago, leaving only these impurities that had to be purified.
“The safety of Eden shall be protected by me,” Luna’s voice was crisp and determined.
The moment she spoke, she elegantly raised her right hand and tapped her slender finger forward.
Hum—!
The six Floating Turrets surrounding the girl suddenly accelerated. Moving as if they had a will of their own, they flexibly adjusted their angles and positions. Their muzzles instantly condensed a terrifying amount of mana.
In the next second, countless blinding energy beams poured down like a torrential rain.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!
Deafening explosions blended into a single roar.
The energy beams struck the densest areas of the Crystal Husks with precision, erupting into globes of blinding light. Soil, rubble, and the shattered limbs of Crystal Husks were violently tossed into the air.
The once-formidable army of Crystal Husks was instantly blown apart by this sudden saturation strike.
Their formation fell into chaos, and wails of agony filled the area.
Luna floated in the air, her pink ponytail dancing wildly in the turbulent airflow of the explosions.
She looked like a beautiful angel, her every movement filled with aesthetic grace.
The surrounding turrets fired continuously, sometimes dispersing to snipe stragglers with precision, and sometimes pairing up to release more powerful converged blasts, showcasing the beauty of absolute violence.
Some of the more agile Crystal Husks roared and lunged at Luna in the sky, braving the fire in suicidal attacks.
Luna simply tilted her body slightly.
Her high-heeled boots tapped the air, and she drifted as gracefully as a weightless feather, easily dodging all the lunges.
Meanwhile, her turrets acted with independent consciousness, automatically locking onto targets. With a few flashes of precise rays, the monsters attempting to get close were blown to pieces in mid-air.
“Hmph, foolish filth,” Luna muttered with a hint of disdain as she watched the crumbling army below. “You things should just rot in hell.”
However, just as she thought the battle was nearing its end and her guard lowered for a split second —
Deep within the shadows of the ruins below, an extremely hidden and incredibly fast beam of pitch-black light shot toward her.
It used the cover of several Crystal Husks launching a frantic suicidal charge to instantly pierce through the barrier of intersecting fire, aiming directly at Luna in the sky.
Luna’s pale gold pupils constricted.
Her battle instincts made her subconsciously control the nearest turrets to intercept the attack.
But the moment the turrets turned and her mana began to shift, she realized something was wrong.
That black light was not a pure energy attack.
‘What?!’
The moment the black light hit her body, it did not cause a violent explosion or a piercing injury. Instead, it spread and transformed like a living, viscous liquid.
Countless Black Spirit Snakes, composed of pure dark elements, sprouted wildly from the point of impact.
They spread with alarming speed, coiling around her limbs, torso, and even her neck.
A cold, greasy power, carrying a strong sense of erosion and sealing, instantly invaded Luna’s body.
More terrifyingly, she felt the connection between her magic source and Goddess Grace being smothered by a thick layer of black grease.
It grew faint, and then… it was severed completely.
The mana keeping her airborne vanished instantly.
“Ugh!”
Luna let out a short cry of surprise.
Her body lost its support, and like a fallen angel with broken wings, she plummeted rapidly from a height of 10 meters toward the ground covered in rubble and the remains of Crystal Husks.
Thud!
She crashed heavily onto the ground. Dust billowed, and her white combat suit was stained with filth.
The Black Spirit Snakes had already bound her tightly from head to toe.
The more she struggled, the tighter they constricted, eventually pinning her firmly to the ground.
She was forced into a humiliating half-kneeling position, unable to move or even lift a single finger.
The pink halo above the girl’s head flickered violently a few times before its light turned extremely dim.