Chapter 0.190– Flashback The Shattered Sky

Snow fell in silence, a soft yet bitter veil draping the world in white as the full moon glared from above, unmoving, unblinking. The stars were scattered like a silent audience across the velvet sky, watching as one figure walked alone through the frost-covered land.

Naoko Rotchy — eighteen years old — moved with the grace of inevitability. Her silver hair shimmered with every gust of the winter wind, strands dancing like blades of moonlight behind her. Her eyes, those cold, emotionless silver mirrors, stared ahead with unwavering intent.

She wore a combat uniform tailored to her age, elegant yet practical: a black shirt with a deep V-shaped collar beneath a fitted white vest, snug black pants tucked into knee-high leather boots, and a utility belt from which hung a single chain tipped with a dagger-shaped charm. Her black gloves had the fingertips cut, revealing pale, flawless fingers that pulsed with a subtle magical aura.

She walked without hurry — yet each step was heavy with purpose.

Then, she stopped.

A hill of silence stretched around her, far from her family estate. The land was barren, untouched, ideal.

Naoko looked around for a brief moment before whispering to herself:

> "Yes. This place will do. Far enough."

Raising one gloved hand, she formed a ring of mana with delicate ease, warping space as a portal began to open — a shimmering vertical wound in the world. Her mana spiraled, silvery and cold like a moonlit storm, and when the gate widened, she stepped through without hesitation.

The world shifted.

She emerged in darkness.

Before her stood the broken remains of a forgotten citadel, crumbling and soaked in shadow. The ruined black castle, abandoned by time, exhaled a heavy pressure — one that could crush an ordinary mage with its cursed history.

But Naoko kept walking.

Her boots echoed through fractured stone corridors, past shattered pillars and faded tapestries. The air was stale, soaked in old magic and the scent of destruction.

Then she entered the main hall — vast and haunting.

At its end, on a throne sculpted from obsidian bones, sat the creature of chaos itself.

Ibernio, the God of Destruction.

She looked nothing like a mindless beast — instead, she was beautiful in a terrifying, ancient way. A long black gown clung to her flawless white skin, her golden hair cascading past her waist like molten sunlight. Her crimson eyes blazed like twin supernovas in the darkness.

Her voice came sharp, taunting:

> "And what does the Moon's daughter want from me?"

Naoko didn't flinch.

She stared with her empty, silver eyes and replied coldly:

> "I want your power — the solar flame of ruin that burns within you."

A pause.

Then she added, calmly:

> "In short, I want to bring you down."

Ibernio raised an eyebrow. Her smile widened.

> "My, my… such directness. And why, pray tell, do you wish to destroy me, dear little goddess?"

Naoko tilted her head slightly.

> "Your source is compatible. Your corpse and castle… are ideal."

Her tone didn't shift. It was factual, analytical — the voice of a being already envisioning victory.

> "You are the missing core for my seventh lunar embodiment — the Moon of Destruction."

The throne room shivered.

Ibernio narrowed her burning eyes.

> "So you intend to absorb my essence… to complete your evolution — to become a full god. Not just a child blessed by Uranos."

She leaned forward, amused.

> "With my power, and your moons… you would become unapproachable. Untouchable. A force outside the balance."

Naoko gave a simple nod.

> "Correct."

Silence.

Then, laughter.

Ibernio rose to her full height, towering and radiant, her black dress rippling as the ground cracked beneath her steps.

> "Then come, child of the moon. Show me how brightly you burn before you're snuffed out."

She raised her hand.

> "Jio."

A sphere of condensed solar fire erupted from her palm — black and gold, swirling with the primal heat of destruction. She hurled it with godlike speed.

Naoko moved — not with panic, but with elegance. She spun backward, her boots barely grazing the floor as the fireball crashed where she stood, exploding with a deafening roar.

The throne room split — a crater opened in the floor, stone melting, air rippling.

Naoko landed a few meters away, her expression unchanged.

> "So that's the quality of divine fire…"

She raised her own hand now — slowly — as her mana began to surge.

The air pulsed.

Light twisted.

And from her palm emerged a spiral of white-blue energy, cold and sharp like moonlight turned into a blade.

> "Crescent Devastation."

She slashed the air, and a blade of lunar magic sliced across the room, silent and lethal.

Ibernio grinned and clapped her hands — a shield of obsidian flame erupted before her, but the crescent strike tore through it, grazing her arm.

A hiss.

A flash of blood.

But the god of destruction only smiled wider.

> "You cut me? With moonlight? Intriguing."

Naoko stepped forward.

Her silver eyes shimmered — and the Black Crescent within her irises flickered to life.

The temperature dropped.

The torches died.

Naoko's voice echoed, laced with her divine resonance:

> "Blood Eclipse."

The ceiling above trembled as the moon outside turned crimson. A lunar eclipse surged through the air, and a pulse erupted from Naoko's body — draining the mana in the room.

Ibernio stumbled.

For a moment, her flame dimmed.

She frowned.

> "A leeching spell? Clever little parasite."

She lunged.

The air exploded beneath her feet.

Her claws burned with solar fury.

Naoko stood her ground — her silver chains bursting from her gloves like divine serpents:

> "Silver Chains of Lunaria."

The chains coiled around the incoming god, dragging her momentum downward — slamming her into the ground.

Dust rose. Walls cracked.

But Ibernio roared, her flame igniting again.

> "You are bold, girl! But not immortal yet."

Naoko didn't blink.

Instead, she whispered:

> "Chrono Sever."

Her finger traced a glowing rune in the air — a rift in time opened behind Ibernio. It pulsed, then snapped forward like a fang — slicing through the god's arm, erasing the limb from existence.

There was no blood. Only absence.

Ibernio screamed.

> "You dare?!"

Naoko's voice was calm as ever:

> "Yes."

Then she vanished.

A teleport flash — she reappeared behind Ibernio, a sigil glowing on her palm.

> "Moon's Judgment."

A beam of light speared through Ibernio's back — not just light, but cosmic justice, burning from the inside, twisting her divine essence.

Ibernio dropped to one knee.

Her body cracked.

But she raised her hand and bellowed a forbidden chant.

The ceiling exploded, and fire fell from the heavens like a storm of suns.

Naoko stood below it, untouched.

Her silver eyes burned brighter.

> "You're not the only one who speaks the language of annihilation."

She raised both hands, and the moons within her responded.

Seven orbs of glowing light began to rotate behind her — not fully formed, not yet stable — but they shimmered with promise.

Her body glowed.

And the battle was only just beginning...

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Heat: What do you think of the chapter? Did you like it? 

Don't worry, we have plenty of time with young Naoko.