2 Awakening

Acting on her instincts as an assassin, Karina launched herself at the target who was delayed by Diggie. Being isolated from the others by a few meters, he was the easiest target.

The targeted pursuer had no time to react at all. Petrified by the sudden explosive killing intent directed at him, his final vision was that of an 'X' shaped trail of cyan colored light as Karina's Moonshadow Blades decapitated him.

The remaining pursuers, now alerted to the presence of an assassin, gave up their chase after Diggie and decided to face this new threat. What they were met with were eyes that were burning with rage and a madness that desired their lives. They immediately knew that this was no ordinary assassin, even among the Dark Elves.

Quickly estimating the threat presented by Karina, the two pursuers immediately realize that they had no chance of winning against an entity such as this. After all they were simply minions working under the Apocalypse Queen Alice. The only reason they had been able to threaten the timekeeper was the seal that was placed upon him to restrict his mana usage, so he was only able to cast simple spells.

They cursed their queen at that moment for giving them such a troublesome task. They were only given a single sealing note by Alice to be used if an unexpected situation arose when they were capturing the elven girl. Having used that sealing note on Diggie, they were lost as to how to survive this ordeal, let alone their designated mission.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being followed since the beginning of their mission. The two figures were now observing Karina warily while hiding in the shadows of the forest. One was an assassin with a long and thick blade on his shoulder wearing a demon faced mask, unaware of the other who was trailing him; a painted face and a mummified body, a being with power equal to that of Alice while still being restricted by an ancient seal.

Unable to face the wrath of Karina, the remaining pursuers met a similar fate to that of their former companion.

Having thought that the threat was nullified, Diggie dragged the Elf girl with him and approached his savior to show his gratitude. But he soon stopped as he saw the glint of madness in Karina's eyes, which made even him, the timekeeper, to shudder in fear. Never had he seen such a look in anyone's eyes.

Nevertheless, he still approached her. And it was at that moment that he felt a massive sense of danger. He instantly knew it was not from the assassin in front of him, but another enemy. Karina too seemed to feel this threat and her maddened state grew deeper.

A shadow-like specter slowly appeared besides Diggie from the ground. It had a menacing presence which instantly attracted Karina's attention. But she was a split second too late, the specter which appeared suddenly struck the ground and dark spikes reeking of death shot out of the ground in front of him and impaled the timekeeper.

Seeing Karina approaching him, the specter turned its attention to her and spoke in a raspy arrogant voice, "Do no interfere with my retrieval, or you will have your life shortened, Dark Elf. We are both followers of the Dark Path, so I will give you an opportunity to walk away".

Seeing that Karina was still exuding killing intent and approaching him, he said "You are truly foolish if you think you can defeat me, Dark Elf, for I who stand before you is immaterial. You cannot touch me. But I can easily kill you!"

He immediately moved his blade like arms to slash at Karina who did not seem to be in an evasive stance. But contrary to expectation, Karina raised her left hand and blocked the incoming vertical slash with her Moonshadow blade in the blink of an eye and moved in a spinning motion and circled to the back of the specter.

The specter, never having thought Karina's blades were magical, was caught unprepared and had a blade travel right through its neck.

With an expression of disbelief in its eyes, the specter dissipated, with a thread of light which traveled back to the caster of the specter.

Disoriented and unable to recover swiftly, the hidden assassin, a Ninja who loved to bathe in blood, watched on in fear as Karina slowly approached his real self, having followed the thread of light which returned to him.

"Wait! Who are you?! How do you have the blessings of the Moon God?! This should not be possible! You are Dark Elf!" screamed the now terrified assassin.

"Those that pursue innocent lives for their fanatic beliefs should not live and those that follow the path of darkness shall cease to exist before my blades!" exclaimed Karina as she swung her twin blades are her immobilized enemy.

"It seems it was the right choice to follow you useless people." Suddenly, an arm wrapped in ancient bindings appeared between Karina and the assassin, exuding an ancient chaotic power which was able to block Karina's Moonshadow Blades, leaving mere scratches.

Karina was taken aback, and she was filled with confusion as to who was before her. None had ever blocked her blades since she was blessed by the Moon God. She instantly became wary, for she felt the entity before her possessed strength which could rival the gods.

"I thought that your were a bit more capable than the others Hanzo. Alice seemed to hold you in great regard. But I guess you are just another ordinary man, unable to defeat a mere Dark Elf assassin!" Despite his undermining words, he was inwardly surprised that the Dark Elf before him managed to leave scratches on his arm which he had strengthened with a portion of his true power which leaked from his seal.

"She is not ordinary! Her blades suppressed the power of my blood demon and Ame no Habakiri! Give me another chance! I will certainly defeat her!" claimed Hanzo.

Gesturing dismissively at him, the new arrival spoke to Karina, "I am Kuhfra, an immortal overlord of ancient times re-awakened from death! I can see that you possess the blessings of the Moon Elf King, so I suppose there is no chance for you to join our side."

"I better get rid of you just in case you become an annoyance to us. After all, those with blessings of the Gods of light have this annoying trait of poking their noses in others' businesses." Saying so Khufra unleashed immense pressure upon Karina, slowly moving towards her who had previously backed away in surprise.

But contrary to what Khufra expected, Karina charged at him with great speed, completely ignoring the obvious difference of strength between them. Amused, Khufra swung his enlarged arms like a cocoon around Karina and engulfed her within.

Trapped inside, Karina madly slashed her Moonshadow blades at the bindings around her. Just as she was about to make a cut deep enough to breakthrough, spikes that were as hard as steel suddenly manifested within the cocoon and pierced at her.

She reacted quickly and avoided most of the spikes but was still impaled by a few. One through her left shoulder, another through her thigh and one through her right palm.

As soon as she was impaled as such, the cocoon opened up to reveal a bloodied Karina, barely standing, still holding tightly her precious twin blades.

Khufra was surprised at her ability to still remain standing. With a swing of his right arm, now enlarged to a size which could cover a person whole, he attacked Karina. She was sent flying and crashed into a thick tree which cracked at its base due to the impact.

Still conscious, Karina barely maneuvered her body and dodged being buried beneath the fallen tree. She still refused to stand down and rose to her feet, glaring at Khufra in a maddened state, the only things keeping her conscious being the trickle of energy flowing through her blades into her body and her will to protect the Elven girl who was so similar to her sister in both looks as well as her predicament. Karina had always entered such a maddened state whenever she was reminded of her sister's fate while she was in a battle. But this time the madness almost consumes her.

Seeing her still stand up, Khufra was yet again surprised. He was further astonished by the dark glint in Karina's eyes and the will of madness which had enveloped her entire body. It was at that moment he realized that if her were to let this Dark Elf live, she could very well become as strong as he was at his peak, for the will in her eyes was one that could not be suppressed before she reached her goal.

With these thoughts in mind, his intention to kill Karina reached its peak. He gathered power in his left arm and launched himself at the barely standing Karina. He had a monstrous air about him that would frighten any being.

He tackled Karina with his now gigantic body and threw her skywards. He launched himself again to the sky and grabbed the limp Karina. He then formed himself into a ball and used his dark energy to propel him down onto Karina's body, crushing her on the earth.

Transforming himself back, he glanced at the now unmoving Dark Elf with satisfaction.

Diggie who had been watching all of this while he was gradually nearing his final moments of life due to him being impaled, suddenly began glowing with light. He had come to a decision. He knew no matter what he did, he could not survive this ordeal. He may be the timekeeper but he could not indiscriminately rewind time even if he wanted to.

Thus, he decided to use his final moments to bless the brave and unyielding Dark Elf who now had but a single breath left in her.

He summoned the power of the timestream that he was in control of and invoked the power of the constellations, linking his powers with that of a friend who was far away doing his research, the star soul magician, Cyclops.

As the combined power descended, specific stars in the night sky glowed brighter than the rest, linking to form two humanoid figures who had linked hands. As this ethereal sight descended upon the Land of Dawn and its surrounding forces, many people wondered the reason for it.

Those who were in command of immense powers however felt a different feeling from the constellation. They felt that while one of the figures exuded an aura of light similar to that of a God, the other exuded an extremely malevolent aura as if it was from the depths of the legendary Abyss in the Land of Dawn.

As this spectacle occurred in the night sky, Khufra was stunned by what he he was seeing. The Dark Elf he had just beaten to the brink of death, was slowly rising into the air. There was a peculiar arrangement of light behind her head, as if it was a halo, but in the form of a constellation.

Then a beam of light suddenly fell onto her body from the constellation visible in the sky. The fragments of light which made up the left figure in the constellation were what this beam was made of.

Along with this, Karina's armor was replaced by heavenly armor which glowed of starlight. Her hair turned a pure white which glowed in the night. Her skin color became lighter and her Moonshadow blades underwent a transformation, looking more majestic, with traces of star alignments along the blades.

She had completely transformed from her former self. She had awakened into the form of Gemini Halo.

As the transformation completed, Karina who had been unconscious opened her eyes and stared directly into those of Khufra, who could see an endless stream of stars within the eyes of Karina.