The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1986: Arena Creation (2)

A beach in absolute darkness.

It was the arena that had formed around them, but there are still more elements to come.

One of High Lord Ursa’s warriors stepped forward and stared at the Cluster Custodian.

"Hailstorm."

Another snap reverberated through the air.

Almost instantly, the temperature collapsed without warning. One moment, the air was basically still—shaped to comfort the gathered guests. The next, a brutal, bone-deep freeze slammed through the Blank Realm like a physical blow.

Breath misted. Skin tightened.

Even the ocean along the shoreline began to slow, its surface crystallizing at the edges where the waves kissed the sand. From behind High Lord Ursa’s side, a cold wind began to blow. It didn’t gust or swirl—it advanced.

A purposeful current of frozen air that moved across the realm like an army marching to water.

Moisture materialized out of nothing.

Droplets condensed from the sudden temperature drop, thousands upon thousands of them suspended in the air for a single crystalline moment. Then, the icy wind carried them. The droplets froze at a visible rate—their surfaces hardening, their shapes sharpening, and within seconds they were no longer liquid.

They were hail.

Dense hailstones as big as thumbs.

Driven by the relentless wind, they hurtled across the realm in a blinding, imperfect horizontal storm.

Each one struck the skin with the force of hurled pebbles.

A hailstorm was fully formed. Designed to batter and blind, to turn the battlefield into a frozen gauntlet where every step was a punishment and every breath was a blade. High Lord Ursa’s side had chosen a perfect element for their side.

None of them was disturbed by the hailstorm, but High Lord Rashal’s side was.

As werewolves, Rex and Davina were warm-blooded. Some would even say that their blood was hot. In addition to that, the fur that coated their bodies made it easier for them to resist the cold. But that natural resistance didn’t work perfectly.

For the first time in a long time, Rex actually felt cold.

Davina’s fingers trembled, and Vadyn’s skin shrivelled; neither was in good condition.

Only High Lord Rashal remained steadfast, completely undeterred by the cold.

Instinctively, Davina stepped forward, refusing to let this hailstorm batter them like this.

She looked at the Cluster Custodian and demanded. "Hollow."

Her voice cut through the howl of the wind؅—with a decisive, unwavering clarity. And her request was quite simple. Knowing what she meant, as if he could read her mind, the Cluster Custodian snapped his fingers again.

Snap—!

At her request, the hailstones continued, but something in them changed. The weight vanished entirely from them. The density bled away. They were still ice, still large, still driven by the freezing gale—but now they were hollow.

Empty shells of frozen water, fragile as eggshells, shatter on impact into a harmless dusting of ice.

No more sting and damage.

And since the other side had made their request, Davina turned to High Lord Rashal.

"Are you going to pick an element?"

"No. Go on ahead and secure your advantage."

Davina nodded and turned to the Cluster Custodian.

"Countless glowing stars."

Above, in the absolute darkness of the void sky, light began to form. A single star ignited at the core of that lightless expanse—a brilliant pinprick of silver-white, small and fierce. Its light was strong enough to push back against the black.

Then, it duplicated. Two stars. Four. Eight.

The doubling continued, an exponential bloom of light that spread outward in an accelerating wave.

In mere seconds, the void sky was drowned in stars.

They dotted every inch of the darkness—big, glowing, and close enough to be felt.

The surface below was no longer dark. Starlight poured down in sheets of pale silver—illuminating the beach and the sea with a grave that was almost reverent. The sand glittered. The waves wore crowns of white fire. Even the hailstorm became more visible.

Not a single shadow remained untouched by the celestial glow.

Davina closed her eyes and basked; the power of the stars seeped into her bones—into the luster of her fur, and into the very core of her being. As the Heiress of Moon and Stars, the starlight soothed muscles she hadn’t realized were tense and filled reserves she hadn’t known were empty.

Never in her entire life had she seen this many stars.

In the Spirit Realm, the Black Rift had blotted out the sky entirely.

She rarely saw the real sky.

Just an endless, choking void that hung above.

But here, now, the sky was clear and beautifully decorated with more stars than she had ever dreamed.

Behind her, Rex watched.

"Hmm? She’s... glowing?"

Rex saw the shift in her appearance—the way her pores seemed to open, the way her fur caught every strand of starlight and held it. All subtle changes, but undeniable. Even her strength was rising—which was a pleasantly surprising finding.

A notification flickered to life from the System, and his eyes cut to it.

<Notice: Davina, a Beta from the inner pack, is accumulating enough starlight to unlock her form.>

Normally—a pack member gained their werewolf form the moment they were turned by him. But Rex remembered his early days when the system was new to him, when he was still learning. Back then, a new pack member had to wait.

Only when they experienced the first full moon would they get their werewolf forms.

It wasn’t the case anymore.

Ever since he became a prince, that has changed drastically.

Rex could bestow a form on his pack members without the need to wait for a full moon.

But now he was faced with Davina—his second pack member, who was turned when he was still weaker than her. That imbalance had placed limits on her transformation. Or at least, that’s what was implied by the System.

As it turned out, Davina needed a catalyst to trigger her full transformation.

And as the Heiress of Moon and Stars, the catalyst she needed was obviously moonlight and starlight.

Letting her bathe under the moon and stars would take a long time, especially considering her potential was almost equal to Rex’s. In order for her body to be satiated, the moonlight and starlight needed to be focused on her.

Fortunately, Rex had an idea in mind that he could use later.

On the other side, a warrior from High Lord Ursa’s side stepped forward.

"Distance."

He requested, and the Cluster Custodian complied.

Above, the stars obeyed the absolute control. They receded, pushed back by an invisible hand, shrinking from the bright dots to faint specs. The starlight dimmed. Davina felt the absence like a cold draft. For her, it was a weakening of the tide that had only begun to fill her.

But it didn’t matter.

Even though the stars were distant, they were still present.

The surface remained illuminated, and the starlight still graced the battlefield.

Not as bright, but enough.

As for the absolute darkness, it was also still present, which was what mattered for Rex.

For the third and final request from High Lord Ursa’s side, he scanned his warriors. The ocean and the hailstorm had already placed them on an advantageous field. But one remained untouched by all of their requested elements.

"Diamantona," High Lord Ursa called. "You’ll pick our last element."

"Clusters of precious gems."

Diamantona didn’t beat around the bush.

He knew exactly what he needed, and frankly, even Rex and Davina weren’t surprised by his element.

After all, the two had seen Diamantona’s design through the destruction in the Cavity.

The rocks along the shoreline began to shed their dark, weathered skin. It flaked away like ash from a burnt tree, and beneath that dull exterior, gleaming color bled through. Precious gems erupted from the stone in uneven clusters; their surfaces caught the starlight and threw it back in shattered rainbows.

The shallower deposits glowed with a spectrum of hues.

But the deeper the transformation burrowed, the richer and more uniform the colors became.

However, the dominant gem down there is red.

Rubies.

No, they were red diamonds.

From the way the starlight bounced from it, more like fire than glass-like, these were likely diamonds.

Massive, blood-red diamonds with a core that pulsed with an inner fire that seemed almost alive.

Just a few seconds passed, and the beach was no longer a beach.

It was a treasure hoard, and every shard of it was a weapon waiting to be used by Diamantona.

Rex stepped forward before the transformation could settle.

"Swarfs," He demanded; the counter-element left his lips with absoluteness.

And the Cluster Custodian granted it; the gems convulsed. The brilliant reds—and dazzling prismatics flickered, duller, and then collapsed inward. The crystalline formations crumbled, grinding themselves down with a sound like splintering bones.

Diamonds shattered into dust.

But the dust wasn’t blown and carried away by the wind.

It settled on the sand—It drank the powdered gemstone and turned a deep, rusted crimson as though the ground itself was bleeding. The entire beach—and land shifted to a red-hued space. Rex smirked at this shy Scion and then turned to the Cluster Custodian.

"Multiple full moons."

He said with a voice that reverberated across the crimson shore.

The void-starry sky answered. Three spheres of impossible scale coalesced from nothing.

One red as spilled blood, another pale black like a shadow, and the last one gold as the edge of dawn.

Each one hung impossibly close to the surface, twice the size of any natural moon—their edges, created by their glow, were so sharp that they seemed to cut the darkness around them. And the light that each of the moons emanated matched their glow, but paler.

All of their lights wove together across the realm, three distinct threads of blessing.

Rex could feel his strength rising at an incredible pace.

His body drank the three moonlights and bolstered his power beyond his bodily limits. Just being under one full moon already pushed him to a terrifying level, but now he has three. And the boost in strength was so high that his human form matched the strength of his werewolf form or even exceeded it.

It would be a marvel if he shifted to his werewolf form right now, but he decided not to.

Save the surprises until the battle starts.

"Clouds."

Diamantona’s voice cut through.

He could sense the spike in Rex’s strength and, for the first time, glanced forward.

For the first time ever since he landed, he actually looked at Rex properly.

A thin layer of vapor spread across the sky, gossamer and grey like a veil drawn over a bride’s face.

The full moons remained visible, but the full grace of their glow was muted. The blessings thinned, and the direct touch of their celestial bodies was reduced to a suggestion. Now, with Rex’s element, the arena for the Purgation Duel was completed.

Four cards emerged above them.

"Rewards for the victor: pick a card."

High Lord Rashal and High Lord Ursa each drew a card—and the chosen cards hovered before them, revealing the price they would pay if their side fell in the Purgation Duel.

For High Lord Rashal, half of everything he possessed.

For High Lord Ursa, three-quarters.

Neither cared.

As long as one of them died. As long as they win. This sacrifice wouldn’t matter. Of course, the people behind them cared about this the most—as their minds were fixated on the worst-case scenario. But for the two High Lords, this sacrifice meant nothing.

All they needed to do was win.

Next, ten more cards appeared.

The two High Lords picked one card and got a number for themselves.

High Lord Rashal got two, and High Lord Ursa got four.

"It is decided," the Cluster Custodian announced—spreading his arms to the side. "The Purgation Duel would be held in this realm in three days. Prepare yourselves for the duel and bid your goodbyes to the people close to you. After all, in three days, you might be the one who’d die."