Victor of the Moon -EXTRA-
Lapis Philosophorum Theory
Chapter 2

Part 1

Hakuno stared at the building that was just a few meters away from him.

It was a church. A four-storey architecture beautifully built upon layers of red bricks and littered with stained glasses windows, it stood proudly in the area as the cross on top of it signifies the sanctity of its domain. It's wonderful figure however does not bode well with how it was located at a desolated region of the city's northern district.

But Hakuno knew better that all of it was a lie. That proud and tall appearance that it radiated was just, a stratagem. A trick to deceive the eyes of those who happened to gaze upon it. A scheme to hide its true appearance under a wonderful veil of marvel. Moreover—

Go away...

Move along...

There is nothing to see here...

—Various voices of persuasion and suggestions would caressed his mind every now and then. Shooing him away from the location. Trying to give him several mental propositions in order for him to leave this territory in an instant.

It was a form of Mental Interference, that he was certain.

A form of magic that cause some sort of effect on the target's mind, mental interference is something which he was very familiar with. To be fair, Hakuno had encountered various MI magic at the course of his life. There was one point in time where his mind was being harassed by a sexual deviant to give in to his desires and accept her perverted 'love' of salvation.

But alas, he had a mental fortitude that is unfortunately too hard to crack.

And since because it was too thick, this level of mental manipulation in front of him won't work. With that in mind, Hakuno then took a step forward as he steadily entered the yard. Within the depths of his mind, a blaring siren echoes.

[WARNING!]

Recognizing that alarm of impending danger, Hakuno widened his eyes a bit as a magic circle suddenly appeared beneath him the moment he planted his left foot on the ground. He tried to move an inch but couldn't. He tried to twitch his fingers but likewise could not although he can move his head without any kind of hindrance.

At that moment, he understood that he was put in a binding spell. Hakuno realized that in this instant, he was dealing a magician. Looking at the vicinity a second time around, he noticed that the entire scenery drastically change. Gone was the magnificent and eye-soothing religious building, instead, it was replaced by an ruined one; abandoned and broken windows covered in grayish dirt.

"...?"

Feeling a presence above him, Hakuno slowly looked up. There was a short-haired girl sitting on top of the cross above the church's rooftop with her legs crossed. With her hair adorned with many ribbons and garbed in a Gothic Lolita dress, the woman look at him.

"Burn."

The girl said as she pointed her finger towards him. Her face wore a sadistic smile and her eyes gleamed with a delirious glint.

The next thing Hakuno knew, his entire body was suddenly engulfed in blazing heat as a pillar of raging flame erupted beneath his feet. A sudden flash of "details" can be seen running through his eyes, painting them in golden hue.

Part 2

"Hahahaha! Scream for me!"

Sitting on top of the cross above the ruined church's roof, Walburga let out a satisfying laugh. For her, seeing someone being burned alive by her flames was an astonishing sight that gives her quite a satisfaction.

It was unfortunate that a low-life had walked into her trap deliberately. She was only doing her job of removing unwanted insects that were unlucky to enter 'their' den. Despite encapsulating the entire vicinity with a powerful mind-inducing suggestion wards, there were several 'exceptional' people who managed to find themselves drawn to it rather than being repelled.

Her job was to eliminate these people. And she was, without any second thoughts, delighted by such prospect. Burning people alive into smoldering charcoals was her favorite past time when boredom kicks in her system. Even more so, hearing these people painful screams while beung burnt alive were music to her ears. They were like her masterpiece like how music compositions were to Mozart.

"..."

Though her enjoyment did not last the moment she notice something was amiss. Her ears weren't picking up the anguished cries that she used to hear every time she incinerate someone alive. From where she was, she could clearly see the man's silhouette squirming in his place beyond those devouring flames of hers.

And yet, despite all of that, the one being burnt alive never let out a cry of pain. Not even a single bit.

Walburga's face suddenly contorted into displeasure.

"Tch."

Clicking her tongue, the girl dressed in Gothic Lolita outfit pushed herself against the giant cross she was sitting on as she leaped to the ground. As her feet landed on the ground, her eyes hovered at the burning incandescence right in front of her. Just by looking at the scene, irritation had swept over her.

She did not like it when she can't hear someone's dying screams. For her, those long, piercing cries were an aphrodisiac. A 'drug' that makes her blood boils with excitement. A 'stimulant' that would allow her to reminisce that particular moment when her master's bright purple flames extinguished the life of the old and young without any form of discretion. b

Being drowned in an orchestra of pain, agony and despair...

Ah, such a splendid musical performance!

"More...more...more..."

She mumbled between breaths. Her body was shaking vigorously.

"Let me hear you scream!"

With her eyes dilated and her mouth curled upward in a devious grin, Walburga sent out another torrent of flame towards the existing one through her magic. Still not hearing a shout, she then sent another flame magic and exclaimed:

"Allow me to relive that moment!"

The Gothic Lolita outfit wearing female conjured another flame and purposely erupted it where the nineteen-year old male was supposed to be.

Fwwp!

Then she shot another.

Fwwp!

And another...

Fwwp!

And another...

Fwwp!

With an ecstatic glee, she continued on her fiery rampage. If people would see her, she would be instantly be labeled as a pyromaniac, doing a fire ritual with a sadistic brutality that is already on the borderline of insanity.

"Burn and scream for me! HAHAHAHA!"

Walburga roared in a blissful laughter. Her voice echoed all over the front yard like a madman who had been set loose from her confines. This continued for a few minutes until, in her point of view, something unspeakable occured.

Foosh!

"!"

Her eyes widened the moment her ears captured a very strange sound. She caught a glimpse of a speeding streak of black light flashed on her left a few seconds ago. It was too sudden and too fast that she could not react on it immediately in response.

"What was that..!?"

Walburga silently asked no one in her head. As soon as that particular information sinked in her very being, she felt sudden tinge of pain across her left cheek. Wondering what was that pained sensation, she touched it with her right hand.

There was blood in her fingers.

She then focused her attention to where the shot came from, which to her surprise, was inside the infernal blaze in front of her. With furrowed eyebrows, the corners of the woman's mouth turned down in displeasure when she noticed a silhouette of a person in the middle of the infernal carnage.

The said shadow only stood there, its figure proud and tall amidst the fiery sea that encapsulated its entire being. Then the flames that surround the silhouette vanished in a blink of an eye, instantly transmuted into specks of light that were shaped in polygons.

The fire was gone. What remains was only the figure of a brown-haired lad garbed in his trench coat. His left hand was raised, his hand held a black gun and was pointed directly at her. Walburga didn't know where did that guy get that thing. Moreover, there were no burnt marks on the ground beneath his feet, let alone on his clothes.

It was as if the flames just ignored him. Walburga could not believe what just happened right in front of her.

"How was that possible...?"

Normally, no normal being could survive that fire spell of hers especially if she bombarded them each every second unless that person in question is a magician like herself. Or perhaps, he is a Sacred Gear wielder like her Master.

The gun he is holding might be a Sacred Gear.

Yes...that would explain that bolt of light that grazed her cheek a minute ago. As for how he managed to extinguish her flames, she had no idea how.

Was it a special ability of his gun-shaped Sacred Gear?

Does his Sacred Gear have other abilities aside from extinguishing fire type spells?

Those were the various thoughts inside the woman's head.

Walburga focused her eyes towards the man for a second time. The first time she saw him, she only saw him as a weak, mediocre person who happens to have a terrible luck for stumbling into their hideout. But now, she wasn't sure what to think of him.

"Tch..."

With irritation starting to build up on her, the short-haired woman then raised her hand. Magical energy then began to flow from her veins towards her outreached hand. The image of fire that occupied her mind earlier was now replaced with a frosty spears, cold and streamlined.

Pulling the trigger inside her head, she hurled icicle spears towards him. With her very own eyes, Walburga watched as her ice spears flew into the air like a propelled javelin, their cold yet pointed tips aiming for the man's vital points. She had made it sure to input that comand of hers in her ice spells.

At the other side, her target just pointed his gun and deliberately pulled the trigger.

Shatter!

A loud,violent fragmenting sound reached the woman's ears. The sound was like broken glass being shattered with a mighty swing of a heavy object. And from Walburga's perspective, she saw what it was with her very own eyes.

Her icicle spears were reduced into shards of polygons just like her fire spell earlier. The fragments of what was once her frosty ice spells were obliterated in a blink of an eye.

"How...?"

Walburga murmured under her breath in confusion. She could not believe what just happened. Her icicle spears were obliterated right in front of her! In a short amount of seconds nonetheless!

That did not make sense!

"Unless his Sacred Gear's ability is to nullify magical attacks..."

A sudden wave of urgency drenched all over her body as soon as that thought came to her. She gritted her teeth as her eyes were glaring daggers at the person in front of her. There was a reason why she had to display such expression. Her master had told her about a clan of Devils whose special ability was to nullify all kinds of abilities, this include spells and curses as well.

So for a mere human to acquire such nullification ability through his 'sacred treasure', perhaps the creator of said treasure was inspired by such that he slapped that ability inside that gun-shaped Sacred Gear. Or even sealed a Devil belonging to that clan hence why that gun could nullify her spells.

Having formed such an assessment in her head, Walburga felt more irritated than before. She wanted to take another shot, to assault him with another round of her magic spells. She wanted to obliterate this person with a mediocre face.

All she needs to do was to speed up the process of her incantation than the usual. That alone would surely put the man on his deathbed!

So with that in mind she raised her hand with sole purpose of attacking the brown-haired man with magic...only to fail in doing so. She tried again but her body refuse to follow her command like it was putting up a resistance against her will. Confused by the sudden development, Walburga tried to move her hands and arms. Said limbs somehow moved in accordance on what she had intended them to do.

"What the heck...?"

Seeing that result, the Gothic Lolita wearing female magician was insanely puzzled. Her body was now currently reacting fine. Unlike earlier, it was now following what she was intending it to do. So for the second time, she willed her hands to conjure a powerful yet hastened magic spell. But just like earlier, it refused to move.

If she could make an explanation out of what just occurred, it would seem that her movements were restricted. Or to be precise, her ability to attack and to execute spells were literally sealed.

How was this possible?

With widened eyes, her pupils immediately went straight to the guy with a trench coat. The said man's hand was still outstretched, the firearm was still aimed at her. It was at that moment that Walburga realized what just transpired.

The man's Sacred Gear literally sealed her ability to attack!

The boastful and confident look that marred the female's face were long gone. Her current visage was drained of color, making it paler and paler every second. With raised eyebrows and mouth pulled back toward the ears, Walburga instinctively stepped back.

It was at this moment that the pyromaniac was being bathe in fear.