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Gaia stood up and walked to the window.
Looking up at the stars and the moon, his form slowly dissolved into a streak of silver radiance, drifting away with the moonlight.
When he reappeared, a figure with a pure white cloak acting as wings soared across the New York skyline beneath the moon.
…
At the Empire State Building, Gaia retracted his cloak and descended, standing atop the spire and overlooking all of New York.
“Blake!”
Gaia glanced slightly toward the voice and saw a man dressed similarly to him standing not far away.
The man held a crescent dart in each hand, staring at him intently.
Once he recognized the newcomer, Gaia looked away, ignoring him.
Seeing this attitude, the man flew into a rage.
He charged toward Gaia, shouting, “Blake!
Hand over the Ankh!”
Moonlight poured down, illuminating Gaia’s pure white bandaged cloak and the silhouette of his assailant.
The crescent darts sliced through the air, flying straight toward Gaia’s face.
Gaia tilted his head to dodge, grabbed the man’s wrist in one motion, and casually flung him aside, casting him off the Empire State Building.
Throughout the entire process, Gaia barely moved; only the wind happened to flutter his robes.
A moment later, a grappling hook shot up from below, snagging the statue beneath Gaia.
The man dressed exactly like him launched himself upward, delivering a flying kick toward Gaia.
However, it was useless.
Gaia simply raised a hand to block the kick, caught the man’s leg in a firm grip, and slammed him violently against a nearby wall.
*Bang!
Bang!
Bang!*
Gaia gripped the man’s leg and swung him into the wall three times with brutal force.
After the third hit, Gaia let go.
The man crashed heavily to the ground, his crescent darts discarded beside him, unable to stand for a long time.
Looking at the severely injured man on the ground, Gaia strolled forward and lifted him up with one hand, preparing to do something.
Suddenly, a glowing crescent-shaped staff lunged straight for Gaia’s arm.
Reacting quickly, Gaia immediately released the man and stepped back several paces to steady himself.
He looked up at the interloper and spoke slowly.
“Khonshu, I thought you sent him here to deliver power to me.
Wasn’t last night’s lesson enough?”
The bandaged monster with a skeletal bird’s head, standing over three meters tall, retracted the staff and chuckled.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned moonlight to heal the man beside him.
“Blake, to this day I do not understand how you did it.
Why can you resist me, and even steal my power?”
Gaia—or rather, Blake—flicked his wrists, and a one-meter-long silver-white short staff appeared in each hand.
He then raised his arms and snapped the two short staves together, forming a single two-meter-long staff.
“Once a secret is told, it’s no longer a secret, is it?”
Khonshu laughed.
“You’ve certainly become more talkative, Blake.
I miss the quiet version of you.”
Blake swung the staff in a few arcs.
“I miss the old you too, Khonshu.”
As the two spoke, the man dressed like Blake quickly recovered from his injuries under Khonshu’s healing and stood up.
“Allow me to formally introduce you: Marc Spector, the new Moon Knight.
Marc, this is Blake Parker.
As I told you, he is the strongest Moon Knight of all time.
I believe you’ve already experienced that firsthand.”
Neither Blake nor Marc replied, and the air grew awkward in the silence.
Left with no choice, Khonshu spoke again.
“Blake, my friend, give the Ankh back to me.
If you return it, I will forgive your offense and no longer pursue you for stealing a god’s power.”
Blake let out a cold snort, his tone mocking.
“Stop flattering yourself.
You took your power back long ago.
What I’m using now is my own strength.
You’re nothing more than a schemer.
Khonshu, you really are shameless.
But fine, since you’ve shown yourself, I can expand my power a bit more.”
With that, Blake leaped forward, staff in hand.
Khonshu took a step back.
Marc produced two crescent darts again and met Blake head-on.
Unfortunately, whether it was the power of the Moon Knight or his own physical attributes, Marc was far inferior to Blake.
He was sent flying instantly by a single blow from the staff.
Khonshu hurriedly condensed lunar energy to attack Blake.
Missiles of moonlight energy erupted from Khonshu’s staff, firing at Blake like a machine gun.
With a spin, Blake used his cloak to catch all the missiles, then spun again, swinging the cloak wide.
The dense barrage of missiles was flung back from the cloak all at once.
The attack sent Khonshu scrambling for cover.
Seizing the opportunity, Blake closed the distance and slammed the staff violently onto Khonshu’s bird head.
After successfully knocking Khonshu to the ground, he produced the Ankh he had seized from Khonshu the previous night and pressed it firmly against him.
In an instant, a massive amount of energy surged from Khonshu into the Ankh, and from the Ankh into Blake’s body.
Marc staggered to his feet.
Seeing Khonshu gradually becoming transparent while Blake sat astride him, Marc rushed toward Blake.
Knowing that this Khonshu was merely an avatar, Blake didn’t get greedy.
He simply felt the Moon Knight power within him double.
Previously, he had the basic abilities of a Moon Knight, with the additions of moonlight-assisted flight and teleportation.
Now, he could condense lunar energy for attacks, just as Khonshu did.
Blake stood up, put away the Ankh, and punched Marc squarely in the face.
Sending Marc flying, Blake leaped into the air and landed on him, delivering a barrage of strikes with both arms.
Yesterday, this damn Marc bastard had used the Ankh and Khonshu to sneak attack him, making his neck ache terribly.
He vented his frustration until Marc was knocked unconscious.
Using the Ankh to simultaneously drain Marc’s Moon Knight power, Blake finally stopped.
He stood up and looked at Khonshu, who was now too weak even to stand, and mocked him.
“Next time, remember to send a stronger avatar, or just come yourself.
Stop acting like a coward—though I suppose you aren’t acting.”
As the words fell, Blake transformed into silver radiance and vanished, following the trail of the moonlight.
Khonshu struggled to look in the direction Blake had disappeared and slammed his hand heavily against the ground.
He turned to look at the unconscious Marc, who had lost his powers, and sighed deeply.
Using the last shred of his strength, he teleported Marc back to his home.
Once the teleportation was complete, Khonshu himself dissolved into a streak of light and vanished entirely.
At the Parker residence, in Gaia’s bedroom, the moonlight receded like a tide.
The linen bandages peeled away from his body, transforming back into moon-silk.
Blake walked to the bed and sat down.
Once he had completely digested Marc’s Moon Knight power, he checked his system panel:
[Character: Blake Parker] [Grip Strength: 5.12–10.22 tons] [Wrist Strength: 10.21–20.51 tons] [Leg Strength: 15.33–30.32 tons] [Speed: 68.41m/s–?] [Reaction: 0.01–0.001s]
After reviewing the panel, Blake pondered for a moment, then flopped onto the bed, pulled up the covers, and closed his eyes.