“This isn’t good…” Acaya muttered, an uncomfortable and slightly nervous expression on his face.

“Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious!” Obo retorted, gritting his teeth. “If anyone’s got any ideas, spit them out now!”

“Heheheh… this is FUN!” The Lunatic squealed, licking its lips that were forever carved into a Glasgow smile. “Come on, Ghost “Hunters”, SHOW ME YOUR STRENGTH!”

Saying this, he tore through a stone pillar with one of his tentacles with incredible ease, then launched it towards the Ghost Hunters with enough velocity to destroy solid metal.

“Tch- Twin Dragons!” Tian Long yelled, clasping his palms together and shooting out two dragons made of raw fire. Since he had already activated his Angelica earlier, there was no need for a chant.

Fire met stone, and luckily, Tian Long’s flames were enough to burn through the pillar, successfully defending against the attack. However, keeping that up would be difficult, as the Lunatic was already preparing a second pillar launch.

“I have a plan,” Finn suddenly said, catching the attention of all the others.

“Yeah? Well, hurry up and spill it!” Obo cried, ducking to one side to avoid getting his head hammered in by another stone pillar. “We can’t play Dodgeball like this forever here! The moment that bastard gets bored of toying with us, we’re dead meat!”

“… Everyone else, spread out and attack the Lunatic from all angles,” Finn said calmly. “I need you to distract him.”

“Alright, let’s do it!” Acaya said, immediately dashing through the corridors surrounding the open courtyard on the left side. “Theocracy members, follow me!”

As the remaining Hunters from the Theocracy of Light followed after Acaya to take up the left side, Qi Ling glanced at Finn dubiously.

“… I don’t know what you’re thinking, but there’s no time to question it either. Just… don’t get yourself killed.”

“… Appreciate the thought,” Finn replied briskly. Qi Ling snorted and turned away, dashing through the right-side corridor. Tian Long, after glancing between his senior sister and Finn, smiled wryly and followed after her. Iris moved to follow, but Finn held her legs down tightly.

“… Eh? Ace…?

“My plan involves you,” he said quietly. “Take out your sniper. I want you to shoot me.”

“H-Huh?! Shoot you…?!”

“Not as in plant a bullet in my head,” he quickly corrected. “As in… fire me from your bullet chamber.”

Iris’s eyes widened. “Wait… you don’t mean…”

Yes, he did. That was exactly what he meant.

After a few seconds, Iris finally made her decision and realized there was no other way to go about this.

“Very well. You’re crazy, Ace, but I should get used to it. The sniper fires off .50 cal high-impact bullets, gold in color. That good enough of a description?”

Finn nodded and, without any hesitation, began the Shapeshifting process. He transformed into a silhouette of white light momentarily, then contorted and distorted until he became nothing but a long sniper bullet like any other. The Lunatic and the other Ghost Hunters were all too absorbed in fighting one another to notice this, and Iris caught the bullet before it fell to the floor.

Then, swiftly loading the bullet (Finn) into her sniper’s empty magazine, she closed one eye and took aim directly at the Lunatic’s forehead through the reticle of her sniper scope.

“… It’s all up to you now, Ace.”

She pulled the trigger.

In an instant, Finn was explosively shot out of the sniper’s chamber. His rear end hurt like hell, but that was besides the point. He had a target, and he would mark it dead.

[Darling, the Lunatic’s left eye socket is your best bet. If you inject all of your electricity and fire into that hole like how you inject your… essence into mine, then it should work~ you’re on a direct line of collision with it, so just strike directly forward.]

‘… Understood.’

With that brisk reply, Finn waited for the perfect opportunity to undo the Shapeshift and strike with all his might. The Lunatic, sensing a bullet nearing it, snickered and held up one of its hands directly in front of his face.

“FOOLS! You think a mere bullet can hurt me?!”

“No…” Finn said quietly as the bullet suddenly turned bright white, and he did his transformation. “… But I can.”

“Wha-?!” The Lunatic’s pupilless white eye widened in shock as it witnessed Finn rearing his fist back above its hand. Even if it could react to a bullet’s speed, it couldn’t dodge or defend against a point-blank attack like this.

“… Die.”

Charging his fist with both the Stormbringer Angelica’s lightning and his gauntlets’ Burning Fists mod, Finn punched directly forward just as Zelestria had instructed… straight into the Lunatic’s empty eye socket.

“GRAGHHHH!!” The Lunatic roared in pain as the mixture of fire and lightning coursed through its veins and spread to the rest of its body, electrocuting it instantly and rendering it paralyzed.

Finn landed back on the ground, right as the Lunatic collapsed backwards.

“Curse you… CURSE YOU…!”

Leaving these final, forced words behind, the Lunatic went silent, unmoving and still.

The Emperor-level Ghost of District A has been slain, by none other than a supposed Class-D Hunter, from a backwater Squadron no one has even heard about. At last, everyone could find some peace, and take a break from all this.

It was over.

The Lunatic, Moon Inherent, was dead.

The other Ghost Hunters all walked closer, with Obo moving in to kick its leg a little.

“Is it… really dead?”

“Seems like it,” Lauren said, walking up alongside him. “Its heart… is not beating.”

“Then… where’s the chest?” Acaya asked, looking around. “Shouldn’t the body disappear and grant us our rewards…?”

“Not sure,” Toth said. “Maybe because it was the final, strongest boss in the Temple, it just takes longer to disappear…?”

But then, the shadows that had enveloped the courtyard faded away. All the Ghost Hunters turned to their front to see a bright, pale white sphere, looming above the mountains in the distance.

The moon, had risen.

And the Lunatic’s finger… twitched.