Honkai Star Rail: The Archiver

New Moon

One of the 8 phases representing the lunar cycle in which marks the beginning of a slow sequence in which the moon truly begins to shine its illumination into the sky.

During his constant experience with [Jingliu's Swordsmanship], Yuuto realized how differently his body adapted to the memory whenever he used it.

Things such as center of gravity and the way his range of motion felt out of place to him despite following the art he had seen Jingliu use to one sidedly destroy her opponent flawlessly.

It was then that it clicked to him that it was due to the fact how the two bodies used the art differently.

He noticed that Jingliu uses her sword in a way that is able to capitalize on her advantages. Things such a stronger lower body that is largely inherent to women and the larger range of motion due to the flexibility she has.

Fitting the experience she had using her body. 

So thinking of this he thought. 'Why don't I do the same?'

–CLINK

–WROOOOHH

"This thing sure is persistent."

Still holding onto the Doomsday Beast's protrusions on its head, Yuuto twisted his waist and shoulders to follow through with his continuous strikes on the orb on its head.

His right hand holding the sword quickly blurred as a flurry of strikes aimed at the growing indentation being formed from his persistent strikes.

The pale white sword danced through the air as each calculated stroke aimed at the center point of the groove and slowly but surely showed it growing larger and larger.

The speed in which the strikes grew faster as Yuuto noticed this and began to incorporate countless quicker and more precise thrusts and slashes compared to the ones he had used before loading the [New Moon Phase].

Yuuto's concentration grew as he focused on his task but this brief period would eventually end as the Doomsday Beast had other plans than to allow Yuuto to keep on attacking the orb.

—WOOOOM

"This damn!?"

The orb began to shine a bright color of yellow and Yuuto was able to feel his surroundings quickly heat up which raised countless red flags in his mind.

A pale silver aura began to wrap itself around Yuuto's legs and he suddenly disappeared from his spot where a large yellow beam appeared right where he had left.

"Yuuto!!"

"I'm fine! Don't worry, just continue to attack the weak points you saw before."

Yuuto floated into the air as he yelled towards March who shouted seeing the large beam suddenly appear where Yuuto was.

'Thankfully the memories I placed in the [New Moon Phase] are doing it's thing.'

Yuuto gave a satisfied sigh as he felt like his time working on this met his expectations when he actually used it in battle.

[New Moon Phase]

This was a special kind of memory which was one of two memories that he had personally made compared to the ones he had usually used beforehand.

Using [Jingliu's Swordsmanship] as a foundation and seeing its style to his liking, Yuuto decided in his mind the sort of path he would go for now when it comes to attacking.

Speed and Precision.

All the memories that he had collected so far all followed the path of more controlled attacks compared to the more unhinged types of power blows.

So seeing what he could use, he decided to use all the useful memories he had in store and place them with elements from [Jingliu's Swordsmanship] that focused more on these segments.

Thus creating the [New Moon Phase], a memory that serves as his very own foundation that focuses on fast movement and controlled precise strikes.

Representing the phase in which a brand new lunar cycle begins to start compared to its previous sequence.

'My thoughts even surprise me.' Yuuto smiled as he praised himself when he thought of the memory and felt like he was a genius.

While still flying in the air, Yuuto created two thin spears near his lower right side to which he twisted his body and transferred that force to the butt of the spear.

In rapid succession, two spears immediately flew towards the orb where it met its target but did little to no damage that he found useless.

"Let me retreat for now."

Seeing that the orb was still flickering as if it was going to fire another beam again, Yuuto fell backwards and regrouped with the others.

"I thought you got fried by that beam!"

"Thankfully I moved in time or else I just may have been."

March spoke as she pulled the string on her bow firing countless arrows at the crevice of the Doomsday Beast's shoulder.

"But you guys sure did some damage on the thing." Yuuto said as he saw the indentations and the various cuts on the hands and core. 

"Although we didn't run on the Doomsday Beast's arm to reach its head like you, I would say that we did our part."

"But I still don't think it's enough to bring this thing down."

March looked at where Himeko pointed at and noticed that despite its increasing number of wounds the Doomsday Beast only showed a portion of weakness before it began to shake suspiciously.

–KROOO

The orb on its head began to glow menacingly while multiple faint yellow outlines began to appear right behind its back.

"You gotta be kidding me..."

"Doesn't that look dangerous?" Stelle turned to Yuuto as she pointed towards the outlines and cold sweat began to appear on her face.

"Definitely. Very very dangerous. March! Help me and use your ice to create a shield with me!" Cold sweat also appeared on his face when he saw the growing lights and urgently raised his hands.

"A-Ah Yes!"

March followed along as she saw a dense amount of mist begin to appear in her surroundings and quickly formed into a large half circle.

March moved her fingers to form a finger gun and pink light began to appear on the tip. She aimed at the shield in front of her and shot what seemed to be a pink clover. 

The light quickly formed into light pink crystals and was added upon Yuuto's iridescent ice adding multiple layers.

–WRMMM

The space suddenly began to tremble as multiple yellow beams rained down and assaulted the floor and the shield that both Yuuto and March created.

'It looks like it's holding up. Thankfully March is here to help me too but this attack came sooner than I would have considered.'

Yuuto thought as he and March continued to supply the shield with more of their ice everytime the beam continued to hit the shield. 

The people behind the shield watched as their surroundings were decimated by the series of beams and Stelle started to feel a bit sorry for the station.

"This will definitely cost a fortune to fix right?"

"Most likely. But Herta has tremendous funds by being part of the Genius Society so I'm pretty sure she'll be fine. Plus Asta's presence carries a very powerful item that can help Herta if she ever needs it."

"Oh! Is it some sort of secret research that can be sold for billions?"

"Hmm.. not exactly but just know that Herta has a very big backing with her."

Himeko said to Stelle who looked a bit curious and ended with that note.

'I'm pretty sure the item that she has is the legendary black card…' 

Yuuto remembered a bit from Asta's setting as the daughter to a VERY wealthy family as he overheard their conversation.

'I recall that she tried to buy a whole fleet of dreadnought spaceships just because she wanted it…' 

The amount of money that would have costed had briefly distracted Yuuto as he forgot that he was currently under fire from a multitude of beams that came from a large monster.

After a few seconds the barrage finally ended and steam rose from the crevices that each beam landed into.

Shards of white and pink crystals scattered around the field showing just how the two's shields were very durable to endure the barrage. 

"You alright?"

"Yeah I'm feeling happy I didn't turn into some sort of fried meat."

"That's good. I'm sure that a March BBQ wouldn't taste good anyways."

March laughed as both Yuuto and her tried to catch their breaths after doing their best to support the shield they made. 

–VOOOM

"I think this might be the perfect chance for us to attack."

Himeko narrowed her eyes when she saw the tremors the Doomsday Beast did as it moved its body and raised the suitcase that she had.

Feeling his disarranged breath calm itself, Yuuto agreed with what she said and suddenly turned to Dan Heng who also raised his spear.

"I'm going to finish what I told you before so be ready to come like how we planned."

"Do you need any help before that moment comes?"

"No, it's fine. I just need a few more inches before it opens up."

Dan Heng nodded and the two ran after the beast while Stelle followed along trying to do as much damage as she could.

—KROOO

"Oh my. Is it getting restless now?"

A sharp breath came out as he saw the large hand try to grab him but it quickly failed as Yuuto dodged every attempt it made to crush, swipe or grab him.

His eyes followed through with its movements before he was once again on top of the Doomsday Beast's head.

"It looks like the crack got deeper compared to last time."

Probably due to the beast using the beam to attack them, this was a lucky break for Yuuto as he could now skip a few steps.

The temperature around him decreased rapidly, a blanket of ice spread from Yuuto's feet and a heavy weight was placed along the Doomsday Beast's neck, bringing its head downwards.

"Swing batta batta swing!"

Stelle licked her lips while twirling her bat and the destructive blue energy that came out of it grew to the highest she had ever used today.

She planted her feet in front of the beast's left hand and brought her bat behind her.

She swung vertically leaving a white outline but what she followed after was a horizontal swing that created a powerful cross of energy.

A white flash appeared for a brief second before the contact completely smashed the portion of the hand, causing the beast to only have its right hand to lean on.

"This should be deep enough." Leaving a few more strikes into the growing crevice of the orbs hard exterior. 

He felt the energy of his body slowly reaching its end and indicated that he had to finish now or else he would be unable to do anything after. 

Yuuto removed his sword and placed his palm on the surface.

Prepared for the fight Yuuto had done all that he could to prepare for all the scenarios that he could have thought of.

This led to the creation of the [New Moon Phase] but there was another one that took the most out of him when he personally made the two memories.

Taking a deep breath, Yuuto felt the rough edge of the orb and said a single word that would finally mark the end of his first ever boss fight.

"[Break]"

A white hue grew out of Yuuto's palm and eventually encased the orb. The next few seconds that came after was the glass like exterior shattering into fragments and all that was left was a gooey substance that made his skin crawl.

"Dan Heng!"

Jumping off the head, Yuuto took a knee as he tried to catch his breath and the pale silver aura that surrounded him finally disappeared.

He watched as a black streak rose from the ground before it quickly penetrated the large gooey substance.

-KROOOOAA

The Doomsday Beast cried out one last time as purple liquid rained down its head and its body eventually collapsed onto the platform they were standing on.

Not moving a single inch.

"It's finally over."

"Be careful."

Yuuto staggered as he stood up and was caught by Stelle who noticed his current state.

"Thanks, you did a great job."

"I could say the same for you."

"I guess but your last attack sure helped us a lot you know." 

Yuuto laughed as he gave Stelle a bright smile that slightly caught her off guard. Leaving Stelle who kept her mouth shut, Yuuto looked at the purple liquid that poured down the Doomsday Beast and recalled just how the orb shattered.

[Break]

Compared to [New Moon Phase], [Break] was more so an attack that focused on memories representing object's 'breaking'.

Things such as a glass cup shattering when it's dropped to thin ice cracking when a person steps on it.

Elements of 'breaking' were all placed into a single memory whose whole purpose was to 'break' whatever it was imbued in.

It was his first time creating a whole memory from scratch using other ones. Although it needed him to break the orb quite thoroughly to activate it properly, he was quite satisfied by the results it showed.

'Now, I wonder what kind of memories I can get from this thing.' Yuuto thought as he stared at the motionless Doomsday Beast in front of him.