Moonlight Sword

The Moonlight Sword is a weapon of pure ruination created from the power of Destruction. Vermouth Lionheart made it his principal weapon during the ancient war, while Eugene Lionheart inherited its broken remains and gradually imposed control over its catastrophic light. (Chapters 68–70, 369, and 605)

History

Vermouth's weapon

The hero party found the sword in ruins exposed after the battle against the Demon King of Carnage changed the surrounding terrain. It stood beneath a full moon, and its gray blade scattered moonlike light when swung, giving rise to its simple name. Once Vermouth acquired it, its destructive strength largely displaced the Holy Sword in his battles. Later revelations established that it was not an unrelated relic: Vermouth had produced it by drawing out a piece of his own dark power after separating from Destruction. (Chapters 68, 145, 579, and 605)

The sword was dangerous even to Vermouth's companions. Hamel could not approach or hold it safely, and the weapon's light consumed mana and destroyed magical power around it. Vermouth eventually broke it apart and sealed its remains. One fragment surfaced in the Khazad Hills, while the hilt and surviving ricasso were left as an offering in Hamel's desert tomb. (Chapters 35, 68–70, and 180)

A broken inheritance

Eugene used the Khazad fragment to train the cohesion and control of his mana because it continuously disrupted nearby magical power. In Hamel's tomb, he claimed the hilt that Vermouth had left behind. Although nearly all of the metal blade was gone, infused mana produced a blade of moonlight. The incomplete sword remained overwhelmingly effective against magic, but it drained Eugene's mana rapidly and was much weaker than the intact weapon Vermouth had wielded. (Chapters 35, 64, and 68–70)

As Eugene grew, he used the sword to erase spells, dark matter, demonic power, and physical structures. Its instability remained dangerous. During the battle with the new Demon King of Fury, the sword's power ran out of control, drew Eugene's consciousness into a void, and required outside intervention to restrain. Its incomplete condition also meant sufficiently powerful opponents could resist its light. (Chapters 197, 369–381)

Reconstruction and Levantein

Eugene later allowed the remaining blade to disintegrate within his flame. Instead of scattering, the fragments unified around him and formed a reconstructed gray blade. Its previously wild light condensed close to the edge, distorted space, and responded more fully to his will without becoming weaker. The process gave him stronger dominion over the weapon, though he could not explain the reconstruction's exact mechanism. (Chapters 405–406)

Before his duel with Gavid, Eugene shattered the Moonlight Sword again and fused its remnants with those of the Holy Sword, Demon Spear, and Annihilation Hammer in the Light. The result was Levantein, also called the Divine or Holy Moonlight Sword. The original sword ceased to exist independently, but its destructive light remained available through Levantein. (Chapters 532–535 and 546–548)

Abilities and properties

• Its moonlight destroys rather than merely cuts. It collapses magic, disperses mana, erases dark matter and demonic power, and can disintegrate physical material caught in its light. (Chapters 35, 69–70, 197, and 369)
• The broken sword forms most of its blade from light. This permits extremely fast draws without risking an ordinary metal edge and allows the luminous blade to expand with additional mana. (Chapters 69–70)
• The weapon consumes enormous quantities of mana and can disrupt the wielder's mana control. Eugene could use it because his Lionheart body and White Flame Formula resonated with it, but even then its early use was costly. (Chapters 68–70)
• Its destructive force is not absolute. The incomplete version could be blocked by powerful beings, and even its best state did not guarantee superiority over a Demon King's dark power. (Chapters 70 and 369)
• When its power ran rampant, it endangered its wielder's consciousness as well as the surroundings. Eugene's reconstruction improved control by condensing its formerly erratic light, but the resulting mechanism remained uncertain to him. (Chapters 379–381 and 405–406)
• After reforging, the Moonlight Sword's destructive property became one component of Levantein and could still be invoked to erase a soul or oppose otherwise persistent Demon Kings. (Chapters 532, 548, and 554)

Ownership and custody