The Harvester

Chapter 424: Fiends

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You have induced great amounts of awe and fear into the hearts of thousands of people!

The World Is My Cradle is absorbing the existential force!

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You have leveled up! x4

+7.5 Attribute Points.

+1.1 STR, SPD, INT.

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Call of Mana has leveled up!

Rune Smith has leveled up!

Magic Craft has leveled up!

Spiritual Intent Mastery has leveled up! x3

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You have learned a new proficiency Solar Dominion!

Correction Bias Applied!

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Solar Dominion has Excelled! 

Lunar Dominion has Excelled!

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Combination detected!

You have gained a new proficiency, Lunisolar Dominion!

Lunisolar Dominion has leveled up! x2

❮ ◈ ❯

"Well, there you go," Rakna smiled. "Nice to see my Sub-Path in action."

"{I'm sure it is,}" Fray snorted.

"Hm, and now that I see these… it doesn't seem like a skill to store Solar Energy was created," the werewolf muttered. "Maybe I can replicate Lunae Cosmos and learn it myself? Or are 'tails' not compatible with this?"

As he was thinking that, embers of Lunisolar Blaze sparked over his fur without his command and he frowned at it. The Soul Ashes left by the very last Reverie Eater were eaten by it as well. It didn't feel like it was going out of control or anything, but…

"…!" His eyes widened when crackles echoed in his ear before a much louder noise blasted directly into his mind. He grimaced and his wolf ear reflexively folded. "What did…?" He uttered to himself and then a peculiar sentence came to his mind, "…'whisper the Truth of the ashes'…"

"{What is it?}"

"Fiend… Tarnished Death… Outer… Puppet…" Rakna recited the words flowing into his mind and scowled at each of them. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"{Fiend, fiend… oh!}" Fray exclaimed. "{Do you remember what the Wailful One mentioned about the first four creatures that followed the Original Era?}"

"Tiamat, Ra-Horakhty, Acuran, and…" He paused. "Timaiyin-Munti, The Archfiend. Does that have a significance? I thought it was some kind of archaic term for demons."

"{Right. The best, most childish way of explaining it would be this; Fiends are essentially demons with a capital 'D' instead of a lowercase. They exist. Even I have heard of them. If evil beings like demons can wield 'evil', then Fiends can produce it. Timaiyin-Munti is said to have been the most blasphemous being to ever live. If 'evil' had an embodiment, then he would be it.}"

"…that doesn't sound good at all."

"{Well, this is probably just a Fiend. Not an Archfiend.}"

"What would the difference be?"

"{Simple. In one case, we're alive. In the other, we're dead."

Rakna rolled his eyes. "At least that's conclusive…"

"{Still, your Lunisolar Blaze is fascinating,}" Fray commented. "{To extract such information from etherealized remains… you might have achieved an alternate form of a Phoenix's Ash Fire.}"

"That's cool and all, but I don't care," the werewolf interrupted him and pointed forward with his chin. "It's not over. Something else is coming… and it's not another wave of Reverie Eaters."

As soon as he spoke, three silhouettes dashed toward him at a speed he could somewhat compare to that of a 600 Speed Attribute. Rakna whirled Sonata and blocked three attacks coming from the front.

"…of course," the werewolf growled as he saw what they were with Crystal Sight. It was a trio of humanoid creatures with no face, hair, clothes, or anything else for that matter. Their skin was red and charcoal black and they possessed horns and a fletched tail, poignantly reminiscent of the age-old depictions of demons.

Brusquely, toothless mouths appeared on their non-existent faces and simultaneously cried out a garbled syllable. Rakna narrowed his eyes and showed them away with a burst of aura.

"[Voyaging Star,]" he intoned and used Comet to appear behind one of them. He grabbed its head with one claw and ignited it. "[Amended Order,]" he chanted and the lunisolar flames swallowed the creature whole. It let out an eerie scream before turning into soul ashes.

"Damn…" Rakna unhappily clicked his tongue as he pulled his hand back. The two others charged at him once again and he allowed them to stab their fists into his head and chest. The attacks went through the Star Energy composing his body and he caught their arms.

"[Amended Order,]" he repeated and this time, only one was fully incinerated while the other's skin crumbled and exposed a paler counterpart below. The horns broke like glass and the tail disappeared, leaving a naked man with demonic energy and slightly pointed ears exactly like Lilith and her fellow demons.

Rakna hoisted the man on his shoulder and turned Sonata into a bracelet for now. He returned to the surface of the moon with just one step of Comet and turned off Voyaging Star.

Soma was already standing next to him as if he knew where he was going to appear and Lilith was not far behind, running in their direction, her sight locked onto the unconscious demon.

"…it's faster than I expected," the Moon God remarked with a grim expression as he saw the frail and emancipated man. "Did it fail on the other two?" He asked vaguely.

"Yeah," Rakna replied flatly and laid the man down on the ground, whose pulse was immediately checked by Lilith after arriving. She crouched next to her fellow demon and frowned deeply.

"What is the meaning of this?" She inquired. To some, it may have sounded like a question directed at herself, but Soma wouldn't miss the subdued glare she threw at him. 

"'Full corruption' would explain it well enough," Rakna answered in the god's stead. "Turns out that thing is called a Fiend. It produces 'evil'. But that's a limited concept in and of itself. I think it's more accurate to say that it imposes on the world around it some kind of distortion."

Soma rubbed his chin. "A 'Fiend', you say?"

"The ashes spoke," the werewolf succinctly explained and that seemed to be enough.

"But why is this man like this?" Lilith asked. 

"Well, if we want to be simple about it. Let's say that whatever happened to your planet, and then to your God, is now befalling the inhabitants of the planet."

The demoness stilled.

Soma slowly nodded. "The weaker ones such as this poor man are being affected first. Their body is corrupted first. Then their mind, and ultimately their soul."

"I tried to use the Lunisolar Blaze to burn off the corruption; purify them," Rakna added. "But only this one survived. You could say he was only about 60% down being corrupted. The others? At the very least, it was near 90%. But truthfully, although I managed to undo whatever was done to him this time, he still lost a part of his soul, a great portion of his life force, and his overall health."

Lilith's eyes widened in horror as she looked at the unconscious man. "Are you saying… that this is happening to every demon currently still on Earth?"

"Unfortunately, that is very likely," Soma admitted calmly.

"Then what are we waiting for?! We should--!"

"Yamul," Rakna interrupted her. "Recklessness will get you killed."

"{Coming from you?}" Fray interjected but swiftly went ignored.

The demoness stood up and glared at him. "So, I should wait? When every second we waste means more of my people die? Is that it?!"

"…"

"I respect you with all my being, Sentinel, but this is not something you can convince me of," she said and picked up the unconscious demon, carrying him back to a medical station.

The werewolf raised an eyebrow as she left and Soma chuckled. 

"Lady problems, son?"

'…you have no idea,' Rakna thought. But that certainly wasn't his concern at the moment. If he had to be honest, this Simulation's nature had made him slightly hesitant about what to do. He groaned to himself and looked up. "Hey, why do you think the Fiend sent those three?"

Soma hummed in thought. "I don't know… a taunt? A test? A bait? Whatever it is, Lilith Yamul has been caught in it; demons are loyal. Or at the very least, Bhumi's people are. He has managed quite the feat…"

"I suppose we can expect a whole army of demons rushing back to Earth soon," Rakna snorted to himself. "And probably not even caring that I'm their only chance at success."

"Hm, can you?" Soma asked calmly. "While I gave it to you, only you can say; if you went there right now, would you be able to purify the whole planet?"

"…I'm not sure," the werewolf replied. And that was precisely why he didn't want to rush in. The Reverie Eaters hadn't taken much from him, but purifying those three demons had actually put a dent, small as it was, in his reserves of Soul Power.

'Maybe I could substitute my Soul Power with Mana with transmutation… no, even then, there's also the problem of Solar and Lunar energy. I was already running low on the former, and even if it would be more present on Earth, I would still need to compensate for the scale of what I want to do…'

Rakna grunted and massaged his neck. "Quick question, what's the current moon cycle?"

Soma mused, "You mean, from the Earth? That would be the Third Quarter."

"And can you turn that into a Full Moon if I asked?"

"I suppose I could…" The god furrowed his eyebrows. "But a Full Moon has its own ramifications for me as well. It represents the peak of my power, and if I force it, I will have to maintain it with great effort."

"And if you multiply that by ten?" Rakna inquired mercilessly and Soma smiled wryly.

"You want me to create ten Full Moons?"

"Yes," the werewolf nodded. "I mean, we have so many small moons around; let's not make them useless."

"…do you have a plan?"

Rakna huffed and turned around, heading into the city. "As if. What I'm thinking is for people who don't have a plan, really. It's as much a solution as headbutting a wall is."

"I see," Soma snickered. "And what are you going to do now?"

"Well, of course, visit my dear 'momma'," the werewolf joked and fizzled out of view.