The Harvester

Without sparing any further attention toward anything else, Rakna immediately shapeshifted and triggered Obsidian Blood. His body expanded in the blink of an eye and a short burst of crimson mana enveloped his body and colored his fur; a color that remarkably spread to Sonata as well.

 

Whilst fighting Zasha, he had refrained from using his Trait for the simple reason that he knew he needed his full speed in order to contend with the scorpion. However, Roias was not a creature that could be fought in the first place. He could feel right down to his soul; speed would not matter if there was not enough force being dealt out.

 

“A man of few—” The Téras paused his sentence to lean back as a claw swept over him. “—words, I see,” he finished calmly and then swiftly leaped away as a kick threatened to snap his neck. He calmly latched onto the room’s wall by stabbing his hand into it.

 

The Terminal Room possessed the exact same configuration as other Plateaus, which included the infinitely high ceiling hidden in obscurity.

 

“Hm, Zasha must have been distressed battling you. He’s a talented man but his idleness and chatty attitude are flaws of his,” Roias remarked with his unbreakable grin, rubbing his chin with his free hand at the same time. 

 

“Bastard, aren’t you awfully chatty as well?” Rakna spat as he looked up at the Téras, his alternate tone and attitude deteriorating viciously, even more so than usual. Nyx walked up behind him in the meantime and quietly inspected Hans’ body with a difficult expression, noticing the fact that there was no blood anywhere.

 

“Perhaps, I am,” Roias shrugged.

 

“If you wanna waste time yakking about, why don’t you start by coughing out how you know my full name?” The werewolf inquired whilst silently talking to Ceres and connecting to the Terminal with Eye of Symphony.

 

[Hans has inserted the data piece and the reboot program has been properly launched. However, it seems something is halting its progression. Evidently, I would assume it’s the Téras’ doing.]

 

‘And Eye of Symphony cannot crack through it… It’s this guy’s presence that’s disrupting the signal somehow. It’s as if he’s encroaching on the System by just being there.’

 

[I… can attempt to download myself into the Terminal through Eye of Symphony’s link and carry out the loading internally. Before the System is restored, I should be able to temporarily separate from you. But…]

 

‘It will take time, won’t it?’ Rakna huffed quietly.

 

[Yes. At least several minutes, plus the actual loading time.]

 

‘…do it.’

 

[Understood. Please be careful, Rakna,] Ceres said and disconnected from him, her core program being transmitted into the Terminal. At the same time, Roias answered the werewolf’s question.

 

“How do I know of your affiliation to the Kind Demon?” The Téras smirked even wider if that was possible. “Well, that is a very interesting query with a fittingly stirring answer. But you must earn it. Why don’t you give me a reason to answer you?” He uttered and pulled his hand out of the wall before putting his feet on it.

 

Incongruously, he stood vertically and put his hands behind his back.

 

“Show me what the Kind Demon’s Kin can do. I’ll give you the first move. But be quick, if you don’t entertain me enough… I might just decide to kill you before you can react.”

 

“Mighty generous of you,” Rakna retorted with a wolfish grin. He kept Sonata as a scarf around his neck and cocked his right hand back. Without holding back, he infused all the energies he had into it; lunar energy, internal energy, dimensional energy, spiritual intent, and mana. 

 

He circulated them through the pathways of Sunken Ripple of Rupture and his arm began to blur heavily and a white and reddish aura burst around it at the same time. Rakna was sure that if he was still connected to the System, there would be a notification for the creation of a skill.

 

Under the influence of Obsidian Blood, he had no inhibitors. Experiments in the middle of a fight were completely fine. Life-risking abilities? No problem. Thoughts about strategy? There was no need for those. Hit first, think later.

 

The werewolf unfurled his four wings and zoomed through the room, his figure blurred so much in that instance that it was as if he had doubled and fused back together in front of Roias. His arm was bulging and ready to punch.

 

“[Fist of Rupture,]” Rakna uttered and his fist flashed.

 

Roias watched it approach in slow motion with his two pairs of eyes wide open, but nothing close to apprehension was present in them. Faster than it could be seen, he tilted his head and the punch brushed past his cheek.

 

Rakna’s fist subsequently stopped right in its track as if it had hit an invisible wall and ripples on the surface of reality spread out from the point of impact. The werewolf was not surprised or sad that his attack had missed and the blurs of his martial art transferred to his opposite elbow.

 

He thrust it forward aiming at the Téras’ jaw but it was once again dodged. New ripples were made and as if time itself needed to catch up, it was at that moment that the first punch’s effects were felt.

 

A booming sound echoed and blasted the wall of the Terminal room, followed by a shockwave that forced both Rakna and Roias to retreat further up. Closely after, the second impact erupted from its spot and a noise akin to a thunderclap resounded noisily.

 

Nyx winced and had to cover her ears because of it, but that was far from the end of it. She gulped as she saw the two large figures clash once again above her. In her eyes, Rakna was moving almost in a barbaric manner, but she could discern the masterful deadliness of his martial mastery.

 

Ripple of Rupture was a terrifying art that, up close, felt like it was bending space not only upon hitting but also footwork and rebalancing. After attacking, Rakna would normally be in no position to strike again unless he wound his body back into the proper stance.

 

But that was not the case here. His body would blur, again and again, and in the next instant, before you realized it, he was already swinging another fist as if he had skipped the entire process that preceded it.

 

Nyx instinctively knew that this was nothing short of madness and that each one of those punches would end her life if it landed anywhere other than her limbs. However, she was even more scared by Roias’ performance.

 

Like a fish in water, he weaved through the assault without a single sign of difficulty, and whenever he would step on the wall or jump as if gravity was inverted, or when he would sometimes subtly use a finger to split the punch’s shockwaves, Nyx concluded; this Téras was a master.

 

Or to be exact, a grandmaster of internal energy and combat.

 

‘This damn…’ Rakna frowned as Roias kept smirking whilst casually avoiding his fists. 

 

After a short while of them continuously running around and up the walls, he had already run out of lunar energy and soon enough his mana would also be empty and his attacks would become a lot weaker. Not to mention his arms were close to giving out due to the strain of Rift Shuttle.

 

Quickly, he mentally commanded Sonata to fly out and switch into a Dual Chain Blade. Roias raised a curious eyebrow and was already on his way to flick the chain that very clearly was attempting to bind him.

 

But… “[Valkal.]” He blinked in surprise when he felt a weak, but unseeable force, deviate his hand and make him miss entirely. That was more than enough for Sonata to temporarily wrap around him and restrain his movements.

 

Rakna had already started preparing for this opening so his attack came instantaneously. Full of energy and Intent, his punch was about to land on the Téras’ head when it suddenly stopped.

 

“…what?” The werewolf uttered as he felt everything that he had put into the attack vanish. Both the mana and Intent were gone. Only the dimensional and internal energy remained, which led to a small but loud repercussion, but far from its expected scale.

 

And what had caused it managed to even baffle the mind of Rakna’s Inferno Star state. Roias was pushing back his trembling fist with nothing more than his open palm, visibly devoid of struggle.

 

“Wonderful technique and initiative,” the Téras praised with a nod. “I have never seen such a well-polished and powerful Internal Art before. That was a beautiful Intent as well. However, you have much to learn yet,” he stated and grabbed Sonata’s chain and broke it with his grip strength. 

 

The weapon slid off his body and he proceeded to use the same hand to reach for the werewolf’s stomach. He put tension into his finger and then flicked it, promptly rocketing Rakna into the wall behind with a sonic boom.

 

Right after, Roias hummed as he caught sight of the shadows around him wriggling. A multitude of glowing eyes suddenly peered at him and dozens of large aerial beasts emerged. They screeched and attacked him from all sides.

 

The Téras chuckled and stepped back just in time for one of them to plunge into the wall. He then pivoted his feet and backhanded another; disintegrating it on contact. 

 

Releasing the internal energy that pinned him vertically to the wall, he let himself fall and landed on the back of a large shadow pterodactyl. With folded arms, he casually tapped the beast’s back with the tip of his foot and a hole was blown clean through it.

 

“Fascinating,” Roias remarked as he pinched two more shadow undead out of existence. It was as if his touch alone was a threat. “A sub-relative form of necromancy?” He muttered to himself and looked down whilst crushing a giant eagle’s skull.

 

He spotted Nyx pointing her hand at him with five silver and red magic circles revolving around each other around her arm. “Oh?” He exclaimed and a beam of lunar energy and shadows buzzed out of her arm and coiled around the room as it ascended toward him.

 

The Téras eyed the spell-like construct adorned with a pair of spectral wings. He pulled out a hand from his back and just like what he did to Rakna, his palm both stopped and erased the incoming threat.

 

“These sorts of things will not be able to reach me,” he declared as he lowered his hand.

 

“Oh, yeah? What about this?” Rakna snarked from behind and Roias had of course sensed him. He shook his head and unhurriedly looked over his shoulder. 

 

“As I said, you will…!” His nonchalant expression finally morphed into something different. In front of his eyes, the werewolf was swinging a Guandao at him… with a particular eight-branched cross hanging from his wrist, the well-known symbol of a certain God said to be the nemesis of Téra.

 

“[Crescent of A Falling Star!]”