The Harvester

“…enough,” Roias uttered and his eyes lit up with power.

 

A transparent aura similar to flowing water swathed his body and in a blink of an eye, his speed more than tripled. He stopped holding back and used his full martial prowess.

 

Before anyone could react, a kick impossibly fast yet smooth as water had crushed the heads of all the Skulking Angels. He then locked on Nyx who jerked back in fear at the sudden flood of killing intent coming her way.

 

“Nyx!” Astraea yelled in warning.

 

Pandora’s Curse cloaked Roias and like a river lithely parted by a range of rocks, he split apart into several dark-colored streams, in a constant gaseous yet liquid state anyhow. His speed drastically improved and Astraea urgently summoned a Treant-like creature from the adjacent walls.

 

The living tree monster grew out of the material and opened its large hand, reaching for the shape-less waves to catch them. It closed its hand with a loud crackle and a small shockwave spread out from that alone.

 

However, Roias’ ethereal form escaped through its fingers and continued on his way toward Nyx, intent on ending her life. The goddess in question narrowed her eyes and clasped her hands in a sign of prayer. Shadows crept around her, forming a tornado and releasing a glow of holiness.

 

“[Iron Maiden…]” She whispered and the shadows began to take form. It started with a giant robe of metal with spikes on it. Then, a torso sprouted from the top, and two arms followed, with hooks in the place of fingers. Then, a mane of black hair erupted and a head grew, adorned with a helmet and red slits peering through the open visor. “[Mesperyian.]”

 

The Iron Maiden given life clasped her hands as well, mirroring her summoner, and at the same time, the advance of the Téras was halted. The flowing curse suddenly became constricted, exactly as if it was being pressed from both sides by the hands of the iron creature of torture.

 

Roias returned to his physical form with a groan and his hands pushed outward, with invisible but very much real and sharp spikes pushing into his flesh. A few trails of orange-colored blood flowed before the Téras narrowed his eyes.

 

“[Avalanche,]” he muttered and the flowing aura spread out from his palms and blasted the force of the Iron Maiden. The giant invocation’s clasped hands separated because of it and Roias dashed forward once again.

 

This time, the distance was far too small for Nyx to react to his speed. Automatically, she was about to try and force her magic out by overcharging her divinity, but something beat her to the punch.

 

Roias’ form speared through the protective hands of the Iron Maiden and was about to reach the former goddess when a large claw caught him right before he could. And in that instant, a wave of sinister malice filled the air.

 

Even the Téras shuddered at the feeling. He slowly looked to his left and saw the winged werewolf who had caught his arm, eyes fiercely glowing red and… two pairs of black horns growing behind his lupine ears. Roias’ eyes widened a bit when he also spotted a third pair of wings; but far from the example set by the two others.

 

It was not an eagle’s wings. It was a malevolent red and black pair of featherless wings, the kind you would find over the shoulders of a demon.

 

‘Sinful Demonization… the worst kind,’ Roias concluded as he looked into the werewolf’s eyes. They were not filled with as much madness, anger, or mirth anymore.

 

Instead, they were drowned out by two other forces; one that languidly appraised your existence and another that arrogantly put you below its feet.

 

However, the Téras smirked nonetheless. He drew his attention away from Nyx and fully faced the demonized werewolf. “So, you still have cards up your sleeve. But how long can you resist the call of sin--!” He was interrupted by a fist crackling and rippling with force.

 

“[Sunken Fist of Rupture,]” Rakna’s voice echoed with a prideful and lazy, but at the same time heated tone, as his punch landed on the Téras. It was more than twice as fast as before and carried exponentially more momentum.

 

Roias failed to erase its power with his ability and was flung upward by the impact. He crashed on the wall several times but bounced off from it every time, like a rock skipping on water.

 

He eventually came around stopping his momentum by latching on with his internal energy, but at that point, the werewolf had already caught up and was swinging Sonata. Roias deftly swerved the weapon aside and then in a blink, Rakna was inexplicably driving his knee into his gut.

 

‘He’s more than just faster…’ The Téras thought as he once more increased his output of Pandora’s Curse to keep up. He raised his arm to block a lariat and then stepped back from a slash. ‘He now is using Sinister Mana to power his Internal Art. It’s a variety halfway to Infernity, thus nullifying my Arch-Vindication. Not to mention he seems to somehow produce Infernity instead of simply wielding it…’

 

‘On top of that…’ Roias paused his thoughts to look at a small cut on his arm. ‘…he’s being fueled by Pride. Acting upon his sin of refusing to be less skilled than his opponent, his proficiency with his Art is growing by the second.’

 

The Téras was gradually getting restless by what he was seeing. But it was not out of fear, nor was he panicking. On the contrary, he had never been happier. This was beyond his expectations. He wanted to see more of what this boy could do.

 

He continued to weather the onslaught, forcing both of them to stray upward endlessly. The floor was already hundreds of meters away and yet, the ceiling of the Terminal Room was still nowhere to be seen.

 

After a short moment that felt like hours, Rakna’s eyes flashed and his movements became twice as erratic. Ripple of Rupture bent the air around him and then, he blurred and disappeared.

 

Roias widened his eyes in surprise and barely had the time to conjure a shield of Curse in front of him before five elongated claws could stab into his eyes.

 

‘He just… ascended his Internal Art,’ he realized with a laugh and his flowing aura manifested over his form once again. Twirling his wrist, he thrust his palm at the incoming blade of Sonata, and the power of his internal energy clashed against the Guandao.

 

The short bout generated a blast that separated the two fighters and the Téras found himself back on the wall, his feet rooted vertically. Rakna didn’t seem to share his methods however, he simply spun in the air and landed on… something. He just stood there, as if there was a platform that no one other than him could see.

 

Raising an eyebrow at the werewolf’s stillness, Roias tilted his head, “Hm? What is wrong? Should you not be capitalizing on your demonization? You were on good tracks just now… I estimate that your attributes are orbiting 600 at the moment… Hm, but not quite. Your Strength and Endurance are. You somehow sacrificed speed and dexterity for them, haven’t you?”

 

“…” Rakna didn’t reply, his demeanor combining both pride and displeasure. But if one listened closely, they would be able to hear the growls coming from his throat. It seemed that he was paying half a mind to keep a balance with his Sins in order to stay conscious.

 

“You won’t last long like that,” Roias frowned. “What are you waiting—” The Téras shut his mouth and internally chided himself for once again disregarding external factors. He kept one pair of eyes on Rakna and used the other pair to look down.

 

There, he spotted Nyx and Astraea holding hands with closed eyes. Darkness and light were softly swathing them like doting parents and congregating in their conjoined hold.

 

Roias’ expression twitched. With that alone, he knew what they were doing. There existed three different kinds of Elemental Fusion in Magic Theory.

 

The fusion of two elements was called Union Magic. The mutual elevation between three or more elements was dubbed Unity Magic. As for the third one… it was the fusion of elements wielded by separate people. The hardest and arguably strongest type; Unison Magic.

 

And right now, a duo of True Goddesses in their own right, was charging a divine spell that might just be enough to momentarily force the manifestation of magic. Not to mention that shadows and light were opposite; a category of Unity widely recognized as the most powerful.

 

“You should have distracted me longer,” Roias uttered. “It would take me five seconds at most to get to them. What stops me from dusting you off and stopping them?”

 

“Go ahead and try,” the werewolf replied with a mocking sneer and the Téras raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Rakna was fast, there was no denying it. The Luquila’s wings were space-breaking in nature, but that was not enough to outpace Roias.

 

A few tense seconds passed until the latter flashed out of the way. Like a raging wave emerging at the surface of the ocean, he disappeared and the wind picked up. It ruffled the werewolf’s fur, who was looking down with his eyes glowing golden in complete tranquility.

 

‘What’s his plan?’ Roias asked himself as he was already halfway to Nyx and Astraea. He was ready to snatch their heads off their bodies, much like he had done with Hans, but the fact that his main opponent was doing nothing more than watching him admittedly unsettled him.

 

To his better judgment, he slowed down and briefly turned around. Then, Rakna grinned viciously and a demonic avatar resembling a Yaksha appeared behind the werebeast.

 

“[Wrath Demon,]” Rakna intoned the sub-skill of Ireful Descent and he felt his demonized mana respond to it, magnifying its power far beyond its normal level. The apparition bellowed and Roias moved reluctantly.

 

He frowned at his own body as it refused to listen to him. He was being forced to keep his attention on Rakna, and if it wasn’t for his willpower, he would have already attacked. Though, perhaps that would have been the correct course of action.

 

The werewolf lifted his Guandao, which swiftly turned into a black and red scythe. He then held it over his shoulder, in preparation to swing it, and opened his mouth, “[Skulk Life Down.]”

 

When those words were spoken, Sonata slashed reality. Space and time were ignored.

 

Roias’ eyes opened wide as his vision split into two. His bisected body began to stray to each side, the gap in between only increasing. Strands of Pandora’s Curse frantically flowed out of the open innards to stitch the damages, but then the pair of goddesses completed their cast.

 

Nyx and Astraea pivoted on their feet and pointed their hands at the Téras whilst back-to-back. In a flash, light and darkness surged, and took the form of a dragon with angel wings. The invocation roared and the air vibrated.

 

“[Over The Heavens of Mortality, Flies The Dragon Angel of Penance,]” they chanted together and the dragon’s eyes flashed silver. “[Unison Magic… Elauanca!]”

 

The Dragon Angel flew as energy gathered inside its maw and dashed to Roias. Opening its mouth wide, it swallowed the Téras and its entire body began to glow with power, charging up audibly.

 

Rakna took his distance from the giant dragon and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes as Crystal Sight analyzed the creature. ‘It feels like the old man… is it because of Nyx?’ He thought, and as if on cue, the dragon’s eyes suddenly gained life and glanced at him.

 

He reeled in surprise but before he could start understanding it, the spell finally exploded and the roar of a dragon accompanied the discharge of Dark-Light.