The Harvester

As Hans swiftly typed on the Terminal, Astraea gasped and her form fizzled out for a trice as if she was about to fade. She looked back at the torrent of purple soul flames above her and paled.

 

“What’s wrong?” Nyx asked.

 

“I…” The angel stammered. “Lord Monarch’s power is fading… Until just now, he was stronger than ever before, but he suddenly lost everything…”

 

“Maybe he just used an all-out trump card?” Cura suggested.

 

“But… that wouldn’t stop him from converting mana…” Astraea whispered worriedly and before anything else could be said, the Soul Marble shattered and everyone in the room dropped to their knees; even Cura.

 

An unearthly pressure pinned them down to the floor and Rakna’s soul flames then spread across the room, as if they had been blown off by an explosion, before waning. From the remnants of the Soul Marble, a distorted and unstable Obsidian Pearl flew out at speeds no one could fathom and collided with the wall.

 

When it struck, to the spectators, it was as if colors suddenly were sucked out of the world. For a split second, everything was black and white, and within this monochromatic world, a crown of purple light shone through and preceded a blast that made the air vibrate.

 

The Terminal Room nearly broke down in its entirety and a giant hole opened up on the wall, in which the Obsidian Pearl burrowed further; yet to be truly detonated.

 

And barely a second later, the land quaked. It was felt across Plateau Zero and even in Plateaus above for the most perceptive ones. Inside the Terminal Room, a geyser of black stones and purple fire erupted from the hole and expanded it.

 

Everyone had to cover their ears and focus on their breathing to not pass out from the rebound of the shockwave. It was like it was bouncing everywhere and striking them from all sides an infinite number of times.

 

When it was finally over, a terrible cold invaded the place. Nyx hesitantly raised her head and once her vision cleared up, her breath hitched. The hole in the wall had turned into something far worse than that. It now could only be called a tunnel; wider than the room itself.

 

But what shocked the Night Goddess wasn’t that display of destructive prowess, but what lay at the end of it. It was pure darkness. Not a lack of light; but a lack of corporeality. Most beings would go crazy just catching a glimpse of it.

 

Their mind would not be able to comprehend what they were looking at, much less escape its hunt as it encroached into anything it touched, slowly approaching and crawling like a primal monster extending its tentacles. 

 

“Don’t look at it!” Nyx yelled almost immediately and the others listened without delay, keeping their head low. “Don’t even peek at it! A regular mortal cannot stay sane if they observe it for even a millisecond!”

 

“What is it?” Cura asked with experienced composure as he stood up with his back facing it. Even Gulon was warning him, so he didn’t need to doubt the goddess’ instructions.

 

“That’s Meuro,” Nyx replied with a grimace. “We call it the False Realm. It is emptiness personified into an… uncategorizable dimension. It is also called the In-Between as it separates Realities,” she explained and bit her lip. “No wonder even Eternal Night cannot find the System. It is built inside of it. To create a pocket world inside Emptiness itself… how did they do it?”

 

“Wait, that’s the outside of the System?” Cura asked back.

 

“Yes,” Astraea was the one who confirmed it. “But don’t even think about going through it. You will die instantly. Perhaps King Gulon can preserve your life, but he does not have the ability to get you out of it.”

 

The sentient weapon responded to that with a gruff affirmation and after they exchanged these words, a breach in space suddenly ensued above them and a small burst of purple flames spat out a mangled silhouette.

 

It crashed on the floor, followed by more flames that coalesced into numerous beasts; wild animals of all sorts, further led by the familiar figures of Fenriu and Rexam. All of them were protectively standing around what had just fallen.

 

Astraea was close enough to see who it was through the wall of wolves, tigers, and bears, and she called out, “Lord Monarch!” 

 

Nyx widened her eyes and rushed forward at the same time as her. When both goddesses arrived at the encirclement, the beasts gave them a glance-over and dutifully opened the way for them.

 

Beyond their protection, Rakna was lying down on the ground, unresponsive. He had reverted to his original appearance, except for his hair and tails that remained black with faint purple dots adorning them. Allegro covered his body in its default combat mode and was struggling to fix the countless tears and holes it had.

 

Additionally, the therian’s skin was covered in some places by black crystal; as if the Obsidian Star was making his body grow scales. But it was far too rough and uneven for it to look like anything other than a negative sign.

 

“Rakna, can you hear me?” Nyx asked carefully as she kneeled next to him. She could sense his soul flickering between two extreme states and she pursed her lips. She tried to check if he had a pulse, but when she tried to touch him, she first shivered in cold and then hissed in pain once her finger brushed his neck. “He’s scalding…”

 

On the other hand, Astraea hovered both of her hands above him and closed her eyes, desperately trying to salvage some mana and energy to cast a restorative spell.

 

“Those animals saved him, huh?” An ethereal voice echoed and chilled everyone to the bone.

 

Even Hans had to grab his arm to stop it from trembling. He frowned at his own body refusing to listen to him and then searched for the source of the voice. His eyes eventually landed on a cloud of Pandora’s Curse congregating back into the form of Roias.

 

He looked as if nothing had happened. His clothes were brand new, his body unblemished, and his arms serenely crossed behind his back. Furthermore, his infuriating grin was back to normal.

 

“To think that pseudo-ghosts could preserve him from death at the last moment,” the Téras said whilst gazing at the group of beasts watching over Rakna’s unconscious body. He skimmed over the different species, and his attention lingered on Rex for a second before it focused on Fen. “So, this is the truth behind the death of that cub the scorpions failed to abduct, huh?” 

 

Roias shook his head in amusement and ignored the glare Nyx was sending his way in favor of the tunnel the Obsidian Pearl had engendered. Without a hint of struggle, he gazed into Meuro and let out a chortle, “How unexpected. Though the System is not operational in Zero, to think you could blow a hole through its defenses… sadly, it’s already repairing itself.”

 

True to his words, the end of the tunnel was shrinking at a visible pace. In fact, half of it had been sealed by the time he mentioned it. “But I have to give my thanks. It was invigorating to lay eyes on the ‘Abyss’ for the first time,” Roias said with a joyous smile and Nyx froze.

 

King Gulon let out a sound akin to a dubious grunt and Cura glanced at his weapon before speaking out in its stead, “You bugs call Meuro the Abyss? Are you telling me Emptiness gave birth to your subspecies? Don’t make me laugh.”

 

Roias smiled in amusement and gazed at the sentient sword. “Why? Is it that surprising? The Téra possess the most advanced mutation capability to ever exist. We adapt to our habitat, no matter if it’s a vacuum or a void; why would Meuro be an exception?”

 

Gulon growled and Cura translated, “Are you daft? Didn’t you just say this is the first time you see it? How could you have mutated according to it if you’ve never interacted with it? Not to mention that Meuro is not something you can adapt to even if you tried. If I can’t eat it, then I don’t believe you bugs could ever gain anything from it.”

 

The Téras snickered. “That is rather conceited of you. But you’re right. If it had just been a matter of my qualifications, the Abyss would have never become my power. But a miracle graced the Téra of the System. Our Empress, the First Abyss Téras, granted us this privilege. She endured Meuro and tamed its power. You can ask the wolf when he wakes up; he saw my Abyss Skin and he will indubitably support my claims.”

 

Gulon fell silent at that and didn’t bother to respond, merely ready to be wielded at any moment to fight Roias as Cura’s hand wrapped around its handle.

 

“And here it is,” the Téras uttered as he watched the tunnel close fully, relinquishing an invisible pressure that no one knew was there. “Still, I’m a bit perplexed,” he continued with a curious tone and turned toward Hans. “You, little immortal. Enough time should have passed for the System to be fully reinstated. Why did you not?”

 

The author harrumphed. “Do not get ahead of yourself. I merely need to press one button and Eva will be able to summon an Adjudicator on you.”

 

“Hm?” Roias cocked his head to the side in confusion. “But, why did you not? Is there something that… oh,” he exclaimed in realization and then laughed. “It’s about that AI, is it not? The wolf told you to save her. And you’re scared there won’t be any chance to do so once the System does a reset of the framework. You can forgo such hope; I cursed her program. It’s over.”

 

“Hah, I would not be so sure about that if I were you,” Hans fired back with a condescending smirk that managed to wipe off Roias’ smile.

 

Silence reigned in the room for a short while as they glared at each other and Roias ended it with a huff. “This is enough. Our Abyss has no plans to kill any of you. We had preparations to take care of but if the Shark King is here, it means Arkas has already retreated. The stalling is over.”

 

The Téras stopped floating and landed, with his Internal Art once again manifesting. He looked at the unconscious therian and with a cackle, disintegrated into a fluid cloud of curse energy, flying out of the room through the exit.

 

“May we meet again at the summit,” his disembodied voice echoed and faded.