The Harvester

The three newcomers seemed to be restraining Arimane’s power; the gray bandages extending all the way back to the only woman amongst the trio.

 

Rakna growled, his eyes wandering upward to see another one of the moons vanish. At this rate, the vestiges of his Soul Marble would fully collapse and he would be left without more than half of his full power. The Soul Remnants currently assimilated with him would also fade. 

 

‘The old man called them Espectros…’ He thought and looked back at the strangers. In fact, he didn’t have to think much to know who they were. Not only had Crystal Sight seen their names already, but one of them was someone the werewolf recognized.

 

It was a lean and lanky man in his twenties wearing a worn-out outfit, tribal red tattoos scattered all over his visible ash-colored skin. His black hair seemed to split into two halves; one combed and the other left to be wild and longer.

 

This was the Phantasm that had warned Gaelius not to dig too deep into the ‘off-encode’ skills back when they were planning the products of Harvest.

 

‘As I remember it; the Second Espectro, Locura,’ Rakna furrowed his eyebrows. It’s not like he could get a lot more out of Crystal Sight since none of these people had a status window. Obviously, this ability given to him by the Crystal Sage could do more than just pry into the System, but not only was Rakna not used to that function, but he also felt like something was suppressing him.

 

The two other Phantasms were new to him. The one who was currently binding Arimane’s power was a tall attractive woman with a cold and somewhat guarded expression. She had silver eyes and hair, sickly pale skin, and sported a plain black dress with no highlight whatsoever along with a black choker around her neck.

 

Interestingly, the other end of the bandages she was using on the dragon was not actually held in her hand but was directly coming out from inside her sleeve.

 

‘Third Espectro, Soledad,’ Rakna read the hazy words floating in his vision with a scowl and turned to the third individual. This one was a bit odd, wholly covered by a black cloak and a hood hiding their facial features behind a dark void.

 

However, their stature was a completely different story. By the overall features, the cloaked being seemed to be male and was twice the height of its cohorts. Not to mention, even if concealed, there was no doubt that his limbs were extremely muscular and his frame as a whole was very bulky. 

 

‘Fourth Espectro, Miedo,’ once again, Rakna read his name.

 

“{‘Insanity’, ‘Solitude’, and ‘Fear’,}” Fray commented telepathically. “{Those are certainly not names that inspire confidence.}”

 

“Are you the rumored elites of the First Clan?” Arimane suddenly asked with a grin and Locura frowned heavily, his stance hardening.

 

“Bastard… how do you know that?”

 

“What? Is it not true?” The dragon cackled. “The Third Clan, or Third Division as you seem to prefer, deals with external affairs and missions. The Second Division scouts for threats and is otherwise responsible for military intelligence. And the First Division manages internal affairs. Am I wrong?”

 

Locura narrowed his eyes darkly and exchanged brief glances with his brethren.

 

“…you’ve heard that from Tormento, haven’t you?” Soledad spoke up frostily.

 

“Hahaha! Who knows,” Arimane casually laughed. “Your goal, methods, power; even if I didn’t know all those, what would it change? Lest I spare you…” His tone lowered. “You’re as good as dead.”

 

“…” The three Phantasms kept their mouths closed.

 

Was it in indignance or capitulation? It couldn’t be ascertained.

 

“Still, you took quite a while,” the Kind Demon hummed. “You took the risk of intervening only when I was about to Ascend… why is that?” He inquired curiously and grinned maliciously at the Espectro of Solitude. “Are you expecting some sort of benevolence from me? Little girl, you can’t possibly believe that your ability alone can hold me back, do you?” 

 

Soledad visibly shuddered, her cold façade shaking momentarily. “…do not bluff,” she gritted out through her teeth. “The System has isolated you from the World. My bindings will eventually wear down the half-formed vessel you created.”

 

Arimane’s smirk turned even more vicious if that was possible. “Oh, you poor child,” he mocked her and followed up by chanting one line, “[Narratio Incipit Quando Mundus Titubat] (The Story Begins When the World Falters).”

 

That single line of Lexis brought forth a suffocating sense of unease. For a moment, it was as if the landscape had been inverted. Rakna had to hold his head and his Soul Marble risked being erased from the sheer intent contained in that incantation. Yet, it was not a spell; just a forewarning.

 

Locura grimaced and Soledad’s arm trembled, her bandages losing tension against her will.

 

“You should know well about my Arts if you did your homework,” Arimane scoffed. “Even if you were to somehow kill me, I could have Comoediae Mundi eat up this whole System in no time. Straightway, my true self would find this place and come.”

 

“…”

 

“Which makes me wonder,” the dragon continued. “Why would you allow this incarnation of mine? You are evidently scared of me, after all,” he snorted in amusement. “If so, there must have been a benefit in me fighting the kid for this long… oh!” He exclaimed in realization. “I see! You were collecting my life force, weren’t you?”

 

Arimane burst out laughing. “How greedy of you. Your Eden is already at its limit, yet you wish to feed it even more? Are you in a hurry perhaps?” The Demon tilted his head at the sour faces of the Espectros. “Well, my ‘children’ are putting pressure on you, I guess. And your ‘Royals’ are leading you all blind; seeking a result even they themselves are not assured of.”

 

“…”

 

“…mind including me in the conversation, old man?” Rakna deadpanned once he saw that none of the Phantasms seemed eager to say anything more.

 

“Hah, not so sure about that, kid,” Arimane snickered. “Your future’s pre-determined. Fate is kind of a bullshit concept, of course, but in your case, it’s closer to a fixed point in time,” he smirked and looked at the dragon whale silently floating in the air. “Isn’t that right, Cetus?”

 

The Star Entity merely closed his eyes in response while Rakna clicked his tongue. “Right. You told me to read the last page, after all. I guess that meant something,” he sighed and his uncle showed a confused expression.

 

“The last page? No idea what you’re talking about,” Arimane retorted.

 

The werewolf raised an eyebrow.

 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m an incarnation, remember? An avatar. If another has told you something, it doesn’t mean I also know about it. Most likely, the one who told you that had access to information I do not.”

 

Rakna closed one eye in thought. The incarnation that had told him about the ‘last page’ was in the dream he had shown Nyx, through Sloth and Enthymio. In which case… if himself was not enough for this specific version of Arimane to know, then Nyx was the missing piece.

 

‘…Tiamat? Or the ‘previous timeline’? Maybe both,’ he concluded and sighed. It didn’t matter. Things would happen as they will. For now, he had more pressing concerns; such as the trio of Phantasms currently making sure Eternal Night didn’t Ascend.

 

“…Kind Demon,” Locura raised his voice with an edged tone. “Are you going to oppose us?”

 

Arimane glanced at him.

 

“We have never directly provoked you and your kin was not brought in here at our incentive. He wasn’t maliciously targeted by any of us,” the Espectro narrowed his eyes. “If you understand even a bit how Systema was made, you’d know we have minimal control over it. Nothing else could have been done on our part.”

 

The dragon silently listened and a short moment afterward, he burst into laughter, much to the Phantasms’ confusion. “Hahaha! Sorry, it was too funny to hear… You guys have no idea how important the kid is to your goals, do you?”

 

Locura furrowed his eyebrows at that.

 

“Also, ‘never provoked me’? What about your wayward Espectro?”

 

“You mean Tormento…” Locura grunted. “If you got your information from him, you should already be aware that his mission to kill the ‘Daughter’ was nothing more than a hollow task. The council of the Third Division never expected success… none of us predicted that he would confess everything to you, however.”

 

With a huff, Arimane seemingly ignored the bindings and crossed his arms, startling Soledad whose arms strained. Quickly, a nervous expression settled on her face when she was made deeply aware of the fact that she was not restraining Eternal Night; he was allowing her to.

 

“Do I oppose you, huh?” The dragon reiterated. “Shortly said, I don’t,” he said. “That does not mean I don’t have any reservations about it. Your overarching goal is something I would also like to see come true. But the mixed motives of your organization… I can’t help but feel they culminate into a potential spell for disaster.”

 

Locura gazed back at the dragon in the eyes. “But would that concern you?” He fired back. “Are you going to pretend you care, Kind Demon? Nothing we do will harm your entourage. If sacrifices or whatnot were to be necessary, would you even care? You, who once terminated an entire Plane of Reality for your ambitions?”

 

“…” Arimane suddenly fell silent at that. At that moment, Locura knew he made a mistake when a wave of Slaughter Intent brushed past the skin of his neck. This threat pierced through the flesh and prickled the soul; something even a spiritual creature who lived by possessing physical bodies like a Phantasm couldn’t ignore.

 

To the side, Cetus winced and Rakna stiffened. The werewolf had long realized something about this Inner Echo Trial; the incarnation of the old man he had indirectly helped create was based on his memories of him. Arimane Reigen Blade was not an overly frivolous man.

 

Rakna had met him in his old age, a time when his bottled resentment had ultimately burrowed itself after a prolonged and fruitless rampage; leaving place to triviality. But beyond all that, there was still a justified cause as to why Arimane came to be called a Demon; and feared for it.

 

“Don’t overstep your bounds, you parasite,” the dragon growled out, his eyes sharper than ever before. “The lives I cherish and those I do not; you have no qualification to tell me what I feel for either. Had this been my real self, I would have thrown you into Kymestuos.”

 

Locura’s expression sank.

 

“I will not intervene in the Broken Depths’ scheme,” Arimane declared. “No involvement from me will produce a satisfying solution for this situation. Stopping you might prove to be more harmful than otherwise. Therefore, I will leave it in others’ hands,” he added and glanced at Rakna. “People that are more fit to shape a positive ending.”

 

“But let’s make it clear,” the dragon snarled and Soledad began to sweat as her restraints began to tear slightly. “You better be careful until the end…” He warned. “If you give me one chance, one reason to intervene, for the greater good or not, I will eliminate you all.”

 

His words trailed in the air and not a sound was made. But as the silence reached its peak, as if on cue, everyone in the spatial layer flinched and collectively turned in the same direction. Right on time, a giant elliptical breach in space opened up as if slashed by the sword of a giant.

 

Even Arimane widened his eyes in surprise, and even more so when the first person to jump out of it was a young girl with pink hair and a… fluffy impression. “It worked!” Lanata cheered happily as the sword in her arms clicked, suggesting it had just been sheathed.

 

Behind her, Kaelith appeared second, and instead of focusing on Rakna as she intended, the vixen had the wise priority to check where the sheep girl was… and land a safe distance away from her.

 

Then, like a domino, Kara, Rakna’s Guild, Cura, and the people they had been chatting with earlier like Azheim, Kryas, Zialtra, Merlina, and Caer, arrived one after another.

 

All of them, without exception, landed a few steps away from Lanata, their eyes looking at her with varying emotions, ranging from confused, scared, impressed, and… genuinely disturbed. 

 

“Eh?” The adorable sheep tilted her head as everyone stared at her, including the individuals who had already been inside the spatial layer and thus the Espectros. “Did I do something wrong?”