The Harvester

Elemental Intent Embodiment. In the world of martial artists, this achievement was a milestone that transcended the boundaries between magic and physicality.

Spiritual Intent is a chaotic force of Ki and Willpower. Imbuing it with the elements within one's soul was not achievable by just anybody. Body, soul, and mind must be one, and wielded with great mastery.

However, it is known that most users of Elemental Intent use weapons as mediums. Spiritual Intent originating from one's own body requires a much greater understanding and carries an equivalent number of risks.

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You have gained temporary enlightenment into the realm of Transcendentals!

Due to your High Luck, you have not received any permanent damage!

Your divinity has increased!

Rippling Ghost of Rupture has absorbed the proficiency, Spiritual Intent Mastery!

All techniques of your Internal Art can now be passively enhanced with Spiritual Intent and imbued with your elements at will.

For this achievement, you are rewarded five points for the Unique Statistic, True Damage!

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You have induced great amounts of awe into the hearts of hundreds of people!

You have induced momentary fear into the heart of Tarnished Death!

The World Is My Cradle is absorbing the existential force!

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You have leveled up! 7x

❮ ◈ ❯

"…I am surprised."

Rakna looked away from the System notifications when he heard Tarnished Death's voice. He took to the air and looked at where the Fiend and Lilith faced off; his right arm slowly being rebuilt with nanites and star energy.

Tarnished Death stared at the werewolf with heightened seriousness. "For a moment… you made me relive quite an unpleasant memory. One that marked my demise once. But you are still nothing compared to that bloodthirsty seraph and his Cruel Arts."

His eyes were much more focused now as he kept Lilith and Rakna in his sight. Black magic circles whirled into existence around him and his miasmic aura condensed, filling up with death force.

"You caught me off guard," he admitted calmly. "That will not happen again."

As if on cue with his words, two giant pits opened on the surface of the planet. They caved down as if the ground itself was being sucked into a swamp. The corrupting aura was siphoned into their centers and without a single delay, two more undead Pasqats clawed their way out.

Lilith grimaced as the creatures rose from both her right and left. They were significantly smaller than the previous one, perhaps three or four times bigger than Tarasque, but their aura was more ominous somehow. 

Rakna glanced at them, visibly unperturbed. "[Spilling Blood and Smothering Death,]" he chanted instead and converged some of his Obsidian Points into his missing arm. It regrew instantly but he quickly noticed that it wasn't flawless. 

The strength he could put into it was capped at the base amount that the Simulation had given this body at the very beginning; it was isolated from the rest of his body. Obsidian Blood couldn't get it over 1000 in Strength, no matter how much he tried. The healing properties of his Physique, Solar Energy, and Star Reinforcement also didn't appear capable of fixing it.

"You do not recklessly traverse Transcendence without backlash," Tarnished Death spoke up, noticing the way the werewolf eyed his own arm. "You are not ready to wield Existentiality."

"…sorry, but I'm quite the Law-Breaker," Rakna quipped and his arm crackled. A colorless aura of 'authority' flowed through his arm and the threshold began to recede by one every tick.

"A Nephilim... you truly are a perfect vessel," the Fiend said somberly, but the new information only made him more determined to snatch the werewolf's soul for himself. In that instant, one of his new Pasqats swiped its tail with extreme speed.

Rakna's instincts rang and he immediately batted away an unseen attack with Sonata. Behind him, a split in the very atmosphere sucked in the air before turning into a short-lived shockwave.

"This one's different…" He muttered with a frown. Now that he looked closer, the Pasqat that just attacked him had a silver hue coating its bones. The other had a gold one instead too. He was about to use Crystal Sight on them but they moved faster than he expected.

Under the slowed-down vision of Eye of Symphony, he noticed pulses of magic and death force bounce off each other, each coming from one of the two Pasqats. On collision, an ethereal spark nearly blinded him and before he knew, the two undead overtook the sky above him.

One of them locked him in place with space and the other struck with incongruous speed, almost as if it was manipulating time around itself.

'Helix II!' Rakna shouted in his mind and a plain hexagonal shield appeared above him. The claws of the Pasqat didn't immediately break it, but instead sunk through as if the Assembly was elastic. That gave the werewolf enough time to overpower the spatial restraints and thrust Sonata's lance form.

"[Crescent of A Falling Star.]" Wielding his weapon with his left hand, he released its perk against the skeletal beast. A massive burst of purple Star Energy promptly pushed it back. But due to the sheer size of the Pasqat, it barely managed to match its claw's size.

Without wasting a second, Rakna outstretched his other hand and his magic crest appeared along a string of runes. Ten miniature stars fused into one and spiraled. "[Natcattiram Cataract.]"

The bombarding spell was launched with a boom. It tore through the Pasqat's hand, flying toward its skull with a purple trail, and blowing up into a hill-sized four-pointed star. 

Carried by the momentum and shrouded in purple flames, the creature began to lean backward while its twin partner suddenly teleported behind Rakna with several bones along its arms jutting out and charging colorless energy as if they were cannons.

Rakna turned around as it fired at him and opened his palm. Energy rapidly flooded through his armor and coalesced into a granulated orb. "[Slātta Raja.]"

The oversized spells met halfway, but instead of colliding, the Pasqat's spatial power swallowed the Obsidian Star and created a swirling vortex. The werewolf's eyes widened and his wings began to spew silver mist.

Like a whisper, the maelstrom exploded and for a short second, something akin to a reverse black hole of pure repulsion was born. The Pasqats' bones cracked as they were blown away and Rakna, the closest to its epicenter, felt his armor crumble faster than he could keep up with.

Barely a millisecond spent within the blast and his body almost disintegrated. It was just in time that his Quantum Leap got him away. But even after relocating and performing a minimal jump into the future, he couldn't escape the effective range of the vortex as it imploded.

Ultimately, almost less than a second after Rakna's and Pasqat's assault fused, the werewolf found himself crashing down like a meteor as the Earth distended like a balloon from the impact.

"Rakna!" Lilith exclaimed in worry as she looked away from a deadlock with Tarnished Death who easily blocked her swords with his staff. They too had been pushed away but had been too far from the surprisingly limited range of the phenomenon.

"Don't get distracted, Guardian," the Fiend warned, and the heart on his staff resonated with the countless rubbles forming under them due to the ravaging earthquake that threatened to split the planet under its own gravitational force. 

The many boulders were swallowed by a black-and-white aura before transforming into ominous branches resembling corals. They proliferated at a rapid pace until they shot toward Lilith like snakes aiming to impale her body.

She gritted her teeth and held Gān Jiàng with its tip pointing downward. The black saber glowed and the grooves carved into its blade were ignited with green flames, almost like propulsors. Lilith held it in place and a spherical field burst from the blade, akin to a shockwave. It immolated each branch with Agni Fire without touching them.

Tarnished Death let out a small scoff and pointed his staff forward. A dozen of black magic circles overlapped each other instantly in front of him. "[Napaltu Šarri,]" he practically whispered and a ray of white and black energy ripped through the air.

Lilith raised Mò Yé this time, and the white sword's inverted blade invoked some kind of ethereal shield. The ray of death, but also strangely of life energy, struck against it and the Asura grunted as she was pushed back several dozen meters until her defense eventually prevailed.

The Fiend calmly watched as his spell was bounced off right back at him. Without urgency, he just blocked it with his hand and effortlessly absorbed it.

"…those weapons," he narrowed his eyes. "The wolfwalker gave them to you, did he not?"

With a sneer, the demoness didn't say anything. However, at that moment, a strong wind suddenly blew throughout the planet. The weather was now catching up with the devastation and a massive thunderstorm was growing in the sky. 

But Lilith saw something else that startled her. The two Pasqats were standing up, the force that animated them not any weaker than before. And most crucially, their broken and lost bones were being put back into place as if time was rewinding itself.

"The Twin Primals of Silver and Gold," Tarnished Death abruptly spoke up. "That is what these two Pasqats used to be called in the Lost Era. One wields Space, the other Time. Together, they possess control over the fabric of the material world."

"You…" Lilith's expression darkened.

"Naturally, this Dream does not allow them to exhibit their full might," the Fiend added. "It also applies to me. Currently, they're much more fragile than the one from earlier, but their abilities practically make them immortal."

"…that won't be enough," the Asura declared after a short second, even as the undead afar roared to the sky when they were completely healed. She sharpened her gaze with faith. "The Sentinel is not that weak."

"Hmph," Tarnished Death huffed and slightly inclined his staff. But a distorted voice along with a loud thunderclap made him pause.

"[Pitying Fairness and Collecting Hearts.]"

This was the penultimate verse. Everyone in range could feel it; the oppressive presence of a soul ready to manifest into the World.

At the same time, the thunderclouds in the sky began to roar even louder; unnaturally so. Arcs of turquoise lightning flashed from within the dark blanket and, instead of rain, freezing snow began to fall.

"[Valkal,]" one word was said as the werewolf's silhouette ascended from the ground, a Guandao in his hand releasing the same shade of blue as the fulguration above. His splintered armor bled soul ashes and his eyes flickered.

In the blink of an eye, a giant formation made up of advanced runes formed in the sky without a warning. It revolved in the air as it gathered mana into itself.

"[Philosopher Craft,]" Rakna intoned. "[Eṇṇiṟa Paniyin Idam.]"

These words proclaimed the smiting. The runes flashed and fused with the clouds before a rain of turquoise lightning bolts struck the planet.

The Pasqats sensed the danger and tried to shield themselves, but before they could do anything substantial, with thunder shaking the air, thousands of miles of terrain were turned into a frozen wasteland sparking blue electricity.

The two undead beasts were encased in ice, stuck in the position they had when two particularly large bolts struck them directly.

Rakna teleported near them and displaced the vapor in the air. He lifted Sonata slowly and scales of obsidian grew on the blade. "[Ekīyattin Naṭukkan,]" he chanted and swung. The Guandao split the cold fog with its edge and the frozen Pasqats tumbled as they were bisected.

Lilith, who watched it all, sweated nervously. While she did trust him with her life… did he have to continuously keep doing things that kept breaking her worldview?

"…" Tarnished Death remained silent. He whirled his staff and conjured a giant black skeletal hand in time to block a rapid attack. Hearing the buzz of Rakna's armored wings, the Fiend and Lilith saw him appear as if a mirage.

The necrotic hand that blocked Sonata couldn't hold more than a second before it was destroyed in a burst of Spiritual Intent. Clenching his fist, the werewolf followed up with a punch powered by his Internal Art, but shockingly, Tarnished Death stopped it with his palm.

Rakna's eyes twitched slightly at the strange nullification of his attack. It reminded him of Roias to some extent, but this time around, his energies weren't dispelled. Instead, it was as if a perfectly equal counterforce had caused a mutual dispersion.

"Your magic is fascinating," Tarnished Death finally commented. "Did you transmute lightning and then unify it with your star? And that last strike… you transmuted space and time?" His tone sounded affirmative rather than inquisitive as if he couldn't be wrong about his observations.

"…"

"Sadly, for you, it's not enough," the Fiend said and Rakna wordlessly glanced over his shoulder to see the undead halves floating and mending themselves. His ice was also cracking. "The Twin Primals are crippled as I am by the Dream, but their supremacy has yet to fade. Together, they mold the material dimension. If they were living beings, you might have indeed killed them in this manner, but… they have already perished."

Tarnished Death pushed the werewolf away with his aura and glided backward until he landed on the center of a tangible magic circle. "You may remove parts from space and time all you want, my undead can function with missing pieces. If there is nothing to attach their arm to, then they will change the design itself."

As he spoke, the Pasqats were already half free from the ice and their bones were falling from their sockets like the limbs of a doll. The two undead promptly began to fuse; attaching arms to places none should be at or breaking apart their skulls to make a bigger one with the fragments. 

"Hah, what a shoddy welding job," Rakna snickered as he watched. "But I have had enough of your puppets for today."

Tarnished Death opened one eye inquisitively but then heard something from above. His fog-like body fluctuated and his concentric pupils glowered in annoyance.

"I have already called someone to deal with them," the werewolf added and on cue, the giant figure of Tarasque crashed on the chimeric Pasqat with a palpable upswell of gravity magic. The ground rippled like water and Astraea was spotted on the beast's head.

"Egregore…" The Fiend muttered with a keen tone. "I see. If it's with the help of that beast, they may indeed manage to occupy the Twins for a long time. Weakened as they are, gravity is a very exploitable weakness. But what stops me from summoning more, wolfwalker?"

With a tilt of his head, the Earth immediately began to bloat like self-animated clay. There was no doubt that he could raise even more undead at any moment.

"As I thought. I don't know how you do it, but you treat the entire planet like a corpse," Rakna said and waved his hand, purple flames surged from his body and created a circle around them. At the same time, the ground stopped moving. "But it's too late."

Tarnished Death 'frowned' when he felt his summoning be interrupted. No mere soul power was enough to do that. It was as if he had been isolated from the World. "Ah… I remember. That was a Cōl Lāli, wasn't it?" He exclaimed in realization.

"Astraea!" The werewolf shouted steadily and the goddess perked up in the distance. "Hold on for just a little. Same for you Tarasque. It'll be over before you know it."

"Yes, Lord Monarch!" She responded devotedly and the beast she rode huffed through its nose.

"Are you sure of yourself?" Tarnished Deah asked with genuine wonder in his tone. "Welcoming me to your soul… Do you not realize the danger?"

"Please… let me worry about that," Rakna joked. "It's not the first time I've been reckless," he said and with the last of his soul perfectly encapsulating them, he spoke the final verse.

"[The One, They Offer Harvest.]"

For a moment, Lilith and Tarnished Death only knew fire.

As his Soul Marble began to encroach the World, Rakna gave one last glance below, his Cross Sight glowing. Embers of Lunisolar Blaze independent from him reacted to his gaze, hidden deep within the soil. '{Get ready,}' he mentally commanded right before he plunged into the Ardent Flames.

Thousands of silver-white eyes opened underground as soon as he left.

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