Rakna played with the silver-white flame around his fingers, staring at the Earth in the sky at the same time. He had been analyzing it with Crystal Sight since earlier and shockingly, even that skill couldn’t seem to pierce through the crimson fog.
He had tried several times to dig deeper, into the Original Language, but failed every time. It wasn’t as if he was doing something wrong or even that he was being blocked. There was just not a single thing to read.
“{Is it necessarily strange? We don’t understand much about the Original Language, or what it may have to do with the Lost Era. It could be that there are things that just have nothing to be ‘read’.}”
“Maybe… I have never seen that happen yet, but there’s a first for everything. It could also tie into the fact that this is a Simulation… but there’s a thought that has entered my head ever since Soma gave me this flame that keeps me reconsidering,” the werewolf looked at the Lunisolar Blaze.
“{What about it?}”
“This is a Path Skill that directly involves my Soul Flame, Obsidian Star, and Transmutation all at once. Is Soma really capable of giving it to me like that? Or, in other words, is the System capable of using him as a medium, inside a Simulation, to make me a skill that’s supposed to be partially out of its encoding limits?”
“{When you say it like that…}”
“In fact, what are these Simulations?” Rakna muttered. “How are they made? How do they create a whole world like this for every Host running through one? What happens after the Simulation is over? The resources needed to make one should reasonably be wasteful. Unless they get recycled back into a source of power, that is. But in that case, that would mean they create true life and then kill it on repeat. That’s grim, even for me.”
“{…I believe going down that train of thought is not a good idea,}” Fray advised.
“A bad idea doesn’t equal meaningless,” the werewolf huffed and extinguished the flame by closing his hand. “I can’t ignore or disregard any oddity here because the Simulation itself is uncanny… Regardless, what I get from Crystal Sight is that there is a twisted and beyond-demonic presence inside the planet itself. Is that the corruption source?”
“{Could it be the planet itself gaining sentience? I have read that there are countless Earthen Gods outside the System labeled ‘Natural’ or ‘Inborn’ that are essentially planets gaining consciousness and life.}”
“I’m not sure… It could explain why the Earth God was so helpless though. Since his own Domain was rebelling against him, he was forced to change to ‘Demon’ instead. But it’s plenty possible that something sprouted inside the planet and then overtook it over time. Hell, it might not even have an explanation. This is a Simulation. But once again, the ‘realism’ of this place is cryptic…”
“{…maybe we’re tackling this from the wrong angle. What is ‘worse than a demon’?}”
“Hm… a Devil could have been a good answer, but that’s not accurate. Honestly, I would say a Devil is something ‘better than a demon’, subjectively speaking. What about you?”
“{Hm… I’m not quite sure. There are a lot of legends and types of monsters fitting the bill.}”
“Well, how helpful. And you, big guy? Something to say?” Rakna looked down, addressing the giant creature whose head he was sitting on.
He had jumped onto Tarasque's head after parting from Lilith and Soma. The beast hadn’t even bothered to do anything. Not only could it sense the werewolf’s authority as an Emperor, but the latter’s Beast Tongue also made it easy for animals to trust him.
And at the question, the Tarasque let out a quiet huff, breathing through its nostrils.
“Oh, come on, you big oaf. Can’t even chat a little?”
Another small growl echoed, but it was loud enough to startle a few people in the city below.
“I’ll call you whatever I want,” Rakna retorted without missing a beat. “More relevantly, how would you describe your creator if you had to?”
The large creature actually didn’t make any disgruntled noise at that. After about a minute, it gave an answer in the form of a soft snarl and the werewolf smiled in amusement.
“An idiot, huh?” He reiterated with a chuckle. “Fair enough,” he shrugged and glanced upward again with a squint of his eyes. He stared at seemingly nothing, his focus wandering in and out of the red planet.
“…big oaf, heads up,” he suddenly said and stood up. The Tarasque angled his head backward and looked up from the corner of his eyes; thousands of hazes could be seen distorting the darkness of space and approaching.
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Rakna used Crystal Sight to take a better look and almost laughed. Wide bodies, smooth skin the color of a galaxy, long and rectangular tails, flat wings, and huge maws filled with white teeth that resembled ribcages more than anything.
“What the hell is that? Space manta rays?” The werewolf jested as he extended his hand to the side and called Sonata into his grip. Lunisolar flames immediately burst around the blade and he smiled eagerly. “All right. Let’s see how this skill works out…”
* * *
“Lady Lilith,” someone called out to the Demon Marquess as she scowled at the sky.
“I know, Ramil,” she answered, the demonic living armor coming to stand beside her. At the same time, Soma came out of the small hospital behind them along with Claudius, the young King of the Moon-Dwellers who carried the Fragarach gifted by the Sentinel.
“He’s already moving…” The Moon God remarked. “But sending Reverie Eaters like this only means he’s scouting. ‘It’ has woken up and most likely realized something was wrong. ‘It’ is trying to find out what.”
Lilith bit her lip. She wanted nothing more than to charge in and fight. But the use of her Golden Rakshasa against Rakna was making her pay the consequences. After burning so much Life Force, not only was she much weaker now, but it would take at least a few more days for her to stabilize her demonic energy.
“Calm down,” Soma patted her shoulder and she froze. “And do tell your army to stand by. There is no need for us to do anything.”
The demoness was about to object when something suddenly lit up the sky. She instantly turned toward it and gaped. A giant amalgam of silver-white flames ascended outside the atmosphere and formed the rough silhouette of a nine-tailed werewolf wielding a Guandao.
It expanded in size until an incredibly pure and warm light swallowed the Lunar Capital. Tarasque erected a simple mana barrier while everyone watched in a daze as the real werewolf at the source of the phenomenon floated at the base of his creation with his six wings deployed.
Rakna gripped Sonata with both hands and purple fire momentarily appeared to fuel the lunisolar flames even more, with Spiritual Intent joining the equation on top of it.
The werewolf raised his polearm in the most textbook definition of a swinging stance. The flame giant imitated him and he opened his mouth, “[Lunisolar Executioner.]”
Heat turned to sound, like wind blowing, and the lunisolar werewolf was sucked inside its own weapon right as Rakna swung Sonata. Incongruously, the flames first contracted on themselves, as if about to be snuffed out, before they exploded outward.
The moon’s sky was overtaken by a sea of flames, their light substituting the sun. They exited the meager atmosphere, and like an avalanche, met the advance of the Reverie Eaters. Their vanguard was swept away helplessly, cremated into purple ashes.
❮ ◈ ❯
Lunisolar Blaze of Absolution has recognized an Offender of The Natural Order! Absolution shall be rendered!
The flames will never go out if they have latched onto a target. Moreover, damage and range will increase by 100% against Offenders.
---
Lv.98 Reverie Eater killed! 87x
Lv.120 Reverie Eater killed! 21x
Lv.206 Reverie Eater killed! 2x
Lv.278 Reverie Eater killed! 3x
Lv.392 Reverie Eater killed! 1x
…
Lv.--- Reverie Eater killed! 948x
---
The Philosopher’s Ardent Soul has requisitioned the Offenders’ power!
Your Soul Power has increased slightly!
You have leveled up!
---
You have gained a new Title; Demon Bane!
❮ ◈ ❯
Rakna grinned at the results and shook his wings. “Now, this is a skill I can get behind,” he cackled and flew up in a flash of silver and purple. With his three pairs of wings available and his attributes capable of surpassing 4000 with Obsidian Blood, nothing could intercept him.
He plunged through the curtain of flames and emerged on the other side, Sonata clad in them as if enchanted. His wings sparked audibly and he vanished, reappearing hundreds of miles into outer space.
Behind him, at least two hundred more Reverie Eaters were split in two, their bodies turning into glowing ashes as the lunisolar flames swallowed them whole.
“Come,” the werewolf taunted and the creatures mindlessly rushed him, uncaring or just incapable of apprehending the difference in strength. From up close, they were surprisingly big. All of them were at least five meters long, and the higher-level ones were several times larger.
They swarmed Rakna, releasing a stream of dust-like energy. Those at the far back began to charge red orbs inside their maws and the closest ones tried to chew him to bits.
Rakna punched the air with his free hand, rupturing dimensions on impact with his Internal Art, and the demonic creatures directly in front of him popped like balloons. And before the ones in his flanks could get close, he waved his wings, sourcing into their power to create a new sub-skill.
The moment his wings finished their motions, every Reverie Eater in direct vicinity was sliced into bits. “As dangerous as a butterfly,” Rakna joked and started spinning his Guandao with both hands, his arms fully extended forward.
The Eaters in the distance finished charging their attacks and simultaneously fired an orb of red demonic energy. They varied in size and power, but a few originated from the mountain-sized ones that ranked easily above level 500.
As they closed in, Rakna spun Sonata even faster; his fingers dexterously keeping the momentum intact. At the same time, silver-white flames began to whirl along the weapon until it turned into a vortex. But that wasn’t all, countless obsidian shards were mixed into it as well.
The werewolf grinned. “[Unity Craft – Cantira Cūriya, Apciṭiyaṉ Pērēj,]” he chanted and the vortex all but detonated. It swelled immensely, almost as wide as half the moon behind it, and with one last spin of its fire, began to shoot pellets of obsidian coated in Lunisolar Blaze.
The incoming orbs exploded in the blink of an eye, colliding with the barrage. Spheres of demonic energy engulfed the area between Rakna and the Reverie Eaters, but that couldn’t stop the volley of obsidian from progressing beyond it.
The black crystal shards punched holes into the Reverie Eaters and left them no chance of survival as the flames spread and incinerated them without resistance.
By the time Rakna pulled back and shouldered Sonata, everything was already over. Everything around him was void of enemies and only glimmering purple ashes floated in space. He casually raised one finger and the ashes flew to the tip of it, coalescing into one small fireball.
The lunisolar flames had burned the Reverie Eaters so severely that the very ashes they left behind were in fact their ‘everything’ transformed into soul power due to overexposure.
“Lucky fellow,” Rakna uttered as he gazed at the very last creature alive. It suffered from dozens of small wounds but miraculously hadn’t burned because the pellets that hit it had lost their flames after going through so many other obstacles.
“Burn peacefully as a prize,” the werewolf uttered and flicked the fireball.
The purple fire was far from being as ruthless as its silver-white counterpart and when it struck, the Reverie Eater was gently enveloped and silently consumed until nothing remained.
* * *
“See?” Soma said merrily while everyone else was dumbfounded at what they had seen.
Lilith’s eyes were transfixed on the back of the Sentinel, some embers of soul fire still fading from around him and his weapon. She pressed a fist against her heart and viewed the Earth.
She had already known this; despite them being enemies at first. But now, it was a conviction. That cruel but gentle power that none could escape from… She knew that as long as one stood alongside the Sentinel… victory was a promise.