The Harvester

Chapter 446: "My clear stone."

"What is wrong, my cousin?" The Téras Empress asked curiously as she saw the stupefied face of her proclaimed relative. "You look perturbed."

Rakna's lips twitched. 'What am I supposed to look like then?' He retorted internally and quickly glanced at Azathoth's eye. Strangely, the Outer God's presence seemed somewhat subdued. Like a child lowering his head to look smaller. 'Is… he afraid? The Dreamer?'

The therian once again refreshed his awareness of the Téras Empress, the creature supposed to have reached the limits of her race… which were defined by Eternal Night's own limits.

'A monster on par with the old man…'

"Is it because of him?" The Empress' tone didn't change. It was soft. Unbearably so. However, the air darkened as she looked up at the sky.

Shuddering at the accrued presence she was exuding, Rakna resisted the urge to follow her gaze and what lay at the end of it. He wasn't reckless enough to risk his sanity again.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

For now, she was obviously on his side. Or at the very least, he could tell her attitude was one of genuine fondness. But even if she was willing to protect him; there was no guarantee she could cancel out the Outer God's madness.

"Dreamer… you were bullying my cousin," she spoke unhurriedly, pronouncing each word with a unique emphasis. Every sound coming out of her mouth felt empty of flaws. All frequencies she produced were tuned to be heard as pleasantly as possible.

"Atone, if you do not wish to perish," she ordered, her tattoos briefly glowing as red as her eyes.

In response to her words, a thousand more eyes appeared in the air, staring at her. There were no words contained within their irises, but Rakna was sure of it; something was transmitted. The newfound walls of his sanity had trembled.

"You should be aware that the Realms' balance does not matter to me," the Empress declared as if answering a question. Her eyes were glinting. "Regardless, slaying and swallowing you… my ambition includes them both. And Father is not here to stop me. Shall I start with you?"

For a moment, Azathoth was unresponsive. His pupils were pulsating erratically. If it was out of fear, anger, resignation, or exasperation; Rakna could not tell. But the one organ that had initially greeted him addressed him again with Original Language.

- N̷a̸v̵a̶m̴ -

Rakna nearly choked. Just one word. A very simple meaning; 'sorry'. His self-proclaimed 'cousin' had crashed in and forced the Eldritch God to apologize in less than a couple minutes.

"…"

How was he supposed to react?

The Empress nodded in satisfaction. "Cousin," she turned toward him. "You can have the Dream. The Dreamer shall content himself with some of your Karma as a token. It is required to transfer ownerships."

"…my Karma?"

"Correct."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to do that," Rakna furrowed his eyebrows.

She tilted her head with a blank expression. "You are a Nephilim, are you not?"

"Yes?"

"A Nephilim's authority is actualized by Karma. Existentiality is the power that one uses to shape the World; Karma is the power oppositely granted to living beings by the World."

Rakna narrowed his eyes. He quietly glanced at both monsters currently paying attention to him and slowly lifted his hand. A transparent aura promptly sparked around his arm.

"Essentially… this is a blessing to me from the 'World'?"

"You can consider it that way," the Empress exuded approval as if she was proud of him.

'…her emotional state is heavily deranged,' this was the thought Rakna had in return. A long time had passed since he was able to smell emotions from others. It had become natural.

While there were exceptions, such as Azathoth and Tarnished Death, who were creatures far too removed from common sense, most of the people he had met could be probed by his trait. Verias and Roias weren't exceptions. And so was the Empress as a Téras.

However, she was completely different. It was funny to him how she was explaining some of the details behind a Nephilim's power while she existed as a polar opposite.

Unlike him, whose emotions flowed inward to strengthen himself, the emotions she experienced flowed outward, unfiltered. Somehow, her mood was affecting the World around her, distorting it to look gloomier or brighter.

When she was angry, Rakna could tell with his body alone.

When she was happy to see him, he felt it.

When she was proud of him, he felt it.

'She… experiences emotions by offloading them,' Rakna frowned to himself. 'Inherently, the power she got from Meuro must reject emotions. She is Empty. Therefore, she can only feel emotions from others, who will temporarily fill her emptiness until swallowed. Did she do something similar when she talked to the old man?'

Rakna quietly gazed at the beautiful woman. '…if that's true… Meuro must be a place where she is incapable of feeling anything. On the other hand, she can feel something through others. And if the only way to get that liberation is by 'filling her emptiness'… no wonder.'

"…you want to feel something on your own," he uttered unconsciously and a violent, mixed wave of sadness, longing, hope, and pain hit him like a truck. "Ugh!" He almost had a breakdown on the spot. He bit his lip and looked up.

The Empress was quietly staring at him. Her tattoos were shining red, but her expression was as peaceful as the first instant he saw her. Her body language was empty, her eyes soft and void of a guiding light.

The flora beneath her feet was wilting, the wind was swaying weakly, the light was dimming, and even the presence of Azathoth was being removed.

Rakna gritted his teeth and clenched his heart. 'Damn it. It hurts. If I lose my concentration, I feel like I'll fall on my knees and cry every tear in my body. And she just calmly stands there; the source of it all. The incongruity between what she feels and shows…'

It was like a bitter and cruel joke.

And right after, what stopped the emotions he was receiving was Azathoth himself. The Dream shook slightly and Rakna felt himself freed. He breathed in quietly and glanced at the eye, which was looking at him as if to say, 'Hurry up'.

The Dreamer wanted to get this over with, it seemed.

"My dear cousin," the Empress spoke up, her calm demeanor carrying a whole new meaning.

Rakna wordlessly drew a rune in the air. He was uncertain of the method he could use to extract Karma. It was an idea he hadn't explored until today and those two were apparently not going to help him.

Tarnished Death had called Lilith's spell a 'Karmic Bond'. If he went by the assumption that these ideas were connected, it added up to the broad meaning of Karma. What the World grants you and the sharing of one's life; these two things fall under its umbrella.

Retrospectively, there was one more 'power' that seemed to fit. 'Luck,' Rakna thought as he drew a second rune, followed by dozens more, each of them interconnected.

Incidentally, Luck was the only attribute that Obsidian Blood couldn't manipulate.

That realization alone didn't help him, but it was enough to understand and design something capable of extracting it from himself through the Nephilim Aura. And for that, using runes as an external proxy was his best bet.

All of that made him round back to something else; the Original Language, the speech seemingly capable of affecting the World just by its expression.

Runic language was a flexible science of sorts. Like mathematics, models could be implemented into it to strengthen them. And it just so happened that modifying the runes to operate based on a paradigm of the Original Language was not hard.

Therefore, the matrixial rune he was currently drawing, crafted with 'letters' including concepts such as 'World', 'Blessing', 'Fate', 'Time', or 'End', tied together by hundreds more, turned from a reading close to 'World Consecration' to…

-- R̷a̸m̷o̶s̵ ̷A̸t̸r̵ ̵H̸i̴r̴s̴t̶ --

As the words left his mouth, the Nephilim Authority burst out from Rakna's body. It swallowed his surroundings like a storm of murky, translucent lightning. The intensity of its manifestation was the highest it had ever been, even compared to when it was resisting the System.

But it didn't last. Nearly half of it was promptly sucked in by the incredibly advanced rune, which also turned transparent as it absorbed it. Then, the rest simply returned inside Rakna, confining itself as usual.

The therian was overcome with dizziness. His thoughts were so faint he nearly blacked out. He clenched his head and gradually recovered.

He could feel something missing inside of him; like he had just torn out an important piece of his existence. Thankfully though, it should be temporary unless he had made a mistake.

"…here," he drawled out tiredly, pushing the rune toward Azathoth's eye. "Take it." It floated to it and for a moment, the Dreamer only stared, not touching it even as it hovered right above.

"You should turn around," the Empress stated softly.

Rakna sighed and complied without any complaint. The instant that he did, something struck the ground behind him with incredible force. The entirety of Haltoan's corpse tilted from the impact but somehow did not damage it as badly as it should have.

At the same time, the therian sensed his rune disappear. He was about to ask if it was done when a much smaller eldritch eye opened right in front of his face.

Azathoth's pupil languidly rotated, perpetually immutable.

- Q̴e̴s̸ ̸S̷a̵b̷a̶n̷ ̴E̵k̸l̴a̷ ̵K̴i̸r̶ -

With that last message, the eye closed and the Dreamer was gone. Faster than one could blink, the horror that had been looming in the sky vanished. How could an Outer God's departure be so trivial that it only carried as much weight as a breeze?

'…no, like a dream, huh?'

However, that did not mean his absence was without consequence. As soon as he was gone, their deal had been completed as well. Without delay, the Dream began to fall apart; collapsing upon itself and slowly closing down on Rakna as its new owner.

The therian watched the space fold and shrink.

"Should I say I'm surprised?" A familiar voice sounded from nearby once again.

Rakna sighed and looked to his left, spotting Soma leaning against a tree with a tired expression.

The Moon God gazed at the crumbling sky.

"You are stubborn too... but maybe that isn't so bad either," he snorted softly. "I do not even have the knowledge to understand what you just did. But…" With a pale and sweating face, he looked past the therian. "Can I… consider 'that' beside you… a friend?"

With pursed lips, Rakna subtly glanced at the Empress. She was quiet and patient. Her gaze was solely focused on him and she gave no reaction to Soma's words. Was she ignoring him? Was he too weak to care about? Or was it physically wasteful to even look at such a puny being?

''That'… huh?' Rakna thought. Soma's wording was clear. Furthermore, since he was a creation of Azathoth, he likely had resistance when it came to madness, so to speak. If even Ramsa didn't lose her mind by directly touching the Dreamer's limb, then it was plenty possible for him too.

But… how does he see the Empress?

To the therian, she appeared as one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, but the black marks on her body were unmistakably akin to an Outer God. So, perhaps her appearance was an effort on her part to interact with her 'cousin'.

If that was the case, there was no way to know what kind of horror Soma was seeing.

'But if it's anything like Roias' Abyss Skin, then I can't blame him for being shaken like that,' Rakna said to himself. What he had witnessed against the Téras was unforgettable.

"…don't mind it," he eventually replied. "She doesn't see you as a relevant entity."

Soma laughed lightly. "That is thrilling to hear," he jested and helplessly sat down. "…I see Ramsa showed more mettle than I did," he added as he glanced at the red-haired goddess.

"…"

"…can I ask you one last favor?" The god sighed. "While I don't know what you will do with… our world, I trust your choice. However… could you bring Ramsa with you?"

Rakna raised an eyebrow. It was hardly difficult, nor did he have any grievance about the person herself. Far from it. Not to mention Lilith had already been brought out too.

Regardless of Soma's request, he would have been willing to take most of the people inside this world if everything wasn't currently collapsing. But chances were, he could do it anytime as long as he was the owner of this Dream.

"I know what you are thinking," Soma chuckled. "This is not some kind of ultimatum. I just wish for her to get that little happiness she desires. Who knows when, or if, you will have a reason or the convenience to 'extract' us. So, please take her with you. She deserves it."

"…"

"Give her some love. Also, tell her I will take good care of her people while she is gone. I'll be sure to rebuild the relationship between our races. Only I can do that now," he snorted. "Oh and give my regards to Bhumi, will you?"

Rakna shook his head with a snicker. "I will."

"Wonderful," Soma stood back up with one hand pressing against the tree. He looked up at the fragmented sky and sighed. "I'll leave you… two alone. It seems everyone is waking up," he said and smiled. "Farewell, Rakna. Until we meet again."

With those words, the Moon God disappeared in a flurry of moonlight.

"…what a mess," the therian grunted and crouched on one knee. He held Ramsa in a bridal carry and traced an oval shape on the ground with his soul power. "[Soul Gate.]"

A soul technique that he got from the System but hadn't used before for the simple reason that it lacked utility. What it did was simply open a path toward his Soul Realm. That meant creating a direct tunnel from reality down to the depths of his soul.

It was the opposite of using a Soul Marble. With the latter, Rakna would summon his realm from inside to the outside, overwriting the World. But with the Gate, he could physically enter his soul in a somewhat paradoxical way; though if he did so himself, a very vulnerable anchor would be left behind. It wasn't a viable technique for any high-stakes situation.

However, it was perfect for this moment.

"Fray, nurse over her for me," Rakna instructed as he gently let Ramsa sink into the portal full of purple flames. Her body disappeared under the flames and the Gate quickly closed afterward.

"{Understood.}"

Rakna huffed and finally put all his focus on the matter at hand. "Sorry for making you wait."

"Wait?" The Empress tilted her head blankly. "I did not wait."

"…I see. Can I ask you something?"

"What is it, dear cousin?"

The therian narrowed his eyes. "If I asked… would you renounce your ambition?"

The pair became silent as they stared at each other.

The Dream continued to shrink around them, creating an ethereal veil separating them from the fictitious reality. It was like misty transparent walls were being built with them as landmarks.

The Empress' emotions fluctuated again. This time, Rakna was ready and managed to repel them from influencing his mind. He forcefully cut their path. "…!" However, he was startled by the one emotion that came right after; sadness. It bordered grief even.

Unwittingly, he had rejected her feelings… What he had done was no different from disregarding the worth of her opinion; the meaning of her very existence.

"Wait! I don't—" The therian wanted to speak up but she cut him off.

"No," her voice echoed loudly, yet as cold as ever. It froze him on the spot. "Whether it is you, my dear cousin, or Father, you will not sway me."

"…"

"But do not worry. I understand your plea," the Empress said softly, her hand reaching forward to touch Rakna's face. And he could not even consider taking his distance as his body refused to listen.

Gently, the Téras Empress placed her hand on his cheek. In that moment, Rakna experienced the mind of an Outer. As if mirroring the Empress, all his emotions melted away and joined the air.

Her tattoos glowed and spread slightly on his skin. And through their physical contact, he could say without embellishment; he had become one with her.

"I am happy to have been able to meet you," the Empress whispered.

Struggling to maintain his 'humanity', Rakna directed his own 'empty gaze' toward her. Without anyone seeing, a transmutative core of obsidian was spinning in his body, constantly generating energy to sate the emptiness invading through her hand.

"Why is that?" He raised his voice with an equally blank tone.

"When I learned about you, I found out I had family."

"Arimane is your family too."

"Father cannot be by my side," she retorted readily. "He is 'Unbound', but not 'Limitless'. Father is the 'Greatest', nothing more, nothing less. He cannot fill the vacuum of my existence. The only thing he can do… is put an end to it."

"…"

"But you are different, cousin." Her eyes shone brightly as their surroundings blurred. "You can remain by my side. You can fill the void; you are 'Limitless'," she stated. "I will never harm you, for you are my only family; one who will never lose to the void."

Understanding radiated from Rakna, mingling with the emotions of the Empress.

"Let me ask you something again," he uttered. "If Existence fails to satiate your emptiness, what do you plan to do?"

"I will try again," she replied without hesitation. "I will rebuild everything anew and swallow it. I will do so until it succeeds, and I shall keep you by my side, cousin," she added and caressed the therian's face. Her other hand pressed against his torso where the Obsidian Star was endlessly generating substitute energy for her to swallow instead of Rakna's body and soul.

"You can survive, right? You can be my family forever, right? You can always be my clear stone in an empty world. The void will never take it away from me." The Empress' aura became more and more volatile as she spoke. "As long as I have family, I won't be empty, right?"

Her eyes were like whirlpools as she gazed into him.

Rakna finally recognized her dearest, deepest thought. It was obsession. To her, he was the only person capable of eternally living inside Meuro by her side without dying. Someone like Arimane could survive in the emptiness for eons, indeed. Hundreds of millions of years even.

But he had limits. And even he could not fulfill the one condition: 'By her side'.

Only the Philosopher Stone, whose existence supplied itself, could remain in constant vicinity of someone like the Empress and never risk being consumed.

Before Rakna could say anything, the Dream dangerously shrunk around them. At that point, the scenery looked compressed and stretched.

The Empress retracted her hand and the therian quietly grunted as he felt his emotions return to how they should be. He stepped back to catch his balance while she began to fade away.

"The Dream is about to close. I cannot remain. As I am not the owner, it will try to trap me. If that happens, it will shatter," she spoke evenly. "My clear stone… we will meet again," she whispered and disappeared.

As soon as she was gone, the Dream fully entered Rakna's body and he lost consciousness.