The Harvester

Chapter 202: Spill The Blood

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You are facing a Viscount-Class Vampire! The Title, Nemesis of the Abyss has been triggered!

+5% applied to all Statistics!

Your opponent grows angrier…

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Rakna crossed his arms as Fang kicked him through meters of stone and scrapped concrete. He coughed a decent amount of blood and for the split of a second, he was sure his ribs had pierced his lungs before being repaired right away by his Star Reinforcement.

“{This is bad, bad, bad…}” Fray mumbled as Rakna barely parried the scythe with Sonata.

[Rakna, I recommend fleeing. The current risks are not worth the results,] Alexa also piped in.

“{Listen to us for once!}” The author continued. “{This is a fully-awakened vampire; main forces of the Abyss. His speed probably reached the early 200s at this stage! And his magic is-!}”

‘Quiet,’ Rakna replied with an eerily calm tone as the vampire charged in again. With Fabled Sight flickering, even if he could not react physically to his opponent’s movements, it was perfectly in his capability to calculate and predict trajectories.

With minimal actions, he mentally controlled Sonata to turn into a Guandao and manipulated the ribbon to wrap around Fang’s blade, which immediately had the effect of corroding it. But Sonata fought it off with its self-reconstruction and Fang ultimately landed his blow off his original aim but it still opened a gash across the werewolf’s chest.

Rakna grunted through the pain and exploited this opening to shift Sonata into a sword and drive it into the vampire’s chest.

Fang howled in pain as a sizzling noise sounded from the injury he had just taken. “What?! A holy weapon?!” He yelled and grabbed onto the blade penetrating his chest. He tried to pull it out but Rakna wasn’t about to let him go so easily.

Ignoring the widening injury across his torso, he held the sword tightly and poured his mana into it to activate one of its newest perks. “[Crescent of a Falling Star,]” he uttered, and a wave of holy and star energy was shot from the edge of Sonata.

Fang screamed in pain as a golden-reddish glow cloaked him before his body burst apart into a swarm of bats. Rakna immediately staggered forward and collapsed on the ground. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands as the gash under his fur was constantly being corroded and healed by his reinforcement and nano-machines.

But he could tell that it was a losing fight on his side. Soon enough, the corrosion would reach his internal organs, and transforming his body into star energy wouldn’t do anything to save him.

‘That might have been a bit too reckless…’

“{Oh, would you like me to support that statement?}” Fray said sardonically. “{If Higure had been here, you sir would have been blasted already.}”

‘Yeah… it honestly feels good to have her out of my head.’

“{…I will snitch on you, you know?}”

Rakna snickered, which was followed by a pained groan. He pressed on his wound and breathed in to focus on something else than the pain. He swallowed several healing pills at once and clicked his tongue when he noticed it wasn’t enough. He grunted and decided to heat one of his high-level hearts. It gave him back some mana and stamina, but it didn’t do much to get rid of the corrosion.

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❮◈❯ Pain Resistance has leveled up! ❮◈❯

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‘I need to end this quickly so I can get healed,’ he thought but then grimaced as the swarm of bats began to gather. He deployed his wings wide and shot hundreds of feathers at it whilst reinforcing them with his mana. He also doubled it up by throwing one of the Eion Knives he had personally forged and improved.

The knife touched the ground near the bats and exploded in a very condensed and scorching ball of energy. Unfortunately, the bats pulled through and reformed Fang’s body, albeit slower. The vampire appeared with one knee on the ground as a glowing web of holy light was invading his chest.

Rakna snorted at the sight. “Would you look at that? It seems I’m not the only one who better not get hit now.”

Fang snarled and stood up by using his scythe as a crutch. “You… are a freak,” he uttered.

“Don’t want to hear that from a bloodsucker.”

The vampire growled and rolled his shoulders. “Regardless, you are not going to win. This self-harming strategy of yours won’t get you far,” he said and a black mist enveloped him and the glow of the holy energy receded. “You are outclassed, boy,” he declared and his aura burst out of his body.

“[Cioc Cioc… Vampirul este le ușă.]”

Rakna’s eyes narrowed when he heard the chant and his senses, far above 1 000 in his werewolf form, instantly reacted. It only took a blink, and Fang had disappeared from his view. Instead, he sensed something from behind him. He urgently put hundreds of mana into his Reinforcement and his fur and hair began to literally glow.

He tilted his head to the side right in time to dodge a curved blade coming from behind.

“{Your instinct and reaction time are impressive…}” Fang’s comment was directly put into his mind while his world perception slowed down. “{But it’s not enough to cross the gap.}”

Rakna could only watch in slow motion as the scythe’s blade rotated and was placed horizontally right in front of his head. Fang pulled it back toward himself like a hook and if nothing was done, the move would lop off the werewolf’s head.

‘[Rift Shuttle!]’ He shouted in his mind and dimensions began to wrap around him. However, the time frame he was allowed was far less than what he needed to fully activate it. The only thing he could do was hope that the dimensions would boost his movements and defense, even if just a bit.

When he saw that it wouldn’t be enough, he gritted his teeth and used the only skill that could be activated in such a short time. ‘[Artzpul,]’ he intoned internally, and right before the blade hit him, his wings released a burst of energy and his body moved to the right but the scythe continued to approach the left side of his face until it ultimately hit.

Pronos cried out as he saw blood gush out and Fang laughed loudly. He retrieved his weapon with a trail of blood following the tip and swung it again. His blade stabbed deep into the werewolf’s sides and the latter was finally carried by the force of Artzpul and Rift Shuttle.

He crashed far away on the rubbles of the sewer and building. The dimensions on him became unstable due to a lack of control and a hole formed in his abdomen, which was promptly filled up again with cold energy, but at a slow pace; hindered by the corrosion.

Pronos jumped down from his master’s mane, just a bit disoriented, and cried out worryingly as the werewolf remained unmoving on the ground with blood flowing on the left side of his face and dirtying his pure white fur.

“Hahaha! How does it feel?” Fang laughed whilst approaching the downed wolf. “I’m pretty sure I felt it pop out, haha!” He stated and licked the blood on his scythe. He grinned and cleaned his lips. “Delicious. I might just use you as a blood bank.”

Rakna didn’t reply. His eyes were closed and the fur was hiding how bad exactly his injuries were and nothing could be discerned except his breath. Pronos almost whimpered as he tried to nudge him but he was irresponsive.

Fang arrived next to him and sneered. He casually waved his scythe and planted it on one of his shoulders. But, as if it was a corpse, there was no reaction.

“What? Did you give up?” The vampire scoffed and pulled the scythe out. “I commend you for resisting my corrosion for so long. Hmm… your defense is higher than when the fight began, isn’t it? In fact, it was increasing the more I injured you… Is it a passive skill?”

His question was met with further silence and he huffed.

“Whatever, meet your end,” he added and lifted his scythe one last time. The blade erupted with a layer of corrosive magic and a bloody hue before he hacked it down. When it was about to pierce through the werewolf’s heart, a hand caught the weapon’s shaft and stopped it on its track.

Fang widened his eyes and tried to pull back but it was stuck. “How are you…? You were not that strong a moment ago,” he uttered in confusion as he failed to free his scythe from the werewolf’s grip. “Did you distribute your free points just now?”

“Free points?” Rakna’s voice echoed doubled-toned but he still did not move. “What are you even talking about? I haven’t used any of those since the Initiation.”

“Wha-!”

The werewolf’s fur abruptly darkened and faded from white to black. “I haven’t tried out this one yet.” Rakna’s voice was calm and cold but the temperature was rising very slowly. “You will be the first to see it.”

“What are you even talking about?” Fang replied infuriatingly as he did all he could to get his weapon back but no matter what he did, he could barely make it move. “How is this possible?! You are not at your First Ascent and your main attributes are clearly speed and dexterity! How did you raise your strength so much above the 100 cap!?”

“[In Between The Lows and Highs,]” Rakna suddenly intoned. “[Lies the Incarnate Mayhem of the Devourer – Spill the Blood, Ireful Descent!]” He shouted and his fur turned bright red in the span of a millisecond.

The permeating temperature rose tremendously and a horrifying killing intent came forth. Fang unconsciously shivered and before he knew; the werewolf was standing up and his wrist had been caught in the same iron grip as his weapon.

“What is this!?” The vampire was truly lost. He was being overpowered with raw strength, even after releasing the entirety of his racial powers. The Sloth Magic was also creeping up again, and some sort of invisible power was attempting to breach his mind.

“Your end, fucker,” Rakna spoke up roguishly and opened one of his crimson eyes that were filled with the shapeless manifestation of his soul power. “I just needed you to be close enough, and open enough, so that you wouldn’t be able to escape him with your speed.”

“‘Him’?!”

“Aster,” the werewolf said in a commanding tone and a titanic figure emerged from his shadow. It fazed behind Fang, yanked on his bat wings, and empaled his torso. The vampire lost his breath for a moment as a large claw stuck out through his chest. When he twisted his neck to see what it was, he met the lifeless eyes of a petrifying chimera.

“A high… undead?” The crime leader muttered. “What… do you plan to do? Is this your plan to kill me? You won’t succeed,” he stated, and to prove his words, the gaping wound made by Aster was already fuming from the high-speed regeneration. “Even with your Holy Weapon, you will at best weaken me. Us vampires are known as one of the hardest creatures to kill. We don’t have the embarrassing weakness of legends.”

“I know,” Rakna retorted and extended his hand toward the sky. “I saw it on your status. But there is one thing you misunderstood.”

“What?”

“I am the one who outclasses you,” the werewolf declared and a large portion of his internal force left his body and condensed high up in the sky. “[Watch, Volcanic Star Manifestation – External Release.]”

Out of nowhere, the clouds that had already been put into chaos by the previous spells, vanished from the sky and a strong light illuminated the whole city. Fang looked up with his eyes squinted due to light. As he had said, unlike what legends told, most vampires were actually not affected by sunlight and only the weaker thralls would die from it.

At worst, vampires only disliked the sun a bit, and when Fang saw what was happening above him, he opened his mouth wide at the sight of a burning magma star descending. It had vaporized the clouds directly around it but it was still above cloud height. In this case, it was only perceivable by them, who were right under it, while anyone else in the city would just see a strong reddish glow.

“There are few ways a star can provoke untold destruction,” Rakna said. “And one of them… is one of the most feared catastrophes ever.” He continued as the volcanic star’s lava and flames began to flow inward toward the center of the star; something that was clearly seen from below.

When the star began to shrink and dim in color, Fang realized what was happening and frantically tried to get out of Aster’s hold. “ARE YOU CRAZY?!” He yelled while the chimera held him down, stopping him from getting to his scythe.

Aster was slow and didn’t have any notable skill but his brute force attributes were high. That’s what had made him terrifying inside a labyrinth where he took the entirety of a corridor’s space to prevent any chance of escape.

“ARE YOU TRYING TO DESTROY THE CITY?!” The vampire yelled.

“No. Only you,” Rakna replied with a grin and at that point, it was very clear what he was preparing to do based on how dark the sky was getting once again. The star was now considerably smaller and most of the crimson color it was composed of originally was now pitch black.

From all around the city, people saw it descend from the clouds’ cover with a sinking feeling. They had witnessed the sky falling earlier and now, something far worse was approaching.

Even the enforcers who were sent by the city’s administration to deal with the fight were shocked to a halt. Their leader was a respected Local closing in the 400s but even he was terrified to get closer.

“What in the lord’s name is this? Who… what abomination is the source of this?” He muttered to himself as the circular void sucked in all light. Even the winds and rain of the all-encompassing storm were swirling around it like a crown.

“You will also get caught in it! Stop it!” Fang shouted again as the black hole was getting closer and closer. He was starting to feel the gravitational attraction and it was genuinely scaring him.

“Why don’t we try it, eh?” Rakna cackled maniacally and waved his hand. He used the remaining mana he had and drew a constellation with ten pivotal stars. This was the strongest sub-spell he had developed with Star Monarch. It was Tier 4 Sub-Spell.

“[Horologium,]” he chanted and an archaic clock appeared in mid-air behind him.

Rakna gently grabbed Pronos who was still a bit unsettled from what was happening. He deployed his wings and he heard the clock’s needle turn very loudly. He glanced at his surroundings that were frozen in time; Fang included.

Horologium worked very candidly. The clock would turn twelve times, each second, and perform a whole circle. In that time, anything outside of the user would be frozen in time.

However, anyone that the caster touches will be able to move once more and the caster cannot channel their internal energies outside of their bodies. It’s also near impossible to deal damage to anything so it’s a spell unusable to harm someone. But it wasn’t needed.

Rakna looked up at the sky where the black hole was still shrinking and descending. Since the spell was already cast and technically a part of him, it wasn’t affected by the time stop. Which meant that it would continue to fall.

The needle turned again and Rakna put Aster back in his ring’s storage. He gazed at Fang who was left frozen, right in the black hole’s trajectory, and grabbed the scythe for himself. He then flew off and landed on a far building when the needle had its last shift.

When time recovered its course, Fang, who was about to shout right before Horologium was cast, closed his mouth instantly when he felt his body twist in all directions. ‘Eh?’ He only had the time to think this before the black hole crushed him into a fine dust.

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Hit Task Completed!

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—

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Rewards & Experience have been put on hold due to the critical state of the Host! Receiving the completion rewards might aggravate it.

Notice: Seek Healing.

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Rakna watched from afar and when he got the System notification, he breathed in and connected his mind to the spell. If he let it roam free, innocents would get caught in it, but he could not just stop it. Dispelling this kind of spell was not that easy. Which left him only one option; implode it.

With one mental command, the black hole started spinning and deforming. A soundless implosion occurred inside of it, annihilating all matter in range, and it then expanded fast but harmlessly so until it dispersed into nothing more than a shockwave.

When the last traces of energy were gone, Rakna’s fur reverted to black and he promptly collapsed on his knees. His figure shrunk and he transformed back into a therian. Pronos cried out in terror when he saw the full extent of the injuries caused by Fang.

Several slashes had cut through Allegro, which had yet to finish repairing, and obscene amounts of blood were spilling out. The corrosion magic was still there but it seemed weaker now that the caster was dead. But by far, the worst injury was located on the left side of Rakna’s face.

The scythe’s blade had dug deep; from the middle of his nose, through his eye, and in a curve down to his ear, where it ended. The entire right side was covered in blood and there was no doubt that his left eye was gone for good. The corrosion wasn’t letting him regenerate it at all.

“Shit…” Rakna spoke weakly. “I don’t have enough energy to cast Phoenix… Alexa… you… know what to do…” He uttered and fainted right after.

[Protocol Initiated,] Alexa said with a somber and hasty tone. [Taking control of the Host’s spatial storage. Opening,] she narrated and a box came out from Rakna’s ring. The lid opened and a light flashed.

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|| ID: 034. Symbiose Type Item. Scanning Host. Urgent Intervention Required. Commencing. ||