The Harvester

Chapter 246: The Sentinel’s Power

Lilith didn’t know what to expect from fighting the Sentinel. Perhaps, in the back of her mind, she was aware that she didn’t stand a chance. But when she saw those crimson bones ‘sprouting’ on the werewolf’s face, she almost lost all hope.

This red mask, mirroring even the jaws and fangs of the Sentinel, was making her feel like a wolf had already wrapped her neck in its maw, ready to chew it out. It only took a millisecond of contact with the purple glow shining through the mask’s eyes for her to feel defeated.

And it wasn’t only just the werewolf’s face. The bony material was spreading around the Sentinel’s body, covering specific parts. A thin articulated bone appeared on each of his tails and some more around his claws; his hands and feet alike. His shoulders, his legs, his arms, and his elbows…

It was like an exoskeleton. But this wasn’t meant to increase his physical strength. No, this skeletal armor was both releasing an aura of dread and feeding on the fear that it caused, channeling it to the Sentinel’s convenience.

‘Feeding…!’ Lilith came back to her senses as she realized this. Her tunnel vision disappeared and she finally could see that thousands of her men had begun falling on the ground like puppets losing their strings. “Don’t look at his mask! If you can’t resist his aura, then don’t look at him at all! He’s feeding on your fear!” She bellowed and directed her hand at the sky, summoning a magic circle that linked every demon together.

The moment she did that, her army regained their senses, but some still vomited.

“Rallying Magic… As expected of one of the strongest demon commanders,” Rakna commented as the army recovered from his mental attack, The Mask of Phobos moving with his mouth. “It won’t work as well for me now that you created a hive mind capable of sharing mental fortitude.”

Lilith stared at him who had yet to make a move. ‘Is he showing mercy? Is he giving us a chance to resist?’ The demoness couldn’t help but think. ‘No… not even a second passed since he donned this mask. It simply happened too fast. Before I could even react, a quarter of my legion fell.’

“Come, Lilith Yamul,” Rakna uttered and retracted Sonata behind his back and faced forward with his left palm.

The demoness inhaled and released her demonic aura, reinforcing herself. Her twin sabers shone and she disappeared from her spot in a blast of flames. She appeared in front of Rakna and brought down both of her blades.

Rakna blocked it with the shaft of his Guandao and the ground under him gave out. A short second passed without anything happening until the force behind the blow caught up to the speed it was dealt out, sending a shockwave that razed a large portion of the Red Forest.

Lilith’s arms strained under the rebound and she grimaced; the Sentinel had barely moved from her attack. She pushed herself away with one saber and used the other to slash diagonally. Rakna responded with a smile and used one of his wings to block it.

The demoness’ eyes widened and in the next moment, she was kicked in the stomach, the disparity in size and strength making her cough blood as she flew away. Right after she was pushed back, a hail of magic missiles whistled through the air toward Rakna.

He looked at them with a calm eye and intoned, “[Wrath Demon.]” He activated the active skill of Ireful Descent and the magic landed on him, creating a chain explosion that stopped the rain from falling for a short moment.

Lilith recovered her balance at about the same time and looked back stunned as she felt demonic energy coming from within the detonations. For some reason, she also felt angrier and eager to attack the Sentinel. ‘Is that a…?’

Just like she feared, the werewolf stepped out of the flames with barely a scratch on his fur. There was also a sort of transparent purple wraith floating above him; releasing waves of demonic aura. This was the aggro skill of Ireful Descent; a Demon of Wrath that attracts animosity unto its user in exchange for a 50% increase in Magic and Physical Defense.

Rakna waved Sonata and cleared the smoke of the magic as he beheld half of the army rushing at him; incapable of resisting the taunting force. He huffed and star-flashed in the middle of their lines and instantly bisected a dozen of demons with one swing.

He twisted his body to dodge a magic bolt passing by his ear and then deflected the sword of a large demon even bigger than him in size. He extended his claws and beheaded the large soldier with ease.

He conjured swords of star energy and stabbed them into the corpse before kicking it away into the crowd of demons where the swords exploded at his mental command. He continued to weave through magic and blades for half a minute before he stomped on the ground and lifted chunks of earth into the air.

He opened his palm and charged a sphere of energy circled by a ring. He jumped in the air and as he fell, he put his palm parallel to the ground. “[Natcattira Kirīṭam.]” The spell was conjured and the halo of energy expanded outward and reaped the lives of every demon in the direct vicinity.

Rakna landed after the ring finished expanding and with minimal movement, he raised his weapon and parried a pitch-black sword that was aiming at his neck. He glanced at its wielder, a tall ebony knight, and grunted.

“The Knight of Sound. Ramil, was it?” Rakna uttered and pushed the sword away before extending his hand in the demon’s direction. “[Natcattiram Cataract,]” he intoned, his words being spoken in less than half a second, and a rotating amalgam of hoarfrost energy shot out of his hand.

Ramil grunted as he was carried away by the spell. The pressure from the mana contained inside alone was enough to make some of the demons it flew over falter. When it reached a certain height in the sky, it exploded and temporarily cleared away the thunderous clouds, showing the view of the distant Earth for a few seconds.

Rakna didn’t even bother looking at it and instead spun around and once again blocked the sword of the same knight. The werewolf and the three-meter-tall black armor stared into each other’s eyes before they jumped away from each other.

“A fitting title…” Rakna muttered as he casually batted two wings to the side where a new wave of magic spells was coming his way. At the same time, he positioned a third wing to shoot a volley of feathers that found their target in the hearts and heads of demons. “You ride sound waves; you can lock onto a sound and appear anywhere it reaches. Efficient teleportation; albeit stuck at the speed of sound.”

Ramil didn’t reply, the eyes sockets of his armor as empty as always.

“You just rode the explosion of my spell until here… An interesting Nirvana Skill you have. Almost makes me want to take it for myself,” Rakna said with a huff. “Sadly, you don’t have a heart for me to eat, do you? An empty armor that you are, after all…”

The knight bent forward and used his sword to scrape his armor. The screech resounded and in a split second, he was already behind Rakna, thrusting his sword. But when the tip was about to hit, it went through a hazy afterimage.

“Slow,” the werewolf uttered as he reappeared behind the living armor and threw a fist instead of using his weapon.

“[Rift Shuttle.]” The dimensions coalesced and collided with the demon, crushing its chest plate to reveal its insides, or lack thereof, and sent him hurling. Dimensions didn’t make any sound and he was unable to catch himself until he crashed in the middle of the army’s back lines.

“[Million Cries,]” an unknown voice echoed and Rakna hastily looked up to see a demon with scholar-like attire aiming his staff at him. Then, with a flash, a massive bolt of yellow lightning struck. Immediately after, a noise like a million birds chirping invaded the battlefield and melted the moon’s surface for hundreds of meters in a linear path.

Rakna grunted and star-flashed out of the lightning’s range. He took off to the skies with one of his wings fuming and a part of his skeletal mask cracked. ‘The Mask almost shattered,’ he thought and used Artzpul to dash at the newly arrived mage.

“Hah! Don’t underestimate me, Sentinel!” The demon laughed and threw his staff into the air. He then extended both of his hands forward and condensed a sphere of lightning. At the same time, his staff began to float above him and created a second sphere.

“[Billion Cries!]” The two spheres then combined and launched a wave of lightning that traveled kilometers through the sky, swallowing the werewolf’s figure. The mage then let himself fall to the ground where Ramil slowly stood up, his armor mending itself.

“You’re late, Norio,” the knight spoke with a low voice.

“Yeah, well, you were the ones who started fighting a freaking urban legend while I was trying to work around the Shrine’s defenses!” The mage retorted. “If I had rushed to pause my work, I would have triggered a trap that could have killed me.”

“It’s not the time to bicker,” Lilith shouted as she joined them and turned to her army. “Mage Corps! Start casting again! Healing Corps! Erect your barriers! Soldiers! Reinforce yourselves!”

The demons followed her orders without delay. They all knew it wasn’t over. They still could feel it; the dread and the wrath that taunted them. Soon enough, the residues of Norio’s spell vanished and left the place for the sight of a massive golden shield with wings protecting Rakna.

“[Star Hearth – Aegis,]” the werewolf muttered and the star construct faded away. “That was a powerful spell. Had it hit, it would have made some damage. I commend you, Norio of Tribulation.”

The mage laughed bitterly and clenched his staff. “‘Some damage’, eh? Mighty humble of you.”

Rakna snorted in amusement and raised his hand to his mask. The skill had reached its limit so he waved it off. The Mask of Phobos scattered and the demons instantly felt like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

“It’s time to stop playing,” Rakna then declared and his tails began to glow pale blue. Motes of light suddenly came out of the moon’s earth and were absorbed by them.

“Lunar Energy…” Lilith said gloomily. “Mages! Attack!” At her command, hundreds of magic circles came into existence and conjured all sorts of spells. Norio himself also slammed his staff on the ground and summoned thousands of small lightning bolts.

Rakna watched everything approach and turned Sonata into a greatsword. He gripped it with both hands and poured mana into it. “[10 000 Nights of Severance,]” he intoned and swung his blade horizontally. Then, to the shock of the demons, the array of magic elements split and passed over and below the werewolf, who didn’t move a single step, before exploding behind him.

“No fucking way…” Norio mumbled. “That weapon can cut magic?”

“It’s the Rhapsodic Sonata,” Lilith said. “The Sentinel’s weapon. Barely anything is known about it other than it’s unparalleled. That’s what the Moon Dwellers had sealed into that coffin…”

“Are you ready, demons?” Rakna spoke up and his greatsword turned into two katanas. He pointed one of them at the clouds and a magic formation appeared at the tip.

“[Mystic Hoarfrost Blizzard.]”

When these words left his mouth, the climate across the entire moon changed. The clouds that had been summoned by Neptunia whitened and the rain turned into crystals. Then, the wind picked up and began to form a snow tempest with sharp crystalline ice spinning around inside of it.

Not only that but the previously fallen rainwater also turned into ice and the demons, even with all of their physical prowess, began to feel the merciless bite of the cold as the water froze on their very skin as well as at their feet. And to worsen it all, the air turned into fog and they lost sight of their enemy.

The mages and supporters promptly extended their magic to keep the frost away and the winds that threatened to shred them into pieces from the crystals formed from the rain.

“Norio! Can you dispel this?” Lilith asked as the trio of leaders stood back-to-back. They honestly couldn’t believe how good the Sentinel could hide his presence. They couldn’t sense anything at all from within the fog.

“No! This guy is fueling mana to this as we speak! He’s gathering Lunar Energy and pouring it into this spell. If it was a regular spell, I could counter it. But this will not stop as long as the Sentinel continues to power it. Not to mention that the Mystic Mana makes it at least two times harder.”

The demoness clicked her tongue and conjured a tsunami of fire to fight against the storm of cold and ice. Norio began to do the same and a distance away, Ramil noticed something odd. His helmet twisted as he looked at the ground where a black mist was mixed with the fog.

“This malignance…!” He mumbled. “Commander! There’s a–!”

“[Union Magic,]” Rakna’s abrupt chant interrupted him. His voice was omnipresent as if it was coming from every direction. “[Frosted Sloth – Niflhel Niflheim.]”

Immediately after, the screams of demons began to be heard and telepathic reports of the Sentinel cutting down soldiers and summoning dozens of wolves were thrown around. Simultaneously, the effects of the unnoticed black mist made themselves clear.

Many of the demons became light-headed and some even dropped their weapons out of the sheer drowsiness they were suffering. The link that had been made between them by Lilith’s Rally Magic was the only reason they hadn’t all fallen asleep already.

The marquess witnessed her men drop to the ground without even sustaining an injury and the desperation finally began to set in.

“We had no chance from the start…” She said bitterly. She couldn’t help but admit it. She, herself, had obviously no chance on a one on one but what she didn’t realize fast enough was that an army was even more of a bad matchup for the Sentinel.

“Lilith!” Norio yelled. “Snap out of it! We need you!”

The demoness scoffed. “I’m not giving up, Norio,” she said and clenched her sabers; their edges glowing. She started walking toward where she was hearing the screams and cloaked herself in flames.

“I’m merely resigning to our fate…” She muttered and halted briefly. She glanced at her old-time friend and smiled sadly. “I leave the lives of our men to you. This is my last order; retreat while I distract him.”

“What are you-?!” Norio closed his mouth and covered his face as a pillar of golden flames erupted where Lilith was standing, clearing away the blizzard until the clouds.

Hidden inside the fog, Rakna’s eyes widened as he felt the sudden increase in aura. He acted purely on instinct and triggered Rift Shuttle, hastily covering himself in dimensions. The next thing he knew; his left arm and the three wings behind it had been cut in two by a flaming saber.

The katana he was holding lodged itself in the ground and he swiftly used the other to clash against a second saber. His eyes met his assailant’s and his expression became far more serious.

Lilith gazed back at him with eyes tinted with gold and a pair of blazing golden demonic wings on her back, “[Golden Rakshasa.]”