The Harvester

Rakna entered the small hospital set up by the Sun Dwellers, and they stepped away from him in fear. He recognized many of them to be part of the group he had hit with Varunastra. They might not have been very injured by it, but they had received quite a shock; both mental and physical.

He ignored them for the most part, merely walking toward where Ramsa's presence was. He didn't need anyone to give him directions when his senses alone could survey the whole moon. When he opened the door to her room, he found the Sun Goddess lying in bed, a crimson robe wrapping her body while her abdomen was exposed, revealing taut bandages inlaid with runes.

"You survived. Good job," Rakna uttered dryly, approaching her.

She trembled a bit and turned her head toward him. Before she could even say anything, he swiped the air in front of him and caught something illusionary between two fingers. He then twirled his wrist and the object revealed itself to be an immaculate playing card.

"What are you doing…?" Ramsa straightened her back.

"Seven? That's more than I expected for something I did myself…" The werewolf muttered, eyeing the card. "I suppose I shouldn't underestimate my own spell," he snorted and tossed it. "[Seven of Hearts.]"

As soon as he called its name, the card burst into reddish light and enveloped Ramsa whose eyes widened in shock. The poisonous force attacking her Divinity was ejected out of her body and she began to regain strength at an unimaginable rate. In just a minute, all her injuries were gone and she felt like her reserves were up by about five percent.

"I could have replenished your energy, but that would have at least taken a Queen," the werewolf abruptly said and she snapped her eyes toward him. "How are you feeling?"

"…good," she said quietly, undoing the bandages carefully. "…thank you."

"You're welcome."

She pursed her lips and refused to look at him. "Is there… something I can help you with?"

"Yes, in fact, there is. I'd like you to overcharge the area around the Earth with Solar Energy. The more the better, but you don't have to strain yourself too hard if it's too inconvenient."

Ramsa blinked in confusion at that, looking at him strangely. "Solar…" Her eyes widened. "He gave it to you, didn't he? The Flame."

"You don't sound happy," Rakna crossed his arms.

She clenched the bed sheets and looked away bitterly. "This should not--" She stopped herself and looked down sullenly. She sighed and visibly debated what to say for a while.

"…when Soma suggested the idea to create you… a part of me was rejoiced," she admitted. "I had always wanted to be a mother… but a mistake I made when ascending to godhood barred every possibility of me giving birth."

"So, I was happy… I would have a child…" She smiled, but it quickly turned into a grimace. "But the first thing we did was train you and make you fight a war without even awakening the one power we intended you to have."

"…"

"When we learned that, I didn't feel disappointed in the slightest. Rather, I was scared; what if you died? What kind of mother would let her child risk his life?" She scoffed. "You were so hot-blooded back then; you'd jump into a fight at any given moment. For a while, I seriously considered sealing you. But over time, I was forced to see the one truth; we couldn't win without you."

Once again, Rakna didn't know what to say. This Simulation was pulling at his heartstrings a bit too many times. How deep did the 'scenario' go? At this rate, if he were to stay in this world for too long, combined with the history he unearthed with Clairvoyance, he would genuinely start to think of this woman as his mother…

'The things you've never had… those are always hard to reject,' he thought cynically.

Ramsa raised her head to look at him and tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. "So, I just fought too... I would make sure you survive. But then, Soma sacrificed himself to stop everything. He didn't even warn me. It was both a miserable end as well as a relief to me. But…" Her expression was shadowed as solar magic rippled around her, raising the temperature drastically.

Rage wafted off of her in tides. "You 'died'…! They dared to lie to my face; deny the one hope I had to become a proper mother!" Fire began to spread and some thinner objects were already melting, but Rakna didn't even flinch.

"I shouldn't have believed them!" She shouted. "I should have overturned the moon and killed them all! They stabbed my child in the back and I--!" She bit her lip and her aura helplessly died out, the rage turning into endless sorrow. "And I… failed as a mother for the second time."

Her tears began to fall for good as all the emotions she had held back when seeing him a few days prior erupted at once. "I… am… so sorry…" She sobbed.

'Aw, damn it…' Rakna grumbled internally.

"{Don't be mean,}" Fray scolded.

'That's not my intention,' he retorted and sighed. "Ramsa," he spoke up and she shuddered, wiping her tears away as if she had just noticed them for the first time. But even as she panicked, Rakna didn't stop, "Thank you."

"Eh…?" She froze in place, incapable of apprehending what she had just heard.

"A mother's worth is not determined by her failures, but by her love," Rakna stated with eyes locked onto the ceiling, reminiscing something Arimane had once told him. "Some know how to express it, others regret their inability, but in the end, whatever their limit is, if the love for their children remains strong through thick and skin, then they're great parents regardless."

She clutched her arm. "I don't—"

"Come on," the werewolf rolled his eyes. "In these cases, the child gets to decide. You say you failed as a mother? I say you didn't. Only the scum trample on a parent's love, and I refuse to be anything close to that."

Ramsa fell silent as several emotions ran through her. She fiddled with her hands and opened her mouth shakily. "Then, if…" She swallowed her worry. "If possible… can I ask you a favor?"

"What?"

"I won't… ask you to call me 'mother' if you don't want to. I myself had been calling you 'Sentinel' due to my shame. But…" She looked away nervously. "Would a hug… be possible?" She asked and Rakna audibly snorted in amusement.

For a moment, Ramsa was almost about to take back her words out of anxiety but stopped when she heard a peculiar noise. She looked up and gasped when she saw a young man standing where the werewolf had been.

He looked to be in his twenties, with long hair, purple eyes, and of course, a pair of lupine ears plus nine tails. He wore a black, red, and blue outfit that she had never seen before.

Rakna himself seemed to stare at his own hand with a pensive expression. He felt taller by quite a bit and his wolf appendages also seemed bigger. Reverting to his human form was a whimsical test he had wanted to try after her request, but he hadn't expected the age-up.

This current body was, without much doubt, his fully grown self. With that in mind, he glanced at the full-length mirror lying in the corner of the room and caught a glimpse of his appearance.

"Hah." The reflected image immediately made him chuckle.

"{…}" And Fray was oddly silent, as if speechless.

Rakna eventually pushed this curiosity to the back of his mind and looked back at Ramsa who was still dumbfounded. "Well then," he raised his voice and she almost hiccupped in surprise if it wasn't for the quick reaction of covering her mouth. The therian spread his arms. "Whenever you want."

Ramsa was momentarily bewildered. But, after recollecting herself, she tentatively stood up. Even in this form, Rakna was much taller, but she didn't even acknowledge that fact. It was as if her mind and body were detached; the former was blank as she apprehended the situation and the latter was stiff as she reflexively outstretched her arms.

And when she registered the firm yet warm embrace, the tears spilled again. This time, she didn't cover or suppress anything, allowing herself to cry.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the murky core of the Earth, its liquid iron contaminated by a dark substance, a consciousness roused as it reviewed the images transmitted by its pawns.

The creature analyzed the werewolf and its silver-white flames, and the core of the planet began to bubble, perhaps displaying an emotion of some kind.

Was it anger? Curiosity? Excitement? Fear? It couldn't be said.

But no matter what, the demons on the surface of the Earth suddenly sensed the corruption rate increase, intensifying their suffering.

The Demon King sat on this throne, almost as relaxed as he was when he sent Minos to the moon with Tarasque. Black veins pulsed in his neck as he sustained his unbending willpower. Many of his subjects scattered around their city also meditated with the utmost diligence, fighting the force of corruption with their every breath.

"To think Lord Bhumi carried this burden all on his own…" The demon whispered, looking outside one of the large panes of stained glass.

Far out into the wilderness, he could sense the power of his god growing by the second. Of course, the pillar of red energy splitting the clouds right above it was also hard to miss, especially when it continuously spread this fiendish corruption into the air.

The king clenched the armrest of his throne and narrowed his eyes. "Regret is for fools," he said to himself. "If we cannot save our God, then we will become the new lynchpin."

His aura steadily encased him, and even as he made no effort to leave his seat, every living demon on the planet sensed their king's power connecting with them. His orders; his determination; they resounded clear.

* * *

"Norio, how long will it take to create the portal?"

"An hour at most. There's interference," the demon mage answered Lilith's question. Their fellow soldiers were already running around the city, preparing their departure while the Moon Dwellers looked on cautiously.

"But are you sure about this?"

"…what is there to talk about?" The Marquess retorted with a slight pause.

Norio sighed tiredly. "Listen, I agree with you. We can't just wait indefinitely. A lot of us have family back on Earth and the more we waste time, the more lives are lost. But you do realize we might be rushing to our death right now, right? Forget helping; we won't be able to save ourselves! We don't even know anything about the enemy. Faruth has refused to join us because he knows that!"

"…" Lilith silently looked up at the satellite moons far away, on which the rest of their battle force was dispatched. She had obviously called them already but only four commanders such as her out of the seven had agreed to lead their army back to Earth. Faruth was one of them; the strongest of the eight commanders as well as her oldest friend.

"I say we try and convince the Sentinel," the mage ran a hand through his hair. "At least, with him, we can survive, if anything. You've seen that flame; that's our best shot."

The demoness breathed in deeply and looked at him sharply. "Continue with the preparations. No matter how things are within an hour from now, we will depart. Our King could be holding out on his own for all we know, I won't wait for anything."

Norio quietly returned her stare before his shoulders sank. "All right…" He muttered helplessly. "At least, we will have died trying our best," he jested half-heartedly. "We'll be ready in an hour… make the most of that time," he uttered meaningfully and walked off.

Lilith's stern countenance crumbled after he left, she looked at the building she knew the Sentinel was still in and hesitated for a good few minutes before she braced herself.

* * *

Rakna leaned next to the window and watched the demons run. They were leaving and gradually gathering outside the city walls.

"Bhumi must be proud," Ramsa commented as she sat on the bed with a small smile, refilling her reserves of mana and divinity while they had time. "His followers do not even weigh in their lives before honoring their loyalty."

"Hm…" The therian hummed in agreement and glanced at the room's door. "Something to say?" He spoke up, seemingly addressing nobody, but Ramsa also mirrored his actions.

Unlike a normal visitor though, someone directly appeared inside the room; an old demon wearing a butler's outfit. He smiled at them and bowed, "I apologize if I made myself too comfortable."

"…you're a sneaky one for sure," Rakna remarked. "But not enough for my senses."

"Nor mine," Ramsa calmly said, her usual cold expression back in place. She stood up, summoning a second layer of cloth onto herself, flailing like solar flares. "Speak. What do you want, Mino?"

"…I have decided to return to Earth as well," the butler didn't beat around the bush. "The Tarasque and I will increase the soldiers' odds of survival by a great margin. I cannot stand back."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"I'm here to plead," Mino smiled helplessly. "Would you please… save us?"

"It takes guts to be so blunt…" Rakna chortled. "Or plain desperation."

Mino could only look down. He hadn't forgotten the dynamics set in place. The Sentinel had spared them; nothing more, nothing less. It's not because he had been kind to them and that they now had a common enemy that it erased the truth of them attacking the Lunar Kingdom first.

"Oh, well," the therian cracked his neck. "I'm bored anyway," he uttered and Ramsa's eyes twitched a little, an urge to slap the back of his head almost overcoming her. Here she had been crying her eyes out because she feared her child dying, and now he was joking about risking his life.

"…Rakna," she muttered with squinted eyes.

"I know, I know," he smiled and walked directly to the door, past a confused Mino. He opened it and stepped back right as Lilith stumbled into the room with a yelp. Her face reddened terribly fast as she realized eavesdropping on someone like the Sentinel was a nonsensical idea.

However, her blush worsened when she saw his human form. She nearly couldn't stop herself from ogling. At the same time though, as he looked down, she had a déjà vu about a very similar situation just earlier today. And before she could say anything, he patted her, silencing whatever word was stuck in her throat.

"No need to plead, either of you," he said. "After all, I can't really ignore a situation I'm partially at fault for," he added and Lilith's eyes widened slightly before she beamed gratefully.

"Thank you…" She whispered. "And… I'm sorry about earlier. I was too impulsive."

"It's nothing," Rakna shrugged and glanced out the window. "Let's not waste any more time. You were going to leave in around fifty minutes, right?"

"Ah, yes," the demoness nodded.

"We don't need to wait that long," the therian declared and she blinked in surprise. Rakna turned toward Ramsa right after. "You and Soma do what I asked at my signal."

"What signal?" The goddess raised an eyebrow.

"You won't miss it."

"…" She deadpanned.

"…okay, okay, sorry. I've always wanted to say that," Rakna rolled his eyes. "But I wasn't kidding. I will be summoning something you literally can't miss. The moment it happens, I want as much solar and lunar energy as possible."

Ramsa sighed. "Understood. And…" She pursed her lips as if the words she was thinking of were a completely new form of communication. "Take… care of yourself... Don't get hurt."

Rakna's lips twitched upward. "You drive a hard bargain," he said and stepped over the doorstep right as he remembered something, "Oh, right. Before I go, I have something to ask you. I have been trying to store Solar Energy like Lunar Energy, but it doesn't seem to work. Any advice?"

The Sun Goddess scowled and crossed her arms. "You mean with your tails?"

"Yes."

"…that won't work, silly," she made a small smile, surprising Lilith with the softness she could hear in it. "Think about it. Don't you have other catalysts that are much more compatible?"

Rakna blinked at her dumbly and then face-palmed. "I'm an idiot…" Those were the last words he said before walking off and Ramsa sent him off with a chuckle.

* * *

Rakna landed on a rooftop, back as a werewolf. In this Simulation, he honestly felt better this way than otherwise. It was as if his 'default' transformation had been swapped.

He looked up at the Earth and deployed his three pairs of wings. He promptly began to manipulate the solar energy around him and redirected it to his back.

? ? ?

You have learned a new Path Skill; Solaris Cosmos!

---

Solaris Cosmos

For each wing grown, a bank of 3 000 Solar Points will be created. It can be used as a substitute for mana, a boost in statistics, solar skills, raw application… The stocks can be recharged at any place with solar energy present. Cooldown: None.

Note: 1 MP is worth 2 SP.

? ? ?

"As simple as that," he laughed lightly and began to warm up. Several colors sparkled around him like electricity as he stirred all of his energy types into activity.

"{So? What is the plan?}" Fray asked casually.

"Well, of course. The strategy my old man loves the most."

"{…which is?}"

The werewolf smirked, "Blow it up."