The Harvester

Chapter 439: The Heavenly Gladiator

Chapter 439: The Heavenly Gladiator

"[Veritable Sky.]"

A golden aurora overtook the Soul Marble. Tarnished Death barreled through the sky and dragged his double scythe along the streams of light. "[Dancing Heaven,]" he uttered and swung his blades in a circle.

The aurora eddied up and down, carrying with it a faint sense of death. It struck the ground and bounced like a pebble on water, shooting straight toward Lilith with an unclear trajectory.

Her muscles contracted and she raised Gān Jiàng above her left shoulder, angling her elbow right below her chin. At the same time, an Asura arm mirrored her from her Ring. There was no name attributed to her attack as she swung and shot a blade of green lightning.

It struck and dispersed the aurora with a loud thunderclap, right before it created a delayed blast in the ground below. She then leaned forward and kicked the air, her horns sparking with energy as she charged toward the Fiend.

Her sabers were resting along her body and as she closed in, the Agni coalescing inside her horns transferred to her eyes, which she opened wide. "[Krodhi Nazar Sanrakshak,]" she intoned and, in less time than she took to blink, a high-pitched booming sound resounded.

An invisible and short-lived concentrated burst of energy left her pupils and hit Tarnished Death's silver armor by her just looking at it.

It exploded into a flurry of green flames and lightning. At the same time, Rakna teleported above with all his tails charging a granulated orb of Obsidian Energy, combusting several kinds of powers inside of it, including a halo of Lunisolar Blaze.

"[Slāṭṭar Muttu,]" he chanted and fired the 'Pearl of Slaughter'. It pierced through the Agni of Lilith and distorted the space. At the same time, Rakna mentally guided his Soul Marble, and thousands of obsidian fragments promptly flew from all directions, encasing Tarnished Death in a box of dark crystal and purple flames.

The 'Fake Ten-Tailed Pearl' exploded within its confines and shook the Soul Marble in its entirety, causing Rakna to grunt as his consumption of soul power spiked to resist it. The impact rattled the flowers and spilled the water of the rivers running through the landscape.

But despite the power of the spell that had practically ended his spar with Arimane, Lilith was not stopping her advance, and neither did Rakna believe this to be over in the slightest. And on cue, to prove them right, the blast itself suddenly lost momentum.

The cage of obsidian was then breached from the inside by a giant summoned skeletal arm, which the Asura didn't waste time attacking with the power she had charged. Six arms of Agni burst out from her Ring and stuck to each other, wrist to wrist, with their palms facing forward.

Lilith struggled as she controlled the power shared by Rakna, and a perfect sphere of lime green lightning, plasma, and fire buzzed in the hold of her Asuran limbs.

"[Asuri...]" She spoke slowly. "[Agni...]" The sphere bloated to twice the size. "[Lahar!]" She yelled and her aura exploded. The sphere erupted into a massive unidirectional wave of Agni, grazing the ground and melting the soil without touching it.

The black petals falling from the sky turned to ashes and the wave crossed the distance to the Soul Sea, where it parted the waters and ultimately died down on the horizon.

Lilith exhaled tiredly, the arms fading from behind her. Slowly, the kilometers of terrain she had cleared began to be filled with petals once more. At an even slower pace, one could also see that the Soul Marble was passively rebuilding itself.

Tarnished Death was nowhere to be seen, carried away by the wave that could have easily crushed a planet to smithereens. But as the aftermath of the Agni began to dissolve, Lilith felt horror course throughout her body.

Before she knew it, a grid of solid magical energy had surrounded her. Each section of the construct stretched and shot toward her, forming a coral-like network. They exuded an ominous aura and as dozens were about to stab into her body, an armored figure teleported in front of her.

Rakna wrapped her around his wings and the silver mist released by his wings glimmered brighter as he repeated his Quantum Leap, retreating, but not without some piercing his back and arms.

He reappeared in the sky hundreds of meters away with a grim expression. He unwillingly let go of Lilith, letting her catch herself. The werewolf's eyes were firm as he hunched forward without being able to straighten himself.

"I told you..." A disembodied voice echoed and from the area where Lilith's wave had torn through previously, a rippling gate of silver light opened, transferring a humanoid shape, and then fading to reveal a completely unharmed 'gladiator'. "You know nothing of Corruption."

"..." Rakna narrowed his eyes at the Fiend. Pieces of his obsidian armor crumbled, detaching from places that had been impaled just now.

"How...?" Lilith muttered in shock as she spotted no damage on Tarnished Death's figure. It was as if her Agni hadn't even hit. She could understand if it was his previous body which could be made and remade. But she could tell with certainty that the 'corpse' he was using was tangible.

The demoness was startled out of her shocked state by the sound of glass shattering. She snapped her head toward Rakna and saw one of his wings break. Half of it reverted to its natural state while the obsidian that covered it fell to the ground and dissolved into colorless energy.

But, in fact, the most worrying thing was still the actual wing itself. The formerly black and silver appendage was being encroached by an ashen shade of white, rendering it inert.

It didn't take long afterward for the rest of the werewolf's armor to fall off, effectively ending the spell and restoring Rakna's appearance, only to reveal more overtaken spots across his body.

With a grimace, he flexed his numb arms to summon a crackling, invisible aura. The spread of the color stopped and started receding very slowly.

"You did well in protecting the Guardian," Tarnished Death commented. "Only a Nephilim such as you could hope to shrug off 'Death' so easily."

Lilith coldly looked at the Fiend. "What do you mean?"

"He killed parts of my body, that's what he's saying," Rakna answered in his stead. "That's what he has been doing since earlier. His aura doesn't corrupt; it applies a corrupted conceptualization of death," he scoffed. "He canceled my attacks that way. Ever heard of 'killing' momentum?"

"Huh? But that's—"

"Nonsensical?" Tarnished Death cut her off with an amused tone. "Believe me, in the vastness of the world, that is a comical word, alongside 'impossible'. Even after robbing a Principle of Death, I cannot even reach the ankles of some creatures out there who wield it... one of which happens to be a member of the Dreamer's Family."

Rakna's eyebrow shifted upward, but he tossed aside this information for now. Silently, he boosted his Sub-Path skills with Obsidian Points, the latent and yet unachieved power of the Philosopher's Stone.

But right after, the familiar crackling of Rakna's wings resounded and the werewolf emerged from the Fiend's side. His body was drowning in star energy and distorted behind a blurry veil.

Tarnished Death's eyes widened as he sensed the transcendental flow of Ki and Intent. It wasn't as strong as before, but it undeniably was an attack that edged the limit of the werewolf's potential.

Rakna growled and moved his fist forward; it barely could be called a punch, after all. Just like what he had used against the Pasqat, this technique was closer to an evolution of the 'Ghost of Rupture', in the sense that it was a passive state.

After its activation, not only would it start draining the quasi totality of his internal force, but also make it extremely difficult to move even a centimeter. He believed that the day he was capable of fully utilizing his identity as the Philosopher's Stone, this martial art may just be strong enough to blow away a planet with the flick of a finger.

"[Ghost Star of Rupture,]" he gritted out and the 'pebble' was tossed. Ripples spread from his fist and for a moment, his very own attack splintered his Soul Marble, briefly creating windows to the outside world. A soft, chime-like noise echoed and Rakna's body reverted to normal.

Tarnished Death didn't crumble under the void transmutation like the Pasqat but the sheer impact was enough to break all forms of control physics had on him. In one instant, he was crossing his arms, and in the next, he vanished.

Far away, the Soul Marble was hit by a devastating 'projectile' that subsequently disintegrated the land around it, triggering a terrifying shockwave.

Rakna clicked his tongue as his arm lost its consistency; Voyaging Star struggled to repair it and defaulted to raw energetic manifestation instead.

"Did it work?" Lilith asked as she appeared beside him, Agni burning at her feet.

The werewolf squinted his eyes and his Soul Marble responded to him. "No," he said, and from the crater that had been filled up by the rivers' water, a silver-winged figure arose. It ascended slowly and then blinked out of view.

"Impressive," the Fiend's voice came from right next to them.

Rakna glanced at him and furrowed his eyebrows. The only evidence of his attack having landed was just a discoloration on the armor's chest plate; a spot that had been in perfect alignment with his fist. Lilith also became agitated at the sight.

"Whatever you are thinking, do not sell yourself short," Tarnished Death said. "The Heavenly Gladiator of the Immortal Temple... that is this body I possess. The Immortal Temple was a mighty group with few members, but unmatched prowess and each with a title of 'Immortal' in one way or another."

He raised his armored hand and clenched it. "The Gladiator was an Immortal too. And his own brand of Immortality was... indestructibility."

Rakna's expression darkened; he had already figured it was something like that but it didn't make it any better to hear it from the enemy's mouth.

"Naturally, this is nothing compared to his time in life. Otherwise, not even a hundred years of you freely attacking would have left a mark," Tarnished Death stated.

"You trapped us!" Lilith yelled as she realized the situation. "We can't 'draw blood' from you!"

"Oh, but yes, you can," the Fiend retorted with an audible smirk. He pointed his thumb at his chest where a white hue undulated. "You only have to strike my heart."

"...I used the full capacity of Rupture in that exact spot," Rakna uttered blankly. "Not even piercing damage can get through that armor and body. If you're trying to mock us, at least be honest."

Tarnished Death chuckled and in the next instant, the sound of a low-pitched gong reached every corner of the soulscape. The trio looked up simultaneously and saw the sand inside the hourglass had reached the half-point.

"Well, well, your time is running out," the Fiend commented.

"...Ranka," Rakna suddenly called and his Tenth Tail became pure obsidian before disappearing and transforming into the female form of his Doppelganger. Lilith immediately felt some power leaving her Karmic Bond.

Tarnished Death tilted his head curiously whilst the clone raised an eyebrow at her original self.

"Are you sure?" She asked and the werewolf nodded.

"Go help them. You sensed it too when my Ghost Star weakened the boundaries ," Rakna glared at the Fiend across from him. "Bhumi is about to overwhelm them, and this bastard used that window of time to cast something on top of that."

"Ah... so, you noticed," the gladiator lamented. "And here I thought I was being sly," he said with a tone full of satire. "By the time this marble collapses... I wonder if there will be anything left outside."

Ranka's expression was unmoving. She glanced at Tarnished Death, then squinted her eyes at Lilith, wordlessly communicating her encouragements, before she deployed her wings and blinked away in a flash of silver. A portal of purple flames appeared and she jumped through it.

"You didn't stop her," Rakna remarked.

"Why should I?" Tarnished Death retorted. "The battle outside does not concern me. The God of this planet is an exceptional material, I will admit. A pawn with great power. But nothing in this dream will last," he stated as the newly made exit closed. "My sole goal is your defeat. A goal you should inversely share. Don't get attached, wolfwalker. Their lives are evanescent."

The werewolf clenched his fists in response and Lilith shivered as the Neverwinter Star in the sky began to glimmer ever so slightly. "So is yours," Rakna coldly said.

"For now," the Fiend spoke ominously and raised his weapon, preparing for another round.