237. Soul Stele

“…what the hell is going on?” Rakna deadpanned. He was standing amidst a boundless land of ice and frost, a storm of snow constantly covering the land. There were incredibly narrow mountains of ice in the distance, reaching over the strikingly white sea of clouds.

Despite the incredible landscape, it wasn’t what Rakna had his attention on. He was instead staring in utter confusion at his friends who were surrounding what appeared to be the dead body of his clone, stuck in its werewolf form.

There was obviously also Pronos who slithered toward him in his giant state and tried to snuggle his nine heads against him. Rakna snorted softly and rubbed one of his nuzzles. “You became quite big, huh, little guy?” He uttered, much to the Hydra’s mortification. It seemed that clone or not, he would be called like that no matter how much he changed. “So? Can I have my answer now?”

“Uh… kaboom?” Allan helpfully said whilst rubbing his arms due to the cold and the girls sent him a flat look. “What? He usually understands. Look,” he said and pointed at Rakna who was looking at the sky in thought.

“Ah?” The therian let out a sound in realization. “He self-destructed?” The therian tilted his head as he jumped down from the slightly higher terrain that he was standing on compared to his group.

As he landed, everyone snapped their heads toward Allan, clearly meaning to ask how Rakna could have possibly understood this outlandish description of the facts but the blonde shrugged. “I have no idea how he does it either.”

“By the way… some of you seem to be mad at me?” Rakna worded it into a question as he smelled the emotions coming from them, especially Flavia who wasn’t trying to hide it. But, to his surprise, he sensed some small amount of dissatisfaction coming from Nyx as well. Though she didn’t show it on her face at all. “I guess I did something quite grave if even Nyx is annoyed…”

The night goddess’ expression twitched minutely

“Oh, really?” Flavia said and raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be able to deduce why already?”

Nyx hummed. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I am aggravated… it simply left a bad taste in my mouth to witness that.”

Rakna sweatdropped and carefully approached his dead clone. “Let me fuse with it… also, it would be best for you to shield yourself from the cold, Marie,” he said as he placed his hand on the leg of the lifeless werewolf. Right after, the nanobots composing its body began to displace and fuse with his arm.

“Marie?” Allan turned around where the lamia had been standing after the transfer and narrowed his eyes in seriousness when he saw her slight trembling and her pale face. He sighed and put his hand on her head. “[Void Shroud,]” he intoned and an invisible force enveloped her. “I erased the concept of cold from your body. Don’t hesitate to tell me when things are like this… Don’t worry about useless stuff like bothering us.”

The lamia blushed and looked away as color returned to her face. “It’s nothing like that, idiot… It just felt humiliating to have to ask help for something as small as this.” Allan shook his head with a sigh and the others looked at the two with a small smile hanging on their lips.

“Hm, but this Plateau is indeed quite extreme on the body,” Nyx commented as she looked around at the whitened horizon. “The temperature is more than just a few digits in the negative… My body is resistant to such things thanks to my divinity but is there anyone else struggling?”

Evelyn shook her head first. “I don’t really feel the bite of cold as a phantom, so no. But if anyone wants, I can warm you up with my hell flames.”

“There is no need to,” Higure and Flavia declined the help. “I’m an undead, remember?” The lioness added and pointed at Tyran and Pronos. “As for those two, I don’t think there’s a need to go deep into details. However, I’m quite interested in how you’re doing, lass,” Higure asked as she directed a meaningful look at Flavia. “You don’t seem bothered, for sure, but how are you doing it?”

The Chaos Witch smiled faintly and raised her palm. For a short moment, everyone saw the snow above it swirl before it burst as it turned into steam. Higure’s eyes widened and she had to double-check the knowledge she had of the girl.

“But… none of your elements allow that to--”

“Friction,” Rakna interrupted her and they all looked back at him who was halfway done absorbing the werewolf. His fifth tail was gradually growing back too. He didn’t seem to be even looking at them when he said that but there was no doubt that he understood what had happened.

“Oh, I get it!” Evelyn exclaimed and clasped her hands together. “You’re using telekinesis to create several layers of force over your skin and make them move in opposite directions to create friction and heat.”

Flavia nodded with a smile. “You’re correct. It’s not that hard, to be honest. My Nirvana Skill can be leveled up and it reached level 5 recently. It made it five times easier to control the directive flows of force.”

“Heh, not that hard… that is quite ingenious regardless.”

“What about you, Rak?” Allan said curiously. “I don’t think there’s a need to worry but…”

“An understatement,” Rakna couldn’t help but snort as he was about to finish his absorption. For some reason, it seemed to take far longer than the other clone. “To be fair, this Plateau might as well be my home ground with my element,” he continued. “Not to mention that my body heat can be regulated at will. Even better, I could willingly allow it to reach tens of degrees below zero and it wouldn’t harm me in the slightest.”

“Right… that body of yours… A bit freaky now that I think about it more.”

“As long as I’m not some robot,” Rakna shrugged. “I’m still half organic at least,” he responded and finished taking in the whole werewolf. He felt a part of himself slowly get reconstructed in the form of his tail and, as he expected the memories to rush in, he suddenly felt the world spin. 

“Wha-?” The next thing he knew, he was catching himself from falling flat on the ground. But to both his and the others’ stupor, what caught him wasn’t his hands or legs but a few flexible tendrils of nano-material that pierced the ice below and pulled him straight like ropes; his instinct had been able to make use of his new body’s properties to act in the most efficient way possible.

“That’s… new,” Rakna muttered as he stared at the three half-solid tendrils that were tying him to the ground, glowing blue with the tempo of his heartbeat. He grunted and consciously retracted them inside his body, Allegro quickly fixing the holes they had made. When he was released, he staggered backward but Flavia rushed to support him. “Thanks.”

“Are you okay?” Flavia asked worriedly as she helped him find his balance. The others gradually surrounded them as well. “Did something happen whilst retrieving your clone?”

“You could say that,” the therian replied, tapping his temples a couple of times, not in pain, but as if he was interacting with some interface. Eye of Symphony also spoke inside his head.

[| Detected Overload in Sensorial Captors. Gathering Information… Condition Labeled: ‘Crippled State’ from Handler’s Memories. Repairing Damages… 90% Complete. Ethereal Injuries Detected Non-Mendable by Prima Materia. |]

“I’m fine now,” Rakna said and Flavia let go of him. “I didn’t expect this,” he mumbled as his clone’s memories finally entered his mind. He closed his eyes to process everything and on cue, a system notification sounded and appeared.

❮ ◈ ❯

Tail Clone Recuperated. Clone is deceased.

The clone’s injuries will be partly carried over but will not harm the Host’s life…

Warning! Deadly Damages Detected! Anomalies Detected!

Damage to soul power detected…

Traces of magic circuit overload detected…

Traces of psyche overuse detected…

…

Prima Alkahest Materia Physique is healing the Host…

Fatal Condition Avoided. Physical Trait has a partial immunity to Crippled State. The Host will suffer a temporary limit to the maximum amount of soul power, mana, and stamina they possess by 20% for the next few days.

Warning! The System recommends the Host to mind the use of self-sacrificial techniques on clones. There is a possibility of irreparable damages being made if abused.

---

Assimilation of the Tailed Clone’s Memories and Experiences…

You have learned a new Nirvana Skill; Ōnāy Kaṭaiciyākac Cirikkum!

---

Ōnāy Kaṭaiciyākac Cirikkum – The Wolf Shall Have The Last Laugh

A derivative of the Nirvana Skill, The Harvester. By eating their own heart, the user will be able to create one of two possible outcomes; Origin Explosion and Slandering Prayer.

For the Origin Explosion to occur, when the user eats their heart, their very existence will be drained of everything that composes it by the Nirvana Skill, only leaving a hollow body behind without power and as brittle as sand. Then, the power contained within the heart will flow back all at once into one single point, turning the user into a cookpot of clashing energies.

This results in an explosion of Original Force, carrying the power of what the powerhouses of the universe call Original Mana. Nothing will stop it as long as it is strong enough. It has the property of being neither weak nor strong toward anything. Whether it be space, time, dimensions, magic, or life force, they will all be the same in front of it.

This will always result in the death of the user.

The second outcome, named Slandering Prayer, will make the power of the Original Mana fuse with the user’s body instead and they will temporarily become an Unmaker; a mythical being that knows nothing of the notions of life or death and who can control its rules.

The System is incapable of determining the Skill’s full effects but it shall be known that Slandering Prayer will likely provoke the user’s death after an uncertain amount of time after the transformation. This backlash will apply even if used by a clone. The original will inevitably be affected as well since the skill will attack the Soul Stele.

Note: A twisted ability that distorts existence itself. 

❮ ◈ ❯

Instead of being happy at getting another Nirvana Skill, Rakna frowned heavily. Something in the back of his head was screaming at him that this skill was… wrong. The description wasn’t that odd in itself. 

Origin Explosion seemed to be something he could use with a clone again if it ever came to it but he doubted he would. There were too many downsides. The first is that one of his tails, which is essentially a part of his power, would be left behind to the taking for a potential enemy. The second was that abuse would probably harm him severely. Perhaps permanently.

‘I do get why my clone wanted to try it out,’ Rakna thought. ‘I did have a passing curiosity as to what would happen if I ate my own heart. When my clone activated Obsidian Blood, it acted on nothing more but bloodlust without thinking of the consequences. But I will probably never use it again. What I don’t like about this is the second outcome. It’s clear as day… this Slandering Prayer is mostly why this is a Nirvana Skill. It’s like it’s taunting me to use it.’

“Hey, Rak, are you okay?” Allan’s voice pulled the therian out of his thoughts accelerated by Eye of Symphony. He nodded his head at the question.

“I’m fine. Just going through the memories of this clone,” he said and cracked his neck. ‘Better not mention that I got a skill that literally kills me… well, other than what they saw already,’ he mused and glanced at the window. He briefly cast Appraisal to get the definition of a certain term.

❮ ◈ ❯

Soul Stele

The soul has generally three layers; the Soul Scape, the Soul Sea, and the Soul Chasm. But there is one last section, the deepest one and the core of a soul; the Soul Stele.

It is called as such because it is said to take the form of a massive stele on which is engraved the ‘Existential Rules’ of one’s soul. It is very rare but there exist people capable of reaching it and altering it to some extent, despite it being a very dangerous operation.

This allows incredible changes to one’s life, from their personality to their very race. It is said that Eternal Night once performed this procedure on his Soul Beast, Night Bahamut, the Awakened Crimson Dragon, to allow him to take human form.

There is no precedent record of a soul attack capable of damaging the Stele. Most people do not get past the Soul Sea as a target, much less the Soul Stele.

❮ ◈ ❯

‘Right, so, super important thingy that certainly cannot be shared to my clones,’ Rakna deadpanned internally, calmly ignoring the small mention of his uncle who once again left his marks in history.

“{Indeed…}” Fray finally spoke up after intaking the information. “{What you share with your clones is your soul power itself, not the source of it. So, that skill, Original Explosion, ultimately did not have a too negative impact on you. But… Slandering Prayer, is it? If its activation relies on its effects on your Soul Stele, I am not sure I even want to imagine what it does.}”

‘Hm,’ Rakna nodded faintly and then focused on something else in his memories. “Kaelith stayed behind?” He asked, even if he knew the answer already.

Flavia nodded. “She did. She said she wouldn’t follow us. Oh, and also, she told us to remind you that she wasn’t here anymore to protect us from your recklessness,” she added with a smile.

“Hah, of course, she did,” he said with an amused tone that didn’t reach his eyes. His mind went back to the figure he saw through the dimensions with Cross Sight and squinted. ‘I’ll ask her about it later...’

“So, what do we do now? Do you think there’s a village of some sort around here?” Allan said.

Rakna let go of his thoughts and turned to his friend. “I sent someone to scout the area when I was teleported in. He should be back soon.”

“Someone?” Nyx tilted her head. “Did you recruit somebody else into the Guild or…?”

The therian let out a chortle. “The second one. Ah, speak of the devil,” he said and looked at where he came from earlier. A few seconds later, a bright wisp of red light flew down and expanded into a small fire canine. The animal had a look that said he abandoned all hope on life as he strode to his master. But his eyes did briefly wander to Pronos, Tyran, and Nyx in curiosity.

“My Lord, I have found the closest settlement. It is about twenty-two kilometers to the south,” he spoke up as he sat in front of Rakna, the snow near him slightly melting from the heat he gave off.

“‘My Lord?’” The entire group repeated and amongst them, Nyx and Flavia were the only ones who cast a scan on the creature. When the result came to them, they nearly couldn’t hide the shock on their faces.

‘Level 300! And he has the Imperial Guard title…’ Flavia couldn’t believe it. She turned to her former student, “Is this… what you said you went to do?”

“Half of it. I needed a Celestial Kindle for my forge. But I figured getting a Celestial Blaze would be even better and I could also add him to my Guard; better use that skill now that I have it,” Rakna said and waved his hand at the dispirited blaze, who was all but thrilled about this situation. “Let me introduce you; he’s Natsu, the fourth entry in my zoo– I mean, my Guard.”

“Well, nice to meet you, I suppose,” Nyx said and raised an eyebrow in amusement when she saw the Celestial Blaze look at her with a pitiful look as if her simple greeting was a blow to his pride.

Natsu sighed. “I will be frank… I do not feel happy about being tricked into a soul contract by this wretched man…” He muttered loud enough for everyone to hear and they all gave an exasperated look to Rakna who looked away without any change in his expression. “But, in all likeliness, I will be stuck with you all. So, nice to meet you… now please follow me to that damn settlement so I can rest and spend the following hours lamenting to myself…” The poor being said and started walking in the direction of the ice village he had located.

Meanwhile, everyone except Rakna looked at the drooping figure of the canine and only thought one thing, ‘He broke him already…’