252. Varunastra

“The Sentinel… is it?” A man muttered to himself, sitting alone in a throne room situated deep in the demon territory of Earth. He glanced at the turned-off projection magic that Lilith had used to contact him and mused.

The Demon King sighed and rubbed his temples. “Why now… But should I be grateful that he does not seem to be outright against us?” He uttered and leaned back tiredly. “Whatever… Kain.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” a cloaked demon instantly appeared next to the throne.

“For now... let’s go along with the Sentinel’s plans. Far too much time has been dedicated to this endeavor for it to be derailed like this. The Earth God’s return takes priority over everything else.”

“Understood. I will pass on the directive to the other Legion Commanders,” Kain said with a bow and vanished just as fast as he arrived.

“Mino,” the King called someone else, and an elderly man dressed as a butler approached from the space behind the throne. 

“Yes?”

“I want you to leave for the moon right away. It should take a few days for the Resurrection Ritual to be prepared. Until then, observe and report to me. But most importantly, make sure to keep an eye on the Sun Dwellers. We’ll have to act quickly if they decide to turn hostile. Or at the very least, make sure to protect the Shrine if the Sentinel engages them.”

The butler placed a hand to his chest and bowed. “Understood. Shall I bring… it with me?”

The King nodded. “Use it if you deem it necessary. I trust your judgment.”

“I shall not disappoint you,” Mino stated and disappeared from the throne room.

* * *

Three days later, Rakna was sitting cross-legged on top of the castle, continuously meditating with Soul Breath as well as doing mental training for his next goal; improving his martial arts. In this case, it was both his weapon mastery and his close combat skills. The former was currently stuck at level 10; Max. As for the latter, he had managed to get it to level 9 from image training alone.

“I truly need someone to practice against…” He muttered. “Perhaps even a teacher. I don’t suppose you can do that, Fray?”

“{What do you take me for? Though I can teach you to write in cursive if you want,}” the storyteller joked. “{Otherwise, you could ask the Dusk Lioness when she attains her body. She is quite decent at close combat if I’m not wrong.}”

“Hm… Maybe…” Rakna mumbled and opened one eye to glance at the Moon Shrine in the distance as an idea emerged in his mind. For the past three days, he had been invoking Astraea every time his cooldown was finished since he was told she could help Norio complete the ritual faster. “That could work…”

“What could work?” A voice abruptly sounded from behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see Lilith standing there.

“Rambling to myself,” Rakna replied, unsurprised by her presence. “What are you doing here? Are you already bored of helping with the ritual?”

The demoness scowled. “I could ask you the same. Why are you not helping them?”

“Sounds annoying,” the werewolf said without an ounce of shame. “You have Astraea anyway. She is enough to compensate for my absence.”

“Ah yes, her…” Lilith said weirdly. She still was confused about the nature of that woman. “But I’m sure she would be able to focus better if she wasn’t so busy cursing about how badly you treat fair beautiful ladies. Her words; not mine.”

Rakna snorted. “I’ll give her a gift or something later,” he said and returned to his meditation. “Why don’t we stop this passive-aggressive conversation now? Take a seat, the view is relaxing.”

The demoness raised an eyebrow but nonetheless sat down next to him, though of course making sure to keep her distance. “The view… you don’t even have your eyes open.”

He snickered but didn’t say anything else. After a few minutes of silence, listening to the noise of the city, the citizens fixing the damages, Rakna sighed and opened his eyes. “All right,” he muttered and glanced at Lilith. “Out with it. I smell your curiosity. What do you want to ask?”

She blinked in surprise. “Is that really… how you sense others’ emotions? By smelling them?”

“Yes. And don’t emphasize too much on that lest it becomes awkward for the both of us,” he replied flatly and she couldn’t help but snicker.

“Is that so? Then, I won’t hold back. Why are you doing all of this?”

“Hm?” Rakna raised an eyebrow. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I understand that you established a Soul Decree with the Lunar King. The reason why you remain here is clear. But why does it seem as if you have no resentment?” She inquired and he fully turned his head. “I can’t even imagine feeling protective of a Kingdom that has forsaken me for a thousand years, only to bring me back for their convenience.”

The werewolf gazed at her and then exhaled. “All of you… really think too much,” he uttered and looked back at the cityscape. “Yamul, clear your mind. Look around you and tell me what you see.”

Lilith scowled and lazily threw a glance at the city. “The Capital of the Moon Dwellers.”

“That’s not what you see,” Rakna retorted. “That’s what you know.”

“…what?”

“You know this is the capital of the Lunar Kingdom. You know those people are Moon Dwellers, a race birthed by the Moon God to survive in this environment. Try again. Get rid of that knowledge and tell me what you see.”

She fell silently for a short while. “A city…”

“And?”

“And people living it…”

“And that’s all you need,” Rakna nodded. “You want to know what you are for me?” He asked and pointed at the Earth. “You are a girl that comes from there. That’s it. You come from there to fight here because you have a reason to do so. What more do you need?”

“…”

“To me, the Moon Dwellers are the same. The ones who incarcerated me are people who had greed and insecurities. The ones that sought my help are people who were desperate. Do you think both are the same? No. Where should I shove my resentment then? Oh, but, believe me, if the ones who betrayed me were still alive,” Rakna smiled darkly. “I would have killed all of the ones involved.”

Lilith shivered and he snorted.

“That’s how simple the world truly is. Or rather, how it should be. Someone did me wrong; I’ll pay it back. Someone did me good; I’ll repay it as well. Only fools can possibly harbor resentment for a thousand years straight despite their target being long dead. That’s just pathetic. And I have no idea about you, but I certainly know that I’m not pathetic,” Rakna stated calmly.

“What humility…” The demoness retorted half-jokingly.

“Humility is not disregarding the obvious. If you are better than someone, then you simply know it. Unlike those delusional about their worth, someone who truly understands their own value also understands others. No one stands above another. But life is a road and there is an infinite number of people walking ahead of you.”

The werewolf grunted and looked up at the sky, his eyes flashing for a second. “Why don’t you ask the real question you’ve been dying to know the answer to? Why am I risking reviving the Earth God despite the potential repercussions? Because I have faith.”

“Faith?” Lilith reiterated meekly.

“Faith that the likes of Gods know better than to hold grudges like pathetic worms. In this case, in a world that has forsaken their memory, I hope the Demon God’s target will be limited to the Moon God.”

“But are you truly willing to let your creator die…?”

“If Gods need mortals to fight their wars…” Rakna sneered. “They are not worthy of their title.”

Lilith pursed her lips. That statement rang truer than she could have ever expected. “Would you like… to know why we are doing this?” She ultimately voiced and he glanced at her. Seeing that he neither objected or concurred, she continued. Deeply, for some reason, she craved to know if this creature next to her would understand her reasons for fighting.

“Long ago, before the Earth God fell to become the Demon God, demons didn’t exist. What existed in their place were humans,” she said and Rakna’s eye twitched. “After many years of growth and evolution, humans slowly ran out of resources. Unlike Sun or Moon Dwellers, humans were weak and required precise climates, atmospheres, and food. They were not a race capable of surviving anywhere else and soon enough, the Earth became their own hell.”

Rakna sighed internally. Now, he knew where this was going.

“That’s why the Earth God tried to do everything in his power to help them. Save them. He even sacrificed his blood and energy to sustain their survival if nothing but a day more. He pleaded to the Moon God for help but was refused. Slowly and gradually, the Earth God was only left with his mind and divinity. His body was discarded. His magic was depleted. Then… it happened. His mind finally gave out. Darkness invaded his thoughts and it fused with his divinity. Mutated it. And on that day, the Earth God became the Demon God.”

“In the following two hundred years following his descent into darkness, he transformed the souls of humans so that they would gain bodies capable of living on; the demons were born. But our God could not stop anymore. The power he had gained to corrupt souls, twisted his own. He rebuilt a body for himself, recovered his power, and declared war on the Moon God and Sun God.”

“And so, the war began,” Rakna commented. “The Moon God created me around that time,” he said to himself. “Going by your tone, you respect the Demon God, don’t you?”

Lilith nodded. “Yes… When the war began, he never asked for help from his people. The demons were the ones who willingly decided to fight at his side. Their God had given everything to them and the only thing they could do was assist him in his revenge. No matter what it was. Even to this day, we demons grow to love our God; he who sacrificed himself for us.”

“So, you fight for his revival because you believe that he deserves it, huh?” Rakna concluded with a hum. “How refreshing…”

“What is?”

“To see the sacrifices of someone be respected. People are not particularly interested in the efforts of others. They are just like that. Even if they recognize your efforts, they will quickly forget it and instead remember you for your mistakes. I’m an example of that,” the werewolf huffed. “Look how quickly they decided to turn against me after they forgot all I did for them.”

Lilith’s eyes widened a bit. She could see the truth of his words and that only made her respect the Sentinel even more. Having your struggles forgotten was a thing. But being betrayed by the ones you struggled to protect is probably far worse.

“Well, don’t think too much about it. It’s inconsequential to me,” Rakna said. ‘More than you think too, considering this technically isn’t even my life,’ he silently added, and shortly after, a large wave of energy washed over the city.

Both of them looked at the source and saw that the Moon Shrine was emitting a silver light filled with divinity. Lilith jumped to her feet, “Did they finish the ritual…? I thought it would have taken a few more hours to get to this stage…”

Rakna observed the Shrine, his eyes glowing golden, before looking up at the sky once again. He focused on the spot he had been looking at a bit earlier and mused. With a sigh, he stood up, and without wasting time, his body expanded to its full size, startling the demoness.

“Sonata,” he muttered and his scarf returned to its default size. It unwrapped itself and crawled to the werewolf’s open hand, where it transformed into a longbow with red-blue metallic accents across the limbs of the weapon.

“What are you doing...?” Lilith asked tentatively.

“Shooting down a bird,” Rakna said and held Sonata with his left hand whilst facing the sky with his right palm. At his command, frost energy erupted out of his arm and congregated to shape a weapon. However, it wasn’t Dáinsleif.

This time, the energy turned into a crystal spiral arrow. It was vibrant blue and semi-transparent with waving patterns on its surface. Inside the crystal, you could see pockets of air traversing its length, as if it was full of water.

Rakna nocked the undulating arrow, the spiral releasing blue strands of energy. He pulled on the string and Sonata automatically infused Eion inside the arrow.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rhapsodic Sonata has synergized with the spell.

Magic Damage increased by 200. Range increased by 1 000 meters.

❮ ◈ ❯

The werewolf smiled faintly and squinted his eyes as he spotted a red dot in the sky. Lilith similarly saw it and gasped in recognition. “The Sun Dwellers!” She exclaimed. She knew that the Moon King had contacted them to set up potential reinforcements but he hadn’t received any answer yet.

“Why are they here…? Don’t tell me--!” She shouted and nervously looked at the Shrine.

“That’s their plan, huh?” Rakna snorted as he aimed at the shining dot. “Sadly for them… I’m not one to turn back on my plans,” he declared and waited until his target was right outside the meager atmosphere of the moon.

“[Nimajjati Etad Jivaloka,]” he intoned and the arrow released a cloud of oddly freezing vapor that engulfed the roof of the castle. Lilith widened her eyes as she sensed the humidity in the air before the Sentinel voiced the name of his arrow. 

“[Varunastra.]”