The Harvester

Chapter 311: Ego of Lucifer

Rakna sat in a room inside the Pavilion, waiting for his turn to go through the Soul Beast ritual as the others went before him. Aside from himself, Allan, Evelyn, and Flavia had decided to try their hand at it while Marie and Nyx decided not to get one.

As for Higure and Hans, the former simply couldn't form a Soul Beast link because of her status as both a Wilden and an Undead, and the latter hadn't even bothered to voice his choice as he quietly read a book.

In the meantime, Rakna opened the descriptions of his newest Sin Skill.

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Ego of Lucifer

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Ego of Lucifer is one of the Ultimate Skills of the Sin Series, assuming the epithet of Pride. The bearer of this skill will gain the ability to overcome any mental interference through sheer willpower and their pride will allow them to deny failure and turn it into success.

The Sin of Pride is considered the strongest of the Series and rules over all the others as the centerpiece where they converge. As long as there is Pride, there is a way, and all is possible.

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Effects:

- Increased damage against opponents who insult the user's pride.

- The holder's spiritual forces (Life Force, Mana, Killing Intent) all gain a passive coercing force.

- Immunity to attacks on the psych and curses.

- Acquire the skill; All Virtues Shall Yield (Pride + Sloth)

- If not awakened, unlock the Extra Magic, Pride.

- Acquire the spell; Wheel of Ego.

- Acquire the Nirvana Skill; Perfidious Edict.

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Special Effect:

- Any act made for the sake of Pride will have its efficiency raised.

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Note: The Sin Skills are separated into seven categories named after the cardinal sins. They are at the peak of the System with most of them being Tier 1. There also exist the Virtue Skills based on the seven great virtues.

Additional Note: This is an Ultimate Excel Skill. It is non-upgradable. The Sin of Pride is the only entry of the Series that grants a Nirvana Skill.

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Perfidious Edict

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A Nirvana Skill worthy to represent an absolute stand of determination and self-assurance. Once per day, the user can activate this skill to reinitialize every cooldown in progress.

In return, ten minutes after the activation, everything will be reverted to its full duration regardless of if they were affected by the reinitialization or not.

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All Virtues Shall Yield

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Secondary State of Nefis. Upon activation, become the herald of Surrender.

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Effects:

- Demonize and double All Attributes (Luck Included).

- All beings that lay eyes on you will begin to feel powerless.

- Your Mana will be fully converted into Sinister Mana.

+100% damage from and against Holy & Divine.

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Cost: 10 000 MP. (Correction: 5 000 MP)

Cooldown: 666 Hours.

Duration: For as long as the user can resist the call of sins. Multiple kinds will require a balance to be kept by the user. If broken, the demonization will automatically fall out of control.

Note: …???... limit…2/7...???... Nefis.

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Rakna furrowed his eyebrows. The demonization hadn't changed much, except for the note which now had been updated to 2 out of 7 with two additional words. The Nirvana Skill was also quite a surprise and definitely a powerful trump card to add to his repertoire, but one specific line of Ego of Lucifer's effects caught his attention.

'Immunity to curses and attacks on the psych, huh?' He thought. 'That would mean the curse of Ireful Descent can no longer threaten me and possibly...'

"What are you thinking about?" Higure asked curiously from the side and he lifted his head.

"Nothing… just theorizing a few things," he replied calmly. "By the way, are you sure you and Nyx don't want to form a contract? I feel like both of you could make a powerful duo."

"That is uncertain," Nyx retorted as she stood near them. "Her Ruins of Echo, as well as her Dusk Star Magic could potentially work well with my 'night'. But I prefer a Manifestation personally as I have experience using one. But most importantly; Higure is mostly humanoid and has a strong sense of self."

"Why does that matter?" Marie inquired as she was listening in.

"There is a reason why they are called 'Soul Beasts'. The ultimate goal of a Soul Link between two creatures is something we call 'Resonance'. It is essentially a fusion of souls and body," the goddess explained. "You would normally think that two similar beings would make it easier, right?"

"Yes… probably."

"It is the opposite. The more different, the better. Imagine that both parties involved are akin to a structure of specific blocks. Performing a resonance between two different structures would mean superimposing what each other doesn't have. But when they're similar, there are many duplicates and it makes it harder to build into something stable."

"Retrospectively, there is a fine line between too similar and similar enough. Soul Beasts are the best type of creatures to perform a Resonance with; they frankly make it widely viable. But there is indeed the possibility of achieving it with a fellow affiliate to your physiology. However, in that case, the two parties would need to be extremely similar. One example would be twins, though it would fail if they were of different genders."

"There is also the aspect of the soul to consider," Hans chimed in without looking up. "People can have polar opposite natures which cannot harmonize. In summary, it is best to avoid Soul Links of poor compatibility."

As he said that, Flavia entered the room along with Evelyn. Everyone turned toward them at the same time and they noticed instantly that the succubus had succeeded in her contract. There was an overt link of soul power between her and Natsu on her shoulder. It was still in the process of stabilizing itself so it was easy to notice.

"Congratulations, Evelyn," Nyx said with a nod and looked at Flavia. "And…?"

The Chaos Witch shrugged. "It didn't work. I tried the Summoning and it failed. I thought about making a Contract with Tyran instead, but I was told by the staff after the failure that my soul was far too 'chaotic' to have a Soul Beast. Looks like it's not just my magic," she said wryly.

"Looks like a perfect example came right on time," Higure commented in amusement.

"{You don't need a contract anyway,}" Cuniya spoke up from within her soul and everyone heard her. "{A Chaos Witch's Manifestation is said to be the apex of destruction. And don't even make me start about how powerful yours would be with your talent. I admit it would have been interesting to see a Soul Beast born from you, but that's how it is. Regardless, you have me. If it's us two… a Resonance should be possible.}"

"The White Witch and a Chaos Witch…" Hans mused. "Interesting. You are indeed alike. And your differences only accentuate your resemblance. The result would be quite a scene to immortalize."

"{…}" Cuniya didn't reply and seemed to return to the depths of Flavia's soul. If it was because she was annoyed at the boy's blatant disregard for courtesy, or because he had dared to express that she was similar to her pseudo-jailer, it was unknown.

Flavia smiled. "Thank you for the suggestion, Cuniya. I appreciate it." There was no response but she knew her words had been heard.

"Surprisingly a nice girl, that one," Higure commented with a smirk.

Soon after, the door opened again and Allan came out with a deeply annoyed expression. The cause seemed to be perched right on top of his head. It was a large bat with white fur, black wings, and crimson eyes. It held itself with palpable dignity.

"You little shit, get off my head," Allan grumbled.

"What is with you, young people? Can't even carry a small beast?" The bat spoke with a deep tone of voice. It sounded erudite and old.

"What do you mean 'young people'?! You were born two minutes ago!" The blond shouted back.

"That is irrelevant."

"How?!"

The bat harrumphed and looked around the room. His eyes fell on Hans and he promptly flew off to land on the seat next to the boy. "Someone here who can match my grandeur, good," he uttered with a nod and even Hans himself eyed him with a strange expression.

"…who's that guy with personality issues?" Rakna asked his friend as he scratched his head.

"My Soul Beast, obviously," Allan sighed. "My summoning worked and that… thing… came out."

"Don't call me thing," the bat interjected. "My name is Akronis!"

"And for some reason, he turned out like that," the blond ignored it and sighed tiredly. "And also, yeah, he named himself."

"That's a White Blood Bat," Higure said with a raised eyebrow as she stared at the Soul Beast and the bat immediately focused on her.

"Oh! You recognize me, I see. That's indeed what I am. Be awed!" He puffed his chest proudly and everyone collectively agreed that ignoring it would be a good habit to take early on.

"What's that exactly?" Marie asked curiously as she tried poking the bat while the latter frantically batted her finger away with his wing like an irritated cat.

"A White Blood Bat isn't strong… but they have incredibly special traits. Terrifying almost. They are known for having a near-perfect smell. Specifically, they can detect blood in a hundred-mile radius and make a profile based on it. Gender, strength, race; they perceive it."

Higure paused and glanced at the bat. "They use this aptitude to hunt with sure success as well as avoid predators or people hunting them for their blood; which is actually the most important thing about these animals. White Blood Bats were named after the color of their blood. It has incredibly potent healing properties for its carrier whilst simultaneously being a deadly substance. Some say it can be used to melt any material, cure every disease, and even contend against mana itself."

"How strong of a healing property are we talking about here?" Rakna inquired.

"It depends," the lioness replied. "A White Blood Bat grows stronger the more blood they consume from various sources and since this one has just been born as a Soul Beast; it should be equivalent to Lesser Regeneration. But it should evolve very fast at first and it most likely will reach the stage of Superior Regeneration within a few weeks."

Nyx hummed. "Combined with the Ichubyrs' Regeneration, they definitely have a Resonance with tremendous potential."

"Haha, do you understand my magnificence now, child?" Akronis boasted toward Allan who rolled his eyes. "I also possess what an Ichubyr doesn't; the ability to create Thralls. I can contaminate another creature's blood with mine and hijack their bodies."

"Hm? That's something I didn't know," Higure exclaimed. "You must be a special breed," she said and the Soul Beast let out a smug laugh.

"Okay, I get it," Allan groaned. "But you need to fucking stop acting like you're older than me."

"Technically, a Soul Beast's memories and character are an amalgam of both your life and an influx of information coming from the Magic Circuits and the Spiritual Tree," Nyx said thoughtfully. "By that logic, they are always at least as old as you… and can theoretically be much older than you as well on a conceptual level."

Allan fell silent and covered his face in mortification while Akronis returned to his head laughing all the way. Rakna shook his head in amusement and stood up.

"Pronos," he spoke up and the Hydra sleeping under his scarf stuck a head out. "Time to see what we can do together," he declared and the little guy hissed positively.

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I literally caught covid... fml.

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Don't worry btw, I'm already recovered. Just barely have some remnants of a cough and clogged nose. But still! Fuck! I wish I had a fraction of the luck I give my characters, holy shit.

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