The Harvester

Chapter 313: "I have a little job."

"You're already done?" Rakna asked as Flavia returned from the shop.

She smiled the moment he spoke up and nodded, "Yes, there wasn't much for me to get. You have already made a weapon for me that works forth both magic and melee, after all. As for spells, the Wiccan Guild provides some to its members. Miss Vera has been very generous to us."

The therian snorted in amusement. "Good to know she's as grateful as ever to have Nyx, Evelyn, and you in her Guild."

"Well, she has been promoted thanks to us. Mostly because of Nyx," Flavia added as she sat down next to him. "She is tireless when it comes to doing Quests; the Guild's included. Even if she doesn't gain anything much from it, she still does it purely for training. I hear that whatever place she goes to that requires fighting; she leaves it devastated by a lightning storm."

"She's doing her best to master Aeter. She's much more of a hard worker than I am for sure," Rakna commented and she chuckled. A comfortable silence settled between the two of them until it was interrupted by Flavia tapping her lap.

Rakna blinked at her smiling expression and then back at her lap. "…really?" He deadpanned.

"Yep," she replied energetically. "I want to see what it feels like to have you on my lap."

"…that sounds oddly suggestive, innocent, and threatening at the same time," the therian couldn't help but remark. Though, he merely let out a sigh and complied with her wish. "This might make one certain vixen jealous even if she tries to deny it," he muttered as he laid his head down.

Flavia made a wry smile at that. "You and Kaelith… is it what I think it is?"

"I have no intention to lie about it," he answered calmly with his eyes closed.

"I know that. Out of curiosity, since when?" She asked casually; she didn't sound hurt or anything which frankly lifted a weight off Rakna's shoulders he didn't know he had.

"Actually, funnily enough, it was earlier today. Shortly after arriving in Atlantis," he said. "She had to allegedly fight off an army to get to me as fast as possible when her mother gloated about me brushing her tails."

The Chaos Witch looked down at him with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged.

"Don't ask me. You've met Kara."

"…true," she easily conceded since it made perfect sense to her. "So… you're making a harem?" She said with a mischievous grin, knowing perfectly he wouldn't like that word. He groaned and she giggled. "Your uncle would have loved it, you know?"

"Oh, believe me, I know. I can imagine his half-mocking, half-proud laugh clearly enough to hear it in my head… and now I'm annoyed," he grumbled and Flavia laughed lightheartedly. "But all that aside, can I ask you something?"

"Yes…? What is it?"

"What did you see?" He asked vaguely and she tilted her head in confusion. "Back on Hans' island."

"Oh…" Her eyes widened and she pursed her lips blushing. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. My emotions got the better of me."

"It's fine. I'm just curious."

"I'm not sure how to explain it. I just knew the moment I saw your eyes. You were looking at me differently… in a way I always hoped you would."

Rakna silently acknowledged her answer and lifted his hand. He startled her by pressing his index finger against her forehead and spoke, "Would you like to see what happened?"

She blinked perplexedly until she realized what he meant. "…please, do it."

He let out a suppressed chuckle and channeled his soul power to the tip of his finger. In the blink of an eye, it reached Flavia's mind and reenacted his memory of the 'dream'. From his awakening on the roof to Eizen's sermon, the shivering fox, Arimane, the beasts stalking in the shadows, and her… embracing him.

She saw it all and emerged out of the memory with a gasp right as Rakna lowered his arm back to his side. "That was…"

"Hans' spell. Everything you saw was built by my unconscious… and if I had to guess, a bit more than that considering it happened in a dream. Belial told us, didn't he? The Dream Realm is a real thing. It can go beyond just us," the therian said.

"What I said in that dream…" Flavia whispered. "It's a bit mean," she stated with a smile.

"Uh?" Rakna exclaimed. "To whom?"

"Me, of course," she huffed in mock anger. "If that was a product of your unconscious, that means you were plenty aware of my feelings, even more than I thought. It's cruel that you needed some dream to at least grant them your attention."

Rakna stared at her incredulously at her small outburst. She giggled impishly and his expression twitched. "You…" He breathed out. "Sometimes you don't hesitate to make fun of me."

"Is that supposed to be a hard thing?" A third voice abruptly echoed behind them and both of them nearly jumped out in fright. Hans made himself known as he took a seat in the lounge.

He crossed his legs and raised his eyebrows at the sight of Flavia slowly dying of embarrassment and Rakna nonchalantly staring at him with no visible intention to lift his head off her lap.

"It is such a simple thing to ridicule your existence, it is not even a challenge," the boy followed up on his previous statement. "At the very least, I hope you are enjoying my reward for you."

"So, that's what it was," Rakna snorted. "Your reward for bringing you Fray's journal was a high-risk, high-return spell cast on me. In that case, I suppose I owe you my thanks."

"Keep them. I have no need for appreciation from someone shamelessly enjoying a lap pillow in front of me," Hans scoffed.

"Ahem," Flavia cleared her throat after recovering from her flushed state. "Did you not go to visit our house in the Fifth Plateau? You came back quite fast," she commented and similarly made no attempt to move out of their current position.

"You too?" The azure-eyed boy retorted and she promptly broke down into a groan, complaining under her breath about 'damn cynical mood-breaker brats'.

Hans blankly gazed at her, "Well, my most sincere apologies for being all those things. As for your inquiry, it was but a quick trip. I merely chose a room to deploy my book. It automatically adapted to its new environment and furnished it properly."

Rakna hummed and sat up, smiling unconsciously as Flavia quietly grumbled and pouted. He gave her a pat, which she leaned into, and faced his newest 'comrade'. "Hey, Hans, by any chance, ever heard of Kratos?"

"I have," the boy replied calmly, unaffected by the question, while Flavia looked puzzled since she had never heard Rakna mention the mission Eva had issued to him.

"Do you know where I can find them?"

"Not at all."

"Well, that's a bummer."

"…"

"…"

"…?" An interrogation mark appeared above Flavia's head at the odd silence.

"…I have a little job," Rakna uttered. "It consists of killing their leader and giving back control of Plateau Zero to Eva. Wanna help?"

Hans impassively stared at him in the eyes before answering, "Sure."

"Cool."

"???" Flavia's eyes spun in sheer confusion.

⠀

* * *

⠀

"Why did you not buy it?!" Akronis yelled in indignation as Allan came out of the shop. The blond was barely holding in the urge to bang his head against the wall.

"Aah! Fuck! Shut up already!" He snapped back at the bat. "I'm not going to spend 20 million Talys on an accessory for you! I don't even fucking have that much money to spare! We already wasted 50 million on you! That's enough for the day!"

"Wasted?! How dare you, punk?!"

"Okay, that's it! Wanna go?!"

Meanwhile, some distance away, the group which had already been reunited in full, watched them bicker in amusement.

"They're getting along well," Nyx commented.

"Are we looking at the same thing?" Natsu cut in dumbfounded.

"As my old man once said," Rakna raised his voice. "Those who only scream at each other while in optimal range for strangling are friends. If they kill each other, they're probably enemies."

"…that's the most eccentric quote from him I've heard you reference yet," Higure uttered. "And I don't think 'probably' is required at the end there."

"I can't say I disagree," the therian shrugged.

"Back to the subject," Flavia interrupted their small tangent. "That mission Eva gave you… are you sure that you'll be fine with just you and Hans? We could help."

"She's right," Marie added. "It's because of me you have to do this."

"No," he shook his head. "The only reason I even asked Hans is for his Rewrite. It's required to give your status to enter Plateau Zero apparently. Eva allowed me to edit mine and he--" He paused to wave at Hans. "Has a skill capable of modifying his status up to even his name."

"Is that possible?" Nyx raised an eyebrow. "I heard it was forbidden to fake your status…"

"The point of focus here is 'fake'," Hans corrected her. "I can alter it; genuinely change it. I can even decrement or increment my level, and if I alter my name, I will personally believe it is my real one despite knowing it is not. My Rewrite functions right up to the source of my being. I can implement memories I never lived with, learn skills I never practiced; and so forth."

"That sounds overpowered," Allan interjected as he tiredly flopped down on a couch with Akronis taking claim of his shoulder. He hadn't heard the whole conversation but he was already working out the gist of it. "There's no way you can make yourself immortal or something, right?"

"I assume there are limits on it?" Higure complemented his question.

"Obviously," the azure-haired boy replied. "I am limited in the number of elements I can alter. The scale of the change also matters, and it must have some sense of consistency."

"I see… then you're certainly the only one who can safely sneak in along with Rakna. None of us have that kind of ability," Flavia muttered.

Nyx hummed at that, "Not necessarily. I should be able to tag along as well."

"How so?" Rakna asked. "Do you also have something similar?"

"No," she shook her head. "I don't mean that. What I'm trying to say is that I have another way to go in along with you. The main issue is that to be given access to Plateau Zero, Kratos must be able to verify you are not a threat to their organization, right?"

"Pretty much. At least, that's what I figured."

"Then, I can just do this," Nyx replied by directly demonstrating it; she calmly stepped up to a faint shadow cast by the couch and it suddenly began to darken. It expanded and seemingly crawled up her legs as if it was trying to swallow her.

"Remember that I'm not human," she stated. "First and foremost, I am a Heaven-Born Goddess. My body is made up of holy energy turned matter. Out of faith, you could say. Its properties are vastly different from normal humans. My body can become one with shadows to a degree anybody at a mortal level cannot even dream of reaching. If I were to hypothetically merge with your shadow, no amount of perception would allow me to be detected. I would be your shadow."

Rakna blinked before snickering. "I guess you're the Night Goddess for a reason. Having you would also exponentially increase our chances, so I welcome it fully. If things go south… a radiant night should help."

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Wow, I'm actually so far ahead in my stocked-up chapters that it feels weird to read this back for the pre-post proofread.

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