The Harvester

Chapter 316: Creatures of Aesthetic

The next morning, Allan yawned as he walked out of his room. He noticed with some apprehension that no one other than him seemed to be around. He had also woken up before Marie who usually was the one who waited for him.

"Uh… that's a first. I'm usually dead last getting out of bed," he commented to himself and raised an eyebrow when he heard a noise coming from Rakna's room. He tip-toed to it very sneakily and put his ear against the door.

"…yes, that should be fine. Hm, a bit bigger up there…" That was Higure.

"Add some curves around here too… oh, and the hair should be a bit glossier. And get rid of that frown, it's not cute." And that was Kaelith.

'The hell?' The blond thought. 'I mean, I know Rak's getting a bit more proactive these days but two girls in one night from the get-go? Damn, I'm proud of him…' He nodded like a satisfied parent then squinted his eyes. 'What the fuck is that conversation about though?'

"I feel like this is more than enough…" Then, he heard a third voice. But it wasn't a male one, it was another girl and this time, he was puzzled. He didn't recognize that voice at all but it somehow sounded familiar.

'A third one!? And I don't even know about her!' He shouted internally. 'Shit… we got a situation, we can't let Rak become a womanizer…'

"What are you snooping around for, child?" Akronis suddenly appeared on his shoulder, his head menacingly close to his.

"Holy shit! Don't scare me like that!" Allan yelled as he hopped away from the door.

"For you to not even sense your own Soul Beast's presence…" The bat blankly stared at him. "You truly are one incompetent partner."

"Fuck off! Who are you calling incompetent?! Aren't you the one who lost control of the Resonance first when we tried it yesterday?!"

"Hmph, typical. Redirecting your fault onto me."

"Redirecting, my ass! You were the one who messed up!"

"Why are you so loud in the morning?" The door to Rakna's room opened and the speaker walked out. Allan immediately froze on the spot due to the alienness of the newcomer.

It was a beautiful woman with purple eyes and long black hair. She was just a tad shorter in height than Kaelith and Higure and was wearing a suspiciously similar outfit to Allegro. But it obviously was more feminine and it hugged her curves well, which were in the in-between of generous and downright erotic.

"What the…" The blond blinked in a stupor and then noticed the vixen and lioness inside the room behind collectively crying in joy as they gazed at the woman.

"This is my masterpiece," Kaelith said in the most emotional tone he had ever heard her use.

"Who are you calling your masterpiece?" The unknown girl retorted with a glare, but since it was displayed by such a beautiful face, it looked terribly charming. She seemed to have a cold and quite sharp temperament that would give Nyx a run for her money.

Then, the realization hit Allan like a brick as he noticed a black scarf around her neck. He pointed at the woman with a trembling finger, "Y-y-you… you are--!"

"Yes," she answered flatly, a pair of wolf ears momentarily appearing on her head, and he fainted.

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When it was time for breakfast, everyone stared at the woman casually eating together with them at the table. At that point, she had fully revealed her lupine features and none of them had doubts as to who it was. But that didn't stop even Hans from shooting a judging glance in her direction.

"So…" Allan cleared his throat and as he was about to speak, the words failed him. He grimaced as he realized he didn't even know what to ask and then gave up entirely. The group sweatdropped at that and Natsu eventually raised his voice.

"My Lord," he said and Rakna, who was obviously the one who changed genders overnight, looked back at him only for the Celestial Blaze to point at Evelyn with his paw. The succubus was ogling him with murky eyes, lost in seemingly inner fantasies.

"I believe you have awoken something in my lady over here," Natsu deadpanned.

"…looks like it," the therian uttered wryly, and once again, everyone had to take a deep breath to compose themselves for the sake of their sanity since even 'her' voice sounded too enchanting.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Allan finally mustered up the mental coherence necessary to ask; even if it was nothing close to a sophisticated sentence.

"Blame them," Rakna uttered and pointed at the very pleased looks of Higure and Kaelith, and the focus instantly switched over to the two women.

"Thank us, you mean," the vixen retorted indignantly. "Look at her, isn't she just perfect?" She said mirthfully as she leaned toward her 'creation', not failing to accentuate the specific pronouns.

"What brought this on in the first place?" Flavia asked curiously. She herself was not bothered by the sudden 'makeover' and she couldn't deny that she enjoyed the eye candy. She wasn't one to be attracted by the same sex but she could admire its beauty, and when she knew the person in question was Rakna… that escalated it to a completely new level.

"A weird discussion, followed by a bet, and an unfair game," Rakna sighed. "I went along fine with it, figuring it could give me an edge in hiding my identity. My original plan after getting to Plateau Zero was to join in as a fighter in their Arena to gather information and approach my target. I still intend to go through with that idea but…" He paused and looked down at his… well, cleavage; a sight he didn't think he could ever get accustomed to.

"You are envisaging a honey trap as well…" Hans remarked. "Do I understand that right?"

"What can I say?" Rakna shrugged. "It's a proven strategy. Depends on the guy, but most of them will let their guard down in front of a beautiful woman. I can't lie and say it's not true."

"Even you?"

"Even me," he answered calmly. "Not beautiful women; but beauty in general. It's something that applies to everyone. Some of you know it already, but I had a friend on Earth called Eizen. Smart guy, who was born blind but still somehow had more insight on people than I ever could."

Everyone perked up in attention and Hans seemed visibly interested in the description.

"He once told me something. In his own words; 'Humans are creatures of aesthetic. They want to protect cute things. They want to own beautiful things. They want to destroy ugly things. They have no qualm killing anything grotesque and they despise those different than them.'"

Rakna snorted as he recalled the scene. "He also added something else. I don't remember exactly why but we had been talking about my first kill. He said this; 'The only reason your first kill felt like one is because you were able to see them die. Not the knowledge of the action; but the visual cue.'"

"I have to admit, devourer," Higure interjected. "The more I hear about this Eizen, the more I wish to meet him."

"I concur," Hans commented offhandedly. "It would be refreshing to finally encounter somebody whose struggles do not define their insight. Those kinds of people… are incredibly scarce. They do not need experience; all they have is understanding. Without even experiencing the cause of your pain, they are able to feel it even better than you. On the flip-side, they also have a tendency to tear you apart with their words for daring to make them empathize with you."

Rakna snickered. "Sounds about right. But aren't you quite the same?"

"No," the boy snapped without missing a beat. "I will never understand. I will never empathize. I will watch and make sure they understand why they are pathetic. That is the extent of it."

Higure couldn't help but laugh while everyone else gave Hans a strange look. "I wonder, kid, what made you into this?" The lioness was intrigued. "You are an 'Incarnation' as I've heard. Your soul and powers are essentially built upon a theme; you are like a living story. Can I assume you were 'written' to be a tragedy? Not to mention your cursed physique…"

"Believe whatever you want," the author replied flatly and the conversation naturally ended there until Allan rekindled it by saying something completely out of left field.

"Hey, Rak, I have a question."

"What?"

"I'm seriously curious here, by the way," he prefaced. "Hypothetically, does your ability to convert your body make you able to get pregnant?"

"…" The room fell silent… no, it was negative noise, if that even made sense. The silence felt like a black hole that was swallowing the blond.

"Stop looking at me like that!" He snapped after everyone just kept staring at him. "I'm genuinely curious, okay?! Whatever the fuck you're thinking right now, stop!" He shouted but not one person bothered to reply and they continued eating. "Don't ignore me!"

"Don't worry, I won't judge you for your fetishes. I love you all the same," Marie voiced out and his heart was both simultaneously warmed up and stabbed by her soothing tone.

"Marie…" He whined. "Why would you betray me like that…?" He cried and was still ignored.

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"This place," Rakna said whilst sharing a System window of a map of Atlantis with Elora inside his territory's Pavilion. She took a look and then copied the coordinates into the reception's terminal.

She was sweating really hard, trying her best to ignore the fact the owner of the territory she was stationed at had suddenly changed genders and was beautiful enough to even throw her in a daze.

'And here I was getting used to seeing absurd things like the Matriarch and Heiress of the Fox Clan coming in and out every day,' she cried internally but outwardly answered, "T-the closest Pavilion to your destination is about fifty kilometers away. Is that fine, Your Majesty?"

"No problem," the therian nodded. "I don't care about the distance. I just want the closest."

"Understood. I have already set the portal, so you can go through whenever you wish," she stated while pressing a few confirmation keys.

"So, your wolves found what you wanted," Kaelith commented from behind Rakna and he turned around to face her. "Don't forget what I said."

"I know, don't worry. I'll try my best to keep it as safe as possible," he said and simultaneously, he retracted his wolf ears and tails back into the mass of nanites that was his body. "Pronos, time to get out of there," he deadpanned to the Hydra who was blissfully lying down in between his… hills for a while now.

Pronos hissed grumpily but jumped off anyway and very quickly made his way to Flavia to do the same thing. Rakna watched him do so blankly while the Chaos Witch laughed lightly.

"Anyway… let's go," he addressed Nyx and Hans, who had already altered his appearance. He had grown into an adult with dark brown hair and eyes, supplemented by a pair of round glasses. As Allan had quaintly put it; he looked like a moody nerd.

Nyx promptly walked to Rakna and stepped on his shadow. They nodded at each other and she sunk into it within a few seconds. The darkness rippled for a moment afterward until it alleviated and showed no sign of her.

"Good luck," Flavia and the others said as Hans and Rakna headed to the portal room.

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Merry Christmas, people. Five chaps for you.

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I feel like I'm doing this in reverse though... why am I essentially giving my work while on a holiday...? What a weird world we live in.

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PS: It was a pain the ass to schedule all five of them at the same time.

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