The Arcane Emperor Chapter 90 Creature of Shadow

Chapter 90 Creature of Shadow

Elelaria had felt the strange presence that descended across the whole mansion and cautiously entered the room some time after it ended. Six headless human corpses lay against the wall, a circular scar in stone marring the entire room.

"Grandfather?" She asked slowly, seeing his sword on the table, and the man himself calmly drinking his tea.

Later that night, Rainer stood alone in the white void of [Sleep Learning] as a [Void Domain] spread out around him. Yet his thoughts were not on leveling the skill but rather a major point he realized during his discussion with Ele's grandfather; he 'was' a Lord Magus from the Forbidden North.

Sooner or later he'd need to prove that ident.i.ty, and his power alone wouldn't be enough. Not when all the ancient powers of the world would be pus.h.i.+ng to their third tier in less than a year's time. He had two easy options for helping out with that… not that he wanted to go find them for that purpose.

There was his Grandfather and Mother… he checked almost every night for their location with the blood-tracking spell but it was still far too distant for him to reach. Achieving something like Void Dominion wasn't just for the safety of now, but for the future. Even more so if he could one day fuse it with Arcane and then bring that over to having his Arcane Bonuses work on [Void-walking]. No matter the distance, the combined boost from his Talent and Arcane bonus on top of having improved leveling for the spell itself would be more than enough.

The Void arches might be a possibility, but he'd need two of them, one for the return trip. Given that he wasn't even sure if they were moveable, that was something to ask Talvara.

He could even ask her to let him borrow the Void-Lords she still had on this world. They wouldn't even need to put themselves in any real danger, but just act as members of his organization. Yes, they were not magic users, but who said the Guild he supposedly came from was only mages? It would fit even better with the Arcane Order ident.i.ty he had with the Fae. They were not incompatible.

And if the state of the Abyssal Planes were of any relevance, they were beyond powerful.

He could also merely cite the great distance that the Far North was, and that he was traveling on his own. There may not necessarily ever come a time when he truly needed to make a show of his fake background.

However, those were only the more mundane solutions. Illusions and especially Glamour could certainly be used to fake things if he ever needed a show of numbers. Perhaps even a fake father or brother in the form of the Avatar Ritual.

"Talvara!' He yelled in a sing-songy voice before laughing to himself. As if that would-

"h.e.l.lo Rainer. Miss me?"

Rainer spun around, shocked. Though once he got a look at her, that shock turned to utter horror.

"What the h.e.l.l did you do your face!?"

"What? I did what you said to!" Talvara said, oddly offended over her fake face.

"What part of that monstrosity is what I said to do? I said a little, a little, less symmetrical. Not make it lopsided. Your eyebrows look like a competing happy and frowning face, your eyes from two different races and your nose...dear G.o.d your nose. I could have happily gone on with my life never knowing that sight, but now it will forever haunt my dreams. Any time I imagine any person I shall see that nose. Thank you, Talvara. Thank you."

"This isn't easy you know, I don't technically have a face and I was in a rush to put something together after you called, I just-"

"Please just stop talking and making expressions with that thing...just copy off one of your elves and then improve it. Or better yet use Luna's face and mold it to match an Abyssal Elf more," Rainer sighed. It was easy to forget with her airy att.i.tude, but Rainer doubted he'd ever seen or would ever see a woman more beautiful than Luna. It wasn't a fair comparison of course given that she was artificially created and based off a Fairy known for her appearance after her immense power.

"Ah, the pretty and humorous Fairy? That is an excellent suggestion. You've chosen well with her, she is a most pleasant girl," Talvara said as she went back to her original appearance. Original in the sense of her fake one, that is.

"More like she chose me. And a girl? She's older than me..." Rainer replied, a part of him now noticing he was dating two older women. He froze for a brief moment wondering how she knew who Luna was.

Void Seer…

He realized. They even discussed the unsavory applications of their ability. Rainer tried to drum up a bit of anger so that he could use this for a future favor but found himself lacking. The memory of how he brutally hurt her while rejecting a well-intended gift and that she complimented Luna took the wind out of his sails.

"I thought you said you didn't have a hobby of being a voyeur?"

"Who would admit to such a hobby?" She countered, seemingly not at all bothered at his discovery.

"That is a good point. And also not an answer to my question."

Talvara shrugged, not wanting this to become a point of contention between them, "It had been long since I've met with anyone, especially in this sort of fas.h.i.+on and not a distorted message to my followers. I wished some a.s.surance that any deal we made would have been honored. For all I knew, I was delivering Aurora into your hands, or myself by visiting this illusionary realm of yours."

"And what did you find out that mattered?" Rainer asked. He also got the feeling that up until he actually trapped her in here, the powerful Void-being didn't even consider he could threaten her, but he accepted the answer nonetheless.

"That you are a man who honors your words and debts. That race is nothing more than a word given by [Appraisal]. To an extreme degree, frankly, if any of the stories you've told your sister are true. I couldn't have asked for more from a Human I seek as a friend."

Rainer grew a bit embarra.s.sed at the straightforward praise. The time period matched up to when he was telling his past to his sister. It would have been an easy snapshot into his whole time on this world. And racism always looked silly from an outsider's perspective, even if racism in this world had some logical base and wasn't just a made-up construct. They were different species after all.

"How did you know I was calling for you anyways?"

"I left a small piece of myself in your Void, should you ever need me. I have been busy of late."

"Anything I can help with?" Rainer asked, a tiny bit bothered by that first sentence, but he doubted the ancient Void-being didn't have better things to do than randomly check in on him all the time.

She laughed, "You have already helped more than enough. I am still taxed on my time, have you finally decided on what to do with the gift of Void Will?"

"Not yet, I have some questions on the matter and something else I could use your advice on."

Talvara merely nodded as if for him to go on. Rainer thought about it for a moment before explaining his ideas on Void Dominion, [Void Descent], and the eventual mixing of Arcane and Void.

Talvara hummed thoughtfully for a moment before giving her answer, "I would be happy to a.s.sist... I would say your idea of a Void Dominion to mimic the various skills would be impossible had you not already done so. So you seek to solve the problem of not being able to use [Void Hold] and other Void skills at the same time?" She guessed.

"Of course that's a possible benefit," Rainer said, "Holding someone down while calling the Void upon them, there are few who could do anything against that. But the main premise is to make a magic to freely use the Void and also stronger and easier to use for me. And one that can be partially persistent like my [Void Presence Armament]. Especially with the inclusion of [Void Descent] in there."

"[Void Descent]," She said, as if tasting the words, "I never imagined someone not a being of the Void could learn such a thing. It seems every time we meet, I lament you not becoming a follower of mine."

"We want what we can't have."

"That we do," She agreed shamelessly and licked her lips, "I can offer you some advice with your final idea as well."

"In what way?" Rainer had only mentioned his final idea as an afterthought. Even more so because it was nice to finally have someone to speak with on such matters. His sister, despite being a Mage, had little interest in most spells, similar to Gunthar who saw magic purely as a tool. Amer's expertise lent to a far larger focus on the Soul and the [Devil's Soul Language]. Kara was certainly intelligent but if their discussion on biology was any clue on top of her usual practice with Aura, she just did not have much interest in the inner workings of things. Luna… he was actually not sure about.

Talvara was an ancient being with a larger scope of knowledge, however. And her interest in his magic had already led to extended discussions for hours when they first met.

"An explanation of the relations.h.i.+p between the Arcanium and the Void, and the world as a whole," Talvara said, and Rainer judged by the satisfied smirk on her face that his own showed his shock. A larger scope of knowledge, indeed.

"Kara, to think you've succeeded so quickly," Ymir said as he entered the training room. Her Aura had burst out and, with the a.s.sistance of what seemed like her Demonic Aura, the originally colorless energy of her Wolfkin half turned gold and exploded out with a great power, cracking the ground around her. Ground made to withstand the fights of Tier 2 experts training.

"It's all thanks to you and Alaya," Kara said, smiling. For a long while she felt her Wolfkin half was far weaker, but with this addition, it felt a perfect match for her Demonic Aura.

"Whatever the case may be, I've prepared a gift for you when this day came. I'll go get it myself, you rest and figure out the changes in your Aura."

"Thank you," Kara said to his departing figure. Though, soon after she sighed, noting this was the most they've spoken in the past few days. Getting to know her father hadn't been going as she thought. From what she understood about the political landscape of the Dragon Isles, Ymir's role should be more military in nature and much of his governance was handled by subordinates.

After all, if he truly acted as a King like, say, of the Northern Countries, there was no chance he'd be as strong as he was.

Does he truly enjoy being so busy? Kara wondered as she thought about her own future. For all intents and purposes, Rainer would essentially be a King in his own right even if he didn't have such a t.i.tle. Would he delve himself so heavily into the running of his Academy and dealing with all the political issues that came with it? Kara had plans to adventure out in the world just like her mother had in her youth, but now those plans weren't hers alone. And then there was what came after...

She laughed a bit to herself as she recalled the Avatar ritual that Amer used. Rainer did have a habit of solving problems with magic, and she had little doubt said [Archon] had the patience or will to put up with political and administrative problems all day. It was just like him to outsource his issues to magic rather than anything else.

Ymir had even pointed out some flaws of Rainer's fighting style to her that relied too heavily on his stronger magics. She'd have to explore some of those flaws herself when they truly fought in [Sleep Learning] before of course talking to Rainer about them and seeing if they were even true. After all, Ymir made a.s.sumptions on Rainer's abilities.

Looking down at her hands, Kara started manipulating her Aura as she awaited Ymir's return. The string technique of her family was truly interesting, she thought as she easily formed one between her hands.

Ymir entered soon after, and Kara was unable to hide the Aura string between her hands in time. She had enjoyed having her father teaching her the technique and wanted that to last a bit longer.

"Looks like we can already move onto the next step for that," Ymir said, smiling.

Before Kara could say anything else she saw the two sheathed blades in his hands gleaming with enchantments.

"I was told you were quite fond of these blades. I sent them to my best enchanter and inscriptionist, I hope they are to your liking."

Kara walked over and gently took the blade from Ymir's hands before in a quick maneuver unsheathing them and having the sheathe enter her spatial storage enchantment. She had always preferred keeping her weapons in there rather than her spatial ring.

Her Aura covered the blades as she went through a series of slashes with the pair of them. She felt her body grow light and stronger despite the heft of them and noticed how effortlessly her Aura flowed into them.

After some time, she put them away before walking back and giving Ymir a hug.

"Thank you, father," She said for the first time. It was truly a wonderful gift but it was only the catalyst on everything else he was doing. A shame those pursuing her are forcing her to leave soon. She'd also have to thank Rainer for giving Ymir the idea.

"I was happy to."

Rainer rested in a cave as Gunthar stood outside, glancing over the snow-covered mountain. Luna sat in Rainer's embrace and covered them both in a cloak as the two shared heat. Neither of them needed to do it, one being a high-attribute [Archon] with [Arcane Invigoration] and various resistances, the other being a magical existence free from most environmental issues. Yet both enjoyed it just the same.

"You aren't feeling sick or anything are you?" Rainer asked as he recalled a possible issue in the form of alt.i.tude sickness. He was barely human anymore with attributes he had, and while he wasn't sure, Mana preventing most human ailments may include alt.i.tude sickness even if it technically wasn't an ailment.

"No?"

"Then good," Rainer said. Tiamat was doing fine as well, currently in Gunthar's arms at the foot of the cave. The temperature didn't bother the little dragon in the slightest. Even more so since Gunthar's feathered arms kept the chill away, the very cold around them in his control.

Absorbing the portion of the soul with a bit of help from Rainer was easy enough. It lacked the same strength and impact of the full soul, but such a powerful monster came with equally powerful abilities. Beyond his [Devil King] Soul, he now had another powerful card to play.

"Rainer?…" Luna broke the silence.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for earlier this week. When the elven woman saw me. I was awake...too sleepy to hide in time. I should have been more careful," Luna said, oddly serious.

"Luna," He said and then pressed his lips to the Fairy's cheek, "I should hope there never comes a time where I actually want you to apologize for being naked in bed next to me."

"Rainer always thinks of just one thing."

"That's not true, out of the two of us you definitely hold that t.i.tle."

"That's right. And yet Rainer had fun with Kara in the white place without me," She pouted, though Rainer could tell she didn't actually mind. Unlike Kara, Luna was happy with just the occasional transfer of Mana and joining in when the mood hit her. When it was just the two of them, she preferred the Fae way of doing things.

"So what exactly did Sarah offer to convince you to help her?" Rainer had originally been planning on lending his own [Appraisal] skill.

"Not telling," Luna said with a huff.

"Then I'll have no choice but to force it out of you," Rainer said, furthering Luna's giggles as he channeled Mana specifically in places she was ticklish.

"Luna...will...never...surrender…" The Fairy got out in between laughs.

"Sorcerer!" Gunthar ran, interrupting the two, "I believe your interrogation will have to wait. I've found what we've been looking for."

"Don't think this is over Luna," He said 'menacingly' as she retreated into his overcoat followed by Tiamat. Briefly noting that Gunthar seemed harder and harder to tease with his prudeness, Rainer followed the undead outside with the thought in mind of getting him to say his mantra again.

They had spent close to three days in the Mountains. The first day proved just how lucky they were to find that Hawk, nothing above the first tier in strength appeared, even worse there were level 1 to 2 insect-like monsters which lived in the ground and would pop out at them, trying to grab their feet. But with Rainer's constant [Void-walking] they managed to cover a vast amount of ground.

After their first failure, they had gone to the Hunter's Guild and looked through the openly available resources on the various monsters in the mountains and where they might be found. Rainer blanched a bit as he found information on the hawks they fought, though noticing that there was nothing on their leader. It seemed he wasn't the first mage who thought of teleporting behind them to bring them down, though he was apparently the only surviving one.

On top of the magic of the mountains, the hawks were incredibly sensitive to such display of magic and sent the mage, that entry referenced, plummeting to his death. A swirling storm of frost preventing him from teleporting to safety. It seemed one of their abilities prevented Mana use to a degree. [Void-walking] as a more quiet form of teleportation appeared to be immune to this detection. And had Rainer switched to fueling it with Void Will he doubted his movement would have been stifled at all.

Both he and Gunthar had looked thoroughly, trying to find monsters at the perfect level of strength and with good enough abilities for the [Arcane Reaper] to get a hold of. Based on his first experience in absorbing that Soul, one would be his limit. And even his failed a.s.similation of the [Skyfrost King]'s Soul had caused significant damage when he forced it out of him. Which meant he could potentially lock himself out of his advancement until his Soul got stronger by leaps and bounds to grab another.

"What did you find?"

"Over there, hara.s.sing that pack of wolves. Look closely with your mage eyes."

Rainer did just that. Weaving in between them and draining the life from said wolves was a creature of shadow. It distorted itself and seemed to move in and out of s.p.a.ce as it teleported between them and avoided all attempts to be attacked in turn. One by one the wolves started dying.

After several tries and an a.s.sist from [Arcane Revelation], Rainer finally managed to pin it down with an [Appraisal].

[Shade-being, Undefined, Chimera Shade lvl 14]

[t.i.tle: Life-stealer]

It was one of the Souls they agreed as a possible target. When it came to information on it in the Hunter's Guild, there was a simple 'do not antagonize and avoid it at all cost' message. It seemed the monster was almost impossible to hit. And even if its attacks were weak, the being was tenacious. It was only the final note that a Spatial Mage had managed to pin one down and kill it, that Rainer knew he possibly could do the same.

Of course, Rainer had [Void Hold] and knew it had a high chance of stopping it from running away, especially given the difference between them with the shade-being around the strength of mid tier 2. And after that, he still had his [Arcane-Spatial Domain] to try a more magic-based method of capture if need be.

He might also be able to just stun it by attacking its Soul directly. The difference in their resource pools and Souls was enough that it stood little chance in defending against that. Worst case scenario either running or killing it with spatial magic, [Void Call], or [Arcane Blade] was always on the table.

The only question was if he could switch from holding it to holding its Soul quick enough. Either way, its soul, full or partial, should be useful given its natural skill set.

"I'll go grab Kara," Rainer said, drawing Arcane from the Arcanium as he weakened the s.p.a.ce around him and then vanished. He left Luna and Tiamat behind with Gunthar so that he could make the Void-walk with Kara easier. Especially given that he wasn't fully used to long-distance travel with another person under the Magic of the Dragon Isles. They had long since agreed and talked with Kara about having her help given what happened after Gunthar consumed the last Soul.

"Where is it?" Kara asked with a slight hitch in her voice, when the freezing air entered her lungs.

"Down there, attacking those monsters. I'll Void-walk us in before it absorbs any more life and strength. I'll hold it down while you and Gunthar finish off the others." Rainer said, the creatures the Shade hunted were nowhere near the second tier in strength.

"Ready when you are, Sorcerer."

"As am I," Kara said, easily fixing the issue of heat by cladding herself in a thin layer of Aura.

Rainer nodded before taking Gunthar with Kara and [Void-walking] forward. It took just moments for the Undead's blade and Kara's own to cut through the wolf-monsters.

Rainer appeared instantly beside the target and put the shadowy beast in a [Void Hold]. Momentarily surprised at how little Void Will it actually took to pin this shade thing, he watched as it's shadowy form oozed into reality and took a physical form.

"Can understand?" Rainer asked in his disjointed Druidic Language, before waving Gunthar to kill the shadowy creature when there was no answer as expected. Whatever this mountain did, it was thorough in turning monsters into mindless and aggressive beasts.

"Speaker, speaker can speak."

Though it seemed this one wasn't so mad. Rainer stopped Gunthar in his tracks by grabbing his shoulder. It was just like the poor Undead's luck that when they finally found and captured the most needed Soul, it proved to be intelligent.

"Sorcerer?"

"Looks like our search isn't over," Rainer said, gently releasing the being from his [Void Hold] but keeping a close watch nonetheless. While the notes on this creature were general and not necessarily specific to any of its members, it was hard not to be cautious around a monster known for tracking down those who've tried to attack it no matter how far they run.

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"The monster is similar to Delilah it seems," Rainer replied and wondered just how bad the Undead's luck really was given that monsters at this level of strength were almost never intelligent enough to speak.

"You speak?" The shadowy being shook itself as it gently floated towards Rainer. It looked like some sort of a demented black creature covered in fur and scales with three shadowy paws and a single arm from various species, a goat's head next to a lizard's, and a tail instead of legs now that it stopped constantly distorting itself and took on a physical shape. Not that it mattered since it floated naturally.

"I speak," Rainer sighed.

"No speaker here long time," The being added, as Rainer noted unlike Delilah, who could speak well even if Rainer couldn't, this monster seemed to be less intelligent.

"You free to go, sorry attack."

"Why attack?" The being asked curiously, seemingly not at all bothered by their previous conflict.

Rainer raised an eyebrow as the shadowy thing sort of floated beside him but didn't make a move to remove him as said being kept its Aura fiercely restricted.

"Need Soul, your kind. Help friend, lots," Rainer answered before making a note to level the language when he had a chance. He did have a [Soul-Trace] on Furtak after-all, and it shouldn't be hard to visit Delilah from there, though, he needed to remember not to bring Tiamat to that meeting.

"You spare being, being help you find another me."

"Not willing to kill sane being. Speaking being."

He felt the thing thinking. Before Rainer had a chance to even understand that new sensory input, it spoke again.

"Mountain makes us mad. Magic of angry dead dragon fill us. Change us. Cannot Save. Only I stay normal. Put madness in second head. Hunt for brothers. Free from madness."

"Can brothers leave not madness place?" Rainer inwardly cringed as he tried to piece together this sentence.

"Leave no help, madness follows."

"Lead us to brothers?" Rainer asked, before realizing that he should probably take Tiamat away from here before that. It was easy to forget the little dragon technically fell under the same category as any monster and might eventually be affected by the mountain. Or she might not be, she was a dragon after all. And he wasn't entirely sure she fell under the same category as most considered dragons as. Either way, It would take only a moment to go to Lilia and find her and ask her to stay with Tiamat in their room for a bit. One could read anywhere after all.

"Lead, will lead. Will lead new brothers to old brothers."

"Stop chewing on my hair…" Rainer said as the goat head of the Shade-being recoiled back. Messing around with [Arcane Sound Infusion] and [Will of the Arcane] made it easy enough to modify the [Druidic Magic Language]. Though, he doubted he would have succeeded in that effort so quickly were it not for the concept being an entirely new skill. His [Archon] cla.s.s truly helped him out. He thought as he momentarily looked over the recent skill gain.

[Skill Gained: Arcane Druidic Magic Language lvl 1/10]

[t.i.tle Gained: Arcane Shaman]

[Experience Gained: 0.1%, 1.7%]

With the Arcane bonus and his own control over Arcane, speaking normally with the monster was easy enough. On top of that, keeping a bit of Arcane in the air made the reverse easier to understand.

"Sorry. Second head is mad."

Not that the monster spoke any better. Rainer rolled his eyes at the distorted giggle-laugh that came from the goat-head. He got the feeling both shared a bit of the madness. Nothing on the notes of this monster ever had it shown as a thing like this. They were described as shadowy beings, and the rare record of its actual appearance showed something akin to an oblong amorphous blob.

"So why are you sitting on me?" Rainer asked, hoping not to lose any hair. He found himself a bit more attached to it after his experience with Void Will. That, and obviously no one would like to have their hair eaten by a goat-head attached to a chimera...shadow?

"Brother comfortable. Brother have great shadow within. Great Brother to have such shadow."

So the Void Will? Rainer a.s.sumed. The shade-being had warmed up to him strangely quick, especially given they had attacked it. Now he was less worried about some weird plot, given that said closeness could be entirely artificial. So he made no moves to remove the thing from him.

He also could speed up the growth of his hair with a targeted [Arcane Invigoration]...maybe. It was a thought of his that he never really got around to trying. It might also be fun to pretend that he spent decades in some weird time-altered realm by growing his hair down to the floor and surprising Kara. Getting Luna to glamour in some wrinkles or signs of aging wouldn't even be hard. Even better, his coming reunion with his grandfather and mom...

"I can hear you plotting something from here, Sorcerer. I only ask if it is related to me?"

"It's not."

"Then that is most excellent. Continue with your plotting, Sorcerer."

"What about me?" Kara asked and found the silence more telling than anything else. She briefly recalled Rainer still owed her his promised revenge for when she had Gunthar trick him. Back when Gunthar pretended that the ritual to make him Rainer's undead went wrong.

The [Chimera Shade] had led them to another shade easily enough, and it proved no more difficult to catch. Rainer stared at the struggling Shade-being in his [Void Hold], his new 'brother' went around and then grabbed the same being with his own power. The [Archon] switched his target to the being's soul as an [Aura Blade] covered Gunthar's sword.

[Shade-being, Undefined, Twisting Shade lvl 21]

[t.i.tle: Shadow Controller]

"h.e.l.lo?" Rainer checked again, and like with the hawk the attempt to communicate failed. Knowing they were once at a similar level of intelligence to the Chimera, he checked over the being with [Arcane Revelation] but came up short. Whatever the cause to their madness was either not easily visible or something that changed the monsters on a physical level rather than magical.

"I'm ready, go ahead Gunthar," Rainer said before calling out with the [Devil's Soul Language] just before an [Aura Blade] dealt the finis.h.i.+ng blow.

With a force of will, Rainer descended the Void and then quickly grabbed the entire soul before any parts could escape. Gunthar slowly a.s.similated with it, having a prior experience with a far more powerful soul. It seemed Gunthar would be taking far longer this time, Rainer noticed as he glanced around the dark cave they found the thing in. Only the light of his armed [Arcane Bolt]s lit the surroundings.

With the task complete, the [Chimera Shade] did...something...to the body and it vanished within it. That made Rainer grow cautious. He'd have to make sure the shade didn't grow powerful enough that the situation could end up going poorly.

"I check surroundings, Brother stay with New Dead Brother," The shade said before giving a long look at Gunthar, who now already emanated a bit of the shade's power from the full soul.

Before Rainer could stop it, given that he could easily check with [Soul Detection] and [Void Detection], the shade crawled on the ground like a 5-legged spider with its four arms and tail giving him a distinct flashback to a certain alien movie. He'd be protecting his face from now on.

It moved with a slight hitch from uneven limbs as it went on surprisingly fast. Rainer felt a s.h.i.+ver as he watched it disappear further into the cave. Luna's comment, coming from his shoulder, caused him to s.h.i.+ver even more.

"How cute…"

What was with her sense of aesthetics? He complained to himself wondering, when one day they would have a home, what Luna's decoration tastes would lead to.

"Yes Luna. It is most certainly the type of thing that can be called cute," Kara deadpanned, she too had stared at it when it cluttered away.

"Can we keep it?" Luna asked with s.h.i.+ning eyes as she fluttered in front of Rainer.

"Luna, I think it's a bit too intelligent to 'keep'. We'll wait and see," He was curious what exactly the shade-being planned on doing once they found all of its brothers. Luna, however, did not accept his answer. The pouting Fairy kept floating right in his face.

"We'll wait and see?" Kara mumbled in the background with more than a bit of concern.

"Even if you pout Luna, I can't make it stay."

"Even though Luna is so cute?"

"Even so."

"Even Luna will hope for the best then."

"If you're trying to continue the chain at least try a bit harder."

"Rainer complains the same as b.o.o.b-Rainer."

Before Rainer could dissuade her from using that nickname for his sister, he heard Gunthar stand and felt a surge of power as their connection demanded more resources. Rainer gladly gave in, hoping that this time his friend could manage the Soul.

Rainer opened his eyes wide as he watched the former [Arcane Reaper] turn ethereal, before disappearing like a puff of black smoke.

"That is a most unpleasant form of travel," Gunthar's voice came from behind Rainer, forcing him to turn. His bones were still a strange black as he himself looked like a distorted hologram. Moments later, he dissipated the ability and was back to usual.

"Congratulations, Gunthar," Rainer said as the Undead stood still as if getting a sense for the changes in his body.

[Undead, Male, Arcane Lord of Souls(2nd)lvl 5, Death Knight lvl 25]

[t.i.tle: Soul Harvester]

Gunthar s.h.i.+fted his body as he took on the [Devil King] form. His shape changed, growing to a greater height with more fearsome horns on his head. And like never before, he called upon a second Soul and vanished. Reappearing like smoke he struck out with an [Aura Blade], cleaving into the cavern wall.

Rainer watched the far more powerful energy emerging from Gunthar. The [Devil King] soul transformation seemed far more manageable by the Undead than before.

"Thank you, Sorcerer, for everything."

"There's never a need for thanks between us."