The timer hit zero, and yet…
“Hmm…? Why is nothing happening?” Solenne mused. “Did you somehow manage to turn it off with a skill of yours? No… you’re too weak for that.”
Even Rael was slightly confused. He was expecting at least some kind of an attack, but it just felt as if something had tickled his head, then run away.
But he didn’t need to wonder long, as a pair of footsteps rang out from the distance, approaching closer.
Rael turned toward the sound and tilted his head in confusion.
It was a young woman with extremely long blue hair. So long, in fact, that it dragged across the ground as she approached.
Her crimson eyes scanned him, then switched over to Solenne as a frown appeared on her face.
“Solenne, yes?” the woman asked. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet.”
Solenne tilted their head. “And you are…?”
“Alune,” the woman replied flatly, and the moment she did, Rael’s eyes widened.
Alune? As in the Beast’s daughter? The same person who gave me the Primordial Mark?
It really is her, Rael thought with a smile.
She had been in his shadow ever since the start.
And yet, he didn’t know much about her, except that she was the Beast’s daughter and she was shy.
But the shy part came into question as she confidently glared at Solenne.
“What exactly are you?” Solenne asked warily. “I can’t sense your strength, but I for sure know you’re not as strong as me.”
Alune scoffed, then turned her head to Rael.
That was when her cheeks flushed slightly as she nodded at him.
“H-Hello. Um… I was going to contact you soon, but I realized you were in trouble, so I came to help,” Alune said, scratching her cheek. “Though I had wished we could’ve met under better circumstances.”
“Agreed,” Rael replied with a chuckle. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Alune.”
A faint smile appeared on her face as she returned her gaze to Solenne.
Despite her focus on Solenne, she addressed him.
“Rael, I want you to leave this realm. I’m going to hold Solenne back while you do,” Alune said plainly. “I have a mission for you, or rather, a goal. Acquire a way to regulate your karma so that it cannot be used against you.”
She sighed. “And trust me, there are more beings in this universe who hate Outers than you’d expect. So at least 1 in 3 people has a skill that deals increased damage against beings who are not from this universe. Some even have skills similar to Solenne’s, allowing them to directly use your negative karma against you.”
With those words, Alune waved her hand, making a pop-up manifest in front of him.
“I’ll enhance your blessing after I’m done here, so wait for me,” Alune said with a smirk.
“You seem strangely confident, even when you’re aware who you’re going up against,” Solenne mused in a serious tone, narrowing their eyes. “You’re one of the people from the Depths, right? I assume you’re the leader?”
Alune giggled. “Leader? I’m not even a captain.”
Solenne’s brows furrowed. “That is impossible.”
“Believe what you want to believe.” Alune shrugged and waved at Rael one last time.
And with that, without his input, she accepted the pop-up in his stead.
His vision shifted, and he soon found himself standing back in Celestara’s outer courtyard, holding the bloodied neck of Jashin.
Rael was still a bit dazed by what had happened, but despite that, he took a step back.
And the moment he did, a few pop-ups appeared in front of him, leaving him even more confused.
Hmm… Rael let out a sigh. First that encounter, now a reward that I don’t even know when I’ll get…
He couldn’t say he disliked it, though getting all that information at once was pretty overwhelming.
And for the time being, he had two goals.
The first: Find the man the Five Seats were looking for before they do.
The second: Find a way to regulate his karma so that he wouldn’t take such massive chunks of damage because of some stupid conditions.
I guess the second is a bit easier to do than the first. When I evolve this Nightmare King race to the fullest, I’ll switch to a race related to karma, or maybe even fate… Rael thought, when all of a sudden, he felt a tug on his sleeve.
He turned around, meeting Zafira’s worried gaze.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You seem a little out of it.”
“I’m fine, probably,” Rael replied with a slight smile, then focused on Jashin, who was in his grasp.
There was no way to permanently kill him.
He could play their game and also take advantage of the one thing these higher beings feared the most.
And of course, it was none other than soul damage.
Category: Violin Blade/String/Red String Replacement/Enhancement/Soul Damage
•—Balance: 2,697,431,191 Trell—•
• Violet String (Mythic Crafting Material): 1,000,000,000 Trell
It was very expensive, but the effects seemed worth it.
—Violet String: Sound Rend
Strike the Violet String, dealing a basic attack and adding 1 stack of [Soul Resonance]. At 5 stacks, your next basic attack is enhanced with 125% more damage. 10% of that hit’s damage is dealt as True Soul Damage.
He wasn’t sure how Soul Damage worked yet, but even so, Rael purchased the Violet String and held it in his palm.
He tried to put it up against his Violin Blade, yet nothing happened.
Or so he thought, until the Violet String suddenly curled around the Red String.
They didn’t merge just yet. After all, he needed to add one more thing before he could combine them.
Of course, Rael swiftly pressed yes.