Chapter 122: Arcane Revelation (2)

The trio sat in the magic created tub of heated Arcane-Water. Luna sat partially on both Kara’s and Rainer’s lap. With far higher Constitution, the hardness of the Arcane-Earth didn’t bother the taller two of the three.

Rainer’s mind was blank as one hand massaged parts of Luna’s body and another scratched Kara’s wolven ear. The Fairy herself was all but passed out sitting between the two.

But the Wolfkin was lost in thought. She had been surprised how much she enjoyed the company of them both, the wine smoothing the original resistance to it. Her own hands wrapped around both Luna and Rainer.

As of now, they were both hers. And with that she was happy.

--

The following morning, Laneth’s father came with good news on the favor Rainer asked of him. Getting ready to leave, Rainer went out to seek Maya, and they both prepared to go together to where the prisoners were moved.

“You ready?” Rainer asked Maya as she led the way into an older building of the Fae. They had just climbed down a flight of stairs to the underground prison. Laneth’s father had come through with obtaining dozens of their worst criminals for Rainer to do with as he pleased. The condition for it had been simple; should he succeed, any future diseased members of the Autumn Court would have priority to be healed.

The number of criminals surprised Rainer given the size of the Fae society. He guessed the lack of any real conflict and an overabundance of decadence control by a small portion of the society was doomed to produce deviants.

After all, many of the ones here were members of the Fae Courts. It spoke to just how terrible their crimes were that even the mildly corrupt government was more than happy to imprison them.

“Might as well start with him,” Rainer said, looking the at quiet Fae who stared at him with disturbing yet bright yellow eyes.

“Why are you in prison,” Rainer asked, [Mana Reading] turned on. However, the thought brought up by the question was more than enough for Maya to enter the weak and suppressed Fairy.

And so, the pair continued, finding the eventual 31 Fae, 7 with Akhor’s, to be all guilty of assumed crimes.

Just as Rainer was about to ask Maya about which she thought most deserving to start with, she rushed out of the room. Her face was completely pale. She looked no more than a zombie. It seemed the last Fairy they interrogated did quite a number on her.

A pointed look from Maya answered the question he had yet to ask.

Rainer frowned as he read the file given on that particular green haired Fairy. Like many in here, it was serial murder, but there was nothing that would elicit such a reaction from the otherwise stoic mind reader.

But a small conversation later, he found himself quite sickened by this particular Fairy.

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A short while later the same Fairy lay strapped to a table in front of him, rendered unconscious by a sleeping ritual drawn on his forehead.

Rainer held a knife in his hand, ready to search through the Fae’s body and see firsthand how his Arcane power reacted in the Fae’s body. It was easy to heal such wounds with just pure Mana when it came to Fae, meaning this single Fae would last through numerous trials.

But he couldn’t go through with the first step. Back on Earth what he was about to do, no matter the test subject, was considered one of the highest crimes. An act reserved for the vilest monsters of both history and fiction.

Yes, he had some leeway given the target he was using. But for him, especially given his major of Biology in college, it was a daunting step forward.

Grabbing the wrist of his shaking right hand, Rainer remembered what happened earlier today and realized that the longer he needed to be in the Fae Realm, the more risk his loved ones faced.

He never had an issue of abandoning his morals for the ones he cared about.

The [Harbinger] sunk into his Void Will. His hand steadied along with his breathing. And now in front of him was only a tool for progress and the material with which to do it with.

Knife sank into flesh.

--

The same night, Rainer sat against the headboard of his bed, a small Luna taking her favorite spot sleeping on his head. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“Are you alright?” Kara asked. She saw how unusually quiet and reserved Rainer was.

“I’ve just been thinking.”

Kara nodded, before sitting next to him. She knew that for some reason Rainer felt poorly for what he was doing. She couldn’t understand it. Kara had seen a sick looking Maya and had asked her what was wrong.

The Wolfkin instantly regretted that decision as Maya described some of the things she saw with Mind Magic, especially one Fairy in particular.

“Thinking about what?” Just because Kara didn’t understand his guilt didn’t mean she wouldn't listen to him.

“Some of the greatest villains were seen as such for their experimentation on humans…I just can’t help but wonder where I’ll be 1, 5, 10 years from now. Will I think nothing of killing a random person because he bumps into me on the street? Or will I be fine with testing Magic on a common and starved thief, because I think they deserve it? I’m strong Kara…maybe too strong. And power corrupts. No matter how good you once were,” He then snorted, “not that I could claim to be that good in the first place.”

Kara paused for a moment. This she at least understood. And it also offered a slightly selfish opportunity of getting rid of the constipated look Rainer had whenever she talked about her mother. He thought he hid it well, but Kara believed the opposite.

“I’ve been thinking about the prophecy recently…”

“Yeah?” Rainer asked, figuring Kara was trying to distract him from his thoughts.

“I’m almost positive it’s true. I know you like to think of my mother as a horrible villain who forced me to kill innocent villagers to unlock my Aura,” Kara gave Rainer a pointed look when he tried to interrupt, “but everything I know about her said she regretted it when she was a child as well. And with me being perfect evidence of her extended period of time traveling outside of the Demon lands. The only thing I could think of that could force my mother to want me to be as strong as possible…”

“The prophecy… but even still…”

“Don’t get me wrong Rainer. She was a Demon, tried and true. If the sacrifices were done in a time of war or in combat, to her a soldier dying in battle or dying to fuel a rite of passage was no different. But she was not the type to raid a village for such a thing. And I’m not saying it was right but…”

Rainer hugged her a bit closer. He never once saw less of her for what she had been forced to do as a child. And sought to make sure she understood that.

“So, I’ve been wondering. What if my mother was stronger? What if she was in her third tier? You think she would have had me do the rite of passage?”

“No?”

“And would you, as you are right now, kill a group like the Winter’s Guardians if they discovered Luna?”

Rainer shook his head before letting out a long sigh. Was the answer really so simple?

Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely, he mused, enjoying the common saying’s comparison to his own magic. And at the same time fearing what it may mean for the future. But Kara had just cornered him into another truth.

Absolute Power is Absolute Freedom.

Killing, maiming, torturing, and many acts of evil were often committed out of a lack of reasonable or timely choices. It was the opposite truth to this, in fact, that allowed him to eventually test on those horrendous Fae criminals.

They made a choice purely through their own will.

In Rainer’s opinion, it’s what made rape such an easy crime to hate against and rightfully so, even ignoring the other reasons. There were basically no underlying circumstances, no excuses, only pure evil. There was no logical way to justify it, barring magical means of mind-control. And it’s why he had chosen his first subject for experimentation as such.

With the hunters, he all but knew that at least one of the Winter’s Guardians would betray him, guaranteeing a fate worse than death for Luna. And so too was he weak.

To him, there was no other option, especially when added on to Kara’s situation. Let alone a king seeking a few years of more life, there would be few who wouldn’t view a Half-Demon as a need to kill existence. Even Demons themselves, if the prophecy proved true on this world, would likely seek to kill her if they couldn’t subjugate her.

And so too did he all but know, at least one of the Winter’s Guardians wouldn’t betray him. But that truth didn’t matter in the face of all else.

Unless of course, he was as strong as he is now. That one chance of innocence would be more than enough to simply let them go where Rainer was concerned. So long as he was sure of handling the consequences.

In fact, next he saw Matheus he’d likely donate some of his remaining Fae gold and have the Hunter’s Guild find any of their families and give them security. Such was a benefit of power. Even if they discovered their benefactor was their doomsayer, what did it matter? Though in truth a lack of Rainer in their lives would have spelled their deaths in the very first Corridor of the Dungeon.

A freedom of choice granted only by power. The same freedom that allowed Luna to enjoy the festival or for Laneth’s father to survive with the knowledge that there was no Arcane Order. Without such freedom, so too would he have to had killed Amer’s real body as well, instead of developing the friendship they had now. At least as far as Rainer’s priorities were concerned.

In the end, his personal morality was irrelevant to the safety of his companions, those he was indebted to, and his own life. His ideas of goodness landed far behind that, only to surface when he had the ability to let it.

“Thanks for ruining days of moral anguish and existential crisis with one question.”

“No problem,” Kara grinned, happy to see Rainer’s mood back to usual.

--

The next days passed quickly. Parts of Rainer’s days were filled testing [Absolute Rebirth] once more, having fully accomplished his first task, which was avoiding destroying the sleeping ritual. However, no matter what he did the far more complex ritual circle for anchoring the Soul was always destroyed.

He thought to try another method, using [Void Hold] to keep the Soul bound to the body even as the destructive Arcane Energy tore away the connection. The energy caused a true death far faster than the stopping of a beating heart did.

Now at his first attempt without the soul anchoring ritual, Rainer could only watch as his Void Will ran out long before he could manage to use the healing Arcane energies of [Absolute Rebirth] and his knowledge of the Avatar ritual and spell of Amer’s to try and reattach the soul.

His nights had been filled with alternating uses of [Absolute Rebirth] on Demon’s corpses and whatever interested his mind at the time. And yet he grew no closer to truly curing Akhor’s.

But at this particular night he sought after what may hold the key to healing Akhor’s, or at the very least understand it.

[Arcane Sight]

Sitting in the white void, Rainer focused Arcane Power onto a layer above his eyes. The object in front of him was one of the many enchanted books he memorized from his Trial. The runes inside the books themselves were gibberish, but the enchantment was beyond reproach. He could imagine nothing better for training his [Arcane Sight].

Arcane Power poured across his eyes as he continually tried to see more and more. To peer deeper and deeper into whatever he gazed upon. Any time he over did the power, his eyes would become injured, and at times even blinded. But he pushed the limits constantly. Far more than he ever had in the past to truly see in the ludicrously complicated enchantment that made up the book.

As his [Arcane Sight] climbed in levels, he soon realized that the enchantment of the book was as nonsensical as the runes themselves.

And yet he had learned the [Draconic Runic Language] from these books. It may have been with the aid of the then [Arcanist] class bonus, but nonetheless, that bonus wasn’t omnipotent. He had to be approaching the skill in order to gain it. Which meant the book alone contained such a potential.

After several hours of his pouring of the limitless energy of the white void, on top of being able to refresh his eyes whenever he burnt them out, granted him the peak of [Arcane Sight].

[Arcane Sight has reached level 9]

But even still he felt it not enough to truly see what was wrong with the Fae cursed by Akhor’s Sickness.

Stuck, he went back to training [Void Hold]. He had already abandoned the ruse of the Avatar inspired ritual circle to hold the Soul. Which meant he needed to improve [Void Hold].

Absentmindedly practicing it the pain in his head had granted him inspiration. But not for [Void Hold].

“Biology major my ass…” Rainer mumbled to himself.

The eyes didn’t see. The brain saw. An [Arcane Sight] applied only to the edge of the eyes could never achieve what he was after.

And being an Aura skill that also accepted Arcane Power, he started from the basics.

Using his knowledge of [Human Anatomy], he looked inwards as he tried to enhance the nerves and pathways which connected his eyes to his brain.

Yet so small and fragile the amount of Arcane Aura they could be enhanced with was equally exact. Rainer refreshed his body nearly every other second as failed attempts would overload the nerves and leave him blind or worse if the damage spread elsewhere.

But lacking a fear of death or disability he made progress, slowly refining the exact power needed. And just at the cusp of success, he combined the effort with [Arcane Sight], empowering his eyes to a level unmatched.

The otherwise small boost, instead allowed for a far greater amount of Arcane to enhance the eyes themselves.

[Arcane Sight has reached level 10]

[Arcane Sight has reached its maximum level. 5 skill points have been rewarded.]

[Arcane Sight has unlocked Arcane Revelation lvl 1/10]

Rainer’s mind shifted gear’s instantly. He reached out and now concentrated on [Void Hold], using his new skill to see how the Void shifted when he tried to hold an object with its power.

Every attempt he practiced let him see the skill closer than he had before. And to refine the wastes of power when he used it.

[Void Hold has reached level 2]

[Void Hold has reached level 3]

But before he could progress once more, Rainer found himself rudely awakened.

“Rainer, Rainer!” Kara said a bit louder as her dazed mate shook himself awake.

“What’s wrong?” he mumbled, before growing alert. He noticed Maya at the edge of the bed with a deeply concerned look.

“Sasha’s condition…it turned for the worse. I had been putting off telling you for a few days since I thought I had more t-time…but…”

Rainer moved a hand through his hair as he thought over the situation. He would have liked to have tested in on a criminal before the real thing.

“I just need a day or two of testing, and I should be there,” He added. He was mostly concerned about the recovery period. Given what he had experienced he knew just using Void Will wouldn’t be enough to hold the soul until he could reattach it. He’d need to overextend his mind as well.

Combined with the Arcane energies that would tear apart his body, a day was a conservative estimate for a full recovery.

Maya shook her head.

“She could make it, or it could get even worse. It’s…starting to eat the magic in her body now too, far faster than before…”

Rainer let out a ragged breath of air. That was the worst-case scenario. It was an uncommon symptom, but Akhor’s sickness did not always stop at the infected’s Mana.

“Let’s go then,” Rainer said without pause as he organized his thoughts and got dressed.

The whole party went at Rainer’s request as they followed Maya to her home. A short flight later they entered the village she lived in. Compared to other houses in the small village, Maya’s near mansion sized one stood out by far. Whatever Maya had done for Yulia, perhaps it paid well? Rainer questioned to himself.

--

In a large open room, Rainer sat across Maya’s wife, Sasha. It was hard not to feel pity for the young woman. She had been about the sweetest fairy Rainer had ever met, and that was with a disease that was worse than a death sentence for the Fae.

Perhaps the Fairy in front of him already accepted her death. To the point where even a legendary [Archon] attempting her healing did not phase her.

Though in this case, it had become a death sentence as well. Maya had rushed over to him in a panic, stating that there were complications. And with the backlash from overusing Void Will and the destructive Arcane energies funneling back through his body, there was no time for more testing.

“Can you describe what you are feeling again?” Rainer asked.

Sasha nodded at yet another question with the same patience as always. The ill feeling and the strange emptiness she felt even more than usual once more pointed towards the effects of a Fairy consuming their own Mana in excess.

Said [Archon] closed his eyes as he traced the nerves to them and his brain. Arcane Power surged as he wrapped and enhanced them. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. [Arcane Revelation] displaying its full power as he stared the demure Fairy. Eyes entirely covered in a violet power inspected the Fae.

He had many theories about Akhor’s sickness. And after the success of last night’s [Sleep Learning], he could finally test one of them.

Akhor’s Sickness while not usually fatal sometimes killed it’s infected. The symptoms while different enough shared some similarity to over indulging on one’s own Mana instead of a foreign source. Something that could be fatal for certain Fae.

And it was with this, and his current eyes covered entirely in violet that he finally realized how the disease functioned.

Mana naturally radiated and influenced the body it occupied. This was often done by such a small amount of Mana even Rainer at his weakest wouldn’t notice his pool shrinking. But with Akhor’s the very cells of the Fairy in question seemed to engorge themselves on the Mana Pool, leaving it barren. Something Rainer had now only witnessed with his upgraded sight.

It also made it seem as if the very magic of the Fae was being consumed in extreme cases where it sought to not only steal mana but use it to fuel the Fairy's body.

Even if it was just a side effect of the Fae in question consuming their own Mana, this stage of the disease was fatal.

So Maya was right about one thing, Sasha had very little time left.

His thorough study of healthy Fae made him believe he truly had a solution.

“Don't struggle. Let the magic enter your body and count backward from ten,” He spoke softly to Sasha and drew the ritual circle for sleep on her forehead. The Fairy passed out within moments.

With [Arcane Awakening] glowing at its maximum, he put a hand on either side of her head. He looked around the room, and following a nervous nod from Maya, began. A voice tinged in power and Arcane rang. It’s English words transcending barriers of language.

“Race: Fae, Gender: Female”

Anatomical knowledge flowed to the forefront of his mind and magic.

“Ailment: Akhor’s Sickness, Type: Mana and Magic Consuming”

The sight he saw with [Arcane Revelation] added to the knowledge already brought forth. And so too did it merge with the understanding of what a healthy Fae’s cells looked like.

After a calming breath, Rainer’s hands erupted with Arcane power, and Sasha’s body surged with energy. A magical glow spread out through the whole room as the Fae became encased almost entirely in violet targeting every cell of her body systemically.

“Absolute…”

He intoned with [Will of the Arcane].

Gritting his teeth, Rainer did his best to avoid severing the Soul from this damage as long as he could.

But in just a second, he needed to grab it with [Void Hold] along with her life energy.

Seconds, that stretched beyond their measure, passed as her body glowed more and more. A message of experience flowed by Rainer’s mind, but he pressed onward.

[Experience Gained: .00%, .00%]

And with a surge of power the destructive Arcane energy started to flow towards Rainer. Runes lit up on his back as excess Arcane dispersed.

The cycle of death to be replaced with life as the healing energy used the previous cycle to move itself.

The healing focused on what a healthy Fae’s cells should appear as. Rainer had purposely ignored a more complicated approached of dealing with DNA, as he knew not how to approach that, and let the magic guide his healing instead with only a general understanding of a non-dieased Fae.

His Void Will dipped to nothingness as a tremor of pain rang out in head. But it soon turned to a smile as he used that healing energy to start to reconnect the Soul to the body slowly.

And yet just before the Soul was fully connected, guided by not only the healing energies but Rainer’s own [Arcane Energy Manipulation], the last step stalled, right at the cusp of life.

And then elation turned to a raw primal fear. As if rejecting life itself a surge of power erupted across the room and shook the entire house.

Rainer froze as he felt…a massive presence loom over his shoulder. Searching, seeking and finally denying. Denying the connection he tried to form with the recently deceased Sasha and her Soul.

A divine darkness seeking to maintain the natural order even as it’s divine sight was unable to witness the cause of it. A gaping maw looming over all the occupants of the house. The people, Rainer included, far too pressured too even move as the house heaved under the divine presence.

But Rainer remained undaunted. For a brief moment, he released his [Void Hold] and spread out an [Arcane Presence] across the whole house causing the Divine power to rumble in fury, but remain impotent. By nature of his invisibility to Divine sight, Rainer extended that protection.

With all his remaining power, he grabbed onto the Soul once more. Arcane tore through his body as the streams behind him turned akin to wings, smoldering the wall behind him, making him appear more than but a man defying death itself. Even as the blood seeping from his eyes and nose betrayed his mortality.

And as if time ground to a halt under the unrelenting pressure of the Divine, it began again with a start as a roar filled with Arcane finished the spell, an eruption of Arcane power, and a gasp of air.

“Rebirth!”

[Title Gained: Life-Bringer]

[Experience Gained: Deferred, Deferred]

[Title Amended: One who defies Divinity]

[Title already held: One who Defies Divinity. 25% Bonus Experience gained added to title. 50% General Improvement Bonus to Divine Resistance added to title.]

[Experience Redacted: .00%, .00%]

Not even witnessing most of his messages, the moment he saw the final one, unconsciousness took him.