Hovering over the grim and gray swamps of the Fifth Plateau, Rakna sighed and narrowed his eyes right about the time a silver flash of light arrived right in front of him, and stopped, dispersing the discarded momentum in every direction, carving the muddy waters below.

The regal appearance of Lucrecia emerged upright from it, her silver and black hair briefly rising before flowing down her shoulders and back, with her gray eyes highlighted by what felt like gusts of wind contained inside her irises.

Rakna calmly faced her and she similarly remained still, visibly hostile but not aggressive. He was the one to speak first, “While I would love to welcome you, Miss… trespassing in my territory with your aura rampaging isn’t exactly befitting of hospitality.”

Lucrecia frowned darkly and her eyes glanced down where she saw a sphere of blue flames erupt at a safe distance, dropping off a group of people, in which she could spot Kaelith and Kara. The latter even gave her a small wave but they didn’t seem to be willing to intervene. Though, the fox heiress’ forbidding glare was plenty obvious.

“I suppose there is no doubt as to who you are since they’re here,” she uttered and Rakna snorted as he also sensed them. “I will only ask this once; did you kill our young?”

‘As expected, that’s what she’s here for,’ he thought. ‘Did she hear it from the Scorpions? But if that’s the case, for them to come to that conclusion would mean they know I fought Fen…’ He paused. ‘And assimilated his genome… I see. They simply made the connection.’

“Where’s your answer?!” The Wolf Head yelled and thunder roared, a thin rain pouring down.

Rakna’s eye twitched and he looked up at the swirling clouds. A single look with Crystal Sight told him that this was the product of a magical element; Storm Magic.

“{A compound affinity, elemental but not quite. It’s a combination of several,}” Fray remarked. “{It is worthy to be a Nine-Tailed Leader’s magic.}”

“…and what would you do if I said yes?” Rakna asked as he looked back at Lucrecia. Her expression stiffened and the storm began to grow stronger, the wind picking up harshly. However, she didn’t answer his question and continued building up her aura while seemingly holding down the urge to lunge at him.

‘Honestly, I can sympathize with her,’ he pitied her. ‘She can’t kill me, and she knows it… There’s no way she would allow herself to let me go unpunished, but what’s the point of just beating me up? She has no other leverage besides that, and that’s more than enough to drive her mad.’

“{…why do I feel like you are not going to be sympathetic anyway?}” Fray blankly expressed.

‘Well, I do have to shake her up,’ Rakna responded and slowly raised his hand to his face. Under the wary eyes of Lucrecia, he began to feel a hard surface materialize in his palm. “As one of my friends once said, aimless anger… is like seeking warmth from a dead man,” he stated and pulled his hand downward.

A fully crimson wolf mask, made out of something resembling ruby, shone as it perfectly matched his facial structure. The sockets obscured his eyes before surging with purple flames to replace them.

“[Mask of Phobos.]”

Rakna intended to use this skill to clear her head. After all, he didn’t hold the title of Legendary Wolf Emperor for no reason. Coercion-type skills were massively enhanced against any creatures related to wolves, and Mask of Phobos happened to be the strongest coercion skill he possessed.

However, he didn’t expect the effect it produced. Less than a second after he donned the mask, an invisible pressure suffocated the area and despite being the one who cast it, he couldn’t help the shiver that coursed through even his spine.

On the other hand, Lucrecia’s aura instantly shut down and the brewing storm was dispersed as if it had never existed. At first, confusion and shock were the predominant emotions on her face until she realized that her body had simply reacted faster than her mind.

When the full brunt of coercion hit her, all color left her countenance and for a brief moment, she lost control of whatever skill she was using to remain airborne. Meanwhile, on the Plateau, wildlife collapsed on the ground, fish floated to the surface, and birds tumbled down.

Lucrecia gritted her teeth and lowered her head on instinct. She couldn’t believe it. Her body was trying to bow down to the intimidation.

“How dare you--!” All thoughts were once again interrupted as she tried to raise her head, only for her to freeze as her eyes locked onto something… behind Rakna.

Similarly, the therian felt something and as he gradually looked over his shoulder, he saw a large claw, and the more he went, the more unsettled he was. Hanging behind him, was a giant specter of himself.

A werewolf with eight wings, including a demonic one, purple flames blazing in its eyes, nine tails plus a demonic extra, four pairs of horns, and midnight fur. The apparition was see-through like a ghost and the crimson hue surrounding it was connected to Phobos’ Mask.

Rakna widened his eyes. He knew exactly what this was; a projection of his full power if all of his skills were triggered, even his Soul Marble.

At first, he thought that relinquishing Ascension of the Titan to the Crystal Sage would greatly reduce the Mask’s effectiveness, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

‘I remember sometimes the mask would summon the faint illusion of a wolf…’ Rakna thought. ‘I had no idea it was building up to this…’

As he stared at it through the mask, he could feel a connection and it was during that moment of awareness that the System made itself known in his ears.

❮ ◈ ❯

Legendary Wolf Emperor and Legendary Beast Emperor are synergizing…

You have inflicted extreme levels of coercion on a target.

You have acquired a new title; The One They Cry About.

---

Mask of Phobos is reacting to The One They Cry About…

Your Sub-Path, Nephilim, is reacting…

---

Fusing Mask of Phobos and The One They Cry About…

Congratulations, you have acquired a Nirvana Skill; Incarnation of Phobos.

---

Incarnation of Phobos

Upon activation of this skill, don a mask made out of your spiritual forces. As long as it remains on, anyone in the vicinity will feel the full brunt of the user’s maximum strength as spiritual pressure. Those that will look at you will see the pressure double. The user will also be granted boosted Mana and Stamina Regeneration proportionally to the amount of fear induced by the skill.

Those affected will suffer hallucinations, shivers, madness, unconsciousness, or the loss of life. Moreover, depending on the gap between the victims and the force of the coercion, a varying percentage of their statistics will become suppressed.

At the same time, the Mask will summon an Incarnation of Fear to the user’s likeness at full strength. The Incarnation will feed on the fear and negativity produced by the Mask. It can be controlled by the user to battle and the more it collects, the stronger it becomes. Furthermore, if a victim looks at the Incarnation in the eyes, the force of the coercion will be tripled.

This skill can be used without cost and the Mask can be taken on and off at will. However, when the mask is destroyed, a cooldown of twenty-four hours will be imposed, the Incarnation will fade away, and the user will suffer a mental rebound.

Note: If the Incarnation is destroyed before the Mask is dismissed, an auxiliary cooldown of 12 hours will be imposed on it. Taking the Mask on and off will not erase this penalty.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna almost wanted to laugh at the new addition to his Nirvana Skill list. That single line about reducing statistics alone made this skill ten times better.

As for the most eye-catching changes… he looked back at Lucrecia and confirmed that she was indeed trapped staring into the eyes of Phobos’ Incarnation.

The coercion she was feeling was so bad that her face was completely vacant of emotions, and only her fingers occasionally twitched as if that was the only control she had.

Normally, anyone at her level would be able to resist this amount of coercion. Albeit impressive, it should not be enough to subdue her. However, there was a huge difference between facing the coercion of a skill with no focus and a skill with specific targets.

Beast Emperor was probably already a dangerous title for Lucrecia, but still manageable. But add the title of Wolf Emperor to the mix, and it’s as if her soul was demanding to yield to its rightful ruler.

Unbeknownst to her, tears had begun to spill from her dazed eyes while the Incarnation continued to imprison her with their eye contact.

‘…I kind of feel bad,’ Rakna winced.

“{Oh, really? You’re like a king threatening a commoner of execution; I don’t see what you would feel bad about here,}” Fray snarked and the therian groaned.

He looked at Lucrecia and hesitatingly opened his mouth. The coercion inflicted on her was like a contract of subordination at this point; maybe a spoken order would go through.

“[Stand down,]” he uttered and he was startled when his Incarnation spoke at the same time as him, doubling his tone.

The effect was immediate and Lucrecia stopped exuding any sort of energy as her eyelids slowly closed. The skill sustaining her flight was turned off and she began to freefall toward the ground.

But before she could fall too far, as if sensing Rakna’s intention to catch her, the Incarnation caught her with its palm and silently handed her to him.

“…” Rakna stared at the out cold woman in disbelief. He didn’t know how to react. Not only had he knocked her out without meaning to, but it had also been unbelievably easy. Then, the terrifying specter of his own power, which even himself felt a bit intimidated by, handed her over to him like some sort of lost pet.

“Wow, you bullied a poor girl until she cried and then ordered her to black out,” Kaelith came to his side whilst criticizing him in a painfully sarcastic manner.

“…I just told her to stand down, okay?” Rakna grumbled as he slid Phobos’ Mask a bit to the side.

“Right, right, same thing,” she snickered and inspected the Incarnation.

“Wait, don’t look at—” Rakna didn’t get to finish his warning before she looked straight into the spectral werewolf’s eyes. But nothing happened to her, not even a small weight on her spirit.

“Uh, that’s an interesting skill,” Kaelith commented. “We didn’t feel anything back there, but it was easy to see how strong it was. Usually, it’s possible to divide coercion to some extent, but it’s the first time I see a kill that faultlessly spares the allies of the user. Well, you did knock out the wildlife around here… but since even the weakest animals don’t seem to be dead, they didn’t receive the full burden.”

“I guess that’s good to know…” Rakna sighed and glanced at Lucrecia. He invoked his Valkals and made them lift her out of the Incarnation’s open palm. “So, what do we do about her?”

“Just bring her in,” Kaelith shrugged. “As long as she’s calmed down when she wakes up, we can talk it out. You can also put a seal on her with a forced Soul Contract if you want. She’s asleep after all; there’s no resistance and your soul power’s top tier. It should be easy for you.”

“…that’d just make me even more detestable after what I’ve done to her,” Rakna deadpanned.

“Hahaha!” The vixen laughed brightly. “You should have seen your face when your big boy version over here grabbed her for you! It was hilarious!”

“…”

“Still, I’m surprised,” she added with a thoughtful tone. “I know it’s you, but to think you were able to intimidate one of our Clan Heads into fainting… Emperor titles are no joke. There’s probably no race of wolf in the System capable of disobeying you.”

Rakna inhaled and rubbed his face. “I just hope it won’t give me more problems,” he said and gently used his Valkals to lower Lucrecia. “Hey, Allan!” He raised his voice toward the rest of the group waiting below and the blond looked up.

“Yeah?”

“Catch,” the therian simply said and withdrew his Reverse Tails, causing the Wolf Matriarch to fall toward the ground.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Allan panicked a little but carefully caught her in a princess carry. He sighed in relief and then blushed a bit once he realized he was holding a beautiful woman quite intimately.

“Enjoying yourself?” Marie raised an eyebrow at him.

“I-it’s not my fault, okay?!” He sputtered back and looked up. “Rak! What the hell?! You could have just carried her back with those invisible things!”

“Just take care of her,” Rakna said and glanced at Phobos’ Incarnation. “There’s something I want to test before I go back.”

Allan immediately swallowed any complaint when he heard the words ‘something I want to test’ come out of his friend’s mouth. With a masterful poker face, he turned toward everyone. “Alright, folk, let’s run the hell out of here. Lives are at stake,” he announced straight-faced, earning a few chuckles from the girls.

“What do you take me for?” Rakna muttered and slid back the Mask of Phobos into place, the eye sockets once again ablaze with soul flames. Kaelith drifted aside and crossed her arms, already having guessed what he was going to attempt.

First, Rakna tried to replicate what he had done earlier to give an order. And he had a perfect line to test it with. “[Shards of Clarity Abide the Star’s Tyranny,]” he intoned the first line of his soul lullaby, and the Incarnation replicated it to perfection.

‘Interesting… it didn’t add anything to my Cōl Lāli, but it feels like whatever I say in conjunction with it will turn into some sort of Lexis for those affected by the coercion,’ he thought. ‘In other words, it’s like hypnosis. The difference is that it’s incredibly forceful and not pedantic at all. It might be superior to my Soul Scourge if it can even disrupt targets stronger than me.’

With that figured out, he activated Crystal Sight and scrutinized the energy inside of Incarnation to the very last detail. If he had to put a number on it… it felt like about 4 000 MP in raw power. It was a hefty amount gathered from nearby creatures, but mainly Lucrecia.

But as for how it translated into actual prowess was unknown. ‘Hm,’ Rakna mused and mentally ordered the Incarnation to try and cast a spell. Surprisingly, it listened to him and he saw some of the stored energy stir toward its hand.

A small surge of energy was ejected from its palm but then instantly fizzled out.

‘Fail, huh? I suppose it’s too much to expect it to be able to use my skills and magic,’ Rakna shrugged at the results and simply proceeded to the main test. He looked around with a hum and made his mind on a hill in the distance. “Hit that at full speed and power,” he casually commanded, and the flaming eyes of the Incarnation burst.

Without delay, it flapped its four wings, and Rakna, who was not expecting much out of it, held his breath as a purple and black flash zoomed past him at speeds he could barely follow. No more than a second later, he heard a massive explosion and the earth shook.

The therian’s expression twitched as he feared turning his head to see the damage. In the end, he had to check for himself and what he saw was a large crater replacing the hill supposed to be there, with his Incarnation standing stall in the middle of it, even as swamp water began to fill in.

Rakna noticed with a glance that it had taken his order to the letter; this singular attack had used up the entirety of the energy it previously contained. Wordlessly, he calmly took off Phobos’ Mask and tossed it away, its ruby-like material shattering in a sparkling shower, and the Incarnation in the distance vanished without a trace.

“Wolfy~”

He held back a shiver after hearing the sweet voice and apprehensively turned to look at his lover leaning to his right; there was a not-so-much friendly smile on her face.

“Please don’t tell me that was another Nirvana Skill~? Hm~?”

“…no…”

She scowled at him with half-lidded eyes, “…you’re lying.”

“…yes.”