"What… what the hell did I just feel?" I muttered, my gaze snapping upward—as if searching the stars themselves for an answer.
A strange hollowness echoed in my chest, like something essential had been ripped from within.
'I feel like… I lost a part of myself!' This thought came, crashing into my mind with suffocating force.
"Master…!" came a voice behind me—gentle, yet urgent. It was the tailed Lilith. For once, she was clothed—though the seriousness in her tone said more than her attire ever could.
I didn't turn. "Did you feel that too?"
She stepped closer, revealing herself. Her expression was drawn with concern. "Yes. And I've felt something like this before. Something's wrong. Something must have happened—out there."
"Azrael," I said, still staring above, "what's going on?"
Elaine's voice cut in from the side, confused. "Grayson? What's wrong? Who are you talking to? Lilith—where did you come from?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't. My focus was locked on Azrael's reply.
"One of the shadows has been destroyed, Master," came his voice, low and filled with regret.
My heart skipped. "What happened?"
"Forgive me… I do not know. I'm en route to its last known location now," he said, his tone heavy.
Elaine's voice called out. "Grayson—Grayson, you're making a scene. Are you even listening to me?"
Still, I couldn't respond. Instead, I reached into the fractured link, tracing the last memories of the fallen shadow. It had neared a planet—small, barely bigger than Mercury—blanketed in relentless storm clouds. The lightning blanketing the upper atmosphere seemed chaotic, wild, and alive. The shadow pushed forward, attempting to descend. Then—
Flash.
A surge of bright, unnatural purple light split the sky. The connection severed. The shadow was annihilated. A void of static and silence followed. I staggered back, catching my breath.
'Was that… Theós? No. It didn't feel like him. Then… was it ordinary lightning? No. No lightning in this universe could destroy a shadow of mine. What kind of planet is that…?' I thought to myself.
Lilith's tail twitched. "Master?"
I turned to her, voice tense. "One of the low-grade shadows that left with Azrael—it was destroyed."
Her eyes widened. "That's not possible! Only you or Theós could destroy a shadow! They are not physical beings."
"We both felt it," I said grimly.
"Something is out there, something capable of killing spiritual beings. Either Theós is hiding something on that planet... or there really is something out there powerful enough to destroy my shadows—or worse..." I hesitated. "...me."
I looked at her. "We're going there. Now."
I turned and walked briskly toward the restaurant's exit.
Elaine stood behind us, calling out. "Grayson Michael Yakhal, get back here!" Her voice rang with equal parts panic and authority.
It drew stares from every corner of the restaurant. Forks stopped mid-air. Glasses froze in hands.
I turned back with a soft, sheepish grin. "Oh, Elaine! Something's come up—urgent business." I reached into my coat and handed her a silver card.
"Use this to pay for our meals, then wait outside. Once Archer sees you are alone, he'll escort you back." And with that, Lilith and I vanished—our presence masked.
Elaine stood motionless for a moment, lips parted in confusion. Then—she exhaled and chuckled. "He really just left me, huh?"
She raised a hand, calling for the waiter. "Bring the bill, please."
Moments later, she stepped outside. A cool wind met her, but she didn't flinch. One minute passed. Then, silently, he appeared, tall and composed. As if he'd always been standing there.
"Take me home, please," she said softly. Without a word, Archer obeyed.
Far out into space, tens of thousands of light years away from Earth, I hovered above a storm-ravaged planet, accompanied by the tailed Lilith. The storm clouds churned ominously beneath us, and I could feel the weight of the planet's fury pressing against my senses.
Suddenly, Azrael materialized behind us, his form cloaked in shadow. He bowed respectfully, his presence as commanding as ever.
"Forgive me, master, I was a few solar systems away and could not arrive sooner. I am pleased to see you after so long! Please, ask anything of me," he said, his voice deep with sincerity, a tone that seemed to carry both respect and... something else—confidence.
'Azrael is giving off a different pressure since I last saw him,' I thought to myself, sensing a shift in his aura.
"You seem to have gotten stronger," I commented, my gaze lingering on him.
"It's all thanks to your efforts back on Earth. The souls you claimed give me strength as well," Azrael responded, his gaze steady, unwavering.
"Wow, what a kiss-up," the tailed Lilith chimed in, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes.
I smirked, feeling a rare wave of smugness. "Hush, you could learn a thing or two from him."
"Azrael, go scout out the planet and find out what happened to the other shadow. If you run into any danger, come back immediately!" I commanded.
"Yes, master," Azrael said with a respectful bow, before charging towards the stormy planet below.
"Bye, Azrael. Hope you don't end up like the other shadow. Haha," Lilith shouted after him, her voice filled with playful malice.
I watched through the eyes of Azrael as he pushed through the planet's atmosphere. The storm clouds above were endless, casting the planet in an almost eternal twilight. The air was thick with fury, capable of ripping the flesh off of anyone caught in its grip.
'The weather of this planet is chaotic... but even if it could touch my shadows, it's still not enough to destroy one of them with a single strike,' I reasoned.
Azrael pushed on, his movements effortless, cutting through the storm like a knife through fog. Everything seemed normal—until a bolt of purple lightning suddenly shot toward him, a streak of energy so fast that it almost seemed to appear from nowhere. Azrael reacted with his honed reflexes, dodging just in time.
But before he could even take a breath, a second lightning bolt, faster than the first, came crashing down from behind him. Azrael barely managed to twist in mid-air, but this time, the lightning grazed his elbow.
He grimaced as he watched his entire left arm disintegrate into nothing but ash. The bones crumbled from the sheer force of the lightning.
"šud ga-za, ama-ĝu šu nu-šu! a-na mušen-lu-ka? (Another shadow, but this one is smarter! Where is your reaper?)," A voice boomed from the storm clouds above, its words sharp and foreign—a language I didn't recognize.
Azrael looked around, but all he could see were the swirling, ominous clouds, their roiling depths concealing the source of the voice. Despite his injury, he remained calm, pressing on, trying to locate the speaker.
Azrael was lucky to be alive. When the lightning grazed him, a foreign power began invading his body. The otherworldly presence spread through his veins. He reacted immediately, severing his arm before the foreign energy could fully take hold of him.
"nigin-zu... (No matter...)," The voice murmured, almost dismissively, before launching another bolt of lightning directly at Azrael.
Without hesitation, I appeared through a gate before Azrael. With my massive scythe in hand, 7 feet of blackened steel gleaming in the storm's glow, was swung in a wide arc. The blade connected with the lightning and diverted the bolt with a crack that echoed across the sky. My body shuddered under the impact, and a wave of numbness crawled up my spine, causing a strange, brief weakness to course through me.
'The lightning... it did damage?' I thought to myself, my mind racing even as my senses felt clouded by the unexpected assault.
I hovered in the air, the winds battering me as I looked at Azrael's poor state. The crackling lightning still surged across the storm-cloaked sky, but it was no longer random. Each bolt seemed to target Azrael directly, striking with deadly precision. I deflected each one with my scythe, and each time I did, my body felt more numb.
'I can't keep this up,' I thought as I considered opening a gate. Suddenly, the attacks ceased.
The voice returned—a low, guttural sound that vibrated through the very air around us. Its tone was ancient, unrecognizable, and it spoke in a language that twisted Grayson's mind with its familiar complexity.
Of course, I was unable to understand anything he was saying. My chest tightened as I demanded, "Who are you?"
My voice was nearly lost in the chaos, but I needed to know. The tension in the air was unbearable, thick with the sense that something monumental was about to happen.
The storm, as if answering me, shifted. A blinding pulse of light burst from the darkened clouds, followed by a deep, resonating screech. It was like the sky itself was being torn apart from within. An irritating noise of metal grinding against metal could be heard.
The clouds began to part slowly, almost reluctantly, as though they feared what was emerging. A silhouette materialized from the rift—tall, imposing, and unnatural. Four skeletal arms stretched wide, each one holding a long metal rod that hummed with a latent power. The figure stepped forward, and the storm seemed to shudder with it.
Azrael, normally unwavering, trembled visibly in the air. Even he seemed to shrink back as the figure revealed itself fully. Its gaze—empty sockets glowing with an eerie lightning raging within them—locked onto Grayson, and for a moment, everything around them seemed to fall silent.
No wind, no thunder. Just the weight of its presence, pressing in from all directions. Even the storm hesitated, as if it too feared this being. Giant tusks protruding from his lips decorated his face. His facial features were scarcely discernible, but the tusks were evident.
'He looks just like me…could he be…?' I thought to myself.
"English? Reaper of Earth, what are you doing in my territory? This is taboo. How did Theós allow this?" He said to me, now in English. He seemed much calmer now.
A purple tail then revealed itself, floating behind the four-armed skeletal figure. The tail seemed to be conversing with him. I began to move closer and was able to catch a few words from their conversation
"Adira, report this to Thanatos!" the four-armed skeletal figure said. The purple tail then suddenly disappeared, and the four-armed being turned to face me.
"Who are you? What is this place? Who is Thanatos?..." I asked him a series of questions as they seemed to pile on and on.
Armando quickly interrupted before my questions increased even further.
"I am Armando. You should already know this is my territory. I rule this place, so I wouldn't be going against Theós if I were to eliminate you right now. I'll give you a chance to leave immediately. Run little reaper...if you value your life!" he said threateningly, then took a fighting stance as he gripped his rods tightly.
My breath was caught in my throat by the switch in his demeanor. His aura was overwhelming, suffocating. It felt as though the air itself grew heavier, colder, with each passing second.
The very sky seemed to bend around him. My heart pounded in my chest, a primal fear settling deep within me. This figure—this Armando—was not just powerful. He was a force of nature.
The storm roared to life again, but now it felt different. It felt more chaotic, more alive, as if it were drawn to Armando's presence, feeding off the energy he exuded.
"No! It took two years to get to this point. I'm getting my answers!" I said to him, despite my instincts telling me to run. I gritted my teeth, spun the scythe in my hands, and adopted a battle stance of my own.
'In the past two years, I have easily learnt all styles of martial arts. I've also practiced my applications with the dark cloud religiously. Armando may be strong, but so am I. I may not be his match in terms of power, but I might be able to compensate for that with skill,' I thought to myself, a bit worried as I had never really had an opportunity to fully utilize my skills.
"Haha… good answer! Show me what the favoured "Reaper of Earth" can do. RRRAAHH!!!" Armando roared, and with a battle cry that cracked the sky, he charged.
'Azrael, get off this planet. I'll meet with you later!' I said telepathically. Azrael didn't argue. He bowed quickly and vanished into the winds.
A heartbeat later, I clashed with Armando.
Metal slammed against metal. Sparks flew in all directions as our weapons collided. A massive shockwave exploded outward, ripping away the clouds in a vast radius, revealing the burning stars above.
Armando's skeletal grin widened. He was enjoying this.
"I've never fought anyone who could match my strength before! Who are you? Are you a reaper like me?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Match your strength?" Armando growled, his tone laced with insult. "Don't flatter yourself."
Then came the barrage.
Armando struck wildly—four rods slicing through the air at breakneck speed. Each blow was brutal, unrelenting. I parried where I could, but there were too many limbs. Too many attacks. Coming at me too fast.
The rods sizzled with energy, and each time one struck my body, the dark cloud's power seemed to be canceled out by Armando's storm, leaving deep burn wounds across my skin that wouldn't heal.
I staggered.
My limbs grew heavy. My movements were sluggish. Each hit stole more strength from my body, and the burns only grew worse. Then, with no warning, Armando pulled back—all four rods raised above his head. Grayson reacted on instinct, lifting his scythe to block the blow.
CRACK!
The impact was monstrous. The air trembled with the force. I was launched downward, crashing through the atmosphere like a falling meteor. I hit the planet's surface with a devastating explosion, carving a crater into the land. Groaning, I forced myself to rise, my body screaming in pain. I was covered in burns, cuts, and bruises—but was still alive!
I then noticed something beside me—a four-armed, green-skinned being with tusks, gushing purple blood. I had possibly injured it when I crashed. Beside the green-skinned being was a shadow floating. Four-armed, just like Armando. It hovered silently next to the dying creature…watching.
Grayson's eyes widened. 'There is life on this planet… and shadows that are not my own. Which means… that thing up there must be the Reaper of this planet!'
High above, Armando floated, gazing down like a god surveying his domain. His skeletal smirk returned. Slowly, he descended, his feet gently touching the ground. I could barely move. Each breath hurt. My vision swam with pain. But the wounds, though brutal, weren't fatal. I had to know more.
"Armando," I said weakly, "I can see you're powerful. But are you the strongest out there? Are there other reapers?"
Armando's voice cracked like rolling thunder.
"Playing dumb will not save you. You will not leave here with your life… Reaper of Earth!" His killing intent poured out like a wave of pressure, almost tangible. It wrapped around me like an electric noose.