Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (47 page)

“Haburt won't be able
to tell the difference between his dead daughter and my simulacrum.” He
tightened his grip on her hair while his other hand glowed with dark and
otherworldly light. “Of course, if she knows that she’s a simulacrum, the
effect is ruined. Watch closely, little shadow. I'm about to demonstrate necrocraft
on a level rarely attempted: selectively deleting memories!”

Abyss!

“Tasio! Tasio! Tasio!”

The Trickster popped
into existence beneath the ceiling crystal and descended to Eric's side. Then
he waved to Mr.15, who waved back while deleting Vaya’s memories of the last
five minutes.

“Hello, Mr. Numeral,
what have you been up to since we last talked?”

“More of the same.”

He finished the mind
wipe and tossed the now unconscious Vaya toward the exit. Then he summoned
another clone trio to take her back to her room and administer punishment.

“Tell her it’s for
wandering around.”

“Yes, Father.”

Tasio spotted Zettai
and circled her. “‘Father,’ huh? Maybe this one will live long enough for you
to earn such a title. How do you feel, dearie?”

She didn't say a word
nor did she acknowledge Tasio's presence.

“She broke her vocal
cords from screaming, so I put her into a trance. I'll fix them once the
transformation is complete.”

Tasio patted her on the
head. “The poor thing.” Then he made a big show about noticing Eric. “Eric! Did
you
summon me? I thought for sure it was Mr. Numeral because, as much as
you dislike me, I figured it the more likely reason.”

“Haha, very funny,
Tasio. Do you mind giving me a hand with this guy?”

“Yes, I do. I told you
this a couple hours ago: I’m not a deus ex machina. If you want to defeat the
evil sorcerer and save the damsel in distress, then you have to do it on your
own. Otherwise, you’ll die. Speaking of which…” He spun his head one hundred
and eighty degrees. “Why
isn’t
he dead?”

“I have a deal with
Nulso, I need leverage for BloodDrinker and I also want to study him.”

Tasio’s form inflated
into something large, glowing, and divinely majestic. With scowling eyes and
glowing pupils, he boomed,

“You dare speak so to The Trickster himself?”

“Yes.”

Tasio shrank back to
his default friendly form. “Wonderful. You still have that Push-The-Boundaries
mentality as when you first ventured into the forbidden arts and contracted a
reaper.”

“Contracted a reaper?”
Eric said in shock. “You contracted a
reaper
?”

Mr.15 smirked beneath
his mask. “You asked if I was the Trickster’s Choice. The answer is no. I am
someone else’s!”

He cut his left palm and slammed it onto
the ground. It spread out into a circle and formed an intricate series of
runes. “Reno Grade! By our contract, I summon you! Appear before me!”

Black light shined within the rune and a
darker being arose from it. A form took shape from the inner light and became
something masculine. It wavered between broad and muscular, and slender and
toned before settling in between. The darkness condensed in its hair and became
so black it pulled in the light around it, making further details difficult to
pinpoint.

Despite the blurriness of the darkness
cloud, the creature stood in contrast to its surroundings. It was brighter,
fuller, sharper, and yet somehow also transparent. It was as if everything
around him was an imperfect reflection of some other form, while he himself was
the genuine article. Simply being in his presence suffused Eric with a deep
dread and sense of powerlessness.

Divinity! This guy’s divine! These
feelings are a symptom of that. What did Nolien call it…?

As if whispered in his ear by The Trickster,
he remembered his mentor’s words instead. It was the answer to the crystal on
his staff.

“Legends say it can steal a god’s
divinity.”

The reaper furled his divine spirit and
pulled in the darkness, revealing his current form. His skin was as white as a
leper’s. His ears pointed like a trickster’s. Crow feathers adorned his brow
and shark teeth hung from his neck. He wore a robe of black silk that was tied
with a spinal cord. He waved his hand in a circle and summoned a scythe; a
blood-red shaft and an earth-brown blade. He grabbed the shaft and brought the
blade down on the floor beneath him. It disintegrated into dust immediately.

“What do you want, 15? I’m busy with a
Bubonic Brew.”

The exile’s voice was
even, but his knees knocked slightly.

“I have something
better: the latest Trickster’s Choice.”

“Really? Those are
always good for destruction. Even when they create, they destroy.” He heaved
his scythe over his shoulder. “Where is he?”

“He’s right over…”

Eric was gone.

“He’s turned invisible.
One moment, please.”

Mr.15 snapped his
fingers and activated the Genocide of Darkness
a fourth time. The room
flooded with high-powered light energy and returned to normal just as quickly.
All of it was funneling to a single spot behind a vat. Mr.15 Chameleon Flashed
to its location just as the sound of wood on rock thudded in his ears. A wave
of light washed over him and blinded him. A second later, he saw dozens of
Erics. As one, they pulled down their eyelids and stuck their tongues out at
him.

Reno Grade chuckled at
sight of the grown man dispelling the illusions, only for them to respawn like
trick candles and continue mocking him. Not even a blade sticking itself into
his side could disrupt his merriment, for what weapon forged by mortals could
harm death itself? Then he felt faint, like a human during blood loss. Eric
stood behind him with the
soiléir
deep in his back.

Kasile said I needed
a divinity catalyst and this will do perfectly!

The golden-brown light
at the tip penetrated the reaper’s physical presence and reached for the inner,
astral, essence. The intense grey light shined in glee and mixed with the
ethereal black it drained from the reaper. Otherworldly substance flowed from his
soul’s proxy to his soul itself. Eric’s eyes widened and emitted the same
light. His smile split his face.

“
Now I've got your power!”

Reno Grade took a swing
at him, but he vanished. He reappeared five steps away and did moose ears at
him. The reaper pointed at Eric and a beam of death energy fired along the
finger’s direction. This energy was invisible to mortals and traveled
differently than mana. It was impossible to block and impossible to dodge. The
mortal would become dust instantly. Decay was the unavoidable fate of all
mortals. Such was the power of Death, matched only by Lady Chaos herself.

Eric brought up his
staff and blocked with the crystal. Scowling, Reno Grade fired again, but with
all five fingers this time. Eric sidestepped around each one and the beams
passed by harmlessly. Reno Grade fired a wave and it broke over Eric’s barrier
like the invincible wall of Constantinople. Enraged, the reaper crossed reality
and clapped his hands to either side of Eric’s head. Even then, he failed. Eric’s
eyes and smile shone with naked conceit.  

“I stole your authority
over death. Your powers don't work on me.”

He passed his staff to
his left hand and punched Reno Grade square on the chin with his right. The
divine being went down and Eric plunged his crystal back into him to steal more
essence, but the crystal passed through his chest and clattered on the stone.

Reno Grade escaped to
the astral plane. Eric looked everywhere for the reaper, but his enlightenment
did not extend to this realm. Thus, he was caught unaware when Reno Grade
appeared right in front of him and grasped his neck. The reaper lifted him off
the ground while remaining partially in the astral plane, and thus immune to
any attack save the crystal. Eric couldn’t touch his fingers, let alone pry
them off his neck.

 “I am a god and you
are only human.” He tightened his transparent grip. “Even with my senescence
authority, you remain a mortal soul in a meat bag. Tasio, do you mind if I kill
him?”

Tasio shrugged. “I have
another choice on this planet. Go right ahead.” He disappeared and reappeared
curled around the blank-eyed Zettai. “No one
here
has the power to stop
you…” he whispered in her ear. “…and save his life.”

Zettai gasped and light
returned to her eyes. What she saw made tears come to them. A reaper was
choking her savior! Without thinking about it, she knew what to do.

She pulled off the
glove on her right hand, revealing the diseased and bloodied flesh underneath. Picking
up her skirts, she ran to a vat and pushed her hand against it. Her blood
splattered on its surface and created a runic circle. She tried to speak the
spell, but nothing came out. Then the choker gleamed and a shock of pain rocked
her body.

“I warned you,” Mr.15
said. He didn’t avert his eyes from the choking. “You are enchanted to die if
you betray me. I wonder who will reach the Abyss first.”

Zettai sank to her
knees as her body shut down. Her head fell against the vat and her tears slid
onto her rune diagram. She traced patterns in the mixture in a desperate
attempt to write the spell before she fell over the verge of death. Her hand
dropped just as the structure shined brilliantly.

The liquid mana within
exploded upwards as a being of stark black light ascended to this world. It
landed next to Zettai and took the form of a humanoid in a black shroud. At the
end of one sleeve was a black scythe with a gold blade and at the end of
another was empty space.

“A Bladi convert killed
by a death spell targeting the spirit? Where they joking or being stupid?”

He looked around and
saw a fellow reaper strangling a mortal while The Trickster looked on
anxiously. He pointed at the reaper with his free hand. Reno Grade let go and
Eric, whose spirit was just about to flee his body, gasped for breath. Then he
ripped the choker off Zettai’s neck and she too revived. Then she shook
violently as another power surge rumbled through her.

“Death would have been
merciful, but humans rarely understand such mercy.”

The new reaper calmly floated
to Reno Grade as the other shouted, “How dare you! This is
my
…” He
trailed off when he noticed the golden blade. “…jurisdiction.”

Chains shot from the
scythe’s shaft head and bound Reno Grade hand and foot. A final one wrapped
around his neck and forced him to kowtow at the new reaper’s feet. His own
scythe disappeared. This reaper brought out a scroll and examined it.

“Let’s see…Reno
Grade…Trainee Reaper Third Class. Currently working off fifty years death-debt
and also on probation for granting unauthorized necrocraft. Now I see you
breaking probation and fighting with a trickster.” He looked up from his scroll.
“You are in a lot of trouble, son.”

“He stole one of my
authorities! That’s a crime!”

“If that is the case,
pending an investigation, then the proper response would be to
recruit
him,
not
kill
him. Clearly, you need a refresher course on the Book of Death.
With good behavior, you’ll make parole in a couple local centuries.”

“Are you going to
replace me?”

“No. That decision will
be made by Samael or Lord Death himself. As of right now, this district is no
one’s jurisdiction.”

Reno Grade smirked. “A
reaper out of his jurisdiction summoned by a walking sacrilege that was created
by someone using unauthorized necrocraft. That is more than enough for my gift
to work.”

He clenched his right
hand and it radiated eldritch light. It formed a sphere around him identical to
the ones that Nulso used. The ethereal chains binding him disintegrated and his
scythe reformed with the power of Order.

“I suppose the
Trickster’s Choice stealing one of my authorities would have been enough for an
Order administrator, but I wanted to see that look on your face. Your
prestigious golden blade is nothing to me now!”  

He flew away and
escaped to the astral plane. The reaper sighed and pointed his golden blade.
Again, ethereal chains shot from the end of the shaft and followed Reno Grade.

“Who the abyss are
you?” Eric asked.

“I am Modil Pera,
Senior Reaper First Class, in service to His Eternalness Lord Death, co-lord of
the Abyss you speak of.”

The chains snapped back
to his scythe empty. His expression didn’t change, but when he turned his eyes
on Eric, the boy felt a similar dread as when Reno Grade first arrived.

 “His right hand,
Samael, will pay you a visit to discuss your theft in the near future.”

“Theft!?”

Tasio floated between
Modil and Eric. “What happened to ‘The Trickster’s Choice’ immunity?”

“Lord Death repealed
it.”

“Eric, kill the exile.
I’ll take care of this and explain later.”

While the celestial
beings argued laws and jurisdiction, Mr.15 marched over to the girl still
kneeling by the vat and his eyes burned with anger. She gaped and rose to her
feet only for him to smack her back down. She tried to crawl away, but he
grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She struggled in his grip, but a
blast of Evil Eye made her compliant.

Eric bit back nasty
words and wrapped himself in his Shadow Cloak. Step by step, he crept up on
Mr.15. He didn’t even breathe. The man was wholly unaware of the boy raising a
spear behind him. Then it was too late and the blade plunged into his back.

“Forget about me, did
you? Fatal mistake.”

Inside the crystal, a
compressed bolt discharged into his lung cavity and exploded. Pieces of Mr.15
were scattered to every corner of the room and the imitation BloodDrinker
shattered into as many pieces. The blast also pushed Zettai to the ground and
triggered another surge.