Angel Monarch

Chapter 121: Reaper

A new day dawned on Brema. And just like the day before only death and silence reined on these plains.

Slowly sunshine hit the broken buildings, further illuminating the ruined city. It went inside every crack and cranny, making the them she light in the endless darkness.

In one particular building, there was no hope brought by the Sun... Only sadness.

When the fight ended the rest of the group arrived soon after. Bea went towards Lucy first, but quickly realized that she was already dead. With a heavy heart and teary eyes, she approached Sera's broken body.

Her face was plain white, very similar to Lucy's, but her chest still rose and fell weakly. Swiftly Bea began trying to heal her, but it didn't work. Even Vicky tried to help and give energy to Sera's soul which helped a bit, but soon she went back to the same state.

It was like her body was already a foot in the grave and only her spirit kept it alive.

While they were trying everything to save Sera, Clockwork just knelt next to Lucy's corpse. He put her head onto his legs and just stared at the lifeless face.

He didn't cry, not even a teardrop. His face just turned empty and emotionless, like the only good thing in his life was lost... Forever.

Eventually Bea and Vicky used all their essence trying to heal Sera, but they haven't succeeded... She was slowly dying and there was nothing they could do.

Between the constant sound of crying, wailing, bargaining and pleading to some unknow higher existence, there was one particular sound that drew everyone's attention... A small groan.

Clockwork's head snapped to the source, and his face after god knows how long finally shown emotion.

Lucy's eyes gradually opened, but quickly close from the sensory overload. After spending so much time in limbo without any of her senses, suddenly being able to hear, see, touch, taste and smell, pained her mind and confused her.

It took a few minutes to fully be able to focus on the incoming sounds. And only after ten more minutes could she finally open her eyes.

With foggy vision she looked up and saw a young man looking down at her. A small smile crept onto her face and she said in a whisper, "What is it James? Did you think I'm so easy to kill?"

His face turned relieved and without thinking he kissed Lucy's lips. It lasted for a few seconds, but after stopping he stayed near her face and replied onto her lips.

"No... But don't make it a habit... Okay?"

The smile from her face disappeared as she nodded.

"Fine... It wasn't fun anyway... Death was kind of mean and strange, not how I imagined him at all..."

With a very confused expression he helped Lucy onto her feet and only now did both of them see the state of Sera, Bea and Vicky. They were all passed out next to each other. Bea and Vicky from exhaustion and Sera because of her approaching demise.

Lucy turned her head towards Hellfire waiting for him to say something, but he was occupied by trying to comfort Faith. Because of her devoutness, she was taking Sera's dying nearly as bad as her partner and child.

With no one else to explain the situation Will and Sarah were the ones to step up.

"They tried to save her, but even after using up all their power..."

Sarah's usually emotionless face broke and her lips trembled, she spent the least amount of time with the group. But Sera's character was just so good and kind, that Sarah instantly began following her with all her heart. Seeing her now lying in death's door with no hope for survival... It affected her as well.

"We can't do anything... Our guess is that Azriel's blade slowly eroded her from the inside... Only her wings stopped its spreading, but since they were cut off... She will die soon..."

On the side of Will's face a single tear ran down. His face stayed stoic, but when Lucy looked down at his hand she saw how much it trembled, and another smaller hand that was in a similar state slowly grabbed it... Giving each other support Sarah and Will turned towards their leader and watched her final moments in this world.

'Dying?!... I just met fucking Death, you think I will let her die?!...'

Lucy approached Sera's body, everyone watched her in tense silence. With one hand she touched her chest, where her heart lied beneath.

After evolving she immediately noticed how much her connection to death increased. And after spending so long in limbo, it was like bathing a a world full of death... It further increased her power.

Steadily a black smoke appeared in her hand, and from Sera's body it flowed into her own. She used the remnant energy left in her by Azriel to make herself even stronger.

The more energy came out, the more she absorbed and using her constantly increasing power she made the process faster and faster.

Slowly color crept back onto Sera's face and her breathing stabilized, same for her heartrate.

It took only a few minutes, the whole group watched every second of it. They were praying to any god for this to work and for Sera to survive.

When all the black smoke left Sera's body, Lucy slowly rose to her feet. Her body was overloading with death energy, but instead of trying to expel it to somewhere else... She began moving it around her body, like blood within her veins. It caused the energy to be absorbed by her soul and increase her essence.

With a bit of lightheadedness she looked at her ascended stats and was surprised to see it change.

Name: Lucy

Title: Sovereign of Death

Rank: Ascended

Abilities: <Fog of the Dead>

Passive Abilities: <Slaughter> Continue your journey at m_v--NovelBin.net

Heritage: <Eternal Rest>

Race: Reaper

Her face couldn't even be described as just simply bewildered. Lucy was so shocked upon reading the new window, that she accidently shouted out loud, "WHAT?!"

The rest of the group looked at with concern, but seeing her stunned expression they soon became curious. James slowly approached her and sat down next to her. His quickly read the same page as she did and his mouth fell open.

'Why... How... When... What happened?!... I was still far away from changing race!... This doesn't make sense!...'

Even her abilities changed as well, her items and essence counter also disappeared!

Then there was her title, which contained sovereign in it. That meant her power should be close or at the same level as Sera and Bea. The whole situation was just surreal.

With nothing else to do and curiosity killing her, Lucy opened the first of her new ability's description.

<Fog of the Dead>

Description: <In most cultures they consider souls to be a misty substance. That is inherently wrong since souls can't be seen or interacted with by most people. In reality the misty substance many observed near the dead is called the 'Essence of Life and Death'. This is the fuel that keeps a body and soul living, and some races adapted to using it as a form of energy.>

You gain the ability to control the 'Essence of Life and Death' to a small degree.

'That explains NOTHING! Why did this happen?!'

She was starting to freak out and to distract her mind opened the next one.

<Slaughter>

Description: <In a forgotten realm, in the birthplace of Death, there was one ruling race called –– reapers. They had an affinity to death like no other and with each kill they absorbed their foe's strength. With each genocide their strength grew and after an unknown amount of time their realm became a higher plain, known for the mortals as 'Afterlife'.>

With each kill you become stronger.

This description made her stop for a moment and rethink everything that happened to her in limbo.

'That light, the afterlife... It's all just a higher realm?... I thought it was something more mystical...'

She didn't know how to feel about this new information, and from the corner of her eyes she saw James staring at her. He read the previous descriptions as well, but unlike her he didn't understand any of it.

After a quick staring contest between the two of them Lucy sighed and recounted her experience in limbo, leaving out the part where she was in total despair.

He looked really concerned, but instead of making any remark he just placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. Lucy closed her eyes for a few moments, and let James's warmth seep into her, giving her enough strength to open the last description.

<Eternal Rest>

Description: <With your time spent in limbo, you absorbed a very small amount of its energy and with that your soul became much stronger than it was supposed to. Your race changed, also your power and potential drastically increased.>

You gain the ability to summon your race's signature weapon, the Reaper's Scythe. This weapon can bypass any defense and can kill stronger beings. It will also rank up with you and eventually be able to kill Death itself.

They looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then large excited grins appeared on both of their faces. Quickly they jumped to their feet and she summoned her new weapon.

In her right hand a large two meter long scythe appeared. Its blade and handle was the same color as Azriel's sword, but there was something different as well. There were golden lines like veins spread throughout the weapon, giving it an exotic feeling.

When the weapon was fully formed the temperature in the room slowly decreased, it felt like death itself had arrived.