Grim Reaper

"Can you tell me more?"

Shaya floated in midair with his hands behind his back, following the mark he had placed on the nightmare as he questioned Cassifa.

"The specifics of that thing."

"Nothing much to say. It was just an ordinary nightmare, usually active in dreams, feeding on human vitality.

Though they operated in dreams, the master of dreams was the Sleep God, not nightmares. Their control over dreams was limited too. They were low-level creatures.

They weren't allowed to appear in the real world and were classified as something akin to demons, but they were nowhere near demons in actual standing."

"So demons existed in this world, as did hell—and even gods?" Shaya keenly caught the implication.

"I'm not sure, but according to my memories, they did." Cassifa said, "I was classified as a kind of demon too, though it seemed difficult to come up here."

Shaya fell into thought. "The manifestation of Fate Power would rationalize your existence. So was it that you were classified as a hell demon within this world's worldview, or did it create an entire demonic mythological system in order to rationalize your existence?"

"I wouldn't know that. You should understand it better than I do."

"If it was the latter, I wouldn't be surprised at all," Shaya said.

He raised his head and looked toward the distant sky. Dawn was breaking, and faint sunlight spilled through the clouds onto the city. Its streets still slumbered listlessly beneath mist and dew.

The streetlamps vaguely outlined the scenery within the fog as the city, stretching awake, gradually shed its watercolor-like appearance.

"The appearance of this evil spirit seemed unrelated to Heilang. It didn't cause him any trouble, nor did it offer him any help," Shaya said.

"You mean this nightmare appeared because of your Fate?"

"It was probably meant to distract me."

Shaya turned his head and gazed into the distance. At the end of the dense rows of buildings, an enormous estate stood out. It had hills, streams, and even a forest.

At the center of the vast estate stood an incomparably magnificent palace. That was likely Britannia's imperial palace.

He said nothing more, merely turning and flying after the direction of the mark.

"Get ready, Cassifa. The castle may be receiving guests."

"Before that, can you come back tonight? The firewood you added is almost burned up."

"Don't worry. I'll definitely make it back before I die," Shaya said.

Before long, he flew out of the city and landed in the woods on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital. This was the last place where the mark had appeared.

The trees were not particularly dense, but there were many shrubs, making it impossible to spot anyone at a glance. Shaya scanned the surroundings, sensing for traces of magic.

Soon, movement in the bushes ahead caught Shaya's attention. As the shrubs shook, the battered Marquis Os burst out.

Shaya saw him, and naturally, he saw Shaya as well. His expression froze at first, then turned to terror and despair.

He tried to turn and run in another direction, but then a pitch-black iron chain shot out from behind him. As though it possessed a soul, it swiftly coiled around him, binding him tightly from head to toe, even sealing his mouth.

Then, a mass of black mist slowly emerged beside Os, eventually taking the shape of a person.

The figure wore a black hooded robe that concealed his entire body, while a vicious bone mask covered his face. Black energy curled around him, heavy with deathly stillness, like an underworld messenger who harvested souls.

He glanced at the nightmare on the ground, then at Shaya standing some distance away, and spoke.

"Thank you. Nightmares like this are extremely troublesome to catch. I've been chasing him all the way here."

His voice was unexpectedly young, sounding like that of a man in his twenties.

"No need to thank me. I was chasing him too," Shaya said.

The man raised his head in surprise and carefully examined Shaya. "So you were the one who injured him, right?"

Shaya nodded, then asked, "Will I be in any trouble for injuring him?"

"Not at all. I should be thanking you. You saved me a great deal of unnecessary time," the man said.

He pulled back his hood and lifted the bone mask onto the top of his head, revealing a refined face with black hair and black eyes. He was not East Asian, though; his nose bridge was high, long, and curved, with a downward-pointing tip, somewhat Mediterranean in appearance. He looked very young.

"You're a Sorcerer, aren't you?"

"More or less," Shaya said.

He studied Shaya again with curiosity. "This is my first time seeing a Sorcerer in the human world. I thought people like you no longer existed in this world."

"Your appearance has surprised me as well," Shaya said. "Can you tell me what you are?"

"A Grim Reaper," the man said. "You can call me Sebas."

"A Grim Reaper?" Shaya raised his brows, looking even more surprised.

He looked Sebas up and down and teased, "Then where's your scythe?"

"That's something only official Grim Reapers have," Sebas said. "I'm merely an apprentice Grim Reaper."

"An apprentice Grim Reaper?" Shaya grew even more curious. "Are there many Grim Reapers?"

"There used to be only one."

Sebas answered truthfully. Perhaps because Shaya had helped him, he was particularly patient with his answers.

"But the human population grew day by day, and so did the number of the dead.

One Grim Reaper was far from enough, so He established a selection system, recruiting talented souls, teaching them, and granting them the title of 'Grim Reaper' to share part of His responsibilities."

So they were basically something like underworld officials.

Shaya stroked his chin. "So for you, 'Grim Reaper' is more like a position. You aren't truly gods, right?"

Sebas nodded. The nightmare beside him was still struggling, so he stepped on it. Amid the clatter of chains, he tightened the bindings even further.

He continued, "More precisely, we should be considered demigods. There has always been only one Grim Reaper who can truly be called a true god."

Shaya nodded. He looked at the nightmare beneath Sebas's foot. "Besides guiding the dead, are you also responsible for managing the demons of hell?"

Sebas looked down at the thing under his foot as well. "Strictly speaking, nightmares fall under Lord Sleep God's jurisdiction. But the Sleep God does not interfere in the affairs of the human world. And since this nightmare possessed a human body, it interfered with 'death' in essence as well, so it falls under our jurisdiction."

The Sleep God? The Grim Reaper?

Shaya silently turned those two divine names over in his mind. In his memories, only one pantheon had both gods.

"Was the name of your original Grim Reaper Thanatos?" Shaya asked.

Hearing that name, Sebas froze for a moment, then his brows slowly furrowed.