Reaper

I let out a loud monstrous roar as I channeled the karma into my katana. The silver blade became jet black and a red glint came off of it. I then flew towards Salia and with a single strike, I cut off her legs which fell apart like a doll. I didn’t even let the fairy scream as I grabbed her by the face and slammed her across the ground.

“You made a fool out of me in front of everyone…in front of my girlfriend…called me worthless…now you’re gonna know what it's like!!”

I then started to beat the fairy senseless. Throwing her around the dimension, cutting her up into pieces, and breaking her bones. The People of the Mounds surrounded us and didn't even try to approach us as they feared the power coming from me.

“W-wait, Baxter!!”

The fairy had finally called my name for the first time. Her body was battered and covered in her green blood. Her face was stained with tears and snot.

“P-please…I’m sorry…forgive me…”

I scoffed.

“You say that now when I’m the one beating your ass but when I was your victim you were having a jolly old time breaking me apart and turning me into a laughing stock! How stupid do you think I am?”

“I-I don’t think you're stupid, Baxter! I’m sorry! I was only following Annie’s orders! I’ll never mess with you again, just please don’t kill!”

“And you were just trying to kill me like two seconds ago…”

I plunged my blade into her thigh which caused the fairy to scream out in pain.

“I SHOULD kill you! Since it’s obvious you don’t value my life, why in God’s name should I value yours!?”

“P-PLEASE DON’T! I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!! I HAVE KIDS AND A LOVER! P-PLEASE BAXTER—M-MR. BAXTER! MASTER BAXXTTTWEEEERR!!!!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the fairy begging for her life. The very creature that was making fun of me and hurting me…I was now hurting her. Millions of ideas of how I could torture went through my brain and it made me giddy just seeing it.

But then…I stopped.

“Huh? What’s wrong with me?”

I separated my hands from the helm of the katana and took a step back.

“Why…was I thinking like that? I know she beat me up but still…”

The anger seemed to have overcome in that moment and perhaps the overwhelming power from the karma made me overexcited. I stared down at Salia with nothing more but pity.

“I’m not stooping to your level, I’m gonna do what I set from the beginning…I’m cutting that magic of yours.”

“O-okay…”

“And when that magic is cut, I want you to vanish! Understood?”

“Y-yes sir…”

Salia sniffled as I extracted the blade from her thigh and softly plunged it into her stomach.

“NOOOO!!!”

The voice of Titania screamed out from the stomach of Salia.

“YOU CAN’T BE HUMAN! YOU MUST BE A WARDEN OF DEATH!!”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Warden…of death? Nah, I’m Holy Knight!…well, soon to be anyway.”

“STAY AWAY FROM ME! P-PLEASE I DIDN’T MEAN TO—“

But I had no intention of listening as I twisted the blade and the screams of both Salia and Titania increased. Black smoke covered the entire Spirit World and once it evaporated I was back in the normal world looking up at the ceiling and letting out a happy sigh.

As I looked down I saw Salia, who was back to her normal form. The only difference was that her wings were completely cut off and she was on the floor groaning while looking very transparent. The fairy was going to fade but it did not mean she would die. It takes a lot more to kill a fairy, you need to completely destroy the soul which is what I didn’t do.

“I-I’m…never…fighting…again…”

Silence fell on the audience as they saw the fairy fall. The only noise I heard was Iris and Toto clapping and cheering.

“Yeah! Good job, Baxter!”

“W-what did you—“

The fairy vanished and Annie, who was still standing in that same spot, her eyes widened for a second in shock. The moment I turned to her, the princess returned to her normal nonchalant look.

“I guess I did not give you enough credit, Null…”

“Yeah, you didn’t…”

Instantly, I dived back into the Spirit World.

“Ah– shit!”

At that moment, I started to feel the consequences of my body suffering from going in and out of the dimension. My life essence was being sucked away and I saw my arms and hands become shriveled up.

“I’m really stretching it by going in a third time. But if I can just cut her magic then maybe…”

With all the strength I had left, I charged at Annie was frozen still. Surrounding the body of the princess was a large white eel-like creature that was covered in large eyes that glanced around the entire Spirit World.

“Another weird creature…I’m gonna cut it without any further delay!”

The bat wing appeared on my back again and I flew over Annie in an attempt to slice the eel.

“Gotcha!”

As the blade of my katana got closer, the eyes of the fish turned in my direction and shut their lids. A blinding light of multiple colors covered my vision and halted my assault.

“W-what!? Is this creature the same as Titania!? No…it’s even more powerful!”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The sound of a feminine voice rang in my ears but I didn’t get a chance to ask who they were because when I opened my eyes I was back in the real world. As I looked in front of me I saw that my katana had mid-swing…blocked by Annie’s pinky finger.

My face turned pale and I was in complete disbelief.

“H-how…?”

“Why are you asking “how” Null?” Annie stated. “The answer is obvious. The gap between us is too big. Even if you trained for hundreds of years, a worthless, manaless being like could never even touch me…”

“B-but—“

A strong force had launched me out of the arena and crashed me into the wall. My sensations dulled, I couldn’t even feel pain as I fell down to the floor. Darkness took me as I heard the faint but excited voice of the headmaster.

“The winner is…Annie Virian!”

A single tear escaped my eye before I completely lost consciousness.