Don't Fear the Reaper

Mella flew us over to the castle, right up to a big wooden gate with bars of metal across it. It almost looked like a drawbridge, but there was no mote.

There didn’t seem to be any way to open this door from out here, so we weren’t sure how to get inside.

“Should I burn it down?” Indena suggested.

“How about, no?” I replied. “I’d rather try knocking first…”

*Knock knock knock*

It started off as more of a joke idea, but there was some movement on the other side. I checked my map and saw someone was heading for us.

There was a thin slot in the wall that slid open to reveal a pair of bug eyes looking at us.

“Uh…” I brushed the back of my head. “Hi?”

The slot shut. There were some mechanical sounds on the other side.

A small hidden door at the bottom of the bigger door creeped open and a dude stuck his head out to take a better peek at us.

“Who are you people?” He cautiously approached.

He had a military look to him, a green helmet and a vest that was probably bullet proof. Maybe he was affiliated with the Urnan Guard?

Since I was the only one here with any military authority, or so I assumed based on their reaction to my serial number, I spoke up.

“My name is Yalda Asamo! I’m here to stop the demon.”

“You’re the archangel from the radio!” he said. I recognized this guy now too from that voice. He wasn’t the captain of the guard, but he was the other person on the radio talking to him. “You really are a little girl… I’ll let you inside. But what about those witches?”

I could feel Indena’s body temperature rise dramatically after being called a witch again. She was toasty!

“Don’t worry about them!” I replied. “The one witch here is on our side now.”

He wasn’t afraid to give Mella suspicious glances, and saved a look for Indena too.

“Alright, I’ll let you all in.”

We followed him through the hidden door. The inside of the castle was about everything I expected out of a medieval style fortress, minus candle light. It was actually brightened up by floodlights and stardust crystals.

“Sorry, but I never got your name,” I said to the man.

“Second Lieutenant Bondson of the Urnan Guard,” he replied. “Let me get you up to speed. All this started a few hours ago. When the snow and darkness fog hit, about four fifths of the men didn't notice, even the captain didn’t see it or believe it. Then the streets flooded with those nasty buggers. When council member Verren gave the order to evacuate to the castle, most of the others thought it was a joke, so they ignored him…”

There were thirty other men patrolling around based on my map. They were boarding up entrances and windows while maintaining some equipment to keep this place warm and lit up.

“You could say we disobeyed orders to work with the church and bring people to safety, but since you’re here, you outrank all of us. We won’t be court-martialed, thank God.”

I think being court-martialed was like getting in big trouble in the military. He seemed really relieved. If the situation was so bad that they’d get in trouble for helping people, that was just a scary system of justice that wasn't made with demons in mind.

“Did you meet someone named Uncle Mel?” I asked.

“Uncle…Oh, Mel Asamo. Yeah. He’s in the chapel room with the civilians and council member, lord Verren.”

He also said that Uncle helped them fight off demons on the way here. Their rifles were pretty much useless against both the locusts and skeletons, just like in a horror movie.

Might as well recycle those now…

“Can you take us to Uncle?” I asked. “The big demon is on his way here, and I need his help to prepare.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

He called me ma’am… It felt so cool, like I was important. He did say I outranked everyone, anyways.

Wait… Did that mean the army was under my control? Oooooh-man that sounds so cool!

“Why are you smiling like that?” Indena asked, suspiciously. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nooothing…” I twirled my skirt, sheepishly.

We started moving toward the chapel, but Mella stopped in the hallway and got my attention.

“I am forbidden from going into such a place. So I will remain here and watch the front gate.”

Since she was a witch, I guess any holy place like a church would be too sacred for her to walk into. I gave her the okay to stay back and keep watch at the front door.

“I apologize for this,” she said.

“Nah. Let her get out of our hair, stupid witch,” Indena grumbled.

“It’s fine, Mella. Just stay safe, okay?”

She nodded, then turned back to the front door. Second Lieutenant Nathan made sure to let the others at the door know a witch was going to be there.

“Don’t be nice to her,” Indena said to me. “And where’d this Mella name come from? If you nickname an animal, you’ll start to care about it.”

Mella wasn’t an animal. But boy, did Indena not like her. I mean, I couldn’t blame her when Mella nearly killed us before…but at least she was helping now.

I said before I don’t think Mella is evil, just misguided. I’m holding to that.

When we got to the chapel, it pretty much looked like an aged and older version of the one in Saint Kensington cathedral. All my friends were here. Uncle was talking with some of the Urnan Guard. They were going over creating a tighter defensive perimeter around the castle. Apparently, the minion demons and skeletons were attacking the walls pretty frequently.

I was worried they were going to kill the skeleton guys, if that was possible. Then we wouldn’t be able to save them properly.

"Uncle!" I ran up to him, bouncing in place to show I meant business. “Those skeletons are actually people! We turned them back to normal!”

“You saved them?” Uncle asked.

“Yeah. We saved a bunch of people using my spear.”

Of course, that spear was broken at the moment, but that was beside the point.

“Very well. We’ll have to collect the remains of those bones and sort them out properly.”

That was a relief. I just hoped we’d be able to keep everyone’s bodies together. Hopefully the skeletons would do that work for us, since they did seem pretty passionate about keeping their parts in order.

Marek and Yamin joined in on our chat, both relieved to see Indena and I made it here in one piece.

I told them all how I defeated the Reaper in his first form, but then he evolved into an edgy skull biker and was trying to get here. Now that we damaged his ride, we had time to prepare.

“Where are all the other people?” Indena asked.

Based on the readings my map was giving, there were thousands of people under us...

"There's a pretty extensive network of tunnels under the castle," Lieutenant Bondson answered. "Not very comfortable, but plenty of room to have people hide out."

At least that was one problem we didn't need to worry about.

“So, how do we beat this skeleton biker?” Yamin asked.

Uncle and I both knew the only way to finish this was with stardust, but I just didn’t have any left in me from all the fighting we’d been doing. My combat skills tanked too, so this was going to be brutal.

If we had Stardust, then Uncle could use it to kill the demon in my place.

“Wait!” Yamin raised her hand up, waving it around. “D-don’t forget, I can use stardust too.”

She attempted to grow some sort of stardust weapon in her hand, but it was a crude object that looked like it had the durability of glass. Not her best work.

To test its weakness, Uncle grabbed it and tapped it against a wooden pew. The whole thing shattered to bits.

“This may work on weaker demons, but not this one.”

Yamin looked really bummed out that her weapon didn’t live up to his expectations.

“You can help in another way,” Uncle said to Yamin. “Share your power with Yalda. Allow her to use it to make a weapon.”

Yamin didn’t mind helping like that. She mentioned that it was better than being useless.

We probably only had a few minutes before the Reaper recovered and came here. Which meant Yamin and I had to get started.

How were we supposed to do this? Did she need to share power through some complicated ritual or something…?

Oh, we just needed to hold hands. Stardust energy was causing her hand to glow, and that glow was passing into me.

Yamin turned to Uncle and asked, “This should work, right Uncle Mel?”

Hey, why was she calling him Uncle? He’s 'my' Uncle!

“Yes.” He nodded. “It’s not the optimal transfer method, but it will work for now.”

*Weeeeooooaaaeeee*

*Vroooom!*

Uh-oh! The Reaper was on his way! If that engine roar wasn't enough of a telling sign, I could feel my stomach churning, accompanied by a terrible migraine.

I wiggled around, trying to suppress the blistering headache that pounded in my head like a drum.

“You alright?” Yamin asked as she kept me steady.

“Yeah.” I nodded, fighting the pain. “Keep shining, as bright as you can!”

Yamin kicked her light up a notch, making her hands glow just a bit brighter. The more that light shined, the more it actually helped motivate me to ignore the pain.

This plan was working. My Stardust Points meter was charging, just like we’d hoped. But it wasn’t fast, so we definitely needed time to finish this.

*VrooooommmmmVRRROOOM!*

*CRASH!*

The Reaper’s motorcycle rammed through the stone brick wall, crumbling it to dust!

Uncle leapt to the center of the room and grabbed the wheel just before it touched down. Then he swung the motorcycle around and threw it!

The Reaper and his ride flew through the air and crashed into a wall. Bricks staggered and fell down on top of the demon, but he recovered quick enough to ride once more.

Now he was heading for Yamin and I.

Marek came in with a well timed punch, striking his fist into the skull of the demonic being and knocking him off his vehicle.

*POW!*

A solid hit! He went flying!

*CRASH!*

The motorcycle blasted through the wall, falling right off the cliff!

"Good stuff, Blue Boy!" Indena cheered, sending a flame between him and the Reaper so he could back off.

"I can't feel my hand..." he waved around his left hand as he scurried for cover.

The demon was on the ground. Uncle didn’t waste a moment and started whaling on him!

Skeletal hands clawed at Uncle in resistance, trying to get a grip on him to force him off. Eventually the demon phased into the floor and reappeared behind him.

Uncle was quick, using his bare hands to catch a swipe attack. Then he retaliated by karate kicking him!

But the demon was strong, hardly phased by the strike. With a single spin, following the momentum of the attack, he was back in the battle.

With how they were fighting, you could almost mistake it for a bar fight. Between Uncle looking like a mafia boss, and the Reaper looking like a biker edge lord, the only thing missing here was a few broken beer bottles and a bar maid trying to pull them apart.

I watch a little too much TV I think…

The pews were getting wrecked. Uncle picked one up and swung it, shattering it to bits on the demon! The Reaper took some serious damage!

In retaliation, the Reaper summoned a shadow ball and shot it at Uncle!

*BOOM!*

Uncle blasted into the hole in the wall leading off the cliff!

“Uncle!”

Now that Uncle was out of the picture for the moment, the Reaper's eyes turned to us. Seeing all these people around must have been a bountiful buffet to steal mana from. But his eyes locked onto one person in the room...Yamin.

He motioned toward her, reaching one arm out to grab her, and his other arms preparing the spindle.

Indena shot flame at the Reaper, but her waning strength wasn't enough to push him back.

Marek tried again to attack, but the death fog prevented him from getting closer.

He hovered above us, his fear aura stunning all the humans. But Uncle returned, flying in on his wings to grab the demon and wrestle with him. He held him back with a furious grip, tossing him around with all his strength.

The Reaper wasn’t detoured, only seeing Uncle as another life he’d have to soon pass over. His siren wailed out, then with an extra four arms, he grabbed out four revolvers with scythes bayoneted at their ends and took shots at Uncle.

“Bubble shield!” Uncle shouted, spawning rounded shields out of his arms.

His shields caught each of the many bullets the Reaper fired off, making sure none ricocheted into any of us.

While the Reaper was reloading with his two open hands, Uncle raced in and bashed the Reaper down, then hit away each of the guns. The Revolvers turned to dust when they left the skeletons' hands.

The bubble shield now covered over Uncle and the Reaper. Bolts of lightning were raining down from the inner surface and striking all over them.

In a desperate attempt to free himself, the Reaper spawned his scythe, holding it close to the blade, and swung it wildly at Uncle. Sparks flew all across the room as this deadly blade carved through the magical energy.

The sparks that were flying around were disintegrating whatever they touched. That forced us to pause the stardust transfer and take better cover.

To counter, Uncle grabbed the scythe and snapped it in half.

*SNAP!*

The Reaper grabbed him and tossed him away, but he recovered quickly and they went right back to their scuffle.

Once the shield was down, Uncle picked up one of the remnants of the pews and slammed it into the Reaper! A chunk of it broke off, but Uncle came in for another crack over the Reaper’s head.

Then he grabbed him by the skull, putting his thumb into the eye socket and bringing the head down for a slam into his knee! With that momentum, he got the Reaper in a headlock and threw all his weight down on top of its back, ripping the head right off!

Wow! That was amazing! But no chance it would kill that demon, we’d definitely need to finish him with a stardust weapon.

“How much more energy do you need?” Yamin asked.

“Just a little more!”

I had enough charge for about 70% of a weapon, so I’d need more. I didn’t want this weapon to be too weak, or else it definitely wouldn’t kill that demon.

Although the Reaper was missing his head, he started to float back up, and his head began to regenerate all on its own.

“Yalda, what is the status of the weapon?!” Uncle shouted, tossing the old skull away.

“70% done!”

“Good enough! Make it now!”

I didn't want to make something cheap. Otherwise it might not be strong enough.

What if I downsized it a little? Rather than make something full scale, I could send him a short spear instead.

“Yalda! Now!”

I cut the transfer off and grew a crystal spear in my hands, half the size of what I normally would. It was more like a knife with a long handle.

I threw it to Uncle and he caught it. But The Reaper smacked at him just as he caught it, then he fell to the ground.

The Reaper sent out a flurry of swipes with all six of his arms, Uncle countered each strike with the stardust short spear. The bone hands of the demon were disintegrating away upon contact with the stardust, so it backed away, once more pulling out a new revolver.

Rather than shoot the gun, it used the scythe bayonet to slash at Uncle. Spear and bayonet clashed.

*CLING*

Once their weapons were locked, the Reaper moved the gun just enough to get a shot at Uncle’s head!

*BANG!*

He moved his head just enough to dodge.

Uncle kicked the Reaper, then activated his hardlight blade and dual wielded spear and light sword!

The Reaper retreated a few of his arms, then spawned a new scythe using his left hands. Now they both had two weapons and leapt into combat.

With a flurry of attacks that were hard to track, both of them struck at each other with their weapons.

Uncle moved with precision, coordination, like a machine timing all of its movements to perfection. The Reaper moved like a wild predator, only seeking the death of its prey. They both had skill, but matched each other’s strength. It would definitely be coming down to the stardust to finish this off.

But the Reaper wasn’t going to play fair, he summoned bones from under the floorboards to grab Uncle's legs! He couldn’t move!

We were all on the edge of our seats, worried that this would be the final moment where Uncle might lose.

“No!” I screamed. “Uncle!"

“Stop it!” Yamin shouted.

The Reaper’s motion suddenly halted, despite the fact that he was struggling to continue his attack. It was as if something grabbed him and prevented him from moving.

“What the…?” My brow sank as I took in as much of the scene as I could to analyze it.

Uncle took advantage of the Reaper's paused momentum and knocked the gun out of his hand, then he slashed right down the middle of the demon with the mini spear!

The demon's body parted, splitting open and gushing rays of light in every direction. Its siren voice blared wildly, but slowly turned soft as the shadow that once comprised its body turned to dust.

The Reaper was dead. We'd won!

Samael leapt off my head immediately after and dove into the dust, retrieving a crystal heart from under it all.

He slithered it back to me, then I took it and swapped it into my arm port.

-Congratulations! You Leveled up!-

-New Items Obtained!-

-Reaper Soul Steal scythe added to inventory-

-Disciple of Cassana cloak added to inventory-

Ooooh! I didn’t know I could get weapons and items from these hearts!

Darn it. I was too low a level to use the weapon though…and the cloak too, apparently. I tried to spawn them, but they just came out as cubes with their names written out on them.

"That's it?" Indena asked, kicking around the Reaper’s remains. “Is it over?”

Mella was at the doorway, so we looked to her for that answer.

“Unfortunately, no. The Reaper is no more, but the gates to Hell have not been shut.”