Level 4, Mall Restroom.
"Huff…"
Yue Ge braced himself against the sink, avoiding his reflection. Water droplets slid down his face as he stared at the floor. In the unnatural silence, only his ragged breaths and pounding heart echoed.
His memories were hazy—how he’d even gotten here. All he recalled was reaching the fourth floor when an explosion shattered the air. Bai Ya must have clashed with that monster. The sound of collapsing structures. A battle between monsters.
He couldn’t help. Couldn’t even look. When he tried to recall the scene later, only a tide of darkness remained. The monster’s form? Hidden behind that black deluge.
It was merely personified Death. A wisp of Death Aura wouldn’t react to Yue Ge—but when its "quantity" crossed a threshold, it gained will. It became *something*. And he just happened to see such things.
Or rather—they’d sensed *him* first.
An ordinary person standing where Yue Ge had would’ve been torn apart by that Death Aura. Those entities were real. Lethal. Nothing alive survived their flood. Undoubtedly, this was thanks to the Essence he’d absorbed yesterday—the Reaper’s Essence.
Yue Ge slowly lifted his head. The mirror didn’t reflect him. Only swirling black mist. He stared at it. It stared back.
*This* was him. Not human. Not monster. Just living Death. Though he didn’t understand it, he knew—he’d changed. Especially after that black aura washed over him. It felt like crossing a boundary into another world. A world behind mirrors. A dream world. The realm of Death.
"Here you are." A raspy voice cut through the silence. Familiar. Alien.
Yue Ge turned. A shadow stood there—black mist forcibly shaped into a human form, edges flickering. Compact yet denser than any Death Aura he’d seen. Pure ink-black. No impurities.
"Meeting again… should I say that?" Yue Ge smirked bitterly. "Lucky me—thrice in a lifetime with the Reaper."
He recognized it instantly. Only the Reaper moved so freely here.
"Stowaway. You don’t belong. Return to Death." The Reaper raised a hand, clawing toward him.
"Too late to leave now?" Yue Ge dodged. Strangely, no suffocating dread gripped him this time. His body moved freely—unlike in that dream.
The Reaper froze, silent. Then: "So… you crossed Death to reach here?"
"Am I dead *again*?" Yue Ge blurted.
No answer. Only: "This place rejects the living. Leave."
"Gladly." Yue Ge bolted for the door. Outside, the mall looked identical—but eerily silent. No escalator hum. No shop music. Not even Bai Ya’s battle sounds. The world felt dead.
Little Ash should’ve been waiting. Gone.
"Bad joke," Yue Ge muttered, sprinting toward the stairs. The escalator stood frozen. He ran up, back to where he’d parted with Bai Ya.
Only ruins remained. Craters gouged the floor like scooped earth. Giant claw marks scarred the tiles. No Bai Ya. No monster. As if he were the last soul alive.
Strangely, Yue Ge felt no fear. No panic. Just calm. He leaned on the railing, gazing down—just like when boredom drove him to watch traffic through windows. Unmoved.
Since absorbing the Reaper’s Essence, he’d sensed it: he could no longer feel fear. Nothing surpassed Death in terror.
"You don’t belong here." The Reaper’s voice came from behind. It must have followed him.
"I don’t know how to leave! Send me back?" Yue Ge didn’t turn. No killing intent radiated from it this time.
The Reaper raised its hand. Death Aura coalesced into its palm. Yue Ge watched, wary. When the darkness swirled thick, the Reaper slashed its arm downward.
Yue Ge raised his arms—too late. The aura swallowed him. Thinner than before, it left only dizziness, not nausea.
The Reaper dispersed the mist. "So…"
"Send me home? Or kill me?" Yue Ge shook his head.
"You died. Or… died once?" The Reaper ignored his question.
"Me?" Yue Ge tilted his head, almost lying. But lies meant nothing to *this* being. "Yeah. Once."
Not near-death. Literal death. That’s why he stood here, talking to Death itself.
"The living… who reach Death. Adapt to it. You’re rare." The Reaper’s voice sharpened. "My lost fragment resides in you."
"The Essence? Take it back?"
"No. This world permits you. Only those who cross Death—surpass it—arrive here." It shook its head. "You’ll return. Become my kin. In time."
"A Reaper?" Yue Ge faltered. Too grand. He’d only been in this world two days.
"Too weak. You tremble before Death. The powerful scorn it. You? You merely peer over its edge." The Reaper scoffed. "What can *you* do?"
"At least I stand here talking." Yue Ge grinned. "I’ll grow stronger. You won’t laugh then."
"Arrogant. I await that day. This place is dull." The Reaper’s voice swelled. "Return to your world. Face more Death. Death is the end of all things—and the beginning. When the death knell rings, even the earth falls silent." It raised its hand, black robes billowing. "Face Death! The most beautiful word in existence!"
"I shall teach you the sole meaning of power!"
Yue Ge barely registered movement before the Reaper stood before him—no longer a shadow. Its full form loomed: robes swallowing light, the Reaper Scythe cleaving the air. Death Aura swirled around it like a living halo.
It was the sun at noon. The moon at midnight. All else faded as mere backdrop.
An irresistible force. Merely witnessing it stole thought.
This was Death.
Yue Ge forgot where he was. Stared, transfixed.
The Reaper scoffed. Its scythe fell.
A black tide surged toward Yue Ge. He watched, helpless, as it drowned his vision. The world blurred. Death’s flood scattered his consciousness again.
But this time—the Death Aura didn’t devour him. It coiled around his body, lifting him gently into the air. Then it flooded *into* him. Yue Ge understood nothing. Could do nothing.
Only when his last spark of awareness faded—when he slipped from this world—did the Reaper disperse the Death Aura shrouding the sky.
"This world…" it whispered to the emptiness where Yue Ge vanished. "Will it finally gain a new master? I’ve taught you all I can. Don’t bore me, little one."
