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Chapter 1 - 0. Prologue

The rattling of chains could loudly be heard in a large hall, but their metallic sound was abruptly silenced by the wail of a newborn – the first sound it would ever make, on the same day its parents were to die.

Wrapped in nothing more than a threadbare cloth, the infant squirmed weakly in the shackled arms of its mother. Her terrified eyes glanced to her husband beaide her, whose disguise that allowed him to blend in with humans now stripped off, revealing the man's true form: a living skeleton, fleshless but not rotten – something that would terrify any ordinary mortal.

But no one in this hall was ordinary.

Behind the couple, a row of Archreapers sat cloaked in long black coats, glaring at the couple with unforgiving eyes. They gradually shook their heads, their disappointment heavier than words could convey. And yet their cold stares were nothing compared to the chill the couple felt from the three figures seated at the highest chairs in front of them.

The faces of these three could not be seen. They had a blinding light enveloping them, making it impossible for anyone to look upon them directly.

They were the Trinity Sisters–the ones chosen to pass judgment for the couple's unforgivable crimes.

The three of them spoke at once like a single deity, their voices sweet, yet cold and absolute.

"Albiel, son of Erebos. Archreaper of the Fifth Order. You have broken the sacred law. For this, you and all you hold dear shall die and be sent into oblivion."

Albiel raised his head, visibly scared, but still he glared into their searing light with defiance.

"I know what I've done," his voice was unsteady but resolute. "But… please. Spare the child."

The woman at his side wept softly, her tears rolling onto the baby's tiny face.

"Your betrayal cannot be forgiven," one sister declared. "You lived among humans, loved one, fathered a child. While we struggled against the Soul Witches, your actions tore open rifts between the supernatural and mortal realms, further throwing the world out of balance."

"Kill me, damn it!" Albiel roared, clenching his teeth. "Kill me if you must, but let the child live!"

His human wife broke down further, sobbing. "Please… don't hurt my baby. It's innocent… it's just a child…"

"The child is an abomination," came the merciless reply. "Half-human, half-reaper. Thats unheard of. If it survives, the balance of all worlds will crumble. We cannot allow it."

"You fools!" Albiel shouted.

A guard struck him across the back of the skull, but he ignored the pain. His hollow eyes burned with rage as he glared at the radiant judges.

"The Soul Witches grow stronger every day, and because of them, rifts between realms multiply faster than you can contain them! You can't kill them, but he could! The boy is not bound by our laws, nor by mortal ones. He could be your weapon… Don't throw that away!"

The moment Albiel spoke, the entire hall fell silent. The cloaked Archreapers behind him exchanged uneasy glances before whispers started to spread.

"Has he lost his mind? What could one half-breed baby do?"

"We've been fighting Soul Witches for over a century. They just keep multiplying; what difference could a brat make?"

"But… maybe Albiel has a point. We can't kill the living. We only seal them. The child might be able to… if it lives long enough to grow strong."

"Ugh. I still hate this."

The murmurs grew, heavy with doubt. Even the Trinity Sisters stopped, and gave this a second thought. The child could become the weapon they desperately needed to turn the tide of this endless war. But his existence might also bring ruin. Savior or Destroyer? No one could tell.

"Very well," Atropos, the sister of finality said. "The child shall live. But the parents will die. Their souls will be cast into oblivion."

Two Archreapers stepped forward to prepare the execution. The couple's chains were tightened, their heads forced down onto a black execution stone that exposed their necks.

Albiel didn't resist against them as he had already accepted his fate. If his child survived, his death was worth it. But his wife on the side sobbed helplessly. Dying before she could even feed her one and only baby was a torment she couldn't bare. Still, there was nothing she could do. This was the price of loving a deity she was never meant to love.

A Reaper stepped up with a gleaming scythe, whispered a short prayer, then raised the blade.

With one swift strike, Albiel's head was severed. It rolled across the marble floor, blood splashing violently, painting the stone crimson.

His wife screamed, her lips trembling. The baby, already taken from her and placed a few feet away, wailed in confusion.

"P-please!" she begged. "Let me hold him, just once more! Let me feed him at least—"

CHOP.

The blade sliced cleanly through her neck before she could finish. Her head fell with eyes still wide, as if she hadn't believed the end would come so soon. Blood sprayed in every direction, some of it splattering across the infant's tiny face.

The baby instinctively stuck out its tongue, and the first thing it ever tasted in life wasn't its mother's milk… but her blood.

"Azra," Morŕigan, the sister of judgment called.

A female Archreaper rose from the rows to her feet and bowed deeply.

"You will raise the child. Live among mortals and ensure he grows into the perfect weapon for us. However, he must never learn the truth of his parents or his origins."

Azra bowed once more, then stepped forward and gently picked the baby up from the cold floor.

And so began the story of a half-reaper child: an abomination destined to live in a world where Reapers wage a never-ending war against Soul Witches – creatures who's very existence tears rifts between realms, sets the world in imbalance and unleash horrors upon the mortal world to devour human souls.

Would this child become the savior of both worlds… or the one who brings about their end?

TBC

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