Ray stared at the System window that had popped up in front of him.
'Dual souls? WTH is that!?!?' Ray screamed internally. Yet another mystery dropped on him by the one and only system.
Meanwhile, Yhrael's eyes, now had a Crosshair on it, as he scanned the area below them with his Scope Sight. Scope sight allowed him to see up to 3 kms away and lock onto the Reishi of the target, allowing his shots to never miss. Its something he had and grew up with. Like an innate skill. It wasn't something that he trained and got, like the soul sight that Ray got after multiple trials and errors.
He suddenly felt someone watching him. Yhrael's eyes automatically swept behind them. There he saw two figures, both cloaked in black armour and wearing white masks staring back at them.
Yhrael pushed Ray abruptly to snap him back to reality.
"We've been careless. we've got company!" Yhrael said, already drawing his Kojaku as the Grimm reapers broke into a run, both unsheathing their weapons, one wielding a Scythe while the other had a Curved sword.
Ray snapped his head up and saw them rush at them. He gave Yhrael a apologetic look for his earlier lost mood, and drew the Seele schneider, rushing at the one with a curved sword.
The Grimm reaper in question didn't disappoint. He Rushed towards ray, while the other kept going towards Yhrael.
*SLASH!*
*CLANG!*
*WHOOSH!*
The moment both came into range, they swung down hard. Steel met steel, and resulted in a resounding clang as both used the reverse momentum to push themselves back. They stood at a distance from each other, circling.
*DASH!*
*SLASH!*
*WHOOSH*
The Grimm reaper charged again, this time more cautious. He slashed downwards, but Ray evaded with a smooth twirling dodge, cutting inwards and closer to his right side. He let his raised blade fall.
*SLASH!*
*SPLURT!*
"Argh!" the Grimm reaper cried out, as a not-so-deep-but-hurts-a-lot-ahh gash appeared on his side. He had managed to dodge the worst of it with Shunpo but had still gotten hit hard. Ray didn't let him recover.
Dispelling the seele schneider, he rushed towards the Grimm reaper and slipped behind him with a smooth sidestep, stopping by landing on his knees, directly behind the reaper. He quickly grabbed his waist and stood up, while holding the reaper in a lock, then pulled a German Supplex, smashing the Grimm reaper into the soil. Hard.
The grimm reaper lay there, groaning.
Ray turned towards Yhrael's direction, ready to help, but saw Yhrael wrapping up the fight too. The other grimm reaper had been overwhelmed by Yhrael's eerie accuracy and shooting speed.
Yhrael ended the fight with a well placed arrow to the Grimm reaper's shoulder. It tore through his clothing and pinned him to the tree behind.
Yhrael and Ray exchanged a look and approached their respective captives. Ray helped the groaning grimm reaper up, while handing him his weapon back.
The grimm reaper looked at Ray in confusion. This was the first enemy the man had met, who helped his opponents up and gave them their weapons back.
'What a kind soul!' The grimm reaper thought.
"Sorry about that mister. You both rushed us, so we reacted in self-defence." Ray said, smiling awkwardly and scratching his head.
The grimm reaper blinked. Then replied,
"Uhh... well, the fault also ours I guess. We made an incredibly hasty call..." The grimm reaper muttered, his words barely audible.
Ray shook his head quickly "Oh no no. Its ours, i mean anyone would be as startled as you guys were if you saw someone appear out of thin air in the Underworld. Especially if that someone was a human from the world of living. So we dont blame you." Ray said, smiling slightly, hoping to ease the awkward tension.
The grimm reaper didn't say anything more. So Ray continued.
"So... whats Your name?" He asked.
The grimm reaper hesitated before replying, "Rensuke"
Ray nodded and extended his hand. "I'm Ray, Nice to meet you Rensuke."
Rensuke hesitated before taking Ray's hand and nodding stiffly, "Likewise."
Yhrael and the other grimm reaper approached them. Apparently, they had also finished talking.
Yhrael walked over and stood beside Ray, while Rensuke rushed behind the other Grimm reaper.
Yhrael spoke,
"Kid. Apparently he wants us to report ourselves to the Underworld bureau of dimensional travel, and turn ourselves in for unrequested entry into the Underworld." Yhrael spoke in a low tone.
Ray blinked.
"Turn ourselves in? Are they crazy?"
Yhrael shook his head.
"It's either that or get hunted."
Ray instinctively reached to rub his forehead, already feeling a headache coming.
"Do we have a choice?"
"No."
"Then lets run." Ray declared earnestly.
Yhrael shook his head and spoke, while pointing at Rensuke and the other Grimm reaper. "Fighting against these guys was easy enough, they aren't strong. But if we meet Grimm reapers who awakened their Soul brand, their weapons, then we'll be in a pickle. Instead, it's better to cooperate for now, and tell them our true reason for coming here. If things go down hill, we scram. I'll hold them off."
Ray blinked, unsure for a second. Then, he slowly nodded in silent agreement. Yhrael, then look at the Grimm reapers in front of them, who had heard the entire conversation and spoke,
"Take us there."
The Grimm reaper nodded. "Follow." He said in a deep voice, and led the way, while Rensuke trailed behind him.
They walked to the chains that connected the Island they were on, to the castle in the centre of the city. The Grimm reaper pulled out his soul brand and inserted it into a Hole in the ground, beside the massive chains, and twisted.
His scythe was consumed as a Door suddenly appeared in the centre of the massive chain. They all entered together. It was like an elevator, small, stuffy, yet smooth and safe. The 'elevator' began descending at a rapid pace.
After a few minutes it lurched to a sudden stop. The entire ride, no one spoke a word. the tension in the room was as high as the oppressive reiatsu that was being emitted by the realm. They exited and found themselves at the base of the massive castle and the chains. The Grimm Reaper walked over to another hole in the ground, which was now slowly bringing something up. It was the Grimm reaper's soul brand.
He took it and continued leading the way. The area they were at was a isolated military area between the castle and the city that circled it. The Grimm reapers on duty stared at them in caution as they walked. The Grimm reaper lead them towards a massive gate.
They entered the gate through a small door at the bottom. On the other side was the Southern district. However, the Grimm Reaper led them to a 4-story building on their right. Inside, once they went past the reception, was an unopened portal. Beside it stood an old man, stooping on his cane as he took in the group, before turning to the Grimm reaper leading them.
"What do we have here Kyosuke?"
"Illegal entrants." The Grimm reaper, Kyosuke answered. Rensuke had already made himself home on a couch to their left.
The old man didn't bat an eye at Rensuke and instead focused his gaze on Yhrael and Ray. Suddenly they felt an immense amount of Reiatsu fall on them. Ray shook in place, hands reaching for Seele Schneider. Yhrael froze.
'Hmmmm... Their reactions are visible, meaning their Reishi levels are not high enough. Though... the kid has potential. To think that the first feeling he had when he was suppressed, was to fight his way out... Not bad...' the old man thought.
"Alright, I'll open the portal to the judging bastion?" He asked kyosuke.
"Please." Kyosuke replied curtly. He then turned to Rensuke. "You're staying with uncle. You're not coming." He stated.
Rensuke blinked and nodded at what his brother had said, while the old man opened a portal and all three stepped through.
This time, the portalling journey was smooth, unlike the journey they had to endure to get here. They stepped out of the portal, only to find themselves inside a massive colosseum. In the middle of the arena, was a massive and high raised table, with 3 cloaked figures sitting on it.
Each had a Distinct mask on, Unlike the white mask of Grimm reapers.
The leftmost one had a matte ash-gray mask with a spiral on the forehead, concentric rings around the eyes, labyrinth-like cheek sigils, and a thin line across the lips, edged with faint wave patterns—silent, inevitable, and all-seeing.
The rightmost one had a pale stone-white mask with a perfect circle on the forehead, radiating eye lines, balanced-scale cheek marks, a vertical lip notch, and a feathered border—calm, impartial, and truth-revealing.
The centre one had an icy-white mask with a vertical rod on the forehead, sharp eye markings, hammer sigils on the cheeks, and a tight V on the lips, bordered with subtle chains—stern, unyielding, and precise.
In front of the table was a long line of souls being judged and sent to heaven or hell depending on their total karmic value. If the soul had high karma, he'd go to hell. If the soul had high Dharma, he'd go heaven. However, if they have even karma and dharma values, they are classified as neutral souls and live in this city, with a chance to become Grimm reapers.
They each had a nameplate in front of them. The leftmost one had a golden nameplate with 'Minos' on it. The Rightmost one was silver in colour with 'Aeacus'. The middle one was Black with 'Rhadamanthus' written in marble white.
These were the three judges of the underworld.
Kyosuke walked over to a guard and spoke to him in a hushed tone, pointing at Yhrael and Ray. The guard nodded and walked towards the judges' raised platform. Aeacus noticed him and stepped off the raised seat, walking towards the guard and listened. Then he climbed back up and spread the news to the other judges.
Meanwhile Yhrael and Ray stood at the side. Ray was completely focused on absorbing the immense amount of reishi in the air through his passive, thinking that this was his last chance to absorb such abundant reishi.
The judges finished judging the soul in front of them then turned towards Yhrael and Ray. Kyosuke hurried them in front of the judge's table.
Aeacus rose and spoke,
"Welcome, humans to the Underworld. Here we do not tolerate any trespassing and Those who do so, are stripped of their soul and sent to hell." He spoke, his voice deep and heavy with authority.
Ray blinked and turned towards Yhrael. Yhrael was staring back, equally dumbfounded.
"Wait, so we don't get a say in this?" Ray hurriedly asked. Fighting was out of question. The judges in front of him were extremely high ranking Grimm reapers. When Aeacus had spoken, Ray felt his passive reishi absorption speed up for a moment, as if the total reishi in the area had increase just from Aeacus speaking. The other judges may not be any weaker. I.e. they were cooked.
Yhrael quickly followed up,
"The boy is right. Judging us without hearing out our end is not how a true judge functions."
"Oh so you'll teach us how a judge functions?" The judge on the left, Minos's voice boomed.
Aeacus, however, looked at Rhadamanthus, unsure on whether to let the humans continue. They had a point. Suddenly, all three of the judges felt a voice whisper something in the back of their heads. Rhadamanthus stood up abruptly.
"Alright. However, we will only hear you out if you have never committed any crimes in your life. In other words, if your karmic value is neutral or highly dharmic, we are willing to hear you out." He stated, his voice, similar to Aeacus's, deep and authority filled.
Yhrael opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He had been shut up with just a look by Aeacus. Minos stood up and raised his hand. An incredibly dense amount of reishi enveloped Yhrael slowly lifting him into the air and a floating empty bar poofed into existence beside him. Yhrael stared at his state and the bar in confusion. Slowly the bar started to fill up. It started filling up from the middle, a red liquid flowing downwards and a blue aethereal liquid flowed upwards. But the speed of the blue liquid was clearly faster than the red liquid. Slowly, after a few absolutely tense minutes, the liquids finally stopped. The final result? The blue coloured liquid and the red coloured liquid were in perfect equilibrium. Though the blue coloured liquid was a bit more than the red one.
The judges nodded and Minos announced.
"Neutral type soul. Interesting. Also, I took the liberty of peeking into his mind. It has no malicious intent towards the Underworld. That's a good sign." He said, leaning back lazily as he flicked his hand again, this time towards Ray.
An similar amount of incredibly dense reishi enveloped him, lifting him— no trying to lift him up but couldn't do so properly, the reishi was slowly decreasing. Indeed, Ray's passive was working overtime, absorbing all that reishi. Minos frowned but then ignored his absorption of the reishi and supplied more, now successfully lifting him up. Ray devoured the reishi like an endless beast. However the reishi lifting him didn't decrease one bit. A bar, similar to the one Yhrael had, materialized beside him and started filling up. However this time, only the blue liquid filled up, with the red liquid increasing ever so slightly.
A few minutes later the bar was completely filled up, and the results left everyone shocked. Around 99% was blue liquid with only a incredibly thin line of red remaining at the bottom, hinting that he was still a human and not a divine angel with unlimited Dharma value.
All three judges stared at him like he was a rare specimen. Minos exhaled quietly, Rhadamanthus opened a book and began flipping through the pages searching for something, and Aeacus? He stared at Ray with an approving gaze.
Ray was still afloat in the bubble of reishi, his passive working overtime to absorb every drop it could. Rhadamanthus closed the book with a sigh and stood up, gesturing at Minos to let the boy down, then spoke,
"What is your is name boy?" He asked, his voice booming with unrestrained curiosity.
"Ray" Ray said after dropping to the ground.
"Your an interesting Human, Ray. Your Dharma Value is one of the highest I've seen in the numerous Eons I've been alive." He began, "It's the peak of what can be humanly possible. Tell me boy, how have you managed to do so at such a young age?" Rhadamanthus asked, his voice now no longer held just authority, but also curiosity and a hint of suspicion laced in.
Ray blinked once then used his young age to his advantage, acting like a kid with big aspirations. There was no way he's telling them that this dharma of his was the culmination of his past life plus his current life. They'll reap him on the spot if they heard that.
"Since I was a baby my wish was only one thing! Strength to protect my loved ones and to change the society! I did everything I could to gain the trust and support of people around me, tried to strengthen myself and then joined the magic knights." As he spoke, he made sure to give off an expression of melancholy, eagerness and an asta-ish vibe, the whole package, including the star shaped eyes.
The judges blinked at his infectious enthusiasm about his 'dream' and his young age and then let the matter. It was an unspoken understanding between them, that such a young man with such pure ambitions won't have any malicious intent towards the Underworld.
Aeacus now turned to the matter at hand.
"So, what was your reason for coming to the Underworld. In respect for your high dharma value, we have decided to listen to your reasoning and make a suitable decision. However, beware if you lie and we detect it. No more concessions. Immediately your souls will be harvested." He stated.
Ray and Yhrael exchanged a look. Then, taking a deep breath Ray narrated his story. The Saussy village attack. Heath Gracie's capture. The self destruction attempt. Ray preventing it. And finally, the black portal that beheaded Heath Graice.
"That gave me an important lesson. I'm still very weak. If that portal had opened up on one of my comrade's heads and chopped it off—" Ray's voiced wavered. He genuinely couldn't continue. "Hence we came here, since the power in our bodies, is very similar to the power you Grimm reapers use. Also, throughout my life, I've been able to see ghosts of dead people. I used this power to help them achieve internal peace and help them pass away in peace." Ray lied, his story perfectly fitting together like a puzzle piece explaining his high dharma value.
The judges were shaken by Ray's 'storytelling skills' and were incredibly touched. His ambition, this experience and finally his situation fit together perfectly. So perfectly that no one could find out that he was half-lying.
Minos stood up, and stepped down the platform, approaching Ray. Once close, he patted Ray's shoulder and spoke. "I've made up my mind! From now on you'll be my disciple!" He stated earnestly.
Ray blinked, confusion clouded his face and he spoke uncounciously,
"I accept."
But as fast as he had accepted he quickly asked,
"What about Yhrael? If he is not being allowed to pursue strength I won't follow either." Ray said, refusing to abandon his comrade in arms.
Yhrael was also touched. They had been fighting together occasionally, and only had met the first time 2 weeks ago. So he hadn't expected that Ray would help him too.
Minos blinked, not expecting that, then turned to Yhrael.
"For the sake of my disciple, I'll hear your story out." He said.
And so, Yhrael narrated his story, his reason to be stronger.
"Since I was born, i never had any magic. My family shunned me. I was kicked onto the streets and forced to survive on my own. At 15 I started to see the spirits and monster out creatures. The vacuans. Then, I met HER. My life partner." Ray saw Yhrael tear up slightly at the mention of his wife. He continued. "We made a good tag team. She was similar to me. No magic power. But a mysterious power that replaced it. For 10 years we were together before…" His voice cracked. "One day, she vanished. No warning, no reason, nothing. Only faint traces of a scuffle. And traces of evil reishi from vacuans. Since then I've hunted vacuans like a madman, growing stronger. But then I stagnated. My strength no longer grew. And the vacuans I was killing…? They were no where close to what I'll have to fight against to save my wife. So, I plead to you. Help me get stronger. Please." Yhrael collapsed, his legs gave way. Ray rushed to help him.
The judges stared at Yhrael in interest. Aeacus stood up and approached the old man.
"I can relate… the feeling my boy. I'll help. For the sake of the kinship I feel towards you." Aeacus said. Ray felt Aeacus's smile through his mask.
They both had secured a way to get stronger…
But oh boy…. Little did they know…. They were in for a different kind of hell.