Opening your eyes, you see Jerry standing just like you left him. Then you remember the visions from a moment ago, and you feel a tsunami of anger wash over you. Following this wave of emotion, you lunge at the man and wrap your hand firmly around his neck.
Lifting him off the ground, you proceed to slam him against the nearest pillar, knocking the air right out of his lungs.
He starts clawing at your hand. You can tell he wants to say something, but the lack of airflow doesn't allow him to.
In return for his retaliation, you squeeze his neck even more. At this point, all you can see is red.
He starts hitting you with all his might, but soon recoils when his knuckles start bleeding. Unfortunately, the only thing his hits accomplished was that they made you even angrier.
Following this rage, you reach up with your left hand and use both hands to strangle him, as he begins to turn blue and desperately claws at your hands for even a little air.
You suddenly feel a burning pain in your lower region.
Looking down, you see he has firmly planted a knife in your thigh. Not a moment too soon, the pain kicks in, and you topple to the ground.
"espèce de fils de pute!"
As you lay on the floor, groaning in pain, Jerry grips his neck and breathes rapidly.
"What the hell is your problem?!"
You slowly pull out the knife, and as you do, you release short gasps of air, and with one final pull, you are free.
Throwing the knife to the side, you stand back up and brush off your outfit. As the wound heals, muscles attach, blood vessels form, and your wound is slowly filled. However, without missing a beat, you say, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe ask that kid you ran over, or even better, your daughter; maybe they can tell you."
You look Jerry in the eyes with a furious gaze. It takes the man a couple of seconds to understand your words, but when he does, he turns pale as a ghost and his eyes widen.
"Oh, I saw everything you sick twisted fuck, and just know, the first chance I get, I'm throwing you under the bus." You say, pointing a finger at him. He, however, only stares at you with such shock that you don't, if you've ever seen equal. In the moment, you think of all the ways you could torment him and make his life miserable, but unfortunately, right now you have a job to do.
You shake your head and take a couple of steps away from him "First, we need to decide what your ball and chain are; normally, that would be hard to do, but thanks to the visions I went through, I have a rough idea of what we need to do."
Without even giving him a second to answer, you start making your way towards the front entrance. As you walk along, you light a cigarette to calm down, and without even looking at him, you say, "See Jerry, you have two problems, one being that you're super honest and the other is that you're a real gentleman like you put me to shame."
He looks at you, perplexed. "What? That isn't true!"
"Of course, it isn't dumbass; I was joking around. No, your problems are that you are a heavy alcoholic, like so heavy you put Van Gogh to shame with how much alcohol you inhale, and secondly, you're still attached to your human life; I gotta cure these if I want to send you to the afterlife."
"I am not that much of an alcoholic!"
He says that, stopping in his tracks and folding his arms, you simply turn your head and say, "Really? Then where's the nearest bar?"
Without any hesitation, he answers, "Down the block on your left, fuck."
You smile under your mask and start making your way down the block and to the pub. As you walk along the crowded streets, cars honk and people shout all around you, but you walk in silence—that is, until Jerry speaks up.
"So, are you... you know?"
He hesitantly goes about his words, more like he stumbles over them, but whatever, his continuous talking is tiring you, so you finish his sentence, "Am I dead? Yes, I'm; it's kind of a requirement to become a reaper."
"So, were you always such a dick?"
You give him a questioning look, but with a shake of your head, you drop it and answer.
"I am not sure; I don't remember."
"How can you not remember?"
"When your made into a reaper, you lose all your memories, so if we meet a relative or someone we know, we aren't biased towards them, the same reason we wear masks."
"Ah...okay."
Silence falls on you again, until Jerry, unfortunately, once again breaks it.
"So why can't anyone see us or what we touch?"
With an annoyed sigh, you say, "Your dead; ever saw ghosts when you were alive?"
"No?"
"Exactly. We're in a different plain of existence. Reapers can hop from this and the human dimension at will."
"I don't get it."
"What's there not to get? It's all pretty simple stuff, or are you that much of a dumbass?"
He huffs a little at your words and says, "I don't like your attitude; I want to speak to your boss; I'll get you fired!"
"Oh, you'll meet them soon enough; you can file a complaint then."
Jerry suddenly has a smug look
"That's right. Say goodbye to your job."
You both fall silent as you wait until his expression drops and he asks, "So, uh, who's your boss exactly?"
Now it's your turn to smirk and say, "The court is a very, very old organization."
"Oh, really? Where did this court come from? and do they have a proper clearance to judge people?"
"We don't exactly know; we know they appeared after the third hell-heaven war around 7000 years ago, and shortly after that, the first reapers started appearing."
"So, they don't have proper paperwork for judging people."
You look back at him in disbelief and say, "Is that your biggest worry right now? You do realize I just revealed that there are entities centuries old?"
"I don't care about that; what matters is that the paperwork is there."
You slap your forehead in frustration and sigh.
"But are there reapers that old?"
"I just said there were, didn't I?"
"Oh, right, you did, but who's the oldest current reaper?"
You scratch your chin in thought
"Hmmm, it's hard to pinpoint but most people point towards 0 as the oldest."
"0? What does their name mean?"
"The numbers in our names don't really mean anything, we just get to pick them when we join the organization, mine is 457, but the top 100 have been taken for the first Reapers from 7000 years ago. "
"7000 years? But aren't they done working? It has been so long; why are they still there?
You shrug and continue walking as you say, "Unknown, some just prefer our way of life; it's not surprising considering the available options."
"What do you mean? You can go to heaven; everyone wants that!"
You turn to him; he may not be able to see through the mask, but he senses the tension in your voice. "Heaven is not the paradise it's made out to be by your kind."
"...what do you mean?" Jerry asks cautiously, but without missing a beat, you say,
"Well, the biggest problem with your heaven is that God is dead and has been for a long time."
Hearing your words, Jerry stops on the spot and looks at you, terrified. "What?"
"Yeah, the old man died in a revolution run by Archangel Michael, who killed him with his own hands, if I remember correctly, some 3000 years ago."
Jerry tries to speak but is utterly flabbergasted. Upon noticing this, you say, "Well, who cares? It was a while back, so let's just focus on you for now."
"I care!" Jerry speaks up but you don't stop in your walk
"I don't care; I am here to escort you, not help you through a faith crisis."
before Jerry has time to say anything more stupid, you speak up again as you stand In front of a run-down, dirty bar "This is where you drink? It looks like an old Texas outhouse; if you're going to kill yourself by drinking, at least do it in a place that doesn't look like Kingpin's secondary drug stash."
Unfortunately, Jerry is not amused by your jokes and simply glares at you, paying no mind to his death stare as you walk through the old wooden doors. The place looks like it was abandoned years ago.
"What happened here? This place used to look somewhat alive."
"Really? Because it seems like it's been like this for a long time."
Before you can finish the sentence, you see in the corner of your eye that a part of the wallpaper is flying loosely from the wall, and you can hear light whispering from behind the bar.
you sigh In frustration and Calmy walk over, you grip the loose wallpaper and cleanly rip it off, pulling down the illusion and revealing a bar filled to the brim with ghouls, demons, and other beasts. The room is now in silence. You look around and see many of the monsters standing at the ready, with Jerry cowering like a bitch. You also prepare yourself.
When suddenly nearly all the monsters bolt from their chairs and through the front door, leaving you with only the bartender and the two bouncers,.
"Okay boys, you have two options: either A) give me what I want or B) attack me blind."
You are rudely interrupted when one of the bouncers smashes you right across the jaw with a right hook. Without any hesitation, from a purple and black mist, you pull out your weapon, that being a scythe, and cut the beast in half. Blood erupts from the corpse as if it were the fountains of Bellagio.
"So, I am guessing option A is."
They pay no mind to your quip and simply charge at you. First comes the bouncer, who looks like he wants to ram you; however, simply sidestepping to the right, you throw off his whole plan, and with a swish of your weapon, you slice his legs off, sending him toppling forward.
the air is now filled with the agonizing screams of the bouncer, the bartender slows down, and you stare each other down However, before you can even form a plan, the monsters gone
You suddenly get an ominous feeling that something is behind you, and you are right. As you turn around, a roundhouse kick is firmly planted on your cheek, sending you throttling towards the bar and smashing through it. You land in the rubble, and the demon bartender walks up to you with a cocky grin. You in turn raise your hands above your back.
"Oh no, whatever shall I do?"
In an instant, you summon your scythe and swing it down on the demon's head as he tries to get away but trips and falls on the rubble, letting you run the blade right through his stomach. You breathe a sigh of relief as you get up and release your weapon, letting it disappear.
You look at Jerry and give him an exasperated look.
"No, no, please, I didn't need any help."
"What the hell was I supposed to do!?"
"I don't know! hit him with something; there's plenty of tables around. "
You shake your head in frustration as you get up and begin walking towards the other bouncer. When you're standing over him, you slam your scythe into his skull, killing him instantly and making the room fall into silence.
With a sigh, you let go of the weapon and began walking around the bar looking for clues. While walking over the mangled corpses of your enemies, you saw next to one of them a bottle.
Picking it up, it's a whiskey bottle. An idea snaps into your head. Turning around, you toss the bottle to Jerry and shout out, "Think fast, Jack ass."
he barely has any time to register what's going on, but he does thankfully catch it and looks at the drink, back to you and whines, "But I don't feel like drinking right now."
"Drink that shit right now, or I am shoving a pipe up your ass and pouring it down there, ancient Aztec style."
He recoils in fear. "What the fuck!? That isn't even possible!"
"You evidently haven't been to the same parties as I have."
Without a second thought, Jerry pulls the bottle back and starts chugging it down like a college frat boy. While he's doing that, you sit down at the bar and pour yourself a shot of vodka. Peeling back your mask, you exhale loudly and say, "Bon Seigneur, c'est si bon de pouvoir prendre ce fichu masque de!"
Jerry lowers the bottle, looks at you in bewilderment and speaks up "What?"
I shake my head in frustration.
"Don't you humans have a translator in your pocket or something? use that."
"We do, but I don't currently have my phone on me; you know, the whole being dead thing."
"Well then, your shit out of luck."
You hold the tiny glass cup and lean your head back and down the shot. The vodka burns its way down your throat. You shake your head violently from the sudden pain, but soon feel a pleasant warmth inside.
Without a word, you pull your mask back on, only to see Jerry has finished the bottle and is now lightly wobbling around. grabbing him by the shoulders as you make your way outside.
"Great job, you alcoholic, that's chain number one, now for two...your family. "
Hearing this, Jerry looks up at you with wide eyes and a pale face. He starts slowly backing away.
You follow him for a while, but when you've had enough, you simply trip him, grab him by the ankle, and start dragging him down the street.
"Where do you and your family live?"
"As if I would tell you!" He says it with crossed arms.
You stare at him for a good couple of seconds, your left eye even twitching, but eventually, after taking a deep breath, you say, "Hey Jerry, you know I only have one rule to follow, right? And that's to get you to the afterlife; it doesn't specify 'with all limbs' or 'not had his ass beaten with a 4m long construction pipe!"
You say the last part with a bit of a menacing voice, evidently sending a shiver down his back. He looks you in the eyes and murmurs, "6 blocks down on your right."
You pat him on the foot and make your way in the direction he says.
By the time you arrive at the place, Jerry is kicking and clawing at your hand to get away from seeing his family. Finally, having had enough, you drop his foot, grab his head, and smash his face against a glass window.
"look."
Jerry still refuses and turns his head away.
"I said, look! "
forcefully twisting his face forward, you hold it in place. Inside is his daughter, with a boy. Not a care in the world when suddenly a police officer passes through you and heads for her door.
Knocking on it, the girl gets up and goes to answer it. Walking over to them, the officer begins with the typical thing: he takes off his hat, looks down, takes a deep breath, and slowly looks back up.
You've seen it hundreds of times. He then informs her of her father's death, and she starts crying hysterically and collapses to the floor. The officer kneels next to her and tries to calm her down.
After a while, she gets up and wipes the tears and snot from her face.
"Like father, like daughter, huh?" you say with a cocky grin, but as she closes the door, you walk in, and she immediately starts laughing.
"Oh??" You say, continuing to look curiously inside as the daughter begins speaking "So that piece of sh*t is finally dead! good riddance."
Hearing these words, Jerry's expression looks... well, expressionless. It's evident a small part of him died. Thinking it over, this is the perfect time to make him pay for what he did. Thinking for a second, you come up with a vile idea. Walking up to him, you put your hand on his shoulder.
"Why don't you stay with her? Maybe you can fix your relationship with her. She might need you." You say this while trying not to pull off the most mischievous smile ever. He looks at you slowly.
"Really? You think so?"
He scratches his head for a minute until he suddenly shakes his head violently, looking back at you. "No, no! I have to let it go."
Clicking your tongue in frustration, you press forward.
"Don't you think you should let your daughter see the error of her ways and make her miss you? For whom else if not you?
He looks at you suspiciously, shaking off your hand. He raises a finger to your chin and says, "You just said to let go; what are you trying to pull?"
Throwing up your hands in a defensive manner, you say, "Woah woah, I'm not trying to pull anything; I'm just trying to help you."
giving you an intense glare, he holds it for a second but returns his attention to the girl inside. Realizing you can't get back at him, you sigh, rub your mask on his forehead, and step towards him again.
"You realize now? Nobody cares about you; your worthless, and hanging onto this will only make my job harder and your life miserable."
"Aren't you just trying to convince me otherwise?"
You pat him on the shoulder and say, "I was just messing with you."
After a moment of silence, he chuckles solemnly and says, "Asshole, but my daughter doesn't miss me! How can I just let go of that?!"
"What am I? Your therapist? Just let it go; now that you know your trash to her, it shouldn't be so hard."
Without another word, you slip out through the door and head to another window in the house. Like a puppy, Jerry follows you and also peers into the window you have not stopped at and are looking at, though what he sees is something disgusting enough to make him drop to his knees and start smashing his fist against the glass window. Peering inside, you see a woman sitting on the lap of another man and kissing very passionately. Looking down at Jerry, you conclude that it's his wife.
"So that's the lovely wife, huh? She seems like fun. What's it been? 5 hours since your death? She moves quickly."
You hear a moan from the room.
"I think that man can agree."
laughing at the joke, you're suddenly interrupted by your face moving an inch to the right and the sound of bones cracking and snapping. Looking back, Jerry lies on his knees, screaming in anguish while clenching his right fist. All his fingers look mangled and foul-looking.
"Really dude? again? Didn't you learn the first time?"
he doesn't answer you but simply sits on his knees, screaming bloody murder Having had enough of his screaming, you grab his right hand and slowly and painfully pop all his fingers back into place.
He tries getting away by kicking and pushing you away, but you pay him no mind as the pleasure of the popping and screaming makes everything around you go quiet. What snaps you back to reality is him having no more injured fingers.
You step back and stand over him while he continues screaming, crying, and even begging you to kill him from the pain of having all his fingers popped into place.
As you look at him, you only feel disgusted towards the man, and unfortunately, you can't act on those feelings, so paying him no mind, you sit on a railing, pull out a cigarette, and light it.
Taking in a long breath, you release it with a big cloud of smoke.
"Listen, I can sit here all day; I'm immortal. You, on the other hand? You're not so lucky."
without another word, you point your finger behind Jerry. As he follows your finger, he sees a small circle behind him. Slowly approaching the whole thing, he puts his face over the hole when suddenly a hand lunges out from the dark circle and grabs hold of his face Jerry tries his best to fight back and hold on, but the hand has superhuman strength.
You let out a long laugh as you look at Jerry struggling against the hand. After a while, you get bored with the display and pull out your scythe, slamming it directly in front of Jerry, nearly slicing his face cleanly off.
"It's not his time yet, you impatient bastards."
There is a loud growl that erupts from the hole, but the hands slowly retreat. Jerry flies back from the force of trying to pull himself free; he hangs onto the railing for dear life as he tries to catch his breath. While you quizzically look down on him, he suddenly shoots a glare your way.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!?."
Exhaling a puff of smoke, you look down at him again and say, "That is the abyss, the place where you will go if I don't get you into the afterlife in about... 1 hour, I would say in your case."
He stares at you in utter shock.
"Does everyone go there?"
"Oh no, some people even the abyss doesn't want; people who were too evil or too good disgust the abyss."
He's silent for a second before asking, "And what happens to the ones that don't get taken?"
"Well, they either get grabbed by us Reapers, angels, demons, or if none of them come, then they turn into earth ghouls."
He looks down at the ground where the hole was and then back at you with worry in his eyes.
"What will happen to me there if I get taken?"
pushing yourself from the railing, you slowly walk over to him.
"You will be taken by force, broken mentally, physically, and possibly sexually. You will suffer immense pain until you are broken, and then when you're on your last breath...
You lean into him even more, the smoke from your blunt bouncing off his face.
"You will be killed and turned into a mindless ghoul. "
You lean back and shrug "Of course, some people keep fragments of their minds, but that will only happen if you have a strong will and someone is looking at you."
You look him up and down, blow a puff of smoke in his direction, and say with a smirk, "That probably won't happen."
He coughs and brushes the smoke away.
"And what's the difference between an earth ghoul and an abyss ghoul anyway? Just so I know which one to go for."
"Hmm, earth ghouls are more like their living selves, while abyss ghouls are much more aggressive and mindless, from my experience of killing them, of course."
However, before you can get a response from the man, you hear a faint clatter and breathing in the distance. Jerry looks to say something, but you stick your hand up to shut him up.
as the sounds become louder, you try to listen in closer, which turns out to be a mistake as you have almost no time to react when a mighty blade comes swinging at your head You do, however, manage to summon your scythe in time to block the attack, but the blowback sends you flying back, sliding along the pavement, smashing the bricks as you fly.
However, instantly getting back up, you look to see your assailant, only to see a horse-riding man about to make the killing blow to Jerry. In a flurry of thoughts, you decide to slam your scythe into the ground, and using all your strength, you pull yourself forward.
violently shooting yourself forward and skidding across the ground, sending pavement bricks flying. You land between the two men just in time to parry the blow. Though the strike is so heavy, the concrete under your feet cracks a little. You take a deep breath and gather your strength. You start pushing the sword up, hook it with your scythe, and rip it out of the hand of your opponent.
He looks a little shocked, but you can't tell as you're getting ready for another strike. But in the moment of peace, you take a closer look at the enemy before you and quickly realize who stands before you. As your gaze flies over him, you notice the sun bounces off his crimson red and black armor that he adorns. His helmet, which only has a single vertical stripe for his eyes, is almost as threatening as the twenty-seven phoenix's feathers on top of his head.
Your attention is snapped back to him as he reaches into his chest to pull out another blade from his body mass; all the while, even his heavily armoured horse is throwing you a death glare.
As you get ready for an attack from behind you, a light tap can be felt on your shoulder. Looking back, Jerry is staring at you.
"Who the hell is this?"
"Ohh, have you ever heard of Beelzebub?"
Jerry looks at you suspiciously and hesitantly answers, "Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh fuck."
With a simple nod, you turn back towards the immediate threat. As you get lost in your thoughts trying to formulate a plan in your head to get out of this situation, you snap back to reality as you feel the chill of steel against your shoulder. Looking up, Beelzebub is using your shoulder as a stand to point a sword at the cowering Jerry behind you.
"Listen to Bee; we can talk about this rig."
Before you finish the sentence, he snaps his head in your direction. Even though he adorns a terrifying helmet, you can sense he is glaring at you.
"Okay, okay, listen, I don't want to fight, so how about we?"
just as the words leave your mouth, you swing your weapon at him, but he miraculously dodges it while on horseback and once again swings his mighty sword down
The blow makes direct contact with your weapon, cracking the concrete beneath you once again, while you struggle with the heavy weapon and Beelzebub's death glare.
He simultaneously pulls out a smaller dagger from his chest and launches it straight past your shoulder and head. You have no way to stop it as both your hands are occupied, and soon after you hear it pierce something, looking back, you can see it pierced Jerry's shoulder and got stuck in the wall behind him. Noting that he's not dead, you turn your attention back to the murderer demon with a giant ass sword.
You quickly try to come up with a plan while struggling against the mighty blade as it pushes you down to one knee.
When you finally get an idea, you put it into action immediately, and with all your strength, you once again push the sword away to the left, stand on your two feet again, and wind your leg back.
Looking up at the rider, his head is tilted in confusion, but he suddenly realizes what you're doing and tries to pull his horse back, but it's too late. You swing your leg forward and land a direct hit on the horse's crown jewels.
The giant beast instantly feels this and gallops away, but not before giving you a sturdy kick that sends you flying back into a brick wall behind you.
After you pull yourself out of the wall you were flung into, you see Beelzebub gently stroking the horse to calm him down. They then both turn to face your direction. You try to put on a grin to maybe save yourself, but even the horse wants you dead now too.
The giant rider charges you, and before you can even acknowledge what's going on, he smashes his sword with your scythe once again, sending you flying back and through a wall. Thankfully, you don't get embedded in the wall again, and you manage to regain control of yourself just as you see the giant dismount his horse and swing his sword in your direction.
However, while managing to roll away on time, you also slash his leg in the process, making him drop down to one knee.
He almost instantly gets back up; if you want to live, you must go for an instant kill. You try to think of a plan, but Beelzebub doesn't give you any time to think as he swings and throws his mighty swords; he even grazes you a couple of times.
But thankfully, after a while of this, you see his movement begin to slow down, and his swings are easier to dodge. As you weave between the blades, you finally notice an opening and take your shot.
Slipping under his one swing, you roll forward, and with a swing, you cut open his gut. He grips his stomach as he falls backward, and you suddenly buckle under the pain of your muscles. You try to catch your breath as the pain slowly subsides, and through ragged breaths, you say, "Heal from that fuck-knuckle."
When you finally catch your breath, you stand up straight and look down at the great devil Beelzebub who now stares up at you, Eventually, you just shoot him a cocky grin, The message you convey does not need words "Yeah, I beat you!" He understands it perfectly and simply turns his gaze from you up towards the sky again, after which you decapitate him, sending both him and his horse away in a cloud of black and red smoke.
Turning around, you waltz over to the pinned Jerry, pull the dagger out, and drop it to the floor.
You desperately try to catch your breath as all your muscles ache and hurt, almost feeling like they'll catch fire any second.
"Was that really Beelzebub?"
You look at him for a few seconds and give a little shocked answer: "No? That was a shadow of Beelzebub; to beat the real thing, we would need at least four skilled reapers.
"I mean, that's great, but why was he here?"
"As I said, hell and heaven collect souls; the most powerful demons and angels often send out shadows for collection, giving them that extra boost of power."
However, before you can continue your conversation, you hear a buzz start emitting from behind you, and Jerry's face is blue.
Turning around, you see a portal that has appeared right behind you.
"What the hell is that?"
Jerry asks, walking curiously towards it while shooting you glances of curiosity. As you wipe the blood from your mask and squeeze it out of your hair, you say,
"That's the portal that will lead you to the afterlife."
"Really? Your sure?"
"Oh, I am sorry, I didn't know I was dealing with the expert on portals! Do tell me what you think it is."
Ignoring your comment, Jerry looks at you and says, "Listen, I know we haven't gotten along all that well, but I want you to know I've felt that we've gotten closer over this journey."
"Don't care, fuck off already," you say as you walk up behind the man, land a solid kick on Jerry's back, and send him flying through the portal.
"You son of a bit! "
He's cut off by the portal closing, and while you simply give him a little goodbye wave, wiping your hands together and shoving them in your pockets, you start walking away, only stopping to open another portal for yourself, which you proceed to step through.
WOOHOO and that's all for this week, I won't apologize for the week break; some important stuff popped up, but it's good to be back (he says when he almost forgot to write today and had to force himself) anyway as an "apology." I edited the remainder of chapter 1, so I hope you enjoy it. Anyway, I got 4 redbulls in me and 3 vodka shots, so imma play some chivalry 2. See you next week, you glorious bastards.