Ch 13:The Emperor and the Reaper

A few weeks later.

At the same time that Hajime met with Hydra.

The students returned to the Palace after learning that an envoy from the Holchester Empire was coming to meet them.

The Holchester Empire was an ally of the Hairihi Kingdom in the war against the demons. This country was founded 300 years ago by mercenaries and is very famous with adventurers because of its meritocratic system.

The empire did not have as much church influence as the kingdom, so for them this whole business of Heroes invoked by God to rule humanity was not at all convincing.

In the empire power and money are valued much more than faith so they didn't come to visit the heroes because they didn't see any value in them, but now the news that the heroes defeated the monster on the 65th floor "Behemoth" spread.

The probable cause of the visit was to see if the heroes were that strong.

When the students arrived at the Palace they were met by Prince Randell who looked a little down.

The reason for this was that before the excursion to the Dungeon, Kaori who was now aware of her own charm had spoken to Randell and when he said things like "could you stay here with me" she who finally understood the meaning of these things gently rejected him, causing him to go into the arms of his sister in tears.

As they were entering the palace. A female voice rang out.

"Randell why are you here? I told you I would receive them. You have been very head down since Kaori's rejection and it will affect the heroes' animations."

"Don't talk about it!"

He rushed off while crying.

"Well sorry about my brother. Come, I will introduce you to the envoy of the Empire."

Liliana was a princess idolized throughout the Kingdom and was very close to the Heroes. Especially Kaori and Shizuku. She felt bad for them that they were kidnapped and were now in an unknown world so whenever she could she talked to them.

They made their way to a room with a large round table.

At the table sat the leaders of the country including Ishtar and the King.

Ishtar saw them entering and announced.

"Gentlemen sent. They have arrived. Be sure to observe our supreme heroes."

"We thank you for accepting our request. That said... May we know the identity of the Hero?"

"Of course, Kouki-dono please step forward."

Kouki approached with an air of dignity with his group behind him.

"Oh they are quite young. May I ask if it's true that you guys actually got past the 65th floor of the Dungeon? It's just that I've heard there's a creature called the Behemoth there..."

While assessing Kouki the envoy also saw Ishtar's relaxed look and gave her a look of suspicion. One of the envoy's bodyguards also looked Kouki up and down.

"May I speak? Yes we defeated him. If you want we can give you a description of the battle or..."

Kouki offered a series of proofs and the envoy cracked a smile on his face.

"No, there is no need. How about you battle one of my guards so we can see your strength?"

Kouki didn't know if he could so he looked at the King and Ishtar, they looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Okay. I guess that's okay."

"Good."

●●●

They made their way to the training ground.

Kouki's opponent did not stand out in any particular way. Neither short nor tall, neither handsome nor ugly, neither thin nor muscular.

He held his Great Sword down in a casual manner, which could not even be described as combat posture.

Kouki was annoyed by this and wanted to deliver an attack that would make the man get serious.

"Here I come!"

Kouki shortened the distance between them as he drew his wooden sword. Kouki planned to stop the blow before it hit the man. But there was no point in worrying about that, on the contrary.

"Guh!"

Kouki was thrown far away. The bodyguard took advantage of the moment Kouki slowed down to throw him away.

"Hey hey, Hero. Is that all you got? Where's your motivation?"

Rude words came from the bodyguard who had a disappointed look on his face.

Indeed Kouki underestimated his opponent based on his appearance. This development made him furious.

"Let's go one more time."

This time Kouki was serious. Seeing the look on Kouki's face the bodyguard gave a smile and said

"There is no 'next time' on the battlefield."

However he returned to combat posture indicating that he would go one more time.

Kouki let out a roar and fired with high speed movements. But still the guard deflected easily. This man seemed to have a lot of combat experience. He made Kouki remember his battles with Meld, Meld had been a knight for 20 years even though Kouki had more strength than Meld he never won a duel.

"Don't take it any lighter! now get serious! or you'll end up dead!"

He muttered an incantation and a wind blade hit Kouki causing him to lose his balance, at this moment a bloodlust hit him and the bodyguard lowered his sword.

"He's going to kill me" Kouki realized.

But before the sword hit Kouki.

*BOOM*

An explosion resounded and the bodyguard was thrown far away. It was Kouki's overcoming limit.

"That wasn't a duel!? you tried to kill me!"

"Is that it? Do you think that in real battle we can say 'Okay we're done'? You'll end up dead this way. You're supposed to be the leader of humanity, are you aware of that?"

"I know... of course I'm going to save everyone!"

"What can a child who is afraid of getting hurt do? Someone who doesn't have blood of blood with his sword can't talk such nonsense. All right, are you ready? I said you'll die if you don't take it seriously..."

The Man gushed murderous intent once again, which made Kouki's legs tremble holding himself up to stand.

"This is enough. At this point this duel will turn into a death match. You have outdone yourself in this joke lord Gahard."

Ishtar spoke after creating the barrier.

"Tch. I've been discovered. Cunning as

always old man."

The bodyguard took off his right earring. A white mist appeared around him and from it a different person appeared.

It was a man who appeared to be almost 40years old. Short silver hair and blue eyes. He was lean and muscular.Upon seeing him a commotion began.

"Your highness!"

"Lord Gahard!"

Indeed this was the Emperor of the

Holchester Empire in disguise. At the sight of him King Eric frowned and asked.

"What were you planning, Emperor

Gahard?"

"Easy, easy King Eric I just thought that was the quickest way for me to make sure. This is of great importance for our future battles. Forgive my rudeness."

*Sigh*"good that it is."

Kouki was stunned. Somehow this emperor was the careless type. And his 'surprise' was taken as something normal.

With that they ate a lavish dinner, the Emperor left his official words of recognition to the heroes and they left.

On this night in the carriage one of the Emperor's subordinates asked him his real intentions.

"Meh. He won't do. He's just a child who believes in things like ideals and justice... his strength and charisma are a bad combination, but we can't ignore him since he is the Apostle of God. Still, he's not good enough."

"Did you plan to kill him during the duel?"

"What? No. I just wanted to fix his cowardly attitude. Even if the pope didn't interfere I wouldn't kill him.

They continued their journey. By the way, there was an event when the Emperor saw Shizuku training and asked her to marry him. She refused and he said "Well there is no hurry."

●●●

In the northern Haihiri Kingdom.

A blond Man was drawing a giant magic circle around a Human body.

"Kufufu Velda-sama was right. That's going to be really useful. He only needs 20,000 Souls and he will become really powerful. I thought they were extinct, but Velda-sama still had one with him. Good thing I'm not his enemy."

The man finished the magic circle and walked away. He then began to chant a 20-sentence spell.

"...and from death, the Reaper shall be reborn!"

When the Man finished the chant, a black orb that was in front of him floated away, the orb flew straight to the dead body in the middle of the magic circle and merged with it.

The body was enveloped in a black miasma and the magic circle glowed in a purple light. When the circle stopped glowing there was something left floating there.

"Go. You know what to do."

"Ryeuur!"

The creature agreed in a hideous voice and moved

●●●

A few days later. The heroes were at the Palace.

They were saying goodbye to Liliana to go on their next tour of the Dungeon.

"Bye lily until next time."

"Bye Kaori take care downstairs."

"Hehe don't worry, we are all stronger now."

Kaori struck a pose and tapped her own muscle.

The other students also said goodbye Liliana is they were about to leave when....

"Emergency! Emergency!"

A letter carrier came shouting. Since they were at the Palace gate it was normal to see letter carriers, but this caterer was visibly shaken.

"Calm down! Explain what happened."

"Here!"

He handed her a letter with a black envelope. That color meant that a strong magical Beast had appeared somewhere. Liliana knew that any powerful magical Beast in the Kingdom could be defeated by the army and they also had the Apostles of God now. So she didn't understand why the man was in such a hurry.

She read the letter and her face went blank. She stood there staring at the letter.

"Lily are you all right?"

"No... it could be..."

"Lily?"

Shizuku tried to call Liliana, but she wouldn't answer. She kept mumbling something.

"Lily!"

Liliana regained her senses and gave anxious orders.

"Guards! Call all military officers, no matter what they are doing! Call Captain Meld too! Take everyone to the meeting room! Tell them that anyone who is not there will be executed!"

The guards seemed not to understand, but they carried out their orders.

"Kouki I need you to call Papa Ishtar as soon as possible. Give this letter to him and ask him to meet with us. Kaori, Shizuku and the others come with me to call my parents now!"

A few minutes later all these people gathered together.

"So, Princess Liliana. May we know why this emergency meeting?"

Meld's vice captain asked.

"Pope Ishtar, do the honors."

The pope stood up and spoke

"We received a black letter from the North."

Everyone was confused. A black letter was no reason for an emergency meeting.

"What did it say in it?"

Meld asked worriedly.

"3 villages in the North were destroyed by.... A reaper."

""......""

Everyone in the room was pale-faced without saying a word. The students didn't know what a reaper was, but from people's reaction they could tell it was no joke.

The only ones who knew what a reaper was were Kaori and Shizuku who had read about it. They were also breaking out in a cold sweat.

"This has got to be a joke!"

A nobleman shouted.

"It isn't. The person who sent this is completely trustworthy. We don't know how it happened or who did the ritual, but it's true."

"We're lost."

Someone muttered.

"Wait, how many people were in those villages?"

Meld asked. And everyone looked in Ishtar's direction hoping that there weren't too many.

"In total there were 3000."

Meld thought for a while and then spoke

"Then we still have a chance. An army doesn't work against reapers, but if he hasn't evolved yet me and the Apostles can win!"

Everyone looked at the heroes with hopeful glances. At this moment Kouki who was confused approached and asked.

"Meld-san what is a reaper?"

"Yes you guys don't know yet."

Meld explained them. Reapers were known as evil spirits. they can only be revived with their orbs which are very rare to find and are also indestructible. It also requires a ritual of which no records exist anymore so it makes sense that no one here knows how a reaper came back.

The reason orbs are hard to find is that they are purposely hidden so that no one can perform the rituals.

They suck the souls of those they kill and use them to recover. That's why armies don't work against them, because for each person that died, they would totally recover. But if there were several strong people he could be defeated.

"But if the Hero group and I go together I think we could defeat him."

"Ok. You guys are our only hope we will also call the strongest adventurers we can find."

Ishtar spoke up.

"Yes we will pin our hopes on you."

The King spoke.

"Ok we will defeat him!"

Kouki agreed and they walked away.

●●●

Meld and the students were in front of the next town that the Reaper was going to attack. A group of rankc Gold(higher) adventurers were also here. The town was evacuated, but the Reaper was fast and would be able to catch up with the refugees if the Hero's group didn't stop it.

"We have to win!"

Kouki declared confidently. At the same time they saw something come out of the forest. It was hideous. It had tentacles coming out of its waist that it used to walk. He had a mask over his eyes and a broken-handled scythe in his hand.

"Ku. Don't be intimidated! remember the plan!"

The students came back to their senses and got into a formation that was the same as the one from the fight with Behemoth.

"Wieeeeeeeee!"

The creature let out a roar and set out to attack. Kouki threw three blades of light at the creature. It defended with its scythe but was forced to retreat a few steps, Ryutaru used Herculean strength and set out to attack. He expected the creature to use its scythe, but it attacked him with one of its tentacles. He was grabbed with a tentacle and was about to be crushed.

"Absolute break."

Shizuku slashed the tentacle causing the creature to give a horrendous scream.

Meld apprehended this and launched a large blade of light.

"Hiiiiiii!"

The creature lost an arm and moved away, Nagayama Juugo tried to approach to deliver another blow, but out of instinct it moved away. That instinct was right.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The creature gave a roar and its tentacles glowed. They began to give off a purple light and the Reaper approached with speed.

He was much faster than before. It approached Kouki and tried to take his head. Kouki defended with his sword and the Reaper struck back with his tentacle.

"Kuh!"

Kouki fell to the ground and Kaori used an individual healing magic on him.

The creature took off on the vanguard mages, but was stopped by a barrier that Suzu made.

"Get out of here you ugly thing."

She taunted the creature that couldn't get past the barrier. The creature, seeing that it would take a while for the barrier to give way, turned around to find another target. When it turned it saw Ryutaru and Nagayama flying towards it with a punch.

"Take that."

The two strengthened themselves with Herculean Force and attacked the creature. Ryutaru smashed its face and Nagayama smashed another tentacle.

The now bruised creature backed away giving groans of pain, but strangely it stopped with what looked like a smile on its face.

BOOM

A light exploded in a sphere around the creature this light was so beautiful as if it was a light of life, indeed it was. The creature was using the souls to strengthen itself.

"Get ready!"

Meld shouted realizing that something was coming.

As the light faded the creature appeared again. Her previously masculine appearance was now more feminine. She wore a black campus that covered her face and a black dress that looked like a bride's. She also wore gloves of the same color. She also wore gloves of the same color and had thin tentacles sticking out of her back.

The pressure of this woman greater than that of her previous form.

A lantern with an ice stone appeared in her hand this lantern released several ice beams. These ice beams went towards the heroes.

"Kaori, Suzu!"

""Here the enemy of God shall not pass, holy interruption!""

They made a barrier that protected them. The creature advanced towards Kouki who was chanting his strongest spell

"Wrath of heaven!"

He finished and cast a gigantic blade of light. The creature who realized that there would be no time to dodge stopped and threw two miasma-like black beams from its hands. This beam collided with the blade of light, causing a crash.

Meld who wanted to take the chance that the creature was fighting the Wrath of Heaven tried to attack the creature from behind, but its tentacles held the sword and threw it. The tentacles grabbed Meld and started sucking his mana.

"Scorching sun!"

The vanguard finished its magic and a giant fireball appeared above the creature and went towards it.

The creature threw Meld away to defend itself and Kaori healed Meld with her best spell, but he still didn't wake up. It seems that the cause of the fainting was the great loss of mana.

*BOOOOOM*

The creature broke the magic ice stone in its lamplight and threw it at the fireball, this created an ice ball of the same size and the two cancelled each other out.

Kaori used general strengthening. And everyone felt better. Kouki noticed Meld on the ground and exploded with anger.

"You bastard ! You're going to pay ! Over limit !"

Kouki now with his statuses tripled attacked the creature at close range. Kouki's colleagues had been disheartened by their strongest magic being nullified, but they regained confidence with Kouki using overcome limit.

Ryutaru and Nagayama also used their best strengthening spells and went on the attack. Kaori and Suzu were using barriers as the creature tried to get away from Kouki. The adventurers also started chanting magic.

Kouki was too fast for the creature to keep up.

He gave a vertical slash that it tried to defend and with its tentacles, but they were all cut off and the creature received a cut on its shoulder as well.

"Uh."

"Uh."

It gave a groan as it tried to move away, but it hit a barrier from Suzu. Ryutaru punched the creature causing it to go to Kouki's side.

"Take that!"

No one knows why he had to shout. He gave a powerful horizontal slash with his sacred sword and cut the creature in half.

*PLOFT*

The creature fell to the ground cut in half.

Kouki half-tired saw that Kaori was treating Meld and calmed down a bit. He was happy to win the battle against the creature and raised his sword proudly.

"We won!"

The students were going to celebrate too, but they were interrupted.

"Kufufufufufu."

A laugh that did not match the mood at all resounded. Everyone looked in the direction of the laughter and there was the creature. It had been cut in half and was bleeding, but it was still sporting a psychopathic grin.

"They thought they had won?"

Now that the students understood. Before it transformed the creature seemed to act on instinct exactly like magical beasts. But after it transformed it was different. She didn't give roars when attacked and even let out Meld when she saw the fireball coming, and now she...Spoke! When she spoke an abnormal pressure began to come off her.

A purple light covered her. The light was gone and took along with it her hood and tentacles. She turned into a woman with white skin and hair that looked about forty years old. She still had on a black dress, and had a black machete in her hand.

"Now we can start the massacre.

She declared in an arrogant voice as she gave a smile.

Everyone froze. No one could move because of the pressure from this woman, in fact some tried.

*PLOFT*

The head of one of the adventurers fell to the ground. No one saw the woman move. They only saw her standing beside the decapitated man licking his blood in her do.

"Kufufu, blood is almost as good as Souls."

*PLOFT* *PLOFT* *PLOFT*

All the adventurers were beheaded.

"Hahahahaha those Souls so strong. That's so...huh?"

She stopped talking when she looked at the boys next to her and saw a person who was not there and whom she had also not detected. It was a black haired girl. she had white clothes and cape, she also had a thin sword and a white mask with black details.

"Who are you?"

"Chloe albert... Hero."