Between Life and Death

Within my sea of consciousness, I swam. The lit space turned dark, with hundreds of thousands of cracks littering the white space.

"So much trouble." Said An old voice, that sounded more distorted than usual.

"Thankfully that old man is helping with your Qi and weaving some of it into you. It should be done soon" said Nocturne who I didn't see no matter how hard I concentrated.

"What is going on Nocturne?" I said

"You almost shattered your sea of consciousness, using every bit of Qi in your body you managed to successfully deplete it. Though this should have killed you, amazingly… you survived while having some unexpected gains… this grim situation is actually better than I thought… quite strange" said the voice

The dark space began to mend back, the cracks began to heal and the white space became better by the second.

The five flowing orbs looked dim, while the one on the bottom right looked to be the dimmer as if it would fade any moment.

"If you are wondering why that is due to your injury. Your right leg's meridian was damaged and would take a bit of time for it to heal. Focus on reconstruction your sea of consciousness first." Said Nocturne

"How can I do it?" I asked

"Simple, you are this place's ruler, will the veins to read and will yourself to regain control." He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Looking around I traced the source of the cracks that were gradually receding.

It was a dark hole high above where every crack emerged from.

"That should be the center." I thought and traced it to my eye.

Seeing small specs of Qi flowing there and repairing the damage. Willing more of the energy to flow, the five flying orbs rotated faster and the cracks began to recede until the white void was whole. Except for a dark hole that remained there.

"What is that?" I asked

"That is what you gained from this…" said Nocturne who managed to manifest himself now.

"Your Qi had evolved. Now you have fulfilled the first condition of using the power of the book. You have claimed a life" said Nocturne

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You have killed a human, this should only appear once you have fulfilled the first condition, however with your injuries this power almost consumed you. Death magic, you got closer to understanding it by claiming a life and almost dying in the process. Your magic should now be more potent and your Qi should be easier to control. Before you try anything, you must circulate your Qi from your Dantian to your meridians, once that is done you will have perfectly stepped out from the body tempering realm to the spirit tempering realm." Said Nocturne.

"Meaning?" I said trying to understand

"Once you broke through the fifth level, you no longer need to refine your body. Now it is Qi circulation, you will need to upgrade your inner sea and condense Qi, you will no longer need to use your breathing technique to use Qi, but you will be able to store it in your Dantian and use it at will. However, it will need a lot of training to master. Another thing is that you obtained one of the five items that you need to face the Calamity" said Nocturne

Looking at the state of the flowing orbs I felt dazed, they began to glow as QI began to circulate.

"Your body is currently absorbing Qi, it no longer is in pain but it will take some time for you to repair the damage… if you had a Qi and body restoration pill this would have been much easier..." said Nocturne "But you had to give it to that girl, sigh…"

"No need to cry over spilled milk, she was going to die if I didn't do that, and I don't think a royal family member will forget this debt," I said

"You trust people too much. You will be used like this by everyone" said Nocturne

"You are not the one to speak Nocturne. You have been using me for your own agenda since we met haven't you." I said with a smirk

"Indeed, I will not deny it, but if I didn't you will face death, not only you, but the lives of everyone you know will know despair. The calamity will soon come." Said Nocturne

"How would you know that?" I asked

"Sigh… now you earned the right to know more," said Nocturne he waved his hand and the book appeared.

This time it was not the same ragged looking book, the leather on it became more lustrous with silver linings on it. However, it was still far from good looking.

"The book represents your state remember, once you are at your optimal strength it shall reveal its true appearance. Now, what I spoke about, the calamity shall descend soon yet before it, a red star will cross the skies. This red star signals the arrival of the Singularity" said Nocturne

"You spoke about this singularity multiple times what is it?" I asked

"The singularity is their monarch, it is their king and their ruler. They all await this day, once the red star appears every one of them will receive an upgrade to their physical and mental states, they will become more vicious and stronger than ever. They will seek out the singularity and they will use it to command them. It is a chosen hybrid, one that was conceived between one of them and a human, a hybrid of immense power that would be able to blend in with humans and with their species. Not much is known about their monarchy, however, once the singularity appears they will all follow it. In my time I had to fight against thousands of their troops to finally defeat it. And believe me, with this country's current power… they are far from the strength needed to defeat it." Said Nocturne then added

"The singularity is strong, able to wield the lives of them without a problem and use it to sustain itself, with troops around it it will be invincible, the only way to make it mortal is by secluding it from its troops or killing all of them. As for the calamity… it is a beast. Of immense size, able to cover the sun with one of its limbs. With a single breath, it can decimate an entire city. Only with the full set of the death servant can it be faced head-on. And you only have two items of it"

"this is a lot to take in, so this giant behemoth is coming for us, and if I understand correctly, we might even die before we see it due to how strong the singularity is? Right?" I said

"Indeed"

"What about that set you spoke of?" I said

"Death servant's set. It is what you see me wearing." Said Nocturne "Though this is but a mere spiritual replica the real one is immensely powerful."

"Ah, so the scythe is one of the items… and the hood you are wearing too. Right?"

"Kekeke, right, however. There is a small difference, every servant of death had a different weapon, the one before me had a sword, while the both of us are using scythe, this is the sole different item from the set, it changes according to the user's will and inclination, it seems we both have the same taste…" said Nocturne with a laugh

"Hmm, indeed. So what are the rest of the items and how can I get them? Honestly, I really don't think I can defeat this so-called singularity. Not even a country can face it… s for the calamity, with my current strength…" I didn't continue as silence was enough of an answer

"Indeed, you lack strength, immensely so, that spawn that almost killed you is proof, he is slightly stronger than many others yet that was because he wielded my cloak for a long time, it even hides its owner from death's sight itself…"

"Oh, interesting, no wonder he is strong," I said

"He was, strong he was lucky enough to happen upon a page of this book," said Nocturne as the book opened where a new page was written

"Death sees all even those that hide from it, however still a veil against death means not immortality." A new line was written and under it, a symbol of strange writings was drawn there… this looks like the same symbol for the scythe

"This is the Death Shroud. It is the cloak that I wear, and you will be using soon. There remain three other items; Death march. Death guards, and Death's honor. Boots, gauntlets and a body suit. Like what you see me wearing" said Nocturne

Looking at his boots they were adorned with small skulls on the side while they were pitch black with a metallic luster. His gauntlets were of black leather while they had metallic joints that ended with claw-like blades. The guard was a body vest that was riddled with chains and had a skull in the center where every chain converged.

"These are all what you need to be able to wield the power of a death's servant. Using this you may be able to bring yourself closer to defeating those beings."

"I don't think that you have the other three items right?" I said to Nocturne.

"No, once I died I tried to destroy the book so that no one else gets it, however, it seems that the book had its own plans and he spread the papers containing death's servant's armor across the world."

"Hang on… of all items, they all have a name, except for the scythe, why so?" I said

"The weapon is a presentation of the wielder's intentions and will, you will be the one to name it. I was going to tell you this later, only by giving it a name shall it truly be yours. Do you have a name for it?" said Nocturne with a smirk.

"Hmm, I have an idea… but this should wait after I wake up."

"A wise choice. Now wrap this up, you need to be awake to see your body's state. I can tell you it will not be pretty. You have been carried back to some health careers outside. You should investigate what happened but be wary if any of them are nearby" said Nocturne.

Closing my eyes then opening them I found myself in a white room, sitting on a bed with white sheets.

My muscles were torn from overuse and I felt light-headed.

"Shit I should have remained unconscious" the pain I felt surging was enough for me to feel dizzy. There was also a ringing in my ears and my right thigh felt like if it was on fire. My throat felt like if it had lit coals in it as it burned intensely.

"Ugh… this sucks…"

"Someone calls the Headmaster! He is up!" said a woman dressed in school uniform.