3 Chapter 2: A Reaper's Duty

"Reapers"

Beings who are tasked to collect souls from the living for final judgment. They mostly disguise themselves in human society as high-school students or middle-aged corporate workers. They deliver the souls to either Heaven (Soul) or Hell (Underworld)

They are former dead humans who developed powers due to enormous amounts of emotion they experienced before they died, this kind of power is called SOUL. SOUL kinds have a specific enhancement to a reaper that can be specified into colors that range from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, black, and white. Each SOUL kind have a different ability or skill

Their bodies are designed to kill and collect souls. Their bodies are stronger, more agile than a normal human. They're strong enough to rip steel with their bare hands, fast enough to outrun a fighter jet and tough enough to resist bullet impact. Plus if they do get injured, their bodies' fast regeneration could heal a life-threatening wound in seconds. They don't have body heat, have a lower blood pulse and most of all, they possess red-cross eyes that could detect and track any deviant souls

Reapers are split into 2 categories, Agent of Life and Agent of Death. Agents of Life are tasked to collect souls from deceased people who died in natural causes and also collect lost souls or ghosts that are long overdue. Agents of Death, on the other hand, hunt deviant souls who escaped hell. They hunt, subdue and kill the deviant soul and bring them back to hell again

While they are immortal beings, they are still killable. But this is highly unlikely due to their extreme skill and power that could easily beat an experienced human assassin

Currently, reapers are struggling to keep up to the world's rising death rate and difficulty of catching high-ranked deviant souls

-o-o-o-

"Hello fellow reapers, it's time for the weekly quota. I hope you reached your target kills this week!" the secretary-looking woman announced

"What the hell? Target kills? What are they talking about?" Bell said to herself

"But before anything else, let's see this week's death rate" as soon she said that a giant counter appeared in the dark sky

The counter started to run as the numbers continued to increase. The counter stopped, displaying the current death rate

"+78.12%!" she announced

A lot of reapers groaned in annoyance as they complained

"Seriously?!"

"Come on! Give us some slack!"

"That's even higher than the last time!"

"You can't expect that we could do that in just a week!"

Several complains was heard among the crowd. But it was instantly silenced by a loud slice that cracked the ground. The secretary-looking announcer's eyes were red-crossed and she's used her large scythe to crack the ground

"We can't blame the humans for having a high death rate. All we can do is to collect those souls and put them to either heaven or hell" she said

All of the complaining reapers shut their mouths closed as they glared in frustration

The announcer calmed down as turned her scythe back into a briefcase "Ok, now that's resolved. Agents of Life, get to it and make sure you don't miss the quota this time" the announcer said

Half of the crowd nodded in agreement as they released their scythes. They're ready to work and collect those souls

"As for the Agents of Death, our weekly quota is 5 deviant souls per reaper. Same as usual, just kill them and make sure their souls get sent into hell" she announced

Bell was shocked. A moment ago, she killed her own teacher and now she's involved into something about soul collecting?! She tried to think of a way to escape this place before they found out who she is

Bell saw a portal-looking hole that falls down several feet. Bell slowly backed away while the other reapers were distracted to the announcer's speech

But one of the reapers noticed Bell's eyes. They weren't red and doesn't have a cross-like pattern as a normal reaper should

"Hey! There's a human here!" the reaper shouted, alerting everyone as they turned their heads and stared at Bell with their red-cross eyes

"Shit" Bell thought as she froze

"A human? How did she get over here?" the announcer was surprised. The reapers stared at the caught human

"What do we do with her?" one of the reapers asked

"KILL HER" the announcer ordered. All of the reapers activated their scythes as they charged into Bell

"SHIT!" Bell said to herself as she tried to run away

Unfortunately, Bell wasn't fast enough to dodge a stab from one of the reapers. Pain coursed to her chest as metal pierced her chest. Blood spurted out of her wound

Suddenly, Bell's eyes shifted into red-crosses as her instincts went to overdrive, she grabbed her pen in her pocket and jabbed her pen to the reaper that stabbed her

"FUCK OFF!" Bell yelled in rage as she continued stabbed the reaper. The reaper tried his best to shake off the angered Bell. The other reapers stopped in shock as they saw her eyes shift into eyes of a reaper

The announcer sighed in disappointment as she jumped and grabbed Bell by her collar like a cat, "Ok, that's enough" she removed Bell from the injured reaper

Surprisingly, the reaper that Bell stabbed was already regenerating his wounds, "Crazy bitch almost got me" The reaper sneered at Bell

Bell calmed down but her unnatural eyes remained. The announcer looked Bell with her scornful eyes, she shivered in fear

"You almost killed an experienced reaper. Who are you and what are you doing here?" the announcer threatened Bell

"M-My name is Bell Yuki and I was suddenly teleported here for some reason" Bell tried to reply without stuttering. The announcer's eyes still held doubt as the crowd of reapers murmur to each other

"If I recall, Grimora was tasked to take your soul. How did you become a reaper?" she replied

"Grimora? As in her?" Bell thought

"I-" Bell was interrupted by a sound of bells ringing. Reapers started to teleport to somewhere else as they fade into purple lights

While most of the reapers already teleported, a few of the reaper stayed. All of them started to panic

"Fuck! Not again!" one of the reapers cried

"No! No! Please!" another one pleaded

Bell looked around in confusion as the other reapers panicked

"What's happe-" Bell said before a purple panel appeared in front of her

[Bell Yuki: Weekly Quota Status: 1 out of 5 deviant souls captured]

[Weekly Quota: FAILED]

All of a sudden, enormous pain spread across to her entire body

"AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" Bell screamed in agony, as she collapsed to the floor. It felt like getting eaten alive by millions of ants while being dipped into corrosive acid

Other reapers who stayed also felt the unbearable pain. Their screams echoed everywhere, their bodies writhing in pain. The announcer was unaffected to this pain as she watched the other reapers suffer

After a whole painful minute, the pain stopped as all of the reapers gasped for air. Their lungs were exhausted from screaming

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Bell yelled, she seriously thought she was going to die

"That's the punishment for reapers who failed to do their job. It's quite effective in dealing with slackers. The pain is enough to make you die, but we keep that from happening" the announcer happily explained

"Who are you?!" Bell in frustration

"Me? I'm Elizabeth, Secretary of Death. Soukyo Branch" she introduced herself with a smile on her face

"Please, just let me go! I don't want to stay like this! I already killed a person! Turn me back into a human!" Bell pleaded to her

Elizabeth looked at Bell with intent. Her eyes scanned Bell if she's really a human. "That's interesting, earlier she received a punishment. That means the rules of a reaper apply to her as well. Is she human or a reaper?" the secretary processed all this information inside her head

"Hmm, sorry kid but you're stuck like this" Elizabeth simply replied

"Huh?" Bell was confused

"This is the first time in history I've seen a reaper like you. Most reapers are created in hell but you suddenly turned into one without any of heaven's or hell's advisers" she replied

"And even if you're formed like a normal reaper there is no way to turn you back into a human. Your soul is completely altered, it's like turning an apple into an orange" she explained

"You mean, I can't go back to my old life? But what about my future? I already promised Auntie that I'll do better" Bell said disbelief

"The best we can do is to turn you to at least a functioning reaper" Elizabeth said as she walked through the punished reapers as looked for someone specifically

"Let see..." Elizabeth scanned the crowd

"You" Elizabeth pointed to a girl with a short light blue hair the same age as Bell

"From now on, you'll guide her on how to become a reaper"

The girl glared at Bell with a face of annoyance. Her expression is practically saying "I-fucking-hate-this-please-die-already-so-I-won't-have-to-deal-with-extra-work"

"Wait you can't just partner us up like that!" Bell said

"I'm a reaper, not a babysitter. I agree with the human, you can't just partner us up like this" the girl complained

"Or maybe I can" Elizabeth smiled as they both disappeared into purple lights, teleported back into Soukyo

Elizabeth sighed "Right, time to report this special incident" Elizabeth teleported to somewhere else

-o-o-o-

Bell and the light blue-haired girl teleported back to the alley where Bell killed Mr. Kyou. His corpse is still there laying on the ground

"Um, hi?" Bell tried to speak with the girl

"Shut up, you pathetic excuse of a human" she spat back coldly

Bell trembled in fear as the reaper girl stood up as she activated her scythe as she pointed her weapon against Bell's neck as she whimpered in fear

"Let me get this clear to you, I don't have any intention to play buddy-buddy with you and I would rather kill you than help you" the girl threaten Bell

"But since I'm stuck with you, you're going to follow some few rules" the girl demanded

"First, shut up and listen to what I say because I hate repeating myself and second don't try escaping, Elizabeth will punish me if you did" The girl barked her orders at her which Bell nodded nervously

"Good, we'll meet tomorrow at night in Saido District" the girl started to leave

"Huh? I thought you're going to teach me now" Bell said

"Sun's rising, idiot. It's a lot harder to kill when you're out in broad daylight" the girl briefly explained as she pointed at the sunrise

The girl's scythe turned into a butterfly hairclip in the side of her hair as she jumped to the top of the rooftops with her unnatural strength. Bell looked upwards

"Wait!" Bell called out

"What?" the girl looked back

"My name is Bell Yuki. Um, what's your name?" Bell asked

The girl stared at Bell with her red-cross eyes, "Emilia, Emilia Kuuji" she said before jumping away leaving Bell alone again

Bell stared blankly at the sky, "How am I supposed to deal with this?" she asked herself

-o-o-o-

Soukyo High, 4:23 pm

In a certain classroom, there is a teacher who is discussing the topic to her students. Most of them are listening, some are sleeping under the teacher's radar. The teacher is ready to answer any questions from her students. But there is one girl who is asking questions that her teacher cannot answer

Bell attended her class like usual but with her mind constantly asking questions. After her encounter with the reapers, she was up all night thinking of what she's going to do this situation

A plain girl like her turning into a creature that harvests souls of the living. She can't imagine herself killing someone

"Then again..." Bell thought as she was reminded of her late-night murder

She remembered what happened to her teacher. Her body moved by its own. It felt like it was natural her to kill. Stabbing her teacher with a pen over and over like a madman (madwoman?). And oddly enough, she didn't feel any remorse on killing Mr. Kyou, the blood didn't traumatize her. In fact...

"Yuki-san" her classmate snapped her daydream

"Huh? What is it?" Bell replied

"Why are you smiling like that?" her classmate asked, slightly creeped out at Bell

Bell found herself smiling a big creepy grin after remembering how she killed her teacher. Bell immediately covered her mouth

"Sorry, I just remembered something funny" Bell lied

Her classmate just shrugged and continue to listen to the class' discussion. Bell sighed in relief

She may have discovered a lot of unusual things that night but the most unusual thing she ever experienced is the fact she was so happy killing Mr. Kyou. She can't forget the thrill of stabbing him in the chest, the ecstatic feeling of blood splattering into her face. It felt amaz-

Bell slapped her own cheeks to wake herself up to her daze

"What am I thinking?! I need to calm down, murder is a horrible thing! Why would I enjoy killing others?!" she shouted to herself

She groaned as she looked at her pen. Her expression tensed as she stared at the instrument she used to kill Mr. Kyou. There's still dried blood stuck in the shaft

She remembered all of the reapers from her encounter, all of them stared at her with eyes full bloodlust

"Am I really going to be like those reapers?" She asked herself

-o-o-o-

Saido District, 8:35 pm...

Bell walked in the populated streets, trying to find the blue-haired reaper, "Where is she?" Bell continued to look around in the large mass of people

Saido District is one of the busiest roads of Soukyo, even at nighttime. A lot of kinds of people come through here, accumulating a lot of foot traffic. Businessman talked to his phone while walking, A pair of girls gossiped about school while they cross the street, there's even a group of children admiring the city nightscape

It's still snowing with most people wearing thick clothes to fend off the cold. But Bell only wore her black blazer with her a grey skirt. While most people question her light clothing in these kinds of cold condition, Bell ignored all the questions as her body is even colder than the environment so it would be a bother to wear more unnecessary clothes

Suddenly, Bell felt a pair of eyes staring at her, she immediately turned around to the culprit. Emilia was staring at Bell with the blankest face she has ever seen. She's wearing a grey jacket with blue jeans, she still wearing the butterfly clip in the side of her short light blue hair

Bell moved towards the girl, "Kuuji-san, how long you've been staring at me?" Bell asked

"30 minutes" she replied in a monotone voice

Bell was a bit creeped out, "You know you could have just called me, Kuuji-san" Bell said

"That will cause too much attention" she said as her eyes continued to scan the crowd of people. Bell felt awkward talking to her

"Kuu-"

"Just call me Emilia, I hate using honorifics" she said

"Kuu... Emilia-san, why did you want us to meet here in Saido?" Bell questioned

"It's much easier to find Deviant Souls in a crowded area like this" she simply replied

"Deviant Souls?" Bell said in a clueless tone

Emilia looked at her like she has grown 2 heads "You seriously don't know anything?" she said herself

"S-Sorry" Bell apologized as she scratched the back of her head

Emilia groaned in irritation, "Long story short, Deviant Souls are souls who escaped Hell and it's our job to bring them back" she explained to Bell

"And they're more than just escapees of Hell, they gained certain abilities before they escaped Hell to defend themselves against us. They're called THORNS, spikes that protrude their bodies that are capable of hurting us reapers" Emilia said

Bell remembered the red spikes that appeared within Mr. Kyou that he used to attack her. HIs was powerful enough to kill a person in a single strike if he wanted to

"So, how do we find deviant souls?" Bell asked

Emilia looked at her again in disbelief "You can't even activate your eye? God damn it" Emilia started to get irritated at Bell's lack of knowledge

"S-sorry" Bell apologized again

Emilia groaned "Fine, I'll teach you. First, clear your mind then feel the energy from your surroundings" she instructed

Bell closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She opened her eyes again, her pupils shifting into red-cross pattern

Emilia looked at Bell, "Good, you activated it. This is called Executioner Eye or X-eye for short, this eye can read souls of the living and used to find Deviant Souls" Emilia explained as she also activated her X-eye

Bell looked around, she can see colored sparks within people. All of the sparks are bright colored reflecting their soul's energy. She got curious and stared at Emilia, wondering what does a soul of reaper look like. Her soul is colored light blue and looks like it's moving like a fluttering butterfly

Bell deactivated her eye, as her eyes turned into normal black

"Seen enough? Now let's follow them" Emilia started to walk to another direction

"Wait, what? Where?" Bell asked

"Shh! Can't you see it?" Emilia shushed Bell as she pointed somewhere in the crowd of people

"See what?" Bell activated her X-eye again as she focused on where she pointing. At first glance it doesn't seem weird but...

"Wait... What is that?" Bell said in slight fear

In the sea of people, there is a blonde woman and a man with orange hair talking secretly in the corner of the street. Inside of them, she saw 2 dark malicious looking souls. One was colored dirty yellow and the other one is colored dark orange. Unlike other souls that are bright and vibrant, the 2 souls have a darker color and seem to suck up energy from nearby souls nearby

"Deviant souls, orange and yellow type, probably a 2-4 spiked. This may be difficult for me" Emilia said

"Huh? How?" Bell questioned

"You probably saw my soul, it's a blue type. I can resist most attacks but I don't fare well to heavy hitters like orange and yellow types" she explained

"I wonder, what soul type are you?" Emilia looked at Bell's soul with her X-eye

Her expression turned into shock as Emilia gazed into her soul "Wait, your soul..."

"Huh? What wrong with it?" Bell asked, very confused

Emilia ignored her "Never mind that, let's follow those 2 before they get away and make sure you ready to fight"

They follow their 2 targets, both of them blending in the sea of people. The 2 deviant souls unaware that they've been followed by the pair of reapers

"That's weird. Somethings off" Emilia uttered. Bell had a bad feeling that something is going go wrong

"What do you mea-" Bell was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion in front of them

BOOM!!!

The blast threw them back, both of the reapers fell down to the ground. Many people were consumed by the explosion, killing civilians in the blast zone. Screams of people were heard, as panic ensues in the whole Saido district. Emilia and Bell tried to stand up as they saw their targets running away.

Bell stared at the heap of charred and mangled bodies of explosion victims, "What the hell? What happened?!" Bell exclaimed in shock

"DAMN! They knew! Come on! We need to follow them before we lose them in the crowd!" Emilia cursed as she ran towards the fleeing deviant souls, pushing people out of the way

"W-Wait!" Bell's ears still ringing from the blast as she tried to follow the blue-haired reaper, as they chased from the running panicked people

"Be careful! These bastards don't fuck around reapers!" Emilia warned Bell. Bell just nodded in response

One of the deviant souls turned back facing the 2 reapers

"Zankokuna!" The blonde deviant soul yelled as 4 yellow spikes grew from her chest. Her spikes start to glow as it charges energy, a ball of energy started to form between the spikes

"Oh shit, 4-spiked thorns!" Emilia stopped as she saw the ball of energy

Bell stared at the deviant soul, "What is she doing?"

"Spark Blast!" the blonde yelled as the ball of energy shot towards them

"DODGE!" Emilia screamed as they moved from the side narrowly evading the giant deadly ball of energy. The energy ball crashed into a building causing more people to panic

The blonde used the explosion as a distraction as she ascended to the rooftops to escape. The orange haired man waited for his partner as they both fled to the rooftops

"Of all the nights, I have to deal with a newbie reaper and a 4-spiked soul" Emilia said sarcastically as she picked herself up

"W-what are we going to do? We're going to lose them in the rooftops" Bell said

"Shut your whining! Just follow me!" Emilia climbed a nearby fire exit to reach the rooftops, Bell followed. They saw the 2 targets as the reapers continued to chase them, jumping rooftop to rooftop. With their unnatural strength and agility, Bell was able to keep up with the escaping deviants

"These reapers are pretty persistent!" the orange man commented as they jumped rooftop to rooftop

"Then burn them!" the blonde said

The man gritted his teeth as exclaimed, "Moeruikari!"

2 spikes began to grow to his wrists, both spikes glowing orange and emitting a tremendous amount of heat

"Heat Wave!" the man shouted as he slashed the air with his thorns, superheating the air towards the reapers. The wave incinerated everything on its way, including metal

Bell was able to dodge the wave, but Emilia wasn't so lucky. She got blasted back, burning her skin in the process while she fell down to the alleyway. Emilia fell down with a thud, several of her bones broken to the height of the fall

"Emilia-san!" Bell shouted as the blue-haired reaper fell down the 8-story building

"Ha! Not so tough now aren't cha!" the man taunted at the fallen down girl

Emilia snapped her eyes open, filled with bloodlust. Her X-eye glowing bright red while emitting a dark aura

"You're going to regret that" she said darkly. She stood up, her broken bones snapping back to place and her burns quickly healing up. She removed her butterfly clip, letting her locks of hair down

"Hayaicho!" Emilia activated her power as her butterfly clip shattered and reconstructed into a dark blue scythe in Emilia's hand

"A-Amazing..." Bell was speechless as she saw Emilia's scythe

"No!" the blonde woman exclaimed as she saw the reaper recovered her injuries instantly

The blonde tried to escape but Bell noticed her. She quickly pounced to the woman, pinning her to the ground, preventing her from fleeing as her X-eye also glowing bright red

"S-Stay down!" Bell yelled

"Impossible!" the man yelled as his partner was apprehended. Emilia jumped as she landed beside him

"Hey..." the man heard an ominous voice beside him as he turned around face to face with the blue haired girl

"EYES ON ME!!!" Emilia screamed and made a giant vertical slash right in the middle with her scythe. The man was shocked first before his face split into 2 until his whole body burst into 2 pieces. Blood and gore splattered in the rooftop. He was completely sliced in half in a single strike

"JAMES!" the blonde cried out as her partner was killed by Emilia. Her eyes completely empty, a bit of blood stained her cheek as she stared at the corpse of the murdered man

[Emilia Kuuji: Weekly Quota Status: 5 out of 5 deviant souls captured]

[Weekly Quota: COMPLETE]

Bell is still restraining the blonde woman. Bell grabbed her black pen and prepared to stab the blonde woman

"I-I need to do this. This is my duty now!" Bell's hands trembled as she remembered the "punishment" if she didn't reach 5 kills this week. She gripped her pen as Bell raised her hand for a stab

"WAIT!" the blonde shouted, as Bell faltered stopping her killing blow

"P-Please don't kill me... I have a daughter to take care of... She'll be all alone when I'm gone" the blonde begged

Bell's eyes shook as the woman plead for mercy "W-What? She has a daughter? What am I doing? If I kill her then I would make an orphan in the process" she hesitated as she lowers her pen

The blonde took her chance as she pushed Bell off her and darted away from the reapers as fast as she can run. Bell stared at the woman flee from the rooftops

Emilia slapped Bell in the face, "What the hell are you doing?! Why did you let her go?!" Emilia yelled at her

Bell held her slapped cheek, "I-I just thought maybe she deserved a chance to live" Bell stuttered

Emilia stared at Bell in pure disbelief. They're supposed to reapers, the one who literally delivers death to the sinful without hesitance. Instead, this girl releases a former dead criminal with a FUCKING ENERGY BLASTING power just because she thinks that she "deserves" a chance? The blue haired reaper is seconds from slicing Bell into ribbons with her scythe

"You stupid idiot! There's a reason why she went to Hell in the first place!" Emilia continued to scold the newbie reaper

"I'm sorry" Bell replied as she sulked in the corner

"Sorry doesn't fix anything. What you just did, is a big mistake" Emilia said coldly with venom in every word. Bell felt bad as Emilia continued to insult her

Emilia sighed, "At least I got to kill one of her friends" Emilia went over to the halved man she killed earlier

Bell held back her vomit as she saw the bloody innards of the man. It's quite brutal with blood spilled all over the floor, she even saw some of his intestines hanging on the side. Emilia stepped forward as she inspected the corpse

"W-What are you doing?" Bell asked as the blue-haired reaper began touching the corpse

"Looking some clues that'll lead to that orange deviant soul" Emilia stuck her hand to the pockets of the man

"Score" Emilia pulled out the wallet of the man and took out some kind of ID

Bell peeked at the ID as she read at loud the details,

"James Yamada, 35 years old. Hotel Attendant, Misty Maids?"

"Misty Maids? Is that some kind of hotel or something?" Bell thought

Emilia gasped, alerting Bell

"What? What is it?" Bell looked at Emilia

"This guy is loaded" Emilia held out a bunch of cash as she pocket some of it

"Wait, are you really taking money out of a dead man?" Bell said

"Why not? It's not like he needed it anymore" Emilia said nonchalantly

Bell can't bring up a good excuse to keep Emilia looting the corpse of the man

"Now help me hide this body. I'll carry the half and you carry the other" Emilia instructed as she grabbed the cleaved man

"I never thought even killers from Hell still need to clean up to their own mess" Bell commented

"Cops are annoying when they're on your tail. The supernatural must be kept secret in modern society. Now, can you please grab the other half?" Emilia said with a hint of irritation

Bell sighed as she hesitantly grabbed the sliced body and dragged it behind abandoned crates with Emilia. She took a large metal sheet that she found in one of the crates and placed it in the middle of the corpse to look like it was an unfortunate accident

They both covered up the body with a bunch of crates "Good. If anyone finds this body, they're going to assumed he died because a metal sheet fell over him" Emilia commented

"Is this really fine? We did kill a man" Bell said with guilt

"Suck it up, newbie. Our job is all about killing people, get used to it" Emilia said

"A job for killing, huh?" Bell thought

"Now, you said he was a hotel attendant?" Emilia said

-o-o-o-

Saido District, Eastern Ward, 10:37 pm...

The pair of reapers are jumping rooftop to rooftop with their unnatural reaper dexterity. Emilia is parkouring like a boss while Bell jumped clumsily as she landed too hard to one of the buildings

"Oof!" Bell landed on her belly in the concrete floor of the rooftop. Emilia stopped to look back

"You're too goddamn clumsy" Emilia commented

"S-Sorry" Bell replied as tried to stand up

"I wonder how many times you said Sorry" Emilia glared as Bell chuckled nervously

The reapers stared at a gap between the buildings. The gap is way too wide for them to jump even with their unnatural dexterity

"We need to go the other side, that's the only way to move quietly to Misty Maids" Emilia said as she looked at the bottom of the building. The fall won't kill them but it still hurts and way too crowded. They can't afford any witnesses of a pair of girls falling from 10 story building

"We could just sneak below" Bell suggested

"Can you really walk quietly through that?" Emilia pointed at the people scattered in the streets. Most of them looked like standard shady looking people with men with a lot of tattoos printed in their skin wielding barely legal weapons like baseball bats and small knives. There's even long sleeved guy currently offering drugs to an interested thug

"This is the Eastern Ward of Soukyo, a hotspot for criminals who want to lay low and do their illegal shit. If we walked to the streets, we definitely have some pervy idiots following us and hindering our mission" Emilia explained

"But how are we going to do to cross that gap?" Bell asked

"Show me scythe first" Emilia commanded as Bell presented her pen

"Let me guess, you can't use your scythe" Emilia said

"My what?" Bell said with a clueless tone

"Why am I even surprised?" Emilia groaned the 100th time as she Bell continues to be a burden to her

"It's better to show you instead" Emilia held her scythe as it glowed bright blue

"Kinzokucho!" Emilia shouted as her scythe shatter into blue shards as it reconstructed into metal butterfly wings behind her back

"Woah..." Bell stared at the dark blue butterfly wings in Emilia's back. It has a metallic glint with sharp butterfly tips

"This is my scythe's GIFT, Flutter" Emilia said as her wings started to flutter and pick up speed. Emilia started to hover as grabbed Bell's arms

"Grab on and try not to fall off" Emilia said

"Huh?" Bell said before they suddenly started soar into incredible speeds. Her butterfly wings acting like jet wings

Bell screamed as Emilia flew above the city faster than most planes would go. The pair of zip across the city ward as Emilia wings create no sound at all. Actually, Bell's screams are the only thing heard from the 2 of them

"Shut up, we're supposed to be quiet" Emilia stopped Bell's screams with light punch in the head

The reapers landed on the top of a building as Emilia dropped Bell. Emilia's wings turned into scythe again as they looked at the nearby building

"MISTY MAIDS" the front sign of the building proudly displayed as pink neon lights illuminate the sign

"Looks like we found the place" Emilia said

"Wait, is that..."

"Yup, a love hotel" Emilia finished Bell's sentence

A love hotel, a special kind of hotel that is built to accommodate couples and their sexual libido. The rooms offer these couples privacy and decked with contraceptives, sexual toys and many more to satiated their lust

"Another corrupted mark in this crime-ridden ward" Emilia commented as she saw a few ugly bastards going with some street whore into building

"Wait, there she is!" Bell saw the blonde woman enter the building, talking to an employee before letting her inside

"Well, let's go" Emilia said before she gracefully jumped down a dumpster in a nearby alleyway and make her way towards the building

"Emilia-san, w-wait!" Bell said before she also jumped downwards, but she landed in hard concrete causing her legs to break. Bell forcefully closed her mouth to stifle her screams of pain. Emilia looked back for a second before she continued to go the building

"You goddamn clumsy idiot" Emilia said

Bell winced as her broken legs started to unsnap back to place, "You made it look like it was easy to do" Bell said as she slowly walked toward to the front of the building

They both entered the love hotel, a receptionist noticed their presence and greeted them

"Welcome to Misty Maids! How may I help you?" the receptionist said

Emilia suddenly put her arm around Bell as her face turned into a coy smile. Bell is extremely confused and embarrassed to the blue-haired girl's actions

"You see, my girlfriend and I want a place to stay and play somewhere private. If you know what I mean" Emilia smile turned into flirtatious. Bell turned red in embarrassment as she froze in fear

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU SAYING EMILIA-SAN?!!" Bell panicked internally

The receptionist was a bit shocked and embarrassed

"Oh my, I see. W-Well that would cost about 100 per night stay" the receptionist tried to hide her blush

Emilia pulled out the cash she took from the man earlier, "Keep the change" Emilia smiled as she grabbed the key to their room as they went to the elevator of the hotel

Bell followed her to the elevator as they ascended the to the upper floors

"That take cares our disguise for the hotel staff" Emilia loses her flirtatious persona as her face went back to apathetic blank face

Bell nodded, still embarrassed to the cover-up they used to enter the hotel

"Just to be clear, I'm not into girls" Emilia briefly said

"G-Got it" Bell said nervously "Just warn me next time when you do something crazy like that"

The elevator opened as they stepped out of the elevator and wandered the hallways

"It kind of strange to think that people do it in these rooms" Bell looked the hallway full of doors

"It's best to not think it too much" Emilia replied as she activated her X-eye, Bell also activated hers

"Geez, there's a lot of people here" Bell saw a lot of souls inside the rooms. And a lot of them are moving in a certain way. She blushed at the movement of the souls

"Wait, someone is dying" Emilia looked at one of the rooms

Bell also looked at the room. There are 2 souls in the room. One is colored purple and another one is colored green. The green soul started to flicker and fade

"We have to go right now!" Bell dashed towards the room. Emilia just stood there and stared at the running girl

Emilia sighed "She really made a big mistake" she said as the blue-haired reaper opened the wallet of the man earlier. It has a picture of the blonde woman and orange haired man earlier but what caught Emilia's eye is the small blonde girl between the 2 people

Emilia calmly walked towards the room

-o-o-o-

Bell saw the purple soul walked out of the room. It was a teenage boy with black hair with a leather jacket

Bell waited for the boy to leave as she entered the room quietly. She closed the door and flick the light switch open

But, what Bell saw at that moment marks the day where she got one of her regrets she will carry for the rest of her reaper days

Bell shook in fear as she saw a corpse of a blonde girl no older than 12 laying lifelessly in the bed of the hotel room. The girl was completely naked and full of bruises, already dead and defiled

Bell made a hysterical scream as the corners of the room shook to her voice

"What the fuck?" Bell fell down to the floor. She already saw a couple of dead people but after looking at the corpse of the young looking girl, she felt her sins crawl behind her back for some reason

"Good thing this is a sound-proof room or the whole hotel would've heard your screams" Emilia appeared in the entrance of the room

"E-Emilia-san, the girl... she..." Bell tried to explain

Emilia walked to the bed and inspected the dead girl. She found an ID in the nearby table, she took it and look at the wallet

"Well, it looks like this is her daughter she was talking about" Emilia said as she presented the wallet and the ID of the girl. The picture was a complete match

Bell was shocked "Huh? What did you say?" she said in complete disbelief

"This is the daughter of the Deviant Souls" Emilia pointed at the corpse

"Looks like they been forcing their own daughter to do prostitution on this hotel for a quick buck. This girl is so young, that woman definitely went to Hell if she had the nerve to do this" Emilia said in pure disgust

Bell came to a realization. If she hadn't let go the blonde earlier, this girl would've lived. If Bell killed the woman, none of this would've happened. She made a BIG mistake

"N-No way, I didn't do this... I didn't know this would have happened" Bell tried to deny

"Bullshit, you made your choice to let the Deviant Soul go and this is what happened" Emilia said coldly at Bell

"We're reapers. We reap what we sow, so don't try to deny it. You did this" Emilia continued to rub the salt on Bell's wound

Bell was completely lost to her words. Emilia told the bitter truth of the situation and Bell just tried to deny it even further

"Come on, we still need to find that woman. I'll keep checking the lower floors, you'll check the upper floors if you feel like being useful instead of dragging someone into your problems" Emilia left the room

"I'm sorry..." Bell whispered to the dead girl as she covered the body with the blanket

-o-o-o-

Bell absently stood up and walked to the lower floors, "I didn't do it" she said to herself as she dragged herself to the hallways, full of regret and guilt. It was suffocating, she couldn't breath

"I thought I did the right thing" Bell said lowly as she opened another door

Why do I have to do this?

I didn't hurt anyone, right?

In fact, I was the one being hurt all the time

So why am I doing this?

What did I do to deserve this?

Bell suddenly heard voices, she quickly hid behind the corner. She peeked to look who it is

"YOU DID WHAT?!!" the blonde woman screamed at the teenager. It was the same boy earlier

"It's her!" Bell thought as she recognized the blonde woman

"I'm sorry Ruth, she was struggling! I thought she would calm down if a choke her a bit. I kind of killed her..." the teenager apologized with a scared look on his face

"I let you play with my daughter and fucking killed her?!" The blonde anger never left her face

"I'LL PAY! JUST PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" the boy began to back off

"No, you don't need to do that" the woman replied. The boy sighed in relief

"After all, I'm going to take it all" the blonde started charging an energy ball in hand aimed to the boy

She said as pointed her hand to the boy's head

"WAIT, DON'T!" the boy said before his head was blown to bits with a small explosion. The body fell to the floor as it poured blood

Bell watched the whole thing occur as she readied her pen

"It's now or never, you can do this!" Bell said to herself

"Damn, that brat died too easily and with James gone, I have no way to deal with those reaper bastards" The woman said in frustration

Bell slowly walked behind the blonde's back in order to stab her. She raised her pen as she prepared for the kill

But, her hand stopped in mid-air, trembling and frozen place

"W-Why can't I do it? Why can't I move?" Bell hands paralyzed with fear as she trembled even more with fear

The blonde noticed Bell and quickly dodged Bell's pen

"Energy Bolt" The blonde created another energy ball and threw it to Bell

The attack hit Bell's sides causing her to fall down in pain, momentarily stunning her. Bell placed her hand to her wound, she bleeding badly

"Wait, you're that reaper from earlier" the blonde woman recognized Bell

"Why?" Bell uttered

"Huh?" The blonde was confused by her response

"Why did you do that to your daughter?" Bell asked in a serious tone with a hint of anger in her voice

"Why? Because it was easy" the blonde said casually

"What?" Bell shook to the reply of the woman

"Being alive again after escaping Hell isn't easy. You have to deal with people you once knew and you have start all over from scratch. My daughter is always been so meek, it was so easy to bend her will to favor me. She's nothing but a tool that ran out of purpose" The blonde said selfishly

"Too bad she died. That little brat was too nice for her own good anyway. Now I don't have any way to earn money. Oh well, I manage somehow" she sighed

"She... she doesn't regret it?!" Bell thought

"You... You" Bell stuttered

"After I gave you a chance to live... YOU UNGRATEFUL WOMAN!!!" Bell quickly charge toward the blonde with her pen pointed at her. Her X-eye full of anger

The blonde just fired another energy bolt to Bell, hurting the reaper even more as Bell dropped her pen in pain

"Don't underestimate me you little reaper" the blonde taunted as she continued to blast Bell with more energy bolts. Bell screamed as every hit seared her flesh to crisp

Bell vision started to blur. She knew at this point a normal human should be dead but for some reason, she can't die

Why?

I thought if I was nice to others, it'll be okay

Another energy bolt burned her body. Her flesh started to char

But why? Every time I acted nice, I get hurt while those who hurt me gets the advantage

Her senses begin to fade as more of her body got damaged

"Hey, does it hurt yet? Don't worry, I'll end your misery!" the blonde taunted as she stepped on Bell with a sadistic smile. Bell choked blood every time her heel hit her body

Bell started to remember memories of her life

It's always been so cold

"The girl's mother got killed when she gave birth, talk about an unlucky child" One of Bell's relatives whispered, "No wonder her father left her"

I never felt the warmth of a family

"Damn, this bitch is weak! No wonder nobody likes her. Human trash like her should be with the rest of the garbage" Bell's bullies shoved her head to the garbage can

The whole world was cold to me

"Bullshit, you made your choice to let the Deviant Soul go and this is what happened" Emilia said coldly at Bell. "You did this" Emilia said

Even after death, the world still treated me coldly!

WHY? After all I did to give goodness to other people, WHY DO THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO HURT ME?!!

My entire world is cold and yet I still gave warmth to others who hurt me. What hell is wrong with the world?!

Something dark rises within Bell. All of her suppressed anger and frustration started to leak

If the whole world treats me coldly...

Bell grabs her pen and stabs it to the leg of the blonde. Causing her to stop kicking Bell

THEN I'LL BE THE COLDNESS THAT WILL DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD!

"What the!" the blonde's leg started to freeze as her flesh turned into ice. The chilling pain started to overwhelm the blonde

The temperature of the hallway suddenly dropped to a dangerous level. Ice started to form around the hallway

"DIE YOU BITCH!" Bell pushed her pen deeper to the blonde's leg causing her flesh to crack and finally shattering into several pieces. The blonde fell down as her leg was shattered to pieces

"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" the blonde screamed in agony as she lost her leg

Bell stood up as her injuries started to heal. She looked at the blonde with her X-eyes, glowing bright red

The blonde started to charge another energy bolt in her hand. But Bell stabbed her hands with her pen causing it to freeze as well, preventing the blonde to use her power

"Kuroyuki" Bell said as her pen started to freeze as it encased inside the black ice. The ice began to grow into a scythe shape. The ice shattered as it revealed a large black scythe in Bell's hand

The blonde stared fearfully at Bell as she approached her with a large scythe

Bell started to slash the woman causing the blonde scream in pain as multiple slash wounds started to appear her body. Frost started to build up to the body of the blonde

"Hey, does it hurt yet? Don't worry, I'll end your misery" Bell repeated the words that the blonde used to taunt her. Her eyes full of killing intent, all her frustration and anger pouring out to this single moment

Bell heard apologizing wails from the blonde but she ignored it and continued for the killing strike

"Piasuyuki!" Bell yelled as her scythe formed ice spikes. She stabbed the blonde her scythe. Slowly but surely, the blonde started to freeze. Her body started to turn into ice, the blonde cried for mercy until her entire body was frozen

Bell swiped her scythe causing the frozen woman to shatter to million pieces. The pieces tumbled to the floor as the woman was killed

[Bell Yuki: Weekly Quota Status: 2 out of 5 deviant souls captured]

[Weekly Quota: PENDING]

An elevator opened revealing Emilia. She looked at the scene with her surprise in her face

"Looks like you figured how to use your scythe's GIFT" Emilia said

"Good job" Emilia said to Bell

"Good job?" Bell started to tremble. Emilia was confused at Bell's behavior

Bell dropped her scythe as faced her with an angry expression, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!!" she screamed to Emilia's face

"I'm so sick of these shit! I had to kill a person just avoid getting hurt. I caused a little girl's death. I can't take it anymore! I don't want to be a reaper anymore!" Bell broke down as grabbed her own head

SLAP!

Emilia slapped Bell in the face and grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall. Her blank expression turned into an angry one

"Listen up you pathetic excuse. We reapers don't need sleep, food or anything that sustains a living person. Our bodies are tweaked to catch any targets without training, we're practically designed to kill. We sacrificed our own morals for the sake of the balance of life and death of the world" Emilia said in fury. Bell felt bloodlust radiating from her

"If you think you only got it hard on doing these job, well you're wrong. I had to kill a group of kids this week that were no older than 4 just because they escaped from an accident that supposed to kill them" Emilia displayed trauma on her face

Bell was shocked that even an experienced reaper like her had a side like this. A side filled with guilt and regret

"I-I don't understand. W-Why are you telling me this?" Bell asked

"Don't you get it Bell?" Emilia said lowly

"This all we can do!" the blue-haired reaper displayed desperation in her tone

Bell was surprised at Emilia reply, "She also hates being a reaper?" Bell asked herself

"We have to kill to avoid punishment and for what? Just kill more the next week! It never stops!" Emilia screamed in rage

Bell was speechless as Emilia calmed down and let's go her neck as Bell slumped slowly to the ground

"I'm done here, I already did my job. You should know the basics of being a reaper. Goodbye, I hope we don't meet again" Emilia walked towards the window as her scythe turned in wings

"By the way. If you haven't finished your quota this week, you're going to feel more and more pain until you finish it. Good luck" Emilia jumped to the window and flew away

"Wait, what?" Bell said before she heard bells again. Bell looked at a nearby clock, it displayed 12:00 AM

[Bell Yuki: Weekly Quota Status: 2 out of 5 deviant souls captured]

[Weekly Quota: FAILED]

A familiar painful feeling returned to Bell

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!" Bell screamed as she felt the punishment of the failed quota.

Bell gasped for breath as the pain subsided. She swore she would complete her task as a reaper no matter what it takes.

"I... I..." Bell stammered.

"I HATE THIS!" she screamed

-o-o-o-

Underworld, 99:99 pm?

Elizabeth is seen walking a long corridor as she passed a lot of rooms. She finally reached a large wooden door with an X-symbol

"Elizabeth, you can do this" she said to herself as she took a deep breath and entered the room

The room is a hill full of black flowers. She walked past them and carefully not trample the flowers

She found a black haired teenager wearing a black hoodie with a golden locket. He's watering the flowers while humming a cheerful tune

"Um, sir?" Elizabeth called out

"Liza-chan, how many times did I tell you to use my name when we're talking alone" the boy said as he stopped watering the flowers

Elizabeth sighed in annoyance "I need to report to you something..."

"DESPAIR" she spoke the name of the boy

"And what may be the thing you must report worthy for a God of Death?" he replied in an ominous tone as the flowers emit a dark aura

"There's been an unauthorized reaper that's been created in the Soukyo System. Her name is Bell Yuki" Elizabeth informed. He was interested after she heard the name of the reaper

"Yuki? So Grim really chose that girl" DESPAIR said with disappointment

"What are we going to do DESPAIR? Are we going to kill her?" Elizabeth asked as her scythe glowed

"Hmm, no. Keep her as a reaper for now. After all, we're still understaffed in the reaper workforce. But keep an eye on her, she's a unique case" DESPAIR ordered

"As you wish, I already ordered one of the D-ranked reaper to monitor her activity" Elizabeth said

"Other than that, keep up the good work Liza-chan!" he said cheerfully his dark aura disappeared

Elizabeth looked at him with annoyance, "Please stop calling me that" she said

"Got it! Liza-chan!" DESPAIR said as he waved goodbye to her assistant

"I can't believe you're one of the guardians who controls the universe" she said before leaving the room

DESPAIR looked at the flowers blooming in his garden, "Looks like the seed that you've sowed have bloomed, Grimora" he said to himself

He chuckled a sadistic laugh

"How annoying"

-o-o-o-

Character Info

Bell Yuki

SOUL: ???

SCYTHE: Kuroyuki

GIFT: Cold

RANK: F

Emilia Kuuji

SOUL: Blue

SCYTHE: Hayaicho

GIFT: Flutter

RANK: D+

James Yamada (Orange Deviant Soul)

SOUL: Orange

THORN:Moeruikari

GIFT: Overheat

SPIKE: 2

Ruth Noami (Yellow Deviant Soul)

SOUL: Yellow

THORN:Zankokuna

GIFT: Energy Ball

SPIKE: 4