After the Demon's Head

Estelle swiftly moved through the woods of Earl, famous for the creatures that lurked deep within. Anyone who dares to go in the woods are known to have not come back out. So the poster that Estelle have picked was in the S-ranked bulletin board.

The full body of a Reaper. It was a creature that was only written by old and ancient books. A monster that lives on the deepest part of Earl's woods. Every part of its body had very large value, mostly to dark arts. Its blood is known to be used to make the elixir of life and one of the components of creating the sword of Amelix.

Estelle stopped when she felt something weird. She took off her mask to look at the sight in front of her. A castle hidden in the dark woods. While looking at the castle, she realized that she wasn't alone.

"How cute." Estelle was standing on a steppingstone, on the middle of a black lake. Slowly, the creature swam around the stone in which Estelle was standing on and stopped in front of her. The beast slowly raised from the water and faced Estelle.

Estelle smiled. It was morphed beast. A beast that had evolved differently from its normal form. A crocodile that is at 30 feet height. It opened its mouth and roared at Estelle, who didn't move an inch from it. Instead her smile grew into a smirk.

"How delicious." Her words were accompanied with silent. Then a sudden burst. The giant crocodile was torn to pieces only by a second. "Tsk. Tsk. We cannot waste such an opportunity."

Estelle used her magic to gather the remains of the giant crocodile into a crystallin, which is used to store things. Even a large crocodile can fit inside, though it can only allow non-living things.

Estelle put the crystallin in her pocket and headed to the castle at rapid speed. She encountered a few horrifying creatures, yet all ended up the same fate.

"Into the crystallin, y'all go." Estelle proudly looked at the crystallines on her bag. Closing the small bag slowly and patted it.

---

"You soon will learn, that life isn't something you should take for granted." Dephty said. She turned her back on me as I fell into oblivion.

-----

"What a vexing memory." Estelle put on her mask. She ignored the thought and walked to the ruined door of the ruined castle.

"Oooh Just my kind of thing".

The whole castle was definitely abandoned. The wall have cracks, and pictures and paintings were torn. The walls had paint stuck on its wall and white dust was on the ground. Or is it just paint and dust? Estelle kneeled down and touched the dust and the wall's paint. It was not paint but dried blood. And the white dust was ashes, bone ashes.

Estelle looked up and notice the markings on the wall. She got up and touched it. It was claw marks. There were a lot of them in the walls, and each kept changing in size and shapes. Estelle's body became hot in excitement. The feeling made her walk in a freely way. She kicks some pebbles and rubbles as she walked through the old walls of the castle. Loudly humming a song.

"Grr"

The ground begun to grumble, stones and dust slowly fell from the sky. Estelle used a forcefield only above her head to not get hit by falling rocks. She continued to move, making more noises by kicking a few rocks, that made the earthquake stronger.

"How bothersome." Estelle stopped walking and looked around. "Ohh Reaper~ Come out, come out, wherever you are~".

The grumbling stops. Instead, it was replaced by heavy and loud stomping.

"One~"

"Two~"

"Three~"

Reaper showed itself before Estelle. A monster that naturally looks like a part of the darkness, with it's pointy claws. It has an ability to shape ships into the greatest nightmare of the person in front of her. As the god of Death, Estelle had no greatest fear.

"Come, Reaper. Let us see how much fun would you give me?" Estelle put down her hood and took off the mask.

"I haven't had human flesh in a long time." Grumbled Reaper in a very low voice.

"Well, I'm not surprise." Estelle shrug. "A beast strong as you, of course you are capable of human language."

"Enough talk!" Reaper roared and started to shape shift.

Estelle sighed. "I'm curious, if you have any more weaknesses."

Reaper continued to shape shift yet there was no definite ending.

"Grrrr." Reaper groaned in despair. "Insolent human!"

Estelle raised her right hand and slowly clench a fist. The Reaper stopped shape shifting. It groaned more in despair.

"What are you doing to me?!" The Reaper roared. It gathered all his strength, grasping into the rumbling ground and sprint towards Estelle, only to be stop when its claws close was in front of her.

"I haven't used this magic in ages." Estelle said as she planned with her hand. Or to be exact, the blood of Reaper.

"Bla... Blood... Magic?!" Reaper kept groaning until it loses its conscious.

It fell in the floor with a loud thump, making the wall crumble and the ground shook.

"It would be a shame if you lose a single drop of blood". Estelle walked towards Reaper and kneeled down, holding its head down. "Accept your fate".

In a moment of silence, the Reaper had no longer any sign of life. With its current state, it can be stored in the crystallin. Estelle brought out an empty Crystallin from her bag, tapping it in the Reaper's head. A burst of light shone brightly, and the Reaper was sucked into the tiny stone.

"This body can no longer be trained to be strong, so I guess I have to rely on my magics." Estelle put the Crystallin bag and was getting ready to be teleported when a small cracking sound came from the darkness.

Estelle heard the sound and slowly turned around to see if anyone was there. There was an empty dark hallway where a small noise can be heard by people with sensitive hearing. Estelle first put her mask and hood before walking into the darkness. With a flick of her hand, the old candles on small chandeliers on the wall was lighten.

Estelle stopped once she reached a big door that was made in stone. It had very beautiful carvings. Below the closed door was some burn mark and scratch mark. Estelle used her magic to open the door and there she stood, outside the throne room.

It was not as large as the throne room in the palace, according to the VISION yet it was still commendable that the roof is untouched, and the walls are unharmed by the Reaper's claws. A shiny egg was sitting in the throne, shaking and cracking. If it weren't for the VISION, she would have thought that it was a Reapers egg. But it was none other than a Dragon's egg.

"What is a Dragon egg doing inside a Reaper's nest?" Estelle asked and slowly walked towards the egg.

Screech!

With fast reflexes, Estelle avoided a sword's magic aura which slashed through the ground. The aura left the floor a mark deeper than those of the Reaper's claw mark. If Estelle hadn't avoided the attack, she would have been cut into two, given that Ivory's body isn't immortal. Estelle first stared at the mark on the floor before looking up at the person in front of her.

There, on the left side of the room was a person, also covered by a black cloth. Although Estelle had already lightened the candles with her magic, the face of the stranger cannot be seen. The cloak that the man was wearing has a power to conceive the face with darkness.

'Hmm, why didn't I think about that?' Estelle thought. As she was distracted by the thought, the man rushed forward her. Thankful again for her reflexes as an assassin in her previous life, she avoided the attack even if it was close in range.

Crack! Shuuush!

The battle made the walls shook and dust fell from the grumbling roof. The man continued to swing his sword at her. Powered by a stone, the sword emits an aura that can be thrown at enemies even at a far range. It was an unfair fight for Estelle who is not someone who uses a weapon. She relies on her magic and sometime kill an enemy with her bare hands. However, she cannot do that with Ivory's strength. She could use her magic to make her stronger but then Estelle realized something was off.

'My power... It's not working!'

The confusion threw Estelle off guard, giving off many weak spots for an open attack. Before the aura could have slashed through her body, she quickly creates a forcefield. Yet that didn't stop for its strength was far greater than expected. The power threw Estelle in the air. Once up high, she gathered her strength to do a backflip and landed on the floor, getting push back for a bit. If she hadn't done so, her back would have hit the ground so hard. Now that her power was not working properly, she undeniably knew the reason.

The man rushed towards her, who was taking off her cloak and mask. The sword had barely cut her entire neck, but only leaving a scratch. The man stopped once he knew who she was.

"Ivory?"

The man wavered as he pulls the sword away from Estelle's neck. The sword's aura was slowly disappearing. The man trembled as he withdraws the cloak's magic and put down the hood.

Estelle just stood still as he watches the man waver at her presence. Estelle closed her eyes and move a step back. Down her head and then curtsy.

"It's an honor to be at your presence once more, my Lord".