A Reaper's Philosophy-Chapter 53: Chrónos

"Azrael is not responding." I said to the tailed Lilith, feeling worried that something may have happened to him. I looked into my dark cloud. I then saw Azrael, wrapped in some cacoon made of light. He was floating in the middle of three orbs with different colors, as each orb slowly merged with him.

Each orb pulsed with a brilliant light of red, black, and purple respectively.

’This again.’ I thought to myself.

I had seen this happen only once before, with Armando. I wasn’t sure as to what was happening to him back then, but I do know this now, by the time this process is over, Azrael will become much stronger.

"Is he still alive?" The tailed Lilith asked. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Yeah, he will be fine. Just resting for a while." I said to her.

’I can sense signs of life nearby.’ I thought to myself. "Alright, everybody out." I said out loud as I stretched my right arm forward to open a gate. Surprisingly, nothing happened.

I tried again to open a gate with my dark cloud, but failed to do so. ’What the hell is wrong with me.’ I thought to myself.

’I would like to stay and try to comprehend everything I just saw. That was a rare opportunity we just experienced.’ Livia said.

’Me too please.’ Kitsune said.

’I as well.’ Armando said.

’Me too.’ Terry said.

’Even Armando! Am I the only who was just seeing scribbles?’ I thought to myself.

"Do what you want, tailed Lilith, try opening a gate." I said to her.

She then stretched her arm forward, just as I did, in order to open a gate, but no gate appeared.

"I can’t!" She said with shock.

"Me neither, I don’t think we can open a gate in this place. This is a prison after all." I said out loud.

"One made by Theós no less." The tailed Lilith said.

"Yes." I said.

"And we are going out there knowing that we have no concrete plan." She said.

"Yes." I responded.

"After the abnormal streak of luck that you have had, it might just be used up by now. You might actually die this time." The tailed Lilith said with a forced smile.

"I may or may not. In the end, I’ll grow strong enough to decide that myself." I said to her as I remembered my death then began to fly towards the direction we sensed life.

In almost an instant, we travelled and arrived above a simple looking blue planet, around the same size as Mars.

"We got here pretty quick, this place isn’t very big is it?" The tailed Lilith said.

"Can’t be, this entire space has an atmosphere." I said to her.

"Don’t you want to comprehend whatever it is they saw?" I asked her.

"I’m doing it now, I assumed you were doing the same." She replied.

A long silence descended as we just stared at each other.

We then entered the planet and followed the energy the reaper gave off, as he did nothing to hide it.

"This is where this so called prisoner is!" I exclaimed out loud as we hovered above the location of the reaper.

Beneath us was a massive white and gold palace around the size of a large town. The palace was strategically placed on a mountain top, with a river running right through the middle of the palace and a waterfall at the end of it. Everything else was built around it.

The interiors of the walls were decorated with streaks of green, and thick curtains of gold hanged all around from the ceiling to the floor as they flapped majestically in the wind.

"If this is what all prisons made by Theós are like, then sign me up!" The tailed Lilith exclaimed.

"Let’s just get this guy." I said.

We then slowly descended into the bright white and gold palace and spot a reaper floating above the river.

"You will find that to be quite difficult, my good sir." The reaper said to us with his back turned.

"What?" I asked out loud.

(Sighs)

"You must be quite stupid to have come in here." He said to us with a sigh.

"Some might say quite brave too." I said out loud.

"No, just stupid." He retorted.

"We are searching for the Legendary Reaper’s location." I said to him, going straight to the point.

"You would find him in his planet, he never leaves there." He said to us with his back still turned.

"So, you know him! That’s where we want to go." the tailed Lilith says.

"No it’s not." The reaper said to the tailed Lilith then turned around.

We could now finally see his face that was blessed with a beautiful pair of bright green eyes. However, a gruesome scar was etched from his right cheek, all the way down to his right shoulder, which was in contrast with the beauty of his eyes. A dark cloud covered his entire body, except where the scar was.

Despite being a skeleton, he wore a suit that looked like the works of Savile Row. Sparks of green would occasionally spark out of the scar.

He then turned to the tailed Lilith and bowed like a gentleman.

"Madam." He said respectfully.

"Disgusting isn’t it? A little gift that Dunamis left for me. I was lucky that he held back on me or else I wouldn’t be here right now. You don’t want to go there." He said gently to us as he began to casually float around the room as though he were lying on the air.

He didn’t look like he was saying it out of fear. He looked like he was stating a simple fact.

"What happened to you?" I asked him.

"Nothing too complicated. Just got bored, having so much time in my hands. So, I began to explore the universe. I, eventually, stumbled into the wrong planet and met with the wrong reaper during my travels. Dunamis doesn’t care for visitors, but he does acknowledge strength." He said as he appeared in another part of the room still floating in the air.

’What is his power?’ I thought to myself.

"Give us the location and we will be on our way." I commanded.

He then appeared behind me then said, "Good sir, even if I give you his location, there is no way for you to get out of this realm. You best get comfortable, just as I have." He said to me.

"Let us worry about getting out." I said to him then quickly punched his chest. His body then exploded into numerous different pieces.

"Fuck, Grayson!" The tailed Lilith exclaimed.

"I’m tired of going back and forth like this. I can’t keep dealing with these useless chatter boxes. It’s better to just kill him and have him tell us the location after I bring him back from the void." I said to her.

"You will find that to be quite difficult." A voice sounded as the numerous pieces of the reaper began to revert back to their original form. The reaper had come back to life and his body appeared to have taken no damage, apart from his gruesome scar.

"Chrónos, Reaper of Time, pleasure to meet you." He said to me as he stretched out his hand, awaiting a handshake.

"Reaper of time?" I asked out loud.

"Yes, this time, I will show you just how futile it is to try and kill me." He said to me with his hand still stretched out.

"Hugh..." I said then shook his hand..

I then sent a wave of fire, through my hand. The fire engulfed his body. His body then immediately dropped to the ground, scorched. However, in the next instance, he appeared somewhere else. He then gave me a friendly smile then disappeared.

He quickly began to appear and disappear all around the room, not revealing any patterns to his movements. Purple lightning then sparked off my body and moved between my skeletal fingers.

I then began to attack the reaper with the lightning. However, every time the lightning would get close to him, he would disappear then appear somewhere else.

A thick smoke began to rise out of the palace as most of the golden curtains had caught fire. The gardens were quickly destroyed alongside the palace floors, but none of us paid any mind to it.

’Interesting.’ Chrónos thought to himself.

He then split into hundreds of clones of himself and attacked from all sides. He tried to grab my limbs, but was unable to, as his hands would pass through them like they were passing through water. Having no way out, I had quickly made use of the water properties of the late Neró’s power.

’I can’t touch him!’ Chrónos exclaimed in his head.

Nonetheless, he jumped me from all directions, making a dogpile, with me at the very bottom.

(Ring of Fire)

My voice sounded all around the room. Immediately after, unrivaled, scorching rings of fire began to come out of my body and rose as high up as 100 feet. They burnt to ash everything that they touch.

The entire mountain shook. A majority of the white and gold palace had already crumbled to the ground.

Each one of Chrónos’ figures had been scorched to ash. Chrónos then rose again from the ashes and reverted his body back to normal. He then looked around his beautiful palace and finally noticed how damaged it has become.

"Okay, stop! Damn it, until when can Dalia possibly get me another palace like this? You cannot kill me and I am clearly not powerful enough to kill you." Chrónos said with solemnness in his eyes.

"You have the powers of different reapers within you...how?" He asked me.

I then halted my next incoming attack and asked, "What does Dalia have to do with this?"

"She’s the one who got me all these planets. This dimension is constantly drawing in space from the universe. I know Dalia is the one sending them since she leaves me notes and updates me of what happens around the universe." He answered.

I just stood there speechless, I didn’t expect him to immediately answer and in so much detail. I then thought about my next question.

"The planets do come in destroyed, but my power can revert them to their original state. However, time moves wrather slowly here so it can take a couple dozens of centuries before seeing anything else passing through." He added.

’I was going to ask about that!’ I thought to myself.

"So you defeated the reapers then absorbed their souls!" He said to me.

"I see, and this was what you were planning to do to me. I have only studied this in theory, but there was always a problem with finding a soul that can house another soul.

Fascinating, why is it that your soul can do this with not just one, but with multiple others? How have you not broken? It would seem that a new untouchable existence has risen during my time here, and a rather powerful one at that. Dalia failed to mention this. This changes things." Chrónos said to me.