A Reaper's Philosophy-Chapter 61: I Won’t Let You Die

"Axelia!" The tailed Lilith exclaimed after seeing Axelia appear out of nowhere.

Axelia then quickly opened her eyes, surprised that she was still alive.

{You have successfully proven your worth as a host!}

{You have successfully familiarized yourself with exousia!}

{You have killed 324 Ordinary Beasts, 200 Ascended Beasts, and 1 Mythical Beast!}

{You have successfully completed the secondary objective!}

{You have received a hidden reward for defeating a Mythical Beast: Elixir of Life!}

{...}

A stream of messages began to appear in front of Axelia.

"Mistress?" Axelia asked out loud ignoring a majority of the messages.

"What happened? Where did you go?" The tailed Lilith asked.

"I’m not quite sure myself. Where’s master, is he okay?" Axelia asked.

"He’s-..." The tailed Lilith tried to say, but was at a loss for words.

Axelia quickly spotted me lying down at a corner then rushed to my side. She quickly checked on my condition and sensed my life force deteriorating at an alarming pace. I was about to die.

"At this rate, he will die within the next minute!" Axelia exclaimed.

She then immediately began to heal my body, but all that did was slow down the inevitable outcome. My wound wasn’t inflicted by a normal person, it was a wound that not only eroded the physical body, but the soul as well, and no ordinary means could be used to heal either.

"I tried to slow down the eroding effect on his body with beast blood, but there was nothing I could do about the damage to his soul." Lilith said solemnly.

"I WON’T LET YOU DIE...! First my loyalty wavered and now, I can’t even save you in your time of need. Looking back, I see now my life has been nothing but a failure. I would gladly lay down this useless life of mine for you!" Axelia screamed out with tears in her eyes.

’Wait...life! Elixir of Life!’ Axelia thought then a tiny bottle, with a miniscule amount of a bright blue liquid, appeared on her hand.

{Elixir of Life: A liquid brimming with the essence of life, made from the condensed life forces of hundreds of beasts. Said to cleanse, restore, and heal most damages to the soul. The stronger the beasts; the more potent the elixir will be.}

A message popped up in front of the bottle with a description of the contents within it. Axelia then quickly opened the bottle. The entire cave was instantly filled with a powerful aura of life.

She then put the liquid in her mouth and pressed her lips against mine. The liquid poured down my throat. Immediately after, my life force increased dramatically as the injuries to my soul began to heal.

Unfortunately, the injury to my physical body only healed slightly as the elixir’s main healing property iwas for the soul. The wound then continued to worsen again and it was only a matter of time before it would affect my soul a second time and eventually kill me.

"This bought some time, but this wound will end up killing him. There’s only one thing left that I can do...I hope this can atone for my past mistakes!" Axelia said then slowly began to turn into a dark cloud and become one with Grayson once again.

Axelia was a shadow created by merging together 200,000 low-grade shadows. A shadow is a spiritual being made from the life forces of numerous living beings.

When a living being is born, it’s soul has a shadow born with it. This shadow is like a copy of a soul and carries a wisp of the soul itself. This is how the shadows are capable of accepting orders. They have life forces as well.

Axelia now had 200,000 condensed life forces merged within her. It is what made up her soul. The more shadows are invested, the more complete the new shadow becomes.

Axelia planned on giving back the life that was given to her, in hopes that it would be able to heal my body and save my life.

A dark cloud now covered my entire body and was slowly being absorbed. The hole in my stomach slowly began to cover up, my ear healed completely, my organs started to take form, and my heart began to beat faster. After some time, I had completely absorbed Axelia within me.

(cough; cough)

I then coughed out a mouthful of blood to the side and began to breath heavily.

"Grayson!" The tailed Lilith exclaimed and quickly embraced me with a hug.

"I’m going to kick that guy’s ass!" I said out loud as I hugged the tailed Lilith back.

She then hugged me even tighter...a little too tightly.

"Hey, I understand you’re glad I’m alive, but if you hug me that tightly, you just might kill me again!" I said to her.

"How are you feeling?" The tailed Lilith asked after pulling back from her hug.

I then felt an incredible pain coming from my stomach. I looked down and see a gruesome wound on it. However, the wound was no longer fatal. Just looked like a nasty bruise.

"I’ve been better." I said then struggled to get up.

I began to look around as nothing seemed familiar.

"Where are we? What happened?" I asked the tailed Lilith.

"We’re in a cave deep in some snowy mountains. I brought you here after Dunamis drove his hand through your stomach. We almost didn’t make, but then..." the tailed Lilith began to say, but then went silent.

"Then what?" I asked her in anticipation.

"Armando came rushing through the barrier and stayed to hold back Dunamis...he didn’t make it. A few days later, Axelia also rushed here as well to heal you, and had to sacrifice herself in order to do so. She was the only other shadow strong enough to pass through Evnoia’s barrier." The tailed Lilith said solemnly.

"I see." I said then walked out of the cave.

"It’s bloody freezing, I didn’t realize I could feel cold anymore!" I said to the tailed Lilith as I looked up at the night sky.

I could faintly feel the connection I had with my shadow pawns as they were right outside the barrier. Something was disrupting my connection with them.

’Go back.’ I said with my mind to all the shadow pawns outside the barrier. Immediately, they all turned back and went to their respective planets.

’Terry, go back to earth and wait for me there, I’ll be here a while. Keep the others in line.’ I said to Terry.

’Yes Monarch!’ She said then immediately left with the others.

(Sigh)

"I had to be saved by so many because I’m still so weak. Armando, Axelia...you. I know you’ve been taking care of me." I began to say to the tailed Lilith.

"Thank you Lilith. I will get stronger. No one will ever be kept in a position where they have to sacrifice themselves for me again!" I added as I clenched my fist tightly.

This was the first time I had seen such an act of selflessness directed towards me. Not just from Lilith, but from anyone. I didn’t know how to feel about that and it was frustrating.

"Are you okay? Are you really Grayson?" the tailed Lilith asked me in shock after hearing me call her Lilith.

"Of course I am. Who else would it be, standing in front of you?" I said to her.

This was not the first time I had called her Lilith. Last time it happened was in Asími, it was like a whole different person was in control.

"Shit its cold!" I said as I attempted to conjure some clothes for myself.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to.

{You have sustained injuries to your soul and have not farmiliarized yourself with exousia. All uses of the dark cloud are currently locked!}

"What the fuck!" I exclaimed out loud.

"Lilith, can you conjure some clothes for me?" I asked her.

"Sure." She said then conjured a pink t-shirt and white chino shorts on me. "What the hell is this?" I asked her feeling annoyed.

"A cute ass outfit that’s what. You always wearing all these dark colors like depressed fuck. Switch it up a little." She said to me, surprisingly in a serious tone.

"Sheesh, I just woke up and I’m already being lectured. You know, this doesn’t really help with the cold though." I said to her.

She then conjured a black overcoat and a pair of thick socks on me.

"So what now?" Lilith asked me.

"I told you, I’m going to get stronger...starting with this." I said out loud as I pointed at the messages in front of me.

{Objective resumed: Kill 10 Ordinary Beasts to familiarize yourself with exousia}

{You have absorbed Axelia’s soul. Would you like to absorb her comprehension of exousia?

Yes / No}

’Yes.’ I thought.

{You have absorbed Axelia’s comprehension of exousia.}

{Objective has been completed!}

{Kill 100 Ordinary Beasts from at least five different species to evolve!}

{Theós System

Kills Recorded:

[Ordinary Beasts]

Ordinary Beast: White-Smoked Grey Wolf (36/10)

Ordinary Beast: Demon Moth (188/10)

Ordinary Beast: Bat-Winged Ape (100/10)

[Ascended Beasts] 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Ascended Beast: White-Smoked Black Wolf (104/20)

Ascended Beast: Demon Moth (37/20)

Ascended Beast: Bat-Winged Ape (59/20)

[Mythical Beasts]

Mythical Beast: Black-Smoked Red Wolf (1/40)

[Legendary Beasts]

-

[Heavenly Beasts]

-}

’These must be the beasts that Axelia had killed! Still serving me even in her death.’ I thought to myself with a smile.

"Tailed Lilith, have you killed any beasts?" I asked.

"Yes, I’m currently an Ascended Host according to the Theós System." She said to me as she released her aura.

The tailed Lilith’s aura had always been like a red, blazing sun, raging violently all around her. However, this time, there was a slight difference to her aura. Her aura was now outlined by a cold and gentle breeze brimming with power.

After absorbing Axelia’s comprehension, I could feel this gentle breeze within everything. It was like everything in the planet was covered by it.

In fact, I had felt it upon arriving in Evnoia, I just couldn’t make sense of what it was till now.

’So this is exousia!’ I thought to myself.

(Sigh)

"What’s the layout of these mountains?" I asked the tailed Lilith.

"Ordinary and ascended beasts surround these mountains. A few mythical beasts can be found as you go higher into the mountains. They are normally not alone, many of them would be leading a pack of ordinary and ascended beasts. Beyond the mountains is a nearby city, but I haven’t gone there yet so I don’t know much about it or the natives." Lilith said to me.

"I see. First things first, we need to get stronger. Dunamis is strong, much stronger than I thought he would be. To make things worse, he was clearly only toying with me. Meaning he is even more powerful than what we have seen!

We need more information on this world, which means we need to speak with the natives. However, speaking to the natives means Dunamis will get know our exact location through his shadows!" I said to Lilith.

That’s dangerous. Dunamis’ shadows are with each person on this planet. If we come into contact with any of them, he will know our location. What do you plan to do?" The tailed Lilith said to me.

"Leave that to me. I have a full proof plan." I said giving her a thumbs up.

’Intent...! What was that power?’ My thoughts began to drift.