A Reaper's Philosophy-Chapter 88: Trapped

"This isn’t something we can handle. We need to inform The Bartender!" Lilith said to Grayson.

As she was saying this, 12 beings silently appeared behind them.

"That’s not possible! There are numerous deities and dozens of Heavenly Hosts in the North. There are even Heavenly Beasts within their ranks. Not even a handful of white grimmes can take over the North like this." Grayson said.

"Nonetheless, we need to leave!" Lilith said turning around.

However, she immediately stopped in her tracks as she saw 12 white grimmes lined up a distance away. Some were in the trees, whilst others stood in the air effortlessly. One, however, was seated further back. He didn’t seem to care for what was happening. Their silence made the situation even more eerie.

These grimmes weren’t like the other white grimme Grayson had met. These ones had whole galaxies all over their bodies. This meant that they had already formed their own worlds. A world is formed from the paths one follows. The path one chooses forms the foundation of their world’s philosophy. Once a world is formed, one can store things within it and even bring out their philosophy and affect reality in different ways. The stronger one is, the greater the effect and range their philosophy will have.

Grayson turned to leave as well and he too spotted the group of grimmes in the distance. Nobody made a move, they all stared at each other in silence. Grayson quickly circulated the energy within him and tried to warp away with Lilith. He quickly found out that the space around them had been sealed by a mysterious power. He could no longer manipulate space in that area.

One of the grimmes in the air suddenly appeared in front of Grayson and Lilith.

"You’re not Dunamis!" The grimme said.

There was some relief to his voice as he said it. He then looked at Lilith and tilted his head awkwardly. He seemed to be studying her.

"What are you?" The grimme asked stretching his hand towards Lilith.

Grayson swiftly sent a punch towards the grimme and shouted, "Run!"

The grimme was sent flying a couple dozen meters away. Grayson’s hand surprisingly felt numb after the strike. The grimme’s body was soft, but extremely tough. It felt like punching through a thick wall of sand. Grayson and Lilith then sprinted toward a different direction from the other grimmes. There were 12 that they could see, but there was no certainty there weren’t any more. Fleeing was their only option.

Another grimme appeared before them and said, "We sensed the presence of a reaper, thinking it was Dunamis. We see now that there is nothing to worry about. Our gamble paid off, Dunamis doesn’t care...!"

Grayson and Lilith never stopped though. They ran past the grimme, completely ignoring him. The grimme’s voice echoed all around them. It was like he was next to them and all around them at the same time. Suddenly, a high pitch noise sounded in their ears. Grayson tried to circulate his dark cloud to try and block the noise, but the noise sent the energy within his body into chaos. It made him lose all sense of direction. He was unable to think clearly.

"Grnn!" Grayson groaned in pain. Death quicky disappeared into Grayson’s body and managed to partially calm the energy within his body. Lilith was somehow unaffected and had gone ahead. After getting back his composure a little, Grayson continued to run.

"Hmm?" The grimme trying to stop them looked surprised. He did not expect them to block his attack. He could see that Grayson was only a Mythical Host and Lilith was a Legendary Host.

2 more grimmes appeared before them. They had curvaceous bodies and soothing voices like those of angels.

"They seem strong..." One of them said.

"Not that strong, but we can still use them..." The other grimme added.

The first grimme seemed to control light and shadows. She manifested each on her left and right hand respectively. A sun and a black circle, resembling a moon, appeared on her chest. As she approached, the space around her was engulfed in light and shadows. The powers somehow blended together.

Where the light passed, everything was revealed. The surroundings turned slightly transparent when exposed to it and nothing was hidden.

In contrast, everywhere her shadow power touched was completely sealed. Sight, smell, sound, touch, everything was sealed and hidden. The brighter the light was the darker her shadows became. Her powers complimented each other.

Lilith was ahead of Grayson but was suddenly blinded by a bright light. If anyone were to come into proximity with the light and shadow grimme, they would be blinded. The other grimme then floated towards Lilith as she was distracted. Grayson saw this and tried to help, but surprisingly found himself unable to move. The light and shadow grimme suddenly leaped out of Grayson’s shadow. Her power completely locked Grayson in place. Her hand was going to grab Grayson’s neck, but Death quickly came out in an explosion.

A dark cloud now covered the entire area. Everyone was engulfed in it. After receiving this chance, Grayson and Lilith were once again on the move. Grayson hoped that the poisonous dark cloud would distract the grimmes long enough so they can warp away. He knew that even the cloud couldn’t seriously hurt them.

"Lilith gate!" Grayson shouted.

Lilith stretched her hand forward, attempting to open a gate. Unfortunately, space was still sealed around them and even the gates weren’t working.

"Enough!" The grimme Grayson had initially, kicked away said with a powerful voice.

The ground quaked at the sound of his voice, so much so that Grayson and Lilith lost their footing. The ground then suddenly opened and swallowed them whole. The grimme approached where Grayson and Lilith stood. His skin was now made of stone. 4 spirals made of fire, water, lightning, and wind, respectively, could be seen on his body. Each spiral represented a different element.

The ground suddenly rose like a volcano. Following this, the fiery spiral began to spin and quickly engulfed the grimme’s body. Lava then came shooting out of the recently formed volcano. It looked like an apocalypse.

At the centre, was Grayson and Lilith. Lava dripped from their bodies as they flew out of the volcano. Lilith was unscathed, but Grayson had scorch marks all over.

"This isn’t normal lava?" Lilith said.

"Yes, but something is wrong. I feel weaker." Grayson said.

"Is it one of their powers?" Lilith asked.

"No, it’s not them." Grayson said.

"We need to fight and end this quickly; we can’t escape, and we can’t drag this any longer." Grayson added as his eyes turned from turquoise to scarlet.

Everything slowed down as his vision enhanced. He could now see the make up of the universe and how things worked.

A female grimme approached them from afar at an incredible speed. Grayson’s eyes could only slightly keep up with her speed.

Grayson then circulated a mysterious power within him. A fiery dark cloud suddenly rose out of Grayson’s skin and covered his hands. A dark, purple lightning could be seen within the cloud, making it look very menacing. The fiery dark cloud circled Grayson like a serpent. This power is a result of the deep comprehension Grayson achieved from the books he read.

Once someone reaches the Mythical realm, they begin to solidify their path, and a technique is born out of it. The fiery dark cloud was a power that could only be found in Grayson, it wasn’t something someone could replicate.

Grayson sent a fiery fist towards the approaching grimme. The flames quickly engulfed the female grimme and sent her flying. This surprised the other grimmes watching. They knew how powerful the female grimme was. Ordinary powers couldn’t affect white grimmes. One needs powerful intent that is at least at the Heavenly realm to do serious damage on a white grimme.

Unfortunately, Grayson was not at that level yet. The grimme was sent flying and received some minor bruises, but they quickly disappeared before she even got back up.

Golden lightning suddenly flashed from the sky and landed on a grimme with stone like skin. His eyes flashed with gold as an earth dragon slowly formed from the ground. The draconic beast was entirely made of stone and breathed golden lightning. Each time he roared; violent tornadoes would form. Controlling the elements seemed to be the stoney grimme’s power. The elemental grimme rode the dragon towards Grayson and Lilith. He could perfectly tap into the elemental essence all around him. It was like everything around him wanted to aid him.

The light and shadow grimme also rushed the two of them. Neither Grayson nor Lilith could follow her movements. A 9-foot white grimme followed closely behind. He was big, but he gave a sense of emptiness. He was different from the others as he didn’t have a spiral of suns and stars around his body or any celestial objects. Instead, he had a pitch-black spiral on his back. It was a weird contrast to his massive, pure white body.

Although he was big, he was the fastest amongst them as he suddenly appeared behind Grayson and Lilith. Grayson sensed him and sent a kick flying at the 9-foot grimme. Terry’s flames boosted the speed of the kick making it look like it teleported.

This did not phase the 9-foot grimme. He simply lifted his hand to block the kick. A pitch-black fire was sent bursting out of Grayson’s foot to engulf the 9-foot grimme. Surprisingly, it was completely silent. The black flames quickly disappeared into a black spiral on the grimmes hand.

"You can’t win!" The grimme declared.

Lilith suddenly leaped into the air and sent her foot down on the grimme’s head. The grimme was sent crashing deep into the ground. Grayson and Lilith quickly turned to run but found another 6 grimmes had already surrounded them.

It was a hopeless situation. If it were only one or two of the grimmes, they may have been able to handled them. However, this wasn’t a fight they could win. They were outnumbered and knew nothing about their opponents.

One of the female grimmes raised her hand and the gravity around Grayson and Lilith suddenly increased. They were already trapped, but running away now was much more difficult. It felt like the weight of the world was on them.

7 grimmes now surrounded them. Including the grimme that Lilith had initially kicked into the ground, he had already joined with the others. Grayson looked at Lilith and Lilith nodded. She then suddenly jumped into the air.

Grayson then manifested 3 black rings of fire. They spun around him like he were a neutron. This was an evolved version of Terry’s "Ring of Fire". The rings of fire were almost endless as they continued to generate from Grayson’s body and expand outward at an alarming pace. Each ring was more powerful than the last, fuelled by Grayson’s core.

The technique would expend more energy with each ring produced, but if Grayson had enough energy, the rings would form endlessly and increase in strength.

A dark purple lightning crackled between the rings, making the technique much more lethal. Unfortunately, this expended even more energy. Grayson was already slowly weakening before this, and this new technique wasn’t something he was used to yet. He was losing too much energy; too quickly. The grimmes were pushed back slightly, and the fire slowly eroded their bodies.

Lilith was now in the air. A bright light shone from her body as she absorbed the life energy around her, including energy from within the grimmes. The stone dragon released a barrage of golden lightning from it’s mouth. However, the attack was absorbed by Lilith and strengthened her. She even sent life energy to Grayson, which greatly rejuvinated her.

Plants began to grow, everywhere her light touched. However, the fire Grayson released would quickly erode the plants it touched. Their two powers unfortunately, clashed with each other. Nonetheless, the mountain they were on was now brimming with life energy that now aided Lilith. Even the elemental grimme couldn’t control the elements beneath Lilith’s light.

Grayson thought maybe they could slow down the grimmes and try to get far enough to warp. He bet on there being a limit to the range of whatever was blocking him from warping.

However, he quickly realized his efforts were useless!