My SSS-Rank Grim Reaper System-Chapter 82: ANCIENT DEATH

[BATTLEFIELD — GRIM]

The Wyvern Alpha took flight.

Its left wing damaged, yes. Erratic flight, yes. But it was still flying.

And from above, it unleashed its ice breath towards Grim.

[ICE BREATH — AREA]

Grim couldn’t dodge completely.

The ice struck his torso.

New cracks. Ribs fracturing.

[Grim HP: 340 → 240/3,360]

But [Reaper’s Wrath] was still active.

"Still... standing."

The Sand Scorpion Hunter seized the moment. It lunged with its right pincer towards Grim’s torso.

CRASH.

[Grim HP: 240 → 180/3,360]

Grim flew back twenty meters.

He slammed into the canyon’s rock wall.

Silence.

[Reaper’s Wrath — DEACTIVATED] (Insufficient HP to maintain)

His form contracted.

Four meters → two and a half meters.

The intense crimson of Reaper’s Wrath fading.

But the crimson light of Core Resonance—

That remained.

The Wyvern Alpha descended towards him.

Confident in victory.

Grim raised his head.

His eye sockets, normally just points of red-green light, now blazed with pure intensity.

"You. Made. Mistake."

He extended his hand.

[Death’s Harvest — Enhanced — MAXIMUM AREA]

Not towards the Wyvern.

Towards all lesser creatures within a thirty-meter radius.

Mountain Bears. Cave Trolls. Remaining Frost Serpents. Desert Wyrms.

Sixteen creatures.

Their souls ripped out simultaneously.

[Souls harvested: +3.8]

[Grim souls: 670.9 → 674.7/1,000]

And then—

[SYSTEM — NOTIFICATION]

[Emergency threshold activated: Vessel soul in critical danger]

[Death’s Synergy — TEMPORARILY ENHANCED: +35% instead of +20%]

Grim’s crimson energy exploded.

Not as an expansion.

It was an implosion, everything concentrated into a single point.

Into the scythe.

The Wyvern Alpha reached one meter from Grim.

The scythe spun.

One cut.

Just one.

[Shadow Scythe — CRITICAL]

[Ice Wyvern Alpha HP: 74,800 → 41,200/85,000]

Forty-three thousand six hundred damage.

In one blow.

The Wyvern Alpha collapsed.

Alive, but unable to rise.

Its wings crushed. Its hind legs unresponsive.

Controlled by Matthias or not, its body simply wasn’t functioning anymore.

Grim looked down at it.

"Stay. There."

He turned towards the Wyvern Mate and the two remaining Sand Scorpions.

[Grim HP: 180/3,360]

Broken. Cracked. Fractured ribs. Left arm barely functional.

But standing.

"Who. Next?"

---

[CENTER]

Matthias felt it.

The moment his lesser creatures died en masse.

His concentration fractured for a second—the thread of control over sixteen souls cut simultaneously.

Alex exploited that fraction of a second.

[Shadow Step], directly inside his guard.

Three quick strikes.

His right fist to the liver. Left knee to the side. Right elbow to the jaw.

[Matthias HP: 13,900 → 12,800/32,000]

Matthias staggered back but counterattacked with [Corrupted Smite] at point-blank range.

Green energy exploded between them.

Both flew in opposite directions.

[Alex HP: 320 → 240/1,110]

[Matthias HP: 12,800 → 13,200/32,000] (regeneration)

Alex landed rolling. Got up.

[Partial Awakening — Regeneration active]

[Alex HP: 240 → 290/1,110]

His body healing slowly.

Not as much as Matthias. But something.

He looked at his hands.

The Fragment’s black energy pulsing visibly around each knuckle. His veins dark as ink beneath the skin.

The Fragment wasn’t whispering.

The Fragment was.

Part of him now, at least temporarily.

And that part assessed Matthias with perfect coldness.

Thirty-two thousand HP. Passive regeneration of six hundred per interval. I need sustained damage. No pauses. No letting him recover time.

The problem isn’t my damage per hit.

The problem is that every time I hit him, he hits me back.

And I have eleven hundred ten HP. He has thirty-two thousand.

I can’t win a direct exchange. I need to hit without getting hit.

He looked towards where Grim was still fighting.

The Sand Scorpion Hunter attacking.

The Wyvern Mate moving.

Grim can’t hold out much longer.

I need to end this soon.

Matthias stabilized thirty meters away.

Breathing harder now, the wound on his torso healing but still visible.

"I must admit," he said, "this is proving more difficult than I anticipated."

Alex didn’t respond.

He was studying.

What pattern does he have?

When I pressure him up close, he uses Corrupted Smite point-blank. When I back off, he uses the Concentrated Beam or the scorpions to block. And his regeneration covers any damage that isn’t massive.

What massive damage do I have available?

[Blood Weapon — Overload]: yes, but consumes 150-200 MP per strike.

[Necrotic Burst]: yes, already used it for 900 damage.

Combined?

A memory.

The tournament battle. Seraph. The moment Alex combined Blood Weapon with his Blood Bond in a chain attack.

I don’t have anyone for Blood Bond right now.

But...

What if I don’t need anyone?

An idea.

Terrible, probably.

But it was what he had.

---

"Hey," Alex said.

Matthias looked at him.

"Can you shut up for a moment? I’m calculating something."

The exorcist blinked.

Then let out a short laugh. "Are you asking me for silence in the middle of a battle?"

"Just ten seconds."

"...You are extraordinarily irritating."

"I’ve been told."

Matthias didn’t attack.

Not out of kindness, but because the situation was genuinely strange, and his expression said he wanted to see where this was going.

Alex used those ten seconds.

He channeled MP.

[Blood Weapon]: materializing not weapons, but pure energy. Accumulating it.

[Necrotic Burst]: channeling in the same direction, intertwining both energies.

Not a shield. Not projectiles.

A single point of concentration.

Into his right fist.

The crimson energy of Blood Weapon and the black energy of Necrotic Burst clashed, resisted, and then, when he forced them together...

They fused.

Something he hadn’t attempted before.

[SYSTEM — UNCATALOGED SKILL]

[Detection: Necrotic Blood Strike]

[Estimated damage: x3.2 of a standard Necrotic Burst]

[Cost: 180 MP]

[Warning: Unstable. First-time use.]

[MP: 390 → 210/535]

Alex looked at his fist.

The energy pulsing violently, black with crimson veins.

Unstable. Good.

Matthias watched with genuine curiosity.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Something I probably shouldn’t be doing."

He charged.

---

Not with Shadow Step.

On foot.

Direct.

Matthias prepared [Corrupted Smite].

He’s expecting it.

Five meters away, Alex threw himself to the ground in a slide.

Beneath the Smite, which passed over his head.

He reached Matthias’s feet.

His right fist driving upward.

Straight into the abdomen.

[NECROTIC BLOOD STRIKE — IMPACT]

BOOM.

Not an explosion outward.

An explosion inward.

The energy collapsed at the impact point and then detonated internally.

[Matthias HP: 13,200 → 10,400/32,000]

Two thousand eight hundred damage.

The single biggest hit Alex had landed in the entire battle.

Matthias doubled over.

For the first time, genuinely doubled over. No attitude. No composure.

Just real pain.

He staggered three meters away.

[Holy Regeneration — Active]

[Matthias HP: 10,400 → 10,900/32,000]

But his expression had changed.

The smile was gone.

Just cold assessment.

"Well," he said quietly. "Well."

---

[BATTLEFIELD — GRIM]

The Sand Scorpion Hunter attacked.

With its left pincer.

Grim blocked with the scythe.

CLANG.

[Grim HP: 180 → 140/3,360]

Critical.

The Sand Scorpion Warrior flanked from the right.

Grim spun—blocked with his arm—

CRASH.

[Grim HP: 140 → 95/3,360]

Ninety-five HP.

The Sand Scorpion Elder... the largest, level 120 moved slowly but purposefully from the front.

Its three pincers open.

Ninety-five HP against three Sand Scorpions and one Wyvern still standing.

Grim looked at his hands.

Bones cracked. The frost from the ice breath still embedded in his ribs. Left arm barely responding.

[Reaper’s Wrath — UNAVAILABLE] (Insufficient HP)

[Core Resonance — ACTIVE]

[Death’s Synergy — ACTIVE]

The Fragment still connected to Alex. They were still synchronized.

That meant Alex was still alive.

That was enough.

"Master. Lives. Then. I. Also."

The Sand Scorpion Elder arrived.

Grim didn’t dodge.

He waited.

One meter.

[Death’s Harvest — Enhanced — FOCUSED]

Not area.

A single point.

Into the scorpion’s eyes.

Crimson energy pierced straight through.

[Sand Scorpion Elder HP: 95,000 → 78,400/95,000]

It wasn’t enough to kill it.

But the scorpion’s eyes... the compound ones, thousands of lenses in each bulb exploded.

Blind.

The scorpion thrashed, disoriented.

Its movements chaotic. Its pincers striking randomly.

One struck the Sand Scorpion Hunter in the side.

[Friendly fire]

The two scorpions became confused—was Matthias’s Corrupted Dominion precise enough to avoid this?...

Apparently not.

Grim seized the opportunity.

He slipped between the two scorpions as they jostled each other.

Double slash.

[Grim HP: 95 → 60/3,360]

Sixty HP.

[Sand Scorpion Hunter HP: 88,000 → 74,200/88,000]

[Sand Scorpion Warrior HP: 82,000 → 70,800/82,000]

He didn’t kill them.

But he damaged them.

And the Wyvern Mate, still with its spine injured from the previous attack, dragged itself towards Grim.

Slow.

Too slow.

"Master. Hurry. Please."

---

[CENTER]

Alex heard.

Not with his ears.

Through the Fragment.

The connection to Grim, faint but real.

Ninety-five HP. Sixty.

He’s dying.

Matthias stood between them. Recovering HP. Reorganizing his creatures from a distance.

[Matthias HP: 10,900 → 11,400/32,000]

I can’t reach Grim without going through Matthias.

I can’t ignore Matthias or he’ll heal all accumulated damage.

I need to end Matthias now.

He assessed his resources.

[MP: 210/535]

[HP: 290/1,110] (regenerating slowly)

[Blood Weapon]: available.

[Shadow Step]: available.

[Necrotic Blood Strike]: available but 180 MP. Would leave him with 30 MP.

If I use everything in one attack and it fails...

If I use it and it works...

Matthias watched him.

"I see you’re calculating," he said. "Take your time. Regeneration works in my favor."

[Holy Regeneration]

[Matthias HP: 11,400 → 11,900/32,000]

"Every second you hesitate," Matthias continued, "I recover HP and you do not."

He was right.

The logic was perfect.

But logic assumed Alex would play fair.

"You’re right," Alex said.

He sat down on the ground.

Matthias blinked. "What are you—"

"Grim."

Through the Fragment. Not out loud.

Direct.

"Master?"

I need five seconds of distraction from the scorpions. Anything that makes them look away.

One second pause.

"Understood."

---

Grim took his last sixty HP.

And used them all.

[Death’s Harvest — Enhanced — EXPLOSIVE AREA]

Not damage.

Just death energy radiating outward like a pulse.

No specific target.

No MP cost.

Just Grim’s soul... or what remained of it in this fragmented form... released as a shockwave.

Matthias’s Corrupted Dominion was mind control.

And suddenly, all the minds of his creatures felt something.

Something ancient.

Something that the most primal instincts of every living being recognized.

The presence of Death.

Not figuratively.

Literally.

One of the fragments of the being that had reaped souls since before these worlds had names.

The Sand Scorpions froze.

The Wyvern Mate froze.

Even the incapacitated Wyvern Alpha on the ground tried to scuttle away.

Matthias blinked... his concentration on the creatures fractured by the pulse.

Five seconds.

No more.

But five seconds was what Alex had asked for.

---

Alex stood up from the ground.

[MP: 210/535]

All remaining energy channeled in one direction.

Not into his fist.

Into his sword.

[Blood Weapon — Overload — Maximum]: 150 MP.

[Necrotic Burst — Channeled into blade]: 60 MP.

[MP: 210 → 0/535]

The sword blazed.

Not crimson. Not black.

The two intertwined—red-black, oscillating, unstable.

Like the first time he had combined both.

But more.

Much more.

[SYSTEM — WARNING]

[Unstable skill at tolerance limit]

[If weapon does not impact in 8 seconds, it will collapse towards wielder]

[Continue?]

Alex was already running.

[Shadow Step] — fifteen meters.

[Shadow Step] — ten more meters.

Matthias saw him coming. Grim’s distraction ending. The creatures reactivating.

He raised both hands.

[HOLY CORRUPTION — MAXIMUM BARRIER]

A wall of green energy between them.

Solid. Dense. The exorcist’s maximum defense.

Alex didn’t dodge it.

He went through it.

[Alex HP: 290 → 190/1,110] (barrier penetration damage)

Green energy tore at his side. Burning. Partial Awakening’s resistance absorbing what it could.

But he reached the other side.

Matthias was there.

No barrier between them.

The sword came down.

[NECROTIC BLOOD STRIKE — SWORD — MAXIMUM POWER]

BOOM.

---

Silence lasted three seconds.

Dust settling.

Alex on his knees on the ground.

His sword buried in the earth... the energy consumed, the weapon back to simple metal.

[MP: 0/535]

[HP: 190/1,110]

No MP.

No resources.

Matthias four meters away.

Standing.

Staggering.

[Matthias HP: 11,900 → ]

The system took a moment.

[→ 8,700/32,000]

Three thousand two hundred damage.

Matthias had both hands pressed against his chest. His robe was destroyed now. The wound on his torso... previously a line... now something deeper.

His eyes glowed green, but flickering.

"Level... forty-three," he said. Voice different now. No speech cadence. Just direct words. "You just did more damage to me than any level seventy party I’ve faced."

Alex didn’t respond.

He was assessing whether his legs would respond if he tried to stand.

Probably yes.

Maybe.

[Matthias HP: 8,700 → 9,200/32,000] (regeneration)

Still healing.

And I’m at zero MP.

Grim at sixty HP.

And two Sand Scorpions and a Wyvern remain.

Alex looked at the sky.

The sun had fully risen. Yellow light over the mountains.

A normal dawn over an absolutely not normal battle.

[Partial Awakening — Regeneration active]

[Alex HP: 190 → 240/1,110]

[MP: 0 → 15/535] (slow base regeneration)

The Fragment didn’t speak.

It just watched.

Waiting.

What do you do now? the silence asked.

Alex stood up.

Slow. Deliberate.

No sword... he drew the backup knife at his hip. Twenty centimeters of steel. Completely ordinary. No skills channeled.

Matthias watched him.

"You’re going to fight with that?"

"It’s what I’ve got."

A long pause.

Matthias lowered his hands.

He looked at the battlefield.

Grim at sixty HP, his creatures still active but slower... the pulse of Death still resonating in their instincts.

Alex at zero MP, knife in hand.

And yet.

Neither had yielded ground.

[Holy Regeneration — Active]

[Matthias HP: 9,200 → 9,700/32,000]

The exorcist took a breath.

"The battle continues," he said.

Not as a threat.

As an acknowledgment.

The Sand Scorpions reactivating.

The Wyvern Mate dragging itself towards Grim.

Alex adjusted his grip on the knife.

[Grim HP: 60/3,360]

[Alex HP: 240 → 260/1,110]

[Matthias HP: 9,700/32,000]

The battle wasn’t over.

But the numbers...

The numbers had changed.

---