"As for you…" I said coldly, turning to Axelia.
However, the moment I turned, the man that I had assumed to be helpless, pulled out a black knife from a pocket on his ankle. He then came dashing towards me. With his eyes still injured, the man quickly charged at me, directing his knife towards the back of my neck.
This surprised even me, as I thought the man would be helpless after losing his eyes. Nonetheless, he was still far too slow. I allowed the knife to strike me, and it shattered upon contact.
I then grabbed Axelia by the neck and teleported with her to the now old and withered farm, leaving the now blind man flabbergasted and unsure of what just happened.
I threw Axelia onto a field then created 200,000 shadows in one go, which was almost all the shadows I was capable of creating at the moment.
"You're not enough!" I said to Axelia coming to a conclusion.
"Master please, next time... next time, I'll do better!" Axelia cried out with her head lowered to the ground, not daring to raise it even slightly.
Her body trembled in fear of her unknown future.
"Yes, you will." I said to her coldly.
"Merge!" I commanded.
Immediately, all 200,000 shadows that I had created began to charge toward Axelia with all their might.
It was as though they were waiting decades for this one command. An enormous, dark whirlpool covered the entire continent as the shadows quickly merged within Axelia.
Axelia's body twisted and turned into all kinds of shapes and sizes trying to contain the shadows going inside her. Screams could be heard from within the goliath of a whirlpool as it slowly began to shrink.
A few minutes later, Axelia stood tall, looking completely different from before. Her face was now decorated with a pair of tiny, flaming horns. A dark cloud covered her entire body like a skintight jumpsuit that covered her from head to toe. Smoke continuously rose from her body and blew in the wind.
In her hand, she held a 7-foot scythe with a blade that was so long that it curved more than half way around her body, making her look like quite menacing. Behind her was a 6-foot, devil like tail slowly moving left and right as though it intended to keep one in a trance.
A great pressure could be felt from just the immense energy leaking off of her. She was now as powerful as Terrifaísteio, when she was still alive.
"Do better this time!" I said to Axelia sternly.
"Yes master." She replies respectfully.
"Go!" I command.
She then immediately vanished and rushed to Elaine's side.
"What was that thing?" A voice coming from behind me said.
"Tailed Lilith...what are you doing here?" I asked her puzzled by her sudden appearance.
"What did you just create? It feels…off. She doesn't give off the same vibe as the other shadows. She feels...distant." The tailed Lilith said to me.
"You know…I've had it with you. You are an unexplainable existence. You are an enigma that I cannot risk. It is evident that you adopt the same powers I obtain and are in fact stronger than I am. So tell me, here and now! Who are you really?" I asked, no longer feeling patient regarding the matter.
"What are you talking about. I am who I have always been, your helper. Our souls are bound to each other. You already know this." She said to me.
"Yes, they are, yet I couldn't feel your presence just now. It was only until you spoke did I realize, you were behind me.
All the helpers claim to know you, but Theós is clearly hell bent on hiding any information about you, so getting information from them has proven futile. You are still withholding information from me and are considerably stronger than me. That's dangerous. All these factors tell me one thing…you cannot be trusted." I said to her.
"You've seen it before, every helper you met has been stronger than their reaper." She said defensively.
"That may be true, but you far beyond anything I have faced thus far. You defeated that beast helper far too easily and even managed to kill him. He wasn't even able to fight back against you.
Thirío, who was capable of suppressing even Terry, a being that I spent 3 days battling, could not lay a finger on you…. I can't trust you. To make matters worse, I can't kill you either. I truly don't know what to do. For all I know, you could have been working with Theós this whole time.
I'm not saying all this to threaten you. I'm saying this to tell you, if you're planning to do something against me, get it over with and do it already. I won't be a pawn in someone else's game. So whatever it might be, be done with it and stop wasting my time!" I said to her.
"Grayson, I am not working for Theós. I have no way of providing proof of this at the moment and I do not know how these helpers know me, but I assure you, I am on your side. All I can ask is that you believe me for now, until I can prove this." The tailed Lilith replied.
"No, I'd have to be a fool to let things go on as they are. From now on, you do not leave my side. No more going off on your own, no more working with the company, and no more shopping sprees. You are to be within 10m of me at all times…understood?" I asked her, despite knowing that she actually believed the things she was saying.
I could read her mind and could tell she really did not know anything, but just because she believed her own words, does not mean I or she, should trust them, not when we are dealing with Theós.
"Yes, I have no problem with this." She replied humbly.
"Where is Azrael and the others?" I asked her.
"Oh shit!" The tailed Lilith said out loud then teleported back to Fotiá. A few seconds later she came back alongside Azrael, who carried Kitsune and Livia over his left and right shoulders, respectively. They were yet to recover from the beating Thirío gave them.
"What the fuck did I just say about being within 10m of me!" I said to her sternly.
"Oh, right right, we are starting that now. 10m, got it." The tailed Lilith said as though our previous conversation never happened.
(sigh)
'Moments like these really makes it hard to see the tailed Lilith as an imposter. She wouldn't care enough to be one. I still need to be careful though.' I thought to myself.
"Great Monarch, what is this place?" Terrifaísteio asked.
"Earth, my home planet," I said to her.
"So, this is the rumored 'Favored Planet'. I can sense Theós' presence all around this planet, and there is so much life..." Terrifaísteio said in astonishment.
"You'll get used to it, but what do you mean by favored planet?" I asked her.
"There is a rumor amongst the reapers of the Alpha region, that 2,000 years ago, Theós had created the universe and all that was in it, including us reapers and helpers. He created all the planets with reapers and the life within the planets.
Amongst these planets, there are two that are different from the rest. This Earth, is one of them and has come to be known as, 'The Favored Planet', a planet that is completely under Theós' protection and even has Theós' guards protecting some of the inhabitants. I didn't think it was real would actually come here one day.
You must be the favored reaper then, perhaps that's why you were able to defeat me?" Terry answered me.
'Sounds about right…but damn, even as my shadow, she is still stubborn about the defeat.' I thought to myself.
"Then what of the second planet?" I asked her.
"The second one is known as 'The Limitless Planet,' it is where the Legendary Reaper resides.
That planet is rumored to be a place where anything is possible and also considered favored by Theós. That's all I know, not much is known about that planet. The Legendary Reaper rarely shows himself and only speaks to Thanatos." She answered.
"That's fine, let's go." I said out loud then opened a gate in front of us.
We then walked through and appeared in the safehouse where Elaine and the 12 Liberators had been taking residence for the past months.
Only I and the tailed Lilith could be seen by them so they weren't too alarmed when they saw us appear out of thin air as they were familiar with us. Across the room, I could see Ace treating Elaine's injured hands with antibiotics.
"Step aside." I said to Ace.
He then got up from his seat and observed from the side. I took hold of Elaine's injured hands and covered them with my dark cloud. A refreshing feeling then came over Elaine as her wounds quickly began to heal.
"What are you?" Elaine looked me straight in the eyes as she asked.
This wasn't the first time she had seen me use my power, however, for some unknown reason, she never once asked about them.
(Sigh)
Ace instinctively leaned closer waiting on my reply as well, everyone was. Ace, however, had always known I wasn't an ordinary human, ever since he fought with me. Yet, even after what happened that day, he never asked any questions either, regarding my origin or my power.
"I always knew you were…different, and I never asked since I knew you would have told me if you wanted to, but I need answers now Grayson. Too much has happened and we all deserve to know…what are you really?" Elaine asked calmly.
The 12 Liberators also moved in closer to hear my reply in order to quell the curiosity they had been suppressing for years now. Ace had specifically ordered them not to ask any questions if they see me do anything out of the ordinary. He did this in fear for their lives. The entire room was dead silent, with everyone anxiously waiting for my answer.
"I am death." I said softly as I transformed into my 8-foot reaper form.