"See you soon grandma." I said to the old hag.
I then walked through the open gate made of dark clouds and appeared next to Azrael. He was flying at a tremendous speed, alongside the helpers and reapers.
I quickly caught up to them and began to converse with Terry.
"How much longer until we arrive?" I asked Terry.
"About half a day." She answered.
"Damn, perhaps I left too early." I said out loud.
"Whose soul was so important for you to personally retrieve?" The tailed Lilith asked me.
"You didn't see?" I asked her.
"It seemed personal. I didn't want to pry." The tailed Lilith answered.
"How considerate..." I said sarcastically.
'Was it Elaine?' The tailed Lilith thought to herself.
"No, it was not Elaine." I said reassuring her.
"The old man finally kicked the bucket." I added with a smile.
"Peter?" The tailed Lilith asked in shock.
"The one and only." I said to her as my smile grew wider. I began to recall the beautiful image of me kicking him into the dark abyss.
"You kicked him into the abyss didn't you?" The tailed Lilith said smiling back.
'How did she…can she also read my mind?' I thought to myself as I looked at her suspiciously.
"Worry out and stop giving me that look. I cannot read your mind, I just know you. That weird smile of yours speaks volumes." She said to me, still smiling, then looked away.
'I suppose we have known each other for a while now.' I thought to myself, but was still suspicious.
"Grayson, you left with all the manga. What the fuck!" Livia exclaimed.
"How were you even planning to read mid-flight?" I questioned.
She then just looked away unwillingly then kept flying in silence.
It went on like this for the rest of the day. In the meantime, I took in the scenery of the universe as galaxies brushed past my view. I looked in awe as I saw stars and planets of different colors and sizes. We passed through various storm clouds of unimaginable sizes.
'Theós really created all this!' I thought to myself feeling impressed
A few hours later, Terry stopped right at the borders of a certain galaxy.
"I will go alone from here." Terry said out loud.
"What, why?" I ask her puzzled.
"It will be much simpler if I just go on my own and ask for the location of the Legendary Reaper. Bringing you along will definitely raise hostility and he might just end up not telling me." She said to me.
"I did not fly this far and for this long just to stop here and not even meet this reaper. What's stopping me from killing him and just making him tell me after?" I said back to her.
"This reaper has numerous defenses around his sector that will take far too long to get through. Me going alone is the quickest course of action." She said to me confidently.
"Fine, just make it quick." I said to her as I signaled with my hand for her to leave.
She then bowed my way then flew into the sector.
'Now, what can I do to pass the time?' I thought to myself.
"Can we have the manga now?" Kitsune asked me excitedly.
"Sure." I said to her then created an enclosed space with my dark cloud.
Within that space was nothingness, separate from the universe. The harsh environment of space couldn't corrode the papers.
I then opened a gate and pulled out a pile of manga. Kitsune and Livia quickly grabbed the pile and began to go into their own world.
'I could try reading these for myself to pass the time…' I began to think, but then, far out into the distance I suddenly spotted a massive black orb spinning in a spiral made of light and meteor debris. The orb drew anything that was close by into it.
"A black hole!" I exclaimed with excitement.
(Ahem)
"Azrael, go and see what is in that black hole." I said to Azrael as I held his shoulder and kept a gentle smile on my face.
'I may be powerful now, but there are too many unknowns when it comes to black holes. However, this is the perfect opportunity to finally know what lies within one.' I thought to myself.
"I'm beginning to think you may not like me so much. Are you trying to kill me?" Azrael said feeling defeated.
Azrael's first task upon being created was to study humanity and gain all their knowledge. So, everything he knows about black holes, is everything humanity knows thus far.
Even across his search for other life, whenever he spotted a black hole, he would avoid it.
"I can go my king." Armando quickly said whilst approaching us.
'Azrael seems more flexible now than Armando. His emotional intelligence is growing as well!' I thought to myself.
"Armando, you sit this one out." I said.
"Azrael, how about I play you for it. A little game of rock, paper, scissor? Loser goes into the black hole, and I won't cheat. I will cut off all connection with you temporarily. Is that fine with you?" I asked him.
"Much better…I won't lose!" Azrael said with a fire in his eyes.
"Nice, best two out of three wins!" I said to him then positioned my hands ready to play.
"Wait, Grayson you can really cut your connection with your shadows?" The tailed Lilith asked.
"Yeah, really easily actually. I've become more sensitive to the dark cloud lately. It's almost like a switch." I said to her as I was about to sever my connection with Azrael.
"Have you tried this before?" The tailed Lilith asked.
"Yes." I answered.
"What happened?" She asked, looking more serious than before.
"Some of them didn't have enough power to support their own life, the rest ran and tried to kill themselves. They even tried to tear off their own limbs." I said to her.
"Grayson!" The tailed Lilith screamed.
"It's done." I said out loud.
"Rock"
"Paper"
"Scissor"
Azrael and I said in unison.
"I won!" Azrael screamed with excitement.
He looked down back and forth with tears of joy at his open hand and my clenched fist.
"Haha, calm down now. We still got two more rounds to go." I said to him amused by his reaction.
"Right!" Azrael said looking more determined than before.
"Rock"
"Paper"
"Scissor"
"Looks like this is my win." I said to Azrael, forming a scissor with my hand.
"Not yet." He said to me with a serious face, looking more focused than even when he was in battle.
"Rock"
"Paper"
"Scissor"
"Best two out of three…! I won, I actually Won!" Azrael shouted out loud feeling even more excited than before.
(BOOM!!!)
An explosion sounded from behind me and Azrael. Something had fired at Kitsune and Livia as they were busy reading, luckily, Armando had seen the attack coming and blocked it with his body.
"What the hell was that!" Livia exclaimed.
We then saw multiple humanoid droids surrounding us. They came at us by the thousands.
'Thank goodness, perfect timing.' I thought to myself feeling relieved that going into the black hole was no longer a priority.
…
Just before Terry left:
"Fine, just make it quick." I said to Terry.
She then flew off into the galaxy at her top speed.
'I must not fail my Monarch.' Terry thought to herself.
A few seconds later she arrived in front of a planet with a force field all around it. The force field acted as both a shield and camouflage.
If one did not know the exact coordinates of the planet, they would never be able to spot it. Terry then approached the force field and placed her hand on it. Immediately after, a small opening was made on the force field in front of her.
Within the shield, a mechanical like planet could be seen. The planet seemed to be constantly rotating like the mechanism of a complicated machine.
Terry then flew into the core of the planet and met with its reaper. A massive mechanical tower stood tall at the very center. Countless bright blue, electric pathways that ran throughout the entire planet. A single one of them 1km thick.
"Terrifaísteio-." A metallic like skeletal figure said as he approached Terry.
His body was surrounded by numerous microscopic nanites that were so many they looked like a dark blue cloud moving around his body. Each one of the nanites were completely under his control.
"Moíra please, I go by Terry now." Terry said as she raised the palm of her hand, interrupting the skeletal figure's greeting.
Moíra looked at her suspiciously but still continued to approach her.
"You look different, what happened to you?" Moíra asked as his bright blue eyes observed Terry's body.
"I see." Moíra said before Terry could even reply.
"What brings you all the way to my sector, must be important to have journeyed so far." Moíra asked another question.
His eyes then glowed a beautiful shade of blue and he began to observe Terry once more.
"You're looking for the location of the Legendary Reaper's planet. Now, why would you be doing that?" He raised another question as he continued to observe Terry.
"As usual, conversations with you are always one sided." Terry said out loud.
"Terrifaísteio you fool!" Moíra said out loud then the ground twisted and turned to restraine Terry.
"You dare to bring another reaper into MY SECTOR! ONE THAT HAS BEEN DEVOURING OTHER REAPERS...! Including you." Moíra screams out loud in anger, then thousands of droids rose from the ground and shot out of the planet.
"I was really trying to get this information from you peacefully, but it seems a fight is now unavoidable. You are powerful, Reaper of Fate. Even more powerful than I was, but let me warn you now, since we will both share the same fate…not even your helper can defeat my Monarch." Terry said confidently as her body began to burn through her restraints.