"Your next mission is very important. In the world you're going to, there's going to be a huge invasion, and you are the key to stopping it. Perhaps, the System will finally grant your wish."
There was a slight twitch in the boy's eye. Nia chose her words carefully.
"I'm not sure… but none of your other missions are as important as this."
She said while skimming through a list of his past lives. Most of them were military posts during wartimes on the different Earths of different timelines.
"I think the System was preparing you for this."
His different past lives added to his military background. The accumulation of strategic knowledge, techniques, technological and weapon handling of different cultures and technology levels made him versatile. She could only imagine that the System was breeding a special weapon, although she didn't know why it didn't just give him a leveling-up system.
The System has plans of its own. Some were so bizarre that it just seemed like a cruel experiment or a game. Stealing a quote about God, "The System works in mysterious ways."
"Good luck. I'll be cheering you on up here."
She smiled.
His face remained grim to the end when a white light beamed him away.
"Phew."
She sighed and slumped back on her chair.
In the hundred years that she's worked here, she never met a human that could scare her like that. She felt sorry for the kid and didn't know why the System was putting him through this. Did it derive pleasure from torturing him?
The System has never explicitly expressed emotions, but everyone knows you could provoke the System. If you could make the System angry, could it harbor other emotions?
The System can also be generous.
She took a deep breath and sat up straight. She looked at the System panel and could see one tab being moved to the top of the list. It was a priority request.
The name was Elijah Whitlock.
***
In the overseer's "office" space, a white light flashed in the middle of the room, and from it appeared a short guy around 18 years old. He had chin-length hair with a long side fringe covering half of his left eye.
The overseer of the reincarnation center, Charles got up from his desk and went over to him.
"Azrael!" He said with his arms up.
"Charles!"
Seeing that Charles was coming in for a bros hug, he received it. They patted each other's back.
Although Charles appeared to be older than Azrael by 20 years, they acted like friends of the same age.
"Hohoho! I haven't seen you in so long!"
"Hmm me too brother," Azrael said smiling.
Charles inspected his outfit. Azrael wore a colorful light blue Hawaiian shirt with bright orange shorts and plain black-rimmed glasses.
He had a relaxed look.
"How's the vacation going?" Charles asked.
Azrael, the Angel of Death and one of the three archangels left had changed after the System took over. He wasn't fond of the System but he and the rest of the angels will be exterminated if he didn't obey.
Azrael's job was mostly the same, but he would carry out orders from the System. His new tasks involve reaping souls that would otherwise take a while to be released.
Every soul is marked or unmarked. Marked souls will either enter the spirit realm or other realms such as Heaven or Hell. There are many divine Gods and Evil Gods and most live in realms that they had created. So there are many Holy Realms or Underworlds that one could cross to.
The religion that they are devoted to will mark worthy souls. The markers act as destination coordinates and as a key-pass into the designated realm.
Some souls have markers for the underworlds, and if they didn't, servants of the underworlds could capture unmarked souls or act as "guides" to mislead souls into the underworld. The underworld and anyone else could capture souls in the spirit realm.
Reincarnators either have a marker the System has given them or it took them from the spirit realm.
Most reincarnators die from natural deaths that weren't predetermined by other beings. It simply selects them at random or by their potential from a pool of dead souls. However, some reincarnators have bright futures ahead of them and so the System marks their souls. If the reincarnator is immediately required then the System reaps them prematurely.
That's where the grim reapers, Death, and Azrael come in. Although their jobs aren't solely to reap souls, it is one of their roles.
After working for the System for so long, Azrael had found a new hobby. "God" (from Christianity) had designed Azrael to have a great love for death, so it was no surprise what his hobby was.
However, the angels and the other remaining Gods had criticized him much for it.
When orchestrating a reincarnator's death, he often set up a motor vehicle accident that often involved a big truck. Although his choice of vehicle is varied his favorite was a heavy truck.
With high-profile targets, Azrael would personally come down to take their lives. He had a habit of either turning into a truck or riding a truck to roll over his targets. Sometimes he would even possess a human to do it.
He said that the instant death it provides is mercy, but no one believed him when he had a big grin on his face.
To his defense, reincarnators who often died from a vehicle accident, particularly a bulky truck would become great heroes in their next life. He said that this method of death would put reincarnators into the best state of mind or "reframing" them would make them more motivated and strong in their second life.
Others argued that because so many of the reincarnators were killed by vehicle accidents, there was hardly any data on other kinds of death to make that conclusion. There was a portion of reincarnators becoming successful in their next life when they had died from other causes, but the numbers were few.
Azrael didn't care about the truth because he just made that stuff up.
However, as the Archangel of God, he had to protect his father's image and his pride, so he went on a "diet" so to speak. It's been a decade since he started.