The sun shined beautifully and the sky's mood showed a healthy blue.

The wind was blowing gently and a flock of red-horned birds were flying above the clouds.

Then, high up in the sky, out of nowhere, a large blue portal appeared, scaring all the birds away.

Dropping through the portal...were nine humans.

They nine of them began falling through the clouds.

"Did you seriously have to dropped us out of the sky?" One of them asked in a casual tone. He wore a deep blue, trench coat, with jeans and a plain grey t-shirt. The Piercing Gunner: Jack.

"It's faster this way isn't it?" He wore a dark purple magic robe with, and a pointy wizard's hat. The Elemental Mage: Baron

"HAHAHA! WOOHOO!" One of them cheered in reckless excitement as she fell head-first. She had long, untied golden hair and wore brown shorts, gloves and a crop top. The Ruthless Brawler: Lily

"Oh dear, I do hope my children back at home aren't causing any trouble." Another one said as she placed her hands on her cheek. The Beastly Hybrid: Eve

"You're children are always causing trouble." Like the others, this other woman acted as if falling from the sky was a common occurrence. She held a fancy, black paper fan in front of her face. The Evil Villainess: Elizabeth

"Oh Elizabeth dear, don't insult my children please. Or I'll have to kill you." Eve replied in a sweet voice.

"Everyone! We're approaching a mountain, get ready to land or you'll die!" Lily shouted with an excited grin.

"That ain't a mountain, idiot. That's our target," Jack replied, he was wearing some sort of digital eye glass.

One of the them yelled to the others, "REMEMBER EVERYONE! This is an S-class monster, don't underestimate-"

"Yeah, yeah, no one cares Yukari." The mage interrupted.

"This is serious, Baron!" Yukari had shoulder length brown hair and wore red and white clothing that covered her entire body. The Divine Healer: Yukari

"I'm... not suited for this type of monster." One of them said softly as he observed the enormous Goliath. He wore black clothes that hid his entire body and face, except his eyes. The Silent Assassin: Zeno

"Yeah right," Jack said sarcastically after hearing that, "just go up it's nose or something."

The last two remaining falling humans didn't say much.

One of them was a young woman who were white clothes of smooth silk. The Angelic Angel: Aria

The last one was a young man who wore shiny, gold and silver armour with a sword and shield. The Holy Paladin: Arthur

"Everyone," Arthur spoke, causing the arguing team of heroes to fall silent, he was in the front, falling head-first with his shield in front of him, "It's time..."

The nine heroes were beginning to near the gigantic monster that rivalled the size of a mountain. From the top, it had a very cone-like, grassy shape which made it easy to mistake as a mountain. But as the heroes came closer, they saw the lower body of the monster, revealing legs that left chasms whatever it stepped and arms that could cause total destruction with a single swing.

They were falling directly towards the monster's head.

"About time," Lily exclaimed as she cracked her knuckled, "skydiving was already getting boring!"

"Let us first test the waters, shall we." Said the mage. He put hands together which formed a magical light blue circle. Above the falling heroes, a larger light blue circle appeared and a gigantic iceberg fell through it.

"That's going to hit us as well you know." Said Jack.

"You'll survive." Baron replied.

With her long staff, Yukari activated a spell that enwrapped all of her teammates with a thin but powerful, healing barrier.

Still falling and in the sky, Jack pulled out a handgun. At first it was small. Then, digital micro cubes appeared and combined with the hand gun. It expanded and grew larger until the handgun had transformed into a large cannon. He then fired a large laser blast which pierced a large hole through the gigantic monster.

It began to roar loudly. It swung its enormous arm towards the other heroes. All of them had their own way to avoiding it. So instead of the heroes, it ended up hitting the giant iceberg instead. The iceberg shattered. The giant monster's hand then got frozen in ice upon contact.

Aria silently stared with a calm, neutral expression as large angelic wings appeared on her back.

Aria and Arthur dived forward. Falling directly towards the face of the monster, they pulled back their shining blades and sliced it, leaving a huge deep X-shape wound on the monster's face. The monster stepped back, almost causing an earthquake but did not fall.

With that, all the nine heroes landed in 9 different locations and the true fight began.

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

"F~O~U~N~D, Y~O~U!"

She was a Yukari fake. But no ordinary one. There were a few distinct features that made her incredibly different from all the others.

The first thing I noticed was the large, deadly scythe that she was casually resting on her neck. There was fresh blood dripping from the blade of her weapon.

She was also practically half naked. All she wore were shorts, a bra, and a dark purple jacket. I saw her faded number "0187" imprinted across the lower part of her stomach and her hair was pink instead of brown.

I was silent and didn't make a move. I kept Alfred firmly in my left hand behind me. My eyes kept switching between looking at her dark eyes to her black deadly scythe that looked like it could slice my neck at any given moment.

It was then she noticed the dried blood at the pile of garbage I was sitting on, "Ahh, you found a corpse yesterday, did you?"

I nodded softly.

"I'm surprised you came back here," She stepped forward and leaned closer to me, "...you know...fakes like us usually get killed in places like this."

My eyes look over at the fresh blood dripping from her scythe.

"W-what do you want from me?" I finally gathered the courage to say.

Alfred then managed to somehow slip from my grasp, catching both of our attention. He slowly climbed up my shoulder and jumped on top my head. He then pulled out his tiny sword and pointed it straight at the Yukari fake, as if trying to intimidate her. The difference in size between her large scythe and Alfred's tiny dagger was way too great.

Yukari blinked a few times at Alfred's boldness before she suddenly burst out laughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alfred and I simply stared. Suddenly she stopped laughing abruptly.

"Nothing really," She replied with a smile and wide eyes. She lowered her weapon and threw it away casually. I watched as the weapon disappeared into the shadow, "All I really want is... you."

"Huh? W-what?"

She giggled a bit at my reaction, "You...you are a very, very rare case these days...it's been a while since I found a person like you."

"I..I s-still don't know what you want."

"Nothing...There's just something...special I want to show you."

Was she purposely being vague? I looked around the alley way briefly before looking back at her.

She smiled again as she offered her hand to me, "But to show you, you have come with me on a tiny adventure...It's not like you have anything to leave behind here anyway. What do you say?"

I looked at her hand for a moment. Alfred looked to me to see what I would say. This was all very sudden.

"..."

"..."

"O-ok." With a shaky hand, I reached for her and took it. Alfred seemed quite shocked by my sudden decision. To be fair, even I was slightly shocked by it too. But after thinking about it, I knew she was...

"Umm, h-hello," I greeted before bowing my head a little, "...I'm a summoner. N-n-nice to meet you."

Her signature wide grin once again made its way to her face as she licked her lips, "I'm a Reaper...Let's get along, alright?"

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

We left the alley way and towards the main city gates.

On the way, we passed the building where the original Yukari's family lived. As expected, there was a horde of desperate Yukari fakes trying to get in.

"Sad isn't it?" Yukari commented as we walked past. She didn't even look in their direction.

We exited the town and went on our way. We followed a path that was surrounded by flat grass plains. The Reaper walked in the front, casually humming while I walked behind her, holding Alfred in my arms. Step by step, we walked without barely saying anything to each other.

"So you're a summoner." She suddenly broke the awkward silence.

"Y-yeah."

"When did you reset?"

"About two days ago."

"Oh really? You must be incredibly weak then."

"Y-yes..."

"And here I thought I had finally found someone to spar with."

"How about you?"

"Can't remember, it was a while ago."

Another wave of silence fell on the conversation. It was slightly awkward since this was our first meeting.

"Why did you choose summoner?" She spoke again.

"I felt lonely." I looked down at Alfred who at the same time, looked up at me, "Why did you choose reaper?"

"I wanted power... sounded like the strongest option I had."

"I see..."

Another long moment passed without any words being spoken.

She stopped walking suddenly, but did not turn around to look at me when she said, "If you still don't trust me, you can go back."

"I trust you." I replied.

"And why's that?"

"Because... you...seem like a kind person..."

"..." A slight pause inhabited the air right before she began to, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alfred jumped a little in surprise.

The reaper clutched her stomach and wiped away a single tear, "HAHAHAHAHA! I'm not sure whether you're naive or just gullible..."

She stopped laughing abruptly again, since her back was facing me, I could not see her expression when she softly said, "That'll be the death of you if you're not careful."

"..."

Yukari turned around to face me with a few of her giggles, "Well then, let's get going shall we?"

It was then I realised that we were about to enter a deep forest. Nothing like the slime forest that Alfred and I fought in before.

The reaper licked her finger as she looked directly at my eyes, "You might want to stick a bit closer to me now."

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

A mist surrounded the woods which prevented us from seeing what was ahead of us or the tree tops. There wasn't a path in sight yet Yukari went along as if she knew exactly where to go. Probably because she did.

We took about a minute worth of steps inside the deep forest before a monster attacked.

A large snake, thicker than the dark tree trunks and so long that I couldn't see where the tail was.

Yukari equipped her weapon. To my surprise, it was the wooden starter weapon that everyone gets. However, as she gripped the wooden scythe, dark shadows leaked from under her palm and wrapped itself all around her weapon. Soon the scythe had completely transformed into the large deadly weapon that I saw in the alley way. She spun the scythe casually as if used to this.

The giant snake hissed loudly. It's tail revealed itself behind one of the trees and swung itself at us.

However, the tail was sliced off way before it could hit its target. Yukari swung her scythe, firing a shadow blade that sliced the snake's head off.

Right after that, an earth golem emerged from the ground. At the same time, a huge lizard with sharp armour-like scales on its back appeared behind us.

The reaper stabbed the ground and at the same time, shadow spikes appeared beneath the lizard and impaled it. The shadows then wrapped around the dead lizard and threw it towards the earth golem.

The dead lizard moved again as it was transformed by the shadows, causing it to attack the earth golem.

Diving from the top of the tree was a giant horned eagle. At the same time, a large poisonous black scorpion aimed its long stinger at Yukari's neck.

Then, Yukari's jacket moved. It expanded, grew and moved on its own as if it was made out of shadows itself. Parts of her jacket extended into multiple ribbons made of dark energy. They swiftly grabbed the stinger, ripped it off and used it to stab the eagle in the neck. More shadow ribbons wrapped around the scorpion: twisting, suffocating and tearing its limbs off.

The reaper swiftly gave the eagle a quick death.

The loud buzzing of a horde of flying hornet-shooters attacked, they aimed and fired their stingers.

The back of the jacket grew larger and shielded all of us by absorbing the stingers into itself.

Her jacket acted as both her second weapon and protection. Well, it was no longer a jacket anymore, it had transformed into a long black cloak with a hood that made her look like a true Grimm reaper.

My eyes rapidly scanned our surroundings over and over. It was as if Yukari had managed to aggro every creature in the forest. Alfred on the other hand was having the time of his life. He has never seen so many different monsters before. He was waving his tiny arms, cheering Yukari on. I hugged him tightly.

I then got a new skill. Which was completely unexpected in a situation like this.

...

New Skill Unlocked:

Defensive Gift: Increases a target's defence by 10% for 1 min. CD: 30 min.

...

I saw Alfred reach his hand out towards the Reaper. His palm glowed slightly.

Wanting to try it out, I do the same. Both Yukari and my hand glowed slightly more than Alfred's.

I saw the ground below the Reaper's feet move, "B-below!"

The mouth of a giant Venus fly trap revealed itself and ate Yukari whole.

At the same time, moving vines poked out from the ground and attacked me. I threw Alfred in the air right before the vines wrapped around me.

Shadow hands with claws burst through the ground and sliced the vines, freeing me. I managed to land safety just in time to catch my small knight.

Shortly after, Yukari sliced the plant monster in half from the inside, emerging from it covered in green saliva. She didn't seem to mind at all though. Her wide grin was still present as always. Once the Venus fly trap was dead, the vines stopped moving.

A bear with red eyes appeared. It swung its huge claw at us which Yukari swiftly sliced off. However, the bear grew another arm and attacked again. The Reaper proceeded to slice its head off which still didn't kill it as it grew a new head.

Ribbons made of shadows restricted the bear's movement. She spun her scythe rapidly before swiftly cutting the bear into multiple pieces which finally did kill it. The shadow ribbons absorbed the bear's body parts. Once it did, Yukari's cloak expanded and dug into the ground, painting the entire floor with a pitch black colour.

Any monster that stepped onto the pitch black floor, instantly sunk into it.

Multiple spikes would also poke out from the ground to impale flying enemies.

Silence then fell upon the woods as the last remaining monsters who dared challenged the reaper was now dead. The shadows slowly retreated and the reaper's cloak transformed back into a jacket.

Rapid soft clapping was soon heard after that.

Both Yukari and I looked to the source of the sound which was Alfred. The tiny knight was rapidly clapping his two tiny hands together. Just like that, the reaper had earned all of Alfred's respect.

I looked around at all the corpses around us. Their bodies were beginning to disappear into particles, each dropping different items depending on what monster they were, "C-rank monsters sure are scary, yet you defeated them with such ease."

"There's actually a B-rank monster that rules this area."

I was incredibly alarmed by this, "S-should we be concern?"

"It only attacks if you attack it. If you can even find it, that is. But I heard that once you defeat it, the monsters here will never bother you again."

"Have you faced it before?"

"Once. I can't remember when I did... oh, but I do remember almost getting killed by it." Yukari recounted the memory with a cheerful tone.

"I see...oh and, umm, t-thank you."

"Don't mention it," Yukari stabbed the piece of meat that the red-eyed bear dropped and picked it up, "Shall we eat dinner?"

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

We sat around the crackling campfire, sitting on logs.

I must've been drooling as I held the meat in my hands.

This was my first time consuming cooked meat. I never thought I would ever get the chance, especially at such huge amounts all to myself. The moment my teeth hesitantly bite into the food, a new sensation flowed through my mouth. Next thing I knew it, I was devouring all the meat that the bone had to offer.

Yukari started giggling which made me look at her with a questioning look. She pointed at Alfred. I looked down at my knight to see that he had somehow pulled out a miniature sized knife and fork. He cut the meat into tiny sizes before chucking them inside his helmet. I chuckled at the sight, giving him a gentle rub on the head. I then faced my attention back to the reaper.

"I've been meaning to ask: how did you find me?"

"Hmm? Oh, I heard you yelling at people."

I almost choked on the food that was hallway through my throat and coughed. My face probably went red again, "A-ah, y-you heard that?"

While I wanted to desperately erase the memory from my brain, Alfred on the other hand, remembered the memory quite fondly.

"I see what you were trying to do though," Yukari said as she was about to take another bite from her food, "but don't bother with that kind of stuff. Trust me, things like that come naturally."

"But... don't you do it as well?"

The reaper stopped mid-bite. She looked over at me, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I mean I could be wrong but..." I waved my hands a little, slightly panicked, "your chaotic laughter, and crazy smiles...they all...feel a bit forced."

"..."

"..."

I scratched my head, "Sorry that was-"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She suddenly laughed, only to stopped abruptly again shortly after, "...and here I thought you were a dense princess... yes. Like you, I tired forcing out a different personality. I did it so much, it became a habit of mine. So you could say I speak out of personal experience when I say it doesn't really do anything."

"I see."

"Although now I'm slightly curious about something..." The Reaper summoned her weapon and pointed it straight at my neck, "...I assumed you were just a naive fool who trusts anyone she comes across but now I just have to ask...back in the alley way...you... already knew from the start, didn't you?"

"Yes." I replied.

"How? Explain."

"You're a fake just like me."

"That can't be the only reason."

"But that's the main reason."

"So there are other reasons?" The reaper asked, hitting it right on the target.

"Well..." I took in a deep breath to organise my thought before saying, "Firstly...If you wanted to kidnap or kill me, you could've done it easily, with someone as weak as me and a dark alley way that barely sees the light of day, you wouldn't need to resort to such deceitful tactics. But despite that...you still started a conversation. Why?"

"There are some twisted people out there."

"True, but that doesn't explain my second point...the first words you said to me, "Found you". I wasn't even hiding yet your tone and words implied you had been searching for me. But why? I'm a nobody with no money, no power, nothing and there are plenty of Aria fakes everywhere. So why me?"

"..."

"Thirdly!" I continued, "The fresh blood dripping from your weapon...there are no monsters in the capital...meaning you most likely killed or attacked someone who was in that same alley way."

"..."

"The only thing I didn't know was how did you find me in the first place. But now you've confirmed that you heard me randomly yell at people... so here's my theory...you actually saw me yesterday after you heard me yelling at random people and decided to follow me. From there you-"

"Stop. I've heard enough," The reaper interrupted, "so you're a bit clever...that still doesn't explain why you recklessly went straight into such a dangerous place, twice. Not even I expected that. Why?"

"Ah well...There's a simple answer to that: it was due to my own plain stupidity," I admitted, "I was so embarrassed by my stunts, that I desperately wanted to find a quiet nearby place where there were no people around, especially in case someone had reported me. I had no idea I had walked into such a place, I have a habit of walking without knowing. Then I smelt the corpse. So I went deeper to look for it."

"Why would you go so far?"

"Because there was a corpse."

"So?"

"Corpses need to be buried. Otherwise their souls can't live in peace." I replied.

"You believe in that garbage?"

"Yes."

"So you're telling me...that you risked your life twice...for a dead corpse?"

"Yes."

"You could've been killed."

"Then... I guess I would've deserved it for living such a foolish life," I said much to Alfred's dismay and the Reaper's shock, "To die by my own foolish choices would've been quite fitting...don't you think..."

"..."

"..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The reaper began laughing out loud again, "HAHAHA!...I see...I get you know...You're not naive or gullible...you're just incredibly idiotic. Do you have any idea how lucky you are?"

"It worked out well in the end, didn't it?" I smiled.

"You're insane, you know that?" Said the Reaper, "I could've killed you anytime."

"You could...yet here we are, eating dinner together."

She was silent after that for a moment. She threw her scythe away and sighed as if she was tired.

Alfred climbed up my shoulder and placed his tiny hands on my cheek. He was incredibly distressed by what I had just said.

"I'm sorry Alfred," I gently rubbed his helmet, "I may have gotten a bit carried away. Don't worry."

"...That's enough chatting for one night...You should head to sleep first."

"Sleep?" I titled my head in slight concern and confusion, Alfred did the same, "I-In a place like this?"

She gave no reply. She simply grinned at me in an amusing manner before lying down on the log and closing her eyes, humming a song.

Alfred and I looked at each other and shrugged. Deciding to trust her, we set up our tent and went to sleep shortly after as well.

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

I'm still not sure what exactly Yukari did but we woke up the next day completely fine.

On the way, there were a few monsters here and there but they were all dealt with swiftly.

We eventually found the end and exited the woods. With the mist gone, we could now see ahead of us. It was another area of flat grass plains but this time it had debris all over the place. Broken walls, boulders, and half built arch ways were just laying around here and there.

As we walked, I picked up Alfred and threw him in the air. After I caught him, I threw him in the air again. Every time I did, he would flail his arms around as if trying to fly. He asked me to do it after experiencing it the first time.

"We're here."

The reaper had stopped...right in front of a grey boulder.

I was slightly confused but I kept observing since there was no way we went through that whole forest just to see a boulder. Upon further inspection, the boulder had a shadow that was unusually darker than most normal shadows and if you looked long enough, the shadow moved slightly. It was something you could've easily missed and walked passed.

"Step on it."

I looked at Yukari who simply smiled back at me.

With Alfred tightly in my arms, I slowly raised my foot and step on the boulder's shadow.

"..."

Nothing happened.

Before I could ask, the blade of a scythe appeared very closely to my cheek.

"I told you didn't I?...That your naivety was gonna going to be the death of you..." I heard her say with a low tone.

I didn't move. Neither did Alfred, "..."

"...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm joking, I'm joking," Yukari laughed, "but I do need a bit of your blood...may I?"

"S-sure."

"I'll be gentle."

I winced slightly as the blade pressed against the very top of my skin.

The reaper then brought the scythe to her face and licked it before dropping some of the blood into the boulder's shadow.

"Alright! Let's hope your little knight doesn't get left behind."

Alfred was very alarmed and panicked by that comment. Especially when my feet began to sink into the shadow.

Yukari gave me a little wave as I sunk lower and lower until my entire body was completely submerged. Everything turned pitch black. I could not see anything, not even my own body. But I could somehow feel some sort of movement, as if I was being carried by a flowing river.

...

-I-I-I-I-

...

A bright light forced me to close my eyes for a few seconds. After I re-opened them, the first thing I saw was a village.

...

To be continued.

This chapter was finished on 16/01/2022