Reapers, they were creatures depicted in ancient literature as the ones who guide souls to their afterlife, either to return to Heaven as a reward for their good deeds or otherwise be burned in an eternal flame. It was unsure how much of this was true, but there was a common thing all written in those stories: reapers usually took the form of extremely beautiful and kind persons of the same race as the dead, mesmerizing and comforting every soul they guided.

However, when the apocalypse came, the reapers’ true form was revealed as they descended onto Earth. There was no beautiful person. There was no act of kindness, only a black sinister liquid that sucked the life out of everything it touched.

“Tsk!”

Seraphiel clicked his tongue as he jumped back to dodge a lightning quick diagonal slash from his enemy’s scythe. The creature who this angel was facing was indeed, a reaper bringing death.

“Look like I have underestimated you,” said the reaper after it missed the attack. Even though the fight had been going on for a while, neither side was able to successfully land a blow. The reaper was relying much on its insane speed but was a bit rushed and thus, lacked accuracy. That gave Seraphiel, who was fighting without any weapon and moving much slower, enough space and time to dodge.

But the thing was, Seraphiel too couldn’t even touch the reaper. Every time he got close enough for a kick or punch, black mud would automatically materialize as a shield and made him fall back. That substance was the core of a reaper’s power, posed a huge problem for any living creature facing them. Not only could it melt through any clothes or armor, any bare skin or flesh touching it would instantly decay and rot. But that was not all. The rotting would happen so quickly that even the most insane angelic healing power could not keep up in most cases.

That was also why Seraphiel’s body was in this deteriorating state. Black mud inside his chest had eaten up most of his internal organs while starting to melt through his skin as well. His white rib bones were exposed. His back was also suffering the same state, with big holes and a spine completely visible. A normal person would have collapsed long ago, so whatever keeping this angel's body together was something beyond normal comprehension.

And all of that means, Seraphiel too, was a reaper. He was not an angel, he never was. He just happened to be inside the body of Aziel Von Helsing somehow.

“Damn it, captain,” the black mud figure creature was impressed. “I can’t believe that even without your scythe and trapped in this decomposing vessel, you’re still able to hold your ground against me,” it said.

“No, I’m not your captain anymore,” said Seraphiel, who was now drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. His whole body was shaking, so much to the point that it was a miracle how he could still stand and coordinate his muscles to fight evenly with such a terrifying opponent.

“But why, Amarae?” the reaper asked, revealing the name from Seraphiel’s past. “I don’t understand. I used to look up to you a lot. After all, you were the one who led us to the great victory against Lucifer. You were one of the greatest commanders of God’s army. But look at you now, drowned in your own sins and on the verge of self destruction. What you have done was unforgivable, a blasphemy, even to the point that Father wanted us all to get rid of you on sight. But I don’t want to. I never wanted any of this. Maybe... if you can come back with me willingly and swear loyalty again, I believe He can still forgive you, given your past heroic deeds.”

“Thank you Earesh.” Seraphiel replied. “But I’m sorry, I can’t.” The angel’s breath was now almost returned to normal, as the two temporarily stopped fighting just for this conversation to happen.

“Why?” the reaper named Earesh asked again.

“You won’t understand.”

“Ha!” Hearing that, Earesh laughed and shook its head. “You’re right, I truly can’t understand. Why does everyone who was given free will always turn out like this? First Lucifer, and now you too? What do you think you're doing?”

“No,” Seraphiel said. “I’m different from her. I’m not holding a grudge against Father.”

“Then why? Why!” Earesh screamed in frustration. “Why are you resisting His order? Why are you rebelling? Tell me!”

“I’m not rebelling,” Seraphiel denied, “I don't want power, I don't care about pride. I just… finally found someone for my own, someone to protect.”

And while speaking this line, the angel turned his head around in search of his little girl. At the corner of the cave, here she was, safe and sound inside a cocoon made by Seraphiel’s own feathers.

But it seemed that the reaper Earesh paid no attention to that feathery cocoon. It just wanted Seraphiel, and Seraphiel only.

“Hah? What was that ridiculous reason? Tell me!” Earesh screeched in anger and its frustration grew. “We are reapers! We only exist for one reason, to harvest living souls! Heaven is all we need! We don’t need anything else!”

“See?” Seraphiel smiled, gently. “As I said, you will never understand…”

And the conversation ended with that. Earesh had had enough. Black mud moved and swirled like a vortex around the reaper’s body and its scythe once again held high.

Seraphiel knew what was about to come. “I’m sorry,” he said, and lowered his body, putting it in a combat stance, as there was no other way to resolve this problem.

And so, “AMARAE!” the reaper screamed and dashed toward the angel with the speed even faster than before!

Seraphiel jumped quickly. Again, he managed to dodge the initial scythe’s slash. But it was close. His eyes, at one point, were only inches away from touching the scythe’s tip.

But Earesh bent and rotated its body, used the momentum to launch more attacks consecutively.

It was at this point, Seraphiel messed up. He knew the more slashes was coming, he managed to evade a few, but in the end, his body reached its limit and moved a fraction of second slower than he wanted.

As a result, Earesh’s scythe found its way deep into Seraphiel's shoulder, right under his neck. Blood spurt out in jet. The angel quickly grabbed the scythe by the blade with his hand to stop its further movement. But this also led to another bad outcome, as his hand quickly turned black upon contact with the deadly weapon.

But for some reason, Earesh stopped. It could have pushed the scythe to go deeper, or followed with an another attack right away and ended Seraphiel’s life, but it didn’t. Instead, it kicked the angel, sending him flying.

“Blargh!” Seraphiel vomited blood as his body slammed into the cave wall. Something cracked and fell out of his body.

They were bones.

Seraphiel covered the wound with his hand in hope that his regeneration power could stop the blood loss. But there was nothing he could do now. The next time Earesh launch its attack, the angel would have no way to avoid it.

And for a moment, Seraphiel thought this was the end.

But suddenly...

“Seraphiel? Where are you? I'm scared, Seraphiel!”

Someone's voice reached his ears. It was a familiar voice, a voice that he loved...

It was Alice. She had woken up and had been screaming desperately inside the cocoon, trying to get out not long after the battle started. But it was not until this moment, when some of the feathers from the cocoon fell off after Seraphiel was hit, weakening the protecting spell that her voice was able to escape.

“Damn it, Alice, not now…”

Seraphiel crawled up, held his hand towards the cocoon.

"Seraphiel! Seraph-"

And it was sealed it again.

But this made Seraphiel smiled. Like a miracle, he fully got up and readied for battle again. The deep wound was still there, but in overall the bleeding had stopped.

"How?" Earesh couldn't hide its surprise as it watched the scene unfold. The fact that Seraphiel still had the will to fight contradicted everything it knew and believed.

"She is why." Seraphiel said. "She is the reason I can't ever come back. She is my everything. Earesh, I'm Seraphiel now, my name is no longer Amarae."

“I see… So the girl, she is the root of all your corruption. She is what destroying you from inside.”

And saying that, Earesh turned around, facing the feathery cocoon.

"What? Earesh no!"

Seprahiel screamed as he realized what the reaper was about to do. Alice was in grave danger. He had to stop it, but how?

It already dashed.