Chapter 2 - Mortem Awakening

The Angel slowly stood up from its kneeling state.

With swift tenacity, it lifted the scythe.

Blood still oozing from Jon's headless corpse.

Yin could feel his life flash before his eyes.

"Mortem it means death."

He thought to himself.

"I've had this nightmare time and time again."

"Was it just a premonition of death?"

Why were these the last few words echoing inside his head?

As the scythe's fangs drew closer.

Time seemed to stop.

A feminine voice rang in his ears.

A screen-like hologram was shown in his sight.

It was a red message box.

[ You have been chosen as worthy of the Thanatos System, accept or perish. ]

Yin was speechless.

His lips tried to utter words, anything, but nothing came out.

[ You only have 20 seconds left to decide. Accept or perish. ]

[ You only have 15 seconds left to decide. Accept or perish. ]

"I-if I accept, will my powerlessness be cured?!"

The only sound Yin could hear was the ringing in his ears.

[ If you accept, Master Yin. You will become more than powerful. With your original might, even the Gods will wither. The Thanatos System itself is power. Will you accept or will you perish? Will you accept—even if it means destroying the world? You have 2 seconds remaining. ]

With his heart full of resolve. Yin accepts the System.

[ Welcome home, Thanatos. ]

Yin touches the ground instinctively.

He releases an aura of death.

The black fog enveloped the area around him and the Angel.

It was murky and quick.

Needing only 5 seconds to cover up 50 meters.

Every single living being within a fifty-meter radius of him decays to their deaths.

Chicken, goats, cows, even crops died.

It was as if they all aged to their deaths in a span of 5 seconds.

All that remained of the animals were bones.

[ Questline Initiated : Destroy the Angel (0/1) ]

Yin could feel power surging through his body.

But he was not able to maintain the Aura for much longer.

The Angel spread its wings and flew upwards.

He was already tired as is, if he were to do that move again, there is no way of knowing what would happen.

The Angel flew downwards towards him.

Its wings impaled both his left and right arms against a tree.

"Get away from me!"

The Angel leaped backwards a few meters away from Yin.

Why was it so cautious of him?

It took out a grimoire.

Full of letters seemingly alien to the common man's eyes.

"It's casting a spell!"

Yin exclaimed as he was still stuck to the tree.

A beam of light from the Angel's mouth was slowly materializing.

The yellow beam was as if the Sun itself had empowered it.

Before it was able to hit Yin, someone shielded it.

Yin slowly opened his eyes to see that a tall young man wearing full body armor had shielded the blow. He wore black, heavy armor with three lines intersecting in the middle of it. Much like a triangle. His eyes were as blue as the ocean. The fresh breeze lightly brushed through his long blue hair and through his single hanging black earring. This person looked to be in his mid-twenties.

"W-wait, this insignia. Slayers?"

"Yep." As the mysterious blue-haired knight smiled while continuing to block the beam of light.

"You know, I've been watching you for a while now, what a shame. I thought you had this guy. Or thing, or whatever these Angels are. The name's Luken by the way."

Before Yin could react to what he said, the stalwart young man dashed towards the Angel as soon as the beam ran out.

He lifted his massive sword upwards.

A moment of hesitation was all it took for the Angel to lose.

It contemplated whether it could block the blow or not.

When it chose to fly away, it was far too late.

Luken's sword had severed the wings. The sound of crackling bones was going to haunt anyone who heard it for quite some time, he was sure of it.

He stepped on the Angel's head as its face was embedded in the decayed land of crops.

Luken pointed the sword at Yin. No words were necessary. Yin knew what he meant.

He had to finish the Angel off by himself.

"Can I still do the Decaying aura for a second consecutive time?"

He thought to himself.

"This man is clearly Luken Regalia, Commander of Niflheim's Slayer Corps and leader of the Six Blades. Suna had told me a fair bit about him. What better witness to my new abilities than this guy?"

"I still don't know what the Thanatos System is. But I am not powerless now. I can fight. And every fight should be given a person's all, even if it means placing one's own life in danger."

Yin's arms were limp from being impaled earlier.

His legs were still fine, he thought.

He ran towards the Angel screaming.

"Commander Luken, get back!" Yin demanded him to get out of the way. If he did not, he would get caught up in the Decay Aura.

"Fifty meters, right? Gotcha."

He gestured a thumbs up sign.

Although his right hand was still limp, he moved it with sheer willpower alone.

With a scream from the top of his lungs, Yin placed his palm on the incapacitated Angel's head.

A screeching sound was made by the Angel.

Much like the sound of an animal who is dying and on its last breath.

Little by little, the pale white skin of this abomination began to crack. Wrinkles began to form at a molecular level, only two seconds had passed.

"More!" Yin shouted.

His palm was on the Angel's head for a total of five seconds, much like earlier.

All that remains of the Angel were bones that were too brittle to even touch.

The slightest disturbance in its current state would make it turn into dust.

[ Questline Completed : Destroy the Angel (1/1) ]

[ Experience points earned : 1000 ]

[ Leveled up. Current Level : 2 ]

Yin was at his limit.

Before he fell down, Luken had caught him. Cautious of his head hitting the rocks below.

A grin formed around the Commander's mouth.

He could sense that this person, Yin Sohaya had undergone something never seen before.

At eighteen years of age, he had his Anima cells awakened.

Luken took out some cigarettes from his pocket. Lit it up and waited for back up to come.

He looked at the farmlands.

The sight of death plagued the area.

The Angel's soul itself was not sent to the afterlife. It was completely destroyed. Nothing was left, not even a speck of it.

After a few hours, the other Slayers arrived to the scene.

"Luken, is it true? How could an Angel make it past the barrier?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask the same thing, where is it now?"

The Slayers drew their weapons and prepared their grimoires.

"It's over. This kid right here killed the Angel. All on his own."

Luken said while eating a banana nonchalantly.

Several gasps of disbelief could be heard.

"Are you making a joke out of us?"

"Do you really expect us to believe that a lowly farmer with no Anima cells could take out an A rank monster?"

He pointed towards Yin's body.

"Go on, sense him."

The Slayers collectively agreed and what they sensed scared them.

"His anima levels…"

"They're strong enough to be ranked at C, but something's off about them. His cells, they're still growing!"

Normally, a C rank is not especially big. But he just awakened today. When a Slayer's Anima cells awaken, they are placed in the Unranked division. How does this person already have cells strong enough to have a rank?

"Luken. This child is…"

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm going to take him under my wing."

"But the Six Blades are not recruiting, right?"

Asked another Slayer.

"Yeah Luken, we are the ones who will take him to the Higher Council."

"Then you're going to have to fight me if you want him."

Luken says in a tone that sent chills down everyone's spines.

Luken's face slowly contorted in disgust.

Disgust turned into rage.

His arms were crossed in his chest.

He lifted a finger as a display of power.

The sheer stimulation of Anima cells shook the very land itself.

Everyone could feel it. It was anger.

"I mean even if it's only me against all of you, do you really think you can take me on?"

Luken said while smirking arrogantly.

"I'll give you a choice, you can come at me as you please. Do it in a way that you think would give you more chances of winning."

"Come." His blue oceanic eyes had the intensity of a thousand sharks.

Everyone backed off. They knew an SS rank Slayer was too much even against their sheer numbers.

From the far reaches of the farmlands, a single horse could be seen.

A lone horse rider kicked up dirt in its trail.

It was Suna.

Suna disembarked her horse as fast she could.

She made her way through the dozens of Slayers gathered around the barn.

"What happened here, Commander?"

"Oh, Suna, what's up? Do you know this guy?" Luken asked while poking Yin's face.

Suna's face was as pale as a ghost.

Her fingers were noticeably trembling.

This caused the already frightened Slayers to back up even more.

She slowly lifted her head to the commander.

"Yin! Commander, what happened?!"

She ran towards Yin and held his faint body.

"Is something wrong, Suna?"

"H-his hair. It wasn't white earlier."

Luken instructed Suna to take him to the Six Blades hideout.

The Slayers present were powerless to do anything about it.

The Commander and Suna arrived at the hideout shortly after.

"Suna, you know this is unprecedented right? I mean you should know yourself. You've never even awakened."

"Yes Commander, frankly I'm not hoping for a miracle anymore. I can fight without Anima cells. But what happened to Yin? I knew you were watching the whole event unfold."

"I was too late. I couldn't save the child."

The Commander looked down and frowned in disappointment.

They were both bewildered as to how an Angel managed to slip through the barriers.

"I was going to kill the Angel a bit earlier, you know."

"But I sensed something happen. For a split second, this kid had monstrous levels of Anima cells awaken all at the same time. And I admit, I was kind of curious as to what would have happened next."

"And you know how every single time we slay monsters, their souls fly upwards? Not this time, it was as if he exterminated the Angel down to the very core itself."

Yin Sohaya's life was about to change.. For better, or for worse.