Chapter 102 - La Mort

The very next day came through without delay.

Yin was already packing up his things and essentials.

Gavin had told both he and Zach that they would be leaving right after lunch to make it in time there.

They would be spending the evening at some tavern and will be set for their mission in the morning.

Just as Yin reached out for his spare change of clothes, the drowsiness and tiresome training regiments that his superiors put him through after their return has definitely affected his sleeping pattern.

He is much more prone to being encumbered by fatigue much more easily.

"If I were to sleep about just an hour more, I think nothing would go wrong, right?"

He said to himself as a way of affirming his decision to take a quick snooze.

The C Rank Lightning Slayer's eyes closed shortly after laying on his bed.

Yin was awoken by a loud sound.

"W-What is that?"

He asked.

Yin saw the Creator's dark silhouette.

With his features still hidden in the shadows, the Creator smiled.

"Yin Sohaya, what is your answer?"

The Creator asked him.

"I see. So, it has already been one week, huh?" Yin let out an innocent chuckle. "I have spent the days well, Creator. I've been thinking about what would happen to me if I were to lose the System and everything that came with it."

Yin sat on the white floor with the same scenery.

The decayed flowers almost too brittle for even a faint touch of one's hand.

It was obvious that the smallest of contact with it would wither it away into nonexistence, thus, Yin knew better than to touch them.

The blinding light behind the room the creator was in was far too intense for Yin to make out just how the Creator actually looked like.

One thing was obvious behind him, though. It was his piano.

"Yes, exactly, Yin. You will not only lose the System, but you will lose the affinity that you so desperately need in order to combat the winged harbingers! You will lose your Anima cells and they will deactivate as you become a shadow of your former self. More people have known you as the C Rank Lightning Slayer Yin Sohaya rather than the farm-hand version of yourself, am I wrong?"

The Creator asked an imposing question.

Yin was silent.

Because deep down he knew that no matter how much this silhouette's words hurt and stung him deep, it was still the truth.

"I-If I really do accept the System and continue to level up more and add to my own strength, how long until Thanatos wakes up and takes over my body?"

Yin asked worriedly.

"You will have a year. In that one year, your level capper will be unlocked from 20 to 100. You shall be stronger than most of the Slayers in the Corps. And you already know what strength does in this predatory world. It changes things."

The Creator started to walk down from the flight of stairs leading up to his room.

Yin covered his eyes because the brightness was in fact so intense that it was burning him lightly.

"What will Thanatos do after he is resurrected in the form of my body, then?"

"He will destroy the Angels and crumble them to dust."

"I-Is he an ally of mankind? Is he even human?"

Yin was far too confused.

He did not wish to strike a deal wherein he did not know the factors of it in its entirety.

"Thanatos is…a God. The God of ruination, plagues, sickness. La mort." The Creator stopped himself from walking down. "That is all that I have the freedom of saying, whether he does mankind good or not, it will not be your problem any longer."

"What do you mean it will not be my problem?!" Yin screamed back. "My actions will be the catalyst which shall bring him back into this world! Of course, it is my problem! I started the whole damn thing, after all!"

Yin was getting frantic once more.

"Then make sure that you will achieve what no other human has done ever since the very first of your kind has learned to walk on your feet. Change the status quo with the System's, or rather, your capabilities. For a year, they will be yours, after that, who knows?"

It was a dilemma which Yin had already come to terms with a few days ago, he had decided by himself that he was going to unlock the level cap and make the most out of his time left in this world as Yin Sohaya.

But now that the decision has to be made, waves of fear struck Yin's very soul down.

"If I am being completely honest with you, Yin. If Thanatos really does end up doing mankind more harm than good, shouldn't you just do your best to clean everything up by then? Every monster, every Angel, exterminate them and when the time draws near, tell the most powerful Slayers to be prepared to fight a God."

The Creator's words did not have any of the usual goofiness and nonchalance. He was completely serious.

"So, you are saying that I should make the most out of the situation I am in right now?"

Yin wanted to make sure that he and the Creator were both leaning towards the same idea.

"I am not saying anything, Yin Sohaya. I am merely a voice. A non entity. A show in the void of nothingness which is the System. My words mean nothing and will never amount to anything. This is the first time I have had a conversation with another human being in hundreds and thousands of years."

The Creator was now revealing bits and pieces of information about himself, this was the farthest Yin had ever heard the Creator talk about his origins and who he really is.

"Don't say that. Of course, you are not merely 'nothing', you made this, right? This 'System' of sorts. This was because of you. Not that I am going to say I understand how it works, I really don't, but still, the fact that I am a Slayer right now is all thanks to you and the System. So, yeah, I figured I would just make the most out of my chance here as you said and continue to level up!"

Yin said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"D-Do you really mean it?"

The Creator was surprised that Yin was going to go along with it.

"Yeah, I do." Yin slowly walked towards the Creator, in an effort to see what he really looked like. But when he came close to revealing his face, the Creator's silhouette turned into dust and withered away.

"W-What happened? Where are you, Creator?"

Yin asked.

"Right here."

The voice had come from atop the steps of the room.

"What should I do to finalize it?"

"You do what you have always done ever since, Yin."

His wording had Yin confused as hell.

"I have no time to spend napping around, this was supposed to be a break from all the preparations for the journey, you know? Just tell me what I need to do so I can wake up and get on with my conquest."

Yin demanded.

"Come up."

The Creator instructed him.

"Up? You mean up the stairs to your room?"

Yin answered him back with a question from himself.

"Yes, Yin. Where else did you think I was meaning to take you?"

"I-I really do not know, I mean you know this place better than I do. Besides, I still have not seen your face, why did you hide away earlier?"

Yin pressed on pertaining to the time he teleported back to the top of the room's stair floor.

"When the time is right, I shall show how I look like to you, I am not that beautiful or handsome, so it is not that much of a thrill. But for now, it is useless for that. Come up here."

Yin nodded and began walking up.

With each step up on the flight of stairs that he took, he felt growingly more and more scared.

"Are you scared?"

The Creator asked.

Yin did not respond.

"Fear is perfectly normal, do not worry. Man fears the things he does not know. The unknown is an abyss that gazes right back to one's soul. Either petrifying it or frightening it to death."

"This is a first for you."

Yin said.

"What?"

The Creator asked.

"You seem to be comforting me."

The white haired Slayer let out a chuckle.

"Perhaps."

Yin still did not manage to make out the silhouette's features as his whole body was pitch black.

It was like it was merely a concentrated cloud of black smoke sculpted into the form of a person.

"W-What happened to your body?"

Yin trembled at the sight of the Creator's form.

"The same thing that happens to everything else that lives.. Time."