Chapter 129 - Traitorous Reaper

The traitorous SSS Ranked Slayer Adam Rosa was berating Vale Ashford now.

"I truly do wonder what made you work in a squad with other Slayers, Vale. Especially ones who are not even average at stealth. Who forced you into this? Look what this has done to you. I know you kids probably did not recognize it, but as I was watching the battle from afar, it was clear that the Specter was not prioritizing her own offensive skillsets against the Seraphim, instead, she was busy trying to figure out ways and actions as to how to bail you out of trouble."

Adam Rosa said softly but his words were definitely heavy and has some truth to it. A truth that the boys did not recognize.

"You thought you were in even footing with an S Ranked Slayer? Did you really think your strengths would suffice to bring down a single Seraphim? What a pity. I wonder what kind of nonsense Luken and Gavin have been implanting inside your heads. I know I used to have said that they continued the tradition of the Six Blades in recruiting exemplary and promising Slayers. But the way that I see you two right now, it seems I was wrong." The SSS Rank Slayer said to them bluntly.

"Enough, sir Adam!" Vale attempted to quiet the man down but he did not.

Zachary pulled himself together and gripped his scythe once again. "Do not dare mock Gavin and sir Luken's decision. Are you saying they should not have wasted Six Blades slots on us?!" The Fire Slayer was now worked up.

Yin also focused on Adam Rosa, trying to gauge him and whether he could actually bring the Reaper down.

The Reaper ignored Zachary and merely looked at Yin's red pupils. "Someday, those red sanguine eyes of yours will drag everything down to the deepest depths of hell."

After seeing Zachary's anger towards what Adam Rosa said, Vale Ashford desperately attempted to stop Zachary from charging in. "Zach! Stop it!" She shouted to the boy, but it was far too late for her warnings. 

The Fire Slayer was already seeing red from all of his pent up rage at what the Reaper just muttered out. He basically insulted his and Yin's higher ups and called their decisions to invite them to the Six Blades as a 'waste.' "There is no way I am going to let this shit slide." Zach said. "Back me up if you want, Yin, even if you do not, I am charging in regardless."

With a quick first step, Zachary enchanted his feet with his blue flickering flames to boost his speed. But it was done in a hurry to the point that it was not as effective. 

Adam Rosa held the scythe with his bare hands, stopping it mid air. "I stand by what I have said. I do not see anything extraordinary in you. Your blue flames mean nothing if you cannot use it well." He said to Zachary right before kicking his stomach and sending him flying across.

The Specter threw several daggers at the Reaper but he just dodged them gracefully and with no effort.

Yin clenched his fists and activated his Nix Eyes. Turning his pupils into a snow white color all the while giving him a masquerade which formed out of thin air. "I'll drag you back to Niflheim, traitor."

"Stop it, Yin! Our best chance at surviving now would be to regroup with Zachary and retreat!" Vale said to him. But Yin wanted to prove a point. He desperately wanted to defend his and Zach's honor and to prove to the traitorous Reaper that the Commander and the Serpent Summoner did not make a mistake by choosing them to join the Six Blades.

Yin summoned the binding chains and tried to catch Adam Rosa with it, the latter just jumped upwards and narrowly dodged his chains.

"What a waste." He mouthed out. Yin had not tried to pair the Nix Eyes with his black lightning yet, as the physical toll it would give his body would be overbearing, but he was willing to risk it all right now.

Yin Sohaya dashed around the place, trying to confuse the Reaper's sense of perception and to ultimately charge up his speed for one swift punch.

Time seemed to stop in the moment that Yin was on the course towards his final attack at Adam. Despite this, Yin could have sworn that Adam Rosa knew exactly where he would attack. 

"Go to sleep, Yin." Those were the last words Yin would ever remember today. The Reaper met Yin's face with a punch of his own while dodging Yin's attack, sending the Slayer unconscious.

"Yin!" The Specter wanted to have her way with Adam Rosa. Yet something was stopping her in her tracks. Deep inside, she knew that they were only alive right then and there because of his intervention, whether he did this on purpose or not is unknown. But ultimately, what kept her from rushing in and attempting to land an attack was not the fact that she did not have any throwing knives left in her belt, nor was it the fact that her sword had been severed in half. It was fear. The fear of the Reaper was still fresh inside everybody's heart. 

How an honorable and distinguished SSS Rank Slayer like himself, someone who had only come once in a generation – decided to kill members of his own organization and joined the ranks of the Angels as a human, the answer made Vale shudder. She respected Adam Rosa and looked up to him, she was even excited every single time she got picked for a conquest in hopes that the squad leader would be the soft spoken yet strong Reaper.

"Tell me, sir Adam, what turned you into the way that you are now? You are barely even a human at this point." The Specter asked him.

"First of all, you do not need to call me 'sir' anymore, Vale. I have long abandoned the life of a Slayer. You ask of what it is exactly that drove me into doing what I am doing now? It is quite simple, dear Vale." He said as he walked towards the S Rank Wind Slayer. His footsteps muffled and careful, as if each step was done to not make a sound. "God came before me and asked me what I truly wanted deep inside, what my utmost desire was, what it was which would be able to fulfill my existence. And you know what I said in return? I told him that I wanted wings."

Adam Rosa said while leaning in close at the Specter's face, making her tremble and her lips pale. He motioned for the Water Seraphim to come near him. "We are leaving, Hai." He said to the Archangel. 

"But Adam, what of the bearer of the System?' Hai the Water Slayer pointed at Yin's unconscious body. "Leave him be, at this point, he is not worth anything at all. The same goes for these two he came with." The Reaper said as he waved The Specter farewell. Both he and Hai vanished into the night. Somewhere where the moonlight cold not reach, even deeper into the forest where they were.

"If you had just finished them off even sooner, it could have been a wonderful sight." Adam said as he tilted his head at Hai in disappointment. "B-But Adam, I did not expect Thanatos to turn his might against me…" Hai said in an apologetic tone. 

"My legs grow weary, let us fly." The Reaper said joyfully as his black half-wing came out of his back. Together they soared through the skies, as their silhouettes became smaller and smaller because of the distance.

"Dammit!" The Specter exclaimed while smacking the wet ground below. Meanwhile Zachary carried Yin towards her.

"Tell me Zachary Lancaster, just what is Yin Sohaya?" She asked after seeing his binding chains and Nix Eyes activated. "No other Slayer in the Corps has the same skillset and abilities that he currently possesses. What the hell is this boy and his connection to the Seraphims?"

It was only natural for Vale Ashford to doubt Yin as she was still shaken by the encounter. "I for one am as clueless as you for the most part. But for someone who has connections with the Angels or Seraphims as you have said, he sure does risk his life in combat against them more than once already. I am sure his heart and intent are in the right place." Zachary said with a faint expression.

"Am I wrong to think that maybe the traitorous Reaper's arrival stopped us from being obliterated by the Water Seraphim?" Zachary asked Vale. "I do not know.. But it seemed like even the Twelve Seraphims are under the hand of Adam Rosa…Just what is his goal siding with the harbingers bent on destroying mankind?" Vale was as clueless as every Slayer in the Corps.