Chapter 78: The Reaper’s Mark
Lucas stared at the crimson notification for a long moment as the familiar dread of having to face that cloaked entity began settling cold and heavy into his chest.
He looked around. It was just him, Mark, Eleanor and the giant door that led to their faction’s main door.
He exhaled, the sound coming ever so quietly. ’Guess I don’t have a choice. Never did...’
"I need to head to my room," he said, forcing his voice into something casual despite the churn in his stomach and the dread creeping onto him...
"You okay?" Eleanor asked, brow furrowing, still half turned toward the hall doors with her hands planted firmly onto it.
"Fine. I’m fine. Just gotta... take care of something first." He waved off the concern before either of them could press further, already turning down the corridor and towards his room. "I’ll catch up."
"Weird..." Eleanor mumbled.
Mark scoffed. "This is Lucas we’re talking about. Is there any moment where he isn’t weird?"
Eleanor stayed silent for a moment before nodding. "Fair point."
Meanwhile , Lucas had already left their sight, disappearing into the corner of the corridor. He made it to his room, closed the door, and had barely finished turning the lock when the world dissolved into white.
***
The rocky field stretched in a jagged and grey plain in every direction, caves formed across the landscape like houses, and Lucas had just enough time to take in the terrain, his eyes scanning the rocky plane before the system chimed.
[Ding!]
[Main Objective: Survive for 30 minutes.]
"Of course..."
He braced for the system notification that told him that he would not be able to use ignition. He stood there, waiting for the familiar dread of losing [Ignition] entirely. But when felt flame answer instead, warm and present around his knuckles, a knot loosened in his chest and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"It’s working.... It’s actually working this time."
However, the relief was short-lived.
Moments later, another interface appeared in his vision as the next notification bloomed.
[Ding!]
[Secondary Objective: Hold your own against the Reaper.]
Lucas deadpanned. Hold his own? What did that even mean?
The scythe shaped mark formed above his head, crimson and right on cue.
Lucas turned to find the entity already materializing from thin air, its dark form taking the shape of something that didn’t belong in this world.
Within moments, it had formed completely, tall, menacing and patient as ever, scythe catching the little existed in this grey, lifeless place, a scenery that only made this situation more dreadful.
Then it clicked. ’Hold my own. Not survive by simply running. It wants me to fight.’
Of course it did. Why else would he be able to use his only combat ability that had failed all the other times?
’That explains the open field too,’ he thought.
[Time remaining: 30:58]
The timer began counting down in the corner of his vision, and the Reaper closed the distance in an unhurried motion
[You have activated skill: Ignition]
Suddenly, the Reaper disappeared, reappearing in his front and swinging in point-blank range.
**CHING**
They clashed immediately, [Ignition] roaring around both fists as Lucas met the first scythe strike with a desperate block, the impact sending a shock of pain straight through his bones despite the fire flaring in his arms.
’This isn’t survivable head-on. I need an angle, something to work with.’
His mind ran several scenarios, thinking of the best way to survive this as long as he needed...
His eyes caught the mouth of the nearest cave, it was dark and narrow, just what he needed. He pivoted, causing the Reaper’s scythe to cut into the rock on the floor.
It stuck there, too dense for the scythe blade to tear through.
However, that was only momentarily.
The Reaper pressed downwards, and the rock exploded.
Lucas didn’t wait, he ran forward into the mouth of the cave.
’If I get inside, it can’t swing freely.’
That was the first thing that came to his mind as he sprinted towards the cave.
He ran faster, adrenaline flooding his system. The Reaper’s scythe carving a line of destroyed stone just behind him, close enough that fragments of rock hit his back as he ran.
The cave mouth loomed ahead. It was dark and he didn’t know what was waiting for him inside, and Lucas pushed harder, lungs burning, the timer ticking down with agonizing slowness in the corner of his vision.
[Time remaining: 22:14]
He ran inside and they clashed several times, each exchange threatening to actually kill him.
’I need to find a way to trap this thing here. But that will also mean I need to lure it to strike.’
He ducked another strike and ran. ’If I can force it to slash at that opening, I’ll actually be free.’
’But then, I’ll need a way to force him to strike. Maybe if I give enough space between us, it’ll use that slash attack.’
The Reaper closed the gap with terrifying ease, and Lucas felt the air behind him pressurize with the unmistakable hum of an incoming strike.
’Not yet. Almost there.’
He came closer to the opening, running faster now.
’Here it goes...’
He ignited both feet, [Ignition] roaring hot as he launched himself forward in a burning burst that closed the last several yards in a single explosive stride.
The Reaper swung, a torrent of energy exploding outward. Lucas crossed the cave’s opening at full speed, and the scythe’s strike landed a moment too late,
catching the mouth of the cave itself instead of him.
Stone shrieked and collapsed, the entrance sealing shut in a rain of stone that cut off the Reaper’s pursuit entirely.
Silence fell, broken only by Lucas’s own ragged breathing echoing off the stone floor as he collapsed to the ground.
[Ding!]
[Objective complete.]
[Returning player...]
The world dissolved into white once more, and Lucas gasped back into his own body, standing in his locked room exactly where he’d left it, heart still hammering from a fight that had somehow and impossibly, ended in his favor.
"Damn," he wheezed, "that was intense."
***
In the void, the Sovereign settled onto its throne of skulls, and for the first time, something in its posture shifted — it was agitated, predatory even, with the scythe resting idle across its lap.
"He sealed the cave," the voice murmured, almost to itself, something in its voice sounding more like admiration threading through the resonant tone. "Clever. Resourceful. He did not simply run, he thought."
The darkness around the throne stirred faintly, shifting in a way that felt wrong...
"Every encounter, he grows sharper. Faster to adapt. Faster to see the shape of what I offer him." A pause, longer this time, bearing the weight of something that didn’t belong in the voice of a god at all.
In its voice, was something possessive, something almost tender in ways that could make anyone’s skin crawl. " And the way he wields [Regression]..." A deep sound resonated across the void. "...no other soul has ever made me think this hard about how to end them."
The scythe’s blade rose, turning slow in the Sovereign’s grip.
"He is mine. Mine alone, mine to claim, all souls are, eventually. But his—" Something in the voice sharpened, fierce and possessive. "His soul will not be shared. Not with whatever petty gods still dare to play their game with him. Not with anyone."
"I will have him. All of him. No one is allowed near him. I will trample this world if I have to. He is worth it."
Then it repeated, a cold laugh resonating across the void. "He is mine..."
***
Lucas found Mark and Eleanor still waiting near the hall doors, and both of them turned at his approach, matching expressions of surprise.
"That was fast," Mark said. "Barely five minutes. Thought you’d be gone longer doing whatever you were doing..."
"Efficient," Lucas said, shrugging and leaving it at that.
They pushed through the hall doors together, warm light and noise spilling out to meet them, and Lucas had barely taken two steps inside when the system chimed again.
[Ding!]
[You have survived an encounter with the Grim Reaper.]
[You have been marked by the Sovereign of Death.]
"Arggh!"
Before he could process the second line, a searing, hot pain erupted across his back suddenly, and Lucas doubled over with a pained cry, hands scrabbling uselessly at his own shoulder and down his back as the burning sensation spread and deepened.
"Lucas!" Eleanor’s voice came sharp with alarm, and she was at his side instantly, hands hovering, unsure where it was safe to touch.
"What’s happening—" Mark grabbed his shoulder, steadying him as Lucas’s knees buckled, the pain spreading outward in waves that stole the breath from his lungs.
"My back—" Lucas managed, voice tight with agony. "Something’s—"
Eleanor’s hands found the hem of his shirt, and she pulled it up carefully, revealing whatever had caused the sudden pain.
She went very still.
"Mark," she said, voice strange and tight with something Lucas couldn’t identify through the pain still wracking his body. "Look at this."
Mark leaned in, and his face, when Lucas managed to twist enough to catch a glimpse of it, had gone pale with open shock.
"What," Lucas gasped, the pain finally beginning to ebb into something more bearable. "What is it? What’s on my back?"
"Uhhh..." Mark started unsure, "How do I put this...?