(MoD) Chapter 38: A Helping Hand

Chapter 38: A Helping Hand

There were three factions within the Grim Reaper world: the Progressive Faction, the Conservative Faction, and the Militant Faction.

The Progressive Faction worked directly under Hades and was by far the strongest faction in terms of raw power since they had the Greek God of Death himself on their side, as well as the Realm of the Dead located at the Underworld’s lower strata.

Ideology-wise, their only interest was listening to Hades’ every last command without question; in terms of actually maintaining the natural order and managing the deceased, they were easily the most useless faction, especially from Death’s perspective, and by proxy, Takauji’s as well.

Then there was the Conservative Faction, who couldn’t care less what Hades wanted. Instead, they listened to the orders of an Ultimate-Class Grim Reaper called Orcus—the God of the Underworld in Etruscan and Roman mythology. 

They opted for more of a wait-and-see approach when they dealt with anything, which was both a good and bad thing since it meant they wouldn’t meddle with the natural order and foolishly disrupt the balance by treating souls like children’s toys to be played with, like Hades did. However, it also meant they weren’t contributing as much as they could to maintain it, considering their workforce.

Simply put, they didn’t make Takauji’s job harder, but they didn’t make it easier either.

At the very least, they weren’t with Hades, and that was all that mattered to him.

And last but not least, there was the Militant Faction, which listened to the orders of Thanatos, the oldest and most powerful Ultimate-Class Grim Reaper. Similar to the Conservative Faction, they didn’t listen to Hades either since they were under the belief that Hades’ mismanagement was bound to lead to the Netherworld’s ruin.

This was the faction Takauji was most interested in getting acquainted with, and his mind had already started to construct the blueprints for how he was going to revitalize the River of Souls, which he had decided to dub “The Crossing”, since the place wasn’t just a river.

With his guiding hand, it was going to become so much more. This wasn’t just his power base; this was his Kingdom, and as its King, he had a responsibility to make it shine with as much grandeur as possible.

“You seem resolute,” Death observed his protege, reading his emotions like an open book. 

“That’s because I am,” Takauji nodded with a somber look on his face. “Death, I need you to level with me for a moment.” 

“I suppose I can make an effort,” Death replied somewhat jokingly.

“By the time I’ve built anything here worth garnering the positivity of my residents, the remaining spiritual energy in the river will have already run out, won't it?” 

Only 0.2% of its maximum capacity remained, and taking the Crossing’s current status into account, it wasn’t going to last much longer.

“That’s a possibility,” Death’s facial expression confirmed everything Takauji needed to know.

“And if the river dies, my soul also dies, doesn’t it?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Then, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for me to do something a little, drastic, to kickstart the river’s reserves so it’ll last long enough for me to get everything in order, would it?”

Death clasped his hands behind his back and breathed a sigh, knowing exactly what Takauji was referring to, or more precisely, what he was thinking about doing.

“If you’re asking whether or not I plan on interfering should you choose to proceed, I can assure you the answer is a resounding no. The whole point of my putting you in this position in the first place is so I don’t have to micromanage your universe. If this is how you want to revitalize your river, then that’s your prerogative. It won’t affect the natural order, therefore I have no reason to object.”

Takauji raised his eyebrow with a hint of suspicion. “Are you hinting that there’s another way for me to go about this? Because honestly, even I find the method I’ve cooked up a little barbaric.” 

“A little?” Death scoffed, earning a reluctant nod of agreement from him in return. “Listen,” he said, walking up to Takauji and putting his hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to be forced to make decisions like these more often than you’d like to, I can say that with complete certainty. One way or another, you must get accustomed to your new position. Every sentient creature both living and dead will suffer if you don’t, so I suggest you suck up the weight of the role and move on. The sooner you do, the better off you’ll be.” 

In other words, Death was simply urging him to make his own decisions. He had already given Takauji his vote of confidence by granting him this power in the first place, which meant a lot coming from, well, Death himself.

The ball was now in his park, and dropping it was bound to have cataclysmic consequences.

“Very well,” Takauji said, taking a deep breath. “What about my memories from my past life? When will I get them back?”

“You already have them,” Death revealed, shocking him. “They’re just sealed. The stronger your soul becomes, the more of them you’ll regain.” 

“I see,” he hummed contentedly. “Then I suppose this is it, isn’t it?” 

“Yes, you have your powers, and you’ve made up your mind on how to begin. My will no longer has any reason to remain here,” he extended his hand towards Takauji. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks, I imagine we won’t see each other again anytime soon?” 

“That depends,” Death shrugged. “If my universe ends before yours, I’ll come pop by for a greeting. Believe it or not, two human mortals have somehow thrown everything into jeopardy on their own.”

“Sounds rough,” Takauji sucked his teeth.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Death’s body started to disintegrate into black specks of dust in the wind, fully dissapating within seconds as he made his departure.

“Seriously, who are you talking to? Don’t tell me you’ve gone full-blown schizo since we last met?” Alenth wondered, constantly peering over Takauji’s shoulders.

“It’s unimportant, right now, I have a job for you. Alongside my spells, you should’ve also received the knowledge on how to create footsoldiers imparted onto you, correct?” 

“Yeah, I have all that in my noggin.” She tapped her head, “You want me to go create some?” 

He nodded, “How many do you think you’re capable of sustaining at your current strength?” 

“Probably about fifteen or so.” 

‘If I can only sustain three Generals at the moment, that’ll give me 45 footsoldiers. That’s not ideal, taking into account how big this place is, but I’ll have to work to increase that number as quickly as possible.’ 

‘Also, footsoldiers don’t immediately receive the shared knowledge from my brain like Generals do. Which means I’ll have to think of some kind of training curriculum for them, like a Grim Reaper Academy or something.’ 

“Alright, start looking for people you think would make good footsoldiers. You can also pick up some people from the land of the living if you think you’re suitable enough, honestly, as long as you can keep them under control, I don’t care who you choose.” 

Alenth wasn’t the sharpest nail in the shed, but even she could interpret that he was telling her he would hold her accountable for any mistakes they made.

“And what’ll you be doing in the meantime?” 

“My job,” just like his brief mentor, Takauji, vanished.

Every Grim Reaper was capable of teleportation by dispersing their bodies. However, Takauji had already figured out how to use that ability to link himself to the teleportation circles he had created, without actually needing to be standing on one in the first place, giving himself a drastically more convenient waypoint system to travel from place to place.

…

Kuoh Town, Ashikaga Household.

“Boss, where do you want me to put this?” A Fallen Angel wearing a hard hat and bright-orange vest approached Azazel, holding a dark colored orb in his hand, the surface of which was composed of some gooey, spatial substance that was bound to give any half-assed researcher a migraine.

“Ah, the spatial link,” Azazel scratched his chin. “Let’s connect that to the backyard, we’ll have a large-scale sanctuary installed there for the specimen to use as a dwelling. I also want a food storage section for her somewhere, I doubt they’d take kindly to having their food placed next to copious amounts of raw meat.”

“On it!” The Fallen Angel saluted, getting to work.

“It looks like you weren’t lying when you said you’d get it done before we returned,” a voice spoke from the direction of Takauji’s bedroom, shocking Azazel momentarily.

“Takauji? What are you doing back here alrea—” The Governor paused, narrowing his eyes as he watched Takauji walk closer to him, sensing that something was definitely off about him. 

“Is something the matter?” Takauji wore a faint smirk, knowing full well why Azazel was acting the way he was.

Unfortunately for the Fallen Angel, even becoming Death wasn’t enough to kill his love for pissing people off.

“You’re not Takauji,” his voice deepened in a threatening manner, his pupils lighting up in realization once he traced Takauji with his sixth sense. “You’re a Grim Reaper! Are you with Hades? What are you doing here? And why are you impersonating a—” 

“Calm down Azazel, it’s me.” Takauji gestured to the coat he was wearing, which Azazel had personally created. “You made this so it wouldn’t activate on anyone else, remember?” 

Azazel’s confusion heightened upon noticing that the coat was still active, but he still wasn’t completely sold. “You could’ve possessed him, the coat wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

“Possessed?” He scoffed, undeniably amused. “Since when did Grim Reapers possess people? Also, I’m appalled that you think anyone’s capable of sustaining the shell of my world-breaking, heaven-splitting, once in a eon, god-like, supreme intelligence. You’re supposed to be the science guy, aren’t you? Honestly, I’m disappointed in you. Not even Hades himself would be able to mimic nanoangstrom of my cerebral—” 

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Azazel stopped him, pinching his nose-bridge. After hearing Takauji talk like, well, himself, it was abundantly clear that he wasn’t possessed. 

But that only raised a greater question. 

“What the hell happened to you over there? Because last time I checked, you weren’t a Grim Reaper.” 

Takauji groaned, gesturing to his living room. “I’m going to try to explain this as simply as I can, but you’re still probably going to want to sit down.” 

“Yeah… I happen to agree…” He responded somewhat apprehensively.

…

Approximately one hour's worth of discussion had gone by. 

“Takauji…” 

“Yeah?”

“What the actual fuck did you just say to me?” 

“I’m Death,” he shrugged. “Not sure how else you want me to cut it, although I am extremely weak in comparison to— Cough! Cough!” He erupted into a sudden coughing fit, causing him to beat his chest to clear himself up. “Haha… Speak of the Devil. The river of souls is nearly fully depleted, which is why I barely have a fraction of the strength I’m supposed to. Sitri-san could probably snap me out of existence at this point if she were ever so inclined.” 

He had also used up some of the nearly depleted energy to turn Alenth into a General, which didn’t help his case.

“And what happens when it fully runs out?” Azazel almost hesitated to ask.

“I’ll probably die,” Takauji replied plainly with a dry smile. “And the power stored in my Death Scythe will be let loose and go rampant. I’m not sure what the exact fallout of that will be, but I doubt it’ll be anything enjoyable for you all.”

Azazel’s complexion paled. “I don’t doubt that…” 

“Don’t worry, I have a plan to restore the river I’m setting in motion, and as you’ve probably guessed by now, I’ve come here because I need your help, which I plan on giving you an appropriate return for. I’m not a fan of being in another’s debt after all.”

“Anything you need,” if it was to keep Death from being let loose upon the world, Azazel was more than happy to do the work for free. 

One couldn’t pursue knowledge if they were six feet under.

Takauji smiled, “I want you to help me build a kingdom.” 

━━━━

Let the kingdom-building commence!