(MoD) Chapter 35: Takauji's Second Job (In This Economy?)

Chapter 35: Takauji's Second Job (In This Economy?)

After the Ashikaga Clan’s memorable lunch, Tsuji had called for Takauji in hopes of discussing something in private. 

Naturally, both Murayama and Sona expressed their concern out of their mistrust for the Patriarch, but Takauji, in his usual fashion, insisted that everything would be fine. 

Granted, he did have a velociraptor with him. So the chances of Tsuji trying anything underhanded on him were drastically low.

“You can sense it can’t you?” His grandfather spoke, the brunt of his cane rhythmically tapping against the floor with each step. 

“Yeah.” Takauji wasn’t sure how to describe it, but the further they went in the direction Tsuji was leading him in, the stronger the sensation of something calling to him became. Like a magnetic pull tugging at his heart, urging him to seek out the source of the feeling.

Although the sentiment didn’t feel hostile, it was still somewhat discomforting. Primarily because it was unlike anything he had ever felt before, both with his Mana Sense and Ki Sense. 

Whatever this was, it wasn’t just tugging at his power—it was pulling at him, at his very being, right down to the core.

Tsuji let out a low sigh. “Honestly, I don’t have the faintest clue as to what’s going to happen from this point onward. All I know is that I’m supposed to bring you here.” 

The Patriarch put his palm on a large stone door, the surface of which lit up with a light-blue handprint pattern before gradually beginning to part open, accompanied by the sound of heavy rock grating against the floor. 

“Our bloodline has protected this ever since we lost our shogun; for seven hundred years, it has remained within this very room, waiting for its owner to return and claim it.” He smiled, his demeanor akin to that of some religious fanatic. “And now you’re here, at long last. Kamigyo made it abundantly clear that you’re the one. Therefore, it’s only natural that you reclaim its strength. That you reclaim your strength.”

Tsuji gestured for Takauji to continue forward, earning a blank look from him in return. 

“It showed me a vision of you the moment you awakened, and how you were intertwined. That’s why I needed you to come here so badly.”

“Uh. Sure,” he shrugged, stepping further into the room while Tsuji remained behind, for whatever reason. 

Thump! 

He felt his heart rate spike for a moment, his eyes landing upon the strange object standing in front of him. 

A singular, stone tablet.

The amount of Dark Mana radiating off it was inconceivable, the sheer quantity putting Takauji’s entire Mana Core to shame. 

Even the might of it was on a completely different level, which wasn’t too surprising, since it was the same might capable of giving a Third Circle Magician a heart attack with nothing more than a thought.

If such a high density of Dark Mana were to be let loose, he was confident that the entirety of Kamigyo Ward, and probably even most of Kyoto, would be consumed by it, which might’ve become reality if he hadn’t stopped the pale sky from exuding its influence earlier.

Slam! 

The stone doors slammed shut, causing him to jolt backwards as Tsuji was no longer anywhere to be seen. 

“Well, this ought to be fun,” he murmured quietly.

Once he turned around, a faint light began to emanate from the stone tablet, with words starting to appear sequentially one after the other. The writing wasn’t in Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, or English. Making it entirely unreadable for him.

Hebrew wasn’t precisely a curriculum of interest to the Japanese Educational Bureau. 

“Gah!” But out of the blue, the words started to play throughout his head, inducing a mild headache.

“When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come.” 

He gritted his teeth, clutching the sides of his head as the pain grew more and more fierce, taking a mild headache and elevating it to a full-blown migraine in a matter of seconds.

“I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him.” 

The Dark Mana accumulated around the tablet started to shift, moving towards Takauji and enveloping him like an ice-cold blanket.

“Authority was given to them over a fourth of the Earth.”

The Mana started to resonate with him, the drumming pain in his head starting to subside just as quickly as it had made its presence known.

“To kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the Earth.”

And then it swallowed him. Drowning him in a depthless sea of raw power he couldn’t even begin to fathom, displacing him from Kamigyo Ward entirely. 

“Hello.” 

Once he recomposed himself, Takauji was met with the sight of a medium-sized room, with no doors, windows, or anything that would suggest something outside the confines of its walls existed.

All there was, was a table. With a concerning amount of fast food on it, from a chain he didn’t even recognize. 

And a man, who was so thin that it also made him appear like a skeleton. He was dressed in a dark business suit and wore a long black topcoat over it; he carried a steel-tipped cane with him, and his jet-black pupils were enlarged to an eerie degree.

“It’s good to see you again, Shogun.” His voice was calm, elegant, and composed. Just from looking at the man, Takauji was instinctively sure he eclipsed him in every way, shape, and form, yet the man’s voice held no sense of arrogance or superiority. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met before.” 

“Not in this life, no, but I did meet you when you were a little… Older.” The man leaned to the side, observing Takauji’s figure. “Believe me, I wanted you to keep your memories, but I knew they were bound to distract you from what’s really important. So I took the liberty of holding onto them, as long as you don’t fail to live up to my expectations, you’re sure to get them back.” 

The man took a seat, gesturing for Takauji to sit in the chair adjacent to him. 

“Surely you’re not referring to…” 

“What else would I be referring to? The same name, the same face, the same powers, the same bloodline.” He let out an exasperated sigh, “But if saying it aloud will hasten this conversation, then I’ll go ahead and do just that. The Ashikaga Takauji from seven hundred years ago, and the Ashikaga Takauji standing right in front of me are the same person. Now sit.” 

A cold shiver ran down his spine, urging Takauji to seat himself as quickly as possible.

“Good,” the man slid a burger and a strawberry shake over to him. “Now then, let’s talk about your future. Tell me, what do you know about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?” 

He paused for a moment, taken aback by the seemingly out of pocket question. 

Still, he needed to offer an answer if he didn’t want to try the man’s patience any further.

“I mean, there’s War, Famine, Pestilence, and…” 

Takauji’s eyes widened as much as he could, his breath hitching a little as he looked him dead in the eyes. An unnerving possibility seeping into his mind. 

“Go on.” 

“...Death.” 

“You’re half right.” 

“What?” 

“I am Death, but I’m not your universe’s Death. I’m not even really here, this is just a fragment of my will I siphoned to handle this task for me while I attend to more important matters.” 

“Wait, wait, wait… You’re Death? As in just… Well… Death?” 

“I don’t recall suggesting that I could be anything else,” Death pointed at Takauji. “You’re Death as well, at least, that’s what the plan is.” 

“I don’t follow…” 

“Then maybe it would be in your best interests to cease your chatter and do some listening instead.” Immediately, Takauji had been silenced, Death achieving Sona’s wet dream with hardly any effort whatsoever. “Your universe is supposed to have a Death, but for some reason, that’s not the case. I imagine it’s somehow intertwined with the fact that you’re missing a God as well. Which is why I’ve graciously decided to come and intervene.” 

Great, first he had to deal with the realization that Death himself was sitting in front of him, chewing on an assortment of food, concerningly high in cholesterol, while also processing the fact that he was missing a God, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Moreover, he stated that he was also Death, which didn’t do much to ease his confusion.

For now, it was best to listen and learn.

“Instead, all you’ve got is Hades running around messing everything up. The River of Souls, the Balance of the Underworld, and the responsibility and duties that Reapers are supposed to uphold. He’s ruined it all, and no one’s stopping him. The inhabitants of this universe seem to be too idiotic to realize it, but leaving him unchecked is bound to lead to the total immolation of the natural order.”

Death paused, taking a moment to sip on his coffee-flavoured shake. Which filled Takauji with a tinge of envy, that was his favorite flavour after all.

“That’s why you’re going to fix all of this. And I’m going to offer you a bit of assistance in doing so; however, don’t expect me to hand-hold you like some lost child.”

“How?” That was all he could ask.

“By becoming your universe’s me. You will start from scratch, learn how to embody Death properly, and once you’re strong and well-learned enough, you’ll get rid of Hades, and this universe will be able to live out its normal life span instead of perishing early. When that happens, all you need to do is lock the door behind you once everything’s over. Such is the role of Death.”

“I’m sorry…” He stammered, deciding to push aside the implication that the universe was going to end for another time, “But I’m really struggling to follow along here.”

“I searched this universe for a suitable Death, and you were the person I ended up deeming compatible enough.” Death poked Takauji’s chest, “However, I realized your soul was far too feeble back then to handle the full power that came with being Death. If I had given you the role back then, you would’ve imploded after reaching a certain point. So as a courtesy, I let you live out your full life before taking your soul and strengthening it, and allowing it to be reborn. Thankfully, it only took a short seven hundred years to achieve a satisfactory level.”

A short seven hundred years, if anyone were qualified to say such a thing, it would be Death.

“You were supposed to arrive here the second you awakened, but this lesser version of me failed to foresee a thing or two, which I suppose is why you ended up taking longer. Not that I particularly care anymore, you’re here now, and we can finally get to work.”

“Wait, so the screen…” 

“It was supposed to activate it when you came here, but your soul proved strong enough to do so without my assistance.” Death wore a faint smile, “Who would’ve thought? Even when I failed, I did so with upward momentum. Managing my strength truly is quite difficult without my actual consciousness here, that, added with the burden of however many wills it created.”

“The problem was, without my assistance, you couldn’t absorb the power of Death, which is stored with me here. So all it did was subtly guide you with your existing abilities, when its actual job was to guide you on how to properly assume the mantle of Death. Don’t worry, I’ll let you keep most of the stuff you’ve worked on thus far; some of it will come in handy for your job. Although, don’t expect any more freebies from now on. My generosity is limited.”

“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to get a say in this?” 

“Because you don’t,” Death replied bluntly. “But it’s not as if I’m stripping you of free will, I just need you to do your job, your real job. Nobody will be able to do anything if the universe collapses anyway, so I highly suggest you take this seriously.” 

“All I’m understanding here is that you want me to become Death, but I still don’t know what that actually means.” 

“That’s why you’re here, and I’m going to give you a crash course on being Death. Of course, you won’t even have a fraction of my strength when you clock in for the first time. You’re going to have to work your way up to that on your own.” 

[Evolution Command Initiated.] 

[Race Evolution Initiated: Human → Quasi-Death.] 

[Rank Alteration Initiated: 2nd Circle Magician → Lesser Grim Reaper.]

[Numerical Grading System no longer deemed suitable, interchange for Letter Grading System.]

[Elemental Affinity Awakened! — Soul (E).] 

[Fusing components (Mana) and (Chakra) → Spiritual Pressure (E+).] 

[Altering Skill(s) utilizing (Mana) and (Chakra).] 

[Power Source Awakened! — Spiritual Energy (5000/5000).] 

[Rebooting System.]

───

Name: Ashikaga Takauji

Race: Quasi-Death

Rank: Lesser Grim Reaper

Elemental Affinity: Dark (D+), Soul (E) 

Subclass: Intermediate Artificer

(Spiritual Energy) SE: 5000/5000

Stat Sheet:

(Strength) STR: D-

(Vitality) VIT: D+

(Intelligence) INT: B-

(Dexterity) DEX: C+

(Speed) SPD: C

(Spiritual Pressure) SP: E+ 

───

Takauji’s mouth was left hanging wide open. 

He couldn’t even begin to formulate a sentence; everything about him had just changed in the blink of an eye. 

“You’re welcome for the lack of pain, by the way, I would’ve let you writhe in the sensation of your genome being altered if it weren’t for the fact that I need you sharp while I show you the ropes.” Death tossed his silver-tipped cane towards Takauji, which he reflexively caught. “This is your Death Scythe by the way, make sure you don’t lose it. It’s a Grim Reaper’s most important tool.” 

A Death Scythe was a special type of weapon exclusive to Grim Reapers, capable of cutting the lifespan of whoever was slashed by it, thanks to a special kind of curse that was imbued in the weapon.

“I know you have an assortment of questions you’d love to barrage me with, but first allow me to teach you what I was programmed to teach—and then I’ll see what I can tell you afterwards.” 

Death snapped his fingers, and their surroundings changed.

━━━━

I know there’s probably a mountain of questions you all want to ask me, and while I plan on progressively answering most of them throughout this “learning” arc. Feel free to go ahead and ask them just in case I miss a thing or two.  

Time for me to reveal what this story’s actually about! Woohoo! 

No matter the verse, Aizen always ends up a Soul Reaper! Or Grim Reaper in this case.