(MoD) Chapter 37: Yokoso, Watashi no Soul Society (Long Chapter)

Chapter 37: Yokoso, Watashi no Soul Society (Long Chapter)

After a lengthy, with a capital ‘L’, lecture from Death. Takauji had learned most of what he needed to know about the River of Souls. Primarily, the information regarding how it functioned, its purpose, and what he needed to do to bring the place back up to standard.

The River of Souls existed to ensure safe passage for the deceased, from the land of the living into the afterlife. Freeing them from the dangerous possibility of running into a vengeful spirit, or some kind of entity capable of afflicting them in any way, shape, or form while they moved on. 

Speaking of which, unlike in the land of the living, a spirit would never face the threat of turning into a vengeful spirit while they were in the River of Souls. It didn’t matter how long they chose to stay, days, months, years, centuries, their souls would never be corrupted since they were protected by “Death’s Authority.”

Or more precisely, they were protected by Takauji’s soul, which was tied to the River of Souls as Death had informed him a short while ago. One could think of it as an invisible blanket that sheltered the solitary expanse, allowing spirits to contemplate in peace before they moved on. 

On Earth, Takauji could still be harmed by entities that were powerful enough, especially since he was still a “Lesser Grim Reaper” according to the system; however, in the River of Souls, he was completely untouchable. Not even Hades himself was capable of beating him here, let alone getting into the place. Death had warded the place in a way that prevented the God of the Underworld from breaking and entering. Only Takauji and whoever he let inside were permitted entrance.

As for how “moving on” worked, well, it wasn’t nearly as simple as it sounded. Takauji wasn’t responsible for deciding whether someone went to Heaven or Hell; his only role was to lead spirits to the door once they had made peace with their demise. 

According to Death, where someone ended up was entirely up to their own psyche. If they carried a deep sense of guilt and self-loathing with them, they’d go to Hell, or whatever the equivalent was for the religion they believed in. The afterlife was basically a fabrication of a spirit’s mind. 

If they felt pure and were truly at peace with what they had done while they were alive, they’d go to Heaven or their religion’s equivalent. It didn’t matter if they were objectively horrible people; if they genuinely didn’t feel a lick of guilt or remorse, they’d still be able to go to Heaven. Takauji found this rather odd, but Death assured him that the world had a way of balancing itself out when needed, and that it wasn’t worth deliberating the matter.

In short, the afterlife just wasn’t their problem. That was for God, or Michael, who was now in charge of Heaven and Hades, who commanded the lower strata of the Underworld to deal with. 

Not everyone was aware of the Biblical God’s absence, leading Death to suggest that Takauji remain silent about the matter unless he were ever to obtain a justifiable reason for disclosing the truth. His job was already destined to be difficult enough, and there was no use in complicating it further by attracting the attention of a bunch of suspicious Seraphim.

Astonishingly enough, Death had told him there was a way to “elevate” an Archangel into the position of God. This would be highly ideal for him, as it would balance out Hades' unruly management with a force capable of countering him, if not overpowering him completely. 

Death refused to give him the complete answer, but the bottom line was that Takauji needed to look for a way to strengthen an Archangel’s soul through using the River of Souls. As for how he would execute such a feat in practice? That was for him to figure out on his lonesome—meaning he had yet another behemothic task to undertake.

Managing death itself, and creating Biblical God #2 to deal with a godly skeleton for him that happened to have an overinflated ego rivaling his own. 

How hard could it possibly be? Death stated that the stronger his Soul Affinity became, the greater his comprehension of them would become. Allowing him to one day have an understanding with enough depth to figure out how to solve the issue of a non-existent Biblical God.

Back on the topic of the afterlife, Heaven and Hell weren’t the only fates awaiting those who entered the River of Souls. There were two more possibilities; one of them being none other than purgatory. When a soul is corrupted to a point where not even a Grim Reaper’s Death Scythe can purify them, they’re sent to purgatory. 

For example, Stray Devils, such as Alenth, with corrupted Evil Pieces, would first need to be purified before they could pass on.

A place capable of purifying any soul to the point where they’re clean enough to move on, of course, the more corrupted the soul is, the more time they’ll need to spend in purgatory. Takauji had no intention of checking the place out for himself, since Death had already painted a rather unpleasant picture for him. 

Then there was the last possible fate for a resident of the river, one that was far more pleasant than purgatory.

It was simply to remain here indefinitely. 

Believers in atheism, nihilism, and other similar ideologies obviously had no concept of an afterlife. Therefore, their minds wouldn’t be capable of creating a Heaven or Hell for them, and they would be unable to open the door that would lead them to the next life.

And what was stopping them from doing so? They wouldn’t turn into a vengeful spirit no matter how long they remained here, and Takauji’s soul, alongside Death’s warding, was keeping them all safe from any outside invaders capable of attacking them like already existing vengeful spirits and Youkai.

Of course, just because they didn’t have to worry about anything harming them from the outside, didn’t mean there wasn’t a threat of them being harmed from the inside. 

The only thing that could affect the residents of the river was the presence of other residents in the river. Those with less powerful souls didn’t need to consume anything here to survive. Still, the same couldn’t be said for those with stronger ones, like the supernatural souls that resided: Exorcists, Magicians, Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, Youkai, so on and so forth.

Only food grown in the River of Souls was capable of satiating them, and considering its current state, famine was easily one of the most significant issues the place was currently facing.

People were bound to fight over the scarce resources here. Unless the river itself was replenished with spiritual energy again, the situation was likely to remain stagnant for the foreseeable future. Only the river itself had the power to nourish the land once more.

The happier the people of this land were, the more spiritual energy the river would gather, as it drew from their positive emotions. It could also grow from having more people successfully pass through into the afterlife. Currently, most people go to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory without actually making it into the river first, thanks to Hades not bothering to manage the place and using his Grim Reapers primarily for his amusement rather than directing them in a manner that adequately fulfilled his and their responsibilities.

[River of Souls — Current Spiritual Energy Content (0.2%).] 

‘Fuck!’ Takauji bit down on his lower lip, his mood quickly souring. ‘This place is literally on the brink of collapse!’

Death had made it clear that this wasn’t going to be an easy job, but only now was he understanding just how dire the situation had become. It was also why Takauji’s Soul was so much weaker than it was supposed to be; he protected the river, and the river fueled his strength. If the river was weak, then he was weak.

“You seem overwhelmed,” Death hummed calmly. “Might I offer a suggestion?” 

“Please do,” Takauji said, for once in his life, he was more than happy to swallow his pride.

“For starters, you have absolutely no workforce to your name. Whereas Hades has an entire legion of Grim Reapers at his disposal, even if his management ability is worse than that of a malformed toddler—” 

“Strength in numbers,” Takauji nodded in conclusion.

“Precisely,” Death smiled approvingly. “You need to start creating some Grim Reapers of your own, unless you want to manage all of this, including the duty of reaping souls from the living world on your own.” 

Takauji’s eyes widened in surprise. “I can create Grim Reapers?” 

“You can’t make them out of thin air if that’s what you're imagining, at least not at your current level,” Death read him like an open book. “However, you can take an existing soul and transform it into a first-generation Grim Reaper, or as I like to call them, a General.”

It was also possible to turn living people into Grim Reapers. Still, the difference in strength between Takauji and his target would need to be drastically larger than that of an already deceased soul. The transformative process for someone alive was a lot more burdensome on the soul of the transformer. If Takauji wasn’t careful, the pressure could lead him to receive some severe damage to his soul. Which was considerably harder to repair than bodily damage.

“Reapers have generations?” 

“Mhm, a General is a Grim Reaper created directly by us, they’re referred to as first-generations. Any Grim Reapers they create are referred to as second-generation. Sometimes I call them Footsoldiers. They aren’t capable of creating Grim Reapers like Generals can, but they can reproduce with other species to create hybrids or third-generation Reapers. Their power varies from individual to individual, but you won’t need to worry about that until your force reaches a certain size.”

‘Just how much am I going to need to learn for this job? Granted, this is Death we’re talking about, so I suppose I shouldn’t be all that surprised,’ He nodded inwardly. ‘Besides, I’m a genius. It won’t take me that long to get the hang of it.’ For now, he decided it was best to just go along with everything Death told him; his questions could wait for another time.

“How do I go about creating a General?” 

“Once you have a soul, all you have to do is bind them to yourself. With your current strength, your soul is capable of sustaining about three Generals, which will increase as your soul becomes stronger. Also, all the spells you’ve created and will create will be shared with them through the connection of your souls.” 

‘Woah. I guess he wasn’t lying when he said my Magic experience was going to come in handy.’ 

Finally, things had started to look a little brighter. 

However, there was a striking problem he’d need to address regarding his Magecraft.

Upon becoming “Death”, Takauji had lost both his Chakra and Mana, which had been replaced by something called “Spiritual Energy.” Meaning he would need to completely relearn how to use all of his abilities, as well as the creation of them, including the Yin Release Formation he had been working on for quite some time.

‘Doesn't this mean my “Dark” Affinity isn't related to Mana anymore? It should be “Dark Spiritual Energy” from now on, whatever that’s supposed to be. I wonder how it’s going to function?’ Yet, he wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest. On the contrary, he was excited to put his intelligence towards something far grander than simply being a Magician. 

He was the most intelligent creature alive! It was only right that he was entrusted with one of, if not the most critical, tasks in the universe.

“If you’re wondering, you can still adopt a calculative approach to Magic even though you no longer have access to Mana.” 

“I can?” 

“Of course, Devils use Demonic Power, which thrives on imagination. However, one of the strongest Devils in your universe has shaped their Demonic Power to use calculation and equations instead. With enough know-how and determination, things most deem impossible are possible.” He simpered, encouraging his junior to explore his newfound abilities as much as he wanted to. 

Sure, Takauji was bound to make mistakes with the amount of dormant power he had at his disposal, but that was all part of the learning process—trial and error. As long as Takauji ended up stabilizing the River of Souls in the end, Death didn’t care how rocky the path towards that end was. 

“Now then, I already have a soul you're familiar with for you to transform.” Death snapped his fingers, causing a figure Takauji hardly expected to see again to appear beside him. “Don’t worry, if you find them to be unsatisfactory, you can always kill them and have someone else take their place.” 

‘Oh for fuck’s sake, you could’ve chosen literally anyone else!’ 

“What the hell? Where am I—” A familiar, feminine figure stared at Takauji with bleary eyes, her confusion quickly turning to smugness once she recognized him. "Well, well, well. If it isn’t servant-kun!” She cackled, “Looks like you finally bit the dust! I hope your death was as painful as I imagined, and believe me, I had quite the creative sight cooked up in here.” She stabbed her thumb into her temple.

“I’m not dead, idiot,” Takauji rolled his eyes. 

The red-haired, vampiric-looking woman in front of him was none other than Alenth, the Stray Devil he had hunted on Sona’s orders after he became a Second Circle Magician.

Who was still naked for some unfathomable reason. Although there weren't any clothing shops in the area, the chances of her putting any on, even if they were available, were awfully slim.

And of course, she was still half-centipede. Since she was unwilling to move on into the afterlife, her soul hadn’t been sent to purgatory to be cleansed beforehand, hence why she remained in her distorted form. 

“Ah?” She raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean? Everyone here’s dead smartass, are you just having trouble accepting your fate or something? Hmph, how pathetic!” 

“Do I look translucent to you?” He waved his arm, “I’m a Grim Reaper now, and I’m offering you a chance to live again, so I suggest you knock off the attitude and pay attention.” 

Alenth stepped forward, narrowing her eyes as she examined Takauji in close detail. “Grim Reaper? Since when? Wait! Is that how you beat me back then? You cheated! You’re a big fat cheater!” 

Takauji groaned, rubbing his face as the realization of how strenuous dealing with Alenth was going to be settled in. 

“I wasn’t a Reaper, actually, I’m still mostly human.” The system classified his race as “Quasi-Death”, which meant there was still some human left in him, at least for the time being. The stronger he became, the closer he’d become to fully embodying Death. “But right now that’s not important, all you need to know is that I’m giving you a chance to return to the land of the living. If anything, you should be grateful that someone as worthless as yourself is being given any consideration whatsoever.” 

Alenth scoffed, crossing her arms while wearing an amused look on her face. “Yeah yeah, I’m sure you’re doing this all out of the kindness of your own heart. Just hurry up and get to the point already. What do you want from me?” 

“I’m offering to resurrect you as a Grim Reaper,” he smirked inwardly, noticing her immediate eagerness despite her attempt to mask her emotions. “You’ll live on as my servant, and I’ll expect you to follow my every command without question. Otherwise, I’ll drop you back into this wasteland as a wandering soul, and you can go back to rotting away as you probably should be.” 

Alenth hadn’t exactly been a saint while she was alive, but her morality was hardly of any concern to him. If she could prove herself useful, then that was all that mattered; truthfully, he hardly even remembered their battle anymore, even though it hadn’t been that long since it happened.

“You want to make a Stray Devil into a subordinate?” Alenth chuckled darkly, “Not exactly the sharpest nail in the shed, are we?” 

Takauji grinned, his confidence unwavering. “You couldn’t even scratch me while I was a human, what could you possibly do to me now?” Furthermore, the pact an Evil Piece created between master and servant couldn’t even begin to compare to that of a connection built between Takauji and a Grim Reaper he created. 

Their souls were directly bound to him, physically; they were powerless to do anything but rebel.

“Tch, you got lucky that time.” Dying after slipping across the floor like a cartoon character wasn’t exactly the most honorable way to go. 

“You’re free to interpret it as you wish, just hurry up and make a decision. Either you remain here, or you become my underling.” He had no interest in sugarcoating the reality of his offer. If she chose to accept, which he was reasonably confident she would, he planned to work her to the absolute bone.

Alenth took a deep breath, falling silent as she took some time to think. 

As of now, life in the River of Souls was horrible. The passage of time was the same as on Earth, but even spending a few weeks in the river was mind-numbing. Traversing a never-ending lifeless wasteland, where the only food you could find, if you were someone unfortunate enough to have a stronger soul, was bits and pieces of grass with microscopic amounts of spiritual energy remaining in them.

There was no sense of civilization, no housing, and no order. The cold, hard ground below you was the only form of bedding you could obtain. And every encounter with another wandering soul could be your last, with no rules, it was fair game to anyone hoping to plunder someone else’s loot, even if it would only garner them a bite or two.

At the moment, there were exactly 426,977 wandering souls in the river. The number was supposed to be a lot higher, but with the river’s quickly diminishing reserves, accepting every soul into the river like it was supposed to just wasn’t an option. 

The best ending you could get was moving on to the afterlife, but even Alenth had enough self-awareness to know that she wasn’t going to be one of those people. Her mind and inner peace mixed like oil and water.

“Fine,” Alenth sighed. “I’ll be your subject if that’s what you want.” 

“Good,” he said, looking at Death. “What do I do now?” 

“Who are you talking to?” Alenth wondered, looking around Takauji, but not getting an answer from her soon-to-be master.

“All you have to do is reach into her soul and look for the rope binding her to the river of souls. Once you’ve done that, grab it and connect it to your own. The transformation process will begin immediately,” Death instructed him.

He nodded, extending his arm out towards Alenth’s abdomen. 

“Stay still,” he ordered her. 

“Hey! What are you—!” She yelped in surprise as his hand seamlessly passed through her body. “Eeek! That tickles!” 

“Be quiet, I’m trying to concentrate.” He closed his eyes, reaching around the abyssal expanse that was Alenth’s soul in search of the “rope” Death had told him to look for. 

‘There!’ He clasped his hands around a faint wisp of incredible energy he could feel swimming around her soul, pulling it towards him and chaining it to his own.

Swish! Swish! 

“Woah,” Alenth marveled in awe as dark currents filled with ten times the spiritual energy her soul was currently holding gathered around her figure, the translucence of her body quickly beginning to solidify into actual, tangible flesh, bones, and muscle.

Her arthropodic lower half started to dissipate, her soul mending together once more as it repaired all the damage becoming the Stray Devil had done to it, her set of one hundred stick-like legs turning into two humanoid ones. 

A black robe that was semi-tattered around the bottom enveloped her, finally covering her large, exposed breasts and crotch area, followed by her very own Death Scythe appearing in her hand—the design being a standard one instead of the strange cane design Takauji’s Scythe had adopted.

“How’s the new body?” 

“Better, much better,” thanks to the reconstruction of her soul, her voice was no longer distorted. 

Takauji had officially recruited his first General.

“Now that that’s handled,” Death continued. “Let’s talk about Grim Reaper politics.” 

‘Wonderful, that’s exactly what I want to hear after just realizing how much work I’m going to have to do.’ 

━━━━

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I feel that my approach to writing in general has been a little too rigid lately. So, I decided to be a little looser with it to allow for more creative freedom.

I didn’t want this book just to be a rerun of DxD’s canon plot with an OC, so I thought adding a semi-kingdom-building” aspect to it would spice things up, otherwise all you’d read about is another powerful MC doing the same thing as everything else. 

Having a sense of purpose is enriching isn’t it? 

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to leave them below. And leave a like as well idk. 

I’ve also been thinking of exploring the whole “Takauji being Aizen” angle a little more and introducing some bleach characters, but I’m not sure if y’all would like or find it immersion breaking. So let me know what you think about it, and if you do want to see some bleach characters, drop some suggestions. 

I’m thinking of starting with the Zero Division characters atm.