Eren turned to the last remaining humans amongst the corpses of goblins, naga, and red sands. A small group of about a dozen, held by shadow. Their faces were a mixture of fear, and horror.
"Por favor señor, no nos mate. Mercede, mercede!" (Please sir, don't kill us. Mercy, mercy!)
One man, nearing the end of his working career pleaded on the ground, head pressed hard into the crimson sand.
The rest soon followed; begging, pleading, and crying for the lives.
For the moment the Reaper remained silent. He had his mind elsewhere.
Eyes dragged back to the town; a presence was near. An invisible gaze that was set upon the white-haired reaper.
"Master... What do we do with these ones?" Jun whose presence had gone unnoticed since the start of the battle. The reaper had forgotten his existence entirely.
He still held a worried expression.
"Allow me to help you-"
"I'll handle this." The reaper commanded; walking towards the group. Each step brought a new feeling of despair to the workers.
"English..."
The men and women looked to each other. Scared to answer, but more afraid to not. One man came forward, still low, kicking the crimson sand as he scurried along to the base of the monsters' feet.
"Sí... Uh yes... What do you need?" His tone was shaky, but a small sense of relief that the situation may not end up with a blade to the throat. A small glimmer of hope in the crimson sands.
"El Rey Sol. Name? Age? Appearance?" The Reaper demanded from the man who could only cower and look away.
"Y-Yes. Rey Sol is a big fat man, um… Japanese as well. He has visited a few times, never stays for long."
"Anything else?" The question made the man think for a moment.
A little distracted by the skull that leered over him like a hungry predator.
"He... Well, he is an investor with battle idol… A high-ranking member…"
Battle idol. A mega popular entertainment franchise machine; with hooks in every industry in the Japan. No different that it had a hand in the criminal world, with all the horror stories that idols had to endure to make it to the top of the leaderboards.
Every time Eren had the displeasure of gazing upon any related items to the franchise. It made him sick; watching all that melodrama and corporate product placements. Sometimes it was like he was the only one in the world not in on the schtick.
"Next... La sombra?"
That name, a ripple spread like a violent wave. Each of the workers began to shift uncomfortably, as if the name were some taboo. They all looked to one another.
"¡No…No! Él vendrá por todos nosotros." (No... no! He will come for us all!)
Another worker screamed out. Scurrying to her feet and struggling against the sand to escape the name.
*Fwip*
An arrow from the shadows, the tip pierced through the neck. Her body collapsed into the sands.
"Eren! You said you would leave the humans!" Jun stood between his mentor and the lowly drug packers.
Many would run, this name brought out insurmountable terror. But they were stuck between the name of a monster or the monster that stood before them.
"La sombra..." He repeated with more force.
"He is cartel clean man. Problems of cartel disappear into shadows with man. Never return."
La sombra... A shadow that strikes fear into the hearts of cartel and those in opposition to the blood tooth cartel.
Another monster that dwells in the shadows…
"You have provided everything I need. You may live... Archers." Switching back to Japanese. His shadows primed their bows to the group before them. Awaiting the signal.
"Eren! They have done nothing but follow orders! Let them leave!" Jun protested with the Reaper. These were just workers, not criminals that deserved death.
"Everybody is just doing their jobs; there can be no evil if everyone is simply caught in the cycle. Say it enough times and you can justify anything." The Reaper countered; raising a hand.
Bows at full draw and the workers began to beg again.
"NO!" Jun took Seraph from its seethe and held it out in front of himself. A challenge for the shadows to fire upon him.
"They don't deserve this. I won't allow it. The Eren I know wouldn't allow this!"
Unmoved and unfazed by the challenge from Jun, Eren's hand remained high.
Sweat began to drip from the brow of Jun; the atmosphere grew heavy as the living and the dead waited for the monster's call.
He was sure if anyone were to move; the archers would fire and cut down the workers. Jun included.
"You would throw your life away for them... Crimson spice dealers, creators and runners. You've seen what the cartel can do, a poison to all that try to escape it. You would give your life for them?"
All lives have meaning, but if these people were the cause of many deaths and suffering should they be spared?
Although that question never once crossed Jun's mind, he never once faltered. He stood there, sword at the ready to strike down anyone in the way. His master or not, he would protect them.
"Master, I will do as I have been taught by you. To stand for those who need it. I won't let you kill them. Please, spare them."
A desperate attempt to appeal to the human that dwelled under the mask.
Slowly the Reaper lowered his hand; vanguards matching that slow descent.
"You will take the lives of each and every one? You will justice done when to these rats? Can you do that?"
Jun's resolve seemed to hold strong. Seraph slowly lowering as well.
He would be taking responsibility for every worker. He would take responsibility for the entire world if given the chance.
"Master... I will not fail." Jun replied whilst he bowed low.
The workers slumped their shoulders letting out long held, choked up breaths. Each looked to Jun with an appreciative glance, some with tears, others with joy. This unknown man had spared them a horrific fate.
"Then they are your responsibility." The Reaper turned away from the group.
Jun sheathed the blade and began to walk past Eren, allowing himself to smile at the result.
"Master... Thank you for your-"
*Fwoosh*
Jun's gratitude however was quickly swallowed whole by a bright burning heat.
A white sun took to the town, structures, vehicles, and bodies were engulfed in the flame in under a second.
The Reaper couldn't allow for the cartel to continue to operate within this gate. To permanently shut down this operation, he had to burn it all.
Jun could stand and watch as his master along with his shadows retreated into the white inferno.
"Master. What have you done..."
***
The roar of white flames and the crackling of wooden beams, the smell of burning rubber, as blackened smoke bellowed high up into the crimson sky.
He marched alone through the fire. His coat curling from the wind and heat that made way for its lord.
Although, not for long.
"Come out." The Reaper said to what he knew wasn't simply empty air.
A chuckle came from the exposed air; it was the same one that had been haunting the man since that night in the restaurant. A deep cackling, louder than the roar of the white flames.
"You've killed so many today, but you've spared the innocents. Is this all just for show? A good deed done in the wake of such bloodshed."
A wicked grim emerged from white flames; Eren's own face stared back at him. Dark, black eyes and pure white iris. An inverted version of the man.
"What do you want?" The Reaper demanded, the nodachi came back to his hand in an instant.
"You... use my powers, boon after boon. My strength after strengths. Yet, you still don't know. You still struggle. You still fight against me..."
The spectre took long, slow steps. The flames spread wider way for the entity. Bowing to its presence, and power.
"I'll ask you again. Who are-" Blade still pointed; but was brushed aside like a feather in the wind. An ease to which a man was cast aside, was not natural. At least, not normal for humans.
This was something else…
"You know me... Every day you call upon me. You are me; I am you. We are both a part of one another. I am your anger, rage, and hatred. All that makes us the monster."
"The ring?" The question that had to be asked. The silent thing finally made itself known after days of silence; taking the image of its host. To what end remained to be seen.
"What do you want?"
A long pause, a wicked smile that only widened. The dark eyes narrowed as the entity drew close to the Reaper's mask.
"The fall, your fall, our fall. The monster is what you are destined to be..." A finger trailed along the masks lower jaw, almost a loving caress.
"Answer the question-"
"Too be your landing, a soft cushion. To catch you when you fall and let you rise back up to where we belong."
Eren wanted to retort, to growl at the spectre; that no, this isn't and will never be what he sought.
But no words were uttered. A deep silence washed over the two as the flames began to sputter out. This shadow wanted to wear his skin. It wanted to drive the body, use to his own ends.
"Do you feel it? The anger... The pain. It's all there in that skull. Your mind. An itch that will never relent. Scratch at that skull until it's red and raw, that is madness law."
With that, the spectre began to backtrack into the white blaze, fading within the conflagration.
Once more Eren was alone. Or in the physical sense, shadows began to materialise from the white flames. Each held a blank expression.
"Master?" Megi trotted up to the base of the Reapers feet.
"..."
The Reaper continued without a word; a silent contemplation that would not be interrupted.
The spectre's words echoed in the skull, that madness law. An itch that could not be reached, could not be scratched.
Another problem to add to that large pile.