Chapter 13: Chapter 13 – The Fourth Horseman

"...That is a Reaper" Ferru said, in a shaky tone as the monster slowly crept closer, occasionally letting out a low clicking noise and twitching its head. Calico was wide-eyed and shaking in fear. Even I... Was not actually very effected, but I felt like there was some kind of pressure emitting from the creature. I placed a hand each on both Calico and Ferru's shoulders.

Iris: "Come on. Collect yourselves. We have to fight now."

I looked at them as I spoke to try and encourage them, and took my weapons out, getting into a stance. The monster was still about 50 feet away, and it had a range of maybe 12 feet extending its scythes.

Iris: "Ferru, can you block the scythes from that thing? And Calico, you can't use fire magic in here, use ice if you can."

Calico nodded while Ferru spoke "I don't think I can. A reaper's scythes are extremely sharp and can cut through normal steel easily. My sword will probably snap, and I won't be losing a wrist."

It was now 40 feet away. I would imagine it's waiting for us to make the first move, it is certainly faster than this.

Iris: "Then focus on evading when you move in to fight it."

It was almost time to engage. 30 Feet. It took another step forward. My mind was racing, I could feel the pressure even more now and I could see how its head almost reached the ceiling.

Iris: "Now!" I leapt forward and fired two shots, one at the chest armor and another at the head. My bullet bounced off the chitin and the head was blocked by one of its scythes. The other one came slicing through the air towards me but I dropped into a slide and slid under it as I struck its legs. My knife hardly chipped the chitin and I was now behind it. I could see on it's back from the neck, there was a thin slit of hide between the armor that extended down about a foot.

The scythe that blocked my bullet chopped down at Ferru, who managed to dodge the blade and counterattack with a two-handed strike, bouncing off its waist as the second scythe crashed into his stomach and sent him flying with a loud "Guh-haah!".

Calico: "Frost Barrage!" Out came calico's activation word, and in the air around her formed 5 icicles, shooting out one after another like missiles at the creature. The reaper in turn cut down two, deflected another with its armor by twisting, blocked the one flying at it's head, and took a direct hit to the torso, cracking the armor and piercing it a bit. The Reaper let out an angry hiss from the slit on its head. Calico's magic sure was powerful, she could even be C class.

The moment the barrage ended, I once again bolted forward and aimed at the scaly hide it had been protecting this whole time, firing two shots at its head from behind, but it managed to dodge by tilting its head to the side, as though it could see me. Then the blunt of a scythe came flying from my blind spot and i was sent crashing into the wall, like a direct hit from the abomination I thought in the streets of District 13. I died this time. There was no escaping a direct hit from a monster like this.

Why was it so many humans and creatures lived underground, instead of on the surface? Licht had thought before. The answer is because, Aerial Superiority is everything outside. Where the sky is vast and the ground is sparse for cover. Every predator on the Outside could fly to some degree. And every prey could dig. They burrowed to escape from the fearsome talons and claws and teeth descending from the sky on wings of feather or hide. Then why didn't prey evolve to fly? Because there was no need to. Burrowing was a very effective survival method. Even man, man can dig tunnels and build shelters. Man and creature alike could live inside supercaverns, free of the merciless skies.

But then, how could life be sustained in the absence of sun? This was because of the prevalence of magic. Trees inside the super caverns did not need UV light to produce nutrients, instead they sustained themselves by gathering Mana from the air. And water from the ground, which also contained mana. Similarly, while humans in Licht's world needed some sun to survive because they needed the vitamins provided, humans here could substitute with mana. It was surely the case for the creatures living in the caves aswell. Then, why could humans not see in the dark? The answer is, that, they actually can. Just poorly. Man had the worst night sight of all creatures, relying on using mana to make out vague details in the darkness. Man could also simply use magical light to see in the darkness, so night vision was unnecessary for their evolution. 

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But this got Licht thinking. What if I could see in the dark? What if I could see the mana in the air and match it to the environment around me? Surely it must be possible. The principle is there. And so he got training on that aswell as healing magic. And it slowly improved inside the tunnel until him and Iris could properly see in the dark, improving their Scouting ability. Naturally, using mana to see, Licht could now sense everything in a 360° range, although the range was short.

I woke up. Everything hurt and my head was ringing. I turned my neck to understand the situation but I couldn't make anything out at the moment. I should be dead, why aren't I?

Licht: I saw the scythe coming at us and barely managed to twist our body so it didn't hit our vital organs. Then we got lucky. I agree, we should be dead anyway now.

Lucky, huh. I held my head and soon the scene infront of me came into focus. Calico was impaled on one of the reaper's scythes, hanging limply, as Ferru charged at the monster, deflecting the blade and thrusting at the chest with all his strength, penetrating the armor and burying the blade all the way through. The Reaper sent out a shrill shriek as it staggered for a moment. Ferru looked victorious, until the scythe swung up at him with terrible speed and put a huge gash in his chest, forcing him to his knees. I got to mine and began to stand up.

I clutched my dagger hard, and holstered my gun as i scowled at the Reaper. At Death given form. It flicked off Calico from it's scythe and slowly rattled out that rapid clicking noise, before snapping it's head towards me and turning my way.

Licht: I believe it uses biological sonar to detect creatures. ...I have an idea

I too absorbed the plan he came up with, and took something out from my pouch. I rushed towards the reaper with reckless abandon, and just before I entered it's range, I threw a steam canister at its head. It swung at both me and the canister. I slid under the blade again, all the way behind it, and the canister was chopped in half.

CKE-PPISSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEE

The canister exploded violently in the face of the Reaper and let out an extremely loud bang and hiss, as it staggered around disoriented. The blade that chopped through it was blown completely off its joint and dug into the wall. While it was trilling, staggered and disoriented, I leapt up onto its back and plunged my dagger into the soft spot, piercing into it and making it shriek in pain. My dagger was at the base of the neck, at the top of the gap in its neck, and it lashed out in pain and shock. The blades flung out all around, slashing apart the walls, ground and ceiling as I held onto its back. It looks like the blades couldn't reach here, so I pulled my blue-soaked dagger out and plunged it into its domes, making it shake and thrash even more wildly as I robbed it of its sight. The seam in the the front was a mouth that opened up into thousands of teeth as it let out its shrill scream.

My body was also screaming in agony from all the damage I've sustained, as it began trying to slam its back into the wall. It succeeded once and I could feel my body being crushed, but I still hung on, and with a furious battle cry I plunged my dagger back into its neck and ripped violently downwards into the gap, blue blood spraying out with my brutal motion before the reaper finally slowed down and collapsed forward onto the ground.

I stabbed several more times into the flesh, making sure it was dead as it twitched from the strikes, and i panted heavily. Covered in blood again, battered and bruised. A familiar feeling. One I would rather not get used to. I looked over at Calico and Ferru. They were now certainly dead, and my heart sunk as I looked at them.

Iris: "...Maybe I am cursed."

Licht didn't stop me from saying it this time. I could also feel his depression. I had won. There was no question about that, but the cost was great. I sat on the corpse of the reaper for several minutes before climbing to my feet and breathing in deep. Which was a mistake, as a sharp pain ran through my body. Being careful with my breathing, I went over to Calico and Ferru and took their tags. Then I collected Ferru's gauntlet and Calico's tome, as well as their dimensional bags. Then I dismantled the reaper. I took several undamaged plates of chitin with me, stuffing them into the dimensional bags. During my dismantling, I found that the gap on the back of the reaper had the brain at the bottom, which I destroyed when ripping downwards into the gap. I wondered why it would be exposed like that. But I decided to forget about biology and just took what I could, including the scythes. 

Then I left, looking back only once.