The air grew heavier the closer Ren got to the Reaper Tree.
Smoke and blood choked the narrow paths of the crumbling village. The scent wasn't just rot—it was despair. Spirit Beasts prowled through the haze like phantoms. Every few seconds, a scream pierced the gloom, only to be silenced with a wet snap or an explosive crunch.
Ren's feet slammed the dirt, his sickle trailing black streaks of spectral residue as he sprinted. His borrowed body—fifteen, underfed, trembling—shouldn't have been able to move like this.
[Reaper Form: 00:47 remaining][Reaper Points: 17][Tracking Beacon Active – Objective: Village Shrine 210 meters]
He passed shattered homes. Bodies. Ghosts.
Some of the dead hadn't moved on yet—pale blue wisps hovered over their corpses, sobbing without sound, clinging to the last memories of life. He couldn't help them. Not now. The system didn't even register them.
They were already gone.
But ahead, something pulsed in the darkness. A pale, gnarled silhouette rising above the rooftops like a skeletal finger pointing toward heaven.
The Reaper Tree.
It wasn't a tree in any traditional sense. No leaves. No bark. Just twisted bone-white roots curled like muscle sinew around a black obelisk of stone. From its base to its tip, glowing reaper runes flickered in dead languages. The area around it pulsed with deathly calm, like the eye of a storm.
And yet…
It was under siege.
Five Spirit Beasts surrounded the shrine plaza—three ape-like creatures with bone clubs fused to their arms, one centipede the size of a wagon slithering through the outer wall, and a shrieking flying serpent with translucent wings that bled mist.
Villagers lay scattered—some dead, some dying. A half-collapsed palisade of spirit wards flickered weakly, barely holding.
And in the center of it all, a boy no older than ten stood guard—shaking, crying, clutching a short wooden staff marked with fading talismans.
[Warning: Shrine Guardian Detected – Soul Signature Incompatible][Spiritual Field Deteriorating: 12% integrity][Sub-Objective Active: Defend Shrine – 5 Spirit Beasts Remaining]
Ren's fingers tightened around his sickle.
[Would you like to spend 10 Reaper Points to extend Reaper Form by 60 seconds?][Y/N]
"Yes."
[Reaper Form Extended – 00:59 remaining][Current Reaper Points: 7]
He burst into the plaza like a black gale.
The first ape turned, club raised. Too slow.
Ren ducked under the swing and slashed upward, carving a deep arc across its abdomen. The sickle cut through spiritual flesh like a hot wire through wax. Soul matter sprayed into the air like dark stardust.
[Critical Weak Point Hit – Internal Core Exposed][Reap Now for Bonus Points?][Y/N]
"YES."
Ren twisted mid-motion, dragging the sickle through the exposed core with precision honed from a thousand hours of boss fight mechanics.
The beast howled and detonated, its soul torn clean in a spiral of black flame.
[Reaper Points +8][Soul Vision → Lv. 3][Spirit Beast 1 of 5 Eliminated]
The other apes roared. One lunged.
Ren pivoted, used its momentum, and plunged the sickle into its side. No core hit—but damage. It screamed and reeled. The centipede lunged, mouth full of jagged teeth.
Too many at once.
[Skill Ready: Death Sense Lv. 1 – Predictive Combat Instinct Enabled]
Everything slowed again—but differently. This wasn't reflex enhancement. It was foreknowledge. Flickering images danced in the edge of Ren's sight—ghost-echoes of the next few seconds.
The centipede would lunge. The serpent would dive. The third ape would try to flank.
Ren moved before they did.
He slid left, letting the centipede slam into a broken wall. The serpent dove and hit air. The ape leapt—
—straight into Ren's rising sickle.
[Reap Successful][Reaper Points +9][Spirit Beast 2 of 5 Eliminated]
"Three left," he muttered, exhaling sharp and cold. His limbs were trembling again. Even with boosts, this body couldn't handle drawn-out combat.
But he wasn't alone.
"Boy!" he barked toward the young shrine guardian. "Draw the barrier circle again. You still have talismans?"
The kid flinched. "Y-y-yes!"
"Then hurry! Use blood if you have to!"
The kid scrambled to the obelisk, drawing with trembling hands.
The serpent shrieked and dove again.
Ren hurled his sickle like a discus—instinct again, not logic—and the weapon spun through the air, striking the beast in the wing.
[Weapon Return Skill Unlocked: Shadow Hook Lv. 1][Reaper Weapon Bound – Recall Enabled]
With a flick of his wrist, the sickle boomeranged back in a whip of black light. Ren caught it, leapt onto the writhing serpent, and stabbed downward.
[Soul Core Hit – Reaping Initiated][Reaper Points +10][Spirit Beast 3 of 5 Eliminated]
Two left.
But Reaper Form was fading.
[Time Remaining: 00:11]
Ren hit the dirt as the centipede charged again. It coiled around the shrine, mouth frothing spiritual poison.
He couldn't fight both it and the ape. Not head-on.
But he didn't have to.
[New Option: Spirit Binding Circle Detected – Ritual Activation Possible][Cost: 1 Reaper Core Fragment. Effect: Trap Weakened Souls for Harvest or Control][Use Fragment? Y/N]
Ren blinked. A new icon glowed beneath his feet.
"…Yes."
The air shifted.
The ground beneath the shrine glowed with spectral sigils as the Reaper Tree pulsed. The shrine guardian screamed as energy poured from the obelisk into the lines he'd drawn. A circle flared.
The centipede was inside it.
[Ritual Circle Activated – Soul Trap Deployed][Capture in Progress: 57%… 72%… 99%… 100%]
[Beast Bound: Lesser Centipede Lord (Captured)][Choice: Reap or Subjugate?]
[Subjugate for Spirit Companion Requires Core Fusion (1 Fragment + 20 RP)][Current Resources: 1 Fragment, 17 RP]
Ren hesitated. Subjugate? A companion?
He stared at the beast, now writhing, paralyzed in the trap, its core exposed. Its soul wasn't like the others. It was fractured—but intelligent. A glimmer of will still flickered.
He made a choice.
"…Subjugate."
[Core Fusion Commencing…][Spirit Companion Bound: Lesser Centipede Lord – 'Kurai']
[Abilities Unlocked: Burrow, Poison Cloud, Sensory Thread][Spirit Slot 1/3 Filled]
Ren dropped to one knee. His vision swam. But the system chimed again.
[Spirit Beast 4 of 5 Eliminated][Final Threat Remaining – Berserker Ape]
The last ape roared, blood-mad, and charged.
Ren raised his sickle.
Kurai, the bound centipede, rose like a demon from the circle, hissing as its poison cloud filled the air.
The ape didn't even reach them.
[Final Threat Eliminated – Assist Kill Logged][Reaper Points +6][Mission Complete: Survive the First Night]
[Reward Acquired: Reaper Core Fragment ×1][Reaper System Level: UNLOCKED]
[Class Promotion Available – Choose Path at Dawn]
Ren collapsed to the ground, body trembling. The shrine glowed faintly behind him. The child guardian sobbed with relief.
The Reaper Tree pulsed once more.
Ren stared into the night sky. He could still hear distant screams, but this patch of earth—this small corner—was safe.
For now.
[System Message: Welcome to the Reaper's Road, Host.][Many have died. Few have reaped.][You are the first to devour.]
And with that, the night ended.