The Merciful Reaper

Rain sluiced down the ferrocrete canyon of Sector 7, washing grime but not blood. Ao Dunce slammed into a rusted support beam fifty meters back, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Blinking rain and pain from his eyes, he witnessed pure, terrifying power.

Owen stood like a monolith, aura blazing – not light, but a consuming *absence* of it, a vortex of dark blue energy radiating palpable menace. The air crackled, pressure crushing Ao Dunce back towards the wall.

"He burns his life!" The voice, cold as the rain dripping from his synth-leather trench coat, belonged to **Fu Huizhang**. The **Dark Hand**, second-in-command of the **Brotherhood of Silent Death**. He lunged forward, abandoning watchfulness. "Elder Leaf Shadows! *Together*! Destroy him!" His hand lashed out. Energy coalesced into a massive, claw-like construct of shimmering gold force, aimed to shred Owen mid-air.

Owen's laughter was a raw, broken sound ripped from his throat, lost beneath the howl of his own dark power. "**Shadow King Sword Art: Phantom Blade's Execution – Gate One!**" The chaotic streams of dark blue energy converged into a single, devastating blade of pure annihilation. It swept down.

The golden claw disintegrated like mist in a hurricane. The massive blade faltered only momentarily, losing none of its lethality. An **Elder Leaf Shadow**, masked and armored, vanished. Not a corpse, not even ash. Erased from existence. Silence filled the space where his scream should have been.

The Dark Hand's composure shattered. "*Thrice-cursed hells!* Three Gates?" He'd faced the rumors of the Shadow King's two infamous techniques – the Shattering Flash and the Chained Dread. He'd calculated he could counter those. But a *third* Gate? Panic clawed at his icy control. Only his subordinate's swift sacrifice had absorbed enough of the unnatural assault to save him. No more caution. Gold light exploded around Fu Huizhang. Countless replicas of his clawing hand materialized, hurling themselves towards Owen, staggering after unleashing such forbidden power. The remaining two Elder Leaf Shadows mirrored him, discipline overriding terror. Death was their contract.

Owen was a ghost already walking. "**Perish! Nine Gates: Endless Specters – Gate Four!**" Dozens, then *hundreds* of spectral, blue-tinged afterimages peeled away from his form, flooding towards the attackers.

"*Another?!*" Fu Huizhang snarled in disbelief. The wave of phantoms radiated annihilation. His own golden projectiles winked out, swallowed whole. Self-preservation kicked in. No time for attack. With ruthless, horrifying speed, his hands shot out. He seized the two flanking Elder Leaf Shadows – his own people – by the shoulders. Imbuing his stolen momentum, he hurled them bodily into the path of the encroaching tide.

Two muffled *pops*, two shadows consumed whole. Residual tendrils of blue energy snaked past, brushing Fu Huizhang's outstretched left arm. Agony lanced through him. He *felt* his life-force, his very essence, draining *out* through the point of contact. Without hesitation, without a sound beyond a grunt of effort, his right hand clamped onto his own left elbow. Little Little Little Bonehattered under his desperate strength as he tore his forearm free, flinging the dying limb into the shadows. The bleeding stump cauterized instantly by the residual dark energy.

Owen surged forward, a revenant made flesh, raising the source of all this horror – the simple black-leather sword scabbard strapped across his back. "*Shadow King—*" The guttural words were barely formed.

They were enough. Fu Huizhang, The Dark Hand, leader of assassins, felt primal terror seize him. Abandoning pride, strategy, everything, he slammed his right palm down onto the rain-slicked ferrocrete. A deafening explosion erupted, carving a three-meter crater. Riding the shockwave, he vanished into the choking rain and industrial gloom like a rat fleeing fire.

Seconds. Barely a dozen heartbeats. Ao Dunce staggered back towards the clearing. It was over. Owen knelt, one knee on the wet ground, shoulders heaving. Not breaths, but desperate, rattling gasps.

"Master Owen!" Ao Dunce rushed to his side, relief warring with horror at the state of the man – covered in blood, his own and others, both fluid and ichor. "You… you drove them off! You were incredible!"

Owen didn't answer. His gasps turned into wet, choking rasps. Ao Dunce's relief vanished. He scrambled behind his master, pressing both palms against Owen's broad, shuddering back. Pure, vibrant **Life Rockforce Forge Aether** – the power of healing and growth he cultivated – surged from Ao Dunce into the wounded man. Owen sagged slightly, drawing one long, shuddering breath.

"Home," Owen rasped, voice thick with blood and pain. He turned his head. Ao Dunce flinched. Owen's eyes were solid, burning crimson. Worse, a faint, sickly blue glow pulsed beneath the skin of his face. "Tandor't stop the flow. *Keep it steady.*"

Ao Dunce hauled the larger man up, looping Owen's arm over his shoulder, one hand clamped firmly between his master's shoulder blades, channeling his life-force like a steady current. The walk back to Owen's fortified workshop in the under-levels was silent but for the gasps and the relentless rain hitting the upper walkways.

Inside the spartan room, Ao Dunce eased Owen onto the reinforced cot. He kept one hand pressed over Owen's lower abdomen, the nexus of Aether, pouring all he had into the circuit. But the feedback was chaos. Owen's internal energies raged like a shattered reactor core – wild, uncontrolled surges mixed with terrifying voids. The blue glow beneath his skin pulsed stronger, despite Ao Dunce's efforts.

"Enough… Ao Dunce," Owen wheezed, opening those terrifying red eyes. "Just… a trickle. Maintain the circuit. Save… your strength. Words… need saying."

"Master Owen, rest! Save your strength! You'll fight this!" Ao Dunce's voice cracked. Tears cut tracks through the grime on his face, mixing with rain.

Owen managed a ghost of a smile, tinged with blue. "Everything dies, boy. Sixty-plus cycles? Not bad for our line of work. But… unfinished tasks weigh heavy. Need you… to bear them."

Ao Dunce choked back a sob. "Anything. Name it. I'll do it."

Owen sighed, the sound like tearing cloth. "My life… Ao Dunce. One long stumble in the dark, fueled by anger. Young. Strong. Reckless. Ran the edge. Brotherhood of Silent Death offered thrills, credits. Became a Ghost. Then… a Reaper." His breath hitched. "Thirty cycles… drowning in blood."

He looked at Ao Dunce, the crimson eyes holding profound sorrow. "Brotherhood… tiers: Ghosts, Specters, Shades, Cutters. But deeper… colder… The **Elder Leaf Shadows**. Old Reapers… past sixty cycles. Masters still. The Dark Hand's claws. Or **Zhu Shang**'s… the *Master*. Today… claimed six. Maybe six left." His frame convulsed, a tremor running through him, the blue pulsing brighter for a second. "The Dark Hand… powerful. Without the Key… I was dust."

Ao Dunce whispered, "He… he was your enemy?"

Owen's red eyes flared, pure, incandescent hatred drowning out even the pain. "One claw. The other… Zhu Shang. The Master himself. Architect… of my cage." Spasms wracked him again, not just pain, but decades of fury unleashed. He gripped Ao Dunce's wrist, hard. "Know this… first." He gestured weakly to his chest armor, buckled but intact. "Open it."

Ao Dunce fumbled with the fastenings. Under the synth-armor, embedded within an armored vest overlay, was a simple, worn black leather sheath. A plain black handle protruded, wrapped in intricate, alien patterns, capped with an obsidian gem that seemed to drink the sparse light, radiating a palpable sense of wrongness.

Owen looked at it with the devotion of the damned. "The Key… **Shadow King Sword**. My name. My curse." He drew it slightly, revealing the scabbard. Obsidian carved with a stark white bone-dragon, impossibly intricate, wingless, savage. Where eyes should be, sickly blue gems pulsed faintly. Pulled free even slightly, the feeling of *wrongness* intensified tenfold, a psychic shriek promising oblivion. Ao Dunce shivered violently, cold seeping past his defenses despite his Aether flow. "Forty cycles… against my skin. It promised power… delivered damnation."

He slammed it back into the sheath, and the pressure eased slightly. "The Master's artifact… hidden. This sheath… dampens its scream. Inside… lay its secrets." A tremor shook him, stronger this time; the Undying Sorrow was biting deep. "Twenty-seven cycles. Strong. Wild. Found secrets… beneath the dust of the Blood Skeleton Desolation." His voice grew distant, recounting a dark dream. "Not riches… a **Wailing Seal**. Ancient. And within… *this*." He touched the sheathed sword. "Fools… we cracked the Seal. Friends… life unraveled like threads. Gone. Only me… Life Rockforce Forge kept the shadows… at bay? Or chose *me*." He coughed, blue spit flecking his lips. "A voice… trapped resonance. Fourth Arch-Prelate of the Neo-Christian Synod. Warned… doom unleashed. Guardian needed. Two scrolls… keys to the Key."

Ao Dunce recoiled slightly. "Then… why…?"

"**Power**," Owen spat the word like poison. "Pure… addictive. Life Rockforce Forge protected… enough. For a time. Buried it… hid the sheath." He winced, the memory twisting deeper than the poison. "Returning to my Sifu… stumbled on Raiders. Slag-belt scum… torching a homesteader pod. Fought. Their leader… hidden power. Not just muscle… forbidden tech? Augments? Crippled me. He knew my lineage. Meant to silence." A sick expression crossed his face. "Panic. Drew the Key… Phantom Blade's Execution… Gate One." His voice dropped to a haunted whisper. "Killed him. Killed *them*. Killed *everyone*. Whole pod… lifeless husks. Dry… like husks sucked clean." He stared into the past, his red eyes hollow. "A promise… sealed in dust and horror. Never again."

He sucked in a tortured breath. "Yet… back to the Brotherhood. Like a ghost drawn to his grave. They knew… knew about the Key. Wanted me. Refused. Pride. Honor… or stupidity." He paused, the next words thick with agony. "Then… they took **Lin Mei**. My Sifu's heart… *My* heart. She… followed my trail… into a sinkhole slum like this." His fists clenched, knuckles white. The hatred radiating from him was almost physical. "They found me… broken. Told me they'd finger her killer… for a price. The Brotherhood. My name on their ledger."

He lunged against Ao Dunce's supporting hand, fury giving him momentary strength. "Pointed the way… a *Granduke* of the Iron Republic. Smug. Bragged. I… didn't use Life Rockforce Forge. Drew the Key. Phantom Blade… Execution… Dread… poured it all." His laugh was a sob. "Him… his bloodline… guests… servants. One hundred twenty-three souls… devoured by the Key's hunger. One night. Shadow King… was born. My soul… sold."

His aura flickered wildly, red and blue battling. "Thirty cycles… an assassin. Soulless. A specter serving the specters. Then… a whisper in the Master's sanctum, months before we found you. The Master… the Dark Hand… *plotting* over vintage Ambrosia. How pulling Lin Mei into the trap… *her violation*… was the calculated lure. To snare the wild eagle… with the Key." He convulsed violently. "*Hate*. Pure. Wanted to rend them then! But years in shadow taught patience. Ambush. A perfect strike." He sagged. "I failed. The Master… sees fractals in blood drops. Sensed the shift. Offered poisoned wine." He snorted. "**Undying Sorrow**. Smiling… he said the truth. Offered 'antidote'… *if I knelt*."

Ao Dunce gasped. "But… no cure!"

Owen nodded slightly. "His web was spun. Maybe he had a suppressor… like your Aether flow buys me time now. Maybe he lied. Doesn't matter. Dance to his tune? Chains forged from Lin Mei's ghost? *Never*." He fixed Ao Dunce with his burning gaze. "How… did I prevail today? How?"

Ao Dunce stammered, "Your power… Master! Your strength!"

"Burning the wick… *at both ends*," Owen countered, voice weak but sharp. "Gate One… shatters one Elder Leaf Shadow. My peak… Phantom Edge… Gate Four. *Five* they said. Today… I broke myself." A flash of grim satisfaction. "Learned from your gambit… channeling *all* Aether. Into the blade. Into the Gates." He touched the poisoned wound on his chest. "Ignited my core… for one blazing crucible moment. Unleashed Gates Four… almost Five… before the light guttered. Poison… no anchor to hold it back now. The Life Rockforce Forge Aether inside me… is cinders. Only your flow… holds back the Undying Sorrow… and oblivion."

His trembling hand lifted the black leather sheath, the weight seeming immense. "The Key… is yours now. Burden… and weapon." He offered it.

Ao Dunce stared at the plain leather, feeling its inherent dread. His core recoiled. "No… Master! I… I can't… it's…"

"Steel is clean, Ao Dunce," Owen whispered, urgently. "A tool. Use it… only on rot. Life Rockforce Forge… is its counter. Anchor. Shield." He pulled two small, hardened leather tubes from an inner pocket, sliding them into the top of the sheath. "Gatekeepers… the **Nine Shadow Gates**. Keys to wielding it… surviving it. And… the Arch-Prelate's riddle. Unanswered for ages. *Find the answer.*" He thrust the sheathed sword towards Ao Dunce again, his crimson gaze locking onto the younger man's. "Promise me! Use it *only* against the Brotherhood's rot! Against the masters of shadow! Life Rockforce Forge… Shield yourself! Grow stronger! The Fifth Gate… maybe… stands against the Master!" His breath rattled. "But… this path… demands blood secrets. Draw the Key… witnesses *must* be silenced. Become shadow… to hunt shadow."

Seeing the fear and reluctance, Owen's expression softened, just for a moment. "Please… Ao Dunce. Last… light."

Tears blurred Ao Dunce's vision again. He reached out, his hand trembling, and closed his fingers around the cold leather. An electric jolt of wrongness shot up his arm, immediately met and dampened by the warm flow of his own Life Rockforce Forge Aether within him.

Owen slumped back, relief momentarily smoothing the lines of pain on his face. "Life Rockforce Forge's deeper paths…" He fumbled, pulling a rugged palm-slate from his vest. "Forge yourself… Ao Dunce. The Key… demands a strong crucible."

Ao Dunce clutched the slate and the sheathed nightmare sword. "I will… Master. I promise."

Owen managed a faint nod. His crimson eyes locked onto the ceiling, no longer seeing the grimy pipes. "Lin Mei… the cost… finally paid?" His final breath sighed out, a soft release of tension. The fierce crimson light in his eyes flickered and died, leaving behind only stillness. The blue glow under his skin pulsed once… twice… and slowly faded to the grey of old ash.

Ao Dunce stared at the body, the sudden silence a crushing weight. Rain drummed harder on the roof. In his hands, the Shadow King Sword in its sheath felt heavier than a mountain. The path ahead stretched before him – dark, bloody, and burdened by the Nine Gates of Shadow.