Allen swiftly swerved the bike out of the path of the projectile attack. Every few moments, Rautianen would send another of these fiery slashes towards them. Allen managed to maneuver out of the way every time. Simultaneously, ember-like particles sprung from whatever was destroyed and drifted toward the blade, progressively causing it to turn from white to red.

"When and where did you learn to drive like this!" Nera aggressively cross-examined.

"Now and here. The closest I came to riding a motorcycle was reading an instruction manual for one. I'm not sure how, it just feels natural, like I know exactly how to make the bike move how I want to."

"I don't get it, but keep it up until he runs out of ammo." Nera gave him an encouraging thumbs-up.

"About that, I don't think we'll last for that long just running away. His attacks keep getting faster and more accurate. Those flames...maybe he's the Grim Inheritor of Muspeleheim."

"What?"

"It's one of the nine realms from Norse mythology. Remember, that spirit told me each of the Grim Pieces was connected to one, and I think he is connected to Muspeleheim since it's supposed to be filled with fire."

"Cool trivia, is that going to help us survive?" Nera asked sarcastically.

"...No," Allen reluctantly answered., "I do have a plan that might."

"Here goes nothing! Hang on!". Allen warned.

"Wha!?" Nera yelled.

Right before a fiery blast could reach them, a burst of mana came out evenly from both of the motorcycle's tires sending it flying haphazardly in the air for several seconds and safe from the attack. The bike then landed bumpily back onto the street front wheel first then back. Allen struggled to keep it from spiraling out of control before he could steady it again.

"Alright, I take it back. You're a terrible driver!"

"Hey, that was my first time using mana like that. If I hadn't, we would've been hit dead on.”

"Anyway, you've noticed how it's taking in those embers and getting more red like a tomato? I think it's like a rage meter in a video game. The more damage he deals, the more his sword charges up for one super strong attack."

"Uh-huh, it definitely looks like he’s charging up for another mega bad move like the one that ripped apart that whole city block. What about it?"

"Well, we're going to take advantage of that." Allen then told what he was planning to her alarm.

"Hold on, there's no way that's going to work!"

"Then, what else do you expect us to do? He's going to catch up to us eventually."

"...Hngh." Nera grimaced as she thought over their options before her brows furrowed. "Those cards that Wit gave you...can you pull one of them out?"

"Huh, why would I do that for?" Allen asked in confusion as he narrowly turned a corner to avoid another fiery slash that came flying their way.

"That idiot neglected to mention those cards are magic. They can absorb the powers of Sculptures!" Nera exclaimed.

"Woah, they can?!" Allen called back with awe clear in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if you'll be able to use them but if it'll help, we ave to try," Nera affirmed. "You got a better look at the plant Wraith. Is there any way its power could help us?"

The question snapped Allen back to the time when the Mandrake's vines stretched out to ensnare him. "Yeah...I think it'll work. How do I use them?

The two discussed their impromptu plan with seconds left as Erno Rautiainen finished building up for a devastating strike.

As he sprinted down the street like a raging beast, Rautiainen raised his dragon-mawed blade up in the air once again. It was now gleaming bright red, and the seams along the blade had light gleaming out from them.

"Tyrfing Replica - Auxiliary Access!"

"Now!" Nera shouted to Allen and raised the front of the bike up high.

The Marauder Crafter swung his blade with the segments of it coming apart with tremendous force to extend the sword over hundreds of meters and lashing outward in front of him as fast as the wind. Once more, a gale of destruction and mayhem was unleashed onto the streets as the whip-like blade tore up everything it came across while it rushed forward.

However, simultaneously, an immense blast of magical energy spewed from the motorcycle's back wheel, causing the wheel to explode instantly and launching the bike with Allen and Nera like a rocket into the sky and out of Tyrfing's deadly assault's range.

"Impossible." Rautianen declared, eyes wide with shock and disbelief at what he witnessed.

Mid-air, Allen let Nera take the wheel from behind him then pulled out the Dream Sculpture and one of the Craft Cards. He held the vine-shaped crystal up and it quickly transformed into emerald energy that flowed into the card he held next to it. An image of the vine appeared on the surface of the card right as Allen shouted, "Open, Vinea!"

An ethereal glow emerged again and wrapped around Allen's hand as an emerald tendril.

"I hope this works..." Allen said as he thrust his arm out and the vine-whip extended outward for dozens of meters and caught on to an outcropping of the fifteen-story building in front of him. The vine than reeled Allen in along with Nera and the motorcycle.

Eventually, the bike slammed onto the side of the skyscraper and Allen smiled in exhilaration as their hair-brained scheme was actually working.

'If he's invincible on the ground, how about taking the fight to the sky...'

Mana swirled in the motorcycle and gathered at its wheels. However, instead of creating a repulsive force like before, it made an attractive force that kept the vehicle stuck to the side of the skyscraper as it began moving upward vertically. Allen had tconcentrate onto maintaining this and driving the bike further, especially with the bike wheel having been blown out.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Nera shouted.

"Woohoo!" was all she got in answer.

"I'm not sure which one is the lunatic now," she muttered with a smile.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Rautianen smirked.

"Do you think I'm afraid of heights or something?" He chuckled lowly then flicked his wrist to straighten out the whip-like sword and sent it flying towards the top of the building with the end of the blade affixing itself to it. He followed by jerking the hilt of the sword and he immediately began to be pulled upward into the air at a pace that far outmatched the speed the bike was going up.

"I bet you weren't able to comprehend the extent of my Tyrfing's abilities this far! I'll reach the top first and then send you plummeting to the ground as charred pieces of yourselves!" He shouted as he was rising upward from below and about to overtake them.

Suddenly, Nera flipped off the bike and Allen used the vine-whip to swing her at an incredible speed toward Rautiainen. A death-defying maneuver right after the other caught Rautiainen completely off guard.

"Magical Dropkick Pulverizer!"

Nera launched both of her legs and her steel-soled shoes into Rautiainen's chest like rockets with devastating power. This knocked the wind out of him and made him let go of his blade handle. Nera used the counter-momentum to propel herself back towards the building as she watched Rautiainen plummet to the hard ground from at least ten stories high.

He landed onto the ground with a thunderous crack of asphalt as his body impacted it. His blood splattered out onto the street in every direction around him.

Nera whistled nonchalantly as the vine-whip was stretched taut with her hand around it. A frantic expression then emerged on her face as the magic tool suddenly dispered into particles. Nera started to freefall but was quickly caught by a hand grabbing her arm. She leaned her head back to see Allen standing vertically on the building. He was sweating profusely and his breathing was ragged. In his other hand, he was holding the specter stone they had acquired from the alleyway earlier.

"I didn't think it would just vanish out of nowhere. That was a real close one wasn't it?"

The bike rushed past them quickly as it fell to the ground with nothing to keep it from doing so any longer.

Nera smiled earnestly with sweat visible on her face.

"You really are like a squirrel."

A loud explosion resounded as the bike reached the ground.

"And you really need to get better at giving compliments."

***

They carefully both slowly scaled down the building with their hands and feet using the Dream Sculpture's power. After finally making their way to a few meters off the ground, they jumped off safely. They both breathed a sigh of relief.

'"I never realized how much I took solid horizontal ground for granted," Allen stated.

"Let's make sure to appreciate it better now, right after we've finished dealing with the crazy hobo who just tried to kill us."

"He's still...alive, right?', Allen asked tentatively as they walked over to where the badly damaged body of Erno Rautiainen remained, he was not sure if he would like either answer.

'That guy was a terrible person, but I wouldn't exactly be thrilled with murdering someone."

"Worry too much about your enemy's life in a serious fight, and you'll end up losing," Nera replied monotonously, visibly unnerving Allen.

"But relax, he's still kicking." Nera followed by kicking in his side, releasing a raspy groan from the blood-covered man. His eyes slowly opened as he glared at them vehemently.

"You bastards."

"Yeah, yeah. Now, tell us what this Grim Inheritor Trial is all about and there'll be more where that came from." Nera threatened as she folded her arms across her chest while Allen clasped his hands behind his head in a lackadaisical manner like it had nothing to do with him.

"Preferably, make it snappy," he added while yawning.

Rautiainen grunted angrily at their demands, "I don't care about what any other "Inheritor" is scheming. All of my business here is to track down and murder the vermin who killed the Grim Reaper, that's the only reason I came to this garbage dump of a city."

Allen and Nera were both shocked.ed

"So they really aren’t the ones behind this?" Allen asked. Rautiainen’s statement seemed to confirm what the voice had told him in his dream.

'Wait.." The young man held up the drawing he had made earlier. "Is this who you're talking about?"

Erno's eyes widened. "How did you-"

"Someone was able to kill a monster like that thing? How!?" Nera suddenly blurted out, paying no mind to the drawing.

"...Huh, you're an Inheritor, you should already know that. Do your worst, I'm not afraid of any torture you or anyone else could inflict. If you don't know anything then I have nothing to tell you."

"You're talking pretty tough for someone lying in a pile of rubble and their own blood," Allen commented.

"I'm not stopping until I find the one who killed the Grim Reaper and finish them off."

Nera snickered bitterly, "You must be mega upset that they died then. She glanced over to the image of the woman in Allen's notebook, realizing the liquid dripping from her eyes and mouth was likely blood. "I don't know how it works, but we got that after running into you."

"It doesn't matter what the shows. The only thing I felt for that woman's death was a searing regret at not being the one to kill herself. But I wasn't surprised that someone else among the Inheritors, those who have also come in contact with the Grim Reaper, also shared the same goal as mine." He scowled.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Nera was getting slightly unnerved by his statements but did not let it show.

"I really don't care how you feel about it honestly. Just tell me as much as you can or else."

"It's hilarious that walnut-sized brain of yours thinks you're capable of threatening me, you really are just a lab rat."

"Huh?" Nera uttered as she heard the sound of whishing metal. Above their heads, the still faintly glowing red dragon-mawed blade was rapidly retracting itself until it reformed itself. It then came crashing back down to Earth like a meteor, right for Ner, who could barely dodge in time. It still scratched her arm through her jacket before returning to Rautainen's scabbard.

"That's better." He promptly jumped onto his feet. An imprint of his body remained on the ground behind him. He started stretching and twisting his joints while Allen and Nera looked on in unease.

"Thanks for letting me take a quick rest, but I think it's time I finished what I started."

With no more words, he leaped at them. Nera snapped her fingers to incite her metal gauntlets to cover her hands and ran to meet his assault. With a clang of metal on metal, their clash began.

Fortunately, he had lost a large amount of his power from the chase and his fall, dropping him down closer to Nera's level, but even with that and him being covered in dirt, blood, and wounds. He still had the upper hand and in only several moves, he knocked her off her balance when she went for a kick with his sword and then swung directly at her exposed torso. She hurriedly blocked with armored arms but was still sent tumbling uncontrollably along the ground and right into Allen who steadied Nera back on her feet. He then preemptively covered her with an aura just in case Rautiainen decided to attack them head-on.

"Do you think you can beat him or are we too out-leveled?"

"The asshole is strong, but his weapon's even more troublesome to deal with."

"It is pretty exquisite," Allen noted, admiring the mystical armament.

They both wondered what to do next. They did not see any openings to escape nor any help on its way. They were going to have to confront the enemy before them and they were going to have to do it on their own. With only a dead-end in front of them in the shape of a fiendish man, it made perfect sense why they could only stand and observe Rautiainen's movements.

"What's wrong? A quick exchange and getting knocked around a little bit and you're giving up already? Fine, I'll at least give your deaths some honor by finishing you two off with a mystic skill of mine."

"Don't get too cocky. If we had as good a weapon as yours. This battle would be over in an instant for us-"

She was caught by her noticing a dazzling purple glow from her jacket pocket that she was clutching. She then pulled the glow's source out, the same purple-fabric-wrapped cylinder from earlier.

"That may be your good luck charm, but I don't think it's going to help out much."

"That wasn't my idea, and it doesn't glow usually..." She continued on to say perplexed and tilted her head. Suddenly, it began to shine even brighter and expand to become three meters long while the ribbon at the end of the rod morphed into a curved blade with an arcane symbol mystically appearing on it. After the glow subsided, Nera was left wielding a giant bizarrely designed scythe in her hands.

They both gazed at it with stunned expressions.

"Why haven't you used that before!?!" Allen exclaimed.

"Because just like with the mirror...it didn't do that before!"

"That scythe...how could you have that? No, that can’t be real Dream Reflector." Rauianen clicked his teeth. "Hmph, that ace in the hole fake isn’t going to be enough to scare me off."

With that, Rautiainen crouched down and pressed his fingers onto his sword,dands an assortment of magical orange symbols thatweres differentfromn theonese they had seen before gradually expanded out from his hand towards either end of the blade. An immense amount of magical power began sweltering off of him.

"Hey Nera, let's try to use that scythe. It'll be our last gamble."

Nera nodded, "Sure, use mana propulsion again, but directly on us this time. Use up everything left in the stone!"

"Roger!"

Allen began gathering all the mana he could at his legs.

Rautainen smirked, "Looks like you're finally done running away, I'll be sure to make your deaths an extravagant spectacle in return."

"Marauder Craft - Assault 4, Annihilation Strike!"

Rautiainen shouted out as his blade ignited with a raging fire and he vaulted forward like a comet. In response, Allen unleashed all the mana he had stored up to propel him and Nera at Rautiainen with similar speed.

The rushed past each other and blood gushed into the air. Allen's side was torn open by a scorching hot blade. Nera's violet eyes widened in shock and then a light of the same color that come from her scythe's blade engulfed everything around them.

Allen and Nera were rushing at Rautianen in kind again. All three of them realized the strange deja vu as if the earlier instance had been erased from existence. This time was different from the first as now Erno's sword was devoid of flames. They all passed each other once more in exchange of slashes.

Both parties were now on opposite sides of where they had started. Allen winced as he noticed a searing cut on his shoulder while Ruatianen appeared to have sustained no outward damage.

After that moment, Nera's scythe, in a burst of light, morphed back into a regular ribbon wand to her and Allen's dismay as it seemed they had now lost their secret weapon with their opponent still not defeated. However, before they could think about what to do next, they heard Erno Rautiainen's voice from behind them.

"That sensation…so that is the real thing. In that case, I'm leaving. I realize now that there's no way two weaklings like you could kill the Grim Reaper, and you're both too much of a hassle to deal with right at this moment," he solemnly announced.

Allen and Nera turned back in confusion.

Before they could say anything in question, Rautiainen raised his sword leisurely in front of him and monotonously said, "Expanse Open."

As soon as the words were spoken, an explosion of flames erupted out from him and afterward, he was completely gone without a trace.

"Did he just...give up?" Nera pondered in disbelief. "And did you see that same...vision where you got cut open?"

"See?! I felt it down to my intestines." Allen relayed morbidly. "It wasn't like that limbo I was stuck in with that disembodied voice. That felt completely real."

Nera's forehead creased in contemplation. Rautianen's words then replayed in her mind. "It might be related to this 'Dream Reflector' since that Inheritor seem to think it was special."

"Right, but what exactly did it though, reverse what happened and give us a second chance? That sounds like a retry straight out of a video game." Allen speculated with a hint of enthusiasm buried underneath his deep unease.

"No clue, but let's not linger around before the killer hobo shows up again." Nera warned.

"Roger, I can agree with that."

As they began walking away, Nera looked down at the innocuous ribbon wand she was holding in her hand as Allen looked on. After the heat of the moment was over, they both realized what that symbol on the scythe had been. They learned about it from the Layman’s Necronomicon, the mark of the Grim Reaper.

'Looks like there's no denying that I have a connection to the Grim Reaper now." Nera solemnly admitted to herself.

***

While they were walking through the city streets, Allen suddenly spoke up.

“So, that was another Inheritor. If what they said is true, then what that voice said is true too about the Grim Reaper not being behind this whole thing.” Allen stated frankly.

“You’re still going on about that? Don’t get any delusions of being a hero, even if we were to find out who set this mess up, they’re probably an Inheritor too. I’d rather avoid any of them until we find out how to get things back to normal for us.”

“But finding out who’s behind the Grim Reaper Trial might be the way we can have that happen,” Allen argued.

“Hmph…” Nera was reluctant to admit Allen had a point. “Fine, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for anything related to the Trial but you better hope that finding out who’s behind this isn’t the only way. You may end up having to deal with more than you bargained for.”

After a long time of walking, Allen and Nera were now passing through the area where Rautiainen had first attacked to find all the damage had been already fixed but there was still a good number of people lying strewn all over the ground with no one else in sight.

Allen quickly got his phone in an attempt to dial for help but was only met with static on its screen.

"What's going on? They used magic to fix everything but left these people for dead. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a single trace of any kind of public safety enforcement despite this place being blown to smithereens."

He kept furiously punching buttons on his phone trying to get it to work. He looked over frantically to see Nera nonchalantly staring at her flip phone with static also showing up on it.

Nera scoffed, "As if they would bother with something at this scale."

"What do you mean? Who's 'they'?" Allen could not fathom how she could be so calm about this situation. To him, these people could die at any moment if they did not get medical treatment soon.

"To put it simply, the Underside is sort of a gray zone where the regular authorities can't get involved since they don't even know it exists. This leaves it up to the ones who run Atelier City, the Hieronymus Conglomerate, to decide if they want to bother to get their extra special forces to deal with it but they usually don't unless it's something really big and endangers their interests. They consider it too much of a hassle otherwise."

"So what!? People are just left to fend for themselves and no one bats an eye like it's everyday business as usual? I should've known a place in the Underworld would be a literal hellhole but this is way too far if guys like Rautiainen can trample over anyone they want without retribution here and that people are just left on the street like thrown-away trash!?" Allen protested loudly, flailing his arms at the dozen or so people on the ground seemingly unconscious.

"Pretty much, except for a few exceptions. If there's an extremely valuable Specter on the loose, someone from the Traverser's League may decide to hunt it down and if things get really out of hand to the point where the threat could extend outside the Underside, the Astrean Paladin Order will step in to contain it.”

While listening half-heartedly to her explanation, Allen began walking up to one of the people lying on the grou.nd

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to check to see if they have any phones that will actually work on them, so I can call some ambulances. Everyone around here may be content with ignoring them, but I'm damn sure not. I can't accept something so cold-blooded."

"Hmph, you're probably in the minority here then. The Underside allows magical people of all different types of backgrounds to be even more free than a regular person in mundane society and many of them like it that way. Plus, these aren't even 'real' people anyway," she proclaimed ominously.

"What are you talking, they're-"

Allen's words were caught in his throat as he observed the grotesque spectacle unfold. The people lying on the ground suddenly had their scattered parts pulled back to themselves by some imperceptible force.

Allen watched on in stunned horror as the blood flowed back into their veins and limbs twisted to retake their original position. After being fully mended, the eyes of the person Allen had been approaching abruptly opened without warning. This frightened him so much that he instinctively took several steps back.

"Zombies? I've seen enough of those movies to know that this is not going to end well," Allen voiced worriedly.

"Not quite, Lackey, these are what they call Marionettes. They say that the Underworld is meant to be a sanctuary for those at the edge of life and are bordering death such as people in critical condition and those that are in deep comas. Their detached minds drift into the Underworld until their time eventually comes and the Underside's overseers provide artificial and self-repairing bodies for them to dwell in till that happens."

"Seriously, I honestly would've expected the undead more than remote-controlled puppets. I guess it's more like Frankenstein's monster than Zombies or maybe Liches... " Allen started muttering to himself, trying to find the most applicable comparison from his monster trivia knowledge.

"Once you die for real, that's it. There's no magic in the world that can change that, these things are just faint shadows of people who are on death's doorstep." Nera shrugged, motioning to the Marionettes that were now drearily walking away as if they had not been brutally shredded apart moments before. Their eyes were as cold and lifeless like they were walking corpses.

"So, even if they're in puppet bodies, they are still technically living people aren't they?"

Nera's smile waned and her expression darkened as she solemnly said, "Sure."

***

After all the Marionettes had left, only Allen and Nera remained on the empty street. His eyes were vacant as he stared at the scenery of the desolate city block. There was no longer a trace of any kind of conflict here now. It looked like that whole battle had been nothing but a dream. However, the truth was apparent to Allen. His fists tightened so much it almost felt like his palms would start dripping with blood.

‘This place is so messed up. If I didn’t wake up this morning, would I have ended up like those Marionettes? If I wait around doing nothing, will I become one of those specters? Is being looked over like I don’t exist or turning into a monster the only two options I was given? No, that can’t be it. I gotta keep trying to do whatever it takes.’

"I have an idea,” Allen announced as he put on the best confident grin he could squeak out. ”If we're going to deal with batshit crazy stuff anyway and we need the money to get that Periapt and get our lives back to normal, why don't we start hunting down specters for money like those "Traversers" I keep hearing about? Let's start our own specter hunting service."

"Okay." Nera quickly agreed.

"Now, I know it seems risky but with that wicked cool scythe of yours... Wait, you're on board, just like that?"

"Well, we do need the money, and I already fought specters from time to time, and my scythe is incredibly awesome, so why not? Let's do it!"

"Alright, all we need is a catchy name. Hmm, how about Spector Beaters, Dream Snatchers, no, how about the Supernatural Odd Jobbers or ..."

"I'll let you think about it for a while, is there anything else we need instead?"

"Fliers, and lots of them, a business runs on advertisements. I can take care of that oonmy own but there's something I need to figure out actually if I'm going to be of any help."

"What is that?"

"I noticed right before I caught you on the side of the skyscraper. I wasn't able to control mana at all until I grabbed you. I thought we were both goners for a moment there. I tried again to use mana on my own but it didn't work, got any idea why?"

Nera put her hand to her chin and pondered this for a few seconds before opening up her mouth to speak, "It could be because you don't have a stylus. A tool Crafters use to amplify their magic. Even though I can't use magic, my jacket and gauntlets are infused with ether to make them more durable which probably allows them to act as a stylus for you."

"Is that so, well let's go somewhere and get the cheapest stylus they have!"

***

"This is really the cheapest stylus you have?" Allen and Nera were now in another item store but this one was more focused on the magical tools known as styli that Allen had just learned about recently. The shopkeep this time was a large burly man that looked like a medieval blacksmith who was currently displaying to them the least expensive stylus he had available, a small thin gray case.

"Yeah, the next cheapest one is around five-hundred dollars. Do you want me to bring that out?" The shopkeep questioned.

"No, it's fine. If I bought that, I wouldn't even be able to afford ramen for a month. I'll...take the harmonica." Allen hesitantly stated. The disappointment was clear on his face.

The shopkeep smiled widely, "That'll be one-hundred fifty-nine dollars and seventy-four cents then."

Allen reluctantly handed the money over.

"Pleasure doing business with you." With that, the shopkeep handed over the minuscule instrument. After that, Allen and Nera proceeded to leave the mystical item shop.

"This is a lot less cool than what I was expecting to get. I thought I'd have an actual weapon to fight with."

"Come on, all you need is to have it on you to use mana, right? Just fight with your bare-fists and you should be good."

"That's ironic coming from the same person with metal gauntlets. But yeah, I can manipulate the flow of mana now." Allen closed his eyes briefly as he channeled the mana stored in the harmonica's crystal outward onto his fingers momentarily and took in the familiar sensation that resembled an airy flowing metal wrapping around them. He opened his eyes. He checked his phone and saw it was almost nine.

Allen sighed.

"Alright, I think it's time to hit the hay. I'm exhausted."

"Same," Nera yawned.

After this, they kept walking until they returned to where they had entered the Underside and exited through the wall in the same way they came from.