"Sorry, can't help."

The god raised an eyebrow in surprise. Obviously, he didn't expect Lucian's refusal. "Oh, but I believe you can. You see, just like you, I'm trapped in this realm, unable to escape because of my affiliation with the owner of this realm. My divinity has been bound by his power and the power this realm holds."

He pointed towards him as he continued. "That's where you come in. I need you to cause a disturbance in the realm. In the periods where the realm will be repaired, the bindings on me will be weakened. With the preparations I've made, I can break free of the bindings freeing me and allowing the realm to free you as well without robbing you of what you've accomplished," he said.

"....." Lucian

"Haha, did you think it would be that easy to steal from the God of Death and escape just like that? Naturally, there are countermeasures for cases like this, believe it or not, and one of them is the Mirror of Samsara. Walking through it will wipe your consciousness and convert everything you have back to what you were before". He smirked, finding Lucian's lack of knowledge quite amusing.

"Fortunately for you, damaging the Mirror of samsara is exactly what I would need you to do. Once you have damaged the Mirror, it will halt all reincarnation in the Hades Underworld. This would allow me to escape with you," he concluded his speech as he stared at Lucian. The god seemed to be getting annoyed the more he talked, as shown by his harsh and irritable body language. He felt disgusted talking to a mere human for so long.

"My offer still stands. Once I am unbounded, I can give you anything that you desire. The most beautiful woman. Absolute strength even as a mere human. You can start your new life however you see fit. All you need to do is ask."

"Not Interested"

The god's smile vanished for a second as his eyes flashed with light.

The smile returned. "... You are quite brave to reject my offer after what I've done for you. It seems dying repeatedly must have affected your reasoning. Unfortunately, what you missed here is this is not a negotiation..."

His body enlarged as his features grew more menacing.

His beautiful face began to split apart as it deformed, creating multiple shark teeth protruding from his lips. His arms turned into sharp claws as his red halo turned black, creating a shadow over everything.

He stared at Lucian like an insect as he said. "...you are speaking to a god..."

His Scythe appeared in his hand, a silver sheen radiating from its tips as he raised it high.

"...and gods don't negotiate..."

He swung his scythe downward, aiming directly at Lucian's soul.

"Wait," Lucian called at the last second.

The god stopped his attack midswing as he stared at Lucian with his deformed face.

"I'll do it."

His body slowly morphed back to normal as a smile began to appear on his handsome face.

"However, I need three things from you." Lucian continued. He didn't plan to do this for free, even if he had his life on the line.

"Fair Enough" Thanatos nodded with a sly smile. The contempt on his face was clear evidence to any negotiator that there would be no respect between the two.

Lucian continued anyway. "First, I need a body to inhabit when I escape. Ideally, something strong enough to handle my soul's strength."

"That can be arranged," he said. His smile did not skip a beat.

"Second, I need you to help disable the mirror of Samsara when I ask for it."

"That's a given," he replied just as quickly.

"Finally, I need all of this in a binding format. If you do this, I will help you cause disturbance in the realm," he concluded as Lucian watched the god warily.

Nodding, he snapped his fingers as a giant ball of fire emerged next to the god. The ball slowly changed shape into a parchment made of flames. Written in it listed all the terms discussed. A blood-red pen floated next to the flaming parchment.

The parchment then began to float towards Lucian, imploring him to sign to confirm the contract.

"Oh, excuse me if I reworded that last part a bit."

He didn't like the sound of that. Taking a look, Lucian saw the change.

Per these three conditions, Lucian shall destroy the Underworld Realm's reincarnation process within 1 year.

"That was not what we discussed! That goal is far too much for me to accomplish with my current self."

Lucian protested. It took him roughly five months to get to where he was now. To be able to damage the Mirror within a year was far too close to a deadline.

"Oh? Would you like to cancel the agreement?" he said as Orcus appeared in his hands again, ready to strike.

"...No," he sighed with resignation as he signed the agreement with his soul energy.

The moment he signed, the parchment burst into flames as it disappeared.

"Great! In the meantime, I will complete some preparations while you continue to get stronger. I will be back in 2 days for you to pick your ideal body," he said as he began to faze away.

"Oh, and I'm always watching you, so I suggest you be on your best behavior while I'm gone!" he smiled sweetly before he vanished.

"Good Luck!" he said as he phased away in an unknown direction.

"...Fuck”

Lucian's first instinct was to immediately try to escape to completely abandon the area and run, but from what the god told him, that seemed to only lead to certain conscious Death; something he did not want, especially after all the work he put in to get here in the first place.

He couldn't help but think of giving up. He didn't particularly like his previous world, but at least he knew what to expect. However, a living, breathing, scythe-wielding god was not in any of his calculations. Not even one.

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"Power. At the end of the day, it all boils down to power. If I were stronger, I would never be in this predicament." Lucian mumbled to himself.

"I was a fool to think it would be so easy to gain so much for little with no repercussions," he said calmly.

"he who knows he is a fool is not a big fool. I will learn from this experience," he said as he began moving. As he moved forward, the aura around him made a subtle shift in tandem with his thought process.

He looked at his character sheet, particularly the seventh Reaper title.

Reaper's Bane VII - You've made a deal with Death. Increases Health and Stamina multiplier by 1. Energy type: Soul Essence Unlocked. Increases Soul Essense Regeneration by 50%

"Soul essence? Is that another form of energy that can be used with the soul? It doesn't show any changes in my character sheet. None of the reaper series titles show any changes on my stats. Does that mean there is another part of the status I'm not seeing?"

Curious about his hypothesis, he focused on the soul essence part of his title, hoping to get a prompt. Nothing. He then tried focusing on the health and stamina multiplier but still nothing. For about ten minutes, he went through any ideas he could to see if they worked.

Out of options, he yelled, "System, show full character sheet."

Suddenly blue boxes began popping up.

Character sheet

Level: 1

Strength - [0]

Constitution - [0][0.05]

Endurance - [0]

Perception - [0]

Agility - [0][0.05]

Dexterity - [0]

Willpower- [0][0.12]

Intelligence - [0][0.12]

Soul - [0.2][0.35]

Health [0][2]

Stamina [0][2]

Physical Attack [0][2]

Magical Attack [6]

Mana [3]

Critical Chance [0.1%]

Critical Dmg [1.5]

Health Regen [0][0.12/Min]

Stamina Regen [0][0.96/min]

Mana Regen [0.06/min]

Soul Essence [3]

Soul Essence Regen [1.5/min]

"I guess that does the trick," he said with a wry smile.

Taking a look at his new system screen, he realized a common theme. "As expected, most of the stats are grayed out due to my current condition.

Looking at his attributes, he was pleasantly surprised by how effective the Reaper series title was on him. Especially his stamina and health values.

'With only 0.05 points in Constitution, I already have nearly 2 health. This will make my survival significantly easier," he said, suddenly glad to have gained such a boon from that god. It made him think about why he did what he did. Did he know the effects of Reaper's Bane? He had probably did, which meant that he planned for him to get soul essence.

"If that is the case, I need to test out what soul essence does."

The first thing he did was extend his sense which he saw a massive increase in. Before, the most he had been able to extend his sense was roughly 150 meters, partly due to his attributes but mainly due to the quality of his soul.

However, now that had massively increased! With the addition of soul essence, he could now easily sense nearly 600 meters away!

600!

That was incredibly massive compared to how he started off! He also noticed an increased skill in soul manipulation and activation, which made him think of the implications this had with [Soul Eater]!

He began the absorption process to test his theory by finding the closest soul nearby.

[0:15]

....

[0:05]

[0:00]

As he expected, the soul absorption process went smoothly. But now, it was nearly 10x faster!

Looking at his stats, he searched for any changes in soul essence.

Soul Essence [2/3]

Soul Essence Regen [1.5/min]

His status confirmed that the changes he has seen have mainly stemmed from the Soul essence's help. This was why that god had put him near death so many times. With its help, he could go through more souls even faster. He probably could absorb much stronger souls too, which made him stronger and much faster. In the end, it was all to further the god's plan even further.

Thinking to this extent, Lucian's expression turned cold. He wouldn't mistake this for charity, and when the time comes, he will get his revenge.

Even if it is a god.

All in all, he learned that soul essence served as a booster to his soul abilities. Everyone could use their soul to some extent but mastering the ability to use the soul required soul essence to do.

"*sigh* Either way, it's about time I broke to the next limit of attributes. I just need to find a soul strong enough to stimulate my breakthrough." After multiple uses of [Soul Eater], he had a general idea of the type of soul he needed to stimulate his breakthrough.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there was a soul strong enough nearby. With the new additions of Soul Essence, the souls he came across that would've posed a challenge before became nearly effortless, a testament to his upgrade in power.

Lucian looked for stronger souls as he moved down the path, absorbing souls along the way to create extra balls of soul energy. As he traveled, he slowly reached a level of depth with noticeable differences in the surroundings.

The cave lost its previous red color as wisps of hot dark winds blew throughout the region. The walls grew darker, turning shiny yet eerie obsidian in color. A black liquid seemed to be secreted from the walls, allowing it to reflect the light Lucian's body naturally released.

The surroundings grew darker as the demons that usually flew by from time to time were no longer seen. Instead, statues depicting different demons of enormous size were sculpted around the walls. Some sculptures were so vivid in detail that they could be mistaken for a living being if they weren't solid black.

As he got deeper into the cave, silver light reflected off the walls as a river began to appear in his vision. The river was much bigger than typical rivers. It had no beginning nor end as it trailed through the bottom of the cave. In the water, skulls of different kinds floated on the surface as the souls of the dead waited in line to the side of the river.

Lucian instantly recognized the river from mythology. "The River Styx! Wow, it really exists!" Surprised, Lucian picked up his pace, getting closer to the river. As he got closer, he realized that the souls were in line at the river's edge, like they were waiting for someone to come for them.

"If this is the River Styx, are they waiting for Charon, the ferryman?" he thought. If that were true, Lucian would definitely need to be quick: Lest he had trouble with another god.

However, he suddenly had a devious thought as he grinned to himself.

Maybe he could use this to advantage to his advantage somehow.

Turning to his left, he saw a golden soul shining incomparably bright, overshadowing the nearby souls around him. That soul would do. Moving closer, he activated [Soul Eater].

[8:43]

[8:42]

[8:41]

.....

Unexpectedly in the distance, he heard a loud rumbling, alerting Lucian. A giant ship nearly 300 meters in length came into view. A colossal bronze statue of a bearded man with flowing hair stood on its bow. On the figure, a carefree smile hung on its head.

As the ship got closer, Lucian couldn't help but curse his bad luck. Unable to move, he could only stay in place and act inanimate.

At a steady pace, The ship docked on the beach. A man with golden hair walked down from the ship's interior, a slight frown on his face as he mumbled under his breath. The man wore a white toga with the golden embodiment of abstract designs all over its surface. As he walked, Lucian noticed his face was quite similar to the ship's figurehead.

"..when all my other brothers do much more entertaining stuff. The worst thing is I can't even get a break unless I want to lose my power again, and that definitely was not fun the last time..." he mumbled, oblivious to his surroundings.

Robotically, he waved his hand towards the line of souls on the beach, willing then to get onto the ship. Unfortunately, the soul he was absorbing was also moving with the crowd, forcing Lucian to carry it with them as they got closer to the distracted god.

Soon enough, the man raised his head for the first, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light. He immediately turned his head, noticing the abnormality with the souls nearby.

Knowing he was caught, all Lucian could do was stall for time. He only had 4 minutes left for [Soul Eater] to complete the absorption. However, will he have even that?

Surprised, the god flashed quickly towards Lucian's location, partly intrigued about what was going on and equally confused. He had never seen anything like this. Did those two souls have some form of natural resonance with each other? Curious about what was going on, his eyes flashed once more as he focused on the link between the two. Analyzing the energy signatures, he noticed that the tether connecting the two was actually very one-sided. It seems one soul was absorbing the other while the absorbed soul was slowly dying. Realizing the crux of the matter, the god reaches toward the tether.

It seems like he planned to destroy the link!

As he grabbed the link and pulled, tremendous pain attacked Lucian as he screamed, unable to hold himself back.

"STOP!" Lucian yelled. He couldn't manage to feign his unconsciousness. He had to reason with the god before he was meaninglessly killed.

"Wha-! You! How are you alive?" Chiron stepped back, clearly not expecting a talking soul. He had dealt with souls all his life, and he had never met a soul with his consciousness intact.

"Hold on! I will tell you everything! All I need is a few minutes!" Lucian replied, hoping to buy some more time for [Soul Eater] to reach completion.

"Ah! You are one of those infiltrators mentioned by Lord Hades. Quite a unique way of infiltration. I'm impressed. Unfortunately, your plan will not come to fruition" his shock turned into calm, a foreboding sensation filling the air as he began to walk toward Lucian once again.

A Golden Paddle materialized in his hands. Multicolored light illuminated the cave as waves began appearing on the Styx river. His presence began to magnify as he raised the paddle into the air, ready to start his attack.

"Stop! Im not an infiltrator. I have an explanation; I just need a few minutes."

"It does not matter. Either case, A living soul such as you must die," he said, his face calm and stern as concrete as the waves of the Styx rapidly rushed toward Lucian's location.