Mu approached the girl tossing rocks on the road and gently placed a palm atop her head. "Are you okay?"

She looked up at him with suspicion in her eyes. To be fair, almost anyone would consider him as sketchy since he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, some simple denim shorts and a pair of wooden sandals despite the strong chill in the air.

"Who're you?" she asked sceptically.

Mu chuckled and patted her head softly a few times. "This place's lord."

He glanced around and sadly looked back at the girl once more. "You should go and make some friends. Maybe spend time with those you consider family?"

She cast her eyes back down to the ground, seemingly not believing him about being the lord or just not caring enough to respect him for it.

"... My parents are dead. My big brother disappeared when this all started... I also don't have any friends," the girl said as she tucked her knees into her chest and scowled deeply. "There's no need to rub salt into the wound."

Mu squatted down next to her, still keeping his hand on her head as he smiled kindly at her. "That must be hard on you. Living a life devoid of love and affection but family, dear child, is not who shares your blood but who you love with all of your heart."

"What would you know?" the girl scoffed. "You're barely older than I am!"

"Haha, that's true. You must be about 13, no? I'm 20. However, do you know that wisdom is something that doesn't actually come with age like most people think it does?" Mu asked.

The girl seemed to not care in the slightest. She just ignored him. Oddly enough though she still didn't try to shake herself free from his hand.

"Wisdom comes to those that have made mistakes and have truly learned from them. Age is just a very good gateway to making mistakes in life. After all, the longer one lives, the more likely one is to make an error of judgement," Mu said in a soothing tone.

Daz watched in interest. 'What's he even doing? Is this chat a prerequisite to use his Ember of Loneliness or his Ember of Suffering?' he wondered.

Mu gently patted the girl's head a few more times then said, "You've already made a very severe mistake, you know?"

"Huh? Don't act like you know me. You don't know anything about me," the girl fired back as she spread her legs out once more and picked up another rock, however, before she could throw it Mu used his free hand to grab her's, stopping her.

"Would your parents be happy to know that after their deaths protecting you from the Trolls that invaded your countryside cottage home in King's County that you decided to come here and be protected by King Daz and do nothing with your life?" Mu asked.

The girl's eyes opened wide in shock. "H-How do you kn-"

Mu smiled. "They traded their lives to save yours. If they saw you now wallowing in misery, it would break their hearts. Why don't you try to make new friends? Pray for your parents to move on safely at the cathedral? Wish for your brother's safety wherever he may be? Anna Dunkel, please, don't hurt yourself like this. Don't waste your life like this."

Tears streamed down the girl's face. She felt something change inside of her. Unbeknownst to everyone - even Daz, a thick black stream of smoke gushed out of Anna's head and entered Mu's hand, becoming one with him.

"I-I- W-What should I-I do?" the girl mumbled amidst her sea of tears.

"Join the school. Make some friends. Find people who you can happily call family. Live a life that your parents would be proud of. We know not what has happened to those that disappeared when the system came, but do not let hope for your brother's return to leave your heart ever again," Mu said very confidently.

A few minutes passed before Anna stopped crying. She hugged Mu then ran off.

Giving the watching spectators a small smile and a nod, Mu returned to Daz's side and the two resumed walking around the Japanese District of Shúzuì.

"That was... strange," Daz commented, obviously fishing for an explanation from his fellow reaper.

"Indeed," Mu replied softly. "I coaxed her suffering and loneliness out of her. It was clouding her heart like a thick layer of wool. I needed only to draw it to the surface and take it into myself."

Daz's face contorted into one of mild worry. "Is that okay? Doesn't that burden you somehow?"

Mu nodded. "Yes. It is a burden I am willing to endure, however. I am a bit of an expert at such things, after all. Were I not, I would not have begun to grow the seeds of the Ember of Loneliness and the Ember of Suffering."

"... How does absorbing her loneliness and suffering help you? It can't be a one-way thing, can it?" Daz asked.

Mu shook his head. "It is not, Brother. Taking in her pain helped further my insight into both the Ember of Suffering and the Ember of Loneliness. It does strain me mentally, but if I don't push myself too hard then I am confident that I can do it perhaps 4 or 5 times per week. Maybe more if on a lesser scale. She was a very distressed child."

"What about for fear? I assume that works the same way," Daz asked.

Mu nodded. "Indeed, it does, however, my own fears are quite the ordeal to persist through on their own. I can't risk taking on other people's fears and letting myself get consumed by them. It is very possible that my mind might break."

Daz wore a troubled expression on his face. "I want to apologise for using my chains on you, but you know, I had very little choice."

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Mu smiled. "It's fine, Brother. It has been incredibly useful in tempering my spirit. Of course, without these flashes of pain flooding my mind, I never would have gained the Ember of Fear in the first place. Also, I can negate the chains' lingering effects whenever I so wish for a sizeable but affordable sum of merit points. I shall not do that but the option is always there."

"That's true." Daz held his chin then slowly nodded. "Wanna try to remove my suffering and loneliness?"

"Assuming you have any, haha," Mu laughed. "Of course. I'd be more than happy to. Let's return to my home first, shall we? I doubt you wish to speak of your troubles in view of the public eye."

"Yeah, let's," Daz agreed.

----------------------------------------

"Not sure how I feel about you having to touch my head," Daz said a bit uncomfortably as he glanced up at Mu's arm.

"Unfortunately, it is necessary," Mu said.

Daz frowned. "I trust you and all of that but it was only a little over a month ago that you were trying to gut me like a fish."

Mu laughed. "Successfully gut you like a fish, might I add. Were it not for your free evolution, I would have won."

"A terrible outcome for all parties involved," Daz commented. "Good thing I was paranoid about how strong the champion of the God of Death would be, huh?"

Mu nodded. "Absolutely. Now that you've brought it up, let's use your paranoia as a gateway into your feelings."

Daz shrugged as he put his hands behind his back, resting them against the porch of Mu's home. "Sure. I never thought I'd get a therapy session from a mass-murderer who's younger than me. This new world is pretty crazy if you ask me."

"Hahaha, indeed, isn't it just?" Mu heartily chuckled. "Everyone has some paranoia in them, but you, Brother, you are like no other. In fact, I was surprised when the governor's attack succeeded considering how thorough with your preparations for similar situations you were."

Something in Daz reacted to that and Mu could feel it.

The Archreaper knitted his brow. "Not thorough enough, clearly. I do have to thank Timothy though. His actions led to us discovering over a dozen spies from various new and old existing factions."

"His actions have also further cemented your worries. Enemies hidden around every corner, waiting to strike. Correct?" Mu asked.

Daz reluctantly nodded. "Not a healthy mindset, sure, but a necessary one. At least until I've united everyone and we've had a few years to settle down."

"Quite the heavy burden," Mu noted. "Why, though? Why do you care? Why do you not simply bunker down in your little kingdom and let the other rising powers deal with everything? Why not just focus on your personal tests and try to steer them in a humbler direction?"

Daz glanced up at the slowly setting sun as he narrowed his eyes. "Because I'm capable. Because someone has to stand above everyone else and face what's to come after the tests. Because I need to be better..."

"Better than what?" Mu inquired.

"Better than my father," Daz answered coldly.

Mu nodded softly. "Did you know? He's a good ruler. I've looked at the investigations done into the leading figures of Earth by Rose and our other information-based personnel. It seems that he rules Italy in a fair and just manner."

"But does he really?" Daz asked rhetorically. "Is he actually being the perfect ruler that everyone thinks he is? No. He's got a massive fucking marionette with millions of strings attached to it, each leading to one of his citizens."

"... Why do you let him control your mind? I think it would be wiser to forget about him until it is time to face him. You do not need the added stress... The added suffering. I have done the same with my own father," Mu claimed. "It has helped clear the fog that once clouded some of my own decisions."

A pensive look emerged on Daz's face. "... I... I'll think about."

An almost imperceivable and extremely tiny wisp of black energy crawled out of Daz's head and entered Mu's palm.

Mu smiled then moved his hand away. "You are suffering an incredible deal, Brother. I am sorry for not noticing earlier. I tried my best but I was only able to shave away the very tip of the iceberg. I did not even have the chance to broach the topic of your loneliness let alone peer under the water at the massive body of your overarching suffering."

Daz shrugged, feeling a bit lighter of the mind than he had ever felt before. "No need to apologise. Do you mind doing that for me twice per week?"

He still recalled that earlier Mu had said he could only absorb others' suffering and loneliness up to 4 or 5 times a week without hurting himself. He knew it was a bit selfish but it would be in the best interest of New Earth for Daz to receive special treatment in this regard.

Mu shook his head. "No, I do not mind. It will help me with the mastery of my Ember of Suffering. From what I currently know, someone like you with such deep-rooted suffering is rare."

"I guess it was suppressed when I had very limited emotions," Daz said.

"You had limited emotions, Brother?" Mu had not heard of this so he was naturally both confused and curious.

Daz took a moment to explain how his esper powers had automatically sealed his emotions at his birth to prevent him from dying.

He then went on to describe how his father had beat him every day and then sent men to harass him even after he had been forced out of the family home in the hopes that he would awaken his emotions through his hatred.

Mu furrowed his brow in anger. "A twisted man, your father is. I had assumed it would be difficult to reach the same level as my own father. I have never before been more disappointed to be proven wrong."

Daz chuckled softly. "It's so ironic how it was my will to survive and my love for my family that ended up returning my emotions to me. You helped a lot in that regard by almost killing me, forcing me to evolve."

"Haha, I'm happy that I was of assistance," Mu said with a chuckle.

The two reapers talked for a while longer about various topics ranging from favourite foods to plans for the future when everything had settled down.

The sun had already set and the stars were starting to creep up into the night sky as a light shower of snow assailed the peaceful city of Fort Home.

"Hey, Mu. What's your God-ranked skill?" Daz asked. "The one you got from the God of Death."

"Hmm?" Mu raised an eyebrow. "It is called Morte's Call. It allows me to prematurely end a person's life once per week. It does not work on fellow champions nor on things or people unrelated to the system, apparently. I have yet to use it due to never needing it."

"Huh..." Daz was very interested in such a potent sounding ability. 'He's not lying so he can actually just, what, demand that someone should die and then they die? That's kind of... overpowered. Sure, he can't kill champions, but that should be an incredibly minor concern once we get past the system tests and get introduced to the greater reach of the system.'

"What of you, Brother?" Mu asked. "What skill did the God of Shovels bequeath to you?"

"Have you ever watched The Lord of the Rings?" Daz asked seemingly out of nowhere.

Mu looked confused. "No. Why?"

"I think Pala has..." Daz shook his head. "It's nothing. The skill I got is called 'The One Shovel To Rule Them All'. It attached itself to Hamson, my shovel."

"Oh? How interesting. What does it do?" Mu asked.

"It lets me fuse any shovel with him at no risk and also gives me maximum affinity with sentient shovels, not that I've met one yet. Additionally, it gives me a max affinity with shovel-inclined beings. Again, not entirely sure what that means. I guess people like my dreamscape mentor whose species is Gravedigger," Daz explained with a shrug.

"It is certainly a lot vaguer than mine. It also sounds less directly useful," Mu noted thoughtfully.

Daz nodded. "That's just the difference between a lesser god's granted skill and a higher god's granted skill. Crusher's is insanely powerful too what with her being the champion of the God of Strength."

"Indeed it is. Anyway, Brother, I hope you do not mind, but our conversation has given me much to think over. I wish to silently meditate," Mu said.

Daz had no problems with that at all, so he inclined his head in agreement then likewise closed off his mind to the outside world and retreated to his thoughts.