Tsk, another reaper's mark? At least it's close to the original target... What are the odds two people with the mark show up in the lower domains in the same year and in roughly the same area too? Has there been some sudden surge in interest in the scythe or something? Charon was a bit of an oldie but he understood how modern technology worked and so he was starting to wonder if there was a new scythe fad he was unaware of. It wasn't uncommon for a scythe video of his to go viral every now and then and he would see an uptick in the number of young idiots trying to replicate his feats as a result. Most never developed a reaper's mark, hell most gave up learning the scythe within a day because it was damn hard compared to other weapons, but it wouldn't be the first time a new reaper candidate was born off the back of such a stupid event. The scythe was a decently popular weapon in terms of aesthetics but actually using it was another matter entirely so it was relegated to nicheness but appreciated from afar by the typical edgy crowd. Finding a genius amongst them every now and then wasn't unexpected but a reapers mark?
A reaper's mark was not something that was handed out like candy and, yet, as of late, it was starting to feel that way! The Ares kid was a unique case, and Charon's deal with Davey was already underway so he wouldn't touch him, but who was this new brat that popped up in the Lowe domain?! Charon wasn't exactly sure how to handle this because he didn't much care anymore. Davey already offered him a way to live on so it's not like he had to cling to the position of reaper any longer anyhow. He was already considering turning Ares into the next reaper to pawn off the position so did he really have to keep inspiring terror in all new scythe wielders like this? It's not like he killed them because he found it fun or anything... For the umpteenth time in the last minute or so, Charon sighed to himself as he hovered through a funnel of space that was bringing him to the nearest reaper mark as per his ability. This was rather handy, actually, as Charon would have taken forever to arrive at Blade barrier the normal way. Charon, for all his talent with the scythe, was incredibly slow. By teleporting to this other reaper mark he would wind up next to the barrier and save a good bit of time on his lengthy journey. He still had to figure out a way of getting inside the barrier, and that would prove to be a real nuisance, more so than he was initially expecting, but this reaper's mark was a small convenience-windfall in his favour and he wasn't going to complain... For once... Complaining and being grouchy was sort of his thing, after all. It was rare he'd restrain himself so evidently he was in a good mood... Not that it would last long...
Charon had located his new target and was soon to arrive at his destination but was forced to halt in his tracks when a sticky bottle came flying at him from outside his spatial tunnel. Somehow, someway, a flung liquor bottle managed to not only locate him, when he shouldn't have been visible inside the spatial tunnel, but also catch up to him while he was travelling well beyond the speed of light. The bottle crashed against his skull, spilling a golden brown liquid all over him as he growled and swung his head around to see who had 'assaulted' him in such degenerate fashion. Charon could have easily blocked the alcohol but doing so was literally pointless. The bottle was a normal bottle and couldn't harm him, it's force was equivalent to a soft pillow in Charon's eyes, and being a skeleton meant the alcohol seeping into his bones was actually a rare chance to feel something and get a taste of the living once more. It wasn't uncommon for Charon, in his spare time, to occasionally indulge in drinks like whisky by pouring them on top of himself or by bathing in them. He didn't hate the way he was attacked, he just hated that he was to begin with because some young whippersnapper didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. His assumption about his assailant was proven true when a disrespectful black-bearded guy stumbled into his spatial tunnel and burped like a pig in his general direction.
Hic
"You..." The man slurred his speech and the finger he pointed could barely stand straight, eventually wobbling off to the side and ultimately pointing at nothing in particular. "... Shall not piss!"
...
...
...
"I meant pass! You shall notpass!...
You can piss if ya want.
I did earlier.
Taking a leak in space is great.
The way it spirals everywhere... Hehehehe, aiming it at spacians and seeing how many eyes I can poke out with the wavy jet stream is fun too, you know? Good for accuracy trainin'."
"What manner of disgusting creature are you supposed to be?" Charon... Well his face was just a bunch of bones but if it were still made of flesh and blood he would be scowling heavily right about now. This humanoid incarnation of filth and sloth reeked. He was no slouch, that bottle hitting Charon earlier was proof, but that almost felt like an affront to the very concept of decency itself. Such a vulgar idiot being as strong as he was felt like it should be classified as illegal for the sake of humans everywhere. He didn't deserve it! He was seriously a bundle of horridness everywhere Charon looked. A yellow-vomit stained, partially ripped, and pungent grey shirt. Jeans that were a size too big with piss marks everywhere, even somehow on the rear. Food stuck in his beard. A wart on his face. Rashes on his hand... This guy was a walking plague and it was better to not even get started on what this man's innards would look like given his expected alcohol consumption...
And yet...
Charon couldn't believe he was thinking this... He couldn't believe he was entertaining this thought for eve a millisecond... But this man was oddly charming. Some people owned their failures and imperfections and this guy was seriously able to somehow manage every single negative trait about him. His beard was scruffy but his eyes were beady and his smile genuine. He was dirty but found ways to make it fun for himself by grossing out others as a past time which made his actions confident and deliberate rather than anything resembling a lack of care. Of course he was off-putting to the extreme but there was a kind of feeling in Charon he couldn't explain telling him to tolerate this guy because he wasn't all that bad...
No, there wasn't!
Charon shook his head and expunged the digested alcohol from before. As soon as it left his system Charon's mind returned to normal and an appropriate level of disinterest and disrespect filled him for the man opposite. This hobo drunkard was a poison expert and it seemed his weapon of choice was myriad bottles of alcohol that stored his concoctions. Charon almost fell into a trap he didn't even see and couldn't help but stare at this foul existence with renewed caution... "Who are you and why are you getting in my way?" This drunk man was clearly not a lower domain cultivator and yet he was hanging around like a creep stalking schoolchildren so Charon almost felt like it was his instinctive duty to righteously smite down this dodgy individua. Charon wasn't even the heroic type but this pathetic imbecile instilled within him a sense of profound indignation for his sinful self.
"Me? Harmless ol' me?" The drunk man was not old in the slightest. He seemed to be no older than about twenty seven or so, as a matter of fat. He simply called himself 'old' to then chuckle at Charon who was blatantly a sack of old bones. "Name's... Wait... What's my name again?" The man scratched his chin in great confusion as he seriously pondered this conundrum to which he didn't have an answer. "Doesn't matter! Name's irrelevant! I'm here to... Wait... Why am I here again?"
"You fucking idiot, get out of my way!" Charon wasn't going to tolerate this stupidity any longer, he wasn't on a tight schedule per-se but there was a limit to how much nonsense he was willing to put up with when it came to random madmen. Charon was about to lift his scythe and start summoning a plethora of jade to case this domain in his specialty but the drunkard spooked him by suddenly yelling like a demented freak.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I REMEMBER!" The man looked at Charon like a baby animal expecting praise from its caring mother... "Aww. Thought you'd be happy what with wanting to know why I'm here an' all? You asked like five seconds ago and now you don't even care anymore? Bah, screw you! I thought so hard about it too and not even a simple thanks? I could have used that time thinkin' drinkin' instead! Crusty bastard!"
"You are the last person I want to hear that 'crusty' insult coming from! I could use your scabs as impenetrable armor you putrid freak!"
"Heh, tha's a good idea. Might give it a go... Ah. Anyway. I'm here to stop ya!"
"Yes..." Charon had to take a deep breath. "I can tell, you insufferable buffoon. I want to knowwhy!?"
"Huh... I guess 'cos this thing started glowing?" The man pulled out a Brotherhood robe and dangled it such that the bright rune at the front could be seen by Charon. "Little old runey here told me there's a bad skelly on his way to the Lowe domain and that we should send 'em packin' if possible. So get your luggage in order cos' I'm sending you back from whence you came ya boney bastard!" The man... Tried to act tough, he really did, but, somehow, some way, nearly fell over... In space... His own swaying nearly toppled him before the fight even began...
"Brotherhood, is it? You idiots seriously think a mere outer court disciple can stop me? Why are you even here to hinder my path anyway? Just to die? What, is one of your potential new recruits the one I'm after? Is that it? Just because I left your sect master alone that doesn't mean some random new disciple is going to escape whatever decision I make here today. Better yet, are you seriously protecting a new recruit to this extent?"
"I dunno? Jus' doing as I'mma told. An yeah, I'm an outer court disciple, but so what? Eh punk? So damn what? Even if I can't end up beatin' ya, you sure you wanna beat me? You know what kinda risk that entails? I joined these guys so I could get access to plenty o' booze ya know? I been kicked outta so many pubs I had to build up my reputation to get back in 'em and look at me now! Even royal breweries can't turn me down no more! I may not be much on my own but those guys and gals above me? Those good people? You really wanna mess with em when even Gods know better? You got balls!...
Err...
Do you got balls?
I take it back, you probably don't got balls...
Poor guy.
Wanna drink? Might make ya feel better about ya missing balls..."
"Motherfucker, I will cut you in half and use your bisected body as a fountain in my local beer garden!" Charon wasn't going to let those ballsy comments slide! He prepared his weapon but kissed his teeth and had to fend off a sneak attack from the drunk that came in the form of a massive tide. Charon hadn't spotted it but, at some point, the drunk summoned a tidal wave of crisp brown, sweet smelling alcohol that was large enough to swallow an entire planet and drown it in liquid pleasure. It wasn't an ordinary wave either as it no doubt contained some manner of poison that was best kept far away from the skin... Or in Charon's case his bones. This drunk's poison was already confirmed to be effective against undead which was a pretty impressive feat as far as toxicology went.
This drunkard may be an idiot for the ages but he was still a Brotherhood member through and through at he end of the day. Charon's strength was limited due the domain ruler setting up a cultivation limit, much like what was happening in the Lowe domain, so this stupid man was actually a significant threat no matter how annoying it was for Charon to admit it. Brotherhood members were unparalleled talent personified so an even cultivation playing field against one was disastrous even for a monster like Charon and he couldn't be so careless here. With a kiss of his teeth, Charon waved his had and turned the incoming tide into solid jade which he then cut through with his scythe. His initial slash was empowered by the jade magic and sent a follow-up flash of sharp mana blasting at the drunk. The smelly man plucked a bottle from his behind and popped the cork, drinking all of the contents before aiming the empty bottle at the incoming flash slash. Much to the dismay of Charon, the slash was sucked into the empty bottle and stored there for presumably future use.
This drunk man could seemingly absorb the attacks of others and then experiment with them in private to turn the residual mana into poisons of different varieties. He probably had thousands upon thousands of mana-derived drinks and poisons that covered a wide range of elements. He was a variety cultivator that specialised in an expansive list of poisons. If he captured a Sky Ablaze in an empty bottle, for instance, he could create a a poison capable of melting people's insides with a fearsome heat... Or he could just drink it himself, enjoy it like a glutton, and waste it... That tidal wave earlier was probably the result of absorbing a water pillar, surge aspect art, modifying it to become an alcoholic poison, and then firing it from the bottle he stored it in. Though the guy looked like a dumbass, and 'acted' like one, he was an experimenter type and knew a good deal about his field. Rather, he knew a good deal about multiple fields as it was necessary to convert other mana types into poison. Though it pained Charon down to his core, this man was a genius. That being said, it's not like Charon would back down over one mere drunkard.
"Damnable pest. I am not afraid of your stupid Brotherhood. Sisterhood. Sissyhood. Whatever you chumps want to call it! I'll personally reduce your sect to rubble if you dare keep opposing me! Your organisation is impressive, I won't deny it, but not everyone fears you! You can't bully everyone into submission with your reputation alone!"
"We don't try to, that's really not the point." A new voice echoed throughout the surrounding space and Finnian slowly emerged from a spatial tear with a wry smile. He'd taken a quick break from overseeing the tryouts, leaving things back there in Alice's capable hands. "I think you've misunderstood how we operate, Charon. We try to avoid bullying people with our reputation, actually, it does us no favours in the long run. If we exploited our reputation too much, in ways that angered others constantly, people would band together and get fed up of us. Also, not fearing us doesn't correlate with you having the capability to threaten us either; we both know your words are empty on that matter as the Brotherhood's combined might is not something you can scoff at. Charon.. Be reasonable and give up, I won't let you take the life of this potential disciple. Even if they end up not joining the sect I'm not the kind of person who'd stand around idly and just watch you kill a random stranger in front of me when they've done no wrong."
"Tsk, who said I was going to kill them?! I'm not doing that anymore... As long as they aren't going to take my position in the next handful of years they can live and clumsily swing scythes to their heart's content for all I care."
"... I find that hard to believe?" Finnian raised an eyebrow at this claim as it was well known why Charon was the way he was.
"What? You don't trust the words of your elders now, brat? I heard from the last sect master that you were likeable but I'm finding you rather disagreeable. I mean what I said and I said what I meant. I've come to an agreement with Davey about the next reaper candidate to take my position. See, I can swing around alliances and big names too so piss off out of my way and let me go see this new bearer of the reaper's mark. If I think they're a risk to what I'm planning I'll only have them temporarily abandon the scythe for a few years. That much shouldn't be a problem. Besides, this s a lower domain anyway. Ho talented can this individual possibly be?! Even if I let them use the scythe for hundreds more years do you seriously think they could match up to me who's lived across eras by now?! At worst, they stop with the scythe for a few years. At best I leave without saying a single word to them. Stop being overly defensive. What are you? This reaper candidate's mother?!"
"... Fine, I'll call off the Brotherhood... But I swear to God, Charon, if you go back on your word I will make you regret it dearly. I know how much you value your life so don't give me a reason to take it. If I fight you to the death I'm not convinced I don't have it in me to win when push comes to shove. I know you're a legend in your own right, I respect that, but I've got fight in me too."
"Where do you young'uns get off talking to your ancestors like that?! Whatever, keep your petty threats to yourself and take me to the reaper candidate already. I actually have other business to sort out in these lower domains and the sooner I can get started on that the better. You think I want to chase little kiddies around all day?!"
"Not without your balls you don't!" The grungy drunk cackled as he indirectly called Charon a neutered paedophile. He thought his joke was hilarious as belly laughed and slapped his own knee while guffawing to the point of running out of breath at which point he choked and threw up...
"Ethan..." Finnian seriously didn't know how to handle the outer court disciples. They were well and truly a handful and his job was not enviable... "Can you at least do your liver a favour and stop drinking for the rest of today at least?" Finnian might as well have been speaking to empty air as Ethan outright ignored him. This was normal, regrettably. Ethan's sister was severely poisoned and he never quite got over it as she was still in a state that was rather pitiful. Ethan was a respectable brewer at one point but his decline into mental instability and degeneracy was a result of him drowning himself in poisons all day long to try and find a cure. It was hard not to judge him negatively but knowing his story made Finnian struggle to reproach and reprimand him as he knew he should. Finnian sighed and turned back to Charon. "Whatever, ignore Ethan. Let's go to the tryouts. I left Mimi there so things should be ok... For a while, at least. I can't leave her on her own too long otherwise things might take a drastic change when I'm not looking... I swear I can't take my eyes off either of these two for even a single minute...
But still, thank you for showing up when called, Ethan. I'll let the sect master know about this and he'll try to find a suitable reward for you. You wanted to pay a visit to that one museum because they nave an ancient brew on display, right? He'll probably bargain to get you in for a tour and maybe a tasting if he really exploits his connections."
"Mm." Ethan mumbled to himself and slowly wandered away through space, his back looking incredibly sad as he departed. He didn't seem to have much faith in his search for a cure anymore... He wasn't giving up physically but after all these years he was mentally checked out to some extent. There was little anybody else could do for him so Ethan just shook his head and left as well, taking Charon with him back to the tryout site. What he saw upon returning, however, was a shock to his system. Things had indeed changed but not because of Mimi's boredom... Ares was no longer on the defensive and had adopted a 'if you don't come to me, I'll come to you approach'... The result was terrifying...