Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 651: I am Death

Chapter 651: I am Death

Arwen’s skeletal frame couldn’t withstand the sound waves moving through it, causing it to quickly show signs of collapse.

She sought to burn the reason behind the waves but the gray ice conjured by Alex continued to put it out, leaving her with no means to fight back.

In a desperate bid to preserve herself, she turned to Gregory. "Father, please, don’t kill me."

Gregory’s expression darkened as he glared at her.

"Spare me, you bastard!... You abandoned me once, you plan to do it again!?"

"Shut up!" Gregory shot back as he increased the sonic frequency causing the breakdown to rapidly increase until...

Boom

A terrifying explosion followed as Arwen’s skeletal frame disintegrated, leaving behind the Silent Curtain and two flames intertwined with one another.

One flame was gray and seemed on the verge of being extinguished, the other green and clearly the dominant figure.

Gregory quickly deduced the identities of the owners of the flames as he moved to take hold of the relic while Alex, with Humphrey’s aid, kept the flaming skulls away.

Just as Gregory took hold of the curtain, he was transported into a floating piece of land with a lightless sky overhead.

There, he saw Arwen, curled in on herself, battered and weak, weeping silently.

He thought to rush over only to pause as a figure wielding a bone scythe outlined itself right next to her.

The figure had no flesh on its skeletal frame with a pair of bone wings and a crown atop her head.

A pair of green flame tongues burned in her eye sockets while another persisted at the center of her chest.

"... Why won’t you die?" Gregory questioned with Riona grinning as she took steady steps forward.

"I serve as the proxy of death, dear father, would it make sense for me to die?"

"Do not refer to me as your father," Gregory warned.

"Oh, but you are, or rather, you will be soon enough."

"What?"

"The ritual, Father, it is complete."

Gregory’s frown deepened. "What are you talking about?"

"To become Death, it is only right that I die in the land of the dead, and what better way to die than at the hands of the one that gave you life?"

"... No."

"Oh yes, father. As of this moment, I am no longer Riona Nic Dubhdara, the Dread Widow, nor am I Arwen Hallewell. I am Death, and you, Father, you shall be the first to be accepted into the world I envision."

Following that, she swung her scythe with Gregory attempting to evade... alas, death could not be avoided.

He froze in place, only to look down, his eyes widened in shock as he watched his cells die at a rapid rate.

"Rest well father, you did well."

"No," Gregory muttered only to cough up black blood.

Looking at the fragile figure of Arwen behind Riona, he raised his hand in yearning, hopeful that his thoughts would reach her before finally staggering back and falling to the ground, his body swiftly decaying.

Satisfied with this, Riona made to leave, only for a voice to cause her to pause.

"No."

She slowly turned back, her gaze quickly falling on Gregory’s body which was supposed to be decaying, rising back in defiance of the death placed upon it.

"Impossible," Riona muttered the flames that served as her eyes trembling as she spoke.

Gregory’s breathing was uneven as his decaying flesh quickly returned to how it was before death came upon him but it didn’t just stop there.

His appearance as a banshee shifted rapidly, allowing him to once again take on the form of Gregory Hallewell, a beautiful man with long dark hair and a toned physique.

Realizing the situation was problematic, Riona didn’t hesitate to act as she swung her scythe, intending to split the man in two.

Just as the scythe was inches from Gregory’s head, he moved, quicker than anything Riona had ever come across... even faster than those darn foxes.

She trembled at the sight while Gregory raised his head to regard her, his eyes filled with sufficient bloodlust aimed at her.

Then, using his fingernail, he cut open his wrist, allowing blood to trail from it, quickly staining the ground below while he began to chant in deviltongue.

Riona sought to bestow death again, but it did nothing to Gregory as, in that moment, he was immune to even the grim claws of death.

His body seemed to be breaking apart but at a slowed pace, almost like the few seconds before his death had been stretched into infinity.

Several skeletal hands emerged from the ground to take hold of him only for him to once again move too fast to be touched, appearing at another location.

Riona cursed as she aimed at Arwen, hoping that Gregory would move to her rescue.

Unfortunately, it seemed Gregory was aware that until her existence was stabilized, she couldn’t truly harm Arwen, or else she would be unable to re-enter Eventide as Death.

And so a delicate dance between the two began with Gregory dodging Riona’s attacks while Riona chased him down relentlessly, hoping to exhaust whatever it was that Gregory was using to stay alive even as death had already claimed him.

Just as Gregory concluded chanting, the blood he had spilled on the ground was engulfed by pale flames, drawing Riona’s attention over.

The green flames that served as her eyes constricted as she realized what was coming.

"You bastard!"

The next moment, the flames gave rise to a portal, one that led into the PaleLands.

Riona slashed at the portal, seeking to destroy it before whatever was on the other side crossed over but just as it touched the surface of the portal, a bony hand reached and grabbed the scythe, causing her to immediately back away.

The owner of the bony hand slowly revealed itself to be a Messenger of Death, stepping out of the portal while radiating a deathly aura that did not pale in comparison to Riona.