AlterMyth - A Hololive Fanfiction

The Ritual of Death and Destiny

[Author's Note]: AlterMyth now has an official book cover/poster! It was commissioned from Zarasaru, a talented artist! Go check out their works~ The theme is "Let's go on an adventure!"

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Prologue

Fireworks shot up to the dark, cavernous sky over the town square of the Sous La Lune bastion and then burst into beautiful, golden brocade crowns that sparkled in Calliope Mori's bright pink eyes. The veteran reaper stood on the sidelines of the perimeter around the elevated wooden stage built around the square's ornate fountain. From there, she kept watch the ceremony taking place before Ina, Death-sensei, Mr. Lowry and his guests and the myriad of Grim Reapers gathered there that late evening.

All eyes in the town square were on Calli's kouhai , a junior sickle-wielding reaper with a head of new, reddish-purple hair and bright purple eyes. Calli watched her kouhai proudly march towards the center of the stage with her sickle firmly in hand. The junior reaper made a curtsy to Ina and then presented her sickle to Death-sensei, who was in the guise of the elderly Captain James Morrison.

Death-sensei gave the kouhai a wrinkly smile and inspected her sickle with a proud twinkle in his eyes. He took the sickle and spoke with his firm, booming orator's voice that competed with the fireworks bursting in the air above them.

"Junior reaper of the Potomac Platoon. You have served your unit with great valour and distinction in our French Campaign. Thanks to your efforts, you were able to awaken the Priestess' latent powers in the library with her own free will. You were also able to extract your superior, Calliope Mori, and Priestess Ninomae herself from the Fleur de Lune hotel in spectacular fashion. What say you about your feats, junior reaper?"

"I was able to do all this thanks to Mori-senpai's training and chief J-chad's leadership." The kouhai spoke humbly and then stole glances at her two superiors, "I wouldn't have been able to do this without them, sensei ."

"Very good." Death-sensei's smile grew wider, "Calliope Mori and Jacqueline Chadwick are two of my greatest students. The both of them have approved your promotion without a shadow of a doubt. On this momentous day, in the presence of your fellows and the Ancient Ones, you will have the honour of forging your sickle into a fully-fledged scythe!"

"I would be honored to continue serving you, sensei ." The junior gladly accepted.

When she said this, the sickle in Death-sensei's hands started shifting in form with crimson red light. The weapon began floating in mid-air and slowly took the shape of a Grim Reaper's scythe.

"The fire of your soul is burning strong, even in the afterlife." Death-sensei praised, "Your scythe will become powerful - and so will your name! What name do you wish to take to battle, junior reaper?"

The kouhai smiled warmly and opened her mouth to say, "Ir...!"

Before the kouhai could finish, she heard the faint crack of a distant rifle in the midst of all the fireworks. Her warrior's instinct kicked in immediately. She furrowed her brow and cried out.

"Death-sensei, look out...!?"

While she was speaking, however, she suddenly felt Death-sensei's hands on her shoulders. The Lord of Death pulled her in front of him and put her in the path of the rifle shot. The junior reaper's heart sank and a pang of regret gripped at her very soul.

Then, the rifle shot tore straight through her purple left eye and cut clean through her head. It was a fatal blow. However, her flesh wasn't stripped from her skeleton like it normally did. She just stood there lifelessly before falling down to her knees - almost as if she were dying a mortal's death a second time. Her incompletely forged scythe fell down to the stage of petrified wood as an incomplete lump of metal. It was still red hot but was now bent wildly out of shape and looked nothing like a sickle or a scythe - like metal taken out of the furnace long before it was ready.