REAPER: The Young God

Prologue

The stadium buzzed with energy and from the border of the kingdom, a couple hundred of kilometres away, one could hear the roars and cheers from the spectators.

Souls from every realm of the Underworld attended the 905th Slayer tournament. An event that took place every mortal century, souls of every size would sign up to prove their strength to everyone for a grand prize of ascending to "God" rank.

The tournament was only open to qualified reapers - souls that had passed the base requirements of reaping mortal souls from their bodies upon death, fighting corrupted souls in the mortal realm, and maintaining balance between the living and the dead. But in the Underworld, there were five realms - each of which having their own lifestyles, cultures, and races of souls from all walks of life in the mortal realm or simply from creation within the Underworld.

For every other soul that one would reap or slay, the reaper would use their scythe to absorb the soul essence of their fallen target, empowering their own soul's core. Simply put, the more souls one reaps, the stronger they become. More importantly, the stronger the soul that one slays, the greater the essence they'll reap and become exponentially stronger.

For Simz, he stood just under eight hundred reaped souls. As the announcer of the tournament called his name, the crowd roared. Laughter also filled the stadium as he stepped foot onto the battle platform. He was 243 centimetres in height, lean build and chose the appearance of a human. By default, a soul is just a light blue body of light. It is by choosing an appearance that the soul can differentiate itself from others. The size of a soul's body is also affected by how much essence the soul can generate from its own core. The slower the generation, the smaller the soul's body.

The announcer called out the name of Simz's opponent who walked to the platform and he understood why they all laughed at him. His opponent was a behemoth that walked on its hind legs, welding dual great swords. Standing at 70 metres tall, one can only imagine how big this stadium is. To most people, this size difference should be impossible for battle, but physics and logic don't really make sense in the Underworld.

The behemoth had reaped over a million souls and chuckled at Simz.

With a booming voice the Behemoth spoke, "Surely this is a jest. I'm to fight a puny ant?" And the rest of the stadium responded in laughter. Some souls would even attempt to throw objects at Simz and began to boo him. But the audience were protected by a powerful barrier which evaporated the objects upon contact. This was for their safety, which made sense if souls as big as the behemoth existed.

"The Behemoth has also been known as the World Ender!" The announcer called out his accolades.

"Hear that?" The behemoth taunted, "My strength is enough to end worlds. And this is where I destroy yours. I wouldn't need to draw my weapons in any case, as it'd be difficult to squash a bug as small as..."

Simz grinned and grabbed his scythe which rested on his back then took a stance. Pressure built up and swelled around his body, distorting the space around him. He let out a wave of that pressure all around him which filled the stadium and caused the protective barrier to vibrate. The Behemoth was silent with wonder, and the audience continued to cheer for Simz to be squashed.

The Behemoth lost sight of Simz suddenly and scanned around his feet. Indeed, Simz would be difficult to see due to the size difference. The pressure from Simz thickened and the Behemoth could feel killing intent. Out of a sudden fear, he grabbed his swords but as his arms reached up and back, they were cut off from his body. His eyes opened wide in shock and the audience gasped in unison.

Simz appeared back at his original position in front of the Behemoth, his scythe in his right hand. His opponent moved to stomp him like the bug he called him, but as the giant's foot swooped down to the ground, Simz lifted his hand to the beast's sole and upon contact, the Behemoth's leg looked like glass for a split second and shattered into dust.

Silence loudly filled the stadium.

"Uhh, announcer... You failed to list my title and accolades." Simz said in a calm tone and volume, but his voice resonated around the entire stadium as if he was on loud speaker using a microphone. This was an ability of his whereby he could manipulate the waves around him and amplify their frequency.

"Without a doubt, this strength and that scythe, you... You're-" the Behemoth uttered.

The Behemoth had only leg and no other limbs, he kept balance and a dark energy formed within his mouth. He opened his mouth and aimed at Simz and shot a beam of darkness at him. The beam eliminated everything it touched, leaving a gaping hole almost 200m deep. But standing in the same position was Simz, unscathed and standing on a floor of his own generated essence. The Behemoth confirmed just who his opponent was.

The announcer, in even more shock much like the audience and the Behemoth, announced, "Simz Tykonion, with the Forsaken Blade of Karma."

As such, Simz pointed his left palm at the Behemoth, and his scythe shimmered with black mist, and he shot the same beam back at the Behemoth erasing his entire body from existence. The beam collided with the protective barrier on its ceiling and penetrated through it, shooting the beam further into the sky. The Behemoth was no longer alive and all that remained was his essence which flowed straight to Simz's scythe.

"Winner - Simz Tykonion!" The announcer belted out. A few seconds of silence as the audience processed what just occurred, and the stadium filled with cheers. "The first royal to attain "God" rank!"