Reaper's Purgatory-Chapter 22: Gray Dunes and Desperate Demons

"OPEN!!" A guard yelled.

Slowly the gates of Gondola swerved open revealing a world of a grey desert filled with ash. From a distance Megumi could see several large bolts of lightning stuck in time. She quickly glanced back, finally realizing how normal the sky of Gondola actually looked compared to the world of purgatory outside.

Looking back into the dunes of ash, she was immediately reminded of the strange stone statue-like landscape. She saw faces and arms reaching out that look as if they were natural formations of this world.

Seeing a ginormous lightning bolt that was a bright white in the distance, Megumi pointed straight at it. "So that's the rift to Arc right?"

Cider followed her finger, tracing it to the very place. "Wow, that's big!" Cider exclaimed.

"Good, you remember." K said.

"I thought it'd be a lot harder to find to be honest."

"Hah." Dino blurted. "How could you ever miss that? Arc is literally the center of purgatory. "

Megumi turned to Dino, Curious. "Have you been to Arc yourself?"

"Honestly I can't say I had. My master recommended that I go there once, but I refused." Dino said.

"Really? Why is that?" Megumi asked.

Dino sighed and crossed his arms, as if tired by a question asked several times already. "If you want to know, I was looking for my brother here in purgatory. He was killed before I was, and I figure that I look around for him considering that he'd always find some way of finding trouble. But the only person I found was an old coot that taught me how to hunt demons."

"Are you sure he's here in Purgatory?"

Dino's eyes sharpened. "He was blown up by a rocket launcher."

Megumi was put into a stunned shock. "U-uu-uhh... S...Sorry..."

"Rocket launcher? That sounds cool." Cider interjected.

Dino quickly softened his eyes and looked away from Megumi. "It's not so cool if someone you knew your entire life is blown to pieces. In any case I know for a fact that he's here in purgatory. And I know he's already gotten into trouble with some very powerful people here too."

"The last news I heard about him was that he attacked a 'Sin'..." Dino's eyes narrowed, with a flicker of a lasting desperation as if trying to hold out hope.

"A... Sin...? What do you mean by that?"

K spoke up. "A Sin... Is more than just a human tendency that could become malicious. In purgatory, Sin's themselves are a concept given life. They are an undying idea of the world that continues to live on, almost like Godly beings in this world..."

Megumi became surprised at hearing this news. "What? Wait, so there's gods in this world too?"

"No. Although they are powerful, and immortal, I can say with certainty they're as vulnerable as you and me..."

Megumi gave a sigh of relief.

"That is... If you reach their level of power."

Megumi stopped and looked over at K. "So, if a sin attacked us now, we would die?"

"Yes... That is with the exception of me of course."

"I'm not sure if that's very comforting, Megumi noted.

"Just who are you anyways." Dino interjected.

K glanced over at Dino who gave an indignant stare at him. "All you need to know is that my name is K... That is all."

Dino rolled his eyes. "Of course."

Suddenly Liang landed in the center of their sled carriage. "Sorry, I was held up by Harold, Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"No." They all said in unison.

"Nice."

Without a second thought Liang sat in a seat by K, lazily lying back with his leg resting on the other. Megumi couldn't help but pout at the fact that she had to ride along with Liang.

Finally, the huge dog-like beast's began their move with Megumi's group leading the charge out into the dunes of purgatory. It didn't take long for the beasts to burst out into a large sprint. Everyone held on tight to the sled feeling the force of the wind pushing against them.

Slowly they all got used to the force and were able to continue sitting comfortably. It was a wonder that those hulking beasts could move as fast as they did, but Megumi didn't want to question it.

"Be careful not to trip.' Liang teased.

Wanting to get her mind off him she continued their previous conversation.

"H-hey K, is there anything else you can tell me about the Sin's?"

"Don't you think that's a step too early to learn Megumi~." Liang taunted.

She pouted again briefly before K could speak.

"As you already know, there are seven sins... Each of them rules over a piece of purgatory like a warlord of a country, each of them filled with demons as far as the eye can see. With the very center of purgatory itself being under the influence of the Reapers corp."

"Really?"

K conjured forth a map, showing it to Megumi with Cider taking a peek himself. Dino however didn't seem too interested.

Megumi held the map tight in her hands as the corners of the map whipped around in the wind. As she looked over the map, she was surprised to find no land mass, instead there were several dots and lines of red, indicating dangerous territories.

"Where's the land?" Megumi continued to scan the map given to her, finding it strange and alien.

"Everything you see before you is land. Purgatory is a land of ashes and lost dreams. Anything beyond the boundaries of that map will bring you to the other side of the world."

K took his boney finger and gave a quick and simple example. Megumi understood instantly, even if it did sound a little confusing to her.

"If it helps, just think of those territories in red as land masses in of themselves."

She glanced back up briefly taking in the information. "Yeah. I guess that helps a little..."

The more Megumi thought about it, the more round the world seemed to be. But thinking any more beyond that, put her in a tizzy as she contemplated if Arc was truly the center of Purgatory.

"H-here." For the safety of her mind, Megumi handed the map back to K. He took it back without complaint.

"Too much to handle, huh? Don't worry, just give yourself another year and I'm sure you'll grow accustomed to our little world here." Liang said.

Looking back at Liang, he seemed more focused on the sky above than anything else. Megumi didn't entertain him any further and looked out the sled. Cider joined in, seeing what little thing they could find as they sped up and down through the dunes.

They passed what looked to be monuments, giant statues, and more of the rifts that seemed to be more scattered around and much smaller than some of the others that she saw in a distance.

It was amazing to see how fast they were flying through what looked to be a vast landscape.

After a while of traveling through the dunes, everything seemed to become the same, like the background of a games loading screen. Suddenly, something caught Cider's eye. "Hey, look at that!" Cider pointed to what looked to be a large group of overly skinny pale demons.

Megumi was able to look fast enough to catch a glimpse of them and their hollow black eyes, and somewhat wrinkled skin. The caravan of sleds sprinted past this group.

"Whoa, what was that?"

"Keep your head down!" Dino shouted.

Not long after a blood curdling screech echoes through the air.

"What wa-" Megumi jerked her head back to the source.

To her shock, a dry skinned, wrinkly pale white demon with hollowed black eyes leapt at her from above their sled. Its mouth drooled with an unnerving desperate anticipation.

She held her breath as it inched closer to her, But the demon was quickly intercepted with Liang's sword slicing through the demon's face.

The demon turned to stone in an instant, with its top head landed by Megumi.

"Dumbass! I told you to get down." Dion forced Megumi down as the ducked.

Even more of the pale white demons leapt at the other sleds in the caravan but were swiftly dispatched of by the other reaper's accompanying each of those sleds.

several more demons tried attack them again, only to be intercepted by Dino's crystal spike and Cider bladed arms.

Although panicked by this she quickly calmed herself. She glances back at Liang who was now standing in the middle of the sled dispatching of two more demons.

Beyond Liang was the caravan where Megumi found a huge group of the same demons following right behind their group.

"Ah, nuts." Liang said. "I was hoping we wouldn't find these primordial demons so soon."

"T-there's so many of them." Megumi looked on, surprised by the army of demons chasing them.

"Eh. it could be worse, but it looks like we'll be fighting them for a little bit.

Cider began to become more serious, but Liang posed his sword as a gesture for Cider to cease. "Leave this to me and the other Reapers here..." Laing said.

Among the other passengers were Reaper's, posed and ready leave the safety of the caravan to engage with this hostile threat. From Arnold to Dove and a few other reapers, one of which carried a strange looking gun another reforming their arms into large hammers. Some of them smiled happily, more than ready for a bout.

At once, they all step out from the sleds, and despite Megumi's worry Liang continued forth with a smile. He opened his eyes, reveals gleaming golden pupils.

Liang posed his sword and sliced the first demon's head off, turning it to stone in an instant. He ran forth along with the other few reapers, clashing against an otherwise losing battle.

They tore and sliced their way through the demon's horde, stopping them in their tracks. and slice and ripped through their adversaries without mercy.

As some of the horde try to run past Liang and his allies, Arnold came in conjuring forth a large and expanding cartoon wall, trapping the preventing the demons to moving beyond them

Without hesitation Arnold conjured Doko Chi-Chi. His cartoon dog stretched and slammed the demons with its cartoon bat. With his pen he conjured cartoon bullets that swerved and struck multiple of the primordial demons.

Dove swerved his way through the field avoiding the rubble of the demons turned stone, as expertly fought through demons after demon. He manifests his fists far from demons, punching and tossing them across the battlefield. Getting attacked from behind, he turned himself into a flock of doves, only manifesting himself above and crushing the demons from below.

As he continued his fight, bullets riddled the field by another reaper who was smoking a blunt. Another reaper crushed other demons beneath his arms that were reformed into a sledgehammer.

Leading the charge against the demons was Liang himself as he sliced and diced through the horde of demons, cutting off heads and stabbing through hearts. A demon attacked from above, connecting straight at the top of Liang's head. Suddenly the attack was reflected back at the demon, killing it.

Liang glanced back with no scars, finding a new horde of demons heading his way with clawed hands. They swiped at him one at a time, each one falling to the same fatal attack that should've killed Liang.

"I didn't expect to be this popular." he chirped.

Liang readied his sword again, slicing through the chest of the first demons, turning to cut the head of a second, and stabbing through a third that tried to sneak around him.

As this battle continued Megumi watched with some interest as the sight of the event got smaller and smaller. Despite their view of the battle being blocked, everyone couldn't help but to watch

"W-we're not stopping?" Megumi asked. She turned to K, slightly concerned.

"If we stop now the people in this caravan could get hurt or even eaten by those demons."

Cider who was also watching gave a disappointed groan. "we're missing all the fun..." he remarked.

"Only a demon childlike yourself thinks it's fun.: Dino retorted He then turned to K. "Hey K, how do you suppose we're going over the wall?"

"There's a wall? Where?" Cider looked around a little confused.

"What wall?" Megumi also questioned.

Dino glanced over to Megumi to respond. "We're in the western part of purgatory, from what I was told, there's a huge wall. Well, actually I think it's better to describe it as a mountain or a plateau. They say once you're over the wall that you've reached the central territory of purgatory."

"I don't think we'll reach it for a while, not for another couple days at least." K answered.

Megumi looked forward, seeing nothing but vast gray dunes. And the thunders of the rifts.

"Everything is going as planned, so far..." a demon spoke quietly. Within the very last sled in the caravan are three demons along with a hypnotized reaper.

"Yes, but he wants that girl separated from him." The tall nose-less demon, Farn said.

"I could swear, I've seen that girl from somewhere before... But I can't put my fingers on it." Devon noted. His many eyes narrowed, glimpsing back at Megumi who was far from their sled.

"It doesn't matter!" the short stubby demon, Weasel exclaimed. "We get him the girl and we get more cores for ourselves!" They could hear the sheer excitement from his hush voice.

They all agreed among each other as the Caravan continued forth

********

Elsewhere, Annabelle was wondering about the gray dune so purgatory as she thought back to when Dragerd just abandoned her.

********

Anna was staring at the crystal orb that was now dead. She was seething from the rage of a lost battle that should've otherwise been a walk in the park. Not only did the mercenary she sent fail to capture Cider and bring him back to her, but he failed at killing the girl she grew to despise.

"I'm leaving," Dragerd suddenly said.

Annabelle turned back with a glare. "You can't leave now! You still have to hold up your end of the deal!"

"I've already held up my end of the deal. I lent you my forces and now my debt to you is officially repaid." Dragerd took the crystal orb in hand. Slowly from his shoulder to his chest, a mouth with sharp teeth opened. He threw the orb within him, crunching and munching at the rock until it was consumed,

Annabelle, unsatisfied, continued to glare at him as he continued to speak.

"As much of a waste this invasion was, I'm glad that I helped you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found that woman you seem to hate." Dragerd curled a smile on his misshapen face, his right eyes grew even larger from his already ugly mug as he drooled.

He broke out into a chuckle. "She has such great potential... I can't wait to get my hands on her."

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

He then glanced back, his excitement, palpable. "See you around. Annabelle..."

Suddenly the dungeon Annabelle was in receded away into the ground, leaving her in the gray desert of Purgatory.

********

Back to the present Annabelle looked over the horizon. "Damn Dragerd!"

Annabelle continued to wander forth. "They're probably still heading to Arc, and if they are... Dragerd will probably capture them...."

Slowly Annabelle started to blow away in the wind, piece by piece like ash in the wind.