The Freak Show Foreman

Fluttering through the black curtains, the chill of the abyss swept in.

It was a cold wind that froze the soul.

A giant demon slowly emerged from there.

The black cloth fluttering behind it resembled the shape of wings.

The Reaper, Noua Zakanuba.

He looked around at the people surrounding him.

Those who met his gaze felt as if cold needles were piercing their lungs.

Even the circus members, unfamiliar with demons, could recognize him at a glance.

He was different from the demons that had appeared earlier.

"It, isn't it time for us to run away?" Explore more at empire

"I want to, b-but my feet are frozen…"

Their feet were suddenly covered in white frost.

Of course, these ice granules could be broken with force.

The problem was that their bodies had stiffened as well.

Like prey animals facing a predator, they couldn't even flinch.

As the demon approached them step by step, the chill intensified.

The blood-red gleam seeped through the cracks in his skull helmet, scrutinizing them.

His gaze soon fixed on the two men and women who radiated hostility towards him.

He opened his mouth as he looked at them.

Surprisingly, fluent human words flowed from his mouth.

"It's been a while since someone reached this far."

While the members were surprised, the two exorcists remained calm.

They already knew that high-ranking demons could speak.

It was just a fact they never wanted to confirm.

High-ranking demons were feared even by experienced exorcists.

They hoped never to encounter one if possible.

Noua Zakanuba was such a powerful demon that he earned the nickname of the Reaper.

To stand against him at this level, at least four out of six trackers had to gather.

But currently, there were only two of them, and Valentina had overused her sanctity, leaving her in an unfit state.

If they fought, it would be their defeat.

"What an interesting combination. Is a disciple of the demon working together with a priest of light?"

His tone and attitude were extremely polite.

His voice was as soft and delicate as that of a human woman.

Despite resembling those slaughter rabbits, the atmosphere he emitted was completely different.

The members harbored a glimmer of hope.

"He doesn't seem like a bad demon, does he…?"

"Perhaps he intends to spare us?"

"Yeah, let's not judge by appearances… That's not what we should do, right…?"

Ella sighed inwardly at their naive words.

She wondered if they had ever seen a "kind demon" begging for mercy.

"Why have you appeared here?"

The Reaper's response to Bayern's question was exactly what Ella had feared.

"Didn't my kids show you first? It's been a long time… since I tasted human blood and flesh. I want to enjoy it a little."

The members' bones turned to jelly at the sight of the demon's nonchalant words that didn't match his kind voice.

Ella muttered to herself, "Well, that's it."

"Hey, can't you give us a break, just by looking at the face of this disciple… In a broader sense, aren't we on the same side?"

Bayern's forced words sounded like squeezing out something.

The demon chuckled at the idea.

"To be on the same side… That's not a fitting explanation. We and the Abyssal Chiral share the same space. If we were to liken it, the Abyssal Chiral is like residents who own houses in the neighborhood, and we are like wild animals living in that neighborhood. We mainly roam the alleys and fields, but occasionally, we also enter houses to live… Do you understand?"

"Interesting. Then what are we?"

"Mages… You are the livestock raised by residents in the neighborhood. That's why we try not to touch you as much as possible. If the owner comes out with a club saying he'll catch the wild animal that harmed his livestock, we also have a hard time."

"Your metaphor is quite charming. I see the Abyss is a very pastoral neighborhood."

"It's sufficiently pastoral. But isn't the term 'pastoral' the word you use to describe a hell where tens of thousands of cattle and pigs are slaughtered every day?"

Bayern cursed inwardly.

The demon wasn't just capable of speaking human language; he was also mocking human attitudes.

He knew humans well.

That was rather depressing news from the perspective of having to fight him.

Noua Zakanuba, by saying the following, demonstrated that he saw through the intention of stalling for time.

"Has enough time been wasted? There are two hours left until dawn. Can you hold on until then?"

He gripped the weapon slung over his shoulder.

A dull black blade was affixed to the end of a wooden handle wound several times with coarse rope, resembling a crescent moon.

The scythe of the reaper.

Its mere presence spread a melancholic feeling to those around.

"Be careful. If you're pierced by the scythe of the reaper, happy memories will be sucked away."

"It's a delicacy."

The reaper swung his scythe.

Three consecutive crescent waves emanated from the trajectory his weapon drew in the air.

The waves materialized.

Thin, black strokes akin to paper.

They flew through the air, slicing through it.

The first stroke turned what was into nothingness using Bayern's power.

The second stroke was erased by Valentia's purification.

The third stroke narrowly missed cutting off one of Womon's horns as it passed.

The stroke that flew over the village square sliced through a three-story building, which Noua Zakanuba had leaped from earlier, leaving it in its wake.

A whole floor of the building cut by the stroke collapsed in a heap.

Kugung.

Clouds of dust billowed up.

A rumble continued to echo thereafter.

It seemed the stroke that passed through the building also sheared through the ones behind it.

"Uwaaaaah!"

Womon, with one horn severed, dashed forward.

It wasn't due to bravery or anger.

It was akin to a seizure brought on by fear.

In Womon's hand was a large, bloodied kitchen knife.

The very object that had shattered Zakanuba's skull.

"Hey, brat!"

Bayern's knew why he acted thus.

Those struck by the reaper's scythe recalled dreadful memories and absorbed happy ones.

Though he hadn't been directly pierced by the blade, being struck by the stroke undoubtedly meant he was plagued by some nightmare.

The reaper watched Womon's charge towards him with an almost endearing expression.

Then he effortlessly caught the kitchen knife swung with all of Womon's might.

With just two fingers.

"Showing off your strength?"

"Uuuugh!"

Womon struggled to pull the knife out from between his fingers, cursing.

But it wouldn't budge.

Everyone was astonished.

Womon, who had held the upper hand in the power struggle against the fearsome Zakanuba, was now being effortlessly toyed with?

Womon's face, reddening from the confrontation with the reaper, gradually drained of color.

He was despairing in the cold emitted by the reaper, in the negative energy exuded by his scythe, in the overwhelming gap in power.

If Bayern and Valentina hadn't intervened at the right moment, Womon might have met his end then and there.

"Do not waste your life in vain!"

"Don't run away!"

The ground shook and the spear of light illuminated the darkness.

While the two were frozen in time, the members of the group pulled the unconscious Womon using Yurakne's rope.

"It's over… It's really over now…"

"What do we do, Vice-Director?"

"For now… let's retreat. This is not our fight to intervene in."

But the Reaper didn't let them escape. He moved the black cloth fluttering behind him to push the two exorcists aside, then swung his scythe forcefully again.

It was similar to the technique he used at first.

But the size of the black shockwave created by the scythe's trajectory was different.

A huge shockwave, tens of meters long, formed.

The Reaper reassured those looking at him with astonished faces in a friendly tone.

"Hmm! Expanding the range weakened the intensity. You will wake up from the nightmare after a little while."

The black blade swept through the field in front of the village.

It was an attack with an unavoidable range.

Those hit by the blade confronted their worst memories.

Yurakne remembered the day her husband died, while other members recalled days when their hearts were scarred by their deformities, when Bayern killed his own father, when Valentina stole and cooked the village's dogs with other novices from the monastery, only to be punished by the monks.

Everyone except the two exorcists fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

The Reaper gasped for breath, looking at the exorcists staring at him, and chuckled.

"Not bad at all. Shall we sweat a little more?"

Just until dawn.

They both rushed towards the Reaper with all their might.

The fight was over in just 10 minutes.

Valentina, who had exhausted her scarce sacred power, was knocked unconscious by the Reaper's scythe, and Bayern, slashed by the Reaper's claws, fell to the ground covered in blood.

Thanks to the last skill he used, the Reaper's scythe, which could be held, turned into a scythe that could not be held.

He left the scythe on the ground and stood up.

Noua Zakanuba looked around the battlefield, enjoying his spoils.

After sucking in happy memories by stabbing and slashing with the scythe, his feast was to devour the humans who had become decrepit due to the darkness.

His power was not infinite.

He would use the humans here as food as soon as he could hold the scythe.

As he looked around the field, he fixed his gaze on one spot.

He sensed the energy behind the carriage.

"Oh, you pretended to be unconscious earlier."

Cold sweat formed on Ella's back as she crouched behind the carriage.

With only her pure martial arts skills, she was the best among the people here.

She had twisted her body to barely dodge his attack when he unleashed the shockwave earlier.

And while the fight was going on, she had secretly crawled behind the carriage and hidden.

She thought she had deceived him, but it seemed that his sensitive senses had caught her.

He approached the carriage with silent steps, incongruous with his large build.

"At first, it was difficult to detect the faint energy, but now I understand. This aura that seems like a Demon but not a Demon."

He stood in front of the carriage where Ella was hiding.

She tried to take out the ghost mask from her pocket to wear it, but she couldn't find it.

It must have fallen out when she dodged the shockwave earlier.

He continued talking whether she responded or not.

"I've heard rumors. Stories of a mad scientist who collected cells of the Demons to create 'fake apostles.' I heard he made a few… Are you one of them?"

The Reaper swung his claw.

He didn't intend to kill his opponent.

He adjusted his strength enough to cut her waist halfway.

Ella tried to dodge his attack, but her body didn't respond as she intended.

The chill emanating from him stiffened her body.

She closed her eyes tightly at the sight of the claw flashing before her.