Erebus, The Conduit of Death

Mai did her last checks on her weapons, making sure everything was secure and ready for action, before standing at attention before Hahn. Me, Ty and Hahn were outside the family's complex awaiting our transport to arrive. I couldn't see that purple hair military lady anywhere. Mai wondered where she went?

Mai knew there was an ulterior motive for Father sending me out to fight, and the fact that Ty had also been sent out with her only strengthened that belief. The last time we had been sent out was way before all this crazy stuff happened. Me and Ty were sent out together on an Assassination mission. However, Father failed to mention that the target was the 10 yr. old son of a rival gang. After that botched mission Father never sent her out again, so why now?

Did Father know about the gods that visited the two of us? Knowing Father, it wasn't completely impossible. As I was spinning in the downward spiral that was my mind, Ty was doing some last-minute stretches before Hahn gave a "ahem" and the two of us stood at attention, awaiting our orders.

"Our friend has already gone ahead to position herself for long ranged support, while she's doing that, I will now fully debrief you" Debrief us? Didn't he do that already?

"Our main mission is not to kill the creature; it is instead to investigate the two people it was chasing. Our mages sensed something from them and Lord Caldera wants them." Uh oh. That can't be good. The only time Father ever wanted anything was when it was to benefit their family, Father never did anything for just the hell of it. Who are these people?

"Our objective is this. We observe and report and if possible. Capture." Both me and Ty looked at each other. "So, what you're saying, is that the reason why two of our family's best fighters are being sent, is because you need us for a kidnapping?" Ty said very meekly.

"If that's how you want to look at it then sure. I however see it as two loyal members of the family fulfilling their fathers wishes. Will that be a problem?" Hahn said as he glared at us. Growing up in this family had taught me a lot of things. But one of the biggest things is to never, ever, EVER, question Father.

"No Lord Hahn." The two of us said to him with our heads bowed in respect. Hahn seemed to be pleased by our answer as he let the conversation drop. "Very good. Let's go then." The three of us hopped into the vehicle provide by one of the servants and drove off.

"Look for Erebus, He will help you unlock your powers" A voice whispered in Mai and Ty's ears as they departed.

Mai took one last look at the complex behind her, not knowing that this would be the last time she would see it as a Weapon for Father. Mai squeezes Ty's hand as they go off and face this new world.


It had been a very long day for Takashi. The whole day started out on a routine run for supplies. Now him and Saeko were holed up with two young girls while the Nightmare was clawing at the building, tearing chunks of concrete out.

This last hour especially had been very crazy for Takashi, and it all started when him and Saeko made a stand against the Nightmare. The two of them had expected something to happen immediately once they got into the darkness, but after nothing happening, they knew they only had one option left and that was fight for their lives.

After about five minutes of dodging and slashing to no progress we were back to square one. Trying to figure out our powers in the darkness. His telepathy allowed them to have perfect communication, so evasion of the creature's attacks was easy, but they both knew that they couldn't keep it up forever.

It wasn't until the sun finally set that something started to happen. Saeko was in mid slash when her body started to take on a glow. After the blow glanced harmlessly off the creature's hind legs she leapt back to where I was standing. "Well something's happening" Takashi said to her. Her eyes seemed to be lit up. "I know, it's... it's like I can feel the darkness around me, as though it's waiting for me." Huh? "Waiting for you to do what?"

As soon as Takashi said that Saeko thrust her hand forward, and the shadows around them seemed to solidify as a tendril of inky blackness shot out at the beast. Only this time instead of being deflect a wet THWACK was heard as the creature roared in pain, a bloody gash left behind by the tendril.

"Well now we know how to hurt the thing. Looks like our powers are effective against it" Saeko said with a smile. I could easily figure out why she was so happy now. We finally figured out how to injure it. But injuring and killing are two very different things, especially in our current situation.

We were about to strategize a method of attack when all of a sudden, we heard a male voice shout from somewhere above us. Out of nowhere two girls landed in front of me and Saeko, standing between us and the beast.

Two things immediately happened. The first was that the creature seemed to decide that the two girls in front of it were the easier prey, and immediately ignored them. At the same time the two girls suddenly launched themselves at the creature.

"Those girls have got to be insane." Takashi muttered. Saeko gave a small chuckle, "And we aren't?" He shrugged his shoulders in response, but gave a small smile. She did have a point.

The taller girl was jumping around throwing things at the beast. From what we could tell they looked like throwing knives though we couldn't be positive. The smaller girl took a more direct approach, sliding under the creature's belly and proceeding to launch a volley of punches at the Nightmares belly.

This turned out to be their fatal mistake as the small girl immediately screamed out, before scrambling to her feet and narrowly dodging a swipe of the Nightmare's claws by doing a tumble under it. The taller girl rushed over to the smaller one, and that's when the Nightmare pounced.

The taller girl had been distracted so she had no idea an attack was coming at her. Without hesitation Takashi immediately leapt in front of the girl and held his blade tight to deflect the attack. What felt like a million bricks of force smashed against him, but despite that he still somehow didn't budge an inch. The creature again roared in anger and stumbled back a few feet.

Takashi looked down at his weapon and realized what had happened. The blade he was holding was coated black, but he could feel it was the darkness wrapped around the blade. "Thank you Saeko" She literally just saved my life. "Umm, that wasn't me. I'm pretty sure that was all you." Wait what? But he didn't even summon it or do anything?

Not taking the time to question it Takashi immediately grabbed the two girls and threw the taller one to Saeko who caught her in her arms, as Takashi slung the taller one over his shoulders. "Hey what the hell do you think your doing? I AM LADY CALDERA UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT" The girl screamed at me as she starts pounding his back with surprising strength for a girl.

"If you don't shut up and stop your squirming, I will leave you here for that creature is that understood?" Takashi said as he continued running away, Saeko and the other girl shortly behind him. Lady Caldera's sudden silence was all the answer Taskashi needed.

The two of them carrying the girls were running through the alleyways, getting deeper and deeper into the city. They got so deep that they began getting confused on where they were. The looks on our faces must've been obvious because the smaller girl in Saekos arms spoke out. "there should be a abandoned house down this way that we can take shelter in, its made out of concrete so we should be safe for a little bit."

"What do you think?" I asked Saeko. "We got nothing to lose, besides we can easily handle these girls if they decide to trick us." With that settled the two of us follow the girl's instructions and were led to what looked like a modern dojo. It was as a low 1 story building that, like the girl said, was completely made out of concrete.

The door luckily was unlocked, so after running in and securing the door we just came through, we drop the girls down and faced them.

"So, tell me again why you two RAN OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR FIGHT?!" Takashi half yelled at the girls. The two girls meekly looked at him before the taller one in the cloak finally answered. "We don't know why, we just felt drawn to you guys. We don't know why I swear!" "Takashi, can you scan their minds?" Saeko suddenly said.

Hmm, I didn't think of that. Walking over Takashi crouched down to the tall girl and put his hands on her head. She made a movement like she was going for something in her sleeve, but Saeko quickly acted and a tendril of darkness with a pointed tip quickly shot up in front of her face. "No sudden movements." Saeko said, her arm outstretched making it clear she was the one who commanded the tendril.

Both of the girl's eyes widened at Saeko's power, the taller one slowly removing her arms for her sleeves, showing that nothing was in her hands. Takashi put his hands back on her head and dived in. He know it was an invasion of privacy but times were different. Takashi tried to delve in but it was like pushing through thick fog, her thoughts obscured.

"What are you doing to her!" Takashi faintly heard in the background; he hadn't realized that the Lady Caldera girl was screaming. Releasing his grip, Takashi stepped back for a second and looked at her in the eyes. "The reason it hurts so much is your fighting me do you understand? The more you fight it the more it will hurt."

With that warning said Takashi placed his hands back on her head and dived back in. His warning must've gone through to her as the fog was now gone. The girls name was Mai, and she was the daughter of one of the Yakuza families that ran the city. She was also an assassin. Interesting.

As he continued diving, he looked for her intentions as to why they were here and end up reliving one of her memories.

He was standing outside a weird building, the two girls and another guy were talking together

"Our main mission is not to kill the creature; it is instead to investigate the two people it was chasing. Our mages sensed something from them and Lord Caldera wants them."

Wait, they wanted me and Saeko? Why?

"Our objective is this. We observe and report and if possible. Capture." As the man said that Takashi could see an uneasy look given between the girls. They clearly didn't like the plan, which considering the fact that they were apparently both assassins was pretty ironic.

"So, what you're saying, is that the reason why two of our family's best fighters are being sent, is because you need us for a kidnapping?" The small girl meekly said.

"If that's how you want to look at it then sure. I however see it as two loyal members of the family fulfilling their father's wishes. Will that be a problem?" The man said as he glared at the two girls. Hmm, so it was both of their fathers who ordered his and Saeko's capture. Interesting.

Getting what he needed to make sure the girls spoke the truth, Takashi released his grip on Mai's mind, returning to reality. "Well?" Saeko asked him. He stepped back to take a good look at the girls. "They were there by accident; they were off hunting I think Barry's group." He said as he kept his eyes locked on the two girls.

He'll admit that these girls were well trained, only a flicker of surprise in their eyes betrayed my lie. Takashi had a feeling Saeko knew he was lying, but he also knew that she trusted him and that He must've had a reason for lying to her.

"You… you entered my mind." The girl said slightly dazed, before looking at Saeko with the tendrils of darkness wrapped around her, awaiting her command. The full extent of the situation must've finally dawned on the girl as she took a shuddering breath.

"Are you… are you guys Primordials?" Primordial? The word without context meant nothing to me, but it sounded right. Saeko stalked forward before crouching before Mai. The girl visibly flinched as Saeko lowered her face to hers. "And just what exactly is a Primordial?"

"Well we don't know for sure. What I am about to say is only rumors from what I've heard." She takes a deep breath before continuing. "The Primordials are people blessed by the older gods. From what I've heard these are Gods of Death themselves, each one person having the strength of an army."

"Isn't that what Nyx and Erebus are?" "I think so yea." Hmm, if this was true, then that would explain why they were being hunted. "Did your Father mention any others?" The Mai looked confused before shaking her head. "No, not that I'm aware of at least. Why?" Ignoring her question, "This is good then, they don't know about Rei and the others." "Let's hope not. I hope they are doing okay."


"WE ARE SO NOT OKAY" Rei screamed as her and the rest of the group continued running down the alleyway. Behind the group a horde of infected were closely following them, a lot faster than the other infected they've encountered in the past.

Something felt off about these things but she didn't have time to think about it. This all started when they decided to camp outside the city for the night. The tracks had led into the city but were lost as soon as they hit the paved roads. Seeing how it would be worse to just blindly walk through the city at night, the group had set a make up camp hidden in the alcoves of a building.

It was the screams of Brock that woke us up. Rei, Takagi, Kohta and Shizuki were together in the corner when all of us jolted awake, as another scream and a volley of gunshots quickly followed. Instinct had me immediately grab for my bow and sai's, quickly swinging my quiver into place as I prepare for the enemy.

What I see brought back nightmares that I haven't had since I left the high school. A horde of them of at least 20 were coming at us, already almost on top of us. It looked like Brock who was on guard had walked down the street and got attacked, his arm the only thing visible beneath the pile of bodies.

Asami, who must've also been awake, was screaming at the top of her lungs, Takagis gun in her hands, as she wildly sprayed bullets at the horde. "Let's get out of here!" I quickly yell, as Takagi takes her gun back from Asami, Kohta tosses her an assault rifle that he had in the duffle bag.

Taking the charge, Rei leads the group deeper into the city. The undead were close behind them but something didn't feel right to Rei. Their movements were different then the ones she encountered at the High School, but at that time she wasn't able to figure it out.

As they started getting deeper into the city, Rei realized that they ended up getting lost in the maze of the dead city. She had no idea which way was the mall, nor did she have any clues as to where Takashi and Saeko went.

For right now they needed to escape this horde coming after us. Between the occasional shooting and running around street corners, it only took the group about 5 minutes to lose the horde, and themselves.

"Okay now where?" Asami asked Rei. "What's that over there?" Shizuki suddenly shouted. Rei looked over to where Shizuki was pointing, about 5 blocks in front of their current location. Rei could make out a large figure that was doing something to a nearby building, it was hard to tell from this distance.

"Let's take a closer look, but be slow and quiet, we don't know what it is." Rei said, as the others acknowledged her words. As they started getting closer, they were able to start hearing noises coming from the figure. The sounds were really loud, like crashing rocks. They could know see the figure apparently attacking a building in front of it for some reason.

The group could now more clearly see the figure, and they really wish they didn't. The creature had no skin, only mottled red muscle covered his body, with the occasional white tendons peeking through. The face had animalistic feature to it, his lower jaw jutting out farther then the upper jaw.

The beast either had no interest in Rei's group or it had yet to hear them approach thankfully, the main focus seeming to be on the building in front of it. It was currently hunched on its hind legs, using its front legs to tear into the building, each handful equivalated over 600lbs of concrete, wood and other materials that made up the building.

As Rei was about to suggest that the group goes somewhere else, the front of the building exploded right in front of the creature, pieces of concrete were treated as shrapnel as the force of the blast sent the creature flying out of their vision down the street.

Out of the rubble four figures dashed out, heading straight towards the area where the beast was sent flying. All of a sudden one of the figures disappeared suddenly, making Rei believe for a second that she was seeing things. "Wait, wasn't there four people?" Kohta suddenly said.

Ok so maybe she wasn't seeing things, there actually was a fourth person. "Yea I think so, but all of a sudden they disappeared." Rei answered Kohta. "What should we do?" Takagi asked quietly. "I'm gonna go and get a closer look, Kohta watch over the group till I'm back" "Ok!"

As Rei begins her approach, she draws her bow from her back and keeps it ready in her hands, her right fingers lightly resting on the bowstring for a quick reaction. As she makes her way over, the figures start to become more detailed.

Rei can now tell that two of the figures are female and one of them male, at least based off their hair. Deciding to get closer to get a better luck, Rei suddenly realized that one of the girls and the guy looked awfully familiar.

"Takashi?" Rei muttered softly. It had to be him! And that means that the other girl with the sword was definitely Saeko, but who was the second girl? And what about the figure who disappeared? Where did they go?

"What are you doing here?" A voice suddenly said, coming from behind Rei. Rei turned around in fright, but there was no one there! "I'll ask again. What are you doing here?" The voice said again, once again coming from behind Rei. Rei spun around trying to find the owner of the voice, but there was no one nearby! "I'm not going to ask you a third time." The voice now said angrily.

"M- My names Rei" Rei answered shakily. She couldn't go on the offensive since she had no idea where the voice was coming from, leaving her only option to answer the voice. "Rei… Hmm... And may I ask just what exactly you are doing here?"

"We were escaping from a horde of the undead and got chased over here, but where are Saeko and Takashi?" Rei decided to probe the hidden voice and see if she can throw them off guard. She couldn't be sure if the person behind the voice was even affiliated with the others, let alone know Saeko or Takashi well.

However, the moment she said their names, she suddenly felt cold steel on the side of her throat, the blade firmly pressed against her artery. "You have one sentence to explain why you are looking for them. Or I will kill you right here." This time the voice was right in her ear as it whispered, the words as dry as paper, as though killing her wouldn't faze the person at all.

Now Rei was really trembling. She had no idea what relation this shadow had to her friends, but it was clear to her now that the shadow was willing to kill for Takashi and Saeko. "I'm their friend! We got split up the other day, me and the others have been looking for them." Rei immediately shouted out, holding in her fear.

"…. Wait right here." A slight breeze brushed past Rei. Even though a part of her knew that the shadow was gone, Rei didn't dare move. Two minutes later she felt another breeze brush past, and sure enough, "Very well, My Lord told me to bring you and your group to safety and my friend will watch over you." The voice said to Rei. "Your friend? AAH!" As Rei was asking the voice who she meant, a small girl suddenly appeared in front of her.

She looked young, maybe one or two years younger than me, but her whole body radiated with power. She wore a tight outfit, but as far as Rei could tell, had no weapons. "Hi my name's Ty! I'm gonna stay with you till the fights over!" As she finished cheerily explaining herself, she turned her head and looked at the empty space next to her. "You should go and help. We are all still learning our powers, they will need you."

"Be safe." The voice said before the slight breeze brushed by indicating her departure. "Ok let's go." Ty said to Rei. The two girls ran back the way Rei came to join up with the others, but when they got to where Rei left them, there was no one there.

"But… This is where I left them." Rei said in disbelief. She had only been gone maybe 10 minutes, what could have happened to them? Ty squatted down and put her palms on the ground, closing her eyes. "There was a scuffle here recently, I sense blood, but enough for it to be from a fatal wound." Ty murmured.

"What are you doing, how did you know that?" Rei said shocked. Just as Ty said that, Rei discovered the trail of blood droplets on the ground. Ty opened her eyes and gave Rei a small smile. "My goddess is Eris, the Goddess of Strife, I guess one of the side abilities is to sense discord, or in this case an altercation. It just felt natural to do." "Huh" Rei muttered. That ability didn't sound very useful for fighting.

Rei adjusted the grip on her bow, as she took a deep breath in, she let her instincts take over. "Let's go find them, I can follow the scent." Ty was the one this time to be surprised. "Who is your deity?" It was Reis turn to smile now, "Mine is Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Proficient with bow and arrow and tracking." She finished with the glint in her eyes.

"Okay let's do this." Rei said to Ty as the two of them went and followed the trail, on their way to rescue their friends.


10 Minutes Earlier

Takashi, Saeko and the two new girls Ty and Mai, were currently inside a building, trying to come up with a plan to defeat the beast outside. As they were discussing strategies, "When you entered my mind, I felt a familiar presence. May I ask who your deity is?" Mai suddenly quietly inquired to Takashi." Takashi thought about it, then looked at Saeko. "What do you think?" "Can we trust them?" "She was sent to kill us but I think it was more her Father's wish then hers. I see no harm in telling her." "Very well I trust you."

"My deity is Erebus, Saeko's deity is Nyx." As soon as Takashi said this everything turned black. When the blackness subsided, Takashi and Saeko immediately knew where they were. This was the God's Realm. Mai and Ty however were new to this and you can see in their eyes they were beginning to freak out.

"It's ok this is the God's Realm; Erebus must've brought us here." Takashi said to the girls to calm them down. Their faces visibly relaxed, before freezing up again as four shadowy figures appeared behind everyone respectfully.

Takashi knew that the two figures behind him and Saeko were Erebus and Nyx respectively, but who were the two deities behind the girls? "Hello my children, it is good to see you again. I hope you have chosen worthy champions of your abilities." Nyx started the sentence and Erebus finished it, talking to the two figures behind Mai and Ty.

"Thank you, Father." The male figure said, "Thank you Mother." The female figure said. Then they both said at the same time, "Yes Mother, Father. We believe our champions are well suited to be gifted our abilities. Each one's strength compliments ours."

Nyx and Erebus both nodded in confirmation. Mai and Ty were clearly freaked out when Nyx and Erebus were asking if they were worthy or not, but relief was soon washed over their face with their deity's answers.

Nyx stepped forward and addressed Mai first, "Hello there little one, and what is your name?" "My name is Mai, Madam Goddess." She answered politely. Nyx gave a small chuckle upon hearing how Mai addressed her. "You can just call me Nyx, child. Do you know who your deity is?"

"Umm... I believe his name is Thanatos?" "Very good child, and do you know what he is the god of?" "Death, right?" "To be more specific, he is the personification of Death. He walks between both the Realm of the Living and the Realm of the Dead. You too will inherit his abilities."

Thanatos then started explaining to Mai." My abilities are too powerful for you to inherit all at once, I will first give you the ability to walk between the Realms. What this means is that you will have an Ethereal form that can not be seen by the living. In essence you are invisible to everyone but Erebus's patron."

"So, in other words only Takashi can see me when I change forms?" "I won't necessarily see you, as more see your ethereal form." Takashi explained, the knowledge flowing through into him.

"What about me?" Ty asked meekly. The figure behind her smiled. "Your Goddess is Eris; do you know who she is?" "No, I'm sorry Nyx, I have never heard that name before." Ty answered sadly, but you could hear a tint of fear in her voice.

"You need not be afraid my child. Your Goddess is the Goddess of Strife and Discord. You can cause chaos inside a person's own body with your abilities. Peoples strength is flowed through their meridians, where you can cause discord."

"Wow that's so cool! I mean, thank you Goddess Nyx" Ty chatted away before bowing respectfully. Eris gave a soft laugh at Ty's words. Ty then exchanged a look with Mai and then looked at the gods. "So, you are both children of Nyx and Erebus?" They ask them. "Yes."

"Then if that's the case we would like to make a pledge." Mai and Ty said as they dropped to their knee before Takashi. "I would like to swear my fealty to you."

Takashi and Saeko both raised their eyebrows. "But what about your Father?" Takashi asked Mai. "We have never seen eye to eye and I feel he plans to exploit me. Since you are the Conduit of Death, I would rather swear my life to always protect you as your personal assassin.

Hmm, having an invisible bodyguard would be very advantageous, plus I can sense her words are true. As he was thinking this, suddenly information filtered through his head, and he immediately made his decision. "Very well, you shall stay by my side in Ethereal form and be my bodyguard. As for Ty, I hope that you will serve me with just as much loyalty."

At Takashi's words the girls both bowed their head. "As you wish Master." Takashi gave a soft laugh and a smile creeped at the corner of his lips. Master. Hmph, I could get used to that. Turning his head, he looked at Saeko to gauge her reaction. Her face was as stone wall as ever, impossible to read.

Oh well, who knows? Maybe I'll have a harem. Takashi laughs softly before turning to Erebus. "So, I think I may have figured out some of the power you have given me." "Oh, is that so?" Erebus said with a laugh. "And just what exactly did you figure out?"

"From what I can tell I can obtain a person's powers with a psychic connection."

"HAHAHA HAHAHA, is that really what you think my powers are? Boy, I am the Conduit of Death! I have birthed the very personifications of Death themselves! And you think a mere parlor trick like that is the full extent of your abilities? HAHAHA HAHAHAHA

"I will tell you this much. Me and Nyx's powers are very alike, however in the Realm of the Living I am more powerful then my beloved. As of right now you have only scratched the surface of your true potential."

As Erebus finished speaking, the darkness washed over again, bringing them back inside the damaged building.

"Well that was interesting." Takashi said with a disheartened laugh. What the hell was Erebus talking about? Conduit of Death? As Takashi started to get lost in his thoughts, the loud roar of the beast brought him back to reality.

"Ok, we ready to fight this thing?" Takashi said to the girls. They nodded their heads in confirmation, the two girls with weapons drawing them at the ready. "Ok then let's do this." Takashi focused the darkness into his fist and punched as hard as he could.

BOOOM!

A vortex of black power exploded in front of them, completely destroying the front of the building they were in. Takashi could vaguely make out the beast flying down the street from the force of his blast. "We have no time to waste, after him now!"

As the four of them dashed out, Mai ghosted into her Ethereal form. "Master, I sense a strong Aura nearby." "Go investigate but be quick." "En" Takashi sensed her presence veer off to their right, as him and the remaining two girls pushed forward.

Not too long after, Takashi felt Mai's presence return. "It turns out it was a girl, her names Rei, she's looking for you and Saeko." Rei? Oh thank god she's ok. Takashi looked over at Ty, "Have Mai bring you to her then protect her until we meet up with you, ok?" Ty nodded her head, "As you wish" she said as she flew off to the side.

Now for the moment it was just him and Saeko, "Thing got pretty crazy huh." Takashi muttered. "It's ok, we got this, and I believe in you." Saeko said with a smile. As they continued running, they finally caught up with the beast. Both Takashi and Saeko drew their blades at the ready, darkness coiling around the both of them. "Let's finish this." Takashi said as they stalked forward to slay the beast.

A/n. So sorry about the delay! Anyways the story is about to finish it's first arc and I have a few ideas on how to start the second arc but I would love your guys inputs. As always please Read and Review and I will see you guys soon!