Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 846: Architects of Fate

The lava kept running down the black castle walls; amidst all that heat, Death looked out of the window.

A distance away, a fight was happening. Not just any fight. A fight of epic proportions, which the Afterlife had never seen before.

It was common for fights to break out in the Hell all the time because the worst kind of people end up in here.

The souls fight against each other.

Sometimes they get bold and try to attack one of Death’s servants or demons—but when they do, Reapers are quick to intervene.

Those were like fights between kids in comparison to what was currently happening.

"M-Master Death... Death..."

A panicked-looking Reaper came running over, almost stumbling on his own legs, and he looked terrified.

"E-Everyone is dead... Junior Reapers... Field Reapers... Senior Reapers... Elite Reapers... Arch Reapers!"

When the servants heard that, they were shocked, and they only wondered who the hell managed to do that.

They then looked at Death—the look of anger on his face—and knew only about one name that could make him have such a reaction.

’Kiernan Hunter... Master Death’s arch rival.’

If Death heard them call him as his archrival, he would kill them instantly, as he thought it was ludicrous.

That human was not on the same level as primordial beings such as Death!

However.

They did look like arch rivals.

"Very well... It is time to send them."

Death said coldly.

"H-Head Reapers?"

The Reaper whispered in shock.

Head Reapers were authority only beneath Death itself. They were architects of fate enforcement and the ultimate judgment.

They were the Afterlife’s Judges.

They decided whether mortals would go to Hell or Heavens.

This kind of authority was given to them by gods themselves, and it was something that not even Death could intervene with.

Head Reapers never left the Hall of Judgment. There were, after all, so many souls to judge and so little time to do so.

’They are the ultimate power. This also means that the Hall of Judgment will be closed temporarily.

’I don’t think it has been closed for three trillion years.’

The Reaper thought in wonder.

He was also planning to think about what would happen if the Head Reapers died, as if they die, the Afterlife would no longer have Judges.

And the souls couldn’t get judged.

However, he thought it was foolish to think about that.

It was impossible for the Head Reapers to lose.

...

Afterlife, Hall of Judgment.

Clang~ Clang~ Creak~

"Ah... Ah... Ah..."

A thin-looking soul stood before massive double doors. They were as tall as the sky itself.

’I-I’ll be judged... Please... I didn’t live a bad life... I lived a boring life!’

The soul thought in fear.

And at that moment, the heavy-looking double doors creaked open, and the soul got sucked inside the hall.

He arrived in a massive courtroom, and then, he almost turned blind as light entered his eyes in a blinding flash.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, his eyes widened in shock, and his mouth dropped in absolute shock.

Three massive chairs were behind a massive chair. Three massive three-headed figures were sitting on them. They had a halo of light surrounding them.

Head Reapers!

They looked to be giant-born. Tall enough to shade the sun. Scary enough to make even the bravest warriors tremble in fear.

The thin-looking soul almost peed his pants at the sight of them, and he quivered like a leaf in the wind.

Swoosh~

At that moment, a book opened on the desk. It was another gigantic book. It stopped at one of the pages.

"...Kyle Larkin, reached age 38, and originates from... Earth Realm."

One of the Head Reapers said, but when he got to the Earth Realm, he sounded almost disgusted.

’What was with that reaction?!’

Kyle gulped.

They didn’t like Earth. It was because of two people. The weakest realm in the entire universe, and yet they gave birth to the two biggest criminals.

Mercedes Rosburg and Kiernan Hunter!

It was bad for the Judges to have any sort of prejudice, but they couldn’t help it and already thought badly of Kyle.

The book page was rather empty. It meant that Kyle lived an ordinary life. Did nothing bad, but did nothing good either.

They ignored the "did nothing bad" part and focused on the "did nothing good."

"Kyle Larkin... You witnessed a robbery in your neighborhood. You did nothing. Why didn’t you intervene?"

Head Reaper asked coldly.

"T-That guy had a gun. I would’ve died!"

Kyle cried out.

"A homeless man asked for money. It was freezing outside, and that money could’ve helped him get a warm meal and shelter for the night. You had enough money to share it with others. Why didn’t you?"

Another one of the Head Reapers asked.

"That guy had a reputation in the town... He was alcoholic, and I knew that money would only go to fuel his addiction."

Kyle said.

"No, you assumed! You thought of him as dirty with the grime-filled cracks in his skin and beard that looked like a bird’s nest!"

The Head Reaper screamed.

’Ah...’

Kyle’s eyes widened in shock.

He wondered how the hell did they know what he was thinking about back then—it was exactly what he thought of the homeless man as—but it was something that even he didn’t remember.

It was such a minor moment in his life. The encounter lasted two seconds. Yet they were to judge his eternity based on that brief interaction?

’This feels... Very unfair!’

Kyle thought.

A judgment has been made between the three Head Reapers, and the middle one of them grabbed the massive gavel.

"Kyle Larkin... You’ve been judged to..."

In that moment, they all heard a voice inside their minds, and they stopped the judgment for a moment.

Head Reaper lowered the gavel, listened to the voice, and then they stood up abruptly—surprising Kyle greatly. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"The judgment will be postponed shortly!"

Head Reaper said, and they then walked out of the door—their steps echoing through the halls—and they were soon gone.

’Ah... Where did they go?’

Kyle wondered.

In that moment, one of the Junior Reapers dragged him out of the hall, and Kyle noticed the Reaper’s unnaturally serious face.

"Shit... Shit... Shit..."

The Junior Reaper whimpered under his breath as if he were in a lot of fear.

’What’s with him? What the hell is going on around here?’

Kyle was taken where other souls were waiting their turn, and he was forced to sit down on the ground with the rest of the souls.

Junior Reapers were making sure that none of them tried to escape, but they were whispering something between each other.

"...Arch Reapers... Didn’t... Dead..."

"...Hunter..."

It was hard to hear what they were exactly saying, but Kyle understood a couple of words.

"Haha... It looks like Reapers are being hunted... I wonder how it feels for those bastards to be on the other end for once."

A soul talked with a smile on his face.

He just happened to be sitting right next to Kyle, and he looked over to him with a puzzled expression.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Reapers are dying, you see~ I just came from the Field of the Judgment, and I saw it with my own eyes. A man with gray hair slaughtering Reapers."

The soul said with a grin.

"What... How is it possible to kill Reapers?"

Kyle asked with a frown.

"Everyone can die, I guess. You just came from the Hall of Judgment, right? Didn’t you get your judgment, or why are you back here?"

The soul asked.

"I was about to, but then the judges left somewhere. In a lot of hurry as well. I don’t know really where they went."

Kyle said.

"Haha... I hear one of these Reapers call those judges as Head Reapers. Maybe they’re going after the man with the gray hair."

The soul chuckled.

"I feel bad for the guy... Those Head Reapers are gigantic with three heads, and I felt like they could kill me with a word."

Kyle said with a sigh.

Since he was from Earth, he had never come across such a terrifying creature before, and it was basically his first encounter with Gods!

...

An hour passed.

Within the Field of Judgment, the cliffs had collapsed. The mountains have come crashing down. The ground was destroyed.

Within the landscape, three massive corpses of the Head Reapers were scattered about, with each of them missing at least one of their heads.

"Huff... Haah..."

Kiernan sat on top of one of the corpses of the Head Reapers, looking into the distance towards the Hell, and allowed a heavy sigh to escape his lips.

"...Why don’t you already stop wasting my time?"

Kiernan growled.

The Architects of Fate. The Judges of the Afterlife. The strongest Reapers.

Have all died!

There were no more Head Reapers. These three were the only ones that have reached that status and strength.

And yet, they were killed by a mortal man’s fists.