Ghost had arrived in Posta an hour ago, finding hundreds of people flocking the streets after leaving work, waiting for public transportation to return home. He couldn't have them there with the future arrival of the revenant. So, he activated his Creator's Eye magic ability and released it over a one-mile radius. Everyone inside was subjected to his mental orders, instructing them to leave the area and not return until tomorrow morning, giving him time to deal with the monster.

Standing in the middle of the road, the moon spotlighted him like a musical conductor ready to entertain the masses. But he found no joy in his line of work. One mistake would cause thousands of deaths.

Focus. He took a deep breath.

The wind stopped gossiping. Silence grasped the empty streets with its invincible claws, heightening Ghost's senses. The salty air from the Indian Ocean filled downtown. A breeze brushed his exposed arms, making the hairs rise.

It will use the salty air to mask its scent.

Ghost checked his wristwatch. Any second now.

Soul reapers never knew how revenants moved between Limbo and the earth realm. But over the last three and a half decades, they used lightning, which led to the invention of the Rev-Det—a wristwatch that showed areas where revenants would likely appear.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt! His wristwatch warned.

It's coming.

Two claps of thunder roared in the sky.

A big one.

Lightning struck thirty feet from where he stood, connecting the sky and ground and forming a silver portal. The portal began throbbing, sounding like a tribal war drum, demonstrating the high level of magic used to create it.

Whoever cast it must've been an omega-level sorcerer.

Four large hands with three sharp claws gripped the portal's edge and pushed it wide. Then two legs came out of the opening before the monster revealed itself.

Standing at twenty feet, the revenant had a tank-like body, a mouth the size of a small car, four basketball-size red and black eyes, and gray skin.

"It has four eyes." Ghost sighed in relief.

The revenant sniffed the air and turned in Ghost's direction. "A soul reaper." It smiled, revealing its shark-like teeth. "The Lords said your soul is sweeter than anything in all the realms." It licked its lips with its purple tongue, which had three beating hearts inside.

Now with calm nerves, Ghost extended his right arm to the side and opened his hand. "Come forth, Meretseger."

The birthmark on his wrist glowed before the scythe materialized on his palm. It had a snake-shaped, raven-black pole and a gold blade.

Soul reapers were sorcerers born with a scythe-shaped birthmark on their wrists, which acted as storage for the actual weapon. Each scythe was a manifestation of a deity who assisted their respective reapers in exchange for their souls upon their natural death. They'd sign a soul-binding contract to ensure neither backed out of the deal.

Meretseger, whose name meant "she who loves silence," was the guardian of the dead. She had the body of a cobra and the head of a woman. As a fiercely protective deity, she punished wrongdoers by striking them blind with her venom.

Unlike other deities, she hadn't signed a contract with Ghost.

"You can't sense it, can you?" Ghost told the revenant.

"Sense what?"

"Power beyond your imagination."

"You're not dressed like a meister or a captain." The revenant scoffed. "I'm not afraid of you."

"I don't want you to be," Ghost said.

The revenant made the same mistake others had: underestimating Ghost. Unlike most of his squad members, he maintained a low profile and kept to himself. And because everyone knew little about him, the revenants who had faced him never lived to tell about his power.

When the revenant sucked in the surrounding air and emitted a sonic wave from its mouth, Ghost snapped his fingers, and the attack vanished. He hadn't expected much from the four-eyed monster—it was the second weakest of its kind—but he thought there'd be more "hmph" in its attack.

Ghost snapped his fingers again, and the area transformed from buildings and roads to an eye-shaped island with a red sky caused by the bleeding moon. The moon's blood poured into the body of water surrounding the island.

This was his pocket dimension—a personal realm created by omega-level sorcerers to trap their enemies before killing them without causing harm or damage in the real world.

With another snap of his fingers, thick ropes shot out of the ground, coiling around the revenant's arms and legs and holding them in place.

"What-What is this?" It struggled to escape.

"Your death." Ghost held the scythe against his shoulder blade. "I have a question for you."

The monster stopped struggling, realizing it couldn't escape. "What is it?"

Ghost's eyes widened. The other revenants had been difficult, forcing him to torture them to get answers—which they didn't have. "Why have your numbers increased in such a short time?"

"I don't know."

Just like the others. Ghost sighed. Oh, well. Ransom can't blame me for not trying. He raised his scythe, ready to kill the revenant.

"I did it for her," it said.

Ghost placed his weapon back on his shoulder. "Her?"

Black tears streamed down the revenant's face as it stared at the moon. "She asked me if I wanted to be free from this world's rules, from the laws set by the powerful to keep the weak in check while they do whatever they want. I said yes."

Ghost's heart raced, having heard those words before. "What's her name?" he asked with gritted teeth.

"Medusa."

He scoffed. As far as he was concerned, she was as good as dead. "May you find peace."

"Wai—"

Ghost swung his scythe, cutting off the top half of the revenant's head and leaving its tongue in full view. Without destroying the beating hearts inside it, the monster would regenerate. Also, he had a few seconds left before reality warped back to normal—covering a large area drained his magic energy quicker.

After destroying the hearts, the revenant transformed into a soul and got sucked into the scythe. Based on its actions when it was human, Meretseger would decide if it deserved eternal peace or torment in the afterlife.

Ghost snapped his fingers and the pocket dimension vanished, returning him to the real world.

Medusa was his mother's soul reaper name. Her transmutation magic allowed her to change anyone or anything into whatever she wanted. She used it to turn revenants into stones before smashing them into pieces, earning the nickname.

The Court of Reapers, aka The Court, had deemed her magic corruptive and destructive. They reasoned it would leave her vulnerable to enemy control, seeing as she had a child, Ghost.

"It was for her protection," they had proclaimed before banishing her.

But the truth was, they were afraid she'd start playing God. A human with the power to turn non-sorcerers into sorcerers, monsters into humans, and angels into demons (and vice versa) scared the shit out of them. What would've happened if she thought they weren't fit for their roles?

"Such power disturbed nature's balance," they had said during her trial.

After she got banished to Limbo, Ghost was alone with no one to take care of him. He never knew his father and his relatives shunned him after his mother's sentencing. The streets became his home.

Ghost's phone rang, taking him out of his thoughts. It was Ransom. "What is it?" he answered. 

"Captain has called for a meeting," Ransom replied.

"Now?"

"Yes."

Ghost sighed. "I'll be there in an hour."

"No need. Behind you."

Turning around, Ghost saw Ransom heading towards him. The man wore the required Tanzanian Soul Reaper Association (TSRA) uniform: an asymmetrical black jacket with a high collar and five pins on the right side engraved with the squad's logo—the face of a smiling jester—and matching black slacks and boots.

Ghost's scythe dematerialized back into his birthmark. "How long have you been out here?"

"I arrived after you activated your pocket dimension."

Sorcerers couldn't enter each other's pocket dimension without permission. Ghost had never allowed anyone inside his, and he had no plans to. Ever.

"How was it?" Ransom asked.

"How was what?"

"The fight."

"Quick."

"Did it say anything?"

Ghost shook his head. "It didn't know anything like the others."

"I see." Ransom closed his hand into a tight fist, and a spinning black portal, throbbing with life and magic, opened in front of him. The only ones who could pass through were those he allowed. Without his permission, it'd be like hitting a brick wall when trying to enter it. "Maybe next time."

"Maybe." Ghost followed Ransom through the portal, heading back to the squad's base.

TSRA had been trying to figure out why the number of revenant attacks had increased ten times over the last year. They thought the best way to get answers was by questioning the monsters before passing judgment on them.

Ghost didn't know how to feel about the situation. He wanted to tell his friend the truth, but Ransom was the squad's vice-captain. He'd report it to the captain, who'd tell the meister, who'd inform The Court. It was a no-go.

Medusa being his mother, and him having such powerful magic, meant the higher-ups kept a close eye on him. It was why he had agreed to become a soul reaper and help them stop the revenants. If they found out a revenant he fought had been in contact with his mother in Limbo, then all the work he had done over the years to earn their trust would've been for nothing.