Limitless The Strongest Revenant-Chapter 852 : We are not friends [1/2]

Malice. If you asked any human, they would just say that it was evil intentions. I was the same, it was a word I knew but hardly gave any importance to. At least that was the case before I died.

Now? Malice unknowingly became a part of my life. It manifested itself in my life against my will. It was both a shackle and a warning. Taken to the extreme, I consider it even as a punishment.

By the definition of Reapers, it was considered as the collected negative feelings that being possessed when they were alive. And whenever that being dies how he died affected where the malice went.

If he was killed the malice would flow into the one who killed him. Should that being perish of natural causes or without intent it flows back to the world. Phillip even shared that Hellsgate was basically a garbage dump of malice.

Reapers were the ones expected to keep the stuff at bay. It was why we were brought back by the world tree or whatever. Supposedly the world tree reincarnated people similar to what the Chinese and Hindu's believed. All to deal with the malice.

The Reapers who seek soul eventually gather this malice. But they often died or fell apart before getting stronger. Thus, we only have seven Revenants. That was like saying for these men to handle all the evil of the humanity.

Obviously, that was not possible. So, the malice was allowed to rampage until the reincarnation process stopped completely. Now rather than get borne again. The humans only turn into zombies. However, what about Mike? Isolde was sure that he was Tristan.

'Better ignore Mike and Tristan for now. I already have too much to deal with.'

The main issue with becoming a Reaper was dealing with malice. It was why Revenants required tax. It was what required Reapers to defend zones. It was a disease that threatened to drive any careless Reaper to Insanity.

Each battlefront placed importance in this matter. Africa subjected Hannibal Mandela's children to become spare bodies for his purposes. South America used soul tattoos to seal portions of their Reapers so that they last longer.

I do not know how the others dealt with it yet. But one avenue available to all was leveraging the Saints. Reapers who died because of sexual abuse. In a twisted irony, a Reaper must be violated against his/her will in order to gain the power to cleanse malice.

Europe from the news seemed to be taking steps to increase their saints. Asia never had that problem since they had the largest pool of humans to draw from. I wasn't sure if Australia struggled, but Liv tells me they need Saints as well.

Naturally I didn't know any of that when I had Golden Wick bless my bullets. At the time all I wanted was to have bullets that could rip apart tainted undead. I tried fighting them without blessings and it was beyond hard. Not impossible but hard.

Funnily enough, according to Phillip that was the single reason why I wasn't killed. Why I was the sole Formless Reaper who David choose to back. When he did, it broke the Armistice between the battlefronts, inadvertently beginning an arms race.

"Please take off your clothes," Juno began.

"Huh? Why?"

"Your clothes will break down if I extract them while you are clothed."

"Oy bastard you are sure this is safe?"

"Just shut up and do it. Stop being such a pussy," I retorted.

Zachary Lynch one of the most powerful Specters was trembling as Juno raised her hand over his chest. I guess I could sympathize. Juno while eloquent was a Vithriss. Meaning she was a humanoid lizard. She looked like a hybrid between a dinosaur and a man.

"I will begin now."

Juno closed her eyes and started the process. Much like with Roach, I saw what looked like black sludge come out of Zach's pores. It looked filthy like the crap you saw in a septic tank. And slowly but surely, like squid ink, the black fluids left Zach's body.

"Ugh."

Despite being a high-level Reaper, Zach flinched and broke out in cold sweat. As if he was getting his skin peeled, I noticed he was really tense from head to toe. His hands were balled up to fists and I noticed he was biting down so hard he might break his teeth.

The malice had a dark aura, it felt like the eerie tingle you get when you go to a cemetery. And funnily enough compared to the amount Carlos and Herman had Zach's was almost twice as thick.

'Was that the effect of the soul tattoos? Compared to Zach's their malice was rather tame.'

[My lord, are you certain about this.]

'About what?'

[About exposing the ability of the Reborn to devour malice. This is one of our strongest hands. And something no other battlefront possesses. Zach would definitely see that value and would most definitely seek a way to claim it as part of North America.]

'It's okay, I don't mind.'

[I see.]

It didn't really matter to me if the other battlefronts suddenly develop a desire to claim the Reborn. Even if they meet atrocities along the way, allowing the Reapers to last longer was in everyone best interests. It wasn't like hiding their insistence forever was possible.

"Ugh!"

Unlike with the South American's Zach looked like he was in pain. His skin was flushed as if he was beaten. Yet the sludge coming out of his body was still not yet done. It reminded me of the scenes in cultivation manhuas.

In those stories the MC normally takes a medicinal bath that they claim to remove the impurities from their bodies. Supposedly doing so allows them to cultivate better as the bad stuff hinders proper cultivation.

If Trinity intentionally placed clues, then did that mean the rest was also real? Does that mean that the method of Asia to handle malice was to expel it outside of their bodies through medicinal baths?

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'If the cultivators were basically Reapers, then does that mean those baths were actually expelling malice? Then what about the roots and pills and all that crap?'

"ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!"

My daydream ended when I saw Zach contorting in the air. I didn't know when, but his body floated somewhere along the way. If earlier he was standing on the floor, now it looked like Juno held his heart in her fist.

Juno on the other hand was still serene. The Specter in front of her contorted and cursed but she remained still. There was a dense ball of black something between them.

Similar to the orb Juno took out when she tried to birth Lizardkin, only this thing was many times worse. It was oppressive. Like trying to breath in noxious fumes during a fire. My lungs felt like they were on fire and my throat like I swallowed knives.

'Just how much malice does Zach have? I get that he has been a Reaper for a long time, but shouldn't he be using benevols or something? Why does he still have so much of this shit?'

I watched in silence as Zach got cleansed. The longer it went the more violent he became. Until he suddenly relaxed. Somewhere along the way, the Specter found peace. From that point out the malice living him body turned to vapor.

If earlier, it looked like Juno was pulling out rivers of blood now it only looked like a thin mist. It was similar to Death Resonance in a way, you first began as smoke then it turned tangible the thicker it got.

'Still this thing is fucking bad news…'

As I looked at the black bowling ball like thing, I felt all the hairs on my body stand on end. It was a instinctive action. Just like you fear loud sounds or fire. I needed to actively control my body to not shy away from looking at this thing.

"It is done."

Juno then opened her eyes. Although she looked the same, her voice sounded a bit exhausted. Zach slowly returned to the ground as the last dregs of malice left him. The moment his feet returned to the floor he also broke out of his trance.

As he didn't have his signature glasses on, I could see the intensity of his glare. There was something there. A hostility. But also, a kind of sadness. Juno on the other hand faced me and began to recount what just happened.