Charon grumbled something unintelligible to himself in response to the mohawk man''s ramblings and started hobbling over towards him with his bony feet clacking away on the floor. Right now, the two were on top of an empty planet that was really nothing more than a giant mound of dirt. A few such planets existed and, typically, outsiders weren''t allowed to be anywhere near them as they were future projects that the domain overseer was going to work on and create new, thriving civilisations. Sometimes they were even passion projects for scientists and the likes as they could foster their own manufactured environments from scratch. This planet fell under the former category but it really didn''t make much of a difference because Charon would cut the overseer in half if he had the gall to look him in the eye and complain even a little. Also, the overseer could blame the mohawk man for essentially dragging Charon here. He''d been flaunting his Reaper''s mark for who knows how long at this point and had picked this location for their duel so Charon really couldn''t be blamed for this... Not that he cared. The planet could be empty or bustling, it made no difference to him as this guy was getting his comeuppance one way or another now that Charon had tracked him down.


    Mohawk man appeared to be opening his mouth again but, quite frankly, enough gibberish had come out of it already, Charon wanted to get this over and done with and go home to enjoy a nice tea. He couldn''t drink it like a normal human, being a skeleton had many drawbacks, but he could pour it on top of his bones and let it seep in. It wasn''t much but the feeling was somewhat reminiscent of the sensation he once understood to be taste. There was a downside to this though in that, annoyingly, whenever he happened to pass by a dog they would get rather excited at the prospect of tea-flavoured bones and try to chew on him! Having to shoo off random mutts had gotten old however many centuries back and the temptation to just end the issue with a swift kick was gnawing away at him! Much like the stupid mutts! if it weren''t for the fact that Charon owned a dog at one point back when he was flesh and blood, and couldn''t bring himself to boot them, boy would those puppers go flying! As for cats, they were either smarter or not interested in bones but Charon held no hesitation in his cold, dead heart and would absolutely given them a good punting if they ever so much as flashed their claws in his direction. Maybe cats were just unphased by boners or they were such evil little creatures that they were familiar enough with the scent of death to look the other way when Charon was around. Little bastards understood they weren''t at the top of the pecking order anymore when the Reaper was around. In that sense, they were far smarter of an animal than mohawk man.


    Before mohawk man could muster his voice, Charon took action and lightly twirled the scythe in his grip before stubbing the butt of it onto the floor. The mohawk man''s voice was stuck in his throat the second he witnessed Charon''s relatively innocuous flourish. To anyone not in the know, it looked like he was just playing around with his weapon out of boredom and, while that might be true to some extent as experts had a habit of messing around with their weapons during downtime to stay alert and keep their brain running, there was something more going on here. That flourish had neither sped up nor slowed down Charon''s planting of the scythe into the floor but that was what made the mohawk man come to grips with the calibre of opponent he was facing as the flourish was technically a defensive measure in some specific scenarios. If Charon had been rushed down by someone the flourish would have blocked their approach perfectly and kept them at a sufficient distance afterwards to be able to plant his scythe after safely before they could retaliate.


    It was a small thing, not even relevant to this fight at all, but the fact that he always did it every single time showed his mastery and consistency in a way that no grandiose attack or display could. He was so practiced he was doing the optimal execution of even the simplest moves without breaking a sweat! Not that skeletons could do that but it was more a turn of phrase if anything and being pedantic about it was silly. The point was that there was never going to be any weakness to exploit here. That flourish was the kind of thing that would lose an inexperienced scythe wielder time just by doing it so Charon learning how to do it flawlessly, so he could always do it even if it didn''t matter, was a level of dedication that floored the mohawk man. Right off the bat he realised he was outclassed in terms of just amount practiced if nothing else. It''s not that he couldn''t learn to do what Charon had, it''s just that he would be reluctant to throw away that much time for something that was barely relevant in more than 1/100 combat encounters. Even then it was a matter of fractions of a second that he could improve by and the effort required was not tiny.


    Before the mohawk man had even seen a single attack he knew that opportunities were going to be nigh impossible to come by against the Reaper because scythe wielding, at a high level, really shone in the ''defensive'' department more than anything else. It''s not that the scythe was good at blocking attacks, it''s that it was good at the whole ''the best defence is a good offense'' thing. It outranged most weapons so getting in on the weapon was hard and, if the wielder was quick enough, absolutely impossible. They could form a sort of blade barrier by flourishing the scythe in a consistent pattern that was impossible to navigate through. Scythes were extremely difficult to guard against because blocking it was rarely ever the correct choice. If you blocked the tip of the blade you would lose as the power that could be exerted in that situation was immense. If you blocked anywhere else the curvature would come dangerously close to piercing you so you had to be active, have good reflexes, and block in the right way so as not to get stabbed regardless of your block. Scythes were tricky to learn, one of the trickiest weapons out there, but they were also one of the hardest weapons to beat when the person wielding them was competent. Attacking a scythe wielder guaranteed you a retaliatory strike nine times out of ten that would typically hit you before your strike could hit them, that was the ultimate nature of the beast when this weapon was wielded to perfection. They effectively completely controlled the flow of combat up close and there was nothing that could be done to stop that other than backing up out of their range. This was why Charon''s flourish hit the mohawk man''s brain so hard because he no longer felt like it was possible to strike the skeleton even a single time. In a duel between two scythe users even the most minute inch of mastery would swing a fight, making the superior wielder unassailable, and it was already obvious who was better with the weapon. Mohawk man knew this because he''d beaten countless ''disciples'' of sorts, that also wanted to become scythe exemplars, and had come to understand what a difference in skill with this weapon looked like and meant in any given scenario.


    Charon made no effort to wait for everything to sink into mohawk man''s thick skull as he was already utilising his unique aspect''s magic. Charon wielded the ''king of jade'' aspect and could summon the stuff practically at will. The green jade was sturdy and hard to break, plus it made him stronger in a few different ways. Most notably, his scythe could pass through any and all jade undeterred as if it wasn''t a physical entity. Also, when his weapon did pass through jade of any kind, the attack gained a significant chunk of power and speed. It allowed him to create jade pillars between him and his foe, that they couldn''t attack past but he could, and enhance his attacks even further. Ut was a hard unique aspect to fight against because it was strictly detrimental to you even though it was the kind of thing that should affect everyone, Charon included. Solid walls shouldn''t be passed through with zero resistance! But such a use was a small minded approach and that was only the kind of thing Charon would do against a tough opponent he couldn''t wipe the floor with out the gate. It was a much more slow and intricate method of fighting that he reserved only for those he couldn''t walk up to, kill, and leave in under a minute flat.


    In the case of mohawk man, Charon had far less subtle methods that could disperse of the worthless punk in a far simpler, and yet far more flashy, fashion. Mohawk man watched on as a green jade encrusted cavern appeared around both himself and the Reaper, essentially turning this duel into a cage match in a tight arena. This art had a number of benefits such as preventing the opponent from escaping to a range the scythe couldn''t handle, making it difficult for large weapons to swing properly, and enhancing practically every single attack Charon made whenever he swung his own scythe freely. More importantly, if Charon committed to one big swing, as he usually did anyway, then the bonuses he would get for dragging his scythe through the unquantifiable amount of jade around him was staggering. This was how he launched some of his stronger attacks and it was why so many of his opponents died as, by the time they''d scratched their nails on the jade in an a pointless attempt to escape this confinement, Charon was already committing to an attack that even a God would struggle to live through. This was Charon''s specialty, summoning large chunks of jade and then slashing through them to create monstrous attacks in a flash. Dominus had been jumped by Charon who used this exact art to trap him like a rat and bisect him in about a second flat. Dominus received no warning nor any proper conversation as the Reaper just showed up behind him and butchered him on the spot. Charon was a busy man that day and didn''t want to waste his time so Dominus was basically assassinated unceremoniously.


    In a way, Charon was a pretty terrifying existence as he could hunt you down from anywhere, teleport straight to you, trap you, launch an unstoppable attack in a matter of seconds, and then disappear long before you even knew what hit you. As for Dominus, Charon hadn''t known at the time that the idiot was still alive, because he was a revenant, otherwise he would have made an effort to finish the job even if it was only a temporary measure. That would have extended their fight and maybe Dominus could have put up a better resistance, especially if he ditched the damn scythe, but none of that happened and so who would have come out on top was unknowable. As for Dominus, he gave up on the scythe after just because he didn''t want to drag those around him into the matter. Charon wasn''t against murdering relatives or lovers of a revenant to get them to quit but that was a risky ploy as a stubborn revenant with nothing to lose was a disgusting opponent. Generally speaking, it was a widely known unwritten rule not to piss of a revenant to the point they bore a deep grudge against you. There was no outrunning or outliving them, they would just keep trying over and over again with no regard for their own life. Having a target painted on your back in permanent marker was not a pleasant feeling and you never knew when the dumb mutt would finally get his teeth around your neck. There was no end to a revenant chase and they only needed to get you once. It was much better to just go your separate ways at the moment of victory against a revenant and not push your luck too far. Their lackadaisical nature meant that unless you really pushed their buttons they''d be willing to ignore some deaths here and there because it was more annoying than anything serious for them.


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    Unfortunately for mohawk man, he was not a revenant so being trapped inside this cage match cavern was a death sentence he couldn''t avoid either via rebirth or threats of insistence and long term stalking. Charon gripped his scythe firmly and the air became a murky, sickly, and deathly pale green A shiver ran up Mohawk man''s spine as the aura surrounding Charon changed drastically and was now more suited that of a lurking terror, ready to reap your soul and send you to the afterlife in pieces. He was death personified and his scythe an implement with which to enact his natural instinct to sever life. Charon spun the scythe through the cavern floor around him in a circle before dragging it up and through the wall, leaning his body to the opposite side of where his scythe currently was so he could drag it with even more force as he pulled on the weapon with all his might. The heavy scythe came thundering out of the wall and mohawk man could have sworn it increased in size multiple times over but tthe reality was just that, when death loomed, it looked like impending and inescapable doom.


    The air quivered, the cave rumbled in preparation for what was about to come, and the scythe''s blade sharpened at just the right moment. Mohawk man''s life ended here but the swing hadn''t even reached him yet, the weapon was just so sharp that it had decapitated him before it even touched him. The scythe, at his point, was still an inch or so away from mohawk man''s neck and yet the head already went flying and bounced off the cavern walls a couple times. Charon could have ended the swing here but detecting that barrier earlier put him in a foul mood because he recognised the thing. It was all but confirmed that some kid called ''Ares'' had the Primordial Blade and that he was inside a barrier of its own creation. Charon didn''t care about this kid but he had a bone to pick with the Blade because it had ruined his perfect streak. There had never been anything capable of taking a full powered blow from Charon, he believed it impossible, so when his record was stained during his attempt to cut the idle Blade years ago he became furious. The Blade remained unflinching in the face of his repeated attempts and that drove Charon mad with anger. He didn''t even want the thing, he just wanted to prove a point and further spread his reputation to disincline anyone from trying to wield the scythe even more than his existence already passively did. Still, the Blade came out triumphant in the one-sided duel and Charon had never let it go.


    He was annoyed now not only because stories of it were cropping up and resurfacing but also because it was now indirectly protecting somebody with a Reaper''s mark from his prying gaze. If Charon hassled himself to fly all the way over there then he could maybe sneak inside the barrier but getting there would take him forever. His ability to teleport to targets was actually based around the Reaper''s mark system as he''d come up with a way to manipulate it. The Reaper worked for hell and they gave the Reaper an art that only he could wield, one that allowed him to track his mission target and appear before them like a haunting phantom so that their timely demise could be brought about in a timely fashion. Charon had repurposed this teleporting art to work with anyone who had a Reaper''s mark which is why he was so good at stifling competition. As for this particular instance, he couldn''t bend space to teleport to the Reaper''s mark because of the nothingness squashing the spatial magic involved in the art. Without this hunting technical enabling him, Charon was actually surprisingly immobile and had to just float or walk everywhere.


    Charon could not be bothered to go all the way to the barrier and, besides, the mark had disappeared shortly after it appeared anyway. This wasn''t uncommon, as only the Reaper could have it permanently etched onto them, but it did mean he wouldn''t be able to track his prey again until the mark returned. When that would happen was anyone''s guess as people who could summon it were typically hesitant to in the face of Charon''s reach and Omnipresence. Whoever had that Reaper''s mark would either not know of Charon, and use it again at some point in the future when they weren''t inside the barrier after ''Ares'' lowered it, or they would know better and never summon it ever again which was also fine. The Reaper''s mark had a few conditions to making it appear, one of which being when a Reaper candidate used their strongest scythe art, their magnum opus, so inhibiting that was advantageous for Charon. If they weren''t regularly using it then they weren''t improving or practicing and Charon would no longer care about them. His opponents either revealed themselves before they were ready, due to their own training, or simply quit so he had it easy. Either way, Charon had the advantage and needn''t do anything right now other than complete his swing and head home. Charon wanted to get out some of his frustrations and stress now that the Blade was confirmed to be in someone''s possession so this swing was going to be a strong one. The havoc he wreaked would be monumental but who was going to come and complain? The domain overseer? He could come and clean up Charon''s mess, that was what he was permitted to do.


    Charon''s swing flew past the empty neck and tore through the equally empty air, sending a green shockwave forward that warped space around it. The shockwave itself didn''t hit the planet but the aftershock was enough to cause the dirt ball to explode underneath Charon''s feet. The green wave rolled off into the distance, expanding instead of shrinking, and gradually forming a line straight down the entirety of the domain causing the stars and space around it to twist and bend in unnatural ways. A cacophony of crunches and shrieking wails accompanied the expansion of the slash as the green void grew ever outwards, sucking in anything that touched it and slicing said object into fine dust that was then ground down even further in particles that were dragged into the slash purgatory. The tear in reality became a sort of black hole with immense suction powers as it kept cracking spontaneously, increasing in size even further. Should anyone be peering into this domain from far away they would simply see a colossal green, jagged line going directly down the centre of it. A lot of strain was being applied to the many light years of space surrounding the tear and it looked like the bubble that encapsulated this domain was about to burst, spewing crusty green jade crystals everywhere.


    Thankfully, a passing God or expert must have taken notice and prevented this by stabilising the domain. It could have also been the domain master but Charon didn''t rightly care who it was. Charon turned around and started hovering in the direction of his abode because nobody was going to stop and question him. Only the strongest entities in the world had the necessary qualifications to demand answers from him and none of them were likely to be here anyway. The green slash was pretty iconic to so whichever handyman janitor was cleaning up Charon''s mess wouldn''t come looking for trouble either... Or, at least, that was what he assumed but Charon clicked his tongue when he spied a kangaroo with an exoskeleton hopping towards him in the distance. It was Kanga which meant that dumb bastard Davey was soon to follow and they were going to do that stupid entrance of theirs. Charon had the displeasure of meeting somebody more annoying than himself and he hated every second of it. Of all the damnable people he had to meet here, it just had to be one of the few that were actively going to punish him for causing a scene... Well whatever, if Charon was lucky he would get away with a minor beating and some whacks upside the skull from Davey''s baseball bat...


    Damn disrespectful kids... Well, whatever. Maybe Charon could get some information out of Davey, while he was pre-occupied hitting home runs on his old bones, about this ''Ares'' kid. For some inexplicable reason Davey had apparently learnt a lot about him and thrown his hat into the ring in a big way. If Davey was unable to beat the pagoda clone, whenever it showed up, then he would support the kid as well as per his own promise. This was a declaration that had been pretty incredible as Davey supporting just about anyone other than Kanga or his poorly mother was a miracle. Maybe the rumours about him looking for some aid to take care of Ayane''s home planet once and for all was actually real? Supposedly he was going to turn to the fundamentals at a later date so him cosying up to them now made sense. He''d even mentioned that Ayane herself would be challenging the pagoda too which tied everything together nicely. Ayane wanted information on how much of a potential threat Ares could be and Davey wanted her to be shown up publicly via a loss to ruin her record. She was undefeated so her loss at pagoda Ares'' hands would be demoralising for her and her home planet big time. He wanted to publicise that and express support for Ares to help keep the real Ares alive whenever he arrived outside the barrier as he was useful to this batter in the long run.


    Davey was an idiot in many ways but hew was also oddly smart in others. Hell, now that Charon thought about it, even though he had no idea why as of yet, it wasn''t impossible Davey had come here searching for Charon. Davey was spotted showing up at the weapon pillar God''s domain a few times as of late so if he had meetings with the scythe exemplar, and convinced him to stick his neck out, then Charon had just fallen for the bait that was Davey''s convenient sacrifice. The guy was seriously a nutter and sending people to their demise for his own gain was definitely in the cards if he didn''t much like the victim. The mohawk man must have made some enemies here and there because Davey was a douche but he did at least hold back on murdering innocent people for the most part. Anyway, long story short, Charon was going to have some questions answered but he was also going to have to answer some as well... Wait... HE BETTER FUCKING NOT! Charon had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly what this twat wanted of him! He wanted Charon to train Ares in scythe wielding, didn''t he?! This Ares kid had that rat fuck Dominus inside him and so his weapon comprehension would naturally be astounding, throw in Charon''s teachings, and that kid would soar to unprecedented heights! Charon was already groaning and moaning in his skeletal language to the empty space around him as he damn well refused! Davey could bat Charon all the way from here straight to hell, the answer would still be no!