AN: Sorry all, Life has been a bitch. Will updated some of the missing chapters tomorrow.

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It was a phenomenon that I had seen thousands of times. For lack of a better word it was the cleansing of malice. I saw it instantly with undead and slowly with demons. I looked up and noticed that the light from the 40mm Sacred was slowly dimming.

"Exa, this thing is a Reaper right? Since it has soul signature."

[Yes.]

Coming closer I flipped over the carcass in front of me and tried to check the rest of it's body. The savage impact on its back erased most of its bulk. It only had half it's shoulder, a one right arm, a sliver of carapace connecting what's left of its leg to its middle section.

It still had the majestic horn of a Japanese Rhinoceros beetle, although it's eyes no longer moved. Normally this would be the part where black wisps would begin reassembling its parts or revert back to it's human form.

'If this thing was can even be called a Reaper.'

Contrary to what I expected, the remaining bits of the beetle monster began to turn black and disintegrate to dust. It was the typical response of tainted beings to blessed energy.

I said as I swiped a small sample on my index finger and watched it disintegrate to dust. "It's being eaten away by a Sacred?"

[I am also at a loss.]

Reapers were made of soul. Our bodies behaved just like flesh except we could survive anything so long as our soulgems were intact. Sacreds do nothing to us. The only exception was if a Reaper invoked {Soul Breaker}.

The super move burned all available souls in a Reaper's gem for one final stand. As a consequence, depending on the number of souls, a terrifying amount of malice also hits the Reaper like a delayed backlash.

Nothing could demonstrate this better than my duel with Aki.

Back then I used the M24 and 5 blessed 7.62mm rounds to not only defeat her final attack but her as well. She had so much malice in her frame that her pitiful state afterwards could not even be called a corpse.

If she did not use {Soul Breaker}, my Sacreds would have done nothing but just hit her like regular bullets. Of course, this entire trail of logic grew more complicated when you included that truth of the {Soul Breakers} being duels with fate. But the point remained the same.

Sacreds do not affect Reapers. They only cleanse the undead, demonkin, and arch demons. Thus, by that logic, this beetle bastard had to be one of the three.

"Show me its soul gem."

At my command, something in the back of its head lit up. Exa also scanned the being in front of me. I saw its status page appear in my vision. But a cold chill ran up my spine at what I saw.

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Name: N/A

Race: Artificial Arisen | Class: Specter | Origin: Reaper (Khaemwaset Sutekh)

Entropy: {Call of the Scarab}

Danger Rating: C

Combat: C | Assassination: E | Support: D | Defense: S

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"Exa, what the hell am I looking at?"

[I do not know my lord. Its status page is a combination of a Reaper and a Reborn. I am already running a search on…My lord, we got a hit on who Khaemwaset Sutekh is.]

I couldn't help but gulp in nervousness as I asked, "Who is he?"

[Khaemwaset Sutekh was an Egyptian Specter. His alias was the Onyx Rhino. And, I have confirmed with Amari, Zanele, and even Olaminde. He died over a decade ago.]

"So? Then we have undead Reapers now?"

[No, my lord. You misunderstand. Specters do not just simply die. Their deaths are usually miracles or tragedies. Khaemwaset Sutekh was a Specter in the service of the last Immortal. He died via the Rite of Apep.]

"Apep? The Egyptian snake god?"

[Yes. Meaning he was among the powerhouses sacrificed because he held too much malice. He should have killed himself and laid deep in one of the mana pyramids in Egypt.]

Exa, words caused me to doubt what I heard. The matters of the Successors began to intersect with the life I lead now. The Rite of Apep was one of the rituals Africa used to cleanse malice. They take a reaper, fill him to the brim, and have him commit suicide.

The malice he had would return to the world tree the moment he died. That was the whole point of why he had to die alone. Because if anyone killed him, the malice would just pass on to that person.

And yet I encountered such a being here, of all places, before we reached the Immortal.

My gut told me I once again stumbled on something I shouldn't have. Anime and Manga had a way of making plots revolve around corpses and the dead. Much like what Bella did, what if after the Specter died, he didn't just stop existing.

'What if he got back up like a mummy? What if he got—reborn as something else?'

When I said the words, I then remembered what the status page of the Egyptian Specter looked like.

"It looks like Juno's and Roach's."

This bastard had the traits of both a Reaper and a Reborn. Much like I did.

"His race is Artificial Arisen while I am a real one. Exa, does this mean he is similar to me when I was an Artificial descendant?"

[I am sorry, my lord. I do not know. After Lady Jas gave you {Insight}, the status pages are no longer driven by my logic. If previously I filled up the information with what I know, now it uses the Akashic records to name and confirm the information you see.]

I looked upward and noticed the incoming enemies. While I would have liked to know more, I have grown used to learning the truth piece by piece.

"So the world deems them to be artificial Arisen, while I am the real one."

[Yes, as to what a real one entails, I do not know. But from context clues, the only thing that is unique about you at the moment is your ability to wield Malice as a Reaper. You have turned the only weakness of Reapers into a way to develop more power.]

I gripped the weapons in my hands, unsure how to proceed. On one hand, keeping Khaemwaset's body would allow me to study him more. But I grew terrified about what I would learn.

'However, considering the atrocities I have done to this point, there isn't any more reason to hold back. For the future of my family and me, I will defile even the dead.'

"Exa, load me a {Restore} round in the M32. We are taking this corpse back."

[But my lord, it was one thing to take his soulgem, but taking the body is something else completely. It will be the equivalent of kidnapping the body of royalty from another country.]

"I have been fucking with their royalty and their entire hierarchy for the past week. They will get over it."

[I understand. {Restore} 40mm shell loaded.]

Raising the grenade launcher in my hand, I blew what was left of the Onyx Rhino. After his body was shredded into paste by the explosion, his flesh, blood, and tissue began to reform and come together like a disgusting reverse time-lapse video.

"He won't suddenly stand up, right?"

[From my understanding he can't. His soul gem has completely gone silent and using {Imaging} on his body, he does not have a monster core like the other Reborn.]

"Guess I will just kill him if he does. I do not want to send him to the girls or someone else. Having him here with me is safer."

Leaving the Specter's body in place, I steeled my will. In the next moments, all manner of foul monsters arrived. But rather than undead monsters or demonkin.

They were all Artificial Arisen.

And all of them were former Specters of Africa.

"Exa, this can't be real, right? How can every single one of them be one!"

[Unfortunately, it seems that this is the case. For some reason, we are meeting those who should have died in Africa's Rite of Apep.]

I couldn't help but tighten my grip on my weapons.

Desecrating the dead had to be the lowest of the low. Doing it to Reapers who had already done their duty by fighting against the horrors of Hellsgate was even worse.

"Although I am no different, I say that it is despicable; yet I am taking one of them for dissection and study."

The mere thought of someone doing the same to my girls or my friends made my blood boil. Yet for the future I sought, I could not give up such a good opportunity.

"I am sorry, but I need to do this. Please forgive me. I will ensure your sacrifices do not go in vain."

Summoning death resonance, I roared at the top of my lungs.

"COME AT ME, YOU ARTIFICIAL FUCKS! I AM THE REAL ONE!"

Running towards the army of Specters, I shifted disciplines and exchanged soloing proficiency for mobility.

"[Sky Sentinel] [BURST]!"

Two Fake Arisen blocked my path; one had the appearance of a humanoid shark, the other a mushroom treant. Despite my sudden acceleration, one of them managed to cleave my arm. Like paper, the mushroom treant's claw penetrated my defenses and made a deep gash.

"OW! THAT HURT! [War Dancer]!"