The night wind outside the archive cut like ice, seeping into the bone. Ethan and Karl stepped out in silence; neither spoke. Both understood that what they had just seen was enough to shake the very foundations of the Bureau.
Yet they did not expect someone was waiting for them.
At the end of the corridor, black mist coalesced quietly, as if shadows were peeling off the stone walls to form a tall figure. It was the Harvester—the Reaper.
Ethan's chest tightened. Instinctively, he gripped his weapon, but the Reaper's crimson eyes merely watched him, devoid of killing intent. Instead, there was an indescribable… weariness.
"You've seen it," the Reaper's voice rumbled low, like iron chains dragging across a graveyard.
Ethan forced a cold laugh. "What are you playing at this time? Trying to scare us, or continue with your riddles?"
Karl pulled him slightly back but did not intervene.
The Reaper's gaze lingered between them for a moment, finally settling on Ethan."Do you think I have always been the victor?"
Ethan froze. There was an almost… self-mocking tone in that voice.
The Reaper slowly raised his hand, and the black mist parted, forming a vision. In the air unfolded a war long buried in history: rifts tore open, Nightmares surged like a tide. The Reaper wielded his scythe, unstoppable. Yet just as he neared the point of sealing the rift, a strange force struck from behind.
It was humanity.
In the vision, human scholars clad in ceremonial robes imprisoned the Reaper within the "Realm of the Reaper," extracting and dividing his power among the Contracted Families.
"I… have failed once," the Reaper's voice carried cold precision and suppressed rage. "I was never their accomplice—they betrayed me, using me as their initial weapon. For their victory, they turned on me."
Ethan felt his mind thunder.
The Realm of the Reaper… it was not the Reaper's lair, but his prison.
"So that's why you appear before me repeatedly?" Ethan gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse. "You want to use me for revenge?"
The Reaper's gaze was heavy."Not only that. Humanity continues to repeat the same folly. They are still creating new vessels, still extracting remnants of the Nightmares, trying to control everything. If this is not stopped, a second failure will come, and this time—no prison will contain them."
Ethan's throat tightened. He forced out a taunting remark:"So that's why you're chatting with me? Come on, don't joke. You don't exactly look like the type to 'bare your soul' over tea."
The Reaper did not take offense, only stared at him."Because you are different. Your bloodline is destined to place you at the center of this struggle."
The words cut through Ethan's mind like a blade. Karl suddenly looked up, his gaze fixed on him with complexity.
Ethan instinctively wanted to deny it, but his tongue felt nailed down, unable to produce any excuse.
The Reaper slowly retreated into the darkness. The final whisper that remained was like a judgment from a tomb:
"Remember, I am not your enemy. The true enemy has always been within your own ranks."
The black mist dissipated, leaving only the oppressive silence of the corridor.
Ethan leaned against the cold wall, his mind racing. For the first time, he felt an unprecedented conflict:—The Reaper was not simply a destroyer, but a prisoner betrayed by humanity.—He himself might indeed be of the bloodline meant to serve as the "vessel."
He let out a bitter laugh, muttering to himself:"So even the Reaper has secrets… looks like I'll have to start collecting obituary royalties."
Karl frowned, staring at him."Ethan, what are you going to do?"
Ethan looked up, his eyes a mixture of confusion and stubborn resolve."What else? Keep digging. The darker the secret, the more someone has to expose it. Otherwise, we'll just become another set of failures."
He gazed toward the direction the Reaper had vanished, fully aware in his heart: from this night onward, he was no longer merely a truth-seeking agent—he had become a key piece on the forbidden chessboard.
And the Reaper's past failure might only be the prelude to an even greater storm.