The promotion came without ceremony.
No applause.
No audience.
Just blood still drying on the floor.
Vance Demonio stood before the GRIMM tribunal with a hole through his shoulder and another reaper's spine shattered beneath his boots. The mission had been a purge—three rifts, twelve Sol variants, one rogue Reaper who had broken containment and started feeding civilians to Sols to "study fear."
The rogue begged.
Vance ended him by crushing his skull in one hand.
That was the moment GRIMM stopped pretending.
"You already operate like Death," Antonio said, staring at the corpse.
"Now you'll carry the title."
The mantle of Horseman: Death was placed on Vance that night.
Isaac watched from the upper gantry.
He didn't cheer.
He didn't smile.
He felt… relieved.
ISAAC DEMONIO – STATUS UPDATE
Isaac was no longer assigned to squads.
He was assigned to Vance.
Not as a subordinate.
As a weapon that hadn't been named yet.
Lisa hated it.
"You're sending him into executions," she snapped at Antonio. "He's still a kid."
Antonio didn't raise his voice.
"He stopped being a kid the first time he killed without flinching. As his oldest sister you should do the same"
Isaac heard that.
He didn't argue. But didn't want Lisa to become like him.
...
MISSION: RIFT BLACK-09
LOCATION: SUBMERGED METRO ZONE
THREAT: UNKNOWN TRANSCENDENT SIGNATURE
They weren't supposed to encounter anything intelligent.
That was the briefing.
The rift was wrong from the start—too clean, too quiet. Sol corpses lay stacked along the tunnel walls, their bodies folded inward like something had drained them from the inside.
Isaac felt it before he saw it.
Pressure.
Like the air itself was kneeling.
"Stay behind me," Vance ordered.
Isaac didn't.
Isaac didn't.
The figure stood at the far end of the tunnel.
Human-shaped.
Hands clasped behind his back.
Smiling.
"Well," Hugo Nebun said pleasantly, "this is disappointing."
Vance's scythe manifested instantly, reality cracking like glass as the weapon tore through dimensions into his grasp.
"You're not a Sol," Vance said.
"No," Hugo agreed. "I'm what comes after."
...
THE FIGHT THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED
Vance attacked first.
Always did.
His scythe carved a black arc through the tunnel—a death sentence to anything caught in its path.
Hugo didn't dodge.
The blade passed through him like mist.
Then Hugo punched.
Not hard.
Not fast.
Just precise.
The blow folded Vance in half and drove him through three concrete walls. Bones shattered. Blood sprayed across tile.
Isaac screamed his name.
Vance stood back up anyway.
"Run," Vance growled.
Isaac didn't.
Hugo sighed. "You really are tedious."
He raised one hand.
The tunnel collapsed inward.
Sols that hadn't yet died were crushed into pulp. Metal screamed. Concrete liquefied.
Vance charged again—this time landing a hit.
The scythe cut deep.
Hugo bled.
Black.
And he laughed.
"Oh," Hugo said softly. "That's interesting."
He touched the wound.
Then his hand sank into Vance's chest.
Not ripping.
Not piercing.
Entering.
Vance screamed.
Isaac felt it—something wrap around Vance's soul and sink hooks into it.
"No!" Isaac rushed forward.
Hugo turned, eyes glowing with something ancient.
"You'll do," he said.
Then he vanished.
Vance collapsed.
Convulsing.
Vance's body twisted unnaturally, spine arching, veins burning black beneath his skin. His scythe shattered against the floor.
Isaac grabbed him. "Vance! Stay with me!"
Vance's eyes snapped open.
They weren't his anymore.
The thing wearing Vance smiled.
And lunged.
Isaac reacted on instinct.
He punched.
The air shattered.
Black force erupted from Isaac's body—not controlled, not trained—raw, screaming power that tore through Vance's chest and out his back.
Organs vaporized.
Spine snapped.
Heart obliterated.
The body hit the floor in pieces.
Silence followed.
Isaac stood frozen, fist smoking, hands shaking.
He looked down at what remained of his brother.
"Vance…?"
There was no answer.
Because Death was dead.
And Isaac had killed him.
AFTERMATH
GRIMM arrived too late.
They found Isaac kneeling in blood, holding fragments of armor that no longer had a body inside them.
Lisa collapsed when she saw what was left.
Antonio understood immediately.
This wasn't just a loss.
This was a wound in reality.