Chapter 15: Ravens Aren’t Just for Show

As the largest and most authoritative official organization in the underworld, the Nether Realm, while maintaining the order of the underworld, also works tirelessly to preserve the balance between the two realms through various tasks.

Backed by such a deeply rooted foundation as the Nether Realm, the work of reapers in the mortal realm can always receive extremely powerful support whenever needed.

“Get it? We’re iron-rice-bowl workers with official status! As long as it’s work-related, getting an identity or role is a total breeze!”

Wearing reflective construction vests and hard hats, two not-so-tall young reapers walked inside the unfinished, raw-concrete office building, with the young girl possessing pinkish-white long hair passionately explaining something.

“I know this much—I snuck into school using a similar trick before… But why did they give us identities as safety inspectors?”

To be honest, wearing a reflective vest was genuinely not very comfortable. Mikado had originally thought that since they needed to sneak into the construction site, wouldn’t it be better to just enter directly as spirit bodies?

“The identities arranged for us by the Nether Realm are naturally the most suitable for moving around. Let me see… It says safety inspectors have an easier time wandering around the area at any time, making it simple to strike up conversations and gather information from everyone above and below.”

Belladonna beckoned slightly, and Hydra, who lacked an artificial body and thus remained in a spiritual form, flew over to her while holding an open pamphlet, allowing her to read off the information on it.

“Heh, your raven is actually pretty useful… Unlike mine, who knows where she ran off to right now.”

Looking at the interaction between the person and the bird, Mikado felt somewhat envious. Across his two assessments, his own legendary super bone sparrow—supposedly guaranteed to get you through the exam—didn’t seem to have served much of a purpose at all.

Of course, he had chosen her in the first place purely for fun and uniqueness, not aiming for that rumored guaranteed pass… But surely the rumor about her wasn’t just that she granted candidates ridiculously good luck, causing task difficulties to drop drastically?

Even as unserious as Mikado was, he could tell that his internship assessments had been absurdly simple and smooth. It was practically like a walkover the whole way through; if he hadn’t known his family lacked any influential background to pull strings, he would have suspected some under-the-table manipulation.

For the third assessment, they even parachuted down a top honor student like Belladonna. If someone claimed there wasn’t any hidden string-pulling involved, Mikado definitely wouldn’t believe it.

However, combining this with the sparrow’s usual behavior, he had never suspected her directly. Could it be that he had already walked into some bizarre, masterfully orchestrated scheme?

“Do you… really not know what ravens actually do?”

Belladonna and Hydra simultaneously cast a look as if viewing an idiot—not knowing where the little sparrow went? Do you truly not know what your partner went off to do right now?

“When we reapers guide lost souls or subdue and purify anomalous spirits, we don’t just rely on weapons forged from underworld iron; we also need the guidance of ravens.”

Underworld iron was like a key, unlocking the gate for souls to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The raven, meanwhile, had to use its unique capabilities to construct that gate and the pathway connecting the two ends.

“If that were all, the underworld would have researched other methods long ago to bypass this heavy reliance on ravens for such crucial work. Do you think they didn’t want to?”

Ravens were not tools for reapers; they were partners and companions… In a reaper’s line of work, the role they played was far more than just performing the final cleanup.

“Assisting in gathering intelligence, leveraging their ability to fly for high-altitude reconnaissance… And most importantly, problem student, do you remember the results of our battle drills back at school?”

Belladonna lightly brushed her long hair, opening the gate to the gap between the two realms with Hydra’s assistance.

“Let’s not rush to investigate. Come over here, and I’ll teach you a lesson.”

The gap between the mortal realm and the underworld, known as the Intermediary Realm, was a realm of void. Aside from a few intermediary camps meant for communication and movement between the two worlds, it was arguably the best venue for testing various abilities.

“Who’s afraid of who…”

Having reached this point, Mikado knew she wanted to spar, but if there was one thing he wasn’t afraid of, it was fighting.

Did anyone truly understand the raw clout of being a student who slacked off in every single subject except combat? Although Belladonna had outstanding practical combat scores as an all-around top student, Mikado was no pushover in this department either.

The two had engaged in real-combat drills many times at school, and overall, they were neck-and-neck. When it came to a theoretical fighter like Belladonna, Mikado was extremely confident he could defeat her in a serious fight.

On a floating island in the Intermediary Realm, the girl holding a giant scythe confronted the boy gripping a massive pair of scissors before her.

In the mortal realm, a giant scythe was strictly an unconventional, fringe weapon, flashy and intimidating to look at, but pretty much useless in an actual fight.

However, it was entirely different for reapers, as it easily hooked out concealed souls completely, and underworld beings possessed the ability to control spiritual energy without worrying about lacking physical strength.

Slashing, slicing, blunt striking, soul-hooking… For a reaper, there was no more perfect weapon. Thus, every reaper at school had to take mandatory classes on wielding giant scythes.

Mikado was naturally the same; despite looking unorthodox with his giant pair of scissors, he could actually swing a giant scythe around like a whirlwind…

Scissors were even more unorthodox than a giant scythe, not to mention their structure didn’t even allow for hooking souls out cleanly. The reason Mikado suddenly abandoned the giant scythe was simple: he just wanted to be unique and thought it was fun.

Unorthodox as it was, in an actual sparring match, Mikado held quite a significant advantage—having high mastery over the giant scythe, he knew exactly how to deal with such unusual weapons, whereas his opponent wouldn’t know how to deal with scissors.

In fact, that was precisely what happened. At the moment of their first clash, seeing the giant scissors suddenly separate into two dual-wielded short swords, Belladonna was completely bewildered.

Riding on this element of surprise, combined with their comparable combat capabilities, Mikado, who held a slight upper hand, could have amplified his advantage to secure victory…

However, when a massive surge of brute force suddenly exploded from the other side, completely overwhelming his dual blades, Mikado realized something was wrong. Belladonna demonstrated what it meant to break trickery with raw power, showcasing the sheer charm of overwhelming stats.

The giant scythe pressed down with unstoppable momentum. Mikado, not daring to take the hit head-on, barely dodged to the side and tried to seize the opening while her swing missed, but his dual blades were stopped midway by a shockwave.

“What’s this?”

Only then did Mikado notice the inconspicuous dark green spirit raven standing beside Belladonna.

“No matter how well we control our power, our attacks will always release leftover force… A raven can collect and utilize the lingering force of our attacks, assisting and releasing it at critical moments.”

Belladonna raised her giant scythe, and Mikado finally noticed that the ground hit by her previous attack didn’t have a single crack from brute force; there was only the puncture mark where the scythe had struck.

“And that’s not all…”

Belladonna lifted the giant scythe, aiming the tip straight at Mikado. Following a sharp cry from Hydra, a shockwave burst out from the tip of the scythe out of thin air, just like a blast wave in a comic book…

“A raven can also release our spiritual energy from underworld iron in various different forms~”

So even if your skills are on par, if you don’t understand the role and significance of a raven, it’s impossible for you to defeat a reaper who is already of one mind with their raven partner.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Evil Organization Executive Forced to Become a Magical Girl

ComedyGender BenderGirlsLove

Read Now →
Not interested