Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji
Back in the old days, when the first humans began to grow dense in populations around the world, the need for the creation of more reapers came to be. At first there were ten or so per country, gathering whatever souls found and, whatever was left out, demons were allowed to take possession of. One can say they, those creatures, were needed by reapers just as much as air was for humans. On good favorable terms, the two worked side by side, steadily keeping the humans in check.
At one point they even intermingled. The mortality of demons disappeared at the blood of reapers and the powers needed for transportation became an asset to reapers, powers of manipulations were exchanged as well though none had come into consideration for it. They coincided harmoniously until humans, ones who never turned reaper, themselves were added into the equations. Over time, aggression began to show in both bloodlines, the greed for souls became unsustainable on the demons' part while the pride of reapers grew with their hallowed obligations to preserve humanity became their top priority.
Executioner wsa a special kind of demon. A very special kind.
He was the result from the old days becoming young. He came into being through the mixture of a human and a demon conceiving, but before his powers were realized he was murdered during a crossfire between the two forces. A reaper, a young one of the Division that came before the Vatican's, approached him and, out of the need for new forces for reapers, revived him. It was a desperate struggle and neither side knew the catastrophe the transformation would bring.
The name Executioner replaced the one that he formally used. Names, back in those days, were given to those who would live up to it; and Executioner lived up to it much more than Undertaker would do so. He massacred everyone, everyone he could get his hands upon on all sides. Souls of reapers were his meals and the bodies of demons were his drinks. He was feared by all and yet he feared all.
When his power became great, he created the Everto, a place in which demons with mixed blood may live in to find peace. He was once described a generous one for those he saved but, for some odd reason, he revolted upon reapers, preventing them from entering his domain. It was odd, considering how he became a reaper as well, but perhaps it was out of anger of turning into one that he was unable to die and be sent off into an afterlife.
He ruled the Everto and amazingly never had true control; it was made for his fellows and not himself. He traversed between the Realms, a symbol to all who had mingled with the other, he was a reminder of the drastic results of breeding between demons, humans, and reapers. Thus, to prevent more of his kind being created, the courtship between all three ceased and worlds were divided to separate them all.
There was the Human Realm where humans lived prosperously and peacefully with the stress of death being their main drive for life. They grew and grew and had lost consciousness of the other races that hid among them. While they mocked animals in their world, little did the know that they were the true animals for the others that were covert in the backgrounds.
Next was the Reaper Realm, a realm in which reapers resided. A human would come once in a while, only to be marveled at the sight and soon dub it as sort of Heaven. Years later, a text that was very important to a religious group of humans came into being and wars erupted amongst those who fought for which was the truth. Reapers were unappreciative for the amount of souls collected in the fallowing times but it gave them a purpose for their existence.
Finally came the Demon Realm. The name of it came much more later than that of the Reapers' world, it came long before another incident in which a man stumbled upon this world with an uncollected soul as a companion and traversed through the many levels of it*. Demons lived quite happily, even creating the homes that suited their tastes in their attributes; there was no issue at all but the sight of it for the man was too much to handle; he concocted a book later on to show humans what would happen of they were to sin.
All of them laughed at the humans for their credulity, each of them used the fear of them to sway them into their hands, whether for collection of consuming.
And while the demons and reapers fought for humans, it was the Executioner that fought for all of them, to ingest them for his nourishment. He was the true Devil, if Lucifer had never fallen from Heaven, he would have been known the the real Devil that walked with the men, terrorizing them and targeting all for his amusement. But time passed and he began to lose popularity among the three races. Yes, he was well known as an example but was quickly dismissed by many and soon, by the time the Christan wars for reclaiming land believed to be Holy for them, he was forgotten.
Eyes were drawn upon the angels that had Fallen from the real Heaven, Executioner was simply pushed to the side.
He foraged for souls here and there, catching those unsuspecting of his presence until, one day, the reaper that had lived for a time longer and even created him, came to him and said,"You have no purpose, do you?"
The conversation was quick, after all, they were in the middle of a battle field, one similar to the one Executioner was revived upon. Executioner, dressed in only robes, he looked more like a hermit that had descended from the mountains; he was covered head to toe in a black robe though a hood, rather than a potato sack, covered his head. He was in the form of a human this time, it prevented any attention to be drawn to him. He snarled truculently.
"I have one, at least, I did. Time passed so much since then, you think I would remember why I was created?" He eyed the reaper, dressed in whit robes, sit upon a pile of bodies, his mask adorned with blood rather than silver.
"You were made for the collection of souls and yet you consume them. You have the heart of a man and hold compassion for demons and your kind. You are the very opposite of what I made you for. You think that you can thrive off they way you are now? Feasting upon the battlefield, sleeping the the field of blood, you look rather pathetic."
And the pride of reaper was triggered within Executioner, he perked up and dropped the soldier that he was reaping with his bare hand. "Pathetic? Me? Ha! I have formulated a plan a while ago, a long while, and I was simply deciding which human to test it on!" Executioner smiled and went to sit next to him. "But all the humans dying on this field are of no use to me, if I were to act as their servant, their only request for their wishes would to ether go back to their families or to have their side win the war. Both of these things are easy to accomplish, why would I want to do so? There is no fun in such a thing..."
The reaper leaned against the corpse to rest his head upon the headless one. "What would be the price of your servitude?"
"Their souls. I call it a Contract. With my blood, I can form it with any of you, reapers, demons, and especially humans. I can do anything. But...to be sure, I'd rather perform it upon a human, they seem less dangerous."
He nodded his head, the mask's beak simply waved in the air, and the reaper sighed,"There is a scheduled massacre in Northern England, one in Wilshires...there are men who while avenge and later be brought here but it's best to catch them when their in their raw form of the mind. One that has denoted their God and lost sight of Him, those are the kind you will find entertaining."
Executioner smiled. "You are fairly different from reapers, let us travel to this Wilshires, old friend, my dear Marcello."
-...-
And so, the unfortunate soul that Executioner had been called for, was that of a shepherd named Gabriel Batholomew Humphries. He was an indigent man, relying upon the Church for money from the lambs he raised and sold, but he lived a quaint life, quiet and peaceful, just as a shepherd should live by.
"Look at him...he mourns for his family even though they have already been buried underground," the reaper said when the observed from afar. The two creatures were perched upon an oak's young branches, ahead of them were the countless graves of women and children that were slaughtered under the order of Lord Spears, the ruler of the land. Men of these families were gone save for the shepherd that was mourning amongst his flock.
"Simple, 'tis grief that ails him," Executioner replied,"I've been it before."
"A poor man, very poor, yes, both in wealth and mind."
The shepherd had missed his staff, one that was used for herding, in his hand as a shovel that he leaned upon; the sheep came close to him as a way to comfort him. He was young but the time had worn him to look fairly older, his hair was golden like that of the Fallen angel told in the stories humans passed on. Executioner had grown with the races, understanding and withholding the mentalities each held. Out of all he has observed, humans were the ones to express the strongest emotions, he found them entertaining but a tinge of sympathy of his human tendencies would surface once in a while.
They watched him approach the young oak, a rope was tied among the branches. Gabriel sluggishly dragged himself to the suspended rope, the sheep fallowed, and he had a noose prepared for him. Executioner made to move but Marcello held him back. "Not yet, wait for him."
He climbed up the tree though his hair covered his eyes, preventing him from being the two gods sitting above him. He went on until he got on all fours atop a large limb of the tree; he pulled the rope up and took the ring around his neck, he tightened it and secured it. Gabriel had closed his eyes when Executioner was permitted by Marcello to be near him. Gingerly, Executioner made his way down the branches and then rested himself next to him.
"Will you push yourself through to this?" His breath hissed in Gabriel's ear and the shepherd whirled, nearly losing his balance, to look at him. He yelped but Executioner held him. "Revenge is what drives those men and yet you never join them to rebel against Lord Spears..."
"They were sent off to that bloody land, them and my brother," he answered, choking upon his words,"revenge is what I want-"
"Then power is what you'll get!" Executioner exclaimed. "Come, fall to your death but first, would you consent to my offer? Power to crush those who have wronged you, much more than human comprehension, is in my hands. Simply say yes and then I may be your servant."
Gabriel perked up, his eyes became perceptible when his bangs moved away; they were red and puffy from sleepless nights. He eyed Executioner, hungry with greed to destroy the Spears. "How can you be a servant to me and yet give me power? That makes no sense."
"The power will come should you ask further, but that will only be if you order me to do so. Again, I am not a servant to you, yet, but should you accept me and die right now, I will revive you anew and I will serve you for as young as you need." He smiled behind the shadow of the hood, Gabriel stared at him in disbelief, contemplating the deal. "Tis a Contract."
"Deals with the Devil, but what is the price?"
"For avenging your family to its utmost potential, nothing but your soul. Once your objective in life has been completed, I will consume your soul and you will be no more."
Marcello lifted an eyebrow in interest; Executioner was tempting Gabriel to give him his soul. And what temptation it was! For the shepherd had easily had give him his soul and instantly fell back. The sickening snap of a neck resounded throughout the graveyard and Executioner had burst out into a fit of laughter, only for himself to fall back and landed directly under Gabriel; he took out a dagger and sliced the rope, sending Gabriel down. His hand went to Gabriel's chest when he set him down, his nails grew long until they pierced through the cotton shirt and skin, Cinematic Records poured out and he edited them to his pleasure.
The older reaper came down and landed right by the two. "So transforming him into a reaper...he will never die."
"Not unless he fulfills his goal." He smiled.
And then coughing came from Gabriel, the sheep around them have fled, for they no longer saw the man their herder once was. He was no longer man but a reaper. Gabriel coughed and spluttered, he grasped around for anything to hold until Executioner released his hold to his body and allowed him to sit up.
"My...contract with you, it's begun?" Executioner nodded. Gabriel looked thoughtful for a moment. "...I order you to never speak. For your words may twist me and my decisions like that of the snake had done to Eve." Executioner smiled. "Now...what...am I?" He got up and walked about, testing his new body. He looked at Executioner with green eyes with rings around them, they radiated danger and yet held a fair amount of mischief.
Marcello took the liberty of speaking,"You are a God of Death, a Grim Reaper. One who collects the souls of humans..."
Gabriel looked at him, shocked. "I'll have to kill?"
"Not kill, reap. You are the embodiment of Death, as am I and him, come now, let's fix up the mess the freak had started. Honestly, you could have ordered him to speak so that I may never explain anything to you."
-...-
Undertaker stood among the balcony watching the town be washed away by a sudden storm that had unleashed itself. Ah, he had made so many three deals with the Executioner, he made him his servant, the servant granted him power through the body of a reaper, and he had cleaned him away of his past by stripping him of his name. How much Undertaker wished he never involved his identity into the matter. When him and Executoner were introduced into the Reaper Realm, Executioner ran rampant through the streets consuming any who he deemed tasteful for a bite.
They dubbed him as a demon to reapers.
To offer up as compensation, a name was the part of a soul, it is the identity of one, Undertaker gave away his name. The name was the identity the image, of a being, without it, what can a soul take the shape of? Consequentially, Undertaker's hair had whitened and his youthful appearance aged slightly. If one were to utter his name Executioner would bring destruction for the London Division and consume everyone he could find. The purpose of keeping the creature locked away was to avoid him tempting anyone to make another contract to get out from his prison.
He lived up to name once more during his confinement. He was allowed to execute any reaper and consume their souls as punishment. Of course, he waited patiently for Undertaker's for many centuries.
The only living beings that knew of his name were Marcello, the witness of his revival, and his brother, one who never knew of such a pact in transformation but was ordered to keep silent. One had no reason to unleash Executioner from his bonds but the other did. Marcello. That traitorous bastard, Undertaker doubted the destruction of the London Division was simply an order from the Ministry of Hades. He snarled and snapped his teeth.
"So you do this for the sake of finding the catalyst of the destruction of the Four European Divisions, yes?" Undertaker readied himself for a fight.
"Times have changed and now we have obligations to fill in. Apparently, you have lived out your usefulness. You have spent years torturing the one who carried the blood that ruined your life, I suppose that you've had enough."
"When you say times have changed, are you asking for it to revert back to where it once was? Where Executioner was unleashed and bringing destruction for all that lives? Everyone will hunt you down, Marcello, they will want you dead-"
"Then let them slay me! For I have done a great favor for the ones who truly promised me freedom from this form! To the real Heaven I'll go, those angels say I can go if I were to release Executioner and since you have done your life's purpose ten times over then you will no longer be able to have him fallow your orders!" Marcello cackled and Undertaker readied to harm him, he charged at him until he was drawn back by an unseen force. He was sent flying towards the banister of the balcony. Undertaker achingly lifted his head to see Executioner perching himself on the stonework, cloak open and revealing a full body with only more robes covering from his waist up and down.
Undertaker looked up at him, for once, he was the one seeing true fear. "I...you mean to say my time is up here? I won't allow it! Never! I'M NOT DONE!"
"You never learned how to stop, what a horrible habit you've had for so long," said Executioner. His potato sack was gone with the wind and his hood was gone as well, he had a face similar to that of Undertaker's youthful self and yet it was mixed with a variety of those whose souls he have consumed the past few days. Storms wiped the air and churned everything; it was all Executioner's doing and he was enjoying his freedom. "Pay up, Gabriel, pay up."
He wore Undertaker's beloved top hat atop his head, it nestled in his brown locks of hair, keeping it safe from the winds that billowed along his cloak. Undertaker made a move to attack him but Marcello spoke out,"It's over for you-"
But then, among the lightning that flashed around all and roaring winds and raging waters, silver stood out in the darkness and came to pierce the back of the Executioner. Undertaker's eyes threatened to pop out from shock when he recognized the clippers that protruded from the demon's chest. The pole that struck out from behind wavered and moved with the water below until Executioner used both hands as leverage to keep his balance.
"A...death scythe," the demon breathed out.
Executioner's eyes looked as though they had lost life until the pole retracted upwards, pulling up the owner and revealing him to the two reapers. The storm had suddenly abated and the rage had ended, it was so quick and so sudden bit it happened either way. The rain became drizzles and the gusts became breezes, Executioner fell forward to Marcello's feet as William popped out from the edge and came to haul himself up to the highest point of the town.
The man had barely enough strength to bring himself up, he flopped over to the safe side and seemed to have collapsed out of exhaustion. Undertaker couldn't comprehend it, he was out of words to speak but Marcello was the first to lose his composure. "YOU IDIOT, YOU DECIDE TO DIE NOW! ?" He raged on himself and began to kick Executioner's unmoving corpse, he still held the death scythe in his back. "YOU WERE PROMISING FOR MY PASSAGE TO HEAVEN! DAMN YOU, YOU VILE CREATURE!"
"Oh, my, my." Ana's voice clicked a tongue and kissed lips behind Undertaker, he didn't want to see her. "Our arrangement seems to be broken."
As Marcello yelled like a child throwing a tantrum, Undertaker softly spoke,"You, angel, what reason do you have for destroying this Division?"
"We wanted the Demon of London to be in our hands, and since he's dead this will only advance our plans. I have to thank the reaper who slayed him when he decides to come to. He just made my task easier. Marcello, quit your whining, you'll get what you want. Come now, take the body, we'll be leaving-"
Undertaker suddenly grinned, then he began to laugh. "You think he will go quickly with angels?" He cackled madly at Ana, she moved to be in front of him, she turned and gave him a perplexed look. "Look, that body doesn't have a Cinematic Record coming from him, it means that Executioner simply took possession of it and manipulated him to be a mere copy."
Marcello's screams ceased when Undertaker explained his observation; the silver reaper had calmed and reached over to the corpse, taking back his hat and placing it atop his head. "By now, Executioner would have collected my soul. Simply uttering my name unleashes him from his prison but it won't end our contract. I'm not done with William T. Spears as he is not dead. Another thing would be is that my first orders to him were to never speak, this poor chap spoke. Clearly he was never the real Executioner to begin with, I want to laugh at Marcello for never noticing."
He smirked. "Now, thanks to you two, Executioner is loose and I have nothing against him to stop him from destroying whatever he wants. But first, I'll have him destroy the all of the Reaper Realm."
"You're mad!" exclaimed Marcello as he watched Undertaker lift up his left sleeve to reveal a black band tattooed around his wrist. It glowed silver when Undertaker opened his mouth to say his words.
"Executioner, the order for you...is the destroy this world and the creatures that live within it."
And as he done so, he grabbed William and the to faded away into nothing shadows and soon into air. As he faded, he mocked them,"Now who is the traitor?"
A/N: *Refers to Dante Alighieri
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