Silence. 

It was a deathly silence that sent a deep chill running down my spine. I couldn’t hear any more voices down the corridor; only the faint sound of my regulated breaths filled my ears. 

“Memento mori.” With a flick of my wrist, I grasped my scythe in both hands and leapt forward in a wild acceleration. The wind screamed into my ears; my silvery-white hair whipped around my face as I went airborne. A spark of bright, hot emotion ignited and flared in my heart. Anger. Fury. Indignation. It pumped wildly through my veins and spurred me forward down the corridor. 

“Don’t you dare RUN AWAY!” I lifted my scythe and swung it at the wall forcefully, bursting into the last classroom in a shower of tumbling debris and dust.  

There were five figures in the centre of the classroom—one was sprawled lifelessly on the floor; three were hunched over in crouched positions, gnashing their teeth savagely; and the last figure, a young naked girl, stood up amusedly to welcome their unwelcome visitor. 

“My, look at you barging in here all hot-headed and impetuous…” Her rosy red lips curled up slightly into a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “...my dear sister.” 

I narrowed my cold eyes at someone who I used to recognise and acknowledge as my other half. A lump formed in my dry throat and my voice croaked out. 

“Vivere…” 

Her beautiful eyes filled with life met mine serenely. “Mori, I’ve been waiting for you.” 

She spread her slender arms wide in greeting. Her slender and supple body radiated vitality; her fair, unblemished skin which emanated a healthy glow contrasted starkly with the devastation she stood in. 

“You have…been waiting?” I said quietly; my fingers curled around the handle of my scythe tightly as I felt a chilly dread creep over my heart.  

Vivere chuckled and shifted her gaze down to Gee’s corpse at her feet—which had been torn to shreds by the three humans beside her. No…it would perhaps be more accurate to describe them as mindless bloodthirsty minions under her absolute control. Their eyes were bloodshot and devoid of any emotion; they bared their sharp fangs at me, uttering a menacing growl as if they were going to pounce at any moment. The only visible remnants of their past humanity were the bloodied school uniforms that still hung from their shoulders. 

“Of course, dear sister.” Vivere stroked the underling closest to her on his head lovingly. “I have been watching over your every move ever since you defied me, ever since you transformed yourself into a human and began helping other humans.” 

She pursed her lips and gave me a dismayed look. “Aren’t you disgusted with yourself? You’re giving them false hope, encouraging them to push forward to a bleak future—leading them to a fate much worse than death itself, Mori.”

“Then, do you think it’s alright to annihilate everyone?” I met her eyes defiantly. “Vivere, why are you doing this? Have you truly forsaken this world of yours? Are you satisfied with destroying your creations and making twisted monsters out of them??” 

Vivere stared at me quietly before smiling faintly. “You’re mistaken, Mori. I’m not destroying my creations, I’m restoring them back to their original forms.” 

I blinked in surprise. “R…restoring?” 

“Look, Mori.” She stopped stroking her underling’s head and suddenly dug her hand into his nape viciously. He howled in agony and tried to claw at her—but before he could touch her arm, she removed her hand and dropped him to the floor. 

“You have seen this before, haven’t you?” Vivere opened her palm and showed me the thread of Life on her hand. “Do you know why every one of my creations has one?” 

Stunned, I could only gaze at her with wide eyes. 

“This thread…its purpose is to forcefully shape what you call ‘monsters’ in my image—the humans you love and swear to protect.” Vivere smiled sadly. “It’s like a drug. They forget who they originally were and follow my blueprint instead. The monsters you fight and kill without mercy, Mori, are simply the true nature of my creations.” 

“...Vivere, you—” I choked back a gasp. “T…then, why are you trying to…I-I don’t understand…”

“This thread isn’t perfect, you see. It sometimes fails to suppress the monster within each human being.” She released it from her hand and watched it flutter softly to the ground. “Wars. Famines. Pestilences. All these suffering, they exist because humans succumb to their monsters and rebel against humanity. So, Mori, I wish to give this world of mine a second chance.” 

“A second…chance?” I asked in a hoarse whisper.  

“To be a utopia,” she said softly. “Don’t you wish to see one come to fruition too, Mori? A world where your beloved humans can live without pain or suffering until you come to claim their beautiful souls.” 

“...you know that’s impossible, Vivere.” I shook my head and asked, “why would it work again if it failed the first time?” 

“Then, I will make sure it won’t fail this time,” she stated resolutely. “But first, I have to remove all the imperfect threads of mine from this world—and I have to thank you for bringing the last ones to me. You saved me the trouble of having to use the monsters to retrieve their threads instead.”

“...!” I twisted my neck around in alarm and suppressed a gasp. “Y-you guys!”  

Ave squirmed and kicked his legs futilely against the undead’s death grip, whereas Nico and Lila’s eyes were filled with pure unadulterated terror as they were all hauled along by a swarm of nightmarish humanoid monsters. With a wave of Vivere’s hand, the monsters threw the survivors onto the floor roughly and stood still, awaiting their next instruction.

“Don’t try anything silly, Mori,” Vivere said in a gentle but threatening voice. “Your limited powers in the realm of the living are nothing compared to mine.” 

I shot her a cold glare and slowly lowered my scythe.

“M-Mori, w…who is this?” Ave coughed out blood as he struggled to get up to his feet. “Y-y-you monster! Donʼt you dare—” 

“Itʼs okay, Ave.” I shook my head, silencing his protests. “This isnʼt something you are capable of taking on.” 

“Oh?” Vivere murmured, gazing upon me with profound interest. “Even after all that I said, you still wish to interfere?” 

“Why shouldn’t I interfere? This concerns me too, don’t you know that?” I spat back. “Your actions now are leading you and me both to our end, Vivere!” 

“...our end?” She laughed heartily, holding her hand to her belly as if she had just heard the best joke in a long while.

I sucked in a breath and pointed the tip of my scythe at her. “What’s so funny?” 

“I-I mean,” she said in between fits of laughter and pretended to wipe tears from her dry eyes. “I will always be here, Mori, even after you are gone together with this current world. Life and Death aren’t two sides of the same coin, you know.”

Seeing the bewildered expression on my face, Vivere smirked. “Don’t you get it? I created you, Mori.”

I froze. “Vivere, what are you…” 

“When this world was created, I realised that I had to give my power, the creation of Life, a balance in order for it to be sustainable.” She stepped towards me, facing my scythe head-on. “That’s why I created you and imbued you with the opposite of my power—Death. That’s why you, along with all of my failed creations, will perish together with the current world.” 

“I—” I bit my lip and readied my scythe. “I will show you, Vivere. That destroying this world is all for naught. That your ‘utopia’ will ultimately collapse, because you don’t even understand the nature of humanity itself. That your second world will simply be a repeat of this one.” 

Vivere raised her eyebrow ever so slightly. “You think you understand my own creations better than I do?” 

“You see,” I replied quietly, a grin appearing on my face slick with cold sweat. “In their last moments, people show you who they really are. And every single person that I have met with, no matter how they had lived their lives up to their end, are undoubtedly human when faced with my scythe.” 

“...so you’re saying that I’m wrong?” she questioned, her eyes flashing dangerously. “You’ll oppose me to the end, won’t you?” 

“No, Vivere, I just want to show you that…” I spun my scythe around me, cleanly slicing the heads of her underlings off, and swung it forward at the root of all life. 

“...I, Death, will save this world.”

𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑚𝑛𝑖𝑎

⌈death conquers all⌋

End.