Deaths Blossom

by BioQuillFiction

Chapter 11: God of Souls

"It is good to have you back Reaper." Doomfist said as he and Reaper walked down the halls of the Empire, as Doomfist began calling it.

Reaper only grunted and nodded, going to a comfy chair and sitting down and just…enjoying the feeling of no pain after so long.

"So tell me, what was your body snatcher like in a fight my friend."

"He understands how I work, and has military training, but he doesn't fully understand how strong I truly am." Reaper answered simply. "Tried to crush my heart inside my chest." He added.

Doomfist laughed. "A smart move. Had your new body not been augmented it might have done some serious damage."

"He's a quick learner, to say the least." He shrugged. "But if he doesn't figure out the true strength of my body, he'll be truly dead soon."

"Few things can kill that old body of yours."

Reaper shrugged. "In this new insane world, a lot more things can do it."

"Which brings me to our meeting. Now that his home dimension is under Talon Companies foot, more raw materials are being sent in. With all these new resources in hand we can expand this empire further and faster than ever before. We just need to bring some more associates over."

"Now is that before or after our supply lines have been raised with ease?" Reaper brought up. "But…yes, we probably should…between Sigma and Moira…a deranged old man or…Moira."

"Either or, but Mistress Pain has also decided to introduce us to some of her other followers. I genuinely look forwards to it."

"Cause of course." Reaper groaned lightly.

"Are you not Intrigued?"

"Just more grunts to deal with, and the only thing I'm intrigued about is if they kiss her ass more than you." Reaper said, because while he can respect Akande for his strength and smarts, he was getting a bit tired with how much the new Shadow praised her as if he'd lick the very grown she stood on.

"Ah my friend, while your attitude is the same, You should remember it was she that pulled you from that void, made you near invulnerable and gave you those fancy new scythes you've been using. We both owe her much and her cause and goals align very closely to my own. Growth of strength and power, innovation and knowledge, all accelerated by threats, war, and slaughter."

"I'm only in this for my Revenge." Reaper growled.

"Against who? 76, or Chris?"

"And Overwatch as a whole." The petty man stated.

"And how pray tell will you go about this endeavor?"

"Killing all their members, not sitting here while my 'boss' acts like a goddamn priest for a lady that thinks this is the best Soap Opera ever." He answered. "And I can't go back cause you're forcing me here incase my body snatcher decides to get cheeky on this war, as well as me being bait to start the Lawless War." He explained, seeing Akande going more heavily into his 'survival of the fittest' mantra to the point of zelatism, a point he never was before.

"While killing all of the Overwatch is the goal, there are plans grander passed the Overwatch." He said, leaning in. "Tell me, what do you know of Talon Companies high up works? Their leaders? Financers? The ones who really pull the strings?"

"I've been doing Talons dirty work for twenty years." He answered. "I know enough, especially when we killed some of them to replace them with your personal choices." He explained.

"Yes, and for those that remain of the old, they shall be replaced as well. With that weaker Earth and this new dimension under their Belt, the old heads of Talon just aren't thinking big enough. Once full control is ours, Overwatch is in ashes and the new empire takes full control, conquering stars and dimensions will be part of the job."

"And that's if my body snatcher doesn't blow your head off." Reaper answered. "Kill the head, and this band of savages you've made will crumble like a house of cards in a tornado." He pointed out, which was always a possibility in this line of work.

"Maybe. Killing a king, or tyrant, is easy. Killing the culture they leave behind? Not so much. Every day more and more of the Minotaur people fight, getting stronger, craving the battle. Those that fall are saved, augmented and, of course, reborn as something between Omnic and Flesh. And of course the children, born and raised knowing nothing but this culture of fighting and combat. It helps to add certain… additions to their food to ensure they grow up physically and mentally into the soldiers I need."

Reaper shook his head, knowing he was petty and only using Talon to get his revenge on those that scorned him and threw away his hard work, but this was beyond ridiculous, even for Akande. "You're losing focus," Reaper said, getting up and walking away. "And that'll get you killed when you bore your goddess."

"And, what about you?" He asked. "At any moment she could send you back to whatever purgatory she pulled you from. Like it or not Reaper, we are in the same boat. Isn't that exciting?"

Reaper stared at Akande. “As long as you stay out of my way, you can do whatever.”

"You two Reaper and Doomfist?"

Looking behind himself, Akande smirked as Reaper looked up at the twelve foot tall armored being that irradiated energy.

"Yes. And who are you my ally?" Akande asked.

"I am Amon."

---

I sat defeated. Resources low and so far from any means of hope. I needed pure luck to-

"Go straight to jail, do not collect two hundred bits." Cadence said with a smirk as I landed on the saw pile and she read my card aloud.

“Why~?” I whined in pain. “This is awful…”

"It was your idea to play." Twilight reminded. "You said it was just like a game from your home world."

I normally don't lose this badly in that game, sadly pony monopoly, or, Goldopoly, was similar… different enough to be interesting and I still suck…

Why do I always want to play this game?

“I hate Monopoly…” I grumbled. “This sucks…”

"Goldopoly." Blueblood corrected, tossing the dice and landing on his own space.

“Same thing.” I retorted.

After all the crap recently I needed a break, so, game night with the students.

Save Keven, who played a rom of Pokemon Gold on my PC.

His luck with shiny hunting is as legendary as his shiny Entei.

“Just wanted to have a nice game night to relax…and I’m getting destroyed…”

"How is your luck this bad?" Shining asked.

“It’s not normally this bad.” I frowned. “I don’t know why dice are mean to me all of a sudden.”

"Must just be a run of bad luck." Fizzle shrugged as she rolled the dice, moving her piece and landing on the gold mines. Buying it and smirking.

“I hate you.” I frowned, grabbing my dice and throwing it and hoping I got out of jail so I can continue playing the game.

After a few hours I left the kids to keep playing and I went to check on some of the supplies raided from cargo transports Doomfist had moving around.

Long story short, it's not good.

The armor alone has more tech than my cell phone, their rifles are either shooting bullets, energy, magic or are basically gauss rifles.

The explosives are another category entirely. Seeing these on the battlefield will make my time in the army look like a picnic…

“This is…beyond what I thought was going to happen…” I muttered, honestly fearing what nonsense Doomfist had planned for this war.

"It will take way too long to reverse engineer and rebuild this." Chrysalis huffed. "Our best option is to keep up the raids on his transports and take what we need. Otherwise we won't stand a chance."

“Damn it…” I sighed. “And that’s not to mention if he isn’t already getting all the supplies he needs from another world…”

"It's risky to send in spies."

"Maybe we can use his own advantage against him." Celestia said, walking up into the lab with us. "The whole reason you, he and all this happened was because of a portal to another world, another dimension, well, we just might be able to craft one of our own through magic."

“We do have Sombra’s blueprints for the portal to help make that easier.” I nodded. “And yeah…it would be a good idea to try and get some help here.”

"Not just that." Celestia spoke up. "I was digging through some old magic artifacts my late teacher, Starswirl, created. Well, some time after Luna was Banished, he created a series of magic mirrors that took us to parallel worlds. Each one was vastly different from the last, I believe we can rework the spell matrix and create a portal similar to his own."

"That old coot made magic portals like that?" Chrysalis asked.

"Yes. Among other, more… questionable inventions."

“Alright, so when do we get started?” I asked. “Also…what ‘questionable inventions’?”

"We can begin immediately, plus, the mirror portals he built are all here in the Canterlot Vault. We just need to modify their activation triggers, which will admittedly take time."

“Take the time you need but please hurry…” I sighed. “Ugh, this bites…”

"In the meantime we should test and learn how to use these weapons. Then start warming soldiers." Chrysalis said, picking up one of the rifles.

“Yeah…” I sighed. “But we’re not going to have our soldiers be like the Minotaurs…Sombra told me that they're practically savages at this point.”

"Then, I guess killing them is more an act of mercy than part of a war."

“And who know’s what Pain has been feeding Doomfist, he’s probably gone completely feral in his quest of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ to the point where…the Minotaur’s might not be salvageable…”

"Well, we best hope we can reverse it. So, shall we begin training with these?"

“Yes, let’s begin the training.” I nodded, wanting to push back some of those terrifying thoughts.

I spent the next few hours giving Chrysalis a crash course in firearms safety and use. While most were not at all what I was used to they all functioned the same. She was a quick learner, and enjoyed the lesson.

With that done I began to head back to-

"Hi there!"

Ahhh!

I fell back on my ass in surprise as a small, talking puppy appeared in front of me.

"Talking puppy…" I said slowly. "Uh…hi there…"

"Hi." They said, smiling. They were small, a dark lapis blue coat with brown eyes and wagging tail. "I'm Dolo."

“And you are adorable.” I said, giving them a head pat. “So why have I been graced with the smol pupper today?”

"Because I'm gonna help you deal with my auntie!"

“Hold up what?” I asked. “Back up, I feel like I’m missing something here…like a lot of things…especially the vibrating pupper over there.” I said, pointing to a chibi fluff potato in a cloak, laying on the ground, and just vibrating like they had too much caffeine.

"Hi mom!" Dolo said.

“Mom?” I asked in even more confusion, as I could swear I was hearing earthbound music somewhere. “I’m so confused and concerned even if you two are just absolutely adorable.” I said.

‘My name is Princess.’ I saw the vibrating doggo hold up a Looney Toon’s esc sign that seemed to be readable even with the adorable vibrating.

"Oh well that's my mamma and she's auntie Pain's sister in law."

“Oh…” I said slowly, even though I was petting Dolo. “So…how are you going to help me here? Cause right now I need help with…everything…”

"I'm gonna help you become a hero!" Dolo declared.

"I'm about to go to war…" I said carefully. “You sure I can still be a hero while having to help with the war?”

"Yeah, it will be fun!"

I looked at ‘Princess’, and was worried about their enthusiasm to help me be a hero in war, but they held up a sign. ‘They know the dangers of war, but they’re going to help you be a Hero, even against Pain’. “Well…you got a vote of confidence here Dolo.” I said with a smile.

"Yay, thanks mamma!" Dolo said, walking behind me and pushing the back of my heel with their head. "Now come on, we got work to do."

“You are just…so adorable.” I said, clenching my chest at how adorable this pupper is. “Alright, let’s get going.” I said, walking off as I noticed Princess got on a cloud and followed along.

"First we gotta get you more weapons. And better armor."

“Well, I have an insane healing factor and…well, I have my twin Hellfire Shotguns.” I said. “How much better do I need to be?”

"Better." He said, leading me to a random door. He then moved in front of me, jumping up and biting onto the knob. The door swung open and whatever was in that room was something else now. Now it was some kind of… forge?

“Uh…when did this become a forge?” I asked in surprise.

"I made it into one." Dolo said, walking inside. This forge was odd. It was like a mix of high tech and ancient. There was a large section in the wall with a glowing blue light inside.

"This looks…like a weird but a pretty neat forge." I said honestly.

"It's the only forge Mamma let's me play with. But it will work." He said. "Put a thing in there." He pointed a paw at the blue light box. "And the forge makes a copy."

I looked at Princess nervously at the part of 'only forge I can play with', but they waved me off. "Well…alright, how are we going to be doing this?"

"You need more stuff. This place can make more stuff."

"Correct." I nodded. "So, do I need to start hunting for materials?"

"No. It's got plenty."

"Cool." I nodded. "So…I just put my Shotgun in here, and out pops something new in the blue box?" I inquired, pulling out one of my shotguns and ready to test it out.

"Yup." Dolo said.

I did so, the blue lights scanning my gun as the walls of the forge made various noises and soon a mold popped out of the molten slag, opening and revealing a cooled, chrome looking replica of my shotgun.

“Huh…” I said, gently picking up the brand new shotgun and looking it over. “So…what’s special about it besides it might be able to shoot a higher caliber?”

"Oh no, it's not upgraded, it's just a replica of the weapon."

“Alright…” I said. “Well, it’ll help us start mass producing something’s at least…”

"Yay! Now we need to help you become a god."

“Yes, and currently I need to go to Purgatory…somehow.” I said carefully. “Cause that’s at least part of what that weird book said.”

"Okay, let's go."

“Well, how are we supposed to get there?” I inquired.

"Follow me." He said, walking back out the door.

I nodded, following after the good boy and wondering what this adventure is going to be like.

I followed him into a hallway, he howled and the air before us tore open Into a rift in space. "Come on." He said, jumping through the rift.

I blinked, absolutely shocked at what I just saw…”Uh…okay.” I said carefully, walking into the portal carefully and kinda scared as to how this pupper just…tore open a portal to another dimension.

---

Purgatory was… more lush than I expected. Everywhere around was jungle-forest of all kinds of strange plants.

“Ya know…when I thought ‘Purgatory’...I didn’t think ‘Forest’.” I said honestly.

"It has different environments and such just like any other place." Dolo said as he led me through the place, walking under large roots and over rocks and such.

“Well…this place looks nice, wonder how I’m supposed to find a lost soul in this dense as hell place.”

"They'll probably be around here somewhere."

“Just gotta know where to look.” I said, ducking under some branches as I looked around the rather beautiful landscape.

"Once you find them you need to take them to either heaven or hell, or whatever afterlife they're going to."

”And that’s going to be difficult cause…I have no idea where those places are given that they are in fact real.” I said carefully.

"I'll help take you there once we find a soul to help."

“Thank you.” I nodded. “Cause I am…way out of my depth here, I’m just a soldier that was…body swapped with a super soldier.”

"I'm… nine?" Dolo offered, clearly unsure how to respond to… I'm sorry he's nine?!?!

“Okay, hold up…” I said. “Why!? Shouldn’t you be in school, hanging out with friends, doing…literally anything else than helping decide the fate of an entire world?” I asked in absolute shock.

"I already finished school. And a lot of my older siblings do this too so, I thought it would be fun."

“Uh…huh…” I said carefully. “Right…so why did you want to help me out with all this?”

"Auntie Pain always makes the world's she's personally overseeing hard. So. Thought I'd help out. Plus Auntie is fun to be around."

This kids family sounds… beyond odd.

“Okay…so I have a good boy…that is the son of a fluff potato…and your the nephew of someone that I have to fight against…” I said. “I’m…so confused…”

As we walked through this thick jungle I spent some time wondering how exactly this all began.

Eventually we came across a large tree in a clearing… that seemed to be growing skulls…

“Alright, what the hell is that?” I asked. “Why is there a Skull tree and do I have to shoot it?”

"It's apples!" What? Dolo rapidly began climbing up the tree, biting onto one of the skulls on the branch. The skull crunched under their teeth… only rather than bones crunching it was indeed the sound of an apple being bit into. Looking I saw under the 'bone' was the normal apple flesh and even seeds.

"Uh…sure…" I said, picking one of the apples, pulling my mask up and taking a bite out of it.

"Eeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" The apple screamed.

"Dkgiesjthej!" I blurted out, throwing the thing and shooting it into lead filled applesauce.

"They scream when you pick them." Dolo said, eating his apple that was still on the stem.

"I literally bit into it first so what the hell!" I panicked.

"Takes a few seconds sometimes." Dolo shrugged, finishing his apple and leaving the core on the stem.

"Well…okay…" I said slowly, grabbing another one of the skull apples and this time ate its 'face' so it wouldn't scream at me.

It tasted pretty good. Sweet and tangy and surprisingly juicy for fruit shaped like a skull grown in purgatory.

"Alright…the fruit tastes good." I said honestly.

After eating a few more Dolo and I walk along until we come across a cliff leading… down. Just down. I can't see the bottom.

"Awh. It's a hole…" Dolo huffed.

"It's…a very big hole apparently." I said with a frown.

"Well, come on." Dolo said, jumping off the edge.

Wait hold up!

"Dolo!" I panicked as I jumped after them, not caring if they were the child of some super pupper this was a giant ass hole.

I managed to reach close to him as we reached the bottom and-

Crunch. Splat.

…Ouch.

"Are you okay?" Dolo asked, poking a nose at my flat, mangled corpse.

I grabbed my head and pulled it off of the rock. "Look Dolo, I'm roadkill." I joked, referencing The Mask. "Ha ha ha." I chuckled, as I turned into mist and reformed myself and had all my bones crack. "Ugh…that could have gotten better."

"That looked like it hurt." He said, my body returning to normal and as I looked the pupper over, he was fine. Seemed to take no damage at all from that fall.

"One of the most painful things I've experienced so far." I answered. "But glad to see your okay."

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it was a rather long fall and was worried you'd be hurt." I said honestly. "I don't know much about your family or how strong you are…but if this was long enough to turn me into a looney toons character for a hot moment, I was concerned you would get at least a little hurt."

"I'm fine." Dolo said. "The fall wasn't that long anyway."

What kind of life has this probably immortal nine year old had?!

"Okay, how are you this nonchalant about this?" I asked worriedly.

"What's nonchalant mean?"

"It means to be calm or relaxed, or not be concerned." I said honestly

"Oh. I've dropped from much further."

"Cause of course you have…" I sighed. "How tough are you little guy?"

"Mamma says I'm a little wrecking ball. Mainly when my siblings use me as ammo."

"Excuse me, I didn't expect a good boy like you to be the next Baldur." I said, gently patting the now apparently indestructible pupper.

I got up, stretching as I looked around where we were. Some purple grass and such for as far as the eye can see.

"So where are we now?" I inquired.

"Looks like Lost Valley."

"Well, if there was any place to find a lost soul, this would be the place." I said honestly.

"Souls here would have been here for a long time."

"So might have to calm people down." I said honestly.

"Maybe." Dolo shrugged, walking along as I followed.

After a while, we finally came along a lost soul… who was half buried in the ground.

They were a unicorn, older fellow and had a lime green mane, purple coat and an old set of guard armor.

"So, how'd you get stuck there my guy?" I inquired, starting to dig the poor guy out.

"Some weird bird thing grabbed me and dropped me down here. Woke up like this." He said. "So, what are you?"

“I’m the person that’s going to get you out of here and back to whichever afterlife you’re supposed to go to.” I said, continuing to dig up the stallion.

"So… a different grim reaper?" He asked.

“Pretty much.” I shrugged. “So, who are you if I may ask?”

"Captain Alchemy of princess Celestia's royal guard."

Alchemy… right, I remember hearing about him from Shining Armor. This guy died in one of the last major wars Equestria had before I came here some… six hundred years ago.

“So…good to know.” I said carefully, digging him out finally and pulling him out. “It’s been…a long time…”

"I figured." He said, dusting off his armor and stretching his legs. "Still hate that legs can get numb when you're dead. Makes no sense." He grumbled.

“Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense but…well, you technically still have a physical body for some reason.” I shrugged. “Alright…so let’s go see which afterlife your supposed to go to…and also wherever the hell the proper direction is.”

"I got it." Dolo said, walking up to and sniffing the guy before turning around and howling again, opening yet another tear in space to elsewhere.

“Good boy.” I said, kneeling down and giving him some headpats. “Alright…now just gotta take you through the portal and then talk to the gods of the Afterlife…that’s gonna be a fun talk…”

We walked through the portal and on the other side was… well, it was kind of like Canterlot but… larger.

"Greetings!" Said a being that was shaped like a pure light silhouette of an Alicorn that flew down to greet us. "I see you two have brought us a lost soul from Purgatory. Thank you for the help."

“No problem.” I nodded. “So…I have something to talk about with you and…many other Gods of the Afterlife.”

"You and a million other Grimm Reapers…" They sighed. Before I could reply they snapped their fingers and I was at the end of some line. Dolo was in my arms and before me were a lot of other beings and people largely wearing black suits and uniforms all with some form of skull mask…

“Bruh…” I frowned. “Damned book knew I would have to wait…” I grumbled.

"Doesn't look too long." Dolo said, looking over and seeing maybe… twenty people ahead of us.

“Still twenty people…” I sighed, taking a seat in the waiting room. “Jeez…it’s like enlistment all over again…”

And so, I waited. Almost four hours later I was called up.

The person I met was a seven foot tall, six eyed, mouth going gown from forehead to chin. No nose and their body looked human… is lengthy. "What brings you to complaints today Mr…?" She asked as I snapped back to this reality once I processed her appearance.

“Chris.” I nodded. “And well…I’m here because the ‘God Book’ said I needed to talk to you about me becoming a God of Death…” I said carefully. “Which sounds like complete nonsense if…everything I’ve experienced begged to differ.”

"Wait, so you aren't a field agent?"

“Nope, had to do a quest to try and become a god…one of three domains it said I’m allowed to be.”

"Oh then you are in the wrong department sir. You need Divine Ascension Services, this is Ethereal Planes Workers Complaints and Divine Resources."

“Why in god's name was I sent to HR first?” I frowned. “Also, why does this place even have an HR?”

"This is a business, so, an HR department is mandatory. As for why you are sent here, your attire resembles that of various Grimm Reaper uniforms."

Huh… lot of those guys in line did look like their outfits were similar to mine…

“I know Gaberiel was an edgy bitch but come on…” I frowned. “Alright, I am very sorry for…wasting your time…now how do I get to the DAS?”

"Walk out the main lobby, three doors down to your right." She informed.

“Thank you.” I nodded. “Again, I’m very sorry for…this.” I said sheepishly, getting up and starting to head out.

I did as she said, finding the proper room and entering. It was smaller, the waiting room anyway, than the other room but seemed almost empty save one other person… a very humanoid looking Blaziken.

“Sup.” The Blaziken said to me, which honestly didn’t surprise me.

“Sup.” I nodded, taking a seat next to them. “So, what you in for?”

“War, you?”

“Death…and possibly Souls…War is a possibility for me.” I shrugged.

They nodded, and we both sat waiting for a while.

Eventually he was called in, leaving me alone with Dolo as we waited.

About an hour later, I was called in.

Once in the room I was sitting at a desk where a literal orb of light was floating in the chair on the other end. "Greetings. Chris, correct?"

“Yes.” I nodded. “Sorry for being late, got a bit mixed up because…I never changed my get up to look less ‘grim’.”

"Ah yes, you are dressed as one of the Grim Reapers. Anyway, you helped bring a soul to their corresponding afterlife. Marking you for eligible for Ascension into Godhood under the title of a God of Souls."

"Thought it was Death but the book said it was interchangeable." I shrugged. "So, how does this fully work?"

"Simple. I will implant the Godly powers into you, making you stronger, faster, smarter, as well as able to open portals to all the respective ethereal Planes where souls are found. Please keep in mind that this does not give you the power to create new souls, but you can reincarnate a soul. You will also be able to pull a soul still bound and lost on the mortal planes into the physical ones."

"Cool." I nodded. "Sounds like a plan…will it hurt?"

"I have already implanted the power within you during our conversation." The orb said. "Please take an instructional manual to aid in understanding your new divine powers." The orb added, a small but thick book appearing on the desk. 'God of Souls for Beginners.'

“Cool.” I nodded. “Thank you very much…so I suppose I can just open a portal out of here or should I ask how to become a God of Death and War since that ‘God Book’ said I could do those things too.”

"To become a God of Death requires advanced knowledge on necromancy and the void arts. To become a God of War requires you to slaughter an entire tribe or species into extinction, or enslave what remains after battle."

“Oh…” I said, gulping as I remembered that Blaziken…”Well…both are probably going to be necessary given what I’m up against…”

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