Reaper's Resurgence - Book 5 - Epilogue (Patreon)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don't mind this fluff. It's so that free readers can't read half the chapter.

This chapter is nearly 1.7 times longer than the usual chapter since it's an Epilogue.

The final book of Reaper's Resurgence will begin next week most likely.

Oh, and I edited chapter 54 to add in a few System Messages about her leveling up from killing the Ascendants.Click the following link if you want to read this chapter on a googledoc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z7dT_ZVOKtJ4reKyEqom71xhFyaD0BAqQXjsgzYPGXU/edit?usp=sharing

Or just keep scrolling down to find the chapter further down this Patreon post without formatting.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.Discord InviteTable of Contents-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alexia

After talking with Astrid and the rest of the council for a little while, I head back to my own home to rest for a bit with Astrid. Where we continue to talk while sitting on the sofas in the living area.

Especially about one particular topic.

“So your wedding date is set for one year from now? And you’re sure you’re not moving too quickly?” I ask with a slight frown on my face.

Astrid chuckles before answering, “Yes, I’m sure. Will you be there?”

I nod my head with a smile, “Of course. And I’ll be sure to tell Ethan all the embarrassing stories I can think of to prepare him.”

“Prepare him for what, exactly?” Astrid asks while rolling her eyes in exasperation. “If only you had a boyfriend I could tell all your embarrassing stories to…”

I stick my tongue out at her before grinning. But my grin quickly fades a little as I ask, “What about Lucas? And Mom and Gramps?”

I know Mom is currently staying with Lucas, so she should know that they were together since he knows.

But does she know about this marriage?

“They all know,” Astrid answers as she summons a bottle of wine from a storage space and places it down on the table in front of us. “Mom seemed rather pleased, but Lucas and Gramps weren’t quite as pleased. They’re still coming though and wished me a happy marriage.”

“That’s good,” I say before glancing at the bottle of wine that Astrid begins to pour into a glass. “When did you start drinking?”

Astrid never used to touch alcohol at all.

“After I started dating a man who treats the average person like air,” Astrid answers before chugging a glass, making me raise a brow. But then she quickly turns it around, “I’m joking. I learned from Ethan that we’re not affected by alcohol at all no matter what Tier the alcohol is once we reach Ascendant Tier.”

Huh. Interesting to know, albeit not useful to me in the slightest.

“Do you just like the taste or something?” I ask while tilting my head a little.

“I mean, the taste isn’t bad,” Astrid says before taking a sip. “But it just looks refined to drink wine.”

I stare blankly at her for several seconds. She stares back while occasionally taking sips from her wine.

“Ethan is a bad influence on you,” I eventually declare the only reason I can think of for her behavior.

She coughs out the wine she was just drinking before sputtering, “No, he’s not that bad!” Then at my raised brow, she begins to defend her soon-to-be husband, “Ethan has actually started looking at regular people like actual people now! He’s not judging people just for not being Class S anymore, and he’s even going around helping with the development of The Retreat! He’s changed a lot since you first met him!”

I stare for a few seconds while tapping my finger on the arm rest of my sofa before asking, “So you admit he was that bad when we first met him?”

Astrid stays silent as she starts to chug her wine. Clearly deciding not to comment on this particular question.

After the silence stretches on for a little bit longer, I eventually ask, “So do you want to play cards?”

She smiles and nods, following which we bring out a deck of cards to play for a few hours. With Ethan coming in to join us at some point as well.

With him wiping the floor with Astrid and irritating her in the process. Following which he tries adorably hard to placate her.

Showing me new sides of both Astrid and Ethan at the same time.

Which is rather nice to see.

Of course, I interrupt their flirting by wiping the floor with both of them before telling Ethan about a couple more of Astrid’s embarrassing memories. Because this is the job of a sibling.

Eventually though, after we continue messing around for a bit, things settle down and Astrid asks, “What are your next plans now that your restraints are gone?”

I stare at the table in front of us for a little while before eventually looking up at Astrid and answering, “First I plan to complete the rest of my trials. Since I should be able to do that now that I’m an Ascendant. And after that, it’ll depend on what happens then.”

“What happens?” Ethan asks with his arm around Astrid’s shoulder as they sit together on their sofa.

“Yes,” I answer, ignoring their intimacy. “The System mentioned quests may be given to me should the other Quantum Beings prove to be a problem. So if I have any quests from the System to deal with those problematic Quantum Beings, then I will focus on that. But if I haven’t been given any quests by then, I’ll just focus on slaughtering the corrupted to level up.”

Astrid shows more than a little worry on her face as she asks, “Will you be strong enough to fight the Quantum Beings? I know you have a resistance to their branches of quantum energy, but they’re still a lot older and stronger than you…”

I smile for a moment before answering, “I’ve tested the immunity with Zal once, and it’s pretty powerful. Enough to at least offset the difference in pure power between me and the Quantum Beings and give me a decent shot at defeating them.”

Zal wasn’t particularly happy though when I showed just how powerful my immunity to his energy was.

And that was before I reached Ascendant Tier.

“It’s still utterly unfair…” I hear Zal comment in my mind, surprising me for a moment. Then he appears in the middle of my living room and sits down on a chair before holding a glass out to Astrid. Seemingly wanting wine for himself despite it having no effect.

I’m not the only one surprised as Astrid and Ethan show just as much surprise. But after a few seconds, Astrid hesitantly pours him some of her wine.

And without any pause, Zal chugs the entire glass of wine in seconds before leaning back and closing his eyes as he states, “This universe has gone to shit…”

“What’s happening on your side?” I ask, feeling genuinely curious.

Since all I’ve heard is that the Universe’s Will was destroyed. Nothing more.

Astrid and Ethan show just as much curiosity as they both lean forward on their sofa. As if that would make it easier to listen or something.

Zal answers without opening his eyes, “The Quantum Balancer was brought out to help defend the Universe’s Will’s Core from the Corrupted One, only for the Balancer to deal the final blow and destroy the Universe’s Will.”

My eyes widen like saucers at the news.

But he’s not done yet as he continues, “The Quantum Ruler and the Corrupted One both traded immense blows with each other, crippling the Quantum Ruler and badly injuring the Corrupted One. So neither of them have shown their faces since the battle. And more than a couple of the Quantum Beings are completely neglecting their former duties already.”

Every piece of news he mentions brings more and more shock to my system. Except the last one, since I was kind of expecting that.

Especially if it’s the Quantum Cleaner who-

“And the Quantum Cleaner has completely locked himself away to play some real-time strategy game,” Zal says, sounding utterly defeated at this point. “He even said not to bother him for one hundred years…”

Well then…

Silence permeates the room for several minutes before we suddenly get a notification from the System.

Notice.

All functions of the System have been restored to their former working capacity.

You may all return to your prior activities.

However, be warned that should you ignore the corruption, that will be your end.

And the end of the entire universe along with you.

Oh, right. The System still had to repair itself.

I go ahead and open my status to see if it’s really fixed or not.

Name: Alexia Knight

Species: Quantum Devouring Reaper(Ascendant)

Level: 2503

Class: Quantum Devouring Reaper

Soul: 231,787.5/231,787.5

VIT: 7,522

DEX: 9,772

STR: 7,522

MAG: 11,021

MEN: 11,021

Racial Skills

Active Skills

Passive Skills

General Skills

Yep. Looks fixed to me.

I let out a sigh at the thought of all the problems I still have to deal with. Which isn’t even including the Corrupted One yet.

The only upside to all of this is that the Corrupted One is injured right now. Probably too injured to do anything drastic at the moment, even with the Universe’s Will gone.

So we have time to prepare.

But first, I’m going to continue resting for the remainder of today.

I can deal with the trials and Quantum Beings after that.

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The Center of the Corrupted side of the Universe

A single being made out of pure corruption sits atop a grand throne with every inch of him filled with holes as he slowly begins the process of healing himself. But even before this last round of attacks blasted these holes in him, he had already completely lost his sense of self.

Leaving naught but a humanoid body of pure corruption left behind.

A creature whose entire purpose is to do nothing but spread corruption to every scrap of the universe.

As he sleeps atop his throne, corruption spreads out from him at a rapid pace. Generating more and more corrupted creatures by the second.

All of whom rush out from the corrupted side of the universe towards the non-corrupted side to attack and spread their corruption.

Trying to make as much progress as they can while the Corrupted One sleeps.

Building a path for his corruption once he finally wakes.

A path to the end of the universe and the end of all living things.