The Reaper Comes in Black

About the Author

Peter Krogh Andersen was born in 2006 and has lived in Skanderborg, a small city in Denmark, his entire life. Peter started to write seriously when he was about 14 years old. Throughout his life, he has had a great interest in books both fiction and non-fiction. This love for books is what made him write and aspire to become an author himself.

Copyright Information ©

Peter Krogh Andersen 2023

The right of Peter Krogh Andersen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398477995 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398478008 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me through the making of this book. You might not know it but I appreciate everything you have done for me.

Chapter 1

Summon

Yamato Takahashi had at age fourteen been dropped off at an orphanage in Tokyo, he refused to tell where he lived or where he came from and only said his name.

That day was now two years ago and Yamato would have been any mother’s dream. He was a handsome boy, good shape and also very smart, he was also quite popular at school, especially with the girls. He had for a long time had an insatiable thirst for knowledge so by the age of sixteen he had read and memorised almost every single book he came around but nothing in those books could prepare him for what was about to happen.

Yamato walked out of his school towards the bus along with his classmates. The trip had been planned down to every little detail for the past two weeks. Yamato walked past his classmates and sat down in the back of the bus just as the teacher stepped on.

Is everyone onboard?

The class responded with a mix of nodding and yes. The teacher then sat down and started driving. Yamato was minding his own business when he saw something in the corner of his eye. Yamato shifted his head and looked outside. A girl was staring back at him.

Do not be afraid, Takahashi-kun.

Yamato was taken aback by the girl outside his window but before he could say or do anything she was gone. Yamato shook his head.

Is it probably just my imagination?

He didn’t believe in his own words but he managed to convince himself. Just after he had convinced himself his best friend from the class sat down beside him.

How long will it be before we are there?

Yamato looked at his phone.

Around four hours so if you want you can go to sleep.

Sakiya made herself comfortable in her seat and soon fell asleep. Yamato looked out the window again but the girl was still gone. Instead, he saw a big black cloud closing in. Small lightning bolts stretched through the clouds towards the bus.

Hey, teach, aren’t those lightning bolts coming awfully close?

His teacher took his eyes off the road for a short moment and looked back.

Don’t worry they won’t hi… The teacher was interrupted by lightning hitting the ground just beside the bus and the bus started spinning out of control. The teacher hammered his foot down on the brakes but it was too late and he could only watch as the bus drove off the cliffside. When Yamato recovered his senses, he had a loud ringing in his ear and when he opened his eyes, he was laying down on the bus, through his blurry vision he could see the girl in front of him, without moving he looked down himself. A big wound stretching from his shoulder to his waist was bleeding heavily. He tried to move but couldn’t. He looked around the bus but everyone else was either dead or badly injured. Through the ringing in his ears, he could faintly hear the bus alarm. Then everything turned black.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a church. Beside him were his classmates and in front of him stood a couple of monks and a priest.

Welcome!

Yamato stood up along with his friends and politely asked, Where are we, sir?

You are in the capital of the Fukuda Empire.

The class looked confused among themselves but the priest motioned for them to follow him and so they did. The priest led the class out of the chapel, through the castle grounds and into the king’s castle. Yamato looked around the room and saw armed guards standing all around them.

The priest kneeled and said, Your majesty, these are the heroes we have summoned.

The king looked from one end to another.

Have you tested their powers?

Not yet, your majesty.

He then turned to one of the monks.

Get the crystal.

A few minutes later the monk emerged with a crystal ball.

Now, heroes, get in line and put your hand on the crystal. The oldest in the class, Haru, was the first to step forward and put his hand on the crystal. Inside the crystal, a series of letters started combining and after a few seconds, there was a written text. Magical skills. Holy burst, way of the sword, typhoon, transmute and levitate. After a few of his classmates, it was Yamato’s turn. He put his hand on the ball and it Read Magical skills. Way of the smith, spirit, modification, elemental magic, storage and alchemy. After reading his magical skills one of the monks stepped forward and looked confused.

Your majesty, we have a special case.

The king looked down on him.

What do you mean?

I don’t recognise any of his powers.

What??? The monk repeated himself and the king sat in deep thought.

Way of the smith… I assume that he has at least the powers of a normal blacksmith.

The monks took his hint and came with some iron and a hammer.

Try making a sword.

The king ordered him to do so. Yamato took the iron in his hand, closed his eyes and thought of the process of making a sword. When he thought of the furnace a weird orb came out in front of him. He opened his eyes as he could hear his classmates gasp; they saw him stick his hands into the orb and start mumbling in a different language while he rummaged around inside the orb. When he took his hand out of the orb, he had a beautiful sword in his hand. Then he collapsed. When he woke up again, he was in bed, beside him stood the ghost girl.

Yamato wanted answers and politely asked, Who are you?

The girl stood still and kept looking at him.

Seriously, who are you? You have been following me for a while now so can you please tell me what you want with me?

The girl quickly disappeared. Yamato wondered.

Could she have something to do with my spirit skill? No, that isn’t possible I saw her back in Japan.

At the same time, a guard stepped in through the door.

Follow me, Takahashi.

Yamato got up and followed him. The guard led him back to the throne room. The priest stood in the room along with the person he hated the most, Katashi. When he entered the room he was surrounded by guards.

What is going on? Yamato asked.

The priest answered, Your classmate has told us everything about you… what did you think you could achieve?

Yamato looked at Katashi with an angry look.

What have you told them, Katashi?

Katashi answered his question with a smirk. Everything!!!

Yamato took a couple of steps toward him but the guards stopped him. The first guard was deeply confused but he drew his sword and ordered him to follow them. Yamato didn’t comply and as the guard moved closer he took a combat stance.

Please don’t come closer, I don’t want to hurt you.

The guards ignored his warning and walked closer. Yamato breathed out and attacked the first guard, he grabbed his arm, pulled him closer and delivered a hard punch to his stomach followed by a kick straight to the jaw but after the first guard went down the others attacked at the same time and even though he did his best they were too many and he was soon beaten down and captured.

After the heavy beating from the guards, he was thrown in jail. Yamato pulled himself up against the wall and started to wonder what Katashi had told the priest and the king and his conclusion was that he had persuaded them that he was some kind of criminal to get him back for when he kicked his ass last month but that could wait. He would have to find a way out of there and soon he worked out a plan. When he got food he would turn the spoon, fork or butter knife into a picklock and open the door. He waited for a couple of hours before he was served some cold soup. Yamato didn’t eat it out of fear it might be poisoned and instead shifted all of his attention towards the spoon. After summoning the orb he started bending it into the form of a picklock. After a few minutes, he stood with a homemade pick lock in his hands. He felt a little dizzy but it was nothing like last time and he started to pick the lock. Out of all the things he had read regarding warfare and tactics he had not even once read about picking locks and his only experience came from movies and fiction but after a few failed attempts and a hard hit with the back of his palm the door swung open. After he had unlocked the door, he rushed out and stood face to face with a guard. The guard was surprised to see Yamato and stood still for a second wondering what was going on but Yamato didn’t have time to fight him and with no other option, he quickly pulled the guard’s dagger and stabbed it upwards into the guard’s throat. The guard tried to scream but only a low gurgling sound escaped his lips. Yamato stood frozen for a few seconds as it hit him that he had killed another human being. He then took the armour off the guard and disguised himself. Now looking like a guard he walked out of the prison and out into the courtyard. When he was almost out the gate a couple of soldiers rushed past him and in the passage, they mentioned that a guard had been killed and the prisoner was gone. Yamato felt sick as he finally was on the right side of the gate and could breathe the fresh air as a murderer.

Chapter 2

Escapist

As soon as he got a chance to hide Yamato disposed of the armour and acted all casual while walking through the capital. While he was walking, he picked up small parts of metal and added them to the magical storage where he had also put the armour but soon he could see guards walking around with wanted posters with his face on and the reward was a staggering 100 gold coins. He knew the main roads and open places would be too dangerous for him so he had to stick to the small alleyways between the houses. After some time, fatigue and hunger was starting to get the better of him. He had read many times about people who got too careless when they were hungry and he knew that if he didn’t get something to eat soon, he would probably end up just like them but in this city, he would get caught if he sat down in a cafe and even if he hadn’t been wanted, he had no money to pay with. He set up a list of things he should figure out. First, he would find a way to get some food, then he would try to flee the city and at last he would try to learn more about his powers. Yamato decided he would try and meet up with one of his classmates. He knew he could trust Sakiya. He opened his magical storage, put on the guards armour and started to walk back towards the castle.

His heart was pounding as he passed the gate guards but they thought nothing wrong when he passed them. Inside the gate there were guards everywhere; he looked and one of the most guarded places was