6 – Breach

Hearing that familiar screech had me think of the very same nightmare I had just the previous night, and with the abrupt silence of the radio, I felt the familiar sensation of souls in need of saving.

Frowning, I looked at the three scientists before me.

"It appears there is some trouble. We can continue this later. For now, some souls need saving," With that statement, I got out of the chair and shifted to my Harbinger form, turning into the Grim Reaper personified.

My flesh melted away like wax left in the sun, my blood and organs dripping down my black bones. I noted the slight change in my Grim Reaper form but didn't dwell for long, as I had something more important to deal with.

Not bothering to say anything else, I walked through the wall and found myself in...a janitor's closet.

Not wanting to get distracted, I continued walking through the walls.

...

Meanwhile, on the higher levels of the facility, a large group of guards could be seen waiting in a hall behind barricades just before a set of elevators.

Suddenly, above both elevators, the arrow that pointed down began to shine, alerting the guards that something or someone was heading down.

The rifles in their hands tensed as someone in the back began to radio, "Intruders are heading down elevator A! Need backup!"

It felt like an eternity as the elevators slowly descended before a loud 'ding' echoed down the hall.

The elevators opened agonizingly slow, and when they were completely open, the guards waited and waited...but nothing came out.

Eventually, after an eternity, one of the newer guards was chosen to check it out, so the young man approached, shaking in fear. The others watched with full attention as the boy slowly crept towards the door.

Just as he crept around the corner to look into one of the Elevators, the Guards watched with horror as sharp black tentacles pierced through the man, turning him into a bloody porcupine.

The three creatures rushed out of the elevators when the boy's corpse was thrown against the wall.

The creatures charged down the halls like enraged bulls. What met them was a hail of bullets as the Guards unloaded their entire magazines on the creatures.

The bullets seemed to easily pierce through the creatures' bodies, causing them to bleed a black, inky substance, but it only slowed down the creatures momentarily.

When the creatures made it to the guards, it could only be described as a brutal slaughter.

More guards soon came upon the scene, only to be taken down with as much ease, leading to the pristine and clean halls of the first level to become covered in gore, blood, and the dismembered corpses of many guards.

Across the site, other dangerous SCPs began to make their moves, breaking out of their containment cells and causing even more death and chaos.

...

Meanwhile, on the lower levels, a particular Angel of Death could be seen calmly making his way up the floors by simply phasing through the floors and earth, quickly climbing the floors of the site.

When he got to the third floor, he abruptly stopped as he heard screams echoing down the halls.

Thinking he had found his targets, he rushed towards the screams, only to find a couple of strange creatures that were mimicking the voices of the people.

SCP: 939, a race of dangerous creatures that mimic the voice of their prey to draw in more, though he did not understand why they would use screams instead of their famous 'Hello, is anyone there?' or 'Someone, please help me!' lines.

When they charged him, he waited till they were close before cleaving the dogs in half with a single swing of his scythe.

The creatures feared him, for he was Death itself, but that did not stop them.

Without any hesitation, he reached out and grabbed their floating souls, taking them into his afterlife for later use.

Their souls were nothing special, barely even reaching the first tier, but with the three souls, he'd at least be able to make more Totems to gather more souls.

At least the doctor could be considered a Tier 2 or 3 due to how he lived his life.

Souls were complicated, especially following the Company's Tier system, which was at times convoluted and confusing.

Although I could use the creatures' souls as materials for my Totems, I could also devour their souls for myself, obtaining whatever knowledge they held, or fueling my growth.

I could use Souls for all manner of things, from binding the souls to objects to enhance or modify them, empowering spells and magic, or as stated before, consuming the souls for myself or gifting them to whoever becomes a member of my retinue.

What it means, is that so long as I have access to a stream of souls, I will eventually become one of the strongest, though I have a feeling that I will end up pissing off Death in the future if I try taking any souls she...they claim.

Who knows, perhaps I will even become as strong as Daddy dearest, though I have a feeling it will take millions of years if not countless more before I reach such a level if I do not take any shortcuts to power.

There were plenty of ways to rise to power in the Omniverse after all, one could even say there are an infinite amount of ways, but quite a few of those options were far too dangerous for his liking.

For example, one such place that would lead to quite the quick growth of power would be none other than the Warhammer 40k Multiverse, a place where untold billions die every day, as planets are destroyed, infested by Orcs or Tyranids and so much more. It would be a literal farm for Souls, though there were plenty of beings hidden away that could probably destroy or kill him with but a look.

Throwing the corpses into his Demi-plane, Vale flew up and began climbing the floors again, until he reached the third floor, and began hearing shouting, screams, and gunfire before finding himself right in the middle of a fight.

The Nightmares, the same creatures from that dream, were here, and they were killing all of the guards that got in their way.

When Vale arrived on the scene, he found himself right in the middle of the battle, and it seemed that the Guards had no reason to stop shooting, as he felt his form get pelted by bullets, that while did no harm, did start pushing him towards the Nightmares, which upon seeing him, rushing at him like raging bulls.

Vale certainly wasn't expecting to get tackled down to the ground by the Nightmares, nor did he expect the Nightmares to wrap his form with their tentacles and slam him against the floor, walls, and ceiling, treating him like he was a dog's chew toy.

The guards, taking the chance to regroup, began to fire once again, sending a hail of bullets tearing through the Nightmares, the creatures who seemed to still only focus on him, ignoring the bullets that tore through their bodies.

They did no damage to his bones or clothes, though they certainly tried, and their ink-like blood began making a black puddle beneath them.

Quickly becoming annoyed by the situation, Vale reached out for the weapon that had long since been knocked out of his skeletal hands when he was tackled, and with a single thought, the scythe that lay on the ground came flying back to his hands.

With the Scythe in hand, he began slashing and hacking away at the countless tentacles that the Nightmares held him with.

Letting out an awful shriek, the Nightmares somehow became even more aggressive, as the tentacles he hacked off began to disintegrate into dust and disappear.

So, he hacked and hacked away, tearing apart the Nightmares one tentacle at a time, until he finally managed to escape their grasp.

Now free, he rushed right back toward the Nightmares and began cleaving through them with his Sctyhe, but as it turned out, even after cleaving off half of their bodies, they still lived, and seemed to, even in their miserable states, fight with all they have to eliminate Vale.

When Vale finally managed to kill just one of them, he was severely disappointed to find the Nightmares had no souls.

So, when they were finally destroyed, he started walking around, collecting the souls of all the Guards, Scientists, and D-Class killed by breached SCPs and the Nightmares, netting him over three dozen souls of Tier 1 and 2 quality.

While those souls mingled in his afterlife, he returned to his cell, and not to long after, had a new visitor, the Site Director.