While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly-Chapter 96: Reaper’s Eye

It was as if he could now see through life itself.

All living creatures across the mountain and wilderness

appeared to him

as if laid bare upon a backdrop of inverted color.

Every living being was crystal clear—

even those behind him

were just as visible

as if standing before his eyes.

He saw Ymir’s second life.

And he saw the strong, surging life force of the Dawn Archer.

Then—

the voice in his mind returned,

explaining the new information in detail.

Reaper’s Eye—

its detection range would grow stronger with his own power.

Within that range,

he could see all living things,

and even predict death.

Simply put,

this ability granted him x-ray vision, target-lock, and enhanced long-range awareness—

making up for his lack of perception.

And this "Death Prediction"

was a unique skill of its own.

Any creature within range that was about to die

would gain a mark—

a symbol of being grasped by the hand of death.

The larger the area of the mark,

the closer that creature was to dying.

And when the mark covered their entire body,

that meant they were already dead.

He "saw" Ymir’s death.

Then he "saw" Death itself pulling her back from the brink.

That—

was her rebirth.

And at the same time,

it was Ashu’s rebirth too.

He was no longer limited by his lack of perception.

He raised his scythe

and slashed toward the Dawn Archer.

"Hm?"

The Dawn Archer quickly retreated.

And during that retreat,

he finally noticed—

the blazing barrier that had once filled the sky

was gone.

His heart trembled.

"The old man... got taken out?"

The Dawn Archer had no choice but to shift his gaze onto Ashu.

Clearly,

it could only have been this Death Devotee who did the deed.

"Tch. What a damn unlucky day...

To run into two Death Devotees at once?

We were supposed to be tracking a Cidi Devotee, damn it."

"You’re still distracted—against me?"

Ashu barked coldly, then dropped all pretense of defense and charged straight at the Dawn Archer.

The Dawn Archer retreated as he fired, each shot precise and deadly.

And that was exactly what Ashu wanted.

He practically threw himself into one of the arrows like he was asking to get hit.

Crack—!

The arrow pierced straight through Ashu’s skull, launching his body backward from the sheer force.

The Dawn Archer scoffed at the sight. "A cultist is a cultist—brainless brutes, the whole lot."

The words had barely left his lips.

And then—he felt it. A thick aura of death creeping up behind him. He tried to dodge, but it was too late.

Ashu had used his dirty trick, Kiss of the Reaper, to lure the Dawn Archer into letting his guard down—and then unleashed a phantom of death in a surprise backstab.

The strike carved a thirty-centimeter black gash across the Archer’s back.

"Oh? Fast reflexes. Shame it wasn’t a kill shot," Ashu said, coming to a stop.

There was no need for him to do anything more.

That scythe had been aimed to skewer the Archer straight through the back. But even though he managed to dodge it partially, it didn’t matter.

The thirty-centimeter black wound was dangerously close to the spine.

Unless he carved out his own spine, the power of Death would consume him from within.

And if he didn’t dig it out, the corruption would spread to the spine anyway—and by then, self-mutilation wouldn’t save him either.

That was the insidious nature of a Reaper Devotee. So long as they landed a strike near a vital spot, even if it didn’t pierce all the way through, Death’s corruption would still seep in and rot it out.

Their target had two options: self-harm or death.

And when it came to delicate areas like the spine or throat—where there was barely any natural defense—there was no real path to survival at all.

"Damn bastard..."

The Dawn Archer fled, running over a thousand meters before his body gave out. He crashed face-first into the ground, rolled for dozens of meters, and finally stopped.

By the time he came to a halt, several of his vertebrae had already failed. He was paralyzed.

All that was left was for Death to slowly eat away at what remained.

Ashu didn’t pursue. Even from a kilometer away, he could still clearly see the Dawn Archer’s vital signs through the Reaper’s Eye.

"Ymir, you’ve awakened another new power?" Ashu asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Mm-hmm! When I was on the verge of death, suddenly it just..."

She hadn’t even finished when Ashu cut in. "Then you’d better keep putting yourself in danger more often."

"...Huh?"

"Heh."

Ashu didn’t bother to explain. She always seemed to awaken something new right when she was about to die.

The very first time they met, he’d nearly killed her—

No. He had killed her once. And that was when she awakened Farewell of Death.

"You go back and meet up with Anna. I’m heading into the Netherrealm to clean up the last one."

As he spoke—

Ashu activated his Reaper Devotee powers and vanished on the spot, stepping directly into the Netherrealm.

The ground was the color of blood, and heavy mist coiled through the air.

This increasingly familiar Netherrealm no longer posed any issues for his visibility—not to him, not anymore.

The moment Reaper’s Eye opened, all living beings came into view.

Even Undead and Demons couldn’t escape the Reaper’s gaze.

In the Reaper’s eyes, they still weren’t truly dead.

Ashu detected numerous minor demons, as well as the restless souls of mortals.

But none of them were his target.

His target was a Shadowkill Master—a human, exiled to the Netherrealm.

At this moment—

Within the vision of Reaper’s Eye, that Shadowkill Master was moving stealthily, cloaked in shadow.

Strangely enough, he seemed to share a fated connection with the late Grand Swordmaster—

By sheer coincidence, he had wandered right into the site where the Grand Swordmaster had fallen.

There, still embedded in the ground, stood a sword—

The very steel longsword once wielded by the Grand Swordmaster.

Ashu had no interest in taking that sword.

He didn’t need it in his normal state, and even in his Reaper’s Resolve mode, it served no purpose.

As for selling it? He wasn’t exactly strapped for cash.

But the young Shadowkill Master...

He gripped the Grand Swordmaster’s sword tightly. Judging from his life signature, he seemed grief-stricken.

"Big brother Alonso..." the Shadowkill Master murmured the Grand Swordmaster’s name in mourning.

"I’m the one who killed him," came Ashu’s voice, echoing from afar.

Startled, the Shadowkill Master immediately dropped the Grand Swordmaster’s sword—

And vanished into stealth mode on the spot.

Unfortunately for him, stealth might work on humans or demons—

But to someone wielding Reaper’s Eye, it was completely useless.

No matter how deeply he concealed himself, he couldn’t hide from the Reaper’s sight that perceived life itself.

"How long are you planning to keep up that hunched, pitiful posture?"

Ashu stared straight into the foggy air as he asked.

The Shadowkill Master flinched again.

He still couldn’t understand—

How did this man always see through his stealth, no matter how perfect it was?

It wasn’t bluster. It wasn’t bluff.

That direct, piercing gaze made him feel like... a clown.

What he didn’t know—

Was that the one who saw through him before wasn’t Ashu at all.

It had been Anna, with her Twelfth Stage of Spiritual Perception.

Only now was Ashu truly seeing him clearly for the first time.

There was no point continuing stealth now that he’d been found out.

He revealed himself and spoke: "You’re the one who killed Big Brother Alonso?"

"I said it was me. So what?"

"I—Antikythera—hereby declare war on you. I will hunt you without rest, until one of us dies."

"Never thought I’d see an assassin make a declaration so upfront."

"Then you’ll understand soon enough."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Shadowkill Master—Antikythera—suddenly vanished in a blur.

His speed...

Was even faster than Grand Swordmaster Alonso’s.

Ashu couldn’t follow his movements with the naked eye at all.

Luckily, he had Reaper’s Eye.

Reaper’s Eye was a constant-range sensor.

And with his strength in Reaper’s Resolve mode, that range was vast.

Within that range, no matter how fast Antikythera moved—

He was still like a white dot on a pitch-black sheet of paper.

Ashu had played little games like this in his past life—

The kind where you had to catch the moving dot.

Only now, the game had gone from two-dimensional to three-dimensional.

He could see not only the movement, but every minute motion.

He closed his eyes—

And relied solely on Reaper’s Eye to track him.

Even though he had closed his eyes, he saw more clearly than anyone else.

Ding ding—

Ashu’s scythe shifted slightly, effortlessly blocking both of Antikythera’s backstabs.

"What?!"

Antikythera missed with both strikes and immediately retreated.

He stared at Ashu’s strange movements and even began to suspect that some curse had been placed on him.

Since he realized his stealth had no effect, he had deliberately avoided Ashu’s line of sight, only attacking from blind spots.

But he never imagined Ashu seemed to have anticipated exactly that.

"You—Reaper’s lackey—what stage of spiritual perception are you?"

This was the only explanation he could come up with.

Only someone far above him in spiritual perception could achieve such a feat.

And he himself was at spiritual perception level eight!

This talent alone would rank him as a top prodigy even across the entire Kingdom of Ankgarde.

Moreover, he had specialized as an Assassin and reached the Shadowkill Master rank!

To see through him with double assurance like this would require someone at least two levels higher—spiritual perception level ten or above!

But... spiritual perception level ten—is that even humanly possible?

Ashu closed his eyes and smiled faintly, bluffing, "Twelve."

"What?!"

The Shadowkill Master had never heard of such a high rank.

In all his experience, the highest known spiritual perception was level ten.

Because the strongest in the Kingdom of Ankgarde was only at spiritual perception level ten.

Twelfth Stage of Spiritual Perception? That was nonsense.

"Pathetic lie."

"Hm? Don’t believe me?" Ashu continued bluffing, "Why don’t you try a different move—how about holding the dagger reversed in your left hand? How have you kept that pose so long?"

"You—!?"

"I told you I’m at the Twelfth Stage of Spiritual Perception. You just refuse to believe it. Wipe your sweat and steady your heartbeat."

While toying with the Shadowkill Master, Ashu was also buying time.

His Kiss of the Reaper had just been used and needed a cooldown before it could be used again.

So—

He spoke.

"Kid, Alonso Tiersha was a worthy opponent, but he still died by my hand. And you? You never bested Alonso, so you’re no match for me. Let’s make a deal—join my cult, and I’ll grant you another chance at life."