I had hoped that Nicky would’ve been able to deal with the Blood Swords all on her own. When she intervened, I had placed my hopes on her to come out victorious— or at the very least, help Hannah escape from the building. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and I had no choice but to step in.

  I hadn’t wanted to reveal my identity to Ethen or Hannah. I wasn’t sure how they were going to react when they found out I was the Death God. So I had initially thought that I would be able to convince the Blood Swords to at least let the two of them go since they wanted me.

  However, for whatever reason, Nicholas— the leader of the Blood Swords— turned out to be completely insane and decided to have us all killed. With his Lesser Death Dagger, which was apparently an Artifact of Death, he attacked me with a [Deathbeam] and left me for dead.

  Fortunately for me, I had already prepared myself for a battle before I entered the warehouse. I haphazardly copied a barrier Skill I had back in my past life, when I was an Emerging Death God— [Protection Of Vindication]. I used [Death Magic Mastery] to replicate it as best I could. Unfortunately, I could only create an inferior version that was not capable of deflecting anything except for physical attacks.

  The original version was capable of deflecting any and every attack— although to a lesser degree. But this weaker version would simply negate any magical attacks instead of deflecting them.

  If I had more time, I would’ve been able to recreate the original Skill. However, I had been in a rush, and this was the fastest discreet aura of protection I was capable of casting at that very moment. Anything else would’ve been too obvious— either in its casting, or in its effects.

  So I had been waiting around all day with this inferior and manual-casted [Protection Of Vindication], which saved me when Nicholas attacked me. Since then, I had simply been lying against the wall, playing dead.

  All the while, I observed the situation and hoped— hoped that things could be resolved without my intervention. Unfortunately, that proved to not be the case. And that was why I stepped in now. Especially since I understood the full extent of what Nicholas was capable of doing with his Lesser Death Dagger now.

  I strode forward, a wry smile plastered onto my face, as he looked at me with narrowed eyes.

  “If that’s truly a C-grade weapon, and a [Deathbeam] is all you’re capable of casting, then I’m sorry, but you don’t actually know how to use that Lesser Death Dagger,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, [Deathbeam] isn’t a bad spell by any means. But it’s only a Gold Rank Skill— a far-cry of what a C-grade weapon should be capable of emulating.”

  Even though Nicholas was hiding his face underneath a mask, he was visibly confused. Everyone was. The thugs standing off to the side looked at each other quizzically, and Nicky craned her neck back in shock. Hannah was the only one who wasn’t surprised to see me still standing.

  She smiled at me as I nodded back at her.

  Nicholas just pointed his weapon my way and demanded, “Answer me: how are you still alive?”

  I eyed the dagger’s dark surface, before sighing. “And that’s not to mention that you’re using that dagger like it’s a wand. Seriously, this is a pathetic sight. And you think you can ever hope to be a threat to the Church of Life? You’re utterly delusional.”

  My words must have struck deep as Nicholas snapped a moment after, swiping down with his dagger.

  “Shut up and die!” he snarled.

  A [Deathbeam] shot out my way once again and struck me on the face. There was a flash of purple light. The impact of the spell snapped my head back, and I stumbled for a moment. But then I straightened as Nicholas’s eyes grew wide.

  “How are you doing this?” he breathed.

  I shrugged as a flicker of purple light washed over my body once again, before I swept my gaze over the room. “The reason is simple: just like your little minions who follow every order you bark, you are weak.”

  I could practically hear Nicholas’s teeth grinding together in frustration as I finished what I was saying. He backed away, before turning to his thugs. He yelled at them, snapping them out of their collective stupor.

  “What are you incompetent idiots doing?” Nicholas screamed and pointed at me. “Kill that boy!”

  It took a moment for the thugs to process what their boss was saying. And then, even with uncertainty evident on their faces, they charged forward after me.

  They roared as they came at me from all sides. But I barely even gave them a glance. Instead, I looked back down towards Hannah who was watching to the side.

  “Look after Nicky and Ethen,” I said to the little girl. “Keep them alive while I deal with this.”

  “Yes!” Hannah nodded quickly, before she moved to help the redhead up to her feet.

  The two of them scurried off to the side where Ethen was lying, and I looked back towards the approaching thugs. After Nicky had culled their numbers, there were just under a hundred of them left. Just enough for me to make my demonstration.

  I shook my head as I turned to face Nicholas. I met his gaze, my eyes flashing red.

  “A C-grade weapon should be capable of replicating Platinum Rank Skills at the very least— even Sapphire Rank ones,” I said as I created a purple sphere in the palm of my hands. “Here, let me show you an example of that.”

  I released the purple sphere as it grew in size and floated up to the top of the room. The thugs slowed down and stared at my magic in shock. Nicholas blinked in confusion.

  “That’s death magic…?” he whispered, and I spoke over him

  “[Lance Of Annihilation].”

  And all at once, the sphere morphed into a single sharp-edged spear that shot out across the room, illuminating the darkness. The shadowed silhouettes of the thugs could barely react as my attack reached the first of them.

  “What in damnation is that—” one of the thugs started.

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  And the ray of death reached him, promptly cutting him off and ripping through his chest. He was sent flying back as the other thugs looked on in stunned silence for a moment. But they didn’t have much longer than a split-second to process this as the purple spear trailed through the air and impaled a second victim.

  Then the attack began tearing through their remaining numbers as they cried out in terror.

  “Saints save us!”

  “No…”

  “Gracious Goddess—”

  But even though they tried to run— even if they tried to block the incoming attacks. It didn’t matter. The [Lance Of Annihilation] would curve around their defenses and give chase to them until it struck them, piercing them through the chest.

  Some of them thought that attacking me would stop the spell. They fired arrows my way, aiming straight for my head. Others even flanked me from behind and struck me with their blades. But their attacks were easily deflected by my barrier, and they fell dead from a flicker of purple light reflecting back against them.

  One by one, flash by flash, the thugs fell dead. Until their screams were nothing more than echoes, and the light from my magic faded away.

  And then there was only Nicholas left, looking at this scene in sheer terror.

  ***

  Nicholas couldn’t believe his eyes. It happened in a mere instant. But his entire gang— all of the Blood Swords— were wiped out before he could even process what was happening. They were the strongest group in all of Velmond. They ran this city.

  And yet, they had all just been defeated by a child.

  It just made no sense to the Bloodied Blade. He had been certain that the boy was dead. Somehow, Eli had survived a [Deathbeam]. Not once. But twice.

  It was baffling. More than that, it was terrifying.

  Nicholas backed away as the last of the bodies of his men dropped to the ground. Their corpses had shriveled up into desiccated husks, a hole burrowed through their chests by a hundred [Deathbeams].

  Except… Nicholas felt his breathing quicken as he looked towards Nicky who was off to the side, being healed by the little girl. My [Deathbeams] are weaker than that.

  So not only could the boy conjure up a hundred attacks similar to a [Deathbeam], each one was far more powerful in effect.

  “I-I don’t get it…” Nicholas whispered, his heart hammering in his chest. “How did you do that?”

  Eli just chuckled as he waved a hand off dismissively. “I told you, there is so much more to death magic than simply firing a beam of death at people. Especially when you’re using a dagger.”

  Raising a hand, a spell circle formed at Eli’s fingertips. There was a crackle of electricity as an outline of a blade began to form there. Flakes of purple light gathered and coalesced as Nicholas’s eyes widened.

  “Wait, that’s—” he whispered.

  And there was a flash of light as Nicholas averted his gaze for a moment. He covered his eyes, before looking back up at the boy who was holding an object in the air. It was… a dagger.

  A black dagger. It was similar in size and shape to the Lesser Death Dagger. The main distinction was that it was not made out of metal. Instead, it took on the form of an aura blade. Like it was pure energy.

  Eli waved it around as he inspected the weapon he had just created. “It’s a bit crude. But it’s more than enough to show you how to use death magic to its fullest potential.”

  “Life be damned, how did you…?” Nicholas started.

  And Eli dashed forward, thrusting out with the dagger he created. Nicholas blinked, taken by surprise for a moment. However, the Bloodied Blade was much faster than a mere boy. He easily sidestepped the attack as he tried to gather his wits.

  I can’t let this boy intimidate me— the thought crossed his mind as he avoided the stab.

  But then a numbing pain erupted from his stomach. He blinked as he clutched himself. But then he saw a stab-wound open up, pouring with blood.

  He stared at it as he tried to understand what just happened. But then he heard a set of footfalls rapidly approaching him. This time, Nicholas wasn’t able to react in time as Eli reached him. But how? Was it because of a movement Skill? It had to be. But how it happened didn’t matter, all that mattered was that the boy managed to land a small cut on the side of the Bloodied Blade’s arm.

  Nicholas stumbled back as his arm hung limply from his side. Even though it was a small cut, he failed to even raise his arm an inch. He looked down to see his arm rapidly decaying as his mind raced in confusion and fear.

  Looking up, he saw Eli just standing there, twisting a finger in the air. Nicholas tried to muster up a scream as he charged forward with his dagger.

  “I will kill—”

  And a searing pain erupted from his stomach. Nicholas staggered to a halt as he looked down at himself. A sea of blood was pouring down from his stomach as his wound opened up until he could see his innards.

  Nicholas didn’t understand what was going on at all. But his survival instincts still drove him. He tried to rise back to his feet, only for something to grab him by the legs, holding him in place.

  Blinking, he looked down and stared at a pair of desiccated hands holding onto his ankles. They were the hands of the corpses of his men.

  “W-w-w-what…?” Nicholas sputtered as he fell to the ground.

  He backed away as even more of the corpses in the room began to crawl their way towards him. He saw their blackened bodies— he could see their skulls under their shriveled skin— but even though they were very much dead, they moved towards him from all sides.

  All the while, Eli just chuckled and walked up to the leader of the Blood Swords, twirling his weapon in his hand.

  “[Shadow Manifestation: Weapon Creation]. [Phantom Blade]. [Decaying Touch]. [Blood Drain]. [Reanimate Corpse],” the boy said simply. He wagged a finger at Nicholas as another corpse grabbed onto the Bloodied Blade from behind. “Death magic is not simply casting spells with the prefix of ‘Death’ in them like [Deathbolt], [Deathbeam], or [Deathblast]. It is more than that. Shadow magic, demonic curses, rot, blood manipulation, and necromancy. All of it falls under the umbrella of death magic.”

  Unable to escape or move, Nicholas just screamed in terror as he threw his Lesser Death Dagger at the boy. “Get away from me, you monster! [Piercing Throw]!”

  But the weapon just bounced off Eli’s shoulder with a flash of light. There was a flicker, then a tendril of purple magic whipped out, striking Nicholas on his shoulder with nearly the same intensity as his own attack.

  Nicholas cried out in pain as he fell backwards. He tried to crawl away, but more of the reanimated corpses grabbed onto him, stopping him from leaving. They hissed and moaned as he began to hyperventilate, unable to stop himself from babbling in fear. They forced him to turn his head back and faced Eli who was still strolling forward casually.

  “I-I don’t understand. How are you capable of doing this? How can you cast death magic like this? Just what are you…?” Nicholas asked in a barely coherent voice.

  Eli rolled his eyes as he came to a halt before the man. “Use your head, you’re an adult. I wasn’t capable of doing this when you last saw me, and then you sent your goons to kill me. Now, I can use death magic like it’s second nature to me. What do you think I am?”

  Nicholas’s mind was barely working. He was too stricken with fear. But still, he tried to comprehend— rationalize— this situation. “You’re… an Avatar? No— those do not take the form of people. Then that means…”

  And finally, it clicked. Nicholas’s breathing slowed. His eyes bulged out of their sockets as the realization settled in. He understood it now.

  “Y-y-you’re…” He pointed at Eli, before mouthing the words. His voice couldn’t leave his throat.

  “That’s right,” the boy said as he smiled innocently back at Nicholas.

  The undead corpses began to crawl on top of their former boss, covering his vision and suffocating him under their weight. They chomped down at him, scratching at his arms as he tried to scream in pain. But all that came out was a muffled voice as he was completely buried by the mass of bodies.

  The last thing he saw was the glinting crimson eyes of Eli. Then his vision was drowned in darkness as the boy’s voice echoed all around him.

  “I’m the Death God.”