“[Aegis Of Boundless Vitality].”

  “[The Zealot’s Divine Touch].”

  “[Whispers Of The Wild].”

  Aria closed her eyes as the various voices of her comrades echoed around her. She felt their power surging through her— their magicks filling her body, her mind, and her spirit with strength. A final voice spoke up, and a warm sensation washed over her.

  “[Blessing of the Goddess of Life].”

  Opening her eyes, Aria raised her head as a set of slow footfalls approached her. She looked up to see the tired face of an elderly man— the man that raised her and taught her everything she knew.

  “Archbishop Walden,” Aria greeted him as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

  A distant explosion rumbled, and Walden offered her a weak smile. “It’s all up to you now, Lady of Light.”

  Drawing back, Walden walked up to the edge of the cliff and swept his gaze over the battlefield far beneath them. The earth below was scarred with craters and corpses. A massive army of all races— humans, elves, dwarves, and more— spanned beyond the horizon, waving the different banners of the nations of the world.

  Walden regarded this sight as he spoke.

  “The Four Great Demon Generals have been slain. The undead armies of Zerek the Archnecromancer have been decimated. Krad the Shadow has fled the battlefield. The few remaining forces of Nox the Death God are being routed as we speak.”

  The Archbishop cast his gaze towards the forces of darkness that were being overwhelmed by the alliance of nations gathered here.

  “And yet, Nox the Death God remains alive. As long as he lives, we will have lost— not just this war, but we will lose everything.”

  Spinning around, Walden looked up to the cracked gate that towered before them. Even though it was built into the side of the mountain, the cracks on the gate showed that what waited on the other side was not a mere cavern. Rather, it was a distortion that appeared to be a mix of the sable sky of night and pale blue of day.

  “You are the only one who can enter into the Goddess of Life’s domain— you alone must defeat Nox the Death God,” Walden said as he looked back towards Aria. Then he looked past her, towards the men and women who surrounded her from behind. They were the greatest [Warriors] and [Mages] of the world today. “We have given you our blessings. We have given you a share of our power. You have to wield it to fulfill your destiny.”

  Aria straightened, drawing both her sword and her shield as Walden met her gaze once again.

  “Like all the other [Heroes] who have come before you, it is time for you to save the Goddess of Life from death,” he finished. “Even if it costs you your life.”

  Hearing that, Aria’s heart sank for a moment, knowing what was to come next. But she didn’t let it show on her face. Instead, she steeled herself as she moved to face her fate.

  “I will do what I must,” Aria said as she stepped forward, her blue eyes flashing with her resolution as her golden hair tied into a ponytail swayed behind her, shimmering softly with a glowing aura.

  And with that said, she stepped in through the gate, entering into a world of darkness. For a moment, her vision was engulfed with various visions— dream-like sequences of events that occurred throughout her life, from her time in the orphanage before Walden found her to training in the Holy Academy amongst the Inquisitors for this very moment.

  This was it. This was everything she had worked towards. Her entire life was spent building up to this moment. As she floated through this world of dreams, she swallowed her apprehension and forced herself to be prepared for what was to come next.

  To be prepared to die—

  Then a mocking voice echoed all around her.

  “So you finally showed up. Took you long enough.”

  Gasping, Aria’s eyes snapped open. She recognized that voice— it was the voice of the man who she had crossed blades with many times before. The voice of Nox the Death God.

  Aria’s world spun as she regained her bearings. Looking around, she found herself standing atop a bridge floating above an endless void that spread out as far as she could see. The bridge led to a floating set of steps that led to a broken coliseum. And above that coliseum, a storm of darkness was gathering.

  “[Tendril of Darkness],” Nox the Death God’s voice boomed all around Aria.

  Her eyes flickered, and she watched as a streak of darkness shot down at her from the eddying black clouds. She dashed forward as her heart raced, moving her in a panic despite her calm demeanor. She barely dodged the attack as it consumed a section of the bridge behind her.

  Glancing back for a moment, she stared at a sphere of darkness engulfing the exit of the Dominion of Life. There was no way out for her any longer.

  But it didn’t matter.

  After all, this was her fate. Just as it was the fate of all the [Heroes] of the past.

  “I was starting to grow bored, while waiting for you. What if I had actually killed the Goddess of Life while you were taking your sweet, sweet time to get here?”

  Nox continued speaking all around her, his mocking voice echoing all around this void. Aria gritted her teeth as she ascended the steps up to the coliseum.

  “I will not let you do that! I will stop you!” Aria bellowed as she landed before the gates of the coliseum.

  But Nox the Death God’s voice cut her off sharply, “[Behold And Despair, The Execution Of The Dead].

  Aria’s eyes grew wide as she saw a scything slash shoot out her way. It was so fast, she couldn’t move out of the way in time. Instead, she dug her shield to the ground as she gritted her teeth.

  “[I Am Indomitable]!” Aria exclaimed as a pillar of golden light wrapped around her.

  But even then, the Death God’s attack was too mighty. Aria watched as the pillar of golden light violently shattered. Her shield began to crack. Her feet almost gave out beneath her.

  And with every ounce of her strength, she shoved the shield to push herself to the side, avoiding the Death God’s scything slash as it shot out into the void. Her shield was consumed by the attack, evaporating into nothing, despite being a S-grade artifact.

  Aria knew what she was up against, even before stepping into the Dominion of Life. That even with the power bestowed upon her by her comrades— and the anointing of the Goddess of Life— she barely stood a chance against her enemy. After all, this was the power of the Death God.

  Panting, Aria looked up to see a figure floating at the center of the coliseum.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  There he was, flying before a giant crystal growing out of the ground in the shape of a heart. Pointed ears. Crimson eyes. Pale skin. His black hair matched with his feathered wings. He looked the same as he always did. The only difference between when she last saw him and now was the gaping hole in his chest, pouring with a dark ink.

  [Death God - ???]

  Nox the Death God just laughed as he held up a shard of crystal with one hand, while raising his scythe with the other hand.

  “You’re too late,” he cackled, before glancing back into the giant crystal behind him.

  A young woman’s face protruded from the glass-like surface, eyes shut and hand covering her chest. Aria’s eyes widened when she saw that.

  That’s… the Goddess of Life! Her eyes flickered as Nox sneered. But that means…

  “I have won,” he said as he crushed the crystal in his hand.

  “NO!” Aria screamed, moving in an instant. “[Light Step]!”

  She sprinted forward, raising her sword as it glinted with a golden light. Casting aside her fear of what was to come, she readied her strongest attack— her most powerful Skill. Because she knew she could not win this battle if it lasted longer than a few minutes.

  That she had to end this as soon as possible if she wanted to fulfill her destiny. And that it would cost her her life.

  In response, Nox just spread his arms to the side as the eddying clouds above began to gather around him.

  “Dread, Tremble. Hide beneath the rubble.”

  An incantation? Aria’s eyes widened as she stared at his grinning face. The realization settled in. He’s going to use a God Skill!

  Bolts of purple lightning rained down at Aria from above. But she sidestepped them, moving faster and faster as a pair of white wings of light spread out from her back. All the while, Nox continued speaking in a melodic voice.

  “But destruction is all that remains. Fear it. Flee it. Death is inevitable. Now come.”

  Aria soared to the sky as she swung up, cutting a bolt of lightning in half. She flew straight at the Death God as he was now wreathed in the darkness.

  “[Divine—” she shouted, swinging out at him with her most powerful attack.

  But he moved faster. He raised his scythe, pointing it at the Lady of Light as his voice rumbled.

  “[Accept Your…”

  Nox started. He would have won at that exact moment, but then he trailed off. And he simply lowered his scythe as Aria blinked. But her confusion didn’t stop her momentum. She reached him a second later as he just floated there with a smile on his face.

  And he did nothing as she swung at him, slicing him in half across the torso.

  “—Retribution]!” she finished.

  Before the darkness dissipated. Aria landed on the ground, processing what just happened. Behind her, the two halves of Nox falling with a heavy thud behind her. She spun around, looking at the Death God with round eyes.

  But his body was already fading away, turning to dust. He just smiled at her as his lips moved, uttering a final word.

  “Fate.”

  And then he was gone.

  All that remained was Aria, standing in the Goddess of Life’s domain, utterly confused, her mind reeling. And the realization that she was still alive finally dawned on her as she raised her head.

  “I… what just happened?”

  ***

  What was it like to die?

  It was a strange sensation. It was almost like drifting off into a dream. Except, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of peace, it was very, very, very painful.

  As the Death God, you would think I would know what it was like to die. But before dying to the hands of Aria the Lady of Light, I did not.

  The intricacies of passing away as my soul drifted off into the great unknown eluded me. Sure, there had been many Death Gods in the past. Each one of them died at the hands of the [Hero] anointed by the Goddess of Life, before being reincarnated into a brand new body.

  However, none of them got to retain memories or their consciousness from their past lives when they were reborn.

  None of them except for me.

  So I was not sure what to expect from death. I thought I would see nothing— think nothing… but no. I did not see nothing; instead, I did not see. It was not that I thought nothing: it was that I did not think. An eternity passed in an instant as my soul was guided through the cycle of reincarnation that was the fate of all the previous Death Gods that came before me. Before, finally—

  My eyes snapped open, and I sat up at the bottom of a creek surrounded by trees bathed by the evening sun, coughing up a mouthful of water.

  “It worked!” I exclaimed, before trying to catch my breath. “I can’t believe it really worked!”

  Actually, I knew it would work. But there had still been some doubts in my mind— a creeping fear that it would fail. However, I had known that if I had followed-through with attempting to kill the Goddess of Life, I would have surely failed.

  I didn’t know how I would fail. I just knew that I would fail.

  Because that was my fate. That was the fate of my predecessors who came before me. It was a vicious cycle that had played out again and again throughout history— a [Hero] chosen by destiny who sacrificed their life to slay the Death God and save the Goddess of Life.

  And I broke the cycle. Not only did I spare the [Hero] of my story— Aria the Lady of Light— but I also survived.

  I couldn’t help but break out into a crazed laughter as I lay there, half-sunk in muddy water. But then I paused as I realized I was getting ahead of myself. After all, I had only interrupted the last cycle. The cycle would soon begin anew, and I had much more to do to put a complete end to it entirely.

  But I was still content with what I had even managed to achieve thus far. I paused for a moment, remaining in silence to recall how I even made it here— to remember all those who aided me in achieving my dream.

  “Zerek, Krad, Laffyr… everyone… thank you all,” I whispered as I thought of my comrades.

  I hadn’t known if they had survived the final battle. I could only hope that they did. I had told them to flee when they got the chance— to only hold off my enemies until I entered the Dominion of Life.

  After that, it was up to me to use the powers of the Goddess of Life to imbue my essence into my soul. So that when my soul was reborn, it would contain all my memories and my experiences from before.

  Zerek had reassured me that it would work. That it was similar to reanimating a Named Undead in a different body. Except, it would be with true life magic, instead of necromancy.

  “The only downside is…” I paused as I brought a hand up and focused. “Status.”

  A blue box flashed before my eyes.

  Name: Nox

  Race: Human

  Rank: Unranked - Level 6

  Class: N/A

  Titles: [Nascent Death God]

  Title Skills: [Death Magic Mastery]

  General Skills: [Quick Dash]

  Attributes:

  [Strength: 4]

  [Speed: 7]

  [Magic: 493]

  [Vitality: 5]

  [Dexterity: 6]

  Free Points: 0

  “I’ve lost all my Skills and my Rank,” I sighed as I stared at my Status. “Although…”

  I paused as my eyes drifted over a section of my Status. It seemed that I retained a rather substantial portion of my [Magic] from my previous body. I also had an S-tier Skill— [Death Magic Mastery]— although that wasn’t anything special to me.

  Every incarnation of the Death Gods thus far woke up with that Skill. Or at the very least, I remembered having that Skill from when I first gained consciousness.

  The rest of my Skills and my Rank— or lack thereof— belonged to the body I inhabited… before he died.

  I took in myself and my surroundings. I was a young boy. A human— unlike the elf I had been before. I had to have been barely twelve years old— maybe thirteen at the oldest. And I was lying at the bottom of a creek, evidently left for dead. My body was covered in cuts, and the clothes I wore were drenched in blood.

  This was how every incarnation of the Death God was born: through the body of a freshly deceased corpse. In my previous life, I had been a teenage elf who had fallen to his death while climbing a tree before I took over his body. His death had been a complete accident. But this time around…

  “Stabbed through the stomach, lungs, and chest,” I said as I ran my hand through the holes in my bloodied shirt. The fatal wounds this body suffered had been miraculously healed when I was reborn. But even still, the evidence was clear. “So ‘I’ was murdered…”

  I narrowed my eyes as I looked down at my hand. I saw the blood that painted my palms. It was very fresh. It hadn’t been washed away by the stream, nor had it dried up into dark clots. I scanned my surroundings for a moment, before my ears perked up.

  Towards a thicket of trees, I heard a soft chatter approaching the creek. A group of voices were speaking— arguing, even— as they drew closer to where this body had been left for dead.

  “And they,” I whispered as I rose to my feet, “must be ‘my’ murderers.”

  I dusted myself off as I began to clamber up away from the creek, heading into the trees— in the direction of the voices.

  “Now, I wonder how they’ll react when they see that ‘I’ am alive…” I wondered aloud as a small smirk tugged at the side of my lips.