“Why are we even going back there? I’m telling you, that brat is dead. Even a [Necromancer] won’t be able to bring him back as an undead.”

  “I swear I’m telling you I heard something coming from the creek.”

  “And what did you hear?”

  “...I heard someone laughing.”

  Roy came to a halt when he heard what his companion said. He looked towards the lanky man standing there. Scruffy beard, balding head, and an uncertain look on his face— Jacob did not carry a demeanor that instilled confidence in anybody.

  However, Roy had known Jacob for years now. The two of them were practically brothers at this point. They were an infallible duo: a team that always got the job done, no matter the task given to them by their boss.

  As members of the Blood Swords, they had a wide array of duties they were often assigned. Whether it was to go around collecting the debts owed to their gang, or getting rid of annoying vermin that dared to oppose them. Like just last week, they had to dispose of an annoying man who went around the city calling out the Blood Swords for kidnapping his daughter or whatever.

  Whether or not that was true didn’t matter. The fact of the matter was, Roy and Jacob would not question their boss, no matter what.

  And today, they had been given the simple task of dealing with an annoying little pickpocket who had tried to steal something important from their boss. While they didn’t know what it was, they just knew that it was something that was extremely valuable, which was why they had to secretly dispose of the pickpocket.

  Their boss didn’t want anyone finding out that he even was in possession of whatever this important thing was. And he entrusted both Roy and Jacob to get this job done discreetly.

  So even though Roy was skeptical of his partner’s words, he still heard the other man out.

  “Look, you know me,” Jacob said as she shook his head. “I have [Heightened Senses]. So I know what I heard— someone was laughing. You have to believe me.”

  “But the boy is dead,” Roy insisted. “We made sure of it. He wasn’t breathing.”

  Jacob shook his head as he looked up. “Maybe it’s not the boy then, but if it’s someone passing by who discovers his corpse…”

  Roy tilted his head back. He nodded understandingly at his partner. “We could get in trouble. After all, the boss said no witnesses.”

  “That’s right,” Jacob agreed. He drew the crossbow from his side. “We’re just being thorough, right?”

  “Right.” Roy straightened as he raised his machete. “Come on then, let’s hurry back and get this over with.”

  Jacob glanced up, taking a step forward. “I’ll race—”

  But right as the words left Jacob’s mouth, he froze. He came to a halt as his face paled. His gaze was locked, facing the thicket of trees right up ahead.

  “What’s wrong, Jacob?” Blinking, Roy looked in the same direction as his partner.

  And for a moment, all he saw was a thick layer of darkness beneath the canopy of leaves. But through the shadows, a figure emerged. A small figure. A familiar figure.

  A child with short white hair and hollow black eyes.

  Jacob backed away as he raised a trembling finger. “T-that’s…”

  Roy took a moment longer to process what he saw. When he did, his eyes grew wide as he slowly lowered his machete.

  “Impossible,” Roy whispered as the little boy emerged from the trees. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “So you guys are my murderers, huh?” the pickpocket said as he tilted his head.

  His clothes were still shredded and bloodied. His arms were covered in cuts. But the most grievous wounds he had sustained were somehow gone.

  “Now what possible reason could you two have for going about and killing an innocent little kid like me?” the boy asked, tapping a finger on his chin.

  Roy’s mind just spun, still in a daze. He couldn’t comprehend what he saw. After all, he was more than certain the boy was dead. And this was no [Necromancer]’s reanimation. Somehow, the boy had come back to life.

  “But how…?” Roy started.

  However, Jacob gritted his teeth and moved first. He raised his crossbow and aimed it at the boy. “You—”

  But there was a flash of purple light. Roy blinked as he felt a breeze wash over him as something wet splashed against his face. Craning his neck to the side, he stared at where his partner had been standing.

  And all that remained there was a pair of bloodied feet that stood where Jacob had been. Looking back, Roy watched as a massive purple sphere shot into the distance, evaporating all the trees in its path before it finally crashed into a distant hill.

  A powerful explosion blasted out, completely obliterating the hill as the ground shook beneath Roy’s feet. He dropped to the ground as he tried to work his jaw.

  “Jacob…?”

  “Whoops,” the boy said as he strode forward. He scratched the back of his head as he spoke nonchalantly. “I didn’t mean to kill him… yet.”

  Regarding the giant crater in the distance, he came to a halt and placed a hand on his hips.

  “I guess I am not used to casting spells without a Skill, huh? I overdid it a little bit. Manual-casting is a bit of a pain in the ass.”

  “How? You’re just a child— you’re…” Roy trailed off as he turned back to face the pickpocket.

  But then Roy paused as the two locked gazes. There was a crimson glow emanating from the boy’s eyes that hadn’t been there before— it shone faintly as he raised a hand, creating a small purple sphere of magic this time around.

  And something clicked in Roy’s mind as he took this in. “Wait, that’s death magic? And those eyes…”

  Roy trembled as he pointed at the boy in horror.

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  “You’re… you’re the reincarnation of the Death God!” Roy exclaimed as a sense of dread overcame him. He backed away, but the boy just took a step forward.

  “Oh, good. You saved me the need for introductions.” Shaking his head, the Death God just raised a brow at Roy. “Now don’t run. I have a few questions for you.”

  “I— p-please, I’ll do anything. Just don’t hurt me!” Roy begged, tearings streaming down his face.

  He thought about what happened to his partner— for only a brief moment, he considered trying to get revenge. But then he focused on saving his own life above all.

  “Answer my questions,” the boy said as his eyes glinted. “And I won’t hurt you.”

  Roy groveled before the child as he nodded almost too enthusiastically. “Yes, yes! I’ll answer anything!”

  “Tell me, how many years has passed since Aria the Lady of Light slew Nox the Death God in battle?” the Death God asked, his gaze piercing into Roy’s soul.

  “Ten!” Roy answered quickly, before correcting himself. “I mean, it’s nearly been ten years!”

  The boy looked up towards the crimson sky of twilight curiously. “Ten, huh? That’s honestly faster than it usually takes for the next incarnation to be born…”

  Roy just listened, completely confused as the Death God continued to mutter to himself.

  “It must be because of the ritual…”

  “Ritual?” Roy piped up quizzically. He spoke hesitantly. “W-what ritual?”

  But the boy rolled his eyes as he raised the purple sphere of magic dangerously. “I’m the one asking the questions here, not you.”

  Roy immediately squeaked, lowering his head. “I-I’m sorry!”

  And the boy sighed, stepping forward. “Now for the next question: why did you try to kill me?”

  “B-because the boss ordered me to!” Roy sputtered.

  The boy raised a brow at that. “And you’d just murder any random innocent child because your boss told you to?”

  “Y-yes—” Roy started, before catching himself. He waved his hands in the air hurriedly as he elaborated. “But that boy is not innocent! He’s a thieving little pickpocket who’s stolen from our gang dozens of times before!”

  “I don’t imagine a little bit of stealing is worth killing over, but maybe that’s just me.” The Death God shrugged. But he quickly moved on. “And who exactly is your boss?”

  Roy gesticulated wildly, explaining. “His name’s Nicholas— but they call him the Bloodied Blade! He’s the leader of the Blood Swords, and he practically runs all of Velmond!”

  “And Velmond is…?” the Death God prodded.

  “It’s a small city, just five miles north of here!” Roy pointed back in the direction he came from. “We’re located on the outskirts of the Sanctus Empire, so a lot of what goes on here never reaches the Capital!”

  “I see.” The boy considered everything Roy said, remaining silent for what felt like an eternity. Until, finally, he smiled as he stepped back. “Alright, thanks. That’s pretty much everything I wanted to know.”

  “Really?” Roy’s eyes went round when he heard that.

  “Really,” the Death God said, the smile on his face unchanging. “I have no more questions for you.”

  Roy almost sighed in relief, but then he realized that the boy hadn’t dispersed the purple sphere of magic he had been holding up. A cold sweat slid down the back of the thug.

  “A-and now you’ll spare me, right?” he asked apprehensively.

  “Hm…” The boy mulled over the question for a second, before grinning. “Nope.”

  “What? But you said—” Roy backed away as a pit opened up in his stomach.

  The Death God cut him off. “I said won’t hurt you, yes. But I didn’t say anything about not killing you. I’ll just give you a painless death, that’s all.”

  Tears began to stream down Roy’s eyes as he pleaded, choking on his breath. “Wait, you can’t do this to me— please, I’m begging you! I’ll do anything! Just don’t kill me!”

  But the boy just callously aimed the ball of death magic at the thug. “And how many times have you actually listened to those who are groveling at your feet, begging for you to spare their lives? Did you even spare a single thought when ‘I’ begged you not to kill ‘me’ for stealing?”

  Roy froze when he heard that. He tried to work his jaw, but the Death God chuckled.

  “Thought so,” the boy said simply.

  “Wait, please—” Roy opened his mouth as he raised a hand.

  But the Death God just flicked a finger out, before turning back. And the purple sphere shot out, expanding as it consumed Roy’s head in its entirety. He tried to scream. However, his face was engulfed in a flash.

  And for a moment, a numbing sensation overcame him as his thoughts grew dull. Then he felt nothing ever again.

  ***

  I quickly looted the thug’s body before leaving his headless corpse behind, dumped in the creek where he had dumped ‘me’.

  He had a handful of coins on him— not a lot. Definitely not enough to last me more than a few days. But that didn’t matter to me. I hadn’t killed him for money, even if his money would help me out a little bit in the short-term.

  Instead, I killed him for three other reasons. The first was for revenge. Because even though I was not the owner of this body and I never even got to know him, I still felt some attachment towards him, for whatever strange reason. So I felt responsible for at least killing his killers.

  But the second reason was even more important to me— and it was because of the experience he’d give me. He and his friend were definitely at least Iron Rank. Perhaps they had even been Bronze. I didn’t know. But I just knew that they were higher-ranked than I was right now, which meant…

  *ding!*

  You have slain a [Human - Bronze] - Additional experience is awarded for killing an enemy above your Rank!

  *ding!*

  You have slain a [Human - Bronze] - Additional experience is awarded for killing an enemy above your Rank!

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 7!

  +2 [Speed]

  +1 [Strength]

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 8!

  +1 [Dexterity]

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 9!

  +1 [Magic]

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 10!

  +2 [Magic]

  +1 [Speed]

  +1 [Vitality]

  *ding!*

  For reaching Level 10, you are now eligible to advance in Rank!

  I paused as I regarded the notifications floating before me. “I’ll be able to choose a Class too once I’m Iron.”

  However, I didn’t accept the option to rank up right away. After all, there was still much I had to consider once I did rank up— like what kind of Class I was going to choose.

  Of course, I could always just become a [Death Mage] like I did in my previous life. But that would pose a problem for me…

  I glanced back towards the bottom of the creek, eyeing the dead thug.

  “After only casting a single spell, he knew I was the Death God,” I whispered as I closed my eyes. “All because of my death magic.”

  And that was the third reason why I had killed him. Because nobody could find out that I was the Death God. If they did, and they let word get out that I had been reborn, then I would be hunted down by the Church of Life.

  They would send their Inquisitors after me. Even with my abundance of mana from my [Magic] Attribute, I highly doubted I would be able to fight them off as I was right now.

  “So I can’t just go around using my death magic, or else I’ll be recognized in an instant,” I sighed as I sat down underneath a tree.

  I looked towards the horizon. The sun had fully set, allowing darkness to claim the skies. A small sliver of a crescent moon hung overhead, letting the stars illuminate the night.

  “Which means I’m going to have to choose a different Class— one that doesn’t specialize in death magic.” I closed my eyes as I considered my options. “Maybe I could be an [Elementalist]. Or a [Summoner].”

  Whatever it was, I couldn’t be just an ordinary [Warrior] or [Rogue] or whatever. I had to pursue a field of magic— I had to be a [Mage] of sorts. After all, that was necessary for the next part of my plan— to accomplish the goal I had in mind.

  Because I was going to head to the Capital City of the Sanctus Empire. And while I was there, I was going to enroll into the Holy Academy of the Church of Life.

  All this to break this cycle of death and reincarnation once and for all.

  Name: Nox

  Race: Human

  Rank: Unranked - Level 10 (RANK UP AVAILABLE)

  Class: N/A

  Titles: [Nascent Death God]

  Title Skills: [Death Magic Mastery]

  General Skills: [Quick Dash]

  Attributes:

  [Strength: 5]

  [Speed: 10]

  [Magic: 496]

  [Vitality: 6]

  [Dexterity: 7]

  Free Points: 0