Chapter 18: The God of Death

At the end of that trail of fire, lava, and destruction stood Cerys, run through by the sword Nerez had taken from one of his skeletal soldiers.

“I avoided your vital organs… and I don’t think demigods get tetanus. If you surrender, the Divine Order will take you away. I’ve seen it happen before.”

“Take me… where? Back to my home…? Or… to Empyrean Peaks? In either case… I have no interest…”

“You won’t become a goddess, but at least you’ll live. You’ll have all of immortality ahead of you to do whatever you want with it.”

“Why do you… care so much? You had no trouble… wiping out that entire alliance…”

“They had a second chance too. They chose to come back, and that’s on them.”

A smile spread across Cerys’s pained face.

“Haha… ha… How kind and naive of you.”

“I simply have nothing against anyone in this place.”

“No… thing…? I think the fact that… they wanted to take your life… was something…”

“Ha, no one has even come close to pulling that off. I’m not going to get worked up over trivialities.”

I’m far too used to people wanting to kill me. Dying is nothing new… The real problem would be ending up back in the Silver Sea.

“Hehe… I admit it, you have more mettle… than I thought…”

“And that somehow relates to you surrendering, right?”

“Never!”

Spitting blood, yet still wearing a fierce smile, Cerys let her lance fall, grabbed it near the base of the blade, and readied it like a sword for one last deadly thrust.

“Damn it! Why can’t anyone in this place be reasoned with?”

Death’s Touch

The sword Nerez held was part of his own Eidolon. The reflection of his soul was already in direct contact with Cerys.

“Aaaagh!”

Smoke began to rise from the wound in her abdomen, and she could no longer hold onto her lance.

It fell just as Cerys closed her eyes.

!!

But at the very last instant, Cerys caught it in midair and looked straight at Nerez, her eyes full of resolve.

Fwoosh

The thrust was fast and powerful.

Thud

But it was nowhere near the level the redhead would normally display.

Nerez, who had already let go of the hilt of the rusted sword, managed to catch her by the wrist before the blade of her lance buried itself in him.

Cerys smiled one last time, but it was a serene smile, as though she had finally accepted her defeat.

The next moment, her lifeless body slumped onto Nerez.

Across his past lives, he had become someone who would not let even an enemy’s blood stain his clothes.

But he had come to respect this particular opponent, so he caught Cerys before she fell and gently laid her on the ground beside her lance, which soon faded away.

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“I just stabbed and killed a cute girl with my own hands. She was every bit as much of a demon as a certain goddess, but still… I don’t like this feeling.”

…

[Congratulations!]

A holographic message appeared right in front of his face, startling Nerez so badly he nearly stumbled backward, but that was nothing compared to the explosion of light that engulfed him.

“Whoa! What’s this?! What’s happening?!”

Nerez felt as though a tremendous burden had been lifted from his shoulders. If he had to describe it, it was like being freed from chains that had been holding him down.

And that was not all. He had been transported into a void, which soon exploded into countless lights.

It was the universe itself.

Suns, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, nebulae, black holes. Everything seemed within his reach.

It felt as though he were looking upon the whole cosmos… or perhaps the cosmos was the one looking back at him.

He felt one with everything and, at the same time, utterly free, as though nothing could bind him.

But the lights of that endless galaxy began to shine brighter and brighter until, once again, he was completely swallowed by them.

When the light finally faded, he realized he was still in the very same place where he had faced Cerys.

“Ugh, my head… Mm? No… I think it’s already better…”

In front of him, the holographic Godscript screen had filled with new notifications.

[Proficiency UP!]

[Death’s Touch]

[Proficiency D -> C]

[Immortality is but a state, everything has an ending; mark those whose time has come]

“That was to be expected, though it still says nothing about divinity… I suppose now it can affect demigods without them needing to be weakened.”

[You have ascended!]