“Master…”

  Nox the Death God raised his head when he heard the tinny voice speaking solemnly behind him. He stood at a cliff’s edge, overlooking the highest peak in all of Parvos in the far distance— Mount Apulex. But he turned away from the view, looking towards the four figures that were standing behind him.

  The first figure— the one that spoke— donned the armor of a black knight, but beneath his visor was not the body of a person. Instead, purple flames burned underneath, contained within the armor like a soul bound to a body.

  The second figure stood much taller, looming over the others at nearly twenty feet tall. He was a bloated giant with rotting green skin that was covered in rusted chains, and a pair of tusks protruding from his half-melted face.

  The third figure was the smallest of them all: a veil of silken sheets that were woven together, floating in the air with the vague outline of a spectral figure hidden beneath the white. But even though her form was hardly discernible, she was just as real as the other three next to her.

  And lastly, the fourth figure was the most ordinary of them all, yet no less dangerous. He looked like an ordinary human— black hair, pale skin, and even dressed in a suit and tie. However, the pair of horns that protruded from his head made it clear that he was no human. That he was just like the other three figures that accompanied him.

  Because they were all demons.

  Nox regarded them each with a smile on his face. Vorth the Dark Warden, Kharvax the Lord of Dread, Velyss the White Wraith, and Zerith the Fallen. They were the Death God’s Four Great Demon Generals. Each one considered a Demon Lord, their powers rivalled that of the strongest of all of Parvos.

  It was Vorth the Dark Warden who had spoken first, his tinny voice echoing as he bowed his head.

  “Baelruth the Iron Maw and his tribe have withdrawn from this upcoming battle. We tried to convince him to stay, but he said his decision is final.”

  Hearing this, Nox simply tilted his head back curiously. “Malrakk, Seraxa, and now Baelruth too, huh? That is quite the significant blow to the strength of our forces for tomorrow.,,”

  The Four Great Demon Generals shifted as they watched their master mull over the news. Then, all at once, they dropped to their knees, speaking one after another.

  “We apologize for our failures, master,” said Vorth.

  “Unlike these cowards, we will fight alongside you until the very end!” Kharvax rumbled.

  “We shy not from death, for it is all we have ever known,” Velyss whispered.

  And Zerith chimed in with a smile, speaking in the same casual tone he usually carried. “Whatever you will shall always be done, master.”

  Nox just shook his head at the four demons kneeling before him. “Vorhtrax, Kharvax, Velyss, and Zerith— you four are my most trusted companions, and I thank you for the loyalty with which you each have served me for all these years. However, tomorrow is not a day where you will have to die, even if it is the day of my death.”

  Sweeping his gaze over each and every one of his loyal servants, the Death God gave them a melancholic smile as he raised his hand, and a crimson mark shone on his palm. At the same time, a spell circle formed beneath them. They looked back at him in shock.

  “That is why I am releasing each of you from my command. No longer shall you be bound to my will. You do not have to partake in this final battle if that is what you wish for.”

  The Four Great Demon Generals looked at each other in confusion as the glow from the spell circle overcame them. Until, finally, there was a flash of light, and the invisible sets of chains that was tying them to Nox shattered,

  The mark in the Death God’s hand vanished as Vorth, Kharvax, Velyss, and Zerith all stared at themselves in a shocked stupor. Nox stepped back, opening a portal back to the Demon Realm as he nodded at them.

  “Now go— live your lives. And perhaps, if all goes according to plan, one day in the far future, we will be able to meet again.”

  The four demons hesitated as they eyed the portal to the hellish landscape beyond. They exchanged apprehensive looks, before they nodded amongst each other, evidently having the same thought. Nox expected them to depart there and then. In fact, they started to approach the portal, like they were about to leave.

  However, they instead just came to an abrupt halt next to him and dropped to their knees once again, speaking one after another once again.

  “Even if you release us from your command, we will serve you until the very end, master.”

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  “We are not cowards, and you have given us a reason to live.”

  “Without you, we are nothing.”

  “We will die fighting by your side.”

  And that caught the Death God off-guard. He stared at them in shock as the portal slowly closed behind him. His lips curled up as a smile crept onto his face, and he lowered his head.

  “Thank you. For everything.”

  But in response, the Four Great Demon Generals just laughed and spoke in unison.

  “We are the ones who should be thanking you, master! Now let us battle to the very end!”

  It wasn’t something they needed to do— Nox had given every single one of his followers a choice, and half of them had chosen to leave. The rest that stayed, he had told them they just had to hold off the Holy Alliance for as long as possible once he made it into the Dominion of Life. So that once he was inside, they could flee the battlefield and escape with their lives.

  But with the scales of the battle skewed heavily towards the Holy Alliance, fleeing the battlefield too early risked the chance of the plan falling apart. For if Aria the Lady of Light interrupted his meddling with his reincarnation process, this would have been all for naught.

  That was why Nox the Death God couldn’t help but smile at this sight, feeling a warmth in his heart. Even though he always wore an outwards confident demeanor, he didn’t know whether his plan was going to work or not. But knowing that his most trusted followers were still going to fight alongside him gave him the boost in confidence he needed to have faith that it was all going to work out.

  And the very next day, the Final Battle of the War of Fate began. Just as they promised, the Four Great Demon Generals held off the forces of the Holy Alliance until the very end, sacrificing their lives for the Death God. It was their sacrifice which bought him enough time to alter his reincarnation process and begin the first part of his plan.

  To be reborn with his memories and bring an end to the cycle of fate once and for all.

  ***

  It had been about six months since I woke up in the body of Eli after being killed by Aria the Lady of Light. It was only half a year, but I had accomplished a lot since then, even if I still had a long way to go to fulfill my goal.

  First of all, the Blood Swords— a gang that practically had control over all of the small city of Velmond in the outskirts of the Sanctus Empire— had wanted me dead, having been responsible for killing the original owner of the body I had taken over. So to save myself and get revenge, I killed their leader and slaughtered most of their members, before I took over what remained of the gang, making use of the resources and connections they had for my own benefit.

  After that, I became a [Healer], making a name for myself in Velmond, until I drew the attention of Reverend Donovan, the local [Priest], who had wanted to see my capabilities in action with his own two eyes. So to prove myself to him, I cured the Blight— a plague that had been afflicting parts of the Sanctus Empire, which had thus far been thought to be incurable. And that was what earned me a letter of recommendation from him for me to go to the Holy Academy of the Church of Life.

  So I left Velmond, bidding farewell to Hannah, Ethen, Ms Mary… everyone I had gotten to know over the month or so that I was there. But a part of me felt like I had known them all for my entire life. Which was technically the truth, because they were Eli’s family, even if none of us were related by blood. But perhaps I felt this way because of my alterations to the reincarnation process.

  It was almost like Eli’s soul partially merged with mine. And that was also why my Status showed his name alongside mine.

  Anyway, the trip to the Holy Academy had not been meant to be a long trip. It was supposed to be two, maybe three weeks, at most. But there was a short delay because of a brief encounter with a bandit group called the Gold Skulls. I wiped them out, of course. And in doing so, I saved the life of Sister Frida, a [Nun] who was a part of a secret organization within the Church of Life called the Luna Gez Sect.

  They offered me their friendship— although, it was not before they made me pass a test to prove that I was the next [Hero]. And while I was very much not the next [Hero], considering I was the Death God, I managed to trick them into believing that I was, giving me access to their ostensible far-reaching influence.

  So they— alongside Archdeacon Emmett, a friend of Reverend Donovan— helped ensure my enrollment into the Holy Academy proceeded smoothly.

  And now, here I was, having reached the first part of my goal by becoming a student of the Holy Academy of the Church of Life.

  But why was I doing this? Why did I need to come here in the first place? After all, it was the Church of Life that was responsible for my death in my past life. By coming here, I was risking my own life, in case my true identity was ever discovered.

  Well, that was exactly why I was here. Because they had been the ones responsible for killing me— and not just me, but every other Death God who came before me. They were the ones who were perpetuating this cycle of death.

  And every Death God in history, myself included, had failed to destroy them. So rather than trying to do the same thing over and over again when it was evidently clear I was going to fail every single time, I decided to do something different.

  I decided that I was going to reform the Church of Life so that this was never going to happen ever again.

  But that was still a long way away. And it was apparently not going to be as simple as I thought, considering there was a far more complex political landscape within the Church of Life than I thought, especially with a strange conspiracy that surrounded Archbishop Walden. So I was going to have to figure that out first.

  Before I could do anything like that, there was something I needed to do first and foremost. And that was to pass my midterms.

  So as I stood outside of the exam hall, I steeled myself, remembering everything I studied over the last few weeks. Taking in a deep breath, I took one final look at my notes, before I entered the room, ready to take on my toughest challenge here in the Holy Academy thus far. And no— it wasn’t befriending a saint, nor was it beating a prince in a duel.

  Rather, it was acing my exam on their biased take on the events of the War of Fates…