I stepped away from the pile of corpses as I dismissed the shadow dagger I had created. It hadn’t been my best work. But it was going to take a while before I got used to casting spells without a Skill. At the very least, replicating my old Skills would be easier once I got the Title of a Fledgling Death God and my [Death Magic Mastery] was upgraded to [Death Magic Supremacy].

  However, I was still a few Ranks away from that. So for now, I focused on what I could do. I turned around and walked over to Hannah, Nicky, and Ethen who were off to the side of the room. The former two had watched the scene unfold, but the latter was still unconscious from the beating he had taken.

  Hannah had been constantly healing the both of them as I dealt with Nicholas and the Blood Swords. But now that I was finished, she stopped what she was doing and dashed forward towards me.

  “Eli!” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around me. “You did it!”

  I chuckled as I awkwardly hugged her back. “I did, indeed. But…”

  I paused as Hannah peeled herself from me. She was practically beaming, looking me up and down in relief. I smiled back at her, however the expression slipped from my face. My gaze darkened as I sighed.

  “I’m not Eli, Hannah. You heard what I said, didn’t you?” I shook my head as she blinked a few times. I placed a hand on my chest. “I am the Death God.”

  Hannah stared at me for a moment, and I wasn’t sure how she’d react. On one hand, I’d do anything to preserve my safety. But on the other hand, for whatever reason, even though I just met the young girl, a part of me really didn’t want to hurt her.

  I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to kill her if it came down to it. It was like my very soul was wrestling with me against the very idea of it.

  Fortunately, that didn’t seem like that was going to be the case as Hannah just laughed and patted me on the shoulder.

  “I heard that. But I don’t care.” She rolled her eyes, before grinning at me. “We’re family— I’m your sister. I know you better than anyone else, and you are Eli. If not, you wouldn’t have risked your secret identity to save us all.”

  “That’s…” I opened my mouth to argue. But then I caught myself.

  While I didn’t believe what she said to be true— because I wasn’t Eli, and even if I was, they weren't actual blood-related siblings in the first place, so she was just wrong— it didn’t matter. Because I was just relieved that she was alright, and that was all that mattered for now.

  Besides, now I knew she wasn’t going to rat me out to the Church of Life. Sure, there was a chance she could be lying. But deep down, I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth. So I just smiled and nodded back at her.

  “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

  But she wasn’t the only person who had seen me reveal my true identity as the Death God. I looked past Hannah— towards Nicky who was weakly rising to her feet. The red-haired woman groaned as she fell back to the ground.

  Hannah took a step forward as she raised a hand. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you—”

  “I’ll handle this,” I cut Hannah off, stopping her from running forward.

  The little girl blinked as I nodded reassuringly at her, before I walked up to Nicky. I brought a hand forward and touched her as the redhead shrank back.

  “W-wait, please don’t—” Nicky started in terror.

  But a golden glow overcame her as she paused. I rolled my eyes at her as I used healing magic on her. Unlike Hannah’s magic, I didn’t slowly heal a small portion of her body at a time, because I wasn't limited by having a small mana pool.

  Instead, I inundated her entire body with healing magic, having refined and altered the spell I copied from Hannah so that it would be far more effective while also covering a wider radius in its effects.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” I said as life returned to her discolored skin. “Not yet, at least.”

  As each second passed, her wounds began to close up, and she eventually was able to get back to her feet after a minute or so. She looked down at herself in awe at what just happened, not saying a word.

  “That’s amazing!” Hannah exclaimed as she looked on from the side.

  I smirked back at the young girl. “It’s only thanks to your help that I can do that, Hannah. So you’re the only amazing one here.”

  Nicky finally raised her head and faced me after inspecting herself. I wasn’t sure what she was going to say. But I was still taken aback by it regardless.

  “I… where’s my brother?” she asked, her lips trembling.

  I gestured back towards the pile of corpses. “I mean, he’s right there. But he’s… you know…”

  Nicky ignored me as she walked forward in a daze. I watched her go, and Hannah scratched the back of her head. But I held up a hand and nodded at her.

  “Just look after Ethen for now. Make sure he doesn’t die. I’ll tend to him after I’m finished with this.” I spoke casually as I trailed after Nicky.

  “Right!” Hannah said affirmatively and quickly got to work.

  I left her behind, watching as Nicky stared down at the pile of corpses. She looked like she was about to dig through them, and I flicked a hand out. The desiccated bodies moved to the side, revealing Nicholas’s mangled body underneath.

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  “Brother…” Nicky whispered as a curtain of shadows fell over her eyes.

  She dropped to her knees right before his body. She cradled him in her arms, before removing his mask. His face had been the only part left untouched by the undead. Even still, I saw a scar— a burn mark— marring the side of his face. Nicky ran a hand over her cheeks as I watched. She didn’t say a word for a long moment, before I finally spoke up.

  “He’s dead,” I remarked simply.

  “...I know.” Nicky lowered her head as she took in a shaky breath.

  “I killed him,” I continued.

  And Nicky closed her eyes. She remained silent, and I wondered how she’d react to me speaking so bluntly about being responsible for her brother’s death. Finally, she exhaled as she raised her head.

  “My brother and I… we both grew up in a terrible home…” Nicky said in a trembling voice. “Our parents hated us. They had hoped we would be… I don’t know— I guess they just didn’t expect children to be as difficult to raise as we were. They probably thought we’d just be a pair of extra helpers around the house, not a pair of extra mouths to feed.”

  I just raised a brow, listening as Nicky continued to regale her history.

  “But our parents kept us around instead of giving us up to the orphanage because we at least helped them out a little bit. They just… underfed us too. Which was not a problem until we started growing older, and the amount they fed us remained the same. And one day, I had enough, and tried to steal food from our parents.”

  Nicky spoke almost like she was reminiscing fond memories, despite the actual contents of what she was saying. She shook her head as she chuckled bitterly.

  “Of course, I was a little child, and I was caught by my dad. He gave me a terrible beating as a punishment for what I did, so that I would never do it again. I thought I would die that day.”

  Tears began to slowly slide down Nicky’s cheeks as she recounted her childhood. They dripped down to her brother’s dead face as she tried to wipe away at her cheeks.

  “And my brother… when he found out about what happened, he had enough. He set fire to the house, burning it all down and killing both our parents. That’s actually how he got this scar— from protecting me from the flames.”

  Nicky spoke as she gently touched her brother’s scarred face. She lowered her head, meeting his lifeless gaze as he stared back at her.

  “My brother would do anything to protect me. Even if it meant killing our parents.” Nicky bit her lower lip as more tears poured down from her cheeks, spilling onto Nicholas’s lifeless face. “And yet, today, he tried to kill me. He almost killed me. All for the sake of his pursuit of power.”

  Nicky took in a deep breath, before drawing back away from her brother’s corpse. She carried his skull-like mask in her hand and stared down at it for a moment, before tossing it aside.

  “My brother’s been dead for a long time. And I never realized it until today. Whoever you killed, he is the one who killed my brother. So I only have to thank you for killing him. I am grateful to you for what you’ve done.”

  Nicky spoke callously as she wiped away the last of her tears from her face. I nodded understandingly as she finished.

  “I see. I see.” I quirked a curious brow at her. “And do you still feel that way even though I am the incarnation of the Death God?”

  Shaking her head, Nicky turned to face me and placed her hand on her chest. “I do not care that you’re the Death God. For saving me, I owe you my life. So I am forever in your debt.”

  “You’re willing to serve me, even if it means potentially drawing the ire of the Church of Life?” I pressed her even further. I scrutinized every twitch of her facial muscle as I asked the question.

  “S-serve…?” Nicky hesitated when she heard that. “You want me to become your servant?”

  “Servant, follower, minion, underling, ally— I don’t care what word you use for it. My question is if you’re willing to be on my side, even if it means making an enemy out of the most powerful institution in all of Parvos?” I eyed Nicky almost dangerously.

  She gulped for a moment, not giving an immediate answer. But she straightened and nodded. “I don’t know what you want from me exactly, but after what you’ve done for me today, my answer is yes.”

  I squinted at Nicky, but she held my gaze. She looked me in the eyes, refusing to back away. And when I saw the face she wore, it reminded me of the faces of my subjects who served me in my past life. My followers who fought for me— who died for me.

  So that we could all fulfill a common dream.

  To end this cycle of suffering that had gone on for too long.

  And that was why I trusted Nicky’s words. Because I knew she was sincere— that what she said was true.

  “Good.” I smiled satisfactorily as I drew back away from her, before looking at all the corpses littered around the room. “Now then—”

  I clapped my hands together as I nodded in the direction of the dead bodies. “First order of business, we’ll need to get rid of all these bodies so that nobody discovers what happened here. So just gather them all in a neat pile for me, will you?”

  “R-right, I’ll get to it,” Nicky said as she moved.

  She did as she was told, and I watched her for a moment. But then I turned away from her.

  And second order of business, I thought as my focus shifted onto the myriad of notifications that had been waiting for me in the back of my mind to pop up. Let’s take a look at what these have to say.i

  With a single thought, the blue boxes appeared like a deluge, blocking my vision and ringing incessantly in my ears.

  *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 slain a [Human - Iron] - Additional experience is awarded for killing an enemy above your Rank!

  …

  *ding!*

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

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 2!

  +1 [Speed]

  +1 [Strength]

  +1 Free Point

  …

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 19!

  +3 [Magic]

  +1 [Dexterity]

  +1 Free Point

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 20!

  +2 [Vitality]

  +1 Free Point

  *ding!*

  For reaching Level 20, you are now eligible to advance in Rank!

  As I expected, wiping out the Blood Swords brought me to the maximum level of my current Rank. Now, I was able to rank up to Bronze. However, that was not what caught my attention. Instead, it was the blue box that popped up right afterwards that piqued my interest.

  *ding!*

  You are now eligible for five new Classes:

  There are currently seven Class options for you to choose from!

  I grinned as I saw the notification floating before me. I finally have new choices, huh? Alright… let’s see what you have to offer me now…