Author's Note: Rowan's Point of View
********************
"Sir, the Duke's daughter will be arriving very soon. According to the guards who came here to tell us this information, she is only 35 meters away from the village gate."
"Wait, those guards left her there with no protection? Even if they are only 35 meters away, they should still do their duty as a guard. Tell them that they should hurry back to the Duke's daughter."
"O-ok. I will go there now."
Corvin then walked out of the room.
I hope that Miss Roscelto will be fine out there.
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Author's Note: Switches to Death God's Point of View (Oh My Death God!)
Ever since I opened my eyes, the only thing I have ever done was receive some glow-balls and mix and mash them together.
That was really the only thing that I could do. And, I was happy that I could do something that was so important.
Hmm?
Hey, I think I feel a disturbance.
...
Yeah, there is something definitely wrong in the living world.
I'll try fine-tuning it.
...
No way, could it be Zeta?!
I need to get up there. I will say sorry to the God of Life later for trespassing. I can't let Zeta die after only a few seconds after I sent him there!
I abandon my usual workplace and try to ascend higher than usual. After a few seconds of trying to get through, I get through with a loud *pop* sound.
I look down at my body.
Good.
I still look like a translucent human.
It would be a problem for the God of Death to have become alive by going into the Realm of The Living.
Now, all I have to do is find Zeta.
Wait a minute.
Is that a battle over there?
It looks like a boy is about to get hit by a monster's attack. However, it looks like the girl created some ice to block the attack. The ice blocked most of the impact but, it still hit the boy.
The boy over there looks unconscious. However, that is not what surprised me. His soul is so gigantic.
Wait, is that Zeta!?
I thought I just reincarnated him a few seconds ago. He already looks so much older than I thought he would be. I guess humans have a much shorter lifespan than I thought.
Oh well.
I need to wake him up now or he will really go back to the Cycle of Reincarnation. I am not allowed to intervene with something that is still alive. However, I can do something to their soul. There was no rule that said that I can only tamper with souls that are already dead.
HAHA!
Rules are meant to be broken!
...
I am so going to get scolded by the higher Gods.
I dive into Zeta's body and grab his soul. I put power into my fingers and pinch hard. Maybe I should turn this thing on as well.
********************
"Ah!"
What the heck is going on!?
I thought I died just now.
Never mind that now.
Actually, where am I?
The place I am in looks very black. There is also nothing here. This kind of reminds me of the place where I first met Death God.
"Good to see you are okay."
What?
I turn around and see a vague human silhouette. That voice is very familiar to me.
"Is that you, Death God?"
"Yes. It is I."
"Why are you here? Does this mean that I did die?"
"Nope. You are very much alive right now."
"Then, how are you talking to me?"
"Well, remember how I said that I can manipulate souls, right? I just woke you up by pinching your soul."
Death God did what!?
"How does that even work?"
"The mind and soul are closely connected. You were unconscious in your mind, so I woke you up via your soul."
Oh, that kind of makes sense. That might be how I was able to talk to Death God while I was still dead.
"Then, can you let me go now? I need to save that girl and that man!"
"Hold on. You might die again if you go now. While you were out, I forcefully manifested your ability and gave you a little extra energy. Your ability is manipulation, alteration, and deletion of shadows. But, if you use it too much, you might hurt yourself even more. That is why, you should use that energy to run towards the gate and tell the guards."
But, by the time the guards come, they might be dead already.
"Crap. The God of Life found me. She is going to forcefully eject me out of here. Make sure you do what I tell you!"
After saying that, Death God's silhouette disappeared and I woke up. I touch myself and look around myself. I am still at the place where the fight is.
I need to use my ability. It might be different, but I should be able to shift near the guard's place, right? I activate it and feel the nostalgic feeling of phasing through something.
Hey, it worked!
I continuously shift until I reach the guard's gate. I don't feel nauseous at all. This must be the extra energy from Death God.
When I arrive, I see some guards talking.
"Someone is being attacked on the path!"
"Whoa! Where did you come from!"
"Just listen to me! Send lots of knights to the path! There are some people being attacked by a monster!"
"Alright then. Call the commander!"
The knights start moving after I tell them what happened. I grab one of the spare swords, just in case.
I shift back to the fight's location and wait for the knights. The knight's arrive in 5 minutes and start fighting the Forgeclaw. I hope they can beat it.
********************
10 minutes later-
This thing is too powerful!
None of my knights are able to get close because it keeps on throwing super-heated rocks at them.
And, every time I try to use Sacred Sword: Light Surge, it runs towards me and swipes at my body with so much force that it could my break my bones.
Also, when I hit its body, it feels like metal. Is this some sort of new monster species? How did we not encounter it while we on the expedition.
While thinking that, my last knight fell down as well. This is odd. The beast didn't kill anyone. It is almost like we are not even worth its notice.
Well, I will show it that we are worth noticing!
I try to stand up but, I see something dart out of the woods. Black hair and glowing amber eyes. Is that Alex!?
A few seconds earlier-
This is not going to work!
They won't be able to kill it!
I should use all of the energy Death God gave me. Death God said that is was only a little but, a little for a God would be a lot for a human. If I use it, I might get be able to kill it. I might get severely hurt afterwards but, even if I am injured, I won't be defeated!
I use all of the energy and run towards the Forgeclaw.
Alright, I should distract it with something so that I can get close. It looks like it targets father when he assumes the stance of Light Surge. So, I will do just that.
"Get ready Forgeclaw! I am Zeta! The 6th General of The 1st Hero's Army! I will be the one who kills you!"
I assume the stance of Light Surge. Sure enough, the Forgeclaw starts running towards me.
A foolish miscalculation!
When it gets close, I twist my body around and use Sharp Knocker to stun it. After it fell down, I use that valuable time to unleash a super-fast Raging Waterfall while circling around it.
When it regained its senses, the Forgeclaw super-heated the ground to create geysers made of lava around itself.
When I feel the heat from the ground, I instinctively jump backwards and sheathe my sword. I wait until the attack stops and I shift into the Forgeclaw's shadow and use Sonic Punisher in midair on it's back.
After I hit it, the Forgeclaw turns around and tries to bisect me with its claws while I am still immobile in the air. I grab the hilt of the sword I borrowed with both of my hands and slash upwards, like in Howling Impact.
The power of my slash send both of us higher in the air. I can already hear thunder happening. The Forgeclaw tries to shoot a fireball at me but, I cut through it with Shooting Star. If your body is covered in steel, I just need to use an attack that can break through armor, right? When my Shooting Star connects, it blasts pieces of metal off of the Forgeclaw.
There!
When gravity starts to overtake the both of us, I aim my sword at the area where there in no metal and I dive towards it and slam my sword against it when we both hit the ground, just like the 2nd half of Howling Impact.
The shockwave that happened afterwards blew me off the Forgeclaw's body. However, after a few seconds the Forgeclaw stands up and starts emitting so much heat that it is literally turning the nearby trees into ash.
"Why are you still alive!?"
I can't move anymore. That was already like my ultimate attack. I can't do anything now.
The Forgeclaw rears up on its back legs to show off its impressive size. It must be at least 6 metres tall.
It roars and starts to power up a giant fireball.
Oh well, I fought pretty hard.
Right when it was about to fire, multiple lightning bolts struck its body. The force of the lightning strike near me blew me away and, I saw the silhouette of the girl I was protecting walking towards me.
At least she is safe.
Then, I fainted.