Betrayed by Heaven, Reborn as the Blade the Gods Tried to Erase
The God-Slayer's Requiem
Chapter 3: Ashroot Burns
The road to Ashroot Village felt shorter than Klai remembered.
Not because the distance had changed—but because hope distorted time.
He traveled without rest, ignoring fatigue, ignoring the dull ache in his chest where the divine mark pulsed faintly, like a heart that did not belong to him.
The land grew familiar.
The old oak tree where children carved their names.
The bend in the river where his father once taught him to fish.
The stone marker half-buried in dirt, marking a forgotten border.
Klai slowed.
Something was wrong.
The air was too still.
No birds.
No insects.
No wind.
Even magic felt… muted.
He crested the final hill.
And saw smoke.
Thin, dark threads rose into the sky, dissolving before they could spread. Not fresh. Not old. Recent enough to sting the nose.
Klai broke into a run.
THE VILLAGE WITHOUT VOICES
Ashroot Village stood below him.
Or what remained of it.
Homes collapsed inward, roofs caved, walls blackened from the inside out. The fields were trampled, harvest burned where it stood. Holy sigils had been carved into doors, fences, even the stone well at the center of the village.
Not raiders.
Not beasts.
This was an execution.
"Mother…?"
Klai's voice barely carried.
He entered the village.
The ground crunched beneath his boots.
Bone.
He swallowed hard and moved faster, heart pounding against his ribs.
Bodies lay arranged with disturbing precision.
Men on their knees.
Women shielding children.
The elderly gathered together as if herded.
No signs of resistance.
No signs of mercy.
Klai's mana surged instinctively, scanning for survivors.
There were none.
HIS HOME
His house stood at the edge of the village.
The door hung open.
Klai approached slowly, each step heavier than the last.
Inside—
The table was still set for dinner.
Two bowls untouched.
Bread gone hard.
His father lay near the doorway, spear shattered in his hands, one knee pressed into the floor as if he had tried to rise even after death.
Klai knelt beside him.
"I'm here," he whispered. "I'm home."
There was no answer.
He moved deeper into the house.
His mother lay near the hearth, her body curved protectively around two smaller forms.
His siblings.
Klai collapsed.
The scream tore out of him—raw, animal, uncontained.
Mana exploded outward, shattering the walls, ripping the roof apart, sending embers screaming into the sky.
The divine mark on his chest ignited.
THE TRUTH DESCENDS
Light poured from the heavens.
Not the warm light of dawn.
But judgment.
The sky cracked open, clouds spiraling away as a figure descended slowly, deliberately, as though time itself bowed to his presence.
Iglesias.
The God-King landed amidst the ruins without disturbing a single grain of ash.
Klai staggered to his feet, blood streaming from his eyes.
"You sent me away," he said, voice shaking. "You told me to return."
"Yes," Iglesias replied calmly.
Klai's sword trembled in his hand.
"You killed them."
"They were necessary," the god said.
Klai laughed.
A broken sound.
"For what?"
Iglesias looked at him then—not as a tool, not as a champion—but as a problem.
"You," he answered. "You became too complete."
The mark flared violently.
Chains of golden script erupted from Klai's chest, wrapping around his limbs, crushing his mana, locking his body in place.
Klai fell to one knee.
"I gave you everything," he snarled. "My life. My soul."
"And you exceeded it," Iglesias said. "A human capable of killing a god cannot be allowed to exist."
Klai raised his head, eyes blazing with hatred.
"Then you were afraid."
For the first time—
Iglesias frowned.
A BLADE AGAINST HEAVEN
The chains tightened.
Klai screamed as the Divine Doom activated fully, draining his life force, unraveling his existence.
Yet even bound—
he moved.
Mana surged against divine law.
Steel sang.
Klai's sword cut upward.
The blade tore through light itself, leaving a black fracture in the sky.
Iglesias stepped back.
The heavens shuddered.
Silence fell.
Then the God-King raised his hand.
"That," he said coldly, "is precisely why you must die."
A pillar of divine annihilation descended.
Klai looked back at his home.
At the ruins.
At the bodies.
"I swear it," he whispered. "If there is another life… I will end you."
The light swallowed him.
THE END OF THE FIRST LIFE
Darkness followed.
Cold.
Stillness.
Then—
"ERROR"
Divine Doom: Annihilation Failed
Cause: Soul Rejection
A voice echoed from beyond existence.
"GODFALL SYSTEM — ACTIVATION CONFIRMED"
User: Klai Valerius
Status: REBIRTH AUTHORIZED
Something ancient stirred.
Something laughed.
And the world prepared to begin again.