Betrayed by Heaven, Reborn as the Blade the Gods Tried to Erase
The God-Slayer's Requiem
Chapter 4: Rebirth in Silence
There was no pain.
That was the first thing Klai noticed.
After the light, after the annihilation, after the certainty of death—there was only stillness. Not darkness. Not nothingness.
Stillness.
He felt suspended, as if his soul floated in an endless sea without wind or tide.
Then came the voices.
Not loud.
Not commanding.
Whispers—broken, layered, ancient.
"…he should not exist…"
"…the mark failed…"
"…a human soul that rejected divinity…"
Klai tried to move.
He had no body.
Memory rushed back in fragments—Ashroot burning, his family, the god's cold eyes, the chains of scripture.
Hatred followed.
But beneath it… clarity.
I died, he thought.
But I am not gone.
The whispers grew louder.
Something pulled at him.
THE SPACE BETWEEN GODS
Light and shadow parted.
Klai found himself standing—no, existing—in a vast, broken expanse.
Fragments of shattered thrones drifted endlessly. Cracked halos rotated in slow orbits. Chains hung suspended, snapped and rusted, floating as if time had forgotten them.
This was not Celestara.
This was not any realm he knew.
A presence emerged from the ruins.
Not radiant.
Not whole.
A figure composed of fractured light and shadow, its form incomplete, its voice echoing as though spoken through countless wounds.
"Welcome," it said. "To the place the heavens pretend does not exist."
Klai did not kneel.
"Where am I?"
The figure's laughter was bitter.
"The Null Expanse. Where gods go to die—or be erased."
Klai's eyes narrowed.
"You're a god."
"I was."
THE TRUTH OF THE MARK
More figures appeared.
Some monstrous.
Some beautiful.
All broken.
Gods.
Forgotten. Sealed. Betrayed.
They surrounded Klai, studying him with a mixture of curiosity and hunger.
"You rejected annihilation," one whispered.
"You scarred the God-King," said another.
"You should not be here," a third hissed.
Klai clenched his fists.
"He killed my family."
Silence fell.
Then the fractured god stepped forward again.
"No," it said softly. "He killed them because of you."
Klai's jaw tightened.
"He fears you," the god continued. "Because you are proof that divinity is not absolute. The mark he placed upon you was never meant to guide you."
A projection appeared between them.
The Divine Doom—a parasitic law branded into Klai's soul.
"It was a leash," the god said. "And an execution trigger."
"Then why didn't it work?" Klai asked.
The god's shattered face twisted into something like a smile.
"Because you possess what gods lost long ago."
"What?"
"Choice."
THE OFFER
The gods of the Null Expanse knelt.
Not in reverence.
In defiance.
"We cannot return," the fractured god said. "But you can."
Klai felt something stir within him.
Not mana.
Not divinity.
A system—vast, cold, impartial.
"GODFALL SYSTEM — CORE UNSEALED"
Condition Met: God-King's Doom Rejected
Lines of pale light formed before him.
"Would you like to make a contract?"
Target: All Willing Gods of the Null Expanse
Klai's heart pounded.
"What's the price?" he asked.
The god answered without hesitation.
"Your path will never be peaceful."
Klai laughed quietly.
"I already lost peace."
He reached forward.
"I accept."
REBIRTH
Light exploded outward.
The Null Expanse shattered like glass.
Klai felt himself falling.
Falling—
He gasped.
Air burned into his lungs.
Sound crashed into him—crying, shouting, the frantic rhythm of life.
He opened his eyes.
A low wooden ceiling.
The smell of herbs and blood.
A woman screaming.
A newborn's cry.
His own.
"REBIRTH COMPLETE"
Host Body: Compatible
Soul Integrity: 100%
Klai clenched his tiny fist.
The mark was gone.
In its place—
something far worse for the gods.
Outside, unseen by mortals, the heavens trembled.
And Iglesias frowned.