Oberon stared at the starry night, lying alone on the ground, pierced by five swords.
Three white stars shone above him.
His dark, black blood was splattered everywhere around the lone star he lay upon. His crossed yellow and black eyes began to blur as he gazed upward, unblinking.
He fixated on the three white stars, then slowly raised his pale, trembling hand,stretching it toward them.
And the moment he fully reached out, one of the stars began to fade.
It vanished into nothingness.
Oberon's expression dimmed. His gaze filled with regret, with a sadness deeper than words.
As the star disappeared, his pale body grew even paler,nearly transparent. The swords embedded in him loosened, ever so slightly.
"Haa…"
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
He knew exactly what was about to happen.
He was going to die.
And then a black and yellow screen appeared before him.
A familiar screen. One he had seen countless times over the past ten years.
[A Believer has Died]
He already knew it.
But hearing it from the system was just as painful as always.
The past ten years had been cruel,filled with death, war, and despair.
Oberon closed his eyes.
How many times had he caused this same feeling in the gods he once killed?
He had slain hundreds of them…
And now, it was his turn.
There was no hope of survival.
His mind drifted back,to the days when he had guided his race with pride and hope, when he had spent months pondering how to give them freedom, peace, a future.
And in the end?
He failed.
Betrayed by the very gods who once claimed to share his dream.
They had all been called "gods," but truthfully, they weren't gods at all.
They had once been human, just like him,brought here by that one being, the one who had filled their hearts with twisted desires: power, domination, freedom, immortality…
Even he had dreamed.To be free.To be unchained from the world.But now… he was about to die.What are dreams before death?
Hope. Despair. Regret.
It didn't matter in the face of death.
Death welcomed all. It treated kings and beggars the same. Even a death god could die and be accepted by death itself.
And as these thoughts filled his fading mind.The two remaining stars above him shimmered…
Then one faded,now only one star remained.
Another believer had died.
[A Believer has Died]
"Again… reading this cursed system words is really brutal."
Oberon chuckled bitterly, his voice hoarse.
"What a cruel thing to hear before death. Now I truly have only one believer left… It seems I can only live for about a week… maybe a few days at best."
He spoke the words aloud, though no one was there to hear them.His gaze drifted upward,to the last white star shining in the starry sky.
It shone the brightest now.
But it was also the only one still shining.
"What a sad thing… Just a week ago, the sky held hundreds of stars. Now… there's only one left. A truly tragic sight."
He let out a long, weary breath.Then, with a thought, he summoned his status screen.
[God System
Godly Name: Oberon
God Titles:God of Beginning and End,The End of All Beings,The Hope of All Beings,The End of all Beings,Pioneer of Civilization,God Killer,Guiding God of the Averze Race,Dreamer of Freedom
Divinity Stage: Young God
Soul: 1
Spirit: 1
Body: 0
Vitality: 0
Believers: 1
Faith Points: 102
Godly Authorities: Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light, Lower Dark Flame
Skills:
-Blessing of Absolute Darkness:
Allows the god to bless believers with Darkness using Faith Points. The more Faith Points spent, the greater the blessing.
-Blessing of Absolute Light:
Allows the god to bless believers with Light using Faith Points. The more Faith Points spent, the greater the blessing.]
Oberon looked at his system status, and what he saw filled him with quiet despair.
All his skills were gone.
All his stats,gone.
Even his Godly Authorities had vanished, leaving behind only the two he'd possessed when he first ascended to godhood,alongside the one he had learned on his own.
Everything else had been devoured.
Devoured by one of the very allies who had betrayed him.
They had known how powerful he was,too powerful. So they stripped him of everything. His body had been reduced to that of a dying god, and his spirit and soul were now so weak they barely surpassed a mortal's.
The skills he had spent ten years training… all destroyed. Consumed.
His once vast system, once filled with powerful abilities and overflowing stats, was now hollow and broken.
And those 102 Faith Points? Pathetic. A mere scrap compared to the tens of thousands he had held only a week ago.
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
His body had already begun to fade. Now, only his torso, head, and two arms remained. His legs had vanished, disintegrated into nothingness.
With the last sliver of his remaining faith, he turned his attention outward to see what had become of his last believer.
Was he being hunted by the followers of other gods?Was he fleeing for his life?Or… was he currently tortured?
[Do you want to view your believer, Xerxes Artaz? Yes / No]
Without hesitation, Oberon selected "Yes."
The moment he did, his Faith Points dropped from 102 to 95.
His gaze shifted to the last remaining white star,the final believer who still clung to him.
Xerxes Artaz.
What he saw nearly broke what remained of his fading heart.
A young boy, no older than ten. Blonde hair. Two green eyes shaped like crosses. A face that once could have been called cute, framed by two long, pointed ears,a feature of his race.
Xerxes was covered in cuts and blood. His white robe was soaked through, stained deep crimson,so much so that it almost appeared red.
He was running through a dark forest, alone, his small body trembling,tears streamed down his cheeks, and his face twisted into a mix of rage and sorrow.
Oberon watched silently,he remembered that face.
He had seen Xerxes before.One of the few noble born members of the Averze race. If he remembered correctly, the boy had once shown incredible promise.
He might've even become a powerful mage…
If he'd only had the time.If he'd only had the chance.But now… they stood together at death's door.
"Haa…"
A soft, breathless sigh escaped Oberon's mouth.He glanced at the number floating before him.
95.
"Just ninety five…" he whispered in his weak, fading voice.
He paused. Thought.
Then a glimmer of something sparked in his dimming eyes.
"Maybe… maybe this will be enough to bless him with an affinity for Light?"
And with that final thought Oberon made one last gamble.
A dying god's final gift.
Oberon activated Blessing of Absolute Light, pouring all of his remaining Faith Points into the skill.
Although it wasn't nearly enough to fully awaken a Light affinity,it might give the boy a chance.
[Faith Points: 0]
The moment the points left him, his body began to disintegrate faster,half of his torso vanished in an instant.But he didn't care,his gaze stayed locked on Xerxes.
His body continued to fade,faster and faster,until only his head remained. And even that was beginning to dissolve.
But still, Oberon watched.He didn't look at Xerxes' struggles, nor the blood on his face, nor the chaos chasing behind him.
No,he looked deeper.
He looked at Xerxes' soul,searching for even the faintest spark of Light and he found it.
A small, flickering glow. Fragile. Hidden. But real.
Oberon smiled his cross shaped eyes shimmered with a soft, heavenly light and with what little remained of his faith points he left Xerxes one final message before he crossed through the gates of death.
Xerxes ran, panting heavily.He was exhausted mentally and physically,but he kept running.Each step drained him more than anything he had ever experienced in his life.Every time he glanced back, the memories returned:
His father…
His mother…
His sisters…
Their deaths burned in his mind, and with them, the smiling faces of their murderers.
A shudder crept down his spine at the thought,but it wasn't only sorrow that filled him.No,in his cross shaped eyes, a deep and growing hatred began to burn.
Then before him, a screen appeared in midair.Black and yellow.
It hovered silently, glowing in the fading light of dusk.
Xerxes barely had time to read it.But the moment he did, his eyes widened in shock.
[The Guiding God of the Averze race is watching you.He wishes you the strength to survive.He now enters a deep sleep.]
"The Guiding God of the Averze race?"
Shock spread across Xerxes' face.He didn't even know what to say. But he didn't stop running.
The black and yellow screen floated beside him, keeping pace.Every Averze knew who that was,their god, the one who had guided their people since ancient times.
The elders, the most talented among their kind… all had seen this divine message once in their lives.
It was said to appear only to those who had the potential to change the fate of the race.
It had led the Averze to glory, to the peak of their civilization,but as Xerxes read the message again, the words sank in deeper.
Their Guiding God was going into a deep sleep?
His heart clenched.He stumbled for a moment, frozen in place, overwhelmed by the realization,but then,he forced his legs to move again. He kept running.
His eyes, however, were filled with fear.
Even their god… had been attacked.Even their god was falling into slumber.
Everyone knew what that meant.
When a god falls into sleep, they may never awaken again.
It was as good as death.
And that was what terrified him most,because if gods could die… then what hope did mortals have?
Yet even as he ran, something began to change.His body without him realizing began to heal.
His wounds slowly closed. A small spark of warmth filled his legs, restoring just enough stamina to keep moving.
He didn't understand it.But he ran faster.
Far above him, unseen, Oberon watched it all.
He saw the look of shock in Xerxes' eyes,but he said nothing.
Instead, he let go.His divine form dissolved into nothingness, and his spirit drifted away…
Into a deep, endless sleep and as the darkness embraced him, he dreamed.
He dreamed of the day he suddenly turned into a god.