- Phantom of Death

'If he is still alive... Why did I get notified by the system of his... No. The system notified me that I killed him but if his immortality is in a way that he would be revived after a while, then it would make sense.' Zex was feeling disturbed. 'The question is if he has revived already, or not...'

Another issue that bugged Zex was that when he gained the [Agent of Death] class, why did the god of death not contact him? 'I need to find out if Edge is still alive. There is much I have to ask him.'

As Drago received Arissef's and Edge's accounts of what happened, he did not question if they would distort the information to their commander and long-time friend. Therefore, Zex took their words at face value.

Since he has also separated his consciousness from Drago's and maintained it for long enough similar to making each of his arms do something different from the other, he was able to become another set of eyes and ears. This allowed him to capture certain expressions and words that Drago did not notice in the memory. He was like a video editor reviewing the clips the team captured. No... He was like a video editor who was reviewing another video editor's work.

Also, while Drago was not all brawn, his brain was wired mostly for combat.

Zex, however, was able to read the very subtle micro-expressions on Arissef and Edge when Drago visited them.

He could see the pain in their faces reflecting the horror that they experienced... But most importantly, they wore an intense resolve to become stronger as if they wanted to get out that instant and train.

Their resolve was being contagious even to him, how much more would it have affected Drago who met them personally?

Zex was convinced that this was the point when these three started their paths to becoming the monsters they were at their peak.

After Drago calmed down, he urged Edge to continue. Arissef already told him his side of the story but he wanted to hear it from Edge as well.

...

Arissef, who was still planting his hands on the floor to maintain the barrier, felt a bone-chilling aura penetrate his senses.

He raised his head only to see Edge standing with a cold expression, tears still falling from his eyes.

Slowly, Arissef began to see a shadowy smoke gather around Edge's body.

"Pathetic. She died in such a useless way."

Barazi who was still standing at the exit snickered.

Hearing this, Arissef was gnashing his teeth and was about to lash out verbally when he felt a gaze fall upon him.

He saw Edge looking at him and when their eyes met, Edge shook his head.

"When I say so, remove this barrier, take Amber's body to a corner, and rest." Edge said as he picked up his daggers and sheathed them. He then picked up the sword that stabbed Amber and swung it a couple of times. "Leave the rest to me."

In such a dire situation, Arissef would not risk taking such a course of action. However, he was feeling something strange coming from Edge... As if there was nothing he could not do.

"Okay." Arissef agreed, giving a glance at Amber's corpse and checking the surroundings to find the safest spot. "I'm ready!"

Edge nodded as he took on a fighting stance and compressing the black aura surrounding him. "Now!"

From the moment Arissef lifted the barrier to when he carried Amber's corpse to his target area, it only took around 5 seconds.

However, when he turned his sight to the battle, Edge was already standing a short distance away from Barazi and his two bodyguards.

The thugs? Their bodies were sliced into multiple pieces on the floor behind Edge.

How? Arissef did not know. He fought countless battles while observing and assessing the field including Edge's combat capabilities. He knew deep down that even if he poured in all his buffs to enhance Edge's overall strength, he would still have had trouble facing those thugs, much less obliterate them within seconds.

What stunned him the most was the accumulation of a type of dark energy cloaking Edge and his blade.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT POWER???" Barazi, who was mostly calm throughout the battle, was now showing an expression of disbelief and panic.

The next second, Edge threw his sword straight towards Barazi. One of the bodyguards moved to block the sword with his ax. The force of the sword was surprisingly strong as it pushed him back and even cracked his weapon. Just when they all thought the sword lost its momentum, Edge arrived instantly and kicked the sword hilt, crushing the ax and piercing a gaping hole on the bodyguard's chest. The sword continued to fly onward, barely grazing Barazi's face as the other bodyguard pulled him aside just in the nick of time.

A second later, they heard an explosion and rumbling from the dark hall behind them, drawing their gaze upon instinct. When they retracted their sight to the bodyguard who was turned into a donut, Edge was already cutting him up like sushi with his daggers.

Arissef, on the other hand, constructed multiple layers of barriers around himself and Amber's corpse. While he believed that Edge had this in the bag after what he witnessed, he dare not risk the scoundrel, Barazi, finding a way to use Amber to threaten Edge. As he was doing so, he started replenishing his mana and healing his injuries with potions. He also tried to restore Amber's condition and close the wound while inspecting if there were traces of deathly energies within Amber's body.

When Edge saw this, he held a huge amount of gratitude for Arissef going all the way, sticking out his neck to try and save his wife. Although they both failed in the end, he would never forget to repay this act of kindness.

"What did you do???" Barazi touched his wound, only to find out that he could not heal it with his magic. Moreover, he could no longer sense the death magic he spent so much time imbuing in those thugs, including the ax bodyguard.

Edge did not give him a single answer.

It was the unadulterated death energy that surfaced after Amber's death that gave the god of death a medium to make contact with Edge and gave him almost absolute control over it.

The energy that was cloaking Edge was a concentration of the death energy that permeated all around the room. The reason why it was so thick was that the thugs and Barazi were not only emanating their own since the beginning of the battle but also naturally converted the various types of energies around them over time. This was the cause for the uneasy feeling Arissef had when the thugs showed themselves earlier. As more thugs died, the death energy in the room rapidly grew more and more, allowing Barazi more avenues to use his magic.

While Barazi, as a necromancer, had a certain amount of control over death energy through spells and rituals, it was laughable to compare it to the control given to Edge by the originator, itself.

"This is unfair! I am of the Entolo family! A commoner such as you has no right possessing that power!" Barazi was fuming as he felt wronged. It was only a matter of time before Edge killed him and his remaining bodyguard would not even be able to do a thing to stop that from happening.

Edge, who was staring them down, suddenly charged at Barazi and his bodyguard.

Feeling utter helplessness in the current situation, Barazi pumped all of his death energy into the bodyguard and pulled an amulet and a dagger from his clothes.

Surprisingly, after the bodyguard was given the huge chunk of death energy, he was able to fight Edge to a standstill. However, they all knew it was only a matter of time for Edge to whittle away at the bodyguard's energy.

It was at this moment when Arissef noticed Barazi pull out the amulet and began chanting.

"EDGE! STOP HIM! HE IS SUMMONING SOMETHING DANGEROUS!"

As Arissef shouted this, Barazi stopped chanting and stabbed the dagger into his left forearm and ran it until his wrist. Arissef was trying to quickly cast a spell that would reach Barazi but he knew the truth and prepared for the worst. As the blood from Barazi's left arm dripped on the amulet, the latter started glowing crimson red, giving off an ominous feeling to everyone within the room.

"You are too late! HAHAHAHAHA"