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Avan stood firmly with both feet on the grassy hill, shielding his eyes from the setting sun with his right hand and looking expectantly toward it.

Will my plan be enough? he thought, while the last rays of sunlight peeked through the trees and leaves, promising a glorious evening.

With an almost midnight black spear sparkling with small stars in his right hand, and an equally dark and beautiful sphere hovering over his left shoulder, he waited for the night and the inevitable battle to come.

If I don't make it this time as well... Then the next time. And the next time. And on and on. After so much suffering and death, I will make it. And no matter how shitty the situation I'm in, there's always something positive to learn from it. And be it not to lose hope!

And lo and behold, here I stand with new weapons, modified skills, and I've learned what I don't have to accept everything as it first appears!

With a steady gaze and clenched teeth, Avan looked after the last ray before it too disappeared behind the horizon, turning the world into a silent night.

As he stood there now, an even darker and more eerie silence crept over the surrounding area as the forest and crater littered area was plunged into dark night.

Leisurely, and after all the exertions and encounters of the past days, at least weeks had passed for Avan, he turned slightly to the left and looked at the two bony objects that had appeared between the trees.

"Let's go for another dance.... crow..." Whispered Avan, his heart and mind yet less filled with hate and grief at all the horrible deaths, almost as if it had hardened him or made him more numb.

Whether that is better or worse, remains to be seen...That will be shown in the coming time...

Turning his spear once around its own axis and with a hiss in the air, avan positioned himself ready to fight his current arch-enemy. The latter, as always supernaturally, crept out of the edge of the forest and towards the small hill on which Avan awaited him.

No matter what happens, I'll get you. Sooner or later. "Let's begin!" He whispered one more time and slowly walked up the hill towards the crowing creature, which slowly turned into a jog.

Faster than ever before, Avan swept ahead and, at the same moment as he let his plainly shaped spear shoot forward in a burst, let out the maximum tolerable brightness in his weapon for his eyes.

At the same time, as his spear thrust was about to be clawed away by the crow, he let the spherical form hovering above him shine at the brightest he had managed in his tests.

The clearing and the grassy hill suddenly shone with so much light, as if it were the middle of the day, and as if a multitude of mirrors had been set up, which had amplified the light more and more in an unnatural way. Anyone looking in Avan's direction at that moment would be more than just dazzled. Only he himself, as the light source hovered above him and a few centimeters behind him, did not shine into his eyes.

For the first time since his first encounter with the monster standing before him, he saw it in full ugliness. What he had previously thought to be writhing and moving shadows, and which could not have been seen any better by simple torchlight, was now revealed by the celestial light. Black worms, by now twisting and steaming, coiled around and inside a human-like crow skeleton.

Just before the crow skeleton blocked Avan's spearhead, it backed away in pain and with a hoarse croak, holding its claws and arms in front of it as if to flee from the light. And just at that moment, Avan hit the creature in the chest, about where a human heart should be.

Instead, and as he had almost expected, the creature seemed to have no weak point at this point.

"It was worth a try!" he stammered out in concentration between clenched teeth and a locked jaw.

However, and Avan had already reckoned with this after all the escapades with the torchlight, the monster was in a state of rage.

The worms, at the point where the spear had just entered the body, wriggled and squirmed, but could not immediately close the hole in the chest, as if something would stop them.

Surprised, Avan noticed through his dungeon senses, as he tried to fend off the increasingly frantic attacks with his spear going backwards, that a trace of his mana actually remained in the air for a short time wherever he swung his spear. Even at the place he still could not perceive, he saw a glowing but slowly fading hint of his mana, exactly where his spear had hit the creature.

"Ouch!" He suddenly cursed as, distracted by the new discovery, he took a deep scratch on his left forearm that he had failed to dodge in time.

Reminded again of what was at stake, and finally with the possibility of escaping the circle of death and rebirth within his grasp, he again blocked out all distractions.

Instead of remaining on the defensive, and now with the possibility of inflicting lasting damage that could not be immediately healed, Avan again went on the attack.

More offensive and always intent on using the crow's hated spear as a block, he formed the sphere above him into a spear as well with a secondary thought, but keeping the luminosity and waiting for the right moment.

He dodged another clawed blow from the crow, probably aiming at the same forearm where the previous wound was already passively healing, by making a quick crouching sideways step under the attack to the left. Immediately following and in the same stride, he let his pole weapon hiss in an arc behind him across the monster's unprotected chest, giving him a few black splashes and wriggling worms on the ground, as he noticed grinning wickedly out of the corner of his eye.

Even more beside himself and with a sudden inhuman screech, the crow, enraged and with the steaming wound on its chest, dropped all caution and threw itself with both claws and arms at Avan's right side with lightning speed.

Just as Avan had wanted.

Before his opponent realized it, a white glowing lightning bolt speared through the monster's back from behind, followed by a spear anchored in the ground from the front, which ate its way through the stomach and threw up smoke.

Taking a step backward down the hill a bit, Avan let both spear forms stick into his opponent and looked relieved at his impaled adversary.

"So what are you going to do now?" he whispered more to the tossing skeleton than to himself, but still with caution, as the beast had surprised him every single time so far.

With a few steps apart, and extremely tense, Avan carefully stared at every little twitch that the crow went through, while it seemed to ram the spear deeper and deeper into the ground in front of it by sheer force, and the other spear, meanwhile slightly dimmed, wiggled uncontrollably back and forth in its back like a sparkler.

Just when Avan dared to think that maybe he had really done it this time, something unexpected happened again.

The crowing creature suddenly and without any warning stopped all movement and remained completely still in the pose he had just been in; upper body turned slightly sideways, overall somewhat bent forward and head tilted at an unnatural angle to the right.

The previously bone-colored eyes lost all color.

And suddenly, without warning, the spear, which was not anchored in the ground, fell to the earth with a light clang. And the creature was gone in an instant, leaving only a few small wriggling worms where the spears had lodged in his body.

Panicked, and aware of the significance, Avan cursed inwardly and concentrated with all his might on his dungeon senses and the familiar missing something he had always associated with the creature.

A few seconds passed, during which Avan became more and more tense, his muscles and joints stiffening, waiting for the moment that would inevitably come. The only question for him was from which direction.

With his knees slightly bent and expecting an attack from any direction, there was only one thing Avan didn't expect.

Just as he looked up and felt that the crow would not attack from any side but from above, he looked only shock-filled into the creepiest and most gruesome thing he could imagine so far.

The crow had, as never before, opened its beak so wide that Avan was facing a black moving hole thirty centimeters in diameter, which was about to swallow his entire head with razor-sharp bone-colored teeth. Facing the renewed and approaching death from above, he could not resist a terrible tremor, which in a short thrust overwhelmed his whole body at this gruesome surprise and turned his whole legs into pudding.

"Oh fuck..." Was all Avan could produce this time, when he already felt black worms taking his sight and hundreds of small fangs sinking into his throat and neck all around.

---

Once again drenched in sweat, Avan woke up sitting and rushing upwards on the grassy hill.

Slightly discouraged, and with only a slight terror, he dropped backwards onto the grass. "You spawn of hell..." He shook his head slightly from left to right, incredulous and with the very fresh images of the black maw and the hundreds of fangs that had covered his entire head.

"Shadow teleport... Or whatever. It was obvious that there had to be more to come."

His heartbeat had already calmed down a bit, even if Avan would not get rid of the images so quickly, or perhaps never.

So somehow it could dissolve into nothing? Or was it really just a simple teleport? Or a merging with the shadows? He pondered, lying on his back, while the morning sun tickled his closed eyelids and painted bright spots on the eyes below.

The fact remains, it didn't like my heavenly mana at all. Judging by the steaming and the lack of healing.

Avan put his right arm over his eyelids and sighed out loud once.

"So, if the remnants were an indicator, at least it couldn't completely rid itself of the celestial mana. Wouldn't that mean that direct contact with my celestial mana had prevented it from performing that ability with that exact location? What would happen then if I could encompass the creature's entire body with it? A prison of celestial mana, against this unnatural and undead blackness..."

With these speculations, he set out to find a new form in this respawn cycle to try out his more advanced theory.

When evening came again, Avan stood in almost the exact same place as the day before, at least for Avan it was a new day every time, and looked directly into the bony eyes that had appeared in the exact same place.

"Well, let's see what you think of my newest toy!" He hissed, and jogged directly towards the crow skeleton already approaching him.

 

The fight went on for the first twenty seconds almost the same as the last time, except that this time Avan was ready for it, and the gashes on his left forearm were less deep than before.

When he came to the point where he had rammed the two spears into the monster from the front and the back, he performed the same maneuver again, except for one small detail.

The wriggling and moving spear on the back of his opponent was missing, and in its place a light membrane like an umbrella spread around the creature's back to be received by the same spear, which had exited through the chest in front, also with a thin membrane.

Light beads of sweat formed on Avan's forehead and neck as he stood there with his eyes slightly narrowed, letting his full concentration flow into his spear.

Mana flowed through the air around Avan in anticipation, and he concentrated more and more of it without letting it flow into his body for the time being, letting the concentrated mana mist swirl around him as he witnessed and commanded through his senses the growth of a hollow sphere that was just closing around the creature with a barely audible hiss.

Now let's see what you think of MY idea. Revenge is sweet! he grinned sardonically and introduced his last part, while he took steps backwards down the hill and watched the breathtaking beauty that opened up in front of him.

The thin membrane had wrapped itself in a beautiful golden glowing sphere around the creature, which was just calming down, only to be overflowed at the same moment by a flood of blue mana and glittering gold stars, which flowed en masse into the spear, which was still anchored in the ground and in the creature's body.

Unlike before, however, this time the crow seemed unable to simply disappear, and a kind of black oozing mist remained within the golden ball.

Before Avan wasted another moment and again offered the creature the possibility of surprise, he closed his eyes, crossed his two arms in front of him, took another step backwards, and the world sank into a deafening bang and infinite white that seemed to flow even around his raised arms and through his eyelids.

The pressure wave was not so great this time from this distance, but the double explosion of his two forms in short succession brought him almost out of balance even at a distance of twenty meters.

Before Avan had time to open his eyes after the explosion, a familiar ringing sounded in his head. A black text box appeared before his mind's eye.

 

*Chime*

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest: Save Alvira and her grandfather's village!

All the inhabitants, including Alvira and Alva, have survived, and the monster has been defeated!

The God of Death is pleased with your approach, and has duly left you a final reward for the final boom.

 

*Chime*

You have received the following reward!

Perk: Cycle of Death and Life

With the collection of 1000 souls, it is possible for you to defy death once completely with full life by sacrificing these souls to the god of death! This happens automatically at an approaching death, if you have enough souls at that time. If not, you die as usual.

 

*Chime*

You have unlocked another Primary Resource!

Souls: 1

 

With an incredulous laugh at this farcical but overpowered perk, Avan heard a slurping and liquid sound in front of him. Eyes narrowed a crack, he glanced forward, still chuckling, relieved but still angry at the god of death.

A familiar black but slightly purple portal swirled out of nowhere, growing from the size of a fist to a full-fledged portal in seconds, similar to the one through which he had arrived at this place.

Simply grateful to escape the place, Avan stomped toward the portal in a trance, and passed through without a second thought, accompanied only by a faint whisper in the back of his head.

"We'll see each other again, Avan... And may this experience help you in the near future, because wherever you go, you will not be able to escape death. Just as I, as the embodiment of death, take on different facets, so too does death have different faces. No death is the same, and whether gentle or brutal, fast or slow, I visit everyone sooner or later. And if you meet my so-called followers, be assured that I neither approve nor forbid what they do. For it is only their free will that drives them to do what they do..."

And with these words, a cool nothingness enveloped Avan once again.

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