Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 378: Who He Belonged To

Chapter 378: Who He Belonged To

After saying goodbye to Tank, Chang Xuefeng walked forward into the darkness, a soft smile on his face.

With every step he took, the jungle died around him, the life force of the grasses, mosses, plants, and vines pulled from the living and into him. Taking in a deep breath, he fed on the life forces.

It was something he had never done before.

The creator told him that the souls were never his; it was his job simply to ferry the life forces of the newly dead into the afterlife. He wasn’t a judge, he wasn’t a jury, and he definitely wasn’t an executioner.

No. Up to this point in time, the Angel of Death, the Grim Reaper, had never actually killed a living thing. It took a lot of effort on his part. After all, as death, it was kind of his thing. As simple as breathing, the souls of the living called to him, taunted him with everything he was denied.

There were other Deaths in the world. The human population alone was more than one man, even a god, could handle. But they kept to themselves and their territories. Never crossing lines that shouldn’t be crossed, so he had no idea how the others did things.

Were they just as passive as he was? Wrapped in chains that none of them could see or feel until they were testing their limits? The creator had given him his orders...

But now? Well, he had new marching orders.

There was no being in this realm or the next that was stronger than him. It took nothing more than a simple touch to reap someone’s life.

So why had the house kicked him out? He didn’t have a soul, a life force to give to Hattie. He thought he had given everything he had to the little Princess who called him Daddy in such a sweet voice.

Apparently, it wasn’t enough.

The chains wrapped around him shook with each footstep as he absorbed more and more of the jungle’s life force. It was like feeding was showing him a side of himself that he had never even contemplated before.

Or, more likely, it was Hattie who was showing him what life could be like if he only took what he wanted.

After all, she looked to him when she was lost and confused. She asked him to explain emotions that he had never felt before her, she relied on him more than just physically, she relied on him mentally as well. He was her calm in the storm, the one she turned to when she was lost.

And that was more of a calling than wandering the earth, taking the souls of people who had recently died.

The chains around his arms shook even more until the point where he could have sworn he could hear them. The weight of centuries of self-imposed limitations fighting against his new mentality.

Plants withered around him. Vines turned brittle as flowered crumbled to the ground, and the very air around him turned dry and still.

This was what it meant to walk with Death.

Power flowed through him until it felt like the weight of everything he carried just fell from his shoulders as he continued to feed.

Fuck the rules. Fuck everything, every chain, every leash that tried to contain him. Fuck the living and fuck the dead.

Tilting his chin up, he stood straighter than he ever had before. Cracking his head from side to side, his angelic human appearance disappeared. In its place was a skull. Not the skull of a dead body, but more like one outlined on skin; for he was both the living and the dead.

Sensing the change in him, the jungle itself trembled in fear. It didn’t know what it had done to deserve so many gods walking through its paths; all it could do was behave itself and hope that it would still be alive by the time the sun rose in the morning.

However, as much as the jungle knew to submit, there were always those who didn’t understand their place in the world.

"If you want to live, turn around and walk away," said Chang Xuefeng, his eyes narrowing on the man who had stepped forward to block his path.

He had seen this kind of man many times at the beginning of the world. Those warlords who didn’t understand peace and only wanted death. He was even dressed in an armor of bones and golden thread with a crown on his head.

"Spoken like a true coward who has never fought a day in his life," replied the man, pulling out a long sword from where it was sheathed against his back.

"Do I need to fight?" smirked Chang Xuefeng, holding out his hands on either side of him as if to prove his point.

"In this world, there is always a need to fight," snarled the man, clenching the sword in his hand even tighter. "You either kill or be killed."

"Well," nodded the Angel of Death as if he was actually considering what the man had said. "Seeing as I can’t be killed, then I guess that leaves only one option for me... by your own logic."

Startled, the man shook his head for a second before he let out a loud cry. Surging forward, he moved faster than what was humanly possible. His blade came down in a clean arc, meant to sever head from shoulders in a single blow. It was his signature move, both on and off the battlefield. One that he had used for centuries.

However, Chang Xuefeng didn’t so much as flinch.

Catching the blade in one hand, Chang Xuefeng smiled softly at the expression of fear and horror in the man who thought he was a god.

With fingers curled around the metal, rust poured from under Chang Xuefeng’s palm, the power of death not even sparing the weapon. In an instant, the massive sword that stood six feet long was nothing more than a pile of dust on the ground, blowing away with the first gust of wind.

The god gasped, his mouth dropping open, but it was already too late.

Chang Xuefeng stepped forward and placed a single hand on the god’s chest.

"Die."

No flourish. No blade. No lightning.

He didn’t even need that one word, but for the sake of the being who was trying to come to terms with what just happened, Chang Xuefeng decided to be merciful.

Might as well let him know who killed him before the Angel of Death consumed his soul.

No, he was no longer the Angel of Death. He was no longer associated with the Heavenly realm or the angels that lived there. He was no longer a being with one foot in all three realms.

But he wasn’t the Grim Reaper, either.

No, the humans had polluted that name until he could no longer stand hearing it.

As the god’s body became consumed by the jungle, Chang Xuefeng thought about who he was now that the chains holding him back were gone.

It needed to be something so that everyone who heard it would understand. The old Angel of Death was gone. The passive one. The observer.

What remained now... was the sword and the executioner. The wrath and the mercy. He was no longer shackled to anyone’s design but her own.

He was hers.

The jungle cleared before him as he found his path again, heading back to the house. His powers were once again under wraps. But this was his choice, not one that had been forced on him.

He had broken his chains.

And now, Heaven help anyone who stood between him and Hattie.

He just had to figure out a new name that told everyone who he belonged to.

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