Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Evilyn looked at Zane for a brief moment, blinking as if she had mis-seen things, before breaking out into a fit of laughter. Flying away from Zane and approaching Gwen as she made a remark to the undead cheerleader.

"oh my, he really knows how to play the part, doesn\'t he? For a second there, I almost fell head over heels for the boy. Tell me, Gwen, where have you been hiding this young gentlemen caller of yours? He\'s simply delectable!"

Gwen was practically gnashing her teeth, thoroughly enraged by Evilyn\'s antics. She was going to say something to this regard, but Zane reacted first. His simpish act vanished in an instant after Evilyn revealed her true colors. And instead it was replaced with a malevolent glare.

"Tell me what you want? What will it take to let us pass through this ghost town of yours safely, and for you to pretend like you never saw us here?"

The Victorian style ghost floated back over to Zane, circling around him as if looking for the slightest chink in his armor. Thoroughly ignoring the fact that Gwen was about to have a meltdown, and instead focusing all of her effort on Zane, who was both an unknown quantity and her target.

After staring at the man from every possible angle, she finally smirked devilishly before responding to his question.

"Truth be told, my orders are strict to get rid of you. I mean, Balthasar and his fanatics are definitely angered by the bold claims you made to Lilith. Me, personally, I\'m actually in Lilith\'s camp. I don\'t believe the tales that Death is this physical figure, nor that she is our mother. Not wholeheartedly, at least.

It\'s mere mysticism used to fool the other Horde Kings into cooperating despite our nature being similar to humanity\'s insofar that we are in an eternal state of competition with one another for resources.

But… I\'ll tell you what Mr. Son of Death… Make me a true believer and I will not only let the two of you leave here safe and sound, but I will also go out of my way to hinder any reports that the others may be able to collect on you. In other words, spoiling the pot of gathered intelligence with some falsehoods.

What do you say? Can you back up your claims of being Death\'s one and only son?"

Zane was about to say something when the system sent him a message.

---

[New Quest Available: Conversion]

[Description: Evilyn\'s beliefs differ from the majority of her siblings insofar as she has a secular perspective on death. Convert her to become a true believer!]

[Rewards:

+100,000 XP

New Character Skin

New Title]

[Accept? Y/N]

[Note: Show this little bitch that mommy isn\'t to be messed with!]

---

Seeing how the only way he was going to get out of this situation while remaining unharmed was to convince Evilyn that Death was a very real entity and was indeed his mother, Zane had no real choice but to accept this quest.

The rewards were secondary to the primary objective of survival. Still, it was weird that he suddenly received a quest, as that was not something he had ever gained in the past. Was this a new feature of the system that his mother was giving him to make him more like that of a proper protagonist?

And what was this New Character Skin that he would gain as a reward for completing the Quest? That was also new. Clearly, by the sound of it, it was something cosmetic. Something that would change his appearance.

But this was neither here nor there, as Zane\'s immediate concerns were on the quest\'s primary objective. Thus, after accepting the quest, Zane quickly thought how he would prove death was real, without actually summoning his mother to confront Evilyn.

I mean… Without physical proof of Death\'s existence, then how could you prove that such a concept had a physical form and was a living entity? Proving the metaphysical to be reality was always something humanity had never been able to accomplish.

So… What were his options? It was then that Zane remembered something. All the while Evilyn sneered at him. Waiting smugly for him to try to convince her that his claims were real. Zane had an ability that was unique in this world. Something only he and Death herself had.

If he could find a corpse to resurrect. Then he could prove that at the very least some of his claims were real. The problem was that there were no bodies nearby, as they had all been converted into ghosts by Evilyn.

Well, that wasn\'t entirely true. There was one corpse standing nearby, one which he had already resurrected. And because of this, Zane walked over to Gwen and gave her an order.

"Kneel…"

Whether or not Zane actually issued a command, Gwen would have followed his words of her own volition. She was smart enough to realize what Zane was planning and thus she got down on her knees and swept her hair aside so that her neck was properly displayed to him.

There was a wry smile on her face as she made Zane promise to make it quick.

"Just promise me it won\'t\' hurt, alright? And when you bring me back, you owe me big time for this!"

Zane silently nodded his head, conveying with his expression that he would agree to Gwen\'s conditions. After which he manifested one of his sickles into his hands, causing Evilyn\'s expression to drop.

He was actually going to kill Gwen? The common belief was that Gwen had already suffered her second death and was brought back by their mother. And not Zane, as the very notion that he could do so was blasphemy to the Fanatics.

But as a member of the Moderate camp. Evilyn, who was more secular than others within her own faction, didn\'t believe that Gwen had actually died. There were other explanations for why her life force had suddenly dissipated only to return a few seconds later.

After all, the depths of the powers which the Undead wielded were truly unknown even among themselves. There could easily be some secret ability that Gwen had gained to mask her life force from her own kind.

But from the looks of it she was really offering herself up to execution, and that made Evilyn slightly panic on the inside. Firstly, if Gwen really died like this, that would be a loss for all of their kind, even if she was currently in bed with the Heretic.

However, more importantly, if Zane could actually resurrect the girl, then all of Evilyn\'s preconceived notions of reality would be shattered. She was about to try to stop the man, but he moved two swiftly. The movement of his hand as he decapitated Gwen was so smooth and quick that Evilyn thought at first she was seeing things.

But in the next moment, Zane looked back and sneered at her, raising his free hand above Gwen\'s headless body, and making a single comment before activating his unique skill.

"You better watch closely, because I don\'t believe Gwen will appreciate it if we have to do this all over again… Rise, sister, your time in this world is not yet over…."

Slowly but surely, Gwen\'s head reconnected to her body. Any blood that may have been spilled in the process forced its way back into the host. And in the end, Gwen rose back to her feet as spry and energetic as ever.

Albeit, she appeared to have some form of pain in her neck from the attack, because she was rubbing it slowly while she complained about it.

"Urgghh such a pain in the neck, literally! You know what I\'m going to call in that favor you owe me once we get back to camp? I want you to message my neck, big brother!"

Zane sighed and nodded his head in silent acceptance. He did agree that he would owe Gwen for this. As for Evilyn, she stared in abject horror at what she had just witnessed. It wasn\'t just the simple act of resurrection that had so terrified her.

Rather, when she saw the black mist spread from Zane\'s hands and towards Gwen\'s body, Evilyn could hear a voice calling out to her within it. A void she knew deep down in the very depth of her soul belonged to none other than death herself.

And it was with this in mind that Evilyn uttered a single word. One which contained all the dread and terror she currently felt.

"Mother…"