Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

15

Even though I expected to wake up in Heaven, or Hell, I woke up somewhere else. The place was pretty much equivalent to Hell, however. And it happened to be a place I was familiar with unfortunately.

"Welcome back!" End exclaimed, in a weirdly cheerful tone that made me uncomfortable. "Couldn't resist the greatness of the End World, huh?"

"I died..." I replied, frustrated with how cheery End was despite the seriousness of my situation.

"I know. I'm surprised you didn't get killed sooner to be honest. Good job on hanging on for so long."

I started doing my best to push my feet through End's body so I could get closer to their "face." "Why aren't I in Heaven right now if I'm dead? I know I'm not perfect, but I didn't think I'd get sent to Hell after dying."

"Well, I wouldn't say this is Hell," End said. "More like Purgatory. But anyways, to answer your question, you're not dead. You're actually just unconscious."

"B-but he stabbed me in the heart-"

"Are you forgetting the fact that each time you get a Cursed Stone, you gain a new power?"

"No, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Think about it, you neanderthal. You just recently got your second Cursed Stone, and now you're not dead when you should be. What power do you think you unlocked?"

It took me a second to process what they were trying to convey to me. I was so overwhelmed by a multitude of emotions that it was hard for me to get my brain to properly work. When I finally did, and connected all the dots, it came to me. The realization made me step back in shock.

"Are you saying...I'm immortal now?"

"Yup!" End replied. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"S-S-So no matter what happens to me, I'll never die?"

"Nope. You'll feel the pain of death each time, but you'll always come back. Which, when you think about it, is worse than permanent death."

"T-T-That means..." I started, while trembling from shock. It was a concept I couldn't fully wrap my head around initially without freaking out. "I-If I-I fight someone powerful, a-and they kill me, they'll be able t-to k-keep killing me over a-a-and over."

"Exactly!" End laughed, hysterically. "Your life is laughably horrible!"

"Shut up you big blob of motor oil!"

End ignored my insult, and just continued to mischievously pester me. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die over and over again."

"How do you know I'll die again? If I get stronger, I won't have to worry about that."

"You? Strong?" End asked, laughing even harder now. "You should worry about how you're going to save your friends from Zero after you regain consciousness, first."

"Can you just make me really angry like last time? That way I can use that form I had when I fought the dragons on Zero."

"What are you, a masochist?" End said.

"I just want to save my friends, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

"Aw, how commendable. Too bad I don't intend on helping you whatsoever."

"I hate you," I said.

"Thanks. You're about to wake up, so au revoir!"

As much as I wanted to insult End some more, they were right. I was starting to come back to a conscious state.

...

My eyes started to slowly flutter back up, and as they did, the battle between Zero and my friends was in full swing right before my eyes. I could tell he was toying with them, however. His underlings were just watching as they fought. My guess was that Zero, being the cocky bastard that he was, probably ordered them to stay out of it. I thought it would take awhile before I felt completely replenished, but the feeling was almost instantaneous. It was like I never died at all. I looked down at the sword that was driven through my chest, and noticed that the huge wound that the sword had caused started to heal. My body was healing all of my wounds from the inside. Almost like I had a built-in repair system within me.