Death Heir's Devouring System
Chapter 38: The Champion’s Legacy

Chapter 38: The Champion’s Legacy

Item: [Maiden Skin]

Item Type: [Armor]

Item Rank: [Cleansed]

Item Description: [Abused by her creator, the maiden used everything around her in order to escape. Time passed, during which she gave life to many children. Happiness began to grace her once more, yet fate was not so kind. Her creator was closing in on her and her heirs. With no other choice, she tore apart her own skin, splitting it into countless robes, which she entrusted to her children, hoping they would remain undetected by the vile evil.]

Azrael’s eyes narrowed. This was far from a happy tale—but then again, life rarely was.

Calling forth the Maiden Skin, a beautiful silk robe appeared around his body. Thinner than a sheet of paper. It was not going to provide him with any kind of protection. However, he felt the change instantly.

His steps grew softer, his form began to blur slightly. The attire made him harder to spot, even in motion.

’This is a great find already,’ he mused, going over the other items.

Item: [Mother Needle]

Item Type: [Weapon]

Item Rank: [Cleansed]

Item Description: [A nail torn from a skinless, weeping mother. Transformed into a blade meant to arm and protect her children.]

’It looks like these items are connected to one another,’ he noted, willing for the needle to appear in his hands.

It was the weapon Champion Frederick had used when battling against the corrupted monsters that had overrun the Moon Breakers. Its blade was thin and unusually short—too long to be a dagger, too short to be called a sword.

Azrael wasn’t one for swords, however he could use the weapon as a dagger should the worst come. Not to mention with its Cleansed Rank it could probably inflict more harm than Gravebloom.

Item: [Teapot]

Item Type: [Mundane]

Item Rank: [Blessed]

Item Description: [Every substance poured into the Teapot shall be blessed, purified into drinkable water, ensuring the children remain ever nourished, never Forsaken.]

Azrael examined the item, it looked like any ordinary teapot, crafted from golden material and smooth to the touch.

’This might be the most valuable of them all,’ he thought. With the Blessed Teapot, his water problem would be solved.

Lastly, his gaze stopped at the final item.

Item: [Gray’s Cigar]

Item Type: [Mundane]

Item Rank: [Cleansed]

Item Description: [Crafted solely for Gray’s heir. Due to the youngster’s crippling nicotine addiction, his grandfather created a cigar that would not harm but heal him. Its effects are halved when used by anyone other than its intended user.]

Azrael arched an eyebrow. No doubt, this was the item he was meant to deliver to Principal Arthur Gray.

’Still, from the looks of it, this item is created by human hands and not granted by the system. Then why isn’t it in the possession of Arthur Gray’s grandson?’

Since he couldn’t know anything, he shook his head and willed for the cigar to appear in his hands. It was thick and brown like any other ordinary one. Its texture was slightly rugged, ensuring a firm hold.

’So smoking this heals me?’ He found the idea bizarre, particularly because he wasn’t a person that was interested in things that could harm him, like alcohol or nicotine.

’Well, the effects should be halved, so I doubt it’s that powerful, otherwise Champion Frederick would have used it to heal himself. Not to mention I don’t know if it is reusable or single-time use,’

This was the entire arsenal his teacher had entrusted him with, it was fewer items than one would have expected a Champion to possess, but Azrael wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

He knew the old man had stopped pursuing power long ago, all he had wanted was to teach young Chosen how to survive. He’d likely sold every item he didn’t need and only kept the ones he valued the most.

Azrael scoffed, ’Still, to think I learned the mighty principal had a grandson thanks to an item description... definitely unexpected.’

With his new gains inspected, he continued approaching the towering structure. It was going to serve as both a temporary shelter and a perfect vantage point.

Due to its colossal size, it gave Azrael the wrong impression about how long the distance between them truly was. It took him an entire day to reach it. Thankfully, he hadn’t been attacked by anything yet.

"No other Chosen in sight," he sighed. Was he unlucky enough to have been teleported far away from everyone else? Or was he standing on the countless corpses of Chosen who had failed to crawl upwards from the sand, like he had managed to?

He threw away the thought and focused on the towering structure. Even with his improved vision, its top was impossible to perceive.

Taking a step closer, he examined it. It was made from black rugged materials, possibly stone.

Approaching the entrance, which was three times taller than himself, he entered.

Despite its colossal height, the interior was surprisingly small. Gazing upward, all he could see were stairs twisted into a circular pattern leading to the top. Each step reached up to his waist, forcing him to jump to ascend.

He might have cursed his luck before, but now—being Blessed—he found it surprisingly easy to jump higher than before, and he didn’t tire as easily.

With that, he began ascending.

*****

His head was spinning from having to climb so many stairs, but he had reached the top—even if it was the middle of the night. It looked like this planet was similar to his own, following a 24-hour day and night cycle.

He studied the top of the tower. It wasn’t anything extravagant—just a fence made from the same material as the tower, meant to stop someone from falling off. Not that it offered much security, since the gaps between the railings were so wide he could slip through without even trying. There was also a roof meant to protect from rain and possibly flying abominations.

His eyes snapped to the west—or at least where he presumed west was, since it was where he had last seen the sun set.

"Too dark to see," he groaned. It seemed he’d have to sleep through the rest of the night and wait for morning to perceive anything useful.

Or so he thought—until his eyes snapped to the east.

He squinted involuntarily as a clear orange light illuminated the far horizon.

At that moment he figured out why the sand was the same color as ash and why he had yet to see any sign of fauna or flora.

In the far distance, the ground ended, and the horizon was illuminated by an impossibly massive ocean of boiling lava.

He stared at the jaw-dropping scene in awe, a chill running down his spine warning him not to gaze too long, lest something decide to stare back.

Breaking the gaze, he moved to the edge, glancing down toward the base of the tower.

"Now its purpose makes sense,"

Following the logic of his home planet, he deduced that whatever beings had once inhabited these lands before succumbing to Corruption had built this tower as a refuge for when the lava eventually reached this area.

The hot, ash-like sand meant that the lava was able to reach this point. If it behaved like water, then receding so far back could only mean one thing—a giant wave was coming sooner or later.

In other words, a lava tsunami.

That meant, eventually, the lava would reach him. And even if the tower kept him above the molten tide, he would be trapped, surrounded by lava on all sides, as the heat slowly cooked him alive.

"Troublesome," he cursed.