Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

His injuries aside, Zach felt a little tired. What was it with old people and never listening?

The First added some pressure on the base of Zach's throat as he continued.

"I asked for your identity! Not your name!"

Zach frowned at the First's words. He had seriously missed something.

This was no longer just about surviving. He had to know what the First was asking about. It was enough to make someone who had lived for millennia go crazy. It was important, and not just because the First Child was trying to kill him over it.

"Where do you come from?! How can you wield that power with this body?!" The First asked, growing increasingly angry and dangerous as Zach stayed silent.

"First of all, I have no idea what you're talking about," Zach hurriedly squeezed out before the First could be disappointed with the answer.

The First Child's frown changed slightly with the addition of confusion. With his hand around Zach's neck, he could tell that he wasn't lying.

"Secondly, are you talking about my world essence energy? That's usually the explanation." Zach tried to calm the situation down by talking and explaining as best he could. The moment he was separated from the First, he could boil his body with the world essence energy and fight the First with his familiars.

But now, the First could snap his neck as soon as he tried something. Zach didn't want to risk it. He just had to put some distance between himself and the First. But it seemed like the First had no intention to even let up on the pressure around Zach's neck.

Fortunately, breathing wasn't a necessity as long as he had world essence energy. It could just restore the damages from not breathing and keep his brain running.

"World essence energy…?" He said doubtfully before shaking his head. "No, that wouldn't explain it…" The First's voice trailed off as he sank into silent thought, trying to understand what had happened.

Zach got a bad feeling.

A moment later, the First's eyes lit up.

He didn't need to understand it.

The problem lay with Zach. If Zach was gone, it would no longer be a problem.

"You will pay for the deaths of my brethren with your life," The First said.

From that, Zach could tell something was off. The First shouldn't care this much about the deaths of his siblings. He definitely didn't like that his siblings died, but he wouldn't go crazy like this unless…

Unless they were actually dead.

Zach's eyes lit up.

The First had said it wasn't because of the world essence energy, but Zach didn't know what else it could be. Besides, the world essence energy gave him incredible regeneration and endurance. It wasn't to the point of immortality, but give it a millennia or two, and Zach was confident he would be immortal.

So, if it could make him immortal, couldn't it unmake someone else's immortality?

Had he permanently killed the Fifth and Seventh Children?

It was possible.

But now, he was going to die for it.

The First tightened his grip around Zach's throat. Zach felt the pressure build on his larynx and his vertebrae. He wasn't sure if he could recover from that. He gave his familiars the go sign while he placed barriers inside his throat.

He couldn't fit them between his neck and the First's hand without adding more pressure to his throat. They would also break almost instantly.

He could, however, make some space by putting them just inside his skin.

It was disgustingly uncomfortable, but Zach didn't have a choice. He had to buy as much time as he could, even if it was just a fraction of a second.

At the same time, he spurred his world essence energy into action.

The First felt Zach's body ripple and sizzle with power, and he hurriedly increased his force until he heard a cracking sound. Zach's body went limp.

A sword covered in dazzling golden flames cut through the air, leaving ripples in its wake. It was a full-powered strike from an Archangel with four wings and a radiant halo on full display. It would cut clean through a mountain.

The First stood up, turned around, and caught it with one hand in a single smooth motion. The sword's sharp edge cut into his palm, but it wasn't enough to make him wince.

No, much greater things than something that couldn't even be called pain dominated the First's mind.

He had been shocked by the power Zach displayed.

But now that Zach was gone and his power with him, the real problem rose to the surface.

Zach had used that power on the Fifth.

The First wanted to deny it since it didn't make sense, but he felt it deep in the essence of his being.

The Fifth was gone. They wouldn't come back. Zach had destroyed their existence.

One of his siblings that had accompanied him for millennia was gone. A face and personality that he was more familiar with than his own was gone. He would never see it again.

And if his hunch was right, it was the same with the Seventh Child. That was why his heart had been so soft for several days now.

Once he witnessed the death of the Fifth Child, the death of the Seventh sank in as well.

Two of his siblings were gone forever.

How could the First possibly stay sane?

How could he not go crazy?

The Ninth was temporarily dead. The Eighth was the same. The Sixth was hanging by a thread.

The others were holding on.

If the fighting had dragged on, the others would have most likely also fallen.

This youngest Evandiel and his familiars…

The First had underestimated them, and it had cost them greatly.

"My brethren…" The First said in a choked voice.

The Third and Fourth nodded. They knew what the First was going to do. They agreed.

They had seen what happened to the Fifth.

Even if Zach was dead, it didn't end there.

The First was venting their sorrow for all of them.

They didn't mind dying once for his sake.