I was Reborn as a God Candidate in a Dead World

The Death Knight did not hesitate.

He moved with the speed and weight of an avalanche—every armored step shaking the ground beneath the twisted garden. His sword, a massive slab of tarnished steel, scraped behind him like it weighed more than most people. When he lifted it—

The air screamed.

Noah barely managed to dive aside as the blade came down, shattering the ground where he'd stood into a crater of broken stone and blackened vines. A second too late and he would've been split in half.

"Abel—!" he shouted.

But Abel was already moving. The prince met the next blow with his sword drawn, bracing with both arms. The clash echoed like thunder through the garden. Metal rang. Sparks flared. Abel gritted his teeth as he was driven back several meters, boots dragging ruts into the dirt.

Noah ducked behind a crumbled statue base and shot a magic card. A flash of light. He hurled it like a shuriken. The card exploded near the knight's feet in a burst of magical force, sending petals, debris, and ash into the air.

The Death Knight didn't even flinch.

"What the fuck is this guy made of?!" Noah yelled.

Another swing. This time at Abel, who twisted at the last second, the blade just grazing his shoulder—still enough to make him stagger.

The knight never spoke.

But something radiated from him. Not just rage—but grief. Deep, festering grief that warped everything it touched. The air was thick with it. Like walking through a funeral where the corpse refused to stay buried.

Noah sprinted between two vine-covered trees, hurling another card. Explosion. Smoke. Still nothing. Abel shouted something—Noah couldn't hear over the crashing of steel.

The fight was chaos.

Noah had never seen Abel move like this—fast, focused, raw fury behind every parry and strike. But even with all that strength, even with Noah burning through card after card, the knight didn't slow down.

He seemed unstoppable.

And worse—he remembered. When Abel shouted "Father, please!", the knight hesitated. Just a moment. His head jerked, and the shadows around him flickered. Something cracked behind the helm. A broken memory, maybe. A flicker of the man he used to be.

Then he roared—an inhuman, soul-wrenching sound—and slammed his sword down again.

The ground split open.

Noah screamed as he and Abel were thrown back in opposite directions, rubble raining down around them. Vines shrieked, snapping like tendons. The garden wept black petals.

Noah's body ached. His lungs burned. His knees hit the dirt, hands trembling.

He looked up—and saw the knight turning toward Abel, who was still recovering on one knee.

"No—no, no, no, no—"

Noah shoots another card, whatever he had left of his mana leaving his body. A burst of wind. He fired it blindly, just to stagger the knight long enough for Abel to dodge.

It barely worked.

The Death Knight took a step forward—and Noah felt it in his bones.

They were losing.

They couldn't win this.

"Abel!" he shouted again. "We need to go!"

The prince looked at him, panting, blood running down the side of his face. "I know."

Noah didn't know what terrified him more—that Abel agreed, or that they had nowhere to go.

The Death Knight raised his sword again, and Noah knew—

This was going to end with both of them in pieces.

There was no exit.

Every path they'd taken to enter the garden had crumbled or collapsed under the weight of the Death Knight's attacks. Arched doorways lay in ruin. Twisting vines blocked narrow corridors like barbed gates. Noah's magic was running dry. Abel's blade-hand trembled. Their breaths were ragged, soaked in blood and smoke.

"Left!" Abel shouted.

Noah obeyed without question, dodging just in time to avoid a downward cleave that split the stone wall behind him clean in two. Dust exploded into the air. His ears rang.

They stumbled together through a shattered hedge maze, ducking vines and debris. But every time they moved, the knight was behind them. Not fast—but relentless. Like inevitability given form.

Another swing.

Another blast of power.

Noah crashed against the side of a marble fountain, pain blooming in his ribs. He gasped—something felt wrong. A stinging heat under his shirt. He pulled it up to look.

A thin, jagged gash across his lower side. Deep. Bleeding.

The SYSTEM flared.

HP CRITICAL: 18 / 30

Recommend immediate healing.

"Fuck. Fuck." His hands shook as he reached for the potion he'd looted from Abel's sister's chamber. He popped the cork with his teeth, half-gagging on the taste as it went down.

Warmth spread through his body. The bleeding slowed.

But healing took time.

He was vulnerable.

The knight noticed.

The massive armored figure turned—not toward Abel—but toward him.

Noah's heart seized in his chest. "Oh no. No, no, no—"

He tried to stand. Failed. His legs wouldn't move fast enough. The wound still throbbed. His cane was too far. The knight raised his blade again, and Noah could feel the heat of death on his neck.

Then—

CLANG.

Abel intercepted the blow just in time, sword locking against his father's with a jarring screech. The force of it sent Abel to his knees. The prince grunted, barely holding his position.

"Run!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"I can't—"

"Then do something!"

The words snapped something inside Noah.

Panic blurred into instinct.

He had one chance left.

One.

His eyes widened. "Draw One."

The ability.

He reached imagined his ethereal tarot deck—his hand moving without thought. His fingers closed around it. It pulsed like a heartbeat. He whispered the words without thinking.

"Draw One."

The deck shimmered.

A card flew into his hand—face down—then turned on its own, the edges glowing bright gold.

Blessing: DIVINE INTERVENTION

Extreme rare pull!

Consequence: FATE-BREAKER CHOICE DETECTED

Triggering Emergency Relocation...

Confirmed.

The world collapsed inward.

A roar. A flash of violet light. Abel shouted something Noah couldn't hear.

And then—

Silence.

Noah hit stone.

Hard.

His head cracked against something solid, and the air was knocked from his lungs. He gasped, blinking through stars. It smelled like dust. And something warm. Fire?

He wasn't in the garden anymore.

Abel groaned nearby.

They were back.

In the servant bedrooms. The same one Noah last slept in.

The SYSTEM pinged again.

Divine Tier Ascension Achieved:

New Tier: Divinity Tier II – The Consequence of Belief

Passive Effect Unlocked: Faith Pulse (Minor)

Stats Doubled

XP Curve Steepened (Next Level: 28,000 XP)

New Title: The Marked One (Divine Spark Awakened)

Noah stared at the glowing message in his vision, panting.

He didn't feel stronger.

He felt broken.

But his stat screen shimmered with new power. Something was different now.

His body ached. His soul felt like it had been wrung out like a rag. He slumped back on the cold floor.

Abel said something distant. He couldn't hear.

Blackness crept in from the edges of his vision.

Noah passed out.