Immortal Paladin

Within the dark veil that served as the shell of the Hollowed World, I watched David struggle.

He soared through the void, searching desperately for an exit, his movements sharp and impatient. Dark chains bloomed from the veil itself, lashing out to bind him, to slow him, to remind him whose domain this was. Despite the suffocating darkness, I could see him as clearly as if he were standing before me.

“Come out, come out, wheresoever you are,” David shouted, his voice echoing through the veil.

I sneered. “What do you take me for? A chump?”

I had already merged myself with the dark veil. It was no longer merely a boundary. It was me. Through it, I anchored my existence to the Hollowed World itself, using it as a cage meant to restrain him. I knew the truth, though. I could not hold him forever. David was monstrously strong, far beyond what reason should allow.

He swung his sword.

Light exploded outward, violent and radiant, ripping apart layers of the dark veil. The ground beneath shattered, and for a fleeting moment, the outside of the Hollowed World was exposed. Nebulae and distant stars gleamed through the rupture, cold and vast.

“It’s beautiful,” David said softly.

He hovered just beyond the breach.

A spike of unease pierced me. Was he going to leave?

At the last instant, he stopped. A faint glow of formation lines flared across the boundary, sealing it once more.

“I knew it,” David said, his tone losing its wonder. “This is just sad.”

I could not kill him. Even if I did, he would simply resurrect, good as new. So instead, I attacked where I could.

“If anyone here is a chump, it’s you,” I said coldly. “I can see through your act, David. You’re restricted, aren’t you? If you weren’t, you would have found me already. You would have pierced the veil completely and left this world behind.”

I paused, savoring the thought. “Did it cost you too much to descend into my world? Did it injure you? How unfortunate. I was looking forward to watching you squirm.”

David let out a suppressed laugh. “Pffft. I thought you’d be ignorant. Turns out, you’re more ignorant than I imagined.”

The torn veil folded back in on itself, darkness swallowing the stars as the Hollowed World sealed once more.

“I admit it,” David continued calmly. “This setup of yours is clever. But do you really think you can hold me back?”

He smiled.

His eyes ignited with gold, and within his iris, something impossible turned. It was a structure layered upon itself, a wheel within a wheel, each ring lined with countless eyes, all revolving in silent harmony. A fiery radiance wreathed it, neither flame nor light, but something older.

“Your Six Paths are interesting,” David said. “They exist because you embraced this world. You became part of it.”

His gaze sharpened. “My Ophanim is different. It exists because I rejected this world.”

He reached out and seized the dark veil with his bare hand.

The fabric of darkness screamed as he tore it apart, the interior of the Hollowed World laid bare under his grasp.

“Egress,” David muttered.

“Not so fast,” I replied.

I drew deeply on the power of the dark veil and the Hollow Star together. In the heart of the darkness, I began to shine, not with borrowed light, but with the glow of a true star. Yuan Shen had once used the Hollowed World through the veil alone. I stood above that.

The Hollow Star answered me and burned with authority, proof of my dominion over this inverted planet. Power flooded into me, raw and overwhelming, as the world itself bent to my will.

David vanished into the opening he had created.

Yet he did not escape.

Through the authority granted by the Hollow Star, I continued to observe him. I saw David suspended in the gap between the Hollowed World and the False Earth, floating in that impossible space between realities.

And before him loomed something vast.

An enormous hand, blazing like the sun itself.

“Very creative,” David muttered.

He swung his sword and cleanly severed the Sun’s arm at the shoulder.

The Sun had already assumed its true form, an enormous titan of burning radiance, and David met it head-on. His speed was terrifying. He crossed distances that should not have existed, light folding beneath his steps. I felt a chill settle in my chest as I watched.

I knew David was strong. I had always known that. But not like this.

By every definition, he was only an Ascended Soul, just like me. So what was the difference? What did he possess that I did not?

The Moon descended.

She expanded into her titanic form, pale and cold, moonlight condensing into a halberd that gleamed with silent authority. She brought it down in a sweeping arc meant to cleave David in half. He vanished before the blade touched him, reappearing behind her and answering with Judgment Severance.

A rift tore open in the shape of a cross. It devoured supernatural energy indiscriminately, draining the Sun’s radiance and the Moon’s light alike as space itself screamed.

A whisper brushed against my mind.

“Are you not curious why he is so strong?”

I clenched my jaw. I knew that voice.

“Void,” I said, irritation bleeding into my tone. “What do you want this time?”

His presence coiled around my thoughts, vast and intimate all at once. “I simply feel bad for you. It is rather disappointing. After I acknowledged you, you still end up losing like this.”

I said nothing.

“Do you know what he has that you do not?” Void continued, almost amused. “My blessings. I do not know how he managed to sweet-talk the other me in his own timeline, but it is unmistakable. He possesses fragments of my power.”

My fingers tightened.

“Such power cannot be taken by force,” Void said. “It must be given willingly. And so I ask you, Da Wei. I am so disappointed in my other self that I am willing to grant you my boon. Isn’t that great?”

My Divine Sense swept over him. He was not lying.

Still, I knew the truth. Even with Void’s blessing, there was something else within David. Something deeper. A gulf that raw power alone could not bridge.

The Sun and Moon finally converged.

Their forms collapsed inward, fusing into a single existence. The Warden emerged. A colossal celestial titan clad in ancient armor, blue flames spilling from the seams of its body. In its grasp was a massive scepter, heavy with judgment and law.

The Warden swung.

The blow struck David squarely.

He laughed.

The scepter smashed him downward, hurling his body like a comet toward the Hollowed World below. Instead of resisting, David embraced the force. He twisted mid-flight, using the momentum to slingshot himself back upward, aiming straight for my world.

I would not allow it.

Through the Hollow Star, I reached out with quintessence and seized him. I targeted his shadow, the one I had already infused with my own essence, and dragged him back into the dark veil.

David reacted instantly.

Divine Smite erupted from within him, light pouring outward and annihilating the shadow entirely.

Not yet.

I had prepared for this.

A Manasoul stirred within his weapon, one I had embedded long ago without his notice. I activated it and forcibly cast Egress.

David vanished.

Then he returned, dragged back into the dark veil against his will.

“Divine Possession,” I said, my voice low.

I merged myself through the Manasoul, immersing my being into his existence. I could not risk being out-possessed. Thus, the Manasoul.

Pain exploded.

David tore the Manasoul apart with brute force, ripping my consciousness free. The dark veil rejected me as my form was dragged out into the open.

His hand closed around me.

“Found you,” David said, smiling. “I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on you.”

“Heavenly Punishment,” I said, smiling.

The body in David’s grasp was never me. It was a clone, forged entirely from quintessence, hollow at the core and packed with Manasouls. At my command, they detonated in unison, unfolding into an Ultimate Skill.

Golden swords erupted outward, the clone as their epicenter. They howled as they descended, layers upon layers of radiant judgment crashing down where David stood.

They struck nothing.

“Did you really think I didn’t foresee that?” David’s voice sounded behind me.

Pain tore through my being as he dragged the real me out of the dark veil once more, his grip absolute.

He frowned, studying me. “I cannot feel your Six Path Souls within you. Did you really think you could stand a chance against me like this, half-baked?”

I met his gaze. “I have never been going at this half-baked.”

His smile sharpened. “I am going to consume you now.”

I laughed softly. “Half-baked? Really? If anything, I intend to have you overcooked until you are charred.”

I opened the dark veil.

The darkness split apart like an ocean torn by a divine hand. Beyond the shell of the Hollowed World floated another figure. A clone of me, missing one arm, barely holding itself together, its presence weak and flickering.

Before David could react, an enormous, brilliant hand descended and crushed the clone completely.

A scream followed.

A colossal celestial titan in the shape of a woman forced herself into existence beyond the veil, her form vast and overwhelming, her voice shaking the boundaries of worlds.

“DA WEI! I WILL DESTROY YOU!”

David stared, momentarily stunned. “Who is that?”

I exhaled. “Her name is Aixin. She is obsessed with me. That was sarcasm, in case you were wondering.”

Aixin’s realm burst open.

Ruler of Laws.

Reality bent as she clapped her hands together, space collapsing between her palms. The force erased everything in its path, including us.

I died.

Then I spoke.

Spell Resonance answered me.

“Divine Word: Raise.”

Existence snapped back into place as I resurrected, my consciousness slipping smoothly into the dark veil once more through Divine Possession.

Across from me, David reformed from the ether.

He staggered, genuine surprise flashing across his face. He had survived the Warden’s strike earlier with ease, his durability as an Ascended Soul bordering on absurd. Yet Aixin had annihilated him in a single blow.

That alone told me enough.

“I must have you!” Aixin declared, her voice trembling with fervor.

Her skin darkened as she strained against the boundary of the dark veil. She recoiled, grimacing, her massive arms smoking where they pressed against it. The veil rejected her. It burned her.

So this was it. This darkness was the only thing keeping her from descending fully into my world.

“So be it,” Aixin said coldly.

She reached up and tore off her own arm.

The severed limb dissolved midair into a milk-like substance that spilled outward, thick and luminous. From it rose the wails of infants. The sound crawled into my bones. Grotesque winged cherubs formed first, their bodies malformed and asymmetrical. From them emerged distorted angels, each one stabilizing as it fully manifested.

They surrounded David.

Every single one radiated the power of an Ascended Soul, mirroring David’s realm.

“Paltry tricks,” David said. Beneath his helm, his eyes spun, layers folding into one another as he spoke softly, almost reverently. “Human Path: Enlightenment of the Fool.”

My blood ran cold.

That was my move.

He continued calmly, “From now on, only the power of Ophanim is allowed in this space.”

Every distorted angel surrounding him convulsed. Their eyes reshaped, wheels forming within wheels, flames licking their edges. Ophanim bloomed inside their gaze.

Then they began to scream.

The angels clutched their faces, wailing as their bodies warped and cracked. They could not bear it. The Ophanim devoured them from within. One by one, they detonated into drifting ash, erased before they could even threaten him.

David raised his sword and pointed it at Aixin. “After I finish my business here, I will find you next. Then I will destroy you.”

Unlike the distorted summons, the Human Path did nothing to Aixin. She stood unmoved, her presence vast and furious. David withdrew the technique just as she lifted a single finger.

A beam of searing light erupted from her fingertip, hot enough to bend space as it tore toward him.

“Flash Parry,” David said.

He struck the beam with impossible precision.

The redirected spell slammed into me.

I died.

Darkness swallowed my senses for an instant before I forced my will outward.

Spell Resonance answered.

“Divine Word: Raise.”

I regenerated from the Source as fast as I could, my form stitching itself together with violent urgency. But when my vision cleared, David was already there. The dark veil had fully regenerated, sealing us inside once more.

“Divine Possession,” David said, laughing. “I got you, piece of shit!”

I grinned beneath my helm. “No. I got you.”

I lunged first.

As someone who had mastered the Source, I held the advantage in a possession struggle. That was exactly why this was dangerous. One mistake, and the Source itself could be torn from me. Still, this was the opening I needed.

David stiffened.

“What is happening?” he asked.

The world lurched.

When my senses stabilized, we were standing somewhere impossibly familiar. Earth. Tall skyscrapers rose into a gray sky. Roads stretched empty in every direction. No people. No sound.

Only us.

We were still wearing our armor.

I did not hesitate. I stepped forward and swung my sword with everything I had.

David barely parried. His surprise showed as clearly as his imbalance. My kick slammed into his abdomen before he could recover, driving him backward.

I inhaled sharply and leapt, closing the distance in a single bound. My sword swept again, this time aimed cleanly for his neck.

Here, inside this pocket within the Source, all supernatural abilities were suppressed. No Divine Words. No Six Paths. No Ophanim.

“Do not underestimate me!” David shouted.

He slammed his helm into the flat of my blade, sparks flying, then followed with a brutal thrust. I twisted my body, angling my armor. His sword skidded off the plate with a shriek of metal.

This was not a battle of memories or identity. This was not some abstract clash of souls.

This was literal.

I slashed again, targeting the gap beneath his shoulder guard. David had already learned that lesson. He dodged cleanly and retreated several steps, his stance tightening, his breathing steadying.

I could tell David was out of breath.

So was I.

We stood facing each other in the silent city, armor scuffed, blades nicked, breaths uneven. For a brief moment, neither of us moved. Then David drove his sword into the ground and leaned on it, his posture oddly contemplative.

In the blink of an eye, the emptiness vanished.

The urban sprawl filled with people. Streets flooded with traffic. Voices, footsteps, distant sirens. It was Earth again, whole and alive, as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

“I see,” David said quietly. “The path home had always been within us.”

His eyes glowed gold.

Ophanim.

I felt my chest tighten. That ocular power of his did not merely observe the Source. It resonated with it. No, worse. It stemmed from it.

This was bad.

“That’s one bullshit ability…”

I had hoped to keep this a battle of wills. In a place stripped of miracles, I could stall him, grind him down, maybe even win. But with Ophanim involved, the rules shifted.

The world shattered.

Earth dissolved like mist, and suddenly we stood atop an endless battlefield. Corpses carpeted the land in every direction, piled so thick the ground was barely visible beneath them. Weapons rusted in dead hands. Blood had long since soaked into the soil.

“Where is this?” I asked.

“My timeline,” David replied.

The moment he spoke, I felt it. My suppressed powers stirred and surged back into me. This was not a simple illusion. I had been dragged into David’s memory, forcibly anchored by the Source itself.

That alone was unreasonable. No one should have been able to wield the Source this quickly.

The scenery shifted again.

The Hollowed World lay dead.

Every trace of life was gone. Seas were still. Skies were empty. Continents cracked and lifeless. Only two existences remained.

David.

And the Supreme Void.

They fought endlessly. David died again and again, his body destroyed, restored, and destroyed once more. The Void loomed above the dead world as an enormous eye, watching, waiting. Time lost meaning. Eventually, even the Void seemed weary.

“This is getting boring,” the Supreme Void said. “You keep resurrecting…”

Even with the Warden gone, it remained trapped, bound by the dark veil and starved of souls.

“Let’s make a deal,” David said.

The Void’s gaze narrowed. “What deal?”

“I realize I have been doing this wrong from the beginning,” David continued. “I should not have challenged you. I should have made a friend of you.”

Silence stretched.

Then David spoke again. “Take my body. If you succeed, you will find a way to escape your prison. If you fail, I will consume you.”

The memory tore apart.

I was back in the dark veil, hovering in the oppressive darkness. David was across from me, doubled over, blood pouring from his helm in violent waves. It spilled endlessly, staining the void beneath him.

I understood then.

He had not mastered the Source.

With Ophanim, he had forced his way into it. Cracked it open through sheer defiance. And in doing so, his memories had bled outward, spilling into me.

Between us floated a small orb.

Once, it had been two halves of a whole.

Now, the Source was complete again.

David straightened slowly, wiping blood from his mouth. His gaze locked onto the orb. Mine did the same.

No more words were needed.

Whoever claimed the Source first would win.

David uttered, “Divine Possession.”

I matched him without hesitation. “Judgment Severance.”

Our powers collided. His spell unraveled, torn apart by the verdict of my will. David vanished in a burst of speed, but I was already moving.

Yuen Fu had shown me what true speed looked like. If I lost here, I would never hear the end of it from my disciple.

I caught up to him in an instant.

Still, the Source slipped from my grasp.

David dragged it away with quintessence, raw and forceful, like a gravitational pull tearing it from my fingers. The Source remained within the Divine Zone, and I reacted immediately, unleashing Divine Possession upon it.

David anticipated the move.

“Judgment Severance.”

My connection snapped, forcibly dispelled. His telekinesis halted at the same time, the two forces cancelling one another. I took advantage of the pause.

“Holy Spirit Conjuration.”

Chains of radiant power wrapped around the Source, locking it in place. At the same time, I hurled weapons at David through telekinesis, blades, spears, and constructs of condensed will.

He parried every single one and continued advancing.

“Summon: Holy Spirit.” I said out loud. “Ezekiel, lend me your strength.”

The Divine Zone erupted. Holy skeletons surged forth in waves, an entire army of Ezekiel manifesting at once. They conjured weapons mid-motion, intercepting, binding, obstructing, and buying me time.

I seized the Source.

“It’s my victory—”

The world twisted.

David and I switched places.

He stood where I had been, one hand wrapped around the Source. His voice rang with certainty. “It’s my victory—”

The Source shattered in his grip.

I held up my hand. “Are you looking for this?”

The real Source rested calmly in my palm.

What David had taken was a fake, a flawless replica forged with quintessence. Convincing enough to deceive even his Ophanim. David was a being of destruction. He had never truly explored creation. The ease with which he was fooled spoke volumes.

I crushed the Source.

It vanished.

“What did you do?” David roared.

“Relax,” I replied. “If you think I destroyed it, no. Even I cannot do that. I split the Source into six and bound each fragment to one of my Six Path Souls through Divine Possession. Right now, the Source is with my disciples.”

The dark veil peeled away.

The world changed.

We stood at the foot of a mountain, the air heavy, the laws oppressive. I felt it immediately. My strength plummeted, forcibly suppressed to the Fourth Realm.

David clenched his fists. “Where is this?”

“I am surprised you do not recognize it,” I said. “You met the Supreme Void, but never truly known the False Earth, did you? Well, you are in for a treat. We are standing at the cusp of the final battle.”

I met his gaze calmly.

“I plan to keep you entertained here while my disciples finish their preparations. With the Source divided among them, their work should be easier. I will admit, being in a true soulless state is unpleasant. But this time, I am confident.”

I laughed softly.

“I do not care who you were or what kind of life shaped you into this. But I am proud of how this turned out. This is the power of not being alone.”

David’s eyes burned gold. “So you intend to confront me head-on? Very well.”

“No,” I said lightly. “I am not a fool.”

Even suppressed, I knew the truth. I would still lose in a fair fight. That was never the plan.

“This place is a better prison than the dark veil,” I continued. “And I have always intended to fight you unfairly. With tricks. With numbers. With everything I can stack against you.”

Presences began to emerge at the edge of perception.

Many of them.

Unexpected, perhaps, but welcome.

I smiled.

“David, my counterpart. Welcome to the Ascension Games.”