Immortal Paladin

[POV: Heart]

With a single pull through the faith binding him to the Greater Human Realm, Heart crossed an immense distance and escaped Da Wei’s pursuit.

The technique was a product of several stolen and borrowed paths. By combining the principles behind Nongmin’s warp technology with the methodology of traveling through dragon veins discovered by the asuras, Heart had gained the ability to appear almost anywhere within his realm. Even when he stood outside its borders, the faith connecting him to the Greater Human Realm allowed him to reach back through that invisible bond and traverse the distance.

Combined with his consciousness projection technique, it granted him something dangerously close to omnipresence within his domain.

Heart opened his eyes.

Enormous mountains stretched beneath him, their jagged peaks rising above a verdant sea of forests. Clouds drifted between the valleys, and rivers wound through the wilderness like silver threads. The distance he had crossed was absurd. Even a Ruler of Laws would have difficulty traversing it so quickly through conventional means.

Da Wei shouldn’t have been able to follow him here.

Part of the reason Heart had allowed Nongmin to join him in the first place had been precisely this. Nongmin’s technology had value beyond the battlefield. Warp technology was too useful to ignore, especially for someone who needed to move across realms and worlds while remaining beyond the reach of his enemies.

Heart exhaled slowly.

”It is time to cut my losses and focus on what I can still accomplish,” he murmured.

His eyes narrowed.

”My betrayal has been exposed. The other Supreme Beings will soon come for me.”

That much was inevitable.

The moment the others understood the extent of what he had done, there would be no returning to the old order. They would hunt him. They would attempt to contain him. Some might even try to erase him completely before he could take another step.

Inside his mind, the other Hearts began to argue.

They were fragments and echoes of himself, countless perspectives born from the same consciousness. Thoughts collided with thoughts. Possibilities branched and were discarded. Arguments rose and fell with terrifying speed as they calculated the countless consequences of his next decision.

Retreat.

Hide.

Seize the Tower.

Manipulate Da Wei.

Destroy the evidence.

Each Heart carried a different perspective, and together they formed something resembling omniscience. Their thoughts bounced endlessly through his consciousness, examining possibilities that would have taken an ordinary mind lifetimes to consider.

The failure to bring the Supreme Void into his plans had been a devastating setback.

Heart had accounted for that possibility, so he had prepared contingencies. However, preparation could only compensate for so much.

Fortunately, the Tower had now fallen into Da Wei’s hands.

That changed everything.

It would correct some of Heart’s earlier mistakes and drastically improve his chances of accomplishing the one objective that mattered above all else.

Saving the human race.

It was the purpose behind everything he had done. The purpose behind every betrayal. The purpose behind every manipulation. And it was a truth he could not allow the others to discover.

If they knew what he was truly trying to accomplish, they might interfere. They might misunderstand. Or worse, they might decide that the human race was no longer worth saving.

Heart could not afford that.

Suddenly, the light vanished. Heart’s thoughts stopped. The world around him darkened as though night had descended in an instant. His eyes slowly lifted. An enormous black sphere hovered in the heavens.

It was the Hollowed World.

Heart’s throat gradually became dry.

The scale of what he was seeing forced him to confront a possibility he had desperately hoped was impossible.

Da Wei had followed him here, going so far as to drag the Hollowed World with him as if to mock him for his failure.

Heart’s gaze sharpened as the implications settled into his mind.

Da Wei also had access to warp technology.

Heart had seen it before. The Hollowed World itself had demonstrated the ability to move through space using the same principles. Yet the structure was incomprehensibly enormous. Moving something of that scale should have required an impossible amount of power.

Even a Ruler of Laws should not have possessed enough energy to fuel such a warp.

Heart’s expression darkened.

It must have been Da Wei’s Supremacy Trait.

There was no other reasonable explanation.

Heart hated admitting it, but Da Wei’s growth had become absurd.

In such a short amount of time, Da Wei had risen until he stood almost within Heart’s realm. The speed of his progress left even Heart befuddled. There were paths Da Wei had walked that should have taken millennia to comprehend.

Yet somehow, he kept advancing.

”HEART!”

The roar shook the mountains.

”I WILL DESTROY YOU!”

Heart’s head snapped toward his flank.

Da Wei charged through the sky atop a crimson horse.

He wore his dark armor lined with gold, his presence blazing with terrifying power as he held a silver sword in his hand. The crimson horse crossed the distance like a streak of blood, its hooves carrying it through the air as Da Wei closed in.

Heart immediately summoned a spear from his pocket dimension.

Laws surged through the weapon as he thrust. The spear pierced directly through Da Wei. Heart’s pupils contracted, when he felt that there was no resistance. His spear passed through Da Wei and the crimson horse as though they had never existed.

It was an alternate future. Heart realized the truth instantly. Da Wei had projected a future possibility at him from that direction. In other words, a dream illusion.

The real Da Wei appeared behind him.

Heart reacted immediately, summoning a massive shield from his pocket dimension.

CLANG!

Da Wei’s silver sword struck the shield. The impact drove Heart forward. Before he could regain his balance, another blur appeared at his left. The crimson horse’s hoof crashed into his side.

CRACK!

Heart felt several bones shatter.

His body twisted through the air, but the damage lasted only an instant. The innate immortality contained within the laws residing inside him immediately restored his broken bones, while the Heart of Life further empowered the regeneration.

His body healed.

But Da Wei gave him no opportunity to breathe.

”EXALTED RENEWAL!” Da Wei screamed.

Heart’s eyes widened.

The Hollowed World moved. Weapons erupted from the enormous black sphere.

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Swords. Spears. Axes. Halberds.

Countless weapons formed from the Dark Veil and descended from the heavens. Their numbers were so immense that they filled Heart’s vision, each weapon glowing with golden light as Heavenly Punishment coursed through them.

Heart’s mind raced.

Where was Da Wei obtaining this much qi?

He searched through the memories and records he possessed. Soon, he discovered the answer. An ability capable of expending Da Wei’s own divinity, or perhaps his Divine Spark, in exchange for overwhelming power.

Aixin’s memories contained information about it.

Da Wei’s presence suddenly rose, dangerously. The air itself seemed to tremble. Then his voice echoed across the land.

”DIVINE WORD: REST!”

The world fell asleep.

The grass bent gently as life itself surrendered to slumber. Trees grew still. Birds dropped from the sky and landed harmlessly among the branches. Insects ceased their movement.

Everything around Heart entered a state of rest.

Heart felt his heartbeat slowed once and twice. His body became heavy. Drowsiness crept into his consciousness, attempting to pull him beneath an invisible tide. Heart gritted his teeth. The other Hearts within him immediately began shouting in warning and resistance.

But even as countless versions of himself fought to preserve his consciousness, the command continued to spread through his body.

Heart reached outward. His consciousness plunged into the planet below. He seized the dragon vein running through its depths and then he reached for something even greater.

Life.

Countless lives existed upon the planet. Plants. Beasts. Insects. Civilizations hidden beyond the mountains and forests. Heart tapped into the immense network of vitality surrounding him and pulled.

Life force surged toward him.

His heart began to beat harder and faster.

The drowsiness attempting to drag him into slumber was overwhelmed as vitality flooded through his body. The laws of the world trembled beneath his authority.

Heart vanished and reappeared on the opposite side of the planet, hovering high above its atmosphere. The life force and potential energy he had accumulated gathered around him. Finally, he released it all.

The planet groaned. Mountains cracked. The seas rose.

Heart prepared to unleash every ounce of potential energy into a single catastrophic explosion.

”CASTLING!” Da Wei shouted.

His fighting spirit continued to soar. The world distorted.

Heart’s eyes widened.

The Hollowed World and the planet suddenly exchanged places.

A rift in the shape of a golden cross opened behind Heart. The golden rift swallowed the connection between him and the planet he had been preparing to implode. Heart’s control vanished.

At the same time, the rain of Heavenly Punishment descended.

The weapons created from the Dark Veil flooded toward him in an overwhelming tide.

Heart immediately disappeared and reappeared in the distance as the countless weapons tore through the space he had occupied only an instant earlier.

However, the brutality didn’t stop there. Heart watched. The Dark Veil spread from the Hollowed World and consumed the entire planet, dragging it into the enormous black sphere. The world did not explode.

Instead, it became another part of Da Wei’s expanding world.

Heart’s expression darkened, extending his authority far and wide.

As the sovereign of the Greater Human Realm, his influence stretched across the countless worlds bound to his domain. Space twisted as Heart reached outward and dragged several planets through the darkness.

They appeared around Da Wei.

Heart pushed.

The planets hurtled toward him.

Each one carried enough destructive potential to devastate entire systems if Heart forced them to implode.

However, Da Wei did not retreat. He mounted his crimson horse. When he raised one hand and gestured, the Hollowed World moved. The enormous black sphere swung through space.

Heart watched in disbelief as Da Wei used the Hollowed World like a mace.

BOOM!

The first planet shattered.

The Dark Veil spread across its fragments.

BOOM!

Another planet was struck and then another.

Da Wei smashed through the worlds one after another, and every time a planet was broken apart, the Dark Veil swallowed the remains and integrated them into the Hollowed World.

Da Wei was truly out to get him.

Heart’s thoughts accelerated. He needed time. That was all.

If he could buy enough time, he could unravel the thread of destiny binding him to Da Wei. As long as that connection remained, Da Wei could continue following him through means Heart could not fully predict.

Heart turned and escaped.

Behind him, the Hollowed World moved and Da Wei pursued.

”It looks like you are in trouble.”

A devilish whisper entered Heart’s ears. Heart’s expression immediately soured. He knew who it was. It was the Supreme Taboo.

Taboo’s laughter echoed through his consciousness. ”Fate just pulled an emergency meeting. Well, there really isn’t any need for one. I thought you were the sane one, Heart. But look at what you just did. If you need someone to help you in a pinch, you know who to ask.”

”I am not selling my soul to you, fucker,” Heart replied, twisting through space.

An enormous divine sword swept toward him from the distance. Heart barely dodged. The blade passed through the void and carved apart the space where he had been standing.

Heart’s gaze shifted toward Da Wei. He understood enough about Da Wei’s trump card. It was called Exalted Renewal. The longer Da Wei continued fighting, the stronger he became. His strength would continue rising until his divinity, or perhaps his very existence, was exhausted.

There was no visible ceiling.

It was a monstrously broken ability.

During their previous encounters, Da Wei had used Exalted Renewal at the minimum possible output. At the time, Heart had believed he was studying Da Wei. Now he understood the opposite had also been true. Da Wei had been studying him.

Heart’s ability to manipulate the distance between hearts had barely affected Da Wei anymore. His previous advantages were rapidly disappearing as Da Wei adapted to his powers.

Supreme Taboo chuckled.

”If this continues, you will lose. You’ve always been the weakest among the Supreme Beings, Heart. I wonder why. Ah. Is it because you are not actually a Supreme Being? Are you merely a fake? A body stealer? No, no, no... A fate stealer sounds more like it!”

How did he know? How long had he known?

”Ha ha ha ha ha~!” Supreme Taboo’s laughter exploded through his consciousness, his voice growing increasingly excited and dangerous. ”It’s a delicious taboo. Sweet and spicy at once. The kind that sets up something bigger. Something greater! Tell me, Heart. What is it like? What is Earth like? The memories of your host. Oh, parasite. Tell me what it feels like to be Supreme. How about your name?”

Heart’s thoughts froze for the smallest fraction of a moment.

”Do you even remember your Earth name?” asked Taboo, taunting.

That distraction was the last thing Heart needed. Rather than continuing to flee, Heart turned toward Da Wei. Heart summoned a pair of swords from his pocket dimension, dismissing the spear and shield.

Heart rushed toward Da Wei with everything he had. The crimson horse moved. Its hoof lashed outward.

BOOM!

The kick struck Heart. His sword forms scattered as he was sent flying through space. Before he could stabilize himself, an army of holy skeletons descended upon him. They pounced from every direction.

Heart’s swords flashed as he attempted to cut them apart.

Supreme Taboo laughed, his voice becoming almost gleeful. ”Heart! Oh, Heart! I know that you can do better than that! Why are you cowering now?”

Heart’s thoughts darkened. Now Taboo was deliberately goading him. A holy skeleton suddenly appeared before him. Heart swung. Then the skeleton vanished. The real Da Wei took its place.

His hand wrapped around Heart’s throat.

Heart’s eyes widened.

”Is that a demon I smell on you?” Da Wei’s voice was cold, his fingers tightening as golden light erupted from his hand. ”You are not welcome here. Begone, foul demon!”

Heart felt something being torn from him. Supreme Taboo’s presence was forcibly ripped away. A wraith-like demon was dragged from Heart’s body. It was an Ascended Soul. A demon possessing roughly seventy-seven layers of immortality.

Da Wei casually held it in the air and then he threw it upward. The Hollowed World opened, its shadow-like tendrils becoming a maw. The enormous black sphere became a grinder. Heavenly Punishment erupted from within. The demon screamed as it was hurled toward the descending torrent of divine power.

”Pathetic.”

Taboo’s voice dripped with seething contempt.

”You were supposed to be the clever one, Heart. The cautious one. The one who stood behind everyone else and believed he could manipulate the board without ever becoming a piece himself.”

Taboo’s voice grew louder.

”And now look at you.”

His words burned through Heart’s consciousness.

”Running from your junior like a frightened animal. Throwing planets at him. Begging fate for time. Desperately trying to cut the thread binding you together because, for once, someone has finally forced you into a position where your schemes cannot save you. You are a thief wearing the name of a Supreme Being.”

Heart’s eyes burned, while Taboo’s voice began to turn into static.

”You stole a body. You stole a life. You stole memories. You stole a place among those who were never meant to accept you.”

The voice became almost venomous.

”And after all that stealing, you still could not steal the one thing you truly needed.”

Taboo whispered the final words into Heart’s mind, fading into echoes.

”A pair of balls.”

The Supreme Taboo finally vanished.

The static faded from Heart’s mind.

Da Wei roared.

”FIGHT ME PROPERLY!”

His voice shook the darkness surrounding them.

Da Wei stood upon his crimson horse, his silver sword blazing as Exalted Renewal continued to elevate his existence. His fighting spirit had risen to a terrifying degree, yet anger now burned through it.

”Put up a goddamn fight, Heart!” Da Wei screamed. ”What happened to you? You put up more resistance during our earlier bouts than you’re doing now!”

His eyes narrowed behind the dark armor.

”This isn’t like you. You’re running. You’re buying time. You’re barely even trying to hurt me. What the hell are you planning?”

Heart ignored him.

Almost all of his effort was focused elsewhere.

His mental power had been poured into the thread of fate binding him to Da Wei. The connection was invisible to ordinary senses, but Heart could perceive it clearly. It stretched beyond space, beyond the battlefield, and perhaps beyond the realm itself.

Fate was watching through it.

Heart needed to blind Fate.

Only then could he confidently activate his contingency. The thought itself made the countless Hearts within him hesitate. This contingency was never supposed to exist. It had not been part of the plan. It was something Heart had prepared only because a being like him could never allow himself to possess absolutely no final option.

A last resort.

A contingency for when every other contingency had failed.

Heart stopped fleeing. Da Wei’s crimson horse slowed. The two Supreme Beings faced one another across the darkness of space.

”Don’t blame me for this,” said Heart. ”You forced my hand!”

Da Wei raised his sword.

Heart’s would never have set out to do this if Da Wei had simply allowed him to escape. If Da Wei had chosen not to pursue him. If breaking the Supreme Void out of imprisonment had succeeded, Heart would not have needed to resort to this either.

In that sense, Heart wanted to blame Da Wei. But providence had pushed him here. Every path had narrowed. Every alternative had disappeared. And now, Heart could only resort to this.

”Heart Possession.”

Heart’s consciousness expanded. Being a body stealer was not unfamiliar to him. This was simply the second time he intended to steal another Supreme Being’s existence. Not merely the body.

”SURRENDER YOURSELF TO ME!”

Heart intended to steal the essence that made a Supreme Being what they were. Their Supremacy Trait. The source of their authority. The foundation that allowed them to stand above all others.

However, Da Wei wouldn’t be going down so easily.

”DAO DOMAIN: SANCTUM OF THE INDOMITABLE RADIANCE!”

The universe disappeared.

Countless pillars rose from nothingness.

Golden stained-glass windows stretched across infinity, their impossible surfaces depicting scenes that did not exist and histories that had yet to happen. Sacred light flooded outer space, pushing back the darkness surrounding them.

Massive arches extended endlessly. Sacred bells rang from beyond reality. The entire battlefield transformed. It became an overwhelming, infinite holy sanctuary. And woven into every pillar, every window, every ray of sacred light was the concept of Da Wei’s domain technique.

”How about you double it and give it to the next person?”

Da Wei smiled sarcastically.

”Divine Possession.”

Heart did not hesitate.

Without missing a single beat, he answered.

”DAO DOMAIN: EVERLASTING TOWER OF SALVATION!”

The Tower embedded within the Hollowed World began to tremble.