Immortal Paladin

060 Righteous Reckoning

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming.

One of the recurring xianxia tropes, I think… was the master taking over the disciple’s body. To be fair, it happened so many times in Lost Legends Online—especially to players who followed the Mage Legacy. Liches and demons loved the body possession genre way too much.

Well, transmigrators could learn a thing or two from them.

Or maybe it was the other way around.

I exhaled, gripping my sword.

“So, pal,” I said casually. “Got any name?”

The horned figure barely reacted. His pitch-black eyes gleamed with something ancient and malevolent. Then, with a flick of his hand, a trident materialized in his grasp—its three prongs crackling with dark energy. The weapon pulsed, warping the air around it, as if reality itself wanted nothing to do with it.

The Heavenly Demon’s lips curled into a sneer.

“HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE UPON THIS SACRED CEREMONY?” His voice shook the ground beneath me. The blood rain hissed where it met his skin, evaporating into tendrils of black mist.

“THE MISFORTUNE INSIDE THE VESSEL IS YET TO MATURE, BUT CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES… I MUST NOT DELAY ANY LONGER. RISKING MY RESURRECTION WOULD BE FOOLISH.”

His gaze snapped toward Gu Jie.

I tightened my grip.

“…Yeah, I figured it’d be something like this.”

"I ADVISE YOU FROM THIS FOOLISH ACTION.”

The Heavenly Demon’s voice rolled through the ruined battlefield like a funeral bell. His black eyes locked onto me, deep and hollow, as if they could swallow my existence whole.

“AT MY PEAK, I STOOD AT THE EIGHTH REALM.” His grip tightened around the trident, dark energy spiraling around its prongs. “CURRENTLY, WHILE I ONLY STAND AT THE SEVENTH REALM, I AM MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR YOUR KIND.”

I exhaled slowly.

Tried to activate Final Adjudication.

—Nothing.@@novelbin@@

Tried Voice Chat to call up Dave, my trusty Holy Spirit.

—Silence.

I frowned.

Alright. This was kinda serious.

My Ultimate Skills were locked. That was bad, but I could still use normal skills. I adjusted my stance and switched my passive TriDivine to Divine Flesh. My body hardened, muscles becoming more resilient, flesh taking on an unnatural durability. It was a long-term tanking build, my second best option after outright obliterating enemies with Ultimate Skills.

I layered my defenses.

Armor of the Indomitable—every hit I took stacked my defense exponentially.

Sacred Bulwark—returned a portion of all damage back to the attacker.

Shield of the Eternal—a regenerating forcefield that absorbed incoming attacks before they could touch me.

I felt the weight of the spells settle into my body, an invisible layer of divine protection wrapping around me.

Then, I raised my sword.

“My kind?” I smirked, watching for his reaction. “Ever met someone like me? Now, that’s something I want to hear.”

The Heavenly Demon laughed. It was the kind of laugh that echoed through bones, slithering into marrow, crawling up the spine like a thousand centipedes. He spread his arms wide, his shredded robes fluttering around his skeletal frame.

“ALL OF THEM.” His black eyes glowed with malevolence. “ALL OF THE RIGHTEOUS CULTIVATORS, BLIND. THEY CLING TO THEIR LAWS, THEIR PATHS, IGNORANT TO TRUE STRENGTH.”

His voice was heavy, rich with centuries of arrogance.

“THEY FEAR WHAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND. THEY CONDEMN THAT WHICH THEY CANNOT CONTROL. THEY REJECT THE GIFTS BESTOWED FROM BEYOND.”

The trident pulsed in his grip, its aura thick like coagulated blood.

“BUT WHEN THE DEVILS WALK THIS WORLD, WHEN THEY RETURN TO CLAIM WHAT IS THEIRS,” the Heavenly Demon’s lips curled into something between a sneer and a grin, “THERE WILL BE NO SANCTUARY. THERE WILL BE NO KINGDOMS. THERE WILL BE NO HEROES.”

His black gaze burned into me.

“THERE WILL ONLY BE HELL.”

Yeah, yeah, standard villain monologue. I’d heard enough of these to last a lifetime.

While he was busy with his grand declaration, I casually cast Designate Holy Enemy.

A reversed red cross flickered into existence above his head.

The Heavenly Demon snarled the moment he felt it.

He waved a hand, dark energy surging as he dispelled the mark instantly.

Bad move, buddy.

Dispels were trump cards. In a proper fight, you never wasted one unless absolutely necessary. He just burned his for no reason other than his fragile ego.

No wonder this dude died.

Compel Duel.

A radiant halo materialized above both my head and the Heavenly Demon's.

The light wasn't warm or divine—it was an oath made manifest, an unbreakable contract of combat. The golden ring spun slowly, inscribed with intricate symbols that pulsed in time with my heartbeat.

For a brief second, the Heavenly Demon winced, as if shackles had closed around him. The halo above his head flickered—then solidified, locking him into the duel.

The air around us hummed with restriction.

A fight only between us.

If he tried to fight someone else? Stat penalties.

If he tried to run? Stat penalties.

If anyone else tried to interfere? My skill would be canceled, but he wouldn’t know that.

His fingers curled into claws, his trident vibrating with an unseen force.

“YOU…” The word dripped with venom.

I rolled my shoulders and settled into stance.

“Yeah?” I raised my sword. “En garde.”

I cast Shield of Faith on Gu Jie, a shimmering barrier of pure faith enveloping her like a translucent dome. It was one of the few supportive skill I had that I could cast on others, barring healing spells and Gu Jie damn well needed the barrier.

I tightened my grip around my sword, raising it with both hands in a solid defensive stance. Breathe in. Breathe out.

I let go of my hesitation. I immersed myself in the memories of David_69, the real Paladin in me.

The armor felt right—as if I'd been wearing it my whole life. The weight, the way the plated segments shifted with my movements—it was second nature. Even the helmet, which should’ve obscured my peripheral vision, didn’t bother me. I didn't need to see everything. I just needed to react.

The Heavenly Demon flickered.

A black shadow, rippling with malevolent energy, lunged toward me in a trident thrust aimed for my heart.

I saw it.

I traced his power using my evolved Divine Sense and parried with Flash Parry—a high-level Martial Path skill, faster and sharper than the basic version. The moment our weapons clashed, a burst of divine sparks erupted, and I felt an instant mana restoration surge through me. Good.

Flash Parry had a short cooldown—three to four seconds—but landing it meant I could chain an empowered Martial Path skill next.

I chose Stagger.

A subtle pulse of force rippled from me, forcing the Heavenly Demon into a 1.4-second staggered state just from standing too close. His movement stuttered, an opening forming—small but enough.

I felt his malevolent energy slip past my parry, some of it managing to pierce through—but my Shield of the Eternal absorbed it. Sacred Bulwark reflected the excess back, turning his own dark power into scorching holy damage.

His face twisted in surprise.

I didn’t let him recover.

I activated War Smite, my blade igniting with righteous fury, and slammed it into him. A shockwave blasted from the impact, sending the Heavenly Demon flying backward like a comet.

Then, before he could even think of stabilizing—

I pointed my sword at him.

Holy Smite.

A halo materialized above him, glowing with searing brilliance. Then—

It rained holy projectiles.

The Heavenly Demon slammed his trident down, sending a deep, echoing boom through the battlefield. The ground cracked beneath him as waves of dark energy spread outward, devouring the ambient qi in the atmosphere. His wounds sealed almost instantly, his body pulsing with renewed power.

Great. He could heal.

I wanted to follow up, but I had Gu Jie to protect.

That was the problem with being a tank in PvP. Not because they were slow—not at all. A well-built tank could keep up just fine. The real reason tanks were unpopular in PvP?

DPS.

Or rather, the lack of it.

Of course, I was an exception. But still…

If I were a full DPS Paladin, built for raw damage output, I might have been able to one-shot the Heavenly Demon in the 1.4 seconds he was staggered. Even without Ultimate Skills. Maybe. Maybe not. I stand by my opinion.

My DPS peaked when my health dipped low. Or, even better—if I died once.

The problem? There was no enemy yet that could match my natural defenses. Even without buffs, my passive skills stacked on top of each other, making me ridiculously hard to kill. And that was before adding my tank skills into the equation.

Still—this was the first serious fight I was having against a cultivator. (Jiang Zhen didn’t count.)

The cloud of dust where I’d blasted the Heavenly Demon finally settled.

He rose.

His pale, horned face twisted into a glare, his eyes burning with hatred.

“YOU ARE NOT FROM AROUND HERE!” his voice boomed. “YOU ARE HELL’S ENEMY!”

Yeah. At this point, it was pretty undeniable.

This guy kept referencing Hell.

In the same way Lu Gao had made contact with Hell, this guy had done the same.

Coincidence? I doubted it.

I wondered—was it Hell that had given him that Legacy Advancement Book that Gu Jie had absorbed? It made sense. Maybe they were running a referral program.

I took a step forward, keeping my blade raised.

“So, you’re friendly with Hell, huh?” I asked. “Tell me—how did you get in touch with them?”

The Heavenly Demon scoffed.

“I DON’T NEED TO ANSWER YOUR QUERY.”

Above us, the halo linking us through Compel Duel flickered—then vanished.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

Again?

He’d used his dispel ability.

I narrowed my eyes. He hadn’t used it instantly after I’d cast Compel Duel, so it probably had a cooldown instead of an energy cost.

Still—that was a ridiculously short cooldown. Broken, even.

Most dispels were heavily resource-restricted, but this guy? Spam-casting.

The Heavenly Demon raised his trident.

His voice rang through the battlefield.

“THREE PATHS TO POWER!”

His body split into three.

Each form now held a single-pronged spear instead of a trident.

Glowing characters hovered above each of the clones.

Thanks to my Translation skill from the Linguist sub-class, their meanings became clear.

• Ambition (志)
• Violence (暴)
• Cruelty (残)

The Ambition clone smirked, voice laced with arrogance.

“We only need to kill the psyche of the sacrifice, and the ritual will be complete.”

The Cruelty clone grinned, eyes gleaming with malice.

“We will have fun destroying you, outsider.” He spread his arms mockingly. “Even the great Sects of the entire realm had to send their strongest warriors to deal with me. What makes you think you can handle me alone?”

I didn’t bother answering.

Then came Violence.

He didn't waste breath on words.

He roared, body bursting into a fiery aura that stank of sulfur.

“I WILL DESTROY YOU!”

This guy yapped too much.

My shorter cooldown-based skills had already reset. I focused on Violence first—he was the loudest and most aggressive. He lunged at me with his spear wreathed in sulfuric flames. I activated Flash Parry, deflecting his attack with precise timing. The impact sent a satisfying shockwave through my arms, and a fraction of my mana surged back into my reserves.

Then, a chill ran down my spine as Divine Sense warned me.

Cruelty materialized from Violence’s shadow, his spear slithering toward me like a venomous serpent. I barely twisted my body in time, the weapon slicing through the air where my ribs had been a moment ago.

And then there was Ambition—predictable, arrogant Ambition.

He had bypassed me entirely and was behind us now, his spear streaking toward Gu Jie. Despite her lack of cultivation, she could see everything. Because this was inside her memories, inside her. She stood frozen, horror written across her face.

Okay. A three-on-one situation with a handicap? Might be a bit much even for me.

I summoned World Aegis from my Item Box, catching both Violence and Cruelty mid-attack. Their spears rebounded, momentarily throwing them off balance. I followed up immediately with Shield Bash, smashing my shield forward and sending them both staggering back with the knockback effect.

That left Ambition.

I had a second to act before his spear ran Gu Jie through.

I activated Castling.

A burst of light swapped my position with hers. The moment I appeared in front of Ambition, I dismissed my sword and shield back into my Item Box. His spear struck true, sinking into my chest.

A sharp crack echoed in my ears. The pain flared through my ribs, but I grinned.

That’s more like it.

Sacrificial Zeal kicked in, amplifying my attack power the lower my health dropped.

Ambition’s smug expression shifted as he realized something was wrong. I tightened my grip on the spear embedded in my chest and twisted it viciously. He gasped in pain at the reflected damage, eyes widening in disbelief.

"You should probably grit your teeth," I advised.

I clenched my fist and activated Righteous Reckoning, multiplying my damage reflection while empowering my next attack.

Holy energy surged through my arm.

I reared back my glowing fist, channeling Divine Smite, and punched Ambition square in the face.

His head exploded.