Immortal Paladin

041 Demonic Invaders

Brukhelm’s body was gone, reduced to nothing but scattered dust. But I wasn’t fooled.

I could see it—the writhing, crimson ember streaking through the air, fleeing as fast as it could. His demonic soul.

The moment Brukhelm's body crumbled to ash, his demonic soul wasted no time. It shot upward in a streak of crimson malice, a pulsing ember of hatred and resentment, slipping through the smallest cracks in the Great Barrier like mist through a sieve.

My Divine Sense traced the demonic soul’s existence with unerring accuracy.

It was a recurring trope in Lost Legends Online. Named demons never truly died the first time. At some point, players had figured out that they always came back in later installments, stronger and more vengeful. It wasn’t until much later in the game’s life cycle that the developers finally dropped an in-game explanation:

Demons had demonic souls—a fail-safe that let them escape death by returning to their home dimension, where they’d get a respawn treatment. To regular people, it was just an unfortunate reality. To players with scouting skills, however, it was considered flavor texts.

I had no plans on letting this bastard come back.

I raised a finger, aiming straight at the escaping soul. "Compel Duel."

The skill activated instantly. A surge of energy locked onto the fleeing soul, preventing it from truly escaping me. It didn’t matter if Brukhelm had lost his body—he was still my opponent, and I had just forced him into a duel he couldn't refuse.

The demonic soul flinched. It wobbled in the air, as if confused, before surging forward in desperation.

"Zealot’s Stride."

I kicked off the shattered ground, launching into pursuit.

"Flash Step."

The world blurred as I reappeared midair, still trailing behind the soul.

"Flash Step."

Again.

The demonic soul twisted and darted through the sky, desperate to escape. It had no physical form anymore—no weight, no body—just pure will to survive. It wasn’t following a straight path either. It weaved and curved, zigzagging unpredictably to shake me off. A lesser tracker would have lost sight of it in seconds.

But I wasn’t just tracking it. I was hunting it.

"Flash Step. Flash Step. Flash Step."

Every burst of speed narrowed the gap.

The demonic soul writhed violently, realizing that I wasn’t slowing down. I could almost feel its panic, its disbelief. Named demons weren’t supposed to be chased like this. They were supposed to escape, regenerate, and return stronger in a future expansion.

But this wasn’t an expansion.

This was me.

And I wasn’t about to let this bastard get a sequel.

I lifted my hand. No weapons. No theatrics. Just pure, divine execution.

"Divine Smite."

A golden glow coated the edge of my hand as I swung downward in a simple knife-hand strike. The moment it connected, Brukhelm’s soul screamed. The sound was silent, but I felt it in the air, in the way reality itself seemed to reject his very existence.

Then, with a final pulse of light, he was gone.

No respawn. No second chance.

Just judgment.

The air still carried the scent of burned flesh and scorched earth as I stepped over the ruined ground. The Great Barrier had long since faded, its golden radiance leaving behind a hollow silence. The arena was barely recognizable—what once stood as a proud battleground was now a graveyard of shattered stone and blackened debris.

And in the center of it all, where Brukhelm had perished, lay the last remnant of Lu Gao—a single skull, charred but intact.

I stopped in front of it, staring down at what was left of the once-proud young master of the Lu Clan.

Behind me, the survivors gathered.

Ren Jin stood with his arms crossed, his usual arrogance tempered by what he had just witnessed. Chief Enforcer Liang Na was a step behind him, her sharp gaze analyzing me like a puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. The three elders—Pan Xia, Long Xieren, and Lei Fen—looked weary but composed, their expressions unreadable. The elders must have stayed, hoping to either watch the fight or to offer support.

No one spoke. They were waiting.

Waiting to hear an explanation.

Or for me to give an excuse.

I sighed and crouched, reaching out to touch the scorched skull.

In Lost Legends Online, possession by a Named Demon wasn’t something that could be shrugged off. If the host was killed while still possessed, their soul would be lost entirely, consumed by the demon in its final moments. Even the most advanced resurrection spells couldn’t bring them back—not unless the demon’s influence was completely purged first.

There was only one method to ensure their return.

A method that required either very expensive resource or the presence of a very high leveled paladin, priest, or druid.

I let out a breath and straightened. Then, I raised my hand, fingers forming the sigil of invocation. The ultimate resurrection spell, one that ignored even the finality of True Death.

"Divine Word: Raise."

A pulse of white light expanded from my palm, washing over the fragmented remains. The brilliance was blinding, stark against the ruins of the battlefield. The glow sank into the skull, suffusing it with warmth.

Then, the impossible happened.

Bone reformed. Flesh wove itself back together. Veins and muscles knitted into place, pulsing with renewed vitality. The once-bare skull became a human face again, color returning to pale, lifeless skin.

The air hummed with divine energy, the sheer force of the spell warping reality itself. This was resurrection at its highest level—one that defied natural order, forced the soul to return, and left no room for failure.

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The silence stretched as everyone watched in awe.

Then, Lu Gao gasped.

He bolted upright, eyes wide with sheer panic, his body trembling as if he had just clawed his way out of the depths of hell. Sweat poured from his forehead, his chest rising and falling in rapid, uneven breaths.

His first sound was a choked scream.

A deep, raw, guttural sound that came from the depths of his very being.

Everyone took a step back.

Lu Gao clutched his head, his fingers digging into his scalp, his entire form shaking violently. His breath hitched—ragged, uneven—as if his lungs had only just remembered how to function.

Then, he looked at me.

His pupils shrunk, recognition and confusion warring in his gaze. His lips parted, but no words came out. His entire body convulsed before he hunched forward, his fingers clawing at the dirt beneath him.

I remained silent.

Memories were returning to him. Memories of his possession, of the things he had done while Brukhelm had worn his body like a suit of flesh. It wasn’t something you could just wake up from.

Then, he spoke—his voice barely above a whisper.

“…I was dead.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“I…” His voice broke. He gritted his teeth, clenching his hands into fists. His breathing turned shallow, his body visibly rejecting the reality of what had happened. “I was gone. I could feel myself fading. I was…” His throat bobbed, as if swallowing back bile. “…devoured.”

I let him process it.

The others, meanwhile, were staring in utter disbelief. Resurrection was rare enough, but this? This was something beyond what they understood. One moment, Lu Gao was awake. The next, he slumped forward, his breathing steady.

Lu Gao needed rest.

For about five seconds, there was silence. Then the interrogation began.

"You," Lei Fen pointed at me, "are going to explain exactly what just happened."

Pan Xia followed up with a sharp tone. "What kind of demonic technique was that? If the Lu Clan practices such a vile art, they need to answer to take responsibility!"

I blinked.

Liang Na folded her arms. "That demon. Bu Lu Keng. It recognized you." Her voice was calm, but the way her fingers twitched at her sides told me she was anything but. "It called you Paladin—and it did not do so lightly. Why?"

I remained quiet.

Truth was, I wasn’t entirely sure myself.

A demon—one of the Fallen Angel type, no less—recognized me on sight and called me Paladin. I could make a few guesses. Maybe it was because I used Holy-aligned abilities? Maybe because I fought too much in Lost Legends Online against demons, and the system had its own ways of tracking these things?

But… none of those explanations would make sense here.

Ren Jin, silent until now, finally spoke. "What is a Paladin?"

I hesitated.

How was I supposed to answer that?

Seeing an LLO demon was worrying enough.

Long Xieren narrowed his eyes. "You hesitate."

Liang Na pressed further. "Why? Do you know the answer or not?"

I sighed, rubbing the back of my head. "I don’t not know… but I don’t have a great answer either."

That got me a round of unimpressed looks.

Pan Xia crossed his arms. "Then answer this: What kind of technique did Bu Lu Keng use?" I guessed that was what we’d call the demon from now on. Bu Lu Keng? Didn't exactly roll in the mouth.

I shook my head. "Not sure. Something tied to his demonic nature."

Lei Fen’s expression darkened. "You just killed him. Surely you know what he was using."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "He’s dead now. Not like he can tell us."

That… did not improve the mood.

Ren Jin studied me carefully. "You are hiding something."

I didn’t deny it.

Because honestly? I had more questions than answers.

I let out a slow breath, weighing my options.

In the end, I stuck to my prepared excuse—I was a wandering cultivator.

Technically true, if you considered my constant state of being lost as "wandering."

I leaned on that idea, sidestepping the finer details, but I did decide to share one crucial truth: just how far I was from home.

“I’m not from around here,” I admitted.

Pan Xia gave me a flat look. “We gathered that much.”

Liang Na frowned. “From where, exactly?”

I thought about Brukhelm’s ramblings, about how he’d framed me as some kind of foreigner from an unknown land. That gave me just enough of a foundation to work with.

“I come from a place far beyond this land. Beyond this continent. Beyond this world.”

The expressions I got in response ranged from skeptical to mildly confused.

Ren Jin studied me carefully. “Beyond this world?”

I nodded. “A different planet.”

Silence.

Then Lei Fen frowned. “Planet?”

I hesitated. "Yeah. You know… a massive celestial body, floating in space, orbiting a star?"

More blank stares.

Liang Na tilted her head. “You mean like the heavens?”

…Oh.

They didn’t know.

They don’t know the world is round.

To these people, the ‘world’ was probably more of a concept than a place.

Right. That was different from Lost Legends Online. In the game’s lore, every player and NPC was aware of planets, space, and all that. But here, apparently, the idea was entirely foreign.

I backtracked immediately. "Not exactly. Think of it like… a different plane of existence."

That explanation landed better.

Long Xieren narrowed his eyes. “A different plane?”

“Yes. A world separate from this one.”

There was a pause. Then Pan Xia exhaled through his nose. “So you are saying you are not from this plane of reality?”

"Exactly."

Ren Jin’s gaze sharpened. “…Then how did you come here?”

That was the tricky part.

I didn’t know how I got here. I barely even knew why. But I couldn’t exactly say that, so I shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly voluntary.”

Liang Na’s eyes flickered with curiosity. “You were summoned?”

"Something like that," I lied.

They accepted that much, but I could tell they were still processing the idea.

I decided to shift the conversation before they could press further. “My people have been at war for a long time,” I said.

Ren Jin’s eyes narrowed. “With whom?”

I met his gaze. “The Gods.”

A sharp intake of breath.

The reaction was instant. Lei Fen’s posture stiffened. Liang Na’s eyes widened, her composed mask cracking just slightly. Long Xieren’s grip on his robes tightened. Even Ren Jin, usually so hard to read, looked momentarily shaken.

"The Gods? Immortals?" Pan Xia’s voice was barely above a whisper.

I nodded. "For as long as my people have existed, we’ve been fighting them."

A heavy silence hung in the air.

Long Xieren’s voice was grave. “This is unbelievable… Immortals? Really?” There was almost a fanaticism in his eyes.

Ren Jin, however, wasn’t condemning me just yet. He leaned forward, voice measured. “And do your people win this war?”

I met his gaze.

“…Sometimes.”

The air grew heavier.

I could tell—whatever this meant to them, it was big.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I had to tell them. At least some of it.

The appearance of that demon—Brukhelm—set off too many warning bells. It wasn’t probably just a one-off event.

The Gods. Final Adversity. The Great Enemy.

They loved using demons as an advance force. They’d send them in first, let them gather information, plant seeds of corruption, and grow their power base. It suited their style—why do the work yourself when you could get others to tear each other apart first?

And Hell? Hell had always been eager. They never needed much encouragement to invade.

I exhaled and faced the gathered people. "That demon wasn’t just a lone monster. It was part of something bigger. I’ve seen this before.”

Pan Xia folded his arms. “Explain.”

I nodded. “Demons don’t just show up randomly. They spread like a disease. They whisper in people’s ears, promising them power, wealth, or revenge. They corrupt the desperate, the ambitious, the foolish. And when enough seeds take root—when enough people listen—Hell comes knocking.”

A tense silence.

Lei Fen frowned. “Are you saying this is the beginning of an invasion?”

I didn’t answer right away. I had to be careful with my words. If I said too much, I risked shaking their entire worldview. If I said too little, they might dismiss my warning.

“…It’s a possibility,” I admitted. “I don’t know how far along it is, but I do know this—demons don’t operate in isolation. If one has surfaced, there are more. Maybe hiding. Maybe waiting.”

Liang Na’s expression was unreadable. “And who commands these demons?”

I hesitated for only a second. “The Great Enemy.”

Long Xieren’s expression darkened. “You mean the Immortals… er… Gods.”

Like the concept of ‘Planets’, they were unfamiliar with ‘Gods’ and were more inclined to seeing them as some kind of ‘Immortal’, which wasn’t technically wrong. It wasn't like I'd met an 'Immortal' and 'God' directly.

I inclined my head slightly. “Yes.”

A sharp exhale.

Ren Jin, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. “That’s a heavy claim.”

I met his gaze. “It is. But I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t sure.”

Liang Na studied me closely. “You expect us to take this seriously?”

“I hope you do,” I said plainly. “Because the alternative is pretending this is nothing. And if that’s the path you choose, I guarantee you’ll regret it.”

That got their attention.

Pan Xia looked thoughtful. Lei Fen’s fingers drummed against his sleeve, deep in consideration. Ren Jin’s gaze was still locked on me, measuring every word I said.

“…If you are right,” Long Xieren said slowly, “then what do you suggest we do?”

I exhaled. That was the right question.

“Be vigilant,” I said. “Don’t assume this is over just because one demon was slain. Watch for whispers. For sudden changes in people. For those who gain power too quickly, or those who speak too sweetly. Demons don’t always take direct action—they work from behind the scenes, manipulating, twisting things to their favor. The greatest danger isn’t the enemy you see. It’s the one you don’t.”

I had no idea if they’d believe me fully, but at least now, they wouldn’t take this lightly.