Immortal Paladin

448 Burden of the Victor

I won. The desire to go home won. Da Wei lost, and I won.

That meant I was the superior one. That meant my choices had been correct all along. I won. I won.

But the thought did not bring the relief I expected.

In the end, Da Wei would have peace one way or another, while I would have to keep living in this world. The realization settled like cold ash in my chest. Victory felt heavy, not triumphant, as if it carried a weight that refused to be set down.

“I envy you, Da Wei,” I muttered.

I knew I would envy him forever. That, I supposed, was the burden of victory. Still, this was the ending he wanted himself, wasn’t it? I raised my hand toward my head, intent on annihilating Da Wei’s memories entirely. I had consumed his essence. There was no need to cling to the life he lived. It was time to move on.

Within the Dark Veil, Da Wei would perish completely. The life he lived was like a dream, and now it would fade into nothing.

Quintessence gathered in my palm, bright and decisive. Just as I was about to release it, I felt resistance. A faint but unmistakable presence stopped me.

Alice’s hand closed around my wrist.

The blood pact remained. Even after Da Wei was gone, it persisted within me, stubborn and irritating. Alice looked at me, her expression calm in a way that unsettled me.

“Just die already. You had your run,” I snapped.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste?” Alice replied quietly. “Or are you just afraid of Da Wei? That’s why you’re doing this, right? If it were you, you would have taken advantage of these memories instead. His disciples, his daughter, his people. You wouldn’t need to lift a finger. They would willingly die for you. Isn’t that convenient?”

“Shut up,” I shouted.

She did not flinch. “When it comes to combat ability, you are stronger than Da Wei. No question. But when it comes to conviction, you lose. You will live the rest of your destiny with him haunting you, whether you purge these memories or not. I know, because I’m inside you now.”

Her words dug deeper than I wanted to admit. She continued without mercy. “Did you really have to play the villain all this time? When you appeared before me, you went out of your way to make me hate you. You even used my Immortal Art against me, just to spite me. Why? When it comes to hurting yourself, you’re no different from Da Wei.”

She was making too much sense, and that angered me more than any accusation. I forced myself to speak calmly. “It doesn’t matter. I got what I wanted. The essence of his Immortal Art, Divine Appointment of the Faithful, is mine. His Six Paths mastery will remain with me, even if I have to rebuild it from the beginning. I can’t have him interfering with my goals.”

Alice let out a short, humorless laugh. “What are you even saying? He’s gone. You devoured him. I think what you really mean is that you can’t stand having him on your conscience. That’s why you are resorting to this.”

She looked straight at me, her gaze sharp and unyielding. “Do you know what I think about both of you? Da Wei and David. I think you were the same person from the very beginning. That’s the only explanation for this.”

I scoffed. “And what explanation is that?”

“Cowardice,” she said plainly.

The word hit harder than any blade. “Cowardice. Me.”

“Yes,” Alice replied. “You are a coward. The David I know was too eager to sacrifice himself for others and die a martyr. You, this David, are too eager to run away from everything. What does that say about the existence called David?”

She tightened her grip on my wrist just slightly. “It says you are afraid. A Supreme Coward.”

Her words lingered in the Dark Veil, echoing far longer than I wanted them to.

I ignored Alice and pulled myself up from the Dark Veil.

The Hollow Star rested upon my head, its weight familiar now, no longer resisting me. I wove quintessence around my body, letting it settle and reshape itself into the robes Da Wei used to wear. They fit disturbingly well, as if they had always been meant for me. When the distortion cleared, I found myself standing once more in the Great Desert.

The great tree was now visible. Around its base, the players had already set up camp near the place where I had vanished.

“Hey, isn’t that the named NPC from the beta?”

“Gather up, gather up, there’s a cinematic starting.”

“Come on, don’t block the view!”

They were as unruly as ever. Watching them, I couldn’t help but feel a flicker of confusion at Da Wei’s choice. I still didn’t fully understand why he had gone so far as to create the players through the Source.

Alice’s voice drifted through my thoughts. “You should know. Like you, David had been lonely too.”

Again, I ignored her. There was no need to listen to the dead.

My first priority should have been the Holy Ascension Empire. Taking it over would have been the logical move. But even as the thought formed, I questioned it. Would it really work the way I imagined?

“Master!”

Ren Jingyi rushed toward me, her expression bright with relief. I raised my hand and patted her head instinctively.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m here.”

The others followed quickly. Lu Gao arrived first, playfully fistbumping my shoulder. Yuen Fu tapped my back with an easy grin. Hei Mao stopped a short distance away, composed as always, though his cat familiar leapt straight onto my head without hesitation. Ren Zhe reverted to his childish form, lingering nearby with a troubled look in his eyes.

Ding Cai stepped closer, and I fixed my gaze on her. If there was anyone among them who might see through me, it was her. I waited, measuring the silence.

“Master, you did it,” Ding Cai cried, throwing her arms around me in a tight hug.

The moment passed before I could react. I was suddenly surrounded, embraced, congratulated, touched in small and familiar ways. They didn’t notice anything wrong. Not a single flicker of doubt crossed their faces.

Alice spoke again, her tone almost gentle. “It feels nice, doesn’t it? To be showered with affection. And you plan to use them for your wars, right? Or maybe you’ve already grown attached to them. That was something Da Wei intended from the beginning, when he fought for the right to exist. Even if he loses, he believes his feelings would carry over you, ensuring the safety of his people. Isn’t he amazing?”

Her words lingered as she continued. “That’s the thing about my David. He never settles for less. When things become dire, he always finds a way to force either a lose-lose situation or a win-win situation.”

From the edge of the camp, a player shouted, “Hey, clear the place a bit, I want a clean screenshot!”

“No, you’re blocking the view!”

They swarmed closer, careless and excited. With a thought, I invoked my authority through the Immortal Art, Divine Appointment of the Faithful. The effect was immediate. Every player froze in place, mid-motion, mid-complaint.

It was easier to use than I expected.

Alice’s voice returned, quieter now but impossible to ignore. “You can’t keep ignoring me, David. I’ve become a primal part of you. Da Wei embraced me, taint and all, through the blood pact. You can’t get rid of me, and you know it.”

There was a pause before she finished, her words sharp with certainty. “That must have been part of his plan. Such a heartless man, when it suited him. If haunting you for the rest of eternity is the last thing I do, then I will gladly do it.”

Ren Zhe finally spoke up, his voice trembling despite the effort he made to sound brave. “So… this is over, right? Then you can bring back my parents.”

That had always been his reason for giving everything he had. When Da Wei promised him their return, it had never been an empty promise. With the Hollow Star, the Dark Veil, and my now completed existence, it was more than possible. The reincarnation system of the Hollowed World was self-contained. When someone died, their soul did not drift aimlessly into nothingness. It went into the Dark Veil.

I knew this better than anyone. In my own time, I had tried to retrieve my people from the Dark Veil, only to fail because the Outsiders had already harvested their souls. That failure still burned.

“We’ll get there,” I said slowly, “but first, we have to put a conclusion to this war.”

My gaze lifted toward the sky. The islands suspended among the branches of the great tree still burned with conflict. The fighting had not ended, and I could feel the presence of my disciple clashing above. Far beyond the mountains, another presence gnawed at my senses. Conquest was still there, along with the remnants of his plague creatures.

Alice’s voice whispered with thinly veiled condemnation. “So you are finally going to get rid of her? Yuan Shun, your disciple? It makes sense. She would be of no use to you anymore.”

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It was the logical decision. With the Source utterly destroyed, it would regenerate somewhere else in the universe. When that happened, another war would follow, one to determine who would claim it this time among the Six Supremes… No. Not six Supremes, but seven, counting myself. The Source was necessary if I ever wanted to go home. During that brief brush with [Omniscience], I had seen it clearly. Without the Source, there was no path back.

If I wanted any chance of reclaiming it, I would need the Hollowed World intact. Its resources, its faith, its people, and its systems would all be necessary.

Alice continued, her tone almost playful. “But Yuan Shun is your disciple. Does she mean nothing to you? I’m sure she would understand, after all. She cherishes you so much.”

“Don’t mock me.”

I did not realize I had said it aloud until my disciples reacted.

“Master? Is there a problem?”

“Must be stress.”

“He probably just needs rest.”

“Yeah, don’t crowd him.”

“I mean, it’s already a lot to take in, especially since he didn’t die this time.”

“Well, technically he probably died physically a lot of times, but resurrected again and again.”

“Hey, the silver lining is that his existence didn’t perish. Like, erased from reality. That would’ve been the worst outcome.”

They were talking over one another, half concerned, half casual. Were they making fun of me?

Alice laughed softly. “Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you relive the life of the other you?”

I did. And she was right. That version of me had always been a little unhinged. When faced with overwhelming odds, the sensible choice would have been to retreat and fight another day. Instead, he charged headfirst into danger, again and again, with grand, heroic, suicidal bravado. The only thing missing had been him screaming something ridiculous like LEEROY JENKINS.

Alice scoffed. “You’re no different. Even when the odds were overwhelming, you also threw yourself into danger again and again. The difference is that you don’t rely on things like Exalted Renewal. You just abuse resurrection instead.”

So she could see my memories too.

I should have ended it right there. With the Dark Veil and the Hollow Star under my control, purging the unnecessary elements of my rule would have been effortless. A snap of my fingers would have been enough to erase obstacles, dissent, and futures I did not want to account for.

I raised my hand, fingers poised to snap, when the world abruptly dissolved. The desert, the sky, and even the sense of direction vanished, replaced by an endless void that pressed against my senses.

“How about we make a proposition?” a voice asked calmly.

I felt my jaw tighten. “What do you want, Supreme Void?” I asked, the bitterness from countless cycles rising unbidden.

I remembered him too well. A bored existence who had grown irritated by my mockery and decided to retaliate in kind with a trick, teaching me a spell that reversed time while conveniently omitting its true nature. That single lesson had trapped me within my own recorded past for an eternity of despair. That description was crude, but accurate enough. What remained between us now was not partnership or rivalry, but a shared mass of regrets.

I had sealed a fragment of him within myself long ago, binding it through my Warlock Legacy and using his power against its own nature. Since leaving my original time, his voice had gone silent. Until now.

“You are the Supreme Void of this timeline, right?” I asked, my tone sharp with suspicion. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Not really,” he replied lightly. “See, I’m both.”

I grinned despite myself, the expression feral and full of promise. “Good. Then one day, I will be able to take revenge on you.”

It made sense. The Supreme Void of my timeline and this one were the same existence, spanning cycles and contradictions as easily as breathing. He chuckled, clearly amused.

“Don’t you want to hear my proposition first?” he asked.

“I have nothing to say to you,” I replied flatly. He had tricked me once, and that was more than enough for an eternity.

I was about to snap my fingers and tear my way out when his voice cut through the void with unexpected urgency. “The current you will lose against the threats ahead if you continue like this. Let ‘Da Wei’ live.”

I froze.

The words struck too cleanly, too directly, to be dismissed outright. Was this another trick? It felt different, almost careless in how blunt it was. The Supreme Void continued before I could respond.

“The current you has achieved an incredible level of growth. The fact that you can even hold a conversation with me for this long without collapsing is admirable. But you lack the qualities necessary to survive the rest of the story or what is to come.”

“The rest of what?” I snapped. “You think this is some kind of story?”

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “All stories are destinies.”

He laughed softly, as if indulging a private joke. “You won’t understand. The Origin tricked you. And the Supreme Void further distorting your destiny didn’t help.”

My brow furrowed. “Origin?”

“Don’t pretend,” he said, his tone sharpening. “You brushed against something so vast that your feeble existence couldn’t comprehend it. You forgot it the moment you returned to your true shape.”

I scoffed, anger flaring. “I will survive just fine. Don’t question my qualifications. I’m Da Wei and David now, and that’s enough. Qualifications? What do I lack? Also, fuck you. I won’t listen to a troll lecture me.”

The void shuddered violently.

“YOU ARE TOO HUMAN,” the Supreme Void thundered. “THAT IS THE PROBLEM.”

The space around me warped as if reality itself were recoiling. I felt pressure crushing in from all directions, forcing my breath from my lungs.

“I CAN’T KILL YOU NOW,” he continued, his voice vast and merciless. “BUT I AM WARNING YOU. IF YOU MAKE THE WRONG MOVE, YOU WILL CONDEMN THE SOURCE. YOU WILL CONDEMN YOUR WORLD—”

I snapped my fingers.

The void imploded into blinding white.

When my vision returned, I was no longer alone. Standing before me was a young man clad in yellow robes, an imperial crown resting upon his head. His presence was heavy with authority that felt older than heaven itself.

“You are the Yellow Emperor,” I said hoarsely. “I believe this is our first meeting.”

An obscene laugh echoed across the space. “Ka ka ka ka ha ha ha ha ha!” the voice rang out. “Little Emperor, didn’t you say something about not interfering? So what is this?”

A silhouette appeared beside the Yellow Emperor, vaguely human in shape yet impossible to define. Pain exploded behind my eyes. Blood streamed from my nose, and I spat out a thick, metallic clump that should not have been there.

Just hearing the Supreme Void’s true voice wounded me. Just perceiving his outline made my vision fracture, darkness creeping in at the edges. My eyes burned and bled as the world threatened to dissolve once more.

Yellow Emperor spoke first, his voice calm yet weighed with judgment. “I thought it was fine no matter who won, but he has been tainted by the Origin.”

The Supreme Void sneered immediately, his tone dripping with mockery. “Tainted? You mean touched, like being violated. Of course, you would never understand. You were born a heavenly being. You never walked the mortal path.”

A brutal headache slammed into me without warning. I dropped to my knees, palms striking the white ground as nausea and pressure tore through my skull. My vision warped, colors bleeding into each other. Was this really the gap between a truly completed, honed Supreme Being and someone like me?

My thoughts drifted to my encounter with Supreme Heart. Back then, I had believed I was not that far behind him. Now, that confidence felt laughable.

As if reading my thoughts, the Supreme Void chuckled. “Hah~! Don’t even think about comparing me to that little shit. He’s the kind of bastard who pretends to be a sheep when he’s actually a wolf. Well, in his case, a human. Truly a disgusting bunch. How about this, Little Emperor? Just let me consume him.”

Half of the blinding white world was swallowed by darkness in an instant.

I fell.

My fingers scraped against the remaining white surface as I clung to it desperately. From the encroaching void, voices slithered into my mind, overlapping and shrieking in ecstatic hunger.

“CONSUME!”

“FEED!”

“DEVOUR!”

The Supreme Void laughed, loud and unrestrained. “Ha ha ha ha ha~! I really have to thank that Gu Jie lass for offering me a remnant of my power back then. And then there’s the portion of the Dark Veil I devoured as well. I don’t think it will be long before I crack this prison completely.”

“Enough,” Yellow Emperor snapped, his tone sharpening. “Take this situation seriously. The Source has been destroyed. I hoped the new vessel would mend it, but it has returned to nothingness. It will take time before another surface regenerates into existence. If the Origin awakens and begins to move again, even you will not be safe.”

“Safe?” the Supreme Void scoffed. “Do you really think I care about being safe? I deter it. That’s why I don’t have safe days, if you get what I mean. This boy is always ready for action, ready to mingle, ready for chaos. Let it come. I’m bored anyway.”

I forced myself upright, pain roaring through my head, and shouted, “You two bickering idiots! Can you shut up for one second? What are you, some weird married couple that never stops arguing?”

Even as the words left my mouth, I realized how absurd the situation was. I used to think Da Wei was a clown, but compared to this, the Supreme Void treated everything like a joke carved out of apocalypse itself.

I needed to leave. Now.

I was about to snap my fingers and drag myself back into reality when both the Yellow Emperor and the Supreme Void vanished without warning.

The world shifted.

Suddenly, I was standing in Yellow Dragon City during a festival. Lanterns glowed warmly, laughter filled the air, and the smell of street food drifted past me. I recognized it instantly.

This was a memory.

Da Wei’s memory.

I turned my head and saw him standing at a goldfish stall, completely absorbed in an arcade game. His expression was relaxed, almost carefree. Around him stood his six disciples, laughing, cheering, and arguing among themselves. It was one of his happiest days, though I knew it was not quite right. At this point in time, he had not yet gathered all six of them.

“David,” Yellow Emperor said softly.

He appeared beside me, his presence subdued compared to before.

I frowned, keeping my eyes on the scene ahead. “What’s your game?”

“Sorry,” he replied. “I needed to bring you somewhere else. The Void was being a hindrance. He doesn’t like me.”

I stared at Da Wei, at the ease in his posture and the warmth around him, knowing none of it was truly real. Yellow Emperor continued, his voice almost gentle.

“Don’t you want this? You can have it too. Just say the word, and I can bring you back home.”

I sneered, bitterness rising unfiltered. “You mean a memory of home.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Does it really make a difference?”

“Of course, it does,” I said without hesitation.

The Yellow Emperor studied me for a moment before replying, “I confess I’ve done you wrong by pretending to be the Supreme Void and trying to trick you. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

I spat to the side. “You’re sorry you got caught.”

He did not deny it. “Unlike him, you are gullible, so I thought I’d try my luck.”

That stung more than I cared to admit. Being compared to Da Wei was one thing, but being labeled the gullible one between us was another entirely. Still, the sudden honesty unsettled me more than the insult. Why now? Did he think I would soften just because he showed a hint of remorse?

“Before you go, there’s something you must hear,” the Yellow Emperor said. “The Origin is not to be trusted. Whatever it showed you, there is a trap hidden somewhere within it. If it granted you power, that power will become your shackle. If it granted you knowledge, that knowledge will sway your judgment. If you must choose, choose the path that leaves you with the fewest regrets.”

I did not answer. I snapped my fingers and tore myself back into the present.

The Great Desert rushed back into existence around me. My disciples and the players were still gathered nearby, their attention fixed on me. The branches of the colossal tree loomed overhead, holding the fractured islands aloft like offerings to the sky.

Then the air screamed.

A terrifying pressure burst from one of the suspended islands. Qi vanished from the surroundings as if swallowed whole. I felt it instantly. The cultivators around me staggered as their realms dropped, the players crying out as their systems struggled to adapt. An island above shattered, fragments raining down as a silhouette tore through the debris.

She appeared above me in a blur of broken light.

It was Yuan Shun.

Her hair had turned white, stained with blood. Crimson tears streamed from her eyes. Her wings were gone, torn away completely, and her armor hung in ruins, exposing torn skin beneath. She hovered there, sustained by sheer will alone.

My disciples moved at once, surrounding me in a protective arc.

“Master, let us handle this!”

“You still need to recover!”

“We outnumber her, don’t falter!”

Their voices overlapped, desperate and loyal.

Yuan Shun looked past them, straight at me. Tears of blood fell freely as she cried, “Master, what are you doing with them? You should be by my side. You are my master, right?”

Yes, I am, I thought. The words burned in my throat, but I could not say them.

She hovered closer, her voice breaking as she spoke again. “Master, I only want to be by your side.”

My chest tightened with a fury I could barely contain. For a fleeting moment, I considered twisting the truth. I could call her an ally. A friend. Someone we could reconcile with, someone who could still belong here. Maybe I could make a clone, and give it to her. I… I don’t know…

The thought collapsed under its own weight.

I could only choose one path. I could live as Da Wei, or I could live as David. I could not be both.

Yuan Shun screamed, her voice tearing through the sky. “Give me my master back!”