179 Insecure Much?

The Summit Hall looked as though it had been gutted by the wrath of the heavens. Half the dome was gone, torn open to the sky as if some god had peeled it back to watch us squirm. What remained of the walls was splintered marble and scorched stone.

Floating above it all was my Judgment Severance, now a jagged rupture of light in the shape of a golden cross, greedily devouring energy from everything nearby. Mana, qi, even the air itself seemed thinner in its presence.

I adjusted my grip and angled my sword upward. I swung.

The blow caught Aixin mid-dodge and sent her tumbling into the rupture. Her mouth opened as if to scream, but no sound emerged. The agony on her face said enough. Judgment Severance clung to her like a curse given form, siphoning her energy, disrupting her spiritual channels, and silencing her ability to cast or channel quintessence.

I wasn't about to waste the opportunity.

I leaped, blade trailing behind me in a silver arc, aiming for her face. Judgment Severance would last only a few seconds longer, so I poured mana into the spell to extend its life by a heartbeat. It was enough.

Despite the relentless pull of my empowered spell, Aixin didn't relent. Trapped in midair, she parried every strike with her staff, matching my tempo while her wings beat desperately to keep her aloft. She blocked a slash aimed at her throat and used the counterforce to propel herself higher. I followed immediately, kicking off with brute strength and launching myself after her like a missile. My overhead strike crashed down with punishing force.

She raised her staff again.

Our weapons collided, but this time my sword didn't stop. I fed mana and qi directly into Silver Steel. Heavenly Punishment still radiated through the blade, with Holy Sword humming beneath the surface. Judgment Severance could nullify active spells within its radius, but it couldn't erase divine effects already woven into a physical weapon at this level.

Aixin slammed into the ground.

I dove after her, but before I could finish the job, an unseen force seized me and hurled me downward. My Divine Sense screamed a warning. Quintessence. Raw and pure, shaped into a telekinetic grip that smashed me into the stone with mountain-flattening force.

Judgment Severance shouldn't have allowed that.

Somehow, she had forced it through.

Perhaps, quintessence could bypass my Judgment Severance.

I spat blood, rolled to my feet, and downed three potions from my Item Box. Healing. Mana restoration. Resistance. The burn in my throat reminded me I was still alive.

I charged again.

My sword carved furrows through the stone floor, each strike unleashing shockwaves that widened the cracks beneath us. Aixin, still glowing with residual divinity, was bleeding now. Thin streams ran from her nose and eyes, the cost of resisting too much power too quickly.

I hurled three bottles from my Item Box: one red, one green, and one the color of blood mixed with obsidian.

I punched the red bottle mid-flight.

It shattered across my fist and her face. Scalding black-red flames erupted across her skin and crawled over my gauntlet. It hurt, but I didn't care. This time, she screamed. I stomped on one foot and smashed the green bottle against her other ankle. Its sticky contents expanded instantly, hardening into stone-like glue that anchored her to the ground.

The final bottle was heavier, denser, and older.

Dragon's Blood.

I crushed the contained with a headbutt, letting the liquid douse me. My body screamed as the power coursed through me. My blood boiled with the essence of a creature long dead and more divine than most cultivators I had met. Before she could break free, I drove my sword through her chest.

Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened.

However, no words came.

"I will rip you apart now," I growled.

Then I did.

I plunged my free hand into the wound and tore. Her body split apart with wet tearing sounds and a surge of divine backlash. I hurled the pieces aside like broken puppets. Judgment Severance flickered and vanished. My mana reserves were empty, reduced to little more than sparks. I fumbled through my Item Box and tore open a Teleportation Scroll.

It activated.

I might have escaped if not for the hammer of divine light that struck from above before I could react. The impact canceled the teleportation and slammed into me with devastating force.

The blow shattered what remained of the Summit Hall.

I activated Zealot's Stride and launched myself into the sky as rubble exploded beneath me. Wind howled around me as I spun in midair and saw Aixin rising once more. Her wounds slowly undid itself as if she was rewinding time. Newly formed wings blazed with golden light too pure to be comforting. She looked divine again, like a statue of vengeance given breath.

"Destroy him," she commanded coldly, pointing her staff at me.

Low-tier angels, malformed and barely humanoid, orbited around me. Their limbs twisted unnaturally as they conjured weapons of light from nothing. At the tip of Aixin's staff, a sphere of condensed radiance gathered into a single bead, humming with contained annihilation.

She tilted her head, her voice dripping with contempt.

"Stop making this so difficult for me, or I will taxidermize you."

I smiled through cracked lips and bloodstained teeth.

"You'll need to do better than that."

The angels closed in immediately, halos spinning and wings blurring as their weapons formed in flashes of light. I knew what was coming and I welcomed it.

"Come closer," I whispered.

I drove Silver Steel into my own chest.

The blade punched through armor and flesh. Pain shot down my spine, but it was intentional and calculated. Blood poured from the wound as Reflect Damage began to stack, glowing faintly around my aura. I activated Blessed Regeneration, watching healing light push against the bleeding wound in my chest. It wasn't enough to stabilize me.

That wasn't the point.

Sacrificial Zeal ignited next. The lower my health, the stronger my strikes became, while the regeneration fed directly into Retributive Restoration. Together, they formed a suicidal cycle of martyrdom and rebirth, designed for slaughtering swarms.

The first angel reached me.

Its blade grazed my skin, only for the angel to explode.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Holy bodies burst apart under divine retribution, scattering feathered gore through the ruined air above the Summit Hall.

Aixin finished the spell she was preparing while the lower level mobs bought her time.

A halo formed around the bead of light floating above her staff. Illusory angels shimmered into existence around her, their faces too beautiful to trust. The instant she released the bead, they shrieked. Their features twisted into ravenous mouths lined with fangs as they chased after the bead of light, forming a comet of divine torment.

I Flash Stepped left, and made more distance as I unleashed Zealot's Stride.

The bead curved and followed.

"Seriously?" I muttered.

It struck me square in the chest. My armor dissolved. The mirage-angels plunged through my skin. I screamed, feeling them burrow into my nerves and chew through bone. Next, the infants came. Not real infants, but baby-like angels with tiny wings and cherubic smiles. They crawled from the pores of my flesh like cancer and tumors growing within me.

I choked blood.

They cooed and giggled. Charm spells hammered against my mind. One batted its eyes at me and blew a kiss. Another nibbled on my earlobe before biting deep enough to tear away cartilage.

"I hate this spell already."

Reflect Damage didn't trigger.

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The Punishment of the Wicked Who Pretends to Be Good resumed its work, rewriting my body and turning my skin into jagged obsidian. I couldn't stop it.

I felt the wind shift behind me.

Aixin was already there, concealed among the swarm of lesser angels.

Her staff transformed into a radiant spear.

She drove it through my chest and carried us both through a shattered building. Earth and concrete cracked beneath us as we slammed into the ground. Divine restoration shimmered across her body, erasing wounds that should have mirrored my own. Even her robes rewound themselves, colors restoring as though time itself were reversing.

I couldn't breathe.

"Divine Word: Rest."

I slammed the spell into her in desperation. Her eyes fluttered shut for only a moment as she held herself strongly. I gritted my teeth, grabbed the spear, and pulled myself closer. My hand shot toward her throat.

With a roar, I ripped her skull free, her spine tearing out after it in a hot spray of blood. Yet before the gore could even fall, her head erupted with divine power. From the severed neck down, bone regenerated, muscle wove itself anew, and pale flesh bloomed, swiftly rebuilding a naked body while I still clutched her head.

She laughed.

More baby angels crawled from my stomach.

"You're going to lose," said Aixin in mania. "Surrender yourself."

A sword of pure light formed in her hand. One swing severed my arm, the same arm still clutching her head. I threw her away with War Smite, sending her flying away. I dropped to one knee, panting. I tried to calm my breathing as I cast Cleanse on myself to battle the mental afflictions.

With a casual wave, radiant vestments wove themselves over her naked body, layering her once more in holy protections. Another gesture followed.

I felt a pull on the spear still lodged in my chest.

It began flying back to her.

"No."

I reached for Silver Steel, still embedded in my heart, and twisted both weapons simultaneously.

"Divine Smite."

Mana surged violently through me. My heart burst. My skull collapsed inward. In the next heartbeat, I detonated into a storm of gore—everything except the arm still gripping Silver Steel, which dropped and drove point-first into the ground beside Aixin. The shockwave struck her mid-reach. Her spear flew back into her grasp, but through my fading Divine Sense, I watched her wipe the blood from her face in evident disgust.

I was dead.

And with my death, that nasty spell that ate at my insides were dispelled.

My soul floated outside my ruined body, detached and exposed.

Aixin looked up at me. She lunged, reaching for my spirit.

Spell Resonance activated.

"Divine Word: Raise."

I directed the spell toward my severed arm, the one still gripping Silver Steel. In the next breath, I resurrected beside her. I was naked, bleeding, and alive once more.

Leaning in close to her ear, I whispered, “Boo.”

Aixin spun around, startled.

I swung Silver Steel as hard as I could with Divine Smite, still empowered by Heavenly Punishment and Holy Sword.

The buildings were not made to withstand angels or gods.

When Aixin hit the houses, they vaporized from the storm of divine power. Her body carved a perfect trench through the district, as though a comet had struck the city. Holy barriers burst apart like glass. Every enchantment woven into her robes, every protective prayer layered upon her, unraveled under the force of my blow.

My arms ached from the recoil. Sparks danced along my naked forearm as Silver Steel hummed in anticipation.

It was time.

I had reached the threshold of Exalted Renewal.

Every drop of EXP was gone, burned to fuel Exalted Renewal. The gains were immense. My health no longer recovered in increments. It surged violently. Mana replenished like a roaring spring. I could chain Divine Words together, while Sacrificial Zeal and Retributive Restoration turned every wound into more wrath.

Finally, she was within my weight class.

Or as close as she would ever be.

The lesser angels hurled themselves at me again, all pale light and artificial purity. I didn't even blink. One swing of Silver Steel shattered their halos. A second unleashed a sonic wave that tore through their ranks, dissolving them like fragile illusions. The few still afflicted by that earlier madness lingered in the air, writhing before fading into dust.

I took a breath.

It felt strange with the wind against bare skin.

Looking down, I shook my head. The Wandering Adjudicator armor was supposed to be legendary. An indestructible set earned through a miserable quest chain back in LLO.

Now, it was scrap.

I'd been punched out of it like a peeled fruit. Well, I kind of punched myself out of it like a peeled fruit. I wasn't putting the cosmetic robe back on. Not when it nerfed my stats. As for spare equipment in my Item Box, it would only get in the way.

From the rubble, Aixin erupted.

Her wings left trails of starlight as she shot toward me, spear-first and furious. I let her come.

"Divine Word: Rest."

Her eyes fluttered.

Silver Steel screamed through the air, blazing with Divine Smite. The blade cleaved straight through her center.

But she didn't fall.

The severed half of her body bloomed like regenerating coral, flesh and bone erupting into a second Aixin already forming a spell. A bead of light gathered in her hand. It was that damn spell again. The one with the angels that clawed, whispered, and burrowed into bone.

I didn't let her finish.

"Divine Word: Rest."

Her fingers slackened.

"Divine Smite."

She split apart again.

This was how I used to fight back in LLO during the brutal PvP seasons. Exalted Renewal, Divine Word: Rest, and Divine Smite. It was a triangle combo of pain that defied the percentage chance, maximized bonuses, and made me one of the strongest PvP players back in the game.

If it was back in LLO, the usual strategy was either to kill me early before my stats rise sky-high to the point of unfair or sink my mana pool until I'm a sitting duck.

In this world, the latter strategy was impossible as I could replenish my mana so much faster. As for killing me early on, that window had passed. Moreover, killing me early on required some form of dispel skill that would take away my resurrections.

I pointed Silver Steel at her.

"This was my victory the moment you failed to kill me before Exalted Renewal came online, Aixin. Everything after that has just been you slowly realizing your defeat."

When I first arrived in this world, I had been too afraid to test whether the EXP system still worked. Too afraid to lose my levels, my power, and my progress.

Not anymore.

I caught her as she reformed again, trying to resurrect.

Her body was still unfinished, divine energy knitting flesh to bone. I grabbed her by the throat and lifted her effortlessly.

Her legs dangled.

"You're strong," I said. "But I'm stronger."

I tossed her upward like a feather, and then I struck her from the side with the flat of my sword as if I was playing baseball. The impact rang like a bell. She spun through the air and crashed into another building. The rubble folded around her like a coffin.

She rose anyway, shaking in fury as she glared at me.

A wave of her hand conjured holy robes once more over her naked form, silver and white garments desperately trying to project inviolability as though pretending made it true.

I didn't let her keep the illusion.

"Give me Joan back," I said. My voice was calm. "Leave her body. You don't have to suffer anymore."

The wind curled around me as I raised a hand and closed it into a fist.

"Sanctified Resurgence."

Power surged through my body.

Every wound healed. Every injury recovered. Every point of health restored throughout the battle converted into raw destructive force waiting to be unleashed. Pressure built beneath my skin as divine energy threaded through muscle and bone.

Only two spell slots remained.

It was not much, but it was enough to end this.

"You can't kill me," said Aixin, brushing dust from her shoulder. Her voice remained calm, almost amused. "I am unkillable."

"I know."

At the fundamental level, I began to understand that I couldn't kill her no matter what I do. She was a god and an immortal at every sense of the word. I might be able to inflict pain on her over and over again. However, her mind was strong and the same was true for her faith. It might be a different story if what was in front of me was her true body.

"Try as you might, but you will fail," said Aixin.

"At least, I can still hurt you," I said through gritted teeth.

Aixin struck the butt of her staff against the ground and a dull thump echoed through the ruined streets.

The clouds split apart.

From the rift above, a choir of angels poured into the world. Some carried flaming blades. Others simply screamed as they fell like winged meteorites. They were different from the usual creep angels.

"You actually believe you can hurt me?" she sneered, her voice cutting through the storm of power with disdain. "Someone of my superior stature has weathered agonies across countless epochs and torments so vast your tiny that your insignificant mind could never comprehend them." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The head of her staff glowed. What had once been a spear shifted into a brutal cross of divine steel, suspended between a halberd and a ceremonial scythe. Holiness radiated from it. So did judgment. I imagined it had executed countless beings in the name of righteousness.

Now, she was pointing it at me.

If she wanted to talk smack, then I'd give it to her.

I rested Silver Steel on my shoulder and, using the smallest fraction of control I possessed over quintessence, bent reality to conjure a loincloth to preserve what little dignity I have left. It was a sad strip of fabric fluttering in the wind.

"Sad," I muttered. "I thought I'd feel more. But honestly? My emotions are just kind of meh right now. Listen, Aixin. I just hit Level Zero. You might not understand it the same context I understand it, but I feel so disappointed wielding all of this power on you. I ask myself? Are you really worth that much?"

She blinked, and I continued.

"To put it another way, my Divine Soul is gone. Burned away to fuel Exalted Renewal. What you're looking at right now isn't really me anymore. It's a husk running on borrowed time. The only reason I'm still breathing is because the spell hasn't ended yet."

I stepped forward.

"When it does, I'm gone. Capital G gone."

The angels continued gathering overhead.

"Anyway, you must have an inkling what is going to happen now. The point is, you'll never get what you came for. Not my soul. Not the Paladin's Legacy. And definitely not Earth's location. Even if that information was buried somewhere in my soul, tough luck. You'll be interrogating a corpse."

I paused.

"Actually, after this, you might not even get the corpse."

The corner of her mouth twitched.

I smiled.

"So yeah. You've already lost the war."

She would probably win this battle.

But not the war.

It wouldn't be satisfying. It wouldn't give her what she wanted.

At this point, that counted as victory.

I shrugged and continued walking toward her.

"Right now, I'm just an annoying gnat. A ticking corpse with a to-do list. I've still got a few loose ends to tie up, so cooperate. You might regret it otherwise."

She struck her staff against the ground again.

The rift widened and more angels poured through.

"And regret what?" she asked.

I looked up at the sky full of wings and burning steel.

Back in LLO, situations like this were bad. However, this was worse. After all, I was alone this time. The sheer number of enemies and the density of divine pressure made it feel like I was trying to solo a raid at level one.

I pointed Silver Steel at her.

"Ever heard of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty?"

She tilted her head, confused.

"Of course you haven't," I scoffed. "Divine Word: Rest."

"This is futile," sneered Aixin as she closed her eyes, and fought back the sleepiness.

"Divine Word: Rest."

She blinked, uncertainty appearing in her eyes.

"Divine Word: Rest."

Her knees dipped, her mouth struggling to resist a yawn.

"Divine Word: Rest."

The angels around her faltered. Wings beat chaotically. The cross-shaped weapon vibrated in resistance. But the command began to stack over themselves. Soul and spellcraft woven together, amplified by Sacrificial Zeal, Exalted Renewal, and everything I had left.

Aixin raised a hand, trying to form a counterspell.

Her fingers trembled.

"Stop this..." she whispered.

"Divine Word: Rest."

She sagged forward.

I caught her firmly before she hit the ground, like a sparring partner finally admitting defeat.

"You," Aixin hissed, fighting to stay conscious. "You think I'll fall for your tricks? That I'll collapse every time you speak some clever line or wave that bastardized sword around? I've seen mortals like you in every age. Arrogant. Defiant. Drunk on fleeting power."

Her voice trembled.

"You think burning away your life and soul makes you special? It doesn't. You're a flickering spark pretending to shine like a star. You're not different. You're just a pitiful soul destroying itself so it can pretend it's still in control."

Her eyes locked onto mine.

"Let me tell you something, mortal."

She smiled.

"You are not in control."

I stared at her for a moment. and then I raised an eyebrow.

"Wow."

I paused.

"Insecure much?"

"..."