Chapter 192: I Am Eternal

"You’d better stop wasting your energy. That attack had traces of the Law of Eternity. It’s not something you can neutralize," Malrik said with a smug grin.

Daniel frowned and dropped to his knees. Blood continued flowing from his body, and his skin was growing paler and paler.

"Honestly, you should be proud of yourself. I didn’t expect you to survive this long," Malrik walked toward him, smiling.

Daniel didn’t respond. He just stared at his chest. Even though he could technically come back to life using one of his extra lives, he didn’t want to use one right now.

More importantly, this was the first time he’d encountered an attack infused with a Law, and he preferred to find a way to resist it.

He was certain that in the future, whether in the Celestial Domain or his own world, he’d face enemies who used Law-infused attacks.

So wasn’t this the best opportunity to figure out how to counter it?

He immediately circulated all of his mana essence to see if he could use it to resist the Law.

It failed.

The moment the mana essence clashed with the Law’s power, it was destroyed instantly.

He then switched to using death energy, but even that was erased... however, Daniel noticed something.

Death energy lasted longer. It even managed to slightly push back the power of the Law of Eternity that had seeped into his body.

"Let me try the Law of Death," he thought, and reached for the Death Tablet within his spiritual sea.

His comprehension of the Law of Death was only 2%, and he doubted it would do much. But it was worth testing.

He mobilized the power of the Law of Death into his chest. The force of death clashed violently with the power of Eternity.

It was like a battle between two laws—neither could completely overpower the other, and they entered a sort of stalemate.

"The Law of Death has a home-field advantage—it originates from the Death Tablet in my own spiritual sea. But the Law of Eternity is foreign—it doesn’t."

Daniel concluded that neither side could destroy the other, but they could cancel each other out.

And that was enough. That alone gave him the chance to heal his chest.

Without hesitation, he used Mana Healing again—this time it worked, although at an unusually slow rate.

"I guess slow is better than nothing."

He slowly stood up and looked at Malrik, who had already begun walking away. Malrik frowned, sensing something, and turned back.

"You’re still alive? How is that even possible?"

"Told you. You can’t kill me," Daniel laughed and picked The Heavens Honor off the ground.

"Guess it’s my turn now... to give you an attack worthy of you, right?"

[Eternal Judgment]

Suddenly, the sky above them turned blood-red. Out of nowhere, a sword made entirely of blood manifested, radiating dreadful energy that caused space to tremble.

But Daniel didn’t let it strike just yet. Instead, he threw The Heavens Honor into the air.

The blood sword fused with The Heavens Honor, floating midair.

Daniel then channeled death energy through his body and into the sword.

Malrik’s body tensed as he saw the weapon. He immediately activated all his defensive layers—even cloaking himself with the Law of Eternity.

Daniel pointed a finger at him, and the sword shot forward. In an instant, it shattered all of Malrik’s defenses.

But the Law of Eternity held strong. At the same time, the power of death roared—and the two Laws clashed again.

Daniel didn’t hold back. He rushed Malrik directly, grabbed his sword, and slammed another blow down on his head.

The Law’s defensive barrier managed to protect Malrik again, but Daniel didn’t stop. He began raining blow after blow.

Each strike chipped away more of Malrik’s protection until the barrier finally shattered.

"No, no—" Daniel’s sword came crashing down and split Malrik in two.

"Huff... huff..." Daniel collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

He wasn’t stupid enough to believe Malrik was dead just from that. If it were that easy to kill him, he would’ve died centuries ago.

Still, he needed to recharge his energy. A few minutes later, he stood up and walked over to Malrik.

"I actually lost..."

"But you’re still alive," Daniel said as he noticed that even though Malrik had been split in half, his head was still able to speak. He didn’t know what to feel about that.

"Told you. I’m eternal. No matter what you do, no one but Zirham can kill me," Malrik said with a strange mix of bitterness.

Eternity might be a blessing to many, but only someone who had actually lived through it—like Malrik—knew it was actually a curse.

"But I still won. So how about answering some of my questions?" Daniel said.

"You still have questions?"

"Is something going to happen to the prophet during this speech?"

Malrik didn’t answer right away. He seemed unsure. But this was something that would come out eventually.

"That bastard is going to Ascend."

"Ascend?" Daniel whispered with doubt.

"Yeah. He’s going to leave the mortal world and enter the realm of the gods. Most likely, he’ll pass on leadership of the religion to one of the Paragons."

"I see... So someone like Aurest is going to take over?"

"No. Aurest isn’t actually a Paragon. That’s just a rumor. What people believe isn’t the truth. Real Paragons are different. You have to go through the Final Ablution to become one," Malrik explained.

"How many Paragons exist right now?" Daniel asked, growing curious about this Final Ablution.

"I think three. Before the Prophet ascends, he has to name a successor. If he doesn’t, the followers of the faith will choose one."

"I see. Thanks for the answers," Daniel nodded.

"So... what are you going to do with me? You clearly can’t kill me," Malrik said sarcastically.

Daniel didn’t respond. He had an idea—but he wasn’t sure if it would work.

He cut his finger and let a drop of blood fall onto Malrik.

"Hah? What the hell is this...?"

[Attempting to create a new Fallen...]