484 Siege Years

484 Siege Years

[POV: Ezekiel]

Ezekiel hovered above the battlefield, his hollow gaze fixed upon the army that dared march upon New Risendawn.

Righteous fury burned within him.

How dare they?

How dare they cloak themselves in the remains of the innocent, grind spirits into dust, and wear the ashes of the fallen as tools of war? The very thought ignited something fierce within his being, something that no longer felt purely constructed or inherited.

It felt personal.

“Final Adjudication.”

At his command, an enormous golden scale manifested above the enemy formation, vast and radiant, its presence pressing down upon the battlefield like the weight of divine law itself. From its arms, countless golden chains erupted outward, lashing through the ranks of the invaders.

The chains burned with merciless judgment.

Where they struck, soldiers were reduced to ash instantly. Armor, flesh, and soul alike were consumed without distinction. The formation collapsed in moments as panic spread through their ranks, but there was nowhere to run. The chains followed relentlessly, weaving through the army like a net of divine retribution.

Before the annihilation could even fully conclude, reinforcements arrived.

Ru Qiu descended like a falling star, crashing into the battlefield with overwhelming force. Ox-Head followed, his massive frame cutting through the remnants of the enemy like an unstoppable tide. Alice moved with lethal grace, her presence alone enough to shatter organized resistance.

Then their lord arrived.

With his appearance, the outcome ceased to be a question.

The remaining forces were erased with terrifying efficiency. What little resistance the enemy could muster crumbled instantly under the overwhelming disparity in strength. Numbers meant nothing when faced with such power.

What had begun as an invasion ended as a rout.

Days passed.

The people of New Risendawn responded to the victory as though fire had been poured into their veins. They worked harder, trained longer, and carried themselves with a renewed sense of purpose. Fear had not disappeared, but it had been transformed into something far more productive.

Morale surged to heights it had never reached before.

Months followed.

Several attempts were made to besiege the city, each one larger than the last. None of them succeeded. Every assault was repelled with growing efficiency, and occasionally the newly formed military of New Risendawn joined the battles to sharpen their skills.

The warriors of Losten proved to be remarkably adaptable.

Each race brought its own strengths. Fighters, casters, scouts, and specialized units blended together into formations that could shift and reorganize depending on the battlefield. Guerrilla tactics merged seamlessly with structured warfare, allowing them to respond to a wide range of threats.

Despite this progress, friction still existed.

The former Light and Dark factions continued to clash ideologically, their old grudges refusing to disappear entirely. However, a third group had emerged to stabilize the situation.

The pilgrims and the church members.

United under the blessings of Da Wei, they had grown stronger, strong enough to stand between the two factions and keep them in check. Their influence expanded steadily, forming a balancing force within the city.

As their lord had once remarked, the presence of “famous NPCs” among their ranks played a significant role in this stability.

Years passed.

New Risendawn expanded into a thriving stronghold. Survivors from across Losten continued to arrive, bringing with them different cultures, skills, and histories. Among them were even a few Lost Gods, long thought to have vanished from the world.

The war intensified alongside the city’s growth.

Ezekiel was not unfamiliar with such conflicts. The civil war within the Empire had been long and brutal. The war in the Hollowed World had been no different.

Yet this war carried a distinct certainty.

Gu Jie had foretold its duration.

Thirty years.

That number remained fixed in his mind.

While waiting for that decisive moment, Ezekiel devoted himself to improvement. His abilities sharpened, his control over divine power deepened, and something else continued to evolve within him.

His personality.

The change did not remain isolated.

Other Ezekiels began to exhibit similar developments. They started wearing clothing instead of remaining as bare skeletal constructs. Their interactions became more natural, their responses less rigid.

They were learning, adapting, and becoming something more.

Yet even with these changes, Ezekiel could tell that something was still missing within them.

After consulting with Lady Joan, he reached a conclusion.

He was different because he existed independently.

He was not merely a construct sustained by external power.

He was the main body.

The others were extensions.

That realization led him to a more complex question.

If he was the main body of the many Ezekiels…

Then what did that make his lord?

The thought lingered as he moved through the streets of New Risendawn.

“Lord Ezekiel, good morning.”

“May the blessings of Da Wei be upon you.”

“Thank you for your protection.”

The people greeted him warmly as he passed. Their voices carried genuine respect, even reverence.

Ezekiel inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment as he continued toward the rebuilt church.

The Church of Da Wei had grown significantly over the years. While a few dissidents still existed, their influence was minimal compared to the overwhelming support the faith now commanded.

Inside, a large crowd had gathered.

At the front stood Anna.

The elven woman, once overwhelmed by grief, now carried herself with quiet strength. As the newly appointed spokesperson of their lord, she addressed the congregation with clarity and conviction.

Her voice echoed through the hall as she preached.

The people listened.

They believed.

After observing for a short moment, Ezekiel turned and walked deeper into the church.

There, he found Ru Qiu.

The man stood among the attendees, arms crossed, listening to the sermon with an expression that was difficult to interpret. For reasons Ezekiel did not fully understand, Ru Qiu had been attending these gatherings with surprising consistency.

Ezekiel approached him.

“My lord wishes to meet you,” he said calmly.

…

..

.

[POV: Ru Qiu]

Ru Qiu stood quietly within the Church of Da Wei, arms folded as Anna’s voice echoed through the hall. The gathered crowd listened with devotion, their faith almost tangible in the air, but his attention drifted elsewhere.

He let out a slow, pained sigh.

“I’ve been coming here hoping for something,” he muttered under his breath. “A breakthrough, maybe. Thought I could figure out how this whole faith thing works.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“Instead, I’m just getting more pissed off at this damn bottleneck.”

He shifted his weight, irritation flickering across his face.

“I’ve thrown myself into every dangerous situation I could find. Fights I shouldn’t have survived, odds stacked against me, everything. I thought that would push me far enough to unlock my Supremacy Trait.”

He clicked his tongue.

“All I got was nothing.”

Ezekiel, standing nearby, turned his hollow gaze toward him.

“Is everything alright?” the skeletal guardian asked calmly.

Ru Qiu glanced at him and waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s not you,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

Ezekiel nodded once.

“My lord wishes to meet you.”

Ru Qiu let out another quiet breath.

“Of course he does.”

He stepped out of the church and vanished in a flicker of motion.

Moments later, he found Da Wei.

The sight that greeted him was… unusual.

Da Wei stood alone in an open courtyard, his body perfectly still.

His head, however, was twisted completely backward.

Ru Qiu froze for half a second, and then he bit down hard to suppress a laugh.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked, his voice barely holding together.

Da Wei groaned.

“Don’t laugh,” he said flatly. “You have no idea how much this sucks.”

Ru Qiu covered his mouth, shoulders shaking slightly.

“I’m trying,” he said, though it was clearly not going well.

Da Wei slowly explained, his voice carrying equal parts annoyance and embarrassment. “I was experimenting with Reflect. I thought maybe I could find a way to bypass the Origin King’s Wheel of Infinity.”

Ru Qiu raised an eyebrow.

“And twisting your neck backwards was part of the plan?”

“I was thinking,” Da Wei continued, ignoring him, “if I distort my body and have it reflected through the Ophanim, I might be able to create a one-shot effect that bypasses spatial defenses. Turns out there are some things you just can’t imbue through Ophanim.”

Ru Qiu finally let out a short laugh before catching himself.

“Right… so now you’re stuck like this.”

“Yeah.”

There was a brief silence.

Ru Qiu crossed his arms.

“So why’d you call me?”

Da Wei hesitated.

When he spoke again, his voice dropped slightly.

“Help me unscrew my head.”

Ru Qiu blinked.

“…You’re serious?”

“Very.”

Ru Qiu tilted his head.

“Can’t you just fix it yourself?”

Da Wei avoided eye contact.

“I already tried.”

With a sharp motion, Da Wei snapped his head back into place. For a brief moment, everything looked normal. Then slowly, almost mockingly, his head twisted itself back around until it was facing the wrong direction again.

Ru Qiu stared.

“That’s… impressive.”

Da Wei exhaled.

“My natural regeneration keeps resetting it to this state. I think I messed something up with the Ophanim. So I need you to kill me. Completely. Your dark flames deal true damage, and they’re hard to reflect. That should reset everything properly.”

A part of Ru Qiu found the entire situation hilarious. The mighty Da Wei, reduced to asking for help because his head was stuck backwards.

Another part of him seriously considered just walking away and leaving him like that.

The mental image alone was worth it.

He rubbed his chin.

“Does Alice know about this?”

Da Wei visibly grimaced.

“She laughed,” he said. “Then she had someone paint me.”

Ru Qiu turned away slightly, shoulders shaking.

That did it.

“Don’t laugh,” Da Wei added quickly.

“I’m not,” Ru Qiu replied, failing completely.

After a moment, he calmed himself enough to continue.

“But seriously,” he said, “can’t you just kill yourself? Behead, explode, something dramatic?”

Da Wei answered in a deadpan tone.

“Already tried. I can’t pierce my own defense for some reason. Just kill me already. Leave nothing behind. I’ll resurrect normally.”

Ru Qiu’s expression softened slightly.

Now, he just felt bad.

“Alright,” he said as he raised a hand. “Immortal Art: Defying the Heaven’s Decree.”

The sky darkened instantly as an eclipse formed overhead. Black flames erupted around his body, twisting with unnatural intensity. Da Wei did not resist as the flames consumed him completely.

Ru Qiu lowered his hand as the fire faded.

He waited.

A few seconds passed.

Then a few more.

The eclipse above began to dissipate.

Ru Qiu frowned.

That was… wrong.

He looked around.

Nothing.

No resurrection.

No pulse of power.

No activation of Spell Resonance.

No Divine Word: Raise.

Ru Qiu’s expression stiffened.

“…Da Wei?”

No response.

He raised his voice slightly.

“Alright, that’s not funny.”

The silence remained.

A cold realization crept in.

“...Hey.”

His voice dropped.

“This isn’t funny.”

The last traces of the eclipse vanished from the sky. Ru Qiu stood there, staring at the empty space where Da Wei had been.

A single thought echoed in his mind.

Fuuuuck…

What did he just do?

…

..

.

[POV: Da Wei]

Okay, this was completely unexpected.

My head was fixed, which was great, but that was not the problem. The problem was that I was no longer in New Risendawn. The moment I came back to awareness, I found myself standing in an entirely different place.

A quiet lakeside stretched before me, the water calm and reflective, untouched by war or chaos. An old man stood there. He wore slippers and a plain shirt, holding a fishing rod like he did not have a single care in the world.

I didn’t hesitate.

“You can’t fool me!” I shouted as I drew my Silver Steel. “I will kill you, fake!”

I remembered that face and exact same appearance clearly. The Supreme Void had once tried to scam me using that exact image. I was not falling for that trick again. I rushed him immediately, blade swinging without restraint.

The old man yelped and scrambled backward, lifting one of his slippers to parry.

“Wait, wait, wait!” he cried out, awkwardly deflecting my strikes. “I’m the real deal!”

“Prove it!” I snapped, pressing him harder.

He barely managed to block another swing with his other slipper.

“You spoke to a fragment of memory inside Joan’s head back in the Hollowed World!” he blurted out. “You asked my help against Aixin, remember?!”

I stopped.

The blade hovered inches from his face.

“…How do you know that?” I asked slowly.

My Ophanim spun to life, analyzing him in full. The result came back immediately. He was not lying. More importantly, he was not a disguise or illusion. He was… exactly what he appeared to be. He was a memory.

“You’re a fragment too,” I said. “Just like that one back then.”

The old man lowered his slipper, catching his breath.

“Memories have ways of communicating with each other,” he explained. “We are not as isolated as you think.”

That was… concerning.

I lowered my sword slightly but did not relax.

“What do you want?” I asked bluntly. “There has to be a reason you dragged me here. Just so we’re clear, I don’t trust you. I’m suspicious of your identity, and I have a lot of questions.”

The old man’s expression turned serious.

“There’s no time,” he said. “I didn’t bring you here to argue.”

He pointed vaguely toward the distance, though there was nothing there but sky and water.

“You need to let this world fall.”

I blinked.

“…What?”

“Let it be absorbed by the Hollowed World,” he continued. “That is the only way to preserve what remains.”

My grip tightened on my sword.

“So you’ve been eavesdropping,” I said coldly. “Listening in on conversations that don’t concern you. No decency at all, huh?”

He shook his head.

“It doesn’t work like that. Everything Joan has seen and experienced, I have also seen and experienced. The same applies to other memory fragments.”

That did not make it better.

“If that’s the case,” I said, narrowing my eyes, “then answer me something else. What is the Lost Supreme? And who exactly are you?”

“You will know in time,” he said. “But you have to go now.”

Before I could react, he pushed me and the world shifted instantly. The lake vanished and the sky tore open. I was falling, before I knew it. Below me was New Risendawn. Wind howled past my ears as gravity took hold, but I reacted instantly.

“Flash Step.”

My body blurred as momentum vanished. I reappeared just above the city wall and landed smoothly as if nothing had happened.

Right on time, too.

A massive explosion erupted just outside the city, sending debris and energy scattering across the battlefield. I turned and watched Ru Qiu was running. Alice was chasing him. The former looked frantic, and the latter looked furious.

“…Of course.”

I raised my voice.

“Hey! Stop! I’m fine!”

Both of them froze.

“I’m alive,” I added. “Nothing to worry about.”

Around us, the soldiers stationed on the wall stared in confusion. I waved a hand casually.

“There’s nothing to see here,” I told them. “Everything is under control.”

That was technically true.

Probably.

Ru Qiu immediately rushed over and hid behind me like I was some kind of shield. Alice followed, stopping just in front of us with a glare that could probably kill.

Ru Qiu.

Man up.

Come on.

Don’t be like that.

I cleared my throat.

“Sorry,” I said.

Alice blinked.

“What are you apologizing for?” she asked, her tone sharp.

Ah.

That might have been the wrong move.

She stared at me for a moment longer before sighing. “Fine,” she said, her expression softening slightly. “Just don’t do it again. You scared the life out of me, David.”

“Got it,” I replied. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

Time moved forward with relentless certainty.

Years slipped into decades as the war between New Risendawn and the Origin King deepened into something far greater than either side had initially anticipated. What began as scattered skirmishes and probing attacks slowly evolved into a prolonged conflict that reshaped the world of Losten itself.

Beyond the city, the war unfolded in cycles.

Ru Qiu threw himself into battle after battle, seeking the breakthrough that continued to elude him. Each encounter pushed him further, but the threshold he sought remained just out of reach, like a shadow he could never quite grasp.

Alice became a force of terror on the battlefield. Wherever she appeared, enemy formations collapsed under her overwhelming presence. Stories spread among the Origin King’s forces, warning of the Crimson Empress who walked like a calamity.

Ox-Head stood as an unmovable guardian, holding defensive lines that should have broken under pressure. His presence alone became a symbol of endurance, a reminder that some forces simply could not be pushed back.

Gu Jie and Joan continued their work behind the scenes, their research shaping the long-term strategy of the war. The understanding of the Hollowed World’s and Losten’s relationship deepened, and with it came both opportunity and risk.

Dungeons were conquered.

Pathways were discovered.

The Losten Party contributed greatly behind the war from behind the scene.

Eventually, a connection to the Hollowed World was established.

With it came resources, knowledge, and something else.

Players.

The Player Alliance grew steadily, their chaotic nature refined just enough to become a functional force. Their ability to resurrect turned them into a relentless wave, capable of exhausting even the most durable enemies through sheer persistence.

The Origin King did not remain idle.

His forces adapted.

Armies clad in unnatural power began appearing more frequently, their numbers swelling with Outsiders and reconstructed souls. His dominion over creation allowed him to replace losses faster than conventional logic would allow.

The battlefield became a contest of endurance.

City against dominion.

Faith against origin.

Years blurred together as victories and losses intertwined.

Entire regions of Losten were scarred beyond recognition. Forests burned and regrew, only to be burned again. Mountains were carved open by divine power. The sky itself bore the marks of repeated clashes between forces that defied natural law.

During this time, I fought him.

Again and again.

Each encounter revealed something new. Each clash pushed us further. The Ophanim evolved. My abilities sharpened. My understanding deepened.

But so did his.

The Origin King remained an ever-present threat, his power constant, his will unyielding. No matter how much progress was made, he stood as an immovable obstacle between me and the end of this war.

Gu Jie’s prediction lingered in everyone’s mind.

Thirty years.

As that mark approached, the world itself seemed to hold its breath.

The frequency of battles increased.

The scale of destruction intensified.

Both sides began committing more resources, more power, more of everything.

It was no longer a war of attrition.

It was a war approaching its conclusion.

Then, one day, the horizon darkened.

From the walls of New Risendawn, the sight was unmistakable.

The Origin King’s entire army marched toward them.

The ground trembled beneath their advance. Countless banners filled the skyline, their presence stretching as far as the eye could see. The air grew heavy with power, thick enough to suffocate those unprepared for it.

At the very front, a single presence stood above all others.

The Origin King had come.

The decisive moment had finally arrived.