Paladin of the Dead God
Chapter 424: The Immortal Emperor (6)

Everything in sight began to crumble like dust.

The first thing to shatter was the dome that had covered the Holy Land Lua.

As the cracks widened in the dome, breaking apart like an eggshell, light seeped through. The city’s buildings collapsed, transforming into ruins that seemed fit only for ancient poetry.

The Holy Land Lua, a city of great renown, the birthplace of human civilization, and still one of the most important sites to this day, collapsed in vain. As torrents of earth, rain, and wind poured down, only faint traces of Lua remained.

All the while, the sun rose and set at an unnaturally rapid pace.

It moved so fast that it almost seemed like a single streak of light.

Mountains emerged, canyons formed. Cities rose and were worn down into dust. In the vast flow of time, humanity’s traces held no meaning.

Eventually, everything flattened, smoothed, and cooled.

And then, a snow-covered plain arrived.

Isaac thought this eerie passage of time had finally stopped.

But he was wrong. The sun still raced across the sky like a beam of light. The world had been so eroded and depleted that the flow of time itself no longer held any significance. There was nothing left to burn, nothing left to build.

Isaac steadied his breath. The cold air seeped in, but he could still breathe.

Only a small region around the Watcher’s Lighthouse, where its light still shone, retained its original form. Even that space ebbed and expanded like the tide, but it was clear that this apocalyptic landscape could not completely consume it.

Rather than actually speeding up time, it must be a kind of conceptual erosion of the world. If I solve the problem, everything should return to normal.*

And the source of that problem stood in the middle of the snowy plain.

At the end of this apocalypse stood the one who had defied death and granted immortality to his followers—a god who now silently observed Isaac.

“How do you find the eternal scenery?”

The Immortal Emperor spoke, not through telepathic resonance, but with an ordinary voice. Yet, his form still resembled a shadow cast upon a wall at dusk more than that of a man.

Isaac responded with a disinterested remark.

“Impressive.”

The Immortal Emperor tilted his head back to gaze at the sky.

“Some find my title laughable. The youngest of the gods, calling himself the one who stands at the end of the apocalypse, the Eternal Emperor? There are elves and dwarves still alive who are older than me.”

Though it seemed like a grand battle was about to unfold, they were merely having a quiet conversation. But Isaac wasn’t caught off guard.

After all, fights between gods and humans didn’t happen in a conventional manner.

It was more akin to solving a puzzle, a battle of logic.

Fail, and death awaited.

“Honestly, I kind of think so too.”

Isaac had also thought that calling himself the Immortal Emperor was a bit excessive for someone barely over three hundred years old.

A more modest title might have been “The Long-Lived Emperor,” or if he were feeling particularly humble, “The Elder of the Retirement Home.”

“I understand their doubts. It’s a reasonable thought.”

Unaware of the nonsense running through Isaac’s mind, the Immortal Emperor continued, speaking as if voicing his own idle musings.

“But the moment I became a god, I understood why the title of Immortal Emperor was given to me. I saw the path I was destined to walk. A time incomprehensibly long, stretching endlessly before me.”

“You saw your own future?”

The Immortal Emperor slowly nodded, locking eyes with Isaac.

“All faiths change, collapse, vanish, and disappear. Before the Age of Light, there was the Era of Ten Thousand Gods. Before that, the Seven Elven Dynasties. Before that, the reign of the Ancient Dragons. And before even that, the War of Stone and Rain.”

To Isaac, these were events beyond understanding.

He had no way of grasping just how ancient these eras were. It would take a geological timeline rather than a historical one to comprehend. And frankly, he didn’t care.

Even if the Immortal Emperor had slipped in something ridiculous like The Great War of Cats and Hamsters, Isaac had no way to verify it.

“Is that an important plot poi— I mean, piece of information?”

“No. It’s not something you need to know.”

“Good. So?”

“The important thing is that everything crumbles and disappears eventually. Even the Age of Light, where humanity holds dominion and civilization flourishes, will not last forever.”

Isaac imagined a timeline marked by the Era of Ten Thousand Gods, the Seven Elven Dynasties, the Great War of Cats and Hamsters, the Reign of the Ancient Dragons, and the War of Stone and Rain.

Each must have seemed eternal in its own time, holding unparalleled power and prestige.

Just like the Codex of Light does now.

“Are you saying that power won’t last forever? That the Age of Light will also be replaced by another era?”

“That’s right.”

The Immortal Emperor spoke with calm certainty.

“All the gods know this. That’s why they each fight in their own way—to claim dominance over the next era. The Caller hopes for a return to the Era of Ten Thousand Gods. The World’s Forge believes the next generation of gods will be born within its flames. And the Red Chalice drowns in guilt, knowing the sins it has amassed will one day consume it.”

Isaac finally grasped the meaning behind the Immortal Emperor’s words.

He was speaking of the victory conditions of each faith.

And in that moment, a thunderous realization struck Isaac.

The “victory conditions” of the game had always been about bringing the Age of Light to an end and claiming the reins of the new era.

“But… through all of those ages, I will still exist.”

“You will exist?”

"No matter which faith wins, no matter how the world changes and a new era begins, the Immortal Order will not disappear. Its name may change, and it may face suppression, but I will still exist."

Isaac narrowed his eyes.

"Are you saying the undead will never vanish?"

"Precisely. With my birth, the concept of immortality came into existence in this world. And concepts do not perish. As long as the idea remains, I will remain. It was then that I realized—the book I must read is far thicker than any other god’s."

The Immortal Emperor, a god merely three hundred years old yet burdened with the weight of eternity, clasped his hands together in humility before the overwhelming expanse of time ahead of him.

"That is why I am the Immortal Emperor. Not because of the days I have lived, but because of the days I will live. Because I will command more followers than any other god."

The sheer weight of time he bore was something no other deity had ever endured.

In a way, the god who ultimately endured and remained after the flow of countless ages was the true Immortal Emperor.

And yet, for some reason, Isaac thought he looked lonely.

***

A chilling wind blew across the landscape.

Isaac could feel himself struggling to maintain the Watcher’s Lighthouse. But he forced himself to endure—he had no idea what would happen if this world’s erosion consumed him.

Thinking back to what he had witnessed when he followed Elil into a world governed by rigid laws, he knew he couldn’t afford to let go.

"Must be nice."

Isaac spoke, trying to keep sarcasm out of his voice.

"Then you should be able to concede Holy Land Lua and still win, right?"

The Immortal Emperor smiled, his shadow stretching unnaturally as he did.

"I could win even without conceding. But while I might yield Holy Land Lua to any other faith, I will never yield it to the Lighthouse Keeper. I cannot hand the reins of the world to that cold-hearted madman."

Isaac understood why the Immortal Emperor despised the Lighthouse Keeper. He had glimpsed his past. But even without personal enmity, there was no reason to surrender his holy capital to the very man who had shattered his stronghold and slaughtered his followers.

"Yeah, I get why you hate him. But in that case…"

"You are not an option either, Isaac."

The Immortal Emperor spoke gently, as if he already knew what Isaac was about to say.

"No, you least of all."

Isaac was taken aback by the sharp hostility in his voice.

Sure, he had obliterated the emperor’s army, disrupted his front lines, hijacked his fleet, lured monsters into his holy city, and even annihilated two Archangels…

…Okay, maybe there were a few valid reasons for resentment.

But it felt like this was something deeper than personal grudges.

"You are an era unseen."

"An era unseen?"

"All gods have foreseen the demise of their own faiths. That is why they prepare, struggle, and resist their inevitable downfall. But you… No one knows what the world will become under your rule."

Isaac furrowed his brow.

"I’m not even a god, so how would I be ruling the next era?"

"I don’t know."

"What?"

"I cannot predict or comprehend anything about you. You are an entity unoriginated from this world—one who owes nothing to it. A being born alone, a Monogenes."

’Are you a Monogenes, Isaac?’

A voice echoed in his memory.

Long ago, Eidan had explained Urubansus to him.

’It means one born alone. A being that comes into existence without borrowing from any lineage, family, or bond. The kind of existence that only appears in myth.’

’Do you truly believe that everything you say and do is of your own will, Isaac? It’s not. It is Urubansus guiding you. Just as it does for everyone in this world.’

Isaac was a Nephilim, so he wasn’t exactly a Monogenes.

But that only applied to his body.

His soul was not born in this world. It came from somewhere entirely different.

This was why he viewed the world without the biases or assumptions of its people.

It was also why he was so resilient—unworn and unbroken by the world’s influence.

To the Immortal Emperor, Isaac was a foreign anomaly, a figure who had crashed into history from nowhere and thrown every established narrative into chaos.

"If you had been content to live as a mere knight of some minor estate, it would not have mattered. But you are shaping the tides of the world itself. If you will not join the Immortal Order, then I must expel you with everything I have."

Isaac felt the situation turning against him.

A head-on clash with the Immortal Emperor was the last thing he wanted.

It was a fight that brought him dangerously close to game over.

"Maybe I’ll end up creating a better world than you expect?"

"But the body you inhabit was forged by those who seek chaos and the world’s end. How could I possibly trust you?"

’Now that’s coming back to bite me.’

In truth, this was the rational reaction.

Trusting a tentacled abomination was not exactly normal behavior.

Especially when that abomination was devouring his followers and Archangels.

Isaac felt the air grow colder around him.

Quietly, he infused Kaldwin with aura, keeping his gaze locked onto the Immortal Emperor.

The vast snowfield stretching to the horizon began to ripple.

On this worn-down land, where spring would never come, pale skeletons started to rise—sprouting like seedlings after a spring rain.

The Immortal Emperor gazed at the desolate expanse, his voice steady.

"In this boundless sea of chaos, humanity barely carved out a fragile island of order, cultivating the garden of civilization. I will not hand even that small piece to an Agent of Chaos."

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