Defiance of the Fall

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,471 - Pasho'Har Bell

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:00:09 GMT

The two were comfortable saying nothing until Zac finally spoke up to lighten the mood. "Not to mention, I'm responsible, aren't I? You've inherited my penchant for causing trouble."

A gentle smile appeared on Vilari's face. "It makes life more interesting. Still, how did you manage to suddenly appear in the depths of Anima Court? It wasn't long ago the Mercurial Court gained new halos. They had something to do with you, didn't they? I could feel your presence in them."

"Oh, that. I had some help," Zac smiled. "It's a long story, but a friend brought me over. She noticed this unusual pocket of space from the outside. She's the reason I could reach you in time."

"Then I owe her a debt of gratitude," Vilari nodded.

"I just hope she'll be fine," Zac muttered, as much to himself as to Vilari.

"And why wouldn't I be fine?"

Zac's heart lurched. He swerved around, shocked to find a familiar figure on a rock nearby.

"You—what? Where did you come from? What's going on?" Zac blurted, his heart going through a confusing mix of delight, concern, and, most of all, surprise.

"I've been here as long as you have. I stayed out of sight until you dealt with that nasty guy. I didn't want to pick up some mark that could be tracked on the outside," a teddy-bear-sized Esmeralda scoffed as she jumped down from her perch. "Did you really think I'd miss all this excitement?"

"But the suppression—" Zac stuttered.

Crossing the vast stretches of land between the two outer courts had severely worsened Esmeralda's situation. By the time she connected space to the Anima Court's inner reaches, she'd actually flickered in and out of existence, repeatedly dodging the System's attempts to seize her. Zac couldn't fathom how she was back, safe and sound.

"What suppression? I'm just a little D-grade clone," Esmeralda shrugged. "My main body has already gone into hiding in the seams of the continent. I'll sneak away during the (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,470 - A Father's Job

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:00:14 GMT

A concerted push of Void Energy managed to splinter the forces that had invaded Zac's left arm, and countless streamers of evil were pushed out of his pores. With the cause rooted out, his body's natural recovery kicked in to deal with the symptoms. His knuckles creaked as his hand turned into a fist. It would take a while longer to recover; time he didn't have.

Jalach was still gathering strength. Just as he'd seized Zac's skills to make them his own, he was siphoning off the very energy that should be suppressing him. Zac guessed he shouldn't be surprised, considering what Jalach had done to the [Epiclesis Bell].

Swirls of profaned despair were gathering around Jalach's arm, forming something resembling a blade. Meanwhile, a dark halo was forming behind his head. Just looking at it drastically increased the mental pressure Zac was under. It felt like a countdown marking Jalach's true descent. The halo was only a few scattered pieces thus far, but new streaks were added one after another.

Every second Zac delayed would make victory more difficult. He advanced, this time armed with [Fuxi Mountain Gate] instead of [Love's Bond]. The Void Treasure had proven impervious to everything he'd thrown at it so far. It was made from a piece of the true Void Mountain and sanctified by Roan. If it couldn't withstand Jalach's influence, then nothing could.

Zac was within melee range in the blink of an eye, face to face with evil incarnate. Laughter filled his mind. Zac renounced it and turned oppression into destruction. His left fist crashed into Jalach's right elbow, interrupting a swing with the budding despair blade. The collision sounded like a clap of thunder, followed by the crack of broken bone—Zac's own.

One of his fingers had snapped; Zac didn't so much as blink. Jalach's stance had been forced open by the forceful approach, and Zac followed up with a headbutt that left him no leeway. (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,469 - Backup Plans

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:00:14 GMT

Vilari's first thought was that her father's voice was yet another way for Jalach to toy with her or look for weaknesses in her soul. To first give her a flicker of hope before ripping it all away. However, it was hard to refute the pitch-black blade descending out of nowhere. It dug into Jalach with enough force to split mountains—literally.

Jalach's form was ripped apart by a soul-destroying force that made Vilari shudder. Four chains dripping with a dark, corrosive oil and glowing from an ethereal flame didn't spare the retreating pieces of his form. They bit into their targets like piranhas in an attempt to exhaust Jalach's spirituality further.

His incorporeal form did nothing to absorb the terrifying force imbued in the strike, which crashed into the ground unimpeded. A deafening crackle of rock being pressed beyond its breaking point reverberated through the peak as a massive scar opened in the ground. The central mound and the sinister array that it had erected had been utterly destroyed, possibly irrevocably so.

The scar continued almost all the way to the summit's edge, providing easy ingress for large amounts of pavilion despair. It poured into the central groove, erasing the evil that had infiltrated the mound. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that the despair was being attracted by the shrine that was unearthed by the attack.

It was made from a spiritual metal resembling platinum. It looked brand new, without a blemish despite being surrounded by dust and rubble. The shrine was designed like a small cupboard with both its hatches closed. Both the doors and the shrine itself were covered in engravings that retained their strength. Seeing the two largest runes triggered a vague sense of recollection in Vilari.

They were not patterns that belonged to this Era. While not exactly matching anything Vilari had seen before, they exuded Ultom's aura. One rune was placed on each hatch of the sealed shrine. The surrounding (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,468 - Whydah

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:10 GMT

Vilari's soul fluctuated from failing to immediately regulate her emotions, briefly losing its radiance. The dense despair surrounding her was infused with a confusing swirl of fear, confusion, and ultimately resignation as she came to terms with what was happening.

"You were hiding inside me, after all," Vilari said as she faced her possessed body.

"Yes, but who am I?"

"Still playing these little games, Jalach?" Vilari muttered.

Vilari had no desire to have a conversation with her old captor, but she had no choice. She needed to buy time to stabilize her dislodged soul. If she wasn't careful, her spirit would start blending with the lingering impetus of the decrepit temple, and she'd lose parts of herself. Thankfully, the arrogant spirit appeared content watching Vilari fashion a spiritual body that perfectly mimicked her corporeal form.

With the end of the self and the beginning of the other clearly delineated, Vilari felt herself stabilize. Still, her prospects weren't great. She was not a natural spectral being. Her spiritual root was still within her body, and maintaining her current state came with a constant drain on her psyche. She couldn't even draw on the environment's energy to sustain herself without the assistance of her body.

She needed to reclaim her body within a few hours or she'd be in big trouble. At best, she'd retain slivers of her sanity as a discarnate soul. Considering her dangerous location, she was more likely to be reduced to a mindless wraith controlled by its impulses. Vilari would rather let her soul disperse than end up like that, or worse, be captured by Jalach again.

"Hiding from the truth will not make it go away," the evil spirit laughed. Her voice had gained a twisted magnetism that struck at Vilari's mind like hot pokers. "We both know the answer, don't we? After all, we're—"

"Don't," Vilari squeezed out as she felt something being dragged to the surface.

"I'm (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,467 - End of the Road

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:00:13 GMT

Vilari came to a stop a hundred meters shy of the mountain crest. The desolation was so dense that it had gained a will of its own, along with physical manifestations. Translucent hands made from ancient despair rose from the ground. They were covered in grime, and their nails were chipped, like they'd tried to hold on while being dragged away.

Now, those hands were grasping toward Vilari in search of a companion to share in their misery. Even from a distance, she felt heartstrings tugging, and her emotional index approached dangerous levels. [Seven Downfalls] attacked the intangible threads holding emotional cues, but the idols couldn't block out hundreds of discarnate appendages. Similarly, the emotionless eye glowing above Vilari's head could only suppress part of the mountain slope's accumulated despair.

It was the very same scene that had forced her back down the mountain five times over the past weeks, each failure almost shattering her mind. Despite the harrowing scene, a smile slowly appeared on Vilari's face. There would not be a sixth. Every climb brought new insights, every failure represented an opportunity to rebuild.

Instead of resisting the desolation, Vilari began to commune with the mountain. While it didn't have a spirit that could share its tale, one could still hear its story if they knew where to listen. Beneath seemingly bottomless layers of suffocating despair, there was a sense of longing. Vilari allowed it to pass through her heart, and she experienced the Dao-seeking heart of an existence whose life was nearing its end.

The Daynight Dreamer hadn't been ready to embrace the release of death. Its Dao remained unfulfilled, the Terminus remained out of reach. As day turned to night one last time, it had looked to the sky in search of... something, anything. It fervently tried to find salvation as it stood at the threshold, balancing on the twilight between life and death.

Seeing as its Soul (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,466 - Actualization

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 18:00:17 GMT

Zac rapidly blinked, struggling to make sense of his surroundings while dealing with the changes he experienced. He remembered his Draugr body warning that he was going to dive into the other timeline to extract Janos. With one body inside a memory domain and the other in another timeline, his bodies naturally couldn't sync. Zac hadn't been too worried about what seemed like a simple enough task.

He should've known better.

Less than a minute later, Zac received a frantic warning that they were about to face a tribulation. Zac was still inside the open library at the time. He didn't even make it out of the library before his mind became a mess. His memories grew increasingly blurred from there. Now, Zac found himself surrounded by six librarians, including an ancient-looking custodian he'd seen a few times over the past weeks.

"Wh-What's going on?" Zac coughed, his throat feeling like sandpaper.

"Child, you were almost overwhelmed by a Heart Demon just now. There are countless priceless scriptures stored here, and we couldn't leave you to your devices in case you succumbed," the old man said.

"I see... Thank you for standing guard," Zac said with a bow. "I feel better now."

"I can tell," the custodian nodded. "Congratulations, it looks like you turned calamity into opportunity."

"Congratulations, Your Holiness!"

"Holiness...?" Zac murmured, sensing he was missing critical context from the ardent expressions on the librarians. "I need to enter seclusion for a while. Would it be alright for me to leave?"

"Be careful going forward. Gaining knowledge is a noble pursuit, but too much too fast can lead you astray," the elder gently reminded as the shield faded.

"I will remember your warning," Zac said, bowing once more before turning toward the door.

Thankfully, he had the forethought to leap into a study chamber just before losing control. Few, if any, normal disciples should have noticed his situation. (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,465 - Final Purge

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:00:19 GMT

Astora sat silent in meditation, trying to calm her nerves enough to hear the pulse of the earth. She'd spent decades searching in every corner of Mercurial Court, from the deepest spatial pockets to the most remote realms of the unreal. Those efforts had yielded plenty in the way of betterment for herself and her followers, yet the most essential part eluded her.

Just as she was about to accept what the rational part of her mind had been telling her for so long—that it was all in her mind, that the conspiracy she'd dreamt up was a Heart Demon that needed to be excised—a clue appeared without prompting. Their family had kept the continent's Destiny suppressed all these years, which provided them with a direct finger on the pulse.

It was now telling her that it was all real.

The wrongness and the mystery surrounding the masked outsiders. The answer was about to present itself; she just needed to be patient. It would present itself right here at home, as inevitable as the sun's rise. Suddenly, her gaze shifted, catching a sparkle of starlight briefly illuminating the night sky. Astora gasped as she sprang to her feet, startling Asir nearby.

"Your Highness?"

Astora didn't immediately answer. She desperately held onto the feeling brought by those stars, and she started to notice a change. That wrongness, the hollow sense of falsehood that had accompanied her for so long, was slowly filling in. As it did, she felt hidden shackles on her mind begin to loosen.

She desperately tried to gather her forces, pierce through the veil and seize the truth. She failed; it was still too early. Nevertheless, the wind of change was stirring the stagnant air. The flames of destiny told her that what would come next was of imperative importance. Not only to her but to the Empire as a whole.

"Raise the banner," Astora said.

Asir looked surprised, the changes having eluded her senses, but she wouldn't question the order of her mistress. (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,464 - Bliss

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 18:00:10 GMT

Zac steadied himself for the next one, which arrived without a sound. He was once more an external member of the Peck Clan. His true life had become the dream, while his life on the Left Imperial Expanse was the truth. Instead of dying of old age, he managed to finally mend his broken pathways, restoring his longevity and returning him to the path of cultivation.

In this life, he was truly Everit, a once-in-a-century genius who’d turned his setback into a whetstone for his Dao. Day by day, year by hear, he honed his Heart through the art of sculpting. When he finally emerged from the shallows, both his temperament and Dao Heart had been tempered to perfection. Without any fetters to hold him down, the sprawling lands of the Left Imperial Expanse would become the stage for his ascent.

Centuries had passed by the time Zac finally saw through the lie and severed the illusion. That lifetime quickly faded as he woke up. It was pure fabrication from the beginning, lacking the realism of his lifetime inside the Peregrine Ocean. It was simply because of the Heart Demon Tribulation he’d failed to notice the gaps, discrepancies and the accelerated passage of time.

Zac’s hands shook from overwhelming mental strain after he finished severing the fourth bolt targeting the world. The emotional turmoil was stacking up with each tribulation. Thankfully, the Heavens was finally displaying the telltale signs of rallying for a closing eruption. Zac couldn’t stop tears of relief from pouring down his cheeks. He’d been afraid it would go a double cycle, or even a grand circuit of nine tribulations.

“Only one more, just one more,” Zac whispered to comfort himself as he held on for dear life.

Comfort or any semblance of safety eluded him. The final attack was clearly different from the previous ones. Until now, Zac had been swept away by invisible winds while an ethereal bolt struck the ground. This time, Zac felt Heaven’s attention was trained solely (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,463 - Perception Decides Reality

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 18:00:18 GMT

Zac appeared on a grassy hill on the outskirts of a farming village, or at least in a faded memory of one. All the colors were washed out and hollow, lacking the depth a physical object should have. It looked like a failing illusion, yet the details were exquisitely precise. Every single blade of grass was perfectly replicated, as was the rest of the world.

There was a decent-sized lake to his left, with a dozen boats bobbing on its surface. On the other side of the hill was farmland growing unfamiliar crops. The plants barely qualified as spiritual plants, at most reaching the level of Low F-grade. Further in the distance stood the village. At most, it housed two thousand citizens, and that was if you included the farms nestled among the fields.

The town had a small wooden wall but no defensive arrays, as far as Zac could tell. The subpar crops and the lacking defenses were surprising, considering that the spirituality of the area was actually quite decent. It was almost at the level of Earth before Zac left for the Imperial Graveyard.

The spirituality indicated he hadn't appeared near Greenworth Trade Street and the Whitfall Forest, where he spent eight decades. That place was so bereft of Cosmic Energy that Late F-grade cultivators could act as local tyrants, and E-grade cultivators were provincial overlords.

While disappointed that he wouldn't get the chance to see his old haunt one last time, Zac had bigger fish to fry. He couldn't feel any forces of repulsion on him yet, but the shimmering film of spatial starlight was the only thing that kept him anchored in this reality. Every second, a few motes faded. The moment it failed entirely, Zac would be ejected from the timeline.

"What happened to you?" Zac sighed after turning his focus to Janos.

The mentalist was floating a meter in the air at the top of the hill, and his condition was anything but normal. He was in obvious agony, wrapped in streaks of ethereal lightning (...)

Defiance of the Fall - Chapter 1,462 - False or Real

Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:00:17 GMT

Zac faced the shimmering realmgate with a pensive expression. His timeline was the only one remaining in [Second Nucleus]'s inner domain since nearly three weeks ago. Despite the lack of competition, it hadn't grown much stronger. It was rather showing signs of decline, as if it would soon collapse without outside intervention.

He knew he shouldn't be so attached to the false reality it represented, yet he found it increasingly difficult to let go. The longer he stayed before it, the more familiar hints he caught from the other side. The memories of that reality remained precious to him, and he'd been immersed for weeks after ejecting the other timelines.

It wasn't just an unhealthy obsession that kept Zac posted before the realmgate. He seized the timeline's essence the day he stepped off the Peregrine Gondola. Since then, it had been hidden in the depths of his heart, allowing the decades inside to become a foundation for his Dao Heart. And yet, Zac had realized that the essence had yet to exhaust its value. Sitting before the realmgate helped him excavate that mysterious power, further solidifying his Heart.

If stirred, Zac could follow threads of Karma to the other side, providing glimpses of the alternate reality. The Peck clan descendants that had treated him like a grandfather for decades, the many artisans and businessmen he'd gotten to know on Greenworth Trade Street. Zac could even sense Helisent trapped in the mix. Inside the [Omnipresence Chamber], where time and causality were relative, she was both alive and dead.

Zac eventually shook his head and turned his gaze inward. Ruminating over the existential state of friends and family he'd spent a lifetime with was quite effective at nurturing his heart, but it also brought great emotional turmoil. While Zac was accustomed to cultivation through self-flagellation, it was usually on a physical level.

The situation within his Quantum Space (...)