Sovereign of the Karmic System-Chapter 677: A Cold Reunion

"What in the Lord’s name.." muttered the dumbfounded paladin as the three figures descended from the clear sky. Among them were a young man in simple black clothes, one dressed in a loose brown robe, and a muscular middle aged man clad in plated armor. The sheer presence of these three individuals covered her body in goosebumps, and for a second, she thought she had seen worlds of gold, wild rainbows and an oppressive white power share with violence the space that surrounded them. Each striking at her spirit like an arctic wind on exposed skin, attempting to take her spirit away.

"Aspects of existence." She guessed as her fingers reached for her dropped weapon and shield. Her body straightened and relaxed, while her arm stretched to her right. Her spear held horizontally in a halting sign. Her men approached her, marching through the minefield of blood puddles and globs of gray paste, stopping behind her in a tightly, well-practiced formation.

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On the other side of the battlefield, the spared army had also halted its advance, but not completely. The commanders of the army had gone back to their smaller human forms, and had advanced the middle of the battlefield with unsteady steps and shocked expressions. There was no fear in their eyes, nor awe, just the glee born from seeing old, lost friends. People they had wished to see come to their rescue for decades. The three being, of course, Daniel, Der and Roley.

By the time the four commanders of the unharmed army arrived in the middle of the battlefield, Daniel and the others were about to touch land, after which, the two groups paused.

"By my scales, it is really you.." Xargy said as a puff of smoke emerged from the corners of his greenish-lit mouth, along with a strong smell of sulfur.

Ligart’s thin and dry lips stretched into a youthful grin. He stepped forward and said, "If you had intention to visit, you could have sent a letter first. Dinner is done, and we are all out of chair-ugh." Before he could finish, Roley crossed the empty space in a flash of multicolored lights, wrapping the weathered scarred man into a big bear hug. "-ohhkay. Hahaha!" Ligart blurted as his own arms reciprocated the hug.

"Old soldier." Xargy acknowledged Der with a nod.

"Bookwyrm." Der responded with a flash of pearly white teeth, after which, the two shook hands. A simple nod was more than enough to acknowledge Aeron, the mental cultivator who had spent the last two thousand years carving a path for his discipline into the higher stages of cultivation. The same would have been the case for Wolfe, the metal elemental whose infant stage had been spent lingering around spheres of perfect metal essence and following Daniel and his kids around, but his attention was wholly dedicated to Roley, whom he could not not help but stare with mesmerized metallic eyes.

After a whole minute spent greeting one another, Ligart and the others finally turned to look at Daniel, who had spent that time still, quiet, and with his eyes closed.

What the others could not see, and only Der and Roley could perceive, was the vast amount of karmic power that was flowing from far up the valley, where the now almost empty enemy camps were, towards him, converging around him like the rapids of a whirlpool, and flowing into his body the way water would once it reached its lowest part. Daniel was charging himself with unfulfilled karma, the existential power people generated throughout their lives as a consequence of their actions-A power he alone could use.

It took roughly three minutes for Daniel to absorb all the power in the surroundings, after which he slowly opened his eyes, unveiling a pair of golden rings.

The miniature yellow suns moved, splitting a second of attention between Ligart, Xargy, Wolfe and Aeron, who looked back at him with nerves that appeared to tense more by the second. Aeron in particular, thanks to his practice of mental cultivation, could feel that something was wrong with Daniel. It wasn’t the magnitude of his power. In fact, he could feel the pure separated essences of his mind, spirit and body, but the state of his mental power in particular had caught his attention.

His ascension into high immortality had gifted Aeron with a peculiar power. A peek into people’s minds that surpassed the limitation of his cultivation stage. Mortals, immortals, high immortals or cultivators at the godhood stage.. not even aspects of existence could prevent him from peering into their psyche. Flashes of memories and the way those memories affected their spirits, and emotions.

In Der, Aeron could see memories of Mea, his daughter, and the feelings of melancholy, worry and longing that embraced them whenever he would think of her. In Roley he could see memories of youth. One he shared with Ligart, Heimart, Alis and Daniel as they began their journey into the world of cultivation, as well as how those memories were connected to his spirit with thin threads of pride, and fondness.

In that, Daniel was different. His memories hardly appeared, and when they did, they were detached from his spirit. They were like a picture book picked by a stranger. Someone who had no interest in any of the events that were shown in it, or in the people it displayed.

Naturally, Aeron wasn’t the only one to notice that something was wrong with Daniel. Xargy’s inhuman sense of smell could detect chemical changes that happened thousands of miles away. It was thanks to his smell, in fact, that he had felt the arrival of his old friends moments before the others, as they had just entered the planet’s atmosphere. Yet, he could smell nothing from Daniel. No changes whatsoever.

"Dan?" Ligart said. His head lowered slightly, and his eyes narrowed, blinded by the golden shine of Daniel’s irises. "Is that you?"

"Who else?" Daniel responded with a matter-of-fact tone.

Der shook his head, then stepped towards Ligart. His large hands landed onto his shoulder, and their eyes met. "I will explain later." He said, garnering a nod of startled acknowledgment by the scarred warrior. His expression then softened, and he asked, "My daughter?"

Ligart’s lips curved into a short-lived smile. "She is at the camp." He said, conflicted on whether to discuss her condition, or let him see it for himself.

Before Ligart could make a decision, Der patted his shoulders once more and stepped past him, heading for the camp with steady feet. As he left, he released several strings of essence, each reaching the ears of Ligart and the others, "Don’t bother trying to connect with him. He isn’t the person you once knew. None of us is, but him especially."

"Excuse me." Said a soft voice that came from behind Daniel.

Daniel and the others turned to find the figure of the female paladin standing behind him, accompanied by a squadron of warriors that stood in a tightly packed formation just past her. "What is it, mortal?" Daniel asked with a tone devoid of emotions.

"I-" The paladin muttered before lowering her head. Her weapon and shield were released from her grasp, and fell onto a handful uncovered rocks with a series of clanks. Her fingers rose to her helmet, which she removed to reveal a head of long and straight black hair, and lively brown eyes. "We surrender to your grace, my lord."

"Shouldn’t you surrender to us?" Xargy asked, annoyed by the thought of being ignored. Ligart’s lighthearted attitude and Aeron’s aloof character had forced Xargy, the bookworm of the dragonkin’s royalty, to assume the position of the enforcer within their army. A role that had worked well along with his innate belligerent nature as a dragon, but that he as a scholar claimed to despise. Yet, he had prepared himself for a fight that day, and the adrenaline had yet to run out.

The woman’s grasp over her helmet tightened, as a look of annoyance marked her sharp features. Deep ponds of turbid water shone through narrowed lids as she said through her teeth, "My men will surrender to the highest authority present. It is an insult to your lord for us to surrender to one of his followers whilst in his presence."

Daniel smiled. He turned to face the handful of fighters left alive, each glowing with varying degrees of karmic power of benevolent nature. Were he still in possession of the karmic system, he was certain he would have seen green numbers over each of their heads, especially that of the female paladin.

She was proof that not all members of a domain would adapt to the most negative part of an aspect of existence. Like there were members of sacrifice’s domain whose contribution was born from selfless sacrifice, so there were warriors in War’s domain whose actions were aimed at fighting the good fight. Her army clearly belonged to such a group, hence why she was still whole, and not a pile of red paste and bloody sand.

"You are free to do what you wish." Daniel said. "Continue your war with your current numbers, or surrender to your enemy. Those seem to be your choices."

The woman’s eyes shifted between Ligart and her own men a few times. Surrender was a large dishonor in her culture. After all, she was a paladin. Her cause was just, and since she had been old enough to fight, she had fought against evil. The type of fight one would keep at, even if they had to pay the ultimate price. But this was not the case. She had seen evil in her own camp, among the members of Sacrifice’s and Horror’s domains. She had been forced to work with evil for the promise of power, a power she could then use to fight for good.. and yet, here she was.

Was she in the right? Were those she fought evil? Was surrender truly the dishonorable choice here?

"If it makes your choice any easier, know that the entity you wish to serve.. the creature that employed you. The aspect of war is dead. Killed by the one who left just now." Daniel pointed out both with words and with his finger.

The woman’s heart skipped a beat. In her civilization War was a just deity. Bringer of peace and protector of paladins and warriors alike. It was only once she left her universe that she learned the truth. That there was no morality to war, and that it wasn’t a single side’s cause that brought upon this deity’s benevolence, but war itself. Never ending conflict between civilizations, bloody and violent, ever changing and never ending.

It took several deep breaths for the woman to calm down, after which she fell on one knee. "My brigade surrenders to you. Do with us what you wish." She said. Words that this time weren’t meant for Daniel, but for Ligart, Xargy and the others.

"Good." Daniel said as his lips curved into a faint smile. "Now that that is over, let us reconnect." His eyes moved past his four old friends, and moved eagerly onto the horizon, beyond which was the camp Der was heading towards. "It is time for me to meet my family as well."

Ligart’s head snapped in his direction. His lips parted as he sucked air through clenched teeth. "Yeah, about that.."