MarvinKnight

Paladin 4: Chapter 59

The way Morgana and Sasha clung to Darren’s sides, it felt like he’d been away for months instead of days. The two of them were completely inseparable from him.

But Darren had many responsibilities, and as much as they all would have liked to, they couldn’t slip away for some personal time at a moment like this.

“We just came up to the Fourth Layer when we saw the smoke. We knew it was the work of the Order of the Rod right away and had to intervene,” Sasha explained. �...

Paladin 4: Chapter 58

When Darren told Horon that he had reached the Sixth Order, Horon didn’t believe it. Even when he showed Horon his wings, Horon thought it had to be some sort of trick.

“I’ve never heard of a Fifth Order human in the Sacred Seas, but I’ve heard rumors from other lands. But the Sixth Order? Surely we would see dozens of Fifth Order humans before one finally pushed the bounds of what is possible one level higher.” Horon crouched down and poked Darren’s wings with his finger as...

Paladin 4: Chapter 57

After the battle, Darren walked through the area and found several dead. Some were members of the Order of the Rod, but many more were former Protectors loyal to Horon. Captain Gaviel’s party had been caught after they liberated a city on the Fourth Layer from Kalaziel’s grasp. Darren had arrived toward the end of the battle when most of the fighting was done.

The lifeless forms of dozens of seraph shimmered with Divine Light as order restored their souls to working order. They gasp...

Spellheart 9: Chapter 17

With newfound determination burning in my heart, I realized I had to protect the Hearthwood and my family from all the powerful enemies coming our way. I could afford to rest on my laurels no longer.

Instead, I focused on growing my power, and that of the Hearthwood in general. Mac was still busy diagnosing himself and figuring out exactly how Prince Tivar shut him off. So far, we didn’t think it was something intentional that he’d done, just a side effect of the magic he was using....

Paladin 4: Chapter 56

With newfound resolve and new forces added to the ranks of the Protectors beneath him, Darren set his sights on the next layers of the Heavens. He had only begun destroying Kalaziel’s plans. Until the man faced him in person, Darren would continue to trample Kalaziel’s machinations underfoot.

Ashe and Asuriel served as his constant companions and assistants as he arrived ahead of the rest of his forces. The Second Layer was more heavily forested than the First Layer, but also more s...

Thalia (AI art)

I've got to commission the cover for Paladin 4 soon so it is ready for the release, so I spent some time in automatic1111 playing with different poses and character designs to send as references. Let me know if any of these stand out to you guys!

Right now I'm thinking Thalia will get the cover. Based on my experiments, she seems to be the most photogenic of the girls who have yet to get a cover.

Also, let me know if you guys have any other characters you want to see. I've been bu...

Paladin 4: Chapter 55 (Official)

As the dust settled, the cries, and pleas of the wounded seraphim filled the air. Darren, Asuriel, and Ashe wasted no time rushing to their aid. Asuriel and Ashe did what they could. Neither of them had any true healing skills, but Darren’s Fountain of Youth water worked just as well on seraphim as it did on humans.

Darren’s true use came into play when collecting the energy of the dead. He had used Divine Restoration several times already, but up until now, it had been nothing more...

Paladin 4: Chapter 54

Over the following week, Darren and his forces engaged in a series of skirmishes against the Order of the Rod. Each time, the enemy thought to mass just a few more men to overtake him and claim Calabor. Each time, they were utterly destroyed.

Throughout the battles, Darren got a better idea about the distribution of Kalaziel’s forces while also thinning their numbers down dramatically. By the time he was finished here, no dangers would be left for his followers, even after he left the...

Paladin 4: Chapter 53

The representative of the Order of the Rod glared at Darren. The scowling man’s golden wings shimmered in the sunlight like he was flexing both pairs contemptuously. Darren had only been using one set of wings for his landing, so he focused on making the second set appear. That wiped the smirk off the representative’s face immediately.

He turned his head to the side and jerked his chin at the other Order of the Rod members standing behind him, and they ran forward to flank Darren on...

Paladin 4: Chapter 52

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, casting a warm glow over the land on its ascend. The mountain air was crisp and cool, and morning dew slickened the staircase’s steps.

But Darren’s forces marched up it all the same. They scaled the steep and foreboding mountain that rose into the sky like a silent sentinel. The Order of the Rod’s remaining forces lay on the other side of this stairway to the heavens, but it didn’t matter. With all his comrades at his back, th...

Spellheart 9: Chapter 16

My daughter lay in a puddle of her own blood, and the man who did it was within my grasp. The next few moments were a haze of blistering fury. I wasn’t sure how long had passed, but Melise tapped me on the shoulder.

“Theo, Argona’s in the Medical Bay. I was able to reverse most of the damage with my fate magic, but she’ll still be out for a few days...” Her words came slowly and cautiously as though she was handling a frightened beast that might bite her at any moment.

I...

Paladin 4: Chapter 51

Darren’s eyes blazed with determination, and his boy was flush with his newfound power. Countless obstacles had barred his path, yet he overcame them. Did his mother ever think he would make it this far? Did his father?

At the very least, Kalaziel probably didn’t.

He ascended the narrow stairs back to the rest of Laura’s manner. He’d already depleted the Demonic Aura reserves she’d built up in this room, so it would be useless to him.

“I’m back,” he called ou...

Paladin 4: Chapter 50

Darren returned to the Sacred Seas at speed. He soared overhead on his mighty wings, wind whipping past him and hair ruffling in the breeze.

His wings carried him over the stony mountains surrounding Limedeep, now with a significant gap in them after he and the gods of Marsa did battle with that giant ooze.

His flight took him over the Sacred Seas, where the bright sun reflected off the clear blue water and again off his two pairs of shining silver wings.

The calm and earthy...

Paladin 4: Chapter 49

“You sure you don’t want to rip my core out right now and claim your reward?” the Dungeon Queen asked.

“Not really,” Darren replied.

“But you could feel my digital blood dripping down your arm as you laugh and celebrate a dungeon conquered! That’s what all adventurers are supposed to do.” The Dungeon Queen pouted.

“Maybe later. For now, just clean things up here.”

“But do I really have to disassemble the dungeon?” The Dungeon Queen pouted.

Paladin 4: Chapter 48

The Dungeon Queen was still talking when Darren finally lowered the barrier.

“Cheated! Cheated! I don’t like cheaters. You weren’t supposed to block me out. Maybe they’re not done yet, and I can sneak a camera through the floor...” the Dungeon Queen muttered.

“Too late, we’re finished,” Darren said.

“Aww...” she pouted.

“Thanks for your help,” Ashe said with a smile. “It turns out all I had to do was ask him this whole time!”

“I’m ...

Spellheart 9: Chapter 15

My expression darkened as Prince Tivir continued.

“She belongs as the crown jewel of a Sacred Grove, not as some half-baked attempt at recreating long-lost elven spirit cultivation!”

“Whoever this elf is, I’m sure she prefers to make her own choices,” I replied.

Prince Tivir snorted. “Elves are silly little creatures

Mayatania had told me something of leaving the World of Woods and Wilds in search of Sava under her former identity. I had hoped that would be...

Paladin 4: Chapter 47

Much to Darren’s excitement, there was a horde of robot monsters on the other side of the door. He was starting to get used to fighting these machine things. They were tough, but tearing them apart with the strength in his arms and dodging their heavy blows with nothing but skill and reflexes was exhilarating. He wanted more practice fighting against foes who weren’t demons, so fighting these things was just what he needed.

Darren found that if he avoided resorting to his abilities ...

Paladin 4: Chapter 46

Darren charged forward, swinging his swords in wide arcs. He threw Divine Energy Projections all around him to keep the robots off of Ashe. Usually, she’d have returned to Melancholy by now, since the form she was using couldn’t take much damage before falling apart. But Darren found he rather liked having a companion by his side while he explored this dungeon, and she could fire off blasts of energy just fine, so long as nothing struck her back.

“I think these are supposed to be ...

Paladin 4: Chapter 45

Darren flew over the hazardous wilderness outside of Angelless, eyes to the ground as he tracked the moving hunk of iron the Omniscient Codex had called a train. The hulking behemoth of a device rolled along on tracks made of the same steel it ferried back and forth from the mines to the city where they processed it.

It was an impressive invention, to say the least. Darren suspected Angelless could move even more iron ore than Cassandra’s merchant fleet, though they were limited to th...

Paladin 4: Chapter 44

The trip to Angelless was uneventful, but the city was anything but. Stepping through the ivory-colored gates of the city nestled between the mountains to the southwest of Limedeep, Darren saw one strange sight after another.

Tall towers of glass and steel reached toward the sky, gleaming in the sunlight. The people here made the most of their little space, choosing to build high into the air rather than stray too far from the valley that was the city’s center.

The air had a sha...

Paladin 4: Chapter 43

The gods of Marsa turned on Darren with hard looks, Sobek in particular.

Rokor took up a protective stance between Darren and the rest of his kin. “Might I remind you that he dealt the heaviest blow against that monster we just faced? How many more of us might have died had he not been there to help us? I know I would have.”

“We wouldn’t have run into the thing if we hadn’t been chasing this thief!” Sobek glared.

Rokor met Sobek’s glare. “There is more to the...

Paladin 4: Chapter 42

The mountain turned out not to be a mountain at all. This thing had lain dormant for who knew how long, but the presence of Darren and so many Sixth Order gods must have awoken it.

The only time he'd sensed such power was when he was beating Laura at her video games. And even then he'd only experienced her aura for a moment before she got control of herself again. This monster, on the other hand, was making no moves to conceal its tremendous strength.

The first thing Darren did wa...

Spellheart 9: Chapter 13

Despite the pressure on me, the Hearthwood was rather peaceful. I thought people would be more curious at all the Macmarks I was throwing around to make preparations happen across not just the Hearthwood but also our vassal territories.

But people were used to me having one hair-brained scheme or another in the works, so they took my orders in stride. I kept my lips tight about the end of the world as promised, though the Hearthwood’s matriarchs were all in the know by now, as were th...

Paladin 4: Chapter 42

The mountain turned out not to be a mountain at all. This thing had lain dormant for who knew how long, but the presence of Darren and so many Sixth Order gods must have awoken it.

The only time he’d sensed such power was when he was beating Laura at her video games. And even then, he’d only experienced her aura for a moment before she got control of herself again. This monster, on the other hand, was making no moves to conceal its tremendous strength.

The first thing Darren d...

Paladin 4: Chapter 41

Darren finished evolving Sobek’s item with one eye open the entire time. He took one look at it, and to his relief, it looked like it would satisfy Sobek’s requirements. He didn’t really have a whole lot of control over his Limitless Evolution skill. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he liked to think he could guide it with his thoughts to nudge it in certain directions. But on the whole, the skill produced whatever product it wanted to, and the result was partially up to luck.

Paladin 4: Chapter 40

Darren materialized in Lord Sobek’s realm, one step closer to obtaining the Spirit Origin Stone.

The god’s personal realm was nothing like he expected. He thought it would be a realm of wild beauty, like the Seven Heavens. Or perhaps it would be a realm of untamed ferocity, like the Seven Hells.

Instead, he found himself in a swamp. A dirty, stinking swamp filled with buzzing flies and mosquitos the size of his fist.

“Beware the holy mosquitos!” the priest in gold tr...

Spellheart 9: Chapter 13

“The end of a golden age?” I asked, my heart clenching tight in my chest.

“Yep.” Dean chuckled grimly. “We’re in some deep shit. This wasn’t supposed to happen for at least a hundred more years.”

“Dean and I have only lived through one of these, but a few of the elves have endured several. It’s a tough time for every elf on the World of Sanctuary and Serenity,” Sam began. “You see, when the Planetary Defense Array is in its dormant state, it is just a serie...

Paladin 4: Chapter 39

Darren was unsure of how to approach these foreign gods, but in the end, he decided to simply knock on the door. It worked well enough with Laura, so he might as well try it again.

He rapped three times in quick succession. Unfortunately, by the time he finished his last knock, the door still hadn’t swung open. He stood there for nearly a minute, looking up and down the street, before finally deciding to knock on the door again.

He looked to the guards standing on either side of...

Paladin 4: Chapter 38

Shortly after receiving his quest and a bit of advice on the Sixth Order and on where to find the quest items he’d need, Darren returned to the surface. Laura was sorry to see him go, but she understood as well as he did that he didn’t have all the time in the world.

“Darren! You’re back already?” Thalia said upon his return. Her face went pale, and her lips and brows drew tight with concern. “Did the Lady of Darkness turn you away for not bringing enough sacrifices?”

Paladin 4: Chapter 37

Darren wasn’t sure what had happened when the attack landed. His body tingled all over, and it felt like his body was being torn apart piece by tiny piece. He felt something pulling at his mind, and for the first time since obtaining his multiple bodies’ skill, he’d felt genuine fear. What if this ability could change him on a fundamental level, destroying what made him himself?

That had been exactly the type of ability he’d been worried about facing, and now it seemed that his ...