Heaven and Hellfire Compiled - Chapter 181 Thirty-Three: The Duel

Soul System Online...][Vengeful Spirit Detected]Zero was once a legend a warrior feared and respected across the land, an SSS-ranked hero at the peak of power. But even the strongest are not immune to betrayal. His so-called allies turned against him, casting him into oblivion. Now, he lingers as a vengeful spirit, unable to move on, his legend seemingly forgotten.But fate isn’t done with him yet.When a mysterious boy with the rare ability to see and communicate with spirits crosses his path, Zero sees a chance for revenge and maybe even redemption. Armed with the enigmatic Soul System, he will carve a new path, defying death itself.The world thinks it has seen the last of him. They couldn’t be more wrong.The SSS-Ranked Troublemaker has returned. And this time, nothing will stop him.

Riven was nothing but a powerless runt until necromancers razed his village and butchered his sister before his eyes. As his blood soaked the dirt, his Sigil ignited, granting him a gift. He can die and reform, a cycle that resets with every rank he climbs.But fate wasn’t done screwing him.In the catacombs beneath the ruins, he found the Death Ledger—a death contract that bound him against his will to hunt those who’ve cheated death across dimensions. Historical legendary heroes and villains.From the noble King Arthur to the conqueror Genghis Khan and the fabled king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, together with Ivan the Terrible and Vlad the Impaler.Every mission is a gamble. Fail once, and the Ledger brands him a death-cheater, turning him into prey for the same immortal fugitives he hunts. And the reward? He gets to keep them as his undead summons.His enemies will not stop coming. They want the Ledger, the Sigil, his power. To survive, he will wield death itself, growing stronger with every soul he claims, because in a world this savage, only the relentless rise.[-Congratulations, you have successfully killed Alexander the Great and claimed him as your summon...you can start on the path of evolution-] The words, scrawled in blood, burned across the page of the Death Ledger.

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost.

Lyu Liang was an ordinary young man who was supposed to live a mortal life with his father in a small village. However, a wonderful opportunity led him into the Virtual Land where he learned about his unusual origin and started his dual cultivation journey—to be a Devilish Immortal. There were six races in this world: immortals, humans, devils, demons, ghosts, and spirits. Lyu Liang had access to any of those realms. Whether he would be a great Devilish Immortal was not up to his race, but his will. For him, it was not important to be the most powerful immortal and to be worshiped like God. He eventually chose to live a secluded life with his lover.