Blood Heaven Blade Demon was startled by her appearance. I had not told him that the Sword Sovereign would be coming here today.
“Welcome, senior. Please, sit here.”
Ilhwa Sword Sovereign, too, seemed not to have expected Blood Heaven Blade Demon to be here, for she stood there with a stiff expression. To her, looking as if she might turn around at any moment, I spoke calmly.
“Today is Elder Blade Demon’s birthday. I was taught that even if someone is hateful, one should at least congratulate them on their birthday.”
Perhaps she could not simply leave after I had gone that far; Ilhwa Sword Sovereign took a seat.
Once she joined us, the atmosphere turned chilly.
“Why did you ask me to come?”
It seemed she had taken what I said about drinking later at Pungryu Tavern to mean that she and I would be drinking alone.
“Since today is a good day, I called you so we could celebrate together.”
“Next time, call me when you’re alone.”
As she was about to rise from her seat, Blood Heaven Blade Demon abruptly threw out a single remark.
“What exactly are you so dissatisfied with?”
It was the moment when the grievance he had endured for a very long time burst forth.
Ilhwa Sword Sovereign also flared up and snapped back.
“What did you say? What am I dissatisfied with? Are you asking because you truly don’t know?”
The sword of emotion was drawn faster than her actual sword.
“That’s right, I don’t know, so I’m asking. What in the world are you so angry about?”
“You! You, that’s what!”
“What about me? What did I do wrong! Back then…”
“Shut up! I said shut up!”
Afraid that what had happened between them might come out, she grew tense. Her anger and tension came through in full.
“You are a selfish fool.”
“What?”
Blood Heaven Blade Demon also sprang to his feet.
“Are you going to swing that ignorant saber that resembles you? Fine, go ahead. Get drunk again and run your mouth however you please!”
The Heaven-Destroying Great Saber in Blade Demon’s hand trembled.
I did not stop them.
Because I knew they would not fight anyway.
There was an ironclad rule that Demon Sovereigns never fought one another. They might argue, gossip behind each other’s backs, and suffer all manner of internal strife, but they did not engage in duels to the death.
This was something like a principle of survival that had been upheld for a very long time, and it was also the most important reason the Eight Demon Sovereigns had existed until now.
“There is still some time before midnight, so please calm yourselves for a moment.”
At that, Ilhwa Sword Sovereign raised her voice in a sharp tone.
“Second Young Master! What exactly are you doing? How little must you think of me to try such a cheap trick?”
It was the moment when the composure she had always maintained with courtesy collapsed.
“Please calm yourself.”
“I cannot calm myself.”
“I will tell you why I invited you, Sword Sovereign. To be honest, I need you, senior. That is why I hoped the two of you would reconcile here today. Though I do not know what happened to make you hate each other so much.”
At that, Ilhwa Sword Sovereign let out a long sigh and forced herself to recover her usual demeanor.
“If we could reconcile over a single drink, why would our relationship have been bad until now?”
“Then we meet again and again until it is resolved. Curse each other, pull each other’s hair out. Keep meeting and fighting until it is resolved.”
“Second Young Master, your greed is far too excessive. I clearly told you on the first day. I cannot go together with Blade Demon.”
“Then, senior, are you confident you can make me the successor on your own?”
“I am.”
“I cannot trust that. If the reason the two of you are on bad terms were public, I would have known of it as well. Yet no one in our cult knows. That must mean it is an extremely private reason. How can I stake my life on a senior who cannot cast aside private feelings for the sake of a great undertaking?”
Ilhwa Sword Sovereign’s expression twisted. She seemed about to pour out a torrent of words, but instead she glared fiercely at me and Blade Demon, then turned sharply and left.
Blood Heaven Blade Demon emptied his cup, then rose from his seat.
“I received your congratulations well, you damned brat!”
Bang!
In the end, after smashing the table again today, Blood Heaven Blade Demon also walked out just like that.
I placed the cost of the table on the neighboring table again and smiled at Jo Chunbae, who was standing in front of the kitchen.
“I should fix that habit of smashing things first, shouldn’t I?”
Jo Chunbae smiled awkwardly and tossed out a joke.
“At this rate, I think I’d make more money becoming a carpenter.”
I also laughed and left the inn.
I had expected it to turn out like this if the two of them met.
I had to keep dragging them out. The emotions they had buried had to be pulled forth so they could collide, curse, and fight. In doing so, I had to make them realize that the stale resentment that had devoured them was, when they looked back on it, nothing much after all.
I thought it was possible. The two of them had already lived far longer than most.
Their reconciliation was something that needed time, but Ilhwa Sword Sovereign did not wait even a single day.
* * *
That night, I opened my eyes while sleeping.
What woke me was the Heavenly Demon Protective Art. Sensing an energy from outside, I rose from my bed, strapped on the Black Demon Sword, and went out.
The person who had awakened me was standing in the middle of the courtyard.
It was Ilhwa Sword Sovereign.
“As expected. Your skills are no ordinary thing.”
Although she had not revealed any particular presence, it seemed she was surprised that I had woken.
“I don’t sleep very deeply.”
“Second Young Master.”
“Yes, senior.”
With her back turned, she spoke.
“Because of you, ripples are spreading across a tranquil lake.”
Did that lake refer to our cult? Or did it refer to her own heart?
“I am still young, so I long for a stormy sea more than a tranquil lake.”
“You once said this to me, did you not? That you despise those who try to win the hearts of their subordinates for free with dreams or ideals.”
“Yes.”
“There is someone I despise as well.”
“What sort of person?”
“Someone whose words are smooth, but whose skill does not follow.”
“Am I such a person?”
“Shall we check whether you are or not?”
With her back still turned, Ilhwa Sword Sovereign slowly drew her sword. It was a perfect draw. Though she stood with her back to me, I could not sense the slightest opening in her.
Even so, I spoke coldly to Ilhwa Sword Sovereign.
“There is another kind of person I dislike.”
“Who would that be?”
She asked without looking back.
“Someone who is strong but has no consideration. I despise those who use force to press others down and steer relationships to their advantage. I hate seeing people hurt others with such impoverished imagination.”
Demonic energy exploded from the Sword Sovereign’s body.
“Shut your mouth! I praised you and praised you, and now your arrogance has gone too far.”
She turned toward me. From her eyes poured demonic energy as sharp as frost.
“If I win, what will you do?”
The moment conflict arose, she came to me immediately. Seeing that, I realized that the only way to make her my person was to subdue her through sheer skill.
It was a situation in which one display of ability would be more effective than a hundred political maneuvers. Her relationship with Blade Demon was a matter for later.
For an instant, the Sword Sovereign looked dumbfounded.
“Did you just say you would win?”
“Yes.”
“If you defeat me, I will do as you wish. If you tell me to die, I will die.”
She had wagered her own life. It was the confidence of someone certain she would never lose.
“Very well.”
“If you lose, Second Young Master, what will you do?”
“I will likewise do as you wish, senior.”
“What I want is simple. Cut Blade Demon out of your life.”
Her confidence was, in a sense, only natural. After all, she took pride in being the strongest in martial arts after my father.
“Aren’t you curious about what I want?”
“Not in the slightest. It is a story I will never have to hear.”
I slowly drew the Black Demon Sword.
“Then today, you will come to know what I want.”
With our swords drawn, we silently stared at one another.
I know very well how fast a Demon Sovereign-level master is. You cannot block after seeing the attack. If the instincts honed through training fail to function properly, you die.
It is the same reason weaker foes cannot block my attacks and die. My sword is invisible to them.
Whoosh.
At a strand of wind that blew from somewhere, the Sword Sovereign’s hair stirred.
She slightly twisted the tip of the sword she had let hang down. That alone changed her aura.
This kind of tension—it had been a long time.
“Second Young Master, though I will not kill you, you should be careful. You may suffer internal injuries.”
If this duel had been a life-or-death battle against an enemy who had to be killed, I would have cut off my opponent’s breathing and struck the moment she uttered the words “be careful.” They were words born from an arrogance that looked down on the opponent, and the opportunity to strike was then.
Of course, this fight was not a life-or-death battle, so we had the leisure to converse calmly.
“Yes, I will be careful. However, since my sword is the Black Demon Sword, your sword may be damaged, senior.”
She ignored my concern, and instead went one step further.
“I will yield three moves to you, Second Young Master.”
In the past, seniors yielded three moves when facing juniors. That was something people of old did; nowadays, one could hardly find a senior who yielded to a junior. In that respect, the Sword Sovereign was a person with a sense of romance.
“I will gratefully accept your concession. Then, this junior will come.”
I was by no means overconfident, but I did hide one skill.
I would face her without using the Wind God’s Four Steps. A hidden card must always remain hidden. That was surely the same for Ilhwa Sword Sovereign as well.
My plan was this.
‘I end it within the three moves she yielded.’
I omitted the probing exchange and immediately unleashed the Flying Heaven Sword Art, which I had cultivated to Great Completion.
The First Form, Equal Heaven Form, unfolded.
Shiiiiing!
A streak of sword light seemed about to bisect her horizontally.
Chaaaaang!
In front of her chest, sword clashed against sword. Her surprise traveled through the blade. The internal energy contained in my attack must have been greater than she had imagined, and the sense of crisis she would feel upon meeting a true archenemy was surely making every hair on her body stand on end.
Immediately, the second attack unfolded.
The Second Form, Transforming Heaven Form, scattered splendid sword light. Before her eyes, the sword changed twelve times, and the Sword Sovereign retreated while deflecting each attack one by one.
But on the ninth transformation, she broke her promise.
Shiiing!
Clang.
Her sword flew toward my chest, and I twisted my body, striking away the attack with the Black Demon Sword.
Ilhwa Sword Sovereign broke her promise to yield three moves and launched an attack. From her standpoint, she had no choice. She could not block the continuing transformations of the Transforming Heaven Form with defense alone, and in the end, she had used offense in place of defense.
“Oh.”
Just as she, flustered, was about to offer some excuse.
I was already launching my third attack. This was the opportunity. Her composure was greatly shaken, and she was even about to speak.
The Third Form, Profound Heaven Form, flew in.
Swaaaaaaak!
Kaaang!
Together with the sound of clashing swords came a single cry—words that absolutely should never have come from the Sword Sovereign’s mouth burst out.
“Not the face!”
And then, silence followed.
My sword had stopped in front of Ilhwa Sword Sovereign’s face. In truth, the sword had stopped before her cry. My sword was faster than her eyes.
Meanwhile, her Ilhwa Sword, having left her hand, was floating in the air.
Both our gazes turned toward the Ilhwa Sword. The sword was falling to the ground in an arc. Perhaps Ilhwa Sword Sovereign wished it would never fall to the ground.
Thud.
The Ilhwa Sword embedded itself in the ground. The trembling blade, because of its pure white hilt, felt as though a white flag were waving.
Ilhwa Sword Sovereign stared blankly at the sight, then slowly turned her gaze toward me. Her eyes said she could not believe this situation at all.
I sincerely hoped.
That her first words would be a string of curses.
That a single stone would come loose from the dike of loftiness she had built so firmly. That through that hole, I might glimpse her wound…