Brother Ak, are you kidding me? If this was how it was going to be, you should have killed him from the start!
The reason Geom Mugeuk did not shout those words was because he sensed a deep story in the man’s back as he stood there drenched in the blood pouring down. Because he had vaguely foreseen that such a situation might unfold.
Why had he protected the Sound King?
Because of that, even though another of the Twelve Zodiac Kings had been killed, he felt no joy at all.
Soaked in blood, the Sword King turned toward Geom Mugeuk.
“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say, Mugeuk.”
There was urgency in the Sword King’s words and expression.
“He completed his final piece. And that piece is not the sonic art he was about to unleash earlier.”
Just then, the sound of a quiet performance began to come from somewhere. It seemed to come from the left, then from the right. Gradually, the sound grew louder.
The bright, exhilarating melody did not suit the Sound King’s death at all. It was a melody that gave the feeling that the fight was not yet over. No, that the fight was only beginning!
The Sword King wore an expression as though he had already expected this situation. Through his mouth, a truth they had not known was revealed.
“The Dark Palace Lord bestowed the Heavenly Will Divine Pill upon him. The Heavenly Will Divine Pill is no ordinary elixir. It is the finest spiritual medicine of the Heavenly Will Palace, the only one of its kind, imbued with the energy of heaven, earth, and all things. The palace lord used something he had treasured and treasured for this occasion.”
The Sword King’s gaze turned toward the fallen Sound King. For all that, his death had been far too hollow, and the blood that had poured out of him was staining his pipa red.
“After taking the Heavenly Will Divine Pill, he completed his final piece. Once that piece was completed, it was always being played around him. We simply couldn’t hear it.”
Geom Mugeuk could guess that the tune the Sound King had been riding along with the entire time was that final piece.
“It is the Soul-Exchange Melody.”
The astonishing secret of the Soul-Exchange Melody was revealed.
“If he is killed while the Soul-Exchange Melody is being played, his soul will be exchanged with the soul of the person who killed him.”
Only now did he understand. Why the Sword King had fought so desperately to stop him from killing the man.
“From the very beginning, he intended to die by your hand. That was his goal.”
So that was why he had tried to take Geom Mugeuk’s body.
“Then that means? It means he’ll take over Brother Ak’s body now, doesn’t it? You killed him because you had a countermeasure, right?”
The Sword King could not answer yes. Because there was no countermeasure.
“Why didn’t you tell me? If you’d told me even by voice transmission?”
“If I had?”
Geom Mugeuk could not answer.
“You would certainly have tried to kill him yourself.”
The only people here with the ability to kill him were Geom Mugeuk, the two Demon Venerables, and himself. In this situation, Geom Mugeuk would never sacrifice someone else.
“You would have killed him, thinking you could overcome it somehow. You probably would have cut him down without hesitation.”
Geom Mugeuk let out a sigh. He had seen right through him. Trusting himself, trusting the Nine Flames Demonic Art, he would have killed him.
“Everyone is overestimating me far too much. Why would I cut him down? Not when I knew full well the consequences were so terrifying.”
Because he said that, it was even clearer. Geom Mugeuk would have killed the Sound King. Not only the Sword King, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Ilhwa Sword Venerable knew it too. The Young Cult Leader would undoubtedly have cut him down.
“Even you cannot overcome the Soul-Exchange Melody.”
“Then what about Brother Ak?”
As though he had already thought it through, the Sword King’s expression was calm.
“Before that bastard takes over me, you kill me.”
“!”
The Sword King had saved Geom Mugeuk and intended to sacrifice himself.
Even so, he could not have killed him beforehand. If he had, the man might have approached Geom Mugeuk while pretending to be him, and there was no telling what he might have done.
Cutting him down in front of Geom Mugeuk and revealing the truth like this was the best option.
The Sword King’s gaze turned toward the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Ilhwa Sword Venerable.
“It would have been better if I had cut him down before the two of you suffered such hardship, but I hesitated. I kept agonizing and searching for another way besides this one.”
Because his life was at stake. Truly, until the very end, he had not wanted to cut him down.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who had looked displeased with him, now had a softened expression.
“I understand.”
Not only the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, but the Ilhwa Sword Venerable was inwardly astonished as well. Being with Geom Mugeuk meant experiencing all sorts of things, but what had happened today was also completely unexpected.
For such a powerful expert to sacrifice himself for Geom Mugeuk.
They had assumed there must be a reason he was protecting the one who used sonic arts, but they had not known it would be this. With that heart, he had fought, and with that heart, he had endured the misunderstanding that he was acting frustratingly.
He could have pretended to know nothing and guided them, rather than Geom Mugeuk, into killing him. But he had not passed the task on to someone else. Even though his life was at stake.
Geom Mugeuk asked the Sword King,
“Why are you going this far?”
Yes, he had asked himself that question countless times.
Did he really need to go this far for Geom Mugeuk? Honestly, he had agonized over it. He did not know how much he had agonized.
His bond with Geom Mugeuk was short, and the rest of his life was endlessly long.
But he had chosen to save Geom Mugeuk. He simply wanted to. Because Geom Mugeuk was the first friend in his life, and his only friend.
The Sword King gave a second reason.
“Because if that man takes over your body, this murim will be annihilated.”
If they seized Geom Mugeuk’s identity and everything he had built until now, the result would be terrible.
“No, why are you worrying about the murim? Was Brother Ak that kind of person? You were the one whose goal was to leave the murim!”
The Sword King gave a lonely smile.
“You’re right. I should have left long ago.”
He had meant to leave. But he had learned that the Dark Palace Lord had gone so far as to use the Heavenly Will Divine Pill to deal with Geom Mugeuk, and in the end, he had given up on leaving.
Though he told Geom Mugeuk to kill him, the Sword King knew.
“I know you cannot kill me.”
The Sword King drew his sword. He meant to take his own life.
“Wait! Stop!”
Geom Mugeuk rushed in like a thunderbolt and grabbed his arm. Of all the Wind God Four Steps he had ever performed, this was the fastest.
“Imagine if I wield sonic arts as well. Even you won’t be able to handle me.”
The Sword King and the Sound King combining? He would truly become a formidable enemy. Moreover, while Geom Mugeuk hesitated, unable to bring himself to cut off the Sword King’s head, those with him might be sacrificed. Even so, Geom Mugeuk was certain.
“I can handle it.”
“No!”
Geom Mugeuk shouted fiercely.
“I said I can, you bastard!”
Geom Mugeuk stared at the Sword King with blazing eyes.
“I can handle it! So don’t rush!”
Soon, Geom Mugeuk’s voice quieted, and he became respectful again.
“If this choice is Brother Ak’s choice, then you must give me the chance to choose as well. If you take your own life in front of me, that will leave me with a lifelong regret.”
The Sword King’s eyes wavered.
“Even if that bastard takes over Brother Ak, I will return you to how you were no matter what. If Brother Ak’s soul falls into hell, I will go all the way to hell and bring it back.”
Yes. Because Geom Mugeuk was this sort of person, he had made this choice. He had no regret over his decision.
“Trust me. If I decide there truly is no way, then I’ll kill you with my own hands. When that time comes, die by my hand.”
The Sword King did not believe those words. That was why his gaze moved past Geom Mugeuk’s shoulder and toward the Ilhwa Sword Venerable.
If the time comes later when I must be killed, you must kill me.
The Ilhwa Sword Venerable could read the earnest plea contained in that gaze.
The Ilhwa Sword Venerable silently nodded.
Then Geom Mugeuk turned that grave and somber atmosphere into suspicion.
“But something is strange.”
Geom Mugeuk stared hard at the Sword King and abruptly asked,
“You’re not our Brother Ak, are you?”
What kind of joke was he trying to make in this situation? With that thought, the Sword King looked at Geom Mugeuk.
“You already took over our Brother Ak, didn’t you? This much time has passed, so there’s no way he’d still be the same, right?”
Now that he mentioned it, a fair amount of time had passed while the Sword King explained this and that. As everyone’s gaze focused on him, the Sword King was the one who became flustered instead.
“No. I am still myself.”
He had thought there would be a process where the man invaded as a soul and he struggled to stop that invasion. Would he suddenly transform into that man at any moment?
Would he change the instant this music, still audible, ended?
“Brother Ak, where did we first meet?”
The Sword King shook his head with an incredulous expression.
“Seeing as you didn’t answer, you really are Brother Ak. Everyone ignores me and pretends not to hear what I say.”
The Sword King looked again at the Sound King’s corpse. Had something truly gone wrong?
Then Geom Mugeuk said something unexpected.
“That man probably won’t enter Brother Ak’s body.”
“I hope that is the case, but my willpower is not enough to block the sonic art he completed with the Heavenly Will Divine Pill.”
“No, that isn’t what I mean.”
Geom Mugeuk said something no one had expected at all.
“I don’t think their scheme is this.”
“What?”
Not only the Sword King, but the others all listened closely to Geom Mugeuk’s words.
“I kept thinking about it the whole time too. Why is Brother Ak acting like this? The first thought that came to me was, perhaps if that man is killed, the person who killed him dies with him? Is some cursed song being played? That was what I guessed.”
But that was not it. Because their objective was not to kill him, but to steal the energy dwelling within his body.
“I also considered this current possibility. Could it be that souls are exchanged? But I quickly discarded that guess too.”
“Why?”
“Because of Brother Ak.”
The Sword King wore a puzzled expression.
“If that were the case, why would they send Brother Ak along? Their palace lord knows that last time, we parted without killing each other, doesn’t he?”
“I said I had no choice but not to kill you because of the retrieval of the secret chest.”
“Do you really think the palace lord believed that?”
There was a reason Geom Mugeuk was suspicious.
“They staked everything on this affair. If I were the Dark Palace Lord, I would never have chosen anything that held even the slightest possibility of becoming a problem.”
It was clear that Geom Mugeuk had realized something.
“Then what do you think?”
Swiish!
Instead of answering, Geom Mugeuk swung his sword.
“You tell me.”
The flashing sword energy was aimed at none other than the iron-masked man.
Kaaang!
Screeeech.
A single line was drawn from the forehead of the iron mask down to its chin.
Astonishingly, even under Geom Mugeuk’s sword energy, only a line had been carved into the surface; the iron mask had not been cut apart.
A voice came from beneath the iron mask.
“To think you only show interest in me now. I’m disappointed, Young Cult Leader.”
It was a voice with a different feeling from the powerful, bright voice that had led the heroes earlier. The heavy aura he gave off also did not match the way he had dodged here and there earlier as though trying not to die in the fight.
He slowly removed the iron mask.
Then a middle-aged man with an ordinary face appeared. A man with such an ordinary impression that it seemed any appearance would suit him.
Geom Mugeuk knew who he was. Astonishingly, another of the Twelve Zodiac Kings had been here.
The Eleventh of the Twelve Zodiac Kings, the Iron King, Gi Sahu.
He was a figure who fought using all manner of implements. He mainly handled things made of iron, mixing iron with other metals to create a metal as strong as ten-thousand-year cold iron.
He was a genius maker of mechanisms, and he killed people using all kinds of hidden weapons as well as bizarre devices never before seen in the murim. The people of the murim called him the Ruler of Iron.
With the final of the Twelve Zodiac Kings revealing himself, this was at last the moment when he had met all of the Twelve Zodiac Kings.
“Young Cult Leader, I thought you would realize it a little sooner.”
The Iron King was smiling. Even though his identity had been exposed, he was not the least bit tense or flustered.
He should have realized his existence earlier, but in truth, he had not known then.
He was a man exceptionally skilled at concealing his aura, and rather than a pure martial artist, he was closer to an artisan. Of course, a terrifying artisan who could easily kill experts.
Moreover, after that, his mind had been occupied with the Sword King and the Sound King, and he had never imagined that four of the Twelve Zodiac Kings would be gathered in one place.
But just a moment ago, a thought had suddenly occurred to him. If they had truly staked everything on this affair, there was no way they would have left the remaining one idle.
“It’s you, then. The one who will clean up this mess.”
The Iron King nodded as he listened to the flowing performance.
“Isn’t this piece quite pleasant to listen to?”
As he said that, his gaze turned toward the Sword King.
“The Palace Lord already knew you would betray us.”
Geom Mugeuk said to the Sword King.
“It’s because you go around without shoes. You look like someone ready to drift away at any moment—who would trust that?”
The Sword King’s feelings were complicated. He was glad to be alive, but some greater conspiracy was unfolding.
A new truth came to light through the Iron King.
“This piece is not the Reverse Soul Song, but the Returning Soul Song (歸魂曲).”
If it was the Returning Soul Song, did that mean it returned souls?
“It was a piece that had been completed, yet was not yet complete.”
Beginning with those strange, inscrutable words, an astonishing truth emerged from the Iron King’s mouth.
“The Returning Soul Song is only completed with the performer’s death. In other words, it can only be played through once. So listen well. This is a piece you will never hear again.”
The music flowing around them was lively yet dreamlike, brisk yet chilling.
“To call back souls, would it not require the sacrifice of the living? The performer’s sacrifice is needed, and the one who kills that performer must also be someone sacrificing himself for another. By offering up that desperate heart, the souls of the other world are summoned.”
“!”
It meant that the Sound King’s death and the Sword King’s sacrifice had come together to complete the piece.
“The higher the caliber of the one who sacrifices himself, the purer the heart of that sacrifice, the more souls are called forth.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at the Sword King with worried eyes. This was a man whose caliber was far too high.
“Who on earth were you trying to call back?”
Just then, the music that had been playing reached its peak, and for a moment, the performance stopped.
Clank.
At the sound from behind him, Geom Mugeuk slowly turned around. What he looked at was a puppet standing far in the distance. As the puppet moved, it made the sound of metal.
Swoosh.
The puppet that slowly turned its head to look their way was the Fighting King.
Its eyes seemed to flash once, then changed into eyes that looked truly alive. When he discovered Geom Mugeuk, he began to emit killing intent.
“Young Cult Leader!”
From that blazing gaze, Geom Mugeuk instinctively knew. The soul of the real Fighting King had entered that puppet.
“Brother Ak must have liked me far too much.”
The Fighting King was not the only one who had begun to move.
Drip, drip.
The blood floating in midair fell downward, and a red energy began to flow from the Blood King’s two eyes.
Rustle, rustle.
The vines flowing out of the Wood King’s body began to writhe, and ghostly sounds began to come from the door the Illusion King had opened in the air.
Bones cracked from the Fist King’s clenched fist, and the door of the carriage the Dark King rode in opened slightly, a shadowy gaze gleaming from within.
The Killing King, who had been floating in midair, lightly dropped to the ground. From the black blade and red blade of the Blade King, who had been set up last, the sun and moon began to shine once more.
As majestic, lively music rang out again, all the Twelve Zodiac King puppets there turned their heads toward Geom Mugeuk.