She had memories.
To dare call them reminiscences was impossible, so she merely called them memories.
It was a night in which the full moon had risen early.
The others, fallen into this place, gradually tended not to care how much time had passed.
But she remembered each and every day.
Perhaps it was inevitable, for she never forgot anything she had seen once.
She could not help but remember the passage of days.
A little over two years.
That was how long she had survived in this place called the Demonic Realm.
The sky was red.
The risen moon was no less ominous in color. Because the sky was the same both day and night, she had to look at the moon to judge whether it was night or day.
[....]
It was truly an ominous world.
That was the thought she had as she sat perched on a rock, looking up at the sky.
The colors too. The withered dead trees and the earth, all dried up—a world where vitality had vanished.
How could such a world not be ominous?
[Haah.]
As she exhaled white breath unlike the red world, she often thought:
That this world, which seemed only ominous, somehow felt sorrowful.
She wondered if it was because there was something different in this world.
Something was twisted.
She had instinctively realized that something was wrong with this world, but
she was confused, not knowing what the answer was.
[...]
She opened her eyes and faced the moon.
Was it an illusion?
She often felt as if the risen red moon were speaking to her.
Should she answer? With what? Should she offer a greeting?
She pondered for a long while, but
she never opened her mouth to speak.
Just then.
[Finally found you.]
A voice came from below the hill where she was sitting.
Most martial artists in the Demonic Realm used voice transmission now.
There were few who actually uttered their words aloud like that.
Moreover, he was the only one who spoke to her with such a ferocious voice.
Black hair.
Black eyes, with a faint tinge of red swirling in the pupils.
A fierce-looking young man wearing a tattered red martial uniform covered in dust.
[...]
He was the man she hated most.
Looking down at those fierce eyes, she spoke.
[I believe I told you that making noise is dangerous.]
She used voice transmission.
[You crazy thing, who do you think you're fooling?]
He used his voice.
[You think I don't do it because I don't want to?]
[Then you should try harder.]
[You always spout such shitty words. Today it's especially bad.]
The man's lips curled into a sneer.
At that expression, she frowned—something rare for her.
He was the only one.
To her, who always maintained a blank face and suppressed her emotions to the utmost,
he was like her single flaw. He possessed the talent to turn her insides upside down the moment they met.
—How dare this worthless trash say that? Where do you think you're shoving that filthy thing!
Their very first meeting when they were young had been the same.
This had also eventually become the reason she took up the sword.
Though that incompetent man likely didn't remember it.
[Anyway, what is it...?]
[What do you mean, what is it? I came because it's time to change the night watch.]
Clicking his tongue, the man glanced around and spoke to her, irritation lacing his words.
[I told you before. If you're on night watch, stay around the barracks. Don't bother climbing the mountain.]
[...Standing guard from a high place is more efficient.]
[Maybe for you. I find it annoying to go up and down such a high place.]
[In that case, I believe I told you to light a flare? I'll see it and come down.]
[...]
Hearing her words, the man frowned and turned his head away.
She had said this before.
Given her realm, taking watch from a high place was far more efficient.
Thus, she would always find higher ground than the barracks where the others gathered.
And this man was the next in rotation for night watch after her.
She had said she would come down if they lit a flare from the barracks, yet
this man would often climb the mountain to speak to her.
She couldn't understand it.
They weren't exactly on good terms.
With that thought, she shook her head slightly and surveyed below the hill.
[...It seems your noisy friend has come as well.]
She saw another man climbing up.
Contrary to his nickname, he was a noisy man.
He would approach her at every chance, strike up conversations, and urge her to speak with people she disliked.
He was not someone she particularly liked.
Of course, he was a hundred times better than the fierce man in front of her.
[Ah, so you were here?]
He was the man called the Sleeping Dragon.
[Flame. Let's go together when we leave, yeah?]
[What is this crazy bastard saying? You're the shift after me.]
[We can chat together and it'll be nice. You won't be bored either, Flame.]
[And then I don't sleep during your shift either?]
[...Hehe.]
[Hehe, my ass... Why don't you fuck off?]
It was a conversation that made one sigh just watching. This, too, she couldn't understand.
She thought that all humans were dignified and of equal worth,
yet, contradictorily, she also thought that not everyone was of the same caliber.
It wasn't because she herself was the descendant of a great Sword Sovereign.
It wasn't because she thought of the bloodlines of prestigious houses or renowned sects like the Four Great Families and the Nine Schools.
That man was a twisted human being.
It went without saying that not a single gentle facet existed in his personality.
He would bare his fangs without gauging his opponent's level.
If you thought about it, what was the difference between him and a demonic beast? It was to the point where she had such thoughts.
Moreover, he had no talent for martial arts and made no effort.
It was an entirely different sequence from the others who had desperately built up their realms and crossed the wall to survive in this Demonic Realm. For what reason did the man called the Sleeping Dragon stick to such a man?
In her eyes, he seemed
as if he had given up on everything.
The reason he bared his teeth even at those he could never defeat
was because he had no problem dying right then and there.
Or, rather, because he was hoping for it.
Why?
Why did he wish for death?
If he wanted to die that badly, he could simply take his own life.
[...]
She realized she had thought such cold thoughts herself.
She tried her best to erase them from her mind.
She had to exclude such cold calculations as much as possible.
Because every time she thought of them, she felt her humanity crumbling.
No.
To be precise, it was closer to painstakingly preventing the collapse of a humanity she had fabricated and filled within herself, where none had existed.
[...I shall head down first.]
After speaking, she intended to go down to the barracks. She didn't particularly need sleep,
but she felt the need to let her weary mind rest.
Grab.
At that moment, the Sleeping Dragon seized her wrist.
[Hey, why are you already trying to leave?]
[...!]
[You'll just go and not sleep anyway. How about we chat together before you go?]
Why was it?
She had long known the man called the Sleeping Dragon was willful.
She shouldn't have been angry at such an act.
But
for some reason, she was furious then.
[...Hm?]
The Sleeping Dragon flinched.
[Little Sword Saint?]
Why?
She shouldn't have gotten angry over something like this.
But at that moment, rage had welled up for some reason.
Perhaps it was because the endless string of incomprehensible situations had piled up, or perhaps it was for another reason—she did not know.
She only knew
that the feeling of a primitive being touching her body was maddeningly repulsive.
[Stop it.]
And the one who pulled her and the Sleeping Dragon apart was 'that' man.
[Why are you holding onto someone who wants to leave?]
[No, I was just...]
[And while you're at it, you get lost too.]
Words spat out like a growl.
[Ah, that's a bit much.]
The Sleeping Dragon tried to brush it off with a silly laugh. Leaving them behind, she moved her steps again.
As she walked, she suddenly turned back to look at the two.
The Sleeping Dragon began chattering excitedly beside the man.
The man sat on the rock where she had been sitting, not answering at all.
She looked at his back.
That not-so-broad back looked unusually dark.
The man still didn't turn his gaze this way.
She was the same. She didn't bother trying to read the emotions contained in that back.
Even so, for some reason, she felt the intensely surging emotions subside in an instant.
She did wonder why, but her priority was to calm her heated thoughts, if only for a moment.
She walked down toward the barracks.
Her pounding heart was unusually hot, yet conversely, her chest was cold.
Had she called these memories, at first?
She had to correct herself.
This was regret.
Regret of what might have been if things had been just a little different.
That was why she still recalled them without rest.
Even knowing she could not return to that time.
Regret that she couldn't help but recall continuously,
like an excuse to console herself, saying she had no choice back then.
And so, to her.
No, what remains for me?
The ability to see him, even from afar.
Or even from up close.
Would I be satisfied simply taking the karma destined for him in his stead?
Was forcing together a soul that should have long since shattered and disappeared, all to cling to lingering attachments, something to be glad about?
I knew nothing.
"Let go."
Even so, there was only one thing to do.
"How dare you touch him with those filthy hands."
I protect him.
That was what everything was for.
Thud, thud, thud.
The ground, once like a pillar of Mount Tai, was destroyed.
An elongated trace gradually widened, creating new space.
A single swing.
The aftermath it created was beyond imagination.
"Hah... hah..."
The resonance of the demonic energy surging to his jaw subsided for a moment.
Gu Yangcheon barely let out his breath and pushed away the pressure, but
he couldn't calm his trembling eyes.
Not when he faced the Heavenly Demon, not when the demonic energy began to rampage at that moment—he had never felt an emotion like this.
Boom.
A sound came from the shattered ground.
What reappeared amid the fluttering dust was the Heavenly Demon.
Dust fell away.
The Heavenly Demon, brushing off the dust accumulated on its body, didn't have a single scratch.
'...Even if the time is early, as expected, a Heavenly Demon is a Heavenly Demon?'
The appearance that had seemed barely ten years old now looked to be around my age after several years had passed.
It meant their rate of growth was different.
"..."
The Heavenly Demon, having emerged through the dust, silently looked at Wi Seol-ah.
The Heavenly Demon watched Wi Seol-ah holding her sword, then,
Srrk.
It formed black energy into the shape of a sword in one hand.
As if trying to imitate her.
Wi Seol-ah's expression twisted upon seeing that.
Immediately after, Wi Seol-ah's body shot rapidly toward the Heavenly Demon.
Kwaang—! Ggrrrk!
Their energies clashed.
The shockwave spread in all directions.
The recoil flooded into Gu Yangcheon's exhausted body nearby. At his current state, enduring so as not to be blown away was the best he could manage.
'Strange.'
He wasn't talking about the Heavenly Demon appearing at this point in time.
That was indeed strange, but
what was important was Wi Seol-ah.
As far as I knew, Wi Seol-ah was at the Peak.
If pressed, I would call it a ripe Peak, but
it meant she wasn't at a level capable of displaying that much power.
I could see it.
Kugugung—!
The Heavenly Demon was gradually being pushed back by Wi Seol-ah's sword path.
Was that even possible?
Was the Heavenly Demon's realm shallow?
That could be.
There was no knowing what position or realm the current Heavenly Demon had reached.
Dense demonic energy spread in all directions.
Rough, yet orderly, as if following the Heavenly Demon's gestures.
Wi Seol-ah cleaved through the demonic energy and advanced.
Every time the sword cut through the air, it left a snow-white trace.
It was the trace of the energy currently enveloping Wi Seol-ah's body.
That was the problem.
The black demonic energy helplessly subsided before Wi Seol-ah's energy.
White energy that surpassed golden.
It was the reason the Wi Seol-ah of her previous life had overwhelmed demonic humans with absolute momentum,
and the power that had ultimately stopped the Heavenly Demon, yet
'How is she using that?'
It wasn't a power the current Wi Seol-ah could wield.
If I recalled that even the Sword Sovereign had been powerless before the Heavenly Demon,
it could be considered a power Wi Seol-ah had personally found through enlightenment.
The power Wi Seol-ah had grasped at the very end even in her previous life.
How was the current Wi Seol-ah using it?
What could the reason be?
Ridiculously, I felt that was more important than the Heavenly Demon's appearance.
My back tingled.
A strange ringing filled my ears, as if clogged by severe tinnitus,
and my breathing grew rough.
Why?
Was it because the recoil from the demonic energy still lingered?
That was also correct.
The recoil from the demonic energy was still there.
The pain from it was enough to make me lose consciousness at any moment, but
'Why.'
My focus was not on that, but directed toward Wi Seol-ah.
On the back of the woman enveloped in white energy,
swinging her sword at the Heavenly Demon.
The current Wi Seol-ah was strong as well.
She possessed such outstanding talent that she would come to be called the Divine Sword of her previous life.
This was evident in that she had reached the Peak within just a few years of parting with me.
So it was certain that Wi Seol-ah was strong, but
there was something different about her current appearance.
'Why...?'
Her current appearance was
no longer the girl who approached me with a silly grin,
who flaunted her gluttony and found happiness in eating.
She was just like the girl who concealed most of her emotions,
who endured sorrow and pain, bearing only the resolve to save the world.
Kugugugung—!
As the white energy and demonic energy repeatedly clashed,
it was clearly visible that the demonic energy was gradually gaining the upper hand.
Just moments ago, the white energy had been advancing while erasing the demonic energy.
My gaze turned to the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon wore the same expressionless face as before.
Though it had shown a slightly surprised expression when pushed back,
that too was only for a moment.
The demonic energy was gradually gaining strength.
Though the demonic energy was still devoured and scattered,
the amount it emitted had increased.
As if to say that if it was consumed, it simply needed to spew out more than that amount.
Truly a monstrous manner of dealing with things.
"Ugh...!"
As the demonic energy swelled, Wi Seol-ah let out a groan.
Energy she couldn't fully block grazed her, causing cuts, and in the midst of it all, she was even twisting her energy to ensure the damage didn't come my way.
'No.'
I hadn't wanted to see that sight.
Because I hadn't wanted to see her face the Heavenly Demon again.
That was why I had rolled around so desperately, building up strength.
Whether the Blood Tribulation arrived.
Whether countless people would be slaughtered going forward.
To me, none of it mattered much.
Only one thing mattered:
that she would not live shouldering such burdens again.
That was the life I had lived for.
But
must I watch this helplessly once more?
What did I ascend to Transcendence for?
Unable to protect that small woman, and instead being protected by her?
'What should I do?'
I wanted to move right now and pull her out. I wanted to stop the Heavenly Demon in this very place.
If I did, many things would change.
'Then I have to move.'
So stop sitting here like a good-for-nothing and move right now.
"Grrr...."
I tried to raise my knee, but I sat back down again at the pain I felt from my dantian.
How? What should I do?
I thought with bloodshot eyes.
How to break free.
How to calm the rampaging demonic energy that charged toward the Heavenly Demon as if seeking its master.
A way to rise to my feet.
"..."
I recalled it quickly. It was a method I had known from the start, so it couldn't be helped.
As I grew faint from the resonance the demonic energy emitted,
I recalled the only way to find relief here.
Because of it, my current life would likely grow a little closer to my previous life.
I had found a way to find relief for the moment.
But what soon arrived was hesitation.
Because of it, my life might be plunged into hell once again.
The peace I sought after everything ended might grow more distant,
or might disappear entirely, but
I raised my head and looked straight ahead.
"Ugh...!"
I looked at the woman swinging her sword, blocking the demonic energy, saying she would protect me.
Was the peace of the future more important than that?
It was not.
The dilemma ended.
It was a dilemma I hadn't needed to consider from the start.
Crack.
I released the strength that had been holding back the rampaging demonic energy.
Immediately after,
I instead drew the demonic energy up to the brim.