It was hot.
That was my first impression upon becoming a demonic human.
Everything from head to toe was hot.
Not the heat from the fire technique (火功) housed within my body.
Demonic energy was far more belligerent than fiery energy or fighting intent, which were already infamous for their ferocity.
Seeping into a martial artist's flesh.
The reason it blocked and rotted internal energy was, ultimately,
because it hated any energy other than itself circulating through the body.
Just as the Heavenly Demon, who was called the source of demonic energy, was.
The will of supremacy over all flowed within it.
And becoming a demonic human meant
becoming a body capable of wielding such demonic energy.
It meant that demonic energy could mix with martial arts to express even more violent power.
The ceaseless surging hostility of demonic energy.
Once it assimilated with the flesh, the body had no choice but to burn.
“Huu.”
Heat naturally emanated from me.
Not the heat from fiery energy, but a body burning solely from combative energy.
It granted yet another sensation.
Those who experienced this sensation for the first time were devoured by the energy and drenched in madness.
In my case, I had experienced such things to the point of disgust.
I had gone to considerable lengths to avoid ending up like that.
‘Stay still if you don't want to die.’
Sssss....
When I applied strong pressure inwardly, it fell dead silent like a ghost.
There was only one reason demonic energy rampaged.
Because it acted separately from its master's will.
Since demonic energy was a power bestowed by the Heavenly Demon from the start, it might not consider a demonic human its master.
So, I had grabbed it by the scruff from the very beginning.
Meaning, I had established my position, telling it that I was its master and to know its place.
I had traded blows with the rampaging demonic energy to the point where my body nearly exploded and I almost died,
but I had resolved it in the end.
‘Did it break?’
Had the line connecting me to the Heavenly Demon through demonic energy snapped?
Even though I was looking at the Heavenly Demon now, I didn't feel the same resonance as before.
‘So easily?’
That thin line I had seen around the time I sought to become a demonic human.
It seemed something had changed the moment I severed it.
Could it have been something so simple that I could do it just by wanting to?
‘No way.’
It was an absurd story.
If it had been that easy, I wouldn't have rolled around so much in my previous life.
That I could have severed it if I'd wanted to? Nonsense.
It was simply a change.
One of the countless changes I had felt since entering this life.
And I vaguely felt that mixed into that change was the wish of someone unknown to me.
“...I-It can't be.”
At the horrified voice, my gaze turned.
It was Wi Seol-a, looking at me with both hands covering her mouth in shock.
I assessed the white energy still surrounding her and the force gathered at her sword tip.
And then I looked up at her face.
Her appearance was indeed the Wi Seol-a I knew.
But her eyes.
Seeing the way she looked at me, I had to frown.
That subtle difference coming from them grated on me.
“You, stay right there.”
“...”
At my words, Wi Seol-a flinched.
“We seem to have a lot to talk about.”
“...Ah.”
I could see Wi Seol-a's large pupils trembling.
Perhaps because her eyes were big, I could see such things clearly.
Come to think of it, what color were my eyes now? Red? Or purple?
Swish.
I brushed my face with my hand, but there was no way to know.
To put it in a few words, my skin, which should normally be hot from being filled with heat, felt cold.
Inside, I felt increasingly heated due to the nature of demonic energy, yet my skin was cold.
This contradictory sensation.
It had been a long time since I'd felt it.
Tap.
At the presence approaching before my eyes, I turned my head.
There, the Heavenly Demon with distinct purple pupils was looking up at me.
“...Ah.”
It wasn't that I hadn't felt her approach.
I had simply observed for a moment because there was no hostility.
This, too, was a difference.
That I could now sense whether the Heavenly Demon harbored hostility or not.
And that even though I had felt the Heavenly Demon approaching, I felt tension rather than fear.
“How did you do it?”
Accurate pronunciation reached my ears, though somewhat clumsy.
Was the Heavenly Demon's tone of voice always like this?
Or was this how it was in this era?
“What?”
“That.”
The Heavenly Demon's fingertip pointed at my dantian.
“My... How did you do it?”
I wondered what she was talking about,
but it seemed she was referring to severing the line that had connected me to the Heavenly Demon.
If not that, perhaps she meant the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Art.
Seeing this reaction, could I really take it that I had truly severed it?
“Why is that yours?”
“It's mine.”
As I briefly conversed with the Heavenly Demon, a strange emotion flashed through me.
Because I had never spoken like this before.
Her features were distinctly visible.
Unlike the time when she had seemed somewhat hazy, when I could only perceive that she looked exactly like Wi Seol-a.
The Heavenly Demon's appearance felt clearer and clearer.
Her eyes that seemed somehow naive.
And conversely, her brows that seemed displeased about something.
And especially the purple eyes (紫眼) that stood out even there.
Had it always felt like this?
For some reason, a being I had feared so terribly now felt close.
Was it because she resembled Wi Seol-a?
Surely not.
-This seat is the Heavenly Demon.
Perhaps because so much is different.
The current Heavenly Demon too.
And the current me too.
‘Was it always this feeling?’
The Heavenly Demon had been a being whose confidence pierced the heavens, as if the will of supremacy over all had been reborn into human form.
But the current Heavenly Demon was somehow different—very different.
“That's mine.”
The sight of her whining as if displeased.
And her hair fluttering every time she did so.
-Great Lord.
She was so different from her who had looked down upon me.
‘Can this be?’
I recalled when the Heavenly Demon had appeared in my previous life.
I had just passed my coming of age, so it had been only a few years at most.
Could that young being change so drastically within that time?
‘Could she not be the Heavenly Demon?’
The thought briefly crossed my mind, but it was a meaningless delusion.
Couldn't I feel it even now, through her skin?
The absurd energy contained within that small flesh.
So immense that it hid its presence, to the point that it couldn't be properly recognized.
I looked into the Heavenly Demon's eyes.
The way she was glaring, still looking displeased,
was the exact same look as when she had snatched medicine from Wi Seol-a.
That this ninny later became the Heavenly Demon.
Could this appearance also be an act?
Perhaps.
But it didn't matter.
“Yours? No.”
I pulled up the demonic energy in my body to the fullest.
Reaching the upper dantian was instantaneous.
Energy faster and fiercer than internal energy.
It harmonized with the martial arts I used and took a far stronger position.
That was the advantage of demonic energy.
The demonic energy that surged up through my shoulders soon spread into the air.
“Wh-What is that...?”
The Dark Night Palace Lord, watching while coughing up blood, wore a somewhat hollow expression.
The Heavenly Demon's eyes widened.
Perhaps because the energy emanating from my body was familiar.
The spread demonic energy revealed its true nature.
The instinct of demonic energy was domination and greed.
The energy that spread as if to make its surroundings its own rose to the sky
and mixed with the black veil.
Crackle... crunch.
And then.
It began to gradually gnaw away at the veil covering the sky.
Feeling that flow, I opened my mouth while looking at the Heavenly Demon.
“Now it's mine.”
The demonic energy currently flowing through my body did not belong to the Heavenly Demon.
Its source may have started from demonic beasts, or from the Demonic Heavenly Absorption Art, which was the Heavenly Demon's authority.
But I had planted it in my heart.
Contained it in my flesh.
And suppressed the demonic energy, wresting away its will and caging it.
Now it was mine.
“...”
The Heavenly Demon said nothing after hearing my words, then.
Srrk.
She extended a snow-white hand toward me.
I wondered what she was trying to do,
but I had no intention of complying obediently.
Clamp.
Just before the Heavenly Demon's hand touched my face, I grabbed her wrist.
Her wrist was thin enough to be wrapped in my grip without effort, even though my hand wasn't particularly large.
The moment the Heavenly Demon's body and mine touched.
Kiaaaaaah-!
The demonic energy within my body suddenly let out a scream.
It wasn't the feeling of trying to return to the Heavenly Demon from before.
This time, it was hostility enough to surprise even me.
Just moments ago, shit, it had been throwing every kind of fit trying to go back, and now suddenly this shit?
It was truly absurd.
Ha.
While inwardly sighing at the absurdity, it felt like the demonic energy wasn't reacting violently just on my side.
Kiaaaaa!
Perhaps because of a backlash she hadn't expected, the Heavenly Demon quickly withdrew her hand from me.
Her surprised eyes were almost amusing.
To think the Heavenly Demon could make such an expression.
“...”
Her eyes as she looked at me while rubbing her wrist were unusual.
Seeing those eyes, I pulled up more demonic energy.
It devoured the black veil and grew in size.
It was incomparable to the power with which I had unfolded the Red Heaven (赤天) and broken through just moments ago.
It had devoured more than half.
However, the sky visible beyond was not red.
It was a black deeper than the color of the veil.
My internal energy and the demonic energy contained within my body had mixed and been affected.
So now, rather than Red Heaven (赤天).
Should I call it Black Heaven (黑天)?
‘Anyway.’
I didn't know why martial arts somehow felt pathetic when the word "black" was associated with them.
It had been the same in my previous life; I truly hated the sight of it.
Hwarururuk.
Contrary to my words, I ignited black flames on my body.
It was to fight the Heavenly Demon ahead.
‘Could I catch the Heavenly Demon here?’
Honestly, I had never thought about it.
I had thought we would clash someday. Wasn't that so?
If I was truly taking the place of the Divine Sword.
It meant that someday I would have to stop the Heavenly Demon in place of the Divine Sword.
Was that time now?
‘It's too early.’
Far sooner than expected, but strangely, I didn't hesitate.
Perhaps it was fortunate.
Because killing that young, immature Heavenly Demon now would at least be easier than facing one near completion.
I opened my palm.
Hwarururuk!
The black flames surrounding my body gathered above my palm. As the energy condensed, a Flame Prison dyed the same color was created.
I could feel it.
That it was far stronger than the Flame Prison I normally unleashed.
If I detonated it without thinking, it was a force that would annihilate the surroundings.
‘Changing this much immediately after becoming a demonic human is too much.’
Now I had surpassed at least half of my previous life's level.
To think I could become this strong simply from the choice of becoming a demonic human.
No wonder all those who had yearned for power in my previous life had jumped into the Demonic Cult.
At the moment the Flame Prison was completed, I looked at the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon also seemed to have sensed my hostility and looked up at me with strange eyes.
Her hand moved as before.
“...!”
What reached out was toward where the Flame Prison was.
I momentarily faltered at the unexpected action, different from the attack I had anticipated,
but moved as I was to unleash the Flame Prison at the Heavenly Demon.
Crack.
“What?”
That was until the Heavenly Demon grasped and crushed the Flame Prison as if it were nothing.
This was energy that had grown far stronger through the enlightenment of the Fire Realm and the process of demonization.
And she grasped and crushed it?
Boom-! Crack-crack-crack-!
The wind pressure bursting from my palm from the backlash left the surroundings in shambles.
It was to the extent that deeply rooted trees were effortlessly uprooted.
Of course, I wasn't at a level to be blown away by such wind pressure, so I held my ground.
But I couldn't calm my astonishment.
‘What is this?’
What had just happened?
I looked at the Heavenly Demon with slightly blank eyes.
The Heavenly Demon was still making a sulky expression.
She briefly examined the traces left on her hand.
Though there was a scratch on the Heavenly Demon's hand, as if it hadn't been completely unscathed.
That was all.
It was only that much.
The Heavenly Demon, examining her palm with a little blood flowing,
spoke to me again.
“...I'm leaving.”
“What?”
“I'm leaving now. It's not fun.”
I asked again, thinking I had misheard.
But the Heavenly Demon left those words and truly turned around, walking toward the Dark Night Palace Lord.
As the Heavenly Demon finished speaking, space began to tear behind the Dark Night Palace Lord.
It was the same demonic realm gate I had seen at the Dark Night Palace.
What was she doing?
She appeared suddenly, and now she's leaving?
Should I just let her go like this?
“What kind of dogshit is that.”
Hwarururuk.
I enshrouded my entire body in flames.
As if I'd let her go just like that.
Was she looking down on me?
I contained the flames within my body into my fist and thrust it straight out.
Nine Flames Solar Wolf.
Kwaaaaah-!
The supreme technique taking the form of a beast.
Mixed with demonic energy, it violently surged forth.
The heat erupting from it was enough to dry up the field in an instant, but
the Heavenly Demon, who had been walking while ignoring it, slightly turned her head toward me
and merely waved her hand with a languid motion.
What could be done with such a frail motion?
Its appearance was shallow, but
the result was not.
Hwoooooook-!
Kugugugu!
“Wha...!”
As if her confrontation with Wi Seol-a moments ago had been child's play.
An energy completely different from then burst forth from the Heavenly Demon.
The black energy devoured the flames of the Nine Flames Solar Wolf,
and immediately poured down upon me.
A massive tide-like energy crashed over me.
An energy so fast and vast struck the ground where I stood.
Kwadeudeudeuk-!
Everything split and crumbled in all directions.
Rocks were crushed like paper, and the ground split apart and vanished all too easily.
The terrain had been reversed.
This was what happened from a single languid wave of the Heavenly Demon's hand.
What was astonishing was that despite being attacked by such energy,
I had not taken any damage at all.
Because the Heavenly Demon's attack had grazed past me.
I could immediately tell that this was an intended result by the Heavenly Demon.
It meant not to act bothersome.
Did it mean that everything she had shown until now was mere child's play?
Then her appearance fighting Wi Seol-a.
Had she just been playing around?
As I faced the Heavenly Demon with appalled eyes,
the Heavenly Demon opened her mouth, looking at me like that.
“Next time... see you again.”
“What...?”
“You're interesting. I want to see you again.”
The Heavenly Demon saying that somehow seemed to be smiling.
Leaving those words, the Heavenly Demon walked away nonchalantly.
As the Heavenly Demon's steps passed the Dark Night Palace Lord,
the Palace Lord suddenly floated into the air.
“O-Oh heavens...”
The Palace Lord spat out words as if gauging her reaction,
but the Heavenly Demon didn't even spare her a glance.
In the end, the Heavenly Demon and the Dark Night Palace Lord disappeared through the demonic realm.
Thud.
The demonic realm gate closed immediately and vanished without a trace.
Watching that, suddenly,
I staggered and fell to my knees.
“...!”
Wi Seol-a urgently ran over and embraced me as I collapsed, supporting me.
I glanced at the half-vanished ground and had to swallow a hollow breath.
I corrected my delusion.
Had they said an incomplete Heavenly Demon?
No.
The small being I had just met.
Was already complete.