Behind the Divine Dragon Hall, a dark space had been prepared.
In that space, which appeared to be in the form of a black veil spread across the sky.
Tap, tap.
A black-haired figure wearing a half-mask—the Dark King—revealed himself.
With one shoulder hanging completely empty. In his remaining hand, the Dark King held his severed arm.
Blood did not flow. Hemostasis had already been completed via internal energy.
"..."
Exiting with an expressionless face, the Dark King cast his gaze somewhere.
Between countless trees, a woman waited, leaning her back against one.
A beauty possessing long black hair and exquisite features; she appeared to be just past her coming of age.
Seeing her, the Dark King spoke first.
"Made you wait. My apologies."
"...It is nothing...."
The woman who had been waiting silently was the Huashan Sword Empress, Soi.
When she confirmed the Dark King emerging from the space after some time, her eyes widened.
Because one of his arms had been severed.
"Are you alright?"
At the Sword Empress's words, the Dark King raised the corner of his lips ever so slightly.
"Still so tender, worrying about me like this."
At the Dark King's words, the Sword Empress furrowed her brow.
She had met the Dark King right when the assault had just begun.
At the same time an unknown black veil descended around the area.
The Sword Empress had tried to quickly head toward where the hall disciples were, but at that moment, someone blocked her path, rendering her unable to move.
An unknown being with white hair and pale eyes. The man blocking the Sword Empress's path spoke to her thus:
"It has been a while."
"...!"
The man's identity was the Dark King.
"Elder, how could you...!"
The moment the Sword Empress tried to speak to the Dark King with startled eyes.
The tip of the Dark King's finger was already touching the base of the Sword Empress's throat.
Though nothing was known of the Dark King's martial arts.
The Sword Empress vaguely knew.
Unlike other assassins, the Dark King did not use the short-blade style.
He had already reached the realm where one's entire being becomes a weapon, like the Plum Blossom Immortal—whom she could call her parent or master—so such things were unnecessary.
Of course, possessing a weapon would indeed allow one to draw out maximized efficiency.
But the Dark King was a man who did not use weapons, as if such things were of no concern to him.
If this touching fingertip wished it.
Her neck could be severed at any moment.
Her senses wavered as she surveyed the abruptly changed situation and the safety of the hall disciples.
That fleeting gap created the present moment.
No.
If it was the Dark King, he might have calculated and created even that gap.
In such a situation, there was only one thing the Sword Empress could say.
"...Please let me go."
There might have been a way to escape.
But there was no time to find it.
So she chose to beg.
"If you have come to kill me, I shall close my eyes quietly... but for now..."
"Sword Empress, I have no intention of killing you."
"Then...!"
"That is precisely why you must not move."
She did not know why the Dark King was doing this to her.
If he wanted her life, she would give it.
Instead, she pleaded that he save the children, but the Dark King refused.
The Dark King said he had no intention of killing her. If so...
Ssh.
The Sword Empress's judgment was swift.
She might have been able to make a more rational calculation.
But now, there did not seem to be time for that.
The moment she tried to draw her sword, raising her internal energy.
"You make things troublesome."
The Dark King twisted his hand that was at her neck.
Thud.
The protective qi barrier she had hastily raised, driven by the sensation of her neck being grazed, was neutralized as if it were nothing.
That was the end. Shortly after, the Sword Empress lost consciousness.
By the time the Sword Empress regained consciousness, most of the important matters had already ended.
Many had closed their eyes.
It was right after the Divine Dragon Hall had been reduced to chaos.
"Why did you do this."
"What do you mean."
"...The children are dead. Dozens of children."
At the Sword Empress's words, the Dark King maintained the same expression.
Or rather, perhaps it was an expression of incomprehension.
"So."
At the word the Dark King spat out as if answering, the Sword Empress's face contorted.
"Does it look to you like that is my fault?"
"If you had not blocked me...!"
Tap.
The moment the Sword Empress spat out those words, the Dark King's form vanished.
When he reappeared, he was behind the Sword Empress.
"You seem to be greatly mistaken. Even if I had not blocked you, did you truly think you could have saved this situation?"
"...Even if I could not have saved everyone, I could have saved more children."
At the Sword Empress's words, the Dark King nodded slightly.
"A plausible argument, but."
The tip of the Dark King's finger touched the Sword Empress's back.
"Do you see any reason why I should do so?"
"...Elder."
A cold voice.
"I can understand the righteousness and chivalry you possess, but is it not selfish to expect that of me?"
"This is different from..."
"It is no different. All talk of people living and dying is the same."
The Dark King's voice was resolute.
"I know you feel frustrated and aggrieved, but there is one thing you should know. You are in a position where you should be grateful to me instead."
"...What do you mean by that?"
At the Sword Empress's words, the Dark King let out a quiet sigh.
"It sounds like I'd be taking credit for something, so I'd rather not say."
"Elder."
"Shall we speak of something else?"
The Dark King cut off the conversation as if he would speak no more of this.
But the Sword Empress had no intention of letting it go.
"My story is not yet—"
"You seem to be mistaken."
The moment the Sword Empress tried to speak, an immense killing intent burst forth from beneath the Dark King.
That overwhelming pressure made even the Sword Empress falter.
"That brat from earlier, and you now."
Whether it was the mask's effect or not, his pupils, which had been stained black, gradually turned pure white.
"Even as you grate on my nerves, what do you think is the reason your neck remains attached?"
His expression had not changed in the slightest from before.
But under the endlessly erupting killing intent, the Sword Empress could not even breathe easily.
The Sword Empress did not consider herself arrogant or prideful.
Nevertheless, she did not think her level was low.
Her pride was at a level worthy of receiving the moniker Sword Empress.
To think the gap between her level and the Dark King's was this vast.
'Though that was a sneak attack earlier.'
If it were night, and if the Dark King wished to kill.
There was a rumor that even the Three Sovereigns of the world could be slain.
The Sword Empress had never quite believed this rumor.
But seeing the Dark King now, she could think that it might indeed be possible.
"It is because you are connected to my old friend. That small reason is what keeps you alive."
Old friend.
The Sword Empress already knew who that meant.
The one who was her master, like a parent to her.
The current head of Mount Hua. He must mean the Plum Blossom Immortal.
The first time the Sword Empress had seen the Dark King was also at that time.
When the Sword Empress was very young.
A group of fewer than ten people had visited Mount Hua.
At the time, the Plum Blossom Immortal had not yet ascended to the position of head.
It was the era when he was called the Huashan Mad Sword instead of the Plum Blossom Immortal.
The people who came claiming to be friends of the Huashan Mad Sword
were none other than those who would later be called absurdly strong experts.
Among them
was one who had even risen to become one of the present day's Three Sovereigns.
"Huu...."
As the Sword Empress finally let out a groan, the constricting killing intent subsided in an instant.
"Plum Blossom Immortal. Since you are a child raised in his arms, I can understand your temperament."
The Dark King passed by the Sword Empress and took a few steps.
"I am not like him. Do not bother imposing your values upon me. There will not be a next time."
The Dark King was no righteous faction martial artist.
Though he was not called a member of the unorthodox faction either, it was difficult to call the one known as the King of Assassins righteous.
The Dark King knew this as well.
He had never thought of himself as righteous.
Because it was necessary, he had no hesitation.
The gravity of life was not a topic to be discussed with an assassin.
"If you need someone to blame for their deaths, then think it was my fault. I shall overlook that much."
The Dark King walked past the Sword Empress and lifted the severed arm he had been holding in his hand.
He brought it to the severed shoulder's cross-section.
The Sword Empress could not help but be horrified at the sight.
"...!"
An unknown viscous substance formed where the arm and shoulder joined, and they stuck fast in an instant.
After it was fully attached, the arm was even moving.
Then.
The Dark King raised the reattached arm high toward the sky.
The Sword Empress wondered what this meant.
Creak.
The moment the Dark King clenched his outstretched hand into a fist.
Crackle—!
"...!"
Cracks began to form on the black veil shrouding the sky.
In other words, the force that had blocked outside aid,
the force that had concealed the light and assisted the assault—that had been the Dark King's power.
The Sword Empress stared as if asking how such a thing was possible.
As if confirming that gaze, the Dark King looked at the Sword Empress and spoke.
"What kind of eyes are those."
"That arm... how..."
No matter how much of a divine physician one was said to be, reaching the pinnacle of medicine, reattaching a severed arm in such a way was impossible.
This was not something that could be discussed as mere medical skill.
Seeing the Sword Empress's reaction, the Dark King tilted his head.
"You should already know that humans are not the only ones in this world."
"...Then Elder, are you...?"
"Well, I wonder. I still think of myself as human, you see."
The Sword Empress quietly swallowed dryly as she looked at the Dark King.
She had grasped his true intention through the actions the Dark King had just shown.
That was a sort of warning.
The Sword Empress felt it to be so.
"I know you are searching for something."
"...!"
The Sword Empress flinched at the Dark King's words.
"I would like to tell you not to if possible, but you likely would not listen even so, and I cannot kill you, so I shall endure it."
"Elder... do you know something more?"
What the Sword Empress was searching for.
That included the whereabouts of her old friend, and what had happened in the past to the Divine Dragon Corps.
Could the Dark King know of this?
The Sword Empress asked with brightening eyes, but
the Dark King merely turned his head away shortly after.
"Even if I know what you wish for, I have no intention of telling you."
"...Elder..."
"It's because if you were to be in danger, that madman would run rampant."
As he spoke, the Dark King recalled someone's face.
He recalled three people in total.
One was a burly man who would likely still be holed up in some mountain valley of Shanxi, cackling away.
Another was already dead.
And the remaining one
was a young punk with deep ties to the two above.
'Young punk... I suppose I can't call him that anymore.'
The young man with black hair and the unique eyes of that clan
had already long surpassed the level where one could look down on him for his youth.
They said he was the youngest ever to reach the pinnacle.
The Dark King had not believed that rumor much.
But seeing it with his own eyes, he had reached a level that made even that seem laughable.
'The Transcendent Realm.'
Truly, the Transcendent Realm.
A martial artist of a level thought to number fewer than a thousand even if one searched the entirety of the Central Plains.
For a realm that one would normally reach only upon entering old age.
A young man not yet past his prime had entered it.
This was something that would surely be recorded in history.
Even the Dark King, who seemed devoid of emotional fluctuation, was surprised.
What more need be said.
But separate from that, what concerned the Dark King was something else.
'It was no mistake.'
He had definitely felt it.
From the young blood descendant called the scion of the Gu Clan,
the Dark King had sensed a scent similar to his own emanating from him.
******************
"Achoo...!"
I wiped my nose with a sniffle at the sudden sneeze and thought.
Is someone talking about me?
Why is my nose so itchy?
"...It's not like backtalk is anything new."
I quickly erased it from my mind.
It's not like people talking behind my back is a rare thing; why would I care now?
Finishing that thought, I looked at the person sitting slumped in front of me.
"What are you doing here."
"..."
No answer.
She only hung her head wearily, trembling slightly.
I let out a small sigh and called out to her again.
"Noona."
"..."
I saw the woman's shoulders flinch at my call.
So she was listening.
"Are you going to keep bawling your eyes out?"
"...Who... who said I'm crying...!"
The woman who raised her head sharply at my words was Gu Yeonseo.
"Your eyes are all red and swollen. Wipe them properly and then talk."
"...Huu...."
At my pointing out, Gu Yeonseo hurriedly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.
"Tsk, so pathetic."
"...You're... you're the weird one."
When I spoke teasingly, Gu Yeonseo said in a trembling voice.
"How can you be fine... after seeing that?"
People dying before her eyes.
Hall disciples having their throats cut or being slashed by swords, bleeding as they closed their eyes.
She could hear their breathing until just moments before.
And in mere seconds, that breath was cut off.
"...I almost died."
Gu Yeonseo had almost died.
Caught in the huge hand of the attacking man.
She would have been sliced to death by his sword.
If not death, she might have suffered a terrible ordeal.
And the one who saved her was, absurdly, Gu Jeolyeop.
Gu Jeolyeop had launched a surprise attack to rescue Gu Yeonseo.
After that, he said he had survived by concealing his presence.
"But you..."
"What about me."
What had I been doing then?
Probably around the time I was catching and killing the other bastards.
It wasn't that Gu Yeonseo couldn't understand.
A fledgling of the Central Plains. No, since she was under the wing of the Divine Dragon Hall, she wouldn't have gone out much either.
Even if she left the house, it would only be to the Yongbong Symposium or the vicinity of Shanxi.
How could she have known she would experience actual combat like this?
Even so.
"You survived, didn't you."
"...You...!"
That was all I had to say. I can understand being terrified.
I can understand crying like that.
But I won't say you're better off than the dead kids.
What good would saying that do?
"If it were Sister Huibi, she would have been like that."
"...!"
I brought up Gu Huibi.
That crazy woman would surely have thought so.
Covered in blood.
No matter what she had experienced.
'If you survived, that's enough.'
She would have said so and shaken it off.
It wasn't just Gu Yeonseo who had experienced actual combat.
"...Why bring up my sister?"
When I mentioned Gu Huibi, Gu Yeonseo's eyes grew fierce.
Just like the Gu family.
She looks terrifying when she scowls.
"Why bring her up here all of a sudden...!"
"You said you wanted to be like that woman. Then get up. What's with the endless crying, it's embarrassing."
The kids with unhurt bodies were busily leading their trembling frames to clear debris.
Or busy tending to the injured.
They might be able to do so because they hadn't experienced something as bad as Gu Yeonseo.
But there was no one who would figure out such circumstances for her, and not a single person who would sympathize anyway.
"Noona, did you thank the one who saved you?"
"..."
"You didn't, right? So embarrassing. Seriously, just drop the family name. Don't go around saying 'I'm from the Gu Clan~!' and live like that. I'm embarrassed just watching."
"You little..."
Gu Yeonseo snarled at me, fuming.
"What do you know to run your mouth...!"
"Of course I don't know. How would I know?"
I don't know anything.
We're not even that close despite being blood relatives.
And the fact that I don't even know this much
means that others have absolutely no interest in Gu Yeonseo's circumstances. I could already hear whispers from behind about how Gu Yeonseo was acting like this.
So annoying.
"If you're going to keep bawling, then do that. In time, the house will send someone. Then just hold their hands tight and go back to your clan. But."
I turned my back on Gu Yeonseo and said.
"Don't go around calling yourself a martial artist from now on. Make sure to tell the Patriarch that too."
"..."
I didn't listen to Gu Yeonseo's answer.
I simply moved my steps. Instead, I spread out my senses.
Not long after I moved away from Gu Yeonseo,
though sounds of sobbing came from her direction,
this time, I felt her get up and walk toward the hall disciples clearing the debris.
Feeling that, I let out a snort.
The black energy hanging in the sky had all disappeared.
Soon, people would come from the Martial Alliance.
Then before long, word would reach the great houses to which the hall disciples belonged.
If that happened, a considerable incident would occur.
'The Divine Dragon Hall...'
Whether the Divine Dragon Hall would remain or not.
Obviously, it seemed it would not.
I had been aiming for early graduation; should I say that meaning has been lost?
I wondered if it was a good thing since it happened as I wished.
But absolutely not.
'...There's no way this is a good thing.'
An event that hadn't happened in my previous life had occurred.
And in a bad direction at that.
My head hurt.
I kept walking. What remained now... First, I planned to go to Bi Uijin and have a talk.
Because I thought it would be right to finish it quickly.
As I was walking thus,
I felt Moyong Huia running toward me from afar, as if she had been waiting.
"What. Why are you running?"
"Young Master...."
Seeing her slightly out of breath, it seemed she had run hard.
"Why? What happened now...?"
As I spoke, my voice trembled slightly.
Because of the accident Moyong Huia had confessed to just moments before.
If she had done something, fear would surge through me first.
But what Moyong Huia spat out was not such a thing.
"...They say Lady Wi has awoken."
"...!"
It meant Wi Seola had awakened.
Hearing those words, I ran off without even answering.
Because someone I needed to find before Bi Uijin had appeared.