A man in a black robe looked down from above, suspended in the air as wind coiled around him.
He appeared to be in his thirties at most, but the Heavenly Demon of this era had already been active long before that—thirty years ago.‘For such a monster to step forward personally…’
Everyone’s bodies went rigid.
The Shaolin Temple’s abbot, the Divine Monk Master Mujin, was a powerful figure who had reached the Transcendent Realm and was counted among the strongest masters of the orthodox martial world.
And yet, the fact that even he had been defeated by the Heavenly Demon meant…
“…Heh heh heh. I suppose my body isn’t what it used to be, now that I’ve grown old. It is all because this humble monk was lacking.”
Rustle.
—Fortunately, an old monk slowly emerged from the ruins of the collapsed shrine, covered head to toe in dust.
Of course, compared to his opponent, who appeared to have suffered no significant damage, his condition was far from good.
He closed his tattered robes with one hand, glanced at his right arm, severed below the elbow, and calmly replied with his left hand clasped in prayer.
“More importantly, Benefactor Heavenly Demon, you seem to have grown even stronger than before. Did you happen to eat something good for your health?”
“Heh.”
—Yes, I ate something very good. Thanks to it, I feel as if I could fly. If you wish, I could share some with you.”
“Amitabha. I am grateful for your kindness, Benefactor, but I must decline. Though I may look like this, I am one who follows the Buddha’s teachings. I cannot employ methods that stray from the righteous path.”
“That is a shame. You are more than qualified, after all. If you ever change your mind, tell me at any time.”
Their manner of speaking was exceedingly familiar, but not one person present took their words at face value.
Every exchange carried a tension that slowly rose, as though they were walking along the edge of a blade, each word seeming to conceal a thorn.
The Heavenly Demon leisurely surveyed the surroundings, lifting the corners of his mouth as though he were enjoying the stiffened atmosphere.
This was the cult’s first proper appearance after being forced to remain hidden for so long.
Naturally, he could not help but be satisfied that such an event was proceeding so successfully.‘This flow can never be resisted. There is no one left in this world who can stand in the way of our cult… Hmm?’
Yet his smile did not last long as he swept his gaze over the orthodox lackeys, savoring the fear and tension in their eyes.
The arrogant expression that had been filled with ease from beginning to end suddenly hardened.
“…What are you?”
His cold voice rang out quietly, as if it might freeze everything in its path.
The people, already on edge, raised their weapons one by one, but the Heavenly Demon’s eyes did not move. They remained fixed on a single spot.‘Ah, I knew this would happen. Even though I took special care with him this time, this is how it turns out.’
On Hugo, who was inwardly sweating coldly while doing his best to avoid that gaze.
Naturally, his opponent had not the slightest interest in such efforts.
“Why—
—why are you still in this world?”
A single sentence filled with an unfathomable emotion.
The problem was that it did not end as a mere expression of feeling.‘Damn, this is…!’
He could feel the gaze.
That was all it took, yet the air around him grew as heavy as iron, crushing him as the senses throughout his body began to malfunction.
His sense of depth collapsed, his balance twisted, and the activity of his brain was severed in fits and starts.
Of course, his capacity for thought was not confined to a single terminal entity called Hugo, so his consciousness itself did not cut off. However, he could not help losing control of the body.‘…To think the Heavenly Demon was this powerful. At this level…’
There was certainly a reason why the Divine Monk Mujin, despite also being in the Transcendent Realm, had been helplessly overwhelmed.
Against such a figure, Hugo, who had yet to reach even the Transformation Realm, could not dare offer any resistance.
All he could do was hope for his opponent’s mercy.
Just as he was debating whether he should cancel the summoning even now—
“Hup—!”
Suddenly, clean air poured into his lungs, and he realized that his shattered senses had begun returning to normal.
He also realized that he had not been breathing all this time.‘…Terrifying. To be able to bring someone to this state through sheer will alone, without even using internal energy. And the Peak Realm is hardly an insignificant level, either.’
He desperately steadied his breathing and raised his head. When he saw the hem of a monk’s kasaya fluttering before his eyes, he understood how he had regained consciousness.
The abbot of Shaolin Temple, who had been standing a short distance away only moments before, had somehow moved to block the way in front of him.
“Heh heh heh, Benefactor Heavenly Demon. You are being rather harsh with a young junior.”
“Move aside.”
“Amitabha. Do you truly intend to see this through to the end? Continuing to clash like this will do neither of us any good.”
“It seems words will not suffice.”
The Heavenly Demon’s cold, rigid expression twisted ever so slightly.
Hugo’s existence evidently held more significance for him than expected. Unlike when he had first appeared, his reaction was almost excessively sensitive.
“Commander of the Subduing Demon Corps.”
“Heavenly Demon descends, myriad demons bow! The Black-Steel Demon Lord Jang Cheol-ik of the Subduing Demon Corps presents himself!”
Clank!
At his summons, a gigantic black man wrapped from head to toe in black chains stepped forward and prostrated himself noisily on the ground.
He was one of the demonic cultists who had arrived at the site and surrounded the area.
“Do not let a single person escape this place. In particular, that man over there must not be allowed to get away. I have questions for him, so leave only his ears and mouth intact.”
“Your command shall be obeyed! I shall carry out your grave orders!”
The Heavenly Demon gave a direct order to one of his subordinate units—and to a master of the Transformation Realm at that—then looked toward Hugo, who was still hiding behind the Divine Monk, and twisted up the corners of his mouth.
It was a heavy, oppressive mockery, so intense that the one receiving it could not possibly understand its meaning.
‘Ah, this is bad.’
Hugo, now the center of attention not only for the demonic cultists but also for the orthodox martial artists nearby, offered an awkward smile.
No matter how much he liked attention, he could do without this kind of one-sided obsession…‘It can’t be helped.’
He tightened his grip around the sword in preparation for the enemies who would soon swarm him, then let out a small sigh.
It seemed he would have to hurry a little more.
***
Near the mountain gate of Shaolin Temple.
Clang!
Sword Saint Namgung Wu frowned as he glared at the one-eyed old man whose sword was locked against his own.
A black sword engraved with the image of a ghost did not yield in the slightest against his blade, which contained tremendous power.
Its wielder was a contemporary of his, one of the absolute masters who had reached the Transcendent Realm, and one of the protectors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect: the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor Yeo Mun-cheol.
“Heh heh heh. You’ve grown old, Namgung Wu. Is this all you can do?”
“Hah—
—It seems you have quite a lot to say for someone who lost one eye to me and fled for his life. How arrogant you have become, swelling with power built through underhanded means.”
“Ha! What a joke. Are you really saying that when you must have eaten more spiritual medicines than meals since childhood?”
“You bastard, do not treat the essence of innocent people as the same thing as spiritual medicine!”
“What is the difference? Is that not power gained through external assistance as well?”
Clang.
—They had been active in the same era, used the same primary weapon, and possessed similar talent and cultivation realms. They had already clashed several times in the past.
The overall result of those battles had been Sword Saint Namgung Wu’s decisive victory, at the cost of one of Yeo Mun-cheol’s eyes, but…
Now, when they clashed again after nearly twenty years, the situation was different.‘He really came prepared this time.’
The Sword Saint’s expression hardened at the heavy resistance transmitted through his hand.
For now, the Divine Monk was keeping the Heavenly Demon occupied alone, but he already knew it would not last long.
He had personally felt that monster’s overwhelming momentum, after all.
Even so, he could not simply leave the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor unattended. His plan had been to defeat the man quickly and join the Divine Monk while the latter held out against the Heavenly Demon for as long as possible, but…
“Distracted, are you? It seems you still have room to spare.”
“Ugh!”
The opponent’s martial power exceeded his expectations.
It was so great that ending the battle quickly in his current state was utterly impossible.
If he recklessly forced the issue, he would be the first to fall.
The Sword Saint gritted his teeth.
Naturally, he was worried about the others as well, but above all, he could not stop thinking about the grandson and granddaughter who were still over there.
Those children had traveled all this way trusting only in him. What kind of disgrace was this?
“Heh heh heh.
—Your concentration has slipped, Namgung Wu. Shall I take your remaining eye first?”
Amid that atmosphere, attacks were exchanged, and the Sword Saint’s swordsmanship began to falter little by little.
When victory was uncertain even if he fought with complete seriousness, how could he properly battle while his mind was elsewhere?
As his hands and feet gradually grew disordered and defeat began to loom over him—
“Whoops, excuse me for a moment—!”
An uninvited guest no one had anticipated
suddenly barged into the middle of their battle.
“……”
“What?!”
Though they had been focused entirely on each other, they were still masters of the Transcendent Realm.
The instant an unidentified figure infiltrated their territory in the blink of an eye, they reacted immediately, each moving according to his nature.
The Sword Saint retreated a step, solidifying his defense as he assessed the situation, while the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor immediately swung a sharp blade of energy at the intruder.
So that whoever the opponent was, he could sever their breath at once.
“…Huh?! You can’t just swing something that dangerous at a person without warning!”
And that vicious attack managed to offend someone who had merely been trying to pass through peacefully.
Surely one who was known as a great warrior could not simply stand by and watch such indiscriminate violence!
Creak.
—But he had no time, and he did not do anything particularly special.
He simply clenched his fist with all his strength and slammed it directly into the attack flying toward his face.
Of course, that alone produced a definite effect.
Boom—!
“Ugh?!”
The Ghost Sword Demon Emperor’s expression twisted in an instant.
At the moment of impact, an enormous pressure surged through the hand gripping his sword hilt.
The sudden shock, greater than he had anticipated, had even inflicted slight internal injuries.
It was hardly good news for him.
‘This is brute physical force on an absurd level. Even after deflecting as much of the impact as possible, it still did this?’
Using the recoil of the collision to widen the distance, he adjusted his grip on his sword once more.
It was meant to guard against a follow-up attack and respond immediately, but the opponent merely glanced at him once.
He had noticed the man while he was already irritated and struck him once, but this was not what mattered to him at the moment.
He could always return later and deal with this problem.
“Looks like you two were having a pretty exciting fight, and I ended up getting in the way for no reason! Sorry about that! I’ll be on my way now, so don’t mind me and carry on!”
“Is that old man perhaps the Sword Saint? Then the one opposing him is… A one-eyed man with a black Ghost-Gate Sword. The Ghost Sword Demon Emperor? Then over there…”
“How long are you going to keep standing around back there, friend? Hurry up and come on!”
He forcibly dragged along the man who had been muttering to himself and fidgeting in the rear, then gave the two old men watching him warily an awkward wave before turning away without hesitation.
Just as though he had only stepped in for a moment because they had blocked the road he happened to be traveling.
“…What was that?”
“……”
But the Sword Saint, and even the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor, who had just clashed with the uninvited guest, could not act rashly.
Despite his ridiculous appearance, that strange man possessed astonishing skill. If they engaged him, they would inevitably expose numerous openings.
And the formidable opponent before them would never miss such openings.‘Who on earth is he? I have never heard of a freak with such an appearance.’
The Sword Saint voiced his doubts, having yet to hear the rumors about the new Mad Demon.
From the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor’s reaction, he could infer that the man was not affiliated with the demonic cult, but for someone who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, his cultivation realm was far too high.
However, the thoughts drifting through the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor’s mind were different.‘…The Mad Demon and the freak impersonating him. How are those two here? He said he would deal with it himself, so what in the world did the strategist do?’
He remembered only after a delay, having heard about it in passing.
Of course, he had also brushed aside the matter as trivial gossip that was not worth paying attention to with the great undertaking so near. But now that the people in question had appeared right before him, it was enough to make his insides burn.‘Why have both of them come all the way here? They should have little to do with the orthodox martial world.’
The original Mad Demon was a figure between the orthodox and unorthodox paths who belonged to no faction. Strictly speaking, judging by his actions, he could be considered closer to the unorthodox side.
The freak who had impersonated him did not seem much different…
But that subtle atmosphere lasted only a moment.
Quickly regaining their composure, they erased the men who had already passed from their minds and once again stared fixedly at each other.
And then—
Clang—! Clang! Boom—!
After a brief respite, the fierce battle began anew.
For now, the most important task given to them was to defeat the opponent standing before them.
< Heavenly Demon (1) > End