The Specter of the Battlefield
The righteous sect’s Guardian…!
How can a Guardian be here?
What the hell is going on?
All the remaining martial demons fell into chaos.
The surviving six killing stars remained relatively calm, but the subordinate forty martial demons were in utter panic.
-Uuuung!
Cold, clear qi burst outward from Eun Seollyeong’s surroundings, rising like a wave cresting through silver mist.
Demonic energy began radiating from her.
Eun Seollyeong, half-buried in a swirl of blood mist, muttered to herself.
“So many martial demons have gathered right in the heart of the righteous sects… How could this be?”
She could recall the reason she hated them so deeply.
When she fought the former Cheonsubaekryeonsa Guardian Gang Chisang, even back then her contempt toward me—despite my lack of demonic arts and mere black lightning—had gone beyond imagining.
That was why the killing intent she now aimed at the Heavenly Demon Cult’s martial demons was pure, untainted.
The martial demons murmured among themselves.
“H-How can such a massive being approach this close without us noticing?!”
“W-Wait! Look at that!”
The martial demons belatedly spotted three shackles rolling across the floor and screamed.
“Those are Cold-Fragrance Stone shackles—the kind only extreme criminals in the demonic sect are supposed to wear? Three of them?!”
“One’s still on her!”
The shackles binding Eun Seollyeong’s limbs each carried properties that dispersed inner energy and weighed fifty catties apiece.
Mumyeong had once called such tools fit only for rebels against the sect leader, saying even one was painful enough to endure.
I remembered our conversation.
‘In the end… she succeeded.’
Before she left me, Eun Seollyeong had told me she was heading north to permanently remove the shackles restraining her, preparing for the storm that would soon engulf us.
Of the four Cold-Fragrance Stone shackles applied to her, only one now remained on her left arm.
Eun Seollyeong spoke in a cool, silver-belled voice.
“Leave that man. Or all of you will die.”
…!
The pupils of the martial demons trembled.
-Juchum, juchum.
Though there were nearly forty, they unconsciously retreated from the single wave of aura.
Blue moonlight poured down onto me, propped against a wooden pole half-buried in blood.
A thought suddenly rose beneath it.
Under the blue moonlight, her silver hair fluttering as she spoke, she no longer seemed like a person of this world.
Her gaze was lofty and full of conviction.
It was that unyielding belief that she would walk her own path in this world without compromising a single stain, etched into those unwavering eyes.
‘Entered the realm of the Wheel of Cycles… One who can fulfill a wish?’
That was exactly what she had once told me was her innermost feeling.
“Assistant Yi. What do we do? Carry out the order.”
Three killing stars stood unchangingly silent beside Yi-ho, their eyes fixed on Eun Seollyeong.
The surviving nine killing stars’ reactions diverged sharply after her arrival.
The three beside Yi-ho showed no movement at all, standing as before.
Meanwhile, the surviving killing star from Gu-ho’s squad—previously subordinate to the one I had killed—emitted explosive killing intent, alternating his gaze between me and Eun Seollyeong as if ready to detonate at any touch.
[Even within the killing stars, factions existed.]
Mumyeong muttered.
Yi-ho observed the situation while his golden dragon-embroidered blood cloak fluttered.
…
I could not read his thoughts.
More baffling still were the three conversations surrounding him.
“Honestly, it’s that black lightning. Definitely.”
“Nothing else. The only thing that can unleash lightning on this world—the black lightning that scatters together with demonic energy—is this one. You, Assistant, know better than anyone.”
…
Even amid the chaotic melee, I had felt it vividly.
Nine killing stars had encircled me, yet Yi-ho had only raised his hand toward the empty air when Gu-ho and I clashed.
His three squad members had only outwardly helped build the encirclement net; they had not attacked me to the end.
The killing star I had killed and those from Gu-ho’s squad were the only ones slain.
If all nine had struck simultaneously and relentlessly from their usual positions, I would have been torn apart without the slightest resistance.
Yi-ho and I locked eyes.
We had never met face-to-face, yet his voice remained calm and gentle.
Yi-ho said,
“I must beg your understanding. Right here and now, I have no choice but to stand aside. Even if it means standing aside for me, I clearly recognized your black lightning from the very beginning. But trusting and following you completely would mean discarding everything I have built so far and jumping in blindly—a gamble far too enormous.”
His breath ragged, he continued,
“What are you saying, you—?”
“You.”
Yi-ho spoke in a dry, measured tone.
“We—or rather, I—know full well that if that ‘person’ you speak of is real, it is impossible, bordering on foolish. But still, if the heavens truly aid us and you, even in the slightest, are the successor to that person—”
It was then.
“Shut your mouth! A righteous Guardian and you call us ‘demon sect scum’ and threaten us?! We’re the ones who should be issuing commands here!!”
The last surviving killing star from Gu-ho’s squad roared at Eun Seollyeong.
“Who do you think you are, daring to issue orders to us who even hunt down Guardians?!”
“Wait—calm down!”
Yi-ho shouted in alarm.
But the killing star’s eyes were rolled back; he paid no heed.
“Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll think for myself too! Follow me, all of you! Kill them all!”
He whipped out his sword like lightning and charged me with full force while I leaned against the pole.
The stance was one of mutual destruction.
That was where it began.
Sharp blade against a taut string—snap.
-Kwadudut!
-Tadadad!
Half the force veered toward Eun Seollyeong.
The other half charged me.
Black shadows soared skyward, filling the heavens.
“This is the choice of you all.”
Eun Seollyeong’s brows furrowed; her ink-brush eyebrows slashed across her forehead.
The killing star swung his blade with eyes blazing with murderous rage.
“Die—!”
-Seok!
My right arm, reaching for the killing star, was ensnared by blood mist.
“Eh…?”
The killing star stared at his severed arm in confusion.
“What? My arm—”
The arm that had been swinging toward my throat with lethal force flew far away together with the blade.
-Pukaak!
A heartbeat later, blood gushed from the cleanly severed stump.
-Paleur.
A transparent ice-like blade, half-buried and trembling on the ground, had sliced through the killing star’s arm.
The killing star’s eyes widened.
“Why… why was my arm cut off…!”
-Kwadududud!
It was a blade-formed hailstorm.
“Kuk.”
The killing star could not even scream properly.
p>His two knees were severed the instant he charged, his body spinning in the air with his thighs.
Dozens, hundreds of blades pierced him like a swarm of fish attacking a floating carcass.
With each stab, the killing star’s body rose into the air.
-Seok.
Even his remaining arm was severed.
The torso spun horizontally under the edge, then was pierced through.
The head was cut off.
No martial art could resist that storm of blades.
At the end of the blood trail stood Eun Seollyeong, raising her hand toward me while her face was covered in white frost.
The martial demons shouted.
“Everyone! The Guardian! Kill the Guardian first! Otherwise we die!”
The night sky filled with a rancid blood stench.
The stench of death, experienced hundreds of times yet never familiar, paralyzed everyone’s reason.
Even the martial demons who had charged at me in terror now swarmed Eun Seollyeong.
“Tch! If it’s come to this—”
The remaining killing stars glanced at me, then rushed to assist against Eun Seollyeong.
Eun Seollyeong herself threw herself forward.
-Tadadad.
With a furious war cry, a black wave and a streak of silver light collided violently.
Eun Seollyeong flicked her hand as if shaking off something.
-Chworuk!
Concentrated inner energy gathered the surrounding blade fragments into one long sword.
It was absurdly long—longer than a grown man’s height.
Closer to the length of a warhorse-slaying blade.
-Cheolk.
Eun Seollyeong gripped the sword; silver light erupted from all directions.
The leading martial demon muttered unconsciously.
“Silver plum blossoms? I’ve heard and seen this—.”
“Haaaap!”
Eun Seollyeong drew the blade back and slashed horizontally with all her strength.
-Jjawoong!
-Kwa kwa kwa kwa!!!
Three martial demons were bisected like bundles of straw and shot skyward on the silver blade.
“Kkuaak!!”
“Aaaak!”
From there, Eun Seollyeong plunged headlong into the midst of the black martial demons.
-Pit.
Her hand pointed upward.
[Li Qi Yu Jian Cheng Xiang – First Form]
The surrounding silver frost blades shot into the air.
-Kkik.
Countless blades descended from above, aimed at the martial demons.
One martial demon blinked while staring at the rising blade.
“No way—”
Eun Seollyeong shouted in a clear voice.
[Qian Mei Hua Yu]
-Kwa kwa kwa kwa!!!!
The blades swept like plum-blossom rain, shredding everything around.
“Uwaaak!”
“Kkuaak! My leg!”
“Kueok!”
Even those who dodged the blade rain twice were pierced through the neck.
Those who turned their backs while using movement techniques had their backs pierced.
The silver light swept through the gaps of the confused martial demons.
-Seongdung! Suseut!
Heads severed from martial demons rose repeatedly into the air.
Red blood spurted like a waterfall under the moonlight.
Eun Seollyeong shouted,
[Li Qi Yu Jian Cheng Xiang – Second Form: Mei Hua Hui Xuan Fei Jian]
The blades that had stabbed downward paused, then swirled around her like a tornado, tearing the martial demons apart.
“Kkuaaaak!!”
“Save me—!”
Jeokmaryeong laughed with blood-tinged voice.
“Khehe. It’s like watching a blade-shredding machine instead of a warrior. There’s no one more specialized in one-on-one combat than you, Jeokma-ryeong. Now I understand why that old blade demon lord Ryu Majin was cursed as a slaughterer until the very end…”
“What did you say?”
I lifted my blood-crusted eyelids and looked at him.
Jeokmaryeong laughed at my reaction.
“What’s that look? That woman is your colleague, isn’t she? Or have you been so ignorant of the martial world that you’ve been following her without knowing her reputation?”
…
Jeokmaryeong curled his blood-soaked lips.
His eyes brimmed with mockery.
“Khehe. Truly, you are a fool whose very existence makes people angry. You know nothing about the people around you.”
Red light filled my eyes.
Even as death approached me in real time, the rage in my heart remained unchanged.
Jeokmaryeong felt the same.
He too glared with bloodshot eyes without the slightest retreat.
Perhaps he had sensed the fact that had always bothered me—my reaction to his words.
p>Although I had traveled with her, I knew nothing about her.
What I did know was that she harbored extreme hatred toward the Heavenly Demon Cult, that she had lived for an eternity, and that she always carried feelings heavy with remorse.
Our conversations were distant; she never asked about me.
She always maintained a certain wall, and her eyes always stared into the distant past.
And now—
-Kwadudud!
“Uwaaak!”
“Kkuaak!”
“Save me!”
Countless blade fragments danced like swords, tearing elite martial demons apart under her gestures.
The Specter of the Battlefield—the slaughterer called Eun Seollyeong—was slowly, inexorably walking toward me while massacring the martial demons.
The martial demons screamed.
“T-This can’t be! There’s no way to stop it!”
“The formation doesn’t work! The martial arts don’t work!”
“How… how?!”
One martial demon shouted in terror.
“Even approaching is impossible!”
Her appearance—three Cold-Fragrance Stone shackles removed—was more like a disaster than any scene I had ever witnessed.
-Pit!
Blood splattered across her white face, but she did not even blink.
On the contrary, every drop of blood made the distant emotion that had long simmered within her eyes even stronger.
“Haa… haa.”
I felt an otherworldly sensation.
My eyelids grew heavy.
She was approaching me from afar, yet even that blurred.
Everything grew distant.
[… …, …….]
Mumyeong’s voice reached me, yet I could not hear it.
My body was wrapped in thick cloth, the firm feel of the wooden pole against my back and the cool night breeze on the wet ground beneath my hips all fading away.
“Lord Jeokma-ryeong. I’m late. I was waiting for the chaos to subside.”
“Kuk.”
In the corner of my blurred vision, one of the Heavenly Demon Cult’s pursuit members carefully supported Jeokmaryeong.
The surviving killing stars and pursuit members were too busy fighting Eun Seollyeong’s storm-like onslaught to care about me.
Jeokmaryeong, supported with his blood-soaked face, looked at me.
“Damn bastard.”
I could not even lift my head.
My breaths grew fainter.
The pursuit member supporting Jeokmaryeong glanced around uneasily and said,
“Lord Jeokma-ryeong, you need to go quickly.”
“I know.”
Jeokmaryeong was nearly dead.
He stared at me and said,
“I will trample you like that man—minutely, fairly, according to the law of the strong—face to face. Moyong Bi.”
…
“You gave purpose to my lazy life. I will kill you for that debt. Definitely. Wash your mouth and wait.”
“You damn bastard…”
I murmured after him in a faint voice.
“The way you sound, you sound just like that Ryu Hwasa bastard… making me want to puke.”
“Ryu Hwasa? Which bastard is that?”
My words had no strength.
I barely muttered,
“There was one like you… I don’t know if he’s dead or alive.”
…
Jeokmaryeong might have answered, but I could no longer hear him.
Soon he melted into darkness with his subordinates.
I remained still, head lowered.
A moment passed.
-Dduk… dduk…
Blood continued to pour endlessly from the pierced abdomen.
-Tadadad!
Footsteps approaching rapidly from beyond the dark abyss sounded.
“Moyong Bi. Are you all right? I’m here.”
Someone’s urgent voice and running steps reached me.
I thought I smelled the fragrance of blue orchids.
Cold hands cupped my face.
Soon my vision turned completely black.
Urgent voices echoed beyond the black.
“The martial demons have all retreated. Rest… this is bad, the wounds are too severe.”
…
Chaotic voices sounded.
Urgent voices continued.
Every emergency measure—from acupuncture points to bandages—was applied as my body was shaken front and back.
“First, stabilize… Since I’m here, rest assured. You can still live—”
The chaotic voice suddenly cut off.
The surroundings fell silent.
Even the sound of insects stopped.
No wind blew.
And just before I lost consciousness completely in the darkness, a single murmured sentence split my inner abyss like lightning.
“Demonic energy…?”