The Price of the Golden Flame

The demon's head burst like crushed fruit, its body crumbling into gray ash. Some of that ash drifted inward, seeping into my own flesh.

Feeling the total volume of Defying Heaven's qi swell within me, Lee Seoha took a long, slow breath.

The demon was dead.

But the Villains remained. Through the shattered half of a mask, one of them stared out at me. One arm gone, gripping a sword cleaved nearly in two.

"Ha... fuck. This bastard was only worth a few hundred million?"

The Villain laughed hollowly. I drew Heukcheon.

"You. Creepy masked fuck."

He clenched his teeth. He knew. This man was going to kill him.

The Villain's blade had been aimed at the demon, but he understood that I wouldn't be sparing him either. Proof of it leaked from the one eye visible through his broken mask — a thin, living thread of killing intent.

"Your end is death. You've made too much noise. You slaughtered every demon in Seoul, and now the higher powers are going to move — to end you."

It was a kind of curse.

A curse hurled out of resentment for his own meaningless death.

"So—"

"So what."

Lee Seoha answered flatly and swung the sword.

Shff.

The Villain's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head left his shoulders. An unpleasant sensation grazed my fingertips.

I steadied my mind with the method of Focused Stillness. The ugly emotion sank away in an instant.

Ding! A translucent screen bloomed across my retina.

...So Hwaryeon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was nearby?

I stared at the two options. Neither was bad. Neither was what I wanted.

What I wanted was a divinity fused with the qi of Defying Heaven. The moment I poured my will to refuse into the screen, text appeared in the corner.

Yeah.

I checked the rest of the rewards. Apparently elevating my faith toward divinity was the extent of it — the settlement ended with just the 5,000P, and I felt a flicker of disappointment.

Still — Hwaryeon had been nearby this whole time.

Steadying my breathing, I left the scene. I wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the pavement and rest, but there were far too many people on this street, and a few cameras had already pointed my way.

A video, huh.

I deliberated. If I asked the Electronic Witch, she could smother the whole thing. But she'd pushed herself hard during the last incident.

In that case, it might be better to ask her to blur out Heukcheon and let me adopt a different identity entirely. I got in touch with her to talk it over.

I opened the video. What it left behind was only the impression of a man gripping his sword at a perfect angle — the crimson thread in the middle was nearly invisible. There was no scene of the blade being used at all; the focus rested squarely on the golden flame and the mask.

Honestly, part of me had wanted to look a little cool. I asked her to spread the video around.

"How's the body doing lately, by the way?"

The Electronic Witch chattered away happily. I kept the conversation casual, and once we were done, I ended the call.

Hm?

While tuning my body through the Heukshin Art, I detected a foreign substance lodged inside me.

Turbid blood?

It was the residue of the blood I'd burned in the fight just now. Left to accumulate, it would poison the body, so I had no choice but to force it out through my mouth.

"Kehk."

I vomited. Black blood spilled out across the ground.

Disgusting.

I was still grimacing down at the dead blood when I sensed a presence behind me.

"Elder..."

I turned my head. Seol Hwaryeon was staring at me with an expression of pure sorrow.

Seol Hwaryeon had watched the battle between Lee Seoha and the demon.

Tuning her body the entire time, ready to throw herself into the fight at any moment.

If it came to that.

The Elder had to survive. Even if her own life were extinguished, the Elder had to live. Carrying that grim resolve, she had fixed her gaze on the battle.

But the Elder hadn't needed her. He had driven the demon and the Villains back single-handedly — wielding a golden flame she had never seen before.

Truly remarkable, as always.

It was a realm she couldn't reach even in her dreams. To hold two Upper-Tier opponents alone. Perhaps the Elder was a genuine strongman of the highest order — one who had gazed upon the very summit.

She destroyed the phones and cameras around her that were filming the Elder, then followed him quietly.

"Kehk."

And then she saw it.

The Elder, coughing up black blood.

...Don't tell me.

The golden flame that had raged through the battlefield consumed her thoughts. That was no ordinary fire. It was sacred fire — seonghwa — a flame so pure it bordered on the divine.

Yet she found it impossible to believe such power had been granted freely. It stood at the polar opposite of everything the Elder was — a power that denied all things, that devoured its wielder.

Which meant.

It had to be power purchased with his own burning life. Seol Hwaryeon bit down hard on her lip. While the Elder fought like that, she had done nothing but gape at his strength like an excited child.

Even knowing it was the residue of the very life he had burned away.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Elder. Only now do I understand. Why do you carry such a sacrifice alone?

"To think you fought such an exhausting battle while I was away..."

"...?"

"I watched the battle just now. The Elder wreathed in golden flame was magnificent, but..."

Seol Hwaryeon's voice trailed off. She looked at Lee Seoha with mournful eyes.

"The Elder's devotion is, in a way, sublime. It is difficult for a person to burn their life away for someone precious to them."

It was a noble sacrifice, unmistakably. If the Elder's deeds ever came to light, he would be remembered as a great man.

And Seol Hwaryeon hated that.

"To think you hunted demons all this time... for complete strangers."

"Hwaryeon."

"Forgive me, Elder. I don't think I can understand your feelings. Because you are precious to me."

There was something resolute in her expression as she spoke.

She had never wanted any of that. She had only wanted to be with the Elder — the way a child wants nothing more from a parent than simply to be near them. Like children chattering their simple, artless wishes.

"Hwaryeon, let me explain—"

"The Elder's sacrifice is sublime. But I do not understand you. No — I dislike it. Because the Elder matters more to me than strangers I've never once met."

Seol Hwaryeon clenched her teeth as she said it, and together with the words came a vow. She was weak. Far, far too weak. To help the Elder — to talk him out of it — she was hopelessly, unbearably weak.

The family she had left, she did not want to lose. That was all Seol Hwaryeon wanted.

But how was she supposed to stop him?

If only I were stronger. If only I could have held the Elder back by force —

"I will become stronger, Elder. Strong enough that you will never need to sacrifice yourself again. Strong enough to exterminate every demon that exists."

With those words, Seol Hwaryeon turned away.

Another thought had crossed her mind, too. Perhaps the Elder was doing all of this to avenge his clan.

Vengeance begets vengeance.

She only hoped the Elder could live happily, rather than entombing himself in that place. She would shoulder the vengeance herself. That burden was not his to carry — it belonged solely to her, Seol Hwaryeon, heir to everything the assassin clan had left behind.

Her head spun. Rational thought was slipping through her fingers. Seol Hwaryeon turned her mind away from it all.

The Elder.

She wanted to protect the last family she had left. That was all. That was everything.

The misunderstanding with Seol Hwaryeon was the worst it had ever been.

But did I actually need to clear it up? If anything, this version of her misunderstanding seemed likely to make her train harder.

I'll untangle it later.

More pressing was the exhaustion. Because I'd fought with my power restricted, I'd burned through far more than usual.

No — with two Upper-Tier opponents, maybe I should just be grateful it ended this cleanly.

I pulled off the mask, changed clothes, and stowed everything in my subspace. With the Electronic Witch's help I mapped out every CCTV location, then surfaced somewhere far away from the scene. Sitting down on a nearby bench, I checked the video.

Fast, huh?

The clip the Electronic Witch had promised to release was already climbing the rankings.

The title made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me wince a little, but I watched it through. It depicted the demon going berserk, me leaping in, and the demon and Villains being cut down.