The Woman Who Stared at the Empty Scabbard

What did he just say?

For a moment, Song Rahee doubted her own ears.

So... Lee Seoha was telling me he wasn't the one who did that just now?

She reflexively started to glare at him, then stopped herself.

What mattered right now wasn't her pride. It was the students' safety.

Words like those could be overlooked, even repaid later with a good scolding, once this situation was over.

Lee Seoha might already know that, though. He had handed over knowledge of her own magic with a composure that bordered on insulting.

"You seem to know something about this barrier, don't you?"

"...Yes."

Lee Seoha sighed inwardly.

Thankfully, Song Rahee understood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what actually mattered at the moment.

I did say some pretty harsh things to him.

She was doing her best to reflect on that, in her own way.

"Do you know how to break it?"

"Yes."

Lee Seoha answered curtly, then went on.

"It's a space-isolation barrier created by someone named Karsa. Its defining feature is an intricately woven structure."

He spoke as he examined the barrier through his All-Seeing Eye.

The barrier was structured to seal the space itself off from the outside world.

Space was a field that could only be touched through extremely delicate, meticulous work. It was, after all, one of the most difficult attributes to handle in this world.

Lee Seoha laid out the explanation in quick, clipped strokes.

"The difference between a space barrier and space magic is that even the tiniest twist produces an enormous gap between them."

Mishandled, space magic could misidentify its coordinates — and drag the caster into the shifting space itself, shredding their body to ribbons. Countless mages had already been ground to paste attempting it armed with nothing but half-baked knowledge.

A barrier was different, however.

Because a barrier warped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the space around its core.

That was why this kind of barrier saw use in so many different applications.

"...So then."

"Yes. A core built like this only needs the slightest distortion to collapse."

"So that's why you said it."

"..."

Lee Seoha maintained a diplomatic silence. It was best not to volunteer anything that could be held against him later.

Song Rahee exhaled inwardly.

Listening to Lee Seoha, she finally understood — she had been trying to unravel the barrier the wrong way entirely.

It was the equivalent of trying to solve a riddle with arithmetic. Even she would have said something if she'd watched someone do that... no, actually, she wouldn't have. Professor or not, there were limits.

Lee Seoha moved inside the barrier and sat down.

He closed his eyes.

Sacred Sight.

Click.

At the sound of something switching on within his mindscape, he opened his eyes.

The space rippled and transformed. The world inverted, dissolving into a wash of shifting colors — reality re-painting itself like a canvas. It was one way of perceiving mana directly.

It never stops being fascinating, no matter how many times I see it.

His eyes, which beheld the bright dawn, pierced through the space sealed within the barrier — and found the core.

Staring at it, Lee Seoha raised his Yeokcheon.

The black power of absolute negation subtly twisted the protective artifice enveloping the core.

He could have erased it outright, of course — but that would leave him with only a mouse-tail's worth of Yeokcheon to work with afterward.

I need to focus on raising Yeokcheon as fast as possible.

With a quiet sigh, Lee Seoha finished the work.

Song Rahee had been watching the whole scene, mouth agape, in a daze.

What... is that?

That was no ordinary power.

The eyes that had instantly observed the barrier's core were astonishing enough, but her attention kept snagging on that force — the one that seemed to negate mana itself.

It's not an otherworldly power.

It was nothing like the power demons were said to wield. That aura was unquestionably violent, savage, even — but it was fundamentally different from the kind drawn in from the outer realms.

She could tell at a glance, because that was a force that carved away at your mind just from looking at it.

"It's done. This should release in no time now."

"That easily?"

"That's the difference between barriers and magic. A barrier unravels the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instant you find even a hairline gap in it. And the more intricate the structure, the wider that gap becomes."

Lee Seoha answered matter-of-factly.

"The situation isn't as good as it looks, though."

He was looking off to one side.

The professors were holding the demons back — and being pushed back, line by line.

Considering that most of them were active, frontline professionals, it was a scene that made no sense. And yet, ironically, it was precisely because they were professors that they couldn't help but lose ground.

The demons were targeting the students — and only the students — with merciless discipline.

Kim Seohyun is still sealed, at least.

Lee Seoha observed Kim Seohyun. His movements were sluggish. Not a trace of mana flowed from his vaunted Dragon Heart, either.

Erciel was doing well.

She was weaving her illusion magic in concert, turning some twenty percent of the demons against one another.

The ones in the top ranks were managing fine on their own. It was everyone below them who was the problem.

Even a dozen students banded together could hardly face a single demon alone.

That was why, in the first place, so many Villains slid into becoming demons — why demons were codified as society's great evil.

Still, it would get sorted out.

Saint was here.

It wasn't Starlight Mana, but the light mana he possessed carried a horrific, agonizing potency against demons all the same.

"Professor Song Rahee, please go back up the other professors."

"And you?"

Song Rahee looked at Lee Seoha.

It was laughable, borrowing a student's hand at a time like this... but with Lee Seoha, she was certain he'd prove a devastating asset.

Lee Seoha smiled awkwardly under her gaze.

"We have somewhere we need to be."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Less than you'd think."

"All right. If you're the one doing it, then I'm sure it needs doing."

With that, Song Rahee turned away.

She could feel the barrier thinning, little by little. The panicked demons were attacking with renewed ferocity — and the students and professors had found their hope again.

Lee Seoha had already done his part, and more. Asking anything further of him would be shameless.

So resolving, Song Rahee charged toward the demons.

I looked at Seo Gayeon.

Seo Gayeon was looking back at me with steady, unshaken eyes.

She doesn't seem frightened, at least.

That was a relief.

She was the soft-outside, steel-inside type, but she'd arrived so hastily that I'd been worried about her. At this level, though, I didn't need to worry.

I shifted my gaze from Seo Gayeon and stared into empty air.

A main quest window, floating in midair.

Honestly, it was absurd.

Demons invading a school en masse was standard-issue academy fare — but this school was not the kind to fold so easily. Seo Yebin, one of the Transcendents of humanity, guarded this place as its headmistress.

Which meant one of the Seven Evils — an opponent you'd normally expect to fight only in the late game — had almost certainly intervened.

Whatever the cause, it's already happened.

Which meant I needed to find a way out.

I thought about the Cheonhoe Society.

The Cheonhoe Society — the "Society That Restrains Heaven." Those bastards were a cult waiting for the Heavenly Demon. They were lumped in with the Villains for now, but one day they would seize control of one of the demon collectives.

And they had their little vice-leader, too, even now.

That one is genuinely strong.

He would have to be dealt with using Seo Gayeon's Starlight Mana.

Could I be the Heavenly Demon?

It was possible.

Heukcheon.

—What is it, my lord?

If I became the Heavenly Demon, would there be some kind of faction waiting for me?

—Hardly. The ones who once followed my predecessor split into five branches. By now, even their traditions must have faded into obscurity. Besides, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your world and the world of my past masters are very different places.

Heukcheon paused mid-sentence.

—...No. Come to think of it, there might be. You said this world has been 'overlaid' with many dimensions. Be on your guard, then. Even I cannot begin to guess how things may have changed.

"O light!"

Saint's voice rang out.

Radiance erupted at his back, and the demons nearby began to scream.

That battle would be over soon.

Which meant our job was to strike the vice-leader who would come in as the follow-up blow.

"We're heading somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?"

"Yeah. We're going after the one who's effectively their head."

I set off with Seo Gayeon in tow.

Passing out through the crumbling barrier, I saw a woman standing there.

Hair and eyes like a river of blood, cascading down to her waist and swaying in the wind. Chinese traditional robes that belonged to another era entirely.

She was staring at us with a startled expression.

"Korea Hero Academy grows more astonishing the more I see of it. Even with the Star and the Emperor gone to hunt down our leadership, its barrier is already breaking. This exceeds all my calculations."

The woman clasped her hands behind her back, watching us with unhurried ease.

"Still, I can't complain. You've given my eyes a pleasant feast."

Her eyes landed on me, and curved into a seductive crescent.

"Quietly, and come at me."

Seo Gayeon's voice was pure combat. One hand already gripping her sword. The woman gave a soft snort of laughter.

Instead of drawing Heukcheon, I pulled a plain iron sword out of my subspace.

The woman looked at me with strange eyes.

"You wield paired blades? No — your stance says single sword. Then why do you not draw it, standing there looking at me?"

She spoke as she studied me.

"Do you believe you can fell me with a weapon that isn't even your own? How arrogant."

For the briefest moment, an unpleasant expression crossed her face.

"..."

She was staring, unblinking, at my empty scabbard.

With the expression of someone who has just seen a thing that should not exist.