The Heavenly Demon's Legacy

At some point, Seo Gayeon had become able to sense the images in people's hearts.

Perhaps it was a power that came with Starlight Mana.

"Gayeon, your skills have really improved, huh?"

And beneath it—I bet she gulped down some miracle elixir.

Or—"You've been hanging out with Seoha a lot lately. Are you two close?"

And beneath that—Did she spread her legs for him? Why would Lee Seoha even bother with a girl like her?

Those people had nothing to do with her, so Seo Gayeon didn't really care.

But.

Sometimes, she was curious.

About how Lee Seoha would look at her.

Fortunately, this power of sensing hearts worked on him too. No—rather than that, it was more accurate to say that Starlight Mana was drawn to some power within Lee Seoha. His heart-images reached her more clearly than anyone else's.

To a degree that felt almost uncanny.

Yuhwa's is different, though.

Kim Ara, Hong Yuhwa, Kim Seohyun. She couldn't sense anything from any of them. But Lee Seoha's heart-image came through.

Crystal clear.

Some time ago, when Kim Ara had chosen Lee Seoha as her combat partner, Seo Gayeon had quietly given up inside. Kim Ara was strong.

So strong that Seo Gayeon couldn't even compare.

She probably would have given up for good.

Lee Seoha had looked troubled when Kim Ara approached him, glancing her way with a fleeting look in his eyes.

So Seo Gayeon had stepped forward.

"What are you going to do?"

"What would you like me to do?"

She'd asked Lee Seoha back then, turning the question on him.

Cheongyeon.

There wasn't a soul in Korea who didn't know that name. If Lee Seoha hadn't existed, she might have followed that path herself.

I don't want to.

She hadn't wanted that. She wanted to stay by Lee Seoha's side. She knew her feelings like this were a burden to him. But—

Seo Gayeon liked Lee Seoha.

"I want to be with you, Seoha."

"……"

Lee Seoha had faltered for a moment.

Then fear came flooding in. What if he disliked me? Then again, there was hardly anything special about her to begin with.

"D-do you… do you not like me, Seoha?"

"As if I could."

His words came to her quietly.

"How could I ever dislike you?"

A beat later,

his heart-image reached her.

—Even if I could hate everyone else in this world, there is no way I could hate Seo Gayeon.

A conviction so absolute it left no room for doubt. Those words drifted to her softly and lodged themselves in her heart.

Seo Gayeon simply stared at Lee Seoha, blank-faced.

…Why is she looking at me like that.

Seo Gayeon was staring at me with a dazed expression, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

Then—Ding.

A translucent blue window materialized before my eyes.

…Somehow, that window is a little terrifying.

A bond, huh. Come to think of it, right before I blacked out, Kim Seohyun had apparently glimpsed a bond labeled Adoration attached to me.

……

I thought back to the S-rank weapons that still remained within the academy.

Four left, more or less.

None of them suited Seo Gayeon—but there was another item here, one that belonged to a different Transcendent: the Luminant.

There were two reasons I was accompanying her today. The first was to steer her toward where the Luminant's staff was kept.

And the second—

To see whether there was anything else hidden away like the Heukcheon Demonic Sword.

—Such things are rare. The Heukcheon Demonic Sword originally responds only to one who bears the energy of Defying Heaven. It was thanks to the foresight my former master once claimed to possess that he gained the Body of Defying Heaven, and thereby claimed me.

'I had no idea you existed, though.'

—…What?

For once, Heukcheon wore a genuinely flustered expression.

—Hmm. Perhaps it was something my former master arranged in advance.

Heukcheon made a face that suggested she found that explanation distinctly unsatisfying.

After exchanging a few more words with her, we arrived at the weapon selection chamber.

"It's been a while."

"…So it has. Is this child the one selecting a weapon today?"

The Vice Principal regarded me as he spoke. Seo Yebin shook her head.

"If it were the child's wish, that would be fine, but today's purpose is this child."

"I see."

The Vice Principal gave an appropriately measured nod and guided us deeper inside. The sight of it reminded me of the entrance ceremony—all manner of weapons stretched out before us.

Click.

I heard something switch on within my heart-image, and the Star-Piercing Eye activated. Then, in tandem with my talent, Appraisal (−). It put a bit of strain on me, but this way I could properly see the true performance of every weapon on display.

Ziiing──.

My skull rang.

I swept my gaze across the armaments. S-rank weapons I remembered from my past knowledge, weapons of lower grade that outperformed their class, weapons suited to specific situations—

As expected, nothing.

So the Heukcheon Demonic Sword really had been something special. After all, there was no weapon in existence I didn't know, right down to the C-rank ones.

"Sharp eyes you have."

"…Can you tell?"

"My other name is Cheongyeon. Even the world itself acknowledges it."

Cheongyeon had come to stand beside me.

"You've only just begun to learn it, but that eye will prove even more useful than you imagine. Study it diligently."

"Yes, thank you."

I gave a suitably polite reply and walked over to Seo Gayeon.

"How about that one?"

"That one?"

Seo Gayeon's gaze followed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the line of my fingertip. There lay the hilt of a sword.

Anyone else would have found my choice baffling, but Seo Gayeon's reaction was different. Without a moment's hesitation over my suggestion, she strode forward and gripped the hilt.

Wuuuung───!

A wave of mana came rushing out in a surge.

At a glance it might have seemed useless, but that was an artifact wielded by the Luminant, at the very threshold of Transcendence. A weapon that could take the form of a true sword in accordance with its wielder's mana. In ordinary times it could serve as a staff as well—and it suited the current Seo Gayeon perfectly.

"How fortunate—it has chosen its master."

"It was the Luminant's possession, after all. In a sense, that child's mana carries a quality not unlike the Luminant's own."

"…That child, you say?"

"Yes. So watch her closely."

At Seo Yebin's words, the Vice Principal turned his gaze to Seo Gayeon.

"How do I use this?"

"…That is the Luminant's sword. It serves as both blade and staff. Magic won't come naturally to you yet, so wield it as a sword for now, and as a staff when you're ready."

"Okay."

Seo Gayeon hugged the hilt to her chest as if it were something precious.

I stretched out on the penthouse bed and drew the Essence of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Radiant Heaven out of my subspace.

The Essence of the Radiant Heaven.

An item with the power to unseal a single weapon of S-rank or below. Naturally, I had long since decided where I would use it.

The Heukcheon Demonic Sword. I was going to smash one of her seals with it.

"Then, I'll use it now."

—I-I am ready.

I pressed the Essence against Heukcheon. The moment it touched her, it flared with light and seeped into the blade. The crimson line running down the center of the black-and-white blade glowed briefly, then settled into stillness.

I used Appraisal to examine it.

Finally opened, huh.

Poison Soul.

Some time ago, in order to awaken the Star-Piercing Eye, Heukcheon had pried this seal open by force. Now I had unsealed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it completely.

"Heukcheon?"

I called out to her—because she was making an extremely strange face.

—…Master.

"What is it?"

—Do you remember what I once told you? That the Heavenly Demon's corpse was divided into twenty-five parts, and that the wives of my former master each claimed a portion.

"Yeah."

I remembered it well—it had been a genuinely bizarre piece of history. That the Heavenly Demon had been a woman, and that she'd been such a committed lesbian she'd married twenty-five women.

—A memory concerning that matter has surfaced. More precisely, it seems my memories were sealed away, stage by stage.

"By your former master?"

Heukcheon nodded.

—Did he ever glimpse a future connected to the Heavenly Demon? Or her tomb, perhaps.

"I saw the place where the first half of the Heukshinmu's meridians lie dormant."

—Then that is where we must go.

"Why?"

—The Heavenly Demon did not lose and have herself divided into twenty-five pieces. Her memories themselves had been painted over with something.

Heukcheon was behaving with a faint air of agitation.

—The Heavenly Demon divided her own power into twenty-five by her own will, and entrusted those portions to her wives.

"So the Heavenly Demon's power went to those women, then?"

—That would be so. Perhaps the Body of Defying Heaven that my former master obtained was also a fragment of that very thing.

"I see."

I kept my expression as composed as I could manage.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Because the truth was, no place for obtaining the Body of Defying Heaven had ever existed.

The Heavenly Demon's legacy, huh.

There were roughly two places I'd suspected of being connected to the Heavenly Demon. Of course, there had been nothing worth obtaining at either, which was why my interest had fizzled out almost immediately.

"So our next destination is that place, then."

It wasn't a bad proposition. The fact that it was overseas had always been its drawback—but this time, that very point worked in my favor.

My phone buzzed. Messages from Erciel.

I sent my replies and stepped into the training hall.