This World Allows No Compromise
Wicked Arts.
A sinister, twisted power that seeped in from beyond the outer realms. And most of those who wielded it were demons. The reason was simple: the power best suited to mastering the Wicked Arts was the very power that turned a human into a demon.
Like black paint spilled across the soul.
This art, born of the outer realms' power, was lethal to humanity.
And right now, that power was crawling up out of Tak Yoonil's body.
"Tak Yoonil! Why—why you of all people!"
One of the guild members who had come along with us let out a wail.
Demons were humanity's arch-enemy. Enemies that had to be cast out of human society and destroyed without exception. Coexistence was impossible—their goal was nothing less than the annihilation of mankind.
"A simple reason. This world is doomed to end regardless."
Endless despair was steeped into that voice—enough to make the wailing guild member flinch.
"Even the Great Hero, mighty as he once was, could only sacrifice his own body to buy a span of 'reprieve.' Pushing back the clock was the very limit of what he could do."
And so—.
Tak Yoonil turned his hollow eyes on me and Kim Seohyun.
"So I became a demon. This world is headed for its ending either way. What I intend to do is set you free from that despair."
Tat!
Two Cheonryu guild members moved.
"Run, now! We'll hold this place!"
Sword and spear in hand, the two of them stepped forward.
"Hyunwoo. Jaewoo. You two were truly good men."
A feeble smile crossed his face, and Tak Yoonil raised his sword and spear.
"So I'll send you on ahead first."
Tak Yoonil began to move.
"Why would he……"
Kim Seohyun spoke, betrayal written across her face. But the expression lasted only a moment.
"We run," she said, her face hardening into stone.
If we fled now, those two guild members would die. But not a single one of us suggested staying behind to fight beside them. Park Unhyeok silently nodded as well.
"……If we stay, we buy them a little more time. But we die with them. If we survive, we can pay them back a hundredfold, one way or another."
Park Unhyeok forced the words out through gritted teeth.
I looked at Tak Yoonil. Tak Yoonil, the 'Master.' Those two wouldn't last long at all.
"No. We have to fight."
I closed my hand tight around Heukcheon and activated my Will.
We have to fight. Now.
"What……?"
"There's no time but now."
Tak Yoonil was a demon.
Demons ordinarily indulged their every desire, and those desires mostly curdled into bloodlust or lust. But the moment a demon ascended to the Upper Rank, it gained mastery over its own emotions.
"Something's off. An Upper Rank demon should have its emotions under control, yet he's flaunting the fact that he's a demon far too openly."
And who, exactly, was standing here? Me, Kim Seohyun, and Park Unhyeok.
Kim Seohyun was the disciple of the Transcendent known as the Wizard of a Thousand. I was the student cherished by Seo Yebin, the Emperor. And Park Unhyeok, though tied to no Transcendent, was a hero of the very highest grade and the son of the man who led the Sun Guild, one of Korea's three great guilds.
If even one of us walked out of here alive, Tak Yoonil was finished.
If I were Tak Yoonil, there was no way in hell I'd let us live.
"Ha……"
Park Unhyeok let out a hollow sigh, threaded somewhere with relief.
"If I die, tell my father this: 'Father, thank you for letting me be your son.'"
"……Then tell my grandfather that I loved him."
Their last words wrung a bark of laughter out of me.
"Don't worry. I'm sending you both home alive."
Gripping Heukcheon, I stepped forward.
"Hoo……"
The annihilation of all humanity.
If it came to that, Kim Seohyun would awaken.
After everything had perished, she would drive back the invaders—gazing upon the ruined world with hollow eyes.
That was the ending every player saw.
Difficulty: Hell. Now I was finally getting a feel for it.
This world allowed no compromise.
The moment you thought this is good enough, I'm not doing so badly—that was the moment you failed to survive in this world.
The moment you compromised, you stagnated. You stopped challenging the trials. I've done well. No one else could have made it this far—the instant that thought took root was the true end.
This much wouldn't even rank among the trials still to come.
If death was inevitable anyway, better to meet it head-on first.
"Let's go."
With one long stride, we stepped out onto the battlefield.
KRA-KOOOOM!
The shockwave rolled out across the field. Half of Tak Yoonil's body was already billowing with demonic qi, and the two guild members were half-dead.
"Why did you come back?!"
"No matter how I looked at it, it felt like a trap."
"Does it, now?"
Tak Yoonil let out a short, sharp laugh.
I raised Heukcheon.
I have to force a short battle.
Fortunately, short fights were exactly where my confidence lay.
Upper Rank demons were a genuine nuisance. Against a man bearing the title of 'Master,' a drawn-out battle only favored him—his body belonged to a demon now, with stamina beyond most monsters and a life force that simply refused to die.
"The fight has to stay short."
"Kim Seohyun—you and I open the way."
"I know."
Kim Seohyun fixed her hardened gaze forward—blade cradling blue light, the Winter Sword in her grip.
The Winter Sword was my loan to her. The blade Kim Seohyun owned was a fine one, but a growing weapon; right now, the Winter Sword would serve her full strength better.
"Hey. If."
"Yeah?"
"If we're still standing when this fight ends, I'll tell you one of my secrets."
Kim Seohyun said it quietly.
I gave a faint nod. Truth be told, I already had a suspicion brewing inside.
He—no, she—.
"Heh heh, will you look at these kids? You don't say things like that. And my father taught me this: when you've bested a foe, you must never say 'I've cut him down.'"
"You know all of that is superstition, right?"
"Superstitions are superstitions for a reason."
Uncharacteristically, Park Unhyeok cracked jokes to cut the tension.
"Then let's go."
Whoosh!
Park Unhyeok and Kim Seohyun shot forward.
The Winter Sword flashed.
Crack! Cra-crack-crack!
Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Divine Art. Kim Seohyun summoned three water dragons, and the Winter Sword answered—crack!—their bodies freezing solid into ice dragons.
"Ha!"
Tak Yoonil twisted his mouth into a sneer. His spear hummed and shuddered.
Sssaaaah!
At the spear's tip, turbid qi condensed and honed itself into an edge. This was the realm of Sword Qi Wounds Man.
"Young Master, I'm quite sad."
The spear pierced through space itself.
Bang-bang-bang!
The ice dragons shattered and scattered—beneath the shards, Park Unhyeok was charging in, his face set hard.
"Hyaap!"
His spearhead flashed.
Fiercely compressed lightning qi and wind qi wove together into Wind-Thunder Qi, which gathered along the spearhead into a blade at Park Unhyeok's will.
"As expected of the Great Sword Emperor's son! Already catching glimpses of the Upper Rank!"
Tak Yoonil laughed and swung his spear.
KRA-KOOOOM!
Will-laden qi collided head-on. The one being pushed back was Park Unhyeok—but Kim Seohyun stood right behind him.
"Hyaap!"
The Winter Sword spewed light. Kim Seohyun moved, and the playful look drained from Tak Yoonil's face.
"I really didn't want to fight you, Young Master."
Spear met sword. A heartbeat before impact, Kim Seohyun's blade traced an exquisite arc—soft, yet brimming with ferocity.
Ting.
With that light ring, the spear Tak Yoonil had thrust out was knocked away.
"The Taiji Wisdom Sword is a tiresome thing. Meet it weapon-to-weapon and you get nowhere."
Kim Seohyun answered with silence, weaving her blade, her footwork stamping wide.
Tak Yoonil swung his sword. Swish—Kim Seohyun shifted lightly and slipped upward out of its path. The blade chased her. She twisted her body once more, and in the same breath thrust with the speed of a flash of light!
"This is why I hate fighting you, Young Master. It never feels like one opponent. It's like facing a dozen at once."
Tsk—Tak Yoonil clicked his tongue and responded, parrying with his sword and driving his spear at Kim Seohyun. She flipped her body once again and summoned a water dragon.
Crack.
The Winter Sword lent its strength to the water dragon, transforming it into an ice dragon.
At the same moment, Kim Seohyun's blade traced an uncanny movement, steeped in the mystery of Illusion.
Kra-kaang!
Plum blossoms bloomed from her blade. Frozen blue plum blossoms struck Tak Yoonil's sword dead-on, and the Winter Sword froze it solid, dragging his movements to a crawl.
—……Just how many martial arts does that child wield? Wudang's Taiji Wisdom Sword, Kunlun's Cloud Dragon Eight Forms, even Diancang's Four Ceremonies Sword Art……
Heukcheon said, astonishment plain in her voice.
But I had no breath to spare for an answer. I wreathed Heukcheon in Yeokcheon and condensed my qi, forging something like a makeshift sword aura.
—Young Master, Yeongcheon shall weave a spell for you.
Thanks.
Yeongcheon wove her spell. As I poured Yeokcheon into it, my body lightened and my senses sharpened.
On top of that, I downed a Leap potion in a single gulp.
My body was light. Strength surged; my senses honed to a razor's edge.
Hefting Heukcheon, I walked forward.
"With you joining in, this might get a bit heavy."
"Nah. Doesn't feel all that heavy to me."
At my answer, Tak Yoonil snickered.
"Sometimes, watching you all, a thought crosses my mind. That maybe—just maybe—I chose wrong."
Tak Yoonil spoke in a voice steeped in gloom. His form was twisting into something grotesque by the moment—half of his body already lost to it.
—Humanity will look at you and dare to hope. Perhaps you could stand equal to the Seven Evils—or rise beyond them.
But—Tak Yoonil added—
—you have no idea what exists above them. You know nothing of the power of 'Them,' the horde swarming in from the outer realms. When those despair-devouring beings invade, all the Great Hero could manage was a reprieve—nothing more.
Pitch-black.
Shaped now like a puppet of living shadow, Tak Yoonil raised his sword and leveled it at me.