The Sword of Evil's Bane

Wrath of the Heavens. A technique that scatters the power of lightning across a fixed radius, amplifying the damage of every lightning-based authority I wield.

But right now—

That space had been torn to shreds. The sundered fabric refused to mend itself; instead, the tear spread ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠outward across the whole domain until, at last, it shattered completely.

= So it was nothing after all. =

But if I'd been ready to give up here, I never would have tried in the first place. If I backed down now, Ellie would be the one who paid for it.

I regenerated the four lightning blades that had been snuffed out and threw myself back into the fight. There was no room left for despair.

I asked Khan to open his domain at once, then surged forward. As if he'd already read my every move, Khan began scattering his own authority around him, reconfiguring the space into his territory.

The moment the status window chimed its notice, the world before my eyes transformed. On our side, my allies walked across the water's surface as if it were solid ground—while Asmodeus, opposite us, stood half-drowned beneath the waves, still struggling to grasp what had happened.

Now was my chance.

I calculated the distance of my charge and guided a bolt of lightning down onto myself.

"Strike!"

Come on—work the way I want it to!

The bolt gathered its tremendous power and crashed down over my head.

— KWAANG!!

The lightning couldn't harm me at all. It simply granted me its strength. When the current of that falling bolt merged with my own lightning authority, I could feel the radiance of my blades burning brighter than ever.

This domain was the sea—water itself. Damage carried by electrical current would hit devastatingly hard here. And better still, his whole body was submerged, his movements crippled by the flood.

— PAJIKJIK!!!

But in the instant the searing current reached for him—

= Authority: Asmodeus — Spatial Expulsion. =

Asmodeus summoned his curved sword, swept it around himself in a wide arc, and—unbelievably—rose out of the water, extending his blade to meet my attack.

= Rip it apart. =

With those words, he swung once in front of himself—

— JIJIKJIJIK!!

With a deafening shriek, the space directly before me split open.

= Spatial Severance! =

He drove his sword into the torn rift, stretching his attack range far beyond its natural reach. At last, my blade laden with the full fury of lightning and his sword cutting through space itself collided once more.

And the result—

"Gwak!"

— was my defeat. His sword, unable to endure the overwhelming force of my lightning, shattered into powder—but in exchange, I had lost my only means of attack.

He seized my throat with the hand that had lost its sword and plunged me straight down into the water.

= I already know I won't die in that repulsive turtle's domain. So then... =

"BWAHAHA!"

= Sleep quietly! Right there, with that turtle! =

With the hand clamped around my neck, he hurled me bodily through the air—straight at Khan. Khan moved to catch me, but—

"What the—!"

Instead, he went flying alongside me as Khan's domain was torn open.

— KWAANG!

We tumbled across the ground, and for a moment Khan and I could hear nothing but the ringing in our ears.

"Ugh...!"

I tasted blood rising in my throat. He must have wounded me when he grabbed me.

My voice... it was gone.

"I can't speak..."

Thankfully, what he'd injured wasn't my spine but my vocal cords. And Descent of the Thunder God had yet to run out, which meant I couldn't use the Authority of Life either. I shook my head sharply, scraped together what strength remained, and pressed forward once more.

I had already lost two of my lightning blades to his earlier strike. And if the Sword of the Azure Sky couldn't stop that same attack again—

It would break.

That was how ferocious the power of sundered space was. Even with my experience against Bathin, an opponent who wielded it was a nightmare to fight.

While I was hurled far away, Yeon and Ellie had been trading blows with Asmodeus, each covering the other's openings. By rights, the sheer oppressive weight of his presence should have frozen them both in place—but for some reason, Asmodeus was exerting none of his intimidating aura against them.

And the reason was obvious: he wanted them to realize that nothing they threw at him could touch him, to drown them in their own futility.

I gathered current and hurled my lightning blades at Asmodeus from range, but he blinked across the distance in an eyeblink and evaded every one.

= If you still haven't learned your lesson... I'll put you down for half a death. =

And where he moved to was directly behind me.

I have to block it!

I didn't have enough current left to resummon the lightning blades. There was no time to call them back, either. I had no choice but to guard with the Sword of the Azure Sky!

— KWAANG!!

"AGH!"

I whirled around and caught his descending blade—but—

— CRACK...

The Sword of the Azure Sky had fractured. A divine blade empowered by a Divine Beast's strength... was cracking.

I'd barely turned the blow aside—I hadn't fully absorbed the damage—and the tremendous impact that followed sent me flying helplessly through the air.

— KUNG! KUDADANGTANG!

Every inch of me screamed as if it were breaking apart.

"Haah... haah...!"

Wrenching air back into my lungs, I poured lightning bolts down on Asmodeus as he advanced toward the two women.

"STRIKE!!"

= Authority: Asmodeus — Spatial Transfer. =

But Asmodeus only flashed me a lecherous grin and, in no particular hurry, caught my lightning on the flat of his blade. Then, with a single ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sweep, he tore open the space above himself and returned my bolts—straight to Khan.

"KRAGH! You fucking demon...!"

= Is cursing all you people know how to do? =

He teleported to Khan's side in an instant, drove his knee up into the man's stomach—

— and brought the pommel of his sword, not the edge, crashing down.

"...!"

Agony and shock wracked Khan, blood spilling from his lips. Even as the successor of the Black Tortoise, whose defenses towered above any mortal's—

Asmodeus's strikes were lethally dangerous.

= You are no match for me. Stay down there, and content yourselves with groveling beneath me. =

"You... son of a... bitch...!"

Khan spat his curse, but the damage was too great; he couldn't move.

Then—

"Plum Blossom Sword Arts, First Sword."

"Zhuangzi's Dream of the Butterfly."

"White Flame."

"White Flame Scar."

A blade that showed him nothing at all, and a blade wreathed in snow-white fire that set the black night ablaze—

— flew at Asmodeus together.

= Authority: Asmodeus — Spatial Expulsion. =

= And... intoxication. =

It was as if something had jammed mid-swing; their blades simply would not advance. Instead, Asmodeus pushed his fingers into the two women—injecting something into them.

Then he told them:

= Don't worry. You won't die. Your mana will simply keep draining away. No death... just a total mana drain. =

= Why would I kill you? Every one of you is meant to become my wives, to receive my lust. =

At those words, Yeon—

"Shut your mouth, you pathetic fuck. Is that seriously the only thing your head can come up with?"

— responded in the boldest, most fiery fashion imaginable, spitting her curses right back at him. But—

= The Demon of Lust prioritizing lust—what's wrong with that? =

= My desire matters above all. And you humans are no different... =

Then his mouth spilled out something unthinkable.

= The one who taught you that precious art—didn't you people kill him yourselves? =

"What?"

"....."

= His name was... Mose of Heiji, was it not? =

What...?

I could see the color drain from Yeon's and Ellie's faces in real time. And then Yeon, erupting with a White Flame even more brilliant than before, spoke through her teeth.

"Then... all of it—every last thing—was YOUR doing?!"

= Precisely. You caught my eye, you see. I wanted you, by any means necessary. Your heart was never a factor. =

= The love of humans is worthless to me. Just weep and wail beneath me while you search for the Azure Dragon's successor. That suits you far better. =

"White Flame Scar."

— HWARURURUK!!

A colossal inferno roared from her blade, threatening to consume Asmodeus whole—

And it accomplished nothing. Even standing perfectly still, he left her sword nowhere to enter; the flames were blocked by something unseen, never so much as grazing his skin.

= Haah... this bores me. Even playing with you has become tedious. If I kill the Azure Dragon's successor right in front of you, will you finally stay quiet? =

"What...?"

= Authority: Asmodeus — Spatial Transfer. =

The instant Descent of the Thunder God expired, I activated the Authority of Life—but the damage I'd taken was too severe; I could barely move. He strode toward me step by unhurried step, gathering space-warping power into his blade.

= Rip it apart. Harpe. =

"No! Hyun!"

I heard Ellie's anguished scream—

— but I couldn't move. My muscles had already slipped beyond my control.

So this is how I die...?

But in that instant—his sword never reached me.

What touched my face instead was hot blood. Not Ellie's. Not Khan's.

Yeon's.

She had run the blade through her own stomach to stop my death by inches. Moglay had long since shattered from blocking his earlier strike.

= Tch. A waste of perfectly good virgin-handling equipment. =

Asmodeus sneered at her desperate, flesh-and-blood defense, dismissing her utterly. Then he wrenched the blade out of her body in one brutal motion.

"Khek!"

Yeon toppled backward, spilling a torrent of blood, her hair staining darker and darker red with every heartbeat.

"No—!"

I redirected everything—every thread of the Authority of Life I'd been pouring into myself—straight into her wound. Scrounging together what little mana remained, I desperately tried to fuse the Authority of Life with Heaven's Order of Restoration—

"Khup. Don't... use... mana..."

"Why?! Why shouldn't I?! You're DYING!"

Before I knew it I was screaming over a Yeon who was fading away, and she gave me a faint, crooked smile.

"Dying... to protect... someone... I love... while you... die instead... Kup... that... can't happen..."

"Please—regenerate—just regenerate!"

Willing to pour out every last drop of mana I had, I pushed it into her stomach.

"I don't... have much... left... Hyun... you'll... listen... won't you?"

"No! I won't listen! So don't say it!"

"That's... so cruel... I worked up... the courage... to confess... and I never... even got... an answer..."

Her words never finished.

"You're lying, right? Tell me you're lying. Yeon?"

Even at the sound of my voice, Yeon only stared up at the black night sky with eyes gone hollow and empty. Her head did not move.

No.

An overwhelming, crushing futility and a roaring rage wound themselves around my whole body.

Something was growing from atop my head, and my vision of Yeon began to change.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

A scream.

The feelings from that day—the ones I had buried—came surging back. My parents, carried out on stretchers, their bodies still smoldering. And my little sister's body, which for some reason had never been found at all.

= Even your theatrics are a waste. Every last bit of this happened because of your own weakness. Who is there to blame? =

"Shut up."

Futility. Rage. Grief. Loneliness. Pain.

I didn't want to feel any of it. I had sworn it once more in this world—that I would protect the people who mattered to me.

But the woman who had come to love me was dead. The woman who had taken me in was under threat. And the steadfast friend who had held me up when I had no one else to lean on lay bleeding and unconscious.

.....

".....I'll fight."

"I've already lost someone precious to me once more. The two who remain are staring down death right now."

"Even if I have to watch it happen—even if it kills me—if Yeon and Khan can go on living in this world, then my life is a fair price."

"So give it to me."

= Your appearance has changed somewhat, but what difference will it make? A weakling deserves to die. =

— KAANG!

= What—? =

The Sword of the Azure Sky, cracked so badly it seemed it would shatter at any moment—

— was pressed flush against the blade he called Harpe.

Having pierced straight through the shimmering distortion of his authority.

= Why in the world is your sword touching mine?! =

— SWISH! THWACK!

Asmodeus kicked my unresponsive body aside—and in the same motion, severed my left arm clean off.

"No! Hyun!"

Ellie shrieked something at the sight of my severed arm, but I spoke to her through telepathy.

Don't come. Ellie. I can't bear to lose you too.

At my cry, she didn't slow her steps for even an instant—she came sprinting at full speed.

Please. Don't come.

In the end, she planted herself between me and Asmodeus, white-flame sword raised.

Asmodeus seized Ellie by the throat and lifted her clean off the ground. Her white-flame blade tumbled from her grip as she thrashed and kicked against his hold.

Then he slammed her down into the ground.

= Fine. I've won either way. I'll take you right in front of his eyes, then. =

Ellie's armor warped, then shattered to pieces. She lay there, utterly defenseless.

Get up.

You want to lose someone again?

= Stay right there and watch. =

Get up.

I wrapped my remaining right hand around the hilt of the Sword of the Azure Sky—

A single sentence my eyes could scarcely believe.

A dragon orb...? The root of a dragon's being—its very heart. One crack, and no rebirth, no resurrection of any kind would be possible; it would simply cease to exist.

And still, Crescent had freely handed her own orb over to me, her master.

Blaze and Brionic had left me theirs as well—I could hear nothing but the words of their offering. Our contracts still stood, but I could feel that the connection between us had been severed.

"Thank you, Crescent. And you too, Blaze, Brionic."

The Guardian Dragons who had gladly staked their lives for me.

Five unique forms flowed into me—not crammed into my head, but arriving as though I had always known them.

"Hey."

= ...For a weakling to... hm? =

Bright moonlight spiraled around Asmodeus, and the Sword of the Azure Sky burned not with sky-blue light, but with pure white.

Three crescents of blade-light, laden with moonlight, tore through the air toward him.

= ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠How laughable! =

Asmodeus swung Harpe with all his swaggering pride—

— and found no sword-aura of moonlight there at all.

Of course not. This attack deceived the speed of every strike it carried.

= Authority: Asmodeus — Spatial Expulsion. =

He hurriedly gathered the warping distortions around himself to repel the assault, but—

"Won't work."

I punched clean through them, and for the first time, all three crescents drove deep into his upper body.

= You...! What have you done?! =

"Do you need to know? Go ahead, do whatever you were planning. You'll be dead before you finish."

= Insolent wretch! =

Hefting Harpe in his right hand, Asmodeus lunged at me—but somehow, his movements felt light. They say mortals unleash impossible strength at the moment of death...

Is that what this is?

Whatever. It didn't matter. Not as long as I could kill that son of a bitch.

Behind me, the resplendent moon and the stars flared bright all at once. My target: his right arm.

The Sword of the Azure Sky, brimming over with white light—

— I swept it down and forward.

Not an aura, but a true crescent of blade-light reached him—and took his arm off.

= KKEHEOK...!! =

"Suggest some names. What should I call those two techniques from before?"

= My, aren't we full of yourself! You cut off MY arm, and you dare—! =

I cut him off, charging mana into my voice.

"It's not that. You killed what was precious to me. Because of you. She died before she could even have the things she deserved."

"Because of you, I stand here now, never having accepted the heart of the woman who loved me."

"Because of you, the most precious person who ever took me in is struggling just to breathe."

"Because of you, the friend I trusted with my back more than anyone lies unconscious on the ground."

Is there any reason left to let you live?

I slowly drove the Sword of the Azure Sky into the earth, took up Ellie's sword, and drew a circle through the air. The white flame that rose into the night sky looked for all the world like the moon and the sun—two things that could never exist in the same space—hanging there together.

And then, the moon rose to cover the white flame.

.....I know, okay? Just don't say it.

Sun and moon both vanished, and what remained in the sky was this: black blades embroidering the heavens, and a white sword gleaming in contrast against them.

"See you in hell, Asmodeus."

The instant the words left my mouth, countless blades came crashing down upon him.

= You—the Azure Dragon's successor!!! =

He screamed at me, scrambling to block with every warping distortion he could muster—

— but no amount of them could stop blades without number. The result: Asmodeus, turned into a pincushion.

"You don't get to die easily. Not you."

The blades buried in Asmodeus's flesh would transform into flames of agony, wringing unendurable suffering from every inch of his body—together with her purifying fire.

A demon-eradicating, whatever-its-name-was sword, with a name fit for a middle schooler's notebook—staked right through him.

He'd die.

= KKAAAAAHHHH!!!! =

As if to prove the point, Asmodeus's howl filled the entire battlefield—but I paid it no mind and put one foot in front of the other.

Walked slowly toward Ellie.

The Sword of the Azure Sky clenched between my teeth, Yeon's body gathered into my arms, step after step.

I laid Yeon down beside Ellie, then gently closed the eyes that still registered nothing.

— DAENGGURANG.

As if its work were done, the Sword of the Azure Sky snapped in two.

And I could feel my own strength draining away with every breath.

The tears came.

I had protected nothing. Not the front line. Not my friend. Not the woman who loved me. Nothing. None of it.

I couldn't even see the ruined remains of the battlefield anymore. Tears blurred everything.

I wanted to see Khan clapping me on the shoulder. I wanted to see Yeon's smile, the one she'd saved just for me. I wanted to feel Ellie's hand stroking my hair, to be held in her arms one last time—

— THWOOK.

The last one... I managed... to keep...

— .....

When I opened my eyes again, I was somewhere blindingly, impossibly white. A ceiling of azure, a floor of purest white.

Wh... what is this?

Didn't I die? At the very end... I sent Yeon a telepathic message... though I don't know whether she could receive it. I just hope she doesn't do anything to herself...

— Do not weep, my child.

An inexplicable warmth wrapped itself around my whole body.

Wh... what is this?

Before I could even form the question, a woman of breathtaking beauty stood before me, her azure hair flowing beyond description.

As a successor of the Divine Beasts, I knew it instinctively.

"The Azure Dragon...?"

At my question, the woman smiled and said:

— At long last, we meet. Child of my children.

Her words were affirmation itself—an answer to the question I had spoken. Which meant that the woman standing before me was none other than the Azure Dragon of the Four Divine Beasts.