Rank Ascension, and the Seeds of Malice (2)
Seven chairs, without a master.
Someone had pulled out the chair at the very end of the row—the lowest seat—and taken it.
"This place... I swear, I'll never get used to it."
It was Mammon, last seat among the Seven Deadly Sins—the very demon Asmodeus had requested as reinforcements for his assault on Elion Forest and the Cumul Territory.
Mammon let out a light chuckle as he spoke.
"What an idiot. The moment he gets a little power, he struts around without a clue, and dies for it."
His words echoed faintly through the underground chamber, and at the sound of them, another demon entered and spoke up.
"Keep it down with that talk. A demon ranked in the top ten of the hierarchy just died—and what's so funny about that? You want to get struck by black lightning next?"
Distinctive, black, curved horns. They looked for all the world like a mountain goat's, though no human who laid eyes on them would ever concede the point.
"Marbas."
The one warning Mammon was the 5th seat of the Seven Deadly Sins, Marbas.
"I do believe I'm two ranks above you, if I recall? Let's have some respect, hm?"
"When have you ever wanted me to speak politely?"
"Not in private. How many times have I told you not to use it in official proceedings?"
Born strangely compatible with one another, they had become friends and comrades-in-arms, and they were famous for another reason as well: despite standing only a single rank apart, neither had ever betrayed the other.
Demons, as a race, ordinarily couldn't care less what became of their own kind—yet these two had never stabbed each other in the back, each guarding the other's rear without fail.
Such was the bond between them that Mammon listened to Marbas's lecture with one ear and let it flow straight out the other, pretending all the while to be listening.
Marbas, entirely used to this, simply drew out his assigned chair, took his seat, and let the matter drop.
Gradually, as time slipped by, the empty chairs found their owners one by one—until only the seat of honor at the very top remained vacant.
That was when a man dressed in something resembling the black suit of Earth quietly took the head of the table.
"Is everyone gathered?"
No one answered aloud. Instead, they pressed their presences against one another, each demon's silent aura serving as a reply to his question.
Even bearing the full weight of presences from rank two through rank seven, the man conducted the proceedings with easy composure, as though the pressure troubled him not at all.
"A demon ranked within the top ten of the hierarchy has died."
The chamber offered no response, no reaction whatsoever—everyone had already known.
"And every demon who followed Asmodeus had their head severed as well. All of them. By a single person."
Only then did the demons turn their eyes toward the man seated at the head of the table.
"Ah, now the gazes drift my way. A little late, aren't we?"
At his remark, the youthful-looking woman seated in the fourth chair lit up her crimson pupils and spoke.
"The lust-crazed bastard ran wild and got himself killed—so why summon us? The underlings below will clean up after him anyway, won't they?"
At her words, the man at the head of the table—ranked first among all demons, Baal—rested his chin lightly on his hand and replied.
"Asmodeus is not why I called you here. Whether that fool lives or dies is no concern of mine. Even less so for the rest of you."
"...Though perhaps one of you might be involved after all."
Baal glanced briefly at Mammon before returning his gaze to the front.
Mammon felt it—that fleeting look.
That uncanny old bastard...
He had made certain his meeting with Asmodeus was arranged as quietly and covertly as possible. And yet Baal knew even that. Just as Mammon's brow began to furrow—
"Let's move on to the matter at hand. I called you here to prepare for the Tide of Corruption."
The man seated closest to Baal adjusted his monocle as he spoke.
"We lose every single time anyway. Is there really a reason to keep feeding our demons into this annual festival of futility?"
Baal answered with a light laugh.
"The command of the Four Perils has been handed down."
"What?"
"Impossible."
"They have never once done such a thing before."
The moment the words Four Perils left Baal's lips, the chamber stirred—and Baal spoke again.
"Correct. Until now, the Four Perils have never issued us a direct command."
"Then... why...?"
It was none other than Baal who brought the restless chamber back under control.
BOOM!
With a single punch from Baal, the wooden desk—beautifully carved—splintered apart.
It hardly even registered as a desk anymore.
"The command of the Four Perils is absolute. Since when were we ever permitted to quibble over their choices?"
"........"
"If you find it so bitter, then challenge me with your rank and your life on the line. I will entertain you at any time."
Baal froze the air in the chamber solid—and at the same time, made it so that no one could disregard his words.
"In this war, we will break one of the four directions."
"What?"
"You're saying we shatter one of east, west, south, or north—now? How are the low and mid-ranked demons supposed to manage that? We just lost a rank-ten to the blade, and you expect them to pull it off?"
It was Agares, second in the demonic hierarchy, who quietly opened his mouth.
His deep, weighty voice was well suited to drawing the eyes of Baal and the other demons alike.
At those words, Baal gave a faint smirk and answered.
"And who said anything about sending the mid and low ranks this time? This time, one of us goes."
Baal's shocking declaration set the chamber abuzz, but he made no move to quiet it.
Needless to say, even to him, this order was one he could not fully comprehend.
In all the countless Tides of Corruption that had come before, no one had ever suggested that the members of the Seven Deadly Sins themselves should rally and march at the center of it.
It was none other than Gamygyn who pushed such objections aside and raised her hand.
"I'll do it."
Her declaration succeeded in turning every gaze upon her—not only the three demons ranked below her, but even Baal himself.
"You will, hm... Very well. I'll place my trust in you, just this once, Gamygyn. Take whatever forces you like—but one member of the Seven Deadly Sins, no more."
"Do I look like some green girl who needs telling? I know that much."
Baal turned his gaze on Gamygyn and asked.
"Be that as it may—which direction will you target?"
Gamygyn answered him with artful evasiveness.
"Do I need your permission for that, too?"
"No, this is nothing more than my personal curiosity. Answer if you wish; stay silent if you don't."
He's really going to release his little pets to gather the intelligence anyway, isn't he... crafty old serpent.
Gamygyn decided it was better to speak first than risk souring her mood later, and continued.
"The East. Honestly? One of our subordinates lost to that lust-mad fool there—and died for it."
"Ah, you mean Buer."
Gamygyn nodded and continued—and at the same time, her form shifted into that of a grown woman.
True to her species, she crossed her legs and flaunted a breathtaking figure. Any ordinary man who laid eyes on her would have been enthralled within seconds, reduced to her willing slave.
"Well then... let's see whether they're worth devouring, shall we?"
And so, the Tide of Corruption that would aim for the human realm—the first faint omens of upheaval—began quietly to show themselves.
The two women, having witnessed pitch-black flames flowing and coiling along my blade, could not take their eyes off the sword in my hand.
"Sword Flame?"
"Hyuna... you...?"
...This is not exactly how I wanted to reveal it.
"Yeah. I think I've ascended to Sword Master."
Elie and Yeon-i showered me with congratulations over my rank ascension, and even my sister—who had been scowling and treating me like garbage just moments ago—began staring at my sword in open wonder.
"So this... this is fire?"
I nodded at my sister's question and answered.
"Yeah. Want to touch it?"
"I can touch it?"
Sword Flame was, quite literally, a blaze born of a swordsman's will, woven from pure mana.
Naturally, against an opponent the swordsman wished to wound, it would swell into a savage beast more ferocious than any living thing. But conversely, toward someone the swordsman wished to protect, it became gentler than the tamest of companion animals.
My sister, of course, fell squarely into the latter category, so the flame would do her no harm whatsoever.
Fwoooosh...
Just as I'd expected, the Sword Flame did not regard her as an enemy—instead, it began to climb slowly up my sister's arm.
The moment she realized that even with fire clinging to her skin, she felt no heat, no sting at all, she began to play with the flame in fascination.
Before long, Yeon-i spread crimson energy across her own blade and completed her sword aura. When she brought that white aura against my black flame, my Sword Flame didn't react to it at all.
Yeon-i, too, seemed to be seeing Sword Flame for the first time.
Well, it made sense—her master was so aggressively overprotective of his disciples that he likely never trained them roughly enough to reveal it, or never showed them his own flame in the first place.
For the record, Ryu Shin's Sword Flame is blue as the sea itself—because when the demons who had crossed the ocean all drowned beneath its raging waves, he drew inspiration from that water and manifested his flame from it.
That's how it's described in the game.
And besides, that game was less a game than a complete strategy guide, so information like that is very likely the plain truth.
It came from the Creator God himself, after all... It would be stranger if it were wrong.
When I turned my gaze, Elie was raising her own sword, her white flame blazing brilliantly around it as she spoke.
"Shall we see what our disciple can do? It's been a while."
Sword Flame and all, huh?
I had no intention of hurting her either way, so it hardly mattered...
Well... now that I was a Sword Master, there was no harm in measuring my skill against hers.
With that thought, I lit the black flame—her exact opposite—along my blade and accepted her challenge to a bout.
Both of us had drawn real blades, sharpened steel and all.
But we had both reached the very summit of the sword.
Naturally, we could handle whatever came. Even if one of us got hurt, we could simply treat it with the Authority of Life.
"You take the first move."
As she always did, Elie ceded the opening strike to me.
And her gesture left me with a question.
"Aren't you underestimating me a bit? We're at the same rank now, and you're still yielding the first move?"
In battle, in a duel, in any contest whatsoever, the first move is an advantage.
The saying "the first blow wins" didn't come from nowhere.
"Oh, please. You're still a long, long way from touching me."
In answer, I scattered my Sword Flame and charged at her.
Naturally, I did not use the Authority of Wind.
Only my own speed, and nothing else.
CLANG!
The white flame and the black flame recognized each other as rivals and roared up savagely, each burning hotter than the last.
Blades locked, I hooked my leg toward her inner thigh, aiming to sweep her off her feet—but she extended the very leg I was hooking, straight and clean, slipping out of the trip even as she used her lowered line of sight to swing her sword at my thigh.
Of course, I wasn't about to stand by and watch. I drove my own blade into the ground, cutting off her line of attack in an instant—and when I released my hilt and dropped my gaze low to press her, there was no one there.
'Behind me!'
In that heartbeat of time, she had already claimed the space at my back, snatched my sword from the ground, wrung the black flame from it—and replaced it with her own white blaze.
"Yield?"
"Yeah. I yield."
Letting go of the sword had been the giveaway.
This was never a duel either of us was truly staking our lives on—and I could feel that Elie, now that she knew roughly what rank I'd reached, had been playing with me.
After all, when her strike had come flying at my thigh, the weight behind her blade had felt strangely slight.
While I was quietly filing away my impressions of the bout, Yeon-i requested a spar with me next, and the duels stretched on and on.
About two hours later.
The sun was setting and evening was creeping in by the time everyone—including me—had finished at least one bout.
Yeon-i, perhaps still recovering from her long stay in the sickbed, clearly couldn't put her full strength behind her strikes. And my sister, struggling to translate her bow work into a real anti-personnel exchange, was defeated almost immediately.
Just as everyone was starting to drift back toward the mansion, a thought occurred to me.
The sword that had killed Asmodeus.
The sword once called the Evil-Slaying Sword—I wanted to show it to all of them, Elie included.
"Elie, could you watch this for me? Just this once?"
At my request, Yeon-i and my sister, already heading for the mansion, stopped in their tracks and turned to look at me.
"Of course. Show me."
Elie accepted my request without hesitation.
And I quietly borrowed the power of my Trait—and of Crescent.
Crescent, please.
Of course!
Activating Trait: 'Void Sword Art.' The wielder's blade is dyed black!
Authority of the 3rd Guardian Dragon transferred. 'Authority of Moonlight' has transformed into 'Authority of the Moonlit Night!'
Harmonizing Trait 'Void Sword Art' with 'Authority of the Moonlit Night.' The third blade to serve the Azure Dragon is complete.
The 'Evil-Slaying Sword' has been completed.
Activating Skill: 'Ultimate Sword Art — Moonlight Sword Form.'
The sword, which had been transforming into black before my eyes, now shimmered with a faint violet-and-white radiance—a quiet but unmistakable presence, the two lights weaving together in harmony.
As I glanced around for a target on which to test my strike, Elie raised her own sword, letting her white flame flare magnificently.
A wordless offer: try it on me.
But I know exactly how terrifying this sword is.
It is the power that tore apart the very spatial force Asmodeus had been so proud of.
In other words, I could not use this technique on Elie.
A gentle wind stirs around me, gathering and condensing into the blade.
I leveled my sword at the nearest steel training dummy and swung three times in rapid succession.
Slash! Slash-slash! Slash-slash-slash!
The dummy wielding a shield was cleaved apart in a single breath—its shield left untouched, cut perfectly around—while the strike it failed to stop barreled onward, all but demolishing the partition wall behind the dummy before finally coming to rest.
Staggering power.
Elie and Yeon-i, who had been watching, were understandably speechless. This was a strike that ignored defense entirely—power enough to collapse a dummy and a wall in a single stroke.
"Wh-what... what is that...?"
Elie had seen this technique once before, so her shock was milder—but Yeon-i had been dead at the time, so of course she had no idea.
"Honestly? I'm not sure myself. I infused it with a Guardian Dragon's power and a sword art I created, and this is the strike that came out."
".....Hyuna. I know I'm hardly the one to say this, having modified my master's swordplay myself, but..."
"?"
"I think you might be a bigger genius than I am. How does someone just... create a sword art?"
...None of that was me. It's all thanks to my Trait.
I didn't even make that sword art myself, you know...
It just kind of poofed into existence, given to me wholesale.
But even if I said that, Yeon-i and the others would never believe it.
Think about it. From Yeon-i's perspective—she knows I awakened after she was killed by a demon. Fine, understandable. But then, on top of suddenly creating an entirely new sword art, I fuse it with a Guardian Dragon's power and unveil a devastating blade?
Even the trashiest melodrama wouldn't dare write this.
But what can I do? It happens to be true.
Sighing, I simply passed it off as a unique sword art granted to me by the Azure Dragon himself.
It wasn't even really a lie—the First Azure Dragon used Causality to bestow the Void Sword Art upon me, and only with the Guardian Dragons' aid did I manage to forge the Evil-Slaying Sword at all.
Suffice it to say, without the Azure Dragon, I would have been fighting with nothing but a mystical orb.
Perhaps because of the staggering blade she'd witnessed, Yeon-i talked about nothing but the Evil-Slaying Sword for the rest of the day.
How deeply must it have impressed her, that she couldn't stop marveling for hours on end...
Still, the way she beamed and chattered like a young girl was undeniably adorable.
Elie was more composed by comparison, but she wasn't much different either.
She was quite curious and asked me about it again and again—though from her position, she was one of the few who knew that every use of the technique came with a backlash.
Are you hurting anywhere? Is the searing pain returning? Questions like these she pressed gently upon me.
When I checked my own body, whether it was the strengthening of my flesh upon reaching Sword Master, or the awakening of my dragon blood, I hardly felt any pain at all.
The me of before would have been doubled over and gasping after using it a few times.
It was strange, honestly.
After dinner with everyone and parting ways with my sister, the two women followed after me.
Elie and Yeon-i.
Now that we were together, Yeon-i had asked to sleep beside me as well, and Elie had readily agreed—and so the three of us ended up sharing one bed.
An utterly insane situation, arranged all on its own.
Before bed, the order was: I bathed first, then the two women went into the bath together.
"Heheh! Elie, your boobs are huge!"
"H-Hyun is right outside! Don't say things like thaaat!"
"What's the big deal? We're lovers anyway."
Please. Stop talking about that...
I can hear every word!
It's not that the room has no soundproofing...
Partly it's her bold personality, but mostly it's just that her voice carries.
Still, I couldn't bring myself to think badly of it.
I accepted her precisely because I love that side of her, after all.
Before I knew it, they had finished washing and changed into their casual clothes.
I sat them both in chairs and quietly blew a warm current of air through their hair to dry it.
"Talk to me while I dry your hair."
"Hm?"
"Yeah. Go ahead."
The battles ahead would only grow more treacherous.
Asmodeus, for all his infamy, was only rank ten in the hierarchy.
There were countless beings far, far stronger than him.
For these women to survive them, they needed to be able to protect their own bodies.
I couldn't shield them forever—and smothering them with overprotection might only breed resentment in them.
And so, I made my decision.
"I'm going to go looking for artifacts."
"Artifacts?"
"Yeah."
As a veteran of the game, I already knew it all—what lay where, which dungeons operated by what mechanics, what rewards each one held.
"First, I'm planning to find your bow, sis, and Yeon-i's sword."
The most urgent matter was Yeon-i's blade—and mine.
The Sword of the Azure Sky, my main weapon, and Mogley had both been shattered, so I needed a new primary weapon.
And as it happened, my sister's bow was located in the same place as Yeon-i's sword, so we could claim it on the same trip.
To that end, I told them I'd need to cram a full week's worth of work into a short span of time, and Yeon-i and Elie nodded, respecting my judgment.
After all, I had no intention of leaving anyone behind.
I did want to bring my sister too... but the road there was so treacherous that, with her current stamina, it would be too much for her. They both nodded at that as well.
For now, my sister's standing as a Successor had only been cemented within the Cumul Territory—it hadn't even been reported to the imperial palace yet.
On top of that, her stamina paled utterly next to Yeon-i's and Elie's.
Such a gulf was only natural—but my sister possessed her own advantages as a Successor, ones Elie and Yeon-i did not share.
"By the way, Hyun—where did you even learn all this information?"
"The Azure Dragon told me. After I died."
If they ever learned the truth—that they were characters from a game, and that I was the one who had controlled them—I could only imagine the alienation they would feel, on top of learning that they had once been fated for grim, unhappy futures.
That was why I had no choice but to tell them it was information from the Azure Dragon.
Unable to speak the truth, I drifted toward sleep, my lovers at my side.
Please... let there come a day when I can tell them the truth...
With that fervent prayer, I sank into deep slumber.