Counterflow

"I'm sorry."

In a crumbling, shattered world, a man with a gentle face gave a bitter smile.

"I've burdened you with far too much."

He kept apologizing, stroking the head of the girl kneeling before him.

"Hate me for not being able to give you more. Resent me for entrusting everything to you despite that. And in the end, despise me for leaving you behind."

The girl moved her lips as if to say something, but no voice came out. She lacked the strength to speak, and her throat was too damaged to produce sound. Every time she opened her mouth, blood trickled out in streams.

"If blaming it all on me can bring you even a shred of happiness, then do so as much as you like."

The man carefully wiped away the blood, then rose with his half-broken sword in hand, missing several teeth.

"I know you see your reincarnation—no, your immortality—as a curse. I know how many bonds you've had to send away."

He turned to face the chaotic 'colors' approaching from afar, gripping his shabby sword with both hands, resolve burning in his eyes to cleave them apart.

"But I see it as a blessing and a hope. Selfish and misguided, yes. But even so..."

Blue flames erupted across the man's body. It was nothing like inner energy. Purer and fiercer than ever before. It was his very life force.

Many called it innate true qi.

He began burning the remainder of his life.

"I don't want to change my mind. It might be a horrific curse to you, but to me, it's the brightest, most radiant blessing and hope there is. I even wish that this warm hope reaches you someday."

The 'colors' writhed closer, as if mocking him.

"So I'm entrusting everything to you. Martial arts weaken and fade across generations, but if I leave it to you, it will remain intact. As recompense, I'll leave the seat of the greatest under heaven for the you of the distant future."

The calamity that had devoured the continent and finally reached the Central Plains now bared its maw at the last human remaining in the world.

"If you take a disciple as you've always wanted, pass on this sword. I hope you do. If it makes you happy, use and wield everything I've left behind."

The man did not retreat. As always, he stood firm, guarding his place.

"The azure sky knows no bounds because it fears nothing, always reigning above the world—that's Changgungmu-ae. Like that sky, I hope my sword stands unyielding in your wavering heart."

He smiled.

"Now, my final disciple. Haneul. Open your eyes wide and watch."

His master raised his sword.

"This is the sword of the foremost righteous warrior."

The martial artist stomped the ground powerfully.

"This is the form of the greatest under heaven."

The emperor swung his sword down.

"And this... is the path of the emperor."

The emperor's sword, meant to protect humanity, sliced into the calamity's body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that sought to annihilate the world.

"Whew..."

Using the Emperor's Sword Form after so long felt incredible. An indescribable refreshment washed over Haneul as she stretched languidly.

She brought a hand to her eyes and scanned the surroundings intently. The ground wasn't crumbling, flipping, or splitting. No massive quakes or thunderous roars. Nothing unnecessary had happened.

Perfectly controlled power only caused what was needed. Haneul's strike had pulverized only the monster's body.

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

Hunters drenched in its blood and guts were fine—no injuries.

"No casualties, no missed monsters. Did the chopper get a good shot?"

The helicopter? It seemed to have focused more on the blue sword plummeting from the sky than on Haneul herself. Oh well.

It was fine. She'd spotted the reporters cleverly hidden among the hunters. Their cameras were still rolling.

"Perfect."

Monsters slain, hunters protected, fame secured. Eat the pheasant, its egg, pluck the nest, drain the ditch for crayfish, soak your feet, watch the water, sweep the yard for coins, see the lord, and pick the mulberries too.

Nothing could top this. Grinning ear to ear, Haneul turned back to the red gate.

It was quiet, but still open. Seemed like it had waves of spawns.

Perfect for her. If it closed, she'd dive in. If monsters came, she'd keep killing.

So, when would the next batch come? Should she count to ten?

As Haneul began counting silently...

...What do I do?

Namgung Hyeok fell into deep contemplation.

Constellation messages clamored before his eyes: Approach her! Ask how she learned the Emperor's Sword Form! Get that technique now!

He wanted to. God, he really did. But he couldn't.

Before the inaction—no, the divine might Haneul had just displayed, he felt like a rabbit facing a dragon.

And he'd ignored her, strutted around claiming to be some Namgung whatever, even tried to flick her forehead.

I'm screwed...

Cold sweat trickled down his spine.

"Agh... Got it..."

In the end, Namgung Hyeok shuffled toward Haneul like a kid who'd just caught a whale.

Then he pondered again.

What do I even call her?

She'd mastered even the ultimate technique of the Changgungmu-ae Swordsmanship, so senior brother? Family head? The constellation called supreme family head didn't know it, so maybe founder?

Has the jianghu ever seen a case like this?

"Aigoo... Understood..."

He'd read plenty of wuxia novels and even joined the Namgung family for real, but he had no clue how to handle this unprecedented mess.

Meanwhile.

Baek Hye-seo, who understood better than anyone present what Haneul had just done, clamped a hand over her mouth.

Overwhelming might was hardest to grasp the weaker you were. To a layman, it'd just look like an amazing strike.

Not for Baek Hye-seo, with her Remegiton-granted heavenly eyes and S-rank power. She'd comprehended just how extraordinary—and impossible—that strike was.

The Constellation messages piling up made it impossible not to understand.

...That's already Master level.

No, had she surpassed Master? Hard to say. If that was her full power, it matched Master. If casual...

Masters might not even be an issue. She'd have to trade blows with the Constellations sponsoring her.

Baek Hye-seo dared to think such irreverent thoughts.

Then was Haneul already a Constellation's apostle? Whose, to wield that...?

Nyx? She said Nyx was best... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠No way?

If the primordial goddess Nyx from Greco-Roman myth...

All Europe's A- and S-ranks, plus one Master, would kneel before Haneul. They'd contracted with Greek myth Constellations.

Still... Haneul is Haneul.

Baek Hye-seo took heavy steps forward.

Whatever secrets she hid, she'd called her a friend—so Hye-seo would treat her as one.

Admirable and cool-headed. But not the best choice here.

"Ha... Haneul...!"

Her voice, like a rain-soaked stray puppy by the roadside, drew all eyes. Reporters' eyes bulged—reclusive S-rank Baek Hye-seo knew the mystery girl?

Mystery powerhouse before the breach vs. the famously mild, kind Baek Hye-seo to non-awakened.

The latter was easier prey. Reporters swarmed Hye-seo.

"Hah..."

Frozen stiff as they mobbed her, Baek Hye-seo stiffened.

Namgung Hyeok's trembling and fear intensified the closer he got to Haneul.

Whatever.

Haneul's inner count hit ten. No monsters during it, gate still red and rippling.

Only one thing left: go in.

What she wanted, she did. No hesitation.

"Hye-seo! Be back soon!"

She waved once at the reporters shoving Hye-seo, same to the worried Namgung Hyeok.

Final wave to the reporters, then she leaped into the red gate without pause.

It vanished the instant she did.

Gate break over.

Baek Hye-seo summoned all seventy demons with a stern face. Namgung Hyeok yelped in shock.

Baek Seungcheol, arriving late, foamed at the mouth and fainted. Bonus.

Haneul tilted her head at the entrance-cum-exit that vanished completely the moment she entered.

"Was it waiting for me to come in?"

Nothing else explained it. Half-bewildered, half-delighted, she chuckled and faced forward.

"Oing?"

Their eyes met.

Black sclera, red pupils—fierce and striking. And huge. Compared to those eyes, Haneul was less than a speck of dust.

"It really was waiting."

Her gut feeling about the gate looking like an eye was spot on. The break gate had matched those pupils exactly.

The message before her eyes erased, replaced by booming laughter.

"Kuhahahahaha―!!"

Snake-like, dog-like, cat-like, or crocodile—maybe all mashed together. The grotesque beast glared at Haneul.

"Finally, we meet again. Never dreamed you'd walk right in... Kuhuhu, fool. I've waited for this day. The day I avenge myself against you!"

Amid the deafening roar, Haneul finally recalled its name.

"Leviathan?"

The Jealousy Demon Leviathan. One of the calamities that had tormented her endlessly in the past. Its eyes gleamed.

"You're still alive too?"

"I told you once. With true divinity, I'm immortal. Even if I close my eyes, someday I'd devour you whole."

And today was that day.

Leviathan rose. Immense. Its eyes alone could blanket a soccer field; its body was too vast to take in at a glance.

The hellish red landscape plunged into darkness like nightfall.

Haneul wasn't surprised. Same size as the Leviathan in her memories.

"You strut in ignorant of your place, into my nest no less. After using that ultimate technique too. Forgot rules don't apply in a Constellation's domain, idiot?!"

"Rules? Anyway, does that mean I can't leave? Totally cut off from the outside?"

"Quick on the uptake. Kuhaha! No mana stones to replenish like before, no weapons to irk me, no allies."

As Haneul blinked, Leviathan blabbered excitedly.

"You'd just molted to godhood then. Said you'd live eternities more. Pathetic. Today, you die here. I decree it."

Leviathan's crocodile maw gaped. Thousands of break-spared monsters charged Haneul. Tentacles spewed like tidal waves.

The world itself seemed bent on killing her.

But Haneul was chill.

She tilted her head, thinking:

Molting? Seems it doesn't know I lived out the full 625 billion years.

Resurrection was possible, but not awareness of what came after death.