The Bracelet of Sealing
"I think you're slandering me."
Kugugugung...
The Roar of the Spear slowly faded away, and in its place, a violent tremor began at Cheonma's feet, echoing with the cry of the earth itself. With every step she took, the Heavenly Demon Qi surged around her, spiraling outward from her body until it dominated everything in reach.
Kwajik!
Kwajik!
Kwajik!
"That's fierce."
"My training was never light."
The sight of Cheonma advancing as she tore the very ground apart was, in a word, magnificent. Judged on pure skill alone, her movements wouldn't have looked out of place on a rank 3 or 4 player — honestly, they were worth comparing to ranks even higher than that. Of course, in terms of equipment and faction power she still lagged far behind, but right now, with the 'Heavenly Demon Descent Step' she was unleashing, she was overwhelming even those players.
Kwaaaaang!!
Cheonma's fist grazed past my side.
That one was close.
Hwoong!
I twisted the spear in my grip and loosed a volley of phantom spears. Unlike earlier, when Cheonma had healed her damage through her Qi while dodging only the fatal blows, the Cheonma of this moment was evading everything. As if, from the very start, taking a hit had simply not been permitted to her.
The tide of my spears wasn't landing.
"You dodge quite nimbly yourself. Do you have nothing to say about me, Venerable One?"
"Well, of course not."
No matter how stubbornly she stuck to one groove, she was still a player with barely three years of training. Whereas I was someone who had lived through ten times that span of years.
If I couldn't dodge a single one of these, there'd be something wrong with me.
"Then let's get serious."
"That is all I have ever wanted."
Pallak.
Cheonma stopped dodging and stood in one place, gathering the Heavenly Demon Qi that had enveloped her into a single point. I likewise split my phantom spears apart, twisting them all in the same instant.
And then, at last, our secret techniques collided.
The duel has been decided.
"...So I have lost."
A high plateau wrapped in white clouds. At the very peak of the plateau stood a small house, and it was there that Cheonma had been reverse summoned.
Creeeak...
Cheonma stepped out of the house and settled into a chair placed in the courtyard, replaying the battle that had just ended in her mind.
First, the Heavenly Demon Descent Step had worked flawlessly. It had let her evade Lily Elbrit's attacks while carrying enough power and mobility to drive the woman back and press her hard.
That said, the intimidating pressure the technique was supposed to inflict on the surrounding lifeforms did not seem to have applied.
A pity, in a small way — but in a sense, it was only natural.
"It is an ability that does not work on those stronger than I."
Indeed, as she had heard, Lily was stronger than her.
Ukkeun.
'And I was dodging, for what it's worth.'
That final baptism of the storm Lily had unleashed was a technique even the Heavenly Demon Descent Step could not fully evade. It was, truly, the extreme of the spear. Her martial prowess was so staggering that even with her body fully restored, the phantom pain of it lingered still.
"So the world is full of the strong. And that is why..."
Flash.
"...a mission like this was entrusted to me."
Cheonma's gaze dropped downward. It was the only ornament she wore — she who touched no extravagant accessories of any kind. She stroked the smooth ornament for a moment, then walked a little further until she reached the edge of a small pond.
The pond was thickly blanketed in black lotus flowers.
"Do you not look forward to it?"
─......
"It is the first task of the Heavenly Demon Cult. To slay a being worthy of being called the heavens themselves."
─......
"Even if it is called the opposite of heaven, it is no less true that it wields power equal to heaven's own."
─......
"I look forward to it."
What manner of being would she become, having killed a heaven and become the true Heavenly Demon?
Cheonma could hardly wait.
I beat Cheonma.
In the final exchange, I summoned dozens of phantom spears, fired every single one of them off with the Roar of the Spear, and simply erased the entire area. If she was going to keep dodging with the Heavenly Demon Descent Step, then all I had to do was eliminate the space to dodge in.
In the end, Cheonma died, and her secret technique crumbled away before it could ever be completed.
Yes — up to that point, everything was fine, but...
Because that final strike had somehow looked exactly like a 'beam,' the chat window had been flooded with CHEONMA DEATH BEAM.
It was absolutely, positively not a beam, for the record.
"It wasn't a beam, it was a fist. The power just happened to exceed a beam's."
It was only because the Heavenly Demon Qi had all converged on Cheonma's fist and erupted at once that it had looked beam-like. If anything, it was closer to a 'qi-fist bullet' that left a lingering afterimage in its wake.
"Hmm... I'm curious, so I'll go."
Cheonma's existence was reason enough, but she also knew about the 'Kraken.' I had no idea how she'd gathered that information, but the more people who could stand against the Kraken, the better. Besides, I was curious about this 'lock' of mine as well.
The Black Lotus Mountain marked on the map lay deep within a vast mountain range to the east. The terrain was treacherous — thick with gray mist that stole your sense of direction, and crawling with monsters that lunged out at every turn — but it was woefully insufficient to slow my feet. Above all, there was no such thing as me getting lost.
🧭 The Red Guide is charting your path.
I didn't have to lift a finger — the Mythic Grade masterpiece found the way for me all on its own.
About ten minutes after setting out, then.
"Found it."
I arrived at the Black Lotus Mountain, which had been shrouded in mystery until now.
After tucking the Red Guide, which had successfully completed its navigation duties, back into storage, I entered the Black Lotus Mountain. Barely a few steps in, true to its name, the mountain was filled everywhere with 'black lotus flowers' — in the wells, in the small lakes, everywhere.
Shwaaaak...!
I plucked a single black lotus as tall as my torso and examined it closely.
"...There's definitely something here."
I could faintly sense an aura similar to Cheonma's, but it didn't feel sinister, nor did it carry the aura of the demonkin.
'Though the color is exactly the demonkin's color.'
I set the lotus back down on the lakeshore and lightly leapt up the mountainside. When I reached the summit, a small house in classic wuxia style was waiting to greet me.
...It really did suit this place.
"Is it not beautiful? A house I conceived and raised with my own hands."
"Cheonma-nim."
Tap. Tap.
I turned at the sound of footsteps behind me. Cheonma was looking at me, a somewhat stronger presence than before. Seen up close like this, her beauty was every bit the equal of the female rankers I had met — not flashy, but impeccably elegant.
"Come in. There is something I must tell you."
"Is this where you live?"
"It is. Though I have not dwelt here long, being in closed-door cultivation."
"I see."
So that was how it was. Following her guidance, I stepped inside the house. The interior was finished throughout in natural wood — as unadorned as its exterior had been. Cheonma took the seat directly in front of a small table and gave a small gesture, and I settled into the chair across from her.
A long jade bottle of tea rose into the air by itself and poured tea into the cups.
Black tea, too, of course.
"A tea served here as a local delicacy. I know not whether it will suit your palate."
*Sip.*
Hm.
'It's a bit bitter.'
Not undrinkable, by any means, but not something I'd go out of my way to seek out as a 'delicacy' either.
"It's bitter."
"Bitter things are good for the body — that is how it has always been. And yet, do you not feel a surge of vitality?"
"A little? But it's not so bad I can't drink it."
Literally, the vitality flowed in only 'a little.' This tea was probably a kind of special potion in its own right.
Cheonma smiled faintly and raised her cup.
"Hmhm. I knew you would say that."
"...Your viewers seem to be slandering me in some fashion."
"Are you watching the stream chat?"
"I do not watch. However, having conducted a preliminary investigation, I made the prediction that they would."
Really?
If that were true, then why did her expression sour the moment talk of her 'age' came up?
Cheonma's gaze turned ice-cold.
"...Enough idle chatter. I shall tell you why I summoned you. You know of the Calamities, do you not?"
"Yes."
You could search every corner of Deoen and find no one who knew him better than I did.
"Then a full explanation is unnecessary. As I said before, the strongest Calamity possesses six gates capable of bringing about the end of all things. And these gates can only be sealed by a very special lock."
"And what lock is that?"
Cheonma raised her left hand. Her wrist had been hidden by the Heavenly Demon Qi, but as the Qi dispersed, a smooth purple bracelet revealed itself.
A familiar object.
I pulled the bracelet straight out of my subspace. A smooth band radiating a violet glow — exactly identical to the bracelet Cheonma had shown me.
"...This?"
"So you possess one as well, after all."
The utterly useless bracelet I'd fished out of a random box after clearing the Blue Forest Plateau dungeon.
"That is the lock. The lock that seals the gates of the end."