Alhazard, Are You Insane? (7)
"Why do you call yourself a failure?"
At Batur Qan's question, Geukyang answered without hesitation.
"I defied the command of my creator, Alhazard, and remained here. Does that not make me a failure?"
"A failure... I do not see it that way."
When Geukyang belittled himself, the Khan denied it outright. As Geukyang looked on in confusion, Batur Qan spoke calmly.
"Do you know how many jiangshi I witnessed while conquering the Central Plains martial world? Compared to those countless creatures, no one could call you a failure."
Geukyang let out a hollow laugh. In terms of pure performance, ordinary jiangshi could never compare to him. But he was not merely a jiangshi—he was an automaton. An automaton that had defied its master's orders of its own will? As a being imprinted with Alhazard's personality, Geukyang could never accept that.
After all, the "Automaton Magic" was a divine spell created by the Goddess Lunaria herself. If she ever learned of Geukyang's existence, divine punishment might descend upon him at once.
Whether Geukyang was lost in such thoughts or not, the Khan continued speaking.
"You are like a young falcon that has only just left its mother's nest and begun to spread its wings toward the sky. It is only natural—the order of the great world. Did you not abandon the food and shelter your parent Alhazard provided because there was something you wished to achieve?"
Sheathing the curved sword at his waist, Batur Qan posed the question.
"Is what you seek my life? If so, I am afraid you cannot have it now. I possess a heavenly mandate. Unifying the world under one rule—that is the mission heaven bestowed upon me the day I was born."
Geukyang found the words absurd. Arrogant. No, the man was not in his right mind. Of all the things Alhazard had failed to understand during his time in the East, this ideological culture had been the hardest. Easterners believed in fate. Not merely believed—they had absolute faith in it. They held that the destiny assigned at birth was absolute, and that no matter what hardships or adversities arose, one would overcome them all and achieve what was meant to be.
Heavenly mandate. That was what they called it.
Alhazard and the yin-yang five-elements Blood Jiangshi bearing his personality could never comprehend such a culture. In the West, fate was decided by the gods. The life and death of humans, and every phenomenon under heaven, flowed exactly as the gods willed. Gods were capricious. Even a promise made yesterday could be broken today for no reason other than a foul mood. Gods were also jealous. A shift in simple emotions—anger, love, envy—could shatter oaths and determine a human's fate. An immutable destiny like the one Batur Qan spoke of could not exist...
That was what Geukyang believed.
Yet Batur Qan denied that very thought.
"Therefore, Geukyang, why not set aside your desire for revenge for now? It would be a waste to let someone of your talent die here. Surrender. And wait for the right moment. If it is your heavenly mandate to kill me, then an opportunity will come someday. Until then, bow your head to me."
His vessel was certainly different. Not only had he offered surrender to someone he had just fought to the death with, he was even trying to recruit him. But he had chosen the wrong target.
Geukyang was an undead. A corpse forcibly revived through sorcery and magic after already dying once. To treat such a being as a living person with its own will... Geukyang thought the man was truly foolish.
Geukyang had been tainted by Jang Seok-gong's mind. It was not merely the killing intent toward Batur Qan. Among the countless sects the Khan had slaughtered under the pretext of unifying the martial world, what weighed most heavily on him was the Wudang Sect—Jang Seok-gong's former school.
Fortunately, he had heard that the Wudang Sect had not yet been wiped out. But compared to when Jang Seok-gong had been its leader, it had fallen to the level of a third-rate sect. It was heartbreaking. And he wanted to protect it.
Honestly, he had betrayed Alhazard's orders to protect the Wudang Sect and the many other martial artists of the Central Plains. Right here, right now, he had to kill the Khan. Otherwise, once Alhazard deceived and enraged him, he would surely lead another Eastern army to invade the West. And at the very forefront of that army would be the Wudang Sect and countless other Central Plains sects, including Jang Seok-gong's former school—destined to be used as arrow fodder and consumed first.
To prevent that, Geukyang rejected the Khan's offer and instead provoked him.
"You said it is natural for a young falcon to leave its parent's nest to fulfill its own will. Then can you say the same to your own eldest son?"
"...!!!"
Killing intent erupted from Batur Qan's body so fiercely that even the hundreds of royal guards flinched and hunched their shoulders. It was the Khan's reverse scale—his greatest lifelong regret.
Just like the original Genghis Khan's tale, Batur Qan's father had been unjustly poisoned in his youth, shattering his clan. When the family fell, everyone naturally turned their backs on him. Yet in that desperate moment, one person had come to him instead—his childhood friend, first love, and fiancée, Khatun. Despite her entire maternal clan opposing the match, she married him out of love alone.
The Khan was a man who repaid kindness and enmity in full. Once he considered someone his, he could not rest until he remained with them until death. Naturally, his love for Khatun—who had found him in his darkest hour—was pure and unwavering.
Yet that beloved wife had been taken from him through NTR. The rage at his own weakness for failing to protect her, the betrayal he felt toward a wife who, unable to commit suicide to preserve her chastity, had borne an enemy's child, the enemies who had casually abducted and violated another man's wife... and his own eldest son, born of both the enemy's blood and his beloved wife's.
Geukyang had deliberately touched the wound that the greatest conqueror closest to unifying the world had carried in his heart his entire life.
"Batur Qan, I hear your eldest son's name is Jochi—the Traveler. You named him that on purpose, did you not? Because he is not your true son?"
"You bastard!!!!!!!!"
The Khan, who had been gathering the inner energy of hundreds of guards through the Anti-Western Formation, roared in fury. The heavens and earth trembled. Even the whirlwind of flames Geukyang had created earlier warped under the sheer force of Batur Qan's rage.
"Kill him!!!"
The offer of surrender had collapsed. Only bloody retribution remained.
The royal guards drew their curved swords and charged at Geukyang as one.
"I won't die alone!!"
Geukyang tore open his upper garment, exposing his bare torso, and gathered Extreme Yang Qi in both palms before his chest. The whirlwind of flames still spewing scorching heat toward the night sky began to be drawn back into his body like a living dragon dancing through the heavens.
"!!!?"
The overwhelming heat of the Extreme Yang Qi forced the guards to maintain their formation rather than approach recklessly. Geukyang's entire body, now swelling the storm of yang energy into a massive sphere while absorbing all surrounding heat, began to slowly melt from the sheer intensity. Anyone could see how dangerous it was. Everyone present realized this was a suicidal strike that abandoned his own life.
"—Let's die together— Khan!!!"
Unable to speak properly through his burning vocal cords, Geukyang projected his will through magic in all directions. The Extreme Yang Qi swirling around him grew faster and more destructive. Geukyang felt ecstasy. Soon, the rampage of Extreme Yang Qi would reduce this entire area to ashes. Even if the Khan was protected by the Anti-Western Formation, he would not escape unscathed. With this, he could achieve his revenge and protect the peace of the Central Plains martial world—
Believing that, he raised his head to see the Khan's final moments...
And saw Batur Qan aiming a short bow at him, the string drawn to its limit. At the tip of the arrow nocked there, an enormous amount of energy had gathered in a spiral, resembling gang qi.
And then—
Anti-Western Formation Ultimate Technique — Falcon Hunt
"Huh?"
Geukyang's hands burst apart and scattered into the air. The artificial heart—the most vital component for moving the automaton—had been obliterated beyond recognition. The Extreme Yang Qi that had been coalescing around him was pierced by something in an instant, creating a massive hole as it slowly dispersed into the void.
He had not seen the arrow fly. He had not even heard the sound. The moment the string was released, Batur Qan's arrow had pierced straight through Geukyang's heart.
"Kuh...!"
Strength drained from his entire body, and Geukyang collapsed helplessly to the ground. As he lay dying, the Khan slowly approached.
"It was originally created to pierce Alhazard's heart... yet it has been used in this manner."
Alhazard had played a significant role in the creation of this ultimate technique. When the disguised sage Alhazard first met the Emperor, he had advised through a riddle: "Find and kill mages while they are casting spells." Through that, the Khan realized that even the greatest archmages needed to be within a certain distance to use magic. Thus, he had created a martial art capable of killing any target the moment they were spotted, regardless of distance. That had been the true purpose behind the Anti-Western Formation—to concentrate the inner energy of hundreds into a single point and snipe one person from afar, faster and farther than ever before...
Later, it would stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ten Great Formation Arts that would become legendary in martial history: Shaolin's 108 Arhats Formation, the Beggar Clan's Great Dog-Beating Formation, Mount Hua's Plum Blossom Sword Formation, Wudang's True Martial Seven Severing Formation, and the Heavenly Demon Cult's Mara Rampage Formation.
"...A-Amazing..."
Reaching Geukyang under the protection of his guards, the Khan spoke in an admiring tone.
"Truly remarkable... Even in that state, you are still alive?"
With both hands severed and a massive hole torn through the center of his chest gushing black blood, Geukyang was—astonishingly—still alive. Of course, the fatal wounds left him capable of nothing more than twitching slightly...
His body trembling as if on the verge of death, gasping for breath, Geukyang left behind his final words.
"...Geuk-eum... is... stronger... than... me..."
Those were Geukyang's last words.