Death or Kill. (2)
The sight of those figures charging across the corpse-strewn earth was ominous beyond measure. If a normal martial artist had seen them—fully wrapped in black uniforms, racing forward while shedding a grim, suffocating aura—they would have been terrified out of their wits and shaken to the core.
But the people here were not ordinary martial artists.
They were Mount Hua’s disciples, the elite of Maninbang’s Red Dogs, and Black Ghost Fort’s finest. At the very least, they could claim that no one in the world surpassed them in battle experience.
These were people skilled in combat and murder, people accustomed to blades flashing for their throats, people who never lost themselves no matter what enemy stood before them—trained swords in human form.
So they should not have been shaken by a scene like this, and yet…
Something strange happened.
The reaction of everyone who was so used to battle was unmistakably one of unease.
The Black Ghost Fort experts who had painted Jiangnan’s night in fear instinctively stepped back.
Even the Red Dogs, who would have thrown themselves into the fires of hell if Jang Il-so had ordered it, flinched and trembled.
Clear discomfort and a faint, creeping fear settled over their faces.
The Evil Tyrant Alliance, which had half the world clenched in its fist, and the carefully selected elite among them—those people were shrinking back before only a hundred enemies?
Even the one who hated the Evil Tyrant Alliance most in the world would have laughed at the notion. Yet that absurdity was happening right here, right now.
“Urgh…”
A low groan slipped between someone’s lips.
Even these men, who would not have made a sound with a blade buried in their throats, could not stop their mouths from parting simply because someone was approaching them. It was something beyond training, an unavoidable cry of the soul itself.
Even Mount Hua’s disciples, who had once faced the Demonic Sect, tightened their grips on their sword hilts with pale faces.
Baek Cheon bit his lower lip without realizing it.
“Senior Uncle….”
“...Yeah.”
Without hearing the rest, Baek Cheon answered. He did not need to hear it to know what was coming.
“...It’s different.”
It was the feeling of sinking whole into a thick swamp. The aura those people exuded, the atmosphere they carried, even their very existence—it all seemed to tighten around the throat bit by bit.
It was clearly different from before.
The Demonic Sect members Baek Cheon had faced in the frozen land of the North Sea had also driven him into fear. But even then, the sensation had never been this intense. And hadn’t Baek Cheon grown far stronger since then?
What those people gave off was… not human.
If you saw the gates of hell open and the demons pour out all at once before your very eyes, would that be how it felt?
This wasn’t just about killing intent or the lofty depth of their martial prowess. The mere existence of those people made the living shrink back.
So this is the real Demonic Sect.
Baek Cheon thought, his lips pressed tight.
Now he understood why Cheong Myeong had called the North Sea bishop nothing but a fool, why he had mocked the cruel Demonic Sect members who followed him as clumsy and half-baked.
His body understood it now. Those people were dangerous on a level that could not be compared to the Demonic Sect members he had known.
Crunch. Crunch-crunch.
Each time the rushing Demonic Sect members stepped over the scattered bodies on the ground, a sickening sound rang out. Mount Hua’s disciples shuddered. The dreadful meaning buried in that sound reddened their eyes.
Rather than approaching, the black mass seemed to be charging to overwhelm them, tearing across the dark red earth as black demonic energy began to billow up from their bodies.
Just as everyone—including Mount Hua’s disciples—gritted their teeth, the Demonic Sect members suddenly began to slow, their speed visibly dropping.
Questions flashed through everyone’s minds. Why were those men, who had been rushing in as if they would attack at any moment, stopping there?
Most of them merely felt doubt at the sight.
But a few here saw something else entirely.
Interest gleamed in Jang Il-so’s hand as his rings scraped against each other with a chilling sound while he watched the Demonic Sect.
The people he had brought were the Red Dogs, the products of his own making—men chosen from among Maninbang and rigorously trained to perfection. And yet even those Red Dogs could not move with such frightening discipline.
How bizarre.
To Jang Il-so, it was a scene that had stepped outside all common sense.
Could one imagine starving tigers lining up obediently before a meal?
Those consumed by killing intent should not be controllable. Killing intent belonged outside reason.
And yet, absurdly enough, those men were pouring out terrifying hatred and murderous intent while following orders with perfect discipline. It was difficult to understand how such a thing was even possible.
Fanaticism…
It was as if everything contained in those two words had seeped into them.
There were only a hundred Demonic Sect members in black uniforms, their faces covered with black masks drawn up to just beneath their eyes. But that hundred did not feel like a small number at all.
Then, at that moment—
Step. Step.
One person, who seemed no different from the others at first glance, slowly walked forward from among the Demonic Sect ranks.
Step. Step.
The one who had stepped to the center slowly swept his gaze from left to right over Mount Hua and the Evil Tyrant Alliance, both of them stiff with caution, and then slowly pulled down the mask covering his face.
“You filthy unbelievers….”
His eyes were thick with disgust and contempt, as though he were looking at something filthy. Under that ghastly stare, those who met his gaze unconsciously bit their lips.
“Heavenly Demon does not grant the right to breathe to unbelievers like you.”
The man’s voice spread out heavily.
“But our Lord is also endlessly merciful. Even to the foolish and the even more foolish, that mercy is fair.”
His voice was solemn, as if delivering sacred scripture.
“Anyone who has come to realize their sins and is prepared to offer everything to Heavenly Demon, step forward now. He will forgive your sins.”
“Hmm?”
The first to react was, naturally, Jang Il-so. His brows furrowed deeply with open irritation.
“Forgive sins?”
“...”
“Who? And by what right?”
Clatter-clink?
The rings on Jang Il-so’s fingers gave off a harsh metallic scrape.
“Who dares say they’ll forgive my sins? You?” He paused, then a seductive smile bloomed on his red lips. “Or… that Heavenly Demon of yours, the one who’s been dead for a hundred years?”
“Y-You…!”
The calm in the Demonic Sect member’s eyes vanished, replaced by a murderous intent so immense it was almost unbelievable.
“You bastard, who wouldn’t be satisfied until your mouth was ripped apart and your flesh torn off and fed to dogs! How dare you speak of that Lord with that filthy mouth of yours!”
But Jang Il-so remained untroubled in the face of that monstrous killing intent.
“Ah. Of course, my mouth isn’t exactly clean. I know that much.”
He waved a hand casually, then let out a blatant sneer.
“But at least I’m alive. Aren’t I? Better to survive dirty than die cleanly, don’t you think? The Heavenly Demon you worship would probably envy me from hell.”
“Yooooou bastard!”
The Demonic Sect member could no longer contain his rage and began trembling all over, even his hands shaking.
“How dare you…!”
He pulled the mask he had lowered back over his face, as though even breathing the same air as the people here was unbearable.
“You filthy unbelievers, not only did you shamelessly show your faces before the doctrine despite not knowing your place, you dare insult that glorious Lord?”
The man’s eyes grew more and more crazed.
Even the Red Dogs, who had seen their share of maniacs and villains in the unrighteous sects, felt a chill before that stare. It was an insanity so strange and foreign that it hardly seemed human.
“...I’ll kill you!”
The Demonic Sect member shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll erase every trace of filthy unbelievers from this world. I’ll tear your flesh, grind your bones, rip out your sinews, and scatter your blood!”
It was less a declaration of resolve than a curse, and less a curse than a prayer.
When that cry—so fierce it seemed ready to spit blood—finally ended, the Demonic Sect army lined up behind him released a thick, swelling aura.
“I’ll strip you to the last scrap of flesh and feed you to beasts! Just how fierce will the doctrine’s wrath be upon those filthy unbelievers who dared insult Heavenly Demon…!”
But then a cold voice cut through that prayer-like speech.
“Damn, that bastard really talks a lot.”
The Demonic Sect member slowly closed his mouth. Then he turned and glared at the one who had spoken. Killing intent rippled in his eyes.
Cheong Myeong, utterly unfazed, tilted his neck left and right and spoke again.
“I don’t exactly want to side with the Sapa bastards, but….”
He glanced over at Jang Il-so and snorted.
“He’s not exactly wrong. Better a crazy bastard who got his head cut off than one who got cremated, right?”
“You….”
“So.”
Shrring.
Cheong Myeong slowly drew Amhyang Maehwageom from its scabbard. The blade’s point, sharp enough to seem endless, leveled at the Demonic Sect member.
“Quit yapping and come at me. Since when did Demonic Sect bastards start fighting with their mouths?”
The Demonic Sect member stared at Cheong Myeong in silence.
A brief silence.
He was only closing his mouth, yet the sight was even more chilling than when he had been hurling curses in a fit of madness.
Suppressing the rage that was boiling within him, the Demonic Sect member finally spoke. His voice spread out coldly.
“You… will die especially painfully among all of them.”
“Ah, that….”
Cheong Myeong gave a lopsided grin.
“I hear that pretty often.”
“...”
“So when exactly are you planning to start?”
BOOM!
The instant Cheong Myeong finished speaking, the Demonic Sect member stomped the ground. The solid earth crumbled like mud and caved in beneath his foot.
“...These unbelievers here!”
A massive roar erupted from his mouth.
“Leave not a single one alive! Kill them all!”
“Heavenly Demon descends! Ten Thousand Demons rejoice!”
The Demonic Sect’s monstrous shout thundered through the air. The Demonic Sect members, barely held in check by the leash of faith, snapped the restraints binding them.
As if the perfect discipline they had shown moments ago had been a lie, they now exploded forward, pouring out a blood-red glow.
“Kraaaaaaagh!”
Bestial howls rang out.
Even though the distance was not long, the Demonic Sect members could not contain their fury. They grabbed the person running ahead of them and dragged him forward, desperate to close the gap even faster. They roared as if they would bite the throats out of their own comrades.
“Senior Uncle!”
“Yeah, they’re coming!”
Baek Cheon, glaring at that completely deranged sight, ground his teeth. Then he stepped forward.
“Stay behind me! Don’t you dare separate from the brother or sister next to you!”
“Yes!”
At last, Baek Cheon shouted the words that had been boiling up from deep in his gut.
“Show those beasts clearly that Mount Hua is the Demonic Sect’s natural enemy!”
A massive cheer burst from the mouths of Mount Hua’s disciples.
It was the moment the great battle that would one day be called the Hangzhou Demon Disaster began.