I Was a Madman Too (10)
Rumbling stones could not withstand the monstrous pressure and shot up into the sky. It was rare enough to see a boulder larger than a man hurled into the air, but what came after was even more astounding.
CRRRAAAACK!
The instant the black storm of demonic energy swallowed the rock, the hard stone shattered in a blink and crumbled apart.
The surging black demonic qi—no, it would have been more fitting to call it demonic steel—did not merely break the unyielding rock. It ground it to dust in an instant.
If that was what it did to a stone, then what of a human body? To throw oneself into that storm was nothing less than suicide. No sane person would ever choose it.
Unfortunately, two people here were thoroughly insane.
Fwoosh!
Jang Il-so, red robes fluttering as he charged forward, let out a chilling murderous glare from his eyes. In that same instant, the black demonic steel rained down on him like thousands of blades.
KIIIEEEEEEEE!
The shriek of the demonic steel tearing through the air echoed like a ghostly wail.
“Hmph!”
Jang Il-so’s signature blue flame killing force erupted to its fullest, and the blue fire blooming from both his hands roared violently.
The blazing blue flame collided head-on with the black demonic steel rushing toward him.
BOOOOOOM!
Demonic steel and killing steel!
When those forces, each perfected at the extreme end of magi and evil force, slammed into each other, terrifying killing intent and raw power exploded outward in all directions.
SKRRAK! SKRRAK!
Pain like hundreds of daggers scraping over his hands spread through him, and Jang Il-so’s face darkened with vicious killing intent.
Bang!
He kicked off the ground again and lunged farther forward, thrusting both hands out. The blue flames blooming from his body writhed like the tongues of a demon and coiled around the demonic steel rushing at him.
SKRRAK! SKRRAK!
It looked as though the finest blades in the world were clashing savagely in midair. The force Jang Il-so had distilled from his inborn killing intent twisted even Dan Ja-gang’s demonic qi out of shape and bent it.
The warped demonic steel tore through Jang Il-so’s extravagant robes, turning them to rags in an instant. Yet he did not even glance aside, pressing only forward.
The face he wore, smiling so brilliantly white, was chilling—more than chilling, it was vicious to the core.
KWA-GAGAGAGAGAK!
Jang Il-so shoved his hands into the demonic qi and, with a single broad sweep of his arms, ripped it open. A huge gap opened in front of him.
It was only a fleeting opening. Ripping through demonic qi was no small feat, but the swirling force would fill that gap again in an instant.
Yet behind Jang Il-so, there was someone who never missed even that fraction of a second.
Fwoosh!
Like a bolt of lightning, Cheong Myeong hurled himself through the gap Jang Il-so had created and lifted his sword high into the sky.
KWA-AAAAAAANG!
The demonic steel streaking toward him was so fierce that each strand seemed harder than winter iron and sharper than a divine blade. A fragile body like Cheong Myeong’s ought to have vanished without leaving a trace.
And yet, even inside that storm, Cheong Myeong’s sword drew an endlessly gentle circle.
From above to below.
What the blade tip traced was nothing more than a semicircle. There was nothing extraordinary about it, nothing overwhelming. It flowed as naturally as a river.
A red line blooming like the sun hanging at the edge of a blood-stained sky neatly sliced through the black, whirling storm of demonic energy.
SHHHHRAAAK!
The demonic steel that should never have been cut split apart as though it were a bolt of silk slit by a short dagger.
Through the space they had torn open, Cheong Myeong and Dan Ja-gang’s eyes met for an instant. When Dan Ja-gang saw the smile on Cheong Myeong’s face, fury surged into his expression at once.
He had expected them to break through his demonic steel. They were, after all, experts so formidable that even in this martial world, few could stand against them.
But even if they could do it, it should not be this simple. His demonic steel was the grace bestowed upon the cult by the Heavenly Demon. It was a blade meant to make unbelievers who practiced martial arts pay the price for their disbelief.
And yet these unbelievers dared to tarnish the grace bestowed by the Heavenly Demon?
Bang!
Blood-red light burst from Dan Ja-gang’s eyes.
Even if some doubt existed where it should never have been, he was still a man who had given everything to the Heavenly Demon. He was not so vile that he would stand by and watch the divine majesty of the Heavenly Demon be defiled by filthy unbelievers!
“How dare you!”
He thrust his hand forward.
The repulsive force created at his fingertips pushed Cheong Myeong and Jang Il-so back the instant they tried to plunge through the torn opening.
“Tear apart!”
At the same time, the rotating demonic steel let out a hair-raising ghostly shriek and began to churn violently.
KWA-GAGAGAGAGAK!
Accelerating, the demonic steel ground the earth and ripped the air. The black storm instantly swallowed the momentarily staggered Cheong Myeong and Jang Il-so.
Dan Ja-gang clenched his fist tightly. A clear sensation reached his fingertips.
So these people, no more than this, had dared to spout nonsense?
But then, in that very instant—
FWAHHHH!
Something burst forth violently.
At first it looked like nothing more than red blood. If flesh had been blown apart and blood sprayed from it, it would have taken just that shape.
But it was soon clear that it was not human blood. It did not scatter.
A sword aura redder than sunset, red enough to seem like blood itself, bloomed like a phantom inside the black storm of demonic energy. The sight of that crimson sword aura scattering looked as though a giant brush had been flung across empty space.
Even Dan Ja-gang was momentarily stunned by the sight.
Flowers…?
As if the plum blossoms that had dyed an entire mountain red were now being scattered by a wind from nowhere, they stained the world crimson.
Plum blossom petals surged forward to block the demonic steel.
The scene looked… like nothing more than futile resistance. Delicate petals should only be torn apart and swept away by such a savage storm.
KWA-GAGAGAGAGAK!
As if proving that prediction right, the demonic steel crushed the blooming petals in an instant. Thousands of petals shattered and winked out.
But they bloomed again.
Each one was far too fragile. So slight that it could not possibly compare to the malice-filled demonic steel.
And yet the petals gathered. As if they knew their own weakness better than anyone, they converged on one place at once and resisted the oppressive force rushing toward them.
Martial arts had always existed so that the weak could resist those born strong. In other words, was martial arts not the act of filling in what was lacking and incomplete?
Hundreds, thousands of petals bloomed again all at once and stood against the demonic steel. A great wall made of petals and a black storm surging in like a torrent—it was a sight that should not have existed in this world.
WOOOOOOOM!
The violent storm slammed into the wall of petals. But the petals, swaying as though they would be driven back, would not be broken. They surged forward again and again, distorting the storm of demonic energy.
As the demonic qi began to splinter apart, Dan Ja-gang’s face stiffened.
It’s being pushed back?
It was incomprehensible.
He knew, of course, how extraordinary that sword technique was. It was the apex of illusionary swordsmanship, one that would force anyone to completely revise their assessment of the swordsman wielding it. It was not so much brilliant as it was relentless.
But no matter how extraordinary it was, it made no sense that his demonic qi could not trample such a meager force.
It’s scattering? My demonic qi?
Dan Ja-gang’s expression twisted fiercely.
The instant it touched those red petals, the demonic qi he had unleashed vanished like fire doused with water. This was not a matter of being overpowered. It felt as if he were fighting a battle that could not be won from the start.
“A countering force…?”
That energy seemed to suppress demonic qi. But that, too, made no sense.
This was Dan Ja-gang’s demonic qi we were talking about.
Of course, the world was full of natural oppositions. But did not even those oppositions become meaningless before overwhelming disparity in strength?
Water is the natural enemy of fire. But a great blaze will evaporate water instead.
And yet… his demonic qi was being suppressed by something like that?
What in the world?
Dan Ja-gang’s eyes were still tinged with confusion when, at the very center of that fierce battlefield of red and black energies, a streak of blue flame suddenly rose up. It was clearly shaped like fire, and yet it was colder than the northern sea wind and sharper than any blade. That blue flame soon crashed down mercilessly over the demonic qi that the petals had been holding back.
KWA-AAAAAAANG!
A deafening, heaven-shattering roar erupted.
Even the great Dan Ja-gang was forced to take a step back from the tremendous shockwave caused by the collision of such massive powers.
The demonic qi throughout his body shook violently and began to boil. Pain—pain he had not felt even once since rising to the rank of bishop—came surging at him.
That sensation, both familiar and unfamiliar, made him lose focus for a split second. He lost track of the two men’s presence.
“Kuh!”
Realizing his mistake immediately, Dan Ja-gang hurriedly drew up his demonic arts. But before they could fully manifest, a snow-white sword blade suddenly appeared right in front of his face.
Dan Ja-gang widened his eyes and thrust out a hand like lightning. As he blocked the incoming sword, a loud metallic cry rang out.
KRAAAAAANG!
The white blade bit into Dan Ja-gang’s palm.
Cheong Myeong, having brought his sword down from midair, and Dan Ja-gang, eyes blazing with fury and refusing to hide it, clashed fiercely in the void.
“You—!”
Just as Dan Ja-gang was about to lash out at Cheong Myeong with boiling rage, a golden comet shot toward his face.
Bang!
Dan Ja-gang’s body was shoved backward. Sliding across the ground and leaving a long gouge behind him, he looked down at his hand without so much as sparing the two of them a glance.
Drip.
Blood ran from the long cut across his palm and fell to the ground. The faint smell of blood brushed his nose. A burning pain spread through his hand.
After staring at his hand for a brief moment, Dan Ja-gang slowly raised his head and fixed his gaze on the two people standing before him.
“My, my. It seems the mighty bishop is flustered.”
Jang Il-so wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. Blood spread across his unnaturally pale skin.
Blood also trickled from the corner of Cheong Myeong’s mouth.
“What is it? Looks like no one in the Demonic Sect was properly fighting you, huh?”
Cheong Myeong let out a mocking snort, then bared his teeth and said viciously,
“Don’t worry too much about it. You’ll find out now.”
Cheong Myeong raised his sword and pointed the blade at the bishop’s throat.
“What it means to really fight with your life on the line.”
Dan Ja-gang clenched his fist as though gripping his wound. Once again, murderous light burst explosively from his eyes.
“You little gnats!”
Roaring, Dan Ja-gang looked little different from a wounded beast.
“I’ll tear you both apart and kill you to the last!”
“Oh?”
Seeing that, a strange gleam of madness flashed in Cheong Myeong’s eyes.
“Now that’s more like the bishop I know. Hahahahaha!”
Cheong Myeong, gripping his sword in reverse, burst into loud, crazed laughter and shot toward Dan Ja-gang.