The Swift Wings of the Overlord
It felt like waking from a long slumber.
Indeed, the sacred relic had been asleep for a very long time.
Yet, it had no choice but to wake.
It could feel something approaching.
The sensation was hazy, as if dream and reality were blurring together.
This only made the relic feel more displeased.
But that displeasure was short-lived.
The relic harbored a tiny sliver of hope.
What if the one approaching now was its lord?
What if its lord was finally keeping his promise to return one day?
Just as it thought of playing the pipa to welcome its lord—
The relic made its judgment.
The presence approaching now was not its lord.
Its lord's energy had always blazed like the sun.
Although the current intruder possessed energy of their own,
comparing it to its lord's was like comparing a firefly to the sun.
It was such a weak, insignificant heat that it only soured the relic's mood further.
The relic was furious.
Its master was, and always would be, its lord alone.
Yes. Its master, the only one worthy,
was its lord alone.
Steeling its resolve, the relic recalled their final moments together—a memory it had replayed over and over throughout an eternity of waiting.
"Wait for me. Your master will surely return."
And so, the relic had waited.
Its lord had never lied to it, not even once.
And since it was his loyal servant,
it obeyed his command to wait for his return,
enduring the passage of countless ages.
In spring, when all things brimmed with life, it harbored hopes of their reunion.
In summer, when Yang energy filled the heavens, it endured by remembering its sun-like lord.
Through autumn, when the grains and fruits ripened, and into the freezing, bitter winter,
the relic's heart felt as if it were freezing and tearing into a thousand pieces.
Yet its spirit remained unbroken, and by the time of Gyeongchip, when the frogs awoke from hibernation, hope bloomed once more.
It had waited for what felt like an eternity.
That was why the relic's rage burned so fiercely.
It felt as if its grief, its boundless sorrow, was being mocked.
As the relic thought this and drew its protective barriers even tighter around itself—
Rumble!
Crash!
Deafening explosions and violent tremors shook the space repeatedly.
The labyrinth and maze were designed to eliminate those who were not the master—greedy intruders who dared to enter without qualification.
Thus, the intruder who dared to deceive it should have been lost in the maze, left to wither away.
Yet, strangely, the presence did not fade.
In fact, it was growing clearer.
The intruder's energy it had first detected was nothing more than a tiny spark.
If it had to compare its size, perhaps it was like a single candle flame?
But that candle flame of an energy suddenly began to swell.
Like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountain,
it grew larger in the blink of an eye.
The energy that had been a mere candle flame soon became a torch, and then expanded until it felt like a raging forest fire.
The relic was bewildered.
Ever since it had sealed itself within the spatial rift, it had never experienced anything like this.
But the confusion was far from over.
Boom!
Crash!
The explosions and tremors were drawing closer and closer.
What was more, from the source of the energy
straight to where the relic rested,
the forest-fire-like presence was moving in a straight line.
Obliterating everything in its path.
Though it had been ages since the relic sealed itself in the spatial rift, it had never witnessed such a thing.
Just as the relic began to seriously ponder how to handle this situation—
Boom!
With a thunderous blast, the entire chamber shattered.
The wall made of ship wreckage at the deepest part of the chamber, where the relic resided, exploded.
Debris and a thick cloud of dust billowed from the aftermath of the blast.
However, heavy with the moisture of venomous fluid, the dust cloud quickly settled.
Step.
A man stepped forward.
"Behold, I have arrived!"
The man, Jeok-un, shouted triumphantly as he stared at the relic.
The Ghost Walk was undoubtedly a movement technique that could vie for the title of best in the world.
After all, it had taken him less than an hour to traverse this entire distance, which was like a multi-layered labyrinth.
Its only drawback was a minor one.
"Aigoo, look at how dirty my clothes got."
Having smashed through countless walls, Jeok-un's clothes were torn in places and covered in dust.
Jeok-un brushed the dust off his clothes, then raised his head to look ahead.
There, right in front of him, was the object of his quest.
"Oh, it's exactly as I remember."
The cavernous space was vast enough to fit an entire ship.
Faint beams of dawn light filtered through the cracks in the walls.
Though thin, the light was enough to illuminate the cavern.
In particular, it was more than enough to see the relic floating in the air.
It looks exactly like it did in my memories.
It was just like Il-cheon and Wol-ha.
Two pitch-black ribbons floated gently in the air.
At a glance, they resembled the silk sashes worn by women, or perhaps living serpents. From another angle, they looked like the winged garments of a heavenly maiden.
Hummmm!
Hummm—!
And then, he felt that familiar energy.
The immense power radiating from the relic.
Just as flowing water piles up sand and soil to form hills and mounds,
time had only compounded the relic's already formidable energy.
It's like facing a martial artist who has almost reached the Profound Realm. Truly overwhelming.
The energy was so potent it made his skin prickle.
As Jeok-un quietly stared at the relic he hadn't seen in so long—
The relic's warning echoed in his ears.
Though devoid of emotion, it carried a grand, majestic pressure.
Just as its energy suggested, the relic possessed a consciousness and held enough power to project its thoughts.
Hostility laced its words.
Even Jeok-un was slightly shaken by the pressure, but—
"Are you crazy? Why would I turn back? I went through all kinds of hell to get here."
Jeok-un snorted in response.
Was it provoked by his mockery, or because he had refused its command?
A deeper rage seeped into the relic's voice.
Vrrrrrr!
The surge of power made it clear that its anger was no joke.
Its intention was plain.
If he wouldn't listen to words, it would expel him by force.
Jeok-un frowned slightly at the relic's reaction.
Man, the resistance is even stronger than before my regression.
It seemed the relic had been agitated by Eon I-gyeom, who had entered before him.
Though Jeok-un didn't know the details, Eon I-gyeom had arrived three days earlier and thoroughly searched Gwiseondo, grating on the relic's nerves.
I'll have to make him pay for this when we meet again.
Filing away Eon I-gyeom's debt for later, Jeok-un focused on the present.
Step.
Jeok-un took a step forward, filled with resolve.
At the same time, he repeated the very first words he had spoken to it before his regression.
"Your master died a long time ago. Why are you acting so pathetic?"
Surely it must know that.
As Jeok-un spoke, he thought of the relic's true identity.
His ancient ancestor, bound to him by blood.
The Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, had a companion who shared every battlefield with him.
"The Overlord's steed, Ochu."
There was a beautiful woman named Yu, whom he favored and who constantly followed him; and a fine steed named Zhui, which he constantly rode.
— Biography of Xiang Yu
The second of the Patriarch's Seven Sacred Artifacts.
Biiksin, Ochu.
That was the name of the relic.
Ochu erupted in violent fury.
Was it because he had spoken its name, or because he had dared to mention the death of its master?
Whatever the reason, the fact remained that Ochu was enraged.
Rumble!
Crash!
Yet, even in the face of Ochu's raging pressure, Jeok-un did not take a single step back.
"Is it so hard to accept reality that you'd rather run away and ignore it? Is that what you want?"
"Look at it clearly. Face the truth. Your master is dead."
Ochu's rage was no empty threat.
As mentioned, Ochu was a sacred relic that possessed its own consciousness.
Ssshh!
The pressure Ochu unleashed was like a towering mountain, crashing down on Jeok-un like a falling meteor.
Under the onslaught of energy waves, cuts began to open on Jeok-un's body one by one.
Pain wracked his body, threatening to crush his bones and twist his meridians, but—
Jeok-un didn't even blink as he spoke.
"But his will remains."
Whoosh!
The moment he opened his mouth, Jeok-un unleashed the Overlord's Divine Energy.
At the same time, he activated the power of the stars.
The Star of Amplification, Tam-rang.
The Star of Compression, Geo-mun.
The Star of Control, Nok-jon.
The power of the three stars shone in succession, bursting forth from Jeok-un.
It was a power Ochu could never fail to recognize.
It was the very source of the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu's, strength.
Ochu was visibly shaken.
As proof, the constricting energy that bound Jeok-un like a golden headband wavered slightly.
Jeok-un did not miss that split second and continued.
"And that will has been passed down to me."
"Be grateful. For I shall be your new master."
Sssss...
The pouring energy fluctuated even more violently.
It was clear evidence that Ochu was lost, unsure of how to process the situation.
It was all because of the energy before it.
Though faint, the source of this power was the spitting image of its lord's.
He was not its master.
Yet, he reminded it of him.
Was that why?
Jeok-un's words echoed endlessly in Ochu's mind.
And why did it happen now?
Why did its master's final message resurface in Ochu's mind at this very moment?
"Wait for me. Your master will surely return."
The master's promise that he would surely return.
His master had not said, "I will return."
He had said, "Your master will return."
The moment Ochu's thoughts reached this conclusion, the energy constricting Jeok-un vanished without a trace.
In the chamber, now as peaceful and quiet as when he first entered—
Ochu asked.
At that question, Jeok-un smirked, the corners of his mouth curving upward.
"What your master, my ancestor, failed to achieve."
The inherited will.
His own dream.
"Conquest of the world."