The Pure Hand Demoness
The rift entrance sealed shut completely.
I had barely fled into another world to escape that monstrous woman and the Demon King who would soon return, yet here we were.
“Guh… huk…”
Just before the rift closed, a sword had streaked in like a bolt of light and buried itself in the Thunder Emperor’s chest.
His heart had been pierced. Thanks to his regenerative powers, a temporary shutdown of his heart wouldn’t kill him, but…
Damn it.
He was already teetering on the edge of fatal injury. If he didn’t restore the punctured heart quickly, the situation would turn truly dangerous.
By some stroke of luck, Seiar stood right beside him—an avatar from another realm whose rank surpassed even the Thunder Emperor’s.
She could do more than simply aid his regeneration; she could accelerate the rate at which his power recovered.
“Seiar, help me…”
“Hiiing, my horn…”
Meanwhile, Seiar seemed utterly fixated on her own severed horn even as the Thunder Emperor lay dying beside her.
“Seiar!”
“Hm? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you dying?”
She tilted her head with innocent curiosity, as if she genuinely had no idea.
Honcheon Noeje ground his teeth, yanked the blue dragon sword from his chest, and hurled it to the ground.
“Kahak!”
A fresh torrent of blood gushed from his mouth. The situation had grown critical.
Yet if Seiar would only spare him a single drop of her blood, he could still overcome this.
“Seiar! Aid my recovery! Give me your blood!”
“Me? Why?”
“What?”
What kind of game was this now? Honcheon Noeje’s face twisted into a deep scowl as he glared at her.
…There wasn’t the slightest trace of mischief in her expression.
“You’re going to die soon, aren’t you?”
“Yes! That’s why I’m asking for your blood!”
“Then wouldn’t it be better if you just let me eat you? My horn’s been cut off and my beautiful wings are ruined.”
“…Seiar. What the hell are you—Wait…!”
“Besides, haven’t I told you over and over?”
The Mad Dragon’s enormous maw yawned open.
“I never gave you permission to call my name.”
A dragon’s true name was not something to be uttered so lightly.
Those were her final words.
Sensing the lethal shift, Honcheon Noeje erupted with white lightning in a desperate bid to resist.
Resistance is impossible.
The gap in their power had always been overwhelming.
Now, with the Thunder Emperor on the verge of death, his presence to Seiar—who had suffered nothing worse than a few light scratches—was little more than a tasty snack. One that even offered a slight restorative effect.
“Farewell. It was rather enjoyable.”
Crunch! She swallowed him whole in a single bite. The entire sequence lasted less than an instant.
After a few chews and a gulp, the severed horn and torn wings regenerated in the blink of an eye.
Moreover, the pure white lightning that had been Honcheon Noeje’s signature power now crackled across her scales with a sharp pop!
“Wow! It looks even prettier now!”
Nodding in satisfaction, she invoked polymorph and returned to human form. The technique carried an entirely different aura from the morph Regina used.
With a pleased smack of her lips, she glanced around.
Anything else to eat?
“Huh?”
I had been facing off against Honcheon Noeje and Seiar just moments ago. The next thing I knew, I was standing in an endless expanse of pure white.
Maybe my body really had failed to endure the recoil of my explosive growth and burst apart with a bang.
“So… I’m dead after all…”
“You are perfectly alive, so cease your worrying.”
“I see…”
The dry remark came from Namgung Sim, who sat cross-legged nearby.
I’d figured as much. Yeah.
“But why did I suddenly enter the Illusion World? I didn’t activate it.”
“How should this prince know? You are the one who should understand your own technique.”
Had I fallen unconscious? Still, the Illusion World shouldn’t open unless I deliberately invoked it.
“Perhaps your skill is growing wild, just as you are.”
“Maybe…”
Was I truly becoming stronger with every passing second, and not in jest…?
I crossed my arms with a serious expression, intending to ponder the phenomenon, when Namgung Sim spoke again.
“Before that, deal with the problem behind you.”
“Problem?”
“The witch standing at your back, wearing an obscene smile.”
Behind me?
I tilted my head at the strange comment and turned.
“…Who?”
Our eyes met at a distance so close I could feel her breath—a woman radiating an eerie, seductive aura.
She stood near enough to touch, yet I hadn’t sensed her presence at all. Even accounting for my exhausted mind and body after that brutal battle, the lapse was inexcusable.
“Aah…”
Her hands shot forward at a speed my senses couldn’t even register, gently cupping my face. Her fingers slowly traced my cheeks.
They were so white and delicate that the phrase “slender jade hands” rose unbidden.
“The child from the Namgung family spoke truly. You resemble that person a great deal.”
A shiver of killing intent ran down my spine. An almost prophetic instinct screamed that those hands would crush my skull if they chose.
“Step away.”
Thankfully, Namgung Sim’s blade intervened before she could act, forcing space between us.
The woman fluttered backward with bat-like footwork and smiled with a beauty so perfect it raised goosebumps.
…Indeed, the title “witch” suited that bewitching smile perfectly.
“Who is she?”
“A person this prince knows. In this prince’s world, she was a demonic practitioner commonly called the Pure Hand Demoness.”
“Sosu Manyeo!”
I knew her too! But why was she here? She was a character I had never once summoned.
My eyes widened in shock as I stared at her. Above her head, the words [Manifestation Rate 100%] flickered into existence and vanished.
Manifestation Rate: 100%
I’ve never summoned her before, yet she appeared on her own—and at full manifestation rate?
Something was seriously off. Unable to hide my bewilderment, I listened as Namgung Sim elaborated.
“After you left this place, she appeared without warning and provoked this prince.”
“What did you do?”
“We fought. This prince cut her down and killed her three times.”
As expected of Namgung Sim! He really was the protagonist of Murim Reincarnation!
At that, Sosu Manyeo covered her mouth with her sleeve and let out a mocking laugh.
“You should speak accurately, child of the Namgung family. Did you not die at this lady’s hands more than ten times?”
“Gungsim, Gungsim, is she telling the truth? Are you deceiving Rena Rena?”
“…The opponent is an absolute master of the Demonic Cult who wields sinister arts. Achieving this much alone is already commendable.”
“What a pathetic excuse from the defeated. It is simply because you are weaker than this lady.”
Namgung Sim’s face flushed slightly. He appeared to be restraining his anger…
“Gungsim? Doesn’t what that sister said seem… a little correct?”
Probably because you really were weaker.
“That is not the case. This witch’s demonic arts simply have poor compatibility with this prince’s techniques…”
“Hmm… If you were stronger, wouldn’t you have won?”
“Silence!!!!!!!!!”
“Eek! You startled me! Why are you yelling all of a sudden?”
“Whose side are you on right now? That sinister witch’s? Or this prince’s?”
Honestly, I’d rather stand with the stronger, prettier sister than a sweaty man any day…
When I subtly began drifting toward Sosu Manyeo, Namgung Sim gave me a meaningful look.
“That witch is over eighty years old this year. She is an old monster who has undergone youth restoration.”
“Gungsim. I’ve always been on your side. You know that, right? It’s me, me.”
The Rena you adored.
I immediately glued myself to his back.
Eighty is still a bit…
If she had been something absurd like eight hundred years old, it might have felt fine, but eighty sounded strangely realistic and triggered a vague sense of revulsion.
Regardless, Sosu Manyeo kept her smile in place as she addressed me.
“What a lovely child, so much like that person. The Namgung family’s martial arts must feel terribly stifling to you, no?”
“What! How do you know that?!”
“Is it not obvious? You have learned arts that do not suit your body or temperament. Of course they would feel restrictive.”
She slowly raised one hand. It was a pure white hand glowing with a jade-like bluish light.
“Would you not like to learn? This lady’s divine art may be the perfect fit for you.”
“Gasp…!”
Demonic arts… The kind that granted rapid progress but carried severe side effects?
The tyrannical kind that orthodox martial arts could never match?
The kind that, if learned recklessly, led to madness, qi deviation, or worse?
“Absolutely not. Someone with your already explosive nature learning demonic arts on top of everything else…”
“I’ll learn it!”
I had always wanted to try that!
After all, the Heavenly Thunder Reversion Art had been inspired by the Absorption Great Law, and I’d always wanted to experience techniques like the Heavenly Demon Domination Step or the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Since I’m from the same Ma family line, maybe I have more talent for demonic arts than orthodox ones?
Everyone in the world knew that the Heavenly Demon and the Demon King were related by marriage, and that demons and the demonic race were practically neighbors.
“…Haa.”
Namgung Sim let out a sigh so heavy it seemed the ground might cave in, dragging a hand down his face.
“Ahahahahahaha! How delightful!”
Watching him, Sosu Manyeo burst into unrestrained laughter.
Hmm. They did say laughter brought good fortune. Laughing so brightly must be why she had lived so long.
“Lovely child. From today onward, the name of the divine art this lady shall personally bestow upon you is—”
Sosu Manyeo swept her white hand downward through the air. The ground her fingertips pointed at was sliced apart with a clean shhhk, as easily as tofu.
Frost slowly began to form along the cut surface.
“—the Pale Hand Demonic Art.”