The Pure-Love Sex Fiend
Yeon Seoryeon was the first to move. In a blink she had her blade drawn and swinging, pale-blue frost gathering at its tip until it condensed into a single freezing flash.
Against any ordinary direct disciple, that strike would have meant a pierced heart — and even dodged cleanly, a pierced shoulder at the very least…
"Fast, but one-note."
Tilting my head just slightly, I slipped aside — and in the same breath, I flung the Snake-Belly Sword out once more. I had thought I might need to handle the sword properly… but she hardly had the skill to demand it.
'Zero Snow Ice Flower Sword… so it's a martial art of the old Seven Demons.'
The title of each seat among the Seven Demons changed with whoever occupied it. The Zero Snow Ice Flower Sword was the blade art of the Cold Prison Ice Demon, one of the Seven Demons of old — and when a Demon died, the arts they had wielded were enshrined in the Great Archive. Given the authority to enter and enough time to spare, mastering one was entirely within reach.
Yeon Seoryeon fell far short of the Ice Demon, yet there she was, wielding the woman's art. And both her internal energy and her realm stood above mine. By all rights I should have been cut to pieces on the spot… but if she held the advantage in power and attainment, then I held it in experience and seasoned craft.
Besides, the Dance of a Thousand Mechanisms in Linked Chains was an art that could fight even those of a higher realm to a standstill. Unless an opponent adapted to its endlessly shifting forms, putting me down — short of grinding me into the dirt like an insect — was no easy feat.
And even without the art, the trials I had endured in pursuit of women could hardly be called smooth even as a figure of speech. An opponent at her level was one I could handle with ease.
"You're quite full of yourself, aren't you."
Watching me brush aside her opening strike, she swung again without a flicker of hesitation. Dodging once was no guarantee I would dodge the next.
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!!
Without pause she drove forward, frost condensed at her tip with every thrust. Each stab left a snowflake blooming in the empty air, conjuring the image of snow falling at the height of summer.
'She's pressing ahead on the assumption that one of them will land eventually.'
I slipped past every one of those attacks with room to spare. My internal energy had grown through the process of taking in essence, but measured against hers it was still wanting — and unlike her, I couldn't unfold forms in a reckless barrage, either.
'One chance. A single one — and with it alone, I'll show her just how wide the gap between us is.'
Either way, the plan was to stir her interest and close the distance, so a searing impression would serve me best.
"Swing faster. You never know, do you? I might actually take a hit."
"……"
By now she wasn't even deigning to answer. She fell straight back, and holding the draw stance, slid her blade home into its sheath.
Click.
In that instant, the tiny snowflake grains drifting through the air began to shine…
KWA-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!
The minuscule snowflakes burst in a wild, indiscriminate storm. One or two of them going off would do no more than sting… but what if hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands detonated at once? Caught inside that countless swarm of snowflake blades, a body would be shredded to ribbons.
'She means to kill me outright.'
I liked that there was no mercy in her hands. What kind of talent ever blooms in someone who can't even kill a single person?
But… it was still too soon.
BOOM!!
From where I stood, I stamped out a step and whipped up a gale. The blast sent the snowflakes scattering to the four winds before they could burst, and I took no damage whatsoever.
"…!"
Only then did Yeon Seoryeon betray a trace of panic, charging in with her grip unsteady on the blade.
By design, this form was meant to be used with a settled heart and a body utterly still. Only with a mind running straight and true at a single target — only upon entering the domain of the unmoved — could it unleash its full power.
But she had wavered, and the form's power was halved with her. That gap was an easy one for me to exploit.
Anchoring the foot I had stepped out with, I drove off my rear leg and closed the distance to her in an instant.
Everything I had, packed into a single fist and loosed. My realm was still wanting — the third form was as deep as I could reach — but against her, that was more than enough.
In a flash I twisted my body, slipping past her draw-strike once. Judged against her peers, her sword might earn the word impressive — but impressive was precisely where it stopped. Against a monstrous Sex Fiend who had clawed through every kind of hell in pursuit of women, it simply didn't apply. Diminished realm or not.
Untwisting my body back into line, I set my stance and drove the fist out in the same breath.
WHAM!!
"Kgh…?!"
The fist sank squarely into her lower abdomen; her waist folded at a ninety-degree angle and she was hurled off the arena stage, slamming into the wall.
CRASH!!
The wall caved in, and as the cloud of dust thinned, the figure embedded in it stood revealed in stark detail.
'…And even now, she hasn't let go of her sword.'
Was that foolishness, or something worth admiring… A temperament like hers was rare, regardless of sex. Had I met her back before my regression, in my days as the Sex Fiend, I would have taken her as a disciple on the spot.
'I will have her.'
This had gone beyond merely whetting my appetite. The interest was genuine now… and I had made up my mind to take her.
"Th-the winner is… Young Master Wi."
The Hall Master, who had stood dumbstruck for a long while, at last proclaimed my victory in a distinctly grudging voice.
"……"
There were no cheers. Was it the sheer unexpectedness of the result — or the shock of seeing just how wide the gap between them truly was? Each of them had their own reasons, no doubt, but from this spar onward, a single thought took root in every direct disciple's head.
'Never — under any circumstances — try anything with him alone…'
Others, meanwhile, were nursing a very different sentiment entirely.
"Wow… Scrub! Scruuub! That was SO cool!!!"
Pitter-patter!
Yeon Hayeong came bounding over in hopping skips, eyes agleam, and hollered.
"Taking out scary big sis Seoryeon in ONE blow… you doped or something, didn't you! Admit it!"
"Doping? Please. If I'd touched anything like that, I'd have been caught ages ago."
I replied, watching her carry on with her nonsense. Even after I'd shown her a fair measure of strength, she was still calling me a scrub… so whatever she'd said before must have been empty words after all.
"Otherwise there's no waaay you'd win this easily…"
But apparently the whole thing still made no sense to her — she kept her suspicious glare fixed on me, unblinking. She stared hard enough that my back began to sting.
"Not that it matters — I'm winning our bet either waaay… give it your best shot."
"…If you say so."
With that, the Hall Masters called the assembly dismissed, and the disciples began drifting out of the arena one by one.
Only when the floor had emptied — leaving just the Hall Master, who had stepped up to support Seoryeon — did I finally make my way over to her.
"Allow me to carry her back."
"…Young Master Wi."
"You should head back first, Hall Master. With the Great Battle of Heavenly Blood coming, aren't these your busiest days?"
A Hall Master's post put him in command of one of Yohwa Palace's combat units — ranked below a direct disciple, granted, but hardly a position to be scorned. Think of it as level with us, only tilted a hair lower. From where he stood, too, declining an offer from a direct disciple would be no simple thing.
"…Then I'll leave Seoryeon in your care."
"Understood."
And with that, the Hall Master took his leave. Only once his presence had faded entirely did I lift her into my arms and walk out of the arena.
"…Mmm."
The same scene kept replaying before her eyes. The fist that came flying in that split second, burying itself dead-center in her lower abdomen… and there, in some place she couldn't tell was real or not, she took it — again, and again, and again.
Then, at some point… she found her eyes opening.
"Ah…."
What met her eyes was the ceiling she saw every day. She tensed her abdomen, hurrying to push herself up from the bed.
Throb—!
"Ugh…."
The throbbing pain in her lower abdomen made her falter mid-motion, and it was all she could do to sit up. The pain was severe. The moment she applied even a sliver of strength, it throbbed — and her body reacted of its own accord.
……
When she gently lifted her clothing to check… a red mark was traced across her lower abdomen. A single blow aimed precisely at that one spot. She had braced for a bruise blooming dark — so the fact that only a red streak remained left her puzzled.
'He… pulled his strength?'
If that was him holding back… then had he struck at full power, it would surely have torn straight through her belly and killed her outright.
……
Grrraaah…!
She clenched her fist until the palm went white and numb. Infuriating… To be felled by that nobody — a man governed by nothing but desire, no different from any other — and a direct disciple at that. This could not be happening!
'I have to go demand answers right now—'
She tried to force herself off the bed and onto her feet — if only to tell him he should have just killed her instead.
Zzt!
"Hngh…?!"
But the tingling that pulsed from her reddened lower abdomen forced her to clutch it once more. This was nothing like the throbbing. Something was welling up from deep inside her, crackling as it rose… a sensation that set her heart fluttering, just a little.
"What… is this…?"
The moment she tried to move even slightly, the throb and the tingle both swelled.
'It should only hurt — that would be normal. So why is my body doing this…?'
In the end, she never made it off the bed. Until this sensation faded and the mark on her lower abdomen was gone… she would have no choice but to keep herself shut up in her room.