The Gray Witch and the Sword Demon

‘So THIS is the way?’

Having finally grasped the method of controlling divine power, all I could feel was a strange emptiness. Up until now, I'd always approached control delicately, with fine precision. That was how I'd handled mana, after all.

But divine power was different. The more delicately I reached for it, the more wildly it churned through my body like a thing possessed.

‘Stop!’

The instant I screamed the thought, the divine power froze dead in its tracks.

So that was the secret to controlling divine power. All I had to do was shout at it!

"Hahahaha…."

At that absurd condition, half of my soul promptly evacuated my body.

While I sat there with my spirit out of my ears, Cheongun slowly drifted over to me.

"Did the contractor truly endure this ordeal every single day?"

"You're telling me."

Cheongun coiled straight around my body without caring one bit whether I was glowing or not. It was enough to make me wonder where the Cheongun who'd been so enamored with the light just moments ago had gone.

"Might as well get something to eat…."

I opened a gate for the first time in a while and stepped back into my room. I'd come for food, sure — but I also needed to know how the situation had shifted out in the world while I'd been buried in the gate.

‘Huh? What's this?’

The moment I opened the internet, I rubbed my eyes at the headline staring back at me from the top of the news page.

Grace fighting Matsumoto ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a far bigger deal than it sounded. If those two ever went at each other for real, the entire city would be reduced to a sea of flames.

The article beneath the headline spelled it out: news had broken that the Gray Witch, Grace, and the Sword Demon, Matsumoto Ken, would clash in the Association's sparring arena at seven o'clock this evening. Top-tier S-Rank awakeners throwing down had drawn massive public attention, and citizens across the city were waiting for today's match with bated breath. The duel would be broadcast live at seven.

‘What on earth is going on?’

I step away into a gate for a little rest, and a war breaks out.

‘Fighting inside the Association's own building means the Association President gave the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠green light….’

Honestly, I couldn't wrap my head around it. If those two tore the sparring hall apart mid-match, the losses would be astronomical. Having weighed that cost and still approved the duel — what was he thinking?

‘The moment either of them opens their demonic power, it's game over.’

The moment demonic power was unleashed, the danger level around the Association would skyrocket. Then again, Lust and Greed weren't exactly the combat-specialized branches of the demon family, so maybe it wouldn't come to that.

‘Fine. Nothing for it.’

I picked up my phone, opened the delivery app, and ordered chicken. It was half past six. By the time the chicken arrived, the fight would be starting — perfect timing.

‘I'll watch it on the TV in the living room.’

For the first time in ages, I left the gate and headed for the living room.

"So you didn't run away."

"You're one to talk, you wretch. Somehow managed not to scurry off yourself."

The moment they stepped into the arena, both women contorted their faces and traded venom. They each cultivated a wholesome public image, but since a personal grudge had sparked this duel in the first place, neither bothered holding back.

"Today's the day I shut that filthy mouth of yours for good."

"Oh my, that's my line. Let me shut that trash-stench-spewing mouth of yours so you can never use it again, shall I?"

The broadcast hadn't started yet, but plenty of people were within earshot.

"Were those two always this kind of image?"

"They look like sworn blood enemies."

"Did something happen between them?"

People around them murmured and whispered, but the two paid it no mind whatsoever. There was only one thought in their heads: beat the thing standing in front of them into the ground.

"Then, effective immediately, I will commence the duel under my supervision."

The moment Team Leader Woo Sang-shik entered, every camera whirred to life as if it had been waiting for exactly this.

"The rules are simple."

"Now, please sign the contract."

It was a consumable item — Mitra's Contract. Break the terms inscribed on it, and an unknown force clamped down on you with overwhelming restraint.

"Then I shall sign."

"As will I."

Both women signed the contract without hesitation. They'd spat plenty of venom at each other, but neither had any intention of actually killing the other from the start. They were, after all, the respective lieutenants of Lust and Greed. Kill the wrong person, and it could drag their patrons into a full-scale war.

‘I'll settle for an arm.’

‘A limb or two should be acceptable, no?’

As long as nobody died, of course. Perhaps because they had so many years of grievance banked between them, neither showed the slightest inclination to go easy.

"Then would both combatants please take their positions."

The two moved to their marks, and a shield of condensed mana rose around the arena. Compared to the mana of an S-Rank, it was a pathetic little barrier — but the judgment had been that even that beat nothing at all.

"Begin."

Before Team Leader Woo Sang-shik's signal had even finished leaving his mouth, both of them unleashed their mana and hurled attacks at each other.

"Eraser."

"Kill."

Grace's magic collided head-on with the sword aura Matsumoto loosed, and the two annihilated each other in midair.

"Tch!"

Clicking her tongue, the Sword Demon gripped her katana and charged straight at Grace. The fundamental rule when a swordswoman fights a mage is distance. The swordsman closes in and drags the fight to close quarters; the mage creates separation and pulls the fight to long range.

"Fog of Silence."

The moment Grace activated her skill, a thick bank of mist bloomed outward from around her body.

"Mind's Eye."

Matsumoto answered in kind, activating her own skill. The Fog of Silence disrupted an opponent's mana and sowed confusion. The Mind's Eye was the counter — a skill that pierced through the disorientation and revealed the truth.

"Sakura."

As Matsumoto swung her blade, a pink trajectory trailed in its wake — and from that arc, petals of pale-pink cherry blossom came fluttering down. At a glance it looked like nothing more than a pretty technique, but every single one of those petals carried a payload of mana.

"Gather."

A linked technique. This time, the petals converged onto Matsumoto's katana, and the gathered blossoms began to take the shape of a blade itself.

"Well, isn't this fun?"

Grace smiled at the shower of cherry blossoms. There was no doubt that the chain Matsumoto was weaving right now was her signature technique. But that was the Matsumoto who was a human being — not a demon.

"Did you truly believe a pathetic technique like that could leave so much as a scratch on me?"

The reason Grace had laughed just now was sheer incredulity. She hadn't picked a fight just to watch that.

"If you're going to fight me, at least bring this much."

Mana gathered within Grace to its absolute limit, spinning and spinning and spinning until it churned into a vortex.

"The Endless Maelstrom."

"Turn."

Two techniques slammed into each other. In raw power, Grace's held the advantage. But the affinity was all wrong.

Vvvvmmm!

Grace's Endless Maelstrom rotated clockwise. Matsumoto's Turn rotated counterclockwise. When two vortices spin in opposite directions, the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

KA-BOOM!

The colliding mana ignited into a colossal explosion. Two counter-rotating forces meeting meant that neither could swallow the other — and the only result left was detonation.

"Gah!"

"Ugh!"

And when that happened, the one who took the brunt of it should have been Matsumoto — the one swinging a blade in the thick of it. No. Should have been Matsumoto.

‘There's no way she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could have withstood the clash of that technique.’

What Grace had cast was a technique built purely from mana alone. There'd be damage from the explosion, certainly — but no recoil from having her technique canceled out.

‘Then this is my vict—’

The instant the thought formed, Matsumoto came barreling through the thick smoke.

"How?!"

Grace had no choice but to panic. Both of Matsumoto's arms — which should have been scorched by the blast — were perfectly intact.

"This is my win!"

"Yah!"

Matsumoto swung her katana in a vicious arc, and Grace, scrambling, spent her remaining mana on one last spell.

"Reflect."

The very moment the spell left her lips, Matsumoto's blade struck true against Grace's body.

KA-BOOM!

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I… have no excuse."

Under Greed's interrogation, Grace couldn't lift her head. He had sent her to investigate the man who killed Envy — and she'd gone and brawled with Lust's lieutenant instead.

"Do you have any idea how flabbergasted I was when I read the Korean news?"

"I apologize."

Greed said only that. No mana, no demonic power laced into the words. And yet they carried a strange, suffocating pressure. And the reason he'd abandoned his usual polished register was simple: he was that angry.

"I trust you will not disappoint me again."

"I apologize."

"That will be all. Go."

At Greed's dismissal, Grace shuffled out of the room, burning with fury all the while.

‘That wretched puppet of Lust’s — !’

Her anger had lashed off in a completely absurd direction, but there was nobody around to point that out to her.

"Ken?"

"Yes…."

When Lust addressed him by name, Matsumoto answered at rigid attention. As a rule, Lust never called ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Matsumoto by name.

"What exactly did I tell you to do?"

"You told me to bring Han Jin…."

"And instead…."

Lust's voice brimmed with barely contained rage. Matsumoto had a premonition that one wrong word could end very badly for him.

"You brawled with that insufferable underling of Greed, and accomplished nothing. Not one single thing."

"…."

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Matsumoto kept his head bowed and held his silence.

"You are confined to the estate until I call for you."

"But—!"

"Get out."

"…Yes."

Matsumoto hurried out of the mansion.

‘That godforsaken bitch—!’

And inside, he cursed Grace with every fiber of his being.

Never once realizing his anger was pointed the wrong way too.

‘Didn't expect it to end like that, though.’

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. The duel between the two hadn't lasted long. It was, if anything, a brief fight. But the ripples their clash had left behind were stretching out enormously far.

‘There's no way I could take either of them at my current level.’

Take them on?

What a joke. I'd be lucky to pray my way out of being trampled to death. If Envy had fought me for real from the very beginning, the two of us working together with everything we had would have barely been enough to hold out. That's how weak Envy had been.

‘Good thing she attacked first.’

If Envy had finished her growth and gained full command of Leviathan's power, the outcome of that raid would have been one hundred percent different.

‘Well, it ended in a draw, at least….’

Grace had blacked out from Matsumoto's final strike, and Matsumoto had blacked out from the shock that came screaming back through the Reflect — hence the draw.

"If I want to win, I need to gather more elixirs."

And it wasn't just the elixirs — I had to raise Cheongun, too. He was still an imugi, but the moment he could forge his own orb, he would evolve into a true dragon.

Those two were obstacles to be surpassed, no matter how far it took — not destinations.

‘Starting tomorrow, I'm going straight back into the gate.’

Those two would never know.

That their little war had only poured more fuel onto the fire burning in the heart of their one true nemesis.