The Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword Surfaces
Footsteps echoed down the corridor.
"Hmm?"
Depnius the dragon, just returned from a brief outing, tilted his head.
What is this?
Something inside felt unsettled. No one was shouting, yet a restless murmur ran through the halls.
He caught a figure in passing.
"You there. Carbam."
"What?"
Cardinal Carbam of the Demon God Cult turned, regarding Depnius with open distaste.
"The atmosphere is off. What happened?"
"Do I have to report every little thing to the likes of you?"
"…"
Carbam's hostility made Depnius's brow tighten. Of everyone in the cult, this man hated him most — and with good reason. How many cultists and demons had Depnius slaughtered at the Absolute Being's side? Even now, Carbam refused to trust him.
"I know you despise me. But you know full well what I've done for this cult these past few years. Isn't it time you started trusting me?"
"A few years? To a dragon, that's the blink of an eye."
"It may be a blink to me. It isn't to a human like you."
"Hmph. For someone who might switch back to Baek Do-ha's side at any moment, you talk a good game."
"Switch back…"
Depnius's gaze went cold.
Even if he turned on the cult, he would never return to Baek Do-ha's side. More precisely — he couldn't, even if he wanted to.
"Baek Do-ha cherishes his people absolutely. And I killed Tunrad."
Baek Do-ha's friend. His own friend. By killing the dwarf Tunrad, Depnius had already crossed a river that could never be uncrossed.
"So stop fretting. When Baek Do-ha reappears, it won't just be the cult whose lives are on the line — mine will be too. If I don't want to die, I'll have to kill him with everything I've got."
"…Tch."
At that, Carbam pulled a tablet from his robes. Through their contact with Earth, the cult had absorbed no small amount of its culture and technology.
He tossed it over.
"See for yourself."
Depnius, already familiar with the device, began flipping through the photographs.
"Who is this?"
The screen showed a stranger fleeing in a desperate scramble.
"Heo Won-sa. One of the Blood Sect's people. We lost contact with him for a while, then yesterday he turned up on CCTV."
"Why would he—?"
Is the cult this agitated over some Blood Sect martial artist? Why? Did he betray them?
"Swipe to the next one."
"?"
Depnius flicked the screen. A video began to play.
"Hah… hah… Th-this sword… I can never let them take it…!"
The short clip ended. Depnius frowned.
What is he trying to show me with this?
All it showed was a man named Heo Won-sa clutching a worn, crude blade and running for his life. At the end he drew the sword — but he attacked no one. He simply muttered to himself.
"Do you recognize that sword?"
"Not particularly. I've never seen a blade that shabby."
"Nothing about it stands out to you?"
"Beyond the killing intent it carries, nothing. Why? Is it important to the Blood Sect?"
"It's the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword. The genuine article."
"What?!"
Depnius — whose expression rarely shifted — jolted in pure shock. He'd assumed the sword mattered if a Blood Sect martial artist was cradling it so carefully, but the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword? That was beyond imagining. It hadn't appeared in centuries. Everyone knew the one currently held by the Blood Demon was a fake.
"Y-you're saying it's real?"
"Yes. The Blood Sect's elders already cross-verified it. That's why the cult is in an uproar. The moment the Blood Demon claims that sword, our overall strength will surge. Of course, some of the higher-ups are worried — that a reinforced Blood Sect might turn on us."
"…"
While Carbam kept talking, Depnius narrowed his eyes and sank into thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Doesn't something feel wrong?"
"Wrong how?"
"The Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword."
It had gone missing for hundreds of years. More than half the Blood Sect's forces had searched for it every single day — for centuries — and never found it.
"If they hunted it that desperately, authenticity isn't the issue. The timing is."
The instant word spread that Baek Do-ha had returned, a sword lost for centuries suddenly surfaced. Was that truly coincidence? A crawling unease ran up Depnius's spine, like insects skittering along his back.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm worried Baek Do-ha deliberately let the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword slip into the open."
"Tch, tch."
Carbam shook his head. He hated Baek Do-ha as much as anyone — more than anyone. He wanted him dead. He watched him with constant wariness. Even so, the odds that Baek Do-ha had found the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword were essentially zero.
"You may not know this, being a dragon… but the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword chooses its own master and appears before them. It isn't an ego sword, exactly, but it follows destiny. The reason no one found it for so long is probably that the Blood Demon is only half a man."
"You just said the Blood Sect spent centuries searching for it. If it appears of its own accord, why bother looking?"
"Because the Blood Sect doesn't believe the legend."
That was precisely why they had hunted for centuries. To accept the legend would be to admit that their own cult leader, the Blood Demon, was incomplete. So they rejected the story and kept searching, convinced the sword was simply hidden somewhere.
"Baek Do-ha found the sword? What, is the Absolute Being the Blood Demon now? The Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword descends only upon the Blood Demon."
"…"
Depnius opened his mouth, then closed it again.
A moment ago he said it chooses its own master — and now it only descends upon the Blood Demon…
If the sword chose freely, its master need not be the Blood Demon at all. Carbam had simply overlooked that.
"I know you're hypersensitive about anything involving Baek Do-ha. But this time, you've got it wrong."
More to the point — Heo Won-sa was still holding the sword. If he had betrayed them, would he be fleeing with it clutched to his chest like that?
"From what I've heard, Baek Do-ha has been quiet lately."
"Then who is chasing Heo Won-sa so hard?"
"No idea. I wouldn't know."
Carbam shrugged. How was he supposed to know that?
"The Blood Sect has started moving in force. We'll find out soon enough."
"And what should we be doing?"
"What should we be doing… Well. As the senior officers say, we should stay on guard. The moment the Blood Demon obtains the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword, he'll surpass Baek Do-ha. And if that happens, the Blood Sect might stab us in the back."
"…"
Depnius let out a short, dry laugh.
"What's so funny?"
Carbam's brow furrowed. That laugh grated on him.
"Even if the Blood Sect betrays us, they'll all die anyway. I was laughing because the situation amuses me."
"Fair enough. That would be entertaining in its own way."
The cardinal chuckled and walked on. But Depnius had laughed for an entirely different reason.
Even if the Blood Demon claims the Heaven-Cleaving Blood Demon Sword, he will never become stronger than Baek Do-ha.
The cult always claimed to be wary of the Absolute Being — and yet, beneath the words, they quietly dismissed Baek Do-ha. Look at them now. The Blood Demon surpassing Baek Do-ha?
You people have no idea what Baek Do-ha's power truly is.
Heaven. Hell. Seon-gye. Did they still not understand why he was called the Absolute Being? Even those arrogant realms addressed him as such without fail — and still they didn't grasp it?
Even if an Imugi obtains a Yeouiju and becomes a dragon…
It would never threaten a man whom even the gods feared. Yes, the current Blood Demon was said to be formidable — the strongest and most brutal in the line's history. When Depnius had met him alongside the Pope, he had been startled by the man's power. But that was all. Surprise. Nothing more.
When I first met Baek Do-ha…
A full-body shudder had run through him. Not mere astonishment — a shock so vast it climbed every nerve.
So I, at least, need to prepare.
As he'd thought, the cult was underestimating Baek Do-ha. That could not stand. Depnius was not praising the man. He simply knew what Baek Do-ha was — and only thorough preparation would make killing him possible.
"If you want to defeat your opponent, you start by acknowledging him…"
Depnius sighed and shook his head.
Did the cult even truly want Baek Do-ha dead?
Idiots.
They dismissed their enemy, and so Baek Do-ha crushed them every time. That was why Depnius would prepare himself. For the sake of his own purpose, Baek Do-ha had to die.
Decision made, Depnius moved quickly.
Hooves thundered in the distance. Dust rose in a vast cloud.
Sa Heo-mun of the Mount Hua Sect clenched his sword until his knuckles whitened.
"Hoo…"
Word that the Blood Sect was suddenly on the march had drawn the entire Nine Great Sects to the Moorim border. The one mercy was that the Blood Sect's target was not Moorim itself — but madmen like these could pivot and attack at any moment.
A hand settled on his shoulder.
"Don't tense up."
"Sect Leader."
Sa Heo-mun looked up as Shin Cheon-hoe, Sect Leader of Mount Hua, stepped to his side. As he'd said, the Blood Sect was not currently aimed at Moorim. Madness still burned in their eyes, but their objective lay elsewhere.
"Their target isn't us."
"Then where in the world are they all going?"
"I don't know…"
Shin Cheon-hoe narrowed his eyes. He had raced here the moment he heard the Blood Sect was moving, yet he still could not read their intent. For a force that had spent a lifetime in hiding to suddenly show itself — and to march so openly, with such overwhelming numbers — was something no one had expected.
"Senior, can you discern the Blood Sect's purpose?"
"I haven't the faintest idea either."
Sword Emperor Son Sobaek, who had been listening in silence, shrugged. Whether it was the Demonic Cult or the Blood Sect, they were lunatics who could lunge in any direction. Trying to predict them was pointless.
"What a waste… I thought I might finally get to stretch my legs…"
Beside him, Blade Emperor Heo Ung rested his massive saber across his shoulder and clicked his tongue. From the look of it, the Blood Sect was heading toward the South Continent — nowhere near the East.
"Think before you speak, my friend. If those bastards came this way, plenty of us would die too."
"Come on! I was joking!"
At the Sword Emperor's rebuke, the Blade Emperor barked back. His own disciples were standing right here — as if he would actually wish for a war!
"Still… with the Blood Sect moving like this, where is that Do-ha kid, and what is he doing?"
Heo Ung cocked his head. The boy who used to hunt the Demonic Cult and Blood Sect with fire in his eyes — why was he so quiet now?
"You don't suppose… all these Blood Sect forces are moving because of Do-ha, do you?"
"Nah, no way…"
"…"
"…"
At the Blade Emperor's words, every Sect Leader of the Nine Great Sects thought of Baek Do-ha at the same time.