The Existence of the Wall

"My lord."

Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's face was as brutally grim as ever, but the itch to fight was plain in the way he asked.

"Wouldn't it be better if I stepped in?"

"……."

When the Eldest Young Master only gazed up at the sky without answering, he pressed again.

"The chief maid may possess peculiar talents, and her progress has been unnaturally swift—but until she came to Wongak-jeong, she didn't even know proper martial arts, did she?"

He fidgeted with his sword hilt, pouring out sound transmissions with tireless urgency.

"Given who the opponent is, I—your most reliable blade—should be the one to—"

"It's going to rain."

"…Pardon?"

The Eldest Young Master's completely unrelated remark made Tal-myeong-gwi-geom answer out loud.

"Just now, what did you—"

"Enough."

The Eldest Young Master cut him off, exhaling as if the man were a nuisance.

"I said you're too loud."

"……."

Tal-myeong-gwi-geom shut his mouth, sulking.

"Tell them rain is coming."

"As you command!"

The messenger from Hyeonwol Pavilion bowed and vanished. Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon crossed his arms.

"If you don't want the other side of your ribs torn open by Hwasan's Illusion Sword, stand still and watch."

Rumble—.

The dark clouds that had been massing heavily since afternoon finally began their true writhing.

Whoosh—!

Mae Ok, the Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix, left the flames leaping down toward the ground behind her and looked up at the sky.

Plip. Plip. Plip-plip-plip.

One drop, then two.

Like falling tears, rain began to fall.

"Tch."

Moyong Ho, the deputy acting in place of the Grand General and holding the command baton in Chief Maid Jeong-a's stead, clicked his tongue.

"In the end—just as the Eldest Young Master said. Rain."

It would be a great help against the lingering embers still smoldering at the Moyong Family's main estate and the fires scattered throughout Shenyang. But for a man who had to command a battle, it was hardly welcome news.

"To all archers."

From the combatants of the Wongak-jeong maid corps and Hyeonwol Pavilion to the archers drawn from the Moyong Family—every soul forming the encirclement around the rebel underground stronghold received the command post's order.

"As of this moment, all use of firearms is prohibited. Complete ban on firearms."

Moyong Ho himself handed his flintlock long gun to the soldier waiting beside him.

"Protect the weapons."

If water reached the powder pan, ignition became impossible. Better to shield the guns from moisture ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠altogether.

Whether she heard that small flurry of activity or not—

"Chief maid, was it…?"

Mae Ok, the Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix, spoke with her gaze still fixed on the heavens.

"Have you ever seen the wall?"

Chief Maid Jeong-a, dressed in night-combat garb, answered with a calm that bordered on unnerving.

"I have not."

"Is that so…?"

What was the Eldest Young Master of the Sword House thinking, sending a child who had never even seen the wall?

Would there be some change in the tactics of the Eldest Young Master's side, which until now had seized one-sided advantage through skilled firearms doctrine?

If she defeated this girl, would she then have to face the Eldest Young Master himself?

If she avoided the fight—what of the escape route?

Had her senior martial brother escaped with the disciples?

Did Sama Dae-gunsa have any clever scheme left—

"……."

She shook her head. It was time to purge stray thoughts.

As befit a master of great Hwasan who had crossed the wall.

Shring—.

The instant she sheathed her sword, her cluttered mind emptied clean.

Clear mirror, still water.

Her violet gaze sank deep.

And what rose from the deepest place was pure killing intent toward her opponent—and battle will.

"…If you must resent someone, resent your master."

"Resentment is mine alone."

Chief Maid Jeong-a lowered her center of gravity into a drawing stance and answered evenly.

"Only the glory of victory belongs to my lord."

Violet pupils locked precisely on her foe. Mae Ok's mouth curved in a scornful little snort.

"…Is it because you were nothing but a maid who entertained guests? Your tongue has already crossed the wall."

Jeong-a fired back at once.

"Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix, they call you. Perhaps you earned that epithet not with a sword, but with your—"

Flash—!

A single stroke that pierced her opening with perfect precision.

Mae Ok's draw was so fast that the dense plum-blossom fragrance exploding outward with the unsheathing only reached everyone's noses—

Shring—!

—and then, only afterward, came the sound of the blade leaving its scabbard.

"……!"

The force was so vicious that even Moyong Ho, standing far from the Eldest Young Master's archers, jerked his head back on pure reflex.

Insane…!

But the one more shocked was Mae Ok herself, the one who had launched the surprise attack.

She had believed it perfect.

Yet only a few strands of hair, severed and fluttering—Jeong-a did not even glance at them. She simply tilted her head aside, let the draw whistle past, and finished her sentence.

"—mouth, rather than your sword?"

And so—

When her eyes met Jeong-a's, golden and curved like a crescent moon of pure mockery—

"You little—!"

Violet sparks flared in Mae Ok's eyes.

At the same instant, the extended blade shivered.

"Here it comes…!"

The moment Tal-myeong-gwi-geom, watching from behind the Eldest Young Master, muttered low—Mae Ok's vibrating sword seemed to split into many soft, waving branches.

Shimmer—!

As if late-season plum petals scattered endlessly through the air.

One petal, another—

Countless sword energies, too many for the eye to count, embroidered the empty sky.

"That—that's Hwasan's Plum Blossom Sword…!"

Moyong Ho cried out as if in despair.

False and true interwoven.

A wild dance of innumerable feints instantly dazzled every watching eye.

Moyong Ho, who had not crossed the wall, could not even begin to tell whether dozens or hundreds of plum blossoms had bloomed and fallen in that brief instant.

The very form that had earned Mae Ok the name Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix.

Her signature ultimate technique.

"…Shit."

The moment Tal-myeong-gwi-geom cursed under his breath and gripped his sword hilt to step forward—

"I told you to stand still and watch."

Poke—the Eldest Young Master jabbed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him in the ribs again with exquisite precision.

"……!"

Tal-myeong-gwi-geom swallowed a scream—and in that same instant—

…Now!

As if she did not even dare attempt a response to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠martial arts containing the essence of Hwasan, Chief Maid Jeong-a simply stood rooted in place. Between the feints swirling around her like a veil, killing strokes began to seep through.

Just as one cannot escape plum fragrance in a plum orchard—

In Hwasan's Illusion Sword, the killing stroke cannot be distinguished.

And then—

"……!"

In that brief instant—was it only illusion?—

In a moment when even sound seemed to vanish, Mae Ok thought she met the golden light of Chief Maid Jeong-a's eyes.

Kakakakakakang!

Like the brakes of a carriage slamming on at full speed—

A deafening shriek of metal, and a storm of sparks erupted in midair.

In the same instant as Jeong-a's draw—

Chime—!

A pure, clear cry of steel.

The countless plum petals embroidering the sky burst apart as if struck by bullets.

It was the sword art of the Sword House that Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon had demonstrated that very day—the art that dominated space itself.

"……?!"

What was this?

What was happening?

How—amid that sea of feints—could she intercept only the killing strokes, as if she had plucked them out one by one?

In a moment that could neither be understood nor accepted—

Thud!

"Ghk…!"

Jeong-a's kick, smashing through the broken Illusion Sword, caught Mae Ok in the abdomen and sent her flying.

"……!"

Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's brows trembled.

The name Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix was no empty title.

Even he could not confidently separate the killing strokes melted into Mae Ok's innumerable feints.

Mae Ok had reached that realm—a true master of the Illusion Sword.

And yet Chief Maid Jeong-a had seized unilateral advantage in the exchange?

"I told you to watch, did I not?"

At Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon's voice, Tal-myeong-gwi-geom's head whipped around.

Seeing a face that seemed ready to speak through expression alone, Yeon So-hyeon gave a short laugh.

"From the beginning, I did not send the chief maid against the Fully Blooming Sword Phoenix because our available forces were insufficient."

The Eldest Young Master spoke with a smile still on his lips.

"From the start, I was simply playing the card that guarantees certain victory."

The Golden-Eyed Witch.

Before Yeon So-hyeon's regression, she had been the figure upon whom the Luoyang Sword House's pursuit order had remained for the longest span in its history.

Which meant this:

The Golden-Eyed Witch had been the rare master who tormented the Sword House longer than any other.

The wandering masters who had charged in after the vast bounty the Luoyang Sword House posted—

The masters belonging to the Sword House's own pursuit corps—

Even those masters who, regardless of any grudge between the Sword House and the Golden-Eyed Witch, had sought her out purely for the thrill of the challenge after hearing her infamous name—

Every last one of them had worn the same expression Mae Ok wore now.

"What the hell are you…?!"

Plum Blossoms Gradually Opening.

With exquisite application of force, she secretly piled on internal energy so that the blossoms might swell overnight—yet—

Kak!

It was useless.

That monster called the Eldest Young Master's chief maid seemed to see even the invisible movements of her opponent's internal energy with her own eyes.

"I asked what you are…!"

Falling Plums Become Rain.

She unleashed a barrage of killing strokes born from the overwhelming internal power of the difference in realms—yet the result was nothing but wasteful thrashing.

Clang—!

As if reading everything.

Minimal movement.

Minimal internal energy, striking the exact meridians with a sword path that held not the slightest hesitation.

"Hyaaaaah—!"

At times she moved with a mutability that even she herself found impressive.

At times she fought rough and savage, offering flesh to take bone.

At times she deployed secret swords no one had ever seen through on the first encounter.

But every attempt was futile.

Every method, null.

Those golden eyes, flashing with ominous light, seemed to pierce through everything.

"What are you…?!"

Mae Ok's clear mirror and still water had shattered long ago.

The long history of the Hwasan Sect.

The personal experience Mae Ok herself had accumulated.

Everything felt dismantled, smashed to pieces before her eyes.

An incomprehensible rift.

Collapsing principle.

It was a terror without precedent.

"What in the hell are those eyes—?!"

In the final moment, the sword Mae Ok swung, unable to endure any longer, was pure frenzy.

And that—

was the single instant Chief Maid Jeong-a had waited for, and waited for again, in order to overcome the vast difference in internal power.

Her stance dropped in a flash. In time that seemed to freeze, her golden eyes narrowed.

"Hup—!"

Was the shout first?

Or the sword stroke that cleaved the raindrops cleanly in two?

Puhak—!

What was certain was this:

Mae Ok's shoulder tore open, a deep cut raked across her torso, and a fountain of blood erupted from her body.

"Keuhk…!"

Mae Ok collapsed into a pool of her own blood and writhed.

To the very last moment, she did not understand what she had seen—or what she had fought.

Shhhh—.

"At the beginning."

Standing in the thickening rain, Chief Maid Jeong-a steadied her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠roughened breathing and approached her.

"You asked if I had ever seen the wall, did you not?"

The flames dwindled under the rain, and deeper darkness settled over the street—yet the chief maid's eyes only burned more vividly gold within that dark, terrifyingly sharp.

"I have never seen the wall. And I never will."

With eyes losing focus, Mae Ok asked with difficulty.

"What… does that mean…?"

The Golden-Eyed Witch answered.

"A wall exists only for those who can see it."

Her voice carried quietly through the sound of rain.

"And a wall exists only for those who cannot see beyond it."

Crunch.

The sword that pierced Mae Ok's cervical vertebrae with perfect precision drove into the ground.

To the final instant, Mae Ok could not understand her words.