Ten Days: The Night of the Decisive Battle (1)
"What?"
I tossed the question out casually, but it didn't land at all. The Blue Sky Sword Empress lay on the bed with her back to me and spoke as though the effort was pointless.
"Don't pretend you don't know. It's unseemly, acting like this when you clearly understand."
"...Fine. I know. Satisfied?"
That you're going to die. I didn't bother naming the subject. But I hadn't danced around it either, so there was no chance she hadn't understood.
"Once I'm gone, you'll leave this room. What do you plan to do then?"
She had a point. When I thought about it, I only had about ten hours left before I had to officially depart the vice-leader's quarters.
I considered lying for a moment, but I couldn't find any reason to deceive her. If anything, I suspected she would be displeased by falsehoods, so I told her the truth.
"First, I'll attend your execution. After that, it looks like I'll be joining the fight for the first time in a while. Even if I wanted to avoid it, orders have come down. Seems they're planning to wipe out the entire Huashan Sect this time."
A brief silence fell, and the atmosphere turned ice-cold. I wondered if I'd been too blunt when her reluctant reply came, as if in confirmation.
"...I can't quite bring myself to wish you luck."
"Good. Please don't."
I wasn't praying for it myself, so why would I ask her to? It was nothing I desired.
Silence settled over us once more. I'd thought that if this was our final conversation, we'd have countless unspoken words to share, but it was nothing like that.
Thankfully, she broke the quiet again.
"There's one thing I've wanted to ask you for a while."
This felt familiar. With that sense of familiarity, I jumped in first.
"Hold on. Is this about that strange moaning sound from last time?"
"S-strange...?"
She protested softly but couldn't deny it. Embarrassed, her body twitched once before she asked again—this time properly.
"...Why would someone like you remain in the Demonic Cult?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said."
Her voice was steady, filled with unshakeable conviction. She spoke as if stating the obvious truth that the sun sets and the moon rises.
"You are good."
"On the surface you may appear to be nothing but a madman, but having seen you up close, you're nothing of the sort."
"What demonic practitioner in this world possesses clear qi? What villain treats prisoners with such decency? Such things are rare not only among the heretics but even within the righteous factions."
"If such a person exists, we call them a sage."
Her opinion was so firm and resolute that it left me speechless. In the end, all I could manage was an uncool reply.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
I struggled to find the right response. It wasn't that I wouldn't answer. The question wasn't even difficult.
"It's because I'm still too much like a child."
"You must have joined when you were very young."
Hmm. We're still young. Not even twenty yet. I thought to myself, then closed my eyes.
How should I explain this...
"...Don't all martial artists have that thought at least once?"
That there are things you can only protect with strength.
"I had an unremarkable master. Divine Slaughter Heaven Breaker? The sword art with that grandiose name was hollow, without any real substance."
An old man in a dark robe. He never even gave me his name. The man who called himself the sect leader of the Pacheon Sword Gate had taught me the sword.
"My master knew that. That's why he told me that if there was anything lacking in the sword, I should fix it without hesitation or restraint."
"I'd never seen anyone treat their own martial arts that way, and it was the last time I ever would. That was the kind of man my master was."
"But I was young then. Instead of devoting myself to martial arts, I focused on making a living. If I'd given it my all from the beginning, I would have been stronger. It's still a regret."
Every day my master would descend the mountain, watch my sword practice, and then leave. It was by no means an ordinary arrangement, but he understood me. Where else could you find a teacher like that? At the very least, he was one of the few people in my life I could truly say I respected.
"One day, while I was cooking at home, my master returned. Covered in blood."
Such a man had died before my eyes. The image is still vivid. The way he had climbed the mountain, gasping desperately for breath.
"When I asked what happened, he said he'd lightly beaten a warrior who was causing trouble while drunk. It turned out the man was the heir to some prestigious clan."
"That heir dragged his entire family and even the authorities into it, calling us demons and trying to kill us."
Run away. They know your face.
"Holding my master's cold body, I thought."
The anger that had long since cooled ignited once more.
"Why did they try to kill my master? No—if I or my master had been truly strong, would they have even dared to harbor such thoughts?"
If I, if my master had belonged to the Nine Great Schools or the Five Great Families, would they have acted that way? No. Of course not.
"It was strength. This tragedy was born from a lack of it."
The only difference between them and us was influence or martial power. Nothing more.
"Then I would become strong. I would become a mountain so towering that no one in the world would dare raise their head against it, so that evil like this could not even draw breath in this world."
That was my state of mind—the foundation of everything I had built over the years. Prove through strength that you yourself are justice.
And so the boy became obsessed with power and grew strong at a frightening pace. The moment he became a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, he completed his master's revenge and tore apart even higher heavens.
Time passed. It was enough for a young demon who hadn't even reached twenty to rise to the position of second-in-command in the renowned Demonic Cult.
"During that time, I killed a female swordsman from the Emei Sect. Her desperate struggle to survive irritated me, so I tried to dismember her corpse as an example for others. That's when a young child came running, crying, and blocked my way."
It was a girl with dark brown hair as deep as the swordsman's. Her face was twisted with tears, and she glared at me with pure hatred.
"That swordsman had been her mother. The woman had been fighting with her child hidden behind her. In that moment, this thought struck me."
I never wanted this.
"That my justice had become evil to someone else. That I, too, had become evil."
The malice once directed at me and my master had, without my noticing, grown into an even greater malice that now pierced the world from my own hands.
"...Looking back now, I regret it. The idea that strength is both proof and absolution—it's absurd nonsense doctrine. It can't be justified by any means. I'm ashamed I ever took it as my state of mind."
"The Wulin Alliance isn't clean, but compared to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it's practically cute. My thinking was completely wrong."
"Sage... I appreciate the word, but it's been less than a year since I realized anything about clear qi or whatever. I belong with evil."
I had wanted to become good. I'd held the vain belief that I could remain good even while surrounded by evil. Yet somehow I had become the worst of the worst. In the end, I was evil with no room for excuses.
"If that's what you believe, then I have nothing more to say."
She, who had listened quietly to my entire story, turned her head. I quietly looked away as well, weighed down by the skepticism that followed my confession.
But with her head still turned, she spoke.
"However, I am grateful to you."
"Hm?"
"If we simply look at it person to person, you've already helped me many times over. Calling it repayment feels excessive, so now you've become my benefactor."
"There's no way for me to repay you." She added the words with an exaggerated smile and continued. "If you've come to realize your sins, it means you've been given another chance. Since Bulgwang Daesa said so, you can trust it."
"Your path toward goodness has not yet abandoned you."
She turned to look at me again as she spoke. When our eyes met—her blue gaze—I felt as though I were being drawn in, as if my innermost thoughts were being laid bare.
She had said I possessed clear qi earlier. Unfortunately, I'd never seen it in my lifetime, so I couldn't comment. But if such a thing truly existed, it must look something like this.
A faint blue radiance seemed to bloom behind her, illuminating the dark room. The atmosphere was like that of a mountain spirit from legend, so I answered with a silent laugh.
"Pfft. Those are truly grateful words."
I thanked her and rose from the chair. It was unfortunate, but the time had come to put everything in order. Still, there was no need to rush, so I decided to take things slowly and asked her.
"Mind if I take the spot beside you on the bed for a moment?"
"Of course. It was yours to begin with."
Her expression seemed to say I was asking something too obvious. I'd only asked because I worried she might misunderstand—perhaps I'd been overly concerned.
I brought my face close to hers. She clearly hadn't expected this; she flinched back in surprise.
"Didn't I tell you earlier? That I'm a good person."
"Y-yes, you did."
Her voice trembled slightly. It stirred the playful side of me, but since I had something important to say, I asked her seriously.
"But tomorrow, I'm going to kill you. With high probability, I'll do it with my own hands. And I'll probably kill every last person from the Huashan Sect as well. Knowing the sin and committing it anyway. Even so, would I still be a good person?"
"That... I don't know."
Saying she didn't know was as good as denial. When I heard the answer I'd expected, I smiled and moved my hand to my waist. Something familiar brushed my fingertips. The corners of my mouth curved like drawn bows as I spoke.
"Right?"
In that instant the dagger split the air, and red blood followed, soaring upward behind it.