[Special Edition] A Father Loves His Son Nonetheless
Lü Bu hadn't slept properly for days. Though hailed across the land as the greatest general under heaven, whenever he lay down in his chamber, it wasn't sleep that came to him, but a chilling dread of death.
To shake it off, he burned expensive agarwood incense and trained through the night. When that changed nothing, he summoned a renowned shaman for an exorcism rite, but it was all in vain. Only in Diaochan's presence did the terror ease, if only for a moment.
But the instant he left her and crossed the grand gate, Wang Yun's words echoed relentlessly in his mind.
"What do you think is the Grand Commandant's reason for coveting Diaochan? It's to kill you, General. Your blade is too sharp, so they mean to paint you as a vile traitor who lusts after his father's concubine and execute you for it!"
"If the Grand Commandant ascends the throne, do you think he'll truly install a Lü family prince as heir? No, he'll sire his own sons to secure his line. And if he does, will he cherish you as before?"
Once the whispers began, they refused to stop. Lü Bu tore at his hair and rolled on the floor. The strongest man in the Central Plains was but a helpless wretch before these phantoms.
"Dong Zhuo is a beast lusting after your woman. Do you expect a beast to honor a father's rites? The moment he hurled that scepter, the bond of father and son was severed. How can you not see that every time he smiles, the noose around your neck tightens?"
Lü Bu pounded the floor with his fists until they split open and blood flowed. Staring at the pooling crimson, he finally realized something. He had to live. He had to escape this hellish fear.
The suspicion that the man he called father was driving him to ruin spread like poison, paralyzing his reason.
"Kill him... You must kill him to live."
When the hallucination twisted into a command at last, Lü Bu's eyes snapped open. They gleamed with the feral glare of a beast.
The chamber in Fanxiu Castle was eerily silent, as if even the candle flames held their breath. Like a ghost, Lü Bu crossed the corridor and kicked open the massive door. The screech of splintering wood echoed like a death knell foretelling the castle's doom.
"Die, you monstrous old bastard!"
Lü Bu screamed as he thrust his Sky Piercer. As if unleashing days of torment in one explosive burst, his muscles surged, driving the silver blade into Dong Zhuo's chest. Schluck! The heavy sensation of piercing tough hide and flesh. Hot blood sprayed across the back of Lü Bu's hand.
In that instant, the tormenting voices vanished like a lie. Wang Yun's insidious tones, the hateful murmurs—all gone. Only silence remained.
Mortally wounded, Dong Zhuo clutched the spear buried deep in his chest with bloodied hands. Then, drawing his jeweled sword reverse-grip from his waist, he swung. But the blade didn't strike Lü Bu.
Confused, Lü Bu looked around. Behind him, an assassin with a poisoned dagger—planted by Wang Yun to eliminate even Lü Bu—lay collapsing with a sword in his chest.
Dong Zhuo had slain the death creeping up on his son instead of striking the boy down. Only then did Lü Bu understand. Wang Yun hadn't targeted just Dong Zhuo. It was a vile scheme to goad a blinded son into patricide, then dispatch the son amid the chaos.
The realization struck like lightning, leaving him trembling at how thoroughly he'd been used.
'What... what have I just done?'
Regret always arrives one step too late—after death. Dong Zhuo's breath flickered like a dying lamp.
With a trembling hand, he fumbled at his chest and drew a small sachet from his bosom, now soaked red with his blood.
"I suppose... I must give it to you early..."
Lü Bu's hands shook uncontrollably. The old man before him was no monster. He was a father who had spared his son's life, even when he could have taken it.
"Why... why didn't you strike me down?! I pierced your heart! Why did you save me?!"
"Cough...!"
Lü Bu's voice cracked wetly. Dong Zhuo swallowed blood-flecked phlegm and smiled faintly.
"What father slays his own child? I came from the frontiers, drunk on power, became a monster... but I wanted you to remain human."
Dong Zhuo mustered his last strength to grip Lü Bu's shoulder.
"My death is no injustice. But you, left alone... I pity you so. Fear not Yuan Shao—his arrogance will undo him. Beware Cao Cao; he's dangerous. And Fengxian... above all, watch the man Seowon under Yuan Shu. In Luoyang, I saw countless heroes, but that one alone... I couldn't measure."
With those words, the giant's hand fell.
"Grand Commandant! Where are you?!"
At that moment, the blood-soaked Li Ru staggered in, kicking the door wide. Seeing Dong Zhuo on the floor, he wailed like a beast and crawled to his side. Spotting the bloodied sachet in Lü Bu's hand, Li Ru's unfocused eyes turned to glare at him—filled not with mere murderous intent, but deeper contempt and pity.
"Fengxian, you fool of a Fengxian! Who in the world will ever trust you now?! The Grand Commandant meant to make you crown prince, seeking a match worthy of you! If he became emperor, you'd be prince—what bride would suit that but the finest?!"
"I... I just wanted to live with Diaochan! I couldn't survive without her!"
"Diaochan? No matter her peerless beauty, do you think a mere maidservant could shield you from those scheming officials? The Grand Commandant sought a marriage from the noblest house, so you'd stand tall not just before Xiliang generals, but Luoyang's aristocrats! That sachet was the token for your betrothed! He endured endless scorn, paving the empire for you—not to let you die a dumb brute! And now... it's all over!"
Li Ru let out a hollow laugh, staring at the ceiling as he cried out.
"I followed him because he was human, yet he dies because he was human. Whom shall we blame? His heart, that yearned to be a father over a ruthless lord!"
Then Li Ru seized the bloody blade of Lü Bu's Sky Piercer and dragged it fiercely across his own throat. Lü Bu tried to resist, but Li Ru's resolve was harder than steel.
"Fengxian, kill me. Send me to the Grand Commandant's side. I'm afraid if I delay, I'll miss the boat to the afterlife. What if he gets lost on the way alone? That hot-tempered man—how he'll search for me at the crossroads..."
Finally, vomiting blood, Li Ru whispered a chilling prophecy—or curse—into Lü Bu's ear.
"Remember, Fengxian. Today, you slew two great villains. Heed the strategists' words. The moment you close your ears... your future will be like ours..."
The cold steel sliced Li Ru's throat. Clutching the fishy, blood-drenched sachet, Lü Bu slumped amid the hollowed shells of corpses. His Sky Piercer's edge could cleave the heavens, yet it was powerless against the thread of fate tightening around his neck.
Lü Bu no longer feared death. In its place, suffocating emptiness filled the space. He clutched his face with trembling hands. Blood smeared his cheeks from his palms, but he didn't wipe it away. With his own hands, he had carved out his world—and heaven repaid him with an eternal night.
"Ah... aah..."
What rose from his throat was neither a beast's groan nor a hero's roar, but the pitiful sob of a lost child. The shoulders of the invincible warrior crumbled weakly. The freedom won by slaying his father dragged him into a swamp.
Then the chamber door burst open. A throng of officials. At their center, Wang Yun halted upon witnessing the carnage. His gaze lingered on the assassin's corpse and the still-breathing Lü Bu.
Wang Yun flinched back, but quickly composed himself like the seasoned politician he was.
"The villain is dead! At last, that heaven-defying traitor Dong Zhuo is slain!"
Wang Yun's cry rang with feigned joy. He cared not whose blood stained Lü Bu's hands, nor the hell the man now faced. Smiling like a victor, he extended a hand.
"General Fengxian, well done! You are now the hero who saved the Han, the embodiment of justice who felled a great criminal! Rise— all under heaven will sing your name!"
Wang Yun pulled Lü Bu to his feet. Lü Bu schooled his features into a forced smile.
"General Lü has slain the traitor Dong Zhuo!"
"General Lü Bu, guardian of the Han, has executed the great villain Dong Zhuo!"
The officials' cheers echoed. Wang Yun gripped Lü Bu's hand, beaming. One kicked Dong Zhuo's corpse and shouted.
"With the villain dead, the Han shall know peace again. Long live General Lü Bu!"
"Long live!"
The voices swirled around Lü Bu's ears. He said nothing.
Seowon spilled his cold tea upon hearing the urgent report from the messenger.
"In the end... Dong Zhuo is dead."
Gazing at the blood-red skies over Ogun, he murmured.
"The age of chaos is truly merciless. In an era of order, the one who defended the frontiers would have been lauded by scholars; the reincarnation of Guo Ziyi would have been the model for all warriors; the one who established imperial law with stern wisdom would have designed a golden age for millennia. Yet in this savage gale, they fall, leaving only infamy. Chaos is truly merciless."
The mist swallowed Seowon's retreating figure.