He's not listening.
Is he too immersed in the moment?
This guy is crazy, but I like it.
Hey, my name is Liao Fan.
You probably can't hear me, but it doesn't matter.
Back in the audience chamber, you saved my life. As the master of Chen Mu-mun, would I let such a debt go unacknowledged?
Just keep charging straight ahead.
I'll take care of the left side.
This is quite the privilege, you know.
No one who stood to my right has ever died before.
Go forth, new star.
3.
"Come. Death King."
"...."
I quietly observed Venomous Snake.
'What should I say to you?'
Venomous Snake had one eye. He wore an eyepatch over the empty space where the other should be.
Have you ever locked eyes with someone who has only one eye?
It's not a common experience. Like me, you've probably gotten used to interacting only with people with two eyes throughout your life. My pupils, my gaze, the rhythm of my thoughts – they're all adapted to bilateral vision.
Facing someone with only one eye is different.
When looking at them, when needing to see them, my field of vision narrows down. My eyes, accustomed to the usual breadth, now focus on a narrowed path. As my view narrows, thoughts multiply, and amidst these, stray thoughts spread.
That might be why.
Even though I'm making eye contact with the master of Chen Mu-mun right now, my mind is drifting to old memories.
'Venomous Snake doesn't remember.'
It was during the battle against the monsters summoned by the [Devil King of Fall Rain].
For the first time, I was completely immersed in the battle with my sword. Venomous Snake helped me then. He helped me stay in a state of no-mind as long as possible. A kind gesture, wasn't it?
'He doesn't remember.'
I died hundreds of times at the hands of the [ Devil King of Fall Rain]. The time Venomous Snake helped me was just one of those hundreds of deaths. Buried and obscured by time, there's no way he could remember that particular moment.
Simply impossible.
'But I remember.'
Slowly.
I drew the holy sword from its sheath.
Even before pulling out the blade, from the moment my palm touched the hilt, I had already started drawing in aura.
A different shade of red flowed through my veins, mingling with my own blood.
The faster the aura coursed through my veins, the tighter it wound around my heart, the quicker my thoughts sped up, and the slower the current of my vision became.
In the instant the sword left its sheath, I thought.
'You said you were jealous of me.'
Why.
Why do the children I care for…
Then and now, Death King. Why. Why can't the ones I look after be happy like those you care for?
'Even though you don't remember the moments of my death.'
Why only you can make the others happy.
You gave the best moments to the Heavenly Demon. You gifted them. Despite being tormented by the pain of death, the Heavenly Demon could genuinely smile because of the gifts you gave.
Why.
'Every time I came to a realization, you were there beside me.'
Why couldn't the leader do that?
Is it my fault?
Death King.
Why am I…
'Just as I have become a source of jealousy for you, you too have become a part of me.'
A sharp metallic sound.
The holy sword, personifying the Goddess of Protection, was fully drawn from its sheath.
'How can I convey this to you?'
That you are not meaningless to me.
That I know of your existence, and I still remember days you've forgotten. How can I let you know?
Can I convey that?
"Ah, that's right. Just like that. You understand what I'm saying."
With words?
"This might surprise you, but during my secluded training, I fully grasped the teachings of Master Namgung Un. That old man did teach me something, but you know, I never realized it. It only started to surface when I was training alone. Perhaps it's a law that one needs to have time alone."
With a bit of words and half-closed eyes?
"Thanks for recommending the seclusion. Kid."
What words should I use?
"By the way… why have you been silent all this time?"
Maybe, no words at all.
"Did you tense up because you sensed the rise in my energy? That's disappointing. I was so happy to see you after decades that I didn't even greet the others. Even if we fight, we should at least exchange a few words."
Defeating you with words would be easy.
And defeating you with my sword, too, probably wouldn't be difficult.
"What? Don't you agree?"
You may have trained in seclusion for decades, but the level you've reached is beneath my perception.
Your stance, the color of the aura you're emiting, I can guess all these from a glance.
It would be easy to wound you with words, saying that's all you could achieve, and just as easy to prove it with a sword.
"...? Hey, Death King?"
Winning and inflicting wounds has always been easy.
The hard part has always been winning your heart.
"...Are you really not going to say anything?"
I recall my master's teachings.
Looking back, my master only taught me a few things.
How to infuse a heart into a wound.
How to overlap a voice with the sound of a sword.
"...."
Words uttered by a human tongue are just noise, but when that noise has direction and meaning, it can certainly wound the unseen heart.
The sword I wield is just a lump of material, but when that lump has direction and meaning, it too can slice through an otherwise uncuttable heart.
What my master aimed to cut with a mere piece of steel was the stubbornness and obsession in the heart, and what I want to cut is your stubbornness, obsession, contempt, and fixation.
"Really?"
Can I cut it?
"There's no need for words, then."
I will cut it.
"If that's the case, I misspoke. I shouldn't have asked you to come at me. It's only proper for the one who challenges to rush towards the one who is challenged."
With just a stroke of material and a line of matter in a sword cut.
I circulate aura through my veins, wrap it around my heart, extending it to the sword blade. I'm conveying the current of life I've traversed, the warmth I've gleaned from the world, showing that my blood flows here, my heart lives here, to you.
If I convey it, you will understand.
Because you, a swordsman who has closed himself off from the world and endured for decades, will understand.
"Here I come."
Shine.
[Shiny responds to your call.]
Shiny.
[....]
[The Goddess of Protection listens to your call.]
Idol.
[....]
Compassion.
[....]
Prayer.
[The Goddess of Protection responds to you as follows.]
Sacrifice.
[Yes, Death King.]
Salvation.
[I obey your command.]
By the time I called the swords one by one and reached the third name, Shiny had already read my intention and revealed itself in this forest.
Shiny shone brightly.
The light was intense. As the light increased and spread, it appeared to me as a slow sequence of photographs.
The light spread in all directions. As the blade's light brightened in the air, the shadow cast by the sword on the ground also darkened. As if compressed by the light from all sides, the shadow of the sword on the ground narrowed.
Narrowed and darkened further.
More.
A little more.
[The Salvation Sword obeys your command.]
Finally, the length of the sword in my palm and the shadow on the ground became the same.
[The Sacrifice Sword obeys your command.]
Neither were mere physical objects nor mere illusions.
[The Prayer Sword obeys your command.]
Twitch.
Despite the intense light, the sword's shadow, which had not shrunk any further, suddenly moved as if alive.
[The Compassion Sword obeys your command.]
Venomous Snake, who was preparing to charge at me, hesitated.
"...!"
He opened his one eye wide.
For just a moment, the sword's shadow writhed and then split. One, two, three, four. The single shadow cast by the sword divided into four paths. The sword shadows scattered in the four cardinal directions: east, west, north, south.
But they didn't scatter randomly.
The sword shadows all encircled me solemnly, as if guarding me.
Like the hour, minute, and second hands of a clock winding time, the sword shadows slowly rotated, and I stood in their midst, holding the idol sword.
[The Goddess of Protection manifests.]
And with the tip of my sword, I aimed at Venomous Snake.
"Aye,"
Venomous Snake hesitated and lifted the corner of his mouth.
I could hear it.
The sound of lips curling, the breath folding along the creases, Bae Hu-ryeong blinking once behind me, the sound of Sword Saint, Black Dragon Witch, Crusader watching our confrontation, their eyes wide open, and Estelle watching our standoff with widened eyes, all echoed clearly in my ears.
"Hey—"
Sshhk.
From the four directions of the sword shadows, four swords emerged.
"Is this for real?!"
The swords risen from the shadows didn't lose their shade even after leaving the ground. They were dark. Instead of clear outlines, they constantly writhed. They were alive. Pulsing. Undulating. Growling. Like untamed beasts.
They were alive.
"This is cheating, isn't it…!"
As the aura frolicked in my body, making it a host, and turned my aura into carnage, the avatars of [The Goddess of Protection] manifested.
"Are you going to use five swords now? I barely stand a chance with one!"
If mere aura is called sword energy, then this was closer to sword strength.
When I turned my head, the four swords followed. When I pointed the sword tip, the four tongues also moaned in unison.
In perfect harmony.
My salvation, my sacrifice, my prayers, my compassion. Ever since I wielded a sword, my collected and harvested experiences were in perfect sync with the idol in my hand.
"Fine! Bring it on!"
This is the realm I stand upon now.
The scenery I see with my own eyes.
Though I cannot yet fade the shadows like my master,
"If your plan is to defeat me without uttering a single word!"
I might not be able to slice the edge of winter, but I can certainly cut a sliver of heart hidden in your chest.
"I will definitely make you utter at least one word!"
Venomous Snake swung his sword.
I recognized the sword technique he unleashed.
When was it?
Ah.
It resembled the technique shown by Namgung Un, the Martial Alliance Leader, in his battle against my master on the snowy field. Yes. As his body collapsed, flesh decayed, and bones melted, the Martial Alliance Leader manipulated his muscles with internal energy, showing a technique like a puppet with stiffened joints.
"Death King!"
Perhaps the old me wouldn't have recognized it.
Back then, it was like that. No matter how skillfully a top expert displayed their martial arts, my ignorant eyes couldn't comprehend the depth of their martial skills. I couldn't read it. Even if I saw it, I couldn't comprehend.
Even the duel between my master and Namgung Un, the 989th sparring, when I first saw it, didn't it seem just like a playful puppet show?
"——!"
The martial arts that Venomous Snake is displaying now are of a similar realm.
My blindness.
In the past, even upon seeing, I couldn't read and it appeared to me as ■■■■.
No, something I didn't even regard as anything. Smoke. Husk. Illusion.
"...! —-, —-!"
Now I know that what he is performing is a gesture with the sound of Destruction of the Yellow Moon.
I deflected Venomous Snake's sword with the sword of compassion. Silence. The sword wielded by Venomous Snake and the shadow I conjured collided, but there was no sound of their clash. Venomous Snake's sword couldn't audibly cut through my shadow.
"—–!!"
Venomous Snake swung his sword.
■■■
Jiwangsa.
■■■
Onwolyong.
■■■■ ■■ doing ■■ like ■■■ of ■■ and ■■■ like ■■ of ■■■■, ■■■ needs to ■■ before ■■■■ ■■, ■■■ before ■■■ ■■ ■■■■, and ■■■ ■■'s ■ with ■ to ■■ ■■■■.
With a biting force as venomous as a snake's fangs and as cunning as a dragon's body, one must steal the breath before the mouth opens to reveal fangs, and seize the distance before a strategy is employed to engage closely, using the opponent's power against them to strike at the throat.
"...! —–!"
■■■■.
Master of Chen Mu-mun.
■■
Venomous Snake.
■■
Hey.
■■, ■■.
Go forth, new star.
My name is Liao Fan.
'Liao Fan.'
Slowly I deflected his swinging sword and struck back.
'I remember you.'
Chi sword.
I, swung my sword.