He was a giant of a man at a glance.

Martial artists with larger builds than ordinary people—and even compared to them, he looked like he was a head taller.

The heavy grand saber strapped to his back.

And a body that looked like it wasn’t much different from that blade in sheer mass.

The presence rolling off that hulking frame, and something ominous that felt unnatural.

And—

‘...HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE energy.’

A pressure so vast it felt overwhelming.

The same kind of number I’d only ever felt from the Strange Demon—now I was feeling it from this man.

I’d seen him in the county too, but his energy was still wrong. What the hell is he?

And on top of that—

‘Teacher said he even lost him during the chase.’

Teacher had said he’d chased him and still let him slip away.

That alone told me he wasn’t anything close to ordinary.

Not that calling him ordinary would’ve made sense in the first place.

‘...’

Cold ran over my skin. The feeling was strange.

I immediately looked at the Plum Blossom Commander.

His expression wasn’t any different.

‘Surprised?’

He looked startled.

Was that acting? It could be.

But—

‘...He looks genuinely surprised.’

It really looked like he hadn’t expected this.

Was he shocked at the giant’s appearance? Was this not the person he’d planned for?

While questions invaded my head—

“Why are you all gathered here?”

The giant spoke toward us.

At that, Teacher released pressure.

“...You.”

“Oh.”

The giant smiled as he felt it.

“So we meet again. That was fun, back then.”

“So you really were from the dark sects.”

“Seems like it. Even to you, I don’t exactly look kind, do I? Ah. Though judging by my face might be a bit unfair.”

Heh heh.

He laughed and continued.

“Teacher. You don’t exactly have a kind-looking face either.”

SSSSSHHH—!!

Teacher’s pressure kept growing.

It felt like the air itself was being crushed.

“Oh dear. Did I say something too harsh?”

The giant reacted like Teacher’s pressure meant nothing.

Then—

“Ah, right. I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

THUD—!

He yanked the grand saber off his back and drove it into the ground.

KUUUUNG—!!

A tremor spread, as if proving the weight.

“I am the Ox Duke. As for my epithet... it’s not exactly well-known.”

SSSSSHHH—!!!

HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE energy surged from his back like it was pushing outward.

“Grand Demon. That’s what they call me.”

“...Grand Demon?”

“Demon? If it’s demon, then...”

The group started murmuring.

The problem was that word—demon—coming out of his mouth.

If it wasn’t some cheap epithet like “Lust Demon,” there was only one kind of title that carried that word.

“...You. Are you one of the Eight Demonic Ones?”

“Correct.”

At his answer, the air around us chilled.

The Eight Demonic Ones.

The DEMON CULT’s core strength—the ones the righteous sects had feared.

Eight demonic monsters acknowledged by the Heavenly Demon, the peak of the DEMON CULT.

Including the Sword Demon and the Strange Demon—eight in total.

Most of them had died in the war. There shouldn’t be any left.

“Another one of the Eight Demonic Ones showed up...?”

“And it’s an epithet I’ve never even heard.”

This wasn’t one of the Eight Demonic Ones recorded in the chronicles.

The Sword Demon and the Strange Demon resurfacing was the return of existing names, but—

“First time I’ve heard that name.”

No one seemed to recognize Grand Demon at all.

They didn’t even know the name.

‘No one knows a martial artist at that level?’

It made no sense.

“Who are you?”

“...How many times are you going to ask? I just said it with my own mouth.”

“The Heavenly Demon is already dead and gone. A new Eight Demonic One? Who bestowed that name on you?”

I’d heard that the epithets of the Eight Demonic Ones were like true names—given by the Heavenly Demon himself.

With the Heavenly Demon dead, a “new” Eight Demonic One was impossible.

But—

“The previous Heavenly Demon did end that way. However...”

His lips curled.

Ox Duke smiled, showing yellowed teeth.

“A new sky has arrived, hasn’t it? Shouldn’t the DEMON CULT get a new wind too?”

“...A new sky?”

“Come on.”

GRRNNNNK—!!

Ox Duke gripped his grand saber.

“Is our commander the type who only fights with his mouth? That’s not a good habit. And.”

His eyes widened as he continued.

“This isn’t the situation for that anyway. Right, Commander?”

Ox Duke shifted his gaze.

His eyes landed—

On the Plum Blossom Commander.

“...What...?”

The {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Plum Blossom Commander looked briefly flustered under that stare.

“What do you mean, what? You laid out the whole board, and the way you’re turning your head is pathetic.”

‘Ha.’

I swallowed hard.

This wasn’t something he’d discussed with the Plum Blossom Commander.

“If you’re going to do it, do it properly. I like that kind of thing more. The Strange Demon might not, since he’s always worrying about details. But I’m simple like that.”

HOOOOOO—!!

An enormous killing intent exploded out of Ox Duke.

“Plum Blossom Commander. I’ll grant your wish. So choose. Otherwise, I’ll be disappointed too.”

“Kh—!”

Everyone flinched under Ox Duke’s killing intent.

Me included.

[Move aside.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke.

It sounded like he’d reached the same conclusion.

But—

THUMP—!

“...!”

[This—!]

Possession didn’t work.

Yoo Cheongil tried to enter—then got bounced out.

‘Again.’

Again. Another situation where possession didn’t take.

‘Damn it.’

This was bad.

At a moment like this, possession refusing to work—

I turned my eyes.

To check the Plum Blossom Commander’s reaction.

“...What are you talking about?”

“What is he even saying about you...?”

The Plum Blossom Swordsmen looked confused.

They didn’t understand what Ox Duke was implying.

But—

“If you keep posturing like that, you won’t get anything.”

Ox Duke spoke directly to the Plum Blossom Commander.

“Throw away your convictions and still get nothing. There’s nothing more pitiful than that, is there?”

Those words—

“Move. If you want it.”

—Were more than enough to push him.

SWISH

The scent of flowers drifted out.

[Kid.]

Yoo Cheongil’s voice—

But I moved first.

“Commander—!”

CRRRT-CRRRT—!!!

Light bucked violently.

KRAK—!!

The Plum Blossom Commander’s sword and Teacher’s sword crashed together.

“Huh—!?”

“Commander...?!”

GRRNNNNK—!!!

Blade met blade, and waves of inner power whipped through the cavern.

“...Plum Blossom Commander. Are you truly making that choice?”

“......”

At Teacher’s words, the old man’s gaze turned to me this time.

“You knew?”

“......”

“Looks like you knew everything.”

A hollow look surfaced.

“Knew it, and still moved... So I’ve been dancing in your palm.”

That hollowness ignited into rage in an instant.

“You little shit. How dare you.”

THUD—!

The Plum Blossom Commander slammed his sword upward.

Teacher slid back a step.

The flower scent thickened.

“Move. For the new Mount Hua.”

“Commander, what are you saying—!”

PAHSSSUK—!!

“Kuh—!?”

Blood sprayed.

A wound tore across the man’s chest mid-sentence.

“Junior brother...?!”

He stared to the side with shocked eyes.

The comrade he’d fought beside was swinging a sword at him.

“I’m sorry, senior brother. I can’t help it.”

“What is this—! Why are you doing this all of a sudden?!”

It wasn’t just one.

Everyone I’d been watching raised their blades at their “comrades.”

Not comrades.

They’d never been that from the moment we came here.

Teacher was already fully locked into the fight with the Plum Blossom Commander.

‘Ah, damn it.’

This was outside my expectations.

This couldn’t happen.

‘Ox Duke is interfering here?’

This was where the Strange Demon was supposed to appear.

I was supposed to use that to shape the board.

But I couldn’t.

“What do we do?”

Do Hyeong asked from the side.

Light was already living in his eyes.

“...Please do what I told you.”

“Understood.”

HOOOOO—!!

He shot upward at speed.

Do Hyeong’s body became a flash as he drove forward.

CRUNCH—!!

“Kuh!?”

A sword whipped out like an arrow.

Blue light punched into the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.

KRAK—! KRAK KRAK—!

The fight erupted.

“Junior brother... please!”

In the chaos, Yeo Hyeok was barely holding back his sworn brothers—

And Do Hyeong did what I’d opened for him.

He started striking only the ones I’d marked as spies.

And meanwhile, the most violent thing of all—

KURRRRRR—!!!

—Was the clash of absolute masters.

Teacher and the Plum Blossom Commander fought like a storm.

That collision alone was enough to shred the surroundings.

‘...That’s...’

This was what a fight between absolute masters looked like? 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

I couldn’t even see what they were doing properly.

I swallowed a suppressed groan.

Then—

[Kid. Focus!]

“Leave them to them.”

“...!”

“We have our own job to do, don’t we?”

A heavy voice poured down from behind me.

I whipped around.

SHHHIIIK—!!

A massive blade was falling.

Fast.

It felt like the sky was collapsing.

HOOOO—!!

My body moved.

KRAK-KRAK—!!!

The flat of the blade smashed into the ground.

I barely avoided it.

Not by my own will—

Someone yanked me.

“...You?”

Yuyeon.

She appeared and dragged me.

There was no time to process it.

Yuyeon immediately drove her sword forward.

“Haha.”

KRAK—!!

Her blade bounced away.

She used the recoil—drawing a half-circle—and carved another line.

SHIK—! SHIKSHIK—!!

A dance.

Yuyeon started a sword dance with quick footwork.

The movement I’d seen during training before.

Clean. Elegant.

And beautiful in a way that still carried a blade’s edge.

Her sword kept moving, faster and faster.

It had been flawless even at the tournament—

But.

“This is something.”

THUD—!!

“...!”

The opponent was wrong for her.

With Ox Duke’s movement, Yuyeon’s body shook.

She hadn’t been hit by the sword—

I caught her as she staggered.

GRRNNNNK—!!

I barely stopped us from getting shoved backward.

“Girl. Pretty face, sharp sword. Not bad.”

Ox Duke gave his appraisal.

“And.”

His eyes dropped onto me.

“Now it’s your turn? I’ve been curious.”

Ox Duke’s smile deepened.

Those yellow teeth were disgusting, and his wavering pupils were stuffed with countless desires.

“Our new sky is apparently that concerned about you. So I threw away what I was doing and came.”

“...New sky?”

“Yeah. New sky. The noble one who’ll burn this rotten righteous world and write a new history.”

“...Are you talking about the little master?”

“Oh.”

Ox Duke’s eyes widened, genuinely surprised.

“How did you know? Impressive.”

WHISH—!

He spun the grand saber in a full circle.

He swung that heavy blade like it weighed nothing.

“Yeah. He’s paying attention to you. The Sword Saint’s successor... the hero who saved Henan... the new DEMON CULT’s enemy... I figured it was because of that.”

Ox Duke tilted his head slightly as he studied me.

“But you don’t look like much. What else are you hiding?”

“...I do have a lot of secrets.”

“Mmm. Yeah. Secrets are good. They’d better be secrets.”

THUD

Ox Duke took one step toward me.

“Otherwise you’ll die here.”

He took a second step—

WHIIIISH—!!

His body closed the distance and appeared right in front of my face.

Just like earlier.

The blade poured down on me.

[Don’t take it head-on. Let it flow. Let it flow to the left.]

Using the flat, I accepted it lightly and guided it left.

KRRRICK—!!!

The sword twisted.

Even though I’d redirected it, my waist screamed.

‘Crazy.’

He’s filthy strong.

TZZT—!

“Kuh!”

Maybe because I’d forced the flow, pain surged into my already-injured waist.

My body stiffened for a split second.

[Concentrate inner power in your abdomen!]

No time to think.

I tightened everything into my abdomen.

PAAAK—!!

“Guh—!”

Ox Duke’s knee slammed straight into my gut.

My vision shifted.

My body flew backward like I’d been caught by wind.

KRAK-KRAK—!!!

I smashed into the cave wall.

“...Cough...”

Blood came up.

My head went foggy.

[Kid! You bastard, get up! You—!]

Even Yoo Cheongil’s voice sounded distant.

“...”

Strength drained out of me.

From a single impact.

Beyond the dimming edge of my sight, Ox Duke was walking closer.

My limp body wouldn’t rise.

Then—

“Hm?”

Ox Duke narrowed his eyes.

Someone stepped in front of me and blocked him.

Yuyeon.

“...Well, would you look at that?”

Ox Duke lifted the corner of his mouth.

Is she really going to block him?

That’s not a good idea.

She should abandon me and move—

Helping Teacher would be the right play.

But Yuyeon stood in front of me.

‘Move.’

The word didn’t come out.

No voice transmission either.

Past my slack body and sinking consciousness, all I could see was Yuyeon’s small back.

‘Ah.’

That’s not—

While I was thinking that—

-A pity.

A voice sounded inside my head.

-I was looking forward to it.

It wasn’t Yoo Cheongil.

‘This is...’

Whose voice—

Before I could even grab the thought—

-Come out. Lying there pathetically isn’t to my taste.

SSSSSHHH...

Sudden darkness wrapped around me.

And when I opened my eyes—

Only a red moon and a black night stared back at me.