It was night.

What filled my eyes was unmistakably night.

Black, and black again.

A thick darkness so sticky you wouldn’t be able to see anything through it.

Even the moon that should’ve been beyond it couldn’t pierce it—light didn’t exist here at all.

“......”

I looked around.

The place I was standing in was a forest.

No. Could you even call this a forest? Everything was dried up, shriveled, and long since collapsed into death.

CRUNCH.

When I moved a step, the sound came. I lowered my gaze. Dry leaves packed the ground in every direction.

Loud enough that it would make noise every time you stepped.

“......”

Where the hell is this...? And.

‘Why am I here?’

Why was I here?

My head felt foggy.

I couldn’t remember anything.

I staggered forward. My legs were moving on instinct.

As if they actually knew where I was supposed to go.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

Crushing dry leaves, I kept going like that.

Where this place was, how I ended up here—

I didn’t care about any of it. I just walked.

And after walking for a long time—

SQUELCH.

“......?”

Something felt wrong underfoot.

This wasn’t the feel of leaves. What is this?

I dropped my gaze.

Where that sensation was coming from, there were no leaves anymore.

What I could see was only—

“...Blood?”

Thick, sticky blood.

The moment I recognized it, the stench of iron stabbed up my nose.

“Ghk!”

I covered my mouth. I tried to step back—

GRAB—!

“...Huh!?”

Something shot up out of the blood and clamped onto my ankle. It was shaped almost like a hand.

It was so strong my foot wouldn’t come free.

The recoil made ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) my body sway, and I toppled straight into the blood.

SPLASH—! Blood flew everywhere.

And the problem was, just like that hand had grabbed my ankle, the hands in there started wrapping around my body.

“Ghk...!”

What kind of bullshit situation is this?

I struggled desperately to break free, but of course, I couldn’t.

In an instant, my whole body was bound.

No matter how much strength I used, I couldn’t move. My clothes and skin started soaking deeper and deeper into the blood.

“...Goddamn it...”

What kind of fucked-up mess is this now?

I rolled my eyes, scrambling for a way out—and then.

FSSSS.

“......!”

My gaze froze.

Straight ahead.

Something existed where there had been nothing.

‘That is...’

What is that?

A hill?

No—more like a mountain.

In a space filled with blood, something unbelievably tall was looming.

I stared harder. My eyes narrowed on their own, and what I saw sharpened.

And in that moment—

“...Holy—”

I finally recognized what the mountain was made of, and a sound of shock spilled out of me.

Corpses.

A feast of traces left behind by death and emptied souls. Human corpses piled on corpses, until they formed a mountain.

Only then did my gut start trembling. The stink of death punched through the blood and invaded.

Bile surged up my throat.

What the hell is that?

While I was shaking, eyes trembling with that crawling, sick sensation—

[Still.]

WHOOOOSH—!!

A distant voice drilled straight down through the top of my skull. My neck went rigid.

[Stay exactly as you are.]

The instant the voice reached me, my mouth shut tight.

My lowered head, my gaze, slammed into the ground.

Blood-red liquid.

What covered the ground was definitely blood, and yet for some reason, around that mountain, the “water” was clear.

It should’ve been the other way around, and the alien wrongness of it was grotesque.

‘...Eyes.’

My heart dropped with a heavy thud at what was reflected in that clear edge.

Two lights reflected in the water.

Those were eyes.

Eyes brighter than the moon, redder than blood.

And I could tell those eyes were staring straight at me.

After I stared at them for a while, the glow curved like a crescent.

[Since you’ve gone to the trouble of lifting your heavy body, shouldn’t you show me some footwork?]

SQUEEZE.

The pressure tightened around me in the blood.

[So stay like that for a moment.]

For some reason, the voice sounded like it had laughter mixed into it.

[It won’t take long.]

Was I imagining it?

Death leaked out of that voice.

*****

“...Hah.”

Ox Duke let out a breathy laugh. With what was in front of him, there was no way he could not laugh.

“This is fun.”

A grin split wide. The corners of his mouth climbed into empty air.

“There’s a level even to striking. Girl. Your spirit is impressive, but whether it’s a good choice is another matter.”

BOOM—! BOOM BOOM—!

Explosions kept slamming through the air as Ox Duke stared at the one in front of him.

A girl with deep, pale beauty.

The plum blossoms embroidered on her martial robes told him exactly where she belonged.

And the raised sword and the faintly visible form told him she wasn’t bad—at least to a certain extent.

‘What was it again?’

He searched his memory for her epithet.

“Sword Phoenix.”

Right. That was it.

One of the Seven Prodigies, was it? The seven young talents called the future of the Central Plain.

‘What a load of shit.’

It wasn’t even funny. It was always like this—those righteous bastards’ word games were nauseating just to hear.

What future of the Central Plain?

Is the Righteous Sect the future of the Central Plain?

‘Ridiculous.’

Ox Duke only laughed.

Because those idiots who knew nothing were laughable.

And right now was the same.

“You think you can stop me?”

He laughed because she was absurd.

Ox Duke always laughed. Life was absurd, the world was absurd—so laughing was the only thing left.

“......”

Sword Phoenix.

Yuyeon raised her sword toward Ox Duke.

Can she stop him?

She didn’t know. There was no answer she could give.

She only tightened her grip and held the sword harder.

“...Hmm.”

Watching her, Ox Duke wiped the expression off his face.

Right. That girl couldn’t speak, that’s what he’d heard.

Remembering that, he nodded once.

“Boring.”

His interest drained away. He turned his head and looked behind him.

KRRRAAACK—!!

BOOM—!!

A massive vibration exploded out from inside the cave.

Blue flashes and flower petals were whipping everywhere.

Small Moon Unit Leader and Plum Blossom Commander.

Absolute masters were colliding.

In the middle of their clash, Small Moon Unit Leader drove Plum Blossom Commander back.

KRAAAANG—!!!

Plum Blossom Commander was shoved toward the cave entrance. Small Moon Unit Leader pursued.

Seeing it, Ox Duke’s blood surged hot.

‘I need to jump in.’

That would be the fun part.

It had been the point from the start, and the purpose even more important than that...

‘Looks like it’s already over.’

Something was slammed into the wall.

A body sagged there, limp as if it had lost consciousness.

‘...That’s below my expectations.’

Moon Hero, was it?

The DEMON CULT’s nemesis who once blocked the sky.

The successor of Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil.

The hero of Henan, the young talent who supposedly killed the Sword Demon.

‘Moon Hero.’

Moon Hero Bang Sungyeon. He’d shown up for that bastard—

‘And it’s pathetic. Why would the little master bother caring about that?’

To collapse from a single blow.

He’d heard the Sword Demon had been killed, so he’d been expecting something—and now every expectation shattered.

‘Stupid old man.’

The bastard must’ve dropped his guard, thinking it was his “past” Sword Demon.

What a moron.

‘With a body like that, what did you think you were going to do?’

A fatal flaw—couldn’t kill people—and still dared to reach out. Ox Duke had known from the moment he saw it.

Even when the little master took him to Henan, Ox Duke had been dissatisfied.

‘Now the little master will know too.’

That compared to an old fossil like the Sword Demon, he was far superior.

‘The Sword Demon, Strange Demon—why insist on keeping them at your side...?’

Was there something to the Eight Demonic Ones of the past?

The little master had always fixated on the Eight Demonic Ones who once served the Heavenly Demon.

Sword Demon, Strange Demon—proof enough.

And even—

‘Even though Strange Demon isn’t following the little master.’

Strange Demon. That irritating bastard had openly declared he wouldn’t follow the little master.

And still, the little master didn’t cut him down.

Only exiled him.

Why not wipe him out?

Ox Duke couldn’t understand it.

A bastard you couldn’t read. That was why Ox Duke hated Strange Demon.

But then—

‘...Something’s off.’

Strange Demon declared he would follow the little master.

And he even brought up the Heavenly Demon while doing it?

‘That can’t happen.’

What changed in that short time?

‘...Hmm.’

Suspicion gnawed at him, but the problem was he’d invoked the Heavenly Demon.

A demonic disciple who invoked the Heavenly Demon couldn’t speak a lie.

So he’d say he’d follow a lesser sky?

‘...Strange Demon.’

Was it a scheme, or was it real?

It made his insides churn. Because it wasn’t some other demonic disciple—it was Strange Demon.

‘Tch.’

THUD.

Ox Duke tightened his grip on his grand saber.

‘There’s something there.’

Normally he would’ve believed it, but with Strange Demon, he couldn’t.

There was something. Ox Duke was sure.

‘...I’ll finish this fast and go confirm it myself.’

He needed to find out what Strange Demon was thinking.

And if that bastard really was plotting something behind the scenes—

‘He dies.’

Then he’d have a proper reason.

Ox Duke smiled.

GRRNNNNK—!!!

“...!”

The killing intent pouring out of him made Yuyeon’s eyes widen.

In that instant—

“I’m coming.”

Ox Duke’s figure vanished.

Yuyeon moved her sword.

SKREEEE—!!

Ox Duke appeared from the left. Yuyeon blocked the swung assault—

KRAAAACK—!!!

—but she couldn’t block it all.

From the start, she didn’t have the strength to block it.

So she tried to let it slide off—

but even that was hard.

BOOM—!!!

She barely shed it, and her body shook.

“Hup.”

A sharp exhale. Yuyeon’s body rebounded.

BOOM—!!

Her blade stabbed into the ground.

“Ha ha.”

Ox Duke laughed.

“Fast.”

They called her the greatest of the rising generation—looks like that wasn’t a lie.

That movement wasn’t the movement of a “rising generation” at all.

“You’ll be huge later.”

A monster.

That’s what they called the rising generation, right?

That nickname fit too perfectly.

BOOM—! BOOM BOOM—!!

The sounds were too heavy and blunt to even call them the sound of a sword.

And Yuyeon was shedding them one by one—struggling, but shedding every single one.

Watching that, Ox Duke noticed something.

“You. You can see it.”

“......”

That girl was clearly seeing his saber.

Born with eyes.

Just like—

‘Like the little master.’

Like his sky.

No. This wouldn’t do.

‘I have to kill her.’

Right here.

She was a girl worth that much.

What a waste. If he let her live, the fun later would be delicious.

But she was too good.

To the point she looked far better than that Moon Hero slammed into the back wall.

WHOOOOOSH—!!!

Killing intent burst out again.

“......”

Yuyeon wavered when she saw it.

“Not much time. I’m busy—I don’t have time to enjoy myself.”

Ox Duke closed in fast.

He drove the massive blade straight at Yuyeon.

No matter how well you could “see,” there were limits.

And there was an end to shedding, too.

One strike.

A single blow poured with true intent. That was enough.

Taechonmuak Sword.

Ox Duke’s ultimate art poured down on Yuyeon.

Yuyeon stood still, as if the killing intent had frozen her body.

‘Scared?’

It could be. No matter how talented, she was still part of the rising generation.

‘Then you die.’

The blade came down to send her off cleanly.

And then.

FSSS—!

Yuyeon’s pupils shifted, just slightly.

‘Huh?’

Ox Duke’s brow furrowed.

Because right before the blade touched her—

he saw her eyes.

‘Red...’

Red eyes?

The moment Ox Duke’s eyes started to widen—

FSSSSS—!

“What...?”

“...!!”

HALT—!!

Ox Duke’s body locked up.

The blade stopped right before it touched Yuyeon’s head.

Yuyeon too—her blank face cracked, and her expression hardened.

“...What the hell...”

With rigid eyes, Ox Duke looked somewhere.

“...What is that.”

The thrill from a second ago was gone without a trace.

Only confusion swirled in Ox Duke’s gaze.

Energy.

Black energy.

Like a shadow staining a wall, ink-black energy was seeping up in slow coils.

TRICKLE—!

A bead of sweat ran down Ox Duke’s forehead.

This is...

“...Demonic energy...?”

Demonic energy.

The power only demonic disciples could carry. And among that—

‘This density...?’

It was almost the original source.

And if it was the original source—

‘...The sky...?’

The sky of demonic disciples.

The Heavenly Demon.

The origin of demonic energy.

Or the overwhelming energy only the current little master could possess.

“...What is this.”

Where the hell was this energy coming from?

Ox Duke yanked his blade back and leapt away.

Instinct screamed at him.

Danger.

Keeping distance, he stared at the place the energy was coming from.

Black energy flooding across the wall.

And in its center, someone was pushing up to stand.

“...Moon Hero...?”

Moon Hero.

The bastard he’d smashed.

That bastard was slowly getting up.

FSSSS.

Lifting the small body, the bastard swept hair back.

“...!”

Ox Duke’s heart dropped hard when he saw Bang Sungyeon.

Red.

The bright blue eyes—like Yoo Cheongil’s disgusting eyes—were gone.

Bang Sungyeon had red eyes.

How?

Why does he have those eyes?

That’s—

‘The little master’s...’

The qualification to become the sky of the DEMON CULT.

Red eyes.

And that bastard had them.

How is that possible?

As questions flooded Ox Duke’s head—

“...Hmm.”

Bang Sungyeon looked at Ox Duke with those red eyes, and opened his mouth.

“Trash...”

And at that.

“You’re holding your head awfully high.”

“...!”

Gooseflesh rose across Ox Duke’s back.