At first, I didn’t put that much thought into swinging the sword.

[Do not be impatient.]

No matter how much I obsessed over what I couldn’t do, I wouldn’t gain anything from it.

That was what Yoo Cheongil had told me. Even if I grasped the sword path, he said it would still take a long time before I could actually perform it.

I understood. Just because I had seen those scattered sword paths didn’t mean I could understand them, and there was far too much lacking for me to perform them properly.

Exactly four.

That fourth sword path was my limit.

Was it a coincidence?

It matched the number of chances Yoo Cheongil had given me.

Maybe that was why everything up to the fourth had gone smoothly. It hadn’t even felt all that difficult, and no matter what method I used, the sword path kept connecting.

But—

The fifth is the problem.

The sword had, strangely enough, grown farther away.

You couldn’t connect it as part of a sword path. So then how the hell was that fifth sword supposed to follow?

Whenever I asked Yoo Cheongil, all he ever did was spit out the word impatience again, so for me, finding the answer was nothing but a pain in the ass.

And then—

...Is this it?

From something Moon Immortal Sword had said, I gained a faint flash of understanding.

No, maybe it wasn’t even understanding. Maybe it was nothing more than a delusion I’d come up with on my own.

Click.

The moment I thought of it, I wanted to draw the sword right away. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

I had to pull it out and swing it. Before the thought and sensation I had right now faded, I wanted to force it into my body somehow.

It was the first time.

The first moment I ever wanted to swing a sword this badly.

Not back then, when I had swung a sword and trained half by force.

The first time I myself had wanted the sword.

This was the first.

Before the feeling of the moment could slip away—

SHIIING—!!!

The instant I reached the training ground, I drew the sword.

[Well now.]

Yoo Cheongil, who had been watching from behind, spoke as though he found it interesting.

[I advised you not to be impatient, and yet you’re moving like the world will end if you wait. Hah.]

I ignored him.

Ssshhh.

I simply gripped the sword.

And slowly poured strength into it.

WHIISH—!!

I began the first sword path. The stance was the same. I merely swung lightly.

It was the same motion as Moon Wolf. The intensity was weak, but the delicacy within it was preserved exactly.

Next.

Using the recoil from the swing as my ally, I whipped the sword high into the air. The second sword path was an upward slash.

But—

This doesn’t matter.

The act of cutting upward was merely there to connect one motion to the next.

What mattered was what came after.

SHIIING—!!!

I brought the sword I had raised high straight back down.

Woooong.

The sword lifted to the sky trembled. Keeping hold of that sensation, I cut down.

Night Moon.

To bring the moon I would create into relief, I filled in the night sky.

WHOOA—!!

As the sword moved, a pressure wave burst out.

There was no time to stop. I dragged the sword onward.

Fourth.

I slashed diagonally. WHIISH! The blade tore through the air with nimble speed.

To everyone else, it probably looked like I was simply cutting through empty air, but to my eyes, I was tracing the sword marks I had seen in the vault.

And then—

...Fifth.

Now the fifth.

I widened my eyes and put strength into them. I could see it. The sword mark rising there.

Unlike the others piled layer upon layer, this one sat somewhat apart.

The sword path did not connect. If I kept going like this, it would definitely break.

So up until now, I had kept struggling desperately, trying to connect it somehow.

...I had it wrong.

I realized my mistake.

Of course things blew up. I was trying to connect something that was never connected to begin with.

It was never meant to connect.

Because this wasn’t a sword path.

I was the one who decided it was a sword path.

The sword marks overlapped and linked together in layers. That was why I had viewed it as a sword path.

No.

This wasn’t a sword path. It was just a marker.

A kind marker showing where the sword should be drawn.

All I had needed to do was follow that marker.

Then what about this fifth sword?

How do you connect something that doesn’t connect? The answer to that question was simple.

You don’t need to connect it.

Swiish.

I left the sword exactly where it was and moved my feet.

If the distance between the sword marks was wide, then I only had to move that much.

Two steps.

With the mindset that I wasn’t connecting the sword path, only cutting along the sword mark—

The moment I put that into those two steps—

WHOOOOOOM—!!!!

“......!”

Blue Moon Heart Art erupted from my body on its own.

And explosively, at that.

[Hah—]

Yoo Cheongil laughed.

[You little bastard. I figured this would take at least half a year... A useless flash of insight really does suck the fun out of things.]

It was burning.

It really felt like my body itself was on fire. That was how intensely the energy wrapped around my entire body.

Moon Heaven.

The divine art of Blue Moon Sect, the one that forcibly drove a person into trance, had activated.

Why?

Why had Moon Heaven suddenly manifested?

It wasn’t something I had cast myself.

But—

...Set that aside.

Why Moon Heaven had activated—that aside—

Like this.

I stared only at the sword mark in front of me. There was only one thought in my head now.

Cut.

I would cut down the sword mark inside my head exactly as it was.

That single thought filled me, and the sword carrying that feeling moved.

Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn, built upon Moon Heaven.

The artificially created moonlight slashed straight across heaven and earth.

At that instant—

WHOOOOOOSH—!!!!

A flash erupted from the tip of the sword.

The surging light shone in all directions, as if moonlight itself had fully bloomed.

And the brightened world filled the entire space.

KRAAAAAASH—!!!

My internal energy exploded. A tremendous pressure howled outward.

And swept through everything around me.

“...Holy... shit...”

I stared wide-eyed at the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ wreckage in front of me. Debris lay scattered everywhere, and part of the training ground had collapsed.

“What the hell is this...?”

“Huaaakh—!” The moment I blurted it out, Moon Heaven disengaged.

“...This is insane.”

What kind of situation was this? How the hell did things turn out like this?

“What the hell was that explosion all of a sudden?”

All I’d done was swing the sword, and everything around me had blown apart. I stood there staring in dumbfounded shock—

Stagger!

“......!”

Suddenly, my body buckled. One knee hit the ground.

“...Ghk...”

My head spun. Why the hell was this happening? I hurriedly checked my body.

More than half my energy is gone...?

Half the energy I had been carrying was gone. Who the hell would’ve thought five swings would end like this?

What happened?

I had no clue. It seemed like the aftereffect of Moon Heaven activating, but...

Why the hell did something I didn’t even use come out on its own...

I had no idea why Moon Heaven had suddenly burst out again. I sat there blankly, unable to make sense of it.

[I know you’re shocked, but get up first.]

Yoo Cheongil said, looking at me.

[There are eyes watching.]

Eyes watching...?

At that, I turned around.

And there stood the Tyrant King, staring at me with eyes as wide as lanterns.

“.......”

“.......”

Our eyes met, and a slight silence settled between us.

“Well now.”

The first to speak was the Tyrant King.

He looked mildly embarrassed as he spoke to me.

“I’ve committed a discourtesy. My apologies. I wasn’t trying to spy on you.”

Since watching someone else’s training was considered bad manners, that was probably why the Tyrant King was saying that.

“No... this was a training ground everyone used together anyway. Though I guess that’s not really possible anymore.”

It was a training ground used by everyone in the sect. It just happened to be empty, so I had used it. Normally, it was supposed to be shared space.

A space I had just wrecked.

I’m screwed.

How the hell was I supposed to report this? This felt deeply fucked.

...What was that?

What the hell had that sword strike just been? I shoved the Divine Sword back into my waist and fell into thought.

What was it?

What principle had been behind it? What had that power been?

This is hard.

There was too much I couldn’t understand. For now, that was the truth.

Then—

“You said your name was Bang Seongyeon, yes?”

“Ah, yes.”

The Tyrant King spoke to me.

“That just now. Did you learn it from the Sword Saint?”

“.......”

If he meant just now, then he meant that sword.

“...Yes.”

That was true enough. I had learned it from Yoo Cheongil, after all.

“Is that so? Not bad. No, rather, it was impressive.”

The Tyrant King grinned at my answer.

Something about it gave me chills.

What is this?

It wasn’t just a smile. His eyes were full of interest. And on top of that, for some reason, he looked almost hungry.

“That monster came back to mind for a moment. It looked like something I might have seen when we were at war with those DEMON CULT bastards... It brought back memories.”

“...Ah, yes...”

[What the hell is this bastard talking about? What came to mind when he looked at who?]

Yoo Cheongil muttered in disbelief.

“That martial art just now. What was it called?”

“Ah, this...? Uh...”

Did it even have a name? What was it? I glanced at Yoo Cheongil.

The old man looked like he hated this whole thing, but he answered anyway.

[Great Moon.]

“It’s Great Moon.”

A huge moon.

It really was a ridiculously simple name.

“Great Moon. Right, I see. So that was Great Moon.”

The Tyrant King nodded as though he knew something.

“Good. Then let me ask something else.”

“What are you trying to ask...?”

“Would you care to have a duel with me?”

“What?”

What kind of insane bullshit was that?

A duel? At the Tyrant King’s words, I frowned. A duel—what kind of—

“That’s ridicul— no, what kind of absurd thing are you saying? How the hell am I supposed to duel a senior like you, Tyrant King?”

Unless I had a death wish and wanted to get beaten half to death, this made no damn sense. Did he have some kind of hobby where he liked beating up kids?

I answered in obvious alarm, but—

“I happened to be bored. And seeing you got my blood moving.”

Your blood moving? I flinched at the disgusting phrasing.

“Not a bad thing, is it? I might even be of help to you.”

The Tyrant King smiled as he added that.

A duel with a master. For some weakling, that would be a heaven-sent chance.

Why all of a sudden?

I couldn’t understand why this man was suddenly acting like this. And if something felt off, there was no reason to accept it.

“I just finished training, so doing more is a bit...”

“Is that so? Then we’ll do it tomorrow, once your body recovers.”

“...No. I don’t think I’ll be recovered tomorrow either...”

“Then when will you recover? I’ll wait.”

“.......”

Those eyes were soaked in madness.

I was screwed. It felt like I’d gotten caught wrong.

Jesus Christ.

Was he really determined to fight no matter what? Why?

I genuinely did not want to do it.

“I’m sorry, senior, but I—”

“If you find it a little unpleasant, then let’s do this.”

The Tyrant King cut in before I could refuse.

“As you can see, one of my arms hurts. So I’ll leave this arm... and one leg out of it.”

“What?”

“I won’t even move. I’ll concede exactly five exchanges. How about it? If I move from this spot within those five exchanges, you win. And in addition—”

The Tyrant King raised one finger.

“If you win, I’ll grant you one request. Whatever it is.”

“......!”

One request.

And five exchanges.

...A request?

My eyes sharpened.

There was, in fact, exactly one thing I wanted to ask of him.

Alliance leader candidate.

That came to mind. And on top of that, five exchanges?

At those words, I asked the Tyrant King:

“...You’re giving me your word?”

“Ahaha. Of course.”

A match where I had nothing to lose.

“I’m the type who keeps a promise.”

And I had no reason to back down either.