“Ungh.”

With a stiff, aching body, I wrapped the bandages around myself.

I hadn't expected to end up like this the moment I underwent rebirth.

No. If we're being exact, it isn't really an injury.

It just felt like my muscles had been shocked.

I can't control this changed body yet.

It was hard to control a body that had grown stronger overall.

Judging by the fact that the Moon Immortal Sword had never actually attacked me—

My body just got startled on its own.

Embarrassing as it was, that was probably the reason.

“Hiss...”

I moved some more. My muscles tingled. I could feel them gradually getting better, but—

...I need to train a little before I'll know for sure.

The changed length of my arms and legs. The strengthened muscles. The broader, sturdier vessel.

And even the quality of my inner qi, which had grown denser as it filled that vessel.

I needed some time to figure out for myself exactly where and how I had changed.

“Hm.”

Where had that old man gone now, when he could have explained this so easily?

Why is he never around when I actually need him?

Part of me found myself quietly wondering where Yucheon Gil had gone.

“...What am I supposed to do now?”

I recalled the conversation I had with the Moon Immortal Sword right after our spar.

For now, don't step forward. Keep yourself hidden.

The Moon Immortal Sword had wanted to keep the fact that I had undergone rebirth from being revealed.

Of course, that didn't seem to mean he wanted it hidden forever.

There'll be a time in a few days when you need to show yourself.

Until then, stay in seclusion if possible.

“...Hmm.”

Don't show myself. In a few days, there would be a time when I had to?

What is supposed to happen?

I didn't know what would happen in a few days, but one thing was certain.

There was something.

Because those words had come from the Moon Immortal Sword himself, of all people.

The problem was—

...That doesn't mean I can really hole up for several days.

I had my own schedule. I'd already made my own plans. I couldn't just sit still.

More than anything—

“Are you there?”

Damn it.

There was, unfortunately, someone who was looking for me rather desperately.

*****

The one who came looking for me was the Tyrant. The Tyrant had already said a visit would happen today and had set the time in advance, so the Tyrant stepped into my room as if it were nothing.

The problem with that was...

How did the Tyrant even find this place?

This was the lodging the Moon Immortal Sword had given me specifically so I could stay in seclusion. It was tucked away in an out-of-sight corner, and I'd even moved around before coming here, yet the Tyrant had found it without any difficulty.

“If you were going to move, you could've at least said something. I had to go through quite a bit of trouble finding you.”

“...The fact that you found me at all is what surprises me more.”

The Tyrant chuckled and sat down. Then the Tyrant looked at me and started to say something.

“Well then, now— hm?”

The words cut off, and the Tyrant's eyes widened.

“Huh.”

A short dry laugh followed.

“Ahahahahaha—!”

Then the Tyrant burst into hearty laughter. After laughing for a long while, the Tyrant finally stopped.

“Well, would you look at that? You did something interesting in that short amount of time.”

So the Tyrant had recognized it after all. Not recognizing it would have been stranger.

“...That's what happened.”

“You couldn't have broken through that wall on your own. Who was it? The Azure Moon Sect Leader? No. That friend of mine wouldn't do something that cheap...”

Cheap?

That wording caught in my ear a little, but I let it go for now.

“Was it your dead master?”

Got it right immediately.

At those words, I scratched my cheek and replied.

“Yes.”

“Hah. That old monster. Even after dying, he prepared all sorts of things.”

Clicking the tongue lightly, the Tyrant's voice held more amazement than dissatisfaction.

“What did you gain?”

“...A modest fortuitous encounter.”

“Modest? That's a funny thing to call it.”

The Tyrant curled a lip.

“I acknowledge that you're exceptional, but there is no way you could have crossed that wall alone.”

The tone was firm.

It was certainty—the conviction that I could never have accomplished rebirth on my own.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because even the Sword Saint of all people could not have done such a thing.”

He was speaking as though the Sword Saint were the measure of whether something was possible at all.

...Isn't that going a bit far?

I'd already seen Yucheon Gil in his younger days through the dream-vision. At my age, that man had already been a monster.

It's still unclear.

The last dream-vision had shown Yucheon Gil at twenty.

If I met that monster again now, what would happen?

...Hiss.

Even after reaching the transcendent peak and undergoing rebirth, I still couldn't clearly picture a future where I won.

Then where is that confidence coming from—that even a man like that couldn't have done it?

I didn't know.

But the Tyrant carried that certainty without a shred of doubt.

“He must have hidden away something interesting. Something interesting enough to surpass all of that.”

“Do I absolutely have to tell you what that interesting thing was?”

“No, there is no need for that.”

The Tyrant cut off the words midway and leaned back.

“No matter what it was, it doesn't matter. What's important isn't something like your rebirth.”

“...”

At the words that it had merely been a question asked out of surprise, I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

I was relieved I wouldn't have to explain it.

At the same time, it was strange in its own way that the Tyrant found it interesting only to that extent.

“Enough. Since that's settled... shouldn't we do what we came to do?”

“...Hm.”

At the Tyrant's words, I frowned.

So the Tyrant means I should fetch the Divine Blade from the vault.

What the Tyrant needed.

That bracer-shaped Divine Blade I'd seen in the vault.

The Tyrant had asked me /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ to hand it over.

Is that really alright?

Could I give it away without a word from Yucheon Gil?

The original owner might be the Tyrant, but the current owner was Yucheon Gil.

Damn it. Which is exactly why I keep asking where he went.

I needed Yucheon Gil in order to use the method I'd come up with, yet that old man simply wasn't appearing.

“Are you listening?”

The Tyrant's voice snapped me back to myself. I stopped thinking for the moment and answered.

“Ah, yes. I'm listening.”

“I asked whether you can go now.”

“...Well.”

What should I do?

Should I make up some excuse and try to steer the conversation away?

I considered it for a moment.

“...Yes. Understood. Let's go.”

Then I decided to agree.

...For now.

Because even without Yucheon Gil, I had prepared a method that would work.

*****

I moved with the Tyrant.

A hidden route leading to the vault existed in every residence, but—

I can't exactly tell the Tyrant that.

I couldn't reveal even a secret like that, so I led the Tyrant around a little instead.

In the meantime, I stayed careful not to run into anyone else, and I'd already asked the Tyrant to help with that.

“No one is nearby.”

“Thank you.”

When I asked for help checking whether there were people around, the Tyrant accepted readily enough.

Probably because this was a matter the Tyrant needed handled.

“This should be the place.”

“Oh.”

I entered an empty residence and opened Moon Eye.

Then I approached an empty drawer and felt around it several times.

Creak.

CLATTER-!

With the sound of a mechanism moving, the floor opened.

“Hah.”

At the sight, the Tyrant let out a short note of admiration.

“...I was wondering whose handiwork it was. So it was that old man.”

Surprisingly, the Tyrant seemed to have recognized at once who had created the mechanism.

“Please, go down.”

I climbed down the ladder with the Tyrant.

I'd come here often enough by now that it no longer even felt all that unfamiliar.

The place we reached was the first chamber of the vault.

“It's cramped.”

As soon as the Tyrant arrived, those eyes swept over the surroundings.

It was a relatively narrow, dark space.

“Mm...”

Then the Tyrant walked over to one of the walls and tapped it several times with a hand.

“Thick. I couldn't break it with my fists.”

“...Were you checking whether you could break it or not?”

“Well, you know...”

The Tyrant trailed off with a laugh.

At the very least, it seemed that if things went wrong, smashing it had crossed that mind.

What was surprising was—

That the Tyrant gave a definite answer that it couldn't be broken.

The Tyrant—one of the Five Kings beneath the heavens—had judged that this wall would not break easily.

This vault really wasn't ordinary.

Clink.

I drew my sword and opened the door the way I knew.

At that, the Tyrant reacted.

“Oh ho...”

After the short exclamation, I stepped forward first.

“Please follow me.”

“No wonder it was so hard to find, and even harder to open. So those two old men really had been scheming.”

A chuckling laugh echoed through the passage.

“The Sword Saint. That crafty old man... it seems he really did prepare a great deal for your sake.”

“...”

For my sake?

I didn't even bother reacting to that absurd remark.

For my sake, my ass.

That vault had been for no one's sake but his own.

With that old man's personality, there was no way he would have prepared something out of consideration for me.

Ignoring the Tyrant's words, I headed to the second vault chamber.

Only after arriving there did I look at the Tyrant and point to one spot.

“Is that the item?”

“Mm? Ah.”

Following my hand, the Tyrant's eyes widened.

A dark bracer was lying there by itself on the floor.

“...Yes, that's it. At last...”

The Tyrant's gaze turned solemn as the Tyrant started walking toward it.

The moment I saw that, I grabbed the Tyrant by the shoulder.

“Wait a moment—”

BOOM-!!

“...!”

The instant I laid a hand on that shoulder, a massive pressure crushed down on me.

“...What exactly are you doing?”

Had stopping the Tyrant's step been a problem?

The Tyrant glanced at me with savage eyes.

Just locking eyes for an instant made it hard to breathe.

...This is insane.

So this was the Tyrant's real pressure?

I had nearly dropped to my knees.

“...I will give it to you... I will... just please wait a moment.”

At the words I forced out with difficulty, the pressure gradually faded.

“My apologies. That happened without me noticing. Ahaha.”

The Tyrant spoke as if trying to act casual, but that pressure had already swept through my entire body.

...What a temper.

I'd forgotten for a moment that every old man tangled up with Yucheon Gil was abnormal.

“So. Why did you stop me?”

“I'd like to hand it over right away too, but there are circumstances.”

“Circumstances?”

“Yes. If it's alright with you... could you give me a few drops of blood?”

“...What?”

Blood.

At that request, the Tyrant's brow stiffened.

How should I even explain this?

I thought for a moment, then answered.

“There is a problem with the mechanism. I'll need it in order to touch the object.”

The mechanism that old man had made.

At the explanation that I needed it to retrieve the item from there, the Tyrant made a dubious face.

Even so—

“Fine.”

The Tyrant casually extended a fist.

Drip. Drip.

Blood ran down from it.

“Will this do?”

I couldn't even tell when the wound had been made.

The instant I saw it, I hurriedly pulled a talisman from my sleeve.

“Yes. That's more than enough.”

The amount of blood startled me, but I soaked the talisman with it first.

Then—

Rustle.

I lightly attached it to my hand and seized the bracer.

This should do it.

Use blood to mask the soul.

By disguising my soul as if I were the Tyrant, I planned to shift the karma lying within the bracer onto the Tyrant instead.

...The fact that the bracer itself is a Divine Blade bothers me a little, though.

Still, if I passed it along like this, I should have been able to dump the karma here straight onto the Tyrant.

The Tyrant is the original owner, after all. This much should be bearable.

It probably wasn't a powerful curse.

That was my judgment.

“Here, then—”

Just as I was about to hand the bracer over to the Tyrant—

BZZZZZZZT-!!

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

The bracer began to vibrate.

“My— why is this...”

My eyes widened at the vibration.

Then—

KRAAAACK-!!!

“...What?”

All at once, the bracer wrapped itself around my wrist.

Both the Tyrant and I stared with our eyes wide.

Something—

...I think I'm screwed.

I had a very bad feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.