“...That’s impossible...”

Seo Seon, collapsed on the ground, spoke to me.

His eyes were already bloodshot red.

“What sorcery did you use...?!”

He shouted at me so fiercely that the veins in his neck stood out.

It was certainly a savage sight.

But—

“Sorcery?”

That level of ferocity had no chance of shaking me.

“If you’re going to ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) talk, at least don’t talk like an idiot. Sorcery?”

If anything, it handed me all the justification I needed.

“Can you take responsibility for that?”

“What?”

“You said sorcery. You just claimed I used sorcery on you. Can you take responsibility for that?”

The corners of my mouth rose.

It was too perfect a situation not to enjoy.

Seo Seon looked like he wanted to say something in response, but—

“If you say I used sorcery, that’s no different from insulting my master.”

“...!”

The instant I brought up the Sword Saint, Seo Seon’s eyes shook.

“My sword came from him, and the fact that your knee hit the ground is proof of that. Sorcery? You really don’t seem to know who you’re spouting nonsense at.”

The Sword Saint’s inheritor.

The Hero of Sichuan.

The Savior of Henan.

I already had more than enough names attached to me, and yet here he was, saying I had used sorcery?

“Can you take responsibility for that?”

Could he endure the pressure that came with those words?

That was what I meant.

“...Don’t make me laugh.”

Seo Seon’s face twisted.

“Then are you saying you’re stronger than I am?”

“If we’re being precise, wouldn’t that be the case?”

“Don’t talk nonsense—!”

He pushed himself back up.

The knee that had already touched the ground rose lightly, and the tip of his sword trembled faintly.

Two lines.

There were two sword paths. One faint, one dense.

The one I read was the faint one.

The dense one was the feint.

A slash came for my throat. I avoided it. The moment I took one step back, Seo Seon drove forward.

That much had been part of his calculation.

“You bastard—!”

At the distance he had now closed, his sword soared skyward.

The descending blade looked like night itself.

Night Moon?

My eyes cooled as I watched the low-falling technique.

For a night, it’s awfully frail.

The night Yucheon Gil had shown me, the night that had tried to raise the moon, was not something this shallow.

My sword caught Night Moon.

As though brushing aside the night, I guided it away and threw it off.

CLANG—!!

With a clear, ringing sound, Seo Seon’s sword was knocked away.

“...Hk!”

Seo Seon’s eyes widened when his blade was flung aside.

I had no time to enjoy the reaction.

This time, my sword rose into the sky.

“That’s not how you use it.”

Night—

“Watch closely.”

—had to be darker than that.

“This is the real thing—”

FWOOOOSH—!!!

“...!!!”

Night Moon infused with Sword Aura came down toward Seo Seon’s head.

It rushed in fast enough to split him in two—

—and stopped dead right in front of his forehead.

WHOOOOOOOSH—!!!!

The instant the strike halted, wind exploded outward around us.

“Uh... ah...”

Thud.

The knee that had touched the ground earlier alone, now both went down.

Seo Seon’s pupils shook wildly.

“This... this is...”

Leaving him there in a daze, I pushed the sword back into its sheath.

Click.

Once I had sheathed it properly, I turned my head to the side.

The disciple acting as judge was staring at me with horrified eyes.

“Are we continuing?”

The match was already over, yet when I asked if we were going on—

“...Ah...! The, the bout. Bang Seongyeon wins.” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The judge hurriedly declared the result.

Even after that—

“...”

The crowd stayed silent.

It was a victory that drew not a single sound.

*****

The Moon Hero had won.

And not just against anyone, but against the number one member of the Lesser Moon Unit.

Everyone was shocked that Seo Seon—the man many had said would become the next Lesser Moon Unit leader—had lost to Bang Seongyeon, the youngest of them.

“...No matter how strong the Moon Hero may be, doesn’t this make no sense?”

“He can’t even be more than twenty yet. What kind of talent is that?”

“Even if he is the Sword Saint’s inheritor...”

Even after seeing it with their own eyes, most of them still could not believe it.

“They only exchanged a few moves.”

“...Could it really have been sorcery?”

Had Seo Seon’s outburst lent the idea some credibility?

The instant one disciple mentioned sorcery—

“Didn’t you hear what he said earlier?”

A slender yet razor-sharp voice cut straight in.

“Pardon? Wh— Hk...!”

The disciple froze the moment he saw who the voice belonged to.

It was none other than Cheon Hyein.

“When he asked whether you could take responsibility for calling it sorcery. Didn’t you hear him?”

“N-No... I... I mean...”

“If you can’t take responsibility, then don’t dare say it. It isn’t a very admirable sight.”

She spoke sweetly, even smiling brightly, but the air seemed to sink with cold.

At her words, the disciple swallowed and nodded.

“S-Sorry.”

“What for? You shouldn’t be apologizing to me.”

With that, Cheon Hyein moved on.

Watching her, the other disciples whispered among themselves.

“...Was Lady Cheon always like that?”

“She seems much colder than before.”

They said it while rubbing their shoulders.

The Cheon Hyein they knew had originally given off a gentle, kind impression.

But the Cheon Hyein they had just seen was far too cold and too severe for that.

“Perhaps she’s just tense.”

“...Lady Cheon, tense? It doesn’t suit her, but still...”

Tense.

There was a reason for that guess—or misconception.

Cheon Hyein walked straight toward the martial platform.

Because she was the second match.

“...”

As she stepped onto the platform, Cheon Hyein suppressed a sigh inwardly.

...What a strange person.

Strange.

Bizarre.

Eccentric.

She thought of a being that was difficult to describe with any single word.

When she had first seen him, she had thought of him as no more than the Sword Saint’s inheritor.

Just a boy her younger sibling had become oddly obsessed with.

But why...

...did the impression he left keep changing the farther things went?

The young man who had first seemed only somewhat good-looking had, after speaking with her, left her with the impression that he was similar to herself.

Then after traveling together by chance, the way she saw him changed yet again.

Someone who hides many things.

She realized he was not merely similar to her.

Even that likeness had only been one of the things he was hiding.

He doesn’t fit.

Just like herself, he was not someone who suited the Azure Moon Sect.

A place full of lunatics who died by the sword and died by the moon.

Cheon Hyein had never liked the Azure Moon Sect very much.

It was simply the path she had chosen because her father was the Sect Leader, and because she had talent.

And—

Wasn’t he the same?

Bang Seongyeon.

She had believed he too was no different from her.

A man who looked endlessly languid and uninterested in others.

And yet, his way of seeming to watch everything in every direction, and the sharpness that sometimes made it feel as if her chest would be pierced the moment their eyes met—

Yes, it was like—

Father, or...

An old man who flickered faintly in Cheon Hyein’s memory.

...the Sword Saint.

It resembled the eyes he had when he looked at her.

That’s absurd.

It made no sense that someone younger than she was could possess eyes like that.

Sometimes, just being around him made it hard to breathe.

Bang Seongyeon was that kind of existence.

And Cheon Hyein did not like him.

His face is fairly close to my taste, though.

Hadn’t he undergone rebirth? Even the fact that he had obtained that absurd miracle offended her.

...Why?

Why did he keep changing?

If she failed to see him for even a little while, he returned practically as a different person.

Is his talent in martial arts really that extraordinary?

She had thought not.

Usually, if Cheon Hyein decided something was not the case, it was not.

Her eye for people was excellent.

And using people like that was what she considered her specialty.

And yet—

I don’t know.

She did not understand Bang Seongyeon.

Not what he was thinking, nor what he was seeing.

Because she knew nothing, she only felt pushed farther away instead.

How irritating.

Just thinking about him sent her emotions rising.

He bothered her.

He irritated her.

To Cheon Hyein, Bang Seongyeon was that kind of existence.

Of all things, he had to say something so pointless.

Her warning to be careful of Seo Seon had been made meaningless.

Bang Seongyeon had risen to a place far higher than she had known.

Had that change happened in the time she had not seen him?

Or—

Had he been hiding his strength?

Had he hidden even that from her?

She did not know that either.

“Hoo...”

Cheon Hyein let out a breath.

It was always like this when she thought of him.

Even though she did not particularly want to think about him, it was not easy to stop once he came to mind.

Enough.

Now was not the time to be thinking about him.

She forcibly erased the thought.

I have too much to think about.

The problem of the vault.

The matter of Senior Uncle.

Even aside from those—

...the thing right in front of me now.

That too was the same.

“It’s been a while.”

She greeted her opponent in a lovely voice, and he looked at her with blunt eyes.

“...Yes.”

The young man gave a slight nod.

Dohyeong greeted her properly.

Cheon Hyein’s opponent was Dohyeong.

That was possible because, in the Lesser Moon Unit’s order, Dohyeong came after her.

“I feel like it’s been quite a long time since the two of us last crossed swords. Am I right?”

As she remembered it, it had been years ago.

“That’s right.”

Back then, Dohyeong had not yet awakened his Moon Eye.

Cheon Hyein already had.

Naturally, Cheon Hyein had won.

Slowly, she drew her sword.

“Do you think the result will be different this time?”

Would it be different from then?

Back then, she had judged him to be useful enough, but ultimately still somewhat disappointing.

After several years, would Dohyeong be any different?

He will be.

She had seen something from the side.

Dohyeong was giving off a somewhat different air than before.

He too drew his sword.

“I don’t know.”

As he brought his blade up and settled into his stance, Dohyeong answered her question.

“I—”

His gaze changed.

“...only ever do my best.”

“Mm...”

For an instant, Cheon Hyein’s expression loosened.

I’ve felt it for a while now, but he’s the sort of person I hate.

Straight.

A straight and heavy man.

He did not waver, and because of that, he left few openings.

That meant he was the second type she hated most.

The first, naturally, was Bang Seongyeon.

“All right. I’ll look forward to it.”

After speaking, she glanced lightly around.

One face stood out especially to one side.

Bang Seongyeon.

He was looking this way together with her younger sibling.

To be precise, he was looking at Dohyeong.

Cheon Uijin wore a tense expression, while Bang Seongyeon was watching Dohyeong with a face that gave nothing away.

What is that?

Even that was strange.

He seemed to be looking at Dohyeong, and yet something—

Where is he looking?

Was he looking around Dohyeong instead?

His gaze was odd.

Damn it.

Cheon Hyein turned her head back again.

Without realizing it, she had let Bang Seongyeon distract her.

Focus.

Bang Seongyeon was not the problem.

The opponent she had to keep her attention on was—

...the Silver Moon Sword.

The narrow-eyed man watching her from a position separated from Bang Seongyeon.

That was the one she needed to mind.

“Hoo...”

I’ll finish this quickly.

With that thought, Cheon Hyein put strength into her sword.

“The bout...”

After confirming both sides were ready, the judge spoke.

“Begin.”

And at that word—

SHIIING—!!!

Cheon Hyein dove in at once.

She rushed straight up to Dohyeong and let a flash burst forth.

A graceful, dancing sword form.

The blade, pretending lightness as it slipped in to exploit a weak point, had just begun to sink into Dohyeong—

—slice—

“...!”

Cheon Hyein, startled, stopped her sword and sprang back.

Only after urgently widening the distance did she carefully touch her cheek.

Blood came away on her fingers.

“Oh my.”

Her eyes widened at the sight of the blood.

“...Well.”

She wiped away the rest with the back of her hand and looked at Dohyeong.

He was still standing in exactly the same spot as before.

“I made a mistake.”

Looking at him, Cheon Hyein acknowledged her error.

“You’ve changed quite a lot, haven’t you?”

“...”

There was no answer.

Even so, Cheon Hyein steadied her breathing.

So Bang Seongyeon was not the only one who had suddenly grown stronger?

Dohyeong’s blue eyes were shining with a heat that almost seemed to burn.

And with them came a killing aura strong enough to make even Cheon Hyein tense.