He’ll do.

Their first meeting had been when he was very young.

A day so far back he did not even remember how old he had been.

The weather had not been anything special either.

Then again, he himself had never been anyone special.

He had simply been ordinary.

Flat and unremarkable, no different from anyone else.

If there had been anything slightly different, it was only that his parents had been killed by unorthodox bastards, leaving him an orphan against his will.

Even that had never seemed special to him.

In this shitty world, it was common enough.

What was there to be surprised about?

Still, his luck had been good. Even after losing his parents, he had a bit of talent, and because of that, he had been able to enter the Azure Moon Sect.

Not bad with a sword. His numbness is a slight concern, but even that should not matter.

Looking up at those blue eyes, he thought what a large man this was.

Are you not afraid of me?

The old man asked.

What is fear?

The boy asked back.

It was a truly honest question.

The boy did not know what fear was.

Nor did he understand emotions very well besides that.

That was the kind of person the boy was.

Even his parents had often called him a monster.

And yet—

Hahahahaha.

As though he liked the answer, the old man burst into hearty laughter.

What is fear, you ask...

The old man pulled the corners of his mouth wide and said:

You need not be curious about it. It is not an emotion you need to know in the first place.

A large hand patted the boy on the shoulder.

I like you.

Bright eyes took in the boy.

When I return, I will teach you the sword. Ah, and this is a secret, so do not go around talking about it. There is no telling what kind of uproar the others would cause.

“...”

The boy did not answer that he understood.

At the time, he had not known what any of that meant.

Besides—

it never happened anyway.

After saying those words, the old man never met the boy again.

If there was anything that could be called a meeting—

it was only much later,

when he met the strange bastard who was called the old man’s inheritor.

*****

Creeeeak—! Clang!

Shaking swords whipped through every direction.

Blue lines filled the space from end to end, and the sheer speed interlocked so fiercely the surroundings seemed ready to split apart.

Clang! Crack—!!

The noise kept getting louder.

It was an explosive roar no one would ever have mistaken for mere blades colliding.

“...Ha... This is...”

“...Ama... amazing.”

The third-generation disciples watching could only lose their words.

Their eyes could not even properly follow the two fighters’ swords.

The speed was outrunning sound.

The bursting noise came after the blades had already struck.

There was a gap, however slight.

It was violent.

So violent it felt grotesque, and so precise it was astonishing.

Their movements looked almost rehearsed.

Those of lower realms could not even perceive the motion itself, and could only gasp in admiration.

In the middle of that—

“...Young Master Bang...”

Watching from beneath the platform, Cheon Uijin widened his eyes as he looked at Bang Seongyeon.

“To think... he would be that strong.”

He was shocked.

He had already known Bang Seongyeon was strong, but he had never imagined he would be this outstanding.

He had never imagined—

that he could fight Senior Brother on those terms.

Senior Brother.

Yu Yul, the Silver Moon Sword.

He had not known Bang Seongyeon was strong enough to stand at that level.

...Senior Brother.

This time, Cheon Uijin frowned as he looked at Yu Yul.

It had been three years since he had last seen him.

The other disciples wore expressions of shock at how strong the Silver Moon Sword was.

Cheon Uijin did not.

Yu Yul was strong.

At the very least, he had always been strong from the moment Cheon Uijin first came to know him.

...If anything, that was what was strange.

Yu Yul had never made a point of showing that strength.

Even when he entered the Lesser Moon Unit, there had been plenty of people who wondered how he had managed it.

Back then too, Yu Yul had only smiled it away.

He was always like that.

A man who smiled easily.

A man who let almost everything pass with a smile, without caring about the words or gazes of others.

That Yu Yul had always bothered Cheon Uijin in some way.

Yes, bothered.

That was as far as it went for him, but—

My sister—

His older sister, Cheon Hyein, had gone beyond that and outright disliked Yu Yul.

Back when they had still gotten along at least a little, he had once asked her.

Why do you hate Yu Yul that much?

At that, Cheon Hyein had clicked her tongue and answered—

She called it hating her own kind.

She had said something he could not understand.

Hating her own kind?

...They are on completely different tracks.

Even the feeling they gave off was completely different, so where exactly had she sensed anything like “the same kind”?

Cheon Uijin could not understand Cheon Hyein’s words.

There was nothing alike about them.

That was how Yu Yul looked to Cheon Uijin.

But—

something—

The Yu Yul he was watching right now—

...feels alien.

There was something subtly alien about him.

What was it?

Where had that difference come from?

Cheon Uijin could not tell that either.

But—

right now... this is no time to think about that.

Even that feeling barely reached him.

His Moon Eye was focused entirely on the platform.

Clang! Rattle—!!

Sparks burst and vanished over and over.

All he could see were flashes of light as the blades struck each other.

He barely managed to catch the figures’ speed with his eyes and narrowed his gaze.

I cannot miss this.

He knew it instinctively.

He could not afford to miss this fight.

Not even for an instant.

Do not miss a single moment.

Fix it all in your eyes.

That was all he focused on.

The fact that this was the end of the Azure Wolf Festival, that the seat of Young Sect Leader could be won here, had already slipped from his mind.

All that remained in Cheon Uijin’s head was this—

the fight between two powerful members of the Lesser Moon Unit.

...Someday.

Probably not too far from now, he too would take the test to enter the Lesser Moon Unit.

Will I—

Will I also be able to become as strong as Senior Brother or Young Master Bang?

He did not let the question linger.

I will.

He had to.

It was something he had learned by staying beside Bang Seongyeon.

Whether he could or not—

if it was something that had to be done, then he did it.

Watching the duel between the two of them, Cheon Uijin dreamed of that future.

*****

Boom—!!!

Hard aura bursts outward.

A numbing sensation runs through me.

For an instant, the strength almost slips from my hand.

I clench it again.

I drive power into my shoulder.

Clang! Ching!

I knock the sword aside and force an attack into the opening.

Left.

I move my body along the sword path my Moon Eye has grasped.

Radiant Moon Flash Aura blooms with light.

It is bright enough to blind the sight itself, but Yu Yul does not seem to care in the least.

A few more exchanges pass.

I frown.

“Moon Wave—”

I seize the opening and unfold the form.

A crescent moon leaps out—

but at that same moment, Yu Yul is executing Moon Wave as well.

The moons collide.

Boom—!!!

Just before the martial arts meet, the hard aura slams together first and erupts with shock.

Whaaaam—!!!

Inner qi whips up the wind.

My body is shoved backward.

I use it to widen the distance.

My eyes go to the space we created.

Yu Yul is standing there, twirling his sword.

“Good.”

A calm remark.

“So that is his form? It really is different.”

The Sword Saint’s Moon Wave.

It was not one of the Azure Moon Sect sword arts as they had been passed down, but a martial art he had changed with his own hands.

“And that aura ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) on your blade—that is his too, isn’t it? Beautiful.”

His gaze falls on the Radiant Moon Flash Aura as Yu Yul says it with a smile.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“You are welcome.”

I reset my stance properly as I answer, and Yu Yul waves a hand as if it is nothing.

What an unbelievably irritating bastard.

“It has only been a few days, and you have turned into a completely different person. Did you undergo rebirth?”

“...Who knows.”

“That’s fine. I was not going to believe you even if you said no.”

“...”

Then why the hell did you ask, you lunatic?

The absurdity of it leaves me speechless.

“That makes it even better.”

Hummmmm.

Yu Yul’s sword vibrates.

Hard aura is rising again.

“If you had still been as incompetent as when I first saw you, I might have been a little disappointed... but now you’re different, aren’t you?”

“...”

Incompetent?

I was not exactly weak back then either.

I am just stronger now.

Fwoosh.

I pour more force into the Radiant Moon Flash Aura.

Reinforcing the aura on my blade, I settle properly into my stance.

Yu Yul sees that and tilts his head.

“You’re not going to use it? It should be about time by now.”

That.

He probably means Moonbolt.

“Or do you need to enjoy yourself a little more before you feel like bringing it out?”

It seemed Yu Yul wanted me to use Moonbolt.

No, he already knew.

That is probably why he has only been going halfway too.

The reason neither of us is fighting at full power.

Knowing what Yu Yul wants makes me want to use it even less.

“Rather than trying to enjoy it more...”

I grin as I look at Yu Yul.

“I’m not using it because you’re not on the level that makes me need it.”

“Ah?”

I threw out that absurd provocation.

That I did not need to use it against him.

At that, Yu Yul nods.

“Certainly. That’s true.”

He accepts it with unexpected calm.

Why?

As I look at him in confusion—

“I should have shown courtesy from my side first, but I didn’t. That was my mistake.”

“...What are you—”

“I should show some sincerity too.”

Yu Yul smiles and looks somewhere.

The direction of his gaze is—

Moon Immortal Sword?

It is where the Sect Leader, Moon Immortal Sword, is seated.

Without thinking, my eyes follow.

When I look at Moon Immortal Sword, I see him give the slightest nod.

As if granting permission.

“Good.”

At Moon Immortal Sword’s nod, Yu Yul speaks.

“He says I can.”

“What—”

Was that really permission?

What the hell was he about to do that he needed permission for?

Just as that thought hits me—

Yu Yul lowers his sword slightly.

And in that moment—

A chill crawls over my entire body.

“...!”

My whole body erupts in gooseflesh.

What is this feeling?

My eyes widen, and cold sweat runs down me.

I stare at Yu Yul in that unknown sensation.

“The Sword Saint was an extraordinary man.”

Out of nowhere, Yu Yul starts praising Yoo Cheongil.

“He took the Azure Moon Sect sword, already called a divine art, and evolved it even further under the name of transformation. Your sword is proof of that. The only shame is...”

Sssssssss—!!!

Energy rises from Yu Yul’s body.

The blue force is the same color as before, but—

something—

I can feel that the energy itself has changed.

“...that only you possess such a sword.”

“...”

That much could not be helped.

The inner cultivation art itself was different.

Yoo Cheongil had torn apart the Azure Moon Sect’s inner cultivation art, created a new one, and planted it in my body.

Still—

it isn’t only me who has it.

There was also the Lesser Moon Unit leader, who had half-copied the Radiant Moon Flash Aura.

In the end, because his inner cultivation art was different, he had only managed to gain half of it.

“But that part is not what disappoints me. Junior, did you know?”

Stab.

A chill pierces straight through the crown of my head.

“The Sword Saint was certainly an extraordinary man, but—”

Fwooooooosh—!!!!

The blue force wrapping his body swells until I can barely see his actual body through the density of it.

“my master is not exactly some inferior man either. Ah—so to put it simply.”

Then the energy all vanishes, and Yu Yul’s figure appears again.

When it does—

Yu Yul is standing there with blue hair.

What the hell is that?

I falter at the changed sight for a split second.

Whoom—!

“...!”

I feel his presence.

Not in front of me—

behind me.

The Yu Yul who had been standing before me is already gone.

At once—

Crackle—!!!!

I unleash Moonbolt and swing my sword.

KWAAANG—!!!

A brutal noise, like thunder splitting the sky, washes over my body.

Twitch.

For an instant, something stirs in one corner of my heart.

—Ha ha.

A low laugh.

It was not Yoo Cheongil.

It was the Heavenly Demon.