I made a deal with the Heavenly Demon.

I had to kill Primal Origin Blade, but my own strength was lacking. Body-and-sword unity. The newly obtained power was still too much for me to apply on my own.

It demanded too much concentration, and my proficiency was far too low to use it in actual battle.

Even so, I had to kill Primal Origin Blade.

So I tried to use everything else I had, and among them, the most suitable existence available to me was the Heavenly Demon.

He was no different. Like Yoo Cheongil, he could use my body, so I requested his help with this matter.

[I refuse.]

The Heavenly Demon refused flatly.

[How disappointing.]

He said he was disappointed in my choice. His voice was far colder than I had expected.

[You stand before a duel to the death and wish for my aid? Ignorant and foolish thinking.]

“This is not the time for me to be weighing that.”

I had no interest in where his disappointment came from. I did not care even a little about the Heavenly Demon’s disappointment.

A martial artist’s convictions. A martial artist’s will. The mindset one ought to have as a martial artist.

Who gave a damn about any of that?

There had not been a single moment when such things were important to me.

I was learning martial arts and developing an interest in them, but even that was simply an interest in martial studies. Survival and everything else were separate matters.

“I need your help. So let us make a deal.”

[Ha.]

The Heavenly Demon let out a hollow laugh at my words.

[A deal. What exactly do you think you can give me?]

“I don’t know. But I do know you want many things from me.”

[...]

“As you said, I am foolish and dull. Unfortunately, I also know that I am the talent you desire. Use that to make the deal.”

The Heavenly Demon wanted something from me. But I had no intention of granting his wishes in the slightest. That was why it could become a deal.

“Help me. Then I will also listen to one thing you say.”

[One thing?]

“Yes. But not anything whatsoever. Especially not something like becoming the Heavenly Demon. That would be difficult for me too. I would rather bite off my tongue and die.”

[Ha. Even in this situation, you set conditions? Did you not say you were in a hurry?]

“I am. But I still need to protect what needs protecting.”

[Truly not even amusing...]

“Thank you for the compliment. So please choose. Will you help me?”

[...]

The Heavenly Demon did not answer. It seemed he was considering it. I waited. A short while passed like that.

[Very well.]

The Heavenly Demon accepted.

[If you will listen to one thing I say, I shall follow your will.]

“What is that thing?”

[Go to Xinjiang.]

“...!”

Xinjiang.

That meant, in other words, go to the Demonic Cult.

“I said this earlier as well, but becoming the Heavenly Demon is—”

[Do not misunderstand.]

The Heavenly Demon cut me off as if drawing a line.

[That seat is not something you can gain merely because you want it. Even if you are ultimately made to sit upon it according to fate, it is not something obtained immediately by wanting it.]

“Then what...”

[Fate will lead you. It will happen before too long. When it does, sit within that flow.]

“...”

[This much, you can do, can you not?]

The Heavenly Demon spoke with laughter in his voice.

When the flow came that would send me to Xinjiang, I was to ride it.

I thought about those words for a moment.

“I will do that.”

In the end, I had no choice but to accept.

*****

PSSSSSSK—!!!

Amid the collapsing debris, my body moved. Primal Origin Blade stood in front of me. A vicious force seized every inch of the air. From the sense alone, it was different from when I had been fighting him earlier.

This was on another level.

He had been playing with me.

It was the moment I realized that truth, and despite the ridiculous-sounding name of Four Kings, I realized he was a genuine martial artist.

“Meager?”

Primal Origin Blade’s voice deepened.

“Who are you calling meager, you damn brat?”

KRGGGGGGK—!!!

The air rippled. It was the influence of the inner qi pouring from his body, and along with it—

Sky-Crushing Palace’s energy.

It was gradually winding around his body. The stronger that became, the fiercer his presence grew. The feeling was different. I could see him becoming stronger in real time.

“I am surprised. I will praise you. I did not think you had achieved body-and-sword unity. To think that you, who have not even reached the Transformation Realm, would have touched that sublime place.”

His admiration and shock were clear.

Body-and-sword unity really must have been an extraordinary realization. Not that I knew much about it.

“...Truly overwhelming talent. I acknowledge it. Yoo Cheongil. I wondered what level the inheritor of that monster would be, but this is an absurd measure.”

It was nothing but praise. So much that I wondered if I should really be hearing it from an enemy.

However—

“That is why you will die here. No matter what means I must use, I will cut off your head.”

Primal Origin Blade’s resolve was packed with dense, heavy killing intent. A cold, sharp energy made the ground seethe.

“Hmm.”

At those words, I—

No, the Heavenly Demon tilted his head.

“How fresh.”

“What?”

“To be told that I will be killed by any means necessary. It has been far too long since I saw someone say that to me... It feels rather fresh.”

“...What nonsense. Did you hit your head too hard just now? It seems you’ve lost your mind.”

KRGGK.

Primal Origin Blade gripped his massive blade.

“Enough. Whether you are broken or whatever else, you die. And I will carry that girl away carefully in my arms as well, so do not worry.”

That bastard.

At the infuriating words he spat as if they were amusing, I ground my teeth.

That was when—

WHOOOONG—!!!

Primal Origin Blade’s body rushed toward me in an instant.

I could not see him. It was the same this time too. Normally, I would not have been able to react. And if I could not react—

That means I wouldn’t have been able to dodge or block.

It meant there was a high chance I would have died right there.

But—

“Watch closely.”

KKIRIRIK!!!

KAANG—!

“...What!?”

The Divine Sword blocked Primal Origin Blade’s blade as if it were nothing. As if the force he had thrown into it meant nothing.

This is...

How had that happened?

It absolutely should not have been possible to block it. The difference in strength was obvious. The quality of our hard aura was different too. And on top of that—

He didn’t use Moonbolt or anything.

The body the Heavenly Demon was using was simply a body wrapped in hard aura. That meant he had not used the power of Azure Moon Heart Art at all.

So how was this kind of strength coming out?

“It is a matter of distributing force and harmonizing soul energy.”

The Heavenly Demon answered my question.

“The realization you obtained does not contain the distribution of soul energy and inner qi. So I shall teach you. It is a gift from me to you, who have touched body-and-sword unity.”

“What have you been babbling about this whole time? You insolent bastard, how dare you stand before me and—!”

Primal Origin Blade must have been irritated by the Heavenly Demon’s muttering, because he put even more force into his blade. Sky-Crushing Palace’s energy now began to influence even his beloved weapon.

His hard aura began to change. His blade aura, which originally would have been transparent, began °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° to take on a deep purple hue.

“Disgusting.”

The Heavenly Demon’s emotion shifted when he confirmed it.

That was when—

CHWAAK—!

“...!?”

Blood burst from Primal Origin Blade’s upper body.

What?

The Heavenly Demon’s sword had split open his chest. It happened in an instant. I did not see how he moved the sword.

No. I saw it, but I did not understand it.

Because it had simply been a downward slash.

“Body-and-sword unity is simpler in principle than you might think.”

SHIIIK—!!

“Kh...!?”

The Heavenly Demon kept moving. Primal Origin Blade moved to respond.

CHWAAAAK—!!!

Yet, for some reason, the Heavenly Demon’s sword lightly pierced through his defense.

“To become one with the sword. The simple principle that the beloved weapon and the body become one. Yet the realization contained within it is not shallow. Do you know what it means to become of one mind with your beloved weapon?”

I do not.

The something contained within the sensation of becoming one with the sword.

I had not reached that far yet.

SHIRIRIK.

KAANG—!

Primal Origin Blade’s blade was deflected. I focused on that. With grip strength and energy both far inferior, how could he block so lightly?

“To become of one mind means, in the end, to be able to handle the sword wholly. Energy, in the end, inevitably has that which flows out, and there is always a portion one cannot hold entirely. This is because the sword and the body are ultimately different things. However—”

CHIJIIIIJIK—!!

Energy slowly rebelled. Energy was emerging from the Heavenly Demon’s body.

This was—

Azure Moon Heart Art.

The energy of Azure Moon Sect.

Blue energy flowed through the Heavenly Demon’s body. It was different from last time. Last time—

He used demonic qi.

This time, it seemed he had no intention of using demonic qi.

“I must not. That would not make it a gift to you.”

The Heavenly Demon smiled.

That was when—

“It was probably used like this.”

PAJIK—!

KWAAAAAAAA—!!!

...!!

Watching from inside my body, I was shocked.

The Heavenly Demon attempted Moonbolt.

Not only did he succeed in using Moonbolt—

What is this energy?

A force far more overwhelming than what I used burst out.

What was that energy?

“Soul energy.”

The Heavenly Demon answered.

“It is amplification through the energy of the soul and spirit. Remember it well.”

At those words, I focused on the body.

The spiritual energy near the heart.

It was not mine. This seemed to be the Heavenly Demon’s energy, the one coveting my body.

That energy wrapped around the flow as if—

It is rotating the energy faster.

He was harmonizing it so it would pass through the meridians faster.

So it would contain greater strength.

Was something like this possible?

On top of that—

This is the sensation of body-and-sword unity.

From the moment the Heavenly Demon blocked Primal Origin Blade’s attack once, he had entered body-and-sword unity.

His footfalls. His breathing. Even the direction of the sword.

Everything was different. It felt as if the world he lived in and the scenery he saw had risen by an entire dimension.

This is it.

Exhilaration.

The exhilaration I had seen when I climbed onto that path.

This was—

Body-and-sword unity.

I felt the world changing. Was it because I was in soul-form? Excluding every other sensation, I looked only at the thing in front of me.

I would not miss a single thing.

That was how I felt.

“Good. Keep watching like that.”

“You bastard.”

At the Heavenly Demon’s words, Primal Origin Blade clenched his teeth.

KUAAAAAAAA—!!!!

Energy ran wild.

Primal Origin Blade’s blazing eyes turned toward the Heavenly Demon.

“...Insolent bastard...!”

His force gathered and gathered. It became a single hard aura. No, something even firmer than that. Apparently, it was Primal Origin Blade’s martial art.

“Try taking even this. This will be the last time you dodge like a rat.”

“Dodge?”

Before his words ended, the Heavenly Demon moved.

Seogeok.

Something was cut.

Oh.

At some point, the Heavenly Demon had gone behind Primal Origin Blade.

“I—”

Like that.

“Never dodged in the first place.”

Thud.

“Uh...?”

Primal Origin Blade’s left shoulder was severed, and blood erupted from it.

CHWAAAAAK—!!

“GRAAAH!”

He clutched his shoulder and staggered. As he reeled, the Heavenly Demon looked at him and spoke.

“Filth. Even as a little trick, that was meager.”

A sword unstained by blood despite having cut.

An indifferent hand.

He had not even used his own martial arts and was borrowing my inadequate body.

This...

So this was the Heavenly Demon.

I could feel, if only in fragments, what the god of the Demonic Cult truly was.