There’s no need for you to understand. (5)
The sky was filled with stars so bright it felt awkward to say that darkness had settled. And beneath them, a pitch-black river surged. The black current stained the earth as it moved south, and farther south.
Heavenly Executioner’s gaze sank heavily as he silently watched the vast flow of this black river, made not of water but of people.
The demonic soldiers were advancing with bated breath. As though they had been possessed by something.
To some, it would have been a sight more terrifying than anything, but in Heavenly Executioner’s eyes there showed a dissatisfaction he could not quite conceal.
‘……Too slow.’
Had he been his usual self, he would have increased their pace even if it meant tearing out the necks of those sluggish demonic soldiers himself. But now, he merely followed their slow march at an equally sluggish pace.
Of course, it was not because he pitied them.
Heavenly Executioner bit down hard on his lip. As if making some great resolution.
After several moments of hesitation – an emotional display that could not have suited the name Heavenly Executioner any less – he turned very slowly to look behind.
Usually, a strong man being slow on purpose could only be a symbol of composure or intimidation. But in Heavenly Executioner’s slowness now, it was difficult to find anything like intimidation.
The only thing that could be felt was fear disguised as caution. An emotion that did not suit Heavenly Executioner at all.
At last, when he had fully turned his head, a strange sight, absolutely different from what lay ahead, unfolded before his eyes.
Silent enough to take one’s breath away.
The sight before him, of pitch-black waves overrunning the world, was eerie enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. But the rear, once he turned and confirmed it, was only still. It was no different in any way from the ordinary world.
And yet Heavenly Executioner knew it was different. The same as always, and yet different. It could not be otherwise.
Because ‘He’ was there.
In the silent world, something was moving slowly.
Black and gray. In a world dyed in two colors, there was a solitary figure of pure white [순백(純白)]. It was plainly clear that this white silhouette stood apart from this world, distinctly detached [유리(遊離)] from it.
Slowly, with boundless leisure, the figure clad in pure white took another step.
Had someone in the past called that gait the Steps of Domination [군림을 위한 걸음(君臨步)]? But as Heavenly Executioner saw it, there was no intent or meaning in that step. It was simply…
“What is it you seek to understand?”
At the sudden question, Heavenly Executioner turned his head. The Archbishop was staring at him with a peculiar smile.
“Understanding is something sought only between equal beings. You must know that. That you dare not understand.”
“…Indeed.”
Humans try to understand the divine. But the divine that can be understood is no longer such. It is because the divine can never be fully comprehended or grasped that it is revered. That is what the divine is by nature.
Heavenly Executioner spoke in a low voice.
“And yet, even knowing that, isn’t the desire to understand the divine what faith truly is?”
“Hmm.”
The Archbishop, who had cast a heavy gaze at Heavenly Executioner for a moment, silently nodded. As though that statement, too, was worthy of acknowledgment.
“Then what is it you seek to understand?”
Heavenly Executioner could not answer readily. Now that the question had been asked, the words refused to come.
What was he curious about? There were countless things.
Why had the Heavenly Demon’s appearance changed from what he had known in the past? And why did the exalted being who clearly existed before his eyes sometimes feel as though he had become utterly empty?
Why were the Heavenly Demon of the past and the Heavenly Demon of now so very different?
And more than anything else…
“The Heavenly Demon hates this world.”
The Archbishop shook his head at once and cut him off.
“That is nothing more than a mere human’s presumptuous guess, Heavenly Executioner.”
“So you are saying it is not…?”
A faint smile formed on the Archbishop’s lips.
“The Heavenly Demon seeks to erase the world. That much is an undeniable fact. But to call it hatred is nothing more than the arrogance of ignorant humans, who can interpret the world only through the lens of their own emotions. Have I not already told you? One must accept that there are things beyond understanding.”
“…”
“The one important fact is that He seeks to erase the existing world. That, and that alone.”
“And we, His faithful servants, simply follow that will?”
“Is there any reason not to?”
“None, I suppose.”
Heavenly Executioner twisted the corner of his mouth. It was what he had wished for. Was it not what he had so desperately longed for? He was merely curious.
“Then why is He…”
…Advancing towards that purpose so slowly.
Despite possessing such lofty divine might.
Rejecting the cart made by human hands. Refusing the bishops who volunteered to become His own draft horses. Even rejecting the blood-soaked path prepared with the blood of unbelievers.
Why did He insist on advancing alone?
“Then the Heavenly Demon…”
It was at that moment.
Heavenly Executioner and the Archbishop, instinctively sensing something, both turned their gazes sharply towards one place at the same time. Towards the great Demon [마(魔)] that they could not even dare look upon directly.
The pure white figure – so pale it seemed almost bloodless – was gazing up at the black sky.
That was all there was to it. In truth, it was a movement that meant nothing at all.
But within that nothingness [無], something undeniably existed.
Thump.
If it had to be put into words, it was akin to the faint sound of someone’s heartbeat – a quiver so incredibly slight it was almost nothing at all.
And yet, the moment the ripple from that tiny quiver – so insignificant that calling it ‘nothingness’ would have seemed more fitting – washed over Heavenly Executioner, he felt as though his very soul had been shattered.
“…!”
The world was engulfed in white. He could not even stagger, nor could he scream. His body seemed have been split into hundreds of millions of pieces, then tied back together, and in the face of that overwhelming shock, as though he had only just managed to become whole again, Heavenly Executioner could do nothing but tremble.
And when he finally managed to regain his senses, all Heavenly Executioner beheld was the Heavenly Demon walking slowly towards him, as though everything that had just happened had been a lie.
Nothing had changed. Yes, nothing at all had changed.
But Heavenly Executioner could tell.
The Heavenly Demon’s steps were unmistakably, ever so slightly faster than they had been a moment ago.
And they were different as well.
‘This is…..’
The eyes gazing somewhere far away. The overwhelming presence radiating from the very essence [본질(本質)] contained within that towering frame. Compared to before, something… something was undeniably different.
Crunch.
The foot, set down indifferently, crushed the snow beneath it.
Crunch. Crunch.
Those steps continued. Simply forward, perhaps towards the Central Plains, and perhaps towards Heavenly Executioner, who merely stood upon that path.
As the distance between them steadily closed, a faint glimmer of anticipation surfaced in Heavenly Executioner’s eyes.
Crunch.
When He reached the point just two steps away, Heavenly Executioner held his breath.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
But that being continued walking without pause, passing right by Heavenly Executioner as though there were nothing standing before Him at all.
“…”
Heavenly Executioner’s gaze fixed on the back of the one who had passed him by. What emotion had briefly surged through those eyes?
Emptiness? Disappointment? Or perhaps sorrow? It could not be defined as a single emotion. But there was no need to.
Because, at that moment, an unbelievable sound reached his ears.
“To the Central Plains.”
Heavenly Executioner, shocked, opened his eyes wide.
It was only a single phrase. And yet it could not be dismissed as mere words. How could it?
That sacred voice [성음(聖音)] had proven something. It had proven that they were not merely ants to be crushed beneath His feet.
An indescribable joy welled up within him.
Then the Archbishop spoke calmly, yet at the same time in a voice imbued with a chilling force.
“Do you understand now? That is the kind of being He is.”
Heavenly Executioner’s mouth closed tightly.
“We were young in the past. You and I alike. We were simply too ignorant to understand what He truly meant. But that is no longer the case. Only now are we worthy to dare assist Him at His side.”
It was not because the highest-ranking figure of the faith had willingly cast himself as a mere servant. It was because the very word ‘assist’, spoken by the Archbishop himself, sounded unbearably audacious. More than that, he found it strange that he himself considered it audacious.
“To be able to follow His will is joy in itself. Then what of carrying out that will and bringing it to fruition? Could something like that truly be described with nothing more than the word ‘joy’?”
“Do not change the subject, Archbishop.”
Heavenly Executioner spat out his words.
“I am already truly faithful.”
At those words, the Archbishop let out a chuckle.
“How pleasing. Yes, truly pleasing. O, foolish one. Then I command you. Lead the believers and enter the Central Plains.”
Heavenly Executioner looked at the Archbishop with a slightly startled expression. Until now, this was the one thing the Archbishop had never permitted him to do.
“We are beings who receive and carry out the Heavenly Demon’s will. If we know that His will truly lies in annihilation [절멸(絶滅)], then merely waiting for Him to act cannot be called loyalty.”
“……Did I not say that long ago.”
The Archbishop wore a faint smirk.
“When one reaches a position such as mine, there are things one must protect. But… it seems there is no longer any need for that.”
The Archbishop’s face, which had until now been nothing but serene, was suddenly filled with cold contempt.
“I command you, Second Bishop. Go. Go and dye that land with the blood shed by the hateful unbelievers of the Central Plains. Let everyone beneath Heaven see it with their own eyes. That the true Master of all has returned. Let them know that their destined end has at last arrived in full. The only gaze permitted towards Him shall be one of absolute despair.”
Hearing the command, Heavenly Executioner bared his teeth.
“I shall carry it out. As He wills.”
“Go.”
“How I have longed to hear these words.”
With a delighted laugh, Heavenly Executioner poured out a dense killing intent.
“You would do well to hurry, Archbishop.”
“….”
“For if you’re too late, there won’t be a single human left in the world for you to pass judgment upon.”
Leaving behind words that were not merely arrogant but brazen beyond measure, Heavenly Executioner vanished from before the Archbishop as though snuffed out of existence.
The Archbishop silently looked at the place from where Heavenly Executioner had disappeared, before slowly turning his head. He gazed quietly at the back of the white figure still advancing even at that very moment.
The Archbishop’s mouth opened slightly.
“How foolish… truly.”
They still struggled to understand. They still sought to define Him. They endlessly questioned whether His will rested within themselves.
All without knowing what lay at the end of that path.
But what did any of that matter?
After all, every end is predetermined. The Archbishop merely moved the world towards that predetermined end. He would simply continue forward. For this was the very mission and duty given to one who had attained enlightenment.
Gazing upon the back of the snow-white figure of the Heavenly Demon with an endlessly reverent heart, the Archbishop knelt without the slightest hesitation. Then, with a devotion that allowed not even a shred of impure thought, he bowed his head.
There it was. The only salvation that had reached this world.
“When the Heavenly Demon descends, Ten Thousand Demons Pay Homage.”
The Archbishop recited the ancient mantra. Once, then once more, and then once again.
“When the Heavenly Demon descends, Ten Thousand Demons Pay Homage.”
At present, the only one who understood the true meaning embedded within this ancient mantra was likely him alone.
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A reminder: All the previously available terminology about demonic cult has been broken down during the Hangzhou arc and is listed in the Glossary. If I say, for example, “demonic soldiers” and there is no hangul or hanja for it – it means this term has already been used in the novel and is listed in the Glossary. For all the demonic cult terminology u can go there and scroll through it, so i dont spam the new chapters with unnecessary * and footnotes! If there is smth new regarding the cult i will be adding it as usual under * and then adding to the Glossary.
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OHMYGAAAAWDDD. The Hangzhou arc flashbacks! The impeccable writing! The Demonic Cult challenging my poor English skill! OOOHHHH CHEONSAAAAL. I am beyond excited. HEAVENLY DEMON COME HERE, WHAT A DIVA HE ISSSS.
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