It is damn nice to see you. (3)
Throb.
A sudden pain made Heavenly Executioner lower his gaze to his own hand. His palm had flushed bright red. It looked like nothing much, but in truth, it held tremendous significance.
His lowered gaze slowly shifted forward.
Looking at his opponent, Heavenly Executioner murmured quietly.
“Yes, surely… was it… Chung Myung?”
Chung Myung slung his sword over his shoulder and smirked.
“I don’t exactly consider my name anything grand, you know.”
“Hm?”
“But even so, it’s not a name some mere Bishop gets to toss around as he pleases. Just hearing that name come out of your mouth makes my stomach churn, so I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain.”
Heavenly Executioner shrugged faintly.
“How arrogant. Yes, just like….. ‘him’.”
Soon, the whites of his eyes slowly began to fill with blood.
They began to throb. Not the hand that had blocked that man’s attack, but the old wounds that were already a hundred years old.
The pain, despair, and… anguish he had felt back then – all of it vividly came back to life, as though he had experienced it only yesterday.
“Tell me, unbeliever, a reason why I should not tear you apart and kill you.”
Heavenly Executioner’s eyes grew even more deeper shade of red.
“Tell me, then, whether there is even a single reason why I should not chew you up without leaving behind a single scrap of flesh – not when you wield the sword of that accursed sect, bear the name of that accursed man, and imitate that accursed man’s aura. If there is, I am at least willing to grant you a peaceful death.”
At this, the corners of Chung Myung mouth curled strangely. It was a wicked-looking smile, one that brought someone else to mind.
“It’s not like I’m hoping for mercy, but if there is a reason, there is only one, isn’t there?”
“…Hm?”
“Because you don’t have what it takes.”
“…”
“Quit running your mouth and come at me, you moron. That neck of yours should have been severed a hundred years ago. I’ll cut it off right……”
Fwooooooosh!
This was a blow filled with absolute certainty.
There was not a trace of doubt in the fist he thrust forward. This strike would certainly burst Chung Myung’s head. It was an attack filled with nothing but that conviction.
Kaaaaang!
And because of that, when that certainty crumbled, it left a void behind.
“…”
For the first time, bewilderment clouded Heavenly Executioner’s face.
Chung Myung’s head had not shattered. No, it had not even been scratched. The sword he had casually thrust out had rendered that blow, filled with absolute certainty, completely futile – as though it had never existed in the first place.
“You bastard…….”
“Don’t be in such a hurry.”
At that moment, a horrifying killing intent spread in every direction – so astonishing that even Heavenly Executioner, of all people, shuddered with terror.
“I’m just as eager to tear your flesh apart.”
Chung Myung cast a brief glance at Jwa Gohak.
“Go.”
“Dojang…”
There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things he needed to say. But right now, Jwa Gohak knew perfectly well what he had to do. Setting all those words aside, he opened his mouth.
“My birthday is soon.”
“…..Huh?”
“Even in the midst of this chaos, I’ve set aside a bottle of good liquor. It won’t be any fun unless we drink it together… Let us meet again then.”
Realizing the meaning behind those words, Chung Myung chuckled.
“Anyway, those ink-stained bastards even have to make ‘don’t you die’ sound fancy.”
Jwa Gohak gave Chung Myung a brief fist-palm salute, then turned and ran.
Chung Myung watched him go leisurely, then swept his sword down through the air like a bolt of lightning.
Slash!
The head of a demonic cultist who had reflexively tried to chase after Jwa Gohak shot into the air.
Having casually ended a life, Chung Myung turned his gaze back to Heavenly Executioner. Even though quite some time had passed, Heavenly Executioner had waited for him in silence.
“So you do possess something called patience. Even you, Bishop bastards.”
“I have little choice. For a hundred years, patience was all we had. Even clothes that don’t fit grow comfortable if you wear them long enough.”
Chung Myung’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Even in the past, Heavenly Executioner had not been merely a brute who possessed nothing but strength. If he had been, his infamy could never have spread so far throughout the world.
And yet the Heavenly Executioner of today was different from the one back then.
“It doesn’t really matter.”
Chung Myung pointed the tip of his sword at Heavenly Executioner.
“You’re going to die here anyway.”
“Heh.”
Heavenly Executioner let out a light chuckle.
“I’ll admit it. You are strong. Strong enough to remind me of him. And your arrogance may even surpass his.”
“…I know that’s a perfectly reasonable thing for you to say, but it’s a little awkward for me to hear.”
To think he would know what it felt like to be compared to his past self.
“But, you pathetic unbeliever.”
Wooooooong.
Black demonic energy coiled around Heavenly Executioner’s body and slowly began to surge.
“Even if the one standing before me now were him rather than you, he would not dare indulge in such arrogance.”
“Hm. Is that so? I feel like I can afford to be arrogant, though…”
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
At that moment, Chung Myung’s body shot backward like a streak of light.
“Kuugghhh!”
Blood spurted through Chung Myung’s tightly clenched teeth. Even though he had clearly blocked the attack, pain as though his entire body were being crushed surged over him.
‘My internal energy……’
The Heavenly Executioner of the past had been powerful as well. Excluding the anomalous existence known as the Heavenly Demon, he would have been more than capable of contending for the title of the strongest under heaven.
And such a man had been given a hundred years. So what realm had the Heavenly Executioner of today reached? What could one possibly call the level he had attained now, when he had already been considered to have reached the Ultimate Demonic realm [극마(極魔)] in the past?
Kwaaaaang!
Before his thoughts could continue, demonic energy once again descended upon Chung Myung.
Before he had fully regained his senses, Chung Myung was slammed into the ground and bounced back up. He immediately flipped over in midair and landed, baring his blood-stained teeth in a crooked grin.
“This is ridiculous.”
The ground beneath Chung Myung’s feet turned pitch-black. Without a moment’s hesitation, he kicked off the ground, launching himself backward in a great bound.
Boooooom!
The enormous mass of demonic energy swallowed the spot where Chung Myung had stood moments before and surged into the sky like a pitch-black dragon.
“Hah.”
Chung Myung let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
At this point, this could hardly even be called martial arts. It surpassed even the most fundamental condition that martial arts ought to possess – the act of releasing energy from the physical body.
Boom! Boom! Boooom!
As enormous explosions rang out, three streaks of pitch-black palm force shot through the air towards Chung Myung. Each was as large as a house, an ominous palm force that likely contained far more power than its appearance suggested.
Boooom!
The palm force that struck the ground quite literally pulverized the earth.
There weren’t even any techniques. No, it would be more accurate to say he simply had no need for them.
If a technique was defined as ‘the path of movement needed to draw out maximum efficiency from a limited amount of power,’ then Heavenly Executioner had no need for any techniques. His power was not limited.
He had not transcended techniques by attaining some higher realm of martial mastery. He had simply become so overwhelmingly powerful that techniques themselves had ceased to hold any meaning.
“What the…….”
Even the beggars who had been risking their lives to rush to the refugees’ aid sank to the ground when they witnessed the might of the black force. They had steeled themselves to cast their lives away like mere blades of grass, yet the sight before their eyes rendered even that noble resolve meaningless.
And amid that overwhelming spectacle, a human being made of flesh and blood was moving.
Booooom.
The palm force was avoided. But it was useless. The demonic energy that had collided with the ground caused a massive explosion and wrapped everything in a violent vortex. Even if he avoided the palm force itself, he would inevitably be torn to shreds by the demonic energy sweeping in behind it.
Fwish!
But at that moment, Chung Myung’s sword moved.
Pararararak!
In the blink of an eye, thousands, tens of thousands of plum blossoms bloomed in the air. An endless forest of plum blossoms, seemingly impossible to exist in any reality, rose up against the storm of demonic energy.
Plum Blossom Sword Formation: Mountain of Blooming Plum Blossoms [매화검결(梅花劍訣) 매화성여산(梅花盛如山)*].
The storm violently tore the plum blossoms apart. Yet the plum blossoms that continued to bloom, like a colossal mountain, held back the storm of demonic energy to the very end.
Booooooooom!
At that instant, another blast of palm force came hurtling in and smashed into the mountain of plum blossoms. Unable to withstand the terrifying power of the successive explosions, the entire mountain of blossoms began to collapse.
But it was only a split second. That single moment was enough.
Fwooooooosh.
Chung Myung’s body shot towards Heavenly Executioner, leaving a long afterimage behind. The red sword energy spreading from the tip of his sword cut across the air like a stroke of vermilion cinnabar [주사(朱砂)] drawn across a painting.
“Haaaaaap!”
At last, the sword came crashing down towards Heavenly Executioner’s head.
Claaaaang!
Heavenly Executioner’s hand, shrouded in black demonic energy, collided with Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword with all their strength.
Krrrrrrk!
The arm holding the sword trembled violently, while the hand gripping the blade twisted as though it might snap. And between them erupted a hatred far more violent than even the force of their collision.
Fwoooooosh!
Chung Myung’s sword was yanked back like a streak of light, slipping free from Heavenly Executioner’s grasp. As he pulled his arm back, his body lunged in the opposite direction – straight forward. From a distance where they were almost touching, Chung Myung unleashed a barrage of strikes. It was a truly explosive assault.
Kaaaaang!
Heavenly Executioner did not even attempt to block the dozens of sword shadows thrust towards him. The sword tip that struck his body could not pierce the demonic energy wrapped around his flesh. Even after allowing Chung Myung to land dozens of full-powered thrusts, all that appeared on Heavenly Executioner’s body were mere scratches.
Chung Myung’s eyes widened.
At that moment, Heavenly Executioner’s right hand, wrapped in demonic energy, came crashing down towards the crown of Chung Myung’s head.
Booooom!
An explosion loud enough to rupture the eardrums followed, and Chung Myung’s knees buckled as though they were about to hit the ground. Even though he had raised his sword to block the attack, he could not withstand the sheer force carried through it.
“You pesky little fly!”
With a furious roar, Heavenly Executioner brought his hand down once again. This attack carried the determination to crush Chung Myung along with his sword.
But at that moment, Chung Myung twisted the sword he had raised. At the same time, he hurled his body straight towards Heavenly Executioner’s face and drove his sword with all his strength towards his neck.
Kwaaaang!
That strike, too, failed to pierce Heavenly Executioner’s flesh. But the instant he lunged in, Chung Myung began hammering the exact same spot with consecutive thrusts at a terrifying speed.
Not attacks radiating in every direction, but a barrage concentrated on a single point.
After allowing dozens of thrusts in an instant, Heavenly Executioner’s demonic energy was finally pierced. The razor-sharp tip of the Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword sank into the demon’s flesh.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Heavenly Executioner’s right hand lashed out convulsively, down towards Chung Myung’s shoulder. Chung Myung immediately twisted his sword to block Heavenly Executioner’s fist, only to be hurled away like a cannonball and slammed into the ground.
Booooom!
It was merely a human body striking the earth, yet the impact produced an absurdly massive explosion. A thick cloud of dust completely swallowed Chung Myung’s body.
As he stared blankly at the slowly settling dust, Heavenly Executioner raised a hand and felt along his neck.
Red blood.
Blood was streaming from the wound gouged nearly a finger-joint [마디] deep into his neck. One moment. Yes, if he had allowed the attack to continue for even one moment longer, he would probably have suffered a fatal wound.
“….What the hell is this.”
What was this fighting style – so vicious that calling it brutal was not enough, but one had to call it horrifying?
At that moment, Chung Myung slowly walked out through the thinning dust, his sword hanging loosely at his side. Blood from a wound somewhere on his head had trickled down over his forehead and soaked his face.
He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood on his lips, then revealed his red blood-soaked teeth in a grin.
“I don’t know if this is the right thing to say, but…. I haven’t felt this damn good in a long time.”
His sword twitched like the fang of a beast.
“Let’s keep going. Before the fun wears off.”
Throb.
A vicious pain surged through Heavenly Executioner’s old scars.
________
*Translating it directly the meaning behind this sword formation is ‘plum blossoms that bloom in mountain-like abundance.’ There are SO many plum blossoms, that they can cover a whole mountain.
________
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