That’s a different story, isn’t it? (2)
Yoon Jong’s hand, gripping the sword tightly, began to tremble.
‘What is this… this terrifying aura.’
They had already encountered Heavenly Executioner in Hangzhou. The memory was still vivid of how they had been so overwhelmed by the man’s immense demonic energy that they had barely been able to move.
But they had thought it would be different now.
Even if they had to face him again, it would be different from how it was before. They had grown, and Heavenly Executioner’s presence would seem at least a little smaller.
But they had been wrong.
As if to make a mockery of the joy they had felt at their own growth only moments ago, Heavenly Executioner’s presence now felt impossibly immense.
‘We simply couldn’t see it back then.’
No matter how hard it tries, an ant cannot comprehend how enormous a mountain is. The range of what an ant can perceive simply does not extend that far.
Paradoxically, it was precisely because they had grown that they could now feel it so clearly. They could understand just how dangerous and terrifying the person standing before them truly was.
Yoon Jong gritted his teeth to suppress the trembling that had seized his body. Had he not, even simply standing here face-to-face with him would likely have been no easy feat.
Perhaps Jo Geol felt the same, for he spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
“…Sahyeong. You said Heavenly Executioner……couldn’t come, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Ha, damn it.”
Jo Geol asked nothing more.
He knew as well. There was no such thing as a war in which everything unfolded exactly as predicted, because on every battlefield, deviations both great and small were bound to occur.
It was simply that this particular deviation was enormous enough to be nearly impossible to handle.
Step.
Heavenly Executioner advanced one step at a time.
Yoon Jong felt as though his body were slowly being crushed beneath something invisible. And it seemed the disciples of Hwasan were not the only ones suffering under this invisible pressure.
“Uuugh……”
“Ugh…..”
Even demonic cultists, who were little more than soulless husks, were unable to withstand the oppressive presence radiating from Heavenly Executioner and either backed away or slammed their heads into the ground right where they stood. Heavenly Executioner walked leisurely along the clear path that opened as the cultists collapsed.
“.…What about Samae?”
“It doesn’t seem her injuries are severe enough for her to withdraw.”
“That’s a relief.”
Baek Cheon glanced back, then turned his head again and watched Heavenly Executioner approach from the front.
“The real one has come.”
The corners of Baek Cheon’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. He tried to appear as calm as possible, but there was nothing he could do about his trembling hands.
And this was Baek Cheon, who, only moments ago, had personally crushed someone who had nearly reached the level of a Bishop…
‘So a true Bishop really is on an entirely different level?’
No, that could not be it.
That man, Heavenly Executioner, was simply in a different league. He was an existence so immense that he could not be compared not only to Four-Nine-One but even to the other Bishops.
And now such a being stood right before them. Here to kill everyone in this place.
“Sasuk. What are you thinking?”
“Well, let’s see. To be honest…”
“Yes?”
Baek Cheon wore a bitter smile, without the slightest pretense.
“I was thinking, ‘That bastard sure managed to fight someone like that all by himself.’ Something like that?”
“That’s funny.”
“What is?”
Jo Geol grinned, baring his teeth.
“I happened to be thinking exactly the same thing.”
He wanted to run away right this instant. He wanted to cast aside face, honor, and every other damned thing and flee.
‘Against someone like that… all by himself.’
It was a strange feeling.
They were still afraid. Yet an inexplicable emotion was beginning to bloom through that fear. It was difficult to define exactly what it was, but at least one thing was certain.
“We can’t run away, I suppose.”
“I suppose not. Otherwise, that bastard Chung Myung would make fun of us for the rest of our lives.”
Yoon Jong shook his head as he listened to their conversation.
“Honestly… Chung Myung would say we did the right thing. He’d say that surviving somehow was the right choice rather than throwing away our precious lives for nothing.”
“Ah, I suppose he would. But…”
Baek Cheon ground his teeth.
“Strange. That makes me even angrier.”
“I agree.”
The disciples of Hwasan tightened the grips on their swords.
They had no choice but to fight. If they could not, they would be proving to the world that even all of them together still could not match Chung Myung.
This was not merely a competitive spirit. As disciples of Hwasan, and as martial artists who had trained with the sword all their lives, it was closer to the last shred of pride they could not bring themselves to abandon.
“What are our chances?”
“Who knows. Ten percent, maybe?”
“Assuming we have to kill him?”
“Then maybe one percent…”
“…Isn’t that a little too pessimistic?”
“I’m being generous.”
“Ugh.”
Hye Yeon came over and stood beside Jo Geol, who was sighing heavily. His round, composed face was set in a grim expression.
“But we have to do it.”
“…Yes.”
Yu Iseol, black blood staining the corners of her mouth, and Tang Soso, following close beside her as though guarding her, soon came to stand with them as well. Tang Soso said calmly.
“We might actually die this time.”
“Well, we knew we would die someday anyway, didn’t we?”
“I didn’t know it would be now.”
“Then what else can we do?”
Jo Geol let out a deep sigh.
“That brat Chung Myung still hasn’t even woken up.”
“You have to look at it the other way around.”
Tang Soso glared at Heavenly Executioner with cold eyes.
“Chung Myung Sahyeong fought with his life on the line. No matter how extraordinary a demonic martial artist’s regenerative abilities are, he couldn’t have recovered all the way back to normal. For all we know, that bastard might barely be managing to stand right now.”
“…Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”
Baek Cheon slowly nodded.
It wasn’t just some wishful thinking. That was simply how much they trusted Chung Myung.
“Then we have to assume there’s hope.”
“Honestly, even if there weren’t any hope, it’s not as though anything would change.”
“That’s true.”
Baek Cheon lowered his sword.
“Then, here we go.”
His eyes blazed fiercely.
“I’m going in first!”
Bang!
As though he had no further need to prepare himself mentally, Baek Cheon kicked off the ground. He closed the distance in an instant and charged straight at Heavenly Executioner.
It was a sudden charge, but the disciples of Hwasan showed no sign of surprise. As if by unspoken agreement, they all kicked off the ground at almost the exact same moment.
They were still afraid. But their bodies moved before their minds could make a decision. The charging disciples of Hwasan each unleashed their most powerful sword techniques upon Heavenly Executioner.
Countless streams of sword energy poured towards Heavenly Executioner like rain. Yet even as he watched the countless blades flying towards him, he did not so much as blink.
Heavenly Executioner thrust out his right hand.
Whoooooooooom!
Terrifying black demonic energy swirled on Heavenly Executioner’s palm. Dense and overwhelming demonic energy – unlike anything the disciples of Hwasan had ever witnessed – swallowed up the incoming sword energy entirely, much like a vast ocean devouring raindrops.
“What……”
Baek Cheon, who had just unleashed his sword energy, stared wide-eyed in shock.
He had never imagined that this attack would be able to inflict any meaningful damage. But this… wasn’t this simply too powerless?
At that moment, Heavenly Executioner’s mouth slowly opened.
“Nothing but mere insects.”
Kwoooooooo!
A black vortex burst from Heavenly Executioner’s hand. The enormous dragon-shaped whirlwind [용권(龍捲)] that twisted around as though sucking up the earth surged towards Hwasan’s disciples in a winding curve.
A black dragon [용(龍)] came charging towards them.
Facing it, Baek Cheon felt only one thing: death. In the face of that dreadful power, which would not permit even the slightest resistance, the resolve he had struggled so hard to muster was utterly meaningless.
“Sahyeong!”
At that moment, someone grabbed Baek Cheon and pulled him away with tremendous force.
Yu Iseol had yanked him with all her strength and dragged him out of the black dragon’s jaws.
Kwaaaaaaa!
Baek Cheon stared blankly at the black dragon as it narrowly brushed past his feet. If not for Yu Iseol’s help, he would have died. In a single blow. How could there possibly be such an absurd difference between them?
“Waaaaaaaah!”
Yet even now, Jo Geol and Tang Soso were charging at Heavenly Executioner with all their strength.
After unleashing a powerful attack, there was always an opening. This was common knowledge in martial arts. All they could do now was exploit that principle to the fullest.
“Take this!”
Jo Geol’s lightning-fast sword and Tang Soso’s sword, wielded with all her strength, crossed as they descended towards Heavenly Executioner’s head.
‘He can’t dodge this…..’
At that moment, Jo Geol’s eyes flew wide open.
The demonic energy enveloping Heavenly Executioner writhed as though it were alive, then suddenly stretched outward like branches, intercepting Jo Geol and Tang Soso’s swords.
Claaaang!
A vicious recoil came surging back. Jo Geol and Tang Soso’s swords were helplessly flung backward, and towards the chests of the two, now left wide open, demonic energy lashed out once more.
Kwooooooong!
Jo Geol and Tang Soso were sent flying at the same time, blood spraying from their mouths.
“Amitabha!”
Hye Yeon landed directly before Heavenly Executioner and pulled his fist back. A normal strike would not do. He needed the most powerful attack he could unleash right now.
“Oooooooooooh!”
Hye Yeon’s fist, imbued with the killing intent to bring down his enemy no matter what, shot forward as a golden fist force.
The Arhat Divine Fist, unleashed with all his strength.
It seemed capable of smashing apart and pushing away anything that stood in its path. Even if that thing were Mount Tai itself.
Yet even the force in Hye Yeon’s fist, powerful enough to shatter Mount Tai, could not crush the single demonic being standing before him.
When Heavenly Executioner extended his hand towards the incoming fist force, his palm turned pitch-black, then formed into the shape of a massive black hand larger than a human’s entire body.
Literally, the Demonic Hand [마귀의 손(魔手)*].
The demonic hand that appeared in midair seized Hye Yeon’s incoming fist force in its grasp.
Kwooooooong!
A tremendous explosion followed.
The instant the golden fist force collided with the black palm force, Hye Yeon’s seemingly unstoppable fist force shattered into countless fragments, much like shards of porcelain.
Hye Yeon’s eyes filled with astonishment.
‘What?’
His fist contained the Buddhist power of subduing demons. Along with immortal energy, it was a force that could be called the natural nemesis of demonic energy. And yet, for his fist to be broken so easily made no sense.
How powerful did one have to be for something like this to happen?
Despair threatened to crush his mind. He could almost feel his heart being dyed pitch-black with every passing moment.
But the powerful enemy before them did not even give them time to despair.
Whoooooooooosh!
The enormous hand that had blocked Hye Yeon’s fist force shot straight towards them. It was a straightforward attack, neither particularly fast nor flashy. No matter how dazed they were, the disciples of Hwasan were not the sort to meekly let themselves be struck by such an attack.
Their bodies moved on their own, without any conscious thought. All of them threw themselves aside to evade the enormous palm force flying at them.
But at that moment.
Kwooooooong!
The hand of black demonic energy flying toward them suddenly exploded. A terrifying shockwave engulfed everything around them, sweeping up Hwasan’s disciples who had dodged aside as well.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
They were all flung away, screaming.
The demonic energy that had taken the form of a violently spinning black sphere [구(球)] vanished as though it had been an illusion. In the place where the demonic energy had dissipated, a rough crater had formed, as if it had been gouged out by an enormous hand.
“Cough.”
Baek Cheon spat out blood and laboriously forced his upper body upright. Before his eyes, he saw Heavenly Executioner approaching as leisurely as before.
“How bothersome.”
Heavenly Executioner’s eyes began to turn red.
“I find it irritating… your swordsmanship. You filthy spawn of Hwasan.”
A heavy, crushing despair settled in Baek Cheon’s eyes.
_______
*Idk why Biga put 마귀의 손, where 마귀[魔鬼] means devil/satan in Korean; but put 魔手 for hanja without 鬼… So it looks like ‘a devil’s hand,’ but hanja is ‘demonic hand.’
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