Chapter 321: On the Path of Endless Strife (3)
The Heavenly Demon So BaekHyang harbored an untold secret.
It was that she had shown mercy to NamGung Woon, the Head of the Martial Alliance. She showed mercy to the unparalleled Orthodox Path leader of the NamGung clan, hailed as a once-in-a-generation genius who had gained fame for his righteous deeds and eccentricities since his youth. To that very man.
‘This much, huh.’
The master had shown mercy.
“……! ……!”
Snow was falling.
Fighting through the swirling snowflakes, NamGung Woon advanced. Even as the snowstorm raged, the area around NamGung Woon alone melted away. Fierce ki was burning within NamGung Woon’s muscles.
‘So this is it.’
Snow was falling.
In master’s slightly lowered eyes, the scene of snow falling on the world, a single snowflake sticking to the Head of the Martial Alliance’s forehead before melting away, the sight of thousands and thousands from the orthodox and demonic paths clashing swords, was all reflected.
The Great Orthodox-Demonic War.
On this battlefield, where everyone sensed the end of the world and poured out their last strength, only one person—only master—only I was not out of breath.
‘To strive so hard to defeat this body.’
Kraaang!
While fending off NamGung Woon’s axe, I felt pity.
‘So pure-hearted. So upright. He’s purely using martial arts to defeat me. His axe is filled with earnest feelings towards me.’
I knew.
If the Heavenly Demon So BaekHyang had never been born, NamGung Woon would have stood tall as the supreme martial artist. He might even have been praised as the greatest martial artist of all time. The Head of the Martial Alliance, NamGung Woon, was truly the greatest opponent I could face.
To wish for more would be greedy.
‘Ah.’
I didn’t want it to end.
‘How is it that one can effortlessly cleave the heavens with talent yet possess the skill to be unmatched by anyone through effort alone?’
I didn’t want it to end.
‘Is there no such person?’
An opponent whom I could desire with all my heart.
‘NamGung Woon. The Great Axe Sage. Can’t you be that person?’
If only you had been a bit stronger.
I would have gladly given my life to you.
‘I don’t have the courage to lie to you and rig the match.’
Snow was falling.
‘I don’t have the intention to lie to myself just to be satisfied with life.’
Tick.
‘Not even once have I told a lie, so who could match me?’
It’s tedious.
‘No.’
Is it?
‘It’s lonely.’
Tick.
That day, the Heavenly Demon So BaekHyang did not cut down the Head of the Martial Alliance, NamGung Woon. She couldn’t. Master could not take the life of someone who had come all this way to participate in the Great Orthodox-Demonic War. Indeed, to someone who could not walk the path called ‘herself,’ master could not offer her own life either.
A life with no way out.
When the first day of the Great Orthodox-Demonic War was postponed, master might have sensed that this winter would feel eternal.
[Unable to find the alias of the skill target.]
But.
[Unable to find the true name of the skill target.]
Lonely and lonely as life may be.
[Unable to find the appearance of the skill target.]
Certainly.
Gong-Ja.
You will come for me.
My master, the master with a blossoming smile.
[Re-enactment failed.]
[Substituting necessary data for implementation.]
Tick.
“Oh.”
I blinked.
“Have you arrived?”
As I blinked, before me was the Guardian Spirit.
With slightly longer hair and a bit thinner than the Sword Emperor I knew, he was leaning on his chin with his legs crossed.
“……Sword Emperor, sir?”
I was slightly taken aback.
“Yes.”
“Huh. So I appear in the trauma, too? I mean, I used to, but ever since you reached B-class, I hardly ever… Oh? I have a body?”
I felt around my body.
It wasn’t Raviel’s body. It wasn’t master’s body. It wasn’t anyone else’s body either, so I groped around this body, which should have been familiar to me, as if I was touching it for the first time in decades.
“Tsk tsk.”
The Guardian Spirit watched me with amusement.
“You’re making a fuss for nothing.”
“Ah, why? I seriously feel like I’ve lived for more than 20 years. Just maintaining my self-awareness is an incredible feat. Where are we, by the way?”
“Who knows.”
The Guardian Spirit chuckled softly.
“Probably still in the midst of your skill activating. You must be continuously seeing the trauma.”
“……? So, does this mean I’m seeing your trauma?”
“I don’t have anything like trauma.”
I looked around.
Just as the Guardian Spirit said, there was nothing here.
Absolutely nothing.
Like a waiting room where you pause before entering a stage, a vast expanse of nothingness. A space like an endlessly spread white canvas, and in a place that couldn’t even be called the center, the Guardian Spirit sat quietly holding only a sword.
“…….”
“Why? What are you looking at?”
“No… It’s just. Your, your legs.”
I pointed at the Guardian Spirit’s legs.
Usually slightly blurred, his legs were now distinctly formed.
“Not just the legs, but the whole body… It’s so vivid. Even your voice.”
“Hmm.”
“Could it be?”
“It’s simple.”
The Guardian Spirit twirled the sword hilt.
“Probably in your trauma, my living form is being played back. But, as I said, I don’t have any [trauma to speak of]. So, it’s probably being reproduced weirdly like this.”
“Huh.”
“Specifically, I remember up to the part where you’re brainwashed by some perverted kid, running around calling them ‘My god! My god!’ but my memory of about a day’s worth is vague. How about you? Does [the year is bound to be a jackpot because it’s a bumper crop full of bullshit] ring a bell?”
“……That did happen.”
Reality returned at last.
Yes.
Since the trauma began, I had gone through half a lifetime of Raviel and another half of master. It felt as if I had been dreaming for far too long.
“This time, I thought I was seeing your trauma….”
“Oh. Were you looking forward to it? Sorry, sorry. I’ve enjoyed life, you see. I did get caught stealing dumplings when I was four and got beaten to a pulp by a tavern waiter, but even then, I was munching on dumplings while being hit. After all, the dumplings that entered my stomach couldn’t be put back on display, right? So, technically, I won. I’ve known nothing but victory since I was four.”
“You… No. Never mind. Let’s not talk.”
“So? I remember whispering ‘[Terror be gone, death stay away]’ to you. What happened then? Dude, talk to me. I can’t give you advice unless you do.”
I recounted the events I had experienced.
“Hmm.”
The Guardian Spirit listened to my story with a smile in his eyes, still in his slanted posture with his elbows on his knees.
“Zombie.”
As soon as I finished talking, the Guardian Spirit remarked.
“How do you use the Demonic Heavenly God Art?”
“Excuse me?”
“The Demonic Heavenly God Art. The demonic technique of your cult. How do you use that?”
Cult, he says.
“I just use it? I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Really? That’s interesting. Hunger varies from person to person. Take, for instance, the Sword of Starving Death. Some starve for lack of millet, others for a hamburger. Are they the same? The hunger of a farmer? The hunger of an adult and a child? How do you, just like that, use the Sword of Starving Death encompassing all types of hunger?”
“They are the same.”
I answered immediately.
Had this been when I was just about to grasp the Demonic Heavenly God Art, maybe I would have been puzzled.
But now, I wasn’t newbie enough to be played by such a question.
“Being the same doesn’t mean it’s identical from start to finish. It just needs to share the same context. ‘Suffering because one couldn’t eat something.’ Here, ‘something’ could be millet or arugula pizza; it doesn’t matter. So…”
“Right.”
The Guardian Spirit’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“That’s why people can understand each other, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“The trauma you’re experiencing now is the same.”
“……”
Tick.
I blinked.
“Come again?”
“The act of understanding between people is experiencing the same thing. It doesn’t mean the same person in the same situation at the same time and same place experiencing the same event. It’s when different people in different situations at different times and in different places go through the same event. That’s what understanding is.”
The Guardian Spirit hummed.
“You can’t peek into ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■’s past. Why? Because there’s no name. No coordinates. Even the appearance was lost. How would you peek into the lifetime of someone who can’t be called by anyone, can’t be seen by anyone?”
“……”
“But we know that ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ failed. Their life must be marked by failure. You can tell by the [The Universe’s Wild Expanse] skill. Once. Twice. They used it on someone other than you, but now there’s no one by their side.”
The Guardian Spirit whispered.
“They were betrayed.”
Despite the distance, the Sword Emperor’s voice felt as if it was whispered right into my ear.
“Gong-Ja. Do you really need to know who ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ was betrayed by, in what situation, when, and where to finally understand their trauma?”
“Betrayal is betrayal. Disappointment is disappointment. So, your betrayal can be my betrayal, and even though you are you and I am me, we can still call that understanding.”
Right.
That’s the essence of the Demonic Heavenly God Art.
“Your master said the same, didn’t she?”
The doctrine of the shadow.
“……Right.”
I finally nodded.
Why I couldn’t peek into ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■’s past, why I had to witness the half-lives of Raviel and the master, it all made sense.
“The most similar cases to the trauma of the Constellation were reproduced.”
Undoubtedly.
“■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ must have trusted someone at first. Although not satisfied, they must have thought that person could create fun quests and happy stories under the [The Universe’s Wild Expanse], or at least, imagine a fresh world.”
But they were betrayed.
Just as Raviel was betrayed by the Crown Prince with noodle hair.
“Tedious.”
■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ and Raviel are different people in different situations, different times, and in different places, but the depth and angle of the wound inflicted by the first betrayal were exactly the same.
Therefore.
“Tedious.”
■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■’s past was substituted with Raviel’s past.
“They trusted someone again.”
The second disciple.
“After the first betrayal, the Constellation had grown a bit. They didn’t choose a disciple just because ‘this person seems fresh’ this time. Undoubtedly the best of the era. Overflowing with talent… With exceptional imagination. They chose, thinking that with this person, truly enjoyable quests might continue.”
But it wasn’t enough.
Just as NamGung Woon was a hand’s breadth short for the master.
“Lonely.”
The second disciple was certainly excellent. Under the effect of [The Universe’s Wild Expanse], the disciple would have expanded their imagination just as I did, imagining a village where there was none and making enemies appear when needed.
Yet.
“Lonely.”
■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ could not be completely satisfied with the imagination unfolded by them.
“……No one. Or rather, most haven’t experienced death.”
I somehow felt I knew why the Constellation remained unfulfilled.
“The sea can be imagined. Whether detailed or vague. But can one imagine themselves drowning in the sea, struggling… gasping for air as seawater rushes into their throat? That sensation, that pain?”
The answer is simple.
If you haven’t experienced it, you don’t know.
“Perhaps the other disciples… couldn’t ‘properly’ imagine their crises. Their death, the moment of life and death, when they might really die.”
Because.
“The world is just that way. How can one so accurately…”
“So accurately imagine the pain, especially one of this extent?”
“Have you ever felt your bones melting? Have you ever felt your blood vessels burning up?”
“How on earth can you imagine such pain so vividly, under my power, and reproduce it?”
Because they had said so.
“……”
The Guardian Spirit nodded.
“Yeah. Your thinking is probably right.”
The first disciple’s betrayal.
The second disciple’s disappointment.
And so, ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ finally chose the third disciple, the last subject of [The Universe’s Wild Expanse], the ultimate disciple willing to accompany them even to the point of erasing their own existence, who was none other than me.
“So, only one mystery remains.”
“What’s that?”
“You.”
I shifted my gaze.
“Sword Emperor, sir.”
“……”
My eyes looked straight ahead, at the Guardian Spirit.
The living form of the Sword Emperor was in front of me.
“Why are you here? Why are you here as the substitute for the ‘third’ trauma, all alone in this place where there’s nothing?”
“Who are you?”
The corners of the Sword Emperor’s mouth lifted.
“Nothing here, you say. From my perspective, there’s plenty.”
In the eyes of the Sword Emperor was reflected a youth with black hair.
“There you are, Kim Gong-Ja.”
“……”
“Perhaps you are the third trauma.”
Tick.
“I’m like a ghost clinging to you, added as a bonus. Or perhaps, since we devised a plan together to screw ■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ over, I was included considering that too. Anyway, you’re here.”
Tick.
“Just as your love waited for you, and your master waited for you, Kim Gong-Ja, the third wound drawn by this Constellation is waiting for you. Perhaps that alone is the wound. Everything else is secondary.”
Tick.
“Now, a day will have passed by without me or the Constellation knowing, and only you are left with a wound.”
“Go.”
[Trauma re-enactment complete.]
“That’s the best I can do for you, partner.”
[The target’s ego has remained intact.]
“Think about how you’re going to live.”
[Penalty Finalized.]
And then.
The world around me shattered into pieces.
