When had it started? The killing intent taking root in my sword.
Was it when I killed the sect leader of the Jeoksa Faction in turn—the one who had been my parents' enemy, who had used me to the very end, and who had finally tried to kill me?
When I became a hired sword to make a living and cut down martial artists I bore no grudge against?
Perhaps it was from the very first moment I held a sword. From the instant I felt its heavy weight and saw its keen edge, and realized that a sword was a tool meant for killing people.
My killing intent had deepened when I lost Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, but even before that, I had always carried killing intent in one corner of my chest.
This state of mind had a profound effect on me in the years that followed.
A sword is, after all, a tool. Martial arts are nothing more than techniques for killing people, so the measure of a great martial art is how well it kills.
This is the most concise sentence that defines me as a martial artist.
My martial arts were always refined toward greater efficiency, and by the time I reached the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art, I had even melted the murderous intent that bordered on Qi Deviation into my internal energy.
That intense killing intent gave me strength proportionate to itself, and thanks to it, I was able to reach my current level.
But right now.
As I tried to draw out even deeper killing intent to bring down the Poison Demon, I looked into the well of my heart.
The moment I realized that no matter how deeply I scraped the bottom, only burnt ash and dry air remained.
I could not help but admit it.
That my killing intent was not infinite. That I was not the Heavenly Killing Star, but merely an ordinary man.
I swung with the single-minded intent to cut him down, but even this did not reach the Poison Demon.
The reason clouded by Qi Deviation dulled my will, so it was only natural that my already clumsy Intent scattered into nothing.
Yet, even so, I kept swinging the sword. Because I could not give up.
Past and present, jumbled without order by Qi Deviation. Climbing against that current, digging through myself to see if there was anything left to burn, I finally realized it.
"Ah."
That the reason I had picked up the sword in the first place was never to kill someone.
I hated the world. I hated the shackles that forced the weak to be exploited and toyed with by the powerful, and even when their lives were finally taken, to have no choice but to follow in that cycle for generations.
So I killed.
I wanted to avenge them. When I lost the ones who first showed me what human warmth was. I was so enraged that I nearly fell into Qi Deviation.
So I killed.
I despaired of life. Born with nothing, living a life that grasped at nothing. Yet the moment the heart of the one who said, "It's alright, let's live together," was pierced through. Knowing I would lose, I swung my sword at the Heavenly Demon.
To kill him.
…Did I truly?
Was my sword swung only ever to kill people?
In the past, I would have answered yes. But now, having poured out all my murderous intent and reached its very bottom, it's different.
When I exterminated the Jeoksa Faction. It wasn't that I wanted to avenge my parents. It was simply that I resented my young, weak self for failing to protect them.
What about when I went mad with rage at the deaths of Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin?
It wasn't that I wanted to kill the enemies who were already dead by my own hand. It was simply that I was furious at myself for having been too late, for having been forced to helplessly watch the two of them die.
The final moment. The instant I ignored Tang So-wol's dying words to survive and charged at the Heavenly Demon — it was the same.
I hadn't given up on life, nor had I lost my reason to vengeance.
It was just that I was so grief-stricken at losing Tang So-wol that I couldn't bear it any other way.
I had learned nothing, and I was too foolish to realize it until it was far too late.
Even if killing intent seethed within me and seeped into my sword, the reason I swung my blade was never to kill someone.
"I see."
I was swinging my sword to save Tang So-wol. Yet here I was, seeking killing intent—how could I claim to wield my blade properly like this?
This was no different from flailing about with my eyes closed.
…If so, it was time to open my eyes.
I erased the killing intent. And in its place, I filled my heart with a more honest feeling.
I simply—
"Simply wanted to protect her."
Crack.
The moment those words left my lips, the blood-red Sword Qi began to crumble.
The smell of burning that had been lingering at the tip of my nose was gone.
***
"What…?"
The murderous intent that had been focused solely on me vanished in an instant.
Startled, the Poison Demon widened the distance and scattered poison energy.
An Extreme Poison created from decades of researching the Tang Clan's secret arts, layered with the Five Poison Faction's secret arts on top of that.
A poison said to be capable of poisoning even a Harmony Realm master, now augmented with Tang So-wol's poison energy.
Of course it was vicious. Even if I forced it back with the raging flow of Qi Deviation, it was potent enough to corrode the skin with a mere touch.
So I cut it down before it can touch me.
With a sound of something crumbling, the dark red Sword Qi barely scatters the Poison Demon's poison energy. There is one difference from before.
Crack.
The cracks in the Sword Qi, which had begun to split earlier, have deepened further.
Seeing this, the light of wariness in the Poison Demon's eyes dims.
"Indeed. You've held out well until now, but your limit should be approaching soon."
"…"
Instead of answering, I focus my mind. And I calm the energy rampaging from Qi Deviation. There is no longer any need for it.
The internal energy of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art, now freed from control, falls under my will one by one. The killing intent that had once dwelt within it had vanished without a trace.
Without killing intent, the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art is nothing more than an ordinary martial art of the Unorthodox Sects.
That internal energy is turbid, possessing no mysterious functions… at best, it is only first-rate.
But what matters in wielding a sword is not how great a martial art one has mastered.
It is what one swings it toward.
Crack.
The wound carved into the Sword Qi splits open even more severely, as if it could shatter at any moment.
The Poison Demon, lifting one corner of his mouth, gathers a full load of purple poison energy in both hands along with a sneer.
As if he intended to completely cut off my breath with this single strike.
"To be honest, I'm surprised. A level of mastery so high I can't believe it for someone your age. Sword skills surpassing even those who've trained for decades. And the resolve to willingly fall into Qi Deviation just to resist poisoning."
Tang So-wol's green poison energy layers itself over the already thickly glowing poison palm.
This time, it doesn't merely hover around the surface. Perhaps she's grown somewhat accustomed to it by now—the green energy seeps completely into the purple aura.
Could this be the effect of the purple poison-nurturing herb she absorbed? The poison energy blazing over the Poison Demon's hands has become nearly twice as fierce.
So potent that even the Poison Demon's own hands begin to slowly melt away.
"I admit it. Blood Flower Sword Demon, you are a martial artist truly worthy of that alias."
Even as blood spurts from the mangled flesh, the smile on the Poison Demon's lips only deepens.
Only then did the poison energy, laden with poison blood, stop gnawing at its master's hand.
"But what has that sword changed? What have you left for the world? I am different! Look! My poison will become the greatest poison of all time, and I too will become the greatest Poison Human of all time, carving my name into the history of the martial world!"
The Poison Demon's voice was filled with ecstasy. In contrast, the voice that flowed from my lips was somewhat cracked and unimpressive.
"…Just because there is nothing you cannot do, does that mean there is nothing you want to do?"
Before the regression. The Lord of the Black Alliance had told me that if I carried but a single sword in my heart, then that alone made me the Sword Demon.
But now it is different. Because now I know what it is I truly carry.
"And do not speak of being the greatest of all time so carelessly."
The opponent I must one day cut down. The Heavenly Demon was not merely this much.
"A dying man, yet full of bravado. Consider it an honor to be the first struck by the greatest poison of all time, and vanish now…!"
The energy was so intensely concentrated that the scenery around the Poison Demon's hand seemed to warp slightly. It looked as if it were gnawing away at the world itself.
In the end, what must be done is what can be done. It was the most familiar thing to me.
I lifted my head straight and gripped my sword tightly.
"I'll cut."
It wasn't about cutting down the Poison Demon before me. It was about cutting away every threat surrounding Tang So-wol.
So that this time, I could protect her.
I swung my sword toward the incoming poison palm. A plain horizontal slash, unadorned by any particular skill.
KWAANG!
My sword and the Poison Demon's twin palms collided, and a thunderous boom rang out. The heavily cracked Qi Flame could no longer hold, shattering completely into pieces.
But that did not mean my sword was being pushed back.
As if shaking off a long-standing ailment, a bright light bloomed through the scattering blood-red energy.
It resembled snow falling from a winter sky, and also the full moon hanging in a dark night—a pale white.
However, in the martial world, this thing that took the clear form of a sword was called Sword Force.
"…!"
Startled, the Poison Demon hurriedly withdrew his hands, but it was already too late.
He forged his will into resolve, and sublimated that resolve into certainty.
What unfolded was an absolute sword strike that none but an equal martial artist could dare to face.
Swoosh!
The upper halves of the Poison Demon's hands were severed. No, that wasn't all—the entire wall behind him was cut diagonally and collapsed.
Crash!
The debris of the ruined building fell to the floor with a loud noise.
The ash-gray sky had finally begun to pour rain, and the Poison Demon, drenched by the heavy downpour, wore a dazed expression.
He had instinctively twisted his neck to save his life, but he himself knew well that it had been pure luck.
Though the Sword Force in my hand was still small enough to barely cover the blade, I adjusted my stance once more.
The Poison Demon, all his fingers save his thumb sliced off, didn't even think to staunch the flowing blood as he screamed in fury.
"H-How! How can this be! The completion of the Great Undertaking was right before my eyes! I've been waiting for this day since before you were even born! If only you hadn't existed…!"
"Who knows. Even if I hadn't existed, the result would have been the same."
In this life, the Poison Demon met his death at my hands, but before the regression, he had fallen to Tang So-wol.
"I can't, I can't let it end here!!!"
With a scream of desperation, the Poison Demon released a massive amount of poison energy.
Its concentration hadn't thickened. The quantity had merely increased. He must have released all the poison he possessed in a single burst. But.
"A pointless move."
A sword swung lightly from below to above. At the same time, a fierce sword wind rose, scattering most of the poison energy the Poison Demon had conjured into the sky.
Beyond the view that had been obscured for a moment, the back of the Poison Demon was visible, trying to flee through the wall that had been quickly sliced open.
"Did you think I'd let you go?"
A thrust that drove straight in a single line. At its tip was the Poison Demon's heart.
Thunk!
"Ghk… Kugh!"
From the Poison Demon, pierced from behind, came the sound of breath leaving his mouth.
Even at this very moment, the poison blood spilling from him tried to gnaw away at the Sword Force that had burst through his heart, but…
Unlike Sword Qi, the Sword Force held its ground firmly. The poison blood merely gave off a foul stench and turned into steam.
The Poison Demon struggled to push out the sword that had pierced through his chest with a hand that had only his thumb left.
I watched his flailing for a moment, then drove the sword upward.
Sreuk.
The Poison Demon's upper body split in half with such ease. Only after confirming that he had collapsed to the floor did I turn around.
Now all I had to do was take Tang So-wol and leave this place…
"…Damn."
My vision blurred. The euphoria that had filled my entire body moments ago drained away, leaving only the exhaustion that had been piling up all along.
My meridians were in tatters from the Qi Deviation. Bit by bit, the Poison Demon's poison had forced real damage upon me, and my Intent had long since hit rock bottom from wielding the unfamiliar Sword Force.
Even so, I squeezed out the last of my strength and took a step forward.
One step. Two steps. But I couldn't manage a third.
Splat.
My body collapsed onto the wet floor. I tried to use my sword as a cane to push myself back up, but it only slowed my collapse—it couldn't get me back on my feet.
One step remained between me and Tang So-wol.
With that single step left, my eyes closed.
Swoosh—
The sound of heavy rain pounded against my ears.
***
Tang So-wol's eyes opened as the cold raindrops fell on her lying body.
The one step I lacked was hers to take.