"I'll join you shortly."
As I stepped forward toward the Sword Demon, gripping my sword tightly, the other three naturally took their stances facing the Heavenly Demon.
In truth, this was an extremely rare sight. The Heavenly Demon was, even at this moment, stronger than the Lord of the Black Alliance, who was called the greatest in the Unorthodox Sects.
Martial artists were not the kind of people to join hands simply because their opponent was strong. Let alone those who had reached the Harmony Realm.
But at this very moment. Seomun Hwa-rin, Namgung Dowi, and the Lord of the Black Alliance began preparing for a joint attack as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The biggest reason was likely that the Heavenly Demon was too strong, but beneath that, there was also the fact that their interests aligned.
The Lord of the Black Alliance, for the sake of his own pride. Namgung Dowi, for the sake of justice. And Seomun Hwa-rin, for the sake of protecting me and the others from the Heavenly Demon.
As martial artists, their competitive spirit, the lingering awkwardness between them, and even their pride had all been cast aside as they joined forces without a word—it could only be because these conditions aligned perfectly.
No matter how monstrous the Heavenly Demon was, at this level, he should have felt at least a sliver of tension, but… he merely stared at me with that same weary gaze.
No, he glanced at the other three and spoke as if spitting out words.
"I did not come here to fight. If I had, the Lord of the Black Alliance would not be alive right now."
"To provoke this much and claim you didn't come to fight?!"
The Lord of the Black Alliance, who had been expected to be the guest of honor at today's banquet, was dressed in fine silk robes, but his chest bore a clear handprint where the fabric had been torn away.
A mark that the Heavenly Demon had read his martial art in an instant, broken it, and then shown mercy in his strike.
The Lord of the Black Alliance grabbed that robe—which was, in a way, an insult to him—and tore it off entirely.
He snarled like a wild beast, his appearance utterly menacing, but the Heavenly Demon's expression remained unreadable.
…Until one corner of his mouth curled upward.
"I'll say it once more: I did not come here to fight. I only wished to confirm something. But now, I've changed my mind."
"Ha! It's already too late! With things as they are, I'll make sure—"
Despite having suffered a crushing defeat, the Lord of the Black Alliance remained full of spirit. As he spoke, channeling strands of Aura over his twin spears, the Heavenly Demon cut him off and continued.
"Sword Demon. Reach me, surpassing the Sword Demon. If you are too slow, or if even that proves impossible… I promise, I will kill everyone in this place."
A declaration that he would slaughter not only the three Harmony Realm martial artists present, but also the dozen or so Transcendent Peak martial artists as well.
An utterance that went beyond mere arrogance. No one in this place likely truly believed the Heavenly Demon's proclamation.
Except for me.
I watched the three of them, each having finished preparing to fight in their own way, dash out simultaneously. Then I turned my head.
There stood the Sword Demon, who had been watching me in silence all along.
Even as a rare joint attack by Harmony Realm martial artists unfolded right beside us, and the Heavenly Demon effortlessly deflected them with martial arts that touched the heavens.
He paid it no mind, simply staring at me with a gloomy expression. As if he had no human emotions at all.
Well, of course. The Sword Demon had always been like that. I couldn't tell how he had reached the Harmony Realm, but at his core, he seemed unchanged from before the regression.
If his sword art was the same as well, then he might be somewhat easier to deal with.
I erased any trace of carelessness and mapped out a path of the sword meant to overwhelm him in a single burst. Just as I was about to take the first step to realize it.
The Sword Demon, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
"You. You've reached Sword-Mind Unity."
"That's right."
"But how…?"
"Because your Sword-Mind Unity and mine are different."
A conversation with much left unsaid. But that alone was enough. Though the paths we'd climbed differed, the heights we'd reached were similar.
As if keeping my word to finish quickly and rejoin the others, I kicked off the ground with everything I had.
KWA-RUNG!
The internal energy that surged up explosively burst out through the Yongcheonhyeol like an explosion. The Thunder Step, now accompanied by a full-fledged thunderous roar. And this was not a one-time thing.
KWA-RUNG! KWA-RUNG! KWA-RUNG!
With every step, I stomped hard on the ground, detonating internal energy beneath my feet.
My body had already reached its maximum speed, so it wasn't as if I could get any faster—but what mattered was that I could freely control the speed of each step.
I scattered the sense of distance with movements infused with the mystery of the Gwiyeongbo. Perhaps because I was so thoroughly focused, my heightened eye power caught the movement of the Sword Demon's pupils.
It seemed he was subtly confused by the distance. If he saw it several times, he might find a way to counter it, but at least for the first time, it would surely be effective.
KWA-RUNG!
At last, I planted my foot at a distance where my sword would reach exactly one inch deep. A strike thrust forward with all the strength of my body concentrated into the blade.
Even in broad daylight, the sword aura blazed with a color like moonlight, rising diagonally from below. And then.
The Sword Demon, who had been standing still, finally moved. No—the Sword Demon's sword moved first, and his body followed behind it like an afterthought.
The minimal movement needed to block the blade hurtling toward his neck.
KWA-GAK!
White and ash-gray sword forces clashed, scraping against each other, flinging unpleasant noise and sparks in every direction like scattered embers.
The Sword Demon appeared to stagger backward, unable to withstand the impact—but he used that very momentum to spin his body around. The sword remained pressed against mine the entire time.
It was the kind of movement that came from mastering the art of issuing force—like a man who, once familiar with the technique, could let the power received in his left hand flow out through his right, as if his whole body were shedding the shock absorbed by the blade.
Under normal circumstances, his stance should have crumbled and the strength in his sword should have failed. But the Sword Demon was the exception.
For him, the path of the sword was already set, and his body was merely a tool to realize it.
From his perspective, it would be absurd to claim that a broken stance could disrupt his sword path.
I had expected this much. So now I press in with the one inch of deviation.
"Hup!"
Without letting the blade drop, I drive deeper using the mystery of the tomb.
The two swords, pressed tightly together, begin to tangle in a chaotic dance.
Just when it seemed we were locked in a contest of strength, it shifted into a battle of skill. And the moment I thought it was a battle of skill, it swung back into a contest of strength.
Dozens of sword paths rose and vanished—paths that could not be completed because each of us was obstructing the other.
And each time that happened, the Sword Demon began to lose ground bit by bit.
I kept up the pressure, not giving him a single chance to regroup, let alone swing his sword properly.
Only then did the Sword Demon realize my intent, his eyes flying wide open.
Krrrk!
The unstable, flickering ash-gray Sword Force began to be devoured by my Sword Force, which remained pressed against it.
Aura is internal energy refined through Intent. So unless it shatters outright, it can never be ground away while wobbling like this.
After all, no one with such fragile Intent could ever ascend to the Harmony Realm.
But the Sword Demon was different.
If my Sword-Mind Unity treats the sword in my hand like an extension of my body,
then the Sword Demon's Sword-Mind Unity is about becoming the sword itself.
That's why he never wastes words, and why his expressions and emotions barely ever shift.
Because a sword has no use for such things.
A finished blade, forged by striking himself with a hammer, locking himself in a mold, and grinding away every excess that made him human.
His only goal is to envision the ideal path of the sword in his mind and push it ever higher.
It doesn't matter what's happening around him, or that his body is twisting apart.
The Sword Demon is a man who swings the sword he must swing — and in a way, that makes him a complete swordsman, severed from the world around him.
If I could make him button the first button wrong, he would race toward his own destruction.
…However, things didn't go that easily.
If Intent is the heart, then I had thought the Sword Demon, whose heart was thin, would never reach the Harmony Realm. But somehow, the bastard had ascended to it.
And now. The Sword Demon had begun to prove his level.
"Is that so. So this was a path of the sword planned from the very beginning."
My sword pressed against his crossguard, just as I was about to finally pierce the Sword Demon's neck.
The Sword Demon nodded, and above his sword, an ash-gray Aura began to swell large. Then, it shook once.
"…Huh?"
Clang!
The Sword Demon's Aura shattered his own sword, blasting the fragments toward me.
Each shard was no different from a hidden weapon imbued with Aura. I hastily raised my Protective Qi and retreated.
Then I swung my sword wildly, deflecting the incoming fragments.
I managed to deflect most of them, but some flew straight in, carving halfway through my Protective Qi.
One fragment dug deep into me, but even that was blocked by the Heart Protection Armor I'd received from the North Sea Ice Palace.
I'd managed to weather the point-blank explosion, one way or another.
All that remained was to strike the neck of the swordless Sword Demon in a single blow—with that thought, I readjusted my stance.
…And then, the Sword Demon, gripping the sword finger, charged at me.
"What is this?!"
A shimmering Aura rose above his fingers, which were extended like a sword. Startled by the sight of him holding what seemed to be an invisible blade, I swung my arm.
Clang!
And the moment it struck the empty air—where nothing should have been—and the Aura shimmering upon it, a sensation like truly clashing swords came through.
"Formless Sword…"
"No. That's not it."
The Sword Demon, who had cast aside the convenient nickname of Formless Sword just as I had once done to Namgung Dowi, tilted his chin.
"Isn't the sword right here? So clear to see."
"…Truly a madman."
What the Sword Demon indicated with a tilt of his chin was himself.
He claimed that he himself was the sword, so even without a sword in hand, he could wield one.
It was absurd, but having witnessed it with my own eyes, I couldn't simply deny it.
I gathered my breath and steadied my stance at a slight distance. I had tried to lure him into a misjudgment so he would be devoured by his own sword, but it had failed.
If that was the case, all that remained was to settle this with plain swordplay.
I charged at the Sword Demon once more, unleashing every technique I had.
The black sword wrapped in pale Sword Force clashed repeatedly with the ash-gray Aura that writhed through the air as if the void itself were kindling.
Clang! Clang-clang! Crack!
It was only Aura meeting Aura, only a blade touching empty air, yet the sound was unmistakably that of swords colliding.
Adapting on the fly, I unleashed every Mystery I had ever learned, each Technique twisted and reshaped in the moment.
The Sword Demon who received my attacks was no pushover either. Against every variable I created, he countered with the most textbook-perfect swordwork.
Throughout the exchange, his body twisted and bent this way and that, thrown into chaos time and again, yet his face remained as serene as if nothing were happening at all.
It was a brawl in the truest sense—a relentless flailing, each of us trying to drag the other down just a little further and drive our sword home.
Perhaps, in a way, this was the battle closest to the very essence of the sword.
That's what he'd think, of course.
Between the ceaseless exchange of sword strikes, I slowly pulled my arm back.
As if impatience had made me misjudge the distance. Or as if I were once again trying to force the Sword Demon to start off on the wrong foot.
"Hmph."
The Sword Demon, as if daring me to try, refused to be thrown off balance and thrust his sword out at the original spacing.
I stared at the translucent sword of Aura rising above his sword tip and focused my mind.
In that instant, my breath caught in my throat, and the world around me seemed to slow down.
My Qi Sense sharpened to the extreme, and thanks to it, the countless strands of Natural Qi filling the world began to feel so distinct I could almost grasp them in my hand.
I used my sharply honed Intent as a sword to cut through the Natural Qi, and at the same time, I drove my sword strike into the gap that opened up.
Swoosh—
"…!"
The slash, extending through the space with a fierce edge, grazed the Sword Demon's neck.
I had intended to cut him down completely, but the bastard had sensed something just before and twisted his body at a bizarre angle.
"Tch."
A click of the tongue escaped me involuntarily. At this, the Sword Demon opened his mouth with a rare display of anger.
"You let go of your sword."
"No. I've merely become able to wield a sword that is not bound by the sword itself."
"…"
The Sword Demon wore an expression that suggested he could not comprehend what he was facing.
The same went for me.