A building that looked like a half-breed of a fortress and a manor, visible from afar.
I realized it the moment I saw the sign hanging at its main gate, bearing the words "Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
"Finally…"
The final battle was near. Ahead of us waited the Demonic Cultists we had never encountered before, and the Heavenly Demon himself.
The main gate stood wide open, as if inviting us to enter. The Lord of the Black Alliance stared at it, then scowled deeply.
"They must have known we were coming… This is an insult to our pride."
"That's not the reason, Lord of the Black Alliance. Judging by the appearance of their main headquarters, it seems they built it to be used as a fortress in times of need… But they must have thought it would be meaningless against the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance, so they vacated the place."
The Murim Alliance Leader shook his head.
I could roughly guess why. Surely, those who first established the Demonic Cult's main headquarters must have been people who had just fled from the Central Plains.
In other words, most of them were truly powerless commoners. Martial arts had only spread through the Demonic Cult relatively late, and even then, the level had been markedly low until the Heavenly Demon's time.
That meant the walls of subtly varying heights had been built with the thought, "This should be enough for those who haven't learned martial arts, or for second-rate and weaker fighters, to hold their own against masters."
"But isn't everyone brought along by the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance a master without exception?"
That was true. Each family and sect had selected and brought their experts at the Peak Realm or above, so those walls could simply be stepped on and leaped over.
The Heavenly Demon, of course, and even the Demonic Cultists whose martial levels had been forcibly raised thanks to the Heavenly Demon, knew this well—so they had given up and holed up inside.
I shrugged my shoulders and drew my sword.
"You mean they're all holed up in there, preparing all sorts of things and waiting for us. Don't take it too hard, Lord of the Black Alliance. It looks like we'll be getting a welcome grand enough to make us sick of it soon."
"Haha! If that's the case, there's nothing to be done. Let's hurry and show our faces to the host."
So saying, the Lord of the Black Alliance gripped his pair of twin spears—one long, one short.
Seeing the two of us, the Murim Alliance Leader let out a deep sigh and spoke.
"Don't go ahead alone again, you two. Let's go together."
The Murim Alliance Leader, resting his staff on his shoulder, fell in step behind me and the Lord of the Black Alliance.
And behind us followed the martial artists of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance. Every single one of them wore a grim expression as they drew their weapons.
The inside of the Demonic Cult was more ordinary than I had expected.
Unlike the villages we had passed through, not a trace of Demonic Qi blanketed the surroundings, and the layout and structure of the buildings resembled those of an ordinary sect.
If there was any difference, it was the ferocious demonic decorations adorning the place here and there.
Those must be the likenesses of the Heavenly Demon they worshipped. Not the Heavenly Demon of infinite regression, but the Heavenly Demon as a religion, one and the same with him.
I kept walking, feeling as though I were exploring the estate of one of the Five Great Families while no one was home.
And then, the moment I reached the deepest part of the Demonic Cult, I found the only closed door.
"Heavenly Demon Hall?"
From the name alone, it seemed like a place where the Heavenly Demon would dwell. My Qi Sense still detected nothing unusual, but… an instinctive unease prickled at my mind.
So, the moment I activated my Heavenly Eye.
"Kugh!"
Even I flinched at the sight—an aura so vast it dwarfed anything I had ever witnessed, twisting and tangling in a complexity beyond imagination.
"Illusion Witch. Can you make sense of it?"
"J-just a moment."
As if she had sensed something far earlier than I had, the Illusion Witch closed her eyes and began fingering the fragment of the Sun-Moon Mirror.
Around her, an eerie energy swelled and receded in a steady rhythm.
Had she reached a conclusion after exhausting not only her sacred relics but every sorcery at her disposal? Opening her eyes, the Illusion Witch curled the corners of her lips into a sly grin.
"Heheh. I've got it. All that studying ahead of time finally paid off…"
The Illusion Witch was originally brought in to counter the Demonic Cult's sorcery.
Naturally, from the very first day she was brought to the Tang Clan, I told her everything I knew about the Demonic Cult's sorcery.
From those whose principles had been revealed before my regression, to those I didn't yet understand—at the very least, I conveyed what functions they possessed.
Based on what she'd heard from me, the Illusion Witch had devised ways to counter the Demonic Cult's sorcery… and now, at last, the time had come to see the fruits of her labor.
Still gloomy, yet unable to hide her tension, the Illusion Witch muttered something under her breath as she lifted a wooden token tied at her waist.
And the moment she snapped it in two. From the broken cross-section of the wood, the Illusion Witch's energy poured out like a flood, washing over the martial artists of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance.
A few flustered martial artists instinctively tried to resist… but there was no need for that in the first place.
The Illusion Witch's energy, which had poured down from their heads, gathered in an instant at one corner of their waists and settled quietly.
Exactly where the Illusion Witch had hung the wooden piece.
The moment I realized this, I felt something like a thin film settle over my skin.
This would probably block the sorcery waiting ahead, or at the very least, weaken it.
"Hahk… Hahk."
Perhaps because she had cast protective sorcery on everyone here. Having consumed that much internal energy, the Illusion Witch gasped for breath and began to stagger.
…The staggering was real, but the fall toward me seemed intentional.
Thud.
Still, I caught her. It was true that she had worked hard and been a help, after all.
The Illusion Witch, who had buried her head in my chest, made a sulky face with a reddened nose as I carefully set her down.
"You, you bumped into me too hard…"
"Are you an idiot?"
I let out a dry laugh and infused her with internal energy. Unlike Seol Ri-hyang, I couldn't directly fill her Dantian with internal energy, but I could at least restore some vitality.
Only then did the Illusion Witch manage to stand on her own two feet, and I gave her shoulder a light pat.
"Well done. Now fall back and focus on helping those who look like they're in danger."
"Hehe…"
The Illusion Witch retreated to the rear, still clutching her nose.
After gazing at her retreating figure for a moment, I lifted the sword I had drawn before the Heavenly Demon Hall and… in a single stroke, sliced through the closed doors.
Whoosh—!
Beyond the severed doors, a vicious Demonic Qi surged forth.
The fact that no Demonic Qi had been felt from the Demonic Cult's main headquarters until now could only mean they had concentrated all their power here.
The people before me stiffened at the Demonic Qi, far more intense than expected. In front of them, I deliberately curled my lips into a smirk and spoke.
"Well now, follow along slowly from behind."
Whether my words served as the spark, those who had been momentarily overwhelmed began to reignite their resolve.
Grumbling sounded from behind. And flanking me closely on both sides were Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, the first to step forward.
Tang So-wol… lacking in martial level, she would be further back.
Even knowing she wasn't visible from here, I turned back once.
…Ignoring the Illusion Witch, who for some reason met my eyes and waved, the three of us were the first to step inside the Heavenly Demon Hall. And then.
Wooong-!
The Demonic Qi filling the surroundings vibrated violently, pressing down on us.
A formation recreating the Heavenly Demon's Peerless Step. But before long, it was neutralized by the Illusion Witch's energy flowing from her waist.
Likewise, the illusions flashing before our eyes, the anger surging unbidden, the familiar voices whispering at our ears.
Most were either completely blocked or their effects were greatly weakened.
After breaking through the swamp of sorcery, the place was a world completely different from the outside.
Whether it was the influence of the Demonic Qi covering the area, the view was dim, and the sky was stained red.
A faint scent of blood teased the tip of my nose, and I had the illusion of hearing someone's screams at my ears.
This was entirely separate from sorcery… it must have been because I was unconsciously reading the imagery contained within the Demonic Qi itself.
Looking around, I saw a wide-open clearing. It was enormous—large enough to fit five or six decent training grounds and still have room to spare.
But the important thing wasn't this clearing. It was the stairs at the far end.
A long stretch of stairs. At the top sat a modest hall.
The moment I laid eyes on it, I felt my entire body tense up reflexively.
The Heavenly Demon was probably there.
I strode across the clearing toward the stairs.
By the time I reached the middle of the clearing, the other martial artists of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance had also safely crossed the gate.
Suddenly, the Demonic Qi that filled the surroundings vibrated and spat out a voice from every direction.
"You're not the first guests to make it this far, but it's been a while. So, how is it? The gift I prepared… did you enjoy our hell?"
"So that's what this was. You dare to call yourself the Heavenly Demon and put on the airs of the King of Hell?"
The Great Master Jeonghyeon, angrier than I had ever seen him, shouted toward the hall.
A thunderous lion's roar echoed out, and the Buddhist energy momentarily pushed back the Demonic Qi.
"Utterly arrogant! Heavenly Demon! You have no right to judge others! What you have created is not hell, but a mere slaughterhouse!"
"Ah."
The moment I heard those words, I understood. Every village we had passed so far—each and every one of them—had resembled the hell described in Buddhism.
But the Heavenly Demon, as if the Great Master Jeonghyeon's anger meant nothing to him, continued in a flat, emotionless tone.
"Don't get so worked up, Great Master Jeonghyeon. You may not know this yet, but this world has long since become hell. Whatever you build inside hell is, in the end, nothing more than another hell."
"You bastard!"
The Great Master Jeonghyeon's Aura surged even fiercer, but… I could understand what the Heavenly Demon was saying.
No—the Heavenly Demon was pretending to speak to the Great Master Jeonghyeon, but he was really speaking to me.
We are prisoners trapped in an endlessly repeating life—an Avici hell called regression.
Of course, I do not agree.
Even if the future given to me is the same as the Heavenly Demon's, that is no reason to give up the present.
Some might call me foolish for this… but I have always been this way.
The kind of person who finds it hard enough just to live through today, who would rather hold the hand of the person beside me one more time than dream of tomorrow.
I have already made up my mind, so why would I waver?
I do not step back, I do not hesitate, I do not fear.
I simply move forward.
I raised my sword. The Intent and internal energy rising along the blade blazed white-hot. I gripped it tightly and swung.
The sword drew a straight line toward the sky stained dark red, corrupted by Demonic Qi.
Swick.
With the sensation of something being cut away, the vibration of the Demonic Qi ceased, and the Heavenly Demon's presence vanished for an instant.
I had momentarily severed the connection between the Heavenly Demon and the surrounding Demonic Qi.
As if I had sliced the sky itself, a sword mark was etched across the crimson heavens. Beyond it, the original blue sky was faintly visible—and it was in that moment that the martial artists of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance stared up at it in a daze.
Drip, drip.
Like blood weeping, thick clumps of Demonic Qi oozed from the sword wound carved into the sky.
They fell to the ground.
And from the clumps of Demonic Qi that settled upon the earth, countless figures stepped out one by one, blocking the path before the stairs leading to the hall.
Their eyes were stained red from Qi Deviation, and raw, unrefined Demonic Qi dripped from them—they were unmistakably Demonic Cultists.
"Ha!"
So they had been deliberately using their own Demonic Qi to conceal the Cultists.
Then, when I severed the connection, the Cultists hiding within had burst out.
Having mastered the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to its peak, which allows one to wield Aura like an extension of one's own body, this would not have been difficult—but it was still an absurd situation.
It meant that they had predicted, to some extent, that I would sever the connection to the sky, as if I found it unpleasant to hear.
Clutching my sword, I kicked off the ground toward the Demonic Cultists, who were clearly stronger than they had been before my regression.
KWA-RUNG!
A sound like rolling thunder filled the air as I curled my lips into a grin.
"I wonder if you predicted your own defeat as well."
I intend to go find out now.