The Heavenly Demon died within a single day. And then he regressed.
"Huh? Huh?! Cheon Hwi?! What was that just now? The Heavenly Demon… I mean. He was definitely dead…?"
"…"
"Cheon Hwi? Say something. You saw it too. The Heavenly Demon definitely died and came back to life… Wait. Surely not?"
Seol Ri-hyang's eyes flew wide open as she realized something from my speechless expression.
"Surely the Heavenly Demon is also…?!"
Only now did Seol Ri-hyang grasp that the Heavenly Demon was also a regressor. Trembling as if shaken, she nodded her head.
"That's right. It makes sense now. No matter how I looked at it, it was strange that a monster like the Heavenly Demon would suddenly fall from grace… The realm called Hyeon-gyeong, the suspiciously thorough knowledge of the Central Plains' situation, and the strange fixation on you, Cheon Hwi — all of it made sense if he was a fellow regressor…"
I couldn't say anything, wondering whether the seal still held even within my memories.
But Seol Ri-hyang had long since grown accustomed to this side of me. More than anything, she already had some understanding of regression.
Thanks to that, we could communicate without words… no, precisely because there were no words, we understood each other to a degree.
"If the Heavenly Demon was a regressor… then yes. This incident must be what made the Heavenly Demon into the Heavenly Demon. …But for that, he seems too weak?"
Seol Ri-hyang tilted her head, quietly looking up at me.
"Hmm. Thinking about it again, he really is too weak. Of course, it was a tragic event, but compared to what Cheon Hwi went through, it falls short. The Martial Princess said that regressors are born among those who despair so deeply their screams reach the heavens, but…"
"Wait. Setting aside whether I qualify, are you really going to keep calling her the Martial Princess so casually?"
"Huh? Well, we agreed to be friends, didn't we?"
"What."
"Of course, I'll address her properly in formal settings, but… this isn't exactly one of those places, is it?"
Seol Ri-hyang shrugged her shoulders. Just what was this sociability of hers?
She had managed to build a faction that followed her in no time even within the Black Alliance, but I never thought she could pull off something similar with an imperial princess.
The moment to marvel at Seol Ri-hyang's shadowless, radiant potential was brief.
After staring down at his own body for a long while and fumbling around, the Heavenly Demon finally seemed to grasp the situation and began dashing forward at full speed.
His destination was probably…
"He's going to challenge that monkey again?"
"Probably. But it's a meaningless endeavor."
When I saw him take his stance, I felt a flicker of expectation at first. His martial level was low, but his movements themselves looked solid.
But when I saw him get taken out without even managing a proper response to the stone monkey's movements, I realized the truth.
That it was merely the product of hard work. Surprisingly—truly surprisingly—the Heavenly Demon had no Martial Talent.
Just an ordinary man.
An ordinary, run-of-the-mill person who had merely learned a martial art.
And even that wasn't something he'd devoted his whole life to—he was still only at the Second-Rate level, let alone first-rate.
His martial level was lacking, and he had no talent either—relying on sheer will alone to face that stone monkey seemed impossible. That stone monkey looked far too strong.
Judging by its movements, it had to be at least Peak Realm.
"Just that much…?"
"Yes. Seol Ri-hyang, you might not realize it because you yourself are talented and you're surrounded by people with a fair amount of Martial Talent, but that's how I see it."
An unremarkable Martial Artist, the kind you saw all the time in Unorthodox Sect life. The Heavenly Demon was exactly that sort of level.
"Uh, well. Then how did someone like that become the Heavenly Demon we know?"
"…I suppose that's what we need to find out from now on."
The moment my words ended, the Heavenly Demon arrived at his collapsed home.
This time, instead of gathering up the scattered remains of his family, he headed straight for the spot where the stone monkey had appeared.
-Creak!
The stone monkey, who hadn't expected his hiding place to be discovered in an instant, flinched and stumbled backward.
The Heavenly Demon clenched his teeth at the creature, his eyes bloodshot, and swung his fist. And then.
Thud.
-?
The stone monkey tilted his head at the unexpectedly weak punch.
That was only natural. A Fist and Leg Art that hadn't reached a higher realm could only carry such pitiful power.
The stone monkey was a Spirit Beast whose hide was as hard as stone, so rather than dealing any damage, the one throwing the punch was the one who ended up hurt.
-Kiiik!
The stone monkey, having realized the gap between itself and the Heavenly Demon, let out a mocking cry and swung its fist.
The strike resembled the stance the Heavenly Demon had shown moments ago, but the power contained within was as different as heaven and earth.
The Heavenly Demon raised one arm, trying to block it somehow.
Crack!
His upper body was knocked completely sideways along with his arm.
Had his ribs pierced his heart or lungs? The fallen Heavenly Demon vomited blood repeatedly, then closed his eyes.
The world darkened once more. The last thing the Heavenly Demon saw was the stone monkey's sneering grin as it looked down at his dying body.
And so, the next regression began.
Only this time, the starting point was slightly different.
"What? A second regression, surely not? And this place…"
"Right before I charged at the stone monkey."
Indeed. Just as the bewildered Seol Ri-hyang said, the Heavenly Demon's next regression had placed him at the moment he entered his ruined home.
The Heavenly Demon stammered, having never expected a second regression. Still, since he had experienced it once before, he quickly grasped the situation… but it was too late.
The stone monkey, which had been wary of the suddenly appearing Heavenly Demon, realized its opponent's martial level was pitiful and revealed itself.
This time, he couldn't even put up a proper resistance before the Heavenly Demon's neck was snapped, killing him.
And then came the regression.
This time, the Heavenly Demon regained his senses while he was still buried beneath the rubble.
An even earlier point in time than the first regression, before we had even entered the memories.
Seol Ri-hyang flinched at the Heavenly Demon's gaze—which, far from being broken by the repeated deaths, had been honed even sharper—and spoke.
"What is this… it's a complete mess. They said regression was a final chance given only once."
Indeed. I hadn't expected the Heavenly Demon's regression to be like this either.
At least I was given time to correct my regrets. But for the Heavenly Demon, not even that exists.
His family was already dead, and the only thing left for him to do was take revenge. Even that wasn't going as he wished.
Still, perhaps a person is a person after all.
The Heavenly Demon neither gave up nor fell into despair. He simply began calmly searching for anything that could serve as a weapon.
He had acknowledged that with his clumsy martial art, he couldn't even leave a scratch on the stone monkey.
A martial artist who had closed his eyes after suffering wounds so deep his innards were exposed. The Heavenly Demon lifted the sword the man had clutched until the very end.
Watching that scene, Seol Ri-hyang let out a faint sigh and asked.
"I don't think that's going to change anything… Cheon Hwi, what do you think?"
"There's a chance. It seems the Heavenly Demon is thinking the same thing I am."
"What? There's a chance? Where?"
"When the Heavenly Demon charged in first. Didn't the startled Stone Monkey take his slow punch head-on?"
I don't know exactly what happened here, but judging by how many spirit beast corpses there were alongside the human ones, the two must have killed each other quite ferociously.
A Peak Realm spirit beast is definitely not something to be underestimated.
They possess physical abilities far superior to humans by default, and having become spirit beasts, their intelligence has also increased.
On top of that, they directly manipulate Natural Qi and wield abilities that humans can hardly imagine… they'd surely be stronger than an ordinary Peak Realm martial artist.
But this is Hubei Province. A place where the Jegal Clan exists, and where the Murim Alliance stands not far away—the very heart of the Orthodox Sects.
This is a place teeming with experts who could wipe out a Peak Realm spirit beast without any trouble.
Among the spirit beast corpses scattered around, there were quite a few massive ones that clearly far exceeded Peak Realm.
"They were probably scared. Humans aren't the only ones who fear war."
"Ah."
They must have hidden themselves after watching spirit beasts similar to or stronger than themselves fall one after another.
If the Heavenly Demon was stronger than them, they'd stay hidden to the end; if the opponent seemed manageable, they'd launch a surprise attack.
"With that in mind, they hid—but when the Heavenly Demon charged straight at their hiding spot, they panicked, left an opening, and took a punch."
"…So, that means I can land one clean hit for sure."
"Right. Taking it down with that single blow would be impossible, but if you can inflict enough injury to turn the battle in your favor, a chance opens up. Above all…"
"Right. There will be another chance."
Seol Ri-hyang nodded, sensing that the Heavenly Demon's regression would not end after just one or two tries.
After that, the Heavenly Demon moved exactly as I had predicted.
It charged straight at the hidden stone monkey and brought its sword down.
But the sword bounced off the stone-like tough hide, and the Heavenly Demon died once again amid its own mocking laughter.
The Heavenly Demon regressed to a slightly different point in time this time. Taking the previous failure into account, it somehow managed to find a thick staff rather than a blade and headed for the stone monkey.
Perhaps it had been delayed while searching for the staff, for the stone monkey was already feasting on the corpses of its family… but the Heavenly Demon used that as fuel, surrendering to its rage and swinging the staff.
Struck on the head with a blunt weapon rather than a blade, the stone monkey staggered visibly. But perhaps it was because the Heavenly Demon lacked the strength.
The stone monkey, flustered for a moment, quickly regained its composure and beat the Heavenly Demon to death.
And so, regression and death repeated themselves.
Sometimes it picked up a different weapon to fight with, sometimes it tried new strategies, but in the end, the conclusion never changed.
The Heavenly Demon mechanically gripped its weapon, repeating dozens of regressions.
Seol Ri-hyang shook her head as if she had grown tired of watching.
"I can see why someone would go mad repeating this over and over."
"…No. Not yet."
"Hm?"
"I know because I've lived through a Qi Deviation myself—that state isn't madness, it's just the mind discarding everything useless. He's perfectly sane."
"That's a grim story to draw from."
Seol Ri-hyang let out a hollow laugh, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Before long, as if proving my words, the Heavenly Demon finally succeeded in bringing down the stone monkey.
He stabbed its eyes with the broken spear, then climbed onto its back and squeezed its neck with his entire body.
Naturally, the stone monkey thrashed violently, pounding at the Heavenly Demon on its back and hurling itself against the ground, but…
Having already died for real many times over, the Heavenly Demon refused to let go, as if he would never release his grip even in death.
And then, the moment he realized the stone monkey's breath had completely stopped.
The Heavenly Demon let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
Having realized that he could not survive with a body that was already half-shattered, he had accepted death without resistance.
And so, what the Heavenly Demon, who had felled the stone monkey for the first time, faced after death was…
The scenery from a day ago.
"Ugh!"
Seol Ri-hyang, who had been watching the fight with rapt attention, swallowed her breath.
And the Heavenly Demon in the memory was the same.
Whether he had thought the regression would end with the defeat of the stone monkey, or whether he had thought that even if he did regress, everything would return to a point after the war was over—with only slight differences.
He looked around in disbelief at the surroundings that flowed on as if nothing had happened at all. And then.
"Cheon Hwi. Look over there."
"Mm. The Heavenly Demon's family, is it."
His family, still alive, approached the Heavenly Demon who had suddenly stopped, looking at him as if something were strange.
The Heavenly Demon quietly studied his wife and daughter's faces, then tears streamed down his cheeks as he pulled them both into an embrace.
The two, though puzzled, worried over the Heavenly Demon, asking what was wrong as they patted his back.
At the sight of such a heartwarming family, Seol Ri-hyang sniffled, the tip of her nose slightly reddened.
"Hnng. Still, I'm glad it turned out well. So the Heavenly Demon had moments like this too."
"…No. I think it's too soon to be relieved."
"Huh?"
Seol Ri-hyang blinked her eyes. For her sake, I pointed to a place far off in the distance behind us.
A sight of Spirit Beasts of all different appearances rushing over in droves, their killing intent blazing.
The Heavenly Demon, too, soon seemed to realize the presence of the approaching Spirit Beasts. He gritted his teeth and pulled the family in his arms into a tight embrace.
That's right. The news that the family had returned to before their deaths meant… that he had to survive that war that shattered the entire surrounding area and protect his family.
Having realized all of this, Seol Ri-hyang's mouth fell wide open as she spoke.
"What a damn mess."
"You said it."
There was no other way to describe the situation the Heavenly Demon had found himself in other than to say that all hell had broken loose.