Chapter 148 - If I Feel Like I'm Going to Die

I steadied my mind.

With such a formidable enemy before me, I put the Wicked Laughing Demon out of my thoughts. I had to focus solely on my own fight. Trust him. Yang Cheogi, on the other hand, needed watching.

There was no telling when that bastard might jump in with a surprise attack.

The Grotesque Demon slipped gloves onto both hands, their blades branching out like fingers. These were his signature weapons, the Heaven-Descending Flying Claws. The cold blue gleam running along their edges was chilling.

"Let's see whether your sword can keep up with your mouth."

The fight began the instant the Grotesque Demon finished speaking.

SKREE! SKRAK! SKREEE!

The Heaven-Descending Flying Claws tore through the air with an eerie whistling sound. Even a glancing blow would rip away flesh and bone.

I attacked while moving with Dark Shadow Step.

CLANG! CLANG! CLAAANG! CLANG!

My sword collided with the Heaven-Descending Flying Claws countless times. I fought to widen the distance while he did everything he could to close in. His claws were shorter than my sword, giving him the advantage at close quarters.

Amid those nerve-racking exchanges, that moment came to me.

Just as when I had fought Baek Manggi, the Grotesque Demon was all I could see.

My surroundings fell silent. Only our movements and sounds remained. I had the illusion that even time was slowing down. But time had not slowed at all. My concentration had simply sharpened that much.

Then a brief cry tore through the silence!

"Urgh!"

The instant I recognized the Wicked Laughing Demon's voice—

In a flash, I instinctively unleashed Flicker Step. Before I knew it, I was behind the Iron Chain Wielder, thrusting my sword.

WHOOOSH.

The chain bearing down on the stumbling Wicked Laughing Demon swung around toward me.

WHOOOOSH!

CLAAANG!

As my sword rebounded off the Iron Chain Wielder's chain, I felt a fierce rush from behind and twisted aside.

The Grotesque Demon had followed me, and his Heaven-Descending Flying Claws raked through the space I had just occupied.

Saved from danger by my intervention, the Wicked Laughing Demon fired Blood Calamity Finger at the Grotesque Demon as he launched a second attack at me.

WHIIISH.

The Grotesque Demon likewise twisted aside to evade Blood Calamity Finger.

Seizing that opening, I leaped away from both men with the Wicked Laughing Demon. Without my intervention, he would have been injured. The Iron Chain Wielder's martial arts were stronger than I had expected.

As the fighting briefly subsided, Yang Cheogi laughed aloud. He was certain of victory. The Grotesque Demon and the Iron Chain Wielder were just as relaxed.

Catching my breath, I asked Yang Cheogi, "Are you the leader of the Heavenly Mandate Society?"

While he was triumphant and full of himself, I tried every way I could to draw out his secrets.

"I am not the leader of the Heavenly Mandate Society."

"Then are you the master of Villains' Valley?"

"Nor am I its master."

"Those two must rank among the strongest experts in Villains' Valley. How on earth did you get them to come out here?"

Yang Cheogi refused to answer that. I quickly ventured a guess.

"Then the leader of the Heavenly Mandate Society must have joined forces with the master of Villains' Valley, too. Just as he recruited you."

A flicker of admiration crossed Yang Cheogi's eyes. His reaction told me my guess was right. This was a secret even the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion had yet to uncover.

I had already known the Heavenly Mandate Society was no ordinary organization, but it was far more formidable than I had realized.

Last time, my mission had ended in failure, and that was that. The Wicked Laughing Demon's restriction had never been lifted, so this situation had never arisen in the first place.

One thing was certain, though. Judging by their current scheming, the Heavenly Mandate Society must have been active in the shadows back then, too.

Before we resumed fighting, I looked at the Wicked Laughing Demon. He nodded silently, his eyes telling me he was fine and not to worry.

The battle began again.

The Heaven-Descending Flying Claws shredded the air, while the Iron Chain Wielder's chain reared and lunged like a living snake.

The claws grazed the Wicked Laughing Demon's arm and side, and Blood Calamity Finger skimmed the Iron Chain Wielder's forehead.

Sword qi flew at close range. Finger force shot out, the chain swept in wreathed in concentrated qi, and the Heaven-Descending Flying Claws left dozens of claw marks. All manner of secret techniques came one after another.

The battle was evenly matched. The Wicked Laughing Demon and I had fought together only once before, yet we coordinated as though we had spent our lives practicing joint attacks. Strangely, fighting alongside him always put me at ease. We worked so well together.

Then, at one point, he cried out a second time.

He dropped as though falling onto his backside, and the chain hurtled toward him.

I rushed in and blocked it with my back.

THUNK!

My protective concentrated qi held, but the impact felt as though it would tear my shoulder off.

THUUNK! THUNK!

The chain hammered down again and again.

It struck my body, but the protective concentrated qi surrounding me repelled it. It was consuming an enormous amount of internal energy.

Watching, Yang Cheogi exclaimed in astonishment, "To manifest protective concentrated qi at that age... You really are an extraordinary little bastard."

But this was exactly what we had intended. Moments earlier, I had sent the Wicked Laughing Demon a sound transmission, telling him to pretend to be overwhelmed once more.

With my back to our enemies, my sword was splitting before me.

I had unleashed Shadowed Heaven, the seventh form of the Heaven-Soaring Sword Art.

SHING!

I did not create many copies. Just two, in front of my chest where they could not see them.

The instant the sword-shaped projections of sword qi were complete—

WHIIISH! WHISH!

The two swords of qi shot behind me as though alive.

THWACK!

One pierced the unsuspecting Grotesque Demon's shoulder, while the other flew on, severing the chain in two.

"Fuck!"

The Grotesque Demon grimaced and pressed the pressure points on his shoulder. Had he not reflexively twisted aside, it would have pierced his throat.

The Iron Chain Wielder discarded the severed length of chain and took a shorter grip on the remainder.

"Damn it!"

We had cause to lament, too. The attack we had pinned our hopes on had failed to kill them. At least we had pierced the Grotesque Demon's shoulder and damaged the Iron Chain Wielder's weapon.

I offered a hand to the seated Wicked Laughing Demon, and he took it and rose. His eyes burned hotter than before. Both of us were blazing in this fight.

The Grotesque Demon and the Iron Chain Wielder opted for a prolonged battle. Believing their internal energy reserves superior, they intended to drain ours dry and kill us. With a wounded shoulder and a damaged weapon between them, they also wanted to fight cautiously.

Naturally, the Wicked Laughing Demon, who relied on finger force and palm force, was the first to run low on internal energy.

At the critical moment when his reserves dwindled and his movements slowed noticeably—

SWISH.

The Wicked Laughing Demon was staring at me in surprise.

We had entered the world of The Art of Space-Time Transposition.

"We're inside the space created by The Art of Space-Time Transposition."

"You even know The Art of Space-Time Transposition!"

"There's no time to explain. This is a Rapid Recovery Pill. Take it and recover your internal energy first."

I gave him the Rapid Recovery Pill I had received from the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

"You should take it, Second Young Master."

"I still have internal energy left. We have no time. Hurry and take it, then recover. My internal energy is being consumed even as we speak."

The Wicked Laughing Demon immediately swallowed the Rapid Recovery Pill and circulated his true qi through one full circuit.

We could hear their voices outside.

"It's an illusion art."

"The brat even uses illusion arts? He never stops surprising me."

"An illusion art of this caliber consumes so much internal energy that he'll soon be forced to reveal himself. In short, it's suicide."

Indeed, had I not turned the tables on the Seductress of Supreme Bliss and absorbed her internal energy, I could not have used The Art of Space-Time Transposition now.

A little later, having rapidly replenished his internal energy with the Rapid Recovery Pill, the Wicked Laughing Demon opened his eyes and stood.

"We have to finish this within a hundred exchanges."

"Yes! Let's go!"

I held out my sword, and he flicked it once more.

TING!

With that clear metallic note, The Art of Space-Time Transposition dissolved.

The instant we emerged, I hurled myself at the Iron Chain Wielder like a madman.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

I pushed my concentration to its limit.

My surroundings vanished. All I could see were the Iron Chain Wielder and his chain.

Then even he disappeared. Only the chain remained, moving in dazzling patterns.

I heard nothing but the clash of my sword against his chain.

If I'm struggling, so are you. If I feel like I'm going to die, you must feel the same. I refuse to believe you've worked harder than I have. I believed in myself, and in every effort I had made.

And once again, I experienced something astonishing.

I was already fighting at the absolute limit of my speed, yet my sword began moving faster still. Desperation had brought it about. It was a miracle born of my desperate wish not to let the Wicked Laughing Demon die.

I could feel the chain's movements growing frantic.

As though forced into it, he unleashed a hidden secret technique. He trapped my sword between the links of his chain. At the very instant it curled around the blade like a coiled snake, the Black Demon Sword was wrenched from my grasp.

I saw the Iron Chain Wielder's delight.

WHISH! THUNK!

The next instant, a dagger lodged in his throat.

He had played his trump card, but so had I. In that fleeting instant when I lost my sword and his guard dropped, I threw my dagger.

"Gurrgh."

The dagger in his throat was made of ten-thousand-year cold iron. I had not used my dagger-throwing art once since the battle began, so he could not block this unexpected attack.

Like someone who could never resist scratching an itch, the Iron Chain Wielder yanked the dagger out of his throat.

As he pulled it free, blood gushed like a waterfall, and he toppled over. Unwilling to spare even the internal energy needed for object manipulation through the air, I ran over and picked up the Black Demon Sword, still wrapped in the chain.

Then, without hesitation, I charged the Grotesque Demon.

The Wicked Laughing Demon was holding off the stronger Grotesque Demon through sheer, absolute concentration.

Now we fought as we had against Baek Manggi.

Together, we drove him back like madmen. I watched for Yang Cheogi to intervene, but for some reason he stayed out of the fight.

Under our combined assault, the balance tipped in an instant. Strong as these men were, they ultimately fell short of the Sword Emperor, Baek Manggi. And our coordination was even better than it had been then.

Just as the Grotesque Demon called out to Yang Cheogi for help, my sword slipped between the blades of his Heaven-Descending Flying Claws as they wavered ever so slightly.

THUNK!

My sword buried itself in his shoulder.

WHING! THWACK!

At the same instant, the Wicked Laughing Demon's Blood Calamity Finger pierced his forehead.

The Grotesque Demon fell backward, his eyes wide with outrage and fury.

"Hah... Hah..."

The Wicked Laughing Demon and I gasped for breath. His internal energy was completely exhausted, and I had little left myself.

"You really are tenacious bastards!"

In response to Yang Cheogi's admiring remark, I said, "You're worse. You just stood there watching instead of helping them?"

"Once you've used up all your internal energy, I can kill you more safely and easily. Why would I bother intervening?"

I doubted that was the real reason. Being left alone to face both of us introduced uncertainties that were just as dangerous.

'He didn't stop those two experts from dying? Almost as though he wanted them dead. Why?'

Then a thought struck me like lightning.

"Was it the position of master of Villains' Valley that the Heavenly Mandate Society's leader promised you?"

"!"

He had wanted to be a Demon Supreme, a sect leader, and an alliance leader. I had wondered whether he might now want to be the valley's master.

Yang Cheogi's reaction, his eyes asking how I knew, confirmed my guess. He had undoubtedly used this opportunity to cut off the current valley master's right-hand men, making it easier to take over Villains' Valley. These villains had joined forces only to stab one another in the back.

"You really do spend your whole life dreaming of things you'll never achieve."

"That mouth will be your undoing."

"You're scum."

"Yes, curse me all you like in hell."

The Wicked Laughing Demon stepped in front of me.

"Second Young Master, it's time to show off your running skills. I should be able to hold him off for a few exchanges," he transmitted.

He believed we could not defeat Yang Cheogi. His own internal energy was already depleted, and he had judged that the little I had left would not be enough to face him.

"I need to save those running skills for my rematch with you, Laughing Demon."

"Stop being stubborn and go!"

"My Demonic Path doesn't smash tables, but it doesn't abandon friends to danger, either."

"!"

I felt him stir deeply at the word 'friend.'

"What kind of Wicked Laughing Demon is this sentimental?"

His gaze shifted from me to Yang Cheogi. Then he said something I had never expected.

"Let the Second Young Master go, Senior Martial Uncle."

To save my life, he was making a request he utterly loathed making.

Yang Cheogi answered with mockery in his eyes.

"Remove your mask and kneel, and I'll spare him."

I could see the conflict in the Wicked Laughing Demon's back.

Ah! Even if the whole world pointed at him and called him evil, I never could.

I hurried to him and seized his arm.

"He won't spare me even if you do."

Removing my hand from his arm, the Wicked Laughing Demon said, "I had no intention of kneeling. I know better than you what kind of man my senior martial uncle is."

"Then why?"

"I was trying to buy even a little more time. You're clever, Second Young Master. I thought you might find a way."

He laughed soundlessly. Deep regret flickered in the eyes behind his mask—a wish that we had more time together. He sensed the end approaching.

Yang Cheogi gathered internal energy into one hand. I, too, infused the Black Demon Sword with internal energy. How many exchanges could I withstand? Could I kill him with what I had left?

"Off you go together!"

He unleashed his palm force. It was Ultimate Demonic Rampage Palm, backed by his undiminished internal energy.

Just as I was about to release sword qi to block it—

BOOOM!

The incoming Ultimate Demonic Rampage Palm was broken apart and vanished.

I had not stopped it. Something flying in from elsewhere had blocked Yang Cheogi's attack.

It was a saber. A great saber imbued with concentrated qi stood embedded before us like a shield.

Astonishingly, it was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's Heaven-Destroying Great Saber.

I raised my head. Riding the wind down from the sky, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon said,

"I knew this would happen."