Chapter 54 - You're Not So Mysterious When You're Flustered

The night was quiet and still. When I entered the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's residence, he was sitting by the window, reading a book.

"Nothing in the world could look more out of place."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon looked up in surprise. Pleasure spread across his startled face.

"I'll have to give those guards a scolding."

"Please don't. I slipped in because I wanted to see you without any fuss."

He looked me over, then asked with an expression of disbelief, "Have you only just returned to the Cult?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell me you came to see me first?"

"Sorry to spoil the touching moment, but Father goes to bed early."

"Even so!"

"Yes, that's right. You were the first person I thought of."

I shook the bottle I had brought. It was his favorite liquor.

We drank in the garden behind his residence. All the subordinates guarding it were dismissed so we wouldn't be disturbed.

"Has it already been two months since you left the Cult?"

"Not quite two months."

My Swift Step had advanced during the trip, allowing me to shorten the journey home.

"Is Investigator Seo's martial training going well?"

"The little runt is working quite hard."

The words "quite hard" had come from the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's mouth. That unfamiliar expression neatly summed up where their relationship stood.

"He may seem contrary, but he's a decent lad at heart."

"He's never been contrary with me."

"He also knows who he can afford to push."

He was probably working hard while keeping a close eye on his master's moods, yet still saying everything he wanted to say. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon apparently didn't find him entirely disagreeable.

"By the way, I caught a glimpse of your book earlier. It looked like a collection of poetry and paintings. Do you really read poetry?"

"Why? Do I look too uncultured to read poetry?"

"I couldn't say how cultured you are, but it certainly doesn't suit you."

"I liked books in my youth, too. I merely forgot about them for a while."

It was hard to imagine this scrawny, exacting man in his youth.

"What were you like when you were young?"

"Well... gloomy and miserable."

"Much like Investigator Seo, then."

For some reason, he readily nodded.

"What does it matter whether I was one way or another? Those days are long gone anyway."

He drained his cup, and I silently filled it again. There were no words to console someone regretting the years that had slipped away. I had been through it once myself.

"Did your business go well?"

"Yes."

"Another storm is coming, then."

What confidence had he heard in that simple yes to make him say that?

"Do you even know why I went?"

"Something that'll stir up bloodshed, no doubt."

"You seriously misunderstand me. I like peace."

"So do I. The still, blood-scented peace that comes after I've brought everyone to their knees myself."

I smiled and took a drink.

"It was nice to get out after so long. Why don't you come out for some fresh air with me next time?"

"Outside, there are bastards I'd like to kill everywhere I look... I'm more at ease staying in the Cult."

He filled my cup and continued.

"I don't know what you're planning, but be careful. In a struggle for the succession, one misstep can be the end of you."

"What would you do if I made a misstep?"

"What else? I'd have to forge ties with the First Young Master again."

"How cold of you."

"It's only natural. What good is a wing flapping away after the body has died? It has to find another body."

He really would do that. After a day or two of regret, he would approach the First Young Master as though nothing had happened. What surprised me was that even imagining it didn't make me dislike him much.

That was precisely his strength. I didn't have to wonder whether he was good or bad, whether he would help me to the end or betray me. He would leave if I fell, and stay by my side if I didn't.

"Would you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Drink with me all night tonight."

"That's easy enough."

I rose to my feet.

"You asked me to drink. Where are you going?"

"I'll buy more liquor and bring back some food to go with it."

"Just send the lads."

"There's something I want to buy myself."

I intended to prepare something spectacular to accompany our drinks. Something I had spent the past two months preparing.

I had decided to kill the Soul-Seizing Demon tonight. No one would expect me to kill him on the very day I returned from outside the Cult.

And I would be the man who had spent the entire night drinking with the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. He would vouch for my whereabouts.

"I'll be right back."

Leaving his residence, I employed Dark Shadow Step and sped west.

* * *

The Soul-Seizing Demon was unusually excited tonight. The Heart-Soul Great Art was a routine affair, yet his heart was beating strangely fast.

'Is it because it's been so long?'

This was the first time he had performed the Heart-Soul Great Art since Geom Mugeuk had come and threatened him, demanding that he stop. Because the threat invoked the Heavenly Demon, he had been forced to suspend the art for a while.

Of course, he only needed to avoid being caught, but his opponent was already certain he practiced the Heart-Soul Great Art, leaving him uneasy. News that Geom Mugeuk had left the Cult only deepened his suspicions. It seemed like a ploy to put him at ease before searching for evidence.

But his patience had reached its limit, and today he finally resumed the Heart-Soul Great Art. Whenever he performed it after a hiatus like this, he chose a child. At such times, a young heart-soul tasted best.

Descending the stairs to the secret chamber, he glanced behind him. For no reason, he felt as though something were following him, and he was unusually unsettled tonight.

But no one could possibly be following him. His Black Shadow Secret Art was active, allowing his own shadow to guard his back. He was certain that, apart from the Heavenly Demon, no one in the Cult could secretly stand behind him.

He entered the secret chamber. Its walls were covered with bizarre symbols and writing, and incense giving off a peculiar smell burned all around. A child lay asleep on the altar in the center.

A smile formed on his lips as he looked down at the child. Just as he reached out to wake the child, someone seized him by the hair.

'!'

He tried to counterattack, but his opponent moved faster.

SMACK!

The slap snapped his head to the side. Only after helplessly taking the blow did he swing both palms and break free of his opponent's grasp.

As he leaped backward, his opponent spoke coldly.

"I told you not to do this, didn't I?"

Only then did he realize who had struck him. It was Geom Mugeuk. He rubbed his cheek in disbelief. Even if it had been a surprise attack, this should have been impossible. It was a shock—and a humiliation.

"How in the world did you get in?"

"You're not mysterious at all when you're flustered."

The Soul-Seizing Demon flinched. Ordinarily, he bewitched people with his voice. It reverberated, repeated itself, and sometimes whispered. But now he looked like an ordinary, angry man from next door.

"Is this what you really are?"

He might well have flown into a rage, but instead he took a deep breath and regained his composure.

"I misjudged you badly, Second Young Master. I deserved that blow."

The words "I deserved that blow" repeated as his voice reverberated. He had returned to his usual self.

"Now you're more like yourself. This way, killing you will be satisfying. You were disappointing a moment ago."

He remained unruffled.

"Second Young Master, answer my question first. How in the world did you enter this place?"

"I followed you in."

He would think I was lying, but my answer was true. The Soul-Seizing Demon always guarded his back with the Black Shadow Secret Art. Had I achieved complete mastery of the Wind God's Four Steps, things might have been different, but as I was now, I couldn't use Dark Shadow Step to evade his Black Shadow Secret Art.

But with Blood-Eye Purifying Water in my eyes, I could see how to counter it. The moment I did, my Dark Shadow Step took effect. In fact, it was as though I had hidden inside his shadow.

"Why does it matter how I got in? What matters is why I came."

Even now, he flatly denied everything.

"If you're going to harp on about the Heart-Soul Great Art again, leave. I know nothing about any such art."

"Then who is this child?"

"A poor orphan. I brought the child here to take in and teach martial arts."

"You're a coward."

"What?"

This time, I imitated him.

"Coward, coward, coward..."

My voice rang out like an echo.

"Enough!"

I snapped back coldly at his shout.

"How long are you going to pretend you don't know? Do you only find courage when you're ripping hearts out of the weak?"

His pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints. Our surroundings darkened, then brightened as a new space took shape. I stood at the edge of a cliff.

WHOOOOOSH.

The wind blowing from behind tried to push me over the cliff.

"Have you already forgotten my warning? I told you that if you saw me again, you would never, ever return to your original world."

His voice reached me with the eerie chill of a ghost's wail. He had created an atmosphere of terror, but I stood firm, utterly unafraid.

"You must be too frightened to bear it unless you scare your opponent like this."

"Truly astonishing. Even as the Cult Leader's son, how can you possess such spirit at your age?"

His pupils repeatedly expanded and contracted as he busily scrutinized me.

"You came to kill me, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"What gives you such confidence?"

The question repeated like an echo. This time, it wasn't meant to mock me; it revealed his agitation. Then the echo abruptly stopped, and he asked,

"Did the Cult Leader send you?"

For once, there was no extraneous noise in his question. He would find it hard to believe I was acting on my own.

"If Father wanted to kill you, he would have come himself. Don't you know what he's like?"

He nodded, and our surroundings grew noisy again. His muttering mingled with the wind and all manner of strange sounds. It seemed to lay bare the world inside his mind.

"All this noise is distracting. Let's talk quietly."

"Since it's your dying wish, Second Young Master, I should oblige."

Our surroundings darkened, then brightened again. We sat facing each other in a pavilion with a beautiful view. Even lukewarm tea stood on the tea table between us.

"Second Young Master."

It was his original voice. He had returned to being an ordinary man.

"If we must kill each other, let's speak openly one last time."

"Very well."

"We are demonic martial artists. Demon Supremes, no less, who reign above all other demonic martial artists. Are our lives easy enough for us to grant the weak a choice? What's wrong with sucking out the hearts of those feeble creatures to grow stronger? Isn't greed our right? Every choice I made was for the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon!"

If Hwa Mugi had never come, and I had continued living in the Cult, perhaps I would have turned a blind eye to this side of the Soul-Seizing Demon. So long as it made the Cult stronger, I might have used that justification as an excuse to pretend I didn't know.

But my destiny had changed. The man I had been then and the man I was now were unmistakably different. I had become someone who couldn't share tea or liquor with a man who ripped out children's hearts to grow stronger. Someone who couldn't breathe the same air as him.

"That's a lie."

"What?"

"You didn't steal those hearts for the Cult. You did it solely to prolong your own life. That's true now, and it always will be."

If he truly cared about the Cult, he would have taken steps toward revenge after Father died. Instead, he chose to outlive all the other Eight Demon Supremes. Thousands of innocent lives had been absorbed into that long, tenacious life of his.

"You cared only for yourself, and kept caring only for yourself... until you became a monster."

Staring intently at me, he reached a conclusion.

"A mere brat of twenty or so couldn't understand me so precisely. He couldn't follow me past the Black Shadow Secret Art or lay a hand on me. You... are not the Second Young Master."

His pupils, which until now had only expanded and contracted, began to change color. Dazzling waves of violet began to ripple in his eyes. Violet light shot from them into mine, burrowing toward the soul beyond.

He asked, his question reaching me as deep and heavy as a resonance from the abyss.

"Who are you?"