Chapter 398: Our World (3)

Chapter 398: Our World (3)

The blazing sun trembled. The Sword Emperor moved like a bolt of lightning, striking without prior warning. Following the slanted sunbeam, his sword flashed. A white flash flew in like a missile, and I raised my dagger to meet it. My shadow fell over the flowerbed like the ashes left behind where I was burned.

“You should let me strike three times first, you know!”

Shadows rippled along the sword’s path.

Demonic Heaven Arts.

Advanced First Form:

Starvation Death

Shadows spread across the ground and sank their teeth into it, sucking out reinforced aura. This was closer to reaping, or even bloodsucking, than it was to aura cultivation. The shadows looked like a group of pretas rushing into a feast hall and swallowing all the food at once.

I hurled the reinforced aura of this world I had gluttonously sucked in straight toward the sky. The bloody red shadows soared high.

Boooom...!

The slanted sunbeam was cut up. Like a peeled apple, the Sword Emperor’s reinforced aura was chipped away and fell like a white downpour. The world shone as if a million fireworks had gone off. I used this moment to counterattack.

Demonic Heaven Arts.

Advanced Seventh Form:

Bludgeoning Death.

Light and darkness mixed. The moment the shadows appeared, they spat out a reinforced, red aura. With a smile, the Sword Emperor faced the unpredictable red shadow tentacles that caged him. His teeth gleamed like a lion’s as he shouted, “Right back at you! You’re the one who could have let me strike three times first!”

The Sword Emperor’s sword moved. I thought I heard him click his tongue, but too much was going on at once to be certain. If he did click his tongue, it sounded as if it came from very far away.

Swoosh!

A gap opened up in the air, as if an invisible giant parted its lips and inhaled. The world’s reinforced aura that I had shot through the shadows was sucked into the spatial gap. After it was sucked in, it burst forth.

Boom...!

A stream of light poured out, not up and down, but left and right. The moment I saw the light bearing down on me, I realized what had happened.

“The reinforced aura...”

Before I could ask if he absorbed the reinforced aura I had shot, the Sword Emperor replied, “It’s not like you can call dibs on outer—”

“

Hmph.

” I tightened the grip on my dagger and raised it, planting both my feet deep into the ground. “

Phew...

”

Shadows were the children of light. If something could grow endlessly like light, it could only be a shadow. I anchored the shadows, which became as clear as an oncoming flash of light, into the ground. After also anchoring myself, I stood firm, just in time for a surge of light to hit the tip of my dagger like a lightning bolt hitting a rod.

Blood burst from my mouth, instantly drying and crumbling. I could feel that the blood from my veins was drying up, as if someone had injected a drying agent in me. While the Constellation Murderer’s attack had burned my vessels instantly like a lightning strike, the blow from the Sword Emperor felt like blazing sunlight beating down on me from up close.

I breathed in deeply. With my burning heart, I drew in a breath... and started circulating my aura.

Demonic Heaven Arts.

Advanced Second Form:

Thirst Death.

Like an old woman dying of thirst drinking seawater, I used the scorching thirst to drink in the stream of light and lead it to my heart. In time with my thumping heartbeat, I sent it toward my dantian and brain.

My vision was enhanced. Through my veins and spine, the light spread and burst. Gritting my teeth, I endured my trembling limbs, my dry blood, and the shock. At the same time, I filled myself with the absorbed light and unleashed it.

As I screamed, the light that was stretching out from within me burst forth through every pore. The Sword Emperor flinched and raised his sword to block. He was fast but not fast enough. Like a hedgehog that shoots out its quills, the light that burst from me lashed out and hit the Sword Emperor.

He groaned. The thin, wide beams of light weren’t strong, but they were enough to disrupt his stance. The spatial gap closed, and the place now smelled like incense burning in a temple[1].

“Thank you soooooooooo much for burning away the impurities within meeeee...” I said, smoke billowing from me with pops and crackles.

The Sword Emperor let out a dry laugh. “You crazy zombie.”

“You started it... Who the hell slurps aura like that... It’s not a bowl of noodles...”

“It was mine at first, you know.”

“There is no mine or yours when it comes to outer aura...”

“Here, there is,” the Sword Emperor said. Before I could reply, he grabbed his sword again. “Now you see why I didn’t let you hit three attacks first.”

“Yes, I do.”

Of course I did. I knew it very well. It was impossible to miss it. I—

“I’ve grown stronger than Teacher from that winter.”

“Yes, you have,” he answered.

The flowers of this world were persistently leading their lives. Despite the exchange of attacks that split the sky and scorched the ground, the flowers remained and sang their own songs, surrendering themselves to the wind.

Amid drifting dandelion seeds, one man nodded and asked, “Are you happy?”

I was happy.

“Are you sad?”

I was sad.

“Or is it both?”

I just felt like crying a little.

Amid a swirling mix of emotions, I could only see the Sword Emperor’s eyes shining brightly like the sun in broad daylight.

“Regardless of which one it is, it’s still too early for you to sink into it.”

I took a deep breath, wiping away my nose to get rid of any dampness inside it. The Sword Emperor tightened the grip on his sword. The tip of the sword pointed somewhere.

“You’ll first have to take this.”

Martial Arts.

Form Zero:

One Sword.

The world turned upside down.

***

He pulled back his sword and took a step forward. His shoulder tensed as he thrust forward. It was just one thrust. In that very instant, the world turned upside down. Did the ground become the sky? Did the sky become the ground? Did left become right? Or was it the other way around? No, the world turned inside out. Like pushing a hand into a stuffed animal and taking out the stuffing, the world poured out from the spot where the Sword Emperor’s sword struck.

Spring arrived. Within spring, summer burst forth. Before summer could reach the world’s edge, autumn exploded. From autumn’s core, winter emerged, then spring, summer, and autumn returned. A mandala of greenery, leaves, flowers, fruit, grain, fallen leaves, and bare branches spun like a storm. I recognized this attack.

“This is the technique...” I muttered.

This is the technique you used against Teacher.

“Yes...”

Yes, it’s the technique I used to deliver the final blow.

“Now I see...”

Now I see what the technique is truly like.

“Do you...”

Do you just see it?

“That...”

That isn’t all.

Some words were spoken aloud, others were left unsaid, yet the Sword Emperor and I understood the words we exchanged.

“

Ah...

”

Time. Time after time. A strike made from countless layers of time slowly flew toward me, not slicing through space. Perhaps it was more apt to describe the strike as a sphere. It was impossible not to be overwhelmed by this beautiful attack.

“This is...”

This wasn’t just the Mind Sword or firing the outer aura he had drawn in.

“Your world...!”

This was the Sword Emperor’s holy ground, his life.

[The Flower Field of Roaring Thunderclaps has unlocked.]

His life engulfed me. Countless images flashed before my eyes.

—He existed in the beginning.

—Nothing else existed.

—Year of Sword.

—Month of Sword.

—Day of Sword.

—Hour of Sword.

—Minute of Sword.

—Second of Sword.

—The moment they aligned like meshed gears...

—

Oh!

It’s done!

—He’s finally forged!

—The Sword of Beginning!

—Our wait.

—Our regret.

—Our hunger.

—Our thirst.

—This world.

—It exists only for you.

—All humans besides you are mere phantoms.

—I.

—Alone.

—What is it?

—Why are you in so much agony?

—So.

—Much.

—Much.

—Much.

—Much.

—Much.

—Much!

—Why are you in so much agony?

My Demigod Eyes, which occasionally awakened after glimpsing the Tower master’s life, showed me the Sword Emperor’s life from his attack.

“You...”

My voice was barely audible.

You were born alone. Created.

“You...”

You wanted a brother because you felt lonely. You didn’t want to be alone. You sought someone you could fight without holding back, someone to whom you could pour out your everything. Then you met your teacher, who taught you that you weren’t special at all. Are you...

“Are you...”

—He realized he wasn’t lonely.

“Sword Emperor, are you happy?”

“Yes, I am!” the Sword Emperor shouted. “I was artificially created! I knew how to run before I could walk. I received bows before I could shake hands. It was a shitty life!”

“Sword Emperor.”

“But!”

If the sun had vocal cords, this was how it would sound. The Sword Emperor’s voice was bright.

“My life has been freaking happy! I accept my life, my encounters, and my farewells! I accept them all!”

“

Ah.

”

“Heavenly Netherdemon!” the Sword Emperor yelled, still in his sword-thrusting stance. “What about you?”

“I—”

“Did you laugh?” Did you love? Did you live? Are you happy?”

“I—”

“I know you did because I’ve been with you all along! But you haven’t done as much as I have!”

The man who had climbed the Tower with me laughed confidently.

“Sword Emperor.”

“Accept my life! Feel it! Look up to it!”

I laughed. “That is—”

I pointed the dagger at myself, feeling the duct tape on my skin. Though I had just wrapped it moments ago, it had already frayed and burned, I could feel it in my palm. The mandala sphere—the Sword Emperor’s strike—was flying toward me.

Demonic Heaven Arts.

Advanced Ninth Form:

Self-Determination Death.

I twisted the dagger sideways and pierced my heart, not hurting my ribs. Blood flowed out, trickling down my wrist slower than a snail crawling down a window on a rainy day. The blood soaked my sleeve and then dripped onto a flower at my feet.

The Sword Emperor faltered. “You.”

The flower that drank my blood began to wither.

“You.”

“I...” I trailed off.

—He realized he wasn’t lonely.

“I fled to the Tower.”

“Gong-Ja.”

“I had no parents. I respected my orphanage director, but back then, I was too young to genuinely see him as my father. I couldn’t call him or ask for help. I...”

I laughed dryly, thinking of the Black Witch. She was a strong and noble person. On her own, she dealt with people inside and outside the Tower. Even she had set foot in the Tower because she had nowhere else to go. She...

“I fled here,” I said.

The Sword Star crossed my mind. Some had given up on all their possessions and entered the Tower for a new challenge. The Black Witch wasn’t one of these people, and neither was I.

“I had nowhere to go.”

Wherever I went, I felt unwanted. Amid people laughing and talking on streets where everyone had a place to go and return to, I seemed to be the only one wandering. The city flooding with light didn’t seem to want me, nor did the planet suffering from fever.

“So I came here.”

Fittingly, I didn’t have parents. Perhaps that was a sign.

“Unlike you.”

While his world forged him, my world abandoned me. Everyone who had shaped him was his parent, but I was an orphan abandoned by my parents.

“Like you, I... ”

That was why we had come here and left the worlds we grew up in.

“Gong-Ja.”

“Mr. Sword Emperor.”

My blood slowly flowed down, soaking my feet. It spread along the shadows and withered everything it touched, putting them to rest.

“You aren’t satisfied, are you?” I asked.

The Sword Emperor faltered once more. I smiled, curling my lips with my dagger still piercing my heart.

“I am—” he said.

“You aren’t...”

—He realized he wasn’t lonely.

“You aren’t satisfied!” I yelled.

—He realized he wasn’t lonely.

Just as I had believed that Teacher desired to no longer live but wavered every time I woke up...

—He realized...

... he was the same.

“You are...”

You’re satisfied, but you also aren’t. You could be satisfied with what you have. That’s what you want. That makes me...

“

Ahaha

.”

For some reason, Bambolina flashed through my mind. That blond guy truly believed the world and everyone in it were beautiful. That eternal boy walked around with a bright, clear smile. Even he wanted something more because he was human. Everyone was just a person. The Sword Emperor was also a person, so I...

“I will... I’ll give you the satisfaction you desire!”

He laughed like a beast. “If you can...”

If you can, then try.

“I can!” I yelled back.

[The Garden of Withered Flowers has been unlocked.]

From my heart, I spread my shadow, which moved in waves. The whirlpool in my heart swallowed the bright sun. My holy ground, a place for tired souls, ate away the Sword Emperor’s flower field.

“

Ha.

”

The Sword Emperor laughed like a dragon taking a deep breath.

“

Ahaha.

”

I laughed as if I wanted to keep quiet.

“

Hahaha.

”

“

Ahahahaha.

”

“

Hahahahahaha.

”

“

Ahahahahahahaha!

”

The mandala of time that the Sword Emperor had fired scattered. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, and then spring—everything came undone and spilled out. The vigorous torrent of time folded its wings within a world that had stopped.

The Sword Emperor lunged forward. “You may have stopped it.”

I also charged toward him. “But that won’t be enough to end this fight!”

My dagger and his greatsword clashed.

“Good!”

“Yes, good!” I shouted with a laugh.

Clang!

“Good! It’s good!

Aaaah!

” The Sword Emperor guffawed.

“Yes, very exciting!”

Clang!

“Not bad, Heavenly Netherdemon!”

“I can say the same about you, Sword of Beginning!”

Shadows overflowing from my heart shot toward the Sword Emperor. As if he were gripping a dragon’s neck, he gathered light in one hand and blocked the blow, swinging his sword down right afterward.

Clang!

I barely parried the blow with my dagger. Spinning in the air, I struck down toward his nape. Even that was blocked, so I laughed. The Sword Emperor joined in on the laughter.

“I’m not alone!”

He laughed louder.

“I’m not special!”

His laughter carried real joy. The Sword Emperor raised his greatsword and swung it. A lightning bolt followed.

“I’m ordinary!”

"Yes, Sword of the Beginning! ”

To him, I...

“And I! Am not! Inadequate!”

I swung my dagger.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Sword Emperor parried my attacks, holding his greatsword at a slanted angle. I closed in on him like a wolf biting down on its prey’s neck, refusing to let go.

“I’m not inadequate.”

I—

“I wasn’t born wrong!”

I now...

“I have a place to return to!”

“Yes, you do! Hell yeah, you do!” the Sword Emperor answered with a laugh.

“Like you.”

“Like you!”

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and our eyes met before they fell.

“So, I—”

“We!”

Light and shadow mixed and vanished with a clang. My dagger and his greatsword clashed and got stuck in the floating keyhole.

We shouted at the same time, “Even if we live, it’s okay!”

The world broke apart.

1.

Image.

☜