Don’t Touch.
It had already been about ten days since I fell into this place.
As each day passed, the hope of waking up from this dream gradually disappeared, and by now, the goal had become to somehow produce the result this world desired and escape.
Crack-!
I crushed someone’s joints.
“Keuk.”
Letting out a short scream, he breathed his last. On the white martial robe, the word “justice” was written.
He was a martial artist of the Murim Alliance.
“…”
Droop-
His head slumped down, and at the same time, his eyes rolled back as he died. I silently shook off my hand while looking at him.
The sensations were still as vivid as ever.
‘…Feels fucking disgusting….’
Corpses were scattered all around.
Most of them were Murim Alliance martial artists in white clothes, and interspersed were demons, but their numbers were extremely few.
Even those weren’t demons from the Black Flame Squad; they were all martial artists pulled from the Ghost Surveillance Sword Squad.
I quietly watched that.
Drip-
I felt something flowing down my cheek.
When I roughly wiped it with my thumb, it was blood.
“…”
Seeing that, I furrowed my brows.
Because I knew where I had gotten hurt.
During the recent ambush by the Alliance’s martial artists, it was a wound from not responding properly.
It wasn’t a proper ambush or because I was off guard.
I had already sensed them with my qi sense, and their power had barely crossed the peak at best.
There’s no way I’d fall to guys like that.
This was simply.
‘I hesitated.’
It must be because I myself hesitated to kill them.
The despair in the eyes of the martial artist charging at me, the desperate desire to live somehow, the fear.
All of that was clearly visible, making me unknowingly pause my hand for a moment.
The gap created in that instant was enough for the tip of the martial artist’s sword to touch my cheek.
And because of that, blood was flowing.
‘Fuck….’
Recalling the sensation still lingering in my hand, I cursed inwardly.
There’s no way I’m afraid of killing people now.
If I were to feel such a thing, it should have been different from the start after regression.
‘…Fucking sucks.’
It’s just fucking sucks, that’s all.
Coming back to this damned time. Being back here and doing this fucking war again.
And the pupils of those guys that make me feel that process.
‘I need to escape quickly.’
Is that why? It feels even more urgent.
I wanted to escape this hell as soon as possible.
Step.
When only weary feelings were growing larger. I felt someone approaching from behind.
“Newbie.”
“…!”
A sleepy, hazy voice, with something creepy contained within.
There’s only one person with such a voice.
“…Yes, vice-leader.”
I confirmed the approaching Demon Sword Empress and gave a slight bow.
The Demon Sword Empress stopped a few steps away from me, then looked at me and continued in her unique way of speaking.
“…What… are you doing…?”
“…”
“…You’ll… die like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
At the abrupt admonition, the surrounding demons wore puzzled expressions, but I knew what she was talking about.
Among the corpses scattered around, there was one particularly finely chopped hunk of meat. The martial artist who wounded my cheek was that one.
The moment his sword tip grazed past my cheek, the Demon Sword Empress from behind scattered sword force.
The sword force that extended in an instant struck the guy’s body directly. He was hit by dozens of sword strikes in an instant and died immediately.
Looking at the chunks that had become a hunk of meat, I had to feel a bitter something.
Seeing such things made me realize more and more what this world was.
If it were Namgung Bi-ah, she wouldn’t have used such a cruel method.
Even if she did, she would have just killed in one strike.
‘…Ha.’
At that thought, a hollow breath burst out without me realizing.
In the past, if I compared Namgung Bi-ah to the Demon Sword Empress, now I was searching for Namgung Bi-ah in the Demon Sword Empress.
What a filthy sensation. How selfish is this thought.
‘Was I trying to make those events as if they never happened?’
I told Dang Je-mun that I’d remember and carry the regret.
But deep down, maybe I wanted to forget.
Perhaps that’s why it’s showing me this world.
To not forget the regret but remember it.
‘If so, it’s too scary.’
This damned world felt unusually frightening.
“…”
The Demon Sword Empress, who had been looking at me like that, made her unique enigmatic expression.
Clink-
She sheathed her sword and turned her back.
“…Be careful.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
She spat out the short words and leisurely disappeared.
After the Demon Sword Empress vanished, the remaining demons finally let out the sounds they’d been holding back.
It was a somewhat murmuring noise.
Among them, someone approached me and asked.
“Hey, little one.”
Still a title I’m not used to.
“Yes.”
“…Do you perhaps have some separate acquaintance with the vice-leader?”
“…What?”
What kind of random talk is this?
“What do you mean by that?”
When I furrowed my brows slightly and asked, the demon added words as if explaining.
“No, it’s just that… I’ve never seen the vice-leader treat someone so friendly.”
The demon didn’t say ‘except for the leader.’
“Friendly?”
I don’t know which part makes him think that.
“There’s no such thing.”
I replied with a scoffing laugh.
Acquaintance with the Demon Sword Empress.
There’s no way there is such a thing.
At least in this place, with her…
‘We’re strangers.’
That was enough for me.
The Black Flame Squad, with its headquarters near Sichuan.
It might be different if the Heavenly Demon War had fully started, but after successfully conquering Sichuan, what they did wasn’t anything particularly grand.
At best, like today, dealing with the remnants of the Alliance hiding in Sichuan, or patrolling the surroundings to check for problems.
If there was something a bit different, it was probably that since hearing about the Heavenly Venerable, the vigilance had been somewhat strengthened.
‘Just the fact that the Black Flame Squad is personally patrolling shows that.’
Each one of them was a martial artist at the level of a vice-leader if compared to the Alliance’s sword squads.
And even within the Black Flame Squad, excluding the leader, the seven or eight below were individuals surpassing the level of elders or family heads in other families.
The fact that such individuals were personally going out meant that the Heavenly Venerable’s involvement was having a considerable impact.
I glanced at the Demon Sword Empress walking toward the main hall in the distance.
‘The Heavenly Venerable is opposed by the Demon Sword Empress.’
That’s the memory from that time.
When the Heavenly Venerable was drawing attention from outside, the one directly facing him was none other than the Demon Sword Empress.
Facing the Namgung family’s sword with the Namgung family’s sword.
Moreover, it was the Demon Sword Empress’s intention to personally kill and eliminate the remaining Namgung family bloodline.
The problem was.
‘This ultimately didn’t succeed.’
Even originally, winning against the Heavenly Venerable wasn’t easy.
No matter how much the Demon Sword Empress was a master who inherited the name of Sword Empress, the Heavenly Venerable was an old monster who had been the heaven of the Central Plains for the past decades.
There’s no way the Demon Sword Empress could easily defeat such a person.
Knowing this fact, she had taken her full force to face the Heavenly Venerable.
But a problem arose there.
‘The Hegemon Venerable raided the main base.’
While the Heavenly Venerable drew attention, the Hegemon Venerable suddenly attacked the main base, and in that process, I ended up facing him.
That was the problem.
That was namely.
‘…She came to me.’
During the fierce fight with the Hegemon Venerable, when most of the demons had died and I was about to be killed by the Hegemon Venerable, the Demon Sword Empress appeared and dragged me away from the Hegemon Venerable.
In this process, with the top force, the Demon Sword Empress, disappearing, the forces facing the Heavenly Venerable were annihilated.
The barely surviving Mukgwon ended up with one arm cut off.
Fortunately, the injured Heavenly Venerable retreated, and the Hegemon Venerable, also wounded, was chased by the subsequently intervening Heavenly Net Black Web Squad, ultimately facing a crisis from the leader, Pilduma.
At that time, Paeng Woo-jin appeared and saved the Hegemon Venerable.
This was an incident that occurred because the Demon Sword Empress left the battlefield to save me.
Moreover, it was an event leading to the Demon Sword Empress’s death.
With the wounds from the Heavenly Venerable intact, the Demon Sword Empress blocked the Hegemon Venerable.
Fortunately, she succeeded in escaping from the Hegemon Venerable, and Sichuan wasn’t taken away either.
But because of the wounds received from the Heavenly Venerable and Hegemon Venerable at that time, she died in a later raid.
‘No.’
I need to say it straight.
The Demon Sword Empress could have escaped as much as she wanted.
If she wished, she could have lived as much as she wanted.
But she.
‘Ultimately, died for me.’
She came back for me. Died for me.
What a fucking shitty thing, isn’t it.
Did she know? That in all those moments, I wished for my own death.
At first, I wished to die by my father’s hand.
After that, I wished to die by the Hegemon Venerable’s hand.
In the raid, I wished only for my death.
Looking at the Demon Sword Empress’s back, I recalled.
‘…Will you make the same choice this time too.’
I knew.
Since the world isn’t different, the Demon Sword Empress has a high probability of making the same choice, and if I intervene in that choice, perhaps it could change.
But even knowing that, I couldn’t do anything in the current situation.
“…”
If there’s any disruption in the current situation…
‘…The Divine Sword… will die.’
I closed my eyes tightly and thought.
The Divine Sword dies.
Yes, this situation was like that.
A situation where I have no choice but to move desperately.
Grit.
My teeth grind.
While looking at the Demon Sword Empress’s back, I clenched my fist.
This is why I described this life as like hell.
No matter what choice I make. Someone dies.
Even if it’s an illusion, choosing anything isn’t easy.
Even if the Demon Sword Empress’s death is a big basis for my regret.
If I choose to save her, the Divine Sword might die.
Then, is there no regret to be gained from that?
‘Conversely… If I just let the Demon Sword Empress die?’
If I choose the same direction as the original life. Would that be okay too?
‘Ha….’
Coming to this point, I suddenly recalled what Dang Je-mun had said.
That it doesn’t matter which choice I pick. That nothing changes.
“…”
Looking back now, it’s a truly meaningful statement. Was this said to me because he anticipated such a situation would occur?
If so, the bad taste is on another level.
‘It doesn’t matter what I choose?’
Bullshit.
‘How can it not matter.’
It couldn’t be.
No matter if this situation is an illusion. Making it this vivid and just telling me to watch comfortably.
I.
Absolutely couldn’t do that.
“…”
That’s why my thoughts are only increasing and I’m getting more exhausted.
Because it’s a situation where I can’t easily choose anything.
Of course.
Even if not, fortunately, there was at least one other method.
It might be the easiest, or perhaps the hardest method.
If I want to do something… I planned to take that choice.
Creak-
Right after arriving at the headquarters, I moved my steps with blood caked all over.
Now, even the stench of blood wafting intensely from around was nothing.
I had originally lived such a life, so adapting again was a simple matter.
Thinking that, I passed through the corridor and arrived at the main hall, but for some reason, the fishy smell seemed thicker than usual.
‘Hm?’
It wasn’t just me who felt the difference; a subtle killing intent was felt from the Demon Sword Empress walking ahead.
It felt like there was something irritating her mood.
Thud.
As the massive door opened and we entered the main hall.
Inside, other figures were already present.
Wondering who, I looked, and compared to the Black Flame Squad, the blood scent was unusually thick, and the killing intent was so strong it was leaking out of their bodies.
Each had a sword at their waist, and seeing that, I could figure out who they were.
“Kikik.”
A laughing sound was heard, so I raised my head.
Someone was sitting on the jade seat where the Black Flame Squad’s leader should originally sit.
A man with hair hanging down long and his mouth corners pulled up high.
Moreover, the creepy madness and killing intent felt made chills run down my spine.
‘…That bastard.’
I furrowed my brows while confirming the guy.
The ones filling the main hall were the demons of the Ghost Surveillance Sword Squad.
That meant the man sitting on the jade seat was the master of those demons.
‘Sword Demon.’
That meant he was the Sword Demon called the Heavenly Killing Star.
The Sword Demon sitting on the jade seat looked at the Demon Sword Empress and smiled.
“It’s been a while. Demon Sword Empress.”
“…”
Shling.
The Demon Sword Empress, as if responding to those words, abruptly drew her sword.
Then, looking at the Sword Demon, she quietly whispered.
“…Get down….”
“Hm? What?”
“Get down… from there. That’s… not a place for you to sit.”
At the Demon Sword Empress’s words, killing intent spread abundantly from her body.
The difference in level fleetingly made my dantian shrink.
Even feeling this Demon Sword Empress’s killing intent, the Sword Demon still just giggled.
“Well, the leader isn’t here anyway. You’re being too much for just sitting a bit.”
“…”
At the Sword Demon’s words, just as the Demon Sword Empress was gradually raising her lightning qi.
Creak.
The Sword Demon, who had shrugged his shoulders slightly, obediently got up from the seat and started coming down.
‘That lunatic bastard.’
The Sword Demon, seen after a long time, was still a crazy bastard fitting his rumors.
If Mukgwon was the least demon-like demon among the demons I knew.
The Sword Demon was conversely the most demon-like demon.
Step.
The Sword Demon came down the stairs and approached close to the Demon Sword Empress.
“I heard the leader went somewhere. Does the Demon Sword Empress know where he is?”
“…”
No answer came to the question. The Demon Sword Empress just quietly watched the Sword Demon.
Was that the problem? The Sword Demon clicked his tongue shortly and continued differently.
“Hm, that angry gaze still doesn’t sit well with me. If not for that, you would have been truly beautiful.”
At the Sword Demon’s words, energy rose from the Black Flame Squad behind.
Accordingly, the killing intent from the Ghost Surveillance Sword Squad side started to thicken a bit more.
In that gap, I alone had to wear an absurd expression.
‘These crazy bastards?’
They suddenly gather and try to fight among themselves.
Since I usually leave the headquarters and wander outside, I didn’t even know such a thing happened.
The relationship looked much worse than I thought, and while I was watching what to do.
“Hm?”
“…!”
Suddenly, my eyes met with the Sword Demon guy who was having a nerve war with the Demon Sword Empress.
Eyes filled with killing intent turned toward me.
What started mixing in the eyes soon was clearly interest.
“An unfamiliar face? Who is this guy?”
With a creepy smile, the Sword Demon took a step toward me.
What to do. In the sudden situation, the moment I unknowingly furrowed my brows slightly.
A change occurred in the Sword Demon’s expression too.
“Look at that expression? You seem like you don’t know who I am. That’s why you’re making such a face in front of me.”
I’m screwed.
I’ve caught the interest of this bastard with his fucking temper.
I should have just stared at the floor quietly; this is annoying.
Swish.
The Sword Demon soon reached out, grabbed my chin, and started examining this way and that.
“Anyway, if you don’t educate properly, there are guys like this, right? A new guy? Strange. Clearly looks different, but strangely resembles that human.”
Who that human is was obvious without looking.
The Sword Demon gradually furrowed his brows and continued.
“…That’s why, the eyes don’t sit well with me. If you plan to keep looking at me like that….”
That was then.
“I’ll personally gouge out your eyes for education…!”
Kwaaang-!
In an instant, an enormous killing intent exploded, and the Sword Demon’s body was slammed into the wall in a flash.
Thud-! Kwaduduk-!!
Dust burst out, and the debris from the shattered impact fell toward where the Sword Demon was embedded.
A situation that happened in a true instant.
With surprised eyes at the unexpected event, I looked at the one who did it.
Crackle. Crackle.
The Demon Sword Empress, who had outright smacked the Sword Demon, was expressing killing intent bursting out all over her body, with no intention of hiding it.
Lightning qi mixed in the killing intent, expressing a lofty presence.
The presence shown by the Demon Sword Empress was so strong that the surrounding space felt slightly distorted.
The demons of the Ghost Surveillance Sword Squad hadn’t even drawn their swords due to the too sudden situation.
In that gap, the Demon Sword Empress gradually increased her energy and opened her mouth.
“…With that… disgusting… hand…. Don’t touch carelessly….”
In the voice of the Demon Sword Empress spitting words toward the Sword Demon.
Unusually for her, clear anger was seeping in.