“The Heavenly Demon.”
The words came from the masked figure, and the veins at the Young Cult Leader’s temples stood out.
“...You insane bastard.”
Who did he think he was, throwing that name around in front of?
The corners of the Young Cult Leader’s mouth curled upward, and the bloody reek began to seep from his eyes.
“You know who I am, standing right in front of you, and you still dare say that?”
[Who, you ask?]
The self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon let out a laugh, as if the question itself were ridiculous.
A low chuckle slipped from him, soaked in demonic qi.
[I already told you.]
Tap. Tap.
The figure lightly tapped his own mask.
[A half-wit with no qualification. Wasn’t that idiot you?]
Power burst from the Young Cult Leader’s body with a violent scrape. The backlash was so fierce that the Demonic Cultists flinched.
“Little Sky...!”
One of the Eight Demons spoke to him urgently.
“If you release your energy, the Alliance will notice...! Please...!”
The Young Cult Leader frowned.
They were right. There was no point in letting his power explode here if all it did was draw eyes. If that happened, he might lose what he had come to gain.
“Hoo.”
He suppressed it. The killing intent gradually sank back into his body and stilled.
Watching that, the masked figure laughed.
[Since it isn’t yours, you can’t even control it properly.]
“...What?”
[It is a vessel unfit for its station. Which is why...]
Fwoooooosh—!!!
“...!!”
Energy flowed from the tips of the figure’s feet and wrapped around the surrounding area.
It was a pressure utterly different from what the Young Cult Leader had released—heavy, dense, and deep.
What shocked him most was that it did not spill past a fixed radius.
...It doesn’t flow beyond a certain distance?
The demonic qi and the killing intent swirled only inside that space and went no farther. The control behind it was monstrous.
[You cannot even wield it properly. Isn’t that so?]
“...You bastard...”
The Young Cult Leader ground his teeth and was just about to release his energy again—
Step.
The figure took a single step forward.
KUUUURRRRUMBLE—!!!
The ground shook.
“Ghk!”
“Ugh!?”
The Demonic Cultists staggered with groans.
“This is...!”
One of the masked Eight Demons widened his eyes.
The demonic qi was pressing down on his body.
This was—
“The former Sky’s...”
The former Sky.
The entirety of the Demonic Cult. The being they had called a god.
It was the same power the Heavenly Demon had possessed.
“You filthy thing.”
Even amid all that, the Young Cult Leader hardened his gaze.
He was the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult. He who had gained the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts and would eventually become the true sky.
And this thing dared speak of the Heavenly Demon in front of him?
“I’ll tear that tongue of yours to pieces right now.”
[My tongue?]
The voice dripped with contempt.
[You think a creature like you can do what no one else ever could?]
Screeeech—!!!
Instead of answering, the Young Cult Leader drew his sword.
“I’ll find out what you are from this moment on. You dared speak of the Heavenly Demon in front of me and insult the former Sky. For that sin, I’ll punish you here.”
Hum.
The sword cried.
At the sight, the masked figure let out a stifled cackle.
[Punish me?]
He seemed absurdly amused by the word.
[Good. Punishment. A fine word.]
“...I’ll kill you right—”
[Then I shall give you a chance.]
Thud.
The masked man tossed the sword he was holding at the Young Cult Leader’s feet. The blade drove into the ground.
“...What...?”
The Divine Sword had appeared right in front of him.
The divine artifact said to have been wielded by the Heavenly Demon. The sublime object called the key to the Cult.
The very thing he had searched for so desperately.
This is really...
Was it genuine?
Was that sword truly here, right in front of him?
But then why—
Why throw it to me?
As the Young Cult Leader stared in confusion, the masked figure tilted his head.
[Take hold of it.]
“...What?”
[Take that sword. Prove that you have the qualification.]
“...”
The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.
Proof of qualification.
The Young Cult Leader’s face twisted.
The problem was the condition bound to the Divine Sword.
The only ones who can hold the Divine Sword...
The bloodline of the past Heavenly Demons.
And among them, only those who possessed the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Remembering that, the Young Cult Leader reached out.
Is that really true?
And if it wasn’t—
What would happen then?
His fingertips trembled faintly.
The moment his middle finger touched the hilt—
Crackle—!!!
“...!”
Energy burst out, and the Young Cult Leader reflexively stepped back.
“...What...!”
“The Divine Sword...!”
Three of the Eight Demons reacted sharply.
They had just watched the Divine Sword reject the Young Cult Leader with their own eyes.
[Khk-khk-khk...]
The mask laughed.
[The divine artifact rejects you.]
“...”
[Since you possess no qualification, that is only natural.]
“What would you know...?”
[Must I know? I have no interest in something so trivial. What matters is this.]
Swoosh.
The masked figure ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ stretched out a hand.
At once, the Divine Sword embedded in the ground moved and flew into his grasp.
Smack.
He caught it as casually as if nothing were amiss.
The Young Cult Leader clenched his teeth.
[You have no qualification. That is all.]
“You played a trick.”
[Not a bad excuse. If you wish to see it that way, then do so.]
The masked man kept laughing as though it meant nothing to him.
At the same time—
KRAAAACK.
The energy pouring from him swelled even harder.
The shadow behind him deepened.
A small shape wrapped itself around his body, coiling over him as if embracing him.
Ssssss.
It writhed like something flickering in a dream.
The shape was nauseating. Grotesque.
[The essence does not change.]
“...”
At that alien sight, the Young Cult Leader’s eyes trembled.
He had seen something like that before.
No—rather than seen it, he had heard of it.
That was—
No way.
The form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts?
A distant shadow overlaying the flesh.
It was identical to the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts the Young Cult Leader knew.
The divine arts...
Not just the Divine Sword, but even the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts?
What in the world—
What is he?
Was he truly claiming to be the Heavenly Demon’s real bloodline?
Impossible.
The Heavenly Demon’s bloodline...
He had already found them and killed them.
There should have been no descendants of the Heavenly Demon left in this world.
And now one had suddenly appeared?
Carrying the Divine Sword and the divine arts?
The Young Cult Leader ground his teeth.
This was something that should not exist.
For the sake of his plans, all the more so.
“You’re using sorcery. Pathetic tricks...!”
He drew his sword with explosive force.
Black hard aura coated the blade.
He was just about to lunge at the masked figure—
[That would be troublesome.]
KRAAASH—!!
A shadow rose and formed a wall in front of the Young Cult Leader.
It was black flame.
A wall of fire, far from small, split them apart.
[Today, this exalted one came only to offer a greeting. I have no wish to waste myself on something pointless.]
“What...?”
[You who are too foolish and blind to covet what you cannot obtain.]
Click.
The masked figure slid the sword back to his waist.
Then he took one step backward.
“...Where do you think you’re going...!”
At the sight, the Young Cult Leader rushed after him—
Whoooosh—!!!
—but the flames blocked him.
He wanted to force his way through.
He could not.
What was this?
What kind of flame was this...!
[A thing that cannot even break through this dares point a sword at me? If we meet again, pray you do not show me something this pitiful.]
“Wait...!”
It did not matter if his clothes burned.
It did not matter if his body burned.
He was going to charge anyway, but by then the Heavenly Demon’s body was already disappearing.
Like mist, it slowly unraveled—
and vanished in an instant.
Fwoosh.
Even the flames that had been billowing up died out just as quickly.
“...You...!”
Gone.
He had mocked him to his face and vanished.
“You son of a bitch...!!!”
Boom—!!
The Young Cult Leader roared and stamped the ground.
With a violent crash, the dirt floor caved in under his foot.
His eyes blazed.
Past the murderous light burning in them, the Young Cult Leader spoke.
“Find him.”
He gave the order to the Eight Demons.
“Find him somehow...”
That bastard who had just vanished.
“Bring him before me.”
He had to find him.
No matter what.
“...Yes...!”
The Demonic Cultists answered at his command, but for some reason there was a faint doubt in their eyes.
The Young Cult Leader did not notice.
*****
The clouds were so thick that the moon barely showed.
“...”
After returning to my quarters, I took off the mask in the cold night air.
“...Ugh... ah...”
A ragged breath barely slipped out of me, and my body dropped on its own.
My legs were shaking all over.
The tension had broken, sure, but—
“Ghhhhh...”
Maybe it was backlash. Maybe not.
Either way, my whole body had started aching like I’d been beaten with clubs.
“Ah, damn it... ah... I’m dying here. Seriously.”
My arms were trembling too.
I stripped off my clothes and tossed the mask aside.
“Are you actually insane...?”
I said it in horror.
At that, someone answered.
[Well? Wasn’t it fun?]
It was the Heavenly Demon.
“Fun my ass. What part of that was supposed to be fun...?”
I was appalled.
I’d heard the plan, sure, but I hadn’t expected him to bulldoze through it like that.
At first, he’d said he would borrow my body, drive a wedge between the Young Cult Leader and the Demonic Cultists, and make sure I didn’t suffer any harm in the process.
Looks like the part about screwing over the Young Cult Leader worked.
There were other problems, though.
“...Can we really get away with just running off like that?”
That didn’t feel like something I could just ignore.
“He’s definitely going to try to find me.”
From his perspective, of course he would.
We’d shown him the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword and even the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts.
“...What am I supposed to do if he figures it out?”
This was bad.
Maybe because of the possession, maybe because of something else, but my physical condition wasn’t great either.
[Do not worry. They will never find you.]
“...Why?”
[As long as they carry demonic qi, they cannot. I have made my move, so pay it no mind.]
“...”
As long as they possessed demonic qi, they would never be able to find me?
The certainty in his voice was hard to understand.
That power...
Was that what he called the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts?
That thought brought back the source of the backlash tearing through my body.
The Young Cult Leader couldn’t hold the Divine Sword.
As if what the Heavenly Demon had said about qualification was true, the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword had rejected the Young Cult Leader.
And at the same time, the Heavenly Demon unleashed the divine arts through my body.
Because I’d been possessed, I still remembered the feeling in my flesh.
It had been completely different from Yoo Cheongil’s martial arts.
Like worms crawling under my skin—disgusting, yet perversely refreshing at the same time.
“...Demonic qi.”
The energy the Heavenly Demon had used through my body.
More precisely, it felt like he had used the power of the Divine Sword to do it.
“Looking at it that way, couldn’t the Young Cult Leader actually hold the sword too?”
[Hm?]
A question occurred to me.
“If you acknowledge him, then can’t he use it whether he has the qualification or not? Same thing with the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts.”
The Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.
Even without that, maybe someone could still wield the Divine Sword.
And if that was true, then maybe the same applied to the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts.
As long as the Heavenly Demon gave permission.
That was what I had meant.
[You say strange things.]
“What do you mean?”
[The Divine Sword and the divine arts are not things one can wield without qualification.]
“...No, but I was able to use them because you allowed it. Other than having divine sight, my qualifications are thin.”
Whether it had been by my will or not, I had still used them.
Calling divine sight alone enough to qualify me felt thin.
I didn’t even have the Heaven-Slaying Star.
And then there was the most important condition of all.
“I’m not even of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline—”
[Why do you think that?]
“Huh?”
The Heavenly Demon said something strange.
[Why are you so certain that the Heavenly Demon’s blood does not run in you?]
“...What?”
That was far too much for me to make sense of.
