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Chapter 444: Twists (2)

The heat rising in the Great Hall made it hard to breathe.

No matter how much I camouflaged my presence, the heat was suffocating for someone trained in Fire Techniques.

I had to wear a ridiculous expression at the overwhelming blaze encroaching around me.

‘Wow, you really gobbled up a lot.’

The amount of Inner Strength contained in that heat was ridiculous.

Experiencing this firsthand, I was reminded of how insane I was back then.

What was supposed to be an unreachable Realm due to insufficient Enlightenment was forcibly broken through by my overwhelming Inner Strength.

People wouldn’t even comprehend how bizarre and nonsensical that was.

Originally, the right way to reach a Realm was to build a solid foundation from below and climb steadily.

Energy was like the wide river spreading around the tower.

But in my case, I—

‘Tulled up energy before building the tower.’

I pushed the river up high, forcing myself to ascend.

To go to a place only accessible by building the tower by simply raising the river level up high—that’s a desperate move.

How many bets would it take to pull that off?

It was an unimaginably ridiculous figure by now.

Even my current Inner Strength wasn’t low, yet compared to my previous life, it was like night and day.

‘No wonder it took a while for my body to adapt after reincarnation.’

To use the Martial Arts that I used to throw around with reckless abandon using my dwindled energy was such a hardship at the beginning.

Of course, thanks to that, I learned compression from Shin Noya, and now, through training and some Enlightenment, I am confident that I’m better at the Nothingness compared to my past self.

But past me had enough Inner Strength to obliterate everything.

No matter how Nothingness was, no matter what I realized about it.

I had overwhelming energy that could crush everything. The power was akin to devouring Inner Strength to the extreme using the Demonic Absorption Technique.

Energy that couldn’t be contained and spilled outside morphed into Presence.

Bolstered by my ruined psyche at that time, my Presence was draped in a manifested Killing Intent, akin to the return of a demon god.

Witnessing such a scene before my eyes made me want to curse.

‘Feeding on uncontrollable energy… and putting in no effort.’

Having that much energy and not even considering how to control it?

It meant they neither had the effort nor the thought to do so.

Thud thud thud.

As the Mage moved his hand, the Sword Demon soared out from where it had been slammed into the wall.

Bam-!

With a careless swing, the Mage tossed the Sword Demon onto the ground. The Sword Demon rolled a few times before finally coming to a halt, panting harshly.

Clearly, the Sword Demon wasn’t in a healthy state.

“Cough… hack….”

It was obvious that the energy was tangled up.

The territory the Sword Demon was displaying had already been ripped apart by the Mage’s hand.

Having attempted a strike but getting ambushed was probably why they were experiencing backlash from within.

‘What a truly ignorant method.’

Though it was natural not to see due to a difference in speed, I knew how he subdued the Sword Demon.

To others, it might have looked like he solved it with immense Nothingness.

But it wasn’t anything special.

It was simply a brute force tearing apart energy and suppressing it.

Pure strength.

That was my resolution method back then.

Crack.

The Mage approached the Sword Demon.

“Sword Demon.”

Startled.

Perhaps he had heard the voice, as the Sword Demon’s back flinched.

He hadn’t lost consciousness, it seemed.

“What are you doing right now?”

Grrr…

“Ugh…!”

The Mage stepped on the Sword Demon’s neck.

Applying a bit of pressure made the Sword Demon let out a muffled sound.

“Lord….”

“I’ve warned you countless times, haven’t I? To not act rashly in my presence.”

With his chilling words, the Black Flame burning around spread violently.

Flash-!

“Ahhhhh!?”

The swiftly flying Black Flame glued itself to the Demons of the Demon Sword Inspection Team watching nearby.

Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, the Demons started to burn to death.

Even in that chaos, the Mage’s gaze was solely fixed on the Sword Demon.

“Speak. In a way I can understand.”

“…I… was… wrong…”

“Is that all you have to explain?”

BAM-!

“Ugh…!”

With the Sword Demon’s words, the Mage’s Presence grew even stronger. It crushed the air heavily with the Inner Strength, causing blood to spurt from the Sword Demon’s mouth.

“That I haven’t ripped out your worthless tongue is solely out of my mercy. Not pulling your arm off is because your skill with the sword was somewhat acceptable. But…”

The Mage’s hand moved toward the Sword Demon’s left shoulder.

He grabbed it without hesitation.

Creeeak-!

“Ahhhhhh!”

He yanked the arm off completely.

“…!”

The other Demons watching held their breaths.

While the Sword Demon screamed in pain, the Mage ignited flames, burning the arm he had just pulled off.

So it wouldn’t be reattached.

“You’re using that sword to pull absurd stunts, and I don’t know how to interpret that. Don’t you think so, Sword Demon?”

The Mage looked down at the Sword Demon, who quivered, clutching the absence of their shoulder, with the same dull gaze as always.

While everyone around was overwhelmed by fear, swallowing dry saliva.

‘This is just ridiculous.’

Only I was on the verge of getting sick from this situation.

My gaze was directed not at the Mage but at the Sword Demon.

‘You lost an arm.’

The Sword Demon was right-handed, so losing the left arm was somewhat fortunate, but having one arm gone would pose significant issues for Nothingness.

If it came to that…

‘…There’ll be problems when facing Heavenly Lord.’

The Sword Demon was supposed to face the Heavenly Lord along with the Demon Sword Queen.

With this twist, an anomaly had occurred.

‘And it’s all because of me.’

My existence had disrupted the flow that was supposed to be there.

Such a situation shouldn’t have existed in the first place, obviously.

‘What to do?’

I had anticipated such an incident might occur, but the process was far more violent than I had expected.

That bastard actually ripped off an arm.

‘Is he out of his mind?’

He must know.

Besides reducing the Demonic Sect’s power, he must realize that the Sword Demon was currently necessary.

Knowing that, he had kept that bastard alive until now.

‘What’s the reason for this now?’

Even though I’m the country, I couldn’t fathom why he did that at this moment.

If it were me in this situation….

‘…Hmm.’

I slightly glanced at the Demon Sword Queen.

If the Sword Demon truly intended to kill the Demon Sword Queen and drew his sword, and if it happened to be the current country…

‘He would’ve killed her.’

No matter the circumstances or anything else, he would have killed her as long as he had the strength.

However, this was me now, so things were different; back then, I was….

‘…’

Faced with a strangely felt situation, I looked back at the Mage.

That guy held no different emotions regarding the Demon Sword Queen.

Just an annoying, crazy girl. A damn girl who couldn’t even understand what was said.

He must think so.

‘Is that really the case?’

I couldn’t be sure.

If that were true, memories of the Demon Sword Queen’s demise resurfaced.

Could it be she meant nothing to me?

Then why…

‘Was I so angry?’

It was a contradiction.

The inexplicable undercurrent stemming from that difference churned my insides.

The sight before me mirrored that feeling.

The Mage, having burned the severed arm, stood up and kicked the Sword Demon.

“Cough!”

Receiving the kick, the Sword Demon flew toward the surviving members of the Demonic Sword Inspection Team.

“Remove it.”

With that short command, the Demons hurriedly fetched the Sword Demon.

After confirming that, the Mage walked over to the ruined throne.

Whoosh-!

Creating pressure from his body, he swept away the debris around and sat on the throne.

‘Can’t you just not sit there?’

I couldn’t help but think that in my mind, but I decided not to care.

Well, even if I say I won’t care, it’s not so easy—not that it matters; I should at least try.

On the throne in the chaotic Great Hall, the Mage’s gaze landed on the Demon Sword Queen.

Her eyes appeared somewhat weary yet significantly deep.

“Deputy Lord….”

At the call, the Demon Sword Queen slightly nodded.

“You displayed behavior unworthy of yourself.”

“…”

“Have you truly lost your mind?”

“…I’m sorry….”

There was a subtle hint of anger in the Mage’s voice. He stared at the Demon Sword Queen with his annoyed purple eyes and continued.

“There will be no more turning a blind eye. If you create troublesome problems again, your arms will be ripped off like the Sword Demon’s.”

“…”

In response to the warning, the Demon Sword Queen nodded again.

I let out a hopeless sigh inside at the sight of the Mage.

‘He didn’t say he’d kill her.’

I wonder if it was a change of perspective.

Unlike before, gestures and words I hadn’t noticed before were now apparent to me.

Instead of just giving a warning, this guy would instantly kill anyone who got in his way or proved useless; he was giving a “courtesy” warning instead.

Moreover, implying he could rip off her arm this time and let her live next time was akin to saving her life altogether.

‘This…’

Sigh.

Forcing my expression to remain neutral, internally, I found it amusing.

Why did it take me so long to realize this?

‘Way too late to understand.’

It was a lament at my past self.

To that me back then, the presence of the Demon Sword Queen had never seemed small. Yet, I had been oblivious to that.

Even after my reincarnation, I only realized it now.

‘You fool.’

That guy right before me would probably never know this fact until he dies. Regretting his life while only gazing at a single woman’s life until the end.

I wouldn’t say that life was wrong.

My current life wasn’t much different.

One thing.

‘The manner won’t be the same.’

That’s how I had to live.

Thus, I needed to comprehend what this world expected of me. On top of that…

‘With the Sword Demon in such a state… what will happen going forward?’

Things were starting to deviate from what I had known about my past life.

Perhaps because of this event, the story had begun to twist significantly, and I needed to think more carefully.

With that mindset, I prepared to observe the situation a little longer.

“Reporting.”

I was unaware.

Unbelievably, something I couldn’t begin to imagine existed.

The twist had started not because of this event.

It had begun right after I fell into this world.

Immediately after the situation was not dealt with well.

The figure that appeared next was Muk-Gwon, who knelt before the Mage and said:

“There’s information that the forces of the Martial Alliance are gathering at the border leading to Sichuan.”

“Martial Alliance?”

“Yes. And… in that area….”

The tale of this world.

“The So Sword Sect has also been spotted there.”

It had already begun to twist.

 

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