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My life was like a long cave.

Not a single ray of light penetrated, and I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

I had come too far to turn back, unable to even contemplate it.

Yet, my life had no hope of reaching an end as I trudged forward.

I walked endlessly, one step after another.

If I stumbled and fell, I’d get back up and keep walking.

If the darkness terrified me and made my body tremble, I endured it and walked again.

That’s how I lived.

Or rather, can I even say I lived?

I asked myself and answered.

When I posed a question, I answered myself.

It was something someone had to do, so I did it.

But then, I questioned my own answer again.

Could I truly defend it as something I had to do?

Did the act contain ideals and beliefs?

‘…’

I didn’t respond.

I couldn’t.

I knew.

I knew such things didn’t exist within me.

Since when did I dream of negotiation?

I never dreamed of it.

I never had it, nor did I hope for it in the first place.

So, what were my ideals?

For what purpose did I live that life?

I couldn’t withstand the overwhelming tide and got swept away.

That’s my defense, for now.

I had no choice.

It was the best I could do.

Otherwise, I would die.

That’s why I had to do it.

I lived thinking this way.

‘Really?’

When I asked that, the answer was predetermined.

‘No.’

It was all self-justification.

I shouldn’t have even entered the cave in the first place.

Yet, I walked into it knowingly.

Why? Because that was the only place to run away.

I entered and then endlessly searched.

For someone to push me.

Someone pushed me into the cave, and now I was living like this, so I needed someone to blame.

Even when I trembled in the darkness.

Even when I walked endlessly without finding hope.

When I got tired and sat down to cry out.

I searched for someone to blame.

I knew.

I already knew I couldn’t blame anyone.

I just needed someone to blame because I couldn’t acknowledge it.

That was my life.

A life that fled into the cave yet could never reach the end, extinguished in the darkness.

A life that ran away and died without seeing a speck of light, like a miserable bug.

I lived like that and died, only to return.

I never thought it was a miracle.

It terrified me to accept something I never wished for.

I simply obtained it, so I live. This time, let’s try living a slightly different life.

Let’s hide in a secluded valley, living unnoticed by anyone.

I thought like that and tried to live, but…

‘It didn’t go as intended.’

Truly, things rarely go as we wish.

The uncontrollable storm swept over me once again.

When I opened my eyes, I found I had become the eye of the typhoon.

‘Was it something I could avoid?’

Was destiny just something humans couldn’t block?

Am I destined to get swept away in the end?

If so, what should I do?

I.

What should I do?

‘What are you agonizing over?’

‘I’ said.

‘Just don’t let it happen.’

If I can’t help but get swept away.

Let’s make the raging wind shallower.

Or, let’s stop the wind from blowing.

That should do, right?

Chiieek-!

Heat surged.

The boiling emotions affected my eyes.

Energy seeped into my body.

There was a warning sign ahead.

If left alone, it would become a wind that would sweep me away.

It would shake the entire world, not just me.

Thus, I needed to bite and swallow it before it blew.

I must deal with it now before it becomes a greater calamity.

For what purpose?

To take the place of the Divine Sword.

‘Ultimately, to save the world…’

…

…

Save the world?

‘Me?’

Quadddeed-!!

Bang-!

The greedy Tam, who was flying toward the Heavenly Demon, altered its angle and crashed into the nearby trees.

Swoosh…

The trees struck by Tam couldn’t deliver any direct damage without power, and they dispersed like mist.

I had to stare at the Heavenly Demon while stiffening my body.

“Phew… Huh… Phew.”

Breath filled with heat flowed harshly.

My body grew hot with emotions overflowing my head.

“Ha… Phew…”

I took deep breaths while covering my forehead with my palm.

Something felt off.

To save the world.

My own thought made my body freeze.

“Pheeew… Huh…!”

I cooled down my stiffened head through my ragged breaths.

‘Am I really saving the world?’

The reason I recalled felt vastly narrow-minded.

‘Who would save whom.’

To kill the Heavenly Demon to save the world.

I was acting under the justification of saving the world.

But…

‘Do I even have the qualifications to do that?’

Sruuk.

Thoughts flooded in, making my hand loosen.

“…Ha…. Ha….”

I had already forgotten what my original purpose was after reincarnation.

‘To live moderately and escape.’

That was my goal.

To escape the things I had done and hide from what was to come; that was how I would survive.

It was definitely the goal at the start, but…

As things intertwined and problems multiplied, didn’t I change my thoughts?

Since I had something to protect, let’s try to stop the Blood Calamity.

Thus, I began this work.

To move for those things that must be protected, regardless of means or methods.

I accepted that.

I didn’t hesitate to kill someone.

I caught the bastard I had to kill in my previous life and turned him into a demon.

Most were those I’d kill later on.

Some I’d use and toss away, some would be used as shields.

Even though it was a business I chose because it was about killing, I already knew it wasn’t the right thing.

But I didn’t care.

I had no lingering feelings, and my guilt had long been thrown away.

Even as I prepared this way…

Is this truly something to save the world?

‘It might be.’

The intended purpose could be so.

One thing.

‘Do you really think this is for that?’

To do things to save the world.

Did I truly think that way?

Chills ran down my spine.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

I was almost suffocated by the thought I raised myself.

Didn’t I already know?

That I had no interest in saving the world at all.

That was just a bonus.

‘I don’t care if this world crumbles or not.’

Since when did I start to think I was a hero?

What a skewed sense of awareness.

My heated head gradually cooled.

My eyes began to revert to normal.

Only then did I see it.

Drip-.

The Heavenly Demon stained in blood, looking at me.

With a gaze almost sorrowful, blood trickled from her lips.

That gaze annoyed me.

Perhaps it was just because she resembled someone I knew? It irritated me even more.

While that was the case, a question arose inside me.

‘That bloodied woman…’

Was she truly the disaster you think she is?

‘If not a disaster, then what?’

I steeled my thoughts.

It was solely because she looked identical to Wi Seol-Ah that I hesitated.

It must surely be that.

I obtained a means to kill the Heavenly Demon.

No, I gained hope that I might be able to kill her.

My Tam could devour even the power of the Heavenly Demon. Such conviction emerged.

So, I should have just rushed in and devoured her right away.

“Why didn’t you evade?”

My mouth questioned the Heavenly Demon.

“…”

“You could have easily dodged. Why didn’t you?”

The barrier shattered.

Thus, the Heavenly Demon took damage from the Flame Jade, yet that level could have been avoided.

But the Heavenly Demon did not dodge.

Just like before, she was drawn in when she didn’t need to and took each of my attacks without countering.

“You were like that just now, too. This, too, was something you intended to take, right?”

Tam surged toward the Heavenly Demon’s barrier.

If she had eyes, she would know.

That Tam could devour the barrier.

Swoosh.

I saw the shattered barrier of the Heavenly Demon regenerating.

While it seemed I could break it, I couldn’t completely erase it.

Even so, having the opportunity was different.

Yet, besides failing to escape, she merely observed Tam charging in.

“Why didn’t you dodge? Did you think you’d win regardless?”

“…”

“Answer me. Just what were you thinking—”

“I felt like you wanted me to do that.”

“What?”

At my rough questioning, the Heavenly Demon responded calmly.

“It seemed uncomfortable for you. I wanted to do that, so I did.”

“What do you mean? Answer me clearly…”

“No?”

I was momentarily silenced by the words she tilted her head to say.

But it was only for a moment.

“So, you think of dying for me now?”

If I wanted to fight, then she would receive the blows.

If I wanted to drag her in, she claimed she would be dragged.

Now that I was trying to kill her, did she mean she’d finally think of dying for me?

To that question, the Heavenly Demon quickly replied.

“I wouldn’t kill you.”

I gritted my teeth in peculiar certainty.

“Are you crazy? Up until now, what I’ve been doing was a mere child’s play?”

Was the sight of me struggling to kill her just absurd?

“How can you be certain of such a damn thing?”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I’m asking how you’re so sure of that.”

“I don’t know. But it feels like that. Moreover…”

The Heavenly Demon wiped away the remaining bloodstains with her sleeve.

“My sister told me not to fight recklessly.”

“…Ha.”

Flame Burst-!

I ignited the flames at my fingertips.

Repeating compression and rotation, I summoned the Sacred Spear.

Much more energy flowed in than the first time I used it.

It was the limit I could contain and control.

Three-tenths of my inner strength.

If the Sacred Spear I used earlier was one-tenth, this was three times that amount.

“You think I can’t kill you?”

What a ridiculous statement. It’s not just anyone; it’s the Heavenly Demon right in front of me.

No matter how different her appearance and feelings were from my memories, she was still the one who caused the Blood Calamity in my previous life.

Yet, facing someone like that, you think I can’t kill you?

“Enough nonsense.”

I aimed the completed Sacred Spear at the Heavenly Demon.

“If you’re not going to resist, just stay still. It’ll be easier that way.”

Don’t be fooled by her appearance.

“I’m going to kill you here.”

“…”

Even with the warning, the Heavenly Demon showed no reaction.

She merely looked at me with her purple eyes.

Still, that was her response.

“Okay, then, let’s see if you’ll actually not dodge….”

“No.”

I froze for a moment when the Heavenly Demon suddenly said that.

No?

“What do you mean by suddenly not?”

“I am not ‘you’.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

I frowned, scrunching my brows.

“My name is… something that isn’t ‘you’…”

As she tried to say, the Heavenly Demon suddenly tightened her lips.

A look of frustration appeared on her impassive face.

‘Name?’

Her name.

It was the name Gu Huibi mentioned earlier, wasn’t it? Is she talking about that?

No, did she even have a name in the first place?

She referred to herself as the Heavenly Demon. She never mentioned anything else.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

I asked, but the Heavenly Demon remained silent.

If she claimed she’s not, she should be able to spit out a name.

At that moment.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

The Heavenly Demon bit her lips as if frustrated and said that.

“…What was my name?”

She instead asked me.​

 

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