The Ruler of Darkness

Book 2: Chapter 8

Black Claw Mad Dog.

Adorned with black skull tattoos covering his entire upper body, he had a notorious reputation as a professional fixer for the Black Bone Faction.

Unlike the common riff-raff of the martial world who boasted about killing a few soldiers or petty thugs, he had specialized in hunting down martial artists who obstructed the Black Bone Faction’s path.

As a born thrill-seeker, he made life-and-death decisions his business (生死決).

His most prized possession was his Black Bird¹, which was made of an alloy mixed with black iron known for its unmatched toughness. He had broken countless enemy weapons with it and never doubted it would continue to do so.

However, he was currently witnessing that very black iron alloy weapon shatter into pieces after being hit in a single stroke.

“What…?”

All the life-and-death experiences he’d accumulated, all the keen senses he’d honed, were useless.

The hand that destroyed his prized possession shattered his breastbone, ripped his heart apart, broke his spine, and then emerged from his back.

It was all in a single stroke.

The one known as Praying Mantis Demon had been torn into three pieces in mid-air, without even having the chance to swing his chained scythe.

The one called Iron Pillar melted away after the first strike due to a horrific dark energy and stopped breathing.

Masters of Dark Cloud Skill, the Dual Serpent Hands that were said to control swords as if they were alive, ‘One Kill One Question’, all suffered the same fate.

They were torn apart in mid-air and became a mist of blood without even a chance to strike back.

Each of them had once been a name to reckon with in the dark martial arts world of Luoyang.

Yet, none could offer even the slightest resistance.

It was a one-sided massacre.

“Is this… madness?!”

Leopard Hunter quickly assessed the situation.

Seeing those who had been at the forefront sliced and diced, he turned around.

Unfurling his prized agility skill, he rushed down the tower’s exterior.

His excellent situational awareness and agility had always been his main assets for survival.

Of course, this time he had picked the wrong opponent.

Without even knowing what hit him, he disintegrated in mid-air.

His flesh and blood sprayed over those who were climbing up after him.

Those who got splattered by it soon met the same fate.

Those climbing the tower were dropping like flies.

Wherever the figure enveloped in dark energy passed, a foul-smelling flower of blood bloomed.

The scene was as if an ink-colored weapon was crawling down the tower.

“Don’t climb the tower, you idiots!”

Realizing the folly of ascending the difficult tower after seeing the easy deaths of those who led the charge, those following stopped.

“Spread out and surround him!”

In an instant, nearly a fifth of their number had been slaughtered, but they did not give up easily.

No matter how monstrous the opponent seemed, even top-level martial artists had limits to their internal energy.

“Buy time! Somehow, just buy time!”

“Don’t try to block him head-on! Use your techniques! Assist from the sides!”

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They believed that if the opponent continued to recklessly expend his internal energy like this, an opportunity would undoubtedly present itself.

So those who felt they were close to, or had already hit, their internal energy limits were waiting at the back, looking for their chance.

They all thought the same.

‘Once that bastard’s internal energy hits rock bottom…’

***

The young girl who had fought alongside Gyu against the Geumju soon received emergency treatment from Crescent Moon Pavilion’s agents and was on the rooftop.

She couldn’t miss witnessing the battle of the Sovereign of Dark Heavens.

“Wow, unbelievable. Really.”

Her small mouth gaped wide open.

At first, she too had given up on the tower and had the same judgment as those who widely surrounded the Sovereign of Dark Heavens on the ground.

When facing a master, it was important to draw out time in a wheel formation, depleting the opponent’s inner strength.

However, the Sovereign of Dark Heavens was cleaning up the battlefield with the same power and speed as before, as if scoffing at such common sense.

As if possessing an infinite reserve of inner strength.

“Incredible…”

She clasped her hands together, feeling a thrilling shiver.

It was a feeling of awe, one felt when encountering an absolute existence.

“You’re crazy…”

A large man wrapped almost entirely in bandages shook his head at her expression.

The young girl puffed up her cheeks in response.

“What’s so crazy?”

The man shivered as he answered, feeling an intimidating aura even from afar.

“…I knew your head was screwed up, but you find that cool? I can’t understand it at all.”

Just then, the Sovereign of Dark Heavens twisted the neck of a Black Path martial artist, killing him instantly.

The man didn’t even have a chance to resist, being held by the pale hands that emerged from the ground.

Two more Black Path martial artists took aim at the Sovereign of Dark Heavens’s back with their weapons.

However, the Sovereign of Dark Heavens vanished, leaving only the headless torso.

Confused for a moment, they found the Sovereign of Dark Heavens standing behind them.

His hands flashed.

Both of them died, spilling guts and blood, their bodies torn apart.

Beyond their torn bodies, the Sovereign of Dark Heavens was seen biting the head he had twisted off.

Its ‘mouth’, abnormally wide, crushed the head in a single bite.

Commotion soon ensued.

The Black Path martial artists staggered, stunned by the uproar.

Bits of the crushed head were scattered everywhere.

It was a grotesque scene.

The bandaged man felt both revulsion and fear.

“…That can’t be human.”

Sovereign of Dark Heavens.

When he first heard the rumors, he had actually laughed a bit.

A ruler who administers divine punishment on behalf of the heavens? How childish.

He thought another quirky vigilante had emerged somewhere.

And, on some level, he had admired the person.

Taking down the powerful Black Bone Faction in just two days was an achievement he could only dream of.

However, the actual Sovereign of Dark Heavens was nothing like his vague imaginations.

It only had a human-like appearance.

The unsettling aura enveloping it, the grotesque noises it used to drive people to death, the pale hands that devoured bodies from the ground,

And the mouth full of fang-like teeth that chewed people alive.

It was a scene that looked like it had just burst forth from the worst nightmare.

He knew.

The only reason he could maintain his sanity was due to the distance between that thing and himself.

And more importantly, because he was not the target of that thing.

“Demon…”

What else could he call that thing?

* * *

“Don’t come! I said don’t come!”

He waited until the last moment.

He prayed for the creature’s strength to wane.

But that was a miscalculation.

He found himself backed against a wall.

Having been specially summoned for a high price due to his skills, he immediately unleashed every technique he knew.

“Aaaahhhh!”

Neither the distribution of his internal energy nor the strategies for the battle ahead were considered.

He gave it everything, quite literally everything he had.

The techniques that had brought down countless martial artists incinerated everything in front of him.

Several buildings with unstable structures collapsed due to the force of his attack.

He had poured everything into these techniques to an extent he questioned if he had ever done so before.

For a moment, he felt as though he had glimpsed beyond his limits; the attacks were that perfectly executed.

“Heok, he-ok.”

He leaned on his jangdo (long sword), barely holding himself up.

[TL/N: Jangdo is a type of long sword. It’s blade is double-edged, and its length is longer than a normal sword]

His inner strength was rapidly depleting, his vision spinning, and it felt like all his blood vessels would burst.

“Ugh!”

It was absurd, a reckless maneuver he would never usually make.

He spat out a mouthful of dark red blood.

He had undoubtedly suffered irreparable damage.

Still, he felt it.

The creature’s gaze piercing through the thick, rising dust.

The chilling murderous intent was not weakened in the slightest.

“F*ck…”

In the final moment, what filled his vision were the widely opened jaws and densely packed teeth.

* * *

“This is impossible…”

Geumju couldn’t believe it.

Nothing made sense.

The horrifying aura from that person was growing stronger.

Her nose felt like it would rot off from the sulfuric stench coming off that person.

“This is just absurd…”

Those who had endured to the end gained nothing and had all died.

“How could this happen…?”

Even if that person was strong, she thought she could win since she had mastered the martial arts taught by her insane master.

So she hid and waited.

She kept waiting.

And now she was left alone, facing an opponent who was much stronger than before.

“No, no…”

She kept trying to shake off the thoughts that were flooding into her mind.

His apparent strength kept reminding her of the one she had feared the most.

The monster reminded her of her master.

Though his aura, momentum, and appearance were entirely different, there was one similarity.

The utter uselessness of common sense.

From start to finish, nothing made sense.

And that she, a mere mortal, could not comprehend its depth.

“No, no! No! I’ve surpassed my limits! I’ve become a master now!”

Although it was temporary, she had broken through her limits.

A state that everyone dreamed of from the moment they began learning inner energy.

A state allowed only to a very few; almost a privilege.

A state where humans transcend their limits and become superhumans.

“I am strong now, I am strong!”

For this martial art, she had even sacrificed decades off her lifespan.

And thus, she could never accept the fate that lay before her.

“I’ll kill him! I’ll tear him and all those women apart! I’ll kill every single one of those who mocked me!”

She was unaware of how she looked now.

“I will kill them all!”

Even though she had stepped onto the path of a true warrior, she couldn’t admit to herself that she was screaming in her heart, hidden like a worn-out gun in the water, incapable of mustering any aura or projecting any killing intent.

“……”

So, she didn’t admit that the whistling noise she had been hearing was getting closer.

She didn’t acknowledge the mournful melody that was now being heard from behind her.

She was oblivious to the dropping temperature around her, and the increasing sulfuric stench.

“……”

But when she finally felt its breath on the back of her neck, she could no longer deny it.

“You’re here, Geumju.”

He then corrected himself.

“No, should I call you Se Yuhwa?”

1. The name of the weapon[↩]