In the End, Human (3)
The Abyssal Cliff.
Where a magnitude-12.4 quake had swept through, there was no longer a valley.
The earth had torn under the shockwaves, forming cliffs that fell away into unknowable depths.
"Graaah!"
From the bottom of one of those deep chasms, Son Yujeong shoved off the air and sprang up.
Black dust coated her, and golden eyes flashed fiercely through the grime.
"Damn it… ugh! ugh!"
Air hissed from the wound in her throat.
Where is he?
Demon corpses filled half the landscape, but Satan's form was nowhere to be seen.
Yujeong brushed the dust from her hair and plucked a single glossy strand, like a bit of mane from a wild horse.
"Line of Healing."
The hair she threw into the air radiated a golden light and began to vibrate rapidly.
The string of light created a new phenomenon, and Yujeong's throat slowly knitted itself back together.
"Haaah!"
The first thing she did after the hole in her neck closed was take a deep, shuddering breath.
"You bastard!"
She glared and barked.
"Don't hide — come out!"
Her curse rang out in all directions, but the demon corpses lay silent.
"Tch. Did he run off?"
Yujeong swung the Yeouibong as if to chase after Satan, when footsteps sounded.
"Huh?"
She turned without thinking, and a tension she hadn't noticed spread across her face.
Beyond a twenty-meter-wide fissure in the earth, Tess watched Yujeong from the far side.
"A survivor, huh?"
As a daughter of the spy house Elajin, she was the right person to verify the quake's magnitude and demon movements, but…
"She's not the one."
The figure who sent a chill down Yujeong's spine had just landed beside Tess: Rian.
"Huh? A human?"
Yujeong blinked and stared at Rian, who was studying them.
"The Golden Eye of Truth."
Seen through eyes that pierced the world's verities, the source of the chill became clear.
"He's the same as me."
He was someone who had realized the Ideals.
"I'm not human."
Rian tilted his head at Yujeong's words.
"Then a demon?"
"A stone monkey."
Tess turned in bafflement.
"What do we do? She looks like she's in shock."
"No — it's real."
The woman gave off such an overwhelming presence that anything she said could only be believed.
"Did you cause the quake?"
At Rian's question Tess frowned.
"What nonsense… a magnitude-12.4 quake. The whole Abyssal Cliff collapsed; we can't even check the demons' movements."
"That's not something a human can do," Yujeong said.
"Yeah. I did it," Tess answered blankly, and both Rian and Yujeong, who had been sizing each other up, asked at once.
"Who are you?"
Silence fell.
This time Rian spoke first.
"We have to investigate what happened here. Will you cooperate?"
"Cooperate, huh."
Yujeong shoved her hand into her waistband and scratched herself, making Tess flush.
'Is she really a monkey or what?'
Yujeong smiled.
"Nope. I don't want to."
"Then we'll have to force you."
The moment Rian reached for the Daejikdo, an afterimage of Yujeong flickered before him.
'Fast...'
Before thought could form, the Yeouibong shot toward the space between Rian's brows.
Rian dodged by turning his head and countered with a swing of the Daejikdo aimed at Yujeong's waist.
Krrrrrrrung!
A sword at Mach speed split the world horizontally.
'She evaded it.'
Rian's gaze lifted to the sky.
He wasn't faster than Natasha, but his reflexes seemed to surpass her.
Yujeong's eyes glittered.
'He attacks information.'
She understood why Havitz's blade had managed to cut her throat despite her immunity to physical force.
"Then—"
Yujeong, having plucked a hair, blew on it. String phenomena burst forth, multiplying into countless clones.
"What the hell is that?"
Rian ground his teeth as he slashed after a form falling through the sky.
A massive flash opened the view, and through it Yujeong's real body plummeted.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
When Yujeong swung the Yeouibong vertically, it lengthened and crashed into Rian's Daejikdo.
"Graaah!"
At the impact it was obvious the force equaled dozens of tons, and it kept stretching.
"Is that all you've got?"
Rian's legs were buried to his knees in the earth as he braced the Daejikdo.
'There's no weight.'
Yujeong shrank the staff at light-speed, landed, and spun once.
"Mystic Lotus Technique."
She planted her feet wide, thrust the Yeouibong out, and afterimages fanned out like a shotgun blast.
Parparparparparpang!
Dozens of holes opened across Rian's body.
When Yujeong turned to look at Tess with a knowing smile, her expression froze.
For a moment she felt nothing at the sight of a comrade's death; that calm itself felt strange.
"Huuuh!"
Where she looked, Rian was already regenerating.
Creak! Creak!
Muscle fibers twisted and his body shifted into the bulk of a yaksha as he brought the Daejikdo down vertically.
'I have to block it—'
Yujeong pulled the staff up to defend her head.
'Huh?'
As if in a dream, time slowed and her arm would not lift.
'Huh? Huh? Huh?'
The world opened behind Rian and a cutting intent surged forward.
Yujeong screamed.
"Kyaaaaa!"
Just in time, the core of the Yeouibong met the Daejikdo like a lightning strike.
Yujeong's pupils trembled as an indescribable force flooded her arms.
Crack.
In a thousandth of a second split into a thousand more instants, she saw the Yeouibong shatter.
'Ahhh.'
A blow of exquisite beauty.
'If you're hit there—'
A chill ran down her spine, and the Daejikdo halted dead before Rian's brow.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
"Huh?"
The woman who had been gaping like a monkey snapped out of it and took a step back.
"Oh right."
She'd been so absorbed she'd forgotten Rian's sword could destroy her.
"This is... itchy."
Yujeong awkwardly bent at the waist and rubbed her thighs back and forth.
Having tidied herself, she discarded one half of the split Yeouibong and pointed the other at Rian.
"What's your name?"
"Ozent Rian. And you?"
"I'm Son Yujeong."
It sounded like a name from the Jincheon Empire, but a warrior of that strength couldn't remain unknown for long.
"Where are you from?"
Yujeong pointed to the sky.
"Heaven. Since I like you, I'll tell you. The army of Heaven came down—"
A massive voice exploded from the sky.
"Son Yujeong!"
Yujeong lifted her head at the voice that pierced her chest and saw Archangel Ikael frowning.
Yujeong lifted her chin and bared her fangs.
"Tch, why's that old woman here? I was just getting to the fun part."
"Son Yujeong. I may understand indulgence, but I will not tolerate violations of the laws of the Path."
"What are you gonna do if you don't tolerate it?" Ikael's eyes narrowed and Yujeong's body began to stiffen like stone.
"Graaah!"
"Even if you are no Buddha, there are plenty of ways to bind your freedom. Defy me one more time and I will strip you of the right to live."
Yujeong's gaze shifted to Rian.
"How humiliating...!"
Fight here and now?
"So it has come to this."
Rian looked up at Ikael and asked,
"If the army of Heaven has penetrated here, does that mean Imir is here too?"
At that moment Yujeong's restraints snapped.
"Kyaa! Just—"
She heated her body and surged for the sky, but Ikael spoke.
"Are you Rian?"
"Huh?"
Yujeong relaxed her murderous intent and asked, "Do you know this one?"
Ikael recalled the blue-haired boy who had physically blocked Imir's avatar.
'He's been noticed.'
Back then he had been little more than a human, but now he'd become a top-priority target for the army of Heaven.
'I'd like to deal with him now if possible, but—'
Rushing to judgment before finding the Buddha could harm the future.
"Wait for the right time, Rian. Imir will seek you out without haste."
Yujeong whipped her head around.
"Imir? You're going to fight that one?" No answer came, but Rian's eyes burning with fighting spirit made his intention clear.
"Oh ho."
Yujeong smiled meaningfully, flew up, and stood beside Ikael.
"Let's fight again sometime, interesting human."
"Those bastards...!"
Tess stepped forward to shout, but Rian raised a hand to stop her.
"For now, let them go."
Ikael's wings flashed; a blinding light flared as bodies shot outward at terrifying speed.
Rian glanced at the long cloud Yujeong had made and looked to Tess.
"You okay? Any injuries?"
"At least no shrimp's back got broken in a whale fight. Anyway, let's go back and report first."
"Right. By now the Cathedral will have already grasped things. What's left is an all-out war."
Imir was coming.
"Will it be all right? Hell's army is—"
Tess trailed off as she watched Rian trembling, face flushed.
'She's been chasing after his afterimages all this time.'
As a swordswoman herself, Tess understood Rian's conflicted feelings.
"You don't need to worry. You're the world's strongest swordsman. Even a king of giants wouldn't stand a chance."
Rian smiled, a chill in it.
"Come."
For the first time, time itself seemed to slow.
"How was it?"
Since leaving the Abyssal Cliff, Ikael had said nothing until now.
"Huh? About what?"
"About Rian. You—mad in battle—surely had thoughts on it."
Yujeong's face lit up.
"Of course I loved it! It tingled after a long time. Ah, I want to fight again. I could fight that person a hundred days straight and still not get bored."
That wasn't what Ikael wanted to hear.
"Of course. She's a descendant of Ozent."
"Huh? Ozent?"
Yujeong fumbled through her memory and suddenly widened her eyes.
"What! Ozent!"
One who had faced Imir on equal terms in a human body.
"Right! Now that you say it, he did say Ozent Rian! Ohhh, that's it. Wow, a descendant of Ozent?"
Yujeong took pride in her own bloodline, but Ozent made her feel slightly overshadowed.
"That's what I'm asking. You've faced Imir before. If the two of them clash now, how would it play out?"
If Rian had surpassed his predecessors, Imir could be in danger.
"Was he really Ozent? Wow, that legendary swordsman. What a shame! If I'd known earlier I'd have loved to hear tales of Ozent's feats—" Ikael frowned.
"Son Yujeong!"
"Hmm? Oh—what?"
"I asked you: if the current Rian and Imir collide, which side has the advantage?"
Yujeong blinked.
"What are you talking about? Of course I've heard Ozent was the strongest in Heaven's history, but—"
She sized Rian up, let out a hollow laugh, and raised a finger.
"Of course he wouldn't stand a chance against Imir. He'd be dust in three seconds. Oh, that is, if it's the original."
"…Is that so."
Ikael was wary because of past humiliation at Ozent's hands, but it seemed there was little cause for alarm.
"And as for who could beat Imir—only I in the universe could. I'm just not in the mood right now, so I'm holding back. But if I chose to—"
Yujeong's endless chatter continued, but Ikael only quickened her pace.