Chapter 87

Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord

The night was not dark.

The moonlight, brilliant and clear, illuminated the world as though observing it from above.

Hwieeeeng!

But a wind blew from somewhere, and clouds swallowed the moon.

Darkness as deep as pitch descended.

As if stained by the killing intent of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord, even the clouds covering the moon appeared red.

Shwaaaaaa.

A bleak wind swept through.

"...!"

For an instant, Cheon Muyang saw a thin line slicing across the moon.

Paat!

It was as though the moon itself had been split in two.

Whoooong!

Cheongwang issued a warning.

Like a blade cutting the moon, the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord's killing intent–laden hidden saber flew in, aiming to cleave Cheon Muyang.

"Dodge!"

Standing beside him, the Wolf King saw the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord's movement.

But Cheon Muyang did not see.

He only felt.

"...!"

His eyes were already closed.

Even the Wolf King failed to notice when it happened.

'If he means to kill me anyway, it'll come for me, won't it?'

How could one execute death without cutting?

In the end, the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord's hidden saber had no choice but to fly toward Cheon Muyang.

'Namgung Seohee chose to block only a single sword path.'

She had made her choice.

Abandoning all other defenses, she protected only her heart.

'I'm different.'

Cheon Muyang was different.

He intended to block every single path.

He didn't think it was impossible.

Namgung Seohee had already proven it.

Whoooong!

Cheongwang cried out.

In that instant, every sword path aimed at Cheon Muyang was completely sealed.

"...."

There was no sound at all.

But one thing was certain—

Cheongwang had collided with something.

"You…."

A bleak voice.

It belonged to the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord.

"Who are you?"

For the first time, he revealed emotion.

Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord .

A being said to be capable of killing even the heavens.

"You're asking who I am? You already know."

"...."

"You know damn well. So what—want to keep going?"

Cheon Muyang was calm.

As though he wouldn't mind at all if it continued.

"You've already achieved your goal anyway."

"...."

Namgung Sang-hyeok's corpse.

He would have secured it already.

The reason the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord hadn't left was simple—

he wanted more.

'Namgung Seohee's life. And beyond that… mine.'

But he had failed to kill Seohee.

And failed to kill Cheon Muyang as well.

"You've already failed."

"...."

"Or do you want to try again?"

But the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord's time was over.

The blood-stained clouds dispersed, and moonlight once again observed the world.

"Where are you!"

Then came Namgung Gwan's rage-filled roar.

It meant the time allowed to the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord was rapidly running out.

With his signature butcher's grin, Cheon Muyang pressed him.

"Hm? What are you going to do now?"

"Bastard…."

A sinister voice.

But the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord, too, knew—

he had no time left.

Crunch.

He had tried to kill them.

And failed.

Two of them.

"Cheon Muyang."

"You even know my name."

"You will die."

"I doubt that'll be because of you."

"...."

The Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord melted into the darkness.

Though he was right before their eyes, one couldn't be certain he was truly there.

"Even your heavens will die."

A chilling warning.

But Cheon Muyang laughed it off.

"Hey, Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord."

You've got it all wrong.

"Killing the heavens?"

Heavenly Slaughter .

If that 'heaven' meant the emperor who ruled the world, Cheon Muyang might have nodded.

'But….'

That heaven was not the Cheon Clan.

The Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord could never—

"You can neither cut nor kill the heaven of the Cheon Clan."

Whoooong!

Cheongwang wailed.

As if it had overcome its fear of loss, it shone even more fiercely than before.

"I'll teach you that truth."

Cheon Muyang assumed the stance he had taken the very first time he ever held a sword.

Cheongwang rose toward the heavens.

"...."

At the place where the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord should have been, a fog-like black form writhed.

Though clearly before the eyes, its presence was indistinct.

At that moment—

"Stop!"

Namgung Gwan arrived.

Behind him stood the Namgung Clan's elite warriors in formation.

"How dare you! Do you know where you are?!"

All of them were furious.

They should have been within the Namgung estate—

but they had been busy suppressing the chaos outside and failed to grasp the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord's true objective.

"So now all the idiots show up at once."

The Wolf King sneered.

Whoooong!

"What did you just say?"

A sharp, piercing aura.

Even if the opponent was the Wolf King, he showed no intention of backing down.

But the Wolf King shook his head, speaking as though they were pitiful.

"If you're late, then—"

"...."

"Shut up and just watch."

"Watch? What do you—!"

That was when it happened.

Namgung Gwan suddenly realized—

he could no longer feel the moonlight.

Whip!

His head snapped upward.

"Ah…."

High above, he beheld Cheongwang's piercing cry and blinding radiance.

The moon hadn't vanished.

It had simply been reduced to something no brighter than a firefly.

"H-how…?"

The owner of that sword was Cheon Muyang.

Namgung Gwan and the Namgung warriors stared in shock.

"Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord."

"...."

"You can cut nothing."

"H-Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord?"

Namgung Gwan couldn't see him.

He could only vaguely sense something ominous, writhing faintly like mist.

"The audience has arrived too."

Leaving the stunned onlookers behind, Cheon Muyang swung Cheongwang straight down from above.

Before that world-observing light, even the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord had nowhere to hide.

"Oh. There you are."

Cheon Muyang's gaze pierced beyond the writhing darkness in front of him.

"...!"

That writhing darkness was not the Demon Lord's true body.

It had deceived everyone—

except Cheon Muyang.

Each movement of Cheongwang's tip split the heavens apart.

"Cutting the Heavens…."

Chamcheon .

The sword that cuts the heavens.

At last, the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord realized—

there was nowhere left to flee.

"Do you understand now?"

"...."

"The heaven you've been cutting was never the heaven of the Cheon Clan."

Cheon Muyang laughed.

Heavenly Slaughter .

To kill the heavens.

But the heavens the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord had slain all this time had never been the heaven of the Cheon Clan.

"So don't get cocky."

Kuuuuung!

Between the rending heavens, clouds surged upward toward the sky.

They spiraled and soared as if a dragon were ascending.

Slash.

Cheongwang cut something.

It seemed as though blood clung to the tip of the blade.

The split heavens slowly closed.

"...."

The true body of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord was revealed.

His chest was split open.

Drip!

Blood flowed from the wound.

The Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord wiped it away.

"Blood…."

How long had it been since he last saw his own blood?

Slick.

He licked it.

The metallic taste lingered on his tongue.

"You've shown me that my blood is still red."

Still red.

That was something even the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord hadn't expected.

Drip.

Drip, drip.

Yet the blood falling from him was not red at all.

It looked endlessly black.

"The Cheon Clan. Cheon Muyang."

The Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord smiled grotesquely.

The killing intent contained in that smile was of a different order entirely.

'So that's why the Lord of Yama withdrew….'

Now he felt he understood why that man had stepped back.

『Heavenly Slaughter, why don't you try it yourself? I wager today will be the first day your killings fail.』

He didn't want to admit it, but everything had gone exactly as the Lord of Yama predicted.

'If there was a variable… it must have been the Namgung Clan's daughter.'

Who could have imagined he would fail twice?

At the very least—

once he had stepped in personally,

Namgung Seohee should have died.

'Failure….'

It was unfamiliar.

Had he been able to turn back time, he wouldn't have prepared this way.

'What a shame.'

Thus, all the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord could do now was plan for the future.

"One day, I'll drive a sword into your heart."

"Then try it, if you can."

"...."

An unmistakable provocation.

But now was not the time.

Knowing when to retreat was the first rule of an assassin.

"We'll meet again."

"Where do you think you're going!"

As the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord showed signs of leaving, Namgung Gwan rushed in belatedly.

Sharp sword strikes lashed out violently, but the Demon Lord's form had already vanished.

"Why did you let him go!"

Namgung Gwan's misplaced fury turned toward Cheon Muyang instead.

"Hah."

Finding it absurd, Cheon Muyang stared straight at him.

Only then did he realize Namgung Gwan wasn't unscathed either.

Wounds covered him—he clearly hadn't been idling around.

"Where were you, showing up this late?"

"There were impure beings targeting Sang-hyeok's corpse."

"I see."

It seemed the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord had used a feint to draw them away.

Even so—

'That was far too sloppy.'

The Namgung Clan had been careless.

Almost as if they had intentionally left a path open.

Cheon Muyang let out a faint laugh.

There was unmistakable mockery in it.

"So you emptied the estate and rushed out in droves?"

"...."

Namgung Gwan said nothing.

He was a martial man.

He moved only as ordered.

'He reminds me of my uncle.'

Cheon Seon-hak had also been a warrior loyal to his clan—

someone who closed his eyes to politics and chose not to involve himself.

Namgung Gwan overlapped with that image.

'He didn't even think to doubt it.'

Namgung Gwan was that kind of man.

If someone told him to go, he would go.

'This might be easier than I thought. The ones who drove Namgung Gwan outside must be the very ones colluding with them.'

Everything had gone awry.

And the ones who orchestrated that misalignment—

were those who did not want Namgung Seohee to become clan head.

"Take care of Namgung Seohee."

She was already on her way to the medical hall.

Namgung Gwan could only watch her retreating figure with regret-filled eyes.

"How could that child…!"

"A child…."

That single word made Namgung Gwan's perspective painfully clear.

"You still see her as a child?"

"Silence."

"That 'child' blocked a strike from the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Lord."

"W-what?"

"They say it's darkest under the lamp."

How blind were his eyes?

"...."

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue, Cheon Muyang walked past Namgung Gwan.

He had no desire to meddle in another clan's affairs—

but since it involved Seohee, his gaze had grown deep and cold.

"I'll ask you one thing."

"...."

"Who currently oversees the Namgung Clan?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Who holds authority over your commands in the Namgung Clan right now?"

The position of clan head was vacant.

That was why the Sword King's presence had been necessary—

and why Namgung Sang-hyeok had clung so desperately to the position.

Normally, after the Yongbong Assembly, barring any upheaval,

Namgung Sang-hyeok would have ascended as clan head.

"Why do you ask?"

"Answer the question."

"...."

Namgung Gwan paused, thinking.

Then, as if realizing it wasn't his place to ponder further, he stopped.

"The Chief Steward."

"Hm."

"All authority rests with the Chief Steward."

Cheon Muyang nodded.

The Namgung Clan's Chief Steward—

temporarily, but the one holding full authority over the clan.

Much like the council of elders in the Cheon Clan.

That raised a question.

'The Sword King clearly said… there was no one colluding with the Demonic Cult within the clan. Then how?'

The Sword King had said exactly that.

Which meant—

meeting this so-called Chief Steward would make everything clear.

'First, I need to meet this Chief Steward.'

Naturally, he would learn the truth.

What ties—if any—he had to the Demonic Cult.

"So the Namgung Clan's a mess too."

The Wolf King looked around with disbelief.

As if nothing had happened, the Namgung Clan's defenses had already tightened once more.

"Ah. I see."

Even Cheon Muyang found the blatant shift amusing.

The Namgung Clan of the future would remain solid—

but only while the Sword King was alive.

'The Sword King died when the Cheon Clan was annihilated.'

After that, the fate of the Namgung Clan was obvious.

'Perhaps the Namgung Clan would have been next after the Cheon Clan.'

Of course—

he died before seeing it.

So there was no way to know.

"Probably."

The towering structures of the Namgung Clan.

Was it just his imagination—

or did he glimpse them burning, ever so faintly?