Yuri flinched at those words and stepped back.
In Francaise, there was Laurent.
"Don't touch Laurent."
"That child will die soon. Do you want to save him?"
"Yes."
"Then drop the sword."
Without hesitation, Yuri let go of Guilty. Cedric smiled.
"Yes, you cherish people. That might be the biggest difference between you and me."
Cedric said with a smile.
"Yuri, humans are so incomplete. Aren't they?"
Yuri gritted his teeth.
He had never once shown negative emotions toward Cedric.
Perhaps because of that, even now, when it was revealed that Cedric was the enemy, he still couldn't bring himself to harbor hostility toward him.
Yuri forced a twist of his lips.
"Don't say something so obvious."
"Why is it obvious?"
Cedric spoke to Yuri with the same gentle expression as before.
"Yuri, did you know? The current human production capacity is enough to feed everyone and still have plenty left over. Yet somewhere, there are poor people starving to death, and children rummaging through garbage bins."
"So?"
"And what about war? Is there any decision more foolish and irrational than killing each other? And yet wars never disappear. You, Yuri, should know better than anyone what a battlefield is like."
"You're the one who started the war, aren't you?"
"No, no."
Cedric brushed Yuri's cheek.
Yuri realized.
It wasn't just that he couldn't move because he was hesitating.
There was an unidentified aura emanating from Cedric, wrapping around him.
"Humans were made wrong. They are overflowing with foolish instincts. Even though they were given the gift of reason, they obey sloth and greed. If left alone, they'll turn the world more and more into a living hell."
"And why are you saying this?"
"It means someone has to stop them."
"And that someone is you?"
Yuri glared at Cedric.
"What, you got this so-called black magic and now you think you're a god? So you feel like doing whatever you want?"
"No."
Cedric shook his head.
"Yuri, you, at least, I don't want you to misunderstand."
"What?"
"First of all, I'm not intoxicated by the power of black magic. If I hadn't obtained black magic, I would have found another method. It's just a difference in process. It just so happened that an efficient tool called black magic ended up in my hands, so I'm using it."
He leaned toward Yuri with a serious expression.
"From the very beginning, I've been sick of this world, and the species called humans. It needs correction."
"You're human too."
"That's right. But Yuri, one day, you'll feel it too."
Cedric shook his head slowly.
"This world is full not of humans, but of monkeys in the shape of humans."
Yuri could feel the deep-seated loathing in his eyes.
"Living among monkeys who think they're human, pretending to be one of them, is truly disgusting."
"Then I'm a monkey too?"
"Not all of them. Especially you, Yuri, you're different."
Cedric slowly took off his glasses. His bare face was revealed, and the face that had always carried a gentle impression now felt oddly cold.
"Of course, you're also different from me. Yuri, you're the only exception I've ever met."
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Of course, you'll try to stop me."
"Of course."
"I'll look forward to it."
Cedric cupped Yuri's cheeks with both hands.
Then, bringing his face close, he whispered,
"Please, this time too, break my prediction."
Their eyes met.
Cedric smiled faintly, then turned his body.
Yuri stood frozen in place and shouted.
"Stop! Where are you going!"
Yuri kept shouting.
But Cedric didn't stop, opened the office door, and stepped outside.
The door closed.
In that moment, the aura binding Yuri's body disappeared.
And the world changed.
"Huh?"
Yuri found himself standing alone in a black space. Ominous darkness surrounded him on all sides.
"Here."
A strange voice came from behind, and he turned.
A man appeared as if out of a hallucination.
He was dressed in black, wearing a mask that covered his face, revealing only his eyes.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
Yuri asked irritably.
"I said, who are you?"
No answer came back.
Yuri swept his hair back and sighed.
"Seriously…"
Then, in an instant, he swung Guilty at the man.
It was a strike imbued with a great surge of mana, layered with chaotic sword aura, and he thought he could cut him down immediately.
But it was blocked.
Yuri's eyes widened in surprise at the opponent's level.
Strong.
The man in black suddenly seemed to grow larger.
It felt as if his body filled the entire space.
"Who are you?"
Yuri gripped Guilty and asked.
Someone with such an overwhelming presence was rare, even among the Ten Strongest.
Yes, like Fiore.
That level of oppressive pressure.
Several names flickered through Yuri's mind and then vanished. And then he realized who the man before him was.
"The Shadowless Sword."
The yet-unrevealed member of the Ten Strongest.
The sharpest blade moving under the emperor's command.
Now that Cedric had been revealed as the monstrous wielder of black magic who had seized control of the imperial palace, it wasn't surprising that he would employ the Shadowless Sword.
"Am I right?"
The Shadowless Sword answered briefly.
"Yes."
"Are you going to stop me?"
"As he wishes, I won't kill you."
It was an insulting remark.
Yuri gripped Guilty tighter and drew up the energy of the Heart-Soul Slash.
The sword blade began to vibrate.
Around him, the energy of the Heart-Soul Slash swirled like a storm.
Though it wasn't yet known to others, he had already reached the level of the Ten Strongest.
"You can't stop me without killing me!"
Yuri charged forward and swung his sword. But he was pushed back by the Shadowless Sword's counterattack.
Without stopping, Yuri stabbed again.
In the dark space, the sound of steel clashing rang out.
"Damn it!"
No matter how hard he attacked, nothing went as he wanted.
Yuri clenched his teeth. He couldn't stop here in helplessness.
He thought of Cedric.
From the moment he had faced him, the suppressed anger deep inside had begun to boil up.
He had been deceived.
He had trusted him that much, relied on him his whole life across his past and present lives, and yet he was betrayed.
The path of his life had been completely denied.
Blood vessels stood out in Yuri's eyes.
As his core overheated, the mana of the Heart-Soul Slash surged in violent waves, and within it, chaotic energy spread like spilled ink.
The potential to become anything, a near-infinite possibility.
That was realized atop Guilty.
Yuri swung his sword.
Like the air being caught in a vortex, the darkness surrounding him was sucked toward Guilty. Through the spiral-shaped rift, the boundary between inside and outside faintly appeared.
Yuri's attack tore through the Shadowless Sword's domain and cut his body.
In an instant, the fabric of his clothes at his chest split, and blood spattered.
But it wasn't a fatal wound.
The Shadowless Sword stepped back, and then the pitch-black space that Guilty had gripped was restored to its original form.
Yuri panted for breath.
Then, returning the man's earlier words to him, he forced a smile.
"Hey, I won't kill you either."
He wasn't in good enough condition to act nonchalant, but he tried to bluff as much as he could.
"That attack just now…"
But, the Shadowless Sword seemed shaken.
"How did you do it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"How are you wielding that power?"
"Speak so I can understand."
Suddenly, the Shadowless Sword attacked.
"Talking and attacking at the same time?"
The Shadowless Sword's momentum grew fierce. The intensity was different from before. Every time their swords clashed, Yuri felt pain like his bones were ringing, forcing him to stagger backward.
To survive, he increased the density of chaos.
His body and mind were distorting under the overload, but Yuri didn't care about his own safety.
Shaking off the heart demon that crept in from the edges of his vision, Yuri swung his sword toward the Shadowless Sword's neck.
Kaaang.
The two swords collided.
Yuri spat blood from his mouth.
The Shadowless Sword's mask split apart.
Biting his lip, Yuri raised his gaze. As the cloth fell away, the face of the Shadowless Sword, with a scratch on his cheek, was revealed.
"You're…"
Yuri said,
"An Easterner?"
Yes.
Just like Moyong Chan, the Shadowless Sword's appearance was subtly different from that of a Westerner.
Looking down at Yuri, the Shadowless Sword opened his mouth.
"My name is Dan Socheon."
"I didn't ask."
"And, I am the Heavenly Demon who leads the Demonic Cult."
It was a sudden statement. Yuri looked at him in bewilderment.
The Shadowless Sword—Dan Socheon—softened his aura and lowered his blade.
Yuri frowned.
"Your pronunciation's good. Did you go to a language school or something?"
"I am the Heavenly Demon. Such things are easy for me."
"And someone like that comes to the West to play the emperor's hunting dog?"
"Even I cannot escape the laws of the Demonic Cult."
"What laws?"
"A Demonic Cultist must obey the one who possesses a divine relic, even the Heavenly Demon."
"The emperor had the relic?"
"The emperor was merely an ally. He promised to find the relic in exchange for my assistance. But…"
Dan Socheon spoke with an expressionless face.
"Your brother possesses the Demonic Cult's relic."
"My brother—no, Cedric?"
"Yes."
"What relic?"
"The Demon's Grimoire (暗天邪靈秘書)."
"Uh…"
It was a difficult name to understand, but somehow Yuri felt he knew.
"Don't tell me, the Devil's Grimoire?"
"Some call it that."
Yuri opened his mouth, then shut it.
So that monstrosity had originally been in the East. The scattered pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
Gripping Guilty tightly, Yuri spoke.
"And the reason you're telling me this?"
"Because of the power you wield. That is the creation of Seon Woo-gyeong, the Heavenly Demon of the time who fought your ancestor, the Heaven-Conquering Sword Saint."
Yuri gathered the power of the Heart-Soul Slash, then overlaid it with the energy of chaos on Guilty.
Within the murky aura, infinite possibilities surged.
"This power, you mean this?"
"That's right," Dan Socheon said.
"Seon Woo-gyeong was the greatest Heavenly Demon."
"But he lost to my ancestor?"
"Greatness is not determined by strength."
Trying to provoke him had backfired, and Yuri felt a bit embarrassed at his honest answer.
"So?"
"He sought to overcome the Demon's Grimoire."
"You called it a relic?"
"It is also a demonic beast."
"So you do know."
"The Demonic Cult revered the relic and feared it at the same time."
According to Dan Socheon, the Demonic Cult knew the Demon's Grimoire was a demonic beast beyond human control.
Thus, for generations, Heavenly Demons would absorb the demonic energy leaking from the sealed cave where it was kept, using it to elevate their martial arts.
It was a way of using the scraps.
And Seon Woo-gyeong sought to surpass that limitation.
To cut down the immeasurable demonic energy within the Demon's Grimoire, and truly claim its essence, he developed a new martial art.
That was the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"But by delving too deeply into chaos, he fell into the heart demon and went mad. Because of that, the Martial Alliance was called together, and the Demonic Cult fell. At that time, your ancestor, the Heaven-Conquering Sword Saint, was there. He had a long conversation with the dying Seon Woo-gyeong, and took the Demon's Grimoire away. I came to the Western Continent to retrieve it."
It was a tangled fate.
Erich Briol hadn't merely killed the Heavenly Demon—he had also taken the principle of chaos within the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and the Devil's Grimoire itself.
"Perhaps, this too is Heaven's arrangement."
Dan Socheon closed his eyes.
"Now that a devil who has deciphered the Demon's Grimoire has been born, perhaps you, inheritor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, have appeared to oppose him."
"It's not the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it's the Heart-Soul Slash. It's improved."
Dan Socheon ignored Yuri's words.
"I don't know what will happen from here, but your brother seems to have a unique affection for you, so struggle as much as you can."
"You sound doubtful about all this, so why follow him?"
"Because that is the law."
Dan Socheon approached Yuri.
Yuri tried to draw up his energy again, but it wouldn't go as he wanted. The prolonged conversation had deepened his internal injuries.
"When you wake up, the real fight will begin. For now, just accept the difference in power."
"Wait."
Yuri held out his hand. Dan Socheon asked,
"Something to say?"
"Aren't you going to warn me about the heart demon? That Moyong Chan guy was really concerned about it. Don't you have some prevention method?"
Dan Socheon smirked.
"Did you think you could gain without losing anything?"
In that moment, Yuri could feel the difference between a martial artist like Moyong Chan and a Demonic Cultist like Dan Socheon.
The Demonic Cult did not fear ruin.
They were people willing to become stronger even at the cost of sacrifice.
Even if their future was shattered by demonic arts, they would not stop.
Yuri soon grinned.
"Of course not."
Dan Socheon reached out. Without resistance, Yuri's neck was seized.
His breath caught.
His consciousness gradually dimmed.
Just before Yuri lost consciousness, Dan Socheon asked,
"Your brother asks—do you truly want to save your friend?"
"Of course. What nonsense…"
"He seems to want to die instead."
"Shut up…"
"Sometimes, death can be sweeter than life."
"I don't care about that…"
Yuri forced a grin.
"Tell him to save him…"
And then he lost consciousness.
Looking at the limp Yuri, Dan Socheon murmured,
"A man fit for the Demonic Cult."
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