Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 435 (Part 2)



435 (Part 2)

It was a situation where I couldn’t even tell how much time had passed.

In a situation where I didn’t know the fate of the other kids there was no way I could calm down.

I was forcing myself to hold back the urge to destroy everything right away. The man seemed to realize that something was off with me and spoke up.

“P-please calm down…! If other demonic practitioners find out about this…”

“What?”

That statement was the real problem.

“You said demonic practitioner?”

“Y-yes… Do you know who is here right now…?”

Thud thud thud thud…!

As the man’s words reached me I felt a twisting sensation somewhere.

“…How do you know about demonic practitioners?”

“What on earth are you talking about…! This is not the time for that… Huh!?”

I pulled the demonic qi up to my heart.

The sinister energy engulfed my entire body and soon the demonic qi surged into my eyes.

Seeing my face the man began to tremble in fear as if crushed by it.

“Y-you’re a demonic practitioner…!?”

He definitely shouted that.

It was a word that people of this era surely wouldn’t know.

‘…What the hell…’

But what was that reaction?

How do they know about demonic practitioners?

As that thought crossed my mind chills ran down my spine.

I turned my head and scanned the surroundings again.

I combined the scenes I had seen so far.

A poison lake that had dried up leaving only a pit.

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A forest rotting away devoid of life.

The Tang Clan filled with blood.

Those who knew about demonic practitioners and the Murim Alliance.

Slowly piecing it together a clue began to emerge.

“Ugh…”

In the midst of my thoughts I couldn’t hold back and had to retch.

“Cough…”

It felt like everything inside me was coming out.

The more I thought the more the thing tightening around my throat was undoubtedly ‘fear.’

“…Stop it… just stop.”

I had to hope it wasn’t true.

The test that the document mentioned.

The regrets she spoke of so much shouldn’t be like this.

As I was vomiting out the overwhelming fear from my mouth.

A killing intent brushed past me from behind.

As soon as I felt it I swung my hand.

Flames erupted.

“Gaaah!”

The black flames mixed with demonic qi clung to the one who was about to attack me.

The spark quickly grew engulfing the human body.

It didn’t take long for the man’s breath to be cut off.

Another man seeing that covered his mouth with his hand.

“Cough… black flames… black flame demon…?”

Crack.

Before he could utter any more nonsense I snapped his neck.

Crackle crackle-.

The flames were burning using the human body as firewood.

Wiping the traces of vomit from my mouth with my hand I clenched my fist and swung it at the wall.

“…Damn it!”

Boom-! My fist sank into the wall.

Thud thud thud-! Cracks spread across the wall like spider webs.

Watching the falling dust and crumbling pieces I recalled.

Everything felt real.

The heaviness I had felt just moments ago.

The sensation of killing a person.

Even the tactile feeling from my arm that had sunk into the wall.

Everything felt just like reality.

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Is this truly an illusion?

If… it’s not an illusion? Then what does that mean?

“…This can’t be real. This is… too much.”

With trembling hands I kept wiping my face.

When the situation had come to this I couldn’t be unaware.

I had to recall the situation and place I was in.

Combining all the circumstances led to one conclusion.

It wasn’t that something had happened while I was in the Bigo.

It meant that time hadn’t passed normally or anything like that.

‘Not only has time passed…’

This was rather…

Creak-

“…!”

I turned my head at the energy that brushed past my body.

From beyond a presence felt from very far away.

I gazed into the distance.

I spread my senses toward the direction where the energy was felt.

Only then did I see it.

In the far distance the sky was stained red with black clouds looming above.

At the same time.

‘Could it be…’

The thunderous energy I was all too familiar with was felt from there.

I leaped toward that place.

My speed was faster than before.

Along with that a different emotion arose distinct from the urgency and anxiety I had felt earlier.

What could I dare to call this feeling?

I didn’t know.

For now I just had to run.

I ran past the collapsed buildings and decayed trees for quite a while.

My qi was depleted and it began to scream from the qi center but I didn’t care about that either.

I ran endlessly.

The distance closed in.

As I got closer an unknown stench of blood began to pierce my nose.

The smell of blood was so strong that I couldn’t help but grimace.

Ignoring it with effort I finally reached my destination.

I had to be astonished at the situation laid out before me.

How could I not be?

Boom… rumble!

In a sky devoid of clouds.

Incongruous with the situation dark clouds filled with thunderous energy.

And a ground filled with corpses creating a pool of blood that flowed from them.

All of them were martial artists of the Murim Alliance dressed in their uniforms.

Splash.

I took a step forward.

It was a brutal and terrifying sight but that didn’t register in my eyes.

From the beginning I was only looking at one person not the surrounding scenery.

The horrific smell of blood.

The corpses lying on the ground.

None of that mattered at all.

What was important to me was only one thing.

The pool of blood created by the corpses.

I saw a figure standing alone above it.

Splash.

She must have sensed my presence from the sound of my footsteps yet she still appeared indifferent.

I moved a little closer.

One step.

Another step.

Ignoring my trembling toes I approached slowly.

When I reached a certain point only then did her gaze turn toward me.

Her cold blue eyes met mine.

Her righteous appearance was just as I remembered.

With her faded white hair and pale skin she looked striking.

Though her body was covered in blood I knew that it wasn’t her own.

It was all the blood of those she had killed.

“Ah….”

Once I confirmed that a weary sigh escaped me.

She tilted her head at my reaction.

That reaction was exactly the same as I remembered.

‘…’

I recalled as I looked at her.

…In my past life which felt like hell.

There was a woman whose thoughts I could never understand throughout her life.

How she chased the moon.

Let alone why she wielded her sword day after day wanting to cut something.

I knew nothing about her.

Because life was so intense that I couldn’t pay attention to my surroundings.

That was the same even until the moment she reached death without hesitation for me.

With the same expressionless face as back then she pointed the tip of her sword at me and asked.

“Who… are you…?”

Her voice laced with a subtle killing intent was unmistakably that of the sword demoness I remembered.