Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 533 (Part 2)



533 (Part 2)

“…!”

At the nonchalant words spat out by the Heavenly Demon I finally realized the black veil that had spread across the entire Shinryonggwan at that time.

“…Was that your doing Senior?”

Every time I recalled it I thought it felt familiar.

So that’s what it was.

‘It’s similar to the veil used to kill me hundreds of times.’

The curtain that had been spread all night claiming to help with my training.

Was this the reason it looked similar to the power I had seen back then?

The sudden appearance of the Heavenly Demon in Shinryonggwan.

I could belatedly understand this.

Was this the reason?

To gather information in search of a dragon.

That was why he had been fulfilling Taechun’s request.

“…So you met me because of that request?”

“Yes.”

He met me resonating with him in Shinryonggwan.

Finding it strange he had followed the request of the Master and in doing so he had shed his skin and become a dragon.

Is this what it means?

‘Is there such a ridiculous coincidence?’

I negated my own thoughts inwardly.

This was not a coincidence.

It could never be a coincidence.

No matter how much I wished it were.

‘Taechun…’

Perhaps that mysterious figure knew I would become a dragon.

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Thus I wondered if he had sent the Heavenly Demon to entangle me with him.

This was purely a delusion but somehow it felt like it might not be wrong.

‘Why did he get rid of the Black Dragon Sword?’

I had no idea what he was up to but if the Black Dragon Sword was his apostle why had he disposed of it now?

‘…Taechun was at the Black Dragon River.’

The only place I could enter.

Of course there were various martial artists including the Meng stationed around so I couldn’t enter.

But it was a relatively easy location to find.

The distance was a pain though.

‘I should go check it out.’

I decided to make a trip there.

Even if it was impossible in the near future I intended to add it to my list of things to do.

Moreover since the Heavenly Demon seemed to be continuously answering me it appeared that I could obtain information if I wanted to.

Before that however I had to finish the conversation we were having earlier.

“I don’t know how to lift your curse.”

I answered honestly.

I didn’t want to test the waters with something I didn’t know how to do.

“…”

With that sentiment in mind I answered but the Heavenly Demon’s expression remained unchanged.

What was this?

Was this not it? I looked at the Heavenly Demon with a strange gaze.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“…Excuse me?”

I had to pause for a moment at his response.

It doesn’t matter?

The one who had just been begging me to lift his curse? What kind of strange talk was this?

“If you cannot lift my curse I have another request.”

“Another one?”

Was there something else he wanted from me besides lifting the curse?

“What is it?”

I asked for now.

I needed to know what it was to either accept or refuse.

With a troubled expression I asked the Heavenly Demon and he immediately provided an answer.

And.

“Right here right now”

I had to hold my breath upon hearing the Heavenly Demon’s words.

“Please kill me.”

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“…!”

The terrifying words spat out in a dry parched voice.

‘This…’

Seeing those words and his gaze I realized that this was the request the Heavenly Demon had been hoping for from the beginning.

The plea to lift the curse.

And the current request were ultimately the same.

What the Heavenly Demon desired from me was that from the very start.

He said.

“And thus I earnestly implore you to save me.”

He had been wishing for his own death from the beginning.

The night passed and dawn arrived.

To be precise it was around the time the sun was rising.

“Ha…”

Immediately after finishing my morning training I washed my body in the wind.

I wanted to wash off the sweat but more than that I just wanted to wash away something.

It was a testament to how suffocating I felt.

“…What am I supposed to do?”

I was extremely troubled due to what had happened last night.

-Please kill me.

The suddenly appearing Heavenly Demon had explained his curse to me and asked me to kill him.

But in the end I did not kill the Heavenly Demon.

“Ugh…”

If you were to ask why I didn’t kill him the reason was simple.

‘How could I just kill someone because they asked me to?’

It wasn’t that I was afraid of killing someone.

How could I be afraid of that now?

Moreover it wasn’t that I had any particular affection for the Heavenly Demon that prevented me from killing him.

What affection could I possibly have for him?

If I were to find a reason it was simply that it felt uncomfortable.

I understood his wish and the issue of the curse but for some reason I felt uneasy about killing him.

I didn’t know if it was related to the curse binding him or the fact that I was a dragon.

But that was truly the reason.

Moreover.

‘There aren’t many situations where I can gather information like this.’

It was also because it felt regrettable to just let the Heavenly Demon go.

‘He has something he wants from me.’

What the Heavenly Demon wanted was clear.

He wished for the curse binding him to be lifted.

Whether he wanted it to be directly lifted or to be freed through death.

The first thought that came to my mind upon hearing this was.

‘Can I use that?’

Disgustingly that was the thought.

Considering the value the Heavenly Demon possessed I couldn’t help but think that way.

Even more so.

‘I need to know about myself too.’

He seemed to know more about dragons than I did and since he had the blood of a dragon he said he could use the power called ‘authority.’

‘Was that the power he mentioned in Shinryonggwan?’

Not only that but the power that had killed me hundreds of times during my training seemed to be the cause of that power.

‘So it wasn’t martial arts.’

The identity of the power that didn’t seem like martial arts at all upon learning about it I found it rather understandable.

It was ambiguous to call it formations.

It was far from being martial arts so I couldn’t understand it no matter how much I thought about it.

‘If it were rather a power beyond human it would make sense.’

If it were a more unique power that would be better and moreover if I could use it.

If I who was no longer human could use it that would be a welcome thing.

Since my power was woefully insufficient anything I could fill it with wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The problem was.

‘So… what exactly is a dragon?’

Before that I needed to find out what a dragon was.

The Heavenly Demon so it was presumed that the curse placed on the bloodline of Yeonga was by the Blood Demon.

The Blood Demon was presumed to be a dragon.

‘They called it the Dragon Emperor.’

If I recall what the blood energy said calling it the Dragon Emperor meant that barring any anomalies the Blood Demon was a dragon.

‘Then what about my mother?’

Recalling my father’s reaction I could tell that my mother was also a being beyond human.

I had known from the beginning that she was not human since she was referred to as a calamity.

‘…Is my mother also a dragon?’

I wondered if that was how it should be viewed.

It seemed that my father had thought of my mother when he saw my transformed appearance.

The Blood Demon was a dragon.

If my mother was also a dragon.

“…Is the very notion of calamity itself a ‘dragon’?”

If that were the case could it be said that I who had become a dragon was a dedication of calamity?

“Hmm…”

As I searched for each piece of information that had been frustratingly divided trying to piece them together somehow the result felt even more messed up.

“…Damn it.”

No matter how I looked at it the conclusion that I resembled a calamity remained unchanged.

In fact it was becoming clearer.

It couldn’t be a more frustrating situation.

“If that’s the case I should have just stayed quietly hidden instead of acting out.”

I should have just lived in the mountains gathering what I needed as originally intended.

Why did I act out trying to save the world and end up like this?

It was absurd.

‘I tried to stop the calamity but I ended up becoming one myself.’

It was truly laughable.

No it wasn’t confirmed that I was a calamity yet.

Should I hold onto some hope?

‘Bullshit. How could that possibly happen?’

I knew it was a ridiculous wish even as I thought it.

It was just that the questions that had been caught up in my mind were preventing me from acknowledging it.

‘If I am a calamity then there’s a problem with the Heavenly Demon.’

The one who caused the calamity was the Heavenly Demon.

Knowing that I was rolling around madly to prevent the calamity that would erupt in the future.

If I were to say I was a calamity here wouldn’t that be strange?

For that one reason even if all the arrows pointed at me I wouldn’t easily believe it.

“…Noya do you know anything?”

In my frustration I called out to Noya.

[…]

Noya did not respond.

“Hmm….”