7.

After dealing with the aftermath related to the mad warrior, I was left with a chunk of free time on my hands.

I turned my gaze towards a corner of the world.

[You can declare stage clear at any time.]

Such a message was floating there.

As I waved my hand, the letters scattered like grains of sand. And standing in the middle of the ground (since the world moves with me, I could only ever stand in the center), I fell deep into thought.

Idiot 「What are you doing? Aren’t you going back to the lobby?」

Me 「No. Suddenly, I thought that I, too, could fail around the 99th floor.」

Idiot 「…」

Me 「I think I’ve become quite strong. Maybe, with my current strength, I could even compete with my master before her enlightenment. You, more than master, are half a step or more powerful, Sword Emperor. But even someone like you died on the 99th floor.」

I couldn’t imagine what awaited on the 99th floor that led the Sword Emperor to his death. A point beyond my imagination. Anxiety sprouted like a poisonous mushroom from there.

I looked straight at Bae Hu-ryeong.

Me 「What’s on the 99th floor? Can’t you still tell me?」

Idiot 「………」

Me 「If you tell me, I can prepare. I can come up with measures, right?」

Idiot 「Hmm. Well. Death…」

Bae Hu-ryeong scratched the back of his head.

Idiot 「You have a point, but that’s all you have.」

Me 「What does that mean?」

Idiot 「I just don’t want to tell you the truth about the 99th floor.」

Me 「Are you really a child!?」

Idiot 「Enough. Let’s walk.」

Me 「Walk? You’re a ghost, you can’t even…」

And for the first time since I met Bae Hu-ryeong, I witnessed something. It was a sight that was astonishing in a way, yet utterly mundane in another.

Bae Hu-ryeong, who almost always floated gently in the air, walked, step by step, on the ground.

Idiot 「What are you doing not following?」

Me 「No… You, even without a body. How can…」

No matter how I looked, Bae Hu-ryeong seemed to be truly walking.

Me 「Did you get a body? As I climb the tower, you also gradually gain a body. Something like that…?」

Idiot 「Idiot. You’ve reached such a level and still blind. I’m just pretending to walk.」

Me 「What?」

Idiot 「Tsk, what’s the use of talking. Just follow me.」

Bae Hu-ryeong turned his back and walked forward. I followed him as if possessed by a ghost.

.,,.. ⊂;^;^;,つ ...''...'.... ,,'.'.........,, ....''....... ...''... ,,..... ........... ...,,, ___________________________

Mountains continued and clouds flowed by. The world was silent, and so was Bae Hu-ryeong. I followed the silent man without a word.

Idiot 「That mad warrior said the difference between you and me is just half a step.」

After walking for a while, Bae Hu-ryeong finally spoke.

Idiot 「Zombie. What do you think that half-step difference is?」

Me 「I think it’s the Heart Sword.」

Idiot 「Right. It’s the Heart Sword. I can use the Heart Sword, and your master also grasped the Heart Sword right before she closed her eyes. So, how can one awaken the Heart Sword and wield it freely?」

Me 「…….」

I instinctively sensed that this conversation was extremely, immensely important. Yes, Bae Hu-ryeong was trying to teach me something. Just like when I first awakened my aura.

Me 「The Heart Sword is the sword of the heart. Perhaps it’s about imbuing the sword with the heart?」

Idiot 「You’ve already reached the pinnacle of Infernal Heavens Demonic Art. You freely deciphered Infernal Heavens Demonic Art and even invented formations. In terms of imbuing the sword with the heart, there’s hardly any meaningful difference between you and me.」

Me 「Then is it a matter of the type of heart being imbued?」

Idiot 「Idiot. Dig deeper.」

Step. Step.

I chased after Bae Hu-ryeong and noticed something. It was far. It had become farther. Bae Hu-ryeong’s back was a little more distant than before.

Me 「…….」

The stride hadn’t changed. There was no difference in the way Bae Hu-ryeong walked. Nevertheless, the speed, for some reason, the pace at which the feet crossed the horizon, had changed.

I quickened my steps so as not to fall behind Bae Hu-ryeong.

Idiot 「Most warriors spend their whole lives without even getting a glimpse of the Heart Sword. Most? It’s basically 99.99%. But you, you’re damn lucky to have witnessed the Heart Sword twice, aren’t you? Then you should grab the clue to enlightenment from there.」

Me 「Twice…….」

Idiot 「Yeah. Mine was merely an illusion, so let’s set that aside for now. But what about your master? Didn’t your master show you the Heart Sword for the last time before she left this world?」

Step, step.

Bae Hu-ryeong’s back grew even further away. Still, Bae Hu-ryeong was just walking with a constant stride.

I had no choice but to increase my speed as well.

Idiot 「Let me ask. Did your master have any internal energy left at that time?」

I recalled the last time I embraced my master’s shoulders. The sensation of something that should not die, dying in my arms. It was a painful memory, but remembering someone was always a difficult task.

Me 「No.」

Idiot 「Your master broke through the True Origin Energy, didn’t she? Was there any energy left in your master then?”

Me 「……No.」

Idiot 「Did your master have any physical strength left at that time?」

Me 「No. My master had no energy at all.」

Idiot 「Right. No internal energy, no energy, no physical strength. Then how did your master use the Heart Sword? Why did the snowy mountain split? Did Mount Taishan bow to the leader of Infernal Heavens and split itself?」

Me 「…….」

I gritted my teeth.

It wasn’t because my contemplation had deepened to the point of grinding my teeth. Rather, Bae Hu-ryeong had become so fast that if I didn’t run at full speed, he would disappear beyond my sight in an instant, forcing me to use my light body technique while biting down hard.

Step! Step!

Idiot 「Your master had nothing. Then…….」

Me 「He must have drawn from something external.」

The scenery rushed past endlessly fast.

Me 「If there’s no internal qi, one must use external qi.」

Idiot 「Right. The logical conclusion.」

Clouds passed by, mountains and forests flew past. Numerous villages were left behind.

When the two of us passed like the wind, villagers, who were strangers to us, were astonished. When passing through a village, both Bae Hu-ryeong and I slowed down momentarily, but that was brief. As soon as the edge of the village ended, we sped up again.

Idiot 「What is external qi?」

Me 「Nature……. Life force, isn’t it?」

Idiot 「Oh, impressive. You manage to mimic Homo sapiens with such an abstract term.」

Me 「This idiot ghost…….」

Idiot 「Internal energy, in other words, is aura. It’s the manifestation of your will. It’s like taking the image you hold in your mind and writing it down on paper. If the paper is the world, then the letters are the aura. Then what is external qi?」

Step.

Idiot 「What in this world can be called the will of the world?」

At that moment, my tongue moved spontaneously.

Me 「Constellations.」

Idiot 「………」

Me 「It’s the constellations. The constellations regulate the laws of the world. No, there are constellations that regulate the laws of the world. They are the masters of the stages, and if a stage is a world, they are the masters of a world. If they express a will, it’s no different from the world expressing its will.」

I realized as I spoke. It wasn’t that I spoke because I had realized; rather, I realized as I spoke. What was unclear and lumped together in my mind became clear as it was laid out in words.

Me 「Just nature alone isn’t enough to use external qi. Where there are constellations. Where constellations rule. Only in such a world can one draw upon external qi, and that external qi is essentially the internal energy of the constellations. The Heart Sword is about drawing upon the internal energy of the constellations.」

Idiot 「Right! It’s only when you become one with the constellation that rules the world that you can finally use the Heart Sword. In a world without constellations, there is no will, and in a world without will, there is no Heart Sword.」

Bae Hu-ryeong’s laughter flowed softly.

Idiot 「In the world where your master lived, the constellation [The Yellow Dragon Residing in the Great Lake] reigned supreme. That constellation was cursed to not die even when its heart was pierced by the sword of Constellation Killer. The constellation’s ‘not dying even in death’ resentment defined the rules of the world, and thus, the humans living in that world became ‘bodies that do not die even in death’, ghouls, zombies.」

The villages became sparser as we ran across the land.

We were passing through the densely populated continent and moving further into the remote, sparsely populated frontiers.

Idiot 「Winter is the same. The eternal winter is nothing but a direct reflection of the imagery of that constellation. A world buried in permafrost exists, yet it allows no vitality. Zombies. That’s the world your master lived in.」

Whish, whish.

After passing the last village, only mountains, forests, and clouds continuously unfolded before us.

Idiot 「How could one draw upon the inner energy of such a world’s constellation, the constellation’s inner energy?」

Me 「…You have to become more like the constellation than the constellation itself.」

I felt as though I knew the answer somehow.

Me 「The constellation suffered from being pierced by Kim Yul’s sword, unable to die. But… My master suffered more. In the agony of not being able to die, my master was undoubtedly more tormented than that constellation.」

In other words.

Me 「If you want to freely draw upon the power of Mutia, you just need to be more obsessed with time than Mutia. If you desire regression even more intensely than Mutia, you will be able to freely wield the Heart Sword in Mutia’s world.」

Becoming even more like the opponent than the opponent itself.

Me 「To use Hishmith Kritz’s power as if it were your own, not by commanding it as now but to truly use it freely, you just need to become more obsessed with the secrets of people than Hishmith Kritz.」

That was the principle of the Heart Sword.

Me 「To kill winter, you have to become more winter than winter itself.」

How far had we run?

⊂;^;^;,つ

The mountains flattened to meet the horizon, and the forests dwindled to lie flat on the ground. Only the sky managed to spare a few clouds. As Bae Hu-ryeong stepped forward and I ran, the world gradually whitened.

Suddenly, I wondered if this world also had an end.

Me 「The Heart Sword is not a panacea that can always be used. Only when you truly understand that world. Only when you feel that world more painfully than the world itself can you barely use it. But… If that’s the case.」

I stopped.

Bae Hu-ryeong also stopped walking and turned to look at me.

Me 「How were you able to use the Heart Sword in my master’s world?」

That place was the end of this world where even the clouds had disappeared.

Only the horizon.

There were no mountains or vegetation.

Only the base of the world stretched infinitely. A single line of black and white all around. I amplified my senses with aura, trying to widen my field of vision as much as possible. As my aura strengthened, my vision expanded leaps and bounds. I saw a world ten times, thirty times, a hundred and twenty times wider than usual.

Yet, the world was only white.

It was beautiful.

A pale vast sea of tranquility and silence was there. A border where even breathing seemed not to be allowed, or rather, a world of rest where one did not want to permit it. Expressions, voices, tones… everything… releasing breath… faded away.

I thought to myself. Someone would consider this place heaven. And indeed, this place deserved to be someone’s heaven.

There, Bae Hu-ryeong’s eyes were turning to look at me.

Sword Emperor 「Watch closely.」

Bae Hu-ryeong raised his arm.

Sword Emperor 「I’ll show you for the third time.」

His arm moved slowly.

Sword Emperor 「The next time you see this, it will be when you and I are fighting.」

And then.

______________________ _______________________

Something silently split apart.

____________________ ___________________

I blinked. In the brief moment my eyelids covered and then revealed my eyes again, the silently parted crevice widened even more silently. It was as if the more the gap widened, the more it devoured and erased the world’s time.

________ _________

The white crevice expanded uncontrollably. It wasn’t that the world was collapsing, nor was it being destroyed. It simply ceased to exist. It was deleted.

It was being sliced by a sword.

[‘The Faceless Conductor’ notices the anomaly in the stage.]

The master of the world that was being sliced spoke.

[‘The Faceless Conductor’ immediately requests your withdrawal.]

[The request for withdrawal is forwarded to ‘The Wand Of Ages’.]

[Approved.]

And finally, even the space in front of my eyes turned completely white.

[You are being forcibly transferred to the 70th floor.]

My vision became a jumbled mess.

Blackness diluted and whiteness intensified, with all sorts of colors swirling around. My consciousness began to feel nauseated. My senses, perfectly adapted to the 2D world, were forcibly dragged back to the original world.

“You’re being absurd……!!”

For the first time in a long while, another person’s voice struck my head. It was [The Wand Of Ages]. The voice split inside my head like thunder.

“Do you have any idea what almost happened!? If you had cleared the stage, you should have quietly returned, and moreover, my goodness. A non-contender, an outsider, dares…!”

I struggled to open my eyes.

There was the face of the wizard, stained with perplexity and anger.

“You, the unparalleled troublemaker of this world!!”

“…….”

Despite feeling nauseous, I managed to speak.

Because there are moments when, no matter how hard it is, one must speak.

“That’s incorrect. Since there are two of us, rather than being a unparalleled troublemaker, it would be more accurate to say we are the only two troublemakers in existence….”

Clang!

The wizard swung his staff, striking my head.

*****