The scent of scorched earth hung heavy in the air—a pungent, metallic cocktail of ash, blood, and gunpowder.
The battlefield, once a quiet village, now lay desecrated, trampled beneath boots and bodies alike. Ael's breath came in ragged gasps, his muscles trembling from exertion, yet his arms moved with ruthless precision. He swung his hatchet in a wide, lethal arc, the blade singing as it cleaved through another cartel enforcer.
The corpse crumpled at his feet, joining the heap already strewn across the mud-soaked ground.
But they kept coming.
Dozens more emerged through the smoke, eyes crazed, shouting profanities as they surged forward like a tidal wave. Ael's grip tightened, blood slicking the hilt. His teeth ground together in a mixture of desperation and fury. They were too many.
"Lilith!" he bellowed, not a call for aid, but a curse—half warning, half plea.
A sultry laugh slithered through the din, cold and venomous.
From the chaos strode a woman, clad in black leather, her form exuding confidence and cruelty. Her whip, long and barbed like a scorpion's tail, flicked lazily at her side. Her smile was more a baring of fangs than any expression of joy.
"To think you'd raise a hand against me, Ael," she purred. "My disobedient little pet. Did you forget who broke your chains and taught you to bite?"
Ael spat, rage flaring in his blood. "You never freed me. You just gave me a longer leash."
Lilith's eyes gleamed. "And now I'll shorten it."
Her whip snapped forward, slicing through the air with a sickening crack. Barbs tore into Ael's shoulder. He howled in pain, stumbling back as Lilith yanked the whip taut, flesh tearing beneath her pull. Blood streamed down his arm.
"You thought brute strength would save you? Pathetic. I may only be in the Veteran stage—but I don't need to be any stronger to discipline a mutt like you."
"You're dead, you bitch!" Ael lunged, fury pushing him past his pain. Lilith met his charge with a laugh, dancing back, her whip coiling around his leg and yanking him off balance. He hit the ground hard, his vision blurring.
She stepped closer, triumphant—until a rock whizzed past her face, grazing her temple.
"Huh?!"
Lilith's head snapped in the direction of the throw. Her eyes locked onto a small figure crouched behind a charred cart.
Ciro. The scrawny boy trembled, a pebble clutched in his palm, but defiance burned in his wide eyes.
"You little—"
Her wrath turned toward him, and she stalked forward with murderous intent. But in doing so, she forgot the man writhing at her feet.
Ael's hand shot out like a spring trap, seizing her wrist in a crushing grip. She gasped, the bones in her arm grinding beneath his pressure.
"Let go of me!" she shrieked.
He didn't. Instead, he pulled her close, eyes glowing with fury, and brought his hatchet down into her shoulder with all the strength he could muster.
She screamed—raw, human, desperate. "It hurts! It hurts! Stop!"
But there was no mercy in Ael's eyes.
"You tortured children. You branded the weak. You fed the strong to your beasts," he growled. "This? This is nothing."
He kept hacking long after her cries faded, until her body was little more than a pile of broken, twitching flesh.
Then, everything stopped.
A wave of immense pressure slammed into the battlefield like a tsunami. Ael dropped to one knee, struggling to breathe. The air grew heavier with every passing second.
Kaiser had arrived.
The cartel's leader stood atop a blackened ridge, his sword gleaming under the moonlight, his eyes alight with fury.
"You!" he roared. "I will kill you!"
But his wrath wasn't directed at Ael. His eyes were locked on Ri-hyun.
Kaiser charged, his blade a silver streak.
Yet Ri-hyun did not flinch.
With the calm of a god, he raised his hand. One open palm deflected the blade. A simple redirection, elegant and devastating. Kaiser's follow-up strikes—a dozen in quick succession—were similarly turned aside, each attack batted away as if by a master toying with a child.
"Why?" Kaiser snarled. "Why can't I touch you?!"
Ri-hyun tilted his head. "Your swordsmanship is crude. All flash, no substance. You rely on your blade to compensate for your weakness."
"This is a noble sword, forged in the Beleville kingdom—"
"And yet, it's already cracking."
With a flick of his fingers, Ri-hyun shattered the blade into a thousand glittering shards. They rained down like snow.
Kaiser reeled, eyes wide.
"Kill him! Kill him!" he screamed.
The remaining cartel members surged forward—but something unnatural occurred.
Their weapons floated.
Blades, spears, even axes—all hovered mid-air around Ri-hyun. Then, as if possessed, they danced through the air.
"Engrave this on your minds," Ri-hyun said. "This… is true swordsmanship."
One blade landed in his hand.
Myriad Forms Asura Sword Art: Thunderous Descent.
A bolt of lightning tore from the heavens. With a deafening crash, Ri-hyun brought the blade down. The mountain shook. The cartel's manor below split in two, reduced to molten ash. Kaiser didn't even have time to scream before he was cleaved in half, his remains scattered to the wind.
The gliding swords fell upon the rest—swift and surgical, beheading, impaling, slicing cleanly through bone and armor.
Silence.
Then a cheer.
Slaves and villagers emerged from hiding. Some wept, others sang. Hunters roasted pigs over open flames. Bottles of stolen liquor passed from hand to hand. For the first time in years, they celebrated—not survival, but freedom.
Ael knelt before Ri-hyun, joined by villagers and beggars alike.
"Lord Ri-hyun," Ael said, his voice hoarse, "Please lead us."
Ri-hyun looked at the crowd. "Stand. There is much to do."
Thus began the reconstruction.
Under Ri-hyun's direction, the villagers rebuilt homes, repaired wells, and reforged their sense of community. He instructed them with the knowledge he had once used rebuilding war-torn fortresses in Goguryeo.
Then came the training.
"Ael, gather those too weak for labor," Ri-hyun ordered. "This village needs defenders."
Ael obeyed without hesitation. Soon, men and women sat cross-legged in the grass. Ciro among them.
"I will teach you the Lotus Buddha Art," Ri-hyun said.
They followed his breathing, pulling in the energy of the mountains, cycling it through their bodies. He moved among them, unblocking meridians, correcting posture, calming restless spirits.
He paused at Ciro.
Lightning. That was the nature of his qi—sharp, fast, crackling with potential.
Then Ael—his body brimmed with wild, untamed power. A beast in human form.
"Ciro. Ael. Follow me."
They ascended the mountain. Ice bit at their skin. Breathing grew difficult. Ri-hyun, unbothered, climbed like a ghost.
At the summit, he turned.
"Now. I teach you the breathing techniques."
Ciro received the True Heaven Flying Knife Art. His breath became the rhythm of a storm—gathering, building, striking.
Ael received the Furious Vajra Fist Art. His exhales thundered like drums, his qi drawn into his gut like magma pooling in a volcano.
Then—something happened.
A translucent screen flickered before Ri-hyun.
> [System calculation finished.]
[Skills unlocked: Spiritual Pressure, Energy Burst…]
One by one, the countless techniques Ri-hyun had mastered in life returned to him. Sword arts, breathing techniques, internal pathways—his legacy unfolding before him like scripture.
And from the ashes of war, the future began.