Chapter 1110

It all began and ended in an instant.

“I remember. Your name.”

The low voice of the monster that had absorbed the life force of countless fiends raining down from the sky rang across the battlefield.

“And the debt I owe that bastard Mae Jonghak, the Sword Saint.”

At last, the monster—the Blood Lord—had awakened with all his strength and memories restored. His red eyes flashed.

Then a blood-red flash, brighter even than the light in his eyes, shot through the air.

Whoosh!

Cheongpung had to dodge. If it hit him, he would die.

But he had already spent all his strength. He could only watch helplessly as the Blood Lord’s palm struck the air like lightning, sending a blood-red palm strike hurtling toward him.

Someone else moved, though—guided by careful judgment honed through countless experiences and by an instant’s instinct.

Crunch!

A terrible tearing sound sent a chill down Cheongpung’s spine. Flesh and bone ripped away all at once, and the blood within burst out.

Splatter. Drip-drip.

Hot, sticky blood washed over his face. Cheongpung blinked, dazed.

Not from unbearable pain, or because he’d seen death looming before him.

Through his blood-red vision, he saw a man looking down at him. Somehow, Cheongpung had ended up sprawled on his side.

“Get… up. Quickly.”

Cough.

The man swallowed the blood that surged up whenever he opened his mouth and spoke again, his voice strained but calm. It was hard to believe the palm strike had torn off his arm all the way to the shoulder.

“Leave now. Before it’s too late.”

“B-but—”

Cheongpung’s mind had gone blank at this unexpected turn. He was just starting to stammer out a reply when—

“You fool!”

The fierce shout burst out without warning. Then a growl like a beast’s came from between the man’s bloodied lips.

“Do you still not understand? Can you still not see?”

Blood spilled with every word he ground out. Even so, he did not stop.

Something mattered more to him than the pain threatening to overwhelm his mind. More even than the death he knew was coming.

“None of this is for you! It’s to save everyone—to save the whole world!”

The man roared like a great tiger. He pointed to the Blood Lord, who was approaching even now amid scattering flashes of blood-red light, and to the people throwing themselves at that unprecedented monster without a moment’s hesitation.

BOOM!

Crack! Splaaash!

Deafening crashes shook the battlefield. Fountains of blood erupted without pause, blotting out the rain.

Cheongpung stared at the horrific hellscape of slaughter. At last, he gritted his teeth and stood.

Grind.

A dull pain, and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

But that was nothing compared to what those people were suffering as they were torn apart and broken, even now.

“I’ll… thank you later.”

What more was there to say?

The man smiled faintly and nodded. Watching Cheongpung walk away, he murmured as if to himself, “Please look after him. The Marquis of Shangshan.”

That was all. There would be no later for him, and he knew it.

Step.

His footstep felt unusually heavy as he turned. He fixed a calm gaze on the monster approaching through the dense mist of blood and spoke.

“You who dared to plot rebellion and throw the world into chaos: state your identity and surrender peacefully.”

“Criminal? Surrender?”

The Blood Lord’s mouth twisted into a smile. It held mockery—and the anger of a predator whose prey had slipped away before his eyes.

“There are a lot of you idiots who’ve got a death wish.”

Shhhhh.

In a matter of moments, the blood-red beams that had swallowed hundreds of lives rose in strands from the Blood Lord’s entire body.

“You should have run. It would only have bought you a little time, but at least you might have had a chance to look back on your life.”

The man gripped the great sword in the one hand he had left and answered.

“I don’t need that chance. I’m not like you.”

And he truly wasn’t.

Not everything he had done in his life had been perfectly just. But he had lived it with true loyalty. He had never blindly submitted to orders, nor had he wavered when powerful men dangled tempting offers before him.

He had proved himself, and in doing so earned the right to stand here—just as the others forming a square around him had, though they looked ready to collapse.

“Let me ask you all: what is our duty?”

At the sudden question from their commander, the roughly three hundred surviving Embroidered Uniform Guards answered as one.

“To protect the Imperial House with an unshakable oath and unwavering loyalty!”

Some voices were young, others old.

The familiar faces of friends and comrades who had shared their lives with them—less than half remained.

Each remembered the oath they had etched into their hearts the day they first received shining golden armor.

“Then what is our obligation?”

They were exhausted in body and mind. Even raising their voices was a struggle now.

That was why they drew on every last bit of strength to answer: so the fear creeping into their hearts would not rule them, and so their oath would not fade even in death.

“To protect all the people—and beyond them, the whole world!”

“……!”

Their cry shook the air. The sneer on the Blood Lord’s lips began to fade.

Vroooom.

The great sword in the man’s hand trembled and shone with a clear light.

Force. Magnificent and radiant, it had long seemed to him a realm he could never reach.

Did enlightenment finally come when I let go of everything? Or… is Heaven telling me to fight back however I can?

The question crossed his mind, and he let out a quiet laugh.

He didn’t know where this sudden power had come from. It no longer mattered. He knew what he had to do, and that was enough.

“As a Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, carrying out His Majesty the Emperor’s exalted will, I give you your orders!”

The man—Jeong Hogun—swallowed the blood surging up his throat and shouted. He leveled his Force, burning like a final rally, at the enemies who had surrounded them and the monster at their center.

“Behead the rebels!”

At that moment—

“Loyalty!”

Their military salute rang out with more force and desperation than ever. Jeong Hogun and the roughly three hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards charged with a roar that caught in their throats.

Straight toward the death looming before them.

Their bodies would perish, but what they did at the end would remain.

They were magnificent.

Whoosh.

And it was glorious.

CRUNCH!

A massive blood-red flash erupted without warning, staining everything around them. Within it, they fell.

My vision was blurry.

Pains large and small jabbed through my body like sharp awls. Every sound reaching my ears seemed distant, like an echo from beyond a mountain ridge.

Ah.

A question suddenly occurred to me.

Where was I? Who was I? And why were my eyelids so heavy?

It was strange. I could’ve sworn I remembered everything just a moment ago.

I just want to sleep. Peacefully.

I couldn’t think of anything else. If I could just fall asleep, I felt I would be completely at peace.

A desperate longing to rest somewhere without pain or worry was the only thing ruling my body.

—Rest, huh? That doesn’t sound so bad.

An unfamiliar voice echoed in my mind, but I wasn’t even curious who it belonged to. Maybe I was hearing things as I drifted in and out. Maybe another part of me agreed.

What did it matter, as long as I could fall asleep in peace?

Right? There’s nothing wrong with taking a little rest.

The voice answered my question.

—If you put it that way…… I’d have to say there are plenty of reasons it could be a problem.

A problem?

—You know why better than I do.

What?

I was bewildered. I didn’t even remember who I was. How could I know why?

The voice spoke again.

—You can’t feel it, can you? Even now, you’re struggling with everything you have to wake up.

That couldn’t be right. That was nonsense from some clueless idiot.

My vision was blurred and spinning, and pain was gnawing at every part of me. Who wouldn’t want to rest like this? I wanted so badly to fall asleep.

—Are you sure?

Of course.

Or… I thought so.

—Then how are you still conscious? All you have to do is close your eyes and give in to instinct. Everything will be peaceful.

That’s…

—Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to fall asleep.

I had no answer.

Confusion had crept in and begun to push the drowsiness aside, though I hadn’t even noticed. All I could do was turn a question over in my mind.

Why? Why am I fighting so hard to hold on?

This time, the voice gave me no answer.

Instead, fragments of memory fell one by one onto the once-calm surface of my consciousness. And from somewhere deep within me, an unfamiliar current of qi began to rise.

Whooosh.

It felt as though a wind were blowing. Clear and refreshing, it pressed down on the pain that had tormented me and rekindled the dying embers of my memory.

My name. Countless faces and voices. As my senses sharpened, the strong smell of blood and someone’s shout reached me too.

……!

……!!

My vision slowly cleared, and the echo drew closer.

Amid it all, I finally remembered why I had wanted so badly to rest—and why, despite that, I had refused to let go of consciousness.

I… I…

As my mind awoke, the pain returned with it.

Was this what it felt like to fall into a pit of fire? To have my body torn into thousands of pieces?

I didn’t know. I couldn’t know.

But I knew one thing: I still had so much left to protect.

—As always, a good decision.

At the moment the unknown voice whispered its last words in my mind—

Whoooosh.

The wind sweeping through my body became a wave of qi carrying the fragrance of flowers. It washed over me.

No—it lifted my dying body and mind back to their feet.

And at last, I heard a familiar voice.

“…Benefactor! Benefactor!”

A frantic cry. A face drenched in tears.

I woke with a gasp, and Cheongpung’s voice thundered in my ears.

“The West Gate—the West Gate…!”

The reality I had barely returned to was still cruel.