Chapter 81: Shura Never Retreat (7)

What is evil?

It is not agonizing over it.

What is good?

It is striving to agonize over it.

That was Soyak’s concept of good and evil.

She would not claim that it was some absolute standard.

But good and evil changed depending on the situation and the person anyway.

What mattered was establishing your own standard and your own world.

In that sense, Soyak’s worldview was sharp and unmistakable.

If someone asked why such a small girl possessed such a firm view of good and evil...

It was so she could call herself good.

“...Aah.”

On the surface of water with no bottom in sight,

Soyak slowly pushed herself up.

It seemed she had been pulled into her mindscape again.

But there was something in front of her that she had never seen before.

A huge black snake.

In its eyes, a red star floated and shone like a gaze of light.

No matter how big her black qilin was...

it was not the kind of size that could press down an emperor’s palace with the tip of its tail.

Something that had raised its head from beneath the water.

The viciousness that had been hiding inside her since birth.

The essence of the Heavenly Killing Star.

“Krrrrrrrr....”

The black qilin growled at her side.

Now its shoulders were high enough to tower over Soyak’s head.

And yet, it was smaller than a single scale of that snake.

That was a fragment of a star held inside a human.

Even if it was the star of viciousness.

It was a fragment of eternity that had cut through countless shackles of the human world.

Not one human, but ruin carried across generations.

“That... is what fate is.”

Soyak murmured softly.

She raised her left hand and placed it on the hilt of Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge.

Beneath her feet was the surface of water.

This was her mindscape.

What rules a person’s heart?

Is it the self?

Sadly, few ever reached that level.

Humans were swayed by what they were born with, and by the environment they grew up in.

What she was born with was the Heavenly Killing Star.

The environment she grew up in was a heart of vengeance.

But the small girl’s heart had hardened.

In her own heart, she drew her sword toward the messenger from beyond the heavens that was devouring her from the inside.

【You have awakened me twice.】

The snake did not open its mouth.

It merely declared its will.

Soyak shuddered.

Instinctively, she understood.

So this was what the word cosmic was for.

The snake’s head slowly lowered toward her.

The black qilin charged without fear at its eye.

But that was as far as it got.

A tail that could crush an imperial palace swung—

so fast she couldn’t even see it.

PUH-GUK—!!!

With a horrible sound, the black qilin slammed into the ground right beside Soyak.

It was a divine beast formed from Soyak’s internal energy, so it wasn’t dead.

It could only twitch, unable to move.

【A wretched thing that does not recognize a giant.】

In the next moment,

the snake narrowed its eyes.

Its long-slit pupils thinned vertically.

Because Soyak stepped forward with her sword raised,

and stood between the black qilin and the snake.

A star settled into her jet-black gaze.

On the blade, rippling Sword Qi shone with radiance.

Small, yet brilliant.

Even if the world pointed and called it viciousness,

the girl was a swordswoman born holding a star.

【A righteous girl.】

The snake slowly lowered its head and met Soyak’s eyes.

Even with its jaw touching the surface of the water, its eyes were far above Soyak’s eye level.

This could not be called a divine beast.

A vast and mighty existence...

It had borrowed the shape of a snake, but not because it was an animal.

Its essence walked the unhindered, immeasurable space between stars and stars...

【Hear my name, child.】

The snake said something.

Something that could not be spoken.

Soyak heard something.

Something that should not be heard.

*****

“—Huk!”

She sat up, dragging in air.

Cheongak, who had been watching the hand that was poking her cheek and squirming, startled and tumbled off his chair.

BANG CRASH THUD!!!

“W-what the hell, what—!”

“Cheongak. Your mouth is filthy.”

“Head Senior, you were startled too!”

He was right.

Cheonjeong was also shaken—just in a different way.

Frozen in place, trembling where he sat.

Cheongak waved his hands as if trying to scatter the curse he had spat out.

From the way he looked awkward, he must have blurted it without thinking.

Soyak stared blankly at him, then turned her eyes to Cheonjeong.

It was strange.

She had definitely lost consciousness.

But her clothes were clean, proper clothing for a girl.

“...Head Senior.”

“Yes, Soyak. You’re awake.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

“My uniform...”

“The Ak Family’s attendants are washing it.”

She asked for her uniform the moment she woke.

Maybe the light, thin, soft clothing felt that unfamiliar.

She twitched this way and that, tilting her head in confusion.

Only then did she look down at Cheongak, who was sitting on the floor.

“Why are you on the floor...?”

“Because you startled me!”

Cheongak set his chair upright again and sat, face full of grievance.

Cheonjeong picked up the damp cloth that had flown down by his feet.

Then he pressed Soyak back down by her forehead.

“Ugh.”

“Lie still.”

“But I don’t have a fever...”

“You do. A fever.”

Cheonjeong was right.

The cloth in his hand was only lukewarm.

But the moment it touched her forehead, Soyak frowned.

It was colder than she expected.

“How long have I been lying here?”

“Yes. It’s been a few hours.”

“Then the Ak Family has already gone to Mount Meng...”

Soyak tried to sit up.

She would have, if Cheonjeong hadn’t pushed down her shoulder.

Head Senior’s face hardened.

“I told you to lie down.”

“But...”

“The Family Head also said he would steady the people first.”

Only then did Soyak release a breath of relief.

At least she had avoided the sight of lying in a sickbed after promising to help.

No.

Maybe it wasn’t that.

A certain instinctive sense of danger rose up.

A sense that she could not, absolutely could not, let those people handle this alone.

“Did you have a nightmare? Your fever rose and you were groaning, so I worried a lot.”

“Yeah. Head Senior couldn’t sleep at all.”

“...Then you should have slept.”

Cheonjeong let out a deep sigh.

“How could I sleep when I was worried. If you were going to scream, at least it would wake you up. But you were suffering, drenched in cold sweat.”

“I did that...?”

“You did, Soyak. You did.”

Soyak bit her lower lip in guilt.

Cheonjeong quickly pressed a finger to her lip to stop her.

“You’ll bleed, Soyak.”

“...Yes.”

They were the same as always.

Cheonjeong worrying over her. Cheongak full of mischief.

...Then was she the same as always?

“I saw... a gigantic snake.”

“A snake? In a dream?”

“Something like that.”

Cheongak made a puzzled face.

Cheonjeong did too.

Soyak thought the time had come to tell them about herself.

The essence of the Heavenly Killing Star was slaughter and a sea of blood.

If they stayed by her side, they might be dragged into a long and brutal ordeal.

Of course, they were her senior brothers—Head Senior and Senior Brother—so maybe they couldn’t just become distant as if they had once been strangers.

Even so, she had to let them choose.

So that when that horrifying moment came...

they could turn away from her.

“There is something I need to tell you.”

“Huh? Head Senior, Soyak says she’s got something to say.”

“I heard.”

Soyak started with a deep breath.

She was afraid.

Afraid that the two pairs of eyes that had looked at her warmly...

would go cold.

“...I am the Heavenly Killing Star.”

For an instant, Cheonjeong and Cheongak’s eyes wavered.

They looked at each other briefly, then looked back at Soyak.

In their eyes, doubt and confusion were tangled together.

Soyak lowered her head and avoided their gaze.

“And there is someone I must kill.”

The air in the room sank cold.

Cheongak darted his eyes around, unable to decide how to react.

Cheonjeong was different.

“Is that so.”

“Yes, Head Senior.”

“Then I’ll kill them with you.”

“...What?”

Even Cheongak turned, shocked, to stare at Cheonjeong.

Soyak did too.

She lifted her bowed head, flustered by the unexpected answer.

“I’ve been watching you. It’s only been a few months, but still. Isn’t that right, Cheongak?”

“I-I mean, yeah, but...”

“You think Soyak is the kind of child who’d kill just anyone over some reckless impulse?”

“She’s not, but...”

Cheonjeong smiled.

He patted Soyak’s shoulder twice.

“So what if you’re the Heavenly Killing Star.”

“...I...”

“You are my junior sister, Cheongak is your senior brother, and I am your Head Senior.”

On Cheonjeong’s chest, Mount Hua’s plum blossom was embroidered.

Bright red petals.

Blooming red as if dreaming of eternity...

but in the end, they fell, and promised the next season.

“We’re family under the same master-father, Soyak.”

“...Even so.”

“So your enemy is our enemy.”

Soyak pressed a hand to her forehead.

This wasn’t what she wanted.

After rubbing her face dry, she looked at the two senior brothers smiling at her.

For some reason, a weak laugh slipped out.

Were they idiots?

Or should she say she was grateful?

The answer was already decided.

“...Thank you.”

They would probably be shocked when they learned who her enemy was.

But somehow, she felt at ease.

Because if it was those two, it felt like they would gladly brace her back.