KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!

“Ha... look at these monsters.”

Seop Mugwang clicked his tongue at the unbelievable scene unfolding before his eyes.

He’d recognized that Snow-Plum Sabre, Seolhwa’s opponent, was the Mount Hua kid he’d seen years ago.

As far as he knew, the kid from Mount Hua was at most a couple of years older than Seolhwa.

Back then I did think he was pretty good for his age...

But this? This was monstrous.

What on earth had happened for him to come back this strong?

As for Seolhwa—she’d shown exceptional skill since she was little; nothing surprising there anymore.

But why is there another monster like that!

This final is a fight between two brats not even of age!

When I was their age, I was brawling by the hair, you little punks!

BANG—! KWA-AANG—!!

The platform shook as if it would shatter.

At a far corner of the arena, well away from the center, stone cracked and scattered in chunks.

The standard-bearers standing near it gaped with their mouths hanging open.

KWA-GAKANG! KWAANG!

Within the gale of power the two had raised, sword and saber crashed again and again.

Yu Gang’s saber swept wide with a sound like ripping the air.

Perhaps thanks to having learned Mount Hua’s swordwork, famed as one of the fastest—his speed pushed that heavy saber to terrifying force.

KANG! KA-KA-KANG! KANG—!

Rather than swing, Seolhwa twisted her blade, receiving and redirecting Yu Gang’s attacks in the same breath.

No matter how fast you swing a saber, surpassing a sword in speed isn’t easy.

If Yu Gang’s realm exceeded Seolhwa’s, that would be different, but with their skills so close, Seolhwa’s speed held the edge.

KA-KA-KANG—! KA-KANG!

If this keeps up, I’ll lose.

A vein stood out on Yu Gang’s brow.

Him, throwing everything into each stroke—and Seolhwa, coolly parrying and turning those attacks aside.

Which side would tire first was already decided.

How...?

How do I win?

He had already pushed the Splendid Sun Saber Canon as far as he could.

Even training with his master, he’d never poured out his strength like this.

And still, no decision.

The crucial point—

I don’t know if this is even Seolhwa’s full strength.

Yu Gang flicked a glance at Seolhwa’s movement.

The way she held the sword lightly, stepped and flowed, letting his attacks pass with veteran ease.

Anyone with eyes could see it.

Her movement lay beyond the verge of near-Transcendent.

“What are you thinking, Snow-Plum Sabre?”

Seolhwa’s body flashed in close, right under his nose.

With the sword in her right, she struck a palm with her left.

“!”

Yu Gang twisted hastily, turning his saber to take her palm on the flat.

PWANG—!

His body skidded back.

“Kh...!”

A thin line of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth.

Beads of sweat gathered and slid down from his temples.

Wiping the blood with the back of his hand, Yu Gang gave a crooked grin.

“About you.”

“Hm.”

Not yielding even now?

Seolhwa tilted her head.

Trading blows, she could feel it: Yu Gang had indeed grown stronger.

For a realm attained in just four years, it was striking—astonishingly so.

If he’d become this strong, he must have trained to the brink of death for all four years.

And Seolhwa knew that intensity better than anyone.

At Songshan, even if only briefly, she’d undergone that hellish training herself.

But—

Hard enough to die still wasn’t enough to defeat someone who had died and returned.

“So you still have room to joke?”

“I’m not joking.”

Yu Gang’s smile deepened.

“With you right in front of me, how would I have room to think about anything else?”

In many ways—

“Let’s end this.”

At her words, tension touched Yu Gang’s smile.

A short, involuntary breath of laughter escaped him.

So Seolhwa can end this match.

What that meant was plain.

I thought this time I might finally be able to win.

Even so, he couldn’t step back.

Yu Gang drew up every drop of power he had left and loaded it into his saber.

Seolhwa’s aura, too, rose in deeper hues.

Splendid Sun Saber Canon — Fifth Verse.

Heavenly Thunder Divine Sword — Seventh Form.

Both prepared the final strike.

They pulled the strongest cards they could possibly play.

The air of the arena flipped once more.

Those who sensed the change clenched their fists without realizing it.

Namgoong Mucheon gripped the chair’s armrest tight and leaned forward.

This exchange would decide victory and defeat.

He did not doubt his granddaughter’s win—but he could not let go of the worry that she might be hurt.

Hwoop—

SHRRAAA—!

At last—

They moved, and their powers collided.

KUUUUUUNG—!!

The shock was enough to shake the entire Martial Alliance grounds.

Dust covered the arena once more.

Shhhhh....

Caught in the current of force, the dust did not settle easily and drifted in solemn rings around the platform.

Cough—! Cough!

“What? What happened?”

“Is it over...?”

Eyes stinging in the thick dust, people pried them open to stare at the arena.

They waited for the result with taut nerves.

At last the air cleared, and the outline atop the platform came into view.

Someone lay on the ground; another stood above them.

Namgoong Seolhwa?

Snow-Plum Sabre?

Namgoong Seolhwa?

Snow-Plum Sabre?

Opinions split in a clamor—

“S—Snow-Plum Sabre!”

A shout burst out.

As the dust sank, the scene on the platform sharpened into clarity.

Just as the shout claimed, the one on top was Snow-Plum Sabre.

“Snow-Plum Sabre won!!”

“Waaaaaa!!”

The crowd erupted.

They shouted the winner’s name until their throats split.

“Snow-Plum Sabre! Snow-Plum Sabre!”

The arena brimmed with cheers and exultation; cries and applause crashed like waves.

But Yu Gang and Seolhwa—

Their expressions were nothing like the fever around them. They were set—grim.

“You okay?”

Yu Gang looked down at Seolhwa, startled.

At the instant their powers collided, she had suddenly stilled—eyes fixed on something behind him.

Yu Gang, too, had twisted his attack aside in a rush and passed her—yet the powers they’d already loosed slammed together and detonated.

Without hesitation, Yu Gang had wrapped his arms around Seolhwa.

“Seolhwa.”

Her eyes, looking up at him, trembled finely.

Seolhwa turned her head toward the cheering crowd.

— Namgoong Seolhwa. [voice transmission]

“!”

Amid the throng brimming with excitement, a man in a pressed-down bamboo hat laid his presence bare to her.

Beneath his half-mask, a scar ran down to his nape.

That man...

“Seolhwa. Are you all right?”

Yu Gang gripped her shoulders and helped her up.

But Seolhwa could not take her eyes off the unknown man swallowed by the crowd.

Tak—!

Seop Mugwang came up to them.

Watching closest, he had seen their final attacks go awry.

And that the slip had been because of Seolhwa.

“What happened?”

Still staring into the mass of people, she turned to him and spoke.

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

Seop Mugwang looked at her, eyes widening.

“The match isn’t over yet. You’d go anyway?”

There were few who would know she had withdrawn her power at the last instant.

Likely only himself, watching from closest by, and a few Flowering-realm masters.

Because of that, the mood had swung toward Snow-Plum Sabre’s victory—but he had not yet declared it.

If he announced the match wasn’t over, they could resume—couldn’t they?

“I forfeit.”

“!”

“Seolhwa?!”

Seop Mugwang’s brow furrowed.

“...Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

It didn’t sound like an empty word.

He flicked a glance toward where she’d been looking, then sent a voice transmission up to Namgoong Mucheon on the pavilion.

His throat bobbed once.

A low sigh left him.

“May I go?”

Seop Mugwang gave a quiet nod.

“Go.”

“Seolhwa!”

“You wait.”

Keeping hold of Yu Gang, who moved to run after her, Seop Mugwang spoke.

“Come back «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» and explain exactly what happened.”

“...Yes.”

Seolhwa bowed briefly to Seop Mugwang and the elders on the pavilion, then left the arena.

“Seol—!”

“She said wait.”

Seop Mugwang led Yu Gang back to the center of the platform.

Eyes followed Seolhwa’s receding figure as Yu Gang, held by Seop Mugwang’s hand, took his place.

Amid the raucous cheers, in the chaos—

“Snow-Plum Sabre wins!”

Seop Mugwang’s voice rang out, declaring Yu Gang the victor.

“Snow-Plum Sabre! Snow-Plum Sabre!”

The crowd chanted the champion’s epithet even louder.

After such a fierce and overwhelming duel before their eyes, none doubted his victory.

“Snow-Plum Sabre! Snow-Plum Sabre!”

In that uproar, Seolhwa slipped quietly out of the arena.

****

Huff. Huff....

Meanwhile, having left the grounds, Seolhwa moved without a breath of rest.

From behind, the faint chant of “Snow-Plum Sabre” drifted from the arena.

[Where are you going?]

At some point, the Imoogi had come to her side.

Sensing the shift in her emotions, he had returned the instant he felt something amiss.

“He showed himself.”

[Who?]

“The Scar.”

The bamboo-hatted man with the scar—the one who had repeatedly thrown obstacles in her path.

He had appeared.

At the tournament.

“He called me.”

Tap— tadadat—

Seolhwa vaulted over rooftops, moving fast.

She was so swift that no one had any chance of recognizing her.

[And so you mean to go meet him now?]

“Yeah.”

[Do you even know what kind of man he is!]

Seolhwa pressed her lips thin.

She didn’t know what kind of man he was.

She knew what the Imoogi was worried about.

But—

“It didn’t feel like he came to fight.”

She recalled the look in the man’s eyes back in the arena.

The way he looked at her wasn’t hostile—it was the gaze of someone with something to say.

Of course, that too was only instinct.

“I have to meet him.”

Who he was, why he kept interfering with her affairs, whether he belonged to the Blood Cult—

If they met, she could at least learn something.