Ch.13Chapter 13 – Inner Demon (2)

Currently, Bi-wol was in a state of demonic possession caused by her Inner Demon.

The romantic feelings she had been suppressing for her master, combined with jealousy over the new disciple, had caused her true nature to emerge.

As the internal energy stored within her body went berserk, her inner world had become so powerful that it was impossible to predict who would win if she fought against her master, Bing-yeon.

“…I lost consciousness for a moment.”

The so-called ‘good Bi-wol,’ who had been trying to maintain her rationality for fear of being hated by Bing-yeon, regained her senses and awoke.

Swoosh—

Rain was falling, blood and corpses were scattered about, and red-pillared wooden buildings surrounded the area.

Bi-wol knew this place better than anyone.

Of course she did—this was where she had been before Bing-yeon rescued her.

‘This is definitely the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect…’

A cult organization that had fed Bi-wol blood and flesh, made her befriend others only to kill them, all to turn her—who bore the karma of the Star of Heavenly Murder—into a Heavenly Demon.

‘I thought Master completely destroyed this place…?’

This was definitely the place that called itself the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. The place where Bi-wol had been sold by parents whose faces she couldn’t even remember, where she endured a brutal past alongside other children.

“Are you awake? I’m dealing with Master right now.”

“You are…?”

Standing before Bi-wol was a woman who had the same face as her, but looked more mature.

In direct contrast to Bi-wol’s white uniform, this person wore black and waved at her.

“That’s right! I’m the ‘bad Bi-wol’ who’s been talking to you from inside your heart. Well, I don’t know why you insist on calling me bad.”

The appearance of bad Bi-wol was exactly as Han Do-hyeon—the author of the martial arts web novel “Diamond Fist King” before he possessed Bing-yeon—had described her in the latter part of his story.

The difference was that she was taller than the current Bi-wol, with a more mature figure that could be recognized as a full-grown woman.

She looked several times stronger than Bi-wol, truly deserving of the name “Heavenly Demon.”

“…Are you my future self?”

Bi-wol almost mistook her for her future self. After all, people with distinctive red eyes like hers were rare.

“Well, more precisely, I am the karma you should have shouldered instead of Master…”

Bad Bi-wol put her finger to her lips, appearing to think deeply. Her seductive smile left a strong impression.

“Combined with your romantic feelings for Master. You can call me Inner Demon, or Star of Heavenly Murder. I like those titles!”

“…Then, Star of Heavenly Murder. Where is this place?”

Bi-wol asked while looking around.

Why were she and the Star of Heavenly Murder in this terrible space filled with the strong smell of rain and blood?

“This is your mental world. Don’t you understand yet?”

The Star of Heavenly Murder chuckled at Bi-wol. She seemed to know this place but didn’t want to believe it.

“It’s exactly like the cult building where you were imprisoned as a child, right? Where you dumped your dead friends.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder pointed to a place piled with corpses, swarming with maggots and flies. Next to it was a large pit dug in the ground.

That pit wasn’t dug by adults. They had forced children to take shovels and work themselves to exhaustion, creating a space to bury the bodies.

“…No. This is a dream. It can’t be.”

Bi-wol finally understood the situation around her and shook her head vigorously.

This is a dream, she told herself countless times. If she closed her eyes and woke up, her master Bing-yeon would be by her side.

“This isn’t a dream, Bi-wol. This is the place you were originally supposed to escape from yourself.”

Swish— As the Star of Heavenly Murder waved her hand once, the surroundings began to change. The rain fell harder, and a man wearing a long robe appeared in Bi-wol’s sight.

– Child who bears the karma of the Star of Heavenly Murder. I shall take you in.

The leader of the cult that called itself the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect. The frightening man was looking at her with an excited expression.

– You shall be reborn as a new ominous star in our sect.

His goal was to create a sea of blood in the peaceful martial arts world. It was the misdirected revenge of a man who had lost his children to bandits, and his wife and parents to plague and famine.

– Come, let us take revenge on the heaven that has lost righteousness and chivalry.

Bi-wol squeezed her eyes shut at the sight of him. She had certainly been afraid of this man in the past.

“Showing me these illusions won’t do any good. This man was—”

Because eventually Bing-yeon had appeared and saved her. Even in her mental world, she firmly believed in her master.

A man who wasn’t afraid to take a blade for her, who smiled and told her not to worry even as he bled.

But,

“Master? You mean Master Bing-yeon? No, look carefully. This is the ‘future’ we would have originally experienced.”

As if mocking her expectations, the Star of Heavenly Murder smiled eerily and glared at Bi-wol.

Then,

With a sharp slicing sound,

“Huh…?”

The scene unfolded where the cult leader’s head was cut off by Bi-wol’s hand. It was a movement she herself hadn’t even been aware of.

It felt like her body and mind were separate, as if she were being controlled by someone else’s strings.

“You should have been reborn as a Heavenly Demon there. You should have killed this man and risen as the new leader.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder kept talking to Bi-wol, who was trembling uncontrollably with blood splattered on her face and the warm sensation remaining on her hands.

“You should have destroyed the heaven that never saved you, to avenge the friends who sacrificed their blood and flesh for you.”

With each word she spoke, the scene before Bi-wol’s eyes changed.

Now she saw human entrails, blood, and fragments of flesh,

And this time she had become someone who drank human blood and ate human flesh like water and food to satisfy her hunger.

“…Urgh, ugh, urrrgh.”

The thick, fishy taste of blood lingered in her mouth. The tough flesh with fine hairs embedded in it tasted terrible.

“I need to throw up. I need to throw it all up…”

Bi-wol wanted to put her fingers in her mouth and spit out everything she had stuffed in there, but…

“No, this is how we would have satisfied our hunger and thirst if Master hadn’t been there.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder forced Bi-wol to lift her head and see what she was eating. This was the common sense that had been instilled in her at the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.

According to the setting of the novel “Diamond Fist King,” she was originally unable to eat anything except human flesh and blood.

“Tanghulu made from hawthorn berries, or sugar-coated mahwa? You probably never thought you could eat those.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder munched on snacks while watching Bi-wol suffer from the terrible sensations.

“Originally, you could only sleep by listening to people’s screams. The cries of newborn babies, pleas for mercy, the wails of those who had lost their loved ones.”

As soon as the Star of Heavenly Murder said this, a noise invaded Bi-wol’s mind. It was a terrible sound mixed with the screams and wails of men, women, old, and young.

“That’s what you were supposed to be. A being abandoned by heaven, and thus a Heavenly Demon meant to bring down that heaven.”

It was the opposite of the sleeping place where Master Bing-yeon had been. Bi-wol was trying to sleep on a dirt floor covered with sharp, bumpy stones, without even laying down leaves.

“But not anymore.”

No matter how hard she tried to regain control of her body by biting her tongue and using all her strength, it had no effect.

“Stop, please stop…!!”

“Every breath you take, everything you love, is due to Master’s grace.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder knew how painful this was for Bi-wol, but she had a duty to make her realize this fact.

Because she was the Inner Demon.

Because she was the trial that had crept into Bi-wol’s heart.

Because she knew the karma that the original Bi-wol should have borne.

“So, don’t look away. Watch carefully.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder waved her hand once more, and now numerous people were rushing toward Bi-wol.

– The demon leader is over there! Deploy the formation!

– A woman like the abyss of hell. Are you really human?

– Before righteousness and chivalry, peace! Protect peace!

– Let’s put aside the grudges between righteous and evil sects and join forces!

Among them were those bearing the emblem of the Martial Alliance, and others who seemed to be from the Sadoryeon, holding axes in both hands.

“…Who are all these people?”

“They’re all humans who have come to kill me, or more precisely, us.”

All those people were glaring at Bi-wol with frenzied faces. They were drawing their swords against the young girl, emanating killing intent and preparing to use martial techniques.

“The Poison Dragon of the Tang Clan of Sichuan, the Infinite Sword Emperor of the Namgung Family, the leader of Kaifang, the leader of Haomun, and who else… There are too many to remember.”

The Star of Heavenly Murder pointed out these figures one by one, then sighed deeply and shook her head as if giving up.

This was because people from both righteous and evil sects, as well as from the outer martial arts world, had come to kill Bi-wol.

This was the future that the original Bi-wol should have experienced,

A fate now twisted by Bing-yeon.

Knowing all this, the Star of Heavenly Murder couldn’t help but look at Bi-wol with a sad expression.

After all, the Star of Heavenly Murder was born with the karma of having to kill to survive.

“…Master, where is Master? If Master were here, he could persuade these people. Tell them it’s all a misunderstanding, that they’ve got it all wrong.”

Even in this situation, Bi-wol tried to find a familiar face. A man with white hair and blue eyes.

She searched for Bing-yeon, the leader of the Ice Dragon Fate Sect and Bi-wol’s master, but…

“In my original karma, there is no Master.”

At that moment,

Thud, roll—

“…What did you say?”

There was the sound of something heavy rolling, and then Bi-wol felt something hit her feet.

“Because Bing-yeon was killed by the future me who bore the original karma.”

When Bi-wol looked down at her feet with wide eyes, she saw Bing-yeon’s severed head beneath them.

* * *

Bi-wol (or rather, the Inner Demon claiming to be Bi-wol) and I were now sitting cross-legged.

To engage in a verbal duel called Nongeom, we were both sitting side by side in a meditative posture.

“Hehe, I didn’t expect Master to prepare such a cute method. A duel with words.”

Bi-wol let out a chuckle before we even properly began the verbal duel.

“Indeed, it’s been quite a while since we had a proper duel, hasn’t it?”

I smiled inwardly as I looked at her. It was always good to see a disciple trying to surpass their master.

It meant they were trying to step out of their master’s shadow and become their own person.

“You’ll regret giving this disciple even three seconds of advantage.”

“Well, I think you’ll still lose even with that.”

I couldn’t help but smile inwardly as I watched Bi-wol take a deep breath and contemplate which technique to prepare.

After all, I was also the author who created Bi-wol. Every martial art she used was essentially born from my mind.

If this were a physical duel, I might lose due to my poor physical condition, but in this area, I was more confident than anyone.

“Is that okay?”

“It’ll be fine. If we can resolve something that almost killed us all with just a war of words, we’re getting off easy!”

Wolfram Alchemista and Verdandi Astraia whispered as they watched us. The hero, having received the Golden Pagoda Lord’s healing, looked as energetic as if he had never been injured.

I had already asked others not to interfere with our verbal duel. Although I had noticed that Bi-wol had these feelings for me…

It was partly my fault for pretending not to know until the Inner Demon appeared.

And,

There was another reason why we had to have this verbal duel.

“My title is Ice Dragon, revered as the leader of the Ice Dragon Fate Sect, descendant of the North Sea Ice Palace bloodline.”

“My title, though given by those cult scum, would be Heavenly Demon.”

Bi-wol and I stated our titles, completing our preparations to begin the duel.

“Then I shall begin, Master.”

“Very well, what will you start with?”

“The first form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Dominance Step, to reduce the distance between us to one step.”

“Then I shall use the second form of the Ice-White Divine Art, Ice Shadow Wall, to block your approach.”

“Excellent! Then I shall use the second form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Blood Severing Chop with my hand blade to break through Master’s ice wall!”

The Inner Demon began responding with a bright smile, as if the martial arts I was using were forming in her mind.

In the novel “Diamond Fist King,” I had written about a special method that the protagonist Kim Hyul used to defeat the Inner Demon.

‘It was a verbal duel called Nongeom.’

When someone falls into demonic possession due to the Inner Demon’s temptation, their original personality becomes trapped in their mental world.

‘But Nongeom can penetrate Bi-wol’s mental world.’

Using this method, even others could help someone possessed by an Inner Demon. This was because when strong practitioners imagined and visualized something, it could affect reality.

“…Fourth form of the Ice-White Divine Art, Ice Foundation, to make myself solid. I will receive your attack without the slightest movement.”

“Master! You’re truly amazing! You’ve already blocked my attacks twice without a scratch!”

To save Bi-wol, I had to fight her Inner Demon.