Chapter 88 – Stories of Those Who Left – Daily Life

Stories of Those Who Left – Daily Life

Kwagaga-!

A massive tidal wave swept across the black earth beneath the dark sky.

Crushing everything, trampling everything.
A violence of immense mass, pulverizing everything.

That’s when it happened.
The tidal wave that was roughly churning the black earth suddenly began to boil, and soon after, a small sun rose from within it.

Chiiik-!

With the overwhelming heat emitted by the small sun, the tidal wave that had been churning the black earth instantly evaporated and disappeared.
The sun, which had evaporated the tidal wave… no, the sea without leaving even steam, eventually took on a form.

“P-please spare me!”

A man with hair and eyes like burning flames.
The man who was once a small sun that evaporated the vast sea cried out like that.

“For heaven’s sake! How long! Are you going to keep this up!”

Whoosh-!

As the man swings the light sword in his hand, this time a wave of flames surges forth, burning the black earth.

However, the wave of flames that burned the black earth vanished instantly, as if evaporating, due to the appearance of ‘something’ new.

Dark blue scales covering the entire body.
Two horns protrude from the forehead, and a thick tail sprouts from the buttocks, swaying gently.

The being that appeared, erasing the wave of flames, looked like a dragon-man from legends, and the man urgently called out to this dragon-man.

“I’ve already said I’m sorry for what happened back then! Sword Demon!”

“Shut up! You think I’ll forgive you because of that? I will definitely kill you!”

In response to the man’s cry, the dragon-man Sword Demon shouted angrily and swung both hands.

Left hand from left to right.
Right hand from right to left.

The moment the two hands cross in the air.

Crash-!

Centered on the man, two massive tidal waves suddenly formed and collided from both sides.
The man, caught between the two colliding tidal waves, let out a suppressed groan as he urgently summoned his strength against the immense pressure pressing in from all directions.

As if responding to the man’s will, the Small Sun Jade embedded in his heart emits a massive amount of yang energy.
The yang energy that burst from his heart soon gathers above his hand, transforming into a small sun.

The small sun thus created began to push back the sea created by the Sword Demon.

[Nine Palaces Sun True Technique – Small Sun]

But.

“What! Where is this defiance coming from!”

As the man pushed back his sea using the sun, the Sword Demon frowned deeply, then tore through space and drew a sword from within.

A sword with an impressive dark blue color.
It clearly took the form of a ‘sword’, but for some reason, looking at it gave the illusion of gazing upon a vast ocean.

The Sword Demon grasped the sword as if snatching it and immediately swung it towards the man without hesitation.

[Exploring Sea Dragon Sword Technique – Sea Dragon Exploration]

Kwaaaa-!

A massive water dragon, created in sync with the swing of the sword in the Sword Demon’s hand, stretched out towards the man who had created a small sun.

“Aaaaargh-! Returner save me!”

The man screamed at the top of his lungs as the water dragon with its sharp teeth rushed towards him.

And, watching this scene…

“Tsk tsk. I wonder when that rascal will ever fix his rowdy nature.”

Black clouds roaming the dark sky.
Seated atop them, the Agent who had been watching their ‘play’ clicked his tongue and muttered.

“This humble one doesn’t think it’s bad. Isn’t that also their effort to maintain their own ‘humanity’?”

“Humanity… is it.”

At the Mara monk’s words, the Agent wore a bitter smile.

Certainly, he.
No, they were gradually losing their humanity.

Heaven Lady… No, her true name is Jongyeon Macheonjon.
It has been a thousand years since they received the grace of the master of this black sky.

During that time, the level of magic techniques they learned through his grace has risen day by day, and all nine, including the representative, have long since entered the realm of human immortality.

But was it because the techniques they learned were dark magic?

The representative, no, all nine villains couldn’t shake the feeling that the higher their level became, the less human they became.

Therefore, they were each trying to scrape together their humanity in their own way.

The representative did so by worshipping and serving Cheon Seoa like a devout believer.
The Demon Monk by performing self-imposed austerities as if he were once an ordinary being.

Among them, the Sword Demon was somehow maintaining his humanity through his fight with the ‘Returner’, an ill-fated connection from Earth.

From the beginning, the Sword Demon couldn’t kill the man called the Returner.

This was because the level of that man who became the Sword Demon’s opponent was far higher than their own, at the level of a celestial immortal.

He was merely pretending to be the Sword Demon’s opponent, acting like this because he didn’t want to die at the hands of the ‘Lady’.

By the way.

“Since it came up, I should go see the Lady.”

The representative rose from his seat with this murmur.
The Demon Monk stared at the representative intently.

“Do you have something to say?”

The representative asked with a disgruntled expression at the gaze too blatant to ignore.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a ‘priest’ first?”

“That’s right.”

“But…, is it okay for a mere priest to meet their worshipped god so frequently…!”

The mouth of the Mara monk, who was always voicing his doubts, closed shut.
No, it wasn’t just the Mara monk’s mouth that closed.

The man who was continuously pushing back the sea of sword demons while creating a small sun.
The sword demon who was endlessly creating the sea to somehow kill that man.

And besides them, all nine other villains spread throughout this black sky, the Demacheon, felt it.

The space. The sky is trembling.
No, this is not just a simple trembling.

Although it may have started as a faint trembling, its end…

“The sky… has split…?”

The Agent muttered while looking up at the ‘above’ with unbelieving eyes.

As the Agent said, the black sky. The Demacheon has split.

What can be glimpsed through the split gap is endless chaos. Void. And darkness.

“Damn it! Everyone…!”

[There’s no need for that.]

Shudder-!

The Agent, who was urgently drawing up power at this strange phenomenon, felt a chilling fear at the sudden voice.

The voice that just echoed.
It was one of the demons, a ‘being that lends power’ through the Nine Levels Nine Demon True Technique, a method the Agent had learned.

One of the nine demons who were allowed to reside in this black sky with the permission of the Lady.

The agent shows an incomprehensible look at its restraint.

“It’s been a while, sister.”

■■■□□■□-.

“I’m glad to see you too. But, did you really have to visit in this way?”

■□■□■■■■□□-.

“Ah, I’m sorry about that. I was taking a short nap.”

■□□■■□-.

“I see. Then I’ll cross over to your domain.”

Cheon Seoa converses with ‘something’ that transcends cognition.
As soon as her words ended, the split sky returned to its place.

Meanwhile, Cheon Seoa, who had been talking with ‘something’, smiled gently at the nine villains and returners who had gathered in surprise at the sudden situation, and said.

“I’ll be going out for a while. It might take… about 300 years, give or take. So.”

Please don’t neglect your training, everyone.

With those words, Cheon Seoa’s existence disappeared without a trace from Daemacheon.

The agent stared blankly at the spot where Cheon Seoa had once stood, and the Mara monk, who had quietly appeared behind the agent, chuckled and said.

“You must be sad that your beloved goddess has disappeared.”

“Watch your words.”

“Hehehe.”

The agent spoke with a slightly furrowed brow, and the Mara monk just chuckled.

* * *

“It’s been a long time! Seoa!”

“It hasn’t been that long, sister.”

■■■■■■-!

Beyond mortal cognition.
In a lush forest where empty sounds that transcend mortal perception reverberate.

But, only the form of a ‘forest’ exists. Cheon Seoa, who appeared in this strange space where no concept exists, smiled gently at the ‘woman’ greeting her.

It took the form of a human but was not human.
Unclothed. Therefore, it revealed its voluminous, almost violent chest without filter, and smiled softly at Cheon Seoa’s words.

“If you say it’s been a while, then it has been. As you know, ‘time’ doesn’t exist here.”

“I know that too.”

Cheon Seoa said, buried in the violent chest of that thing wearing the shell of a ‘woman’.

By the way.
I felt this even while coming here.
Why does sister.

“Why are you wearing such an uncomfortable shell?”

When Cheon Seoa asked as if she truly couldn’t understand, ‘it’ smiled softly once again.

“Are you curious?”

“Hmm….”

Am I curious?
If you’re asking if I’m really curious.

“Not really?”

Cheon Seoa answers that she’s not particularly curious, despite being the one who asked.
Even at this contradictory answer, ‘it’ just smiles softly.

Just then, as Cheon Seoa and ‘it’ were catching up after their long-awaited reunion.

■■■-.

“Oh my? Is that so?”

■■■■-.
■■-.
■■■■■-.

“I’m sorry, but this mother cannot help you with that.”

■■■.
■■■■■■-?

“Solve your own problems by yourself. How long will you cling to this mother’s tentacles?”

“Is it that beast from back then?”

Cheon Seoa whispered to ‘it’ that was conversing with ‘something’.

“That’s right. It’s been pestering me about how much it wants to apologize to you.”

“Ah, so that’s the reason you called me here…?”

“Still, since you’re my child after all, I couldn’t just ignore it completely.”

As ‘it’ said this and waved its hand, space tore open and a small beast appeared through the gap.

A beast with a cute form, almost like a doll.

As soon as it popped out from the torn space, it bowed its head towards Cheon Seoa and spoke.

■■■■■.

Something like a strange resonance that mortals cannot understand, perceive, recognize, or interpret.

If one were to forcibly interpret it in a way that mortals could understand, it would be something like:

[I’m sorry about that time, Auntie.]

That’s what it could be said to mean.
Therefore, upon hearing the beast’s apology, Cheon Seoa’s brow…

Crack-.

“I’ll accept your apology. But, please don’t ever call me by that title again.”

Cheon Seoa said in a deliberately calm voice, with ten cross-shaped veins popping up on her forehead.