Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 319 – Fragments of Truth (1)

-Crumble! Crumble!

The walls of the residence building cracked, and even the roof tiles began to shatter.

Ma Ra-hyeon’s heart, standing on the roof tiles, pounded heavily.

Despite the considerable distance, the waves of murderous intent spreading in all directions made one feel death even while alive.

This was the first time he had seen a mere human’s murderous intent cause such an uproar.

“Amitabha. I thought the owner’s heart was filled with demons, but he wasn’t just filled with them, he was a demon himself.”

The excommunicated monk Ja Geum-jeong, who had his arms crossed under the roof, chanted a Buddhist prayer for the first time in a long while, fiddling with his broken prayer beads.

Maguṇi (魔仇尼).

In Buddhist scriptures, demons themselves are referred to by various terms.

One of them is Maguṇi, also known as the Demon Army, the Heavenly Demon… and the Demon of the Son of Heaven.

Ja Geum-jeong, who had mastered the Incomparable Great Power, could sense the energy of the great nature.

‘Even the energy of the great nature is in turmoil.’

Everything that existed feared that murderous intent.

Just how enraged must one be to emit this level of murderous intent?

Ja Geum-jeong looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

His appearance, shrouded in the emanating demonic energy, was the embodiment of a demon.

-Roar!

‘W-what the hell is he?’

Lee Gwang, held in the air by Mok Gyeong-un’s true energy, had an expression of fear for the first time in his life.

Even when he first bowed to that person, he had never been this terrified.

He was merely overwhelmed by the pressure, but now his heart was pounding so hard that it was difficult to even meet his eyes.

‘Why… Why is he doing this?’

Despite his fear, Lee Gwang was perplexed.

Why, of all people, was the one he was looking for that old man Mun-no?

As far as he knew, that old man had no blood relatives or anything, so he couldn’t understand.

So Lee Gwang barely suppressed this sense of terror and parted his lips.

And for the first time in his life, he felt fear from this tremendous murderous intent and evil-stained nature.

“There… must be some misunderstanding…”

-Swish!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un lightly raised his hand.

Then he slightly tilted his hand to the right.

-Crack!

As soon as he did that, Lee Gwang’s right arm was forcibly raised and then torn off to the right.

“Aaaaargh!”

Even though his recently reattached arm was torn off again, the pain was beyond imagination.

Blood gushed out like a fountain, and Lee Gwang gasped roughly.

Thanks to the regenerative ability of the demonic energy, the torn part was quickly healing, but it was still agonizing to have a perfectly fine arm ripped off.

‘D-damn it! It hurts. It hurts so much. Ugh.’

It hurt even more than when it was cut off.

He wanted to die rather than endure this.

As he was suffering, Lee Gwang unconsciously raised his head and made eye contact with Mok Gyeong-un.

Just from meeting his eyes, at that moment,

-Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish!

He was engulfed in the illusion of his entire body being shredded by a sword.

And it wasn’t just for a moment.

Like a piece of meat tied up in a slaughterhouse, he was unable to move an inch and was continuously and relentlessly slashed, and it felt like there was no end to it.

It felt like it was going on for a whole day, no, even for several days.

-Slash! Slash!

‘What the hell is this?’

Seop Chun, who had stepped back due to the murderous intent, couldn’t hide his astonishment at the bizarre sight.

Lee Gwang was convulsing, and his entire body was being slashed on its own, blood flowing down.

It was so strange that it was eerie, without even feeling any sword energy.

“Haah!”

Then Lee Gwang roughly exhaled and arched his back, and black blood poured out of his mouth.

As he spat out so much black blood that it was like vomiting, Lee Gwang’s eyes shook like crazy.

What was that just now?

It felt like he had been slashed for days, but when he came to his senses, it was only a moment.

He thought it was just an illusion, but his whole body was covered in blood, and even his internal organs seemed to be in a wretched state.

“Ugh…”

It hurt too much.

It was so painful that he even thought he wanted to die.

So Lee Gwang spoke as if pleading,

“S-stop… Please, just stop…”

“It would be troublesome if you’re tired out by just this much. We’re just getting started.”

-Swish!

This time, Mok Gyeong-un slightly tilted his hand to the left.

-Crack!

As soon as he did that, Lee Gwang’s left arm was raised and then pulled to the left, eventually being torn off.

“Aaaaargh!”

The blood vessels in Lee Gwang’s white eyes burst, and his eyes turned red.

He was even shedding bloody tears.

It was more agonizing because his body was recovering due to the demonic energy inside him, making it difficult for him to die easily.

Mok Gyeong-un knew this, so he was inflicting pain on him without using demonic energy or the energy of death.

To him, who was suffering like that, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“Why did you do it?”

“Ugh… Wh-what…”

“I’m asking why you killed Mun-no.”

“I… I…”

-Stab!

“Kuh!”

Mok Gyeong-un’s hand pierced into his hesitating abdomen.

Easily penetrating even the hard scales, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his internal organs with his hand.

“Aaaaargh!”

It was already agonizing to have external wounds, but when he directly inflicted pain on his internal organs, Lee Gwang trembled his body as if he would faint at any moment.

Even his only remaining lower garment was being stained by the fluid and blood oozing out.

‘I… I have to die.’

As if he couldn’t take it anymore, Lee Gwang made an extreme decision.

Although he couldn’t move his body, he could still circulate his internal energy, so he decided to induce death by making it go out of control.

So he tried to raise his energy, but,

-Grip!

“Ugh!”

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s hand that had pierced his abdomen was now heading towards his danjeon.

As Mok Gyeong-un’s hand touched his danjeon,

-Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

The gathered internal energy scattered as if corroded by a strange energy.

The scattered energy escaped his control and seeped out of his body through his skin like a haze.

“Uhhh…”

As the energy drained out, the scales on his skin gradually lost their color.

Then the pain he had been feeling so far gradually doubled.

Just moving the hand stuck in his abdomen a little made him want to die from the excruciating pain.

“Aaaaargh, please! Please just kill me.”

“How could I do that?”

“Kill… Kill me…”

Seeing him suffering, Mok Gyeong-un grinned with a smile so eerie that the corners of his mouth reached his ears.

The moment he saw that, Lee Gwang felt like he would go crazy.

This bastard was enjoying this situation.

His pleas for death only continued to amuse this bastard.

Even if he wanted to forcibly endure it, his will to do so had long been broken since the moment he was gripped by fear.

Enduring it was out of the question in this situation.

“Uhhh…”

“You don’t have to answer my questions at all. Just keep suffering like that.”

This was sincere.

Mok Gyeong-un intended to give him pain worse than hell, and he planned to sustain it, not just end it briefly.

He hadn’t been searching for him just to end it with a single instance.

Then Lee Gwang mustered all his remaining strength to say something.

“What… What… kind of relationship… do you have with Mun-no… to do this… to me?”

“Ah. Right. Yeah. You should know that.”

Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and smiled at Seop Chun, saying,

“Seop Chun. Could you go over there for a moment?”

“Ah, yes, I understand.”

-Whoosh!

At Mok Gyeong-un’s command, Seop Chun, who had been watching with a pale complexion, immediately launched his body towards the residence building.

As he left, Mok Gyeong-un turned his head back and said,

“That’s right. You should know the reason why you have to suffer.”

“Uhhh…”

“He’s my grandfather.”

‘!?’

At those words, Lee Gwang’s eyes widened.

He doubted his own ears right now.

Mun-no was his grandfather?

“What… What does that mean?”

“It’s exactly as you heard. Mun-no is my grandfather.”

“That can’t be? Mun-no has no blood relatives… Huh?”

The image of a burning house flashed through Lee Gwang’s mind.

He thought that crazy old man Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong had noticed their approach and burned down the house to erase the traces of his living there and escape.

But that wasn’t the case.

Burning down the house wasn’t to erase the traces of him living there.

It was to hide this bastard.

To conceal the existence that was with him, he burned down the house.

‘Wait… Then how did he know the Demon Sword Technique of the first realm…’

-Smack!

“Aaaaargh!”

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his intestines.

Lee Gwang screamed in pain and suffered.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“There’s no need to be so surprised that we’re not blood-related. You seem to know something. Is that why you killed my grandfather?”

“Please, just let go of this… Ugh…”

“Does it hurt? Bear with it. You’ll get used to it soon.”

What the hell was this crazy bastard saying about getting used to it while grabbing his internal organs?

Was this bastard truly a demon?

Lee Gwang’s trembling eyes wavered.

‘Evil?’

In Lee Gwang’s trembling eyes, Mok Gyeong-un’s appearance, exuding demonic energy, was the embodiment of a demon.

Seeing that, Lee Gwang was dumbfounded.

The prophecy that old woman Holy Fire Priestess had made.

The original text of that prophecy came to mind.

[Beware, for the incarnation of Ahriman, who will taint the sacred flame with black evil, shall appear in this world.]

That person had said that the prophecy would be about a being that doesn’t exist in this world, an otherworldly being.

It was a being different from spiritual creatures or demons and spirits, so it was an evil that had to be eliminated.

In fact, everyone, including himself, naturally believed it to be an otherworldly being.

But it seemed they had misunderstood.

‘…How could this be.’

To think they failed to recognize it even when it was so close to them.

This monstrous talent who hadn’t learned martial arts, was too late to learn it at the age of seventeen, and reached the level of a great sage in less than half a year.

This was not something an ordinary human could achieve.

‘Huh?’

Lee Gwang raised his head and stared intently at Mok Gyeong-un.

Guardian Jang of the Fire Faith Order… The existence that old man Mun-no, Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong, had tried to hide with all his might… It was none other than,

“It… It was you.”

“…What are you talking about now?”

“You were the incarnation of Ahriman in the prophecy.”

‘!?’