Could it be they hadn’t imagined the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star would show up at the hall in person?

The Family Heads of the Five Great Families, along with the crowd, stood frozen in place, faces so strained it looked hard even to breathe.

The Sovereign Sword, stained with bewilderment, mouthed soundlessly.

“Hea—Heaven-Breaking Sword Star. Why are you—”

Descending slowly to the dais, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star strolled past him and set down the martial artist she’d been gripping. Unable to endure the pressure, the man vomited blood and fainted on the spot.

No one on the stage dared meet the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s gaze; only Yoo Joonghyuk was facing her.

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star spoke to Yoo Joonghyuk.

“You’re a very handsome child.”

In the main work, too, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star had praised Yoo Joonghyuk’s looks.

“Your eyes burn as if aflame. Do you happen to adore me?”

Her temperament was as unpredictable as a natural disaster, but at least to her disciple Yoo Joonghyuk she had been endlessly warm (though she did beat him to death once—let’s call that an exception).

I thought maybe things would go smoothly like this.

That is, until Yoo Joonghyuk stared blankly at the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star and spouted something strange.

“Who are you?”

For a moment I thought I’d heard wrong.

Looking down at Yoo Joonghyuk as if incredulous, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star gave a faint smile and answered.

“I am your master.”

“I’ve never had a master like you.”

What the hell was he saying? Did something go wrong with the dumplings he ate?

This was the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star he’d wanted so badly to meet. And that’s how he spoke to his august master?

Unless he’d lost his mind—hold on.

Lost his mind?

The instant I saw Yoo Joonghyuk’s dumb face, something belatedly came to me.

“Memory penalty.”

That crazy regressor had finally forgotten even his master’s face.

“My master is only the ‘Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.’”

At Yoo Joonghyuk’s reply, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s expression changed at once.

I hastily activated “Midday Tryst” and shouted.

—Yoo Joonghyuk! The one in front of you right now is the ‘Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’!

It felt as if the temperature across the venue dropped sharply.

Sighs and groans rose from all around.

At this rate, Yoo Joonghyuk would get his backside thoroughly smacked and then die again.

That was when the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star smiled faintly.

“What an amusing child. Who on earth is the ‘Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’ you know?”

The situation began to take an unexpected turn.

Yoo Joonghyuk answered.

“My master was—”

His eyes, as he looked at the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star, grew unfocused.

I knew he was climbing back through the years. Right now, Yoo Joonghyuk was ascending the staircase of broken memories, step by step, to pick up an old clause that had fallen between the landings.

“Someone who liked Murim dumplings.”

Someone who liked Murim dumplings.

“Someone who liked animals more than people.”

Someone who liked animals.

“Someone who would meditate for a long time, watching the sunlight falling in the forest and the shadows it cast upon the trees.”

Everyone in the hall listened to Yoo Joonghyuk’s words. Someone’s lips trembled; someone else sighed again. For some reason an old man’s eyes filled with tears. After a short silence, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star asked:

“Who are you, child?”

Instinctively, I realized this was an opportunity.

To be precise, the last opportunity.

—Yoo Joonghyuk! Release [Mental Barrier]!

It was how the Yoo Joonghyuk in the main work proved himself to the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star. If it was now, perhaps we could use that method.

“The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star has the Bright-Mirror Eyes that read others’ emotions.”

With those eyes, she might be able to read Yoo Joonghyuk’s past as in the main work. Then we could bring the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star over to our side once more.

Fortunately, Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to catch my meaning.

“How do I look to your eyes?”

As Yoo Joonghyuk’s [Mental Barrier] was lifted, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s [Bright-Mirror Eyes] blazed to life. It felt as if time itself had stopped around us.

My heart pounded.

If she was the “Heaven-Breaking Sword Star” I knew, she would never ignore Yoo Joonghyuk’s past. She would not turn away from the memories drawn up from those horrific years.

She was someone who had no choice but to do so.

But there was a blind spot to this plan.

“What if Yoo Joonghyuk hadn’t only forgotten the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s face?”

A worst-case thought flashed through my mind.

“What if most of the memories with the ‘Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’ had been erased from Yoo Joonghyuk’s head?”

At length, the light of the Bright-Mirror Eyes faded from the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s pupils. Luckily, it seemed she had read some memory from Yoo Joonghyuk.

“You little brat.”

Tilting her head, the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star asked curiously:

“Why did you get your butt smacked by me?”

For hell’s sake, why was it that memory of all things.

“I don’t know.”

Whether because his mind was wavering before his master for the first time in a while, Yoo Joonghyuk frowned and added:

“Seems you have a taste for that.”

“Hm. I wonder if you’ll still be able to say that while getting your butt smacked again.”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s right hand shone a cold blue.

I could no longer stay out of it. Somehow, I had to persuade the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star here and now. All kinds of plans flared and faded in my head.

“Let’s just say I’m actually Yoo Joonghyuk. Then offer my memories.”

“What if I recite information from the Annihilation Law.”

“As a disciple of Baekcheong Gate, proclaim it to the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star. If I say I know the relationship between your master and mine, then—”

“In that case I’d die before Yoo Joonghyuk does.”

The moment I hurriedly moved and finally got up onto the hall’s dais—

Kugugugugu.

I heard the sound of the martial world’s sky opening. The hair on my forearms prickled up once more. My body’s reaction felt similar, yet something about it was different from when the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star had appeared earlier.

A chill ran down my spine, and a ringing filled my ears. A sensation like some nameless organ deep inside me was vibrating.

A “horror” coming from something endlessly alien.

“G—good lord!”

“The Horror Realm has opened!”

The “Great Hole” appeared in the sky. From beyond that yawning aperture, an ink-black shadow was crossing over.

I heard the escorting martial artists who had sprinted onto the stage to stop me clacking their teeth together.

“T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t—”

And ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) with it came a massive maw, revealed beyond the Great Hole.

Fangs that utterly filled the depths of its jaws.

[TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH TEETH]

The fangs were speaking.

[TEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETHTEETH]

Incarnations all around screamed and collapsed.

“U—g—gggyaaaaa!”

Teeth were sprouting from the incarnations’ faces. A man whose lips and palate were budding with fangs spoke through a split jaw.

“They’re coming, they’re coming—He is coming—The Master of Teeth is coming—He comes to pierce—He comes to rip and devour—He comes from where the fangs and molars meet—teeth gums teeth gums—the gap is opening—”

Goosebumps ran over me.

I was reminded anew of what an outer divinity is. A being that shatters a mortal’s mind merely by being faced.

Incarnations infected by an otherworldly fable thrashed, shedding tears of blood.

My head spun.

Why had an outer divinity appeared now?

Nothing like this was described anywhere in the Annihilation Law.

Could an outer divinity even cross over the Horror Realm at this time?

Who on earth had provided such plausibility?

[The fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name,’ growls.]

Thankfully, the outer divinity’s fable didn’t seem able to affect me.

But the entire hall area was already pandemonium.

“Uaaaaah! I don’t want to die—I don’t want to die—The Master of Teeth is coming—”

Even so, not all incarnations knelt before the outer divinity. The Family Heads of the Five Great Families, and some martial artists, were drawing up their power to oppose the outer divinity’s fable.

“Everyone, get a grip!”

At the Sovereign Sword’s shout, the martial artists came to their senses and began drawing their weapons.

“Don’t worry! We can win! This is not the martial world of the past!”

Since the “Outer Divinity Incident,” the “First Murim” had long prepared for the “Horror Realm.”

The martial world was not the same as back then.

At least, there were masters here who could fight against the incomprehensibility of an outer divinity.

“So that is an outer divinity.”

A dignified voice rose from the crowd. There stood one of the current martial world’s top ten masters.

“It’s One-Sword Soul-Seizer, Cheon Gahwi!”

“Dragon-Heaven Blade is here too! The transcendent seats have arrived!”

At last, the transcendent seats representing the new generation of the martial world had appeared.

When One-Sword Soul-Seizer drew his sword, Dragon-Heaven Blade likewise drew his long saber in reply.

“Making a fuss over nothing.”

Indeed, the aura pouring from their whole bodies justified that confidence.

It wasn’t only One-Sword Soul-Seizer and Dragon-Heaven Blade. Shadows of transcendent seats appeared on the rooftops all around.

Even counting roughly, there were more than a dozen.

They were transcendent seats gathered to protect the “First Murim.”

“Teeth teeth teeth teeth—”

Martial artists whose scalps had been replaced with teeth surrounded One-Sword Soul-Seizer and Dragon-Heaven Blade.

As if mocking them, One-Sword Soul-Seizer muttered:

“My, my.”

Heads flew. His blade work, cutting down the infected, was ruthless and clean.

“Wh—why—”

As if forgetting that they had been comrades of the same rivers and lakes just moments ago, his sword strikes annihilated the surrounding martial artists in an instant. And then—

“Is that one who came over from the entry of the Horror Realm?”

“I’ve seen something similar in strategies. A fish-type outer divinity. An entity with almost no ego.”

Observing the outer divinity’s head, Dragon-Heaven Blade added:

“The fable is a classic infection type. It’s not a high-danger one.”

“The two of us should be enough.”

With those words, the two masters vanished. Sheathed in dazzling sunlight, they ascended toward the Great Hole. It looked like they intended to settle it in a single stroke.

Yoo Joonghyuk, who had come to stand by my side at some point, murmured softly:

“Idiots.”

The moment the two masters’ sword ways moved, the massive maw in the sky opened as if to tear.

[CHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMP]

At the same time as that mind-numbing screech, a colossal fang jutted from the empty air.

The fang split One-Sword Soul-Seizer and Dragon-Heaven Blade cleanly in two. Death in an instant, without even time to scream.

“Im—impossible, that’s im—”

With a single blow, two of the martial world’s vaunted top ten masters were gone.

Despairing martial artists screamed.

“The transcendent seats! Where are the other transcendent seats!”

But no one appeared. I couldn’t sense a trace of the presences that had occupied the rooftops until moments ago.

I understood the situation.

The transcendent seats of the “First Murim” were all beings who had experienced the “Horror Realm.”

Meaning, they intuited upon seeing that outer divinity:

The monster descending from the sky now was not an enemy they could face.

“Yoo Joonghyuk.”

I looked to Yoo Joonghyuk.

No matter who I was—even if Yoo Joonghyuk recovered his strength—facing that monster would be difficult.

But instead of fleeing, Yoo Joonghyuk was looking at someone.

Perhaps it wasn’t only Yoo Joonghyuk.

In that moment, everyone in the martial world was looking at the same person.

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.”

The god of this martial world.

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star!”

The one and only transcendent seat who could stand against that horrific outer divinity.

“Wh—why is a thing like that appearing now—”

“The scales of plausibility! The scales of plausibility must have shifted! Which means……”

“It’s because of the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star!”

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star! It must be a monster that appeared because of you!”

The Heaven-Breaking Sword Star’s gaze moved slowly. She looked at the helpless crowd, then at Yoo Joonghyuk. Lastly, her eyes turned toward me.

Why?

Her Bright-Mirror Eyes were shining brilliantly. She was clearly looking at me, yet her gaze seemed to be probing something else inside me.

Kugugugu.

Once more the Great Hole heaved. At last, the outer divinity’s maw revealed its full form. The jaws resembled those of a shark.

A warning bell belatedly rang in my head.

Why did that outer divinity’s appearance feel familiar?

[The fable fragment, ‘Rapid Swim,’ wriggles.]

The past ten days flashed through my mind.

The days of roaming the void of <Star Stream> with Teacher Jaehwan.

During that journey, I had once absorbed a fable fragment of a shark outer divinity that Teacher Jaehwan ruthlessly stabbed to death.

[The fable fragment, ‘Rapid Swim,’ shivers.]

An eye revealed above the maw was staring at the ground.

It was searching for something.

[SNIFFSNIFFSNIFFSNIFFSNIFF]

My god. No way.

“Heaven-Breaking Sword Star! Take responsibility for the calamity you brought!”

“Are you trying to destroy the martial world?”

It wasn’t because of the Heaven-Breaking Sword Star.

That outer divinity—

[SNIFFSNIFFSNIFFSNIFFSNIFF]

—had crossed over the Horror Realm now because it had caught a whiff of me.