Chapter 478: Finale (3)

After parting with Jin Yeomyung within the space of Myungra‑Yeon‑yeon.

Cheon Yura, who had gone through a miracle that should have been impossible, was now lying unconscious as if dead.

The separation from Heavenly Evil, with whom she had fully fused.

To rewrite destiny itself was not something a mere human’s will could endure.

Even as Mount Tai completely collapsed and the red-dyed sky turned a shade of blue, Cheon Yura remained motionless at the center of that event, as silent as a mouse.

-…Uh…ra.

What awakened Cheon Yura’s consciousness from the depths of such deep sleep was the voice of someone familiar.

-Get… up.

That voice was far too familiar.

And far too… uncomfortable.

-Get up, Cheon Yura.

“…….”

Her head, submerged in the black water, began to slowly emerge above the surface.

Though her expression was still dazed, her consciousness somehow managed to regain clarity.

“Still dawdling around, you dull thing.”

At the sharp voice that pierced her lungs, Cheon Yura frowned slightly.

A voice she never thought she’d hear again from someone no longer of this world.

But in the current moment, it wasn’t the voice she wanted to hear. The present situation was not at all welcome.

“…Why are you here?”

“This isn’t the time to be asking that, is it?”

Thunk! Thunk!

A woman who resembled Cheon Yura greatly stepped into the center of the black pool, ripples spreading from her soles.

And without a word, she lifted the front of Cheon Yura’s robe.

“What’s with this stupid face?”

She frowned at the sight of her younger sister, showing a face she had never seen before.

“Where did the Cheon Yura go, who always looked ahead and treated me like trash?”

“…….”

“Just because one man died, you’re acting like the whole world has ended? Did you push me aside and rise to the position of Cult Leader just to end up like this?”

“…Cheon Yujeong.”

Cheon Yura’s one and only blood relative, Cheon Yujeong.

For some reason, she had appeared in the deepest recess of Cheon Yura’s mind.

Grab!

Cheon Yujeong grabbed her younger sister by the collar and brought her face close.

With a twisted expression, she barked at her feeble sibling.

“Get it together. Clinging pathetically to a dead man—do you think that’s something worthy of a descendant of the great Heavenly Demon?”

Cheon Yura retorted in a dazed voice.

“You did the same… clung desperately to Jin Yeomyung…”

“When did I ever?!”

Cheon Yujeong flinched at the unexpected counterattack.

Could it be that her black history—known now by no one but herself—had spread so carelessly?

“Don’t tell me that damned guy went blabbing… No, that can’t be it.”

She soon realized Cheon Yura had merely been testing her and let out a sigh of relief.

This place was the deepest part of one’s mind, where emotions surfaced in waves.

It wasn’t hard to discern truth from falsehood in someone whose mind hadn’t yet stabilized.

“Hmph! Not bad. You’re not even fully conscious and yet you still know how to provoke me.”

“…….”

Even while dazed, Cheon Yura glared sullenly at her older sister.

Indeed, she had said it just to be annoying, but her sister’s reaction was fiercer than expected. Maybe… just maybe…

‘No, there’s no meaning in that anymore.’

What was the point of bickering about such things now?

It was already far, far too late.

Just as Cheon Yura realized this and her eyes began to go dark again—

“Aren’t you curious? Why I’ve appeared before your eyes again?”

“…Not really.”

Cheon Yujeong sneered at her uninterested sister.

“Because the one who witnessed the last moments of my life… was that man.”

For a moment, a twitch passed through her brow.

“What does that have to do with anything…”

“The lingering thought I left behind in him flowed into your mind the moment it merged with your psyche.”

This was now something not even the other personalities of Heavenly Evil knew.

She had been the third Heavenly Evil to arrive in this world, after Han Seon and Han Yeong.

“That’s why I know something you don’t.”

Grip!

She pulled her sister’s collar forward.

“He’s not dead.”

Cheon Yura’s pupils expanded drastically in an instant.

“I said, he’s not dead.”

Cheon Yujeong’s expression slowly filled with anger.

“So fix those damn pathetic eyes already!”

Cheon Yujeong’s voice, as she grabbed her by the collar, grew indescribably loud.

“Do you think I showed up in front of your eyes again just to see this pathetic mess?!”

At the shout that rang in her ears, Cheon Yura’s lips parted slightly.

“Cheon… Yujeong.”

“Call me unni.”

Seeing the light slowly returning to her younger sister’s eyes, she let go of her collar roughly.

Splash!

Cheon Yura’s body fell ungracefully back into the black pool.

But it wasn’t long before her body resurfaced again.

This black pool was the boundary separating her consciousness from her subconscious.

Rising up with her own strength meant her mind had completely awakened.

And the very first thing Cheon Yura confirmed after regaining consciousness was this:

“Is he… really alive? Jin Yeomyung? Really?”

“…I’m starting to doubt if you’re truly the Cheon Yura I knew.”

Cheon Yujeong sighed as she looked up at the sky.

Where had the cold-hearted Young Cult Leader gone—the one who seemed like she wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed? And in her place, stood a girl obsessed with a man, one who resembled herself.

Though she had come here to return her sister to her former self—

She couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

“Even if that bastard had really died, is this how the Supreme Leader of the Cult of this era should look?”

“…….”

At Cheon Yujeong’s sarcasm, Cheon Yura remained silent.

Truthfully, she had no rebuttal.

“You should first vow to chase him to the ends of hell and tear apart everyone related to him into a thousand, ten thousand pieces. Not sit here weeping like some common housewife.”

“…….”

Why was it?

She could have mocked back all she wanted, and could have argued all she pleased.

But Cheon Yura didn’t feel like doing any of that.

“Get up. It’s not over yet.”

“It’s not over?”

“That’s right. In truth, only you two can bring an end to this.”

Still within her deep consciousness but fully awakened in mind, Cheon Yura extended her qi perception using her Sword Intent.

And in the far distance, she sensed Heavenly Evil’s energy slowly resurrecting.

Click!

“…Even now, to the very end.”

How long would it continue tormenting them, toying with their lives?

“Take this.”

To the enraged Cheon Yura, Cheon Yujeong handed something over.

“This is…”

A sword gleaming with jet-black light.

It was the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.

Cheon Yujeong gave a smirk.

“The ancestors have already agreed.”

“The ancestors?”

“By now, he should be almost persuaded too. Though really, there probably wasn’t much persuasion needed. No one truly wants to die…”

As she handed over the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, she continued.

“Still, since this was an extremely reckless act, to end it perfectly, you—who are tied by fate—must pull him out yourself.”

Pull him out.

Even without context, she somehow understood what that meant.

Tap.

Cheon Yujeong raised her index finger and tapped Cheon Yura’s forehead.

And perhaps for the first time, she showed a faintly warm smile.

“Since you’re alive anyway, eat well and live well, damn little sister. And stop dropping what’s already in your hand like an idiot.”

“Cheon Yu…”

“And also.”

Cheon Yujeong clicked her tongue slightly, choosing her words.

“Later… say hi to the kids for me.”

With those parting words, Cheon Yujeong turned without waiting for a response and began fading into the darkness.

A surprisingly long farewell, unlike her.

Hugging the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, Cheon Yura bowed her head quietly toward her sister’s retreating figure.

“Yes, unni.”

In a voice so small, Cheon Yura whispered her goodbye.

“It was good to see you again. Truly.”

A brief reunion of two sisters, born by chance.

And a final, true farewell.

***

The moment I saw Han Mubaek, my head went blank.

And the moment I heard from my senior brother that I must live, something called hope surged up in a corner of my chest.

“Can I… continue to live?”

Could this be one of those absurd jokes by senior brothers?

For a moment, my heart wavered enough to believe that.

“I had given up on everything. I thought even erasure would be a form of rest, and now only eternal wandering and suffering in the Nine Heavens awaited me.”

“…Youngest.”

“In such a state, can I live again? Together with Yura…”

“You can live.”

Hwan Seong and Yoo Jeon placed their hands on my shoulders.

“Many placed their hopes on you. And you fulfilled those expectations.”

“So now it’s our turn to step forward.”

Crack!

The moment those words ended—

My right arm shattered.

“…Ah.”

An unavoidable price had come.

No matter how much the senior brothers assured me, this was not something from which I could escape.

The inescapable karma of certainty. The absoluteness of equivalent exchange.

A moment of repayment that even gods cannot evade had arrived.

Soon, not just my right arm but my entire body would disappear…

“Oh no, that won’t do.”

Then—

Hwan Seong raised his index and middle fingers and chanted something.

“Divine Sorcery, Boundless Karma.”

Tzzzzzt!

Then, as if time were reversing, my shattered right arm was restored.

‘…This is?!’

No doubt about it.

It was the Divine Sorcery that Hwan Yul had used when activating the Domain of Thought!

Hwan Seong, having restored my right arm, gave a faint smile.

“It seems you’ve experienced this once in the past, Youngest.”

“……”

“Well, it seems my descendant used this as an evil technique, but originally, it was developed to be used like this.”

“Trying to reverse the heavens directly makes it far closer to an evil technique though.”

Pa Gooncheong grumbled lightly, but Hwan Seong completely ignored him.

“Evil technique or not, it doesn’t matter if we can save the youngest.”

“Tsk, let’s just start. I don’t think we can hold out much longer.”

After a brief clash, the other senior brothers urged Hwan Seong on.

As they said, this was a space that rejected the existence of all things—life, soul, self.

“Indeed.”

Hwan Seong placed his palm over my heart with a serious face.

“Soon the price of the golden technique will befall your entire body. But we plan to exhaust all of the energy contained within the Heavenly Record Immortal Sword to block that backlash.”

“But…”

“Of course, that alone won’t be enough. Which is why we’ll use this.”

Suddenly, something was pulled from near my heart into Hwan Seong’s palm.

‘This is…!’

Something my master gave me before he died!

Taking out that faintly glowing object, Hwan Seong spoke to me.

“This is a kind of core.”

“A core…?”

“Using this, we’ll merge the fragment of your master residing within your body, and the power of Heavenly Evil, to create an offering that cancels out absoluteness.”

Is that really possible?

To substitute the cost of defying fate with something other than life or soul?

“Even then, it’s not enough. So… even if you survive…”

Hwan Seong paused briefly.

“You will never again reach the realm of divinity. Perhaps… you might not even ascend, like us.”

“……”

“Even so, is that alright?”

Alright?

“Isn’t that obvious?”

That’s nothing.

If that’s all the price I have to pay—

I could pay it a hundred, a thousand times over.

“Rather, doesn’t that mean I can live a bit longer if I just give that up?”

At my answer, Hwan Seong let out a laugh he couldn’t suppress.

“…I like that optimism. Yes, surely, you were never a martial artist.”

Even though I had completely lost the potential to reach the peak as a martial artist, I had no regrets.

Because as he said, I was never just a martial artist—I’m a husband.

“Then, let’s begin.”

My senior brothers each placed their hands upon my body one by one.

Yoo Jeon, Pa Gooncheong, Hwan Seong, Jin Gwanchun, Sa Gumhui, So Jeong, Ma Seoyeon.

And then—

A final hand, which hadn’t been there just moments ago, gently covered the crown of my head from behind.

Cheon Yuseong.

With him, the eight silhouettes began to radiate pure white light.

Not the ominous glow of Heavenly Evil, but a truly divine and noble light.

And once that light faded—

Standing before my eyes was—

Yura.

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