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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“Shadow Demon seems to be enjoying herself.”
The Heavenly Demon watched with satisfaction as Shadow Demon weaved through the enemy ranks, her movements swift and deadly.
This child had dedicated herself to training for this day.
It was only natural for her to be like a wild horse let loose.
The Heavenly Demon felt a sense of pride, like a parent watching their child come of age.
“I’m not particularly inclined to join the fray. Why don’t we just observe from here?”
She spoke without turning around.
Behind her stood ten elderly men and women.
Their presence was formidable, their auras radiating a potent, almost overwhelming killing intent that made the Heavenly Demon narrow her eyes slightly.
“Demon! The time has come to judge your crimes!”
A white-haired elder, spear in hand, declared.
“It’s been a while. You vermin who call yourselves the Ten Great Warriors.”
The Heavenly Demon took a sip of warm wine from a flask she had produced and turned around.
The group took a collective step back.
“But…”
She looked at them, one by one, her expression a mask of genuine confusion.
“Judge my crimes?”
“Do you truly have no conscience?”
A middle-aged woman’s voice dripped with disdain.
“Heavenly Demon, surely you don’t believe yourself to be innocent? All the countless crimes you’ve committed, and now this war!”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
The Heavenly Demon interrupted, her brow furrowed in bewilderment.
“You think you can judge me? How?”
Even facing the Ten Great Warriors, the most powerful martial artists of their time, she wore an expression of utter disdain.
“You… arrogant wretch!”
A younger warrior, seemingly unable to contain his anger, leaped forward, sword raised.
Thud-!
His sword stopped mid-swing, caught between her index and middle fingers.
“Gah!”
“Use every bit of strength you have, even the one you got from sucking your mother’s milk. Ah… did I kill your mother?”
She chuckled and struck him in the chest with the palm of her hand which sent him flying backwards, blood spraying from his mouth.
He wasn’t dead, but he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.
“Sigh… fine. If you insist on interrupting my leisure, I’ll humor you.”
She placed her right hand on the small of her back, assuming a relaxed stance.
She held out her left hand, palm up, and beckoned them forward with a flick of her wrist.
“Come at me. This should be entertaining.”
Provoked by the Heavenly Demon’s arrogance, the Ten Great Warriors charged.
With an almost supernatural grace, she dodged their attacks, her feet moving in a blur, effortlessly weaving through the barrage of weapons.
“What… footwork is that?!”
“It’s not worthy of such a grand title. I’m merely shifting my weight.”
She replied casually, her palm connecting with another warrior’s chest.
“Ugh!”
Another one went down.
“Were you planning to take me down quickly and reinforce your main forces?”
She snatched a spear from the air, snapping it in half with a smirk.
The warriors hesitated after their plan was exposed.
“Don’t you realize how flawed your plan was from the start? Even the Alliance Leader couldn’t defeat me. What makes you think you can?”
“Silence!”
From behind the spearman, another warrior leaped forward, scattering hidden weapons.
Heavenly Demon pulled the broken spear shaft towards her, using the spearman as a human shield.
“Gah!”
The poisoned needles embedded themselves in the spearman’s back, and a gasp rippled through the group.
“Your plan was flawed from the very beginning. You made two mistakes.”
She said, thrusting the broken end of the spear into the dying spearman’s chest.
“First, you overestimated your own abilities.”
“Master Moyong!”
A scream echoed as the spearman, his heart pierced, died instantly.
The Heavenly Demon sprang forward, moving like an arrow loosed from a bow.
A muscular giant stepped in front of her, but she ducked under his attack and slammed her palm into his jaw, her movement reminiscent of a charging bull.
-Crack!
His jaw shattered, and he crumpled to the ground with a sickening thud.
“Now… there are seven left…”
She surveyed the remaining warriors, assessing their injuries, calculating which ones were still capable of fighting, when…
BOOM!!!!
A massive shockwave erupted from the Alliance’s main camp, accompanied by a deafening roar.
“…”
The Heavenly Demon frowned, sensing a powerful, ominous aura, thick and cloying, mixed with the explosion.
“What was that?”
Did they have some hidden trump card?
But the warriors in front of her wore the same expressions of confusion and alarm.
‘There’s someone with such a sinister aura in the Martial Alliance?’
The aura was comparable to, perhaps even slightly stronger than, the Alliance Leader’s.
But unlike the Alliance Leader’s pure and refined energy, this aura was wild, untamed, like a cornered beast.
‘The Three Demons aren’t a match for this…’
For the first time, a flicker of worry crossed the Heavenly Demon’s usually untroubled mind.
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After the forced feeding and kiss, Namgung So-yeon didn’t give In-ho any normal food until they reached Anhui.
She insisted that it would help him regain his lost memories of their past life, bringing him human blood whenever she could.
If there were no people around, she would reluctantly settle for animal blood.
-If you keep drinking this, your memories will return, Young Master Kang.
She would say this in a gentle voice, but her eyes held an undeniable glint of madness that In-ho couldn’t ignore.
But he couldn’t get used to it.
The thick, metallic taste of blood, the way it coated his throat, was still repulsive, still terrifying.
He would gag it down, only to vomit it back up.
And each time he collapsed from hunger, she would force more blood into his mouth.
He wept as he retched and the cycle repeated endlessly.
‘If only I could die…’
He had considered ending his own life, but the reality was far too complicated.
He couldn’t do it during the day or night, not with Namgung So-yeon constantly by his side.
The only time he was alone was when she left to find “food.”
Recently, those absences had become more frequent, and each time, he thought about escaping, but he never could bring himself to do it.
The thought of the torture that awaited him if he was caught…
The uncertainty of where he would go, how he would survive…
These fears always held him back.
Today, Namgung So-yeon had left again, claiming she was going to find them a meal.
In-ho watched as she disappeared into the distance, her movements jerky and unnatural.
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“Ugh…”
Namgung So-yeon, who had left to find “food,” was lying on the ground, moaning.
She clawed at her arms, her nails digging into her flesh.
The overwhelming urge to feed…
The insatiable hunger that gnawed at her insides…
She knew the cause.
It was Kang In-ho.
She craved his blood. She yearned to absorb his very essence.
The taste of his blood, the one time she had tasted it, had been unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Nothing else satisfied her anymore.
“Just… one drop… couldn’t I just have one drop…?”
She licked her lips, her voice filled with longing.
She was losing control.
Whenever she was near him, whenever she inhaled his scent as they slept, the hunger intensified.
His pale neck looked so tempting.
She wanted to sink her teeth into it, to drink his blood as it flowed freely.
“No… I have to resist.”
She lost consciousness several times a day.
And each time she came to, she would find In-ho beneath her, his eyes wide with terror.
“So-yeon… pull yourself together.”
She was finally realizing the true horror of being a Blood Demon, the danger of the cravings.
She had believed she could control it, but now she understood her arrogance.
“Ugh…”
She continued to claw at herself, desperately trying to maintain control, but it only made the hunger worse.
“No… I have to protect Young Master Kang.”
She had become a Blood Demon to protect him.
But now, she was the one harming him.
To cling to her fading sanity, she scratched and clawed at her body until she bled.
“…Wait…”
A tantalizing scent wafted through the air.
-Sniff… sniff…
It wasn’t as sweet as In-ho’s, but it was potent, overwhelming.
Her eyes, which had briefly regained some clarity, clouded over once more, and a wide smile spread across her face.
“Haha… food… food…”
She turned and ran, snatching In-ho’s arm as she passed.
“Young Master, come quickly! There’s food! Lots and lots of food!”
She dragged him along, her pace inhumanly fast, her saliva dripping from her chin.
She reached a cliff and leaped, gliding through the air towards the source of the scent.
She landed with a bone-jarring thud, creating a large crater in the ground.
As the dust settled, she saw a group of familiar faces staring at her, their expressions a mixture of shock and fear.
“Lightning Sword. It’s been a while.”
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