You’re No Fun

When Gyo-ha released all his Yokai Qi, he noticed something different from before.

Dugeundugeun.

His heartbeat sounded unbearably loud.
An unfamiliar emotion rose from within his chest.

‘Kill them. Tear them apart.’

‘Rip through their skin and feast upon their blood and flesh.’

They were thoughts Gyo-ha would never normally have. He wanted to devour the hearts of those before him.
His yokai nature had awakened.

“…Ah, this is bad.”

The warnings he had received from those he had met came to mind, but it was already too late.
Just like the Yokai Qi that had erupted explosively.
His yokai nature also began consuming him in an instant.
He had no time to do anything about it.
His breathing grew increasingly ragged.
Before Gyo-ha even realized it, his body moved toward its prey.

Kwang!

Gyo-ha’s foot slammed down upon First Elder’s sword.
The air around them trembled from the violent collision.
The First Elder’s eyes trembled.

‘This strength… is not human.’

It was fundamentally different from before. First Elder received Gyo-ha’s attack with his seasoned swordsmanship and internal energy, but the hand gripping his sword trembled faintly.
What was even more alarming was Gyo-ha’s condition.

“Grrrrr…..”

Gyo-ha bared his teeth and growled like a beast. There was no longer anything human about his appearance, and it was difficult to find any reason in his golden eyes.
At that moment.

“Keuaaaak!”

Gyo-ha charged with a monstrous roar.
He moved so quickly that even his figure blurred. First Elder hurriedly raised his sword to block.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

The First Elder could do nothing but defend against Gyo-ha’s relentless attacks.
Gyo-ha’s movements were rougher than before.
They had lost both form and bearing. Even so, they were more powerful than before.
Despite blocking with his sword, The First Elder staggered backward from the impact.

“Keuk.”

The First Elder stumbled as he was driven backward. A stream of blood flowed from his mouth, and a dull pain rose from his chest as though a bone had broken.

“Keureureung…”

Gyo-ha bared his teeth.
However, the First Elder’s gaze remained calm as he watched him.
Gyo-ha was far from unharmed himself.
His body was rapidly collapsing from recklessly drawing upon the Yokai Qi. Blood vessels burst in his arms, sending blood spraying like fountains. Yet Gyo-ha appeared to feel no pain at all. His bestial instincts had already overwhelmed his reason.

‘At this rate, he will destroy himself. That body cannot hold out for long.’

First Elder made an experienced judgment.

‘I need to draw this out.’

However, it didn’t take him long to realize how foolish that thought had been.
Gyo-ha kicked off the ground and charged again.
He moved with such speed that he seemed to explode forward.
The First Elder instinctively retreated, but it was already too late. Gyo-ha’s attack was faster.

Kwang!

Even though he blocked with his sword, the impact traveled through his entire body. His knees shook as though they might buckle.

“Keuk…! You monster!”

Another attack followed.
Foot and sword exchanged blows in an instant.
Gyo-ha’s foot struck the First Elder’s side, making him stagger. But the First Elder was no easy opponent.
Even in that brief instant, he swung his sword.

Puhwak!

The sword cut across Gyo-ha’s shoulder. Blood soaked the ground.
Gyo-ha hurriedly retreated.
The First Elder’s gaze grew cold at the sight.

‘…Taking him alive will be difficult.’

If he continued trying to capture Gyo-ha alive, he would be the one to die.
He couldn’t fight merely intending to buy time.
The Patriarch would understand under these circumstances.
The First Elder adjusted his grip on his sword.
Gyo-ha charged again.
At that moment, the First Elder’s sword flashed.
But he was struck in the chest and sent flying.

“Keulleok.”

The First Elder coughed up blood and got up.
The impact had been immense despite his Protective Aura Qi.
However, Gyo-ha wasn’t unharmed either.
A massive wound had opened across his chest, deep enough to expose the inside.

“Keuheoheoheoheoheoheoheong!”

The enraged Gyo-ha charged.

“Come, beast.”

First Elder pointed his sword at him. His complexion was poor.
He had not yet managed to steady his breathing.
Then.

“First Elder!”

A shadow shot out from the side.
It was the Black Shadow Unit Leader. The Black Shadow Unit members followed behind him.

“What are you doing? Withdraw!”

They charged toward Gyo-ha without covering themselves in either Sword Qi or Protective Aura Qi.
They were nothing more than moths flying into a flame.
Gyo-ha swung his foot toward them.
The First Elder bit his lip at the sight.
He understood why they had stepped forward.
While Gyo-ha was distracted by them, the First Elder steadied his breathing.
A cold chill flowed from his eyes.
A single moment created through the Black Shadow Unit’s sacrifice.
His sword moved stealthily.
Without sound or presence.

Puk.

The sword sank into Gyo-ha’s chest.
Yet the First Elder’s expression was grim.

‘He reacted to this as well!’

Gyo-ha had avoided having his heart pierced. His golden eyes flashed as he killed the Black Shadow Unit members.

“Keuheong!”

With a roar, he swung his blackened arm like a whip.

“Keok!”

The First Elder was struck by the whipping arm and sent flying.
However, the blow carried little force, allowing him to rise quickly.
When the First Elder raised his head, he saw Gyo-ha gripping the sword with his toes and pulling it free.
It was a grotesque sight.
Despite the blood pouring from his chest, the light in Gyo-ha’s eyes had not faded.
If anything, they looked even more ferocious.

‘Even so, that wound should now…’

First Elder’s thoughts stopped.
The wounded flesh was writhing. The injury was gradually healing.

“Keuheoheoheoheoheong!”

Gyo-ha roared toward the First Elder.
He then lowered his body.

Kung!

He slammed his head into the ground.
The impact was enough to make the earth heave.
He did not stop after doing it once.

Kung! Kung!

He continued smashing his head into the ground. First Elder and even those watching from afar stared in astonishment.
Before long, Gyo-ha stopped moving.
The onlookers swallowed nervously as they watched.
Gyo-ha slowly raised his head.
Blood flowed from his split forehead.
His eyes still shone gold.
Unlike before, however, they now held reason.
Gyo-ha looked down at the wound in his chest and clicked his tongue.

“This heals, so why won’t my arms…?”

After staring at it in dissatisfaction, Gyo-ha turned toward First Elder.

“Thanks. Getting stabbed by you really cleared my head, Grandpa.”

His reason had returned.
Had his chest not been pierced, his yokai nature might have consumed him completely.
First Elder gave a hollow laugh at Gyo-ha’s thanks.
Gyo-ha regaining his reason was not good news.

“Can you control that power now?”

The power whose true nature remained unknown.

“No.”

Gyo-ha shook his head, then smiled awkwardly.

“I’ve only just managed to grab the reins.”
“I see.”

It appeared he still could not control the power. That was a relief.

“Then let us begin again.”

Their idle conversation ended there.
The fight was not yet over. Gyo-ha hesitated briefly before speaking.

“Why? Are you planning to surrender?”
“I can’t do that. I’m at my limit too.”

As though proving that his words were true, Gyo-ha’s body began trembling.
Gyo-ha slowly drew one foot back.
It appeared to be an ordinary stance, but the First Elder recognized the extraordinary quality within it.

“If you stop this, your side wins.”
“…And if we cannot, does that mean you win?”
“Who knows?”

Considering his condition, Gyo-ha was not certain he would survive after using it.
However, he pushed that question aside.
It wasn’t important right now.
He had not been completely inactive while his mind was consumed by his yokai nature.
During that time, he had seen something.
What he could now perceive was merely a fragment of it.
He couldn’t fully understand it, but he knew he could perform it now.
That was because some of the yokai nature still remained.

‘This is a yokai’s martial skill.’

No, could it even be called a martial skill?
Gyo-ha moved according to instinct.
The third technique of the Mara Twenty-Four Forms.

Mara Twenty-Four Forms.

Seventh Form, Whirlwind.

Gyo-ha’s foot cut through the air in a light motion that appeared to carry no power.
His foot soon touched the ground.
Silence filled the surroundings.
While the onlookers tilted their heads, the First Elder’s gaze shook.

‘It’s coming.’

It was the calm before a storm.
Unlike the others, the First Elder could now see it.
The sinister energy wrapped around Gyo-ha’s body.
That energy was seething.
An ominous force.
It began with a faint breeze.
A breeze that blew from in front of Gyo-ha.
However, the wind rapidly gathered strength.
It didn’t take long for it to become a vortex.

Kwagagagagagang!

The wind spun violently. Trees, rocks, and everything it touched were torn apart.
It was truly a typhoon.

“Use the Thousand-Catty Drop! Brace yourselves!”

With those words, the First Elder disappeared into the typhoon.
At the First Elder’s shout, the martial artists took horse stances.

Thousand-Catty Drop.

It was a technique that concentrated internal energy in the lower body to make one’s body heavier.
It was one of the foundational practices of external arts.
The typhoon didn’t stop after swallowing the First Elder and continued growing in strength.
It had already become no different from a natural disaster.
It was not a human martial skill.
The martial artists trembled in fear while bracing themselves for the impact.
And then.
The typhoon swallowed everything around it.

Although it resembled a typhoon, it was not a true one.
It soon subsided.
However, only the typhoon itself had ended.

“U-ugh…”

Groans rose from all around.
People lay scattered in every direction. Some had been blown away after failing to withstand the typhoon, while others had been killed or severely injured by rocks and tree branches.
No one remained standing unharmed.
Except for two people.
The figure who had endured at its center rose.
The First Elder.
His hair was disheveled, and half of his sword was gone.

“Ha.”

He gave a hollow laugh and looked ahead.
Gyo-ha stood there with his foot lowered.
He was in the same stance as before the typhoon.

“…Yes. You won.”

With those words, the First Elder coughed up blood and collapsed.
He had barely remained standing.

“F-First Elder.”

At that moment, someone who had fallen far away saw what had happened.
It was the Third Elder.
Because he had been far from Gyo-ha, he had suffered less from the impact.
He hurried toward the First Elder.
His expression stiffened after checking the First Elder’s pulse.
The pulse was violently unstable.
If it was not stabilized immediately, the First Elder could suffer qi deviation.
The Third Elder carefully laid the First Elder down and looked at Gyo-ha.
Gyo-ha wasn’t moving.
He had lost consciousness while still standing.
The Third Elder’s hesitation was brief.
He rose and drew his sword.
He could easily kill Gyo-ha in his current state.

‘I cannot leave future trouble behind.’

The moment he stepped forward.

“The fight is over.”

An unfamiliar voice reached his ears. When he turned his head, he saw a man reclining upon a shattered boulder.
A white-haired man.
The man seemed strangely detached, as though he alone existed in another world.
The man gulped down the wine in his gourd before speaking.

“Your leader already admitted defeat.”
“…The First Elder is not my lord.”

The first Elder was his elder cousin and someone he respected, but the one he served was the Patriarch.

“I do not know who you are, sir, but this is an internal matter of the Jeokyang Clan.”

It was a warning not to interfere.
The white-haired man snorted.

“You’re no fun.”

The man rose.
He had merely gotten up from where he lay, yet it felt as though a massive mountain had moved.

“And if I refuse?”

The man spoke playfully.
The Third Elder fell silent at his words.
He should have punished anyone who dared disregard the Jeokyang Clan, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
He had looked into the man’s eyes.
The instant he spoke, he would die.
He understood that.

“I had no intention of coming out, but I happened to witness something fascinating. Isn’t such caprice the virtue of our kind?”

The man laughed for a long while before suddenly growing dejected.

“What a shame. Without my brothers here, no one appreciates my jokes.”

The man lamented.
He appeared to be a madman, but the Third Elder could not bring himself to mock him.
The man strode past the Third Elder.
He didn’t spare the Third Elder so much as a glance, as though the man were invisible.