A day passed.

A little after dawn began, around the time the sun would have fully risen.

I was in my room, fixing my clothes, tossing and turning more than usual.

I could feel the fatigue. I’d gone to bed early, figuring I’d sleep a long time, but I couldn’t—my body just kept writhing around.

There were a few reasons. But in the end, it all came down to one.

‘...Fuck. If it hadn’t been for that infiltration.’

The fact that someone had been secretly watching me.

That one thing made every nerve in my body stand on end, and it kept me from sleeping.

A low, shallow doze. That was about my limit.

[Ts ts. Didn’t I tell you I’d keep watch for you, so get some sleep?]

“Keep watch my ass. Last time you did that, I almost got screwed, didn’t I?”

I remember almost getting into an accident because he couldn’t even do that properly, after I asked him to.

‘After seeing that, how am I supposed to trust you?’

So my tense body wouldn’t let me sleep properly, and instead of the fatigue easing, it piled up a bit.

‘Still, my realm isn’t low enough that I’m exhausted or anything.’

A body that had reached pinnacle doesn’t fall apart just because you missed some sleep.

If anything, it recovers even if you just sit still, so it’s not a big problem.

‘Still, it pisses me off.’

Given the situation, it wasn’t welcome.

CREEEAK.

I opened the door and stepped outside. Ignoring the metallic sound in my ears, I went down the stairs.

Most of the people were already gathered.

“Ah! Over here!”

Someone waved and called for me. When I checked, it was Cheon Eujin.

Luckily, Cheon Eujin and Do Hyeong had passed, too.

When I walked over, other people’s gazes focused on me.

The stares were intense. They felt different from the stares during the preliminaries.

Wariness, and a hint of hostility.

It felt much clearer and thicker than before.

The reason wasn’t anything else.

‘Because they really are enemies.’

Starting today, we were competitors in the literal sense.

We were from the beginning, but now it was far more real than that.

‘They said today is when the tournament matches start.’

The preliminaries were over, and the main bracket began.

From today on, it was time to face people one-on-one and beat them.

That was why everyone was wary of each other, carrying shallow hostility.

As I remembered that and was about to scratch the back of my head—

“Sungyeon!”

Someone came up to me, smiling.

“...Cheonin.”

It was Baek Cheonin. He approached with that signature, friendly smile of his.

Seeing him, I smiled, too.

It didn’t come easily, but even that had to be controlled.

‘A dangerous bastard.’

A figure from the Demon Cult, said to have vanished.

I didn’t know what his intentions were, but I knew he’d come to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering with something in mind.

So I had to stay on guard, and at the same time I couldn’t let him realize that I knew he was Demon Cult.

I had to control myself as hard as I could.

“Let’s do well today.”

“Even if we run into each other, no hard feelings, right?”

“Hahaha. Yeah, of course.”

“Hahahaha.”

Like we were some kind of youth, we bumped fists. It was so cringey I could die, but I did it anyway.

After a brief greeting, Baek Cheonin left for somewhere else, and once he was gone, I felt a subtle gaze.

“Who is he?”

Cheon Eujin’s question. Hearing it, I held back a sigh and spoke.

“He said we’re the same age, so we got friendly.”

“Like I thought... Young Lord Bang, your sociability is outstanding as well....”

“...Huh?”

It felt like some weird admiration, but I ignored it.

Around the time everyone had gathered.

“We will prepare to move.”

A Martial Alliance staff member who’d been waiting spoke.

At that, everyone’s presence flared for a moment.

Tension filled the air, and everyone’s eyes changed.

The real start of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

Reactions that felt like they were reminding us of that.

Everyone followed the Martial Alliance’s guidance and started moving in a rush.

And just as I was about to move with them—

‘Huh?’

I felt a gaze. I turned my head slightly, and far away, I saw someone staring at me.

‘...Sword Phoenix.’

Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix.

She was looking at me again.

If it were before, I would’ve thought it was weird—what was that stare, why did she keep looking at me?

Now I could guess, a little.

I wasn’t sure if I was right or not, but.

If my memory, or my guess, was right, it wasn’t strange that she was looking at me.

If anything, the surprising part was that she remembered me.

‘Should I talk to her?’

Should I say what I couldn’t last time? Thinking that, I tried to approach—

Slip.

Before I could reach her, Sword Phoenix got swept along by the crowd and moved away.

So I couldn’t talk to her.

‘Mm.’

I scratched my cheek awkwardly, then blended into the crowd.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Because it felt like I’d be asking her soon enough anyway.

*****

We returned to Main Alliance Headquarters. A place I’d come to once every two days over the span of a day, so it had become familiar now.

In the beginning, there had been close to hundreds of the junior generation, but now it had shrunk a lot.

A number you could probably count if you tried.

But rather than saying the number of people had gotten smaller—

‘They filtered them out.’

That felt like the right ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) way to put it.

Because every single junior fighter standing here was a truly outstanding presence.

‘People you’d have heard about at least once, wherever you go.’

Either they had reputations of their own, or they were sons and daughters of formidable houses.

After passing through two rounds of preliminaries, only the strong had been picked out—this was the result.

‘It feels new.’

It was strange.

That I was among people like this.

That was oddly strange to me.

‘And it hasn’t even been a year.’

As the thought crossed my mind—do I really belong among people like this?—

THUD.

A heavy presence suddenly poured down onto my shoulder.

It felt like the air gained weight. An alien, distant sensation. It didn’t seem like I was the only one who felt it—I could feel every junior fighter around me swallowing a dry breath.

And not long after that—

—The Alliance Leader and the strategist have arrived.

Along with the Martial Alliance staff member’s announcement, a huge old man and a thin old man appeared together from the left.

Divine Spear and Jegal Jin.

At the appearance of those two, the junior fighters tensed up.

They had no choice.

Those men were living legends, and the breathing symbol of the Orthodox faction itself.

At a time when Heaven-Beyond-Heaven had all stepped away from active duty or met death.

To the Orthodox fighters of today, those two were truly figures like the sky.

And with them in our sight, it was only natural for everyone else to be on edge.

“You’ve all worked hard.”

Divine Spear spoke from the platform.

“It feels new to stand before the lights who will brighten the future of the Central Plains.”

His words continued in a heavy voice.

Hearing that, Yoo Cheongil made a strange face.

[Why is that bastard so good at talking...?]

The reason he’s impressed is weird. Does that mean he wasn’t originally?

“I have great expectations for you. A new world may come to us, and because you are the ones who will lead such an era, I am grateful to be able to look upon you directly.”

It was very different from the banquet last time. Then, he’d tossed out a few short words and disappeared.

This time, it was a fairly long, crisp performance of speech.

Maybe because of that, the junior fighters listened with eyes soaked in emotion, too busy staring at Divine Spear.

[That bastard... Jin wrote that for him.]

In the middle of it, Yoo Cheongil apparently dug up the secret, nodding like he understood.

Ah. So he memorized something someone else wrote and is reciting it?

‘No wonder...’

I thought it was a little—no, a lot—stiff. So that was why.

‘Maybe because I know he’s originally stiff. It doesn’t show that clearly, which is funny.’

Because I knew Divine Spear’s expressionlessness, even that awkwardness didn’t stand out much.

“...And so, in the days you will live from here on...”

Huh?

Divine Spear, who had been speaking, closed his mouth for a moment.

Then he frowned slightly.

I stared, wondering what was up.

[That bastard forgot his next line.]

...Looks like he forgot the script.

“...”

After hesitating for a while, Divine Spear suddenly glanced to the side.

Jegal Jin’s brows twisted hard at that look, and he leaned in to whisper into Divine Spear’s ear.

The moment he heard it, Divine Spear corrected his posture.

“May you be blessed.”

“...”

And he spat out the remaining line.

Ah, he screwed it up. Seeing Divine Spear stiffen, I barely managed to hold back laughter.

Especially Jegal Jin grinding his teeth while watching Divine Spear—impressive.

*****

After that, Divine Spear and Jegal Jin said a few more words and stepped down from the platform.

The pretext was that they’d come to raise the junior fighters’ spirits.

And the effect was real—I could feel the juniors’ fervor swelling.

Well, yeah. If heroes show up in person and say they’re expecting things from you, of course you’d be happy.

[But anyone who relaxes because of that is a problem.]

Yoo Cheongil said, looking around.

At that, I turned my head, and I felt like I understood.

A mood that had risen a little from Divine Spear and Jegal Jin’s talk.

In that gap, I saw quite a few people loosening up.

When I was thinking, relaxing isn’t necessarily bad, is it—

[In battle, always be sincere. If you aren’t, you die.]

Yoo Cheongil warned me in a firm voice.

I nodded instead of answering.

If that old man was saying it like that, it meant listen.

Tension, huh.

I pressed my hand to my chest. I could clearly feel the pounding.

Remembering that, as I waited.

“From here, we will draw the bracket. I ask the first group to come forward.”

A Martial Alliance staff member shouted, standing in front of a wooden stand laid out in a line.

Hearing that, people approached one by one and started drawing something.

It looked like slips of paper. After someone drew one, the Martial Alliance staff member checked it and recorded it.

After a while, it was my turn.

I stepped up to the box and shoved my hand inside. In the rustling texture, I grabbed whatever and pulled it out.

I took out the slip and handed it to the Martial Alliance staff member the same way.

On it was written the character for eight (八).

After me, everyone else drew their slips.

Not long after the drawing ended, the bracket was completed.

The opponents were written up on a massive wooden board, and a crowd surged in front of it to see.

“...F-fuck...!!”

“No way...!!”

People who saw the bracket burst out with all kinds of reactions.

If they got a bad opponent, they let out despairing voices.

Especially the people matched against the Seven Prodigies.

Black-Grand Saber Peng Dojin’s opponent looked like he was about to cry.

Feeling sorry for those people, I checked my own opponent.

“...Huh.”

The moment I saw it, my eyes widened.

I wasn’t in any position to talk about anyone else.

Bang Sungyeon of the Blue Moon Sect vs.

Seo Pyeong of the Wudang Sect.

“...”

As soon as I saw my match, my brows narrowed on their own.

Of all people, it had to be like this.

I let out a hollow laugh at the ridiculous situation, and then—

“Good.”

A voice came from beside me. It was Seo Pyeong.

“What I’ve been hoping for is happening earlier than I thought. Right?”

He smiled at me as he spoke.

“...I’ll show you the difference in our level, Little Sword Saint.”

Wudang Cloud Dragon Seo Pyeong picking a fight with glossy eyes.

“...”

Looking at that bastard, I said,

“What the fuck are you talking about, asshole.”

‘Yeah, show me.’

“Ah.”

Crap.

This time again, I swapped what I meant to say in my head with what I said out loud.

Ah, but this time, it wasn’t a mistake.