He drew his sword.

Sharply, and yet slowly.

Calmly gripping the blade he’d unsheathed from the scabbard, Cheon Hyein looked at her opponent.

“Hm.”

A low little snort. Cheon Hyein was indifferent and languid.

A motion that carried no particular emotion.

In truth, Cheon Hyein’s mood was the same as always.

Boring.

No thrill. That’s what the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering meant to Cheon Hyein.

She was even regretting stepping onto this stage at all.

What was I even trying to do?

Numb and cold.

As she drew her sword, Cheon Hyein lightly checked her own cheek.

What kind of expression did she have? She probably wasn’t smiling.

This is a problem.

Since when was it? Ah, right. Probably after fighting Little Sword Saint— the one she couldn’t stand.

She lost miserably. When she woke up after getting beaten into a mess.

That’s when the problem started.

I can’t make an expression.

The smile she used to wear so easily won’t form.

The mask she’d worn her whole life got peeled off and won’t go back on.

The act of playing her temperament is collapsing.

She can’t do again what she’d clung to with such desperation.

She needed time.

She had to put that mask back on. Only then could Cheon Hyein do what she wanted to do.

Pathetic brat.

The useless bastard that surfaced in her head.

If she wanted her younger brother— who knew nothing and only whined— to keep living the same way he always had, there were things she had to do.

And now she couldn’t do them, so what was she supposed to call this feeling?

It’s refreshing.

Ridiculously, it felt refreshing. It’s absurd, but that was the truth.

SHIIIING—.

Was it that heavy.

As she lifted her sword, Cheon Hyein spoke.

She lightly closed her hand around the hilt.

When she came here, what did she tell him?

I’ll teach you that sword force.

To herself and Cheon Eujin.

Pass down that shining sword force. Had she said that?

She couldn’t remember well. Which meant it hadn’t been that important.

He’s a weird man.

Strange.

It’s obvious he’s full of clever moves and hiding his power.

But from the outside, he looks weaker than anyone.

Cheon Hyein had always prided herself on her instincts since she was little.

She’d never been wrong about what she thought.

And yet she’d never met someone this incompatible with her sense.

What is he?

The Sword Saint’s successor. He showed up out of nowhere, and everything about him was a question.

He looked like he didn’t even know much about the Central Plains, so she’d judged she could handle him easily.

But no.

He’s skilled.

Bang Sungyeon was better than anyone at handling people.

Like he had years of experience dealing with countless kinds of people. Like he’d lived through every sort of human spectacle there is.

No matter who he faced, he adjusted himself to fit them.

What was astonishing was—

He doesn’t change.

While keeping his own personality intact, he tunes the flow so it goes in his favor by fitting the other person.

How?

How is it that natural?

And while doing that, he keeps himself. To Cheon Hyein, it was nothing but strange.

Especially—

That look.

The way he showed her fury like he truly meant it— it was enough to make chills crawl up her spine.

Which one is the real you?

When he talked.

When he fought.

When he raged.

Every Bang Sungyeon was different, and among them, which was the real Bang Sungyeon?

Cheon Hyein suddenly found herself wondering.

Yeah. She was curious about Bang Sungyeon.

At some point, that thought brushed past her.

Is this love?

She laughed the moment it appeared. Nothing could be more ridiculous.

It wasn’t love.

This was curiosity.

TIGHT.

She gripped her sword and took her stance. And as she did, she looked toward the stands.

There he was. Those blue eyes were easy to find, even in that packed crowd.

And—

Hm?

She saw the presence beside him too.

Sword Phoenix?

She was wearing a veil, but her identity was clear from what she was wearing.

Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix.

The top of the junior generation was beside him.

Why is that monster...?

Why would Sword Phoenix suddenly be with Bang Sungyeon?

Cheon Hyein’s brow furrowed as she watched.

......What?

Cheon Hyein knew Sword Phoenix.

Back when Plum Blossom Single Sword, Mount Hua’s Sect Leader, visited the Blue Moon Sect—

Back then, she met Yuyeon before she was Sword Phoenix.

And by chance, they’d exchanged blows once.

That memory wasn’t exactly a good one for Cheon Hyein.

Her first despair.

The moment she realized there was a sky above the sky.

Genius Slayer.

Cheon Hyein knew better than anyone why Sword Phoenix was called that.

The one who crushed the arrogant ones labeled geniuses.

A single bout, a single exchange.

Just that, and Sword Phoenix taught the other side what rank they belonged to.

And those who tasted it called Sword Phoenix a monster.

Cheon Hyein was no different.

Cheon Hyein called her a monster in her own head.

If she wasn’t a monster, then what was she?

That had to be a monster. If she treated her as the same kind of human, she’d feel too pitiful.

And yet—

She’s with him?

Bang Sungyeon and that monster were together? Watching that, Cheon Hyein felt an odd irritation.

Something inside her tangled a little.

Annoyance.

What is it?

Why is she feeling annoyed? Just as Cheon ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Hyein narrowed her brow, her mood visibly souring—

“Hahaha. Well now.”

A voice came from the front.

“To be matched with the great Moon Dancer. I can’t call it anything but an honor....... Hm?”

The young man facing her gaze— Baek Cheonin— widened his eyes like he was flustered.

“Young Lady....... are you perhaps angry...?”

“Who? Me?”

“Y-yes....... yes, yes.......”

“Angry, my ass. When did I ever get angry?”

“N-no, your expression is exactly—”

“I’m not angry.”

“Yes. That’s right. Young Lady isn’t angry. I must’ve seen it wrong. Hahaha.”

Baek Cheonin laughed awkwardly and tried to steer the conversation away.

Annoying.

Yeah. It seemed the one annoying her was this nameless, gentle-looking thing.

That’s probably it.

Climbing onto the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering out of nowhere and becoming people’s spectacle.

Getting matched with some thing she didn’t even know, when she was annoyed to death already.

All of it must’ve rubbed her the wrong way.

That’s why she was irritated.

Cheon Hyein convinced herself of it.

I should end this fast.

Only then did it feel like she could suppress this emotion.

SLOWLY.

She raised her sword.

She’d finish it in one strike. Looking at the opponent, it seemed possible.

And—

......I shouldn’t have watched that match for no reason.

Do Hyeong, her junior and the former youngest of the Small Moon Unit.

Watching his match in person made her body itch a little.

She’d heated up.

The heat he’d thrown out.

The conviction that tried to express something.

That had lightly prodded at the inside of Cheon Hyein, a martial artist.

“Whew.”

She steadied her breathing. This wasn’t good. She always had to be rational.

This is all because of that man, isn’t it.

It felt like everything got annoying because she got involved with a weird man.

She calmed her thoughts and put strength into her sword.

Finish this empty-headed thing and then go to Bang Sungyeon for a moment.

For some reason, it felt like she had to.

The moment she thought that—

-Match, begin!

The referee announced the start.

POP—!

Cheon Hyein’s body accelerated and lunged at Baek Cheonin.

STEP. A sword wrapped in sword qi split the wind, and in an instant it tried to smash into Baek Cheonin—

CLANG—!!

“......!”

Cheon Hyein’s sword bounced away.

And ridiculously enough, the one who screamed was Baek Cheonin.

“KRAAAGH!?”

Even though Cheon Hyein’s blade had been knocked aside, Baek Cheonin’s sword was wobbling stupidly too.

Like he’d blocked it by accident.

Was it an accident?

It happens sometimes. Accidents can always happen.

Thinking that, Cheon Hyein pressed the attack again—

CLANG—! WIIIIIIII—.

SWISH—!

“......?”

Something was off.

“Uhh! Hhk!”

Groans and screams tangled in, but her attacks weren’t getting through.

By an extremely tiny margin.

By a subtle difference, Baek Cheonin kept blocking Cheon Hyein’s strikes.

What is it?

If accidents keep happening, it’s a miracle. Then what is it if miracles keep happening?

It was never an accident in the first place.

WHIRRRLIK—!!

She shifted from sword qi to sword force.

From fluid, yielding motions, she put in concise power.

Her waist turned, and a moon rose in the air.

Moon Wave.

The first form of the Blue Moon Sword Dance stabbed toward Baek Cheonin, but—

“Uhhhk!”

Baek Cheonin dodged and rolled along the floor.

A ground roll.

The crowd burst into laughter at the ugly way he tumbled.

-HAHAHAHAHA—!!!

-WHAT ARE YOU DOING! DO IT RIGHT!!

They were busy mocking Baek Cheonin. To them, it probably looked like he was panicking just trying to avoid Moon Dancer’s assault, but—

“......What are you?”

Cheon Hyein glared at Baek Cheonin, sword force blazing.

“Huh....... me?”

Baek Cheonin made a blank face at her.

Like he truly knew nothing.

But.

“Are you messing with me?”

“M-messing with you? What do you mean—”

“This isn’t even ridiculing me. Do it properly.”

It wasn’t an accident.

It wasn’t a miracle either.

Cheon Hyein’s instincts were telling her.

“Are you hiding your strength?”

“N-no. I’m...... not.......”

“......You’re pissing me off.”

What is this man, now.

Everything keeps making her hate it. When she already feels bad.

Heat shoots up.

So Cheon Hyein put strength into her sword.

She didn’t know what it was, but if he was hiding something, she could just peel it off.

Cheon Hyein fully opened her power and charged Baek Cheonin.

WHOOOOOSH—.

Light seeped into her body. A different power than before. Seeing it, Baek Cheonin’s expression turned strange.

“Ah. This won’t do.”

He made a slightly embarrassed face.

Then—

“......You’re pretty quick on the uptake?”

He smiled wide.

Cold.

Cheon Hyein’s step stopped for a moment. It was only a split second.

Something she couldn’t name pressed down on her body like chills.

What was that?

What was that just now?

She looked again, but Baek Cheonin was the same.

Then what was that wrongness she felt?

Was it my imagination?

It had to be. Even if she tried to feel it again, her five senses didn’t react.

Was that what imagination was?

GRIP—!

Cheon Hyein put strength into her feet again and charged.

The Blue Moon Sect’s sword forms.

A different sword dance than the one Bang Sungyeon used unfolded.

And its shape looked like a dance itself.

-OOOOH!!

A Blue Moon Sword Dance like dancing.

That was why she was called Moon Dancer.

I’ll cut you.

Whatever that mask is, she’d peel it off with her sword.

What are you hiding that you’re daring to toy with me like this?

She swung her blade with that ugly feeling packed into it.

“AAAAAGH!”

Baek Cheonin jerked in shock and dodged.

CRUNCH—!

“Tsk.”

Again.

Again he dodged—!

STUMBLE—!

“......!?”

Cheon Hyein’s body collapsed.

THUD! Her stance broke, and suddenly her knees hit.

“What...?”

Her eyes widened at a phenomenon she couldn’t understand.

And she felt pain at her jaw.

I got hit...?

When? She got hit in the jaw? Was there an action like that in that exchange? In that movement?

She couldn’t remember.

No.

I didn’t see it.

Even if it happened, it wasn’t in Cheon Hyein’s head.

While she rolled her eyes like it was absurd—

SHIIIING—.

“.......”

A blade touched Cheon Hyein’s throat.

“Hahaha....... haha.......”

Baek Cheonin let out a hollow laugh.

“......Well now. This is...... an accident.”

“.......”

At the pathetic way he spoke, Cheon Hyein glared at Baek Cheonin with sharp eyes.

“You...!”

Right as she was about to spit out her fury—

“Match over.”

The referee came in and declared the end.

“Winner, Baek Cheonin.”

Cheon Hyein lost.

And in this match, unbelievably, not a single cheer could be heard.