SWISH.

Thousand-Mile True Sight frowned as he looked at the Sword Empress who had appeared out of nowhere.

And on top of that—calling Thousand-Mile True Sight, the Martial Alliance’s strategist, “Oppa.”

At that ridiculous form of address, everyone froze up.

And there was more.

‘...She slipped in like it was nothing.’

Appearing inside a crowd this thick—far too easily.

The other warriors finally caught up to that detail, and their wariness sharpened.

But the Sword Empress didn’t seem to care in the slightest as she walked forward, light on her feet.

Her soft smile carried a dangerously seductive pull.

As she closed the distance—

The warriors, feeling that shrinking space, tried to swing their swords up toward her immediately—

“Stop.”

Thousand-Mile True Sight halted them, eyes fixed on the Sword Empress.

“...What a refreshingly absurd sight. I thought you’d vanished without a trace. And now you show up looking like that?”

“A lot happened. And really—doesn’t a woman become more charming the more secrets she has?”

“That’s a remarkably comfortable thing to say. Do you have any idea what Divine Spear has been doing since you disappeared?”

“......”

At the mention of Divine Spear, the Sword Empress flinched.

It was only for an instant.

But I saw it.

“At the very least, you should’ve left word before you went. That would’ve been the proper thing.”

“...I’ll speak to him about that later. Right now, that isn’t what matters, is it?”

She was dodging.

Thousand-Mile True Sight’s brow tightened, but as if he agreed she wasn’t wrong, he didn’t push it further.

“So. What exactly are you claiming you’ll do for that kid?”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“...You will?”

“Yes. I will.”

That time, I was the one who got shocked.

Take responsibility—for me?

What was she even saying?

‘What does that mean?’

Why would she show up out of nowhere for that?

I didn’t get it.

And judging by Thousand-Mile True Sight’s face, neither did he.

“Ridiculous.”

His expression hardened into stone.

“You asked me to accept your disciple as an escort. I even agreed to that much. And now what—take responsibility? Do you hear yourself?”

‘Wait.’

I swallowed a useless breath.

Send a disciple as an escort?

‘Ah. So that’s why.’

The Sword Empress’s disciple was my sister—Bang Seojin.

I’d wondered how that lunatic had ended up serving as Thousand-Mile True Sight’s guard.

So it had been the Sword Empress pulling the strings.

‘That’s where the reason was.’

Yeah. Thousand-Mile True Sight wouldn’t use Bang Seojin unless there was a reason.

“And you’re offering to take responsibility?” Thousand-Mile True Sight pressed. “You understand what that means better than anyone.”

“I do. That’s why I’m saying it.”

Softly, the Sword Empress walked up and stopped beside me.

“This child’s words. I’ll take responsibility for them.”

“In what way?”

“Something you suggested to me, long ago. Do you remember?”

“...Long ago?”

—!

Thousand-Mile True Sight’s eyes widened, like something had just clicked.

“That. Whether it becomes a problem or not—I’ll handle it.”

“...Ha.”

Thousand-Mile True Sight let out a dry breath.

“You swore you’d never do it. And now you’re saying you will?”

“Yes. I judged it was worth that much.”

“...What a farce.”

“And if there’s anything else I can do that counts as taking responsibility, I’ll do that as well.”

“Even something involving Divine Spear?”

“......”

She flinched again.

Her lashes trembled.

Just for an instant—same as before.

“Yes. Whatever it is.”

“......”

At that firm answer, Thousand-Mile True Sight’s expression slowly settled.

I hadn’t moved, but things were moving around me.

‘...Judging by that reaction—’

I slipped what I’d «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» been holding back into my clothes again.

Watching Thousand-Mile True Sight now, it didn’t seem like I’d need to pull it out.

And sure enough, he looked at me and asked—

“What is this ‘help’ you mentioned?”

Looks like he was persuaded.

The moment the Sword Empress said she’d grant anything, Thousand-Mile True Sight’s heart shifted.

So this works.

While I was still staring in disbelief, I remembered I was the one being watched.

“Ah.”

I answered late, turning to Thousand-Mile True Sight.

“...The help I can give is simple. I’m sure you’re better at everything else than I am. So I’ll—”

I covered my eyes with my hand.

“—lend you my eyes.”

“Your eyes.”

“Yes.”

From the start, what I could do had been obvious.

I’d already told him what my eyes could do the moment we met.

“Use what my eyes can do. I’ll look at what you tell me to look at.”

“I thought you were going to offer something impressive. Is that all?”

“Yes.”

I said it shamelessly.

But honestly, that was massive help.

And there was no way Thousand-Mile True Sight didn’t know it.

He was just acting disappointed.

Because in a situation like this, being able to distinguish spies was the best weapon you could ask for.

“Let me be clear,” Thousand-Mile True Sight said, looking at the Sword Empress. “You said you’ll take responsibility. Don’t forget that.”

“Of course. I’ll never forget.”

The Sword Empress nodded, then started walking again.

“Where are you going?”

“I said what I needed to say. Now I need to move.”

“...Now?”

“Yes. It wasn’t expected, but... I have business with these pathetic people, too.”

“You said you’d take responsibility. What if you run?”

“Well, if I just say I won’t run, you won’t believe me.”

The Sword Empress tilted her head slightly, looking back at Thousand-Mile True Sight.

“So I’ll stake the faint honor I left behind in Xinjiang. I’ll be back.”

“......”

Honor left behind in Xinjiang.

A strange phrase.

Thousand-Mile True Sight said nothing.

He didn’t try to stop her, either.

Only then did the Sword Empress spring lightly—

—and vanish out of the residence.

“...Vile woman.”

Thousand-Mile True Sight murmured quietly, only after she was gone.

“Tskt.”

He clicked his tongue once, then rose.

“We move. Issue the order—mobilize the troops we placed, according to the commands already determined.”

“S, Strategist, but it’s still dangerous to move right now.”

“It’s fine. Sitting still won’t improve anything.”

He cut his eyes at me—sharp as a blade.

“And we’ve obtained eyes that can see the way forward.”

“......”

“Vile things crawled into Henan without knowing their place. We won’t sit still.”

He rose fully.

His body was dry—yet big.

And when he stood straight, it felt like the whole room stood with him.

“Follow.”

Thousand-Mile True Sight started forward.

He wasn’t even a warrior, yet there wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in him.

The countless warriors around him moved as one and followed.

“From this moment on, we begin purging the inside of Main Alliance Headquarters.”

A cold air flowed out of him, smooth and steady.

Like pressure pushing down on my skin.

Feeling it, I smiled slightly inside.

Because someone from my past life came to mind.

******

—Mincheol. You know that?

I ignored my supervisor while I cleared away fragments. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Because whatever he was about to say was obviously going to be bullshit.

—Seeing what you’re not supposed to see is fucking miserable in about a million ways. It turns your life straight into shit.

A complaint he always spat out.

The same old nonsense, every time.

That man was always like that.

—Honestly, the job’s bad for everyone... but when I look at you, you’re the saddest one.

“...What do you mean, I’m the saddest?”

I opened my mouth and answered.

I’d meant to stay quiet, but that line got under my skin.

My life was the saddest?

It was irritating as hell.

—Come on. It’s true. It’s bad for everyone, but your eyes are especially screwed.

“......”

The problem was, even if it was fucked, I couldn’t refute it.

Because my life hadn’t exactly been smooth enough to deny it.

—Seeing the higher gods all the time is hell. I’m honestly amazed your mind still hasn’t shattered. Seriously. It’s impressive.

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

—It’s concern, asshole.

PTOOEY.

Chief Baek spat on the ground and kept talking.

—If your mind breaks and you retire, I’ve got to do all this shit alone. Those higher gods are tangled up beyond belief. And you’re the only one who listens to their whining and grants their pathetic wishes. So don’t break, okay? Don’t you dare. Stay with me to the end.

“...You’re a real piece of work.”

—I can hear your thoughts.

“I said it so you’d hear it.”

The audacity on that man.

I couldn’t help laughing.

But as much as I knew the truth—that Chief Baek was the most capable person I’d ever met in this line of work.

A man who’d reached the peak.

He acted like he dumped all the hard work on me.

But when it mattered, he was always the one who stepped in.

Even in the last moment.

—Hey. Mincheol.

The sky had been burned black.

A malicious ghost screamed as it flooded the heavens like storm clouds.

And Chief Baek faced that cloud and spoke to me.

Like he was watching a drizzle.

—Everything I can tell you, I told you. You know? Do it right.

Leaving me to scream, he smiled brightly.

—Live, idiot. Even if the world is shit, live.

With that blunt gentleness, Chief Baek walked straight into the swarm of malicious ghosts.

That was the last image of my benefactor—

—and my first master.

And then.

“Send three units to the left. Commanders do not move—have two upper-seat warriors keep them in check. At the northern edge residence, have Commander Changseong lead personnel and push in.”

“Yes.”

I watched the old man and thought of Chief Baek.

“Where is the heaviest fighting?”

“At the western main entrance of Main Alliance Headquarters.”

“Have the personnel we placed there withdraw to the rear.”

“...Why?”

“We still haven’t finished identifying the spies. Let them push deeper. We’ll set a formation and prepare our next moves in advance.”

“Understood.”

Orders flew back and forth without pause.

He was issuing commands to countless people, yet he never once hesitated.

At the fast, clean directives, the crowd moved without a flicker of doubt.

I could see it—just a glimpse—of why they called him the God of War.

And what I could do here was simple.

“None.”

I kept checking the approaching people, calling out whether I sensed malevolent aura or not.

And if I saw even a trace—

“Second line from the left. The man with the scar on his cheek. He’s a spy.”

I whispered it.

And Thousand-Mile True Sight moved immediately.

“The ones I designate—assemble troops to the east.”

He was pulling those judged to be spies out and gathering them in one place.

Efficient.

The moment Thousand-Mile True Sight gave an order, no one resisted.

Everyone obeyed.

And HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE’s bastards weren’t much different.

They still didn’t know I could identify them.

The problem was—

‘If you gather them in one place like this...’

Whether they knew among themselves or not, if you clumped them together, they’d start to sense the discrepancy.

Meaning this wasn’t a method you could keep using for long.

‘What’s he planning?’

What was Thousand-Mile True Sight’s intent?

As I tried to read it—

BOOM—!! BOOM BOOM—!!! BOOOOM—......

The constant tremor that had been spreading through the air suddenly began to fade.

That was—

‘The tournament stage.’

Where Divine Spear and the Heaven-Breaking Palace Lord had been fighting.

The vibrations from there stopped.

Which meant—

‘...It’s over?’

Their fight had ended.

So then—

‘Who won?’

As the question formed—

KUUUAAAAAA—!!!

“—!!”

That distant pressure hit me so hard my body swayed.

“Bang Sungyeon...!”

Cheon Eujin caught me at my side.

“Why—what’s wrong?!”

Cheon Eujin stared at me, alarmed.

I looked around.

No one else staggered.

No one else even seemed to feel it.

‘...Son of a bitch.’

Remembering that, I turned toward where the energy was coming from.

‘They can’t feel this?’

From the tournament stage, something enormous was surging into the sky.

Something black.

Something nauseating.

Malevolent aura. And among malevolent aura—

‘Haha. Fuck.’

At minimum—

a higher god.

A disaster-class presence that mountain gods and war gods couldn’t even lift their heads to face.

It was invading the sky.