He looked like he hadn’t even hit thirty.

If you measured it by appearances, he was about the same age as Yeo Hyeok.

He had the air of a young man, wearing a gray martial uniform with his hands clasped behind his back.

Even with that narrow-eyed look—half-lidded, like you couldn’t tell if he was fully awake—and a smile on his face, something about him felt wrong.

What is that bastard?

[Oh?]

Yoo Cheongil reacted with open curiosity the moment he got a good look.

The Small Moon Unit Leader, on the other hand, looked like he’d just seen a ghost—his reaction was violent.

“...You. You—how are you here?”

He spoke like he knew the young man, and the young man’s smile deepened as if he’d been waiting for those words.

“It’s been a while. I’ve heard a lot about you. You became the leader of the Small Moon Unit? Time really does fly.”

CHWAAK—!

As he spoke, he flicked his hand.

The fan he’d been holding snapped open wide, and he lifted it to cover his face.

What is that bastard.

The feeling was cold.

It wasn’t like I could sense spirit-qi coming off him.

It was just—

The person himself is cold.

A bad kind of person.

You ran into people like that sometimes.

Not someone who carried spirit-qi, but someone whose qi was so strong the presence alone weighed on you.

And among those—someone whose qi had both a coldness and a heaviness at once.

The kind of existence Wudang ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) types hated dealing with most.

That kind of person.

Damn.

This isn’t easy.

Just looking at him made my insides ache. What kind of qi is that strong?

What is he?

I couldn’t read him.

And Yeo Hyeok looked the same—staring at the Small Moon Unit Leader with a baffled expression, like he was waiting for an answer.

A beat passed.

Then—

“...The Strange Demon.”

“Gah—!”

The Small Moon Unit Leader said it while staring straight at him, and Yeo Hyeok jolted like he’d been struck.

The Strange Demon?

I wasn’t that different.

I didn’t jump as hard as Yeo Hyeok, but I couldn’t help looking at the young man with a different kind of surprise.

If it’s the Strange Demon...

I knew the name.

A demonic warrior who’d operated during the Orthodox-Demonic War, and—

Wasn’t he called a strategist?

A martial artist and a strategist.

That was what I’d heard—someone rare, someone who carried both blade and brain.

Of course—

Even if both were impressive, I also heard people say his schemes weren’t on Jegal Jin’s level.

Still.

If he’d been active during the Orthodox-Demonic War, that meant he was one of those monsters from that era.

Then why—

...Why is he that young?

It didn’t make sense.

He’s too young.

If he’d been one of the monsters from back then, he should’ve been an old bastard by now.

What the hell is he?

He looked like he was Yeo Hyeok’s age.

And that was the Strange Demon?

Something’s off...

How could that be?

Even the Small Moon Unit Leader seemed to be thinking the same thing—his face was pale with shock.

“...You... how are you keeping that appearance?”

“Oh, this? What can I say—skin care. I guess I just don’t age very well. You should take care of yourself too, Leader. You’re looking a little dried out.”

“Cut the crap—Strange Demon. How are you still alive!”

KURURURUNG—!!!

Thunder rolled off the Small Moon Unit Leader’s sword.

Blue hardened qi surged up and a massive presence spread outward.

My body buzzed like it was being struck by static.

“You should’ve been ash on the floor of Xinjiang. How are you—how are you walking around alive?”

And looking young, at that.

“Aha ha.”

The Strange Demon laughed at that.

“Who knows? Maybe the heavens decided to bless me.”

“Bullshit—!”

BOOM—!!

The Small Moon Unit Leader launched himself forward like he wasn’t going to listen to another word.

One leap—ground crushed.

Wind pressure kicked up dirt and dust.

A blue line tore through the dust in an instant, drawing a half-circle like a crescent moon—

KWAAGH—!!!

“...!”

But the Small Moon Unit Leader’s sword never reached him.

It bounced upward, deflected into the sky.

“Honestly.”

The Strange Demon had struck the flat of the blade with his fist and twisted the angle.

“You’re still so angry, aren’t you?”

KWAANG—!!!

A fist.

...A hand-to-hand fighter.

A muddy, dull fist force blocked the Small Moon Unit Leader’s assault.

It was hard to believe that thin, delicate-looking body had done it.

And—

He just knocked away an attack from a pinnacle master.

Like it was nothing.

Which meant he was the same kind of existence.

“Don’t come at me so hard. It’s been a while. Wouldn’t it be nice to at least exchange greetings?”

“Shut your mouth. Do you think I have anything to say to demonic warriors?”

“Oh, come on. Words and demonic warriors are still people. Talking is nice.”

KWAUUUUU—!!!

Like he didn’t even consider it worth answering, the Small Moon Unit Leader poured more power into his sword.

Cold sweat slid down my back.

This—

So this is the presence of a pinnacle master.

It was nothing like when he’d been cutting down the earlier attackers.

“Word is the DEMON CULT and HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE joined hands. Looks like it’s true. Strange Demon—what are you plotting inside HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE?”

“Mm...?”

The Strange Demon tilted his head.

“It’s not like I plot something every day.”

“Everyone in the Central Plain remembers what you did at Kunlun. The Strange Demon doesn’t plot anything? Even a dog passing by would laugh.”

“That was when I was young and reckless. I was immature. Now I just do what my superior tells me. That’s life, isn’t it? Almost nothing goes the way you want—”

He kept talking.

The Small Moon Unit Leader’s sword cut him off.

Crescent moon.

A vast crescent slammed down toward the Strange Demon.

KUAAAH—!!!

The ground was torn apart.

The shock hit like an earthquake.

A ridiculous attack.

Did it land this time?

I tried to look—

[Behind. Move.]

Yoo Cheongil’s voice.

“...!”

I twisted.

The Divine Sword came out.

The dark blade drew a line through the night.

But—

Clack.

“Wow.”

The Strange Demon stopped it with two fingers.

“...Sharp. How did you know?”

“...Kh.”

KKKRRR—!

I put everything into it, but his fingers didn’t budge even a little.

“Moon Knight!”

Yeo Hyeok drew in a panic.

“Strange Demon—!!”

KUUNG—!!

The Small Moon Unit Leader roared and tried to charge again—

“Don’t move.”

Tap.

The Strange Demon subdued me in an instant, bringing two fingers to my throat.

My arm wrenched behind my back.

Strength drained right out of my body.

“If you move, your neck gets pierced.”

“....”

Both the Small Moon Unit Leader and Yeo Hyeok froze mid-motion.

It was chilling.

Beyond that soft voice, alien killing intent wrapped around my skin.

Then the Strange Demon’s pale hand stroked my cheek.

Damn it.

Goosebumps exploded across my body.

“So pretty. Whose son are you, to be this pretty? Do you take after your father? Your mother...?”

A disgusting voice.

Sticky delivery, matched by a sticky presence.

And buried inside it—thick, viscous killing intent.

My breath caught without permission.

“...And these eyes.”

His fingers brushed the skin beneath my eye.

“Beautiful. Those are the eyes that carved us up. Completely different breed from that man’s eyes... I’d only heard rumors, but it was true?”

His nail grazed my eyeball.

Too close.

“Feels like that monster really came back... The subject is pathetic, but what you’re carrying is incredible. No wonder our little master told me to be careful.”

“...Let the kid go, Strange Demon...”

The Small Moon Unit Leader spoke through clenched teeth, but the Strange Demon only smiled.

“If I’m going to let him go, why would I take a hostage? If I let him go, you’ll charge again like a boar. I don’t like dust.”

“Coward—! And you call yourself a martial artist?”

“That’s such a classic line.”

A low laugh spilled out of him.

“If I cared about that kind of thing, I wouldn’t have become a demonic warrior.”

“...You—!”

“I’m curious, though. How did you know? You shouldn’t be able to know we were here... A betrayal? No. Those idiots couldn’t have made a choice like that.”

“Do you think I’d tell you—!”

“Oh, it’s fine. I didn’t say it because I wanted an answer.”

Sssss.

The hand that had been playing with my eyelid slid back, and his fingertips traced down my spine.

“Must’ve been some method... yeah. Something I don’t know. Anyway, people with blue eyes always get under my skin. Even after time passes, even after that monster dies... still annoying.”

Then he moved.

PUUK—!

“...Ghk!?”

Agony flared in my back.

He’d cut me.

DRIP—!

“Moon Knight...!!”

Yeo Hyeok flinched at the sight.

The Small Moon Unit Leader’s face hardened.

“Strange Demon...!”

“Relax. I’m not trying to kill him. He belongs to someone. If I touch him too much, I get scolded. But since it’s come to this, I need to buy time. So I’ll use a little trick, okay?”

CHIIIIIK—!!

“...Kkh!?”

The wound burned.

He shoved something into me.

“Poison from the Immortal-Seizing Herb. You know what that is, Leader.”

“...What?”

The Small Moon Unit Leader’s face twisted.

“If you get proper treatment and an antidote, you’ll be fine... but if you don’t within half a shichen, it’ll be a problem, right?”

Tap—!

He let go.

I collapsed without strength.

My body was going numb by the second.

“Hah... hhk....”

My head swam.

My vision started to drift away.

“Losing subordinates hurts... but at least I found a reason to raise our guard even more. Not a bad exchange. Right?”

“...Strange Demon....”

“Don’t glare like that. Shouldn’t you be taking the kid and running? I don’t think you have the luxury to charge me anymore.”

“Kkh...”

The Small Moon Unit Leader bit down hard.

Then—

WHAM—!

“Ghk!”

The Strange Demon kicked me and tossed me toward him.

The Small Moon Unit Leader caught me in a rush.

“Nice meeting you. See you next time?”

The Strange Demon leapt lightly and shot upward.

The Small Moon Unit Leader tried to move after him—

but couldn’t.

“Ghh...”

The pain was too strong.

“Goddamn it...!”

His decision was instant.

“Plum Blossom Upright Sword. We’re going back to Mount Hua Sect.”

“...! Yes...!”

Yeo Hyeok bolted back the way we’d come.

The Small Moon Unit Leader followed.

And as they pulled farther and farther away—

flutter.

The last thing my fading sight held was the Strange Demon waving at me.

*****

Right after the Small Moon Unit Leader left, carrying Bang Sungyeon—

“Hmm.”

The Strange Demon, left alone, stared lazily in the direction they vanished.

“Interesting.”

How did they know?

He wasn’t that surprised. He’d assumed he’d be discovered eventually.

But—

“Too early.”

It was far faster than expected. He hadn’t even considered getting exposed this soon.

When the formation broke, how startled he’d been.

“How did they do it?”

That formation was one even the Central Plain’s famous formation masters would struggle with.

Even if you dragged the current young master of the Jegal Clan here, it would’ve taken half a day.

Yet it was undone in less than half a quarter of an hour after they arrived.

Whose work was it?

The Small Moon Unit Leader?

If it was brute force, you could understand.

No.

The formation wasn’t shattered.

It was released.

As the one who laid it, he couldn’t mistake that.

“Hmmm...”

Fine. That aside—

“He resembles him.”

There was something about that young man he’d wounded.

Moon Knight, was it? The rising monster in Henan—every demonic warrior’s enemy.

A descendant of Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil.

The Strange Demon ran a hand up his own face as he recalled him.

“He resembles him.”

Those eyes.

Blue, blue eyes.

Like someone took Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil’s beautiful eyes and set them into another face.

But—

“He resembles him... in a strange way.”

The Strange Demon hadn’t thought of the Sword Saint when he looked at Bang Sungyeon.

What he was thinking of now—

“Our Leader... he really resembles our Leader...”

The one he worshiped, the one he valued more than his own life.

The absolute ruler of the DEMON CULT.

The Heavenly Demon.

For some reason, when the Strange Demon looked at Bang Sungyeon—

he thought of the Heavenly Demon.