The Black Bandit Society’s society leader let the sword hang down and let out a grotesque laugh.

“Heh-heh....... Senior brothers. You two came to catch me as ghosts!”

Their eyes were glaring at Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo as they rushed in, but what they were seeing had nothing to do with reality.

“I knew you’d come for me someday. Feeling any better after the poison?”

They were the one who had poisoned the senior brothers they’d trained under the same master with, then climbed onto the society leader’s seat.

Back then, they’d been condemned even by martial artists from the same unorthodox faction, but they’d silenced the criticism by hunting down everyone who badmouthed them and killing them one by one in a brutal fashion.

The smile on their face twisted into something like a demon’s in an instant as they screamed.

“If you’re dead, then shut up and crawl back to hell—why do you keep coming back!”

Even a monstrous villain wasn’t free of guilt.

Senior brothers they’d learned the sword with since they were kids.

Memories of laughing and messing around together, of fighting back-to-back with enemies right in front of them.

Poisoning those two senior brothers to death was a trauma buried deep inside the Black Bandit Society’s society leader.

“You bastards! I’ll kill you a hundred times—no, a thousand times over—!”

Their eyes exploded with bloodlight as they swung the sword.

KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA!

A crimson blade aura surged like a wave. Startled out of their minds by the sheer power, Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo hurriedly split left and right.

“They’ve completely lost it.”

As Gu Hyeonwoo muttered with a hardened expression, Kim Muhyuk answered in a calm voice.

“That sword they’re holding is what’s making them see hallucinations. It digs up your worst trauma and drives you insane.”

“You know an awful lot.”

Because of you.

Instead of saying it out loud, Kim Muhyuk stared straight at Gu Hyeonwoo and warned him.

“So don’t ever try to grab that sword. Unless you want to make your one and only daughter an orphan.”

“You think I’d fall for temptation from some cursed sword? I’d rather cut my arm off.”

Snorting, Gu Hyeonwoo circled to the Black Bandit Society’s society leader’s left.

A translucent, sizzling blade aura gathered along their sword.

Not the White-Masked Swordsman—Talbaek Sword Gu Hyeonwoo’s signature sword art. A technique from the Way-Seeking Sword.

KRRRRAAANG!

After the collision, Gu Hyeonwoo stared at their own sword with wide eyes.

Even with blade aura wrapped around it, the edge was visibly damaged. It was a famous blade passed down since their grandfather’s time, but it couldn’t endure Phantom Dream.

“Don’t meet them head-on! Your sword won’t hold!”

At Gu Hyeonwoo’s shout, Kim Muhyuk moved like he’d known all along, slipping in close and striking from behind.

At the same time, he pulled up the Water energy from the Five Elements Divine Art and chilled the air around them.

KRRRRAAACK—

The cold leaking off the blade slowed the Black Bandit Society’s society leader’s movements for a split second. Kim Muhyuk didn’t miss the opening and drove his sword toward their back.

In that instant, the society leader’s arm bent at an angle that shouldn’t have been possible and knocked the attack aside. It was a grotesque sight—like the sword had judged and moved on its own.

“Aren’t you ashamed, senior brother? A cheap sneak attack from behind!”

The Black Bandit Society’s society leader turned their head to look at Kim Muhyuk. It was less like a person wielding a sword, and more like the sword was swinging the person—but that only made them harder to predict.

They’re strong.

Even with their mind being eaten away by Phantom Dream, the opponent was a seasoned pinnacle expert. A monster whose raw martial ability alone outclassed Kim Muhyuk. They bared their teeth in a savage grin and unleashed a continuous sword sequence.

KRA-KA-KANG!

Kim Muhyuk flashed a quick idea and converted his internal energy into Metal energy, pouring it into his sword. His blade, wrapped in golden light, slammed into Phantom Dream again and again.

Thanks to the Metal energy, his sword didn’t snap in two—but he was still shoved back helplessly, pushed into a defensive corner.

“Duck!”

At the shout from behind, Kim Muhyuk dropped his head. The blade aura Gu Hyeonwoo launched skimmed over him.

SHAAAAK-

Even the Black Bandit Society’s society leader didn’t dare take that strike lightly, hopping back in a single bound.

In that gap, Gu Hyeonwoo came up beside Kim Muhyuk and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

“Charging separately like this won’t work.”

“Agreed. Let’s combine.”

Like they’d come to the same conclusion at the same time, the two of them spoke while looking straight at each other.

“You match my rhythm.”

“You match mine.”

A red blade aura came flying between them. The two scattered to either side, then opened their mouths again.

“You arrogant punk. If you want to live, follow my orders!”

“Judging by your swordsmanship and your personality, it’d be better if you followed my lead....”

Gu Hyeonwoo barking in anger, Kim Muhyuk muttering like he was talking to himself.

Between them, the Black Bandit Society’s society leader threw their head back and roared with laughter.

“Hahahahahaha! Now you can’t even handle just me, even if you fight together!”

The society leader shoved energy that boiled up from their lower abdomen like magma into the sword and bellowed.

“Crawl back to hell, you wraiths! With this power, I’ll rule the world!”

The crimson energy wrapping around the Black Bandit Society’s society leader kept growing darker and denser.

Power Phantom Dream had stored up by drinking blood.

And as the price for using that power, the society leader’s hair was turning white.

Deciding it would only get worse if they gave them time, Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo surged forward side by side.

“Stay next to me and match my rhythm!”

“Senior, you match mine!”

The two stubborn swordsmen didn’t know how to yield, carving out identical sword paths like reflections in a mirror.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

But a clumsy combination attack with no agreement behind it wasn’t efficient. If anything, they were getting in each other’s way.

“I’ll block from the front! You go around and hit from behind!”

“That sword won’t last! I’ll make an opening—aim for that!”

“You little—stubborn brat!”

“You’ve lived long enough, so why can’t you understand plain words?”

It was because both were swordsmen with ironclad opinions, men who’d carved out their own lives with their own hands.

And because they still didn’t fully trust each other.

Rather than entrust a deadly opponent to someone they couldn’t trust, they were the type who found it easier to fight themselves.

I have to do it.

I’ll do it!

The rigid, uncompromising orthodox swordsman’s sword.

And the wanderer’s sword that had come back alive from every battlefield.

They were nothing alike—yet somehow, the two blades resembled each other in a strange way.

Even they could feel it as they fought together.

“Damn it....”

Kim Muhyuk’s expression, which had been tightly pinched with irritation when the combination started, began to shift into something odd.

It wasn’t annoyance or anger.

It was the opposite.

Kim Muhyuk grinned and muttered.

“Isn’t this fun?”

Gu Hyeonwoo shot him a look like he was pathetic.

“You’re completely out of your mind.”

But even as they said it, a faint smile tugged at the corner of their mouth.

Fighting in tandem with a younger rising star more than ten years their junior, Gu Hyeonwoo was feeling pure swordsman’s joy for the first time in a long while.

That was when their swordsmanship began to blend into one.

Go.

Gu Hyeonwoo—who hadn’t yielded an inch until now—stepped aside first. Kim Muhyuk slipped into the space they made and snapped his sword upward.

KRRRRAAANG—!

The Black Bandit Society’s society leader staggered under the sudden First Sword. If Phantom Dream hadn’t been glued to their hand like sap, they might’ve dropped it.

He could’ve kept pressing the attack, but Kim Muhyuk didn’t get greedy. He waited for the ferocious energy building behind him to finish forming, using feints to shake the opponent’s focus.

Your turn.

The society leader’s sword cut through empty air, and Kim Muhyuk kicked his body high.

When the society leader’s gaze followed him, Gu Hyeonwoo’s blade appeared. The sizzling blade aura—charged up for an ultimate technique of the Way-Seeking Sword—was so vivid it looked milky-white.

KRAAANG!

The Black Bandit Society’s society leader went flying, vomiting blood like they’d been hit by a bombardment.

“Krrr....... You disgusting senior brothers! Let’s finish this today!”

Unlike the society leader—charging in furious and drenched in blood—Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo looked strangely at ease, even though they were battered and exhausted.

To pinnacle experts, even a tiny shift in mindset became insight.

And true talent made even sudden insight sprout immediately.

WOOOONG—

The Solitary Life-and-Death Sword embraced the momentum of the Way-Seeking Sword. And in return, the Way-Seeking Sword’s momentum flared even more fiercely to life.

KRRRRAAANG! KRAAANG! FWOOOOSH!

Two sword paths tangled together like a snarl of thread, yet never interfered with each other. A barrage of linked strikes poured out—like a single swordsman freely wielding two swords.

WHUMP! KRRRK! KRA-KAK!

Upward slashes, spins, downward chops, carving cuts—an entire feast of sword technique. The two pinnacle swordsmen swerved around the cursed sword as if possessed. Phantom Dream’s fury—hammered dozens, hundreds of times—bled back into its host.

“You’re tough like cockroaches! Just die already—!”

The Black Bandit Society’s society leader had turned into a full-on old person now. The back of the hand gripping the sword was packed with wrinkled creases.

SHHK-SHHK-SHHK-SHHK-SHHK!

Blade aura poured down like rain from the wildly swinging sword. Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo briefly met each other’s eyes.

Let’s end it.

Together.

Trading thoughts with a look, the two of them slipped through the raining blade aura and closed the distance. Small cuts multiplied across their bodies, but neither cared.

WOOOONG—

Kim Muhyuk drew up the Five Elements Divine Art. Starting from Water energy and Metal energy, he pulled in Fire, Wood, and Earth as well—everything.

Gu Hyeonwoo also hauled up their internal energy with everything they had. Blade aura flowed in a mighty current across their sword.

“Hehahaha! Are you really going to kill me, senior brothers? Come on! Let’s all go to hell together—!”

As if they’d sensed their end, bloody tears rolled down from the society leader’s eyes.

To the very end, they couldn’t escape the nightmare, believing Kim Muhyuk and Gu Hyeonwoo were the senior brothers they’d killed long ago.

“Now!”

Gu Hyeonwoo shouted as they blocked the society leader’s attack head-on.

In that split second, they’d judged it was better for them to create the opening and leave the finish to Kim Muhyuk.

They were right.

THUD!

Kim Muhyuk didn’t miss the instant his partner carved out. He drove his sword straight into the society leader’s heart.

“Cough...!”

A lethal wound—so severe it would’ve been no surprise if they died on the spot.

In fact, the light was already fading from the society leader’s eyes.

But in that moment, their left arm moved and grabbed Kim Muhyuk’s sword.

SHAAAA—

At the same time, a bizarre voice poured out of the society leader’s mouth along with a wicked presence.

Not the heart— you should’ve cut the arm.

A sinister smile crept across their lips. Veins bulged like they were about to burst—and then their face exploded like a firecracker.

BOOOOOM!

A chill ran through Kim Muhyuk. He threw both arms up to shield himself and jumped back—

—and Phantom Dream lifted itself into the air and shot forward like an arrow.

“Watch out!”

“Watch out!”

Gu Hyeonwoo’s voice came from behind. Kim Muhyuk twisted on instinct. Phantom Dream barely grazed his shoulder as it flashed past.

But Kim Muhyuk felt something else instead—confusion.

It can’t miss.

It had been willing to give up an arm, and yet it had only skimmed him. It made no sense.

Don’t tell me...?

A bad feeling stabbed through him. Kim Muhyuk whipped around and shouted.

“Gu Hyeonwoo! Move!”

But Phantom Dream had already pierced something.

“.......”

Gu Hyeonwoo stared blankly at the sword embedded in their body.