Chapter 68 : The Moon Rose

Frost half-raised his sword and asked me, “Why are you laughing?”

“Hell if I know, bastard.”

“…”

He glared at me, but honestly, I was only speaking the truth.

“Heh.”

Even I didn’t know why the laughter kept bubbling up.

Strangely enough, it just wouldn’t stop.

Damn, what a crazy bastard I am.

Even I could see it.

“Hahaha…”

My sudden laughter made Frost stare at me as if I were some curious animal.

Then he asked, “Do you have… last words?”

“Last words? Pfft—hahahaha!”

He probably thought I’d lost my mind, laughing on the brink of death.

After all, I’d barely managed to hold on even when both arms were fine. Now, with one arm crippled?

I nodded.

“Yeah, makes sense. Anyone would think that.”

It was hopeless.

But I hadn’t bitten down on his balls yet.

I still had plenty left to show.

I couldn’t die here.

I had a home to return to. Bastards waiting for a good kicking.

Sure, Frost hadn’t gone all out yet… but neither had I.

“Last words? Of course I have some.”

Before speaking, I lifted my head.

Above me, the black sky was studded with countless stars, gazing silently down.

Like an audience watching a play unfold on stage.

It was a moonless night.

So I spoke like the lead actor, raising his voice in the spotlight.

“My last words are…”

I paused for dramatic effect, then said with a solemn face, “What chair do you regret buying most?”

“...?”

“An armchair.”

“…!”

While Frost stood stunned by the nonsense, I lunged.

Mind games were part of battle too.

That chatterbox assassin, Dopain—I’d cursed him plenty when he taught me tricks like this, but now? I had to thank him.

I sent my gratitude his way and swung my sword, blazing with starlight.

Clang!

Frost raised his Blue Frostblade and caught my strike.

Last time, when he attacked suddenly, I’d only managed to answer with crimson sword-qi.

This time was different.

My blade shone with an aura infused with starlight—the fruit of all my training.

In the dark, my Starlight Sword gleamed brilliantly.

Earlier, I had been distracted with thoughts of my left hand: when to launch a palm strike, whether to unleash a spell.

That option was gone now.

Better this way.

With my left hand out of the equation, I poured everything into the right, all of me focused on my sword.

Something clicked open inside me.

This time, I pressed Frost like a storm wind.

Whsshh!

The ghostly cries in my ears felt like cheers spurring me on.

Just as he had cut away every unnecessary movement, I mimicked him, unleashing a blade that was ruthlessly efficient, stripped of waste.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

I had never swung this fast before.

My sword danced, tracing silver arcs through the night.

“Heh.”

The cold stung my face, but I grinned.

Our positions had reversed.

Now Frost was the one fending me off, blocking and parrying.

I noticed his swordtip barely trembled at all.

Two blades, steeped in stillness, savagely tore at each other.

Just as I began to enjoy the rhythm—

Frost abruptly stepped forward and hacked down with brutal force.

I leapt back at once.

His blue blade slammed where I’d stood.

Boom!

Shattered ice sprayed into my face.

I saw my chance as his sword stuck in the earth—

But then the ground itself erupted.

“…!”

I felt the faintest tremor beneath my feet and hurled myself aside.

Crack!

A jagged ice pillar burst upward, tall as two men, sharp as a spearhead.

Had I hesitated for an instant, I’d have been skewered like meat on a spit.

But it didn’t end there.

Rumble…

Another tremor beneath me.

“Damn it!”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

I dashed frantically as ice spikes surged one after another from the earth.

This was like fighting a damn mage.

Sensing the tremors alone wasn’t enough.

So I shut my eyes—and opened my qi sense.

I felt it then: streams of qi roiling under the soil, swelling at certain points until—

Crack!

Ice burst skyward.

Ah. So that’s it.

Knowing beforehand made dodging simple.

It was like glimpsing a sword’s trajectory before it even swung.

As I adjusted, weaving between the spikes, I charged Frost again.

Eyes closed, I swung.

Clang!

Though the night was dark, his icy aura burned clearer than any I’d ever seen.

I couldn’t miss it. Not a chance.

We clashed—Starlight Sword against Blue Frostblade.

His relentless, suffocating swordplay was no longer so overwhelming.

Still, he wasn’t easy.

Even a breath of distraction would see my neck split open.

His defense showed no weakness.

But that was fine. Weakness could be made.

I battered at him, then slammed his sword upward.

Clang!

For just an instant—a tiny gap opened.

Thread-thin, but enough.

I drove my foot into it, kicking hard at his torso with qi surging through my leg.

A mistake could cost me the limb, but risks were part of battle.

No fight was ever flawless. No victory came without blood.

Thud!

My foot struck his chest and I yanked it back before it could be severed.

Frost staggered back a step.

I seized the moment, leaping high.

“Yraaah!”

I plunged down like a streak of starlight ripping the night sky.

Claaang!

Frost raised his blade diagonally, guiding my strike aside.

My sword skidded along the ice, sliding off harmlessly.

But that was my trap.

I slithered down the line of his blade like a serpent, my sword flashing for his wrist.

Just before I could sever it—

His boot slammed into me.

Thwack!

“Urgh!”

The impact tore a grunt from my lungs.

I tumbled across the ground, rolling in pain.

I twisted at the last second, sacrificing my left shoulder instead of my chest, but the blow still crushed me.

My arm snapped. Ribs cracked.

“Khahh…”

I wheezed, dragging myself up with rattling breath.

Frost, unscathed, gazed down at me with that cold, noble face.

As if daring me to try again.

Arrogant bastard.

“Heh.”

And still, laughter slipped out of me.

White breath spilled into the frozen night.

“Not bad.”

I grinned at his irritatingly perfect face.

“Didn’t ask for your opinion,” I replied.

“Do you have a master?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“The Heavenly Demon.”

Frost blinked.

“The Heavenly Demon… I’ve never heard that name.”

“Of course not. He lives in my head.”

I chuckled, then coughed violently, nearly collapsing.

Blood tinged my throat.

It wasn’t just the blows.

His cold was seeping into me with every breath, weakening me bit by bit.

The chill of death itself loomed before my eyes.

Still laughing faintly, I spoke inwardly.

“Master. If I die here… what happens to you? Do you die too?”

【Ah… That would be troublesome.】

For once, the Heavenly Demon sounded weary.

I smirked.

So even the Heavenly Demon feared death.

“Master. Are you afraid?”

【Yes.】

“Of what?”

【That this delightful play will end.】

…So that was it?

【Damn. Can’t something be done? I want to keep watching my half-baked disciple spout nonsense.】

“…”

I clicked my tongue and forced my broken body upright, heavier than ever.

In the end, the only one truly worrying about me was Shushruta.

I glanced at Frost.

He stood some distance away, watching me with those blank, indifferent eyes.

No tension. No concern.

As though he wasn’t fighting at all.

The strong always look down on the weak.

Strength and carelessness walk together, like lifelong companions.

And even that ice-bound heart of his must have let a sliver of carelessness slip in.

If I was going to strike, it had to be now.

Hey, wall. You hear me?

I scolded the wall inside my mind, still shuddering but never collapsing.

When would it finally fall? The thought drew a sigh from my lips.

Then a memory came to me—something the Heavenly Demon once said, back when I was struggling with cultivation.

I’d been sweating and groaning on my own, and perhaps he pitied me, because his voice—gentler than usual—had settled softly into my ear.

【Time is never the deciding factor in reaching a realm or a destination.】

【There is no straight, easy road in martial cultivation. You will stumble, wander, lose your way, turn back—such things are inevitable.】

【What matters is to use yourself as the lantern, and keep walking forward.】

【Even if you fall, rise again. Even if you stray, return. The journey is only the road toward the destination.】

【What you see, what you think, what you realize along the way—those shape the journey.】

【Walking longer does not mean you will arrive. Walking faster does not mean you will arrive sooner.】

【Enlightenment is subtle in this way.】

【Therefore, it is important to walk every day. For enlightenment comes suddenly, like a summer shower.】

I lifted my gaze skyward.

A moonless night.

Stars twinkled, watching me.

A stray meteor cut the sky.

Where do the stars fall from? Where is their home?

I closed my eyes.

The pitch-black sky stretched before me—no stars, no moon.

Then, tiny points of light appeared, here and there, shimmering.

They were starlights born from my inner qi.

The specks of light flitted like fireflies, then slowly gathered into a circle.

Ah.

A crowded ring of light. From afar, it looked like a moon.

Rumble!

The wall collapsed.

My eyes opened.

I raised my sword.

Woooong—

Pale steel was cloaked in gentle moonlight.

The glow was softer, yet the power within it surged with elegance and ferocity.

I lifted the moonlit sword to the heavens.

On this moonless night—I raised the moon.

Then I lowered my eyes to Frost.

His own eyes had widened.

I charged, blade steeped in moonlight.

Slash!

A silver arc grazed his shoulder.

Blood spurted.

I had aimed for the neck, but he dodged.

The battle was momentum.

I pressed the attack relentlessly.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Each clash sparked fireworks of moonlight and icy blue.

For a moment Frost faltered, but soon his aura deepened, darker and thicker, and he regained his calm defense.

Reaching the moonlit realm alone wasn’t enough.

He was still strong.

“Heh.”

And still, I couldn’t stop laughing.

Because now I knew why.

I had thought I didn’t know—but I did.

What it meant, I couldn’t say.

In my inner world, the crimson giant rose.

It beckoned me with blood-red madness.

The feeling was overwhelming—madness itself.

Clang!

I knocked his blade aside and shut my eyes tight.

The red giant grinned, gripping a dangling cord overhead.

The cord snapped.

Click.

I opened my eyes.

A crimson world greeted me.

Qi boiled through my body.

Moonlight on my blade was stained blood-red.

Screeches of ghosts wailed in my ears.

Frost’s eyes widened.

I bared my teeth in a grin.

“Heh.”

I slashed, drawing an oblique path from lower right to upper left.

Along the trajectory, a blood-red moon rose.

Clang!!!

The Blue Frostblade wavered. Frost’s stance faltered.

A gap opened.

I didn’t miss it.

I swatted his blade aside, flipped my grip to a reverse hold, and thrust.

Sometimes, with a reverse grip, the thrust was shorter than a normal grip. This was such a moment.

My sword reached his chest faster than he could recover.

Stab!

“…”

Silence.

Frost froze like a statue.

Blood poured from his chest, flowing from the wound.

Right through the heart.

Dead?

I stared at his face, then tried to pull my sword free.

“…Huh?”

It wouldn’t budge.

The blood at the wound had already frozen, locking my blade in place.

“What the…”

Frost’s eyes flared open. He slammed his own sword into the ground.

Crash!

A chill pooled at my feet.

Rumble…

Alarmed, I tried to drop my sword—but my hand had frozen fast to the hilt.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Ah, come on. That’s not fair.”

Crack-crack-crack!

Blue ice swallowed me whole.

Frost looked upon the man encased in ice.

The devil, red eyes glaring, was trapped within.

The jagged pillars of ice soared dozens of meters into the sky.

Like a frozen volcano, the blue mass was a mountain of its own.

“…”

He gazed in silence, then gripped the sword in his chest. Slowly, he stepped back, pulling it free.

The blade that had pierced him was already frozen solid.

Ting!

He flicked it with a finger. It shattered with a sharp crack.

He stared at the fragments scattered on the ground, then touched his own chest and shoulder, where frozen crimson blood clung.

When was the last time he had bled? He could not remember.

He lifted his gaze again to the red-eyed devil in the ice.

And thought:

How strong could this one grow?

If it had been ten years later—then perhaps they might have crossed blades as equals.

A useless thought.

Duty was duty. He had to bring back the devil’s head.

He raised his sword to strike.

Boom!

He leapt back instinctively.

Boom!

His eyes widened.

What was this ominous presence?

Boom. Boom.

From the icebound devil, a monstrous aura surged.

Something dreadful was tearing through reality.

Boom. Boom. Boom!

Frost’s frozen heart thundered in terror.

Instinct shrieked: Run. Don’t look back.

Crack…

The massive ice pillar split.

Shatter!

The towering ice burst apart all at once.

Blue shards rained like hail.

Through the storm of ice shone crimson eyes—and an arrogant smile.

The Heavenly Demon laughed.

“Time for a substitution.”

(End of Chapter)

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