‘Will I even be able to win with this?’
Wijihoyeon did not hold that level of conviction, even with this technique she had been practicing.
There had only been one opponent that had given her such a feeling of uncertainty.
That was Sima Ryunju.
When she provoked Sima Ryunju, she already had discerned this sense of unease and uncertainty of whether she could defeat him.
Even Qian Zun, who fought with her for days on end and was already a realm above her at the time, could not convey the same aura as Lee Sungmin and Sima Ryunju did.
Even if she was cursed at the end of the fight, if Qian Zun had not used such an underhanded technique, she believed she could have defeated him with a bit more time.
In the midst of the blooming flowers, Wijihoyeon observed Lee Sungmin with a calm expression.
Lee Sungmin had become truly powerful. Wijihoyeon acknowledged Lee Sungmin’s achievements and enjoyed it, but she could not laugh and reminisce just yet.
She didn’t want to lose. Not yet, no, even in the future. She wanted to continue to be Lee Sungmin’s goal and inspiration. She wanted him to only appreciate her.
To do that, she had to win. If she could win big, that would be the cherry on the top. But that might be a little difficult, nonetheless she had to try.
Had she ever hoped for such a victory in a fight that was this tough?
Wijihoyeon kicked the ground.
Dozens of flowers surrounding Wijihoyeon burst out. They multiplied to become tens, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands with a simple gesture from Wijihoyeon.
It was called the Flower of Death. It was a new technique that was designed to instill death once one glimpsed the flowers.
‘I want to win.’
Did he really have such thoughts?
Lee Sungmin was feeling a vague inkling of why Sima Ryunju was mad at his answer earlier. He didn’t want to just stop with this win.
Now, Lee Sungmin genuinely felt like something would change if he beat Wijihoyeon. And if one thing was certain, it was that he knew Wijihoyeon was now going full-throttle.
It would be deceitful of him to not show her his best. If she would go so far to show him everything she had, he felt obliged to do the same.
He wanted to show her. Just how much he had improved in the past 11 years. Just how much he had toiled and suffered to say that he was proudly a strong warrior now.
Hundreds of petals swarmed towards Lee Sungmin. Shifting his eyes, Lee Sungmin brought up the spear and unfolded his techniques. Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques, 2nd move : Nine Dragons Heavenly Annihilation (九龍殺生)
Crack!
When Lee Sungmin held the spear and shot forwards, Nine Golden Dragons, formed of lightning and internal energy, opened their mouths and swallowed the petals.
Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
With a huge explosion, the Petals and Dragons formed of internal energy scattered and dispersed into the surroundings.
Wijihoyeon had no hesitation in penetrating through the explosion with her bare body. The flowers that swirled around her body, creepily swarmed around her body like a black dress of death.
As she reached forwards, dozens of flower petals materialized and swirled forwards once again.
The fluttering petals were then coated with spatial essence and attacked Lee Sungmin once more.
Lee Sungmin didn’t bother to avoid it. The spear wriggled in Lee Sungmin’s hand, and the image of hundreds of spears materialized around him.
Once again, she moved towards Lee Sungmin.
The spear from Lee Sungmin trembled as the spatial essence coating the spear was much stronger and in depth, showing the full might of Transcendence.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Wijihoyeon’s dark flower petals and Lee Sungmin’s spear collided. The orichalcum spear trembled in Lee Sungmin’s hands.
Taking a few more steps, Lee Sungmin released the Blood Gale Nova around in his palms as a gale of red aura swirled in the space.
Lee Sungmin had already been using shadowless and the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques as the three martial arts combined and resonated in unison around him. Wijihoyeon backed off quickly.
Hundreds of the dark flower buds bloomed in succession, which were quickly divided into tens of thousands of petals.
It was a martial art that was not usable to anybody else but the Great Heavenly Demon and his bloodline, Wijihoyeon. It was something that required endless amounts of internal energy to produce and maintain.
However, for those who had his bloodline, it made the technique all the more frightening to use. The bloody storm and the dark flower petals collided until there was nothing left.
Shhhh.
Wijihoyeon approached through the daze silently. Then, her hands faced outwards and shot at Lee Sungmin,
Lee Sungmin swung the spear and tried to block Wijihoyeon’s hand. WijiHyoyeon’s hands were bent flexibly around the spear as if she knew Lee Sungmin would move like that.
Wijihoyeon’s hand, which had been digging under the shaft of the spear, hit Lee Sungmin’s chest, and Lee Sungmin dragged his feet back before her palms could reach him.
The space between them widened just a bit, but it was enough space to swing the spear. The spear moved in reverse and struck Wijihoyeon.
But, before the spear could land, she bent her posture so close to the ground and ducked.
The swift movement, at first glance, seemed to appear as if Wijihoyeon had no room for error and placed immense strain on her joints. Lee Sungmin roused his internal energy and his internal circuitry churned, as he chased the figure of Wijihoyeon.
Flurries of blows were exchanged at close range.
Kwoong!
At the end, the two both got what each other wanted. Wijihoyeon hit Lee Sungmin in the chest with her palm, and the orichalcum spear, wielded by Lee Sungmin, hit Wijihoyeon on the shoulder.
“Urgh…”
Lee Sungmin tasted blood in his mouth due to the compressed spatial essence that penetrated through his internal energy barrier over his body, and shocked him briefly.
Wijihoyeon, who stumbled and was pushed away by Lee Sungmin’s spear, felt a sharp pain in her left arm.
It was not a severe internal injury for Lee Sungmin, and Wijihoyeon did not have her arm broken either. Neither of them held the advantage over the other still.
As it was, it would stay even for the duration of the fight. Wijihoyeon shook her throbbing left arm and clenched her fist.
The dark flower buds blossomed once more. The petals that burst from close range and the Nine Dragons of Golden Qi that were shot out, approached each other simultaneously.
Lee Sungmin chose rather to attack and trust in his monstrous body, as well as endless amounts of internal energy, to hold off against the petals and take the advantage.
Lee Sungmin’s spear shaft arced down and the speartip soared up.
Wijihoyeon already knew what the move was. Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques, 8th move : Slaughter Spear (虐殺捕食)
‘No.’
Wijihoyeon was already preparing to respond to the move naturally, but something odd happened, and she saw the spear twist and wind unnaturally.
There was a spear movement that originally was not supposed to be there. The techniques were similar but different!
It was impossible for any humans to pull off this sudden change in movement, even for transcendent humans. However, only Lee Sungmin’s monstrous muscles and internal anatomy mutated to be incredibly strong were able to pull off such movements. With the arm holding the spear, and his body twisting, he continued to move impossibly in nature, breaking joints and tearing muscles in the process. Lee Sungmin was used to the pain of “that kind.”
He forced his arms to move, and they snapped and broke.
He had torn his joints, ligaments, muscles and even bones… yet they were healed instantly.
His spear shook violently and pierced Wijihoyeon in the stomach. Wijihoyeon, who knew the spear move of the slaughter spear, was wary of the spear hitting the upper part of her body, so the lower half was defenseless.
Wijihoyeon quickly leaned back to avoid the spear. But she couldn’t avoid it completely.
Wijihoyeon’s layer of internal energy that was coating her body was penetrated, and her clothes were ripped, revealing the bandages covering her breast area.
But Wijihoyeon did not care as she waved her hand, controlling flower petals to attack Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin also did not even notice the change since he was so absorbed in the fight.
The space around each of these hundreds of petals was vibrating and cracking. This was not something Lee Sungmin could hold out against with only his internal energy.
When Wijihoyeon hand stretched out, the flutter of petals spread. Lee Sungmin hurriedly pulled back.
“……Whoooh!”
Wijihoyeon exhaled. Hundreds of flowers bloomed, washed over into several petals, and scattered once again.
Lee Sungmin identified the spatial distortions around the petals. The technique, in all its splendor, there was a visage that gave one the feeling of an unstoppable and unpreventable death.
Lee Sungmin stretched the distance by dragging his feet straight back, lowering the spear, and his internal energy circuits seethed along with the ominous yokai power of Heoju.
On the tip of the spear, the two forces intertwined and melded together in a swirl, fiercely blowing the wind around Lee Sungmin.
Although it did not have much preparation to summon the force in his spear, Lee Sungmin gathered enough energy in the tip to perform several lightning strikes with the thrust of his spear.The spear fired off with a purple and gold energy rapidly thrusting at the petals incoming at Lee Sungmin.
Wijihoyeon was feeling a sense of fatigue. She was feeling a little light-headed and her movements appeared to be dulling.
She had never supposed that Lee Sungmin would be able to overpower her in sheer quantity of internal energy, as her dantian was feeling a little overworked. Not only that, but it was clear the spatial essence that she had achieved through entering the Realm of Transcendence, was wearing thin.
She couldn’t get the upper hand.
Unlike Wijihoyeon, who was having her stamina whittled down, bit by bit, Lee Sungmin’s stamina and internal circuits weren’t overworked as he had a diverse plethora of factors inside his body, allowing him to become such a mysterious and powerful human being.
His Dantian was like a bottomless pit through the elixirs he had consumed from Heoju’s inheritance, and if he drew upon Heoju’s power directly as well, it was fearsome. His body would also instantly regenerate any body part that was broken or cut.
Boom!
Wijihoyeon’s body was pushed back from the rebound of her body colliding with the forces in the spear. The flowers, which had been called back into a defensive formation, could not bloom, resulting in them bursting and disappearing.
Wijihoyeon stretched her hand forward while her breath was visible in the space around her as she panted. She was moving slower. It was enough time for Lee Sungmin to dig in and capitalize.
Ack!
A quick swing of the spear hit Wijihoyeon’s hand to the side. Lee Sungmin, who swung it sideways and raised it, hit Wijihoyeon in the stomach.
“Kuk-!”
Wijihoyeon swallowed her breath as she was nailed in the solar plexus.
She took a few steps back, and Lee Sungmin stepped forward. The dark flowers did not bloom any further.
Pababak!
The orichalcum spear, divided into dozens of images and aimed at Wijihoyeon’s body. Wijihoyeon frowned and pushed the spears away with one hand.
Stumbling back, Wijihoyeon knew she would lose if she went on like this.
‘Ah.’
There was nothing she could do any further.
A sharp-edged spearhead stopped in front of Wijihoyeon’s nose.
If Lee Sungmin had decided to outstretch his arm a little more, the sharp blade would have pierced Wijihoyeon’s skull.
“That’s the end of it.”
Sima Ryunju murmured.
Lee Sungmin said nothing while stopping the spear in front of Wijihoyeon. Wijihoyeon smiled at Lee Sungmin.
“Why are you looking like that?”
Lee Sungmin did not answer. The buds that could not bloom disappeared and the battlefield became quiet.
Wijihoyeon opened the front of her chest, which was torn by the previous attack.
“You won. Aren’t you content?
‘I don’t know.’
Lee Sungmin slowly lowered the spear. He was hoping from the bottom of his heart that one day… just one day… he would be able to surpass her.
He had always kept this fight in the back of his mind the past 11 years. He looked forward to it and had anticipated that he would be stronger. But, he didn’t even expect himself to truly come out on top like this. He wanted to believe he would back then, but his defeatist attitude always stopped him short.
This was simply the natural order of things he thought. He was never that talented in any style of martial arts, and comparing him to Wijihoyeon from the past in Genavis, was a joke.
Therefore, even if he imagined himself somehow attaining victory, he would be near-death and only get that far through sheer luck. But never, did he expect this.
“I lost.”
Even though Wijihoyeon lost, she felt rather relieved. She wanted to win, but simultaneously she also wanted Lee Sungmin to grow further and surpass her one day.
What was lacking, she thought? But she quickly shook her head, since right now was not the time to review the fight. She looked up and smiled at Lee Sungmin.
“You’ve become so strong.”
Wijihoyeon spoke so in a warm tone. Lee Sungmin hesitated and nodded awkwardly like a child.
Wijihoyeon burst into laughter at Lee Sungmin’s expression.
“What’s wrong with your face? Someone might think you lost.”
“……If you hadn’t been under a curse….”
Lee Sungmin barely opened his mouth.
“If you hadn’t… you’d be stronger than you are now.”
“That’s right.”
There was no need to state the obvious. Wijihoyeon added that remark at the end and tapped Lee Sungmin on the shoulder.
“You’ve only lost once to me. Eleven years ago, when I separated from you, I had won. And… you won today. It’s 1:1, right?
“Yes.”
“Next time, the results will be different. Honestly…… fighting with you. I kept thinking. I don’t want to lose.”
Wijihoyeon closed her eyes.
“I thought that if you won… my existence to you might fade away.”
“What do you mean?”
“You made me your target.”
Wijihoyeon opened her eyes that she had closed before.
“I wanted to remain that goal for you. It was something I wanted to keep, but it was out of reach in the end… And you finally caught up and surpassed me. Don’t you like it?”
“No, I don’t.”
Wijihoyeon burst into laughter.
“Well, I know. But don’t worry, I’m going to go again and travel. I’ll travel to once again surpass you and become your goal, once more.”
Wijihoyeon knew it. She felt conflicted and was contradicting her own emotions with her words.
She realized that what she was saying, was not actually what she meant or felt inside of her.
But she didn’t want to be honest with Lee Sungmin like that.
‘I’m so clumsy.’
She felt that she was incredibly clumsy with talking to other people. She was always alone and didn’t socialize with others. Wijihoyeon lifted her head and looked to Lee Sungmin.
For her, Lee Sungmin was a person that held many emotions and special moments in her heart.
He was her first and only friend.
From after she left Genavis and Lee Sungmin, she had traveled far and wide and met many people, places and things. She even had a group of people following her around at one point, despite her not caring in the least who they were or why they followed her.
They all wanted something from her. It was something that made her frustrated and annoyed. But not him.
“I need a little rest.”
Wijihoyeon said to Lee Sungmin.
“There’s a lot I want to think about right now. Thanks to fighting with you…….I found what I was lacking in my martial arts and how I need to supplement my growth.”
Wijihoyeon said so and turned around. When Lee Sungmin was about to say something, Sima Ryunju interrupted Lee Sungmin.
“Let her go.”
Sima Ryunju said with a soft face.
“She’s a bright kid. She needs time to think and reflect on her own.”
“I can hear you.”, Wijihoyeon snarkily butted in.
“I told you to go and reflect already.”
Sima Ryunju replied with a smirk at the words from Wijihoyeon. Wijihoyeon glared at Sima Ryunju once, before turning around.
The mental space created by the Fairy Queen, Oslo, fluctuated in different colors and shapes before taking in the surroundings of the forest again. Wijihoyeon kicked the ground and disappeared into the forest.