Although there was a commotion in the Tower about Heaven Wing and Arthia’s return, the One-horned tribe’s village was just as calm as ever, as if they were completely in a different world. There was just only one change: the villagers were mesmerized by the sight of Yeon-woo’s face without the mask.
“Huh? He’s good-looking without his mask!”
“Did you forget what I said? He’s Heaven Wing’s twin brother, so of course he’s good-looking.”
“Dammit! I thought he was wearing the mask to hide his ugly face. He was deceiving us! That conman was fooling us this whole time!”
“Seems like he’s gotten stronger.”
“He might even be the king’s match. I want to have a go with him. Can’t I?”
“Hey, hey! Get in line, you morons! I’m first!”
“What are you talking about, I called dibs.”
“Ahhh! It’s so loud!”
Just because the One-horned tribe didn’t have many exchanges with the outside world, it didn’t mean they were completely disinterested in the things that happened there. They had a general idea of the Tower’s situation, and they obviously also heard things about Yeon-woo.
Also, Edora had already told the tribe members that Yeon-woo wasn’t the real Heaven Wing but his twin brother. No one was confused by the situation, and instead, they felt a stronger urge to fight. It didn’t matter whether or not Yeon-woo was the real Heaven Wing; what mattered was that he’d been placed on the same level as their king.
It didn’t mean that they believed Yeon-woo was really the Martial King’s equal, but surely, he had some skills. As the tribe members were crazy about fighting, honor, and pride, they were tempted to fight Yeon-woo again.
Yeon-woo didn’t say anything, but the tribe members were already putting a queue of names together of people to spar with him. Those on the bottom of the list were making bets on how many victories Yeon-woo would win and how powerful his true abilities were. If Yeon-woo rejected their offer to spar, they were ready to charge at him.
“Get in line, idiots!” Amid the mayhem, the Head Elder welcomed Yeon-woo heartily. “Long time no see.”
“It’s been a while, sir.”
“I heard you took your mask off. You’re handsomer than I expected.”
“Thank you.”
“So…” He trailed off, and looked Yeon-woo over as he pushed his glasses up. His eyes glinted with a deep competitiveness. Yeon-woo was so powerful now that even though he was relatively calm and reasonable for a One-horned tribe member, he couldn’t contain his excitement either. Just what experiences had Yeon-woo gone through, what battlefields had he fought in, and how many times had he been on the brink of death to become this strong?
The Head Elder saw in Yeon-woo’s eyes a look that only belonged to those who had overcome the threat of death many times. It was the gaze of someone who had such profound experiences that others found it hard to approach them. Only the Head Elder and a few others in the One-horned tribe—the generation that experienced the Great War—had this look.
He wanted to ask Yeon-woo what he had been through, and he was willing to wait until a later time if Yeon-woo couldn’t do it now.
“Hey! The Head Elder is trying to cut in line!”
“Get in line, sir!”
“Boo! People in power should scram, boo!”
“You fools.” He glared at the noisy tribe members and sighed, opening a path for Yeon-woo. It seemed like he’d have to wait for a long time if he wanted to spar with Yeon-woo. The other option was to push them all away with his strength. “Ah, right. Sesha’s doing well, by the way. She misses you.”
Yeon-woo was about to walk past the Head Elder when he paused. The pocket watch was trembling in his breast pocket. Urrrrng. He had reacted as soon as he heard his daughter’s name. Actually, this was the reason why Yeon-woo hadn’t gone straight to the One-horned tribe after his business in Tartarus was finished. He didn’t have the face to see Sesha and Ananta.
However, he couldn’t avoid it forever, so he returned. Still, he felt heavy. Brahm squeezed Yeon-woo’s shoulder, as if saying it was all right. Yeon-woo looked at him for a while and nodded solemnly. He turned to the center of the village.
Before taking Phante away, he needed to greet his teacher first. But…“How dare you! Never, over my dead body!” The Martial King rolled around on the ground in front of the tribe chief’s residence with a towel wrapped around his head. Edora looked to the side in embarrassment, pretending not to notice her father.
“What are you doing, sir?” Yeon-woo looked at the Martial King with an appalled expression.
The Martial King continued to roll on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum and shouted, “My daughter is off limits! How dare you try to take my precious daughter away from me? You’d better get through me first!”
“I’ve come for Phante.”
“Eh? You didn’t come for her?” The Martial King jumped up.
Yeon-woo sighed. “Yes. You got it wrong, sir.”
“Shucks. I always wanted to act like a dad stopping his future son-in-law from taking his daughter.” The Martial King frowned and turned to Edora. “What have you been doing all this time? You couldn’t even tie him down.”
“Father!” Edora screamed, her face red.
The Martial King plugged his ears with his fingers and shook his head. Then, he looked at Yeon-woo anxiously, as if he’d suddenly got a bad feeling. “Disciple, is it possible that you’re not interested in Edora but you’re interested in P…!”
“What kind of nonsense are you speaking, Father!”
“Is it? Whew! That’s a relief. Sexual orientation is a personal matter, but I was hoping my child and disciple would be hetero…”
“Please, shut up, please!” Edora’s blushing face had turned into a flaming red color.
The Martial King continued to plug his ears shamelessly. “OK, you damned child. Sheesh, who do you take after to have such a loud…hm? Hahaha! Honey, of course not. Do you think I’d say that about you?” The Martial King excused himself in a panic. He’d clearly received a message from the Psychic Medium, who was watching them.
With the Summer Queen gone, the Martial King was considered to be the most powerful entity in the Tower aside from Allforone, but he was nothing but a weakling to his family. “Oops. Yes, of course, ma’am. Yes ma’am, yes. I’ll deliver the message, ma’am. Hm? Am I being sarcastic? Never. No way. Yes, ma’am. I’ll go see you later.” The Martial King quickly made excuses and sighed. Then, he shook his head with an exhausted expression and swiftly returned to his mischievous self again. “So…you guys already did the dippity-doo-dah?”
“Did Mother say that?”
“Yes. And I heard an earful to not mess with my daughter’s love life. I see. So that’s the situation. Hahaha! You should’ve said something. No need to be shy. Hahaha!”
“Ahh, Mom…”
“Hahahaha! Bahahaha!”
“Stop laughing!”
“Bahahahaha!”
This was why she didn’t want her father to find out. Edora rubbed her temples. She expected her mother would know since she watched over everything, but she didn’t think her mother would tell her sneaky father.
“My daughter’s wish finally came tr—!”
Kashing! Edora pulled Divine Evil halfway out. If he continued any further, she was going to fight him.
“Ahem! OK, OK. I’ll stop. Pft.” The Martial King’s beaming face didn’t show any sign of turning to normal. Then, he raised his eyebrows at the two. “Right. Edora, stop by the Spirit Pond before you leave.”
“Why?” What was her damned father up to this time? Edora glared at him suspiciously.
The Martial King’s smile widened. “Do I look like a mean person who always plays pranks on you?”
“You should stop pretending otherwise.”
“Hehe. Fine. That’s true. But it’s your mother’s request that you stop by the Spirit Pond.”
“Why?”
“She says it’s time to open the Yang Sword and start the Spirit Connection.”
Edora’s face stiffened. “The Spirit Connection…already?”
“It seems like your mother saw something. The timing seems to be right, too.”
Edora looked at Yeon-woo for a moment like she realized something.
“What is it?”
“It’s fine.”
There was nothing about the Spirit Connection in the diary, so Yeon-woo couldn’t think of asking anything else. Edora smiled in an ironic manner and shook her head. Then, she turned back to the Martial King. She seemed to have steeled herself for something. “OK. I can head over now, right?”
The Martial King nodded.
Edora sighed and said to Yeon-woo, “I’ll be back soon, so you should find Phante first.”
“I will. I don’t know what it is, but I hope it goes well.” Yeon-woo didn’t ask where the Spirit Pond was or find out more about the Spirit Connection. It seemed to be related to Edora’s mother, the Psychic Medium and not something he ought to be involved in. Edora’s determined expression told him that it wasn’t going to be an easy task, and all he could do was encourage her.
Edora smiled, looking more at ease, and turned away. When only Yeon-woo and the Martial King were left, the Martial King smiled and looked Yeon-woo over. “You look more human now.” His canines appeared between his slightly parted lips. The atmosphere around him changed instantly as well. He looked like a beast that wanted to play with an amusing prey. “Time to take a look.”
“I have something to do. I’ll receive your teachings later.” Yeon-woo tried to get out of it, suddenly feeling anxious.
“Hehe. Are you saying you have dignity now that you’re a leader? That’s good.” The Martial King’s eyes flashed. “But it won’t be easy.”
Yeon-woo immediately pulled out the Magic Bayonet and Carshina’s Dagger. Explosions soon followed. Boom!
* * *
“Argh! That effing chief cut in line again!”
“Sheesh! That personality…!”
“The chief and Cain are going at it!”
“Damn it! Everyone, just watch!”
The explosions from Yeon-woo and the Martial King’s clashes instantly spread beyond his residence to the rest of the village. The red flames that followed were so fierce that they threatened to burn the entire village up, but the tribe members weren’t concerned, as though they were only looking at a campfire. It wasn’t something that would affect them, and they believed that the barriers around the village would prevent any damage. Even if a few houses did collapse, this happened so frequently that no one was bothered about it. However, they were indeed angry about something: even though the order of combatants versus Yeon-woo had already been decided, the Martial King had jumped the queue. Boom. Grr! Rumble!
However, Yeon-woo had no time to be concerned about such things. Amid the red flames, he couldn’t predict where the Martial King’s punches and kicks would come from even though he had activated both his Fiery Golden Eyes and Philosopher’s Eyes.
[Vimalacitra watches in amusement.]
[Cernunnos observes you and your teacher.]
“I’m disappointed if this is your all, dear disciple.” Easily ripping through the storm of flames of Wave of Fire, the Martial King’s coldly smiling visage appeared. His eyes were dark despite his smile. If this was the best Yeon-woo could do despite being considered one of the Nine King, the Martial King wouldn’t leave him alone, especially since that meant Yeon-woo had jumped into his revenge too hastily.
The Martial King hadn’t been surprised by Yeon-woo’s face, which meant that he’d either already guessed his identity or seen through it. His gut feeling was probably almost close to precognition.
Yeon-woo was grateful that the Martial King was treating him the same. However, he remembered how the Martial King had flatly rejected his brother’s request, so he felt a bit of resentment. It suddenly occurred to him how satisfying it would be to land a single slap on his teacher’s face.
[Sky Wings]
Yeon-woo opened both the wing of death and wing of fight without any hesitation. The countdown began, and multiple powers focused on him. The power of the Throne of Death began to awake.
“Yes. Now it’ll feel great to punch you! I was frustrated because I couldn’t do this in front of my daughter!” The Martial King grinned with his teeth bared as if he were finally content and swung his fists.
In an instant, a powerful storm churned around them. It was the power that had destroyed Kuram with a single punch. Crash!
「Whew! The disciple wants to punch his teacher’s face and the teacher wants to beat his disciple up—how can the two of you be so alike? As expected of King Temper’s teacher. Then that should make him Emperor Temper, or maybe even God Temper!」 Shanon’s voice rang out, full of enjoyment. 「It’s a showdown between God Temper and King Temper! It’s a party! A big party!」
