SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 77. Song of Light and Shadow (3)
5.
I rushed forward.
I drew my blade.
I struck and cleaved.
Demon Celestial Divine Art.
First form.
Starvation Death Sword.
My body became a starving farmer. My blade became a single spade. Where my sword struck, the void shattered like parched earth.
Shattered and shattered and shattered until, at the end of the fractured void, Viper’s head lay exposed.
“What the—!”
Viper flinched. His one eye widened in shock. His shoulders tensed to respond, then froze; in the next instant, his hips twisted instead. He abandoned all defense and threw himself backward.
A farmer’s spade never misses the earth it means to strike.
My blade stabbed through the void. Viper wrenched his body back. The shattered void drew a sharp breath, sucking the air after him.
Crack!
With the sound of air splitting and rupturing, graupel whipped into a vortex. It was winter. Snow pelted down with each gust, and the wind that scoured the nostrils was brutally dry.
“…Damn it.”
Viper raised his blade. Between the swirling snow, his one eye gleamed. In that single remaining eye of the Heavenly Demon Sect Lord, shock rippled.
“What in the—”
I rushed forward again.
Once more I drew my blade.
I struck and cleaved.
“Tch—” Viper threw himself backward instead of blocking my strike this time. “What the—” Bang, the rupturing sound sent graupel spiraling upward. “Damn—” each time I swung, Viper evaded, forced to evade, and “—it!” with every slash a vortex erupted in its wake.
“Good grief, what a nightmare!”
I lunged forward again, then stopped myself.
More precisely, my body lurched to a halt.
I wasn’t breathing. I hadn’t noticed. “Gasp—” breath, dry air flooded my throat. A whirlwind tore through my lungs. “Exhale—” my organs twisted, and with each breath, pain shot through me. I trembled.
I didn’t release the blade.
One exchange.
A single round had ended.
“Damn, I almost bit it there…”
Viper stared at me, cold sweat beading his brow.
“Four Kings—I thought you were all mouth, but your swordplay’s not bad either. Damn it. What the hell is this? Each strike could be summed up as the Eternal Demon Sword itself.”
“Precisely, my disciple! This is the very demonic force that freezes and shatters the world—the sword of the Eternal Demon Sword!”
The Martial Alliance Lord, locked in combat with the Heavenly Demon, cried out.
There was certainly a four-dimensional wall standing between the Eternal Demon Sword that Viper spoke of and the Eternal Demon Sword that the Martial Alliance Lord proclaimed, but it was a wall no one could perceive without mastering a mind-reading technique.
The Heavenly Demon didn’t catch the distinction either. She clicked her tongue.
“So the one eye he has left is sharp enough.”
“Of course! His only flaw is his age, but he possesses the ‘true’ eye of discernment that pierces to the heart of things—a rare talent in a thousand ages. Why else would this old Bu Wol have taken him as my disciple?”
The Martial Alliance Lord puffed out his chest, then shot a sidelong glance at me.
“Hmm. And you, woman—the seedling of this disciple you’ve taken is quite formidable. How long has it been since you accepted him as a disciple, and already he wields such a fearsome demonic blade? Ha ha. A seed of demon kings terrible enough to surpass even the Four Demon Lords!”
“Which is why it still hasn’t been long since I—”
“You brat! Don’t you dare say another word like that!”
……
The Heavenly Demon fell silent.
‘That’s right.’
I breathed hard as I thought it through.
‘This isn’t a duel for me to defeat Viper, nor for Viper to defeat me.’
The true purpose of this martial duel.
‘To make the Heavenly Demon acknowledge me.’
On this point, my goal and the Martial Alliance Lord’s were identical.
To grant a future to someone who had been waiting for nothing but annihilation.
The Martial Alliance Lord let out a satisfied laugh.
“My disciple!”
“Yes, Master!”
Viper answered with spirited vigor, and the Martial Alliance Lord shouted down to him.
“Now I shall offer you counsel! Listen well!”
“What—”
The Heavenly Demon’s mouth fell open.
“You old fool! What in the world are you doing?!”
“Why? Is something the matter? You and that young blue-blooded demon aren’t even master and student.”
“That may be so, but… what I mean is, to offer advice during a martial duel! Even in a game of Go, it’s considered rude when someone kibbitzes, but in a situation where two martial artists are locked in combat!”
“Two martial artists, you say?”
The Martial Alliance Lord chuckled and stroked his beard.
“In my eyes, I see only that young blue-blooded demon and White Blade’s prideful successor. According to the Great Ming Code, demons can be taken down through combined assault without issue. There’s nothing wrong with this at all.”
“Look and look as you will, but this old fool really is…!”
“Hehehehe.”
The Martial Alliance Lord laughed heartily.
“Student! That young blue-blooded demon’s strikes are quite refined, one after another, but he lacks the stamina to maintain his momentum! Never trade blows with him—evade instead. Tire him out and wait for his inner power to drain!”
“Hey now, Master! Is that really so?”
Viper grinned wickedly.
“I figured that out long ago! Haven’t you got any more practical advice than that?”
“What’s with that tone of voice, you fool?”
The Heavenly Demon gritted her teeth, her face flushed with frustration on multiple counts.
“Is that truly the dignity of the Righteous Doctrine’s Great Cooperation that you promised to accept one last time?”
“Ah, now you’re picking on his manner of speech? Then should we expect the etiquette of the Central Plains from a boy raised beyond the wall? Or what? Are you worried that this young blue-blooded demon with his crass tongue will pound your student into dust? Ah, but you said he’s not your student yet. In any case.”
“I…”
“Student! Deploy the Butterfly Full Sword and Life and Death as Law and Order! They’ll work immediately!”
Viper’s thick eyebrows twitched.
Beneath them, his single eye held a depth of profound understanding.
“Indeed. The Butterfly Full Sword and Life and Death as Law and Order.”
“Yes! And if I add one more—the principles of the Heavenly Martial Way—do you think you can manage it?”
“Damn right I can! Master. I am Viper, Lord of the Heavenly Demon Sect!”
Viper snorted sharply, a bold display of confidence, then seized his sword.
Meanwhile, I finally managed to steady my breathing.
As I reset my stance, Viper asked with a twisted smile.
“Four Kings.”
“Yes.”
“Did I ask if you’d ever gone hungry?”
“You did, Viper.”
“Is that your martial way?”
A question as sharp as the glint of his single eye.
I answered, evening out my breath.
“It’s the mental image embedded in that strike just now.”
“I thought as much.”
Viper smirked. Then he tilted his head, angling that smile toward me.
“Let me ask you instead, Four Kings. What do you think martial way is?”
The Lord of the Heavenly Demon Sect was expounding on martial way.
It was like the Heresy Inquisitor discoursing on faith, like the Sword Saint discoursing on the blade, like the Philosopher’s Stone Lord in some distant future discoursing on medicine—the kind of thing one must listen to from a seated position.
I would have done the same, had I not met the Sword Saint, had I not learned the demonic martial arts from the Heavenly Demon, and above all, had I not come to read this man’s psychology.
“Then I shall answer!”
Viper lowered his stance and raised his blade.
Like a viper struck with venom, coiled with its head held high.
“Plant your feet! Swing your arms! Thrust your fists!”
And then he moved.
Or rather, flowed.
As if Viper himself had become liquid, flowing smooth and fluid like water running downhill from height to depth, toward me.
And in that flow, the next instant—Clang…!
“Martial way means—”
I barely parried the blade thrusting upward in a rising arc.
Immediately, Viper twisted the blade in a full circle. Sparks sprayed where steel met steel as the blade climbed. Viper raised his sword upright, piercing the sky in a straight line, then twisted his wrist subtly. He angled it.
And poured forth.
“Landing one blow on the bastard in front of you!”
It poured down.
“That’s all there is to it, you punk!”
A hailstorm of blade strikes engulfed me.
“Damn it,” Clang! The moment I blocked, “Ah,” Clang! The next strike, “Hnngh!” Then another, “Ha,” the relentless cascade of slashes shredded my guard, tore at it, wrenched it savagely open. “Hnngh,” and then—Slash…! The blade that finally broke through gouged my cheek. “Cursed—!”
Blood spattered. I stumbled back a few paces. But—
“I won’t let go!”
Viper, like a viper that had sunk its fangs into the throat of its prey, coiled and flowed after me, never releasing his grip.
Another strike, this time sweeping upward from below.
“Hah!”
The blade came riding up on the wave, and in its wake—a torrent of steel.
“Damn it.”
Hell. He really was strong.
There was a reason Viper ranked among the martial combat Hunters. This bastard wasn’t called that for nothing.
“Hey now, Four Kings! You threw the first punch, but is that all you’ve got?”
Viper let out a derisive snort.
The rage that boiled up inside me poured out instead from someone else’s mouth.
“Damn it all!”
It was the Heavenly Demon.
“You fool!”
She screamed at me at the top of her lungs.
“What are you doing? It’s rain! Water! Isn’t that blade like a rain shower, dark and drenching?”
The Heavenly Demon, who had been gnashing her teeth against the Martial Alliance Lord’s provocations until now, finally let loose her voice. The woman clenched her fists as she hurled her words at me.
“There’s nothing to fear! Take it in and drink it down!”
With that cry, the Heavenly Demon acknowledged this duel.
I had become the heir to the Demonic Sect; Viper had become the heir to the Orthodox Way. She accepted our fight as a clash between the two schools, recognized that we two were each the ‘proxy’ of the Heavenly Demon and the Martial Alliance Lord.
“Ha.”
I laughed.
“Understood!”
I gripped my sword in reverse and raised my stance.
Demon Celestial Divine Art.
Second Form.
Thirst Death Numbness Sword.
I blocked Viper’s cascading blade before it could fall. Then, as if drawing it inward, I guided it along the path I chose. I diverted it.
And spilled it harmlessly to the ground.
“Hm.”
Viper had wasted one strike.
I had wasted one of his.
In that crossing of glances, the old man’s and the woman’s voices clashed as well.
“My student! Become rotting leaves and earth! Become wet soil…”
“Ha! Better yet—turn him into a puddle!”
Viper crouched into a defensive stance, and I twisted my blade sideways—both happening in the same breath.
Demon Celestial Divine Art.
Third Form.
Drowning Death Full Sword.
Just a subtle angle.
A slanted horizontal line—Clang! One strike, Clang! another, Clang! timed to Viper’s breath, Clang! to the flutter of his eyes, Clang! and then,
at the very end, a syncopated beat,
Slice, Wham…!
“Tch…!”
Viper gritted his teeth as blood welled from a gash along his ribs.
The Martial Alliance Lord shouted.
“Fall back! Distance yourself!”
“Close in!”
The Heavenly Demon cried out.
Viper withdrew at the Martial Alliance Lord’s command, and I surged forward at the Heavenly Demon’s call.
Demon Celestial Divine Art.
Fourth Form.
Freezing Death Connecting Sword.
“Damn it all!”
Viper lost his temper.
“This fight is complete hell, for real!”
“You’re no easy opponent yourself, Viper!”
“No, seriously—hell! Four Kings, were you some kind of feces in your past life? How do you stick to me so perfectly?”
“Then Viper, were you a dog in yours?”
While we pondered each other’s former lives, our blades clashed. Fine snow scattered into the air, and winter wind howled around us.
The spectators outside grew even more heated.
“Cut him down, my student!”
“Strike directly!”
“Don’t block it! Deploy the Lazy Donkey Tumble if you must and evade! After that, use the Ground Lying Fist…….”
“Ah, you there! You mustn’t block that either! Get out of the way!”
Flesh tore open.
It spread wider.
Blood sprayed, strips of skin flew free.
Somewhere along the way, both Viper and I had become drenched in blood. The wounds that burst open hardened into scars, buried beneath the bitter wind.
“Hah, you cursed mare! And what business is it of yours to offer advice?”
The Martial Alliance Lord who offered the rebuke was laughing.
“With brains as thin as a locust and nothing but worms for company, you’ve become a relic…….”
The Heavenly Demon herself, though criticizing, could not help but laugh as well.
Each time their laughter crossed, our blade strikes wove together.
Neither Viper nor I harbored any will to kill one another. There was no murderous intent in the words exchanged between the Heavenly Demon and the Martial Alliance Lord. Therefore, this was no Life and Death Match.
It was not a fight to slay anyone.
Yet unmistakably, it was a fight that gave death to everyone.
“Haah, hah! Yah!”
I had become the Heavenly Demon’s sword. Her entire body infected, she could no longer fight with full force without emptying every last measure of her inner power, so I fought with all my strength in her stead.
I had become the landscape she had lost.
“Yaaaagh!”
Viper had become the Alliance Lord’s sword. His entire body infected, he could no longer swing an axe without breaking his True Qi, so Viper threw himself forward with all his might in his stead.
I had become the dream he would never fulfill.
“…….”
All landscapes fade.
No matter how radiant a dream, it discolors eventually.
Humanity withers.
“Mm…….”
From some moment onward.
The Heavenly Demon fell silent.
The woman of the Martial Alliance, once called the greatest of her age, slowly veiled her face.
“Stubborn things… persistent creatures…….”
A withered genre.
A world in decline.
“I abandoned it all. I cast it away long ago, so why do you return…….”
Only humans can abandon humans.
Only humans can choose not to abandon humans.
“What are you trying to do…….”
How much time had passed?
Only when neither Viper nor I had the strength to lift a blade did our martial duel finally end. There was no victor. Even less was there a defeated party.
“…….”
I sheathed my sword.
Breathing heavily, I walked forward on labored legs. I walked across the snowy plain. I approached the Heavenly Demon, who stood with her face veiled, and lowered myself on trembling knees.
“Heavenly Demon.”
With shaking hands, I pressed them into the snow.
“I wish to become your disciple.”
I want to become your landscape.
“I wish to take you as my master.”
I want to become the dream that will not discolor.
“My alias is the Four Kings.”
I hope your landscape flows into mine, your dream flows into mine, and your life flows into mine.
“My true name is Kim Gongja.”
An age in which all sincerity becomes mockery.
I wish to become the pillar that holds you up, so that no one may laugh at you.
“Please accept me as your disciple.”
Continue to live.
That is what I was saying.
“…….”
The sky painted itself in sunset.
Fine snow fell upon the snowy plain.
“I am the Heavenly Demon, So Baek-hyang.”
For snowflakes to descend from the sky to the plain below, they must tumble a long while in the wind. Countless snowflakes drifted and scattered. And then one of them came flying, to alight upon a certain woman’s black hair. White melted into black and streamed away.
“Perform the Kowtow Ritual.”
The Heavenly Demon opened her lips.
“I shall take you as my final disciple.”
SSS-Rank Hunter: You Must Die to Live (Serial Publication)
Author | Shin No-a
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 1st)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Shin No-a 2019
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
Violation of this is subject to criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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