Han‑Seok and Seo Gyeol's blades still weren't done speaking.
They moved like shadows, steel aiming for vital points—each one looking for the narrowest opening, the slightest hesitation.
The next impact sent both flying backward, their feet dragging trenches through the cracked stone floor.
Without pause, they lunged forward again, their Qi erupting violently around them like dueling storms. The air itself distorted under the pressure.
Far above the battlefield,
Beak stood on a high ridge with a group of surviving Blood Blade squad leaders and elite soldiers, surveying the wreckage below. The burning Thousand Venom Sect stretched beneath them—torn banners, shattered walls, and bodies littered like fallen leaves.
"How many casualties?" asked Second Squad Leader Nam Hye-Rang, lounging lazily on a broken pillar, her voice playful and laced with venom.
"We brought 1,200 soldiers," Beak replied flatly, his red eyes glinting. "We lost just over 100."
"Tch. Only a hundred?" she yawned, stretching. "I was hoping for more resistance. Thought the Second Pillar would put up a real fight."
Beak's gaze didn't move from the battlefield.
"Their strength isn't lacking. Their poison mastery, discipline, and formation are solid. But the empress—" he paused. "She let her emotions compromise the entire defense."
Hye-Rang chuckled, flipping a dagger between her fingers.
"And why exactly are we attacking her again? She's master's sister sect, not an enemy, right?" Her tone was teasing, but the words hung heavy in the air.
Beak's eyes glowed brighter—like two red coals.
The pressure from him shifted violently.
The soldiers nearby instinctively tensed. Even Hye-Rang's casual smirk wavered.
"You don't need to question the Lord's orders," Beak said coldly, his voice as sharp as a blade.
Hye-Rang raised both hands in surrender, chuckling nervously.
"Alright, alright. Don't eat me alive. Just asking. Feels like there's more to this than a simple purge. You're hiding something, Beak."
He didn't answer.
That silence said everything.
"How boring," she murmured, smiling thinly as she folded her arms again.
Down in the heart of the chaos,
Han‑Seok and Seo Gyeol were still locked in a deadly ballet. The weight of their killing intent was now affecting the land itself—scorching the grass, cracking the earth.
Seo Gyeol cracked his neck and lowered into a stance.
"No more holding back," he muttered. "The Lord's about to end this anyway. I'll finish it first."
He stepped forward—seven clean strides, his Qi igniting into a roaring flame-shaped tiger that danced across his body.
"Crimson Severing Flash!"
A wave of fire-infused Qi sliced through the air with terrifying speed. Han‑Seok barely dodged, flipping back onto a fractured platform—only to see another wave coming, hidden behind the first.
"Tch. Again?!"
Back on the ridge, Beak's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Our commander doesn't disappoint," he murmured. "That form—he's refined it."
"Still won't be enough," Hye-Rang replied, watching lazily as the second slash soared through the air. "Han‑Seok's not an easy corpse to create."
Below,
Han‑Seok's hand blurred into a deadly seal. His Qi turned violet, pulsing like a curse.
"Hundred Venom Strike!"
A storm of poison-infused Qi rained down like glowing purple needles. Each one shimmered with a deathly toxin—enough to melt steel and rot bone.
Seo Gyeol's pupils shrank.
"Shit—this many…!"
He flashed through the veil step, but the onslaught wasn't stopping. Dozens pierced the ground around him—one nick would mean death.
Beak folded his arms.
"If he gets hit once, it's over."
"He won't survive that," Hye-Rang echoed, tilting her head with a smirk.
Seo Gyeol paused.In the middle of the battlefield, with death flying toward him in the form of Han Seok's venomous strike, he saw it—an opening.
Not a weakness. A choice.
Han-Seok was giving him a chance.Not because he was careless.Because even now… he didn't want to kill him.
Even in this blood-soaked war, he still looked at him like a little brother. A comrade. Family.
And that—that made Seo Gyeol's chest burn with something deeper than rage.It was grief. It was pride.It was a lifetime of being second.
"Why… why do you still look down on me like I'm not worth fighting seriously?"
His grip tightened on his sword.
"You should've chosen the First Pillar. We could've stood together. I was never weak!"
But Han-Seok only shouted,
"Die already!"
Except…His eyes said something different.
"Dodge it, you idiot.Don't make me be the one to kill you."
Han-Seok's heart was breaking behind the shout.
And Seo Gyeol knew it.
From the cliff, Beak's eyes widened.
"Fool…! He's walking right into it!"
Nam Hye-Rang scoffed, a rare tremble in her voice.
"That poison… if even one hits, it's over. What's he doing…?"
"Just dodge it, Seo!" Han-Seok yelled. "Please!"
Seo Gyeol's voice cracked through the storm.
"No!"
"I won't follow your orders anymore! You always held back. Treated me like a child. Like I needed your protection.Not anymore."
He darted through the rain of purple needles.
Each one could end his life.Some sliced his arm, others grazed his face—but he kept moving, slashing them away, eyes locked on the man he once called brother.
Han-Seok felt something crack in his chest.
And then…
They clashed.
But this time—not as commander and traitor. Not as enemies.But as two boys who once fought side by side. Two kids who learned to survive by relying on each other.
Their swords collided again and again, not with hatred, but with memory.
Of training in cold dirt.
Of laughing over stolen food.
Of surviving hell together.
For a brief moment, it wasn't war anymore.
It was home.
Seo Gyeol coughed blood and laughed.
"You fool," Han-Seok said, catching him. "You're dying!"
"Don't mind me. Just… finish this already."
They separated, breathing hard.
Then… both nodded.
"One last strike," Han-Seok said.
"Whoever's left standing," Seo Gyeol replied, smiling faintly.
They turned, walking away from each other.Each took a deep breath.Then ran—
Blades glowing. Qi flaring.
Their final clash sliced the very air in half.
A shockwave burst through the battlefield, dust flying.
Swoooosh.
Beak shielded his face.The other soldiers went still.
And then—
Seo Gyeol stumbled, a long red slash cut across his chest.He smiled bitterly as he fell to his knees.
"This bastard," he muttered, tears mixing with blood,"Even now… he still held back."
He collapsed forward, not dead—but defeated.
His trembling hands touched the ground.
He didn't regret it.Not the fight.Not the loyalty.
And certainly not the man he had once called brother.
Han-Seok staggered, looking down.The sword had pierced straight through his body.
Blood dripped from his lips as he coughed, gasping, his fingers trembling as they reached for the blade.
The moment his skin brushed against the Qi burning along its edge—flames ignited.
"AAAAAAHHH!"
His scream tore through the battlefield.
Seo Gyeol, still kneeling with his back turned, winced.He wanted to look.He wanted to run to him.
But he didn't.
"Serve you right… for holding back."He told himself.
But even that lie burned just as much.
Behind him, Han-Seok—his body scorched, throat seared by the flames—still stood,Burned,Bleeding and Dying.
And yet… he walked.
Slowly, one step at a time, until he dropped behind Gyeol and knelt beside him, shoulders shaking.
He couldn't speak. The fire had taken that from him.
But Gyeol didn't need words.
He remembered the words they always shared when they were boys trapped in the pits:
"I'm glad you're my friend."
Gyeol blinked, tears mixing with the blood on his face.
Han-Seok died kneeling down.
"I'll meet you in hell, brother," Gyeol whispered.
His breath was shallow, ragged.His chest burned from the poison. His vision blurred."I'm coming too."
His knees buckled—just as a shout tore through the trees.
"NO YOU'RE NOT!"
Dok Yun, the blood blade sect's top physician, burst onto the scene with bags of supplies and a small team of medics at his heels.
His eyes were wild. Red-rimmed and Furious.
"You old stubborn bastard!" he shouted, throwing down a case of pills. "Why the hell are you trying to die like this?!"
Gyeol smiled faintly.
"Let me go… I've done enough."
"SHUT UP!"Dok Yun's voice cracked, choked with rage and something deeper—grief.
"You don't get to die like this! Not when you still have people who care about you!"His hands trembled as he pressed glowing needles into Gyeol's skin, his Qi surging into him.
"I don't care how strong the poison is, I'll burn it out of your bones if I have to!"
Gyeol's vision blurred, but he still managed a crooked smile.
"Still crying, huh…?" he rasped."Didn't think the old crybaby would grow up and become a healer."
Dok Yun's breath hitched.
Soldiers dropped around them, kneeling.
"First Royal Guard Gyeol!"
"Please hang on, sir!"
"Is he dying?"
But Dok Yun didn't let them mourn.
"STOP SAYING HE'S GOING TO DIE!" he roared, slamming a handful of pills into Gyeol's mouth.
"Swallow. You're not dying here. Not like this."
He pressed a hand to Gyeol's chest, Qi flooding in, desperate to keep the heart beating.
"Live, damn it. Just live."