Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 439

Chapter 439 – Ghost Blade (3)

“Get away from my father!”

At the fierce cry of Chunchu, the first-rank member of the Secret Society, Mok Gyeong-un half-turned his head and spoke.

“Father?”

“That’s right. He’s my father.”

“This seems a bit different from what I’ve heard.”

Mok Gyeong-un had thought Chunchu and the Ghost Blade were siblings who shared blood.

However,

“I thought you said it was a similar relationship.”

“…Well, I suppose. But weren’t you supposed to persuade him when you stepped in?”

“You’re the one whose story is different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I said I’d persuade him to get the information you want. Why are you threatening my father?”

At her question, the Ghost Blade’s expression darkened slightly as he spoke.

“Chunchu. Why exactly did you come here?”

To this, Chunchu snorted in disappointment and replied.

“Is that what you say to a child trying to save you?”

“This is not your place to interfere.”

“Are you really going to do this?”

Chunchu’s voice rose significantly, seeming genuinely angry.

But the Ghost Blade was utterly resolute.

“Don’t get involved. This is a problem I must resolve.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why are you going this far, even abandoning your child, for that person who’s all but abandoned you?”

“Abandoning…”

-Swish!

Before the Ghost Blade could finish speaking, Mok Gyeong-un released his grip on the collar and grasped his sword.

-Woong!

One of the formless swords that had been protecting Mok Gyeong-un flew towards Chunchu.

Having personally experienced the power of the formless swords, she hurriedly employed her lightness technique to create distance.

Fortunately, the formless sword didn’t fully pursue her.

At this, Chunchu shouted.

“Are you really going to do this?”

“Let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“What exactly do you mean by father? Is he your adoptive father?”

“Adoptive father? What are you talking about…”

“Unlike the strong demonic energy I sense from you, the Ghost Blade doesn’t have anything like that. On what basis do you claim to share blood?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Chunchu furrowed her brow and then looked at the Ghost Blade’s forehead.

Then, with a somewhat surprised look in her eyes, she asked.

“Don’t tell me you removed the eye?”

At her question, Mok Gyeong-un, also curious, looked at the Ghost Blade’s forehead.

There was a sunken area, as if something had been there.

Given its size and location, one couldn’t help but think of the third eye of a Three-Eyes.

To this, Mok Gyeong-un asked.

“Were you also a Three-Eyes?”

After a moment of silence at the question, the Ghost Blade finally spoke.

“…I had a third eye.”

“You had a third eye? So you mean an eye was parasitic, like Mok Gan?”

“Yes. That’s right. Originally, I should have died along with the eye, but now I am purely human.”

What on earth could this mean?

A fragment of past memories flashed through the Ghost Blade’s mind.

***

On the day the Heaven-Earth Moon Society collapsed,

Gwak Dong-ha, the Divine Guardian who served the young master of the Heaven Vein, lost his complete free will and life as a human from that day forward.

[Rejoice. Dong-ha, you have been chosen.]

[Y-Young Master… W-Why are you doing this? How…]

-Grip!

[Gah!]

Divine Guardian Dong-ha was at a loss for words as he saw the young master Bi Yong-heon, gripped by madness, clutching his neck.

How on earth did he change like this?

Was it since then?

From the day he was first defeated by the being he admired, he gradually changed.

But because his nature was bright and kind, Dong-ha thought he would soon return to his original self. However, the madness, darkness, and jealousy in the young master’s heart only grew.

Unlike the society leader who harbored madness, Dong-ha had thought the young master would become a wise ruler, but he grew more and more fearful as he saw him becoming increasingly like his father.

But now, he had the same eyes as the clan leader.

[Young… Master… Please…]

-Crack! Rip!

At that moment, Dong-ha’s pupils shook violently.

It was because of the grotesque eyeball that appeared as his forehead split open.

He was at a loss for words at the eerie and bizarre sight.

That’s when someone approached.

But that person, like the young master Bi Yong-heon, also had a third eye on his forehead.

The eye on that person’s forehead examined Divine Guardian Dong-ha as if appraising him.

Then, with a satisfied expression, he said.

[Indeed, it’s an excellent body. It seems much better than before, Master.]

[Excluding the aging body I switched from and this current one, it could be said to be the most useful.]

Bewildered by their conversation, Divine Guardian Dong-ha’s gaze sharpened.

[You bastards… What exactly are you?]

[Well, what could we be?]

-Plop!

With those words, the person plucked out the eye from his own forehead.

‘!!!!’

Then he brought it towards Dong-ha’s forehead.

Tentacle-like things sprouted wildly from the eyeball, breaking through Dong-ha’s skin and bone on his forehead and burrowing in.

Dong-ha shook his forehead violently, trying to avoid it, but from the moment the tentacles burrowed in, there was no way to resist or prevent it.

Eventually, the third eyeball fully settled on his forehead.

Bi Yong-heon, who had been gripping his neck, let go and asked with a smile.

[Do you like it?]

[The ego is stronger than I expected.]

[Oh? Is that so? It seems his mind didn’t completely collapse just from the death of his family?]

[It appears so. But it won’t be long now.]

The third eye was confident.

He had changed bodies for a long time, like Bi Yong-heon, to serve the being within him.

Humans who barely lived a hundred years eventually succumbed to his will, and he thought this one would be the same.

However, Divine Guardian Dong-ha’s will and consciousness were stronger than he had anticipated.

Even though he hadn’t deliberately separated the consciousness and tried to absorb it, it didn’t easily disappear.

To plunge him further into despair,

[Can you see?]

‘W-What are you trying to do now?’

[I’m going to give a gift to your only blood relative.]

‘What?’

[The probability is extremely low, but if this succeeds, your daughter, no, our daughter will be reborn as a being that transcends humanity, just like us.]

‘No! Stop! Please! Please stop!’

It was completely different from having a third eye parasitize.

It was an experiment to implant the blood and flesh of a spiritual beast into a human.

They had been forcing this for hundreds of years, but only two had succeeded, and most humans couldn’t withstand it and died.

From the beginning, spiritual beasts and humans were opposing existences, so coexistence in one body was nearly impossible except in a parasitic form.

But,

[Oh?]

Breaking through that incredible probability, his daughter survived.

That little blood lump, barely five years old, endured the pain.

Although he had lost control of his physical body, he shared memories with this thing parasitizing his forehead, so he knew well how close to a miracle this was.

Seeing this, he made a strong resolution.

Even though it had come to this, he decided to endure to the end somehow for the sake of the young master whose body had been taken and the daughter who had survived.

And about eighty years later, an unintended opportunity arrived.

-Whoosh!

A being like chaos itself, with its entire body burning black.

Everything changed after contact with that being.

He was able to control his body with his own will again.

The opportunity had finally come.

***

“Human? How is that possible?”

While Chunchu was denying this in disbelief, the Ghost Blade spoke with a somewhat bitter expression.

“I had hoped you wouldn’t know until everything was resolved, but indeed, not everything flows as intended.”

“No way… You’re not going to say such nonsense about becoming human for the sake of that body he abandoned, are you?”

At Chunchu’s words, the Ghost Blade sighed.

Because he shared memories with that eye that had controlled him for a full eighty years, the Ghost Blade knew how dangerous and extraordinary the being that had taken over the young master’s body was.

That’s why he wanted to be extremely cautious.

He had intended to tell her the truth once the foundation for counterattack was prepared, but everything had gone wrong.

To this, the Ghost Blade spoke with difficulty.

“It’s not just that. I can’t tell you everything now. So…”

-Thud!

“Urgh!”

At that moment, the tip of a formless sword pierced above the Ghost Blade’s collarbone, and its energy surged into his body.

At this, Chunchu shouted with murderous eyes, trying to restrain Mok Gyeong-un.

“Stop!”

-Swoosh!

However, the formless sword in front blocked her approach, and Chunchu tried to overcome this by exploding her unique invisible demonic energy, but.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even with her power, she couldn’t easily break through the formless sword.

“Damn it!”

Meanwhile, Mok Gyeong-un stared down at the Ghost Blade and then asked.

“Whether you’ve become human or not, whatever you’re plotting with the Society Leader, it’s none of my business.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the Ghost Blade spoke with difficulty, enduring the pain.

“Huu… Huu… That… Everything is related to the Incarnation… You’re involved too.”

“Incarnation?”

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un pointed to himself and said.

“What exactly is inside me that made you target and try to harm my grandfather?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, the Ghost Blade furrowed his brow and answered.

“You… Don’t tell me you haven’t fully realized your own existence yet?”

“Realize?”

“Haa… But how did you acquire such power?”

The Ghost Blade looked at Mok Gyeong-un with an expression of incomprehension.

He had naturally assumed that Mok Gyeong-un had realized himself and awakened as an Incarnation due to his tremendous martial prowess.

But that’s not the case?

Then are you saying he became this strong in a human body without any self-awareness?

It was hard to believe.

‘Jang Munno… What on earth have you done? Didn’t you abandon your duty as one who serves the Incarnation and try to raise him completely as a human?’

He had clearly said so while dying from the Sichuan Tang family’s formless poison.

Thus, the Ghost Blade thought that his plan to confront him with the Incarnation’s power had come close to failure.

That’s why he was trying to find another way with the Society Leader.

But how could someone who grew up as an ordinary human, without properly awakening as an Incarnation, possess such power?

The Ghost Blade recalled that moment.

***

[Gah!]

Having subdued Mok In-dan, the leader of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor who stood in his way, with just one move, the Ghost Blade looked down coldly at him as he clutched his trouser leg and pleaded.

[Still… Still just a baby. Please… Please… show mercy.]

-Thud! Thump!

After knocking him unconscious, the Ghost Blade approached the wrecked carriage.

This was definitely the place.

The Incarnation was here.

-Waa! Waa!

But why were only crying sounds coming from inside?

With this, the Ghost Blade opened the door of the wrecked carriage with a doubtful look.

But there,

‘What on earth?’

Two babies who looked like twins were lying next to their unconscious, bleeding mother.