The World's Greatest is Dead

I never liked sticking my nose into other people’s business.

I had seen the ends that useless meddling led to often enough. And more than that, I knew—not rationally, but in my soul—that getting tangled in causality was never a good thing, no matter what heart you acted with.

I hated interfering in other people’s affairs.

No—more precisely—

I hated knowing in the first place.

Knowing that something was happening.

Once I knew, it bothered me. And once it bothered me, useless complications were bound to follow.

It would have been nice if I were the sort of person who could just ignore it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

That’s how I ruined it.

Everything.

My life itself had been ruined that way. That was what I learned while living it. Ah. So if I meddle in other people’s business, my life gets exhausting.

Not just exhausting.

It gets wrecked.

I learned that much. And when my last life ended in ruin and this one began, I made up my mind.

Don’t get involved in anything.

Whether it was human affairs or ghosts’ affairs, don’t get dragged into the storm just because other people had caused trouble.

That was how I had steeled myself and lived, but—

It all got twisted anyway.

It started twisted from the very beginning.

There was no way it wouldn’t. These damned eyes always ruined me in the end.

That was why I put on the ring.

So I wouldn’t get entangled with anyone.

I had tried binding my own wrists—

and even that hadn’t been easy.

Maybe that was just what life was.

Grandmother used to say:

Live the way you want to live.

I didn’t know whether she said that because she knew I would never truly get to live that way, or because she genuinely wanted me to.

But if I had to answer her now—

...That’s a difficult thing to say.

If I lived exactly as I wanted, I’d fall apart.

So it was better to endure.

That was how I had resolved myself and gotten through the present, and yet—

“I found where they are.”

There always came moments like this.

“They’re not far.”

At Freak Demon’s words, I turned my head. The place really wasn’t far.

“My Sky.”

Still kneeling, Freak Demon spoke to me.

“If you give the order, I will handle it myself.”

His voice was cold.

There was no killing intent in it. None at all.

But I could understand his emotions anyway.

The reason Freak Demon wasn’t giving off killing intent was simple.

Because they aren’t even worth that much to him.

To Freak Demon, those unorthodox martial artists we’d seen earlier were nothing more than insects.

What emotion would there be in crushing and wiping out something like that?

Looking at him, I was reminded again.

The one standing in front of me...

...was someone close to the beings beyond heaven.

And a Demonic Cultist who had moved through war.

“It’s fine.”

If I left it to him, it would be easy. He really would take care of it simply.

But—

“I’ll handle this one myself.”

“Understood.”

I had to step in.

There was one thing bothering me.

*****

The distance wasn’t that great.

Not by a martial artist’s standards.

To an ordinary person, it would have looked like at least half a day away.

Freak Demon said this was the place I was looking for.

“...”

I could sense people deep inside the forest.

Not just people.

I was wondering why there were so few spirit forms in the woods.

They were all gathered over there.

The place was thick with the traces of evil ghosts.

And there were other ghosts all around it too, reacting to the soul-forms of those evil ghosts.

Ghosts were spirit forms, so resonance came easily to them. That was also why ghosts tended to gather in large numbers in certain places.

Then—

“The ones we sent out are taking their time.”

“Did something happen? All they had to do was kill some girls and bring them back. How long could that take?”

At the voices coming from inside, the evil ghosts outside flinched.

The way they wavered made it look like they were reacting to those words.

“Shouldn’t we go look for them? If the captain finds out, we’re screwed.”

“And if he gets angry, who knows how many heads he’ll cut off this time.”

“One of those heads will probably be yours.”

“You bastard.”

Their growling killing intent filled the space.

I was steadying my breathing as I watched when—

[How strange.]

The Heavenly Demon, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke.

[I didn’t think you were the sort to get heated over something like this. Was I mistaken about you?]

Whether he found it strange or interesting, his voice carried a note of amusement.

He wasn’t wrong.

I’m not especially angry.

I truly wasn’t.

Human lives were short and plain.

In a world drenched in blood and swords like this one, that was even more true.

In my previous life, there had been times when I burned with anger even over the death of small lives, tossed around by every joy and sorrow.

But even those things were something I had laid down near the end of that life.

[Then why are you stepping in now?]

Who knows.

Maybe because there were still a few things I hadn’t managed to let go of.

That was probably it.

I’m annoyed.

Taking it out on the thing in front of me.

If someone wanted to call it that, I wouldn’t argue.

[Taking it out on them—]

The Heavenly Demon’s voice sank.

[That is not a bad thing. In a world where the strong are revered, there is nothing strange about it.]

A fitting response from a man who had started a war.

As expected, there really wasn’t a single normal person anywhere.

[But do not bury yourself in it. It is not an especially good look for one who would stand at the summit.]

Sorry, but...

Shrring.

As I drew my sword, I thought,

like I told you before, I have no intention of standing anywhere like that.

What was he trying to slip in there?

I let out a faint snort and stepped forward.

“Huh?”

The moment I showed myself, every gaze inside turned toward me.

“What the hell?”

“Who are you, you little—!”

“Who goes there!”

Each of them drew a weapon and pointed it at me.

It was a fresh feeling.

Normally, if there were this many of them, I wouldn’t step out in front like this.

I’ve gotten full of myself.

Even knowing there were monsters crawling all over the world above me.

Just because I’d reached transcendent peak, the blood had gone to my head a little.

“Who I am doesn’t matter that much.”

Ssssss.

I gripped the Divine Sword and let my arm hang loosely.

“I’ll leave just one alive. One man who’ll work hard to answer my questions. Any volunteers?”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

“Kill him!”

Boom!

Inner qi burst out as they charged me. With one hand, I swept my hair back.

“Sure. I’ll choose for myself.”

I was good at that sort of thing.

Clack.

Moon Eye reacted, and sword paths burst open in every direction.

Crude. Rough. Monotonous sword paths without any real shape to them.

There was no need to dodge.

I simply laid my sword across them.

Slash!

“Ghk—”

One man’s throat was cut, and he dropped to the ground.

I spun the sword once.

I threw the Divine Sword into the face of the one coming at me from above, driving it straight through his forehead—

—and wrapped hard aura around my knee before smashing the jaw of the one rushing in below.

Crack.

Blood splashed onto my clothes.

I ignored it.

“Hard aura...?!”

“Damn it—he’s a master!”

Maybe they had noticed the brief wrapping. Panic flashed in their eyes.

“...So what if he’s a ma—!”

The loudmouth’s head came off.

There were a lot of them.

Boom!

I stamped the ground hard enough to shatter it. The shock sent broken fragments into the air. I snatched the smaller ones in one hand, poured energy into them, and fired them out.

Ten Thousand Flowers Rain.

Kra-kra-kra-kra-kak!!!

I had adapted the thing Poison Dragon had been so damn bad at.

I wrapped hard aura around each stone shard and fired them; the fragments punched straight through their bodies.

Kra-kra-kra-kak!

“Aaaagh!”

“Gaaaah!”

They dropped screaming.

“M-monster... He’s a monster...”

One of them collapsed to the ground and scrambled backward, trembling. I glanced at him, then flicked a finger.

The little pebble in my hand buried itself in his forehead.

“Ghk.”

And that made one more corpse.

“Hiiik...!”

At some point, only one man was left.

I slid the Divine Sword back into its sheath.

Clack.

The world really is frightening.

There had been dozens of them, and they’d been wiped out before enough time had passed to finish a cup of tea.

It really showed what happened when someone with power let malice loose.

“S-spare... spare me... please...”

“I did spare you.”

“...Hhk...”

I walked up and looked down at him.

“...Blue eyes?”

The man only realized it after seeing my face.

“Don’t tell me... Azure Moon Sect? And those clothes... the Lesser Moon Unit...?”

“You know your stuff.”

“H-how is the Lesser Moon Unit all the way out here...?!”

“That’s not what you should be asking. What are you?”

What the hell were they, to come all the way to Liaoning and do something like this?

“What were you trying to do with those girls’ corpses?”

“...”

At my words, the man clamped his mouth shut.

Watching him, I moved my hand slightly.

Crack!!

“...!!!”

I bent his thumb back until it snapped, and he let out a shriek that sounded like a scream torn in half.

“What are you?”

I asked again.

“Haa... haak...”

“The next one’s your cock.”

“S-Sama Sect...! The Sama Sect!”

Sama Sect.

At those words, I stopped the hand that had been gripping his crotch.

The Sama Sect?

Where’s that?

I didn’t think I had ever heard of it.

“The Sama Sect?”

“T-that’s right. I’m... from the Sama Sect...!”

“For what?”

“T-there’s a village near here, one doesn’t get many visitors, so... we were going to bring back some girls...”

“You should say it properly. There’s a difference.”

You killed them and brought them back.

That was the point that mattered.

“If you were kidnapping them to sell to brothels or trafficking them the usual way, you wouldn’t bother killing them first. So why kill them?”

“...That...”

The man’s eyes shook.

“I... I don’t know. We just do what we’re told...”

“You’re told? By who?”

“...The captain...”

“The captain of the Sama Sect?”

“That’s right...! I really... I really don’t know! I’m just doing what I’m told—!”

Thwack!!

“Ghk.”

His head slumped before he could finish.

Dead.

Looking closer, I saw a dagger buried in his forehead.

That wasn’t my doing.

I looked behind me.

“Well now.”

Someone was standing there.

“Good thing I came a day early.”

A woman.

Her clothes clung tightly to her body, and a veil covered her face.

“I came ahead just in case. Looks like something interesting was going on.”

“Who are you?”

I got to my feet as I asked.

“My, my... look at you.”

Her voice shifted the moment she got a look at me.

“You’re pretty as a jewel. I’ve never seen one quite like you before.”

My hand went to my waist.

“You want to be mine?”

At the seductive question, I drew my sword.

The man in front of me had died, but I wasn’t particularly surprised.

I had already sensed someone approaching.

And I had let him die on purpose.

There was one more person now, after all.

And besides—

“Sorry.”

I tilted my head slightly.

“Older women aren’t my type.”

“What?”

This woman looked like she might know something.

I couldn’t see her face, but the energy behind her told me what she was.

“Auntie.”

“Aun—”

I crooked a finger.

“You’re from the Sky-Crushing Palace, aren’t you?”

“......”

For an instant, silence fell.

Then—

“Ha...”

The woman laughed.

And in the next moment, with a dagger in hand, her body shot toward me.