There Is No World For ■■

The flesh was sliced, and blood splattered.

The sword narrowly missed the carotid artery. If it had been even a fraction of a second later, the blow would have severed the neck.

The chicken-headed figure grabbed its neck with its left hand and swung its right hand toward the sword aiming for its neck again.

!!

The shock from the punch infused with mana and the sword clashing shook the space. Rather than withstanding the impact, the chicken-headed figure used the shockwave to quickly gain some distance.

Thud - Landing on the pig-headed corpse, the chicken-headed figure glared at Yeomyeong with fiery eyes and asked,

"Who the hell are you? How are you mastering the secret technique, even the fifth phase? Even Jeong Yongseob, that traitor, couldn't master the true phase. How...?"

Having spoken up to that point, the chicken-headed figure closed its mouth.

The gunshots and magical shockwaves from behind seemed to have no effect on the calmness of the opponent, the killing intent gleaming in their golden eyes, and the anger felt through the air.

"...You're not someone who can be reasoned with, are you? I'll have to extract it directly from your brain—"

Yeomyeong didn’t give him time to say more. He unleashed a wave of sword energy while executing the secret technique.

The chicken-head grinned, seemingly waiting for this moment. In the next instant, its body swelled up, releasing a massive amount of mana.

Transformation?

Unlike the horse-head he saw at the academy, this transformation occurred in the blink of an eye.

Its size nearly doubled, and a new arm grew out from the shoulder in barely a second.

When Yeomyeong’s sword was nearly at him, the transformation was already complete, and the chicken-headed figure was swinging its sharp claws.

Zzzerk - !

The clash between the sword and the claws was followed immediately by a swipe of its arm, the two fists meeting in midair. The twisted mana from the impact pushed the air away.

In the brief vacuum created by the clash, the two superhumans began their assault, unleashing a flurry of strikes.

Four hands, two legs. The sharp claws and nails of the chicken-head moved in unison, aiming to tear Yeomyeong apart.

A barrage reminiscent of a meat grinder.

Yeomyeong, with the Sword of Destruction in his left hand and the energy of the Nine Arcs of Heaven wrapped around his sword, slipped through the grinder, entering the gaps between the relentless blows.

The sword deflected the claws, and the edge of the hand shattered the nails.

The deadly sequence of attacks didn’t last long, however. The chicken-head opened its beak wide and began charging up a red beam.

The beam shot out of its mouth just as Yeomyeong’s punch slammed into the beak, the two strikes happening almost simultaneously.

BOOM!!

The chicken-head’s head snapped back as the beam scorched the air, but Yeomyeong was unable to land a follow-up strike.

As Yeomyeong extended his fist to block the beam, the chicken-head’s claws plunged deep into his side.

For an ordinary person, this would have been a fatal blow.

Yeomyeong, undeterred, swung his sword, stabbing the chicken-head’s neck.

Huff - The chicken-head screamed in agony and threw Yeomyeong away with force.

The attack had enough power to make it difficult for even a superhuman to respond, but Yeomyeong effortlessly adjusted his posture mid-air like a dandelion seed caught in the wind and landed lightly.

The chicken-head, stunned by the ease with which Yeomyeong adapted, muttered in disbelief.

"Have you given up on being human, too?"

In response, Yeomyeong launched both Marijcheon Gong and Heukikryu at the same time.

As golden-feather-like mana surged around his body, the chicken-head spat out blood and spoke.

"Yeah, you're a monster."

By now, both of them had regenerated all their injuries and began the second round of combat.

Ice spikes sprouted around Yeomyeong’s face, while the chicken-head gathered different spells into the palms of its four hands.

Weakness, blindness, pain, deceleration.

Just as the four spells were about to finish, Yeomyeong slammed his feet into the ground, launching the ice spikes at the same time.

****

The spells were incomplete. The reason was the ice spikes flying toward them with pinpoint precision.

As the chicken-head tried to weave the spell into the air and its arms, three ice spikes descended right toward the gathering mana.

Ignoring one or two was acceptable, but the third spike became problematic.

Not too many, not too few—the perfect number to ruin the spell.

What should this be called? Expertise? Or sharpness? No, this wasn’t a matter of that kind.

This was talent. A natural-born talent, one that is simply impossible for most people to possess.

How did someone like that become an enemy of Korea? The chicken-head swallowed the rising doubt as it swung its leg.

Zzzerk - !

The shock of the claw parrying the sword climbed up its leg.

There was no joy in the defense. Considering the opponent’s speed, a follow-up attack was inevitable.

And just as expected, the opponent’s sword curved like a snake and aimed for the chicken-head’s lower body.

The chicken-head, seemingly prepared, opened its mouth and fired a cursed beam.

BOOM! The beam carved the ground, but Yeomyeong was already pulling back at a distance.

"You crazy bastard."

The chicken-head growled, panting heavily as it glared at the opponent. Somehow, it noticed that Yeomyeong was holding its severed claw.

It had lost the battle of attrition.

The chicken-head, attempting to hide its anxiety, scanned the surroundings.

At the bottom of the stairs, two women and some horse-headed figures were locked in a fierce battle, and it was clear that it was evenly matched.

Was it because of the hammer-wielding woman’s unexpected skill? Or the threatening support fire from floating rifles controlled by telekinesis?

There were those factors, but the biggest problem was the radiant multi-colored shields that appeared every time the horse-headed figures used magic.

Upon closer inspection, the shields were made of small ivory-colored rods floating in the air with telekinesis. What were they?

Could they possibly be the horn of a unicorn?

Just as the chicken-head felt an unsettling sense of unease, Yeomyeong vanished from his position.

The chicken-head snapped to attention, realizing just in time that Yeomyeong’s sword was already inches away from his face.

Psst! In a panic, it extended its protective shield, but it wasn’t even a delay.

Shit.

Even as the sword dug into its chest, the chicken-head extended its arms and legs to strike Yeomyeong.

With a blow powerful enough to literally smash and crush a person, both figures collided violently.

Feathers scattered, and blood splattered from Yeomyeong’s body.

At this point, they should have pulled back, but Yeomyeong didn’t retreat, continuing to push his way into the gaps of the chicken-head’s defenses.

One of the chicken-head's arms was severed, and a large hole formed in Yeomyeong's thigh, but the distance between them only grew smaller.

This bastard—he intends to end this here?

Suppressing his rising competitive spirit, the chicken-head gritted its beak, and with determination, it swung its left arm.

Yeomyeong, as if waiting for this, severed the arm and targeted the chicken-head's neck.

Just before the neck could be severed, the chicken-head completed the spell.

"-Corpse Explosion."

The target was its severed left hand.

Boom! The bones and flesh exploded, sending a shockwave between Yeomyeong and the chicken-head.

Before long, the chicken-head was pushed back to where the horse-headed figures were.

Using its new arm from its shoulder, the chicken-head pushed off the ground and quickly rose.

"Arm!"

At his command, one of the horse-headed figures cut off its own arm and threw it to the chicken-head.

The chicken-head placed the severed arm onto the stump, and with a sizzling sound, the arm reattached.

As the chicken-head watched Yeomyeong’s wounds healing, it frowned.

The regeneration rate was faster than his own.

What the hell is this? Is he some sort of hybrid?

"...Did America send you?"

The opponent still offered no answer. Yeomyeong, his golden eyes gleaming, wiped the blood from his sword with a swift flick and took a firm stance, holding the sword with both hands.

It was a posture commonly known as the Sword of the Heavens.

Was he preparing the same overwhelming sword energy as before?

The chicken-head, thinking of the Comet Sword, began drawing up its own mana.

But in the next instant, what appeared from Yeomyeong’s sword was not the light of stars, but a milky-white sword energy.

What is this?

As the immense mana condensed into the sword energy, the chicken-head couldn’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

He had seen that sword energy somewhere before...

"Incheon Butcher?"

The sword energy Yeomyeong was about to unleash was exactly like the one the Korean government had been trying to get its hands on.

It was suffocating, overwhelming, a milky-white energy that blocked out everything.

But how? The Incheon Butcher was supposed to be at the academy...

At that moment,

A realization flashed through his mind.

The consecutive failures of the Earth-side plans, the superhuman who had inadvertently interfered, the Incheon Butcher, the academy, and... the proud words of the Minister about the good stud horse.

"Could it be?"

Just then, whether by chance or fate, the mask of the hammer-wielding woman fighting the horse-head cracked.

The face revealed behind the mask, and those blue eyes were far too familiar. Eyes that any Shepherd would recognize—defiant, rebellious eyes.

"The Black Sheep...? If that's the case, then you are...!"

At the moment of realization, Yeomyeong’s sword slowly sliced through the air.

****

Yeomyeong did not understand the true essence of the swordsmanship he had stolen.

It was essentially hollow, but for stolen swordsmanship, it was good enough, and so he had continued to use it. That was all.

But for some reason, throughout the battle with the chicken-head, his swordsmanship began to absorb other martial arts, gradually forming a new shape.

It was as if water was filling an empty cup.

Of course, the cup wasn’t full. It seemed that the time wasn’t right, as the true essence still wouldn’t show itself to him.

Therefore, what he wielded in his sword was just a small realization.

Hooong—

The milky-white sword energy cleaved the air, and in that instant, red lines appeared on the bodies of the Shepherds. Some on their arms, some on their waists, others on their necks.

"Dammit—"

Before the horse-head could say anything, Fwack—the crimson blood spurted from the red lines.

The sword strike surpassed the regenerative powers of the Shepherds.

Two of the horse-heads died instantly, and the chicken-head, which had been nearly on equal footing, had its waist split open, spilling intestines onto the ground.

Hack!

The battle paused for a moment. Even Neti and Seti stopped fighting, closing their mouths as they watched what Yeomyeong had done.

Yeomyeong, however, didn’t smile or praise himself. The mana boiling inside him drained his strength just by suppressing it.

‘This power can’t be used recklessly.’

After a short while, once his mana was normalized, Yeomyeong let the sword hang loosely and took a step forward. The Shepherds, now immobilized, could neither prepare to defend nor flee.

They could only glare at Yeomyeong with twisted, grotesque eyes.

"I... I just remembered... Cheon Yeomyeong... You tricked us so thoroughly..."

Yeomyeong said nothing. There was no value in responding.

Tricking and using others—wasn’t that the specialty of the Korean government?

"Heh, heh... I don’t know how you got here, but... this was a mistake. The moment His Excellency finds out about you... you will..."

"Find out what? You’re all going to die here."

Seti cut off the chicken-head’s words.

Though there were still two horse-heads left and the chicken-head was regenerating its wounds in real-time, she was confident of victory.

"The Black Sheep... you foolish livestock. You were always rebellious. That day, I should’ve used you, not the White Sheep..."

"...."

A petty provocation. Yeomyeong, who had already closed the distance between them, raised his sword as if there was no need to listen.

The chicken-head, still not fully healed, seemed like it would be split in two, but...

"Long live the Republic of Korea!"

One of the horse-heads, thought to be dead, suddenly stabbed itself in the neck.

A suicide attack? No, it wasn’t.

The blood that spurted from the severed horse-head’s neck flew through the air in an instant, forming a red, translucent shield between Yeomyeong and the Shepherds.

Zzing—!!

The next moment, Yeomyeong’s sword struck the shield, causing it to tremble violently, absorbing not just the shock but the mana as well.

It was like striking a dragon’s scale—impossibly resilient.

"...What a ridiculous move."

Yeomyeong frowned. The shield was nothing; with enough time, it could easily be shattered, but the issue was the time.

And as expected, the chicken-head didn’t waste any time. From within the shield, it swung its hand toward the surviving horse-heads.

"A great nation is always built on the blood of patriots."

At this command, the horse-heads didn’t resist and obediently thrust their necks forward.

Their heads were severed, and once again, blood splattered into the air, creating another magical formation.

Zzing—

A small hole barely large enough for a person to fit through.

Though it was unimpressive for a magic created by killing two horse-heads, Yeomyeong gritted his teeth.

Even without anyone telling him, he recognized that this hole was a form of spatial magic, or something akin to a dimensional gate.

"Are you trying to run now? Don’t you dare run, you bastard!"

Neti fired an anti-tank rocket, but even that was stopped by the shield.

The chicken-head glanced between the hole and the shield, then opened its beak, laughing.

"Cheon Yeomyeong... scapegoat... you all... will pay the price."

Even in that moment, Yeomyeong continued to strike the shield with his sword. Seti’s hammer followed, but the shield cracked yet remained steadfast.

Should he let this go? 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Yeomyeong thought anxiously.

If the chicken-head escaped now, not only Seti’s sister at the academy but everyone else would surely be at risk.

The Saintess, Corvus, and... Soemiri.

But for some reason, when he thought of Soemiri,

The words she had said during a special class rang in his ears.

“You’ve been hit by a lot of magic, right?”

Magic he’d been hit by?

Yes, he understood what it was like to be hit by magic, and he could use it. The combination of the talent Seti gave him and his own.

And the magic he’d been hit by most...

"...Corpse Explosion."

The moment Yeomyeong’s eyes turned red, the bodies of the fallen horse-heads around the chicken-head swelled up.