“Personally, though, I think ‘premonition’ might be a more accurate word than ‘precognition.’”

Precognition meant reading the future. In that sense, Limon certainly wasn’t a precognitive. He had never seen the future.

But what if his latent Dragon Psionics had influenced his senses, however slightly? What if, while not enough to let him consciously read the future, it had sharpened his unconscious intuition for seeing through the true nature of things, along with his instinctive premonitions?

‘My God.’

Rose felt goosebumps rise.

Li Qingyu’s theory would explain how Limon had repeatedly thwarted the Seven Dragons Society’s plans without a single clue. A Sword Master who combined superhuman senses with transcendent intuition was, in some ways, more terrifying than a precognitive. All the more so if that Sword Master could cut through even the future at will.

‘You cannot escape a Sword Master... Is that what those words meant?’

At the same time, Rose recalled the famous stories about Limon—his record of never letting an enemy escape, including pursuing the Demon God around the Earth thirty-seven times before killing it. Could strength alone have accomplished such a feat, one beyond even the space-crossing Blue Dragon Clan? Perhaps he had always pursued his enemies, no matter when, where, or how they hid and fled, because his transcendent intuition let him find them.

For a moment, Li Qingyu’s argument swayed Rose, growing more convincing the longer she considered it. Then she abruptly shook her head.

“But Li Qingyu, there is a flaw in your reasoning.”

“You mean how the Sword Lord’s Dragon Psionics could have manifested?”

“Precisely.”

According to Li Qingyu’s theory, Limon should never have been able to awaken his Dragon Psionics unless he abandoned the intent of the Dragon-Slaying Sword. Flowers could not bloom inside ice.

“Yes, ordinarily, it might have been impossible—if three factors hadn’t happened to come together.”

But Li Qingyu calmly countered her. Like a thousand-year flower that bloomed after sleeping for a millennium, a flower could blossom even on a glacier, not merely a snowy mountain, if the conditions were right.

“... What factors?”

“First, the Sword Lord accepted my marriage proposal.”

It sounded like a joke, but Rose took it seriously. Limon had accepted a princess of the Seven Dragons Society as his fiancée after opposing the Society for nearly a thousand years. That decision alone could indeed have opened the intent of the Dragon-Slaying Sword—the antithesis of dragons and psionics—to change.

“The second lies in the violin.”

“You mean that divine-relic-class magical artifact that could interfere with the constellations’ power?”

“Yes. I suspect the violin may also have affected the psionic essence lying dormant within the Sword Lord.”

After a brief silence, Rose nodded. While planning with Limon to capture a ghost of the Liberation Brigade, she had also heard a little about the Seven Arcs. Though its true nature remained unclear, a magical artifact that could affect even the constellations’ power could very well affect psionic essence too.

“And the third is the Sword Lord’s musical skill.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

This time, even Rose couldn’t hide her puzzlement. She knew Limon was an excellent musician, but she couldn’t understand why that had suddenly entered the discussion. Yet Li Qingyu added something even more unexpected.

“Did you know the founders put a great deal of effort into creating the Seventy-Two Martial Schools?”

“Of course I know that.”

“It must have been terribly difficult for them—turning the psionics they wielded as naturally as breathing into martial arts that humans could learn.”

“What does that have to do with...?”

Rose suddenly trailed off. At the sight of the curious smile on Li Qingyu’s face, something occurred to her.

‘... Surely not?’

“Rose, psionics can be incorporated into martial arts.”

Only then did Li Qingyu get to the point. With a meaningful smile, she added:

“Then can they really not be incorporated into music?”

Rose stared in astonishment as Li Qingyu calmly offered the very suspicion she herself had dismissed the instant it occurred to her, so preposterous had it seemed.

“Are you saying... the Sword Lord created a new art of the Seventy-Two Martial Schools?”

“Who knows? I’m not sure whether we should call it the seventy-third martial school or the first Sword Lord Style.”

“That is impossible.”

Rose denied it reflexively. But Li Qingyu countered that denial in turn.

“There’s no reason it couldn’t be done. After all, schools like the Dragon Throat Singing Style already exist.”

“The founders could create the Seventy-Two Martial Schools only because they had mastered psionics.”

“But the Sword Lord knows more about those Seventy-Two Martial Schools than anyone outside the Seven Dragons Society... No, in some ways, he knows more than we do.”

Limon Aspelder. Their archenemy, who had fought and studied the Seven Dragons Society more than anyone else. His understanding of the Seventy-Two Martial Schools rivaled that of most master-level experts. In fact, having analyzed almost every one of the Seventy-Two Martial Schools and devised counter-formulas for them, he surpassed even the seven princesses. In theoretical terms, Limon was the foremost expert on the Seventy-Two Martial Schools.

“Do you truly think it impossible for the Sword Lord, with all that knowledge, to have instinctively realized how to control and manifest psionic essence?”

* * *

BOOM!

It happened in an instant. The moment the goat-headed demon’s eyes flashed, a black vortex arose and swept over the spot where Limon had stood.

From the walls and floor to the very air, everything it swallowed melted into a shapeless mass and turned to gas. Wherever that spreading gas touched, mushrooms and mold sprang up in an instant. The vortex’s power was horrifying even to watch.

“Hmm. Corrosive magic?”

But even such horrific power was useless if it failed to hit. Having lightly moved out of range before the demon even conjured its vortex, Limon tossed his torch into the air. Then he stepped forward.

“Well, I appreciate the simplicity, but...”

One step over the vortex. One step kicking off the ceiling upside down. And one step slashing his sword like a thunderbolt.

SHRRRAK!

Having split the mountain-sized demon from crown to groin in just three steps, Limon quietly finished his remark.

“Too simple.”

For a moment, it remained rigid as a statue, drops of blood trickling from the thin line drawn down from between its brows. Then it split into left and right halves along that line, falling with a heavy crash and adding its own flesh to the pile of monster corpses it had been tearing into moments earlier.

Yu Na-gyeong stared blankly at the sight before finally asking uneasily,

[“... Team Leader? What did you just do?”]

“What do you think? I cut down a demon.”

[“Were demons always this easy to kill?”]

Yu Na-gyeong was aghast. She knew perfectly well that Limon could cut down even gods. But still. Watching a demon that had exuded such a terrifying presence die in the space of a few blinks made everything feel unreal.

Limon answered her matter-of-factly.

“There’s no reason to be surprised now. A demon is only a fallen god, after all.”

[“I’d think the fact it used to be a god would already make it something you don’t normally kill with a sword...”]

Yu Na-gyeong muttered in disbelief.

Limon added one simple remark.

“I never said I’d killed it yet. Only that I’d cut it down.”

[“What’s the difference?!”]

“Whether it comes back to life.”

[“What?”]

CRACK.

Still baffled by that unexpected answer, Yu Na-gyeong flinched and turned her head. Then she froze. The corpse of the demon that had been split in two began to run into a drab liquid, seeping into the countless corpses piled beneath it.

The corpses’ bones twisted, their muscles tore, and their flesh swelled like balloons. Then those balloons of flesh burst with a pop, releasing goat-headed demons. Each had shrunk to a mere two meters tall, but their numbers had increased to dozens—an army of demons.

The resurrected demons’ eyes shone once more as they sent black vortices at Limon...

『Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Supreme Art

Demon-Cleaving Dragon-Slaying Sword, Supreme Art

Cut the Moon upon the Water, and Flowers Bloom

Sever the Water’s Moon, and Fragrant Flowers Open』

One demon’s neck was severed. The instant the blade buried itself in its heart, all the dozens of demons lost their heads at once, like reflections shattering in a mirror, and collapsed with blood spurting from their chests.

Only then did Limon put away his sword. Picking up the torch that had rolled across the floor, he said calmly,

“Now it should be dead for real.”

[“... It won’t resurrect?”]

“Not for a while, at least. I thought I’d have to kill it another time or two, but it looks like the idiot princess already killed it a few times.”

[“Then why do you look disappointed?”]

Limon answered her uneasy question with complete nonchalance.

“It’s a shame. Punching bags like this are rare these days.”

[“A demon is a punching bag?!”]

“It’s not every day you find something with enough grit to come back and attack you even after you kill it.”

[“Grit doesn’t let you resurrect after dying!”]

“It does in Tartarus.”

Limon explained casually. Just as the curse transformed imprisoned sinners into monsters, Tartarus resurrected dead or forgotten gods as demons to use as guardians. Thus, unless the entire underground labyrinth collapsed, this demon would eventually return to life as well. Its resurrection would simply take a matter of centuries.

[“... It’s practically a dungeon.”]

“Strictly speaking, it is the original dungeon. Though the hidden rewards are nothing but cursed treasures, and a level 100 demon can jump out at you right at the entrance.”

[“You call that a dungeon? It’s an instant-death trap!”]

“Of course it is. Labyrinths were originally built to kill intruders.”

Limon chuckled. To modern players accustomed to dungeons, this place might seem bizarre. But to Limon, modern dungeons were the greater mystery, with their monsters appearing in order from weakest upward and all manner of treasures and items hidden inside.

In a game, perhaps. But such convenient places, where one could steadily level up while acquiring vast treasures, should never have existed in reality.

Shaking her head at his words, Yu Na-gyeong suddenly murmured,

[“Why would the White Dragon Princess come to a place like this?”]

“Who knows? I can think of a few possible reasons.”

[“What reasons?”]

“I told you this was the Holy Alliance’s garbage dump. If the idiot princess went out of her way to come here, she must have had business with that garbage.”

[“... You’re obviously not saying the White Dragon Princess came here to start dealing in scrap, right?”]

“Obviously not.”

Limon shook his head, then continued as he looked toward the far end of the passage.

“Anyway, we’ll have to do some cleaning first.”

[“Cleaning?”]

Yu Na-gyeong, still puzzled, suddenly shut her beak. Only then did she notice the dense magic emanating from the darkness of the passage Limon was watching—and the gleaming lights staring at them from within.

... No fewer than seven pairs of malevolent eyes.

With the rigidly frozen Yu Na-gyeong perched on his shoulder, Limon drew his sword again and murmured,

“No shortage of punching bags, then.”