“Elder….”
Jang Min surveyed the gathered people with a dignified gaze.
All the elders of the Demonic Cult were assembled before him.
“Remember this.”
“Yes, Great Elder!”
“The cult has no laws. There are no rules that must be followed.”
“The only reason I have protected the cult is because I wanted to protect its members.”
Jang Min looked at his cult members with a calm expression.
They were not even the age of his grandchildren, yet they looked at him with teary eyes.
“Because the Demonic Lord has bestowed grace upon us, the cult members no longer have to suffer under the weight of life. You must not forget the immeasurable grace the Demonic Lord has given you.”
“We will keep that in mind, Great Elder.”
“Remember one more thing.”
“Yes!”
Jang Min opened his mouth, looking at everyone with a benevolent face.
“Do not cling to the cult.”
“……Wh, what do you mean by that, Great Elder?”
“If the cult no longer serves the lives of its members, disband the cult and let everyone find their own path.”
“That cannot be! Everyone here has received the grace of the Demonic Lord and the Great Elder! How can they abandon the cult!”
Jang Min shook his head.
“That is just clinging.”
The elders looked bewildered.
“Great Elder, the cult has only just begun to flourish, why do you say such things?”
“My goal was not to make the cult flourish. My goal was to guide the lost and persecuted cult members.”
“But……”
Jang Min smiled.
He knew that their opposition was ultimately for the sake of the Demonic Lord and him.
“Did the Demonic Lord tell you to make the cult flourish?”
“That is……”
“Did I tell you to keep the cult alive?”
“……No.”
Jang Min quietly nodded his head.
“The Demonic Lord does not wish to remain as a symbol. What I want is the happiness of the cult members, not the prosperity of the cult. So, if a situation arises where the cult becomes a burden to the cult members, you must make a decision without hesitation.”
“Great Elder……”
The elders of the Demonic Cult looked at Jang Min with bewildered expressions.
“Tell me you will do so.”
“We… we will do so.”
“That is enough.”
Jang Min shrugged his shoulders.
“There is nothing to worry about. After all, this is just in case I don’t return, which is a one in a thousand or one in ten thousand chance.”
“You will definitely return. We are all eagerly awaiting the return of the Demonic Lord and the Great Elder.”
“……That’s a very ominous thing to say. It feels like something is piling up.”
“Yes?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Jang Min chuckled and turned his head.
The closed door slowly opened, revealing a figure.
Kang Jin-ho, with a cigarette in his mouth, was silently looking at Jang Min.
“It is the greatest honor, Demonic Lord.”
To be able to stand by the Demonic Lord in a battle where everything is at stake. Could there be a more perfect situation to mark the pinnacle of his life?
“I’ll be back.”
“G, Great Elder!”
“We, who were persecuted by the martial artists, are now going to fight to protect them. Could there be anything more ironic than this?”
Even so, there was not a single doubt in his heart.
For him, this was not a fight for the world.
It was a fight only for the Demonic Lord.
If he wished it, Jang Min would jump into the fires of hell without hesitation. Because the one who pulled him out of a hell worse than that was this man.
“Demonic Lord.”
Jang Min stood straight and looked at Kang Jin-ho.
“If you command it, I will give my life for the Demonic Lord.”
“It’s not an order, Jang Min.”
Kang Jin-ho smiled gently.
“I’m asking you. Die with me.”
“I will do so gladly.”
The two looked at each other and smiled.
“Hoo…”
Bator, who was sitting cross-legged, slowly exhaled.
External martial arts.
He had devoted his entire life to external martial arts.
When everyone was obsessed with internal energy, Bator was solely focused on perfecting his body. Because he believed that was the way he could become the strongest.
‘Was I wrong?’
Well.
He didn’t know.
He also felt the limits of his martial arts and had tried many things to break through them.
But that couldn’t be said to be because of the limitations of external martial arts. All martial artists face the same limits and try to overcome them.
‘Have I walked the right path?’
He was second to none in his obsession with martial arts.
There were those stronger than him, but he was confident that no one had tried harder to become stronger than him.
“I will know now if the path I have walked was right.”
Bator slowly opened his eyes.
Crack, crack.
His body responded to his will.
He didn’t care who was right.
Even if the Black King was right and he was the one leading the martial artists to paradise, Bator wouldn’t care at all. Bator was also a spiritual pillar for the Mongolian martial artists, but he was different from Kang Jin-ho.
He didn’t particularly think he had to lead them.
Martial artists were extreme egoists.
They were people who could give up anything for their own martial arts. That was why Bator could not sympathize with either the Black King or Kang Jin-ho.
Just…….
Creak.
As he heard the sound of the door opening, Bator turned his head. Kang Jin-ho was standing in front of the door, looking at him.
Bator, seeing Kang Jin-ho, twisted the corners of his mouth upwards.
“Is it time?”
“Let’s go, Bator.”
Kang Jin-ho smiled wryly.
“I’ll prepare a place for you to die fighting.”
“Kuh.”
Bator stood up his massive body.
“You’re saying something I can’t refuse.”
What he wanted was only one thing. A fight with a strong opponent.
He didn’t care about the enemy’s ideals. He didn’t care how the world would change as a result of this fight.
If he died fighting, that was fine, and even if he survived, he didn’t care what the world would be like from then on. He would live the same way no matter what the world was like.
So…….
“That’s enough, Master.”
Bator walked over and placed his large hand on Kang Jin-ho’s shoulder.
“Would you be willing to give me the Black King?”
“That’s a bit difficult. He’s my share.”
“Greedy.”
Bator grinned.
It was a shame that he couldn’t fight the Black King, but it was okay. The one who survived between the Black King and Kang Jin-ho would be his share.
“Do you know, Master?”
“What?”
“I’ve never been as happy as I am these days. This is paradise for me, with endless opponents appearing.”
“I’m tired of waiting. Let’s move.”
Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.
“Let’s do it.”
“Have you arrived?”
“Please wait a little. I’m not quite ready yet.”
“……Is there anything to prepare?”
Wiggins answered without turning around.
“Those who can fight with just their bodies only need to organize their minds, but unfortunately, I’m not that type. It takes time to prepare properly.”
On Wiggins’ desk were items he had never seen before and complex circuit diagrams drawn on paper.
“Hmm, this is the researcher’s dilemma.”
“……What?”
“It would be great if I could just pick and choose the finished items, but unfortunately, research isn’t that clean. There are things with a 98% completion rate and things with a 30% completion rate, all mixed up.”
Kang Jin-ho tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
“Can’t you just take the finished ones? There’s nothing you can do about the ones that aren’t ready.”
“You are right. But think about it this way. If you were the Lord, which would you take, a 100% complete item that can produce 50 power or an 80% item that can produce 100 power?”
“……The 80% one, isn’t it?”
“But the 80% one has a 70% chance of working, and occasionally, mana backflows and explodes.”
Kang Jin-ho, speechless, stared blankly at Wiggins.
Wiggins then smiled and turned to look at Kang Jin-ho.
“I have to think about what to prepare based on the enemy’s tendencies. Items with high stability allow me to exert all my skills, but they don’t make me win against someone stronger than me. Items with high power and instability can create a chance for a comeback, but they can also make me lose a fight I could have won.”
“……I don’t know.”
“That’s right. This is something I have to decide on my own.”
Wiggins crossed his arms and hummed.
“It’s difficult, it’s difficult.”
But unlike his words, Wiggins seemed to have already made a decision.
Wiggins pushed some of the items on the desk into his subspace.
“It’s done.”
“……You said you were worried?”
Wiggins chuckled.
“Seeing the Lord made me realize that my worries were useless. If I were the type to pursue stability, I wouldn’t have abandoned the Round Table and come under the Lord.”
“I think it was a good choice. If I hadn’t made that choice back then, I would have fought against the Lord who was invading the Round Table and would have likely died at the Lord’s hands.”
“You were the one who invaded.”
“Well, that’s not important.”
Wiggins quietly looked at Kang Jin-ho.
He didn’t have a firm goal like Jang Min or Bator. He was just a realist.
The reason he chose Kang Jin-ho was simply because he saw a vision in Kang Jin-ho that surpassed the Round Table. He didn’t have any great loyalty to Kang Jin-ho.
But Wiggins had no intention of avoiding this fight.
“As you know, I don’t fight for the Lord.”
“Of course, I know.”
“The Lord is planning to step down from the front lines after this fight is over.”
“Yes.”
Wiggins nodded as if he was satisfied.
“That’s right. Because there will be no more enemies for the Lord to fight. But the Lord is not one to rule. He wouldn’t want to get involved in the complex world of politics. The Lord will remain as a symbol.”
“If the Lord steps down from the front lines, Elder Jang Min retires, and Bator goes on a journey to find the strong……”
Wiggins grinned.
“I will have no choice but to take over and run the General Assembly. In this long world, that is the martial arts world.”
“……Bang Jin-hoon won’t stay still, will he?”
“As the Lord knows, Director Bang wants to protect the General Assembly, but he is not very interested in the outside world. If Director Bang takes care of the inside, I can take care of the outside.”
Kang Jin-ho shook his head.
He expected him to think that way, but he didn’t expect him to say it so blatantly.
“Anyway, I must leave a legacy for the future. Anyone who wants to be Kang Jin-ho’s representative must have the qualifications.”
Wiggins looked straight at Kang Jin-ho.
“I will prove my qualifications in this battle.”
“……You’re ambitious.”
Kang Jin-ho smiled and held out his hand.
“Go ahead and try.”
“Hmm.”
Wiggins firmly grasped Kang Jin-ho’s outstretched hand.