## Ch-110.
—
There wasn’t even time to scream.
That he hadn’t bitten his tongue—no, that he hadn’t died—was a blessing.
An uppercut? A rising dragon punch?
His thoughts flickered and broke apart as they analyzed the blow he had just taken.
She vanished—and he was struck.
Did she slip underneath him?
Until the very moment he was hit, he had felt nothing.
It was an exquisitely efficient attack.
A fist this clean wouldn’t even need inner force to kill a man. If it failed to kill, it would at least shatter the jaw.
Yet Lorellia’s fist broke nothing.
It sent only Yuri’s body and consciousness flying.
“Come with the intent to kill!”
Lorellia leapt low, spinning half a turn midair.
Her stance had already formed.
Her foot precisely targeted Yuri’s falling body.
Boom!
The kick drove him into a nearby pile of rocks. By then, even his fragmented thoughts failed him. He blacked out briefly.
“You’re insane…!”
Haryeong stared in horror at where Yuri had flown.
Collapsed stones lay piled over him like a grave.
But she couldn’t move to check on him.
Those crimson, flickering eyes were fixed on her.
Just meeting that gaze made her skin crawl.
Haryeong swiftly gripped White Fang in her right hand, while her left drew concealed throwing weapons from subspace.
“What fortune!”
Estor, who had been standing stunned, suddenly shouted in delight.
To fight the Calamity Saint among the Martial Zeniths!
And judging by the fact she hadn’t killed Yuri in a single strike, she was clearly holding back tremendously.
In other words—
This was a spar!
With a battle cry, Estor charged.
Fwoosh!
Sword qi condensed instantly, forming a radiant blade.
Lorellia approved.
She liked the aggression.
She liked that he didn’t hesitate to unleash killing techniques even in what he assumed was a spar.
Here, the only one forbidden from killing was Lorellia herself.
The Orsia Sword Saint-style slash filled her vision—
But she did not retreat.
She merely raised a single finger and extended it forward.
Papapapang!
With that alone, every slash dispersed.
The blade halted.
It could not push back even a single finger, trembling and shedding motes of light.
“Is this between sword qi and radiant sword? Surely you haven’t yet reached true Radiant Sword?”
“I have… but forging Radiant Sword requires time.”
Estor, straining against her finger, replied with a bead of cold sweat sliding down.
“Time! There is a saying: time is gold. Sword Dragon, how much time do you require?”
“Three—ah, no. About two minutes.”
When he fought the Old Withered Crone, he had needed three minutes of focused concentration.
Since then, he had trained diligently.
Now two minutes sufficed.
“This Lorellia could beat you to death over a hundred times in two minutes! Do you not understand how long and precious two minutes are in battle?”
“I do.”
“Create Radiant Sword within one minute. If you fail, then every second beyond it earns you ten painful punches from this Lorellia!”
Estor immediately gripped his sword tightly.
He did not know how painful those fists would be.
But hearing one minute—
He resolved to succeed within it.
“Ambush!”
Dozens of daggers flying at her back froze midair.
Lorellia stepped over them and appeared before Haryeong.
The speed defied her comprehension—
But instead of freezing, Haryeong swung White Fang at once.
Shhk!
The thinly-coated dagger brushed Lorellia—
No.
It didn’t.
It only appeared to.
Her evasion was razor-close.
The moment it missed, Haryeong flicked her hidden hand.
A shorter blade shot toward Lorellia.
As it nearly grazed—
Its length extended slightly.
Just enough to scratch.
That was sufficient.
Weapons like this were naturally coated in poison.
But Lorellia’s hand caught the blade far faster than it could graze her.
With a twist, Haryeong’s strength left her grip. The dagger dropped.
“If I had failed to respond and been cut and poisoned, what would have happened?”
“…You would have suffered inverted sensory agony and died vomiting blood within dozens of minutes.”
“How dreadful! Lady Dark Flower, did you intend to kill this Lorellia?”
“You told us to come with killing intent.”
“It would never have cut me, and even if it had, I would not have been poisoned! Still—an attack delivered with killing intent. Excellent!”
Lorellia was pleased by the lethal strike.
Pang!
She kicked the fallen dagger up and caught it midair—
Then tossed it back to Haryeong.
“This time, add a bit more careful murderous intent!”
Boom!
The stone tomb collapsed.
Yuri rose.
He had lost consciousness briefly.
He spat out pooled blood and glared.
“It’s been a while and you’re this rou—”
He couldn’t finish.
Lorellia vanished again.
But the Lightning Domain of the Gate Sealing Thunder was already deployed.
Yuri focused on the web of lightning-sense around him.
Detected—edge of perception.
The trajectory of a fist.
A strike aiming for his cheek.
The instant before impact—
Yuri spun with it.
“Wow!”
Not only had he perfectly redirected the strike—
He chained an attack immediately.
Lorellia let out an impressed exclamation.
The arc of his foot traced a crimson line.
Crimson Blood Flowing Kick—derived from the footwork of Full-Moon Play—surged toward her.
A bright smile curved her lips.
Sword Dragon used swords.
Dark Flower used hidden weapons.
Frankly—
Lorellia did not like that.
A perfectly tempered body surpassed any weapon.
Why grasp tools?
Even weapons forged from rare etherium were nothing before her fist.
“Excellent!”
That was why she delighted in Yuri’s footwork.
It had been over two years since Lee Su-hyeok, Pad-lip Immune, had possessed into this ruined world.
She had passed down the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique and Blazing Burst Fist hoping he would someday bloom.
But the path of the martial artist—especially the hand-to-hand fighter—was harsh.
With divine arts, he could clear lower ranks swiftly.
Yet she had feared he might abandon the body and pick up weapons.
Look at him now.
No weapon in hand.
Using not only fists but feet.
How praiseworthy!
But praise alone did not mean she would accept the kick.
She swept her own leg.
Clang!
Their legs collided.
She could have severed his limb then—
But she did not.
“With killing intent!”
Her own shout did not apply to her.
For her, this was merely a light pre-battle test.
Crack!
Their locked legs were dragged downward together—
As if glued.
When their feet touched the ground—
Tap.
They separated.
Yuri had no chance to retreat.
Lorellia’s foot gently pinned his.
Beneath her radiant smile—
Her fist moved.
Gate sealing Thunder.
At close range, he tried to read and respond to the incoming strike—
But this time, it was impossible.
At the very instant his lightning perception discerned it, the fist was already touching his body.
There was no time to react.
Lorellia had increased her speed only slightly.
Yet her fist was faster than the forced reflection of Gate Sealing Thunder.
*Raise your guard!*
He had no choice but to apply what he’d learned in the waiting chamber.
Yuri brought both arms up, shielding head and chest, curling his body slightly.
Papapapak!
A flurry of blows hammered against his defense—strikes he should have been able to receive.
All the while, the lightning qi of Gate Sealing Thunder kept detecting the fists.
Too many.
Far too many.
As sensation tangled under the barrage—
Crack!
A fist pierced through a gap born from that very confusion.
He neither sensed it nor saw it.
That made it all the more devastating as it shook his insides.
His mouth fell open from the impact. His guard faltered—
A straight punch shot through the opening.
One to the center of his face.
A hooked strike to the left cheek.
An uppercut snapped his head back again.
“Grappling is not a technique to belittle—but if you rely on it too much, your eyes grow dull!”
She was right.
He had focused on Gate Sealing Thunder and missed the response.
The punches to his ribs and liver hurt more than the three to his face.
Yuri forced himself to breathe and raised his head.
“I—I did it!”
Not far away, drenched in sweat, Estor shouted in elation.
Just before the one-minute limit expired, he completed Radiant Sword.
“Then come!”
Lorellia did not praise him for finishing within the time she set.
A fist has meaning only when swung.
A sword has meaning only when used to cut.
“Dark Flower as well! And Yuri! How long do you intend to sit there?”
Haryeong tensed, readying hidden weapons from subspace.
Yuri gritted his teeth and stood.
“Come with the intent to kill this Lorellia!”
Of course they could not kill her.
If anything, they had nearly been killed themselves.
The three collapsed to the ground in ragged condition, gasping like Beggar Sect vagrants.
Their breath reeked of sweetness and blood.
Even inhaling carried the metallic scent clinging inside their noses.
To have been beaten so thoroughly and yet not have a single bone broken—
That alone proved how precise and controlled Lorellia’s violence was.
Yuri rubbed his swollen eyes and looked right.
Estor’s lips were split, his face swollen as though his very bone structure had shifted.
He looked left.
His eyes met Haryeong’s as she stuffed cloth into her nostrils to stop the bleeding.
She quickly covered her nose.
Yuri didn’t even have the energy to smirk.
“Well done!”
Lorellia looked untouched.
Not a scratch.
Not even disheveled.
The only difference from before was that the bandages around her hands had turned completely red.
She unwound them as blood dripped down, smiling brightly.
“As befitting those called the Three Heroes, your abilities are exceptional! Since each of you specializes differently, this Lorellia greatly enjoyed guiding you.”
“Guiding…?”
Yuri muttered incredulously.
That one-sided beating was guidance?
“Yes, well—perhaps a taste of guidance would be more accurate? You destroyed an Evil God’s stronghold and contributed to inflicting deathlike humiliation upon a Saint who absolutely deserved death! As representative of the Order Church, I came to express my gratitude!”
“Gratitude means beating people?”
“This Lorellia pondered how best to show gratitude! And after much thought, I arrived at an answer!”
“What… answer?”
Yuri asked, heart pounding—half anticipation, half dread.
“I shall personally serve you—so that you may obtain the joy of a martial artist!”
The joy of a martial artist?
The three blinked.
Lorellia raised her right hand high above her head.
“What is the greatest joy for a martial artist? To grow stronger! To temper the body! To accumulate mana and inner force in the lower dantian! To open the middle and upper dantians through painstaking effort! To break through walls and ascend to higher ranks! That is the greatest joy!”
The sun hung above her raised palm.
Slowly—
She clenched her hand.
Her blood-stained white hand grasped the sun.
For a fleeting instant—
Yuri felt the sun vanish.
As if the world blinked.
In other words—
She intended to train them.
“I did not participate in the battle against the Saint.”
Estor, massaging his aching face, spoke gloomily.
“I have no reason to receive thanks from Priestess Lorellia.”
He genuinely regretted that this once-in-a-lifetime chance to receive instruction from a Martial Zenith—especially the Calamity Saint—might slip away.
“What does that matter? Work hard from now on!”
Lorellia opened her fist and smiled brightly.
“There are more Saints of the Evil God! I do not know how many exactly, but surely more than five! That means at least five more must be killed—and if the one who fled returns for revenge someday, we shall kill him then!”
“Ah…!”
Deeply moved, Estor straightened his posture.
“Good to see you again.”
Yuri grumbled, rubbing his swollen eyes.
“Do you not feel the same, Priestess Lorellia? Surely I’m not the only one happy to reunite?”
“What an unfortunate thing to say! You cannot imagine how much this Lorellia longed for this reunion!”
The fist that had once grasped the sun became folded hands in prayer.
Clad in pure white vestments, silver hair shining, ruby eyes glimmering—
She looked like a saintess.
If not for the blood running down her hands.
“I did not expect to reunite so soon.”
Her bright red eyes shifted toward Ha-ryeong and Estor.
For Lorellia, the most unexpected thing was that Yuri was not alone.
It was rare for a possessor to reveal their identity and act openly with companions.
Though time had passed, possessors were still objects of fear to this world.
What had happened?
What had they endured together to accept him?
How much did they know?
“Have you been well?”
“More or less.”
“How fortunate!”
Those matters were not Lorellia’s concern.
She had come to bring the joy of martial growth.
She answered cheerfully and did not press further.
“Let’s go talk.”
Yuri sighed and rose stiffly.
“Over there. Just the two of us.”
Unlike Lorellia—
Yuri had many questions.
The self-destructive risk of the demonic art—
Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique.
Why it was mistaken for Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Whether the mnemonic verses were incomplete.
*And the Veil of Deception feels suspicious, too.*
Only Lorellia could answer him.
