## Ch-108.
—
At the center of Yonghwa Lake, a massive column of water shot skyward, and towering waves rippled outward toward the shore.
Yuri did not fully understand what had just happened.
‘A… meteor?’
What he had seen was a vivid red dot streaking in like a comet from afar—before slamming into the lake.
As the inn building trembled violently, Yuri steadied himself and hurriedly looked around.
He was not the only one confused.
Estor’s eyes were wide as he drew his sword from its scabbard.
Haryeong had already half-hidden herself behind Yuri.
“W-what was that?”
Tang Seou stumbled back in shock.
Only Tang Museok and Tang Seojin—who had been watching the window from the beginning—had properly seen it.
Even then, Tang Seojin looked dazed, unsure of what he had witnessed.
Tang Museok, meanwhile, was so stunned that his mouth hung open without a word.
“……”
They were not close enough to question one another—and it would be faster to see for himself.
Yuri stepped toward the window.
The water column that had risen higher than the elevated Yonghwa Inn now fell back down as rain, forming a rainbow.
The waves had not yet calmed.
Focusing his vision, Yuri fixed his gaze on the center of the impact.
Through the torrential rain and mist, he saw something.
‘A… person?’
A deep, blood-like crimson churned violently, obscuring the figure.
Yet even through the downpour and haze, that color was unmistakable.
Though the distance was considerable, the moment he saw that hue—
The hairs on his body stood on end.
His mouth went dry.
An oppressive force pressed upon him.
‘What is that?’
It was not quite the terror he had felt from the Evil God’s hand—
But among all beings of this world he had seen, never had one conveyed such pressure by sight alone.
He forced strength into his trembling legs and shrinking shoulders.
Yet he could not stop the shaking in his hands.
Even clenching his fists did nothing.
—Fwoosh!
The rain and mist vanished at once.
Only then did Yuri clearly see the crimson at the center of Yonghwa Lake.
“Wh-who is that?”
Estor muttered, staring out the window.
Haryeong, still close to Yuri, lost her composure entirely.
Her eyes slowly widened.
Her mouth fell open.
Yuri’s expression mirrored hers.
No one present felt shock as immense as he did.
Hair so pale silver it was nearly white.
Scarlet eyes.
A woman clad in white robes embroidered with gold.
The only difference from the last time he had seen her—
Bandages wrapped several times around both hands.
“……”
The bandages were soaked in blood.
In each hand—
She held a head.
The men she gripped were enormous—easily twice her size.
Yet they hung limp, half-submerged in the lake.
And still—
She stood atop the water’s surface without wavering.
“Hu… Calamity Star.”
Tang Museok, the first to recognize her, stammered in horror.
Tang Seojin, who had not identified her before, turned pale as well.
“Calamity Star? Th-that… injector of order?”
Tang Seou cried out in alarm.
“W-we should run.”
The usual weariness was gone from Tang Museok’s face.
He urgently reached out and grabbed the siblings’ shoulders.
“Run? Uncle Tang Museok, what are you saying?”
Tang Seou grimaced at his grip.
“What crime have we committed that we must flee?”
“It is not a matter of crime.”
Though from a branch line, Tang Museok held the rank of elder within the Tang Clan.
He remembered decades past, when Calamity Star had been most active—before the Order Church was expelled from the Union.
“If we are merely seen by chance here, we may be beaten to death…!”
“That’s absurd—!”
“That woman is the greatest weapon the Order Church possesses! Young Lady, Young Master—answer me honestly. Is the Tang Clan righteous?”
“……”
“The name Tang bears countless sins! Calamity Star does not seek out those who do not insult the Order Church. But she is no saint who would gently send away an evil-doer encountered by chance…!”
“Th-that makes no sense—!”
As Tang Seou protested incredulously—
Movement stirred at the lake.
The two giant men in Calamity Star’s grasp regained consciousness.
“Uwaaaah!”
They shrieked in terror and thrashed wildly.
Each flail of their limbs split the lake apart.
Force erupted from their palms and strikes, tearing through the beautiful scenery surrounding Yonghwa Lake.
“My Yonghwa Lake!”
Estor, who moments ago had been contemplating poetry and wishing for world peace, cried out in anguish.
With mere swings of their arms, the two released surging force capable of carving cliffs and mountains.
Wherever they went, such masters would be honored.
Yet now—
Their heads were trapped in the slender hands of a woman half their size.
No matter how they struggled, they could not break free.
Even their unleashed force posed no threat to her.
Calamity Star shifted her body slightly, evading every attack.
“Don’t tell me…”
Haryeong, pressed against the window, recognized the two giants even as they continued to devastate the lake.
“The Iron Righteous Twins?”
Guard Beggars of the Beggars’ Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall.
Among them, the Iron Righteous Twins were famed for exceptional martial prowess—twin masters holding elder rank within the Beggars’ Sect.
As with most major sect masters, their exact rank was unknown.
But judging from the devastation caused by their reckless movements—
Even calling them early Seventh Rank would not be an exaggeration.
“Le-let us go!”
“You monster!”
The Indomitable Iron Beggar and the Martial Iron Beggar—men who had never known fear—struggled desperately against the demonic grip.
The Iron Righteous Twins—whose mere shadows made Beggars’ Sect disciples tremble—
How had they come to this?
Hearing that Calamity Star had left the Order Church’s secluded domain and was stirring up branch headquarters of the Beggars’ Sect, the Sect Leader had ordered them to stop her.
Calamity Star sought to express gratitude to the Three Heroes who had crossed the continent—and demanded their whereabouts.
The Beggars’ Sect had also been tracking the Three Heroes.
Thus, each time she stormed a branch headquarters, she obtained the information she desired and moved on.
Based on that, the Iron Righteous Twins predicted which branch she would strike next and lay in ambush.
They had no intention of resolving things through words.
Though the Sect Leader ordered them not to fight and to persuade her peacefully—
They believed such an order absurd.
She was the one wreaking havoc, storming branch headquarters and extracting information by force.
Both twins had broken through the wall of the Seventh Rank.
They were adept at combined formations.
They could not defeat or subdue her—
But they could at least demonstrate that the Beggars’ Sect was not a place one could enter as if it were one’s own courtyard.
They were wrong.
They could not even demonstrate that much.
The moment they blocked the branch entrance, they were beaten down.
That monstrous woman forced the branch leader to reveal the latest information on the Three Heroes.
“Wh-where… did you bring us? Don’t tell me…?”
Indomitable Iron Beggar looked around in shock.
The Three Heroes had been sighted near Yonghwa Lake.
The latest information, updated by messenger pigeon and magic.
The branch where she obtained that information was days away from Yonghwa Lake.
The twins had attacked her again as she attempted to leave—
They were beaten, their heads seized, their bodies wracked with pain as if shattered, their consciousness overwhelmed by a floating sensation.
When they awoke—
They were here.
Heads still in her grasp.
Bodies soaked.
Water everywhere.
“Yo-Yonghwa Lake?”
They had not been unconscious for days.
She had leapt from the branch headquarters—each of their heads in hand—and landed here.
Was that even possible?
For early Seventh Rank masters like them, it was beyond comprehension.
“Why are you troubling this Lorellia so?”
As they trembled in silence, she finally raised both hands, lifting them higher to look up at them.
“I have no desire to quarrel with the Beggars’ Sect! This Lorellia merely sought information she required! I killed no one and injured no one! Why, then, does the Beggars’ Sect persecute me so?”
Lorellia sighed softly.
Then she released their heads.
The Iron Righteous Twins quickly retreated, widening the distance.
Their eyes trembled violently.
Was she being sincere?
It was Lorellia who had stormed into their branch headquarters without warning, knocked out the beggars who blocked her way, threatened the branch leader into handing over information, and then left without donating even a single coin.
“Graaah!”
There was no need for telepathic exchange—the twins’ thoughts aligned instantly.
A secret art that only Guardian Beggars of the Beggars’ Sect could partially inherit: the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
The move—Subduing Dragon Returns to the Sea—unleashed simultaneously.
Two pairs of palms thrust forward, their palm force cleaving Yonghwa Lake in half as it surged toward Lorellia.
Lorellia clenched her fist.
Though the distance was great, that stance was painfully familiar to Yuri’s eyes.
The first time he had learned a “fist.”
What had been called a punch.
The attack he had endured repeatedly in the reception hall under the guise of instruction—violence disguised as training—was reproduced before him.
In the end, it was nothing more than a simple punch.
Clench the fist.
Twist the waist.
Step forward.
Drive the fist straight out.
And yet, the power was utterly different.
The single strike—refined beyond comparison to what he had seen before—annihilated the incoming palm force and blasted away even the consciousness of the Iron Righteous Twins.
The twins’ eyes rolled back. They vomited black blood and slammed headfirst into the lake.
“Ah!”
Their unconscious bodies shot upward from the water.
Lorellia tossed the two beggars out of the lake and brought her hands together.
Had she left them as they were, they would have drowned.
Even for a sect as populous as the Beggars’ Sect, losing two early Seventh Rank masters would be like tearing out the beams of a house.
“This Lorellia has bestowed grace upon the Beggars’ Sect!”
She smiled brightly.
Killing was easier than subduing.
Subduing was easier than granting mercy.
And mercy was simply given.
She did not expect repayment.
The surroundings were in ruins.
The land around Yonghwa Lake had been ravaged by the surging waves.
The mountains and cliffs that once formed its famed scenic beauty were gouged and collapsing.
But that was not Lorellia’s sin.
It was the sin of the Iron Righteous Twins, who had rampaged instead of waiting calmly to be released.
They had ruined the famed beauty of Yonghwa Lake.
Thus, the responsibility fell upon the Beggars’ Sect Leader.
Fortunately, the Beggars’ Sect was renowned for its numbers.
If enough beggars gathered to pile earth, even fallen mountains could be rebuilt.
“Hmm?”
As Lorellia gazed sorrowfully upon the devastation wrought by the Beggars’ Sect’s violence, her eyes shifted toward Yonghwa Inn.
The top floor.
“Ah!”
She had heard they were near Yonghwa Lake.
It was a vast region.
No matter.
The Beggars’ Sect’s information updated quickly each day.
All she needed to do was reach Yonghwa Lake and demand the latest information from a nearby branch.
Day by day, she had leapt forward, narrowing the distance to his trail.
At most, one more day would suffice.
That had been her thought when she landed in Yonghwa Lake.
“It wasn’t even necessary!”
Lorellia smiled broadly and clasped her hands before her chest.
She offered thanks to the Goddess of Order, who slumbered in long rest, for guiding this meeting.
After finishing her priestly prayer, she stepped forward.
With that single step, she stood before the top-floor window of Yonghwa Inn.
“……”
They had spoken of fleeing.
Yet none moved.
For any martial artist, that was inevitable.
To witness early Seventh Rank masters assault one counted among the foremost of the Martial Zeniths.
Lorellia had shown but a single move.
But no martial artist could look away.
Thus Tang Museok and the Tang siblings did not flee.
Rather, like Yuri’s party, they pressed themselves to the window, watching.
The extreme of martial arts—far beyond common sense.
There was no time to bask in its afterglow.
“Ghk!”
Tang Museok let out a loud cry and staggered backward.
The Tang siblings did the same.
Yuri did not scream—but he swallowed hard.
He had known from the reception hall that Lorellia, the enforcer of the Order Church’s violence, was no ordinary powerhouse.
Later, from Haryeong, he learned she was a Martial Zeniths—far stronger than he had imagined.
He had heard her name more times since then.
Met other Martial Zeniths.
Grown stronger himself—and felt the widening gulf.
But seeing it in person—
The shock was overwhelming.
‘Why is she here?’
Coincidence?
On this vast Eastern continent?
Was that even possible?
“Mm.”
Lorellia stood before the shattered window, hands folded gently at her abdomen.
She was fully aware that improper words in this meeting could place Yuri in difficulty.
Fortunately, she possessed a sufficient pretext.
“It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Her voice was not loud—soft and gentle—yet strangely, it carried into the ears of every remaining guest in the inn.
The window that had blocked her way crumbled into ash and fell away.
“I am Lorellia, a priestess who serves the Goddess of Order.”
She repeated the same introduction she had given in the reception hall and stepped inside.
“Cloud Dragon Yuri, Sword Dragon Estor, Dark Flower Haryeong. In this world where order collapses and chaos prevails, the three of you have each contributed to restoring order.”
They had dismantled an Evil God’s cult branch.
Stopped terror in a great city.
Inflicted grievous injury upon one of the Saints of the Evil God, forcing him to flee.
“A feat even the clergy of Order have never accomplished! Therefore, this Lorellia has come, on behalf of the High Priest of our Order, to express gratitude.”
It was no desperate excuse.
What greater justification could there be for a priestess of Order to visit?
Lorellia’s smile deepened as she met Yuri’s eyes.
‘Ah… truly.’
Two years ago.
While confined in the Hall of Repentance, facing the wall, she had thought of him many times.
Was he training the martial art she had given him?
Had his possessor identity been discovered?
If he were captured by the War Church—so be it.
All possessors taken by them met Tu-seong at least once.
No matter how foolish Tu-seong was, he was not blind.
She did not recall ever punching his eyes out.
He would recognize the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique.
Unless he truly wished to die, he would have understood the situation.
‘You have done well.’
Fortunately, Yuri had not fallen into the War Church’s hands.
He had not succumbed to the Evil God’s temptation.
He was fighting the Evil God just as the Goddess of Order wished.
Lorellia felt the level of divine art within him.
‘You are maturing splendidly.’
Had he already faced the wall?
If so, this meeting was perfectly timed.
Her gaze, warm upon Yuri, suddenly snapped sideways.
“However.”
It was too late to flee.
Her blood-red ominous eyes turned toward Tang Museok and the Tang siblings, who stood pale and lowered their gazes.
“What is this smell of blood?”
Though the bandages around her fists were stained with the twins’ blood, her eyes were fixed on the Tang Clan trio.
