[System Alert: Host has suffered multiple fractures. Internal bleeding detected. Immediate danger.]
[Initiating emergency recovery protocol...]
[Warning: Host is still in critical condition.]
Mae-Bi lay in the dirt.
Blood trickled from his mouth. His ribs felt shattered. One of his arms barely moved.
But even with the world spinning, his eyes found them—his team.
Rak, down.
The rest, frozen with fear.
This... is my team.
He clenched his jaw, biting through the pain.He couldn't win. He knew that.Gun-Sik was stronger. Higher in cultivation. Born from violence.
But something else stirred inside him.
A pressure.A pull.
The pill... I never used it fully, did I?
Mae-Bi dug his fingers into the soil.
His hands trembled.
His hair hung down in filthy strands over his face, caked in blood and dirt.
But his will—
That wouldn't stay down.
[System: Abnormal growth detected. Qi surging beyond current threshold.]
Mae-Bi's breath hitched.
His body shook—not from weakness, but from something boiling inside.
A storm, clawing to break out.
I don't care about ranks. I don't care about fear.
But I will not let that bastard look down on me... or them.
Across the field, Gun-Sik sneered as he dragged Yuri by the hair.
"I see... You really are pretty with your hair down."
She spat in his face.
CRACK!
His backhand knocked her into the mud, lips split and bleeding.
"Bitch," he growled. He spat on her, eyes gleaming with malice. "For that, I'll make sure you regret breathing."
"YOU BASTARD!" Jin shouted, hurling shuriken with all his might.
Gun-Sik caught them mid-air, and casually flung them back—
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
Jin dropped to his knees, screaming, pinned by his own weapons.
"You saw what happened to your 'leader.' What makes you think you'll do any better?"
The squad trembled.
One whispered, "Damn it... it's over..."
But then—
Everything stopped.
Gun-Sik paused mid-step.A spike of killing intent stabbed through the air.
He turned—Eyes narrowing—And saw him.
Mae-Bi.
Standing.bleeding and Covered in dirt.
His black hair slicked over his face, pushed aside by a trembling, muddy hand.
His eyes burned.
Then—
BOOM.
A burst of energy erupted from his body.
Red lightning cracked through the sky.
The rain hissed as it touched the whirling force around him.
It wasn't just Qi.
It was sharp. Precise. Like a blade unsheathing from the soul itself.
[Breakthrough Complete – Stage Four: Flowing Qi]
[Sword Qi Manifestation: Initiated]
A thin line of energy traced along his fingers, humming with lethal clarity.
Jin's jaw dropped.
"...Mae-Bi?" he whispered.
Even Gun-Sik's expression twisted into disbelief.
Mae-Bi's voice came low. Calm.
But heavy.
"You should've killed me," he said.
His fingers rose, glowing with condensed Qi like invisible blades.
"Now I'll show you... why you never corner a real assassin."
Gun-Sik laughed, loud and unhinged.
"Now that's more like it," he grinned, licking a cracked lip. "I was getting bored. Figured I'd have a little fun with one of your teammates—"
His eyes slid toward Yuri, who felt her stomach twist in revulsion as that gaze brushed her skin like poison.
"—but I guess I'll save that for later," he chuckled. "I'll kill you first... and then make her my little bitch."
Mae-Bi didn't look up.
He stared at the mud. At the blood.
Then lifted his gaze.
Killing you now would be merciful.
But he wouldn't give mercy.
There are many ways to kill someone stronger than you:
Through blade. Through fist. Through poison.
But Mae-Bi's favorite?
Internal Qi battle.
A test of will. Of energy. Of years lived and stolen.
Gun-Sik cracked his neck, then noticed Mae-Bi's stance shift. Legs apart. Hands forming the ancient seal.
"Oh?" he laughed. "So you want a soul-locking match? Internal Qi exchange? Hah! It's been decades since I drained someone dry that way."
He bolted forward, feet tearing across the field.
Mae-Bi stood firm.
Their palms clashed—flat against each other—Qi exploding outward as their auras locked.
The battle began.
Electric tension surged between them. The world blurred. Leaves shot into the sky. Rain bent sideways.
"No, Mae-Bi!" Jin shouted. "You're gonna lose—he has decades more Qi than you!"
And he was right.
Gun-Sik's energy pushed like a tidal wave.
Mae-Bi's face twitched.
Gun-Sik sneered. "Naïve little shit. Thanks for the free meal."
But Mae-Bi... smiled.
[System Online.]
[Qi Sync Detected – Internal Battle Link Established.]
[Permission to Drain Opponent's Reserve?]
"Drain everything," Mae-Bi said in his mind.
"Leave him ten years. Just enough to remember this."
[Confirmed.]
[Initiating Forced Qi Extraction...]
Gun-Sik's grin faltered.
"...Huh?"
He blinked.
Then blinked again.
His Qi was evaporating.
Flowing backward.
Like it was being siphoned.
Like it belonged to someone else now.
His skin began paling.
His aura shrank.
Muscle melted off.
His stomach hollowed.
Veins darkened.
"Wh...what's—?" His voice cracked.
Mae-Bi locked eyes with him.
"Oh? Is something wrong?"
Gun-Sik tried to speak. But his throat tightened.
Sweat poured down his temples.
Hair grayed.
Wrinkles crept across his face.
"No—no, STOP! PLEASE—"
"Too late," Mae-Bi said flatly.
Gun-Sik's knees buckled.
"I—I was just—!!"
His arms trembled.
Qi whirled into Mae-Bi like a whirlpool.
"PLEASE!" Gun-Sik sobbed.
Snot ran down his nose. His teeth chattered.
Mae-Bi leaned forward, his voice quiet.
"Arrogant men like you always forget... what it feels like to beg."
"PLEASE, I BEG—"
"No."
BOOM.
The connection snapped.
Gun-Sik collapsed face-first into the mud, skin pale and sagging, like a man whose time had been devoured.
His team stared in horror.
The battlefield was silent.
Mae-Bi exhaled.
Rain struck his shoulders as he stood tall, blood still on his lips... but eyes calm.
Jin whispered under his breath, voice trembling.
"...That's our squad leader."
"Mae-Bi!"
Jin grunted, forcing himself upright as blood ran down his leg. With a wince, he yanked out the last shuriken buried in his thigh.
Yeon-Mi darted to his side, quickly wrapping bandages around the wound. Her hands trembled, but she didn't stop.
Across the field, their team moved in a daze—dragging injured bodies, binding wounds, staring wide-eyed at the mud-stained crater where Gun-Sik had fallen.
The man's squad ran to his side.
But before they could lift him—
Mae-Bi moved.
He looked down at the broken heap that was Gun-Sik. The once monstrous butcher of the third division now half-dead, weeping, aged by decades in mere moments.
"This... is mercy," Mae-Bi muttered.
Then, without expression—
He raised his leg.
CRACK.
His heel came down on Gun-Sik's groin, imbued with Qi—
Not enough to kill.
Just enough to ensure he'd never use it again.
Gun-Sik let out a howl of agony, high and shrill—
The cry of a beast being neutered.
He curled into a fetal ball, snot and spit mixing with tears and rainwater.
Mae-Bi stood over him. Unflinching.
"You'll live," he said coldly. "Which is more than I can say for the people you hurt."
Gun-Sik's team didn't dare speak.
They picked him up silently, eyes down, shame heavy on their backs.
In the Demonic Cult, attacking fellow members without orders was treason.
They'd crossed a line.
And they knew the punishment wasn't over.
They vanished into the trees like ghosts.
Yuri stumbled forward, Rak on her back, unconscious but breathing.
She paused in front of Mae-Bi.
"...Are you okay?"
She will question how did I heal quickly without treatment.
He turned his head slightly—his mouth opened to answer—
But his eyes snapped wide.
"Oh crap—!"
[System: Recovery protocol complete. Healing suppression removed.]
[Internal damage rebalancing now.]
Mae-Bi didn't even finish the thought.
A thousand fists of pain slammed into his gut at once.
"—GHHHAAAHHH!"
He bent over, coughing a fountain of blood onto the dirt.
"D-DAMN SYSTEM!"
[Host did not specify delayed restoration. This pain is your own fault.]
[Next time, read the fine print.]
Mae-Bi collapsed sideways into the mud, twitching.
Jin stared down at him and sighed.
"Yeah. That's our commander."