Descent of the Demon Master

“You! You will never understand it. Never!” Nakata Yuji roared in anger as thick veins bulged in his throat.

His bleeding had barely stopped by then, but his agitation caused the wounds to open up again. Blood flooded down his face. That didn't matter, though, as the front of his clothes had already been soiled by the crimson liquid some time ago.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nakata Yuji was half out of his mind. Then again, his everything had crumbled to nothing. Absolutely everything! So, how could he remain sane after that?

The glorious expedition meant to conquer South Korea was obliterated even before reaching the Peninsula. And even Nakata Yuji's last-gasp plan to kill Kang Jin-Ho had failed!

With less than half the original force remaining, fighting Kang Jin-Ho now was nothing more than a pipe dream.

All Kang Jin-Ho did was strike with his sword just once. Just once! However, that one attack was still enough to kill half of the attackers and leave the rest crawling away on the floor in fright.

After that display of strength, not even the term “monster” was worthy enough to describe Kang Jin-Ho.

How was anyone supposed to explain an existence like Kang Jin-Ho!

Nakata Yuji instinctively realized it. They were all going to die. Everyone!

Not a single person participating in this expedition would go home in one piece. It wasn’t simply because they had lost this battle, though.

Some defeats still allowed the losing army to preserve some of its forces. However, to Nakata Yuji’s eyes… Kang Jin-Ho didn’t seem remotely interested in doing that.

In other words, a thousand-plus people would die tonight on this stretch of the ocean!

When that realization dawned on Nakata Yuji, the pain akin to his heart burning in the flames of Hell erupted within his chest.

“For your country, you say?”

Nakata Yuji’s mind snapped back to reality at that subtly jeering voice. Kang Jin-Ho’s mocking words dug painfully into the Japanese man’s hearing.

“Are you trying to claim that your death tonight will help your country somehow?”

“…”

“You know… There's this concept that I don't quite understand. It's called sacrificing yourself.” Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged. “That has a nice ring to it, right? This whole thing about sacrificing yourself. It sure sounds like something big and important, doesn't it? People believe that being able to risk their lives for a cause is some kind of a big deal.”

Kang Jin-Ho leisurely approached Nakata Yuji, then lowered his head to match the eye line of the squatting Japanese man.

“However, is it really?”

“…”

“Sacrificing yourself means something only if you've managed to protect or achieve your goal at a great personal cost. Am I right?”

“…”

Kang Jin-Ho smirked odiously. “Do you know what I call a sacrifice that achieves nothing? It's a dog's death. Wouldn't you say that has a nice ring to it too?”

Nakata Yuji trembled in indignation.

He was ready to swallow the bitter pill of losing to Kang Jin-Ho. However, this damn monster was denying and insulting what made Nakata Yuji, Nakata Yuji! Even though he knew death was unavoidable, Nakata Yuji was not interested in leaving this world after getting mocked like this.

“And did you say it’s for your country?” Kang Jin-Ho cackled loudly. “That’s something the defenders of their country should be saying. Not the invaders like you.”

Nakata Yuji’s eyes powerfully quaked just then.

Kang Jin-Ho shrugged again. “I guess you will never understand it.”

“You…!” Nakata Yuji was about to cry out. However, Kang Jin-Ho's eyes grew icy cold in an instant, causing Nakata Yuji's body to freeze up like a little mouse facing off against a venomous snake.

Kang Jin-Ho slowly muttered. “You see, I…”

“…?”

“I’m not confident about convincing people with flowery words. Especially when I’m talking to a foreigner who obviously doesn’t speak Korean as their main language. Even so…”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up suspiciously.

“...There are plenty of ways to make you understand what I'm saying. If I can't make you understand through words, all I have to do is… Help you figure it out on your own. Soon, you will see how pointless your resolve is and how flimsy all of your justifications have been. I hope you get my drift.”

Of course Nakata Yuji didn’t get what Kang Jin-Ho was saying. However, he still thought he understood some of it.

Although he wasn’t sure why Kang Jin-Ho was telling him all this, even a moron could tell what would happen to Nakata Yuji if he dared to object to Kang Jin-Ho’s bizarre-sounding rant.

“In the end, your fate would’ve been that of a dog’s death,” said Kang Jin-Ho while reaching out to grab Nakata Yuji’s head.

Why was Kang Jin-Ho doing this? Nakata Yuji just couldn’t understand it. Why did they start having this conversation? Didn’t Kang Jin-Ho already win this battle?

Of course, it was up to the victor to decide how they would treat the defeated. After all, the only purpose the defeated could serve was as a war trophy and not much else.

What about upholding the honor of the defeated? What about the so-called Bushido, the way of the warrior? The code of Samurai?

Societies didn't just create rules and moral codes to force people to uphold certain fundamental rights. Even if certain nice-sounding ideals were constantly discussed, they would never be upheld without a set of rules to force the people.

The knight’s code of chivalry was invented to restrict violent and disorderly knights. The same story applied to Bushido, too.

So, then. Upholding the honor of the defeated? There was no such thing. The defeated was just that, a loser.

A loser had no choice but to endure whatever the winner wanted to do with them. That was the tacit rule governing all life-or-death battles that everyone agreed to follow, after all!

Even after taking all these things into consideration, though, Nakata Yuji still couldn’t quite figure out why Kang Jin-Ho was doing what he was doing. Why was the winner saying all these seemingly random things to a loser?

Especially when the winner could've simply killed the loser right here, right now? And he'd still have ample-enough time to mock the loser, so why?

Kang Jin-Ho smirked. “Dying like this will only mean your fate is no better than a dog’s.”

“B-but, I…!”

“Besides, I told you, didn’t I? Your fate has been sealed since the beginning.”

Nakata Yuji was confused by that statement. His fate… was sealed since the beginning?

“Let me help you understand, then,” Kang Jin-Ho muttered while slowly getting up. Then, he glanced in a direction. “Hey, you. Playtime is over.”

Nakata Yuji dazedly stared at Kang Jin-Ho and his indecipherable actions. What was this monster doing now?

“Come out already,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Who was he talking to? Nakata Yuji’s remaining eye hurriedly chased after Kang Jin-Ho’s line of sight. However, there was no one at the spot Kang Jin-Ho was staring at. In that case, just who…

“...Huh?”

That was when the shadow began distorting ever so slightly. Gentle ripples disturbed the calm night air. And then… A figure of a man covered from head to toe in black clothing silently emerged from the gentle ripples.

Nakata Yuji’s brows shot up high at this spectacle.

‘A… shinobi?’

Indeed, that individual was a master of ninjutsu, a top-tier expert capable of completely fooling Nakata Yuji’s perception.

‘No, wait. That’s not the full story!’

None of the warriors accompanying Nakata Yuji was able to perceive that a shinobi was hiding nearby. Since this individual was accomplished enough to evade everyone's perception… Didn't that mean he might be stronger than any of the Japanese warriors here?

Even though someone of such caliber was riding on this ship, Nakata Yuji didn't know about him!?

“Iemoto…!” Nakata Yuji gritted his teeth.

That backstabbing, scheming snake-like bastard! It was too obvious why someone like that would instruct one of his experts to covertly infiltrate this expedition.

If the Iemoto had been worried about Nakata Yuji failing this expedition, he wouldn’t have sent an assassin. No, he would have dispatched capable warriors to assist or protect Nakata Yuji!

So, that assassin being here could only mean one thing!

‘…A dog’s death, is it?’

Nakata Yuji finally understood what Kang Jin-Ho meant. Without a doubt, Kang Jin-Ho must have noticed that a shinobi was sneaking around Nakata Yuji as soon as arriving on this ship.

Since he wasn't an idiot, Kang Jin-Ho must've also guessed the shinobi's purpose.

If that assassin’s task was to show up at the last possible moment to eliminate Nakata Yuji… Didn’t that mean the latter never stood a chance? Whether he succeeded or not in this expedition, his death had already been decided.

He’d die pathetically while all of his hard-fought achievements got snatched up by someone else. If that wasn’t a dog’s death, what was?

Nakata Yuji reflexively cried out, “Tell me! Was it the Iemoto who sent you?!”

The man from the shadows maintained his silence. He was no longer interested in Nakata Yuji, after all. As to prove it, his sharp gaze was firmly locked on Kang Jin-Ho and nobody else. However, this silence was all the answer Nakata Yuji needed to hear.

When looking back, he realized he should’ve noticed the warning signs.

Unsurprisingly, the faction boasting the strongest combat power on this ship belonged to the Iemoto's people.

Three teams of elites had been dispatched by Shinichi-kai for this expedition, but when Kang Jin-Ho showed up, they seemingly disappeared into the ether. It was as if they had made prior arrangements to hide when the time came.

Searching for them on the ship in the middle of this urgent situation was obviously impossible. Besides, if they had decided to hide for real, Nakata Yuji's strength wouldn't be good enough to locate them, anyway.

Since Nakata Yuji had been focused on gathering enough forces to fight Kang Jin-Ho off, he ended up overlooking this significant development. But now, everything had become crystal-clear in his head.

Those elites of the Shinichi-kai never planned to obey Nakata Yuji’s commands from the very beginning. Because, they received orders from someone else!

The shadow… Kazeichi finally broke his silence. “Truly remarkable.”

His gaze never drifted away from Kang Jin-Ho. Not even once.

“You are stronger than everyone’s expectations.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s withdrawn gaze collided with Kazeichi’s mid-air. And the impression the Japanese shinobi got was…

‘Those eyes don’t belong to a human being.’

Kazeichi couldn't sense anything in those eyes.

After boarding this ship, Kang Jin-Ho must've killed over a hundred people. And that was a conservative estimate. What he had done fully qualified him to be called a mass murderer. Or maybe something far worse than that.

Kang Jin-Ho cut people's heads off as if they were merely bamboo sticks. His movements didn't contain a single trace of hesitation or disgust at cutting living humans down.

Only a devil could do that.

Throughout his lengthy life, Kazeichi had been told by his enemies countless times that he was a merciless devil. However, standing before Kang Jin-Ho made him realize that he still retained some traces of humanity somewhere deep inside his heart.

‘Kang Jin-Ho’s ruthlessness can even rival the Iemoto’s, too!’

Despite getting that impression, Kazeichi also noticed that this ruthlessness felt different from the Iemoto’s.

While the Iemoto’s ruthlessness stemmed from all the cold blood coursing through his heart of steel, which allowed him to stop at nothing and resort to any means possible to achieve his goals… Kang Jin-Ho’s ruthlessness felt like “heartlessness” had been engraved deep into his entire being.

What happened to Kang Jin-Ho for him to become like this?

‘That is… dark.’

The darkness emanating from Kang Jin-Ho was the deepest and darkest Kazeichi had ever witnessed in his entire life. As a man who lived all of his life in the shadows, he could easily recognize the extraordinary depths of that man's darkness. Even so…!

“You don't seem to be the type to enjoy conversations, so let us cut to the chase,” said Kazeichi as the darkness behind him quickly expanded to envelop the surroundings.

...And then, some things within this darkness began creating flickering lights. Soon, the lights numbered dozens.

Nakata Yuji didn’t need long to realize those burning lights floating in the darkness were actually human eyeballs!

“We must kill that man, whatever the cost! That monster will not only become the greatest hindrance ever known to our Shinichi-kai… But even to the Great Japanese Empire!”

Just as Kazeichi’s cold yet passionate words rang in the air, those lights… No, those glaring eyes began surrounding and tightening on Kang Jin-Ho.

However, Kang Jin-Ho’s response to this new development was to lightly kick Nakata Yuji on the floor instead. “Hey, you. Translate what that guy said.”

“…” Nakata Yuji looked up in flabbergast at Kang Jin-Ho.

However, when Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly stared at him, Nakata Yuji realized he should do as told. While stuttering somewhat, he translated what Kazeichi said to Kang Jin-Ho.

“Hah. He sure talks a good game,” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled slightly.

Whether it was this wounded bastard or the shinobi from the shadows… They didn't seem to mind spewing out cringe-inducing nonsense.

Listening to these idiots made it sound like Kang Jin-Ho was here to protect the Korean forces about to invade Japan!

‘How utterly laughable!’

Kang Jin-Ho never planned to do something as grandiose as that. He only came here because the thoughts of these bastards stepping on Korean soil irritated him. That was all. That was the extent of Kang Jin-Ho’s… “discrimination” against these people.

Other than his irritation, nothing about Kang Jin-Ho's response had changed.

‘That’s right. Nothing has changed.’

Maybe that was why Kang Jin-Ho was more irritated than usual. Irritated at these idiots for saying grandiose nonsense… Irritated at these idiots for placing bizarre importance on a fight that was ultimately meaningless…!

“Fine. Why don’t I find out for myself?”

Pitch-black demonic qi began gushing out of Kang Jin-Ho’s body. Like black flames, these strands of demonic qi danced eerily while enveloping him.

Once he morphed into a creature that could only be described as a devil, Kang Jin-Ho addressed the Japanese coldly, his eyes dyeing in a crimson hue.

“Let's find out if you can still spew such grandiose rubbish when I kill you.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s demonic qi stretched into the night sky like a devil spreading its wings.