Rise of the Fallen Kingdom’s Third Prince

“The Blood Sect? That sounds even more terrifying than the Demonic Sect.”

“Their martial arts aren’t on par with the Demonic Sect, but their members are much more cruel,” Moyongchan replied, inhaling deeply.

“In the prologue of this book, it says that the Blood Sect planned to confront the imperial authority and the martial world to provoke a bloody war, and in the midst of the chaos, expand its influence until it devoured the entire Eastern martial world.”

“That sounds in the past tense.”

“It’s not something easy to achieve. That’s why the Blood Sect spent a long time infiltrating its members both into the imperial authority and into the martial world,” he explained, flipping through the book.

“But, over time, those infiltrators ended up adapting to their new lives. Why start a war if you can live well and comfortably?”

“Understandable.”

“So the Blood Sect, as a preventive measure, prepared a special prohibition.”

Moyongchan pointed to a spot in the book. Around a diagram of the human body were inscriptions in the Eastern language.

“The name of this technique is Solitary Hypnosis.”

Yuri opened his mouth in surprise.

“Why is it the character for ‘solitary’ and not the one for ‘blood’?”

“Because the path of hypnosis is a solitary path.”

“Huh?”

“In any case, it’s said that those who master the internal method of the Blood Sect cannot resist the orders of whoever has learned this hypnosis. Any order!”

“I-impossible…!”

Yuri looked around, as if it were something unfit for younger ears, and lowered his voice.

“W-what kind of orders are we talking about…?”

“If they don’t obey, their meridians explode and they die.”

“…”

“It’s an extremely dangerous technique.”

“But that’s not hypnosis, that’s blackmail!”

“Technically, yes.”

“And this dagger is a relic of the Blood Sect’s leader. That means the child Cory cared for is the last heir of the sect. It seems the sect self-destructed from internal strife, and the few survivors only managed to send the leader’s son to the West.”

“So then…”

“In short…” Moyongchan closed his eyes.

“As long as that child lives, there’s a risk the East will be dragged into a war.”

“Ah…” Yuri sighed. The mood turned grim.

“A decision must be made.”

“It won’t be easy.”

It was a dilemma—the life of a child, or the peace of the Eastern martial world.

It was the classic story from many tales and legends: that child, upon learning his origins, would return as a master of Solitary Hypnosis to take revenge on the world that destroyed his clan. But ending the life of an infant was equally unacceptable.

After a long silence, Yuri squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’ve decided.”

“I’ll respect your choice.”

“I’m going to eliminate it.”

The declaration echoed through the room. Jared nodded coldly, while Laurent looked at him in surprise. No one criticized him—they knew that, as painful as it was, Yuri always bore that burden for the sake of peace.

Yuri stood up abruptly.

“I’ll do it right now.”

“Y-you could think about it a bit more…”

“No. Right now. Take this!”

With a single slash of his sword, the book containing Solitary Hypnosis was shredded and reduced to dust.

“With this, the martial world has regained peace.”

Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.

“What? Wasn’t it obvious this was what had to be done?” Yuri asked.

“Don’t tell me you were thinking of killing the child…”

“…”

“All that was needed was to eliminate the blackmail technique!”

“I didn’t think of that…”

“Don’t tell me all of you have a screw loose,” Yuri said, watching as everyone averted their gaze.

Cheongun defended himself.

“It’s the master Moyongchan’s fault! With that deep and serious voice, one assumes the worst. It sounded like a life-or-death matter.”

Simon and Guinness nodded.

“Yes, far too solemn.”

“When he said ‘a decision must be made,’ it was obvious to think of the other thing.”

“Then, is this resolved?” Yuri asked.

“Yes. Now that the Blood Sect and its hypnosis are gone, the infiltrators will continue with their normal lives, and the imperial authority and the martial world will go back to coexisting in peace. And the child…”

“Cory will raise him well.”

“Done.”

Yuri clapped his hands.

“We’ve saved the peace of the East, applause!”

There was a brief, timid applause.

And, incidentally, he split the dagger in half and tossed it into the trash.

“Two major problems solved in one trip…”

First, he had reformed the bandits who could have been the spark of a conflict, and now he had destroyed the technique that could plunge the East into bloodshed.

It was so easy it felt almost anticlimactic.

Moyongchan looked at him and asked.

“And how is it that, being so busy in the Empire, you ended up handling this matter?”

“Well…”

“Running away from home because you didn’t want to work…” Moyongchan clicked his tongue.

“It’s just that work really was going to kill me. Right, Asana?”

“I’m not so sure.”

“But you saw it!”

She shrugged, and Yuri sighed dramatically.

“No one’s on my side…”

***

As Moyongchan’s disciple, Yuri agreed to give a personal training session to the members of the Blue Star School.

But then reporters arrived with cameras, determined to capture him in a picture. None succeeded—whenever Yuri noticed their presence, he moved so fast only blurry, ghostly images remained.

So they resorted to painters, who sketched him by hand. By the next day, news that Yuri was at the Blue Star School would be all over the continent.

Sitting in the courtyard, scratching drawings into the dirt with a stick, Yuri thought,

“Is this the end of my escape…?”

Moyongchan looked at him with a hint of pity.

“Yuri.”

“Master.”

“Are you going back to the Empire?”

“Yes. I’ll probably die buried under work. When you pass by my grave, at least leave me a flower.”

“Are you sure you must go back?”

“Unless there’s an important reason—something that requires someone like me.”

“Good. I have something for you.”

Yuri’s eyes lit up.

“The Blue Star School recently opened a branch in Brusen, but…”

“But what? Has a serial killer appeared? An impossible mystery? A mass unexplained fish die-off?”

“No.” Moyongchan frowned.

“It’s much more serious than that.”

Yuri sensed it wasn’t an excuse to entertain him, but a real problem.

“How lucky…”

He smiled.

Anyone else would have called it bad luck, but he was Yuri Briol, the son of wind and storms.

“Tell me, master. What’s going on?”

“Strange things are happening in Brusen, and they may be related to black magic.”

Yuri’s eyes widened in astonishment. Even though Cedric was dead and the demonic grimoire had disappeared, black magic still existed, and using it automatically made one the enemy of the entire continent.

“For someone to try that while I’m alive…” he murmured, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Jared, beside him, only said,

“I knew this would happen…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“From the moment Your Highness began moving, my hunch that another incident would happen somewhere on the continent turned out to be correct. This time as well!”

“You talk as if I’m the one causing those incidents. That’s sophistry. Your cause-and-effect logic is wrong.”

“Who knows? Is it really wrong?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“The moment Your Highness left the Imperial Palace to observe the continent, perhaps it was precisely those incidents—which didn’t exist before—that found form and emerged.”

“J-Jared, this guy…”

Yuri’s eyes widened as he looked at him.

“Could it be you’ve reached a level where you can now handle the power of chaos?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve reached a very high level of enlightenment…”

“Anyway.”

Jared sighed and turned his head toward Moyongchan.

“For now, let’s calmly hear the details. Lord Moyongchan, please explain.”

“Very well.”

Moyongchan’s story continued.

An anomaly had occurred in the Brusen Sea.

Fishing boats that had gone out to work began to disappear.

At first, they thought it was the work of pirates.

“When the fishermen’s hardships worsened, the instructors of the Brusen branch obtained the king’s permission and organized a private fleet to hunt them down. It was also to spread the reputation of the Blue Star School and recruit officers.”

“And then?”

“However…”

A deep shadow crossed Moyongchan’s eyes.

“What they saw in the middle of the boundless ocean was a massive ship of unknown origin.”

“Unknown?”

“Among the instructors of the Brusen branch were former sailors of their navy, and they swore they had never seen a vessel of that kind.”

“That’s…”

“Of course, it was not a design that existed in the East either.”

While Yuri looked troubled, Jared muttered incomprehensible words.

“Damn it, is a world expansion really happening…?”

Moyongchan continued speaking.

“But the instructors were warriors of the Blue Star School, men who knew no fear. They approached the colossal vessel and, in accordance with continental maritime law, declared their identity and demanded that the strangers reveal theirs.”

“And what happened?”

“Instead of answering, they shot arrows at them.”

It was threatening, though not enough to defeat warriors trained in the martial arts of the Blue Star School.

The warriors quickly turned the prow to flee. The massive vessel did not pursue them far and moved off in the opposite direction.

However—

That ship was heading to the far opposite side of the continent.

Beyond the horizon, where it was said there was nothing. Where the end of the world lay.

Where, according to myth, the owl awaited the dead.

The Owl Blue.

As if that place were its dwelling, the massive vessel kept moving eternally toward the horizon.

“This is the arrow.”

Moyongchan took something out.

It looked like an ordinary arrow, but the tip was different.

Yuri murmured,

“An obsidian arrowhead…?”

“That’s right.”

Obsidian was very sharp, but its hardness was low and it broke easily. Compared to iron, it was not suitable as a weapon.

But for other purposes, it was excellent.

“Don’t tell me that arrow…”

“It was imbued with a curse. Though now it has faded.”

Obsidian easily absorbed dark power of the curse type.

“It was very similar to black magic.”

Yuri clenched his fist.

This was no ordinary matter.

The instinct of the hero who had saved the continent warned him of the gravity of the case.

“Master, do you know the earth is round?”

“I saw it on the Imperial Palace Night science special. Why do you ask?”

“I mean that if you sail to the end of the sea, you don’t fall into the void. Perhaps, on the other side of that ocean, there is an empire that worships black magic. And maybe there’s someone like Cedric there, who managed to achieve his goal. Because there’s only one Yuri Briol in this world.”

Yuri’s eyes widened.

“Looks like I have no choice but to act again.”

Meanwhile, Jared let out a groan from behind.

“Oh my God. Are we really witnessing the appearance of a New Continent…?”