Chapter 398: Final Realm (4)

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The Martial Dao was fundamentally a collective term for martial arts. Martial arts were learned through the body. Simply handling internal energy was not martial arts. External arts, footwork, and body arts were also part of martial arts.

Because those were already remembered inside the physical body, even if we had a dogfight throwing punches, we could not completely exclude them.

Ultimately, the fight where our souls clashed meant that even those had to be excluded.

“I too have never thought of such a fight.”

The Heavenly Demon shrugged his shoulders.

And soon, the world surrounding us began to change. It was not a transformation crafted by the Heavenly Demon alone. It was a new world created by merging my mental image and the Heavenly Demon’s. A world solely for this fight.

We arbitrarily constituted a single world. Since external arts and techniques were remembered in the physical body, it was enough to exclude the physical body.

As if feeling awkward, I turned my hands over and looked around myself. It was identical to my current physical body, but the physical body’s memories had vanished. Because it was merely a virtual body created through mental imagery.

And the Heavenly Demon also merely appeared like the Heavenly Demon, but the purity of the soul was felt. The soul itself devoid of any skills learned in the mortal world. That soul was merely manifested as a physical form.

Even with a physical body, because it was embodied solely through mental imagery, there was neither internal energy nor memory.

“What an astounding thought.”

In the surroundings, there were no stones usable as weapons, nor terrain that could influence the fight.

It was a world solely for fighting, devoid of any structure or object.

Naturally, not a breath of wind blew, and not a speck of dust drifted. It was a space as pure as the souls we had manifested right now.

“Truly comfortable. To the point where I want to live in this world forever.”

I agreed with the Heavenly Demon’s words.

It was as comfortable as breathing inside a mother’s amniotic fluid.

It was the optimal place where souls could clash without any excuses.

“At any rate, once a fight occurs, there will be a victor and a loser. But by what will superiority and inferiority be determined? Though it is a brawl, it won’t be decided by stamina, strength, or physical size.”

“I don’t know that either. I have never fought like this before.”

“That is also true.”

The Heavenly Demon laughed out loud. As much as the Heavenly Demon found it interesting, my interest was also piqued.

In truth, in fights between martial artists, victory and defeat were usually predictable to some extent before fighting. For masters who had reached a certain realm could estimate their opponent’s realm as well.

Yet right now, even I had no prediction whatsoever of how it would turn out.

Clashing souls. Such a thing was usually merely a rhetorical expression, because I had never thought of directly clashing like this.

I never thought superiority or inferiority existed between souls. And that was the same for the Heavenly Demon. Even so, we were in a position where we had to determine an outcome.

“However, there is no particular reason for us to worry about that.”

I said. The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly and nodded.

“Once an outcome emerges, that will be all. Then we will naturally know by what it was decided.”

“I agree.”

“Certainly, you are my empathizer.”

“Though I hate to admit it……”

I gave a bitter smile.

“Right now, it seems only you can understand me.”

At my words, the Heavenly Demon’s mouth split wide in a grin. To the point where one wondered if a person could laugh as joyfully as a child like that.

In truth, the word ‘understanding’ is also heavily misused. For the understanding ordinary people speak of is usually closer to resignation than understanding.

I, too, had been resigned regarding the Heavenly Demon. But upon hearing the Heavenly Demon’s past, I became able to understand him. And simultaneously, I felt it: That just as I did, the Heavenly Demon would be able to understand me.

“I am glad you say so.”

The Heavenly Demon treated me as if treating a close friend. In truth, if we were empathizers of each other, it was an incomparably good relationship for becoming friends.

However, we could not become friends. Though we understood each other perfectly, the paths we walked were too clearly opposite. And we understood even that.

“I feel I have walked for a truly long time. From the small me who wept after Father died, to the current me. You must have been the same.”

“Yeah.”

I also remembered weeping when Mother passed away. And I empathized with the statement that we had walked for a long time. It was slowly time to sit down anywhere and rest.

And to sit down and rest, I had to overcome the wall named the Heavenly Demon. That was the same for the Heavenly Demon as well. To end his long walk, the Heavenly Demon also had to overcome the wall named me.

I felt tension after a long time. After my regression, I had always possessed talents purchased from the Martial Talent Shop. Yet in this final fight, I had to discard all those talents and fight through the clash of souls.

Having stripped away the weapon and armor called talent, I could not know how strong my soul would be.

“Let us begin.”

The Heavenly Demon clapped his hands.

With the sound of the clap, I rushed toward the Heavenly Demon. Normally, I should have been in front of the Heavenly Demon in the blink of an eye, but it was merely the running of an ordinary person.

I did not feel that I couldn’t adapt to the speed. This world was completely separated from the reality we had lived in. Since even the sensation of that reality was blocked, one could not compare it with that.

And naturally, an untrained ordinary person cannot see and dodge a human’s punch.

“Ugh!”

My fist slammed into the Heavenly Demon’s cheek. The Heavenly Demon rolled on the ground and fell.

The sensation felt in my fist was vivid. Because it was not a fist wrapped in internal energy, the feeling of striking was even more distinct.

The Heavenly Demon sprang up and charged at me. I tried to defend with both fists against my chin, but the Heavenly Demon drove his shoulder into my waist, attempting to knock me down.

Pulling my waist and legs back as much as possible so as not to fall, I slammed my elbow down onto the Heavenly Demon’s back.

“Haaat!”

With a shout, the Heavenly Demon continued to charge. The forward momentum being stronger than the backward pulling force was natural. Though I tried to hold out as much as possible, I was ultimately pushed back by the Heavenly Demon and fell.

I could feel it. Right now, our strength, speed, and everything were identical. Stamina would certainly be the same as well. The intellectual aspects required for combat would probably be identical too.

Therefore, the Heavenly Demon’s methods were visible to my eyes, and my methods were bound to be clearly visible to the Heavenly Demon’s eyes.

In this situation, how superiority and inferiority would be determined was unknown. We simply continued fighting.

It was truly a dogfight. A dogfight devoid of any technique. A brawl at the complete opposite pole of formalized martial arts.

There was no need to endure pain, nor could I endure it. The moment punches and kicks struck my body, screams simply came out. If it had been reality, I could have endured screams even if cut by a blade, but right now my soul was merely in a primal state.

The Heavenly Demon kept me on the ground and struck me with his fists, and I wrapped my legs around the Heavenly Demon’s waist, attempting to reverse this disadvantageous posture.

Amidst that, even with virtual bodies, teeth flying from punches and blood flowing were precisely realized. Beyond a certain point, this did not feel like a form created through my arbitrary mental imagery, but felt simply like my own body.

“Huff, huff.”

The sensation of being out of breath felt after a long time. Indeed, what is learned first and valued most in martial arts is breathing.

For all martial arts unleash their true power only when used in a state of stable breathing. However, maintaining breathing in such a dogfight was also a skill, and right now I lacked that.

“……Cough, cough.”

Of course, the situation was no different for the Heavenly Demon. The Heavenly Demon also could not steady his body.

It seemed the fight would not drag on for long. In truth, when ordinary people who had learned no combat fought with full strength, it was natural for their stamina to deplete in less than a single quarter-hour. Only martial artists stayed up for days exchanging a thousand bouts.

Our punches and kicks slowed down noticeably. Even so, they could not be dodged. My fist struck the Heavenly Demon’s jaw, and the Heavenly Demon’s kick struck my solar plexus.

Even so, we did not stop fighting. Because we were mental images created to fight. Therefore, we fought until death.

“Can we not give up slowly?”

“Let us give up slowly.”

The exact same words emerged simultaneously. It meant we had reached our limits.

And it also meant we possessed identical stamina and mental strength.

We were martial artists truly vying for supremacy under the heavens right now. No one would imagine that the two of us were having a dogfight like drunken patrons fighting in a tavern.

From then on, it was a tediously slow brawl. Clashing between souls of identical stamina, strength, and mental fortitude, it was an inevitable situation if one called it inevitable.

When I felt I would collapse if struck by a single blow, the Heavenly Demon must have felt the same.

It was to the point of wondering if this fight itself was a meaningful action. When no superiority or inferiority existed between individual souls.

However, at that moment, an energy healing damaged souls began flowing in from somewhere. Right now, this place was severed from reality. By the laws we knew, nothing should be able to enter here, yet it was entering.

“……Truly, the realm of God.”

The Heavenly Demon spoke. The energy healing the soul took the form of beautiful light unseen anywhere else.

To the extent that we, who had been fighting frantically, stared up at the sky in a daze.

When that energy touched my soul, I could not help but know its source. This was the soul of other people. To be precise, it was the souls of my friends.

Their very hearts worrying about me were entering to heal my soul. The Heavenly Demon was receiving that energy as well. For naturally, there must be people worrying about the Heavenly Demon as well.

It was a mysterious matter. That this energy was transmitted to me, who did not know where I was or what fight I was engaging in. It was truly a mystery of the universe.

Even if I had realized many things, in the end, it was merely realization regarding myself. Compared to the secrets of the world and the universe, it was a truly small secret. In this world, there were still many mysteries I had not unlocked.

“Ah.”

The energies of the people with whom I had formed karmic ties flowed into me. The Heavenly Demon must be receiving the energies of the people he had formed ties with while living until now.

The sensation of people’s pure souls touching my pure soul was truly an ecstatic climax.

The cluster of light split in the sky and descended in abundance to heal and wrap around each other’s souls.

Among those who formed ties, the souls of those who cared more deeply for me healed me even greater.

Absorbing each other’s light, we faced each other once more.

Our faces were already in ruins. Eyes were bruised blue, and lips were split, shedding red blood.

Now we intuitively knew: This was the final strength we could muster.

“In the end, is what can save my soul others rather than myself?”

The Heavenly Demon spoke. I shook my head.

“Even that is also me.”

“I see.”

As if by agreement, we kicked off the ground simultaneously.

Our fists crossed each other.

It was the moment the fate of each other, and the fate of the world, crossed as well.