Chapter 19
Dragon Slayer Fist (2)
“Dragon Slayer Fist is one martial art, yet it is also two.”
“…What does that mean?”
“The Dragon Slayer Fist has techniques. The Fierce Fist does not. To be precise, the Fierce Fist is a discipline meant to transcend mortality itself. It is not a martial art in the conventional sense.”
“…I see.”
Jinhyeok nodded absentmindedly.
The Demon King chuckled.
“You look like you understand nothing at all. Explaining it with words would take too long. It will be faster if I show you.”
The Demon King placed a hand on top of Jinhyeok’s head.
Just before transmitting the memory, he hesitated.
An unusual sight for someone like him.
I promised to teach him everything… but showing my past is embarrassing.
Yet Jinhyeok was the only disciple he had ever acknowledged.
If not him, then who else?
This is the origin of the Dragon Slayer Fist.
The Demon King poured his memories into Jinhyeok.
A technique known as Lucid Dream.
Among all memory-transmission methods, it was the most effective.
Jinhyeok’s consciousness sank into a dream.
A dream woven from the Demon King’s memories.
The Demon King’s Past
Where am I…?
When Jinhyeok opened his eyes, he was no longer inside the Demon King’s castle.
Instead, he found himself in a small, shabby house.
Is this… the Demon King’s childhood?
Within the dream, Jinhyeok could experience everything exactly as it had happened.
He could not interfere.
He could only feel.
Every emotion.
Every thought.
Every sensation.
The Demon King of that era was a young succubus girl named Selena.
Though still a child, her beauty was already striking.
“Selena. Shouldn’t you start learning spirit-control techniques?”
“I’m not interested.”
Sitting cross-legged, Selena calmly circulated the magic power gathered within her body.
“Selena, a succubus should live like a succubus. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never become a Dragon King.”
“Damn it. That defeatist attitude is exactly why our race is treated like this, Mother.”
Selena despised the circumstances of her birth.
Succubi were a lowly race.
Parasites.
Creatures that survived by feeding on the vitality of others.
They existed only to serve stronger demons.
But Selena refused to accept that fate.
Rather than adapt, she fought.
She secretly learned crude martial arts from wandering fighters and marketplace brawlers.
Anything that could make her stronger.
Anything that could help her escape her destiny.
The Slaughter Demon
As Selena grew older, she became breathtakingly beautiful.
Unfortunately, in the Demon Realm, beauty often attracted trouble rather than admiration.
“It is the Baron’s command. Succubus Selena, present yourself.”
A frontier baron had taken an interest in her.
She was ordered to serve him.
Selena’s response was immediate.
“Go to hell.”
She spat directly into the baron’s face.
The baron exploded with rage.
“How dare a mere succubus—!”
For a low-ranking demon to defy a noble was unthinkable.
“Everyone leave,” the baron ordered. “I will discipline her personally.”
The guards withdrew.
The baron drew his weapon.
Under the guise of a duel, he intended to teach the insolent girl her place.
I’ll teach you a lesson.
But Selena thought the same thing.
This kind of oppression happened every day in the Demon Realm.
Yet today would be different.
“Ugh… stop!”
CRACK!
The sound of a skull shattering echoed through the square.
“What was that about discipline?”
Blood sprayed across Selena’s face as she tore into the baron’s throat.
At only thirteen years old, she killed him.
It was unprecedented.
A child who had learned only third-rate martial arts had slain a noble.
Standing over the corpse, Selena looked at the guards aiming weapons at her.
“The outcome of a duel is absolute. Those are the laws of the Great Dragon King.”
She smiled coldly.
“Any objections?”
No one moved.
One by one, the guards lowered their weapons.
That day, the first territory free of noble rule was born.
Selena grew stronger at an astonishing pace.
She studied the baron’s martial arts.
Then she improved upon them.
Whenever a replacement noble arrived, she challenged them.
And killed them.
“Did you really lose to me despite possessing such refined martial arts? Pathetic.”
She became the de facto ruler of the territory.
Not because she sought power.
Simply because nobody else could stop her.
Unlike other nobles, she never exploited the weak.
She never stole taxes.
Never abused her authority.
She only trained.
Obsessively.
Whenever a stronger enemy appeared, she defeated them and absorbed their techniques.
“Selena, the Slaughter Demon. I, Count Laut, challenge you!”
“A count this time? Hopefully you’re more entertaining than the viscount.”
The count grabbed her throat.
Moments later, Selena was the one gripping his neck.
“What was that martial art called?”
“Black-Spotted Viper.”
“I’ve mastered it.”
CRACK.
Another corpse.
Barons.
Viscounts.
Counts.
Marquises.
Even grand nobles.
They kept coming.
Selena kept winning.
Eventually she reached a realm where she could dissect martial arts themselves, understanding their essence and creating entirely new systems.
Then came the day she defeated the Demon Archduke Kel-Elgor.
“I… no.”
Standing over his corpse while holding his torn spine aloft, Selena roared:
“I AM THE STRONGEST!”
At last, there was no one left who could challenge her.
A Hero to Her People
The territory was hers.
Entirely hers.
As she walked through town, people greeted her warmly.
“Thank you, Selena!”
“Hmph. I didn’t fight for your sake.”
“Big sister! Take this!”
A small child handed her a crudely made brooch.
Selena stared at it.
“It’s badly made.”
But she didn’t throw it away.
The children she had protected once belonged to cruel nobles.
Now they could live freely.
Though she acted indifferent, she secretly began planning how to educate them.
How to help them survive on their own.
Then the memories accelerated.
The Arrival of the Dragon King
Several years later.
A horn sounded across the frontier.
A dreadful sound.
For the first time in years, Selena felt fear.
The strongest ruler in the northeastern Demon Realm had arrived.
The sovereign of magical power.
The Demon Dragon King.
That day, Selena saw a dragon for the first time.
Succubi stood at the very bottom of demonic society.
Dragons stood at the absolute top.
Born with overwhelming power.
Untouchable.
Perfect.
Selena’s hands trembled.
She had mastered countless arts.
Created her own martial path.
Perfected the Void.
Defeated an archduke.
She had believed nobody could surpass her.
Now she realized how foolish that belief was.
Like a frog trapped in a well.
The moment their eyes met, she understood.
She could never defeat him.
Not as she was now.
Selena knelt.
“I greet the great Demon Dragon King.”
“So you are the Slaughter Demon.”
The Dragon King lifted her chin.
“Young. Much younger than I expected.”
His eyes gleamed.
“A talent such as yours should not belong to a succubus.”
Then he smiled.
“Will you become my weapon?”
Selena lowered her head.
“I will serve you.”
But in her heart she swore:
One day, I will surpass you.
Twenty Years of Regret
For ten years Selena served beneath the Dragon King.
With his support, she mastered countless martial arts.
She became his strongest weapon.
His greatest general.
His terror.
War erupted.
For ten long years she stood at the front lines.
By the end of the conflict, she had personally slain four Demon Kings.
The Dragon King was victorious.
At the celebration banquet, he was heavily drunk.
Six succubi lay nearby.
Five were already dead.
One still clung weakly to life.
Selena froze.
She recognized those eyes.
One of the children she had once protected.
“Big… sister…”
The child died.
Something inside Selena shattered.
“What did you do to them?”
The Dragon King blinked.
“Hm? Those succubi?”
He laughed.
“Unlike you, they were weak.”
His expression held no malice.
No guilt.
To him, succubi were merely tools.
Disposable tools.
Nothing more.
Selena felt sick.
I spent twenty years trying to escape being a succubus.
Yet what have I actually become?
She buried the children herself.
Among the final child’s possessions was a crude brooch.
The same one given to her years ago.
Silently, Selena took it.
And made a vow.
I will kill the Demon Dragon King.
The Birth of the Dragon Slayer Fist
For five years she trained solely for that purpose.
She abandoned efficiency.
Abandoned practicality.
Everything was sacrificed for a single objective.
Killing dragons.
The result was a terrifying martial art.
The Dragon Slayer Fist.
Even after mastering it, Selena could barely withstand its recoil.
She tested the completed technique.
The backlash made her arm tremble violently.
“So I still can’t use it repeatedly.”
She smiled.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“One strike is enough.”
The Duel
Selena entered the Dragon King’s castle alone.
“My beloved archduke and Vanguard of Erosion.”
The Dragon King smiled.
“What brings you here?”
“I challenge you to a duel.”
The Dragon King’s eyes narrowed.
“So greed has finally blinded you.”
His killing intent erupted.
“I am the pinnacle of magical power. The supreme dragon. And yet a low-born woman dares—”
“Shut up.”
Selena moved.
The Dragon King laughed.
No attack could penetrate dragon scales.
That was common knowledge.
Then—
CRUNCH.
His expression froze.
“Haha… you pierced my scales…”
BOOM!
The Dragon Slayer Fist exploded inside his body.
His organs were crushed.
Dark blood poured from his mouth.
“Cough…!”
“You survived?”
Selena looked genuinely surprised.
“I expected you to die instantly.”
The Dragon King glared at her.
“Do you understand what this means? Every dragon in the Demon Realm will hunt you down.”
Dragons stood at the peak.
Defeat was unacceptable.
The slayer of a Dragon King would become the enemy of all dragons.
Selena’s body erupted with Void energy.
Dark armor formed around her.
The Armor of the Void.
She looked directly into the Dragon King’s eyes.
“Did you think I came here without knowing that?”
The Dragon King laughed weakly.
“You dream big.”
Selena raised her fist.
“I will kill every dragon.”
“I will stand at the peak of the Demon Realm.”
“I will become the one and only Demon King.”
The Dragon King laughed one final time.
Then—
CRACK.
Selena crushed his skull.
And on that day,
the Demon King was born.
