Ma Do-hyun froze when he saw the figure before him — the one he had once called his disciple: Jin Ha-run.
"What are you doing here, you treacherous wretch?" he demanded, fury burning in his voice.
Jin Ha-run laughed coldly. "Am I supposed to bow and answer to trash like you? But since you taught me once… I'll be straightforward. I'm here to wipe away the last remnant of your sect."
Ma Do-hyun pushed the shock aside. For now, Ha-jin's safety came first. In an instant he vanished from Jin Ha-run's sight — moving with a speed that made the traitor stagger. Jin Ha-run had no time to react; he suddenly found Ha-jin thrown to the ground and then snatched away again, taken far from the fray by Ma Do-hyun's unseen hand.
The traitor's eyes widened. "So your wounds have healed… and you've grown stronger," Jin Ha-run observed, voice thick with contempt. "But that won't change anything. I've grown too."
Ma Do-hyun's face darkened. "You will pay for hurting my little girl," he vowed.
Jin Ha-run sneered. "Ha—show me, then. Show me what you can do."
"Form One — Infinite Void!" Ma Do-hyun roared, rushing toward Jin Ha-run with all his might. The air itself seemed to split as void energy trailed the blade. But Jin Ha-run surprised him: with a flash he used a demonic technique that set his hand ablaze in red light, intercepting Ma Do-hyun's strike and blocking it with brutal force.
Ma Do-hyun frowned. "What is that technique?"
Jin Ha-run spat the answer. "A demonic art I learned wandering this world. You'd be shocked to know what I've seen."
Shock engulfed the leader; the disciple he had raised like a son had walked a dark path.
Before Ma Do-hyun could fully gather himself, Jin Ha-run struck again — a powerful blow laced with demonic energy that drove Ma Do-hyun back several paces. A second punch followed, aimed at his face, but Ma Do-hyun met it with his sword charged in void-energy and deflected it.
Jin Ha-run recoiled at the leader's defense. Then, as if vanishing, he slipped away from sight.
Ma Do-hyun steadied his breath and unfolded his power — forming the Dimensional Field. The field revealed the angle of the traitor's blade in time for Ma Do-hyun to block the next assault. Jin Ha-run stared, astonished that his master could react so precisely.
Softly, almost as if speaking to himself, Ma Do-hyun murmured, "I'm sorry, my former disciple… I never wanted it to come to this."
He lifted his blade.
Then Ma Do-hyun unleashed a technique the sect had never displayed before — Form Five: Eternal Silence.
In an instant the world seemed to fall away. Jin Ha-run's body was split as the void swallowed sound and sight: no cry escaped, no blood spurted in a whisper — only a vast, indifferent emptiness. The disciple staggered, stunned, collapsing into his own blood. Silence reigned.
In his final moments Jin Ha-run croaked, "Why, Master? Why did you favor Ha-jin over us? You treated her like a daughter… and we were cast aside, taught nothing!"
Regret and sorrow clouded Ma Do-hyun's eyes as he answered, voice breaking: "You are wrong. I loved you all like my own children. I did not teach you the sect's secret techniques because your bodies were not ready. I feared you would die, or your chi would deviate and you would be unable to wield the sword ever again. Do you know what it felt like to be betrayed by those I raised by my side? I sank into darkness… Ha-jin pulled me out."
Tears streamed down Jin Ha-run's face. "I am sorry, Master. I am truly sorry, Father. I was wrong. Forgive me—if I had another chance, another life, I would follow you."
Ma Do-hyun cradled him like a father. "It's all right, my son. Rest in peace."
With his last breath Jin Ha-run whispered urgently: "Beware of that one… if you see anyone with a single red eye and one arm — run with Ha-jin. Go to Sungjin. He stayed loyal when the sect fell. He will help you."
And then the light left his eyes.
Ma Do-hyun's cry split the air. "You bastard! I will kill you! I will make you pay for taking my son from me!"
He roared into the empty training ground — sound turned to fury and grief, the echo of a leader who had lost a son and buried hope in the same heartbeat.
.