Chapter 218: Ill-fated Relationship (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 218: Ill-fated Relationship (4)
"Brother Garmund. With your strength, you could escape. Come with me—"
Garmund shook his head.
"No. If I do, the risk of you being killed or injured is far too high. This aura is dangerous even for me to handle; the resulting chaos will likely reach far out to sea."
"Damn it… To think that son of a bitch would actually use a self-destruction technique."
"Go, Brother. You know I'll be fine. Like I said, just tell me the story later."
Jin gritted his teeth.
"…Understood."
"What's a small favor between brothers? Now, run. And no matter what, keep running in the direction where you can see my back."
Jin nodded, and Shuri broke into a full sprint.
Just as Garmund had said, if he didn't block the Volcano, Jin had no way of surviving.
A self-destruction technique.
A final sword art meant for the very end. The Volcano possessed enough power to completely erase a small island like this one.
Even if a newly appointed 7-star or 8-star Runcandel flagbearer were to use it, the power would be immense—and Joshua’s Volcano was on an entirely different level.
"Kuaaaaa…!"
Joshua let out a grotesque scream as his body began to glow red. It was the result of every blood vessel in his body bursting as aura flooded his entire being. Molten metal dripped from the blade of the Silver Sword Sran, which had begun to melt from the sheer heat radiating off Joshua's body.
"That cunning bastard… I suppose he's a descendant of Temar in his own way."
Garmund did not approach the stationary Joshua. The aura corrupting the surroundings possessed a power that even he could not carelessly push through.
Crunch, crackle!
As Garmund took a step forward, the ground beneath him collapsed and stones flew into the air. Swirling lightning gathered around his sword.
Joshua’s aura encroached upon their surroundings while Garmund’s lightning condensed into his blade. In terms of sheer scale, the two energies were nearly equal.
But while Joshua had chosen death to draw out such power, Garmund was merely preparing to unleash the single strike he had perfected over a lifetime.
"Die…!"
That was Joshua’s final cry. His vocal cords, seemingly shredded by the boiling aura, produced a horrific, metallic rasp.
Vrooooom—!
The aura saturating the area was sucked into Joshua’s sword in a swirling vortex. The vortex instantly converged into a single point at the tip of the melted blade.
It was the omen of the Decisive Technique: Volcano.
Thung…!
A hollow ring echoed, like a fist striking an empty kettle. The aura concentrated within Sran’s blade burst with a small pop.
In the next instant, that pop became a roar. Boom, kaboom! Crash! The blade began its full-scale explosion, vomiting aura in every direction.
Flash—!
For a moment, the world turned blindingly white.
In the center of it all, nothing that could be called Joshua remained. Everything that had composed his physical body had become aura itself, fueling the Volcano.
Joshua was dead.
The way the aura erupted and poured out was the spitting image of a volcano spewing lava. It was this appearance that gave the Decisive Technique its name: Volcano.
Aura that had soared into the sky now rained back down toward the earth. But even before it could touch the ground, the shockwaves from the initial mid-air explosion were already shattering the island.
Space distorted. Tremendous forces of attraction and repulsion shook the island incessantly, and the aftermath churned the nearby sea into a maelstrom of violent waves.
As the island shattered like glass, the only place that could still be called 'land' was the ground Garmund stood firmly upon and the stretch of sand behind him. Shuri was desperately sprinting across that very sand.
"Kaaaaa!"
Garmund’s roar twisted the shockwaves of the Volcano. His body was also bathed in lightning, taking on a blue hue, but he had not abandoned his physical form as Joshua had.
The lightning contained within his roar spread out like a net. That massive net unfurled into tens of thousands of strands, seizing the explosion. A moment later, Garmund’s sword cut a path through the air.
The island's very axis shuddered as his sword energy carved through the heart of the Volcano.
Unlike the Volcano, which was tearing the entire island apart, Garmund’s sword drew a silent, clean line. As smooth as a brushstroke, he was cutting through the very core of the unfolding cataclysm.
Though his sword energy left only a single line in its wake, the aura exploding on either side of it subsided. The blasts grew noticeably weaker, and the murky vision cleared slightly.
However, Garmund knew. This wasn't the end.
A Volcano, once suppressed, would return a few seconds later as an even stronger explosion. To buy those precious few seconds, to allow Jin to escape even farther in that time, Garmund had thrown away his own chance to flee.
Fortunately, when he glanced back, Jin was no longer in sight.
"This should be enough. Come at me with the rest…!"
Garmund shifted his stance, his eyes flickering with lightning.
*
The Volcano continued to explode for over ten minutes.
Island 32 of the Blue Bird Archipelago had completely vanished, transformed into a reef barely five paces wide.
In the end, Garmund had blocked every single explosion that had headed toward Jin.
Thanks to him, Jin stood atop that five-pace-wide rock without a single scratch. He had been waiting there for about five minutes since the explosions had ceased. Now, with neither the aura of the Volcano nor the energy of the lightning remaining, sunlight once again illuminated the Blue Bird Archipelago.
It was time to find Garmund.
"Brother Garmund!"
Riding Shuri, he began to search the sea, now littered with all sorts of debris. "Garmund! Brother Garmund!" Jin’s eyes were filled with anxiety as he shouted urgently.
"My ears… are going to fall off, Brother."
"Brother!"
Jin grit his teeth the moment he saw Garmund.
He was leaning against another reef, having lost both of his arms. The masterwork sword forged by Boras was also broken, its hilt wedged in the rock beside him.
Jin carefully supported him and lifted him onto Shuri.
"Don't make such a gloomy face, Brother. You know I'm fine, so why the long face?"
Garmund burst into a hearty laugh, gesturing toward his shoulders with his eyes. No blood flowed from the severed wounds. Instead, a dark energy was seeping out—spirit energy.
"Still… it must have been painful."
"What's a little pain for the sake of a brother?"
The Spirit Sword Special Technique: Blacklight Call took the form of a 'summoning.'
In reality, however, it was closer to a reconstruction. The technique temporarily opened a door to Laprarosa, and one of the individuals within was fashioned out of spirit energy.
Before leaving Laprarosa, Jin had a conversation with Tantel.
—Brother, I have a question.
—Is there really no way for the brothers to leave on their own? You came to the Great Desert for me, Brother Tantel.
—That's only possible when a successor is near the Great Desert. There is one other way to go outside, but it's not very useful.
—Why not?
—The Fighting God will tell you.
What the Fighting God Ban had passed on to Jin then was the Spirit Sword Special Technique: 'Blacklight Call.'
With Jin’s current spirit energy, it was a technique he could only perform once every year or two.
What was summoned by Blacklight Call was not the physical body of a Pluto Tribe member, but their soul. Spirit energy was then added to that soul, allowing the deceased to temporarily manifest in the human world.
A Pluto Tribe member's soul, fashioned from spirit energy, possessed the same appearance and strength they had in life—just like everyone in Laprarosa.
However, the soul would forget everything it experienced in the human world upon returning to Laprarosa.
In other words, Garmund would never remember today’s events. This was why Garmund had repeatedly said, "Just tell me the story of today."
"Phew, the sword Temar left behind is truly something. To think a mere fox could take both of this body's arms."
It was only possible because they were in the confined space of an island and because Garmund had to protect Jin. Joshua’s Volcano certainly possessed horrific power, but if Garmund hadn't been forced to face it head-on, he would never have lost his arms.
"I'm sorry, Brother."
"Why do you keep saying that! You know I'll forget everything when I go back anyway. Are you mocking me!?"
"It's not that… Ah, think about it. Even if they aren't your real arms, I just watched a family member lose their arms right in front of me, all because of me. How could I not be shocked?"
"Hmm… well, that's true. Yes, I suppose that could be the case."
Garmund chuckled and lifted a foot. He then used it to gently pat Jin’s head. His real body back in Laprarosa was perfectly fine, but since he currently had no arms, he had no choice.
"Is everyone doing well?"
"Of course. Before you came, they all had nothing to do, but now they gather at the drop of a hat just to talk about you."
Garmund lowered his foot and let out a boisterous laugh.
"By the way, Joshua, was it? You've finally killed the enemy who cursed you."
"That's true, but I can't shake this uneasy feeling. He wasn't the type of person to ever choose suicide."
"What, are you saying the one I killed was a spirit like me? Or a fake?"
"No, that's not it. It was definitely Joshua."
"Right, it couldn't be. I watched his death clearly with my own two eyes. The reality probably just hasn't sunk in yet because you didn't cut him down yourself."
Jin nodded.
"…Yes, as you say, it doesn't quite feel real, Brother. I always thought I would kill him after I returned to the clan."
"Regardless, I'm glad I could be of help. I also like that I was the first one you summoned with Blacklight Call. Oh, it's time for me to head back."
As his spirit energy drained away, Garmund’s body began to fade. Soon, his soul would return to Laprarosa.
"Please tell everyone I miss them. And tell them that thanks to them, I've been thriving since leaving Laprarosa, and also…"
Garmund didn't say, 'I won't remember anyway.' Instead, he smiled quietly, listening to every word Jin had to say.
"Yes, I'll be sure to tell them. Let's meet in Laprarosa next time, not here."
Soon, Garmund’s fading body became completely transparent. The spirit energy that escaped his form lingered near Jin for a moment before dissipating into the air.
After he disappeared, Jin searched for Kuzan and Beris for a while, but it was unlikely they had survived.
"Let's head back too, Shuri."
[Mya!]
During the several-day journey back, Jin scoured the newsletters in every city he passed through, but he could find no articles announcing Joshua’s death or disappearance.
And the news Jin heard regarding Joshua came immediately after his return to Tikan.