Chapter 390: Who is the True Runcandel? (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 390: Who is the True Runcandel? (10)
The majesty of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword grew ever stronger.
It was as if every bolt of lightning in the world were pouring into the Garden of Swords. As the earth shattered beneath the onslaught, the broken aura of the Golden Ring Eclipse fluttered between mother and son like falling petals.
For several seconds, Rosa did not answer, silently looking down at her youngest.
Though the sparring hall had been utterly demolished, the high seat where she sat remained untouched, standing tall like a solitary, ancient tree. Neither the flames of Karma Fire nor the lightning of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword could pierce her aura.
Just enduring Rosa’s gaze made Jin feel as if he were being crushed by a great mountain, his entire body growing heavy. Even though she had yet to reveal her true power, the sharp energy piercing through his lightning was enough to stifle his breath.
She’s strong. Stronger than I ever imagined.
He could say this with certainty.
His mother, the Black Panther Rosa Runcandel, was more powerful than any enemy he had ever faced. Her strength far exceeded the limits he had anticipated.
And it was only natural.
The person sitting on that high seat, looking down at him, was none other than the second-in-command of the great Runcandel clan. She was the one who had led the Garden of Swords in Cyron’s stead for ages, the one who held the undisputed recognition of the entire family, the second monarch of Runcandel to whom every sword ghost in the world paid respect.
Facing such a legendary figure, it would have been disappointing if he hadn't felt at least this much pressure.
Slowly, Rosa stood.
Though her line of sight had only risen slightly, the pressure she exerted doubled, a world apart from when she was sitting. Jin felt as if his body had been submerged in deep water.
“I may have been careless, but I never expected you to defeat Luntia and make it all the way to your mother.”
Her dry voice carried no emotion.
For a fleeting moment, memories of Rosa flashed through Jin’s mind like a passing landscape—memories from his previous life, from a time when he saw her not as an enemy, but as a ‘mother.’
The mother who had reportedly refused to eat for two days after his exile. The mother who, before that, had broken family rules to give him information, preparing him for the day he would become a flagbearer.
She must have known Joshua commissioned the curse on me while I was in the Cradle. So why?
Why had she treated him with such hypocrisy?
Was it the last shred of her conscience as a mother? But Rosa Runcandel was not the kind of weak-willed human to be swayed by something as trivial as a conscience.
He didn't know.
He didn't want to know, and he would likely never understand the reason.
The only thing that mattered now was destroying that chair.
He had to leave a massive scar on the authority of the second-in-command—the symbol of Runcandel that Rosa currently embodied.
The lightning crackling around Sigmund intensified.
“I also didn’t expect you to remain so composed, Mother, even after I’ve come this far,” Jin said.
“Continue.”
“Though, if it were Father, he certainly would have been.”
Rosa let out a smirk.
“I will admit that you have achieved dazzling growth.”
“Perhaps I might even give you a chance.”
“A chance?”
“Everyone in the family has seen my strength. That means they have seen the possibility of Runcandel’s restoration.”
A bleak, sharp sound rang out as Rosa’s sword cleared its scabbard.
“In this situation, do you truly believe the Second Flagbearer can become the Patriarch?”
“So, you wish for me to throw my support behind you instead of him?”
“No. I do not need your strength to ascend to the throne,” Jin declared, then followed up with his true demand.
“When the time is right, disappear. When I become the Patriarch, there will be no place for you in the Garden of Swords.”
Despite such a heavy provocation, Rosa did not flare up in anger.
Instead, she looked satisfied, a faint smile playing on her lips. Yes, you understand what it means to be a Runcandel. That was the look in her eyes.
It was a sign of acknowledgment.
But at the same time, it was the smile of someone who believed Jin was still no match for her.
I will shatter that arrogant thought of yours.
The taste of blood filled his mouth as he gritted his teeth. Having used Pluto’s Sovereign Sword immediately after Karma Fire, the risk of a backflow was catching up to him.
Rosa knew this, which was why she remained so relaxed.
Furthermore, she considered this incident a victory for Jin simply because he had made it this far. Just as he said, by flaunting his power before the entire family, he had introduced a significant and clear variable into the succession race.
Perhaps the family would fall into uncontrollable chaos. Rosa had foreseen that such a day would come from the moment Jin returned—from the moment Cyron forgave him.
You have gained your practical advantage, yet you do not know when to stop. You are too greedy.
Rosa raised her sword. “Come up here, my son.”
Her cherished sword, Frenzy, was dyed in a brilliant light. It was a single blade shining like a lighthouse amidst a storm of dark blue lightning.
Under the weight of Rosa’s aura, shattered boulders began to float into the air like bubbles before disintegrating into dust.
Soon, Jin began to slowly move his feet.
The moment he took his first step, everyone gathered there felt an ominous sense of displacement weigh down on their shoulders once more.
Suddenly, an earthquake struck.
Following Jin’s footsteps, the entire Garden of Swords began to tremble.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Amidst the intense static of the lightning, a new, heavy resonance began to stand out.
That earthquake was the drumbeat heralding the evolution of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword.
It was the marching song of the Plutos, one that only an inheritor of Sigmund could call upon.
Pluto Sword Fighting God Technique, 10th Sword, 2nd Form.
Pluto’s Sovereign Sword – War.
Release was merely a roar, an announcement that one had reached the pinnacle among the Kings of Light. It was the act of a Fighting God gathering his energy before battle.
Only when the second phase, War, was unleashed did the solemn will to annihilate the enemy truly dwell within the blade.
Rosa’s eyes widened.
Again. And even more so this time.
Witnessing Jin’s lightning swell to an even greater magnitude was a phenomenon that she, too, could not help but find shocking.
He still had this much power left…!
Inexplicable.
That was the first word that came to her mind. In her decades as a warrior, she had never seen anything like it. To unleash an aura more overwhelming than anything shown before, with a body that could succumb to backflow at any instant… it made no sense.
However, Jin, her youngest son, was human.
And as long as he was human, he could not defy the laws of the world without paying a price. Rosa immediately realized what Jin had put on the line.
His life.
The collateral Jin had used to unleash this power was his own life.
You would stake your life on something as trivial as breaking this high seat, a mere symbol? Immediately after gaining so much?
Even if he didn't break her seat, Jin had gained an immeasurable amount today. If he collapsed right now, the first thing he would see upon waking would be countless sword ghosts seeking to pledge their loyalty.
And yet, he would stake his life? For what…?
As her thoughts reached that point, Rosa gritted her teeth.
The mindset she had held until a moment ago, looking down on Jin—the judgment she had made with a smile, thinking he understood what it meant to be a Runcandel.
She realized that judgment had been wrong. She had been arrogant.
This is what it means to be a Runcandel, Mother.
To never back down when it is time to fight, like someone eternally thirsty for conflict. To make even an enemy clearly stronger than oneself hesitate, sickened by that indomitable spirit.
To always bring about a phenomenon that denies the end, even when the opponent thinks the battle is over.
That was the Runcandel Jin believed in—the Runcandel the members of the Old Guard believed in.
Suddenly, black clouds swarmed the sky as if tens of millions of migratory birds had flown in at once. Under those ominous clouds, the only ones who could remain whole were the Plutos and the one who reigned over them.
Rumble…!
A truly absurd amount of lightning poured down.
Thousands of thunderbolts struck the ground without warning. A tsunami of pure lightning ravaged the Garden of Swords.
Everywhere, flagbearers and elders unleashed their ultimate techniques. With faces pale and urgent, they fought with all their might to protect the knights from the cataclysm.
But even a dozen of their strongest techniques unleashed at once looked like the mere struggles of insects amidst the thousands, tens of thousands of lightning bolts pouring from the heavens.
Could this even be called a sword technique?
Should it not be called an Authority?
The sword ghosts blocking the lightning felt as if they had fallen into a long, dark nightmare. They simply could not believe their eyes—that this horrific dream had been born from the blade of the Twelfth Flagbearer.
Rosa, who had been composed the entire time, was now frantically swinging Frenzy. Every time her sword traced an arc, a cluster of thunder was erased, but the clouds above only spat out lightning even more ferociously.
Through that carnage, Jin walked steadily. He advanced toward Rosa with the dignity of a king striding through his own territory.
Sigmund emitted an intense resonance.
Its blade was aimed at Rosa’s neck. The sight of his mother frantically swinging Frenzy, her noble posture long gone, left a strangely bitter taste in his mouth.
Now, it was time for the grand finale of his declaration.
Snap!
As Jin raised Sigmund, the thunder stopped as if by magic. The lightning that had roared as if announcing the end of the world vanished all at once. Like people waking from a nightmare, the sword ghosts looked around the suddenly quiet surroundings, dazed.
But the thunder had not disappeared.
It was merely converging on Sigmund’s blade at an impossible speed. All of that lightning was being drawn into a single sword as if it were nothing.
Though it was a sight none of them had ever witnessed, they knew what would happen next. That pale blade, having swallowed all that demonic lightning, would now fall upon Rosa.
The distance between them was short.
Jin swung his sword straight down, aiming for her center.
Rosa could not evade this strike. As the second-in-command of Runcandel, meeting it head-on was her only choice.
Flash—!
The moment Sigmund and Frenzy collided, the capillaries in Rosa’s eyes burst. Her bloodshot eyes narrowed and widened, twitching uncontrollably.
Though they were tears of blood, it was the first time anyone had ever seen Rosa’s face in such a state.
The high seat she had been sitting on, the dais that had stood tall and alone, crumbled pathetically as if crushed by a giant’s finger.
“I am… the Twelfth Flagbearer, Jin Runcandel.”
Just before his consciousness faded, Jin managed to finish his final words.
“I will… become the Patriarch.”
As Jin collapsed, Rosa coughed up a handful of fresh blood.
The sword ghosts, looking at her pale face and the unconscious Jin, could only fall into a strange cognitive dissonance, as if reality itself were crumbling before their very eyes.