Chapter 477: Times of Choice (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 477: Times of Choice (4)
‘So that is the true form of chaos?’
Yona’s chaos was licking its lips, as if still hungry.
Amidst the confusion caused by the sudden appearance of these manifestations, Jin noted that Yona’s chaos took a form similar to a shadow.
‘At a glance, it does resemble spirit energy.’
He had thought something similar when he saw the turbid energy Amela used in the Gaifa Archipelago. However, Yona’s chaos felt even more akin to spirit energy than that.
‘Furthermore, this manifestation… it looks exactly like a form of avatar.’
Certain gods could manifest through their contractors. In the Blue Bird Archipelago, Julian had become the avatar of Paitel, and Picon Minche and Olmango had also manifested before Jin.
The way Yona’s and Amela’s chaos took physical form seemed to be a phenomenon similar to divine manifestation. The only difference was that while other contractors—and Amela—lost consciousness upon becoming avatars, Yona appeared to be in full control.
Cough, cough!
Amela’s chaos spat out something that looked like black blood.
[You’d better keep those words. From now on, you should find my one and only youngest brother even more daunting than me.]
[I understand, I surely will…!]
Sshhh…
The bowing form of Amela’s chaos grew faint and began to vanish as it retreated into the depths of Amela’s being. It could no longer maintain its physical form due to the severe, irreparable injuries it had sustained.
Yona, who had been floating in the air, landed on the floor and began to recall her chaotic energy. The chaos seemed reluctant to obey; it ducked its head to avoid her gaze and whimpered, struggling against her restraint.
However, as she pressed down with an even stronger will, it seemed unable to hold out any longer. The shape of the chaos began to recede into Yona’s shadow.
Just before it vanished completely, Yona’s chaos left behind two words.
[Run…!]
[Or kill him!]
In that moment, Jin felt as if he had locked eyes with the chaos in its final act of defiance. He also knew with chilling certainty that the one it was referring to was none other than himself.
—From now on, never release that power in front of me. Don’t ask me for details.
—I lose my mind when I see spirit energy. I didn’t explain it before, so you don’t have to feel sorry. Hee-hee, I thought my youngest brother would at least hide that power from me until he became a Flagbearer…
He suddenly recalled what Yona had said after they spied on Bubar’s sculpting workshop. At the time, Jin had released his spirit energy as a sign of trust, but she had recoiled in excruciating agony the moment she saw it.
Yona’s chaos feared spirit energy. Therefore, every single day, every time Yona met Jin, her chaos whispered to her, telling her to kill him.
It was a sweet, terrifying voice—one that an ordinary person, or even a master who had honed their will through discipline, would find nearly impossible to resist.
Yona was overcoming all those temptations and threats alone. Even at this very moment.
She never asked for anything in return. To Yona, protecting her beloved brother was simply something she had to do.
“Yeah, you die instead. Hee-hee.”
Soon, the chaos subsided completely, and Yona’s shadow returned to its original form. The darkened room brightened as if a storm had passed, and the objects that had been shattered and sent whirling through the air all clattered to the floor.
“Ack, kaff! Wh-what happened!”
Just as a brief silence was about to settle, the fallen Amela sat bolt upright and coughed. Her bulky bush camouflage suit trembled, her eyes darting anxiously from beneath her hood.
“Eek!”
Her eyes met Yona’s, and she promptly fainted again.
“Whoa, is she dead? Hey, Bush. Bush! Wake up… Hah, she’s just asleep!”
As he got closer, Murakan could hear the sound of steady, rhythmic breathing. He shook his head in disbelief and tossed Amela onto the bed.
“She’ll probably sleep soundly for a good while, hee-hee. Hello, Murakan! This is the first time we’ve officially met, right?”
“Yeah, nice to meet you. The kid’s told me a lot about you.”
“Really? Truly?”
“Truly.”
“He talked about me a lot?”
“I said he did. But why are you speaking so informally? I’m a Black Dragon over three thousand years old and the guardian of your clan.”
“Because Jin speaks informally too?”
“Fair enough.”
Surprisingly, Murakan didn’t hurl any insults about her lacking common sense or being rude; he simply shook her offered hand.
“Sister.”
As Jin approached, Yona’s eyes sparkled. Jin, on the other hand, couldn’t help but look at her with concern. Her face was incredibly pale, wearing a look of exhaustion he had never seen on her before.
“I missed you, youngest!”
“Are you alright? You’re white as a sheet.”
“I’m not okay. I think I’m going to die soon.”
“Don’t say things like that, even as a joke.”
Jin took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from Yona’s forehead. Yona smiled, proud and touched by her brother’s gesture. Then, her expression suddenly turned into a pout, and she gave Jin a sharp flick on the forehead.
Thwack—!
If he had been an ordinary person, his head would have been snapped clean off. For Jin, of course, it only resulted in a bump the size of a chestnut.
‘Wait… this is Yona’s physical strength? Not Sister Luna’s?’
Rather than feeling wronged or pained by the sudden strike, Jin was simply stunned by her monstrous strength.
“Ugh, I’m telling you, that guy’s strength gets way out of control when I call him out. Sorry, youngest! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. Hee-hee, but you deserved a little hit, right? No, you definitely deserved it. You called me for something like this!? You’re going to be in big trouble!”
Jin assumed the “big trouble” she mentioned referred to Cyron’s orders. His father had long ago issued a strict command that no one in the family was to use Yona.
“Sister, if you’re talking about Father…”
“No, not that! This big sister of yours was so, so happy to hear from you for once, you know? Hee-hee. Naturally, I thought you were asking me to come play. But you had another motive? Hee, hee-hee-hee, hee-hee-hee-hee.”
A chill ran down his spine, followed by a sharp pang of guilt. As Yona said, she had every right to be upset.
“I’m sorry, Sister.”
Just then, Casimir, Valkas, and Jet, who had sensed the commotion, rushed into the room.
“Young Master! What in the…”
“My Lord, are you alri—”
Casimir and Valkas stopped mid-sentence the moment they saw Yona.
‘Is that Yona Runcandel?!’
‘Yona Runcandel?’
Jet, however, didn’t recognize her.
“If you do that again, your precious friends might die one by one. You know that, right?”
So, when Yona spoke with a playful smile, Jet shouted out, completely failing to read the room.
“Ha! What is this young lady blathering about? Sir! Give her a good thrashing!”
Yona’s eyes sparkled again, finding Jet quite interesting.
“Yeah, Jet. I’m Yona. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”
“Ha! Acting like you know me when we’ve never… Wait, Yona. Yona… Yooona…? B-by any chance… are you… Lady Yona… Runcandel?”
The words “it’s been a while” made the hair on Jet’s neck stand on end. Though he hadn’t realized it, Yona had often watched him. The same went for Jin’s other comrades.
“I have committed a mortal sin! I’ll do anything if you just spare my life! I’ll show you something! Oh, Sir, please help me…!”
In fact, Valkas and Casimir were already shielding Jet, their bodies on high alert.
“He is a loyal subject of my Lord. How about sparing him, Yona Runcandel?” Valkas asked. He had encountered Yona in the past, so he knew all too well that if she set her mind to it, there were few people in the world she couldn’t kill. He also knew she considered life to be lighter than a feather.
“Hee.”
Yona shrugged.
“Youngest.”
“Yes, Sister.”
“I think I finally understand a little bit why normal people find me so uncomfortable or scary. Just a tiny bit.”
It was only recently that Yona had gained some control over her chaos, driven by her desire to protect Jin. By controlling it, she had not only grown stronger but also closer to being “normal.” Some of the emotions her chaos had been suppressing were being restored.
In other words, Yona no longer regarded life as lightly as she did when she first met Jin. Of course, since she could only control a part of her power, her emotions hadn't returned completely. It was more like she had gone from viewing lives as air to treating them like mere objects.
Though she didn’t explain further, Jin felt he understood the meaning behind his sister’s words.
“Anyone precious to my youngest is precious to me, too. I was just joking, Black King Commander. Relax. You too, Jet. Lift your head, hee-hee.”
“Thank you! Lady Yona!”
Yona turned back to meet Jin’s eyes. Color was slowly returning to her face.
“Anyway, next time, call me to play. I really want to hear all about what happened when you declared your patriarch candidacy! I only ever see it in the papers or hear it from others!”
Every word she spoke sent a pang of guilt through Jin’s heart.
“So, from now on, you’re going to walk with me, and we’ll play and catch up on everything. Hee!”
Jin had, in fact, been planning to get Yona’s help, resolve one more issue, and then head to Samil. He had been moving with such urgency for a simple reason: something bigger than the Great Mercenary Amela was at play, and he still had no leads. He had planned to go to the Garden of Swords to meet Vigo as soon as Amela’s situation was settled. Since Vigo had visited the Gaifa Archipelago on Joshua’s behalf, he surely held more information, and Jin had intended to use the debt from that incident as leverage to get answers.
But hearing Yona speak like this, he couldn’t bring himself to claim the situation was too urgent. It wasn’t just out of guilt; to Jin, Yona was a family member more precious than anyone else in the world.
There are moments when a family member’s feelings must come first. This was one of them.
“I have so much to tell you, and so much I want to hear from you. Thank you for forgiving me, Sister. Let’s go for that walk.”
“Hee-hee, great, great!”
Crash!
Yona broke the window and jumped outside, and Jin followed suit. The moment they landed in the garden…
‘What is that ship?’
Jin could see a ship approaching Tikan from the distant sea. It was particularly conspicuous, as it bore no markings to identify its affiliation.
“Oh.”
Yona, however, tilted her head as if she recognized the vessel.
“Hee? That’s Sister Mary’s ship.”