Chapter 555: Omen (24)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 555: Omen (24)
Octavia, now fully recovered, led the Wraith Squad in a fierce pursuit of Jin’s party.
Valkas and the Sword Saints, who held the rear, were already exhausted to the point of collapse. Fortunately, the path to the Inner Castle was still choked with Ron’s gray sword energy.
Miraculously, his energy didn't hinder his allies in the slightest, pressing down only on the pursuing Wraith Squad. It was as if a god were granting protection solely to those under his grace.
Even Octavia’s immense speed lost its edge, stifled by the gray haze. Thanks to this, the party made better progress toward the Inner Castle than expected.
That didn't mean they moved quickly. Shockwaves from the giants’ battle exploded incessantly in the sky, and the ground screamed, churning with every step they took.
As the battle between Ron and Kelliark intensified, the aftershocks rippled through the Sword Emperor Castle. Most of that burden, however, fell upon Octavia and the Wraith Squad.
It was a bizarre sight. The Wraith Squad was inadvertently acting as a shield, absorbing the fallout for the retreating Jin and his companions.
Octavia was seething. Ever since the battle on the ground began, she and her squad had consistently taken more damage from the clash between Ron and Kelliark than their actual targets.
‘Sir Hedo said it was as if the heavens themselves cherished this man… His luck is truly endless.’
—If the heavens cherish you, it is likely because your father has become the heavens themselves.
Just as Hedo had told Jin in the Sota Desert, Octavia felt something similar now. An uncanny amount of luck seemed to follow Jin wherever he went.
Of all things, the giants’ battle rained more destruction on her side simply because they were the ones giving chase. Then, the moment the fight began, a reinforcement named Misha had arrived at the most opportune time. And even now, after they had empowered themselves with the Demon God Stones, they still hadn't managed to finish him.
Once again.
A sense of unease washed over her. A foul intuition, like a nail being driven into her skull, told her that they would fail to kill Jin’s party in the end.
She felt as if something else was about to appear—someone else to help Jin and his group now that they were cornered.
‘Damn it…!’
Even setting aside the possibility of new arrivals, the fact that Valkas and the Sword Saints had not yet fallen was horrifying.
The Black King Commander and the Sword Saints were undoubtedly powerful, but they were by no means a match for her and the Wraith Squad. Even while enduring the shockwaves from the giants, they should have been eliminated by now.
Especially the five Sword Saints.
To the naked eye, they were practically walking corpses. Their complexions had gone past gray to a sickly black, and the swords they swung as they retreated no longer held their former sharpness.
And yet, they refused to die. She thought it would be the end when a chest was pierced; she thought their pace would slow when a thigh was skewered; she thought they would finally collapse when a leg was broken…
She had lost count of how many times they had defied her expectations.
With bodies reduced to tatters, swinging their swords as if they were drowning, how—and why—were they still holding the rear? And against her and the Wraith Squad, no less.
One of the Sword Saints was even flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness, like a dying magic lamp.
The Inner Castle was drawing near.
Since the activation of the Demon God Stones, the Sword Emperor Castle had lost most of its form, reduced to a landscape of rubble.
However, the Inner Castle alone remained almost exactly as it had been at the start.
Standing amidst the collapsed buildings and shattered earth, the solitary, intact Inner Castle exuded a strangely sublime aura. It gave the impression that this was the one precious thing that had to be protected, even if the rest of the world were to crumble.
But even Ron's power couldn't stop Octavia from launching a direct assault. If Jin’s party and the Wraith Squad entered the Inner Castle together, even that sanctuary would eventually fall.
“You shall not pass, Zipple…”
The Sword Saints stopped their retreat before the Inner Castle. Jin and his comrades paused, looking back at them.
No words were needed.
We will buy you time, one last time. Go check on Dante, and if possible… if you can… please take him with you.
The Sword Saints’ backs spoke those words. They were declaring that none of them could survive now, even if they received immediate treatment.
A sacrifice—a truly terrible one.
“Yes, a noble choice… but it will mean nothing.”
Octavia spoke in a low voice dripping with hatred. She and the Wraith Squad leveled their staves at the Sword Saints.
As she said, the miracles the Sword Saints had performed—hundreds of times over, it seemed—were about to reach their end.
Drawing the Sealed Lightning Sword Sigmund, Jin turned and began walking back toward the Sword Saints.
‘My Lord…!’
‘Young Master!’
His companions felt a jolt of panic. They, too, did not want to move forward by stepping over the sacrifices of their comrades.
But they had to be cold-blooded. This was surely not what the Sword Saints wanted. Sensing Jin’s approaching energy, the Saints wanted to scream at him to just leave.
His companions should have stopped him, but Jin wasn't heading toward the Sword Saints simply because his heart was breaking and he had lost his reason.
Are you still going to stay hidden?
He was asking Runcandel—his own family.
‘No matter who the clan sent, they must know that if I stay here and fight, even if I have to unleash Pluto’s Sovereign Sword, the Sword Saints won't be the only ones dying.’
It was a form of blackmail, and as always, Jin got what he wanted.
Just as the magic from Octavia and the Wraith Squad began to pour toward the Sword Saints, and just as Jin’s companions were about to throw themselves forward to drag him back by force—
A group of knights, who had been concealed by the chaos, stepped out to block the path before Jin and the Sword Saints. They were five Black Knights.
‘Again? Is it truly happening again…!’
Octavia ground her teeth as she glared at the Black Knights.
—Do you think Runcandel would step in just to save me, Octavia Zipple?
—Without a doubt. You have reached that level of importance within Runcandel now.
Just as they had discussed when they first met on the ground, Octavia had considered the possibility of Runcandel’s intervention from the very beginning.
The reason she was so shocked now was simply because she was sick of it.
The fact that circumstances always aligned in Jin’s favor made her blood boil.
Swaaaak—!
The knights’ swords sliced through the magic of Octavia and the Wraith Squad. They, too, must have been enduring the giants’ power while following the party, yet they showed no signs of fatigue.
Instead, a sword energy more robust than any active Black Knight Jin had ever seen now stood as a wall before the Inner Castle.
His companions breathed a sigh of relief, and only then did Jin slightly withdraw his fighting spirit.
He knew that if he hadn't shown a genuine will to rejoin the fight—rather than just pretending to stand with the Sword Saints—the Black Knights would never have revealed themselves.
“12th Flagbearer.”
Stam’s calm, heavy voice did not lose its presence even amidst the roar of explosions.
Jin had never heard Stam’s voice before, nor did he know his rank, but he knew instinctively: this man was the Captain of the Runcandel Black Knights.
“To think you would drag me out like this. You always have a knack for surprising the members of the clan.”
Stam’s sword emitted a fierce resonance, pushing away all other energies in the vicinity. The moment he appeared, Octavia and the Wraith Squad were forced to shift from a pursuit formation back into a combat stance.
“Stam… Did Rosa Runcandel not come herself?” Octavia demanded.
Stam did not answer her. Instead, he looked past her at Jin’s party, as if the presence of the Wraith Squad before him was of no concern.
For a few seconds, Stam’s gaze shifted between Jin’s party and the undamaged Inner Castle. Finally, his eyes came to rest on the gaunt, broken forms of the Sword Saints.
As a martial artist before a Black Knight, and as a human being—it was a sight that commanded respect.
“I should be grateful that I can pay my respects to you all, thanks to the 12th Flagbearer. Though it was not my intention, it is an honor to assist in your final moments.”
Even if he was moved by them as a warrior and wished to help them as a man, the mission and the clan’s interests always came first for the Black Knights.
Therefore, stepping in now wasn't strictly appropriate, but considering the risk to Jin’s life, he had no other choice.
“…Sir Stam, I swear it,” Jin said, his voice heavy. “A day will come when Hairan repays this debt. Even if a thousand years pass.”
Though Stam and the Black Knights had appeared, the deaths of the Sword Saints were already inevitable.
Jin knew this as well. He had forced his clan to intervene because it was necessary. He knew better than anyone that the Sword Saints alone could not buy enough time.
Stam nodded and met Jin’s eyes.
“Go, 12th Flagbearer.”
Jin did not ask Stam to give him time for a final farewell.
From the moment the battle on the ground began, Jin and his companions had been saying their goodbyes to the Sword Saints all along.
The fight itself was nothing less than a long farewell.
Jin and his comrades took one last look at the backs of the Sword Saints before turning toward the Inner Castle.
Octavia could not stop them as they left.
“A moment ago, you asked if Lady Rosa came herself, Octavia Zipple.”
Stam leveled his sword and continued.
“You should be grateful that Lady Rosa sent me in her stead.”
Stam’s voice, filled with contempt, pierced right through her.
* * *
Dante Hairan.
In the internal war he waged against the White Stone, he was walking along an endless gray path.
He no longer remembered how much time had passed, why he was here, or what he was resisting.
Am I doing well…?
He clearly remembered that he had been fighting a fierce battle. He knew he had engaged in a struggle so intense it defied description.
But now, he felt at peace.
The voice that had been tempting him—the one he felt he must never follow, though he couldn't remember why—was no longer audible.
I am doing well. And I have finally overcome it…
As that thought took root within him, his steps grew lighter. He didn't know what he had defeated, but he felt that if he kept walking, something good would happen.
After advancing through the gray zone for a long time, Dante heard a new voice.
Dante…!
Dante!
It wasn't the tempting voice he felt he must ignore, but something entirely different—something very familiar and dear.
It was the voice of a friend.
‘Jin!’
Dante broke into a wide smile and began to run toward the sound of Jin’s voice.
Before he had gone very far, the voice grew closer, and a single door appeared, standing abruptly upon the gray earth.
He grabbed the handle.
‘But… is it okay to open it and go out?’
A sudden, inexplicable sense of dread filled his heart, which had just been pounding with joy.
Dante!
His friend’s urgent voice called out once more. Dante stopped hesitating and flung the door open.
And the moment he stepped through that door, the White Stone looked at the wide-open exit and thought:
Finally.
I can get out.