Chapter 600: Chaos Purification (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 600: Chaos Purification (4)
“C-Continue, you say?”
“The 5th Fighting King said they finished the device…”
Ban did not answer immediately, remaining still for a few seconds. Her hair fluttered like flickering flames, her eyes calm and deep. It was a gaze that forced the Fighting Kings to bolt upright from their seats.
Every member of the Pluto Tribe quickly fell into line and bowed their heads.
While there was no formal hierarchy between a Fighting King and a common warrior, Fighting God Ban was the absolute sovereign of the Pluto Tribe.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Jin tried to take a spot among the ordinary warriors. However, Tantel and Shaku pushed him forward a step, toward the area reserved for the Fighting Kings.
‘Brother, stand at the front!’
‘But I’m not a Fighting King.’
‘Just go.’
Even after he stood alongside the Fighting Kings, the same thing happened.
‘Brother Jin, stand next to Brother Ban!’
‘Next to the Fighting God? Is that allowed?’
‘Brother Jin, you inherited Sigmund. You are the Fighting God’s only successor. In terms of rank, you’re practically above us.’
Left with no choice, Jin stood by Ban’s side. Only then did she speak, as if the formation was finally correct.
“You’ve grown lax, my brothers.”
“Fighting God, we have shown a pathetic side of ourselves. Please, grant us your guidance.”
“It seems you have all forgotten.”
Ban pointed at Jin.
“On his first day back in Laprarosa, Brother Jin said he would take us outside. If that is the case, what is it that my brothers and I must prepare for?”
“To become Brother Jin’s strength,” a Fighting King answered.
“Correct.”
A deep hum resonated through the air.
Suddenly, the entire training ground began to vibrate, resonating with Ban’s aura. The Fighting Kings felt their vision go dark for a moment, and the common warriors clenched their teeth to keep from collapsing.
Jin was entirely unaffected. Ban had not directed any of her aura toward him.
“My prime is over, and our glorious era met its end half a millennium ago.”
Even as she spoke, her aura grew increasingly vast. The vibrations shaking the training ground actually grew fainter, but Ban’s energy was like a silent storm.
Silence and storm. As if two completely contradictory concepts had merged, her aura possessed a divine dignity.
‘They aren’t holding back because of rank,’ Jin realized. ‘All the brothers… are truly being crushed by her sheer presence.’
These were the strongest martial artists Jin knew. He wondered if even Temar, Cyron Runcandel, or Ron Hairan—the strongest men he had encountered in the Mitra Great Desert—could achieve such a feat against twelve Fighting Kings and sixty-four Pluto Tribe warriors simultaneously.
“Even if we can all leave, it means we can only offer Brother Jin a strength so meager it is embarrassing compared to those days. Do you think we can protect Brother Jin and each other with just that?”
I think this would be more than enough to protect me… Jin wanted to say, but he remained silent.
Ban released her aura.
The Pluto Tribe members caught their ragged breaths and shouted in unison, “It is not enough!”
“From this moment on, not just Brother Jin, but all of you must train with your lives on the line. There must not be a single brother who shows a trace of idleness, wallowing in past glory.”
“We will keep that in mind, Fighting God!”
Ban hadn’t excluded Jin from the warning because she wanted to give him special treatment. It was simply because Jin was the only one who had been trying to continue the sparring, asking who was next.
“Fighting God.”
When the 11th Fighting King, Nata, spoke, Ban met her eyes.
“Speak.”
“First, I apologize once again for our poor showing. However, if we continue training like this, Brother Jin might be in danger, even if the rest of us are fine.”
“Do the other brothers feel the same?”
“Yes, Fighting God. It’s true we feel fatigued, but we are genuinely worried about Brother Jin’s condition. If he keeps training…”
“He might die?”
“Yes.”
“It seems your hearts have grown even more lax than I thought, seeing as you’re stating the obvious.”
“Our apologies.”
“Training is, by its very nature, something you can die from.”
The Pluto Tribe members fell silent again at Ban’s words, each syllable delivered with heavy emphasis.
Looking back, Fighting God Ban had never hesitated to use extreme methods to make Jin stronger since he first arrived in Laprarosa. Even the transfusion of Fighting God Blood had been conducted with the possibility of death in mind.
Like many of the truly powerful, she believed that transcendence could not be achieved without risking one’s life.
In the first place, the training of the Pluto Tribe was more violent and dangerous than that of any martial group in history. The reason they had reigned as the overlords of the human world was not just because they were a natural-born combat race.
“Baltirok, Rumora, Palem, Linpa, Boras, Dalpir, Belize, Garmund, Baba, Kaio, Nata, Teto. Spar with Brother Jin again from the beginning, in the order you became Fighting Kings. I will suppress any rampages. Those waiting for their turn should pair up and warm up.”
“Um, Fighting God? I think I need to tinker with the device a bit more…” Boras said.
“Didn’t you say it was finished?”
“Since the training is going to get intense, I should probably stand by to treat the brothers. Though I won’t have any use for special grafting techniques. Besides, if I step out, there are eleven Fighting Kings. If one spars with Brother Jin, the other ten can pair up perfectly, right?”
“Then everyone except Brother Boras shall begin training. Common warriors, form your groups as well.”
Boras chuckled and wished his brothers good luck.
*
Another four days passed.
Jin’s consciousness flickered in and out like a dying magic lamp, while the rest of the Pluto Tribe barely stood on trembling legs, searching for their sparring partners.
“T-This time, the 12th Fighting King brother is with me…”
“Heugh, ack, cough.”
“Brother 6th Fighting King, what are you spitting up…?”
“Hehe, hihi… a butterfly. It’s a butterfly.”
“Get it together, Brother Nata! That’s not a butterfly, it’s vomit.”
In a scene so wretched it was hard to tell if it was training or torture, Ban and Boras looked down at the collapsed Jin.
“Less than ten rampages over the last four days… I think we can start now. What do you think, Fighting God?”
“We should. The chaos possessing Brother Jin must be exhausted by now. Get ready. Training is over! Brothers, take your seats.”
The Pluto Tribe members shuffled into their spots as if they had finally been granted life, and Boras dragged the Chaos Extraction Assist Device in front of Jin.
The machine was shaped like a pillar, but when Boras pressed a button, seams opened and chairs and straps burst out with a clatter.
Boras sat the limp Jin—who was as floppy as seaweed—into the chair and tied the straps around his head. Like the training, this too looked like a scene of torture.
Then, Ban placed her hand over Jin’s Heart of Light.
The Heart of Light erupted with a brilliant radiance like a waterfall, and Jin felt his mind clear instantly.
“Whew…”
“Are you awake, Brother Jin?”
“I thought I was in the afterlife, but fortunately, it seems I’m still alive. Fighting God.”
“We will now extract the chaos from you.”
“How… ugh.”
Squelch!
Suddenly, Ban’s hand plunged into Jin’s Heart of Light. She had prepared it in advance, making the spiritual organ as soft and yielding as mud.
‘Crazy… so extraction literally means pulling it out physically. This is much more violent than when Sister Yona pulled the chaos out of Sir Amela.’
As if searching for something hidden in a jar, Ban rummaged around and seized the energy of chaos hiding within the Heart of Light.
The sensation of her grabbing the chaos was incredibly vivid to Jin. And so was the fear the chaos was feeling.
“…As expected, its condition isn’t good.”
“Do you think the side effects will be worse than you thought, Fighting God?”
“We’ll have to hope not.”
Grip!
Ban tightened her hold. She had grabbed a part of the chaos, much like one would subdue a beast by the scruff of its neck.
And just as Jin was about to ask something else—
[Keeeeek…!]
Ban began to pull her hand out of the Heart of Light, and the chaos’s scream immediately rang out.
‘It sounds like the Demon God Stone, like Gliek’s voice. To think I’d hear this horrible sound here again.’
If his brothers hadn’t been by his side, Jin would have been overwhelmed by immense pressure the moment he heard that scream. The Sword Emperor Holy War was Jin’s worst nightmare.
However, while the Demon God Stone and Gliek had brought despair to everyone present with their voices alone back then, it was the opposite now.
[Kack, keck!]
The chaos’s scream was filled with desperation rather than dignity; it sounded almost like a plea for its life.
[Kieeee, kack!]
Soon, a part that looked like the ‘head’ of the chaos popped out from the Heart of Light. That head was pathetically crumpled under Ban’s grip, its eyeballs rolling incessantly. It didn’t even dare to meet Ban’s eyes.
“Come out quietly… if you wish to perish with even a little less pain.”
Surprisingly, the chaos stopped its whimpering. Instead, it squeezed its eyes shut and endured the pain, showing a posture of complete submission to Ban. Just as Amela’s chaos had feared Yona.
When more than half of the chaos had emerged, Jin was first surprised by the sheer size of the creature…
And then he was struck by a massive shock when he realized that chaos wasn’t the only thing leaving his body.
Energy.
The energy Jin had built up throughout his life as a magic swordsman was being dragged out, mixed in with the chaos.
“Brother Ban! My power is mixed in with the chaos…!”
Ban nodded as if she already knew and finished pulling the chaos out completely.
Flop! Thud!
Ban had merely pulled it out like digging up a sweet potato root, but the discarded chaos possessed a massive body that rivaled Murakan’s true form. Its shape was also similar to a dragon’s.
As soon as it was out, the creature prostrated itself before Ban, signaling that it had no intention of fighting.
[Kekeng, kieeee…]
“Oh, fortunately, it was extracted in one go. It looks like there are almost no side effects, so if the Fighting God just subdues that…”
“It seems you didn’t hear Brother Jin because you were busy with the device. The side effect is loss, Brother 5th Fighting King.”
Loss of power. Boras slapped his forehead as soon as he heard Ban’s words.
“Loss? Not rampage, possession, or mutation?”
“Yes.”
“Oh boy.”
Even as they spoke, the chaos continued to watch them warily.
“Then Brother Ban can’t take care of that for Brother Jin…”
Ban met Jin’s eyes.
“Brother Jin, you must fight that thing yourself from now on.”
“…That thing took all of my power, Fighting God.”
“That is why only you must face it. If I handle it instead, your energy will inevitably perish along with it. You must reclaim it while you fight.”
At those words, the chaos immediately grasped the situation and grinned. It had realized in an instant that Jin was Ban’s ‘weakness.’