Chapter 603: Purifying Chaos (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 603: Purifying Chaos (7)
More than fifteen days had already passed since Jin entered Laprarosa. He opened his eyes and tried to count how many times he had fainted but quickly gave up.
‘At least I woke up feeling refreshed this time.’
It was all thanks to regaining ten percent of his power just before collapsing.
In fact, Jin felt his entire body was light, not just his mood. The recovered aura was naturally infusing his whole being with strength.
“Brother Jin is awake again.”
“He seemed to regain some of his strength at the last moment. His recovery is certainly fast!”
The brothers approached, handing him water and “Kakto,” a traditional snack of the Pluto Tribe.
“How much time has passed?”
“About five hours?”
“Oh. Not much time has passed. Is it because I regained some of my strength? I don’t clearly remember how it defeated me and made me faint, though…”
“You didn’t collapse because you were defeated by Chaos, Brother Jin.”
As Ban entered, the surrounding members of the Pluto Tribe stood and offered a disciplined salute. They had always shown respect to Ban, but ever since she had scolded them, they displayed a truly heightened sense of military discipline.
“The reason you lost consciousness was not its attack, but the Fighting God Resonance.”
According to Ban’s explanation, Jin had fainted due to a kind of overload. He had been unable to handle the sudden influx of her power.
“Just before you collapsed, my energy suddenly began to resonate with you at an excessively fast rate.”
The start of the Fighting God Resonance and the fact that it had amplified so quickly that even Ban couldn’t control it—all of it had happened without her conscious intent.
“This has never happened before?”
“Never. To begin with, even after your Heart of Light was formed, a full Fighting God Resonance was never achieved.”
“Yes, I remember that,” Jin said.
His Heart of Light had formed during his first training session in Laprarosa when he received a transfusion of Ban’s blood. Since then, he had naturally attempted the Fighting God Resonance a few times, but unlike the other brothers, his Heart of Light had never reacted significantly to Ban’s power.
“I’ve pondered the reason for that.”
“Wasn’t it because even with the Heart of Light, my body is fundamentally different from the other brothers?”
“I thought so, too. Boras deduced the same. However, seeing the Fighting God Resonance occur so unexpectedly today, I’m convinced there was another reason.”
“What reason…?”
“To use a metaphor, your body was like a vessel that was always full. Therefore, there was no room for my power to be added.”
“That makes sense.”
“Furthermore, since your body is fundamentally different, you couldn't resonate with the power of the Fighting God Brothers!” Boras added, approaching the two.
As is common with researchers who have made a new discovery, his eyes sparkled with excitement.
“But this time, Brother Jin lost all his power, so that vessel was emptied, creating room! Hahaha!”
“Brother Boras, then what about my body?”
“That’s the particularly interesting part, Brother Jin.”
Tap, poke!
Boras quickly pressed various points on Jin’s body with his fingers.
“You said you felt the Fighting God’s blood resisting when you were being consumed by Chaos in Gliek’s subspace, right? At that time, the blood of the Fighting God Brothers must have triggered a change in your body as a survival mechanism.”
“Hmm.”
“In a manner of speaking, it’s an evolution! And your resonance is completely different from our tribe’s unique method. It shouldn't be seen as a resonance between a Pluto Tribe Fighting God and Pluto Tribe warriors, but as a unique resonance between a Pluto Tribe Fighting God and Jin Runcandel.”
“What’s the difference?”
“It means we’ve found a clue to completing a legendary martial art…”
“A legendary martial art?”
For some reason, Boras’s words sounded a bit like a scam artist’s, but Jin couldn’t help but feel a surge of curiosity.
“Hahaha, Brother Jin, have you ever heard of the Fighting God Union?”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Another Fighting God existed before our current Brother Fighting God. It is said that the great Pluto Tribe warrior, Brother Nana, was able to give all his power to his son, Kaka, through the Fighting God Union.”
At that, the 9th Fighting King, Baba, nodded proudly. Baba was a descendant of the great Pluto Tribe warrior Nana.
“Brother Nana couldn’t give that power to the other brothers, either. Only a general Fighting God Resonance was possible. Anyway, Brother Kaka, Nana’s son, received all of Nana’s power and became the next Fighting God.”
If the succession of power could have continued that way, the current Fighting God would be Baba, not Ban.
Nana and Kaka were very special cases, even in the history of the Pluto Tribe. Their story was the stuff of ancient legends, no different from the founding myths or hero epics found in any culture.
“Therefore, I think that Brother Fighting God and Brother Jin might be able to use the same martial art as our great ancestors.”
Although it felt like a pipe dream, Jin had just experienced something like the Fighting God Union only five hours ago. Furthermore, Ban didn’t add any corrections, as if she agreed with Boras’s opinion.
‘If I can use Brother Ban’s power…’
A creature like Chaos, still napping in the training ground, would be no problem at all. Not only that, but it would become difficult to find anyone in the human world who could match him.
However, things were never that simple.
“Even if that’s a truly achievable martial art, there must be a price. Is there anything passed down about that?”
“Not particularly. But the fact that Brother Fighting God couldn’t control the resonance and you fainted is already a side effect.”
“That’s true.”
“Get ready, Brother Jin. We’re going to the training ground immediately,” Ban said, meeting his eyes.
It wasn’t for an immediate rematch with Chaos but to conduct various experiments with the Fighting God Union.
“Understood, Brother Fighting God.”
Chaos, who had been sleeping pleasantly, jumped up and grew wary as Jin, the man it had just defeated, swarmed back into the training ground with the Pluto Tribe brothers after only five hours.
[Kaaaa!]
Although it had won the previous fight, it had lost ten percent of its aura to Jin, so it was showing an even more hostile attitude.
As always, Ban cowed Chaos with a single glance.
“Go to that corner and sleep, or play by yourself. Spend your remaining time however you want.”
[Whimper, whine…]
Watching Chaos’s back as it trudged to the corner, Jin once again thought the creature was pitiful.
‘It seems it’s not such a bad guy… No, it was formed from Heluram and Gliek and took all my power. Damn it, why do I keep empathizing with it so much?’
It was just pretending to be pitiful…
Even as he tried to think that, it wasn’t easy. From its corner, Chaos was now looking at Jin and the Pluto Tribe with quite pathetic eyes, crouching low. It was curious about what they were doing. Especially since Jin had suddenly grown stronger by receiving the Fighting God’s power and had threatened it earlier, it couldn’t help but be concerned.
In any case, Jin managed to ignore its gaze and focused on Ban.
Wooooong…!
A moment later, a glow appeared in Jin’s Heart of Light. However, the Hearts of Light of the other brothers remained unchanged.
“It’s as Brother Boras expected. This is certainly a resonance only between me and Brother Jin. I did not trigger the Fighting God Resonance just now,” Ban said.
“It really is! Our hearts aren’t glowing, are they? Only the hearts of Brother Fighting God and Brother Jin are flashing.”
The Pluto Tribe members looked back and forth between the two in wonder. Jin also smiled as he felt Ban’s power filling his entire body once again.
‘This feels like several times more than the ten percent I regained. If Chaos doesn’t have a trump card, I feel like I could finish it right now.’
At the same time, he felt anxious. He might suddenly faint from the side effects of the Fighting God Union, just like before, regardless of any attack from Chaos.
Ban tilted her head, a confused look on her face.
“But this is odd. Why does this phenomenon only occur in the training ground? There was no reaction at all back in the infirmary.”
“Didn’t you activate something when we came to the training ground, Brother Fighting God?”
“No, I did nothing. The resonance began the moment I tried to recall the sensation from when you and that thing were fighting earlier.”
[Whine, whiiiiine. Yap, yap.]
At that moment, Chaos let out a sorrowful cry, as if trying to tell Ban something.
An idea sparked in Jin’s mind. Could there be a connection between that creature and the Fighting God Union?
‘Could it be?’
Ban didn’t have the same thought, but Chaos’s crying was becoming a nuisance.
“Brother 1st Fighting King, Brother 2nd Fighting King. That thing is interfering with the training more than I thought.”
“We will move it to the 2nd training ground immediately.”
Baltirok and Rumora immediately approached Chaos with menacing faces.
“You dare interfere with Brother Fighting God’s training?”
“If you didn’t have Brother Jin’s power, you would have been summarily executed! Follow us.”
Terrified, Chaos had no choice but to follow their lead. Jin quietly watched it leave the training ground, looking utterly powerless.
He hoped his intuition was wrong.
‘Ah, damn it.’
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Jin felt the resonance between himself and Ban break the moment Chaos left the training ground. Ban felt it, too.
“Brother Fighting God, it seems…”
“…I felt it too, Brother Jin. Brother 1st Fighting King, Brother 2nd Fighting King, bring that thing back.”
As soon as the two Fighting Kings brought Chaos back into the training ground, an intense light once again formed in Jin’s Heart of Light.
“Heh.”
“What’s going on? Is the resonance between Brother Fighting God and Brother Jin related to Chaos!?”
The watching Pluto Tribe members scratched their heads in confusion, while Boras exclaimed:
“Was the Fighting God Union… achieved through Chaos as a medium!?”
And Chaos, cunning as ever, realized it had once again become valuable to them and couldn’t help but crack a smile.
“This little…”
It whimpered and looked away at Ban’s next words, though.