Chapter 607: Purifying Chaos (11)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 607: Purifying Chaos (11)
*
[It took a bit longer this time, didn't it?]
Chaos spoke as it lifted its head.
Today was the first day of October 1801. Jin had stepped through the Gate of Chaos three months after their last confrontation. Since he had previously fought at steady one-month intervals, this was a first.
“I was busy picking out a gift for you,” Jin replied in a low voice.
His calm response was laced with a thick, palpable animosity toward Chaos. To anyone who could perceive such deep-seated malice, Jin looked like a vengeful fiend.
[A gift?]
Over the past year and three months, Jin had undergone many changes. Through long and arduous battles, he had reclaimed about fifty percent of his original energy and accumulated new power through training.
Even so, he had been no match for Chaos.
His best record from their last fight—a battle lasting eighteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds—could hardly be called a proper fight. He had spent most of that time merely evading before being forced to flee.
But Jin believed today would be different.
[Well, did you bring me a toy? I was getting bored,] Chaos sneered.
‘Spirit Sword Supreme Technique… Did he complete that technique he kept thinking about every time we fought?’
In this space, Chaos could read Jin’s thoughts.
Because of this, Chaos had obtained information on every new martial art Jin learned, including the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique, and had easily dismantled them during their battles.
‘To be precise, I didn't even need to dismantle them. Even the techniques that seemed decent were never fully unleashed because he lacked the power to manifest them.’
The only thing that had truly bothered Chaos until now was the pure malice Jin harbored. Just sensing that animosity gave it a strangely unpleasant sensation.
Chaos rose to its full height and looked down at Jin. As always, in its eyes, Jin appeared weak enough to be crushed to death under a single forepaw.
However, a moment later, Chaos felt the malice emanating from Jin suddenly subside.
[Oh? What’s this? Have you finally realized you’re no match for—huh?]
That wasn't all.
Along with the disappearance of his malice, Chaos realized it could no longer read Jin’s thoughts.
This, too, was a first.
[What did you do?]
Jin did not answer.
Before Chaos knew it, Bradamante, wreathed in black spirit energy, was already in his right hand. The sight was so unexpected that Chaos couldn't help but be shocked.
It hadn't perceived the moment Jin drew his sword at all. An ominous intuition, like a chilling wind, swept down its spine, and its scales stood on end.
[You!]
Swish—!
It swung its forepaw rapidly, but it felt no impact. It swung again, lashing out in all directions with its tail, but the result was the same.
‘Where did he go?!’
No matter where it turned its head, Jin was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he had never entered the space to begin with.
‘There are no traces of him opening the gate to escape.’
Therefore, if it released its energy throughout the entire space, Jin would eventually be hit.
However, Chaos worried about a potential problem with that approach—but this was no time for complacency.
Its vision was suddenly cut off.
‘My eyes…!’
For a moment, Chaos was forced to believe it had gone blind.
This subspace was originally composed of chaos, but the colors and outlines of its and Jin’s bodies were usually not obscured by the primordial darkness.
But not now. Even when it brought its forepaws and tail before its face, or turned its head to look at its wings, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
The inability to see.
Only then did Chaos realize the truth.
Jin’s malice hadn't disappeared; it had simply been blocked, just as its vision had been abruptly severed.
There was no need to wonder what was blocking them.
Spirit energy.
In an instant, the chaotic energy that composed the entire subspace was being blanketed by spirit energy.
“It seems it works on you this time…”
When Jin’s low voice drifted over, Chaos reflexively twisted its body.
It couldn't tell which direction the voice came from. By then, Chaos had cast aside its hesitation and was exploding its energy in all directions, but even then, it felt no sensation of striking anything.
Since the dawn of time, darkness has never shed its symbolism of fear. Consequently, for the first time, Chaos was forced to succumb to terror.
The opponent who had seemed so pathetic just seconds ago had now become an unknown horror, weighing down on it.
[Hey, wait—wait a minute! How is this possible? This is my domain…!]
“I finally get to see you panic like you did at the very beginning, exposing your shallow thoughts for all to see.”
[You bastard!]
“Ah, and it seems you can’t read my thoughts in this state. If you had just kept your mouth shut, I wouldn't have known.”
The severing of Chaos's vision was an omen—the sign of the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique being unleashed.
That omen had naturally dyed the subspace the moment Jin resolved to use the technique. From that point on, without even realizing it, all of Chaos's senses had been dulled. That was exactly when Jin had drawn his sword.
It wasn't carelessness that had caused Chaos to miss Jin’s draw.
“Thanks to you, I’ve gained a bit more confidence.”
The secret technique that had plunged Jin into despair countless times over the past year and three months was beginning.
Spirit Sword Supreme Technique 1st Form
First Night
The darkness engulfing Chaos deepened. Whether it opened its eyes or closed them, only an endless void of blackness muddled its mind.
It felt as if its brain was unraveling.
It wasn't just a feeling. Chaos realized that the senses it knew were being extinguished one by one, like candles in the wind.
After vision came sensation.
The feeling of its body moving, the touch of air on its flesh, the sound reaching its ears—all senses were vanishing.
It was as if it had become an inanimate object.
In its terror, it wanted to scream at the top of its lungs, but even that failed. Its throat felt tightly constricted; no sound came out.
It couldn't see, it couldn't move, and it couldn't make a sound.
It couldn't even feel itself struggling. All Chaos could do was exist like a puppet with its strings cut, as if it were already dead.
‘My thoughts… even my consciousness?!’
The last thing to be cut off was consciousness.
The darkness covering everything was eroding Chaos’s mind. It tried to hold onto its fading consciousness by any means necessary, but it was helpless.
‘No…!’
With that final thought, all of Chaos's senses and consciousness were extinguished.
It was impossible to be in a more defenseless state. Chaos had become an entity that wouldn't wake even if it were sliced to pieces, unable to even feel the pain of impact.
Step, step…
Jin’s figure gradually emerged from the darkness as he walked toward Chaos.
Unlike Chaos, Jin could clearly perceive the creature. It hung suspended in the veil of spirit energy, motionless.
‘It’s different from when I used it on the Fighting God Brothers. This technique succeeded so completely because this thing is just a creature of immense power, nothing more.’
Jin stared at Chaos for a moment.
He wasn't being complacent. He was simply so exhausted from unleashing the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique that he momentarily couldn't perform any other action.
‘Indeed, the Spirit Sword feels more like an Authority than a sword technique, just as the brothers said.’
Spirit Sword Supreme Technique 1st Form, First Night, was rooted in Spirit Sword 1st Form: Soul Slash.
—Wait, didn't you say earlier that Soul Slash is the beginning and the end of the Spirit Sword?
—I did.
—Then does that mean even if I master Soul Slash, the limit is just leaving a sword scar a hundred paces long in this training ground?
—If you only master Soul Slash, that is indeed the limit. However, once you reach the end of the martial art known as the Spirit Sword, Soul Slash ceases to be swordsmanship and becomes an Authority.
This was a conversation he’d had with Garmund when he first began inheriting the Spirit Sword in Laprarosa.
At the time, Garmund had said that if one reached the ultimate height of the Spirit Sword and unleashed Soul Slash, they could take the life of any ‘opponent with a weaker will than their own’ at any time.
First Night could be considered an intermediate stage toward wielding Soul Slash at such a level.
If Chaos had possessed a will higher and stronger than Jin’s, the result would have been entirely different.
“Whew…”
Jin caught his breath and took a stance. It was time to cut the creature down and end this long, long nightmare.
Slash, shrrrk—!
Jin leaped through the darkness, swinging Bradamante. Each time he did, sharp black arcs of sword energy, like flashes of lightning, carved into Chaos.
Like shattering glass, Chaos’s physical form was breaking apart.
He had never been able to land a single blow on it before. The fact that he was now cutting it apart so easily, all thanks to the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique, sent a simultaneous wave of futility and thrilling victory through him.
It was accompanied by the pleasure of finally reclaiming his power. Every time Chaos’s body was sliced into pieces, glowing, ore-like lumps were revealed. That was the energy Jin had been robbed of.
Jin snatched them up to replenish his strength, his sword swings gradually increasing in speed.
Before long, he had reclaimed all his energy from the creature. His eyes snapped open, a surge of power filling his entire body. The first thing he saw was Chaos’s form, shattered to the point of being unrecognizable.
As First Night came to an end, a sense of lethargy so intense it made the surge of power he’d just reclaimed feel insignificant washed over him.
‘No, I can't afford to be this exhausted right now.’
He wasn't certain he had finished Chaos off. It looked like he had, but there was every possibility the creature could recover.
And before even a few seconds had passed, his concern became reality.
[You… damn you…!]
Chaos, having already reformed its body, looked down at Jin from the air.
The one silver lining was that it was incomparably weaker and smaller than before.
On the other hand, Jin was only temporarily exhausted. If he could just weather this crisis, he was guaranteed a complete victory in their next battle.
[You wicked brat!]
Chaos descended, spitting spikes toward Jin’s chest. He managed to block three, but there was nothing he could do about the fourth.
Furthermore, the fourth spike was aimed at his face; if it hit, his head would be gone. Jin gritted his teeth and raised his sword, but he was a fraction too late.
‘It stopped?’
For some reason, the spike stopped moving just an inch from Jin’s eyes. If it hadn't, at least half of his face would have been torn away.
If he didn't miss this opening, he could use the Spirit Sword to open the gate and escape. Victory in the next battle would be assured.
However, Jin suppressed the urge and met Chaos’s eyes.
“Don't tell me… you can't kill me?”