Chapter 622: Fighting King Tournament (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 622: Fighting King Tournament (9)
Clang—!
As he took the blow, blood rose in his throat.
Jin had fought every Fighting King except for Boras.
With the exception of his match against Teto, every single one had been an ugly brawl. Starting with Kaio, he had made a habit of launching surprise attacks even after the matches were effectively over. Even in the fights he had won fairly, such as his second matches against Teto, Nata, and Garmund, he had wielded his blade with merciless intent, as if facing a sworn enemy.
He had even swung his sword at Linpa’s back after she had signaled her intent to forfeit.
As the other members of the Pluto Tribe had said, if he hadn't committed such madness—if he had simply tried to talk to them or asked them to recognize him as the successor…
If he had just asked them to support him as they always had, his brothers would have gladly done so.
‘That wouldn't have been enough.’
—So, Brother, pull yourself together and face this fight properly. When the Fighting King Tournament is over, no matter the process or the result, the brothers will surely cherish you as they always have… but never forget that they are human, too. If even the smallest grudge remains, it will eventually fester.
A child favored by an absolute power inevitably breeds resentment among their siblings.
Jin had learned this truth through his own experiences and the relationship between Rosa and Joshua.
Of course, the Pluto Tribe was different from the Runcandels, but they were still people.
Jin believed that all the special treatment and favoritism he had received from the Pluto Tribe could one day become a liability.
Today, Jin would burn away every last trace of that future threat.
Like Kaio’s Fighting King Ultimate Technique, Baba’s sword also resembled a Fighting God Technique. His "Punishment" shared many similarities with Pluto’s Sovereign Sword.
In fact, it displayed momentum far greater than the first form of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword that Jin had unleashed in response.
However, Jin was not pinned down by the pressure as he had been against Kaio. Even though Baba’s energy surpassed his own, Jin was swinging his sword exactly as he intended.
Looking back, Baba had been at the center of the Fighting Kings when they opened the tournament with the Fighting God Union.
At that time, the other Fighting Kings had played a supporting role to ensure Baba could unleash his full power. Kaio had been the core of that support.
“The Fighting God Profound Technique. If you hadn't learned it, if you hadn't shared the senses of the Fighting God Brothers through the Fighting God Union, you wouldn't be able to trade blows with me like this.”
“No matter what benefits I’ve received, could they ever compare to being born a true member of the Pluto Tribe? You’re talking nonsense.”
Those watching the fight were in a state of shock.
It wasn't because of the conversation between Jin and Baba or the thoughts it revealed.
The Pluto Tribe members were stunned by a simple fact: Jin was fighting on equal footing with Baba.
From the moment he first saw Jin in the Main Hall today, Baba had expected this kind of situation might arise.
He simply believed the final result would remain unchanged.
Sigmund and the light tangled violently. Aura and lightning flooded their surroundings, but as time passed, the battle distilled into its most fundamental form: a pure clash of blades.
Roars and explosions.
A series of rupturing sounds, so massive it was hard to believe they came from only two swords clashing, rang through the sky.
Because they were locked in a relentless, non-stop exchange, it almost felt as if there was no sound at all.
Wounds multiplied on both their bodies.
Surprisingly, the number of wounds was exactly the same. Whenever Jin was cut once, Baba was also cut once. Even the locations were perfectly symmetrical.
A brutal, fierce deadlock continued.
Soon, the two backed away simultaneously to create distance.
With Pluto’s Sovereign Sword active, Jin used Erosion to expand his domain, and Baba amplified his own energy to match.
Baba’s strength was slightly superior. However, the omen of the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique 1st Form, which Jin performed after switching his sword, bridged that gap.
“What do you plan to do by bringing out a technique you haven't even fully mastered, Jin Runcandel?”
Unlike during the fight with Kaio, the omen was successfully cutting off Baba’s senses. It wasn't that Baba couldn't block it; he simply accepted the sensory deprivation.
It didn't matter to him.
He closed his eyes himself before his senses were completely lost. And even in that state, he parried all of Jin’s attacks just as he had before.
If anything, his swordsmanship became even sharper.
‘To think he could break through the Spirit Sword Supreme Technique like this...’
To wield the sword even more sharply with his senses shut off… It was a monstrous realm Jin could hardly have imagined before experiencing the Fighting God Union.
Creeeeeak—!
A massive crack began to spread from the center of the Main Hall where the two were clashing.
The Main Hall, which had remained sturdy despite enduring so many matches, was finally breaking apart.
Once the crack opened, it began to suck in the shockwaves like a whirlpool. Just like the relationship between Jin and the Pluto Tribe.
At this rate, it would collapse in an instant.
Jin decided to settle the match in that instant. He had to; Baba was stronger.
‘I’ll dive in the moment we fall.’
When the ground beneath one's feet suddenly vanishes, even masters like Jin and Baba are bound to lose their balance for a split second.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“If you know, then counter accordingly. You’ve already forgotten my advice.”
Never in the history of the Fighting King Tournament had the Main Hall collapsed. Furthermore, the rules of the tournament included a loss by being pushed out of bounds, and at this rate, both of them would violate that.
Despite this exceptional situation, Ban did not stop the match.
Their fight could no longer be seen as a mere tournament match. It was closer to a war between Jin and the Pluto Tribe.
With her power, Ban could have used lightning energy to forcibly hold the Main Hall together, but she chose to let it break.
She did not stop the destruction of the Main Fighting God Temple—a sacred place that had once stood at the center of the Pluto Tribe’s ancient land, the Mitra Great Desert, and had been moved wholesale to the world of the dead after their defeat in the war against the gods.
Cr-crack—!
The moment the Main Hall split in half, the members of the Pluto Tribe squeezed their eyes shut.
They couldn't bear to watch the heart of their homeland be destroyed by a fight that had started from such a trivial dispute.
“Everyone, open your eyes and look closely.”
But they obeyed Ban’s solemn voice. Every member of the Pluto Tribe stared directly at the crumbling Main Hall and the two men fighting within it, entangled like demons.
As planned, Jin made his move as the hall fell. He stepped on the falling debris to close the distance with Baba.
The Spirit Sword Supreme Technique had already been deactivated. Baba did not dodge and met him head-on, and once again, they inflicted perfectly symmetrical wounds upon each other.
They had both severed each other's left arms. Their fallen limbs vanished, mixed somewhere into the falling wreckage of the Main Hall.
The moment they landed simultaneously, having cut past each other, they were back-to-back.
Then, as if by prior agreement, they both turned and thrust their swords.
Clang, thud—!
The match was decided.
Jin’s sword stopped before it could reach Baba’s chest, while Baba’s sword had pierced through Jin’s Spirit Energy Armor and into his chest.
As Baba twisted his blade, Jin’s body buckled, and he coughed up a glob of blood.
It wasn't that Jin hadn't thrust his sword. Baba's was simply faster.
“If you have something to say, say it now.”
“The lightning energy…”
“What?”
“Detonate it. Like… I did to Kaio.”
“You think I can’t?”
“Do it. Carry out your word… that you would kill me.”
Blood trickled between Baba’s gritted teeth.
Jin tried to lift his right arm, which was hanging down, still holding his sword. His body, pierced by the light, refused to obey him, but his senses were returning bit by bit.
Everyone watched as Jin struggled to raise his arm to stab Baba again.
Though he was panting and twitching like a wounded beast, if given enough time, he would eventually muster enough strength to pierce Baba.
“Let me ask you one thing, Jin. Why are you going this far? Why on earth?”
The reasons they had discussed before the fight—the discrimination and anxiety Jin claimed to feel, his justification for crossing the line—none of it was enough for Baba or the Pluto Tribe to accept this outcome.
“You… can’t detonate it, I see…”
“I can. I can detonate it whenever I want. But tell me just once. Why did you push things this far?”
Bradamante was slowly rising toward Baba’s throat.
It rose to within a span of his neck, fell back down as Jin’s strength failed, and then rose again, inching closer with each attempt.
Brother Baba, just end it already!
The Pluto Tribe members, who had been so enraged by Jin’s actions until now…
Not a single one of them shouted those words.
They simply kept their bloodshot, trembling eyes fixed on the two.
“Please, please… just tell me. That’s not everything you said earlier, is it? Right?”
“Are you just going to… keep making… noise?”
Drip—!
Finally, the tip of Bradamante touched Baba’s throat. Though it barely grazed him, the sharp blade easily sliced into the skin of his neck.
It had only entered as deep as a fingernail’s edge, but now, if Jin applied even a little more strength, Baba would meet his end.
Despite this, Baba still could not bring himself to detonate the sword piercing Jin’s chest.
“...Jin.”
Baba’s gaze moved from Jin’s clouded, darkening eyes to the blade at his throat, and then back to Jin.
After holding that gaze, Baba closed his eyes. Tears mixed with blood flowed from beneath his lids.
“I understand, Brother Jin. I can’t… I simply cannot understand it, but if this is your will, I will accept it.”
He had made a resolution before this match began.
If Jin refused to stop, even to the point of murdering him… he would never let go. Not of his brother. Not of his most precious family.
“However, before you pierce my throat… know one thing. Not just me, but all the brothers—we never truly gave up on you while you were going astray. Even when everyone was furious and spitting hatred and curses, even when they said you were no longer our brother, those were just words. They were just words spat out in anger.”
Baba loosened his grip on the light.
Then, opening his eyes again, he looked at the wound he had inflicted on Jin and grabbed the blade of Bradamante with his right hand.
“Brother Jin, if you really hated us, you would have shattered Brother Kaio’s heart when you stabbed him. Even now, you have the strength to stab me, yet you held back. But even if you move your blade again, I won't dodge. Not if this is what you truly want. Instead, after I die, please… come back to us. We’re brothers, aren't we…?”
Even then, the watching Pluto Tribe members did not shout. No one told Baba to stop, no one asked why Baba had to die instead of Jin, and no one tried to intervene. No one even mentioned that they still had Ling Ling.
They were people who would not abandon Jin, even if he ended up killing them all.
“You asked why… I’m going this far, Brother Baba.”
Brother. At that simple title, Baba lowered the hand that had been holding the blade and caressed Jin’s face. Bradamante fell to the ground with a clatter.
“Yes, tell me, Brother Jin.”
“Even when I go this far… you all just keep yielding to me. That’s why I did it.”
You should have hated me at least once. At least once, we should have had a real fight.
He had been certain that even if they scarred each other this deeply, they would never let go of one another in the end.
Jin finally confessed his role as the villain and collapsed into Baba’s arms.
All the brothers were running toward them.