Chapter 719: Each Person's Fight (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 719: Each Person's Fight (9)
Dipus’s body wavered within the afterimages left by Sky Shatter. Chaos energy gushed like blood from his torn-off left arm and severed wings.
At this point, the clash between the two could hardly be called a fight anymore.
Driven into a corner, Dipus barely managed to swing Volgar, while Jin relentlessly drove his blade into every opening he found.
With every strike, a gaping hole was gouged into Dipus’s flesh. Had he been a normal human, he would have died ten times over by now.
Jin wielded his sword without a shred of mercy, as if intent on erasing Dipus’s physical form until not a single atom remained.
[Kuh... A monster with Dipus's memories! Is that it? Do you truly perceive me as a completely different entity?]
Clang—!
The greatsword Volgar slammed into the ground as it blocked Jin’s vertical slash.
[You keep spouting nonsense about me being a piece of Chaos that swallowed your brother. I understand you’re excited because victory is within your grasp, but look closely. I am Dipus Runcandel. I am your brother.]
“There is no one left in the Garden of Swords who has the right to bear the name Runcandel.”
[Heh, I suppose it might seem that way from your perspective. However, it’s troublesome when you keep treating me like a stranger. Not only is it untrue, but it’s also disrespectful to an opponent who refuses to grovel even when cornered, Youngest.]
Suddenly, the atmosphere surrounding Dipus shifted.
His swordsmanship, which had lost its center under the crushing pressure of the assault, rapidly regained its stability. Volgar once again brimmed with the same destructive power it had held at the start of the battle.
Is this his final struggle?
Jin had always kept in mind that Dipus might be holding some hidden strength in reserve.
It’s an enhancement, not a self-destruction.
It didn't matter. Even if it were a suicidal blast on the level of the Decisive Technique: Volcanic Eruption, Jin could block it. It would be the same even if Dipus grew stronger.
However, Jin soon realized that the change in Dipus was more than just a last-ditch power-up.
Instead of Chaos energy, the greatsword Volgar began to glow with a pure white radiance.
Aura...?!
An aura thick with the fierce energy unique to the Runcandels made Volgar shine.
Jin momentarily widened the distance and locked eyes with Dipus. The 4th Flagbearer was laughing like a madman as he snapped off the demonic horn growing from his forehead.
“Do I still seem like some monster, and not your brother?”
His voice, which had been ominously distorted, returned to its original tone. The grotesque wings sprouting from his back fell to the ground like withered petals.
From the wounds all over his body, hot, red blood flowed instead of Chaos energy.
He reversed... the physical transformation?
Standing before Jin once again, Dipus looked exactly as he had in the past.
Naturally, this was something Jin had not anticipated.
“Answer me, Youngest.”
“How on earth...”
“It was inevitable that you and I would end up crossing swords as enemies. But at the very least, you shouldn't try to ease your guilt by pretending I'm a different being.”
Had Dipus shown his old self while begging for his life, Jin would have instantly dismissed it as a pathetic trick to survive.
But in the eyes of the restored Dipus, there burned the fighting spirit of a man fully prepared for death.
Consequently, Jin’s heart couldn't help but waver for a moment.
“While you were away in closed-door training... I had to fight a rather difficult battle as the family’s 4th Flagbearer. Along with Mary.”
As he spoke, Dipus swung Volgar down at Jin.
Jin parried the blow, his eyes never leaving his opponent.
No matter how many times he looked, it was Dipus.
“Once Mother accepted Chaos, the family changed in an instant. Many, including myself, tried to resist, but there was no way. Those who defied Mother were simply hunted down and slaughtered day after day.”
Do you think I resented you back then?
Jin could not find the words to answer the unspoken question.
“I resented no one. Not Father, who showed no sign of returning even as the family was forced to change; not Sister Luna; not you, who left to train alone; not even Mother, who was oppressing us at the time. Do you know why? Because I believed all of it was the result of my own weakness.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“And yet, throughout this entire fight, you have resented and hated me. You perceived me not as Dipus Runcandel, but as a monster of Chaos. Is the version of me that accepted Chaos no longer me? Is that really something for you to decide? Joshua is still Joshua even though he’s tainted by Chaos, so am I no longer Dipus?”
“Don't you dare compare that son of a bitch to Brother Dipus.”
“You’re still looking away. Jin, my youngest brother. Let me tell you a fact. It is impossible to receive a portion of Mother’s power without one's own will. Even if Mother tried to bestow it by force, it cannot be received. It means I became a fragment of the Evil God by my own choice!”
Jin’s eyes widened, his pupils trembling.
However, after a few seconds, Jin regained his composure.
Even if everything Dipus said was true, nothing would change.
“...I understand what you’re saying. Regardless of why you chose Chaos, it is a pity things turned out this way. I will make sure not to resent you, either.”
“Good. That’s how it should be.”
The brothers' swords clashed once more.
As soon as the exchange began, minor wounds rapidly accumulated on Dipus’s body.
His wounds were no longer healing. Unlike before, a single fatal blow would now spell the end of him.
Jin’s sword remained devoid of mercy.
Is this the realm Brother reached before he was tainted by Chaos...?
He is strong.
Even someone this strong could not ultimately resist Chaos.
Such thoughts crossed his mind.
But "strength" was merely an objective measure.
To Jin, who had essentially reached the apex of power, Dipus’s sword could no longer pose a threat.
“Agh!”
Bradamante slashed across Dipus’s waist. Thick clumps of blood poured from the gaping wound.
Immediately after, Dipus’s movements slowed noticeably.
Monsters tainted by Chaos would pay no heed to such injuries, but humans slow down when they are hurt.
That sight tore painfully at Jin’s heart.
Jin swung his sword in silence. Every time the blade cut, tore, and pierced Dipus’s body, a chillingly vivid sensation traveled up his hand. The undeniable sensation that he was killing a person—his own brother.
“Mother cannot even be compared to the likes of me. Do you really think you can succeed in your rebellion...!”
“Aaaaaagh!”
A crimson mass spilled from Dipus’s abdomen. He clutched his innards with one hand while swinging Volgar like a vengeful ghost.
“You couldn't even save your own family, yet you claim you’ll save the world? You came to Ricalton to save people? Cut the bullshit. You are a hypocrite and a traitor. Mother may have accepted Chaos, but she never joined hands with our arch-enemies!”
Crack...!
Fractures spiderwebbed across the blade of Volgar. The greatsword’s life was reaching its end after enduring Jin’s continuous onslaught.
Once, twice, three times.
Every time Jin struck down with Bradamante, sharp fragments sheared off from Volgar.
A few of them grazed Jin’s face, leaving droplets of blood to trickle down his cheek.
Finally, when the seventh strike landed, Volgar shattered into pieces.
Yet, even with his sword destroyed and his body completely mangled, Dipus continued to radiate a fierce murderous intent.
His eyes were grim and fierce, shining with an unbreakable resolve.
Jin halted his advance for a moment and stared at Dipus.
“Come. Are you hesitating? Heh, have you stopped your sword now because you’re afraid to kill me?”
A single streak of sword energy shot out from the broken hilt of Volgar.
Jin didn't even dodge. The aura was so faint that the sword energy was swept away by Jin’s own pressure, dissipating before it could even reach him.
Nevertheless, Dipus fired his sword energy several more times. With each desperate attempt, the energy grew fainter, Volgar shed more fragments, and fresh fountains of blood erupted from Dipus’s ruined body.
It was a pure display of will—an intent to leave even a single scratch on Jin before he died. It was a terrifying tenacity, warning that if even that proved impossible, he would become a vengeful spirit to haunt Jin’s dreams.
“Or do you, cough, want to mock me?”
That wasn't it.
The reason Jin had stopped was simply because he couldn't understand.
How a man this strong—a man who would never yield to death or pain, a man who could struggle so desperately—could have willingly accepted the power of the Evil God.
Why he had succumbed to Chaos.
He simply couldn't accept it.
“Why... why did you do it? What made you like this, Brother?”
“The only one who made me like this is myself. Do not look for the reason elsewhere. As you said, it doesn't change anything anyway. Why? Do you still need someone to blame? You’re wrong. If you hate this situation so much, then blame yourself.”
The moment Dipus finished speaking, Chaos energy suddenly began to violently swirl around him.
Jin hurriedly lunged to cut through the Chaos energy enveloping Dipus, but at that exact moment, a white portal tore open in front of him.
[Bo-ong!]
“Jin!”
Mort, Siris, and Valeria were reaching out to Jin from within the white portal.
Valeria had been analyzing the records of the battlefield and had just discovered the Prophet’s final move.
“Stop! You mustn't kill the 4th Flagbearer now! We have to eliminate the Prophet first...!”
“Valeria, what do you mean?”
“The Prophet placed a spell on the 4th Flagbearer. It’s a curse-type magic set to return the power he received back to the Evil God the moment Dipus dies.”
From the very beginning, Dipus’s goal had been the recovery of the Evil God through his own death.
That was why he had drawn Jin away—to buy time for the Prophet to complete the curse.
If Jin had attacked Ricalton Castle with his allies from the start, the war would have ended before the Prophet could place the curse on Dipus.
It meant that if Jin had killed Dipus just now without questioning anything, Rosa would have absorbed his power and awakened immediately.
Beyond the white portal, Dipus, who had been completely engulfed in Chaos energy, vanished without a trace.
“We have to kill the caster first to prevent the curse from activating. Get in, quick! The 4th Flagbearer has been summoned to Ricalton Castle. We have to go back right now, kill the Prophet, and destroy the power of the Evil God within the 4th Flagbearer!”