Chapter 744: Beyond Destiny (16)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 744: Beyond Destiny (16)
Pluto Sword Fighting God Technique 10th Sword
Pluto’s Sovereign Sword – Open
The moment the profound technique began to unfold, the darkness vanished.
People turned their heads away, shielding their eyes with their hands. The Evil God’s black mass was engulfed in blue light, leaving behind nothing but a faint outline.
Her massive body lost its form, buried in the radiance. Even the underside of the ship Ram, which blanketed the sky, appeared stark white.
The light was so blinding that none dared to open their eyes, and the heat—capable of melting chaos itself—exerted a pressure that made it impossible to move.
With every passing second, these phenomena intensified. Even the black smoke rising from the Evil God’s burning flesh was consumed by the light, vanishing without a trace.
If a ‘God of Light’ truly existed, it felt as though he were descending upon this very spot.
Had Jin not simultaneously deployed the ultimate technique of the fourth Fighting King, Linpa, Brotherhood Guardian, more than half of his allies would have been killed or left near death the instant Pluto’s Sovereign Sword began. The allies realized this truth, their hearts struck with awe.
[The sword from the day he declared himself Patriarch…!]
They felt an instinctive premonition that Jin, the youngest son, might actually fulfill his promise to save everyone.
The Evil God felt a phantom sensation, as if the human heart she’d long since lost was now fluttering madly within her chest.
[Evil God, did you say that strikes against your physical body are meaningless?]
Jin was relaying Ban’s thoughts to the Evil God.
[Even the true gods, who existed as formless entities transcending the physical, were torn asunder by my blade. This body has already slain gods…]
Do not dare defile my brother’s world—the world we must return to.
The moment Ban’s thought concluded, the Evil God’s body exploded, unleashing a storm of chaotic energy within the domain of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword. The dark energy shrouded Jin’s body, which glowed with a brilliant blue light.
Furthermore, the entirety of the Evil God’s castle began to dissolve into chaos.
Not only her bloated body but the castle itself scattered into chaotic energy, encroaching upon everything in sight.
Even those protected by Pluto’s Sovereign Sword and Brotherhood Guardian were completely enveloped in the dark mist.
However, the chaos could not penetrate their defenses. It lacked the strength. Despite having ascended to godhood by gathering so much despair, the Evil God could not break through Ban’s sword.
Perhaps the total volume of her power was greater than Ban’s.
But what she lacked was depth and will.
And a reason why she must fight and win.
Rumble—!
Immediately after the Evil God’s self-destruction, the center of the light filling the sky split apart.
Tearing through that gap, a black energy began to fall as if the heavens themselves were collapsing. The main cannon of the Ram had fired its chaotic payload.
The main cannon's blast was a force they had witnessed during the first general offensive—an attack so absolute it could neither be dodged nor blocked. It possessed enough power to lay waste to an entire city in seconds, yet it moved with the speed of light.
But now, the Ram’s main cannon had lost its speed.
The lightning energy of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword was forcibly slowing the projectile. The blast descended slowly, like an object sinking gently through water.
(That ship… is it truly the Witch’s?)
‘Yes, Fighting God Brother.’
Huuup!
Jin glared, his eyes wide, and tightened his grip on Sigmund.
Or rather, Ban did. As their synchronization rate continued to climb, Jin and Ban were becoming one in more than just the name of their ultimate technique, Fighting God Union.
[It is unpleasant, considering the Witch herself is likely not the one operating it.]
Until a moment ago, Jin had merely been relaying Ban’s words to the Evil God, but that was no longer the case. As the assimilation deepened, Jin thought like Ban and spoke like Ban.
Ban had just realized this and grew wary. At this rate, Jin’s ego might collapse. The worry that he might unintentionally seize and consume his brother Jin’s body briefly clouded his mind.
(Fighting God Brother.)
But as soon as that thought arose, Jin’s voice echoed from within.
Control of the physical body had shifted entirely to Ban. Jin’s ego was now situated even deeper inside.
‘Brother Jin, are you not in pain? I did not know the subject of the Fighting God Union could be swapped.’
(No. Do not worry about me; just fight. I can hear Ling Ling’s voice, and I feel very much at peace. My ego will not collapse.)
Naturally, Jin could see perfectly into Ban’s thoughts. He likely could have done so even without the Fighting God Union.
Ban smiled.
‘Understood.’
It was unpleasant.
The reason Ban felt this way while watching the Ram’s main cannon move—albeit slowly—was simple.
The Ram was not even complete, the Evil God did not possess power on par with the Witch, and he himself had manifested in the human world.
An incomplete relic left behind by the Witch dared to point its muzzle at him as if it could pose a threat.
[How insolent…]
Pluto Sword Fighting God Technique 10th Sword
Pluto’s Sovereign Sword – War
As the roar of Open subsided, the second movement of the Fighting God’s profound technique began.
The march of the true Fighting God resounded. A solemn will to annihilate the enemy without a trace made Sigmund shine with a hardened light.
Then, the Ram’s main cannon, which had been slowly falling, stopped in its tracks. The descending darkness froze and shrank back.
‘The Ram’s main cannon… has completely stopped its advance? Even though Lin Milkano lost her authority!’
The Evil God had recognized Lin’s betrayal while she was building the castle. She had revoked all of Lin’s authority over the Ram before the castle was even finished.
The reason the main cannon hadn't functioned properly when the temporary alliance first arrived was merely for her own amusement. Her goal had been to drive the Youngest and the alliance into the castle to make them suffer through her trials.
But not now.
Even the Evil God could not hide her shock at the sight of the Ram’s main cannon being halted.
She had been certain that no means of destruction more powerful than the Ram’s main cannon existed in this world.
Even Murakan, who had been briefly summoned during the first general offensive, had seemed burdened by the prospect of defending against the main cannon head-on.
It felt as though even Cyron would find it impossible to perfectly cleave the Ram’s fire. Every time the cannon fired, a fleet from the temporary alliance had vanished.
Rumble… Groooan…!
The Evil God’s gaze briefly turned toward the sky.
The allies within the lightning of Pluto’s Sovereign Sword and Brotherhood Guardian also looked up. All they could see was the Ram’s bombardment, frozen in place like a hanging curtain.
However, another sound was reaching their ears.
The giant ship floated in the sky.
And from a sky even higher than that… came a deep, massive roar of thunder—the omen of lightning about to strike the earth.
[Be crushed.]
Ban lightly swung Sigmund.
A scream erupted from the Evil God once more. Since her physical body had already scattered into a storm of chaotic energy, the scream of her soul echoed in all directions like a ghostly wail.
Every bit of the scattered chaos was a part of the Evil God’s body. Most of the chaotic energy that formed the Ram was also derived from her. In other words, the Ram was also the Evil God’s body.
That was why she screamed.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands of bolts.
Thunder was striking the ship Ram. The entire hull, nearly ten li in length—that monstrous vessel that had plunged humanity into despair—was being battered and broken by the thunder summoned by the Fighting God.
Not even a single insect could find room to move atop the ship. The thunder perfectly blanketed that vast area and then some, tearing through the very air nearby.
[Aaaagh…!]
Like a human writhing in agony, the storm of chaotic energy twisted. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! With every strike of thunder, the Ram shook back and forth, left and right, as it crumbled.
Finally, the Evil God was overcome by a sense of crisis.
It was an emotion she had never felt since becoming a god.
The intuition that she might lose, the anxiety that everything would soon end, and the fear of extinction.
‘I… I feel fear…?!’
It was impossible.
And yet, it was happening.
‘And the sword hasn't even fully unfolded yet!’
There were three movements in total that comprised Pluto’s Sovereign Sword.
The Evil God did not know this for a fact, but she recognized it instinctively. Her divine insight showed her the possibility—that ridiculous possibility—that this domain of lightning could expand even further.
[Evil God, no object dares to float above me.]
Ban spoke as he reached his left hand upward.
As he clenched his fist, the frozen fire of the Ram’s main cannon was crushed like wet paint. The underside of the Ram, revealed through the scattered bombardment, crumpled as if something had savagely gripped it. In truth, Ban’s energy was clutching the bottom of the ship.
Soon, Ban began to slowly lower his outstretched hand.
He was pulling it down.
The Ram was being dragged down like a mere heavy object. Like a king being ignobly dragged from his throne, it was pulled down pathetically.
At that sight, even the allies were struck with shock. No, a strange sense of unease had taken root within them ever since Ban appeared.
‘If the 12th Flagbearer can wield such power at will…’
‘The moment he has even the slightest change of heart, this world is over. To think he possesses power that overwhelms even the Evil God!’
Those who, just moments ago, worried the world would end due to the Evil God’s monstrous strength were now fearing the power of the Fighting God. They were imagining the day that power might become another Evil God.
However, those who were not just allies but true comrades were simply moved and thrilled. The comrades envisioned Jin becoming the guardian of this world with that transcendent power.
The ship Ram was already twice as close to the ground as before. Ban’s strength in pulling the ship grew more immense with time, and the thunder striking its top showed no signs of subsiding.
The Evil God was barely pushing back her fear.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she and the Ram were annihilated. She could not let the battle she had longed for so much end so hollowly.
‘I must find it. I have to find it!’
She had to find something that could break through this crisis!
The Evil God steeled her will and glared at Ban. Though no way seemed visible, she had to find one somehow.
Just as the Youngest always had in the midst of such desperate crises.
It was now her turn to do what the Youngest had always managed to achieve.