Chapter 95
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: The Dawn of Great Purification
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Karuna's aura had changed dramatically this time, transcending mere growth in strength.
Magra, witnessing that aura, froze solid as if turned to stone.
Flash.
"I'll go first!"
Karen shot up into the air.
The blazing Crimson Lotus Sword came crashing down on Magra.
-Kwaaaang!
"Urghhh!"
Right after, Karuna's sword slammed down on Magra.
-Kwaaaaaang!
"Gaaahhh!"
Magra's feet sank into the ground, and the summit floor—which was also the ceiling of the level below—collapsed entirely.
Kwajijijik!
It was the beginning of the Fire Altar's total collapse.
Sulfur Skull forces appeared in Magra's blurred vision.
"Lord Magra! Lord Magra! What happened? Pull yourself together!"
This was a voice Magra had heard often lately.
"Jando..."
"Lord Magra! Are you coming to? Those bastards..."
Flash.
Flash.
-Kwaaaang!
Karen, Karuna, Jamad, and Kang Seol dropped through the shattered ceiling one after another.
Rumble...
Then the people, who no longer needed to climb to the sacred flame, gathered in this newly widened space as the structure crumbled away.
"Snowman!"
"Everyone's okay! We survived thanks to you!"
"W-What do we do now? Trolls are coming up from below!"
Magra staggered to his feet.
Huuuup...
Magra drew in a ragged breath.
It took all his mental strength just to speak.
"Cough... Jando..."
"Lord Magra! What happened to you?"
"...A problem arose. A very serious one."
"What kind of problem? The altar's central pillar shifted again from that impact. If we fix that, I can join the fight!"
"No. The central pillar isn't the issue anymore. It'd be better if that damn thing just snapped."
Kang Seol waited patiently for Magra. No matter how things unfolded, there were no variables here.
Magra spoke with a grim expression.
"This place is done for as of today. Your plan is over too, so don't linger—head back to the tribe right now and relay this to the alliance."
"Pardon? What do you mean...? Is it those rat bastards?"
Magra shook his head.
His words, laced with self-mockery, were shocking.
"Not the rats. I was wrong."
"What?"
"Even in old age, my instincts are sharp. Today... I will die."
"Lord Magra! Reinforcements have arrived! Now those guys..."
"Shut up and listen! Jando! This isn't something troops can handle. A headless body is just a lump of meat! Today... I die, but in exchange for my life, the Sulfur Skulls won't have to. Relay this to the alliance: Magra resorted to alchemy. That's all you need to say, and the elders will figure it out. No time—go! Hurry!"
"......"
"And... remember the shadow. If my end feels unjust."
"Lord Magra!"
"Enough! Nothing more to say!"
"...Thank you."
Magra urged Jando forward.
This was a first for Kang Seol too. Running away.
And sure enough, Jando bit his lip and silently rallied the few remaining soldiers before withdrawing.
"We have to catch them..."
"No time for that."
In terms of combat power here, Kang Seol accounted for nearly all of it.
The twin knights were tied up with Magra, and Jamad had to protect Kang Seol, so they couldn't afford to expand the battlefield.
The deliberation was brief.
As if signaling to ignore the retreating Jando, Magra ignited his final blaze.
Whoosh!
He declared resolutely.
"This Magra will make his end dignified. It'd be nice if you'd join me as a companion."
Crack.
Crackle.
His frail body began to swell.
Muscles long faded filled out again, wrinkles vanishing as taut skin took their place.
Superheated Magra activates Incarnation.
Magra's physical abilities and sorcery power are maximized.
Forbidden sorcery consumes the caster's life force as tribute.
Sizzle!
Magra's form transformed like the Purga he'd faced before—a monkey wreathed in flames, eyes rolled back, drooling as if bereft of reason.
-Kwaaaang!
His strike on Karen was far more ferocious now, forcing her back.
"You old bastard!"
Karen calmly spun her sword to deflect his blade. Karuna slipped in during the opening.
Clang!
A clear ring.
Magra parried Karuna's attack effortlessly and pressed his assault.
Kaaang!
Kaang!
Clang!
Over a dozen clashes erupted in an instant.
It was hard to say who had the edge; they were perfectly matched.
Then the entire altar began to shake.
-Kwaaang!
-Bang!
The tremors grew worse with each clash against Magra. Likely because Jando had stopped supporting the altar.
Magra was slipping into a trance.
-Kwagwang!
"Harder!"
-Kaaang!
"Faster!"
-Kakakakakak!
-Kaang! Clang!
It was a truly bizarre battle.
"Burn! Burn to death! Hehe! Fire!"
His speed was like lightning, his power shaking heaven and earth.
Even Karen and Karuna in their prime couldn't land a scratch.
'No, that's not it.'
Karen and Karuna were steadily wounding Magra. But he regenerated instantly from every stab and slash.
Once the Incarnation sorcery ended, Magra would meet his end—barring any surprises.
That was when it happened.
-Kwaaaaaang!
One corner of the altar shook violently, intensifying the tremors.
Crack...
Craaaack!
The altar was collapsing in real time.
"Kyaaah!"
"Everyone, hold on tight! Don't let go!"
"The cart! Someone help with the cart!"
"Grab on! Hold Daddy's hand!"
In the chaos of hell.
Amid the peril, people huddled together as one.
Kang Seol felt unease as Magra's frenzied pupils cleared to their original sharpness.
"Dodge!"
Magra timed his final move perfectly with the altar's collapse.
Craaaack...
"Heh heh heh... Too... late. You can't escape, Shadow! Die with me!"
Sizzle...
Sizzzzz...
Superheated Magra activates Detonator Fuse.
Explosion imminent.
Ssssss...
"Heh heh... Before you escape, the flames will devour everything. This altar... you... all of it."
Whooooosh...
Magra resembled a massive bomb himself.
Tremendous power was gathering inside him. All the power he'd amassed in life.
"R-Run..."
"How...? What do we do?!"
This moment was utterly desperate.
"S-Save us."
"Help us, Snowman!"
"Please, just save us!"
"I don't want to die... No... Mommy."
All eyes turned to Kang Seol as one.
The fairy-tale miracles he'd shown had planted hope in these villagers, dragged to Yogtnun with no chance of survival.
We can live. Don't give up.
Every gaze focused on Kang Seol.
As he opened his mouth to speak, someone stepped forward.
Clank.
"Guess it can't be helped..."
"...Karen?"
"I'll give you 99 points."
It was the gray knight.
Karen.
"Just filled it up. 100 points."
Kang Seol recalled her words.
"When you fill up the points, I'll serve you sincerely."
Then Magra's explosion swallowed all sound.
-Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
Screeeee...
In that instant, Karen spun furiously.
Karen uses Flower of Fire.
Absorbs heat within a certain radius.
......
What an extraordinary encounter.
For a knight of a fallen empire to awaken at the hands of a mere shadow summoner—one far below her level, no less.
After yielding Jin's neck to the usurpers, Karen had become ashes. Her heart consumed by overwhelming rage and sorrow.
Yet why, after eons, had she risen again?
By the hand of that coldly handsome man.
Thus the journey began.
She still had no reason to live.
Though Karuna was now within reach, her heart remained empty.
The travels with the summoner were... tolerable. Not bad.
Even as a shadow, hunger persisted, so she devoured delicious foods. Fare changed from her era—more refined, more stimulating.
Yet the most memorable meal was the one the summoner cooked. Sitting by the campfire, blowing on stew, her mind would drift.
Like a dream from deep sleep in her chambers, far within the Montara Empire.
As if she were an adventurer.
She still yearned to be Jin's knight, but for the first time, adventuring didn't seem so bad.
Throughout the journey, Karen felt herself wandering.
'Wandering? Me?'
What was this wandering between?
Life and death.
Or Jin and the summoner.
'No.'
She denied her wavering heart.
She wanted to be Jin's knight forever.
It was in the Shadow Gorge.
"Fly away if you want, Kupa."
The summoner, stroking a giant bird's neck with his back turned, was enigmatic. His words inexplicably lightened her heart.
Even in those few months, she knew for sure.
Wherever he went, wherever life stirred, they wanted him.
"Thank you... Thank you, sob... hic..."
"Salvation! How can such a miracle happen?!"
People saw him as a miracle, a savior.
'He seems ordinary to me...'
All eyes followed him.
Those gazes secretly puffed her up with pride—a secret she shared with no one.
"Heroes are lazy. They didn't save me."
Gunt's dying words pierced her heart like a dagger. A rebuke to her naive wandering.
The world is like this, and you're still slacking.
'No! I... I...'
She couldn't find her footing.
She had power, yet no clue how to wield it.
But the summoner was different.
He gazed ahead with expressionless eyes, full of certainty, as if he knew the path.
She envied him.
She could no longer contain her turmoil.
She already knew.
He was right.
But fear gripped her again.
This path would make her forget Jin, erase her most precious memories.
Swipe...
The summoner turned from petting the bird's feathers.
He wasn't Kang Seol.
He was Jin.
"So, you've come back to me? My loyal knight."
"Yes, Jin."
"Still hesitating. That's you. Stubborn as ever."
She knew too.
Jin's appearance meant this wasn't reality.
-Kwaaaaaaaa!
...ren!
Screech...
Screeeeech!
Reality was harsher.
Hot.
Painfully so.
One pause in her spin, and flames would consume everyone.
That was the true agony.
'It hurts...'
Is this what a hero is?
Bearing everyone's pain.
Pride mingled with torment, her mind drifting again.
As reality faded, Jin drew near.
"What answer do you seek?"
"...Jin."
"Karen?"
"...You said emperors are made by eras, and eras by people."
Jin's apparition nodded.
"Of course."
"A new era birthing an emperor... How do you know such things?"
"Curious about the method?"
"Yes."
Jin answered directly.
"Follow their eyes."
"Eyes?"
"Eyes are like the soul of life. Remember where they look."
"Where the eyes point..."
Kiririririk!
Still spinning to contain the flames, Karen couldn't possibly see it. Surely not.
Yet she did.
'I see it.'
All eyes were on Kang Seol.
'Me? No.'
Not yet certain.
"Is that your answer?"
"Yes, Jin."
"...Karen."
"Thank you. All this time."
"Karen."
Whoosh!
The ashen world began to redden.
As if burning every memory-painted canvas, her world blazed.
Kiririk...
Whoooosh!
Screeeeech!
Finally, her spin halted.
Like a curtain parting, like clear skies pushing away dark clouds, Magra's flames gathered into Karen's vanished sword, gripping empty air.
"Haa... haaa..."
"Karen!"
"Your hair..."
Her hair shifted from ash-gray to crimson.
She had returned at last.
"Kahaha! I still had fuel left to burn!"
She looked joyful.
Silence fell.
The altar's collapse had stopped, the central pillar somehow realigned from the excessive shocks.
She grinned.
"Summoner!"
"Karen..."
"I still don't know. Even with power in hand, how to wield it, what to cut down."
"......"
"But you seem to. So I ask."
Her smile faded.
"Can you show me that path?"
Kang Seol replied.
"Gladly."
Karen murmured softly.
"Karen, Tenth Guardian of the Montara Imperial Family, hereby steps down. Thank you for your service."
Whoosh...
Vast flames surged from her hand toward Magra.
Karen uses Crimson Lotus Slash.
Power uncontainable.
Crimson Lotus Slash evolves.
"Farewell, Jin. I'm leaving."
Jin's phantom still lingered in Karen's eyes.
But flames caught on his apparition.
Like a faded photo burning, it distorted.
He smiled.
"Fly away if you want, Karen."
The phantom vanished at last.
Sizzleeee...
Warmth swept the altar.
The era of great purification had dawned.
All hungering evil and corruption would burn to ash.
"Guh... guhheok..."
Magra wailed in agony, engulfed in flames.
The new era opened with the twilight glow.