Episode 1005
Chapter 246: The Battle for the Mitra Great Desert (15)
Since the spatial collapse began, Ban had devoted herself almost entirely to defense.
The only time she had launched an attack beyond the rift was when she sent Beliz and Linpa out.
Even then, it wasn’t truly an offensive strike—just a slight exertion of power to open a path for the two to escape.
That force had torn through the dimensional rift, spilling out into the heart of the great desert, where it annihilated an entire scouting party of the enemy’s Red-Eyed tribe.
Now, Ban was ready to strike with unmistakable lethal intent against the unknown foes.
Clang…!
A cold metallic sound rang out as Ban’s sword slid free from its sheath. Rekan—the cherished blade she had wielded before forging Sigmund.
As Ban’s lightning energy began to surge into the blade, a roar erupted, like a wild beast unleashed. Rekan greedily devoured its master’s power, swallowing it whole.
In terms of sheer strength, even Sigmund paled in comparison. Rekan was designed from the start to withstand the vast intensity of Ban’s lightning energy.
Its blade was rougher, less ornate than other famed swords, but that was irrelevant—Ban herself would fill in any gaps.
The lightning condensed to its limit sharpened the blade to an unparalleled edge, while the endless blue sparks that danced along the sword’s length radiated the awe-inspiring presence of a divine warrior.
“Hmm…!”
The lightning that had formed Ban’s protective shield was now being channeled back into her heart and sword.
With every surge, the burden on the Divine Warriors grew heavier. Yet, as Ban’s lightning intensified, so too did the resonance with her brothers.
The Lords of Light were at their strongest when resonating with their Divine Warriors. Though their shields shrank, the Lords now appeared as a single, massive beacon of light.
Nothing seemed capable of piercing through that radiant cluster.
Slowly, Ban took a step forward. Each footfall caused the main hall of the Divine Warrior battlefield to tremble heavily.
The trajectories of enemy brain cannons and magical spears aimed at Laprarosa bent mid-flight, some dissipating entirely under the strain of Ban’s lightning.
Occasionally, especially powerful enemy brain energy or magic tried to strike true, but Ban met them head-on, slashing them away with Rekan.
Hundreds of incoming shots vanished without a trace at the sweep of her blade.
The sword energy she unleashed never dulled or shrank, steadily dominating the sky.
Sword energy, enemy brain energy, and magic intertwined like clashing armies in close combat. Ban silently observed the expanding sword energy for a while.
She studied the nature of the enemy’s power carefully.
First, she focused on the magic. Unlike the enemy brain energy, the magical spears didn’t shatter instantly upon contact with her sword energy. Instead, they fragmented into smaller pieces, then tried to reform.
‘Magic of the Star Formation… No, more precisely, the power of a divine being. Like the authority wielded by witches or the Solderet—an ability with elemental advantage over all other forces. A witch’s familiar, perhaps? Strange and dangerous. Yet, they’re not using this power properly.’
Ban quickly assessed Elona. From her perspective, Elona was unable to fully harness her transcendent power.
Because it wasn’t a strength earned through training. Moreover, the countless experiments inflicted by Zipple had ravaged her, leaving her barely able to control even her limbs.
In other words, her power was impaired. Elona should have been far stronger, a perfected being.
Ban’s gaze then shifted to the enemy brain energy.
‘…Indeed, this isn’t the brain energy of the “Master” bio-weapons my brother spoke of. Though there’s a gap in cohesion and purity, many aspects are strikingly similar. These must be a subspecies of our own. What on earth is happening outside? Could there be hidden Lords of Light living in secret?’
If they were true Masters, Ban might have felt less disgusted. Then the enemies would be mere bio-weapons following orders.
But these attackers—members of a related tribe, a subspecies if you will—were a clear challenge.
A brazen claim to the name “Lord of Light.” Or perhaps a declaration denying the entire Lord of Light tribe of Laprarosa.
That infuriated Ban. Her anger poured into her heart and Rekan, making her lightning even more ferocious.
“I swear by the name of the Lord of Light: if we get out of here, not a single one of you will survive to set foot in this world again.”
Divine Sword of the Lord of Light, Divine Warrior Technique #1:
Annihilation
Ban gripped Rekan with both hands and swung it horizontally.
At that moment, her brothers clenched their teeth and reinforced the protective shields they had formed around each other, bracing for the backlash of lightning unleashed by Rekan. Unlike before, they had to protect the ordinary warriors now.
A massive sword energy, too vast to take in at a glance, began to split the sky in two.
Ban’s furious strike was so fierce and wild it was hard to believe it came from a human sword.
The enemy brain energy and magic clusters caught in the blade were torn apart in a messy, brutal fashion—far from a clean cut.
Annihilation initially shot straight forward, but then swirled through the sky like a swimming whale, crushing enemy brain energy and magic wherever it passed.
It was as if a predator had been unleashed inside a pen full of live prey.
Yet, new enemy brain cannons and magic spears kept pouring through the rift, forcing Annihilation to continue slashing through the air.
Outside the rift, even the great desert’s inhabitants noticed the change in Laprarosa. The Red-Eyed tribe was stunned by the sudden onslaught of Ban’s lightning, while Elona strengthened her shields and began reclaiming some of the scattered magic on the battlefield.
“Being trapped doesn’t mean you’re dead, and leaving no trace doesn’t mean you’ve vanished. From now on, you will be crushed and trampled through terrible days.”
Divine Sword of the Lord of Light, Divine Warrior Technique #10:
Extermination
Shshaaak—!
Ten pairs of wings, glowing a fierce blue, spread out behind Ban.
Those massive, azure wings first cast a gentle shadow over her brothers’ heads. Their roars of exaltation pounded against Ban’s back.
The enemy forces facing the wings froze in place. The brain energy melted like ice left by a fire, dripping to the ground, while shattered magic spears scattered aimlessly in the air.
As the wings tilted forward in unison, following Rekan’s blade, lightning vortices erupted wherever Ban’s gaze fell.
Layer upon layer of ten pairs of storms spewed lightning beyond the rift. With a thunderous roar, the dimensional cracks tore further, and the Lords of Light felt the space around them contract painfully, even more than before.
Ban refrained from unleashing the Lord of Light’s Sovereign Sword now because of the dimensional backlash.
She had already sent Beliz and Linpa out, and Jin was surely struggling outside to rescue the remaining brothers.
There was no need to risk her brothers further.
From the day Jin promised their liberation, Ban’s faith had never wavered.
“Hold on tight to those fragile, pitiful lives until we get out of here.”
Finally, Ban fixed her gaze on the largest rift directly ahead.
It had formed during the recent clash. Though nothing beyond the rift was visible to the naked eye, Ban felt the enemies as if they stood right before her.
The lightning from the wings and vortices began to converge into Rekan’s blade.
At that moment, the enemies sensed Ban’s piercing gaze burning blue from beyond the dimension.
Ban felt their emotions too. The most familiar feelings she had ever sensed from others since the day she first gripped her sword.
Fear. And despair.
The terrified faces of her enemies, visible even across the vast gulf between dimensions, were swallowed by Ban’s eyes.
One strike.
Ban’s flash-like slash surged toward the dimensional rift, aimed at the enemies who had believed themselves safe beyond.
Just before Ban’s strike, Simat shouted instinctively.
“Open the bridge!”
As a Star Formation warrior himself, he sensed it too—something indescribably dangerous was about to burst through the dimensional rift and strike the aerial fortress and fleet.
Outside the bridge, Ban’s lightning, enemy brain energy, and Elona’s magic swirled together, creating a chaotic magical field.
Simat swung Tetalon to clear a path and quickly took position before the rift. Unlike him, who had to protect the fleet, Elona had already retreated, raising her shields.
Had they been even a moment slower, not a single ship in the fleet arrayed before Pibil would have survived.
Hup!
Simat swung Tetalon with all his might over the rift, gripped by a foreboding sense as if stepping into a trap.
Kzuzuzuk…!
Moments later, Ban’s sword energy began to surge beyond the rift. The Red-Eyed tribe timed their bombardment of the aerial fortress to coincide with Simat’s counterattack.
Just as the enemy brain energy and Elona’s magic weakened passing through the rift, so too did Ban’s sword energy fail to fully reach the surface.
Still, that sword energy literally wiped out the Red-Eye Tribe fleet guarding the front lines, then surged forward to strike Simat, who had just arrived behind them. The enemy lightning barrier Simat hastily deployed was already torn to shreds.
The moment Simat clashed with Ban’s sword energy, a strange sensation washed over his mind, leaving it blank.
It wasn’t because the sword energy was unbearably heavy. Even without support from the airborne fortress, Simat could have easily withstood a sword energy weakened this much from its original power.
No—it was because he couldn’t comprehend it, and his thoughts momentarily froze. Though the sword had reached him in an incomplete state, Ban’s blade still carried a force that made even Simat freeze in place.
“Is this really the descendant of the Cheongmyeong Tribe…?”
A chilling cold stabbed at the back of his neck.
Then, a surge of bitter resentment welled up. Cheongmyeong had left behind such a descendant despite being caught unprepared for the Great Sealing, while the Red-Eye Tribe seemed to receive no blessings at all.
“All fleets! Increase the distance from Lafrarosa…!”
Just as he was about to issue the order, Simat sensed a new sword energy piercing through the cracks once more. But this time, it wasn’t fierce or massive like before.
It was thin as a thread, fast as light, and silent as midnight—unstoppable, unbreakable.
To counter this second sword energy, Simat didn’t need to swing his Tetalon. This strike wasn’t aimed at the Red-Eye Tribe, but at Elona and Ziphl.