Episode 1020
Chapter 247: The Lafrarosa Liberation War (8)
“Kahaaat!”
Tetalon’s strike grazed Jin’s chest.
It wasn’t only Jin who struggled to grasp the opponent’s strength. Even Simat, though already broken and battered, had managed to land several blows on Jin.
Bones protruded, organs spilled out, yet Tetalon only grew sharper. That black blade seemed to transcend even the senses of a battle spirit.
It was as if it was awakening—just like Ron Hiran had during the Sword Emperor War, or like Jin himself had when facing Paelito.
It felt like a relentless, vicious demon had latched onto him. Tetalon, stained red with madness, malice, obsession, and fighting spirit, ceaselessly swept away the blue lightning.
To the eyes of the Akmyeong tribe, including Rimagas, it might have seemed like meaningless thrashing. But to Jin, Ban, and their comrades, it was anything but.
He remained a dangerous enemy—and was only growing more so.
Of course, that didn’t mean Jin would lose. Victory was already assured. The real question was when the battle would finally end—and when Lafrarosa would be completely liberated.
“Heh, what’s going on? Hurry and throw it, Mubu-myeol. While the airborne fortress is still frozen.”
At Yona’s words, Veil nodded. Veil was overwhelmed by the battle between Jin and Simat.
A fight between battle spirits—there was no other way to describe it. Jin seemed overwhelmingly stronger, but even he couldn’t easily cut off Simat’s breath.
‘This… reminds me of Temar.’
Veil wasn’t thinking of Jin when he thought of Temar.
He saw Simat and recalled Temar—the way he swung his sword with eyes shining even in the depths of despair, and the miracles that unfolded each time.
The chains binding the airborne fortress to the brain energy were repeatedly breaking and reforming.
But it seemed unlikely that the main cannon could strike Lafrarosa again. Even when briefly freed from its frozen state, Jin’s sword shattered the cannon, which was already as still as a painting.
Paaaah…!
Each time a brain-energy-infested cannon was destroyed, a deafening roar echoed. The shattered cannon’s red brain energy dissolved without a trace, dropping massive lapis lazuli-like fragments.
Those fragments melted in the heat Jin emitted, converging once more into the waves of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword. Meanwhile, the four airborne fortresses had shrunk considerably from their original size.
More than half of their outer armor was destroyed. The crew had suffered heavy casualties, and now the fortresses focused solely on protecting the cannons.
Even if the enemy’s brain-energy cannons couldn’t reach them, losing these defenses would leave no means of counterattack.
‘The fighting spirit of the battle spirits alone can’t turn the tide. We can’t wound them enough to prevent their recovery.’
The surviving Akmyeong commanders felt this keenly.
Aside from the airborne fortress, not a single ship remained. In fact, over 80% of the entire force—excluding Kree—was perishing right here.
“Now’s the time, Mubu-myeol!”
Yona threw the liberation device to Veil. The moment Veil caught the box, he was briefly struck by the illusion that his eyes met Simat’s.
He flinched, instinctively trying to protect the device—but Simat no longer cared about Lafrarosa’s liberation.
He no longer thought to destroy the device or stop it by any means. All his focus was on cutting down Jin.
There was no next move. If he fought with such indulgence, he wouldn’t last a single strike.
“Hup!”
Veil threw the liberation device toward Lafrarosa with all his might. The airborne fortress was frozen, and the dimensional rift was at its widest.
‘If no problems arise within the dimension, the liberation device should fall soon.’
‘Let’s receive it well. But, Brother Jin…’
‘I think I know what you’re about to say.’
Both shared the same thought: it would be better if more allies arrived in the Great Desert.
‘Yes… he’s growing stronger. It’ll take quite some time before we can cut off his breath.’
A variable.
Simat’s fighting spirit was causing cracks in the battlefield that would continue to bring variables. And those variables didn’t have to manifest only through the Akmyeong tribe.
Jiple, Kinzelro, the Solar Faith, Ganesto.
Any of them could appear on the battlefield. Jin judged Ganesto as the most likely—after all, it was Ganesto who had drawn Simat into using the First Chaos.
From the moment Jin confirmed the First Chaos, he had Ganesto’s participation in mind. Perhaps the rapid unification of the battle spirits was Ganesto’s will.
Everything had gone suspiciously in their favor so far—when the three demons appeared, and now with the First Chaos unleashed in the Great Desert.
‘Too many reinforcements could be a poison. It could endanger Brother Jin’s base. So I think adding just two or three reliable people would be best.’
Jin nodded silently, checking Veil’s position.
“Where are you looking?”
Simat seized the moment, unleashing the Akcheon Divine Sword. Jin parried the crimson wave and swiftly closed the distance to Veil.
[Luna noona and Runtia noona, bring them here. Yona noona, return.]
Veil couldn’t even respond, immediately putting distance between himself and Jin. Had he moved any slower, Tetalon would have cleaved him in two.
A chill ran down his spine. It was hard to believe Jin was parrying such strikes multiple times every second.
[Impressive, Simat.]
Jin covered Veil as he pulled back.
Simat now looked like a bloodied husk in human form. His skin had melted away under the Sovereign’s Reign Sword’s brain waves, exposing muscle fibers and bone. His organs were in a state no living person could be said to have.
Yet his crimson core heart shone fiercely, undimmed even amid the blue storm. His unwavering eyes fixed on Jin.
[Such obsession is a waste to serve a hollow being like the Solar God.]
“That doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll surpass you—and die.”
[Then you are a futile awakening. You lived your whole life with the single purpose of resurrecting the Solar God, yet your end is a death unrelated to that, charging headlong toward it.]
“Yes, only now do I realize. Jin Runkandel… you were right. The Solar God is a hollow tale. We believed from birth there was only one path. But this… this is something we can overcome. I fight not as a follower of the Solar God.”
He fought only to uphold the pride of the Akmyeong tribe, bearing the weight of being their sole battle spirit.
A twisted smile tugged at Simat’s torn lips.
“If I’d known how joyful it was to stray from the path, we would never have fought a single day to reclaim the Solar God. We would have fought solely to claim the name of the Sovereign with our own strength.”
[In the end, meeting me was inevitable.]
“Yes, but the process and meaning were different. This is the first and last time I fight such a battle.”
Screeeek—! Sigmund sliced off Simat’s left arm. Before it even hit the ground, it was swept away by brain lightning, vanishing without a trace.
But moments later, Simat’s body glowed red and blazed fiercely. The red brain energy engulfed him instantly.
Only the core heart and Tetalon remained floating where he had stood. Then, from that spot, the red brain energy began to reshape into human form.
His body, honed through a lifetime of training, was apparently just a shell. Now facing Jin again, Simat looked like a rising red shadow.
“Now I think I can finally cut you down, Jin Runkandel.”
At a glance, it seemed like he had overcome death, like Ron.
But Jin and Ban knew better. He had simply transformed his body, which had reached its limit, into a form suited for battle. To keep fighting for a limited time.
This was no Akmyeong technology—it was a miraculous phenomenon realized solely by the will of the Creator.
When the allotted time ran out, Simat would never survive. Jin and Ban saw this clearly through the Creator’s insight.
“I don’t know how long I can maintain this state. An hour? Two? Maybe less, maybe more. It doesn’t matter. You won’t be able to leave here until my time is up.”
[Yes, abandoning my brother to avoid injury is not the way of the Sovereign.]
“Hahaha, are you saying our Akmyeong tribe fell because we didn’t care enough for each other? That might not be wrong! Isn’t that so, comrades?”
The Akmyeong tribe couldn’t answer Simat’s voice. Yet even amid the encroaching blue brain energy, everyone strained to listen. This was the last story they would hear from a battle spirit before death.
“Kinzelro’s absence, a life bound to the Solar Order, the Cheongmyeong tribe, and that damn Great Seal. Comrades, looking back, we were never free from fate. But today, on the brink of destruction, we live only for ourselves. We fight, we get hurt, we die.”
Kiiik, kki-gi-giik…!
As Simat’s red brain energy pushed back the blue light of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword, the airborne fortresses stirred once more.
The core hearts of the Akmyeong tribe, fused into the fortresses’ power sources, blazed fiercely. Like living beings, like warriors preparing for their final battle.
“We have no guilt in trampling the weak, seizing their lands, and turning them into slaves. And conversely, we do not fear being crushed, tormented, killed, or meeting our end at the hands of those stronger than us. That is what it means to be the Jeokmyeong tribe.”
As if in response, the airborne fortresses unleashed their main cannons. Jin summoned a blade of energy, slicing through the falling shells aimed at Laprarosa, then locked eyes with Simat.
[You proudly proclaim that you are nothing more than a filthy, ugly, and cruel people… But even that is better than babbling on about sun gods, order, and fate, Simat. Today marks the end of that barbarism and arrogance.]