Episode 1023
Chapter 247: The Laprarosa Liberation War (11)
“Hmph, are you saying it’s just like now, Loki?”
“In some ways, yes. From this moment on, we have to protect Laprarosa against this monstrous war machine. But you know, descendant—”
The moment the word ‘descendant’ slipped out, Jin unleashed a single sword strike. A sharp, blue flash tore through the crimson shield stretched between the airborne fortresses and pierced inside.
Shing!
The massive spear that had been revealing Loki’s face was sliced apart.
“I told you not to call me ‘descendant.’ Are you hard of hearing? Or do you think that because I appear in spirit form, I cannot be killed?”
Jin immediately recognized that this Loki was not her true self, but a projection. The spirit fusion that Loki had been trying to sever was, paradoxically, growing even stronger now.
“…Oh, if it were the old me, that strike would have been quite chilling.”
“That means the old you had better instincts. For the first and last time, I’ll give you one chance. Leave. Today is the only moment you can meet me and walk away unharmed.”
Loki’s voice deepened, resonating with a majestic power that sent a shiver through the ship beyond.
Perhaps Murakan was right—that thought came to Jin first.
“But it’s been so long since I’ve worried over words like that. I’m too worn down to feel fear anymore. Heh, fine. I’ll stop calling you ‘descendant.’ After all, I’ve decided to let go of my attachment to the current Sword Clan.”
“The current Sword Clan, huh? We’ve confirmed that you formed a kind of pocket dimension, creating your own world. You say you have no regrets about Runcandel, but your worthless kin are still playing house there, aren’t they? Joshua, Mew, and Anne.”
Jin could feel it clearly.
Loki was indeed regretful. The children from Runcandel she had brought to nurture her own world were nothing but pathetic outcasts.
“The brightest of the clan are all with me, Loki. Have you ever wondered why not a single one of them could be taken by you?”
“Heh, what do you mean?”
“Because you couldn’t endure it. You may have sacrificed for the clan once, but that was all. In the end, you chose betrayal instead of enduring, fighting, and struggling together. Yet you act as if you’re a creator, trying to remake the world just to claim Runcandel. It’s nothing but ugly obsession.”
Jin had never seen the true form of Loki’s world, but her desire for ‘Runcandel’ was unmistakable. Beyond the massive spear, her eyes gleamed with nothing but fixation on Runcandel.
“But there is only one thing you can take from my Runcandel, Loki Ganesto. That is the punishment you deserve.”
—“That one was a traitor… He allied with the witch and turned Temar into a monster. It was all Loki’s scheme. Solderet’s temporary departure from Temar, the gods’ betrayal, even Ziphl’s rise to power—all of it.”
“Please, tell me more.”
—“Before killing me, Loki said her goal was the resurrection of the Sun God. She killed all her comrades except for Veil. She wanted to erase this world completely and restore a proper one. The original form of the world, she said. She used everything for that—our clan, the witch, even Ziphl.”
Jin recalled the words Paddler had uttered like a dying confession. Whatever was behind Loki’s actions, they were unforgivable.
“Loki Ganesto!”
A blue lightning crackled in Jin’s eyes.
“You betrayed the clan a thousand years ago, harmed Temar, Runcandel, the Ten Knights, and their followers, and have continued this cursed existence to plot against the clan. As the head of the clan’s Sword House, I will tell you the punishment you deserve. It is eternal despair. You will never achieve what you desire, never possess what you want, and never reach what you long for.”
Fwoosh! Tzzt…!
The fierce lightning of the Dark King’s Reigning Sword once again filled the Great Desert. Within less than a second, the spiritual energy that had been creeping near Jin was pushed back.
A blue storm swirled around Jin in a half-circle, stretching endlessly forward. The four airborne fortresses were pushed back behind Kree by the repelling force, and Simat, who had been wandering in the pit, rose to the surface and gripped his sword.
‘What is this… It’s not over yet?’
Like a fog lifting, the dark despair in Simat’s eyes began to clear.
He finally felt as if he had emerged from a cave into the light. Though this blue lightning could easily tear him apart, even more cruelly trample him than the stolen Kree, it did not. Instead, it protected him. It gave him a peace beyond the mysterious sensation he once felt at the Sun God’s altar.
This was not because Jin possessed any special divine power related to the Sun God. It was simply because Jin gave him hope—the hope to continue fighting.
Salvation.
Suddenly, Simat recalled that word. The Dark King’s warrior had said they were saved by Jin.
‘Salvation… comes not from gods, but from people.’
In that sense, Simat was being saved now. Even though saving his own life and his people was still impossible.
Sometimes, just breaking free from long, futile delusions and facing the truth was salvation.
Of course, Jin did not respect whatever realization Simat had come to. Too many innocent lives had been lost to their red swords.
Jin spared him only because Simat’s blade was now aimed at Loki, not him. Had Simat chosen otherwise, Jin would have been the first to erase him.
“Thank you, Jin Runcandel. Though it’s impossible for us to become comrades, in the end… I will do my best for my people. And for you, who gave me the chance to fight for them.”
Huuuu…
Simat took a deep breath, accepting the blue lightning that enveloped him.
Long ago, his ‘Light Heart’ had already accepted the blue lightning.
It was the day he was falsely accused and driven out of Kreetil, the day he happened to meet Eltiot. Even then, the giant Eltiot had tried to accept him as pure, but Simat betrayed him. He believed that was the path of the Red Name.
“And shamelessly, I have one request. Please tell Cheongpungje I’m sorry. Thanks to you, I realized how great the favor that old man did for me was.”
Simat’s Light Heart began to glow purple.
Harmony—the trait he learned from Eltiot back then but had denied until now. The truth he had dismissed as a fragile illusion crafted by the weak to hide themselves.
Tetalon.
Simat threw down the sword imbued with the Sun God’s power. It was too old to embody the new truth he had awakened to.
Instead, he carefully used his spiritual energy to form a new purple sword. Its blade was so solid and clear it seemed unbreakable, shining brightly in his hand.
Lost in the sensation, Simat forgot the passage of time.
More than thirty minutes passed from when he accepted the blue lightning and discarded Tetalon. Meanwhile, countless skirmishes had erupted between Jin and his allies and Loki.
Jin was no longer standing to defend Laprarosa. Murakan and the Dark King’s warriors guarded the front in his place.
Sigmund ignored the four airborne fortresses and advanced straight toward Kree.
Kree’s massive hull meant that if its shield was breached, every part of it would become a target.
But Kree was not just a giant fortress. This war machine, the pinnacle of Red Name technology, moved as if it were a pocket dimension rather than a ship.
When a sword struck its armor, that part would suddenly distort and vanish. If a sword energy covered an entire section, only that part would turn transparent.
Because of this, Jin’s sword strikes repeatedly cut through empty air. No matter how sharp the blade, if it didn’t connect, it couldn’t cut the target.
Yet Jin felt no frustration. Loki did not think his strikes were useless either.
He was simply searching for a way—a path to reach Loki without destroying Kree entirely.
Destroying Kree would come only after eradicating Loki’s spirit form. From that spirit, he would find clues to where the real Loki was.
On the opposite side, Simat’s purple spiritual energy was piercing Kree as well. Like Jin, he was searching for Loki’s spirit. Only by killing her could his people be freed from chaos.
‘So it’s not inside the fortress.’
Jin was the first to locate the spirit.
Sigmund had already passed through every part of Kree once. Yet nothing had been caught by his sword, so Loki’s spirit had to be outside.
The space where Loki had been hiding was the pit behind Laprarosa’s passage. There, a main cannon separated from Kree lay, also rendered transparent.
The moment Jin looked back, Loki smiled at him. If that cannon fired, they might be able to stop him. But Murakan and the Dark King’s warriors would inevitably be hurt as well.
But the main cannon never fired.
“Still, for someone who was once a teenage knight to waste time on such childish antics… Or maybe it’s just been so long since you’ve been in actual combat that you’ve lost your touch?”
Originally, Kree operated based on the Red Brain system. To fully unleash its power, it absolutely required the radiant core of their guardian spirit, Simat.
Yet right now, the energy driving Kree was mostly coming from the spiritual energy that Lokia was channeling. And Jin was steadily binding that energy as he tracked Lokia’s position—making sure she couldn’t pull any more tricks like this.
“You’d do well to protect Kree now, Lokia. Seems you’ve forgotten—without this ship, you can’t threaten my brothers in the slightest. And I’m not the only one who has something to protect right now…”
Jin’s sword once again pointed directly at Kree.