Episode 1045
Chapter 249: The First Sortie of the Pluto Clan (12)
Ban could not bring himself to strike Bligette.
The reason Bligette was so certain of this was because she believed Ban was part of the “Sun God” himself.
To strike Ban, then, was like seawater harming the ocean—utterly meaningless.
Ban saw through this notion perfectly.
“You possess a stature comparable to Solderet or the witches, but you are not like them. And though you keep insisting that the blessing of the Sun God dwells within me, I am not one of you.”
Ssshhk!
A transparent barrier suddenly materialized before Bligette. The second sword energy Ban unleashed was stopped dead by that wall, scattering harmlessly.
It was Ban’s sword—no one else’s. And yet, a protective shield that completely neutralized his attack had sprung up in an instant, without any warning.
As soon as Ban confirmed Bligette’s ability, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
“Now this is a fight worth having.”
From the alliance’s perspective, uncovering Bligette’s information and motives was undeniably important. After all, she had openly declared herself the Sun God.
But for Ban personally, Bligette was a provocative adversary. Unlike Nirgand or Luke, she was a worthy opponent who could satiate the hunger of a warrior spirit.
Even the searing pain in his radiant heart only fueled his fighting spirit.
‘Are you rejoicing? A mortal… enduring such agony?’
For Bligette, it was a series of shocks. The ancient mortals she remembered had never withstood the pressure of the Sun Energy.
‘Though my stature is imperfect, the world I created is so difficult to comprehend… Well, even the constraints this insect left behind can no longer be resolved by my power alone.’
Bligette retrieved Airan’s severed lower body from the ground. The blue radiance continued to batter her shield, but she calmly snapped her fingers. The Sun Energy spread across the cut at Airan’s waist, fusing the lower half back together.
“Since first learning of the Sun God’s existence, I’ve often wondered—could my sword truly sever it?”
[You cannot. Your error arises only because your stature is diminished now.]
“If I cannot cut you down, that’s a perfect motivation. And if I can, it will be a decent trial.”
Once again, the Pluto Sovereign’s Sword technique began to unfold.
From the dog’s defeat until now, Ban unleashed the second stage of his warrior spirit’s secret art faster than ever. The sky of the void space thundered with roaring storms, and the ground trembled heavily with every step she took.
The war hymn of the warrior spirit echoed.
The thrill of finally facing a formidable enemy, the burning desire to crush them as always, and the certainty that a single sword could shatter such a lofty divinity—
All that will transformed into a wild, overflowing madness, striking down countless bolts of lightning.
She painted the image of the one who reigns above Pluto. Ban, the warrior spirit—only she could do this.
“I am the warrior spirit of the great Pluto clan. Nothing can compel me—not sudden tales of the Sun God’s blessing, but only my hunger for the enemy and the voices of my brothers.”
Her voice surged forward like a gale, shaking Bligette’s shield.
Before the tremors ceased, Ban’s sword had already torn through the barrier and was flying straight at Bligette’s face.
The one and only. The dead.
A god with the face of a friend, the same hair, the same posture, the same eyes.
Amid the fierce joy of battle and intense madness, rage surged. At the moment the sword touched the god, Ban refined and refined her fury.
Sharpened to a single point.
Bligette couldn’t perceive the speed. She couldn’t see the pale blade, nor hear the ear-splitting sound of its passage.
Yet she could still evade it—only because her divinity was so high.
‘Did I… dodge it?’
Blood spattered from her forehead.
Late to react, Bligette raised her sword reflexively, preparing to defend. This time, it was not her divinity but her body’s memory responding.
‘Was she afraid of a mortal’s sword?’
Her heart skipped a beat. Fear—being ruled by that feeling for a moment—brought an indescribable humiliation.
[How dare you. You are but a fragment of me. The one who created this world—me.]
As Bligette shouted, the warrior spirit’s sword energy that had filled the void space vanished like a lie.
But only briefly. Just the blink of an eye. The sword energy soon surrounded Bligette again.
She was charging at one who claimed to be a god of gods. Her shield melted away like foam, and Bligette made a choice.
She had no choice but to move like a mortal. Raising the Sun Energy, radiating her will to block the sword energy, and unleashing her power—none of it was enough to shake off that relentless sword energy.
She twisted her body as her flesh remembered, stepped through her footwork, touched the ground, rolled on the floor. Ash and dust, the flesh and blood of cultists stained Bligette’s entire body.
Airan was a nuisance.
If only she could throw away that chunk of flesh in her right hand, she might evade more easily. The urge to do so pounded in her head.
“You are also but a fragment of the Sun God, Bligette. If you were truly omnipotent, I would already be dead.”
[I shall grant that.]
Bligette threw Airan aside and reached out her hand.
No matter how torn, Airan’s body could be restored. She only found it unpleasant to change her attitude after facing a mortal.
Then, as Bligette clenched her fist, Ban suddenly stopped and spat blood.
“Kahak!”
The Sun Energy accumulated in his radiant heart exploded. It felt as if Bligette’s hand was tearing through his radiant heart itself.
She held his lifeline.
Bligette thought so. And before five seconds had passed, she was forced to reconsider her boundless arrogance.
‘It won’t shatter…!’
No matter how tightly she clenched her fist, no matter how much Sun Energy she unleashed.
Ban’s heart, caught in her power, showed no sign of breaking. Instead, it grew stronger with every grasp, and before long, Ban was striding forward. He no longer screamed in pain or flinched.
“Ugh… I will kill you…”
Bligette focused her mind, just as when Ban first tried to analyze her.
‘A life perceived as short and finite—only a thousand years—but power that seems to reach eternity… such a colossal contradiction.’
Looking again, Ban shared many similarities with her. She, the beginning and end of the world, creation itself, was still bound by Temar’s flesh and Airan’s constraints.
‘An error that must be erased once the world is complete, yet pitiable and beautiful nonetheless. That must have been the source of my original conflict.’
In the end, Bligette decided to classify Ban as her equal.
After all, he had barely revived through the flesh and left arm of a shining mortal collected by the Sun God’s cult.
[You awaken my reason for existence, my imperfection, Ban.]
Bligette withdrew her hand.
She was a being who could not be killed by power unless she was perfect like in the beginning. Only those who could fight and win could kill her.
“All I want to hear from you are screams and wails.”
Sssshh, chhhung!
Ban and Bligette’s swords clashed. Both gritted their teeth, pushing against each other. And they both knew—they still had more moves left.
Ban had yet to unleash the final stage of the Pluto Sovereign’s Sword, and Bligette had not yet made her decision.
To risk annihilation and settle this now, or to retreat for the time being.
Bligette could not easily choose which was better.
If she lost the fight, revival would become even more distant, and the world could never be perfected. But even if she raised her divinity and fought again later, Ban was not a mortal she could simply crush with power.
There was little time to ponder.
The sword energies that had surged like a tidal wave were gradually subsiding—the sign that the end of the Pluto Sovereign’s Sword was about to begin.
Bligette recalled the warrior spirit from fifty thousand years ago, who had cut down countless immortals with that sword. The moments when gods born from the will of the sun shattered against a mortal’s blade—the day the light’s error, called the Evil God in this world, was overwhelmed.
‘An error must be corrected by error. Order cannot fix Ban.’
Suddenly, that thought flashed through Bligette’s mind, just after Sigmund’s blade grazed her throat. His blade was passing by Ban’s eye.
Fwoosh…!
Bligette stepped back, sweeping her hand through the air. Spheres radiating light as if facing the sun appeared, and Ban stopped, reading her movement.
“Bligette. Surely you don’t intend to run?”
[Even I must admit, fighting you to the end with a mortal body is a reckless gamble. It’s my fault for not refining the world—I will gladly accept this humiliation.]
Ban looked straight into the light. His eyes had already overcome the blazing radiance, but Bligette was stepping through a golden dimensional gate.
“If you don’t kill me now, you will never be able to kill me. And yet you say you will retreat?”
By now, Airan’s body, scattered into pieces, had reassembled and was held in Bligette’s hand.
The fight was over. The moment Ban sensed that, he faltered, caught off guard by an unexpected emotion.
More than anger or the will to fight against Bligiet, a bitter feeling filled my heart—the pain of having lost my friend’s body, of not being able to let them rest at last.
“Maybe you can run from me forever. But the heir of that left arm… my brother won’t let you slip away again, Bligiet.”
Without a word, Bligiet stepped through the dimensional gate. I thought to myself that I had to use Airan and the left arm quickly to escape this physical form.