Chapter 1062
Episode 252: The War Begins (Part 1)

“Everyone, today marks the first day of our all-out war against Jiple. From now on, we will relentlessly pursue, ambush, tear apart, and bring them to their knees. Until the name ‘Jiple’ vanishes from this world. Are you all ready?”

“Yes!”

Jin stared intently at the images displayed on the bridge. Thanks to the technology they had absorbed from the Jeokmyeong tribe, the screens showed the allied forces aboard each fleet’s ships.

“Coordinates set, Commander Jin,” Mesa reported, turning to him. She and the youngest division had all become crew members of the flagship in the Runkandel First Fleet.

“All fleets, commence spatial leap.”

“Understood!”

At Jin’s command, the breathtaking sight of nearly six hundred ships simultaneously preparing for spatial leap unfolded.

Massive dimensional gates opened across the sky, swirling with silver and steel. One by one, the ships slipped into the vortex.

Though airships had become common in recent years, the power of the Golden Fleet was on a whole different level. Each ship rivaled the Kozek, Jiple’s ultimate weapon of old.

And yet, the fleet gathered over Tikan was less than half of the entire alliance’s strength.

Still, victory was far from certain.

In fact, Jin believed that with this force alone, they were bound to be outmatched. That was how formidable the abomination known as the ‘Demon God Stone’ was.

Reports from Ban and Valeria had already made that clear.

Throughout their pursuit of the Tower of Stories, they had been subjected to ‘manipulations.’ Islands suddenly appeared in empty skies, blocking their path; deserts transformed into seas; tidal waves surged up to the altitude of the flying fleets; the Tower of Stories vanished in an instant, replaced by enemy fleets.

All of it was reality manipulation powered by the Demon God Stone.

‘They haven’t yet reached the level of rewriting our entire alliance’s history like Jiple did a thousand years ago, but who knows when that might start.’

Jin and his comrades were determined to end the war before the Demon God Stone reached that stage.

A low hum vibrated through the fleet’s power cores as the spatial leap completed.

The scene that emerged was a vast ocean.

The fact that the desert had been turned into a sea by the Demon God Stone was already known to all allied forces.

But seeing it firsthand brought a dizzying sense of dissonance.

Only the strange shapes of sand dunes scattered like islands hinted that this was not a sea, but the Sota Desert.

‘This is a far cry from when we destroyed the secret shipyard four years ago. Back then, seeing the countless ships Jiple was building shocked me. Now, that’s nothing compared to the Demon God Stone.’

Amidst it floated over a hundred ships of the Warrior Fleet. Despite countless attacks during the pursuit, not a single scratch marred their hulls.

{You’ve arrived, Brother Jin. From what we’ve confirmed, their reality manipulation has clear limits. Can you see the Tower of Stories?}

“I see it, Brother.”

Jin narrowed his eyes beyond the bridge.

The Tower of Stories was essentially Jiple’s last remaining territory. But now, it had grown into a massive airborne fortress, rivaling the ‘Ram’ once operated by the ancient Evil God.

“It looks like a shattered mirror’s reflection.”

{I can’t see it at all from my side. If you can see it, that means, as Valeria and I suspected, they can’t distort space in all directions. Attack whenever you can see them. We have to press relentlessly without pause to create these openings.}

“Understood. All fleets, attack the enemy!”

The fleet’s power cores roared back to life.

The fronts of all Golden Fleet ships split open, revealing their main cannons. At the same time, Jin and Ban amplified their radiant cores to the maximum.

The Golden Fleet’s power source was the radiant core—the brain of the Myeongwang tribe. Like the Myeongwang’s warrior resonance, these cores were influenced by Jin and Ban’s own radiant cores.

The rapidly expanding brain-like energy spread across the entire fleet in an instant.

Like a nebula unfurling, the radiant core itself was a terrifying weapon. Its heat caused the sea formed by Jiple to boil like lava, whipping up scorching winds in all directions.

“Kraaaahhh! Kiiiiiing—!”

As the fleet’s bombardment began, the Tower of Stories faced a level of firepower never before seen in the mortal realm.

Blinding blue lightning crackled fiercely.

The tower was engulfed in a vast blue glow, vanishing from everyone’s sight. Explosions, deafening booms, and shockwaves shook the entire world.

Most allied soldiers trembled at the sheer power. It was literally destructive enough to rewrite the world’s map at will.

But Changseong and the drones nearby quietly watched the enemy beyond the explosions.

‘There’s no sense of impact at all.’

Though the bombardment had struck something and exploded, it wasn’t the tower’s core. It was a shield, or something the tower created in place of itself as it attempted spatial leap.

By the time the explosions reached their peak, Changseong was certain: no damage had been done.

But there was no cause for despair.

‘The fact they dodged the bombardment means they couldn’t block it directly. Besides, it was only one round of fire; it’s not a high-stakes attack for us either.’

Of course, it could be a trap.

They might dodge the bombardment deliberately, then launch a powerful counterattack at a more critical moment. But Jin dismissed that possibility.

‘They’ve been running from us all this time because they need time. And we can’t annihilate them without taking risks.’

The enemy wasn’t just this dimension’s Jiple. Support from the Demon God Army and Jiple from multiple worlds could begin at any moment.

They had no choice but to fight while accepting danger. Those gathered here were the last remaining adversaries across all dimensions.

“The Tower of Stories has been reacquired! Front upper section of the flagship!”

The tower reappeared, this time in a normal form unlike before.

It looked like a pure white disc, so massive that the tower’s core rising from its center resembled a chalk mark.

Once again, the Warrior Fleet couldn’t see the tower. They tried to quickly regroup toward the disappearing fleet, but suddenly, Jiple’s fleet appeared directly in their flight path.

“Ugh…!”

“Gah!”

The sudden presence caused the Warrior Fleet’s foot soldiers to clutch their heads in agonizing pain.

The constant spatial distortions and reality manipulations were wreaking havoc on their minds. Like voices of chaos driving people into terror, the Demon God Stone’s manipulations inflicted torment on their very souls.

Still, the foot soldiers flinched briefly but remained unfazed. The pain was more like an illusion; as long as their limbs weren’t actually torn off, they could endure it.

The fleet formed before the Warrior Fleet consisted entirely of Kozek 2-class ships. As always, these ships were crewed by fake phantom soldiers created through reality manipulation.

But there was one difference.

{That is… an airborne fortress of the Jeokmyeong tribe.}

Usurok.

The airborne fortress Jiple had seized from Gaila in the past. At the center of the fleet Jiple had formed this time was an identical fortress.

Whether it was the real Usurok or a fake created by manipulation was unknown.

{Even if fake, it would have about 70% of the power of the original Jeokmyeong fortress. Their previous fake fleets and phantom soldiers were like that. It seems they’re extremely wary of my fleet engaging them, Brother Jin.}

Jin nodded.

As Ban said, Jiple was more cautious of the Warrior Fleet that had been tracking them than the allied fleet Jin led.

Jin thought he understood why.

The Myeongwang Sovereign Sword.

Though its pure firepower might be less than fleet bombardment, if Ban could attach himself to a ship and unleash the full power of the Sovereign Sword, firepower wouldn’t be an issue.

That sword couldn’t be manipulated or dodged by the Demon God Stone. It was the only power Jiple truly feared.

Moreover, Valeria was aboard the Warrior Fleet. Along with the Sovereign Sword, her record magic could create troublesome variables at any moment.

“Usurok’s main cannon is pounding the Warrior Fleet’s shield. It looks to be about 70% as powerful as the original fortress, just as Ban said.”

That 70% might have dominated the skies until recently, but not anymore.

Even after a direct hit from Usurok’s cannon, the Warrior Fleet’s shield showed no sign of breaking. The bombardment from Usurok and the fake fleet couldn’t even pierce the radiant core surrounding the shield.

{Brother Jin, you open the path first. I’ll handle these fakes and then join you.}

Ban’s voice came through the comms, accompanied by a smile.

He thought Jiple was too focused on him. Ban felt the sharpest blade that could truly terrify Jiple wasn’t himself, but Jin.

“Begin second bombardment. Lower the output.”

Jin’s radiant core, which had been thrashing wildly, began to calm. The power resonating through the Golden Fleet dimmed accordingly.

All main cannons except those on the Warrior Fleet fired again. Though the output was reduced, the radiant core’s energy was still enough to light up the entire sky.

The Tower of Stories dodged again, rapidly ascending through spatial leap. The bombardment missed, but the tower didn’t disappear from sight.

Just as the bombardment began to subside, Jin drew his Bradamante.

“Open the bridge, and all ships except the flagship Sara, scatter. Stay out of my reach.”

“Understood!”

The moment Jin leapt out of the bridge, runes suddenly began to glow across the hull of the ship Sara.

Just like when the teenage knight, Sara Runkandel, unleashed the secret technique of her runeblade, and runes appeared all over Jin’s body.

Jin had long believed this.

There was no sword more fitting to bring judgment upon those called the ‘G-Philes.’

Runekandel Runeblade Technique

Flame of Vengeance – Sara Runkandel

“The sword you thought erased from history forever has never truly vanished since the day I met Lady Sara. And it never will.”