Episode 1075
Chapter 253: Gathering at Laprarosa Once More (6)

Brigitte kept shouting for Jin to strike quickly, pointing toward Beltian.

“Ugh… sob!”

Seeing Beltian suddenly break down in tears, Jin felt a complicated mix of emotions.

‘It’s maddening that these pathetic fools are the ones threatening to destroy the world.’

There was no time to hesitate.

Even if they cut him down now, Beltian wouldn’t die. As long as they could restrain him, they could still use him as the power source for the main hall of the Divine Warrior’s Temple somehow.

Shhhk!

A blade of light shot out from Bradamante’s sword, piercing Beltian’s chest. Beltian didn’t even form a solar shield to block it—he didn’t react at all.

“Gah!”

Before his scream could finish, the blade, now glowing with eternal fire, slashed again across his abdomen. The damage was severe; Beltian staggered backward, glaring at Jin and Brigitte.

“Brigitte, you bastard…! Is this why you showed me the primordial memories?!”

“No! It’s a misunderstanding. I only wanted to awaken the beautiful feelings from when we were whole. This attack on you is the reckless act of a wicked mortal!”

“You expect me to believe that? Ugh!”

Beltian scrambled to regain his composure and prepare a counterattack, but Brigitte was already holding up her radiant solar shield again.

“Believe me! And look at this again. We were lonely… unbearably lonely.”

“That damn… ugh, sob, sob! Ack!”

Despite being cut mercilessly by Bradamante’s sword, every time Beltian faced the primordial memories head-on, overwhelming sadness washed over him, and tears streamed down his face.

Jin decided not to dwell on how to process this surreal scene or the battle unfolding before him.

“Remember? Beltian, this is the moment when light was first shown to the creatures… back when there were no mountains, no fields, no seas.”

“Stop… stop it… ugh… sob.”

“We’re going back to that time. So just accept Jin’s blade quietly.”

“You say Jin Runcandel attacked me on his own accord?!”

“Oh, right. That was the story. My mistake. Look at this again…”

“Ugh!”

Beltian’s body was already covered in countless cuts and wounds. The primordial memories kept interfering, slowing his reactions, leaving him helpless against Jin.

As Beltian’s core took damage, the solar shield radiating outward weakened little by little. Naturally, the pressure on the Changsung and the fleet eased.

Moreover, thanks to Dante and Veradin’s efforts, the flow of Araksion’s energy reaching Beltian was fading.

“Brigitte! I am destruction itself. No matter what tricks you pull, I will do whatever it takes to annihilate this world.”

“Yeah, yeah. Your options are obvious—self-destruction, right? That’s why I shared these precious memories with you—to stop you from doing that. Don’t believe me? Try it and see if it works.”

“You damn bastard!”

All Beltian could do was curse.

‘Why can’t I self-destruct…?’

Suddenly, the urge to self-destruct was blocked, as if something inside him was holding back his drive toward destruction.

It was his emotions. The loneliness from those primordial memories was suppressing his impulse.

Of course, as Brigitte said, Beltian’s weakness to the primordial memories wouldn’t last forever, but it was enough for Jin to keep him subdued.

‘The solar shield is clearly weakening now. Soon, we can bring the fleet closer and prepare the restraints.’

Outside, the forces were moving appropriately even without Jin’s direct command.

“It looks like the brothers have mostly cleared the inside. I’ll tighten the encirclement just in case. You keep watch. There might be other Ganesto besides the ones Luet found.”

“Got it. Honestly, I’m more worried about the Ziphl. They’re not the type to stay out of this.”

“Luna will probably contact us before they arrive. She’s persistent; it won’t be easy to shake her off.”

Murakan flew around, first spotting the Ganesto riders kneeling with their necks cleanly severed.

Ran, Vigo, Mew, and Ann—all had been defeated without even putting up a proper fight against Dante.

The dimensional gates the Ganesto used were completely destroyed. Veradin wiped the sweat from his brow and focused his magic.

“You all okay? Though I guess there’s no need to ask.”

“Murakan, I tried to hold them off to see if there were others, but all three were too weak.”

“They rely solely on their powers and think they can just revive if they die. They can’t be strong. They’re just expendable even among the Ganesto.”

“Exactly. The fact that Joshua didn’t come here proves that.”

“Joshua’s pretty useless, isn’t he? I don’t get why they favor him. According to Lady Lucy, he’s gotten somewhat better, but still…”

“We’ll split up again to keep watch for any Ziphl or Ganesto reinforcements, Murakan.”

“Right. Beltian’s restraint is about to begin, so let’s stay sharp.”

For the alliance, the only thing left was to finish restraining Beltian before the Ziphl or Ganesto could intervene again.

Now, the enemy needed time—not them. Victory seemed within reach.

“Runcandel First Fleet, prepare to restrain the solar deity’s ego. Flagship Sara, open your blades and prepare to charge. All other ships, finish checking your restraint equipment.”

“Yes, Commander!”

“I was a bit worried sending Brigitte down, but it’s going well, Luet.”

“Yes, Ameris. Now we just wait for the Sovereign’s order. If the solar shield keeps weakening like this, restraint should be complete in about ten minutes.”

The solar shield spreading across the battlefield was now so faint it was hard to believe it was the work of the ego of destruction. Even Veil, at full power, would likely produce a stronger shield.

“Ugh… it’s not working anymore… Brigitte, whatever your tricks or primordial memories, I won’t be fooled by you any longer!”

“Good work, my other self, my friend. Now it’s time to rest.”

Jin was already holding the communicator. Even if Beltian had developed immunity to the primordial memories, it was too late.

“Begin restraint. All fleets, take your positions.”

As the order was given, the flagship Sara, already with blades open, surged toward Beltian’s eyes.

Puh!

Weakened by the constant assault of primordial memories and Jin’s attacks, Beltian’s eyes had shrunk to just one remaining.

Vrrrrrr—!

The golden fleet spread out around Sara, forming a formation. The ships simultaneously activated the restraint devices attached to their bows.

Leading a storm of lightning-like energy, they began the restraint. As Ameris and Lucy started chanting spells, the restraints, lightning, and Sara’s blades resonated, creating hundreds of blue beams.

The beams, resembling massive glowing ropes, poured into Beltian’s eyes and body. Forced by Jin’s control, he couldn’t dodge.

“Living among mortals, you know, it’s not all bad. Well, it was bad… but it’s about to get better. You’ll probably feel the same, Beltian. So don’t be too resentful. We’re creators, after all.”

“Ugh…!”

Just as Beltian began to feel his entire body bound, a sudden presence appeared near the golden fleet deploying the restraints.

‘Of course, they’ve come.’

The Ziphl fleet appeared without any trace of dimensional gates. They had literally just ‘spawned’ in the sky.

“Sovereign, enemy fleet detected. Created through reality manipulation.”

They had faced countless instances of such force generation during the Tower of Stories’ full assault.

Murakan was destroying one of the Ziphl fleets formed by the spreading darkness and breath.

But the Ziphl fleet kept multiplying like cockroaches, endlessly spawning new forces.

Should they respond or focus on the restraint?

Jin chose the latter without hesitation. In fact, he had been smiling since the moment the Ziphl fleet appeared.

“The rest of the fleet and Murakan will handle the enemy fleet. We focus solely on the restraint. The Tower of Stories isn’t appearing directly, only generating troops. That means they’re running out of options.”

This was no ordinary matter—it involved the ego of the solar deity.

‘They must be behind on information, trying to evade Lady Luna’s pursuit. They probably kept trying to massacre civilians in the meantime. They never expected we’d finish Beltian this quickly.’

From the moment they saw only Ganesto supporting Beltian, Jin had a hunch.

Ganesto was desperately sending Araksion’s energy to save Beltian, so they likely had no capacity to relay information quickly to the Ziphl.

Moreover, the newly formed fleet looked much weaker than the last time at the Tower of Stories battle. Without the linked flames or the Reign of Pluto sword, Murakan’s breath shattered them like falling leaves.

“Ugh, Jin. Shouldn’t we go stop them? I’m uneasy. How much longer until the seal is complete? If this goes wrong, we won’t be able to stop Beltian’s self-destruction.”

“We’ve already won, so just wait quietly, Brigitte. Even if the Tower of Stories itself shows up, I’m confident we can stop it. A mere reality manipulation like this won’t affect the outcome at all.”

[Still, it’d be better if we could finish this quickly…]

“Fine. From now on, focus on figuring out how we can safely harness Beltian’s power.”

At those words, Brigitte met Jin’s gaze with a confident smile.

[Don’t worry about that, Jin Runcandel. Like I said, that guy is the embodiment of ruin. If we keep him restrained, he’ll be consumed by rage and constantly emit solar energy. If we can just convert that, we’ll have what mortals call infinite energy.]