Episode 1081
Chapter 254: The Selves of the Sun God (5)

Nepdol and Bligiet’s words were true.

Ban-do closed his eyes with a sorrowful expression, silently agreeing with their assessment. Dante standing alone against the relentless onslaught of Kragos and Ziphl meant that death was a threat arriving every single second.

“Damn it! Hey, Sun Gods! Are we really out of options? Seriously? Are we just supposed to stand by and watch this weakling get slaughtered?”

Murakan shouted, his voice charged with emotion. To him, Dante was no longer just “the kid’s friend”—he was a comrade.

Dante wasn’t only precious to Jin. To the empire’s people, he was a regent of unparalleled virtue, and to everyone in the alliance, he was the dependable Sword Emperor they could always count on.

[…There’s no helping it. Malugia’s power is absolute. Even if you were to break our restraints, it wouldn’t make much difference.]

“I’ll keep tracking the records for now. I’ll monitor Sir Dante’s status and try to find even the smallest clue that might help.”

Jin barely heard their words.

‘Dante… is going to die? So senselessly?’

Even with his heightened senses, controlling his heart pounding as if it would explode was nearly impossible. His ears felt blocked, and breathing seemed like trying to inhale underwater.

“Brother Jin!”

“Kid, no! The demonic aura is coming!”

Valeria, too, had deliberately avoided mentioning the records of the empire’s people being wiped out in an instant. The blue data screen kept updating with numbers that felt unreal.

But Jin couldn’t ignore the tragedy. No one could.

The repeated massacres by Ziphl, the deep, terrible tragedies the empire had suffered before—and now, another catastrophe unfolding, with his friend fighting alone and facing death.

All of it was about to sever the fragile line Jin had barely maintained inside.

The feeling of guilt he always pushed aside until after atonement—the anger, hatred, guilt, and madness—were all rising to the surface.

What drove Jin even more insane was this:

There was absolutely nothing he could do right now. Nothing for those who had died inside, nothing for those still dying, nothing for his friend. Even after forming the Balmel Alliance and liberating Laprarosa to build such a vast force.

Jin had to make a choice.

One that excluded Dante.

Bringing the entire alliance’s forces to save a friend who was almost certainly doomed to die was a choice the leader must avoid at all costs.

His decision would mean life or death for tens, hundreds, even millions.

If half the day was spent wielding the Pluto Reign Sword for Dante, and all the alliance’s superhumans and fleets tried to break through Malugia’s golden wall—

What would follow was painfully obvious. Dante would fall as expected, and the alliance would suffer devastating losses, dragged around by the enemy once more.

‘How… how do I suppress this? How on earth?’

The heavy responsibility as leader of the Balmel Alliance and his duty as the sole Returner would guide Jin toward the rational choice.

But before all that, he was just a man.

There would inevitably be moments when one beloved person felt more precious than the countless lives hanging in the balance.

That moment was now.

Whether he could save Dante or not, the urge to pour all his and the alliance’s strength into the fight stabbed at him like a dagger.

“Jin! Hey, Jin!”

Smack!

Suddenly, someone struck Jin on the head. Veradin grabbed Jin’s shoulder as he lifted his head and shook him roughly, continuing without pause.

“You idiot, don’t you get it!? Dante saw the empire’s people dying with his own eyes in there. He wanted to fight. He probably wanted to die fighting! But he’s still alive.”

“Veradin.”

“What do you think that means? He’s running away. And that’s the right thing to do. If he fights clumsily before reinforcements arrive, we’ll just lose more troops! It’s the same for us, Jin. We have to retreat. Dante… Dante…”

Blood dripped from Veradin’s lips. He bit his tongue and clenched his teeth as he spoke.

“If Dante knew the situation, he’d want us to do exactly that. Because it’s the right thing. He wouldn’t want his strength wasted in vain, putting the world in danger! He only knows how to do what’s right… So snap out of it. If you waver, the world ends. There’s no one else to replace you, got it?”

Tears streamed down Jin’s eyes. Veradin barely held back his own sobs.

“…All fleets, cancel assembly. The empire will not provide support. Everyone, prepare for the next… the next… the next battle.”

The line didn’t break, but sank deep into the fresh wound inside Jin.

Those who received the message bowed their heads. Empire officials stationed at the Garden of Swords and Tikan collapsed, weeping uncontrollably; many fainted. Dante was more than just a pillar of the empire—he was the empire itself.

Beep…!

Jin closed his eyes tightly as a sudden ringing filled his ears, as if something inside him had shattered.

He set down the communicator and stared blankly at the golden wall. He couldn’t picture his friend’s face beyond that barrier.

“Valeria, keep tracking the records. We need to know what happened to respond properly later.”

Without turning, Valeria nodded silently, tears glistening in her eyes.

-[The feeling of losing comrades and friends… Even someone like me, with so much experience, can never get used to it. And it’s not just Kragos we’re facing… In the worst case, we might have to fight the Tower of Stories, Malugia, or even Araksion.]

Jin recalled what Orgal had said earlier. This sorrow was something he could never grow accustomed to.

[…Jin. I can’t offer much comfort, but you’re not a monster because you can grieve.]

Nepdol took Jin’s hand. She and Bligiet, as creators, felt indebted to Jin and the entire alliance—for having made the world such a painful place.

Jin’s gaze remained fixed on the golden wall.

[No matter how strong or great you are, if you can’t feel sorrow, you’re no different from us before we realized, or those terrible mortals… Huh?]

Nepdol suddenly stopped speaking and blinked.

[Nepdol, what is it!?]

At the same time, Bligiet lifted her head, sensing something. Only the Selves of the Sun God could perceive the change happening on the battlefield.

Another Sun God’s Self was approaching from somewhere.

“What is it? Nepdol, Bligiet. Could it be another Sun God’s Self arriving!?”

Just as Murakan shouted, Jin and the alliance saw a massive, unfamiliar dimensional gate open between the flagship Sara and the golden wall.

[Fokal! It’s Fokal! Fokal’s here! Kyu!]

[Fokal…!]

—The Self of Kinzelo, who slumbers on that altar, is named Fokal. He is the Self who desires to maintain the world. Ziphl once used him as material for the Demon Stone. When awakened, he will become a powerful ally of the alliance.

Those were the words Silkia Arsia had spoken in the Kingdom of Mila not long ago.

Since that day, the Jinma Realm had been preparing to awaken Fokal with the Sun Sword Tetalon, passed down from Jin. And today, they succeeded.

“Jin! Jin! We’re here! Silkia awakened Lord Fokal! He said the situation’s bad, so we came as fast as we could, with Silkia and Lord Fokal’s power!”

“Jin, are you safe?”

“Sir Jin!”

Voices of Jinma Realm comrades—Misol, Tilius, and Silkia—reached him. They flew through the sky, wrapped in the new Sun Energy that had appeared on the battlefield.

Behind them, the last to emerge from the dimensional gate was Fokal. She resembled a human like Kragos but was very small in stature.

Yet that tiny body held the infinite compassion of the Creator who loved this world.

“Poor mortals, you have been drowning in sorrow.”

Fokal swiftly approached Jin and met his gaze. The sadness inside him felt as if it was being washed away.

His tear-blurred vision finally cleared.

Fokal then embraced Jin. Beyond the bridge, the dimensional gate she had come through closed, and the golden wall began to melt away. It was said that even the entire alliance would need at least a day to destroy that wall.

The Selves of Maintenance were, naturally, the strongest opponents to the Selves of Destruction. Among them, Fokal was the only one who could single-handedly hold back Malugia to some extent.

“Go cut through the sorrow. I exist to protect the world, and I will lend you my strength.”

Fokal released Jin and sent him flying through the path she opened. Like melting snow, the golden walls crumbled relentlessly.

“Let’s go, Ban!”

Murakan, Ban, and the flagship Sara began moving through the path Fokal had created.

It wouldn’t take long to reach the imperial capital where Dante fought alone. Each time the golden wall melted, Fokal and Silkia closed the distance and opened a new dimensional gate.

“Dante!”

After passing through five dimensional gates in just over ten seconds, Jin finally stood beside Dante, who was barely holding his sword upright atop the shattered Sword Emperor’s ship, battered and broken.

“Jin… Jin? Is that really you? Am I seeing things?”

“Dante, you bastard! Damn it all, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”

Almost simultaneously, Veradin and the others arrived and took their places beside Dante. Jin placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder and said,

“Rest now, Dante. Thank you… for being alive.”

With his friend saved, it was time to take revenge for their people.