Chapter 389
Episode 117: Who Is the True Runcandel? (9)
Above the molten battlefield, the power of the Meiwang clan’s spirit warriors was being recreated.
These were the mightiest beings on earth, who, half a millennium ago, had challenged the gods themselves as the world’s supreme victors. Within the razor-sharp thunder energy that resembled their very souls, Jin’s gaze swept over the eyes of the Runcandels fixed on her.
In the eyes of those being protected, there was fear; in the eyes of those doing the protecting, confusion. All of them were gritting their teeth.
Who would have expected that the twelfth knight of the family, seated at the lowest rank, would display such overwhelming power against the entire Runcandel clan? And this was after the flames of karma had already passed.
[And now, I issue one command to all knights and family members below the rank of knight.]
A voice filled with resonance, as if dozens of Meiwangs spoke in unison. The family members felt a certain reverence in that voice.
Though none had ever encountered the spirit warriors of the Meiwang clan before, instinctively, they sensed the overwhelming aura pouring from Jin.
[Protect them with all your might, so that not a single guardian knight falls by my sword.]
Fzzzt!
The thunder energy enveloping Jin’s body swirled violently, sparking with icy blue flames. From her clawed hand, stained with the same energy, the pale light of the Meiwang’s divine sword, Sigmund, shone distinctly.
A pallor that seemed to embody the very color of death.
The heat of the karmic flames had yet to fully dissipate, and now the thunder energy of the Meiwang’s sovereign sword was added to the mix.
The air, hot enough to melt rock and cause it to burst, pressed heavily on their lungs. Yet strangely, the Runcandels felt a chilling sensation wash over them, as if touching a corpse long dead.
“Everyone, get out of the way! Move—move!”
The first to scream, as if in agony, was none other than Runtia.
She had let her guard down.
The youngest, who had thought she could end this anytime she wished, had become a monster far beyond her expectations.
She should have realized it sooner. She should have known earlier that facing this opponent with such arrogance—willing to stake her life—would never be enough to win.
Blinking, Runtia saw the youngest’s sword rushing forward, charged with thunder energy.
The speed was like a thunderclap, and the force behind the strike was unmatched by any sword Runtia had ever faced.
Her body failed to react immediately. Raising her voice to warn the knights behind her had been a fatal mistake.
Shraaak!
Crimson blood spurted from the center of Runtia’s chest. Had she taken one less step back, it wouldn’t have ended there—her body would have been cleaved in two.
“Ugh!”
Fortunately, no vital organs were damaged.
But the injury was far from minor, and Runtia’s focus wavered once more.
Before she could regain her stance, the thunder energy carried by Sigmund crashed down on her.
A terrible pain, as if her entire body was burning, surged through her.
A body stronger than even Luna’s.
To forge this body, how much suffering had she endured?
After Luna had renounced her position as head of the family, Runtia had carried the hopes of many as a potential successor in a short span of time.
The reason Luna found Runtia strangely difficult and weak was because Luna had witnessed firsthand how Runtia had ‘killed’ herself to gain such a powerful body.
That was the strength she had earned.
A strength born without any small joys, only boredom and pain in life, where the only solace was to think and act as little as possible.
That strength was now breaking.
Flesh tearing, bones slicing, blood bursting forth. The excruciating pain that pierced those wounds stole her breath away.
‘Damn it…!’
Gritting her teeth, Runtia unleashed a sharp cry.
The thunder energy, thick as a dense fog, filled the space, making it difficult to pinpoint exact locations. The sharp lightning strikes stung her eyes, and a creeping fear that she might lose her sight forever gripped her.
But at that moment, what echoed in Runtia’s mind was not the desire to escape or survive.
‘The knights will die if this continues.’
Her mother, the knights, the core of the council, and the execution knights were all there. No matter how great Jin’s power was, surpassing all of them was impossible.
But ‘fighting’ and ‘protecting’ were clearly different matters.
Could the other strong warriors truly protect the knights, who were on the brink of death, amidst this storm of thunder energy?
She couldn’t be sure. Most of all, there was no one to protect the knights who had rushed in first to block the flames of karma.
Because their lord—herself—was fighting Jin.
Above all—
‘Mother is not someone who will protect the knights.’
Gritting her teeth, Runtia thought of Rosa, who still sat in her seat without taking any action.
Her certainty wasn’t born from hatred toward Rosa.
It was simply that Rosa Runcandel, her mother…
Was someone who would not bother to save guardian knights who could be swept away like straws by the ‘twelve knights’ swords.’
She was the kind of person who thought such people were useless to the Runcandel clan.
Or perhaps she saw this as an opportunity to leave only the strongest knights in the ranks of the swords.
That was how Runtia perceived Rosa.
Others saw Rosa the same way.
She was a figure capable of such ruthlessness.
As with the flames of karma, no screams were heard. But Runtia—and everyone else—knew.
They knew how agonizingly the guardian knights, scorched by fire and thunder energy, were silently screaming.
A new light of aura settled into Sharle’s sword.
She had made her decision on how to end this fight.
“Youngest, since you have shown a glorious sword… I must respond with a sword worthy of it.”
In her eyes, filled with killing intent and shock, a new resolve took root.
A sense of responsibility as a knight, long forgotten.
Runcandel’s Third Secret Technique:
Golden Ring Eclipse (金環蝕)
As Runtia thrust Sharle forward, a single egg-sized circle appeared in the thunder energy-filled air. The circle emitted an alien light, as if forbidding any intrusion.
Thung!
Jin’s Sigmund struck the circle but was repelled.
It was unexpected for the Meiwang sovereign sword, enhanced by its power, to be deflected like this. Moreover, the Golden Ring Eclipse’s circle grew larger, expanding its domain.
Though powerful enough to repel Sigmund, Jin strangely did not feel threatened by the Golden Ring Eclipse.
‘Is this a decisive technique? Or a secret technique? Either way, this sword feels strangely detached.’
A sword without any killing intent.
Before long, Jin realized the sword’s purpose was not to kill.
As expected, the Third Secret Technique, Golden Ring Eclipse, was the only sword in Runcandel meant to protect others. The solid sword energy forming the circle acted as a kind of shield.
Jin concluded easily.
‘Just break it.’
Within her core, the thunder energy and spirit warrior’s blood surged. If it didn’t break with one strike, she could gather deeper, stronger power and strike again.
She had no intention of holding back today.
She wouldn’t use just enough power to avoid killing. She intended to end this fight one way or another.
This was a sword that had withstood even the greats like the Tenth Knight, Silderei’s greatsword.
No matter how sturdy Runtia’s Golden Ring Eclipse was, it couldn’t keep blocking the Meiwang sovereign sword forever.
Pazjit, zzhong!
Sigmund flashed again, and once more, the blade was deflected by the ever-growing ring of the Golden Ring Eclipse.
But amid the swirling aura and thunder energy, Jin clearly saw Runtia spit out a mouthful of blood after blocking the second strike.
She had been severely wounded even before unleashing the Golden Ring Eclipse.
Whether she could have blocked the Meiwang sovereign sword’s strike with a healthy body was uncertain.
It was only natural she struggled now, wounded as she was.
She had staked her life.
But unlike her initial resolve when first facing Jin, this determination was not to kill Jin, but to protect her knights from him.
The clash of sword and ring roared.
No words could pass between them in that moment, but Jin understood her mindset.
He had seen many faces of those who fought to save others.
‘She’s not someone to take lightly, this second eldest sister.’
In fact, it was reassuring.
If she too gave her all to block the Meiwang sovereign sword, no innocent guardian knights would fall.
Still.
Jin had no intention of showing mercy at the blade’s tip.
He swung Sigmund with the mindset that Runtia’s death was acceptable.
Everyone in the family was watching.
If he showed any weakness, his declaration would lose all meaning.
‘If you survive, I will acknowledge you as a worthy rival, sister.’
Crack, crack!
The sound was like massive molars tearing into prey. With each relentless strike on the ring, Runtia’s bleeding worsened.
Meanwhile, Sigmund only grew fiercer. The thunder energy following the sword poured down like a torrential rain over the Golden Ring Eclipse’s ring.
Sharle’s sword blade, supporting the ring, trembled. She alone had endured over thirty strikes from the Meiwang sovereign sword, bearing more than half its power. Her limit was near.
Suddenly, the shape of the thunder energy striking the ring changed.
Spirit Warrior Technique: Triple Sword Judgment.
The piercing judgment imbued with the Meiwang sovereign sword’s power radiated an overwhelming aura, even amidst the all-encompassing thunder energy.
As five daggers pierced through simultaneously, the golden ring finally shattered. Runtia held onto Charles until the very end.
But the Reign of the Underworld Sword and the Judgment Lightning had already swept past her, heading straight for the knights holding the line outside.
Just as she was about to unleash the lightning once more, Jin saw Runtia’s figure frozen in place, still holding the broken golden ring.
She had either lost consciousness or died. Either way, there was no need to confirm.
Jin took steady, purposeful steps forward.
His gaze fixed on Rosa, seated like the clan head in the place of honor. Now it was time to shatter that seat.
Just as he prepared to release the lightning again—
Thud…
Suddenly, something hard and sharp lightly pierced Jin’s back.
It was Runtia’s sword, Charles.
Still, Jin didn’t turn around to look at his second sister. He knew that barely pressing the blade against his back was all the strength she had left.
He felt that what touched his back wasn’t just the sword, but the will behind it.
A will he could respect—as a warrior, as a brother.
With a heavy thud, Runtia collapsed.
Their eyes met—Jin’s and Rosa’s.
“Can you really keep sitting there like that?”