Chapter 535
Episode 145: Omen (4)
Even with Myuron and Midor dead, no one wavered.
A flying fleet of thirty-three ships blazed with a crimson glow.
An overwhelming magical power tore through the sky, resonating with a force that seemed impossible to counter.
‘So this is why the Emperor and Laramacua were so confident.’
Dante had crushed the vanguard, and the Balmur Alliance, along with the Dragon Knights and Sword Saints, annihilated the first wave of reinforcements.
But all the victories in the early and mid-stages now felt meaningless. Though the Sword Emperor’s forces still stood, facing over sixty revenants was an impossible task.
‘Even if these resurrected revenants are weaker than when they were alive…’
Each wielded magic nearly at a nine-star level, and the ships powered by their magic far outclassed those operated by the earlier reinforcements.
The crimson fleet’s ships opened their jaws like gaping maws, revealing their main cannons.
“Enya, focus! The mirror’s magic is infinite. In theory, we could handle thousands of those things. Increase the shield’s strength—keep your eyes open, breathe steadily…”
Beris spoke, but she knew Enya was already at her limit. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Enya barely nodded.
“I-I can do it… ugh… I’ll make it!”
“Hold the line—!”
As Jin shouted with all his might, the ships unleashed their cannons.
Though not comparable to Kozek’s golden main cannon, the thirty-three cannons, infused with the revenants’ signature red magic, seemed capable of obliterating the Sword Emperor’s fortress in an instant.
The fortress only stood because of Enya.
She had succeeded in controlling the mirror, and the dragon-fire barrier, charged with near-infinite magic, perfectly blocked the barrage.
“Well done, Enya! You did great!”
Even Beris, proud beyond words, embraced her.
‘But this is the end. If she tries to control the mirror again… I’ll lose her.’
Enya’s body burned like a furnace in Beris’s arms. Convulsions wracked her, and the blood soaked through Beris’s clothes in moments.
“Hah… huff!”
Enya instinctively knew that if she kept using the mirror, she would either die or lose her ability to wield magic forever.
Still, she gripped the mirror once more.
“Enya, stop! You can’t keep going!”
“If I don’t… then…”
Too many people would die.
That thought drove Enya forward again.
Most of those gathered to defend the Sword Emperor’s fortress were strangers to her, but she didn’t hesitate to risk her life to save them.
Because she believed it was the right thing to do.
The mass-produced ships couldn’t reload their cannons as fast as Kozek’s, which was a small mercy.
But their attacks weren’t limited to just the fleet’s bombardment.
The Red Abyss.
The revenants began casting chain magic across the sky and ground.
[Exterminate the enemies of Ziphl…]
[The Lord desires the White Stone. Kill and retrieve it…!]
The revenants’ grim voices echoed, all identical and slurred as if drugged.
‘The density of the Red Abyss is lower than I remember.’
Jin could easily deduce this from those clues.
The identical voices, the unique resonance of the resurrected dead, and the weaker magic compared to the originals.
There was a clear gap between these summoned revenants and the revenants Jin had faced before.
Of course, compared to the Red Abyss Jin had encountered previously, these were slightly weaker—but by any normal standard, they were still formidable mages.
It was like a rain of blood.
Red magic transformed into blades and chains, battering the ground. Most were stopped by the dragon-fire barrier, but Enya still took hits.
Murakan spread a spiritual barrier to protect the ground, and Quikantel roared, unleashing the power of time.
But the magic was overwhelming.
Alongside the Red Abyss, elemental attack spells rained down from the sky—hell winds, fire orbs, ice-splitting swords—shattering the dragon-fire barrier.
The Dragon Knights and Sword Saints tried to counterattack, but it was no easy task. Hyran’s ultimate skills were intercepted and nullified by countless spells before reaching the enemy, and even when they got close, they were pushed back by concentrated attacks.
Through cracks in the dragon-fire barrier, revenant magic seeped in.
It made no distinction between the Emperor’s forces and the Sword Emperor’s troops. As a result, the Emperor’s army, despite being protected by the Balmur Alliance, suffered heavier losses.
“You crazy bastards! We’re on the same side—!”
“Arrgh!”
The battlefield boiled over with screams and explosions—a massive cauldron of death.
The war was turning like this again, and Jin had to make a decision.
‘Mother… still has no intention of joining the fight.’
Neither Rosa nor Runcandel had shown themselves yet.
The reason was clear.
‘Mother plans to appear only when the White Stone is about to be destroyed or stolen, or when the Sword Emperor’s fortress has completely fallen and can no longer fight back.’
Unlike Jin, Runcandel’s goal wasn’t to save the Sword Emperor’s fortress.
It was the White Stone.
For Runcandel, preventing Ziphl from profiting from that stone was the only objective.
In fact, it was best for Runcandel if neither side obtained the White Stone and it was destroyed. Ziphl knew exactly how to use it, but Runcandel did not.
Also, if Runcandel intervened directly, the risk of full-scale war would increase. That’s why Rosa hoped Jin would push Hyran to destroy the White Stone.
Therefore, Runcandel would only appear when the Sword Emperor’s forces were utterly crushed and driven back.
Jin had to decide: either grit his teeth and keep holding the line, or accept heavy losses to the fortress, conserve the Balmur Alliance’s strength, and let Runcandel show up…
Jin chose the former.
It wasn’t an efficient choice. Letting the fortress fall and losing thousands of knights might have been better in the current situation to force Runcandel’s hand.
But Jin believed he couldn’t gamble with the lives of his friends and their people. Some might mock him as naive or foolish, but he was certain it was the right choice.
In other words, Jin was choosing for his friends and people, while Rosa was choosing for Runcandel.
‘If I had come thinking only of Runcandel’s interests, I would have raised Runcandel’s banner as one of the Twelve Riders, not joined the Balmur Alliance.’
Why this was the right choice would be proven, as always.
‘The Sovereign’s Reign Sword is out of the question.’
If wielded, it could pierce the shields of over sixty revenants and destroy the fleet.
But once unleashed, there would be no “next.”
As the Balmur Alliance’s supreme commander, Jin had to oversee the entire war from start to finish, making judgments and issuing orders.
No matter what chaos Ziphl or Runcandel caused, he had to protect Hyran’s flame.
Because unlike them, Jin wished not for the White Stone, but for Hyran’s survival.
Jin narrowed his eyes and called Shuri. Shuri, who had been tearing through the battlefield after moving Dante to the fortress, came rushing to his side like an arrow.
“To the walls!”
[Myah myah!]
As Shuri sprinted at full speed, the revenants’ magic focused intensely on Jin. The dragon-fire barrier was already more than half destroyed and could no longer protect him.
“Protect the lord!”
[Help the kid!]
Valkas, Prochi, and other Balmur Alliance warriors charged toward Jin, clearing a path and deflecting spells.
Jin swung his sword wildly, and Shuri roared, shooting beams from her eyes.
Some enemy spells and beams struck Shuri directly, but they couldn’t pierce her curse of immortality.
Meanwhile, Enya kept trying to control the mirror.
“Enya! Stop! You’ll die!”
“P-people keep dying…!”
“Lord Jin is coming. If you get hurt, his heart will falter. That could lead to even more deaths! Is that what you want?”
If not for Beris’s words, Enya would have pushed the dragon-fire barrier one last time—and died.
Finally, she lowered the mirror, her face stained with tears and blood, and screamed in rage.
“They’re so… cruel. The Empire and Ziphl are full of bastards… cough!”
“Gah!”
A red spear forged from magic slammed into the ground where Enya and Beris stood.
The first strike only destroyed part of the wall, but the second spear came straight for them.
At that moment, Shuri leapt onto the wall, and Jin cut down the spear aimed at the two.
“Lord Jin…!”
Jin took off his rider’s coat and wrapped Enya’s shoulders.
Enya burst into tears as she looked at his steel-like back. Beneath the wall lay piles of fallen Hyran knights.
Enya wasn’t as strong as Jin. Facing so much death was unbearable agony.
“You did well, Enya. And you too, Beris. If I were you, I wouldn’t have done as much.”
At those words, Enya lost consciousness.
Jin picked up the mirror from the ground.
“Beris, take Shuri. Bring Enya to the healers and tell Dante this: We don’t know much about the White Stone, but under no circumstances are we to use that damned thing.”
Contrary to Jin’s fears, Dante still didn’t know how to use the White Stone.
But as the war dragged on, Dante could clearly hear a dark voice whispering to him.
It was the voice of the White Stone.
Come to think of it—
When Ziphl obtained the mirror, he had crushed countless native Colon inhabitants, driven solely by his lust for power.
Now, it was Jin’s turn to trample over those same foes with the very power Ziphl had ultimately failed to seize back then.
A magic circle formed beneath Jin’s feet.
Kraaang…!
The sharp, whirling sound unique to reverse-flow magic spread through the air, and the Orb of the Reverse Sky began to rise toward the heavens.
It looked as if the moon itself had suddenly appeared right before their eyes. The Reverse Sky, far surpassing the limits of Jin’s magical power, absorbed the crimson abyss’s energy, growing larger with every blink.
“This is the Reverse Sky, infused with infinite magic. No matter how great your power is, I wonder if you can still flaunt it in front of this.”