Chapter 551
Episode 145: Omen (20)
The sky seemed as if it might collapse at any moment under the thunderous clash of two titans.
The absurd explosions and shockwaves were turning Hailan’s territory into a place unfit for human life.
Beasts and small creatures fled, howling, trying to escape the flames and shattered sword energy spreading nearly to the horizon. Buildings melted away, forests turned to ash, and underground water veins boiled and evaporated.
Who could believe this was a battle between a single man and the world’s greatest warrior?
Yet, amidst the chaos, the Sword Emperor’s fortress still stood.
The high, thick walls had not yet completely lost their function, and though the gates were broken and open, the enemy dared not storm inside.
Even the inner fortress looked almost exactly as it had when Ron first regained consciousness and climbed the walls.
That place—where his grandson fought alone against the white stone—must never fall. That child must not see the shattered Sword Emperor’s fortress as his first sight.
Ron defended the inner fortress with that resolve.
His lips were stained with dried blood, his hair disheveled like a broken man.
His gaunt torso bore countless scars from a life of battle, along with fresh wounds, and his breathing was ragged.
Still, his eyes glared at the enemy without a flicker of hesitation, and his beloved sword, Rashid, radiated a constant brilliance that shook the entire sky.
The guardian deity protecting Hailan—that was the Sword Emperor.
“Kelliac Ziphl, you’re clearly losing… Yet you neither talk of surrender nor flee. You must have a trick up your sleeve. Why not show it already?”
Though his voice was low, everyone on the battlefield heard it.
Even though the fortress walls were lower, Ziphl’s mages and dragons felt as if the voice came from the very heights of the sky.
Ron stepped forward and swung his sword horizontally. An invisible sword wind scattered Kelliac’s grand spells.
Through the opening, the imperial sword technique, Celestial Slash, unfolded. Deep blue sword energy cleaved through the center of the fleet, but Kelliac countered most of it with Hrotti.
Still, he looked strained. He coughed up a globule of blood, and his hand gripping the staff trembled.
Though he wielded the same—or even greater—magical power as before, Ron showed no sign of faltering under the combined assault of Kelliac and the fleet.
As time passed, one by one, the fleet’s ships and dragons fell from Ziphl’s ranks.
‘Not an unexpected outcome… but it’s a grim feeling.’
Is the gap really this vast?
Swallowing the bitter lump rising in his throat, Kelliac thought bitterly. Ron’s level was beyond anything he had ever touched, so the result could only taste bitter.
Like Ron, who fought while protecting the Sword Emperor’s fortress, Kelliac was also holding back, fighting to shield the Demon Stone from shock, unable to unleash his full power.
But even considering that, Kelliac had to admit his complete defeat.
The Demon Stone’s activation was still incomplete.
Because of insufficient magical energy. Kelliac was too occupied fighting the strengthened Ron, and Octavia and the Phantom Corps had infiltrated the Sword Emperor’s fortress to secure the white stone, so only the remaining mages and dragons were supplying power to the Demon Stone’s activation.
From start to finish, everything had slipped beyond his calculations.
The only consolation was that the Demon Stone’s activation was nearly complete.
And Ron sensed this too.
‘The fleet’s attacks aren’t as fierce as expected. The Demon Stone… they’re probably focusing on using that thing Jin mentioned, so they can’t fully commit to battle.’
Though he spoke casually, Ron was actually worried about the Demon Stone’s power.
Kelliac and Ziphl hadn’t noticed, but Ron was growing exhausted.
Years of internal struggle and illness had taken their toll on his body. His transcendent skill and difference in rank hid this fact from his enemies.
Ron himself felt it deeply.
‘If only I had another month—no, even just half a month more…’
He could have fought at full strength.
If Kelliac now unleashed his trump card, could Ron handle it?
If not, how much longer could he hold out?
Ron had no answer to these frustrating questions. Just as Kelliac had never reached Ron’s level, the Demon Stone was an unknown realm even to him.
Only his grandson was on his mind.
‘Fighting in this state, I finally understand how much pain you’ve endured… Grandson, only now do I truly grasp the path you’ve walked.’
Just as his grandson had done, and still was doing, all he had to do was keep fighting silently.
Wooooooosh!
Kozek’s main cannon glowed golden. The shot followed the exact trajectory left by the Celestial Slash.
Rashid sliced through the center of the cannon’s blast. The fragments of cannon fire and sword energy disintegrated in midair, never striking the ground.
No one could say how many times such colossal forces had collided already.
Though the Demon Stone’s activation limited their usual power to less than half, the attacks from mages and dragons other than Kelliac were barely visible.
Only Ron and Kelliac’s swords and magic covered the heavens and earth.
Suddenly, a new force surged up from the center of the battlefield.
Like a massive whirlpool in the sea, another power cut between the giants.
‘A force rising from the ground?’
‘Could it be…?’
Both Kelliac and Ron were drawn to the sight.
Though Octavia and the Phantom Corps continuously unleashed grand magic, their power had never reached the sky.
Moreover, the force visible to the giants was not light or nature magic, but a special deep blue flame mixed with dark energy.
The karmic flames of Jin and Misha.
What startled the giants was that very cursed sword.
“Heh heh.”
Ron let out an involuntary chuckle. Even he, on the verge of transcendence, was surprised by such power—he never imagined it could rise from the ground.
Kelliac, however, could not laugh.
Already stretched thin fighting Ron, the karmic flames of Jin and Misha reaching the sky now spread dark tendrils even into Ziphl’s fleet.
The rune inscriptions of Sara, rewritten in spiritual energy, began to leave black marks like tumors across the fleet’s formation.
“Evade!”
Kelliac ordered them not to block but to dodge. Even before the command, those sensing the ominous feeling had already begun evasive maneuvers, but those weakened by Ron’s attacks barely noticed the tiny runes.
Kelliac hastily cast protective shields over them, but the black and blue karmic flames surged wildly.
It was a fire unlike any anyone had ever seen.
No one knew that this fire was the judgment meant to punish Ziphl’s sins. All they knew was this:
This fire, which would neither easily extinguish nor disappear, originated from the twelve Rune Candles on the ground.
It had long been a symbol of Jin that spiritual energy and genuine blue flames were intertwined.
Though the fleet’s mages were Ziphl’s elite, and they struggled desperately to push back the flames, the fire’s advance was not slow.
‘Most of the power must be directed at Octavia and the Phantom Corps, yet even the aftereffects are this severe?’
Kelliac respected Jin highly, but this was no power Jin could wield alone.
‘Murakan or Misha—one of them must have gone all out to support Jin. Jin Rune Candle must have used most of its power as well.’
The battle on the ground was essentially over.
If Octavia and the Phantom Corps held, Ziphl would win; if not, the Sword Emperor’s side would claim victory.
Kelliac was unsure which outcome awaited. The unique nature of spiritual energy made it impossible even for mages to gauge precisely.
Moreover, Kelliac had a more pressing concern.
[This is… Sara… Rune Candle’s…!]
Salion, the Wind Dragon.
He had unconsciously mentioned the “Ten Knights” when the second phase began, signaling the story’s weakening power.
Now, he clearly felt the nightmare of those days. He vividly remembered how many kin and mages the merciless karmic flames had killed.
The monstrous Flame Emperor, Sara Rune Candle.
As Salion faltered, other dragons began showing signs of distress.
The battle’s aftermath, the instinctive fear of the Demon Stone suppressed by their necklaces, and Salion’s voice were awakening forgotten memories.
[Run, run away! Kraaak!]
Kelliac stabbed Hrotti into Salion’s back. It was better to knock him unconscious than let the story’s power deteriorate further.
Though this would further reduce their already insufficient forces, it was nothing compared to the consequences if the story’s power broke down.
‘If we can just hold on a little longer, the Demon Stone’s activation will be complete.’
Within thirty minutes.
Kelliac drew more magical power. Ahead, the battlefield was filled entirely with Ron’s sword.
Piiiiiiing!
Octavia heard a sharp ringing in her ears, as if someone was tearing her mind apart.
‘What… is happening…?’
Her limbs had gone numb.
She hadn’t been defeated. It was just that the overwhelming shock of the karmic backlash had left her body unresponsive, and for a moment, Octavia recalled the instant when that dark blue flame had engulfed her.
“Did I manage to block it? What happened to them? Damn it, my memory…”
Her recollection was hazy.
When she finally managed to move her hand and instinctively touched her face, Octavia realized her left eye was gone.
It was an injury beyond the reach of any light magic.
“Does that mean… I lost?”
Before she could even process the despair, someone flew in beside her fallen form. A figure in a gray robe—one of the Phantom Guard—already lifeless.
Only then did Octavia understand that the Phantom Guard had been fighting to protect her.
Without them, she would have died right there, unable to even open her remaining eye.