Episode 620
Chapter 159: The Tournament of the Two Kings (7)
“Are you really going to keep this up?”
“What could have driven Jin to become like this?”
“He’s already the successor of the Two Kings, yet he insists on undergoing another verification. Is that really something to get so angry about? Angry enough to stab a brother? If Jin truly considered what the others have been through, he’d understand perfectly well.”
“Besides, not all the brothers demanded a re-verification of Jin. Even the Sixteenth King brothers only wanted a fair tournament—they never intended to snatch away what Jin had.”
“Say something! Say anything!”
As Baba said, despite their fury, the Mingwang clan wasn’t ready to kill or exile Jin outright.
In Kaio’s sickroom, they spoke as if they might throw Jin out at any moment, but what they truly wanted was to talk with him.
The Mingwang’s law that brothers don’t keep score of grudges still applied to Jin.
But Jin was only making things worse.
The Mingwang were ready to forgive if Jin offered a sincere apology, but he coldly turned away every brother who came to him.
Day by day, their disappointment deepened. They saw only a cold, selfish, and indifferent Jin, and began to wonder if the person they once knew had ever truly existed.
“Everything he’s shown us so far was a lie. How can someone change so completely in an instant? We were ready to give him everything!”
“If he had just once been honest and said, ‘I’ve already inherited Sigmund, so no more tests,’ do you think we would have ignored him? Not just the Sixteenth King brothers, but all of us would have accepted that.”
“He seems convinced we’re trying to steal what’s his. He hates the idea of giving other brothers an equal chance. Those who can’t leave on their own now dare to question his qualifications? That attitude is unforgivable.”
“He was never truly one of us. In the end, he’s just human—always consumed by greed!”
Their hurt turned to anger, and anger to something close to hatred. No one had imagined their bonds could fracture so deeply, so suddenly.
Seventy-seven brothers, plus Jin makes seventy-eight, and with Lingling, seventy-nine.
The city, once filled with golden glory and honor, always vibrant and radiant whenever Jin arrived despite their small numbers, now felt cold and tense.
“Huff.”
Jin left the arena and spent his time in the empty houses on the outskirts of Laprarosa.
Even during the Tournament of the Two Kings, when it wasn’t his match, he avoided the main hall.
‘I’ve felt it for a while now—this is truly unforgivable.’
His heart was heavy.
When he provoked Kaio, when he stabbed him underhandedly, and now as he continued to antagonize all his brothers, his chest burned with bitterness and pain.
But the more serious the situation became, the more certain he was that this was a necessary step.
‘I can’t let anyone think inheriting Sigmund was some kind of free reward.’
Rank.
Among the Mingwang, all brothers are equal except for the Two Kings. But looking back, Jin had always been an exception.
Though not originally a brother, he mastered the Mingwang sword. After becoming a brother, he immediately inherited Sigmund.
That’s why, when they lined up, Jin stood beside Ban, and in the opening matches, he fought all the Mingwang brothers through the Unification of the Two Kings.
All of this happened in just a few years.
They had never fought side by side, risking life and death, never defended or conquered territory together, never slaughtered enemies, never shared a war that decided their fate.
Jin had only ever received from them. But as Tantehl said, the Mingwang were still human, with very ordinary emotions.
Even after accepting Jin as a brother and after he took the second rank beside Ban, they still saw him as someone they had to ‘look after.’
They wanted to treat him equally, but it was impossible. The Mingwang were trapped in a dead world, and their time with Jin was too short. In other words, they saw Jin only as a younger brother.
But Jin, as the second-ranked Mingwang brother, believed he shouldn’t be someone to be coddled, but a rival to be fought.
Not just equal, but someone to transcend.
If he could have shown a transcendent power like Ban’s, if there had been time for that, there would have been no need to stir up conflict like this.
Even if the Mingwang remained trapped in Laprarosa, it wouldn’t have been a problem for him to keep receiving love as the beloved youngest brother without conflict.
But if he wanted to fight alongside his brothers outside, and later control them as their leader—
A real fight was necessary. Not a staged performance, but a genuine battle.
He needed to see what remained after that fight.
Jin wasn’t without worries. There was no guarantee the outcome would be good.
‘I’ll clear my mind. Until the Tournament ends, I’ll focus only on training.’
Meditation and reflection.
Since awakening, Jin had been growing steadily whenever he wasn’t fighting.
The injuries from the battle with Kaio sharpened his sense of the Unification of the Two Kings, and his training reached a whole new level.
The optimal paths for stabbing and slashing, cold composure maintained in any situation, a sense for evading death, and glimpses of a realm once thought unreachable by ordinary people…
A world of nothingness known only to the transcendent.
Images of that world played endlessly in his mind. Jin absorbed it all astonishingly fast, thanks to the sensations gained through the Unification.
But that wasn’t all.
“The senses of the Two Kings are those of someone who’s been strong every moment since birth. Like a father’s.”
Jin’s own domain was added to that.
The unique realm of Jin Runcandel, forged through the depths of despair and even death, colored the transcendent world with richer hues.
As a result,
Three days later, in the 31st match, Jin decisively defeated the Eleventh King, Nata.
Nata was filled with venomous rage, and the battle was fierce, but Jin emerged victorious.
“Did that mean I didn’t use my full strength against the Sixteenth King brothers?”
“No, I’ve grown stronger. In such a short time.”
“Hmph. Jin must have known exactly how fast he was growing. That’s why he crossed the line and became so arrogant. He doesn’t think any of this is a privilege gained through the Unification and inheritance.”
In the 38th match against Belize, Jin lost. But Belize had lost her right arm and faced death’s threat, and as Jin had warned her, he didn’t stop there.
“Damn…!”
Even after the outcome was decided, Jin pressed a blade to her throat once more.
Fortunately, the Mingwang were watching Jin more closely than before, so the blade didn’t strike Belize’s neck, nor did she counterattack fatally. The Mingwang fired lightning to separate them.
Jin’s limbs were twisted in the process, but Belize was unharmed. Now, the Mingwang had no qualms about restraining Jin harshly.
Their anger toward him only intensified.
“Crazy bastard… He’s really trying to kill a brother again.”
“The Seventh King brothers defended Jin until just this morning. I bet their minds have changed now.”
After Jin recovered, he defeated Garmund in the 46th match, but lost to Baltrock and Rumora in the 50th and 54th matches respectively.
Each time he lost, he fought like a demon until the very end, only to be subdued. No one was surprised by that anymore.
Jin’s body was gradually deteriorating.
He kept pushing himself to the limit against the Two Kings after every recovery, and even Runcandel’s blessed body couldn’t endure forever.
The other Mingwang brothers were also accumulating damage, but their battles were entirely different from Jin’s.
Jin’s fights were filled with malice and hatred unseen in the others.
That dark energy was eating away at him like ink.
“I… can’t… fight anymore.”
In the 60th match, Jin’s opponent, Linpa, said this as soon as the battle began.
She couldn’t bring herself to fight the battered Jin. The Mingwang all respected her judgment.
Linpa was the one who had tried to stop the brothers from challenging the gods until the very end, and had entered a vow of silence out of guilt for failing.
‘The next match is against the Ninth King brothers anyway.’
‘No matter how fast he’s growing, he can never beat the Ninth King brothers. He’s already lost to the other Two Kings…’
‘In the end, Baba will finish this. Even Baba, who has endured Jin’s rampage until now, is grinding his teeth in anger.’
Like Belize, Baba was someone who had never given up hope for Jin until the very end.
He was still ready to forgive if Jin reached out.
He only wished Jin wouldn’t descend further into darkness, into a place of no return.
“You won’t fight me?”
Jin’s voice was cold. Linpa nodded and turned away.
“Fine…”
“I warn you, Linpa. Take one step forward, and I’ll cut you down. Don’t avoid the fight.”
Linpa ignored the warning and stepped forward.
Jin swung his spirit sword across her back.
Linpa reacted, so the cut was shallow, but a long gash remained. Crimson blood splattered.
The crimson streaks, as if severed, seemed to symbolize the end of the bond between the Myeongwang clan and Jin.
“Sa… Satuwang brothers!”
“That crazy bastard again…!”
Ban held back the Myeongwang clan members who were about to charge with just one hand.
“He hasn’t broken the rules yet. If Brother Jin kills the Satuwang brothers, I will deal with it myself. Will you continue, Satuwang brothers?”
“…We’ll stop.”
Silence fell. Jin glanced down at the fallen Linpa, then, as Ban declared the end of the match, he turned away indifferently.
Just as Jin was about to leave the main hall, Baba suddenly stepped toward the center and spoke.
“Brother Tushin.”
“Speak, Brother Gutuwang.”
“You just called Jin ‘brother,’ but we no longer consider him one of us.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Baba glared at Jin’s retreating back and said,
“So, may I kill Jin Runkandel in the next match?”