Chapter 622
Episode 159: The Duel of the Fighting Kings (9)
Swoosh—!
As the blow landed, a sharp pain surged through Jin’s chest, and blood welled up inside him.
So far, Jin had faced off against every Fighting King except Boras.
Except for the battle with Teto, all the fights had been messy affairs. Starting with Kaio, Jin had often launched surprise attacks even after the outcome was effectively decided. Even in the rematches against Teto, Nata, and Garmund, where he defeated them head-on, he wielded his sword with ruthless ferocity, as if facing an implacable enemy.
He had even swung his sword at Linpa’s back when she showed signs of surrender.
If, like the other Meiwang clan members said, he had tried to talk instead of acting so recklessly—if he had simply asked to be recognized as the rightful successor, or just asked his brothers to stand firmly behind him as always—they would have done so without hesitation.
But that wasn’t enough.
“So, brothers, get your heads in the game and fight seriously. When the Fighting Kings’ duel ends, no matter the outcome or the process, you’ll still cherish Jin as before… but don’t ever forget that you’re all human. If even a little resentment lingers, it will fester.”
A child favored by the Absolute One inevitably sows bitter grudges among siblings.
Jin had learned this truth through the relationship between Rosa and Joshua, through both experience and time.
Of course, the Meiwang clan was different from Runkandel, but in the end, they were still human.
Jin had long suspected that all the privileges and favoritism he’d received from the Meiwang clan might one day become a problem.
Today, he would burn away every last trace of that future threat.
Like Kaio’s Fighting King’s Absolute Technique, Baba’s swordsmanship resembled the Fighting Spirit Technique. His Punishment strike bore many similarities to the Meiwang’s Dominance Sword.
In fact, it showed a fiercer momentum than the first chapter of the true Meiwang’s Dominance Sword Jin had unleashed.
Unlike with Kaio, Jin wasn’t crushed under pressure. Even though Baba’s energy surpassed his own, Jin wielded his sword as he pleased.
Looking back, Baba had been at the center of the Fighting Kings since the opening battle when they united their fighting spirits.
The other Fighting Kings had played supporting roles to allow Baba to strike properly. Kaio had been the core of that support.
“Fighting Spirit Technique’s secret art. If you hadn’t learned it, if you hadn’t shared the senses of the Fighting Spirit brothers through unification, you wouldn’t be able to cross swords with me like this.”
“No matter what benefits I’ve received, can they compare to being born a true Meiwang? Such nonsense.”
Those watching the fight were stunned.
Not because of the conversations between Jin and Baba or the revelations of their inner thoughts.
It was because the Meiwang clan members were shocked to see Jin fighting Baba on equal footing.
From the moment Baba first saw Jin in the main hall today, he had expected this kind of outcome.
Still, he believed the result would remain unchanged.
Sigmund and Light clashed fiercely, their auras and thunder energy engulfing the surroundings. Yet as time passed, their battle drew closer to the purest form of combat: a duel of swords.
The roar and thunderous explosions were so immense that it was hard to believe only two swords were striking each other.
They fought without pause, so much so that it almost felt like no sound was being made at all.
Both fighters’ bodies bore increasing wounds.
Amazingly, the number of injuries was exactly the same. Every time Jin was cut, Baba was cut once as well. Even the locations of their wounds mirrored each other perfectly.
The battle was mercilessly intense.
Soon, the two simultaneously stepped back.
Jin expanded his space by spreading his stance with the Meiwang’s Dominance Sword still drawn, and Baba responded by amplifying his energy one step further.
Baba’s strength held a slight edge. Jin’s switch to the first form of his Spirit Sword Ultimate Technique compensated for the difference.
“What’s the point of drawing a sword that hasn’t fully matured, Jin Runkandel?”
Unlike with Kaio, this time Jin’s Spirit Sword Ultimate Technique was clearly blocking Baba’s senses successfully. Baba wasn’t failing to block; he was accepting the block.
It didn’t matter.
Before his senses were completely lost, Baba closed his eyes first. Even in that state, he parried all of Jin’s attacks just as before.
If anything, he fought even more fiercely.
“To break through the Spirit Sword Ultimate Technique like this…”
To be able to wield even better swordsmanship with senses shut down.
Before experiencing the unification of fighting spirits, this was a monstrous realm Jin could hardly imagine.
Crack…!
A massive fissure spread from the center of the main hall where they fought.
The hall, which had withstood countless battles without losing its solid form, was now breaking apart.
The crack sucked in shock like a vortex—just as Jin’s relationship with the Meiwang clan had.
At this rate, it would collapse soon.
Jin decided to settle the match at that moment. Clearly, Baba was stronger than him.
“I’ll strike when you’re falling.”
When the ground suddenly disappears beneath you, even fighters like Jin and Baba would momentarily lose their balance.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“If you know, then counter it. You’ve already forgotten my advice.”
In the history of the Fighting Kings’ duel, the main hall had never collapsed. The rules included disqualification for leaving the arena, and at this rate, both would break that rule.
Though exceptional, Ban did not stop the duel.
Their fight was no longer just a Fighting Kings’ duel—it was more like a battle between Jin and the Meiwang clan itself.
With Ban’s power, she could have used thunder energy to forcibly hold the hall together, but she chose to let it break.
She allowed the main hall of the Fighting Spirit Battle, relocated intact to the dead world after the gods’ war in the Meiwang clan’s ancient land known as the Mitra Desert, to crumble.
Crack…!
As the hall split in two, the Meiwang clan members tightly shut their eyes.
They couldn’t bear to watch the moment their homeland’s heart was shattered by a fight that had started from such a petty quarrel.
“Everyone, open your eyes and watch closely.”
But they obeyed Ban’s solemn voice. All the Meiwang clan stared directly at the hall’s destruction and the two locked in a demonic struggle within.
Jin seized the moment as the hall fell, stepping on debris to close the distance with Baba.
The Spirit Sword Ultimate Technique had already been canceled. Baba met him head-on without dodging, and once again, they shared the damage equally.
Each cut the other’s left arm.
Their severed arms disappeared into the debris of the collapsing hall.
Landing simultaneously, Jin and Baba found themselves forced to turn their backs to each other, having just sliced past one another.
Then, as if on cue, they turned and stabbed at each other.
Thwack! Thud…!
The match was decided.
Jin’s sword stopped short of Baba’s chest, but Baba’s blade pierced through Jin’s spirit armor and chest.
As Baba twisted his sword, Jin bent at the waist and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Jin hadn’t failed to stab Baba—Baba’s strike had simply been faster.
“If you have anything to say, say it now.”
“Explode your thunder energy…”
“What?”
“Like I did to Kaio.”
“You don’t think you can?”
“Try it. Say you want to kill me.”
Blood trickled from Baba’s clenched lips.
Jin tried to raise his right arm, which held the sword, though his body pierced by light refused to move. Still, his senses were slowly returning.
Everyone watched as Jin struggled to lift his arm, trying to stab Baba again.
Like a wounded beast, panting and convulsing, but if given time, he could muster enough strength to strike Baba.
“Just one thing, Jin. Why are you doing all this? Why?”
The conversations they’d had before crossing swords—the discrimination and anxiety Jin had felt, the reasons he’d crossed the line.
To Baba and the Meiwang clan, none of those explanations justified this situation.
“You can’t… make it explode…”
“You can. You can make it explode anytime. But first, tell me. Why did you push things this far?”
Bradamante slowly climbed toward Baba’s neck.
She rose to within a hand’s breadth, then faltered, then climbed again, inching closer.
Baba’s brothers silently wished for the fight to end quickly.
Despite their anger at Jin’s past actions, not a single one shouted.
They only fixed their bloodshot, trembling eyes on the two.
“Please, please… just tell me. What you said earlier can’t be everything, right?”
“Are you just going to keep making noise?”
Drip…!
Finally, Bradamante’s blade touched Baba’s neck. Though barely, the sharp edge sliced into Baba’s skin.
Only a fingernail’s depth, but if Jin applied just a little more force, Baba would die.
Still, Baba couldn’t bring himself to detonate the sword piercing Jin’s chest.
“…Jin.”
From Jin’s clouded, dark eyes to the blade at his neck, and back again.
After holding that gaze, Baba closed his eyes. Blood-tinged tears slipped down beneath his lids.
“I understand, Jin brother. I can’t possibly comprehend it, but if this is your will, I will accept it.”
Resolution.
Before entering this duel, she had made a firm resolve.
Even at the very last moment, if Jin still wouldn’t stop—if it came to him being killed by his own brother—
He was determined not to let go.
As brothers, as the most precious family to each other.
“But before you stab my throat… there’s one thing you need to know. Not just me, but all the brothers—none of us ever truly gave up on you, even when you went astray. We all got furious, spat out hateful words, cursed you. Even when we said you weren’t our brother anymore, it was just words. Words spoken in anger.”
Baba loosened his grip on the light he’d been holding.
Then, opening his eyes again, he looked down at the wound Jin had inflicted on him and grasped the blade of Bradamante with his right hand.
“If Jin really hated us, he would’ve shattered Kaio’s heart when he stabbed him. He even had the strength to stab me just now, but he stopped the sword. Still, if you move the blade again, I won’t dodge. If this is truly what you want, Jin. But when I die, you have to come back. Because we’re brothers…”
Even then, the watching Mingwang clan didn’t shout. No one told Baba to stop, no one asked why Baba had to die instead of Jin. No one said anything about Lingling being here now.
They were the kind of people who, even if Jin ended up killing them all like this, would never abandon him.
“You asked why I’m doing all this, didn’t you, Brother Baba?”
Brother. That simple title after his name made Baba lower the sword in his hand and gently touch Jin’s face. Bradamante fell to the ground.
“Yeah, tell me, Brother Jin.”
“Even though I’m doing all this… the brothers just keep letting me win. That’s why.”
I had to hate you at least once. We had to fight for real at least once.
Even if it meant hurting each other this deeply, I needed to be sure that, in the end, we wouldn’t let go of each other.
At last, Jin confessed his role as the villain and collapsed into Baba’s arms.
The brothers were all running toward them.