Chapter 631
Episode 162. Smarion Prochi (3)
About five hundred aura disruptors.
Over the past two years and six months, Quaul had pushed the performance of these disruptors and related artifacts to near their limits, a conclusion reached only after countless tests.
No ally had ever withstood five hundred disruptors.
In fact, even reaching two hundred was too much—Valkas and Quikantel themselves couldn’t properly use their aura under such interference.
Yet now, Jin remained completely unaffected by the disruptors.
In fact, the moment the disruptors activated, he unleashed an immense aura, casting fresh protective shields over all the allies waiting outside the battlefield.
Just like Ron Hiran shielding people from chaos during the Sword Emperor War.
“To ignore all disruptors and grant personal shields to hundreds of people… that’s not something mere energy above ten stars can achieve. This is beyond human limits. Jin has returned as a monster.”
Quikantel swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Even she, who remembered Murakan at his prime, found Jin’s effortless mastery shocking.
In some ways, Jin had become even more terrifying than Murakan ever was.
At this rate, his combat power would soon rival Murakan’s, but his judgment and insight had long since transcended any human capacity.
Fzzzzzt—!
Suddenly, a sharp blue radiance flashed across the battlefield.
Smarion’s aura, which had surpassed Jin’s since the fight began, was now being devoured by aura and lightning energy.
[So you treat me like a mere beast. Is this not a fight, but a hunt?]
Smarion’s displeasure showed as he shot a blade of energy toward his comrades.
But before it could reach their shields, it disintegrated into nothingness.
Jin’s layered aura completely neutralized it.
“You’d do well to focus on me. Any attempt to threaten me through those outside will only work against you.”
Smarion’s eyes widened.
Gone was the composure he’d shown at the start; Jin’s face remained calm, just as before.
Jin’s words were true. Taking hostages when you can’t even handle Jin properly was only effective until he ‘arrived at the Gui Valley Star.’
Jin wondered why Smarion hadn’t done so already. Simply wanting to fight Siron or others like him wasn’t a sufficient explanation.
“Perhaps Smarion’s resistance to the demonic aura is why his comrades remain alive until I arrived.”
There was no time for a calm conversation.
Whether Smarion’s comrades survived because of his resistance or not, the fact remained: he had to be defeated.
Even if it was the last shred of humanity left in Smarion’s demonic aura desperately clinging to life.
[I’ve been away from this world too long, and I underestimated you.]
Screech—!
A residual image remained where Jin had stood. At the same time, Smarion’s twin swords shattered again, and he blocked Jin’s blade plunging into his chest with his bare fist.
The clash between Bradamante and Smarion’s fist echoed loudly.
The allies shuddered at the heavy impact transmitted through the Brother Guardian, Dragon Flame Barrier, the power of time, and various shields.
As they both accelerated, Smarion’s body quickly accumulated afterimages.
Since the disruptors were active, Jin hadn’t allowed a single effective hit.
Soon, Smarion changed tactics.
“All your attacks have grown heavier. You’re trying to win with just one strike because you can’t afford to drag this out.”
The exchanges between top-tier fighters had to be precise and delicate.
Even if most of the insights Smarion gained as a Ghost Captain were clouded by the demonic aura, his sword still held the unique subtleties of a transcendent.
But Smarion was breaking even those subtleties himself. Judging that a direct confrontation was impossible, he chose a path of mutual destruction.
“Grahh!”
Bradamante pierced Smarion’s left shoulder.
At the same time, Smarion thrust his sword into Jin’s chest.
The blade pierced through Jin’s spiritual armor, sinking about a finger’s width into his chest.
That blade carried decades of Smarion’s accumulated chaos.
A murky energy unlike any poison in the world spread instantly through Jin’s body.
Smarion naturally expected Jin to flinch and retreat.
He thought Jin would cough up blood, bend over, and struggle to expel the chaos invading his body.
But Jin remained unfazed, detonating the sword embedded in Smarion’s shoulder without a hint of surprise.
Jin was of the Mingwang race. Through this training, he had transcended the human concept of brotherhood and gained nearly identical traits to them physiologically.
Unless it was the first chaos power wielded directly by Helluram or something equivalent, all forms of ‘ordinary chaos’ in the world no longer affected him—no matter how vast or dense.
[Ridiculous… What exactly are you?]
Smarion’s last gambit failed.
He stepped back, panting, his left arm hanging limp.
Despite focusing all his energy after piercing the spiritual armor, Jin showed no sign of injury or fatigue.
If only he could take care of Jin, even with just ten percent of his remaining strength, he could have fled and lived to fight another day.
But the battle was effectively over.
Smarion could think of no way to threaten Jin anymore.
Taking hostages was obviously impossible now, and escape was no answer.
“You saw me and thought you found my father.”
Jin walked slowly toward Smarion.
Smarion struggled, scattering sword energy, but Jin effortlessly dodged or deflected every attack, showing the vast difference in skill.
“You were surely stronger as the Ghost Captain than you are now, but you could never have matched my father.”
Saying that Smarion was stronger back then than now, when he was soaked in demonic aura, was only possible coming from Jin.
No one else could think that way. Absolute composure replaced by demonic aura creates an unreachable realm, no matter how much power grows.
“But I wondered why Siron Runkandel, my father, spared your life back then.”
-My lord probably doesn’t even know my father ever fought Siron.
-Your father and the former Ghost Captain…?
-I didn’t see it myself. It happened before I was born. But the fight lasted a full day, and Siron eventually won. Yet, for some reason, my father’s head was never taken.
Though Ghost Captain Smarion was strong enough to fight Siron for a whole day, his demonic aura was uncontrollable, and after losing, the Ghost Corps never pledged loyalty to Runkandel.
Yet Siron often visited the Gui Valley Star to check on Smarion.
“Fighting you, I’ve come to understand why my father did that.”
[What are you talking about?]
“My father respected your resistance to chaos.”
Resistance to chaos—and respect for it.
Come to think of it, there were many strange points about Jin and Smarion’s fight from the start.
Smarion had been able to break free from his seal and emerge at any time long before Jin arrived.
He could have slaughtered all the humans surrounding him anytime before Jin came. Even the strongest of Tikan’s forces were no match.
But Smarion didn’t do that. He said he was waiting for someone like Siron.
Several times, Smarion’s chaos exploded, turning the area into a wasteland and causing casualties, but Tikan suffered no decisive damage.
Only after Jin appeared did Smarion focus all his scattered chaos and murderous intent on him.
Jin felt there was no reason for Smarion to do that otherwise.
The only assumption was that Smarion resisted the demonic aura to prevent killing people.
“I judge that you resisted chaos until I arrived. Your dulled sword and the survival of the Prochi siblings and my people are all thanks to that.”
In other words, Jin guessed that Smarion let go of his last thread of resistance the moment a being capable of killing him appeared.
[Because you’re Siron’s bloodline, you spout arrogant nonsense so well.]
“Before we end this fight, I want to pay my respects—not to the chaos monster before me, but to the human Smarion Prochi who alone defended the Gui Valley Star from chaos until yesterday.”
Whoosh…!
Suddenly, the aura and lightning energy covering the battlefield vanished.
The murky energy binding Smarion disappeared with them.
The chaotic battlefield instantly fell silent, replaced by Jin’s spiritual energy.
Chaos surged a few times like spikes but sank weakly into the spiritual energy like stones thrown into the sea.
[Damn it…]
Jin came to a halt and aimed Bradamante at Smarion.
There was no need to unleash the ultimate spirit sword technique.
As gently as closing the eyes of the dead, Bradamante pierced through Smarion’s chest.
Smarion flinched once, clutching the blade, and Jin quietly gazed into his fading red eyes.
But Smarion’s gaze wasn’t fixed on Jin, the one who had stabbed him—it was turned beyond, into the darkness suffused with spiritual energy.
Amid a life stained by madness and chaos, the only warm memories he had were of holding Rata and Faye. Though even those had ultimately become years filled with abuse and violence between them.
Smarion wasn’t lost in nostalgia at that moment.
Just as Jin had expected, the instant he arrived, Smarion had surrendered the last shred of his humanity.
The fact that Smarion’s eyes lingered on his children was mere coincidence—or perhaps a posthumous reflex of the man he once was.
Yet to Jin’s eyes, it seemed like the inevitable outcome of Smarion’s struggle against chaos.
“Farewell, Sir Smarion.”
At last, Smarion collapsed, dissolving into particles that scattered among the spirit energy filling the battlefield. Jin bowed his head in silent respect where Smarion had stood.