Chapter 673
Episode 171: Beneath the Imperial City… (Part 2)
Yona Runcandel.
The moment he locked eyes with her—her cold, merciless gaze soaked in chaos and bloodlust—Jin nearly lost his sanity.
But showing even the slightest weakness in front of someone like her would have been nothing short of suicide.
“Damn it… What the hell did those bastards do to my sister?!”
Though his hatred for Rosa and the Sword Garden surged instantly, his love and care for his youngest sister ran far deeper and fiercer.
That was the only reason Jin managed to hold onto his composure in that split second.
It wasn’t some instinct for self-preservation driving him—it was the desperate need to protect his sister.
He couldn’t let her wake up burdened by guilt or pain from being hurt by him.
Clang!
Bradamante’s sword dropped like lightning, deflecting Yona’s blade.
Yona blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting such an easy parry. Dante didn’t miss the opening.
“Jin…!”
But Dante didn’t strike while Yona hesitated. He knew better than anyone what she meant to Jin—and he couldn’t risk hurting her recklessly.
They had already missed the chance to end this quickly. If they failed to subdue Yona soon, who knew what might happen?
Yona could buy time for reinforcements to invade through other tunnels—or worse, break free and massacre everyone in the capital indiscriminately.
In that moment, Dante chose his friend’s heart over the empire’s safety.
It was a choice no supreme ruler should make—but for Dante, there was no other way.
“Thank you, Dante.”
“Hah. What am I to do? Embarrassingly, I find myself asking you that question far too often.”
Jin quickly regained his calm.
His anger burned hotter than ever, but his mind and spirit were steadier than ever before. One wrong move now, and he’d lose Yona forever.
“She’s raging from the mating season, and the Prophet must have cast some spell on her.”
That explained why Yona seemed duller than the sister he knew. More destructive, yes—but the shadowy grace that was uniquely hers had faded.
Could they subdue her?
After two more exchanges, they reached a conclusion.
“Dante, if you and I take some damage, I think we can restrain her.”
If it were about killing, they could do it without risking injury.
From Dante’s perspective, killing Yona was the right choice. Jin was asking too much.
“Agreed.”
But Dante didn’t hesitate. If Ron had been in the tunnels, he’d have made the same request.
“You’re putting me in your debt.”
“Nonsense. I still owe you far more than this.”
Whoosh!
Jin infused Bradamante with his spiritual energy.
Yet, despite the intense aura blazing like fire aimed at her, Yona showed no reaction.
“Is it because she’s lost her mind? Normally, she’d recoil fiercely from spiritual energy.”
Yona casually pressed her sword against Bradamante, now enveloped in Jin’s energy.
But this wasn’t Yona’s sword, Death. It looked similar but was longer—and lacked that eerie chill.
“Hah!”
Dante sidestepped, exhaling sharply. Yona’s blade grazed his hair, cutting a few strands. She had decided to take Dante out first.
“We’ll have to brace for some serious wounds.”
“Seems there’s no major fighting outside yet. No disturbances at all.”
“You can sense that from here?”
“Having experienced the senses of a battle god, I hope this tunnel was made solely to let Yona in.”
Dante’s nerves were on edge just keeping Yona in check; he couldn’t spare attention for anything else.
Even if that weren’t the case, reading the outside atmosphere from deep underground was a tall order.
“You’ve truly become a monster.”
“Maybe that’s why these trials keep coming.”
As Jin stepped up his defense, Yona had to abandon her plan to eliminate Dante first.
Facing the world’s strongest magic swordsman and the empire’s finest swordsman working in perfect tandem, Yona’s only option was wild, desperate attacks.
The problem was each strike was deadly. Even dulled, a sacrifice was still a sacrifice—and the darkness of the tunnels only freed her further.
When Jin and Dante stood back-to-back, she’d appear in front, then suddenly strike from behind.
Only Yona could create such openings and exploit them.
“Ugh… Die… Jin… Runcandel…”
She no longer resembled the Yona he knew.
That truth clawed at Jin’s heart, but he kept his composure.
“I remember the first time we went to Mumei. Back then, I almost died protecting her with this friend.”
“Kill…!”
“Just like then, she won’t kill me today. I’ll make sure of it—for her sake.”
Many chances came for Jin and Dante to end this, but opportunities to subdue her were rare—and their minor wounds piled up.
Noticing they weren’t trying to deeply wound her, Yona grew bolder, launching riskier attacks.
“Is everything still calm outside?”
“If anything happens, I’ll alert you immediately… Wait, Dante.”
“Has it started!?”
“No. You called me a monster earlier, right?”
“What’s that about?”
Monster. The exact word recorded in Valeria’s magic archive, unlike the name ‘Runcandel.’
“Why would Valeria’s records specifically call Yona a monster?”
-If it were Joshua, wouldn’t the name be omitted from the record?
-Well, maybe because she accepted chaos and became a completely new being. But that’s just a hunch.
Suddenly, a conversation with his comrades before arriving at the Sword Emperor’s Castle flashed through Jin’s mind.
“If she truly became a new being by embracing chaos, her name should have been erased. Is there some difference between Yona and… Runcandel?”
If so, maybe this isn’t Yona at all.
Maybe the Prophet created a clone or some other version of Yona, like Joshua’s copy.
“Besides, judging by her state, she’s not fully controlled. It’s strange that this vast tunnel was made just for Yona. If they planned to send others, the outside would already be in chaos. Attacking from outside while we’re trapped here would be most effective.”
If the Yona before him wasn’t the real one, there was no reason to endure injuries trying to subdue her.
And this Yona bore no resemblance to the sister Jin knew.
“If it were truly Yona, she would have shown pain at least once. Even if entities like Helluram or Gliek had possessed her, she would have struggled with fighting me by now…”
That was the Yona Jin knew.
Always on the edge because of chaos, killing without reason for so long, terrifying others because of it.
But someone who overcame that terrible chaos to love Jin, family, and people.
His youngest sister who, despite hearing the voice urging her to kill, wove green roses for him.
“Dante, get out.”
“Jin, you’re not thinking of giving up on Yona, are you? Don’t!”
“Not at all. I’ll buy time. Go bring Yuria.”
“Princess Yuria?”
“She might not be Yona. I’ll explain later. I can’t face her alone for long.”
Even with two of them, subduing Yona meant risking serious injury.
They were just taking hits like scarecrows.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can!”
As Dante turned his back, Yona’s blade rained down relentlessly. Jin blocked the barely visible strikes, standing firm.
“Earlier, I felt a filthy, ominous presence that nearly drove me mad. Now, I feel like I can breathe again, my mind clearing. Somehow, I don’t think she’s the real Yona.”
Scratch!
Yona’s blade grazed Jin’s cheek.
Still, he didn’t strike her weak points.
After about ten minutes of facing Yona alone, Jin was covered in blood—but his breathing and movements remained steady. His senses, once attuned to the outside world, now focused solely on Yona.
“Jin!”
“Brother Jin!”
Dante gritted his teeth at the sight of Jin soaked in blood, but Yuria wasn’t as shocked—she could tell there were no deep wounds.
“How’s outside?”
Jin asked Dante.
“All quiet. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. And that person…”
Yuria focused, activating the power of Azmil.
Her eyes glowed green as she probed Yona’s true nature.
“She’s not Yona!”
“A clone like Joshua?”
“Not even that. Just… a soulless combat doll. That’s what I see.”
“So you’re sure she’s not Yona?”
“Absolutely not.”
As Yuria’s confirmation came, Jin’s legs gave out, and he dropped to one knee.
A profound sense of relief washed over me at the realization that that Yona wasn’t the real one.
Of course, the fake Yona seized the moment to charge at Jin, intent on finishing him off, and Dante, panicked, unleashed a blade of energy to protect him.
But Yona’s sword was faster than that energy.
Still, Jin, kneeling, swung his Bradamante sword with precision, deflecting the fake Yona’s strike in an instant—and even managed to sever her neck.
“Yeah… I knew it. There was no way our Yona-nim would do something like this.”
The severed fake Yona twitched briefly before dissipating into nothingness.
In the spot where she vanished, only a single black mass remained.