Chapter 719
Episode 180: Each One’s Battle (9)
Within the fading afterimage left by Swaecheon, Dipus’s body flickered. From his torn-off left arm and wing, a dark aura surged like blood.
From this point on, what unfolded between the two could no longer be called a fight.
Cornered, Dipus barely managed to wield the greatsword Volgar, while Jin relentlessly stabbed his blade into every opening.
Each strike tore a massive hole in Dipus’s flesh. If he were human, he would have died more than ten times over by now.
Jin wielded his sword mercilessly, as if determined to erase every trace of Dipus’s body.
[Hmph, Dipus’s memories, huh? So you really see me as someone else?]
Bang! Volgar slammed into the ground, blocking Jin’s downward strike.
[You’ve been spouting nonsense about me being some chaos-devouring fiend since earlier. I get that you’re excited to have the upper hand, but look closely. I am Dipus Runkandel—your brother.]
“There’s no one left in the Garden of Blades who can claim the name Runkandel.”
[Heh heh, from your perspective, sure. But don’t keep treating me like some other guy. It’s not true, and it’s disrespectful to an opponent who refuses to grovel even when cornered, little brother.]
Suddenly, Dipus’s demeanor shifted.
His previously unsteady swordsmanship quickly regained balance, and Volgar once again brimmed with destructive power.
‘A last desperate surge, huh.’
Jin had long suspected Dipus had some strength left in reserve.
‘Not a self-destruct, but an enhancement.’
None of it mattered. Even if it was a suicidal move like a volcanic final attack, Jin could block it—and even if Dipus grew stronger, it wouldn’t change the outcome.
But then Jin realized Dipus’s transformation was more than just that.
Volgar began to glow—not with the dark aura of chaos, but with a pure, white radiance.
‘Aura…!?’
The fierce energy unique to Runkandel shone brightly from Volgar.
Jin instinctively stepped back and locked eyes with Dipus, who laughed like a madman as he snapped the horn protruding from his forehead.
“Still think I’m some other being, not your brother?”
The voice, once dark and amplified, returned to Dipus’s original tone. The wings on his back wilted and fell like withered flowers.
From the wounds across his body, hot, red blood flowed instead of the chaotic energy.
‘He reversed his physical transformation?’
Standing before Jin once more, Dipus was unmistakably his old self.
Naturally, this was something Jin hadn’t anticipated.
“Answer me, little brother.”
“What on earth…”
“You and I becoming enemies and fighting was inevitable. But at least don’t ease your guilt by seeing me as someone else.”
If Dipus had begged for his life in his old form, Jin would have dismissed it as a desperate ploy to survive.
Yet in Dipus’s eyes, even with his old appearance restored, there was still the fierce resolve of a man prepared to die.
For a moment, Jin’s heart wavered.
“While you were away training in seclusion… I, as the family’s Fourth Pillar, had to fight a grueling battle. Alongside Mary.”
Dipus said this as he swung Volgar down at Jin.
Jin parried the blow without breaking eye contact.
No matter how many times he looked, it was Dipus.
“When Mother embraced chaos, the family changed in an instant. Many, including me, tried to resist, but it was hopeless. Those who opposed Mother were hunted down and killed every day.”
Did you think I resented you then?
Jin couldn’t answer the unspoken question.
“I resented no one. Even Father, who showed no sign of returning; Luna, my sister; you, who left alone; and even Mother, who oppressed us all. Why? Because I believed it was all the result of my own weakness.”
“So what are you saying?”
“But throughout the fight, you resented and hated me. You saw me not as Dipus Runkandel, but as a monster of chaos. The Dipus who accepted chaos—is that not me? Is that something you get to decide? Joshua was tainted by chaos, but he’s still Joshua. Am I no longer Dipus?”
“Don’t you dare compare that bastard to Brother Dipus.”
“You still refuse to face it. Jin, little brother, I’ll tell you one thing. Receiving Mother’s power can’t happen without consent. Even if she tried to force it, it wouldn’t work. I became a fragment of the Dark God by my own will!”
Jin’s eyes widened, then trembled.
But after a few seconds, he steadied himself.
Because even if everything Dipus said was true, nothing would change.
“…I understand. Whatever your reasons for choosing chaos, this is regrettable. I won’t hold grudges either.”
“Good. That’s how it should be.”
The brothers’ swords clashed again.
As the battle resumed, fresh wounds appeared on Dipus’s body.
They no longer healed. Unlike before, a single fatal blow would end him.
Jin’s sword showed no mercy.
‘Is this the realm my brother reached before succumbing to chaos…?’
He was strong.
Even someone this strong couldn’t ultimately resist chaos.
That thought crossed Jin’s mind.
But strength was only an objective measure.
To Jin, who had risen to near the pinnacle of power, Dipus’s sword posed no real threat.
“Graaah!”
Bradamante sliced into Dipus’s waist. Blood poured from the gaping wound.
From that moment, Dipus’s movements noticeably slowed.
Monsters tainted by chaos ignore such injuries, but humans slow down when hurt.
That sight tore at Jin’s heart.
He swung his sword silently, cutting, tearing, and piercing Dipus’s body. Each strike sent a chillingly vivid sensation through his hands—the feeling of killing a man, his own brother.
“Mother is incomparable to me. Do you really think you can succeed in rebellion…?”
“Ugh!”
A crimson mass spilled from Dipus’s abdomen. Clutching it with one hand, he swung Volgar like a ghost.
“You couldn’t even save the family, yet you want to save the world? You came to Ricalton claiming to save people? Stop this nonsense. You’re a hypocrite and a traitor. Mother may have embraced chaos, but she never allied with our sworn enemy!”
Crack…!
Volgar’s blade cracked. The sword’s lifespan was ending under Jin’s relentless assault.
One, two, three times.
Each time Jin struck Bradamante, sharp shards flew from Volgar.
Some grazed Jin’s face, drawing blood.
Finally, on the seventh strike, Volgar shattered into pieces.
Despite his battered sword and body, Dipus radiated fierce willpower.
An unbreakable, menacing gaze.
Jin paused mid-step and stared at Dipus.
“Come on. Hesitating now? Heh, are you afraid to kill me, so you’ve stopped your sword?”
From the shattered Volgar, a streak of sword energy shot out.
Jin didn’t dodge. The aura was so faint that the energy dissipated into his own before it could reach him.
Still, Dipus fired several more sword energies. Each attempt grew weaker, Volgar shedding its remaining shards, and blood sprayed from Dipus’s body.
Even in death, he was determined to at least scratch Jin. If that was impossible, he vowed to become a restless spirit and haunt his dreams.
“Or are you… ha, ha, laughing at me?”
No.
Jin stopped because he couldn’t understand.
Why would someone this strong, who never yielded to death or pain, who could fight so desperately… accept the power of the Dark God?
Why succumb to chaos?
He couldn’t accept it.
“Why… why did you do this? What made you like this, brother?”
“I alone made myself this way. Don’t look elsewhere for the reason. Like you said, nothing changes. Why do you still need someone to blame? You’re wrong. If you don’t like this situation, blame yourself.”
As Dipus finished speaking, chaotic energy suddenly swirled around him.
Jin hurried to slash through the aura enveloping Dipus, but at the same time, a white dimensional portal opened before him.
Whoosh!
“Jin!”
Motte, Siris, and Valeria reached out to Jin from the white portal.
Valeria had been analyzing the battlefield’s records and had just uncovered the Prophet’s final move.
“Stop! You can’t kill the Fourth Pillar now! We have to eliminate the Prophet first…!”
“Valeria, what are you—”
“The Prophet cast a spell on the Four Pillars. The moment Dipus dies, the power he received will return to the Dark God through a curse-type magic.”
From the start, Dipus’s goal was to restore the Dark God through his own death.
That’s why he kept Jin away—to buy the Prophet time to complete the curse.
If Jin and his comrades had attacked Ricarton Castle from the very beginning, the war would have ended before the prophet could curse Dipus.
If Jin had killed Dipus without hesitation now, it would have meant that Rosa would have awakened, having accepted the power Dipus held.
Behind the white dimensional gate, Dipus, engulfed in a haze, had vanished without a trace.
“We have to eliminate the sorcerer first to stop the curse from activating. Hurry and mount up—the Four Horsemen have just been summoned to Ricarton Castle. We need to get back immediately, kill the prophet, and destroy the dark powers the Four Horsemen possess!”