Episode 956
Chapter 235. Jito (5)

Even at that moment, Jito continued to torment Jin through his connection with Elona.

He was desperate to create even the slightest opening. If the Solar Slash unfolded fully and flawlessly, there was no way Jito could survive.

“Damn it… Maybe it would’ve been better to fight someone like Ayula instead. This kind of power—most immortals don’t even possess it.”

Jito knew better than anyone that the entire hellscape had briefly been bathed in Jin’s golden aura.

To fill the land of suffering not with demonic energy but with another force—since the death of the Sun God, only three immortals were known to have such power.

“I thought Jin Runkandel might have a way to cut me down… but I never imagined it would be like this. What is this? Did the witch really allow a mortal to wield such power?”

But now was not the time to be shocked.

A massive golden swamp, enough to swallow a god whole, was opening up. To escape and survive, Jin had to unleash every last reserve of his carefully preserved strength and energy.

[Too bad, Runkandel. You’re the one who has to give up. I’ll spare Orgal and look to the future.]

Jito’s true form rapidly became clear.

At the same time, the demonic energy around him exploded outward, pushing back the golden aura that was gathering. His target wasn’t Jin first—it was Elona.

To wield such a blade, he assumed the “resonance” between Jin and Elona, who shared the pain, must have been severed.

“Ugh!”

Just as Jito predicted, Elona flinched from the mental assault and stumbled backward. Jito intended to use her as a hostage to temporarily halt Jin’s attack.

But Elona had just regained the memories of her brightest days. The dark past that the mental attack tried to dredge up no longer shook her as it once did.

The ground beneath Elona exploded and collapsed from Jito’s punch, but she managed to slip safely behind Jin.

“Ah…!”

Looking up and forward, Elona momentarily forgot her pain and sighed inwardly.

A massive golden ring was wrapping around Jito. He struggled to break free, but each time he tried, a violet shockwave rippled outward with a deafening roar.

Then, as Jin withdrew his sword and swung again, another identical ring formed.

Four rings in total bound Jito, intersecting and sealing him off completely.

Sometimes, an arm or leg would protrude beyond the rings, but the golden energy glowing nearby would rush in and corrode the exposed flesh.

“This… is different from the Solar Slash Temar used.”

Elona recalled how Temar wielded the Solar Slash. Though the elemental attribute was the same, Jin’s blade was completely different in form.

Jin hadn’t inherited the Solar Slash directly from Temar. He was recreating a sword he’d glimpsed in the painted world of Keitam, so it was bound to differ.

Still, to Elona’s eyes, Jin’s blade was no less effective than Temar’s.

If anything, it felt more stable. After all, Jito was still thrashing about, unable to escape the rings.

“Hoo…!”

Jin exhaled heavily and sheathed his sword. Sweat and blood evaporated relentlessly from his body, heated like molten lava.

“That was a close call.”

“The power to cut him down?”

“Yes. I succeeded in restraining him so he wouldn’t slip away, but it cost me a lot of stamina.”

“That’s because of me.”

“That’s not quite right. Without your intervention, I wouldn’t have even gotten this chance. Sharing the pain enough to wield this blade is a small price to pay.”

Jin met Elona’s gaze.

“From now on, I will pour all my will into cutting him down. This will probably be the longest single strike I’ve ever made since I first gripped this sword.”

A thousand years ago, at his peak, Temar’s Solar Slash was almost a lightning-fast strike.

Jin had initially tried to imitate that method to cut Jito down. But facing the true evil that was Jito in battle, he realized it was impossible to fell him in a single instant.

Like the heavy greatsword Siron once dropped on him when he returned to the Garden of Blades, Jin decided a slow, heavy strike was necessary. That was why he even formed rings that didn’t exist in Keitam’s painting.

“So you’re saying you want me to handle all the variables that arise in the meantime?”

Jin nodded.

“That’s right, Elona Ziphl. We communicate quite well.”

“Right now, I feel like I’ve met an old friend. After we defeat that dark monster together, I will face my past as promised.”

“That’s good to hear. It seems you still have memories surfacing.”

“They’re the only memories from a time when I didn’t hate myself. I believe you, our clan leader, will make sure I never have to go through that again.”

Elona thrust her fist toward Jin. He smiled softly and lightly bumped fists with her.

[Ughhh, Kaaah!]

Jito’s struggles grew more violent, but the rings binding him held firm, not budging an inch. Only shockwaves escaped, detonating across the battlefield.

Jin focused silently once more.

Now, his vision was fixed solely on Jito. His inner self was filled to the brim with nothing but the will to cut Jito down, and his body seemed to exist solely to kill him.

In this state, Jin could be killed by an ordinary human. His body and mind, entirely focused on Jito, had no resistance to any other external attack.

It was Elona’s turn to protect Jin.

Though every contact with Jito’s energy made her head feel like it would explode, she gripped her staff tightly.

[Hngh… Do you think I’ll end like this?]

Jito shouted, clutching the ring around him.

Jin was already moving his sword. Without a sound, the blade slowly descended like a sinking glacier.

Light flowed endlessly slow.

Jito looked up at the light forming before his eyes along the sword’s path.

He had no choice but to block it—or he had to bring Jin down before the light touched him. He couldn’t let Jin complete the Solar Slash.

[Kaaah!]

Jito began pushing against the ring he held. His hands, grasping the ring, continuously broke down and regenerated, scattering violet ashes.

Gradually, the ring shifted. It would take far too long to open enough for Jito to escape. Jin’s sword would strike his head first.

But escaping the ring wasn’t Jito’s goal.

“Got it!”

He intended to open the abyssal sky that had been tightly sealed. Though he’d been wary of the abyss opening until now, this time he had to use it.

Jito stretched his arm beyond the twisted gap in the ring.

Crackling— As he clenched his fist, the sky distorted and the abyss reappeared.

Jito violently shoved his arm inside. The moment his arm entered the abyss, he screamed in pain—a cry that didn’t match the pleasure he’d always claimed to feel.

[Ugh, cough…!]

For a while, Jito seemed to be searching for something there, like a person rummaging through a box.

Elona poured magic toward Jito’s arm, but with her current will, she couldn’t deal a truly decisive blow.

She also couldn’t amplify her magic further without risking interference with Jin’s sword.

“Looks like he’s trying to pull something out… What is that!?”

Jito’s arm emerged from the abyss again.

In his hand was a pale glowing orb, about the size of a small box. Elona’s eyes widened as she sensed the power contained within.

An artificial sun.

The heart of the Jin Demon Realm itself, crossing the abyss and now in Jito’s grasp. It was his last trump card.

[Heh heh, Jin Runkandel. That was close… But if this goes off, it’s the end for both of you.]

Without hesitation, Jito clenched his fist.

At the same time, his arm scattered into particles, light bursting in all directions. Yet the rings binding him acted as a shield.

Most of the artificial sun’s power exploded toward Jin and Elona. Using the rings, Jito endured the blast with a sly grin.

Just as the golden aura had briefly spread across the Jin Demon Realm when Jin unleashed the Solar Slash, now darkness descended. With the sun destroyed, no light would exist in the realm for a while.

[I only need Orgal Remilias! I almost got myself killed by greed—how annoying. This is goodbye, Jin!]

Jin gritted his teeth, hearing Jito’s distant voice amid the explosion.

But he wasn’t shaken by the unexpected shock, nor did he think he couldn’t complete the Solar Slash.

If anything, his victory felt even more certain. He just had to hold onto his sword.

“That was intense. So this is the last variable, huh?”

Elona said, using her magic to block the explosion surging ahead of Jin.

It was something Jito couldn’t comprehend.

He had expected Elona to hold back the artificial sun’s explosion to some extent, but he never imagined she would handle it so effortlessly.

Thanks to her flawless containment of the blast, Jin was able to swing his sword without the slightest hindrance. The blade was now mere inches from Jito’s eyes.

[How is she… holding this back? Is it really not even difficult for her?]

“It’s because it doesn’t require willpower,” Elona said. “I’m not destroying transcendent beings like you. I’m just blocking a force that’s strong—nothing more. Let’s just say my power has its uses after all. The strength I possess exists for moments like this, for people like you. I’d forgotten that truth for far too long.”

Whoooosh…!

With a sweep of her staff, the energy from the exploding artificial sun split apart, carving a path to either side.

Jin followed that opening, completing the arc of his sword’s strike.