Chapter 957
Episode 235. Jito (6)
“Hah, damn it…”
Jito’s vision was flooding with blinding light.
He felt a sharp blade’s edge just grazing the space between his brows. The golden, blazing aura of Jin’s sword swept across the lower abyss hanging in the sky, slicing through Jito.
Crack! Skrreeeek!
Jito’s head was splitting in two. His dark, massive form was composed of flesh, bone, and organs—almost human in structure.
Since the distant past, from the day the Sun God died, he had endured unending torment—torture without a single day’s rest, even against himself.
Because he rarely fought in his manifested form like this, it hadn’t been so obvious, but Jito’s physical body was weaker than other immortals of his rank.
Beneath his rock-hard skin, his decayed bones crumbled lifelessly. His skull was already cleaved in half, and through the gap, golden sword energy surged upward.
His brain matter burst and instantly evaporated.
Even when he tried to stop it with his remaining arm, clutching at the sword energy, it was useless. His fingers melted away, and his arm fell limp.
Meanwhile, the ring formed by Jin continued to tighten its grip on Jito. At first, Jito had tried to use it like a shield to block the artificial sun’s explosion, but each time the ring endured the blast’s shockwave, it contracted, shaking Jito’s insides violently.
A deafening roar filled the air as space itself warped relentlessly.
Yet the space where Jin and Elona stood remained intact. Not even a wisp of smoke from the explosion could interfere with Jin.
“Gah…!”
Thud! Jito’s split head dropped to the ground.
Despite his body being in such ruin, the immortal’s form did not lose function. Through his eyes, now separated and rolling apart, he gazed upon the altar of pain being mercilessly destroyed.
Broken and snapped poles lay scattered, along with the clusters of souls and life that had hung from them.
Some were wrapped in Jin’s energy, turning into golden masses; others simply vanished into nothingness.
Jito could not understand what difference determined their fates. All he felt was an indescribable disgust.
“Are you… claiming to be a true king like the Sun God? Who the hell are you to decide the fate of these beings?”
Jin did not answer.
Jito couldn’t even hear his voice clearly, focused as Jin was on the Sun Severing technique. Even if he had, Jin wouldn’t have known the reason behind the division any more than Jito did.
“What are you, that you can mock pain like this? Helluram! You’re watching this, right? Answer me—why must I be erased here?”
Jito couldn’t look into the abyss. His eyes were fixed on the ground, unable to move.
“You know how I feel, Helluram. You said you respected the fate of the immortals born as byproducts of the sun, especially my life, which has suffered the most. Come out, Helluram! Come out and give me a reason I can accept…!”
At that moment, Jin’s sword pierced Jito’s heart.
“Kihik!”
Fear of annihilation consumed him.
As proven in his battle with Ayula and when he reached into the abyss to retrieve the artificial sun, Jito had little tolerance for pain beyond his control.
“The end is finally in sight, Jito.”
Elona swatted away a fragment flying toward Jin and spoke.
As Jito’s heart was being split, his power weakened accordingly. Now, even when Elona touched him, she felt far less pain than before.
“You seemed to rely heavily on the witch Helluram, huh? I met her a thousand years ago. She hardly left the impression of someone trustworthy.”
The artificial sun’s explosion no longer reached near Elona. The entire pocket dimension was collapsing under the blast’s aftermath.
“All orphans must pay a fair price! Even if you stop me, the witch will make it happen. She will punish the orphans. Kahahaha…!”
A mad laughter echoed.
Elona flinched at the obsession in that voice and glared at Jito’s disintegrating body. She found it remarkable that Jin continued the Sun Severing technique without paying any mind to Jito’s madness.
“Don’t think you’ve won. As long as the witch exists, you’ll never live in safety. No matter what new order arises, it will eventually corrupt and betray you.”
No sooner had Jito finished speaking than the golden sword energy sliced his heart in two.
Panting, his dark purple heart began to slow and stop.
Hard tumors embedded in his heart burst, spraying foul, putrid blood. Each drop that fell shook the ground. The power of the god of pain, condensed to the extreme, spiraled out of control, corrupting the pocket dimension.
More threatening than the artificial sun’s blast was this poisonous blood and pus. As Jito’s flesh oxidized and toxic fumes rose, Elona tried to strengthen her protective barrier, but Jin spoke up.
“Those kinds always self-destruct when it’s their time to die.”
“Jin, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Now that I’ve cut the heart, I finally have a moment to speak. I’m a bit tired, though.”
Jin still held the blunt sword.
Just as he had predicted, he could finish this precariously. With the head and heart severed, all that remained was to completely destroy Jito’s form so he couldn’t rise again.
The golden rings contracted faster.
They tightened around Jito, glowing just as brightly as when they first appeared, even as they neared the poisonous blood and toxic fumes.
Gradually, they converged toward Jin’s sword.
Each ring was a kind of magic formed from Jin’s energy. Jin had to fully reclaim them to properly recover afterward.
Jito’s last desperate act was to try to break the rings. The battle was over, but Jin wouldn’t let him go quietly.
“You’re coming with me, Jin Runkandel.”
“If you wanted to make that happen even a little, you should’ve taken a hostage beforehand—like you did with Faelito.”
Jito’s toxic blood and fumes clung stubbornly to the rings. But without his head and heart, his power couldn’t overcome Jin’s regenerative abilities.
“When you twisted the ring and pulled out the artificial sun, I was honestly a bit dizzy. Maybe you should’ve tried breaking even one ring instead of pulling out the sun. If you had, I wouldn’t be standing here now.”
Shhhhk…!
Finally, the blunt sword that had slowly sliced through Jito’s body came to a stop.
Though it had fallen so slowly, the trail of the blade still shimmered brightly in place.
Like following a path, the shrinking rings gathered along the blade’s trace, converging into the sword. Each time a ring was absorbed, Jin’s body, hot as molten lava, cooled slightly.
Ten seconds passed.
No voice came from Jito anymore. Only the remaining tumors and the dark remnants of his body emitted toxic fumes, staining the pocket dimension.
Jin and Elona sharpened their senses, reading Jito’s energy. They felt nothing.
Jito was gone. The god of pain, the longest ruler of the demon realm, had vanished without leaving a final word.
“Phew, what a pitiful end.”
Jin slumped to the ground, speaking as exhaustion from overusing the Sun Severing technique finally caught up with him. Without recovering some strength, he wouldn’t be able to take another step.
“You did well. You finally cut him down, Lord Jin…”
Compared to facing other transcendent beings like Gliek, the Dread God, or Faelito, this victory was certainly easier.
But without Elona, Jin wouldn’t have survived. Likewise, if Elona had faced Jito alone, she would have fallen without showing her true worth.
“We didn’t cut him down alone. I was just thinking how hopeless it was to fight without Murakan as planned, and then, like a savior, you appeared. Huh.”
Suddenly, Elona lifted Jin and slung him over her shoulder.
“You’re not planning to kidnap me now that I’m weak, are you?”
“Of course not. You’re just a bit worn out and your senses dulled. Jito’s poison is seeping through the floor.”
“Just kidding. That filthy bastard keeps making things difficult until the end.”
Bubble… Sssshhh!
The floor and walls of the pocket dimension boiled like a rotting swamp. The air grew hot with toxicity. Though Elona’s shield and armor remained unscathed, it was deadly for the exhausted Jin.
“From what I sense, Jito’s death is affecting the entire demon realm. Most of the land is probably boiling like this right now.”
“And somehow, I feel like Jito’s remnants are gathering in one place.”
“You’ve recovered your senses that much already? You read it perfectly. Jito’s remaining energy scattered across the demon realm, along with the artificial sun’s residue, are all converging.”
Jin and Elona instinctively thought of the same name.
“…Keliak Ziphl. It must be him. Unless it’s the witch.”
A nagging unease crept in as they recalled his face. Perhaps even the recently deceased Jito had been playing right into his hands.
“As far as I remember, the witch isn’t interested in these powers. It has to be Keliak Ziphl.”
Jin lightly patted Elona’s back.
“Don’t worry about Veradin. As long as Murakan is alive, that guy won’t die. And right now, I can’t sense any sign of the guardian dragon’s death.”
“I probably know Murakan’s full strength better than you do. He’s an incredibly powerful being, terrifyingly so.”
“If what Jito says is true and Murakan is still fighting Keliak, then the battle is far from over.”
“Thanks to you handling most of Jito, I still have enough strength left to keep fighting.”
“Even if I don’t have the strength to hold a sword, we have to go save Veradin. I’ll lean on you to recover as much as I can until we reach where Jito’s energy is gathering. Let’s move quickly.”