Chapter 977
Episode 241: Rescue (6)

A storm of lightning energy began to swirl violently around Jin.

Even though the airborne fortresses had risen to higher altitudes to hold their positions, their protective shields were being torn apart by that overwhelming force.

Since the main cannons weren’t active, continuously repairing the shields wasn’t a problem—but everyone still felt a chill down their spines.

Most of the Red-Eyed Tribe wouldn’t last even a few seconds inside that golden inferno.

They wouldn’t even have the chance to swing their swords; their bodies would be engulfed in flames and they’d perish almost instantly.

In response, Luke amplified the energy of his Thunder God Sword and unleashed another divine weapon.

Ten swords formed from lightning energy hovered around Luke, pushing back the surging golden bolts.

But even those swords couldn’t fend off Jin, who was closing the distance directly. Sigmund was already falling toward Luke’s head.

The clash wasn’t just sword against sword—it was like two mountains colliding, shaking the earth with tremors and deafening roars.

The ground beneath them buckled and sank in seconds, unable to withstand their power. Each time, the two divine warriors created solid footing with their own energy to continue their movements.

“So, you’re the heir of the current divine warrior. I’ve been curious about you for some time, Jin Runkandel. Today, I get to see your power firsthand.”

Luke’s sword was slow.

Jin realized this the moment they engaged in close combat. His opponent’s strikes were heavy and sluggish.

Yet, they were impossible to evade.

Like the blunt sword style Siron once demonstrated, Luke’s blade possessed a unique trait that transcended the opponent’s senses and perception.

But Jin had also mastered a mysterious sword technique.

Moreover, the golden domain of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword was Jin’s territory. He floated like a ghost within the lightning storm, relentlessly driving his blade into Luke.

The pattern was always the same: Jin attacking from above, Luke countering from below.

Luke’s heavy sword seemed to cut through time itself.

Each time he swung, the space along the blade’s path warped strangely, and within those fractured spaces, the lightning energy of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword moved at altered speeds.

In this way, Luke continuously disrupted the space Jin tried to enter, and each time, Jin sliced through that space to restore the damaged parts of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword.

A battle of divine warriors.

For those beneath their clash, it was a spectacle no one could even imitate.

Swords soared chaotically, threatening each other’s lives with every moment.

“You’re mistaken.”

Shing!

Jin was the first to draw blood.

Sigmund’s pale blade grazed Luke’s cheek, but almost simultaneously, Luke left a scratch beneath Jin’s eye.

“I’m here to punish, not to waste time debating who’s superior.”

Jin ducked to avoid Luke’s horizontal slash.

From that lowered stance, he launched a strike that passed beyond Luke and into the pit.

Luke never forgot about the pit while facing Jin.

As if anticipating it, he swiftly sent two swords backward to block Jin’s sword energy heading toward the shield.

But facing a fellow divine warrior like Jin while also worrying about the shield was Luke’s limit.

Zzzeeng! Crack…!

‘…White Whale!’

Once again, a meteor shower slammed into the shield covering the pit.

Luna was currently supporting Jin from the rear of the battlefield, having set the unconscious Eltiot down beside her.

If Jin had been in Luke’s position, he might have lost sight of Luna at this moment too.

Close-quarters combat between divine warriors left no room for distractions.

“This is the first time since becoming a knight that I’m providing long-range support. Not bad at all. Right, Eltiot? Somehow, I like you.”

Eltiot responded with a weak groan.

The Red-Eyed Tribe’s airborne fortresses and fleets were also concentrating fire on the pit.

Judging by the battle between the two divine warriors, unless the main cannons were fully activated, other support was meaningless.

But if they used the main cannons, Jin would be swept up, turning the fight into a three-way battle again. So, the Red-Eyed Tribe’s best option was to target the shield.

For Luna, it was easy to keep firing meteor showers. Nothing threatened her now.

Sigmund slashed across the back of Luke’s hand.

The thought that the shield was in danger sent a faint ripple through Luke’s mind, and Jin seized the opportunity.

However, he could only inflict a shallow cut on the back of Luke’s hand.

Then Jin began to open the Sovereign’s Reign Sword once more.

Following Jin’s will, golden tidal waves surged in all directions.

The waves crashed and rose repeatedly, swirling like ripples around Luke.

Luke didn’t dodge the waves.

Each time the Thunder God Sword flashed, the waves scattered briefly, opening a path for Luke to press forward.

The ten swords Luke summoned shot through the gaps in the waves.

Two of them grazed Jin’s forehead and side.

“Suddenly, I find myself missing the divine warrior battles.”

“Too bad. Not even a breeze from Laprarosa will miss you. Once a divine warrior, now floundering in heresy.”

Luke didn’t respond, instead pushing Jin back with all his strength.

Both knew well that neither could kill the other today. The outcome would depend on what happened to those inside the shield.

Luke’s shield remained unbroken.

But it didn’t absorb all the shocks transmitted inside.

“Ugh, huff…!”

Airan knelt, nearly crushed, coughing up blood.

Bang, bang! Each tremor of the shield made his body feel like it would burst.

‘Bivol… is he dead?’

When the Solar God Cult suddenly appeared, everyone thought they’d survive together, but Bivol had been tossed by the shockwave and remained unresponsive with eyes open.

Moreover, Temar Biment’s condition was strange.

“Guh, ughhh…!”

He slammed his head against the ground.

The memories left in his left arm confused him.

“Temar Biment, snap out of it…!”

“Ru, Runkandel… Runkandel’s… sword, why is it…”

Mysterious runes appeared on Temar’s left arm.

Luna’s energy was stimulating that arm.

As the runes began to glow, the remaining red energy in Temar Biment faded.

“Temar Biment, can you recover? Protect me. Just hold on a little longer—he’s about to open the dimensional gate.”

But the next moment, Temar suddenly sprang up and plunged a broken sword into Sanna’s back.

“Te-Temar!?”

Since acquiring Temar’s left arm, the royal family had been unaware of one fact.

Not only did the arm retain part of Temar’s memories, but also a fragment of his will.

“Guhk…!”

The dimensional gate was about to open.

Even Luke couldn’t afford to divert all his attention from the shield this time.

Time was almost up, and suddenly, an incident occurred inside the pit, where the shield hadn’t even been breached.

He wouldn’t die easily.

What Sanna said was true.

Though she felt pain like an ordinary person and had a fragile body, she could never be killed without ‘special power.’

But Temar’s left arm possessed that power—the will of a knight who had ascended to divine warrior a thousand years ago.

“Th-this…”

“Priestess!”

In the end, Luke turned his back on Jin.

And that meant he couldn’t survive.

Jin plunged in, aiming to cleave him in two, slashing downward.

The sharp sensation of flesh tearing deeply and bone being struck was clear.

Before the blade passed that sensation, Jin detonated his lightning energy.

Lightning burst from within Luke’s back, bending his waist forward.

If Luke had been a human who ascended as a divine warrior, not a Sovereign, he wouldn’t have survived.

But Luke forcibly fused his splitting spine with lightning energy and kept advancing into the pit.

Jin’s strike wasn’t shallow. Luke simply endured the blow in a way even Jin hadn’t anticipated.

Jin unleashed another wave of sword energy, but Luke had already erased the shield and stepped inside the pit.

Flesh and bone fragments dangled from his torn and shattered back.

“Sorry, priestess. I couldn’t keep my promise.”

The variable of Temar’s left arm was the cause, but it wasn’t Luke’s fault.

Yet Luke didn’t think so.

Despite wielding power that transcended fate, he blamed himself for not turning the situation more decisively in his favor.

Then Luke grabbed Temar Biment’s head with his left hand.

Temar convulsed briefly under the lightning energy spreading from Luke’s palm, then passed out.

“Ugh, you didn’t kill him, right?”

“I held back.”

With his right hand, Luke caught Airan.

Unable to withstand the energy from Luke’s radiant heart, Airan lost consciousness as well.

“Ten seconds. If the dimensional gate isn’t opened by then, it’s over.”

Meteor showers and bombardments continued to fall.

But those attacks were nothing.

Compared to Jin entering the pit soon to swing his sword, they were insignificant.

Seven seconds left. Luna and the Red-Eyed Tribe ceased support to allow Jin to enter the pit.

Six seconds. Jin descended into the pit, leading the full force of the Sovereign’s Reign Sword’s lightning energy.

Luke had no strength left to swing his sword while protecting the three.

All he could do was detonate every bit of lightning energy left in his radiant heart to slow Jin’s advance.

‘Four, three…!’

Jin didn’t know exactly how much time they had left.

But he was certain the end was near.

Unless Luke abandoned those three and took up his sword himself, they would be dead within seconds.

Just as he was about to focus all the destructive energy of the Pluto Reign Sword into a single point to annihilate them—

Temar’s left arm came into view.

The left arm of the first head of the family, faintly glowing with runes, lay completely exposed and defenseless.

If he unleashed too much power, that arm would surely be damaged as well.

2, 1, 0.

Zzzzzzt—!

While he was still trying to figure out how to avoid harming the arm, a dimensional portal opened.

“Today, you win. Jin Runkandel.”

Luke’s final words as he vanished into the portal.

It wasn’t a declaration of victory in battle, but a recognition of their rivalry as members of the same Pluto clan.

Luke had failed to keep his promise to Sanna and had suffered a mortal wound because of it.

As the portal closed, Jin recalled the last image of Temar Bimont—the broken sword lodged in Sanna’s back.

“We’re withdrawing now. Full retreat.”

“Do not open the dimensional gate until the area is secure!”

The moment the fight ended, Bakalun and Simat quickly issued orders.

Getting involved with the Jin siblings any more than necessary was a nightmare they wanted to avoid at all costs.