C218 - Bad Relationship (4)
"Brother Garmund. We might be able to escape with this creature. So why not..."
Garmund shook his head.
"No, the chances of you dying or getting injured are too high if I do that. Even I would struggle to withstand this aura. It would probably explode all the way to the waters far from here."
"Seriously, I had no idea that bastard would choose to blow himself up."
"Hurry up and go, brother. You know how this works. I'll be fine. I told you before. Make sure to tell me next time."
Jin clenched his teeth.
"Alright."
"We're brothers. We don't keep count of our favors. Alright, now run. Make sure not to veer off to a side where you can't see my back."
Jin sighed and nodded, after which Shuri began running at full speed.
As Garmund had calculated, there was no way Jin would survive the explosion if Garmund didn't block its impact.
A suicidal detonation: this move was the last resort to be used in the worst circumstances.
Volcano was powerful enough to wipe out entire small islands.
And that would be the impact caused by a seven or eight-star pureblood who had just become a Runcandel Flag Bearer. Needless to say, Joshua's Volcano would cause much more impact.
Joshua's body began to glow red as he screamed.
All his veins burst, and his body filled with aura.
Liquid metal started dripping from the expanded blade of the silver sword, Sran.
His blade was melting from the heat emitted by Joshua's body.
"Clever bastard. So, you're still trying to prove that you're a descendant of Temar, huh?"
Garmund couldn't approach Joshua, who stood still.
The aura surrounding Joshua was too powerful to penetrate.
Garmund took a step forward.
The ground gave way, and rocks flew from it.
The Thunder Energy enveloping him gathered in his sword.
Joshua's Aura began to erode the area around him as Garmund's Thunder Energy compressed into his sword.
The aura and Thunder Energy were quite similar in terms of size.
But while Joshua chose to die to employ such energies, Garmund only prepared to perform the one move he had perfected throughout his life.
"Die!"
That was Joshua's final cry.
His vocal cords burned from the boiling aura within him.
The scream screeched horribly like metal scraping against another.
The aura in the area was absorbed by Joshua's sword in a circular motion.
The circle then converged into a single point that met the edge of the melting sword.
It marked the beginning of the final move: Volcano.
A hollow sound, like that of an empty can, rang out.
The explosion of aura within the blade of Sran had caused the metallic sound.
Then the sound turned into a tremendous noise.
Bam!
Bam!
Boom!
The sword initiated a series of eruptions and flooded the aura in all directions.
Fwoosh!
The area immediately filled with blinding light.
There was nothing left of Joshua.
Everything that had composed his body turned into aura itself to form the Volcano.
Joshua died.
The erupting and flooding aura had the appearance of a volcano spewing lava.
The aura, which had surged towards the sky, began to fall back to the ground.
But before it reached the land, a shockwave from the eruption traveled through the air and started to destroy the island.
The shockwave distorted space.
The island was ravaged by tremendous forces of attraction and repulsion, and the impact of the earthquake caused giant waves in the surrounding waters.
The island shattered like a piece of glass around the only remaining ground.
It was the place where Garmund stood, and the stretch of sand behind him, where Shuri desperately ran in the other direction.
"Gaaaaaaah!"
Garmund's roar twisted the expansive wave of the Volcano. His body shimmered blue with Thunder Energy, but it was not due to sacrificing his own body like Joshua.
The lightning in the roar resembled a spiderweb, spreading in tens of thousands of arrays to hold back the eruption.
Soon, Garmund's sword made a cut.
The sword wave that pierced through the center of the Volcano shook the foundations of the island.
Unlike the Volcano, which was rapidly destroying the land, Garmund's sword quietly traced a line.
It was as smooth as a brushstroke. The sword wave cut through the island where the Volcano erupted.
The sword wave had only traced a line on the ground.
But the erupting aura on both sides of it began to diminish.
The eruption subsided much more noticeably than its beginning, and the blurry vision began to return slightly.
But Garmund knew it wasn't over.
It hadn't finished yet.
The Volcano, momentarily suppressed, would erupt even more intensely after a few seconds.
But in those few seconds, Jin could escape further.
And for those fleeting moments, Garmund gave up his chance to flee.
Fortunately, Jin was no longer in sight when he turned to look.
"I should be fine by now. Come at me then." Garmund assumed his stance. A lightning flickered from his eyes.
The Volcano continued its eruptions for the next ten minutes.
The thirty-second island of the Blue Bird completely disappeared, except for a small rock barely five paces wide.
Garmund managed to block all the erupting aura heading towards Jin.
Thanks to his sacrifice, Jin stood unscathed on that five-step rock.
For five minutes, Jin waited on the rock until the eruption ended.
The aura of the Volcano and Thunder Energy had disappeared. Now, only the sun illuminated the islands of the Blue Bird.
It was time to search for Garmund.
Jin began scanning the debris-filled waters of Shuri.
"Garmund! Brother Garmund!"
Jin's eyes were filled with concern as he shouted desperately.
"My ears! I'm going to go deaf from all that yelling, brother."
"Brother!"
Jin gritted his teeth when he saw Garmund.
He had lost both arms and was leaning against another rock.
The legendary sword crafted by Boras was shattered and embedded in the same rock.
Jin carefully lifted Garmund and placed him on Shuri's back.
"Don't be so down, brother. You know I'll be fine. You don't have to feel this way."
Garmund chuckled as he glanced at his shoulders.
No blood flowed from his wounds. Instead of blood, dark energy emanated from them. It was Shadow Energy.
"But still. It must have hurt."
"It did hurt, but it's nothing terrible."
The Special Move of the Shadow Blade: Dark Light's Call, took the form of an invocation.
But it was more akin to reconstruction than an invocation.
It temporarily opened a door to Lafrarosa and summoned one of its members from Shadow Energy.
This had been the conversation Jin had shared with Tantell before leaving Lafrarosa.
"By the way, I hoped you could investigate it, brother."
"Is there no way for our brothers to get out on their own? You came to the Great Desert to pick me up, brother Tantell."
"That is limited to occasions when the heirs arrive in the Great Desert. There is only one other way to leave the outside world, but it is useless."
"Why?"
"Sister Battle Goddess will tell you."
What Vahn, the Battle Goddess, had taught Jin was the Special Move of the Shadow Blade: Dark Light's Call.
With Jin's current level of Shadow Energy, he could only use it once every one or two years.
Dark Light's Call did not summon the Legends themselves, but their souls. Then, the Shadow Energy merged with their souls, allowing the specters to temporarily reveal themselves to the world.
The reconstituted souls of the Legends by Shadow Energy took on their forms and had the same strength they wielded in life, much like things were in Lafrarosa.
But when the soul returned to Lafrarosa, it forgot everything it had experienced in the world of the living.
Garmund would never remember what had happened today. That was why Garmund repeatedly asked Jin to tell him what had transpired the next time they met.
"Phew, that technique that Temar left behind is truly astonishing. And to think that cunning fox managed to even take away my two arms."
It was only possible because the battle had taken place on an island, and Garmund had to protect Jin.
Although Joshua's Volcano certainly possessed devastating power, Garmund would never have lost both arms if he hadn't had to face Joshua head-on.
"I'm sorry, brother."
"Come on! I told you to stop feeling like that! You know I'll forget about it when I return. You're not teasing me, are you?"
"I didn't mean that. I mean, think about it. Sure, I know they're not really gone, but I still saw my family lose their arms because of me. I should be shocked, right?"
"Hm. Well, I suppose you're right. Yes, you could feel that way."
Garmund chuckled and lifted his leg. He then patted Jin on the head with his foot. His original body in Lafrarosa would be fine, but for now, he had no arms, so he had to manage.
"Are they all okay?"
"Of course. They didn't have much to do before you came, brother, but now they huddle together and talk about you."
Garmund lowered his foot and burst into laughter.
"By the way, was his name Joshua? So, you finally killed the sworn enemy who cursed you, right?"
"That's true, but there's something strange about it. He's not someone who would consider suicide at all."
"What? So, the one I killed is a specter, like me? Or a double?"
"No. It can't be. It was definitely Joshua."
"Yes, that can't be possible. I saw him die with my own eyes. Maybe you don't feel it's real because you didn't cut him yourself, brother."
Jin nodded, "Yes, that's how I feel, brother. I can't believe it's real. I always thought I would kill him after returning to the Family."
"In any case, I'm glad I could help you. I also enjoy the fact that I was the first to be summoned by your Dark Light's Call. Oops, time's up."
Garmund's body faded as the Shadow Energy departed. Soon, his soul would be back in Lafrarosa.
"Please tell the others that I miss them all. And that I have been successful with everything I have done since returning from Lafrarosa, all thanks to them. And..."
Jin's voice trailed off.
Garmund didn't reply, knowing that he wouldn't remember anyway. He listened silently to what Jin had to say and smiled quietly.
"Of course, I'll make sure to tell them. I'll see you next time in Lafrarosa, not here."
Soon, Garmund's body completely vanished.
The Shadow Energy lingered around Jin for a while before disappearing.
Afterward, Jin searched for Kuzan and Beris for some time, but it seemed unlikely that they were still alive.
"Let's go back too, Shuri."
"Meow!"
Several days passed on the way back to Tikan.
Throughout that time, Jin searched the bulletins of every city he visited but couldn't find any articles about Joshua's death or his disappearance.
It was only when Jin returned to Tikan that he learned something about Joshua.