* * *
Before the start of the second battle, the black knights that Rosa sent to inform Chiron about the situation were not able to meet him.
No matter how quickly they traveled, reaching the depths of the Black Sea within two days was impossible, and, above all, Chiron's expedition team had already entered the territory of the 5 kings of the Black Sea. This meant complete isolation from the outside world.
The territory of the 5 kings of the Black Sea was not a land belonging to the human world, but a huge subspace prepared for them.
The sun did not set there, and no shadows or footprints were left on the black ground. It was filled only with endless darkness, without distinction between day and night.
The only thing to eat were monsters that occasionally popped out of the darkness and attacked the group, or more precisely 'remnants of chaos'.
Chiron, Luna, former and current black knights, and a legendary monster that talk a lot were all walking on that deep and black land.
[Ha, these jingling and tasteless bastards. Knights! The meal is ready, I tried my best to cook, but since the ingredients are what they are, the taste is not that great today... Oops, sorry. Please don't hit me!]
Ozdock turned the plate of monster food (made by Ozdock's ability) and crouched down with an exaggerated gesture.
Of course, it is true that Ozdock had been assaulted by Tuben and knights since he was captured.
However, since then, he behaved well and was rarely beaten, and thanks to Chiron's recognition of his usefulness, he was proudly recognized as a member of the expedition team.
Although not perfect, Ozdock's memories of the Black Sea were certainly helping the expedition. Without him, it would have taken them much longer to find the territory of the Black Sea 5 Kings.
So, Ozdock was now making a joke. Unfortunately, no one reacted to his desperate attempt to lighten the mood.
[Ha, haha. Enjoy your meal!]
Ozdock stood up and scratched the back of his head shyly. Luna and the knights sat down and silently chewed and swallowed their portions. It sounded like a wild beast gnawing bones.
'Ugh... I'm suffocating. How long has this atmosphere been going on? Damn it.'
Ozdock sighed inwardly as he watched them eat.
He didn't eat the food he made. In the first place, meals meant nothing to him unless it was gold.
However, Ozdock had another important reason for not eating monsters.
The remnants of chaos.
It was because after entering the territory of the 5 kings of the Black Sea, there was something about the energy called 'chaos'. Ozdock was recovering his old memories bit by bit.
'Chaos, it never lets go once it clings to life in any form. Until the target becomes a completely insane monster....'
Temar Runcandel.
He also remembered hearing rumors that even he, the patriarch of Runcandel a thousand years ago, had been consumed by chaos and had become a monster.
Chaos was a force that should be avoided not only by humans, but by all living beings.
'Everyone must have already accumulated quite a bit of chaos. I hope it doesn't drive them crazy and kill me. Seeing that they can eat and fight without any hindrance, it seems okay for now...!'
All Ozdock could do was to hope that such a thing would not happen while keeping an eye on the situation. As he thought, Luna and the knights were busy pushing the chaos that was accumulating in them.
In this land, survival required constant struggle against chaos, even without battles.
[Hmmm! By the way, I am a bit worried. Since the day before yesterday, there haven't been any monsters attacking at all, so there might be a problem with food. This is quite troublesome, I can't even go out to look for it.]
"Ozdock."
[Heuk!]
The reason Ozdock was so surprised was because Chiron called him.
After entering the territory of the 5 kings, all the members of the expedition team became less talkative as they fought off the energy of chaos, but Chiron was especially severe.
It was rare for even a simple command or order to come out of his mouth. Chiron almost did not feel like a living person.
[Huh, I showed such a pathetic sight. I'm sorry, old man.]
"You are doing very well."
Ozdock had no choice but to open his eyes wide at Chiron's unexpected praise.
He didn't know how to answer, so he lowered his head and bowed to an elder. In his life of about two thousand years, he wondered if anything greater than this had happened.
'Praise!? Uh, from old man, to this Ozdock!'
Chiron really thought Ozdock was doing well.
In this terrifying land, he constantly jokes, cooks casually with monster corpses, and occasionally hums to himself.
In other words, it was impossible for 'humans' to maintain the universal emotions of an intelligent body. Ozdock's actions were helping the knights to push back the chaos.
He was helping to keep their emotions as humans.
'When we return, I should reward the youngest more generously.'
Chiron's gaze reached into the darkness beyond.
The fact that Ozdock was worried about food, saying he couldn't see a monster, and how his daughter and knights had been concentrating for the past few days without uttering even the slightest word.
There was a reason why he was looking in that direction.
5 kings of the black sea.
The time had finally come to confront one of them.
"Luna."
"Yes, Father."
"The battle will start soon. If you can't endure, hide behind me."
Luna was well aware that Chiron, her father, was most affected by this terrible chaos. Not only her but all the knights were aware of it.
Unlike the others, Chiron had already been fighting chaos before entering the subspace, and it was something that Luna and knights could not even imagine.
For the first time.
Luna felt a sense of pity for her father. No, perhaps she had felt sorry for him for a long time.
It wasn't until she came to this land that she began to understand her father and herself as she looked at him.
"I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen."
At Luna's answer, Chiron smiled faintly.
The knights set down their plates. Then, as they moved towards Chiron, they patted Ozdock on the head or shoulder.
Then, as if it had been waiting.
The darkness in the field of view of the expedition team grew even thicker, and Ozdock could do nothing but slump down. His legs gave out, weakened by the overwhelming force.
'Oh, the king of the Black Sea….!'
Five Kings of the Black Sea.
One of them was revealing great chaos towards the expedition team. Ozdock was overwhelmed by the energy and couldn't even breathe, but all the knights stood upright and faced head-on.
Seureung.…..
Barisada slowly came out of the sheath. Chaos, which had been flocking like a tidal wave, stopped due to the light that began to spread from Barisada.
Chiron was the only one in the expedition who had directly fought against the Black Sea Kings.
Chiron knew the countless eyes looking down at him and the expedition from beyond the darkness, symbolized.
"Kial, it's you."
Kial.
The name of the king of Black Sea, whom the expedition first encountered. Soon, thousands or tens of thousands of eyes were all focused on one person.
[Chiron Runcandel. You've managed to come this far with that heavy fate....]
A dark, eerie voice echoed through the subspace.
The demonic creatures in the depths of the Black Sea that they had dealt with so far and the remnants of chaos they had killed in subspace were nothing more than dust when compared to Kail. Even monsters that occasionally posed a challenge to Luna and the former Black knights were no match.
Chiron didn't answer and slowly moved towards Kial. Every time he took a step, the energy of chaos that had been pressuring the expedition was pushed toward Kial.
[Judging by the atmosphere, it seems you didn't come here in response to the proposal we made back then.]
Proposal. Kial and other kings of the Black Sea wanted Chiron to join them.
[Do you want to have the same result as your ancestors?]
"Whether back then or now, my only task is to cut you down. I won't become a fragment of a broken object."
Orb of origin.
The five Kings of the Black Sea are all fragments of the broken Orb of Origin. And the kings of the Black Sea could not come close to each other except under special circumstances.
It was because of the lingering will of the gods that remained within the broken Orb of Origin.
So, the kings of the Black Sea want only one thing: a medium that would reunite them without any restrictions. A person who could sever the lingering will of the gods imprinted like a stigma.
That person was none other than Chiron.
[You know better than anyone else that your wish cannot come true, foolish....]
Suddenly, Kial narrowed his eyes and stopped talking. He seemed very upset about something.
Not only Kial, but Chiron also showed a momentary surprise. He felt the same sensation as Kial.
What they recognized at the same time was that another King of Black Sea had awakened.
Not in this subspace, but in the human world.
Soon, Chiron's face contorted, and Kial narrowed his eyes and let out a gloomy laugh.
[Finally… I found you. You were outside, my brother, Glyek!]
Glyek, Kial, Nirgand, Seu, and Morganiel.
Among the five kings of the Black Sea, Chiron had not met Glyek in person, and the other kings also did not know his whereabouts.
He was the white stone of Hairan.
It was the fifth fragment of the Orb of Origin.
Chiron swung his sword at Kial, who expressed joy, and Kial let out a triumphant roar even as his body was slashed.
***
Pazuzzut-! Chichiching...!
As soon as Jin and his group entered the castle, the first sight they saw was the indescribably gigantic and solid ice sheet covering Dante's seal and the entire interior.
It was a scene where this formidable ice was shattering violently under some dark force.
Talaris had kept the inner castle safe since not long after the second war began, but even she could not prevent the chaos seal from being broken.
"Madame Talaris!"
"The master of the hidden palace!"
Blood flowed from the corners of Talaris' mouth as she fell towards the group. The black energy that was released from the seal spread in all directions with no sign of stopping even after being crushed by the power of myriad ice.
The inner castle that Ron and knights of Hairan had painstakingly guarded disappeared without a trace in an instant.
At that moment, Jin couldn't help but recall what Talaris had said to him.
-In some ways... Maybe it's a relief that Zipfel's main force is on its way, and Runcandel is nearby. If the Chaos of the White Stone awakens, they have no choice but to fight it, whether they like it or not. If it's not them and us, no one can stop it anyway.