As if the entire fight on the island were a joke, all of the blue energy just disappeared.
Everything from the electric rain to the rain clouds were swallowed up by the shadow energy.
Murakan burst into laughter, his booming chortles causing the island to rumble.
'I heard that he was much stronger in his prime… but this is only half his power?'
Jin was genuinely impressed.
On top of his baseline spiritual energy, Murakan had been gathering it for ten minutes as well. This wasn't the same idiotic dragon he knew a few months ago.
With the pressure he put on his opponent, truly, he mirrored his past self.
Murakan's body dispersed into black particles and scattered into the darkness.
Then, spiritual energy gathered where he stood, revealing his true self.
[It's not as intense as before, but it's significantly better. This feels good!]
Flap, flap…
Murakan stared Julien down.
Although it looked hard to read a dragon's facial expression, Murakan definitely scoffed at him.
[It's my turn to play, Peitel's Incarnate.]
「Solderet's little fossil talks a little too much. It seems you did not learn a thing after living all those centuries.」
Julien clapped his hands together to prepare his lightning.
Well, he tried to. A spark of blue came to existence, then sizzled off into the darkness.
「What…?」
He tried again, only to get the same result. Julien couldn't do anything.
Murakan just waited for him.
Julien tried multiple times, but his situation looked hopeless. Thankfully, the darkness hid his beet-red face.
Sigmund went silent as well. Anything related to light seemed to be powerless in Murakan's realm.
「This cannot be… There is no way…」
Just like when Jin spoke of Vahn and summoned Tess, this was Peitel's trauma that carried onto Julien.
However, what Murakan gave him was a completely different experience.
Julien had never heard of anything that could seal the power of a God.
[Don't lose your grip. Aren't you embarrassed to self-proclaim a God-given power?]
Murakan threw his fist at Julien. Barely dodging, Julien stumbled backwards. Desperately, he began to crawl in the opposite direction.
Jin couldn't believe that this was an Incarnate.
Murakan revealed his claws.
[You said you won't die even if your body is cut into pieces… Then what were all those Gods who died in the past? Answer me, Incarnate.]
「B-Begone! Go away!」
[You still don't understand! You shouldn't be wailing right now…]
Slash!
A claw as large as a tree trunk swept across the ground, cutting right across Julien's torso. It was hard to believe that it was a physical attack from a massive dragon.
「AAARGH!」
With massive cuts on his torso and limbs, Julien shrieked. Murakan felt nothing. His claws swiftly went to work, cutting off all limbs and making a log out of Julien.
A few seconds later, the screaming stopped.
Then, the darkness reconstructed and reconnected the severed limbs.
Confused, Julien touched his body then looked at Murakan.
「C-Cease this. Though I physically appear as a child, I am a God. I swear by the storm, if you let me leave—」
Murakan shook his head and interrupted.
[There's no worth to the storm's name. I'm sure I already mentioned it, but keep your honor. Well, I guess it's too late.]
「What do you mean by 'no worth'? I have had feasts with your God!」
[I've never seen a God use their own title as some pass. Be embarrassed, and face the consequences.]
「NOOOOOOO!」
Murakan cut Julien again.
Severing and healing. Over and over again.
Murakan endlessly tortured Julien, and there was no retaliation.
「Stop. Stop… please…」
Jin dreaded the sight. He couldn't even conceive the pain and hopeless being trapped in a worse hell.
[Boring.]
Murakan spoke after an hour.
Screams could no longer be heard from Julien. He looked motionless and dead, like a lump of meat.
"Murakan, is it finally time?"
[Almost.]
"Is he dead?"
[Nope. He'll never die. Instead, in this infinite torture chamber, hopelessness will unbind the God from the vessel. Peitel will leave, and Julien will become a normal Contractor again.]
"And then?"
['And then' what? That's up to you. We can kill or capture him while he's unconscious. There's no need to send him back to your brother, so it's one or the other.]
"Obviously, we capture and take him back. Not just Julien, but Kuzan and Beris too."
He didn't think that all three would have important information regarding Joshua. However, he still wanted to take what he could get.
[Don't know if they're still alive. They looked like they struggled through Julien's attacks.]
Slash!
Murakan cut up Julien again.
The resurrection process occurred, and clearly, Jin could see the blue light from his eyes fading away.
A sign of what they were waiting for.
[Time to nail the coffin.]
Murakan's eyes glowed with a black aura.
With his pearly black eyes, the spiritual energy in the island was absorbed into his body.
And the light found its way back onto the island.
All became visible again. The moonlight and stars, the dusk of dawn, and the sprinkling of dark clouds. The trees and rocks presented their true colors, as well as Graham's grave.
Other than the shadow cast by the grave, all other shadows were taken by Murakan.
The black dragon transformed back into a human, and the island regained its shadows.
"Phew, that was fun."
He spoke as he blankly stared at the corpse in front of him.
A body with the absence of a God inside.
"He won't be up for at least another week. Up to half a year."
Jin went past Graham's grave to check on Julien, and Sigmund didn't respond to its brother's presence.
"He's perfectly alive. We should check up on—"
Thud!
Murakan fell to the ground and began to hyperventilate.
"Murakan!"
Jin rushed over, and Murakan waved him off.
"Don't worry. It's just some congestion. I guess my body can't keep up."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Thank Gods this happened after we took him down. It would've been tough if it didn't work. When you fight a God, it's just unfair. Our attacks are infinitely more inefficient than theirs. Well, the guy couldn't even be half of his power…"
"Well, you did great."
"You too. Good thing we got that Compass."
Jin gave him a hand.
Murakan tried to stand, but he looked completely exhausted.
"Man! I can't even stand! Guess I'll take a break. Get Shurry out here. I'll use her as a pillow."
Fwooosh.
The cat was taken out.
Meow!
Immediately, Shurry began to paw at Murakan, as if to treat him like a toy. Yet, after seeing the abject exhaustion, she just licked him.
Not long after, he was knocked out.
Jin watched for a moment before proceeding to search for Kuzan and Beris.
'Anyway, Joshua… He pushed the blame for Taimyun's death to me… That rat bastard. A lie that obvious would be uncovered either way. So he tried to turn them against me, huh?'
His hypothesis was on the spot. After making Kuzan and Beris into his loyal dogs, Joshua used them to keep Jin company. He made sure that they wouldn't trust whatever Jin had to say.
However, with Jin interrupting the complete indoctrination process, all of those plans went to dust.
"Kuzan! Beris!"
Jin shouted their names. He couldn't see a thing despite all of the trees and rocks being absorbed into the spiritual energy release.
'Do I have to go all the way to the cliff?'
Jin wandered for a bit until—
Hisssssss…!
—He heard a noise from where Murakan slept.
Shurry was hissing.
"Shurry?"
That was not good.
Anxiety tightened his chest, and Jin immediately sprinted towards where he came from.
When he arrived…
"Huh…"
…He would've never guessed.
Black hair, sharp eyes, and a robe with the Black Sword embroidered on it.
Shurry glared at the intruder, and the man only nodded.
His eyes shifted to Jin.
"What brings you here, Brother?"
Runcandel's eldest son and second flag-bearer.
The prospective successor to the Runcandel throne.
The man who cursed Jin.
Joshua Runcandel.