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Jin's face contorted as he swallowed a gasp.
Fragments of chains falling off Rosa's face passed by slowly, as if frozen.
'Why... Rosa!'
The one who should have been covered by chains was the former patriarch who deserved respect.
Jin had deliberately fought at a disadvantage, driven by the sole conviction that he had to save such an ancestor.
He had missed opportunities to cut off the opponent's head several times, and he had endured so many injuries for the moment when he could have dealt a fatal blow.
The reason he couldn't help his comrades who had been fighting behind, beside, and in front of him was all for the sake of rescuing the ancestor who should have remained intact within the chains.
But what he had struggled so hard to save turned out to be evil god, Rosa.
And not only that, she looked so unharmed...
Released from bondage, Rosa did not glow with a faint indigo color like the other beings from the mausoleum, nor did she grotesquely transform into a chaos monster.
She simply had the appearance of a human, or rather...
She had the appearance that could be called Runcandel itself.
Long, black hair that seemed to be sucked in, eyes with a gleam of determination, a gaze that calmly and heavily pressed down on anyone who met it, and hands that firmly held the sword without ever letting go.
The hostess of the Runcandel clan, who led the Garden of Swords in place of the Chiron for many long years, and a giant of the era.
Rosa Runcandel was making eye contact with Jin.
Damn it all!
Unintentionally, Jin muttered a curse.
His breathing became rapid as if a momentary suffocation struck.
He barely suppressed the rising urge to vomit, accompanied by a cold dizziness, and reflexively distanced himself.
If the battle continued from this point, he felt like he would make a mistake.
I am done for.
That thought crossed his mind first. If Rosa staged this performance to give him a psychological shock, it couldn't be more successful.
The allies were also taken aback. They, too, had momentarily shifted their gaze from their respective opponents to Rosa.
'I must stay calm. This is just a trick of the evil god. The Rosa who appears to be human... must be some kind of fragment created by the evil god's power."
Jin gripped his sword.
"It seems your sadistic tendencies have increased... evil god. I never expected you to go this far to confuse me."
However, Rosa responded with a completely unexpected answer to Jin's words.
"Aren't you trying to save me because you know who I am?"
"What...?"
"Why do you refer to me as the evil god?"
Once again, Jin could only feel his insides twisting.
The released Rosa did not even have the resonant voice characteristic of the resurrected.
She seemed truly alive.
She seemed like someone who was determined to protect Runcandel at all costs.
Jin's heart was pounding like crazy.
"I am Rosa Runcandel. Why do you mistakenly believe that the monster that has bound me all this time is the same as me?"
"What are you babbling about..."
"Jin!"
"12th flagbearer!"
Urgent voices from behind were heard, belonging to Hedo and Octavia.
Swoosh!
At the same time, a sharp energy pierced through Jin's back.
It was a sword energy shot by a former patriarch aiming for Jin.
Due to Jin's focus on Rosa, his reaction was slightly delayed compared to usual.
The sword energy grazed his lower back, causing droplets of blood to splatter.
The wound was not deep.
The one who shot the sword energy was the one-armed former patriarch.
'...No, could it really be the former patriarch?'
Cutting off the chains doesn't necessarily mean Rosa will appear again.
An indescribable discomfort continued to cloud Jin's mind.
Dodging the incoming sword energy once again, he turned around to see his exhausted allies.
Bianca's opponent was in a state of near-death. Alpen and Lyon were both beaten up, but the battle was not decided.
Hedo had finished off the 35th patriarch and was assisting Octavia.
While facing both of them simultaneously, the one-armed former patriarch was displaying even greater strength than when the battle first began.
Since Jin had just released another chain, it resulted in an increased influence of the evil that affected that former patriarch.
"Ugh!"
Octavia bent forward, vomiting blood, as she took a step forward.
Hedo, protecting her, took several sword energies directly, leaving numerous wounds all over his massive body.
"12th flagbearer? Are you referring to yourself as the 12th flagbearer of the clan? And your sword is Bradamante, isn't it? Your name is Jin... Jin Runcandel. Strange things are happening."
Rosa spoke as if she knew nothing.
"Shut up!"
Jin threw himself towards Hedo's direction. He felt the need to buy him some time to recover, even if only briefly.
Rosa didn't hinder Jin as he started running away.
On the contrary, Rosa intercepted the sword energies flying towards Jin and protected him.
Rosa's sword, intercepting the sword energies, was not as powerful as the current evil god, or as powerful as Jin remembered during Rosa's time as acting matriarch.
Jin decided not to think about the intention of the evil god any further.
Clang!
Jin's sword clashed with the one-armed former patriarch's sword.
With just one exchange of offense and defense, Jin understood why Hedo and Octavia were struggling so much.
The former patriarch's sword possessed the power to inject chaos into the opponent, much like the evil god.
Now, the Grand Heir was closer to assimilating with the omen itself rather than just being controlled by it.
Jin activated eternal flames in Bradamante once again.
He needed to finish off the former patriarch as quickly as possible and bring order to this chaotic situation.
'I cannot completely dismiss the possibility of the one-armed former patriarch being another Rosa, but I need to confirm it.'
He couldn't simply discard the possibility of being a genuine former patriarch like Alpen.
If he closed off that possibility due to the overwhelming circumstances or doubts, it would be giving up on the ancestors who fought for the clan, even after an unwanted resurrection.
Therefore, he must break the chains without killing.
While Jin pondered, Rosa continued to protect him and stared at his back.
Like someone who had something to say. However, she seemed unsure of where to start.
Without acknowledging Rosa's gaze, Jin reached out his sword towards the one-armed former patriarch.
'Even if it's a trap, omen. I will not abandon a single one of my ancestors who resisted evil god until the end.'
Even if it's not an ancestor but another sudden appearance of Rosa, he would simply have to cut them down along with the Rosa behind him.
Jin's sword charging towards the former patriarch no longer held hesitation. The inner turmoil he experienced when suddenly faced with Rosa had started to settle.
As Jin regained his composure and began to focus on the former patriarch, Hedo and Octavia also started to regain their composure.
Bianca finally annihilated the 29th patriarch, coinciding with the moment when Jin and the one-armed former patriarch finished their hundredth exchange.
Hedo and Octavia reengaged, and the intense battle between Alpen and Lyon also came to an end.
The bodies of Lyon, Tucker, and Neph were disintegrating into particles as their heads rolled on the ground, shattered by the shockwaves of the battle.
The battle that started as a one-one was now in a five-on-one confrontation.
No matter how much they assimilated, the former patriarch was ultimately not the evil god.
Until now, the one-armed former patriarch had wielded a flawless sword even with one arm missing, but that was the limit.
The one-armed former patriarch had managed to hold on against the five opponents so far because Jin had decided not to kill him.
If he had fought with the intention to kill, the battle would have been much shorter.
Evil god, stop this nonsense and come out in person.'
Clang, swish...!
Bradamante uncovered a strand of chain that covered the face of the former patriarch. The eternal flames spread through the cracks, melting the links of the chain.
Little by little, the face inside the chain revealed itself, and once again, Jin's judgment was correct.
'It's not Rosa...!'
Though the chain was not completely severed, at first glance, the face was clearly different from Rosa's.
At that moment, as Jin attempted to cut the chain once more, the former patriarch unexpectedly thrust himself toward Bradamante, as if intentionally exposing himself to be stabbed.
Jin immediately reacted and sidestepped.
Only a few more seconds were needed for the eternal flames to consume the chain entirely, and Jin had no intention of losing his ancestor. Once a few seconds had passed, the bindings restraining the former patriarch would naturally dissolve.
However, the former patriarch did not pursue Jin as he dodged to the side.
'He's just passing me by?'
The intention of the evil god controlling the former patriarch was not to have Jin be fatally stabbed by his blade.
The evil god accurately predicted that Jin would evade.
The true target of the evil god was none other than herself, who was constantly observing Jin from behind.
Rosa.
All of Jin's allies were positioned in front of him. The only person remaining behind him was Rosa.
Puh-!
"Huh?"
The former patriarch's blade pierced Rosa's chest.
Although Rosa had displayed nearly flawless swordsmanship while being controlled by the evil god, for some reason, she, who stood behind Jin, failed to dodge even a single strike.
It was supposed to be her own blade.
"Ugh...!"
Suppressing a groan, Rosa grabbed hold of the blade that had pierced her body.
As the former patriarch, who stabbed Rosa, collapsed and ceased to move, Rosa dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.
"Ugh..."
Jin couldn't understand her current state.
Why did the evil god stab herself, and why did Rosa appear to suffer like a human?
And why was such a foreboding sense of dread overwhelming him?
He couldn't comprehend any of it.
But Jin unconsciously rushed toward Rosa.
It was a fatal wound. If Rosa were truly human, she would be on the verge of death.
"Evil god... What is the meaning of this?"
"Do you still see me as... the evil god?"
"Why are you behaving like a human...!"
Jin stopped talking in astonishment.
Rosa's face was much younger than he remembered, far younger than he thought she would be.
Suddenly, Jin realized that Rosa had appeared with a youthful appearance ever since he severed the chains.
She looked like someone in her early twenties, someone of his own generation.
His heart sank. Jin's breathing became heavy.
"Now, I vaguely understand the situation... Jin. You must be Chiron and my child. Chiron and I decided to name our last child, Jin..."
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