Episode 12: Final Episode / Chapter 195: Ripped Wings (1)
TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk
“This plan first came up... on the day Hyunsung died.”
Key individuals in the Berserkers were gathered around Baek Seoin. Naro, Lee Jinhee, Bae Jinman, Zero, representatives from both the Kundle Tribe and glass crabs, and lastly, Choi Hyuk.
They were gathered in the square inside Naro’s spaceship. The floor was made of glass, and below it lay narolings, who looked like they were made from kneaded marshmallows. The artificial light, which shined down from the high ceiling, diffused like a gentle fog as it shined on the cheeks and elbows of the dead narolings. It was a square as well as a cemetery.
They each sat on a square boulder as they listened to Baek Seoin. Around a hundred egg-shaped machines hummed as they rolled around them.
“That day, I thought about how we could bring the 13 Exalted Wings together in one place. About how we could we deal with those vicious warriors in one blow...”
Baek Seoin let out a big sigh.
“A method to gather the 13 Exalted Wings, who have never gathered since the founding of the alliance, in one place. Unexpectedly, I quickly found an answer. There’s an event in which they have no choice but to gather for. I became certain during Hyunsung’s funeral.”
“Don’t tell me...”
Bae Jinman’s voice was stiff. Baek Seoin immediately agreed.
“That’s right. A funeral. The funeral of an Exalted Wing at that. If Chu Youngjin kills Dark-Sound, there will be a funeral... and even if it’s for a moment, the remaining Exalted Wings will have to gather. However, there’s a likely chance that Exalted Wing Flame-Rain, who is in charge of the monsters’ universe, won’t be able to attend.”
Baek Seoin stealthily glanced at Choi Hyuk. Choi Hyuk sat quietly with his eyes closed.
Besides Choi Hyuk, the rest were seized with fear and horror, like people sticking their heads out the water.
{But...}
Whiiek!
The representative of the glass crabs who followed the Berserkers, ‘Fragile’, sounded scared. Using a blue, thumb-sized glass pebble as her home, her body trembled pitifully on top of the boulder.
“It is impossible to kill all the Exalted Wings gathered in one place. While Leader Choi Hyuk is strong, it’ll be difficult for him to last even a minute in a fight against 12.”
Zero spoke what the others were feeling as he calmly opposed.
However, Baek Seoin leisurely flicked his finger.
Whooong!!!
The machines scattered around the square emitted a noise and stood up at the same time. It felt like an unknown power was sweeping around them.
{My karma... is frozen?}
Moonmoon, the representative of the Kundle Tribe, noticed the situation and jolted up. His plump sausage-like body twisted around as he looked at his surroundings.
“These were the devices used to ambush Leader Choi Hyuk?”
Bae Jinman guessed correctly, yet even his voice was trembling.
“That’s correct. ‘Karma Suppression Devices’. According to the dragon race’s analysis, you could call this the summation of the Armored Soul Tribe’s technology. After obtaining them, we were able to improve them for our goal with the assistance of the dragon race and the joint research of the glass crabs, Guardian Bae Jinman, and Naro.”
“Even still, can they suppress the karma of 12 Exalted Wings?”
Bae Jinman was still pessimistic. Baek Seoin didn’t falter.
“That’s why we called the representatives of the Kundle Tribe and the glass crabs.”
While Baek Seoin was always calm and logical, at the moment, his eyes were shining with madness.
“The leader has his own fight while we have our own. For the ‘Karma Suppression Devices’ to suppress all 12 of the Exalted Wings, we need an immense amount of energy. And, there are only two places that can supply that much energy in Alliance City.”
Lee Jinhee bitterly answered,
“... The Tower of Warriors and the Light of Eternity.”
“Yes. On the day of the funeral, we need to capture the Light of Eternity.”
The mood suddenly changed at those words.
Before, they were lost like people who were plunged in water, but once a specific goal and method was decided, their eyes shined with a murderous glint like Marine Corps preparing for a mission.
“What an honor. It’ll be the end of us if someone leaked this outside... To trust us this much.”
Moonmoon said while staring at Baek Seoin.
Whiiik!
Fragile of the glass crabs agreed with a whistle.
Baek Seoin smiled faintly.
“The majority of the Kundle Tribe and glass crabs left the Berserkers and stayed on Dragonic. However, doesn’t the fact that your two branch tribes have followed us until now mean that you have no regrets about losing your lives? You are also Berserkers. You are all great anti-socialists.”
While the situation wasn’t funny, they laughed.
After laughing together, their gazes gathered on Choi Hyuk as if it was decided beforehand. He hadn’t said a word throughout the meeting.
The alliance ruled the great universe, yet they recklessly planned on killing their top leaders in a single blow. The warriors attending the meeting decided that they would participate without any doubt regarding this plan despite the fact that their chances of death would be very high. Their gazes were quite serious.
The mood felt like he should say some firm words as the ringleader leading them to their deaths.
A strange expectation lingered in their gazes.
Choi Hyuk blinked before standing up.
“Are we done? Then rest well as you prepare for the battle. It’ll be our very last fight together, and we’ll have to use all our strength during the battle.”
That was all.
There were no words of encouragement or assurance nor a confirmation of his trust.
Yet, these words gave them a strange sense of relief and belonging.
Zero smirked. The others shook their heads in laughter.
Lee Jinhee had a sour expression as she mumbled,
“He’s never doubted us since he’s never taken care of us in the first place.”
Choi Hyuk was like that.
He didn’t promise the Berserkers anything. He simply fought without looking back.
The Berserkers were more like a group of crazy warriors who followed him rather than an organization or force. On top of that, all the ones who would leave had already left. Only those with a high level of craziness remained. Even if he didn’t do anything for them, they were swords that would follow behind him. Choi Hyuk had never doubted these swords.
As always, he simply took the lead without looking back.
“I guess we’ll soon see the peak of madness.”
Bae Jinman said as if refreshed while chuckling.
**
Dark-Sound’s expedition.
An Exalted Wing personally participating in combat was a very rare incident. Dark-Sound’s combat ability was passed on through records or heroic tales told by old warriors, one couldn’t personally witness his splendor.
Warriors were curious.
The 14th Exalted Wing, Flame-Rain, and Choi Hyuk, who was 1st on the ranking of alliance warriors, had already proven their brilliant valor. Then what would Dark-Sound, who was always mentioned when discussing the strongest amongst the Exalted Wings, be like?
Would his senses have dulled since he had left the battlefield for so long?
Or would he be praised as expected?
Thanks to this unprecedented event, the mood of the alliance was heating up like a festival.
This monster subjugation plan, which started with high hopes, however, was unexpectedly dull...
... At least, in their universe.
“We’re changing our plans. After killing the demise-ranked monster and at our advance, the commanding monsters, including Kwe and Jae, all evacuated to their own universe. This is our chance. We’re going to chase them to their universe and deal a blow. The bigger the blow we deal, the longer the alliance will be able to prosper.”
When he couldn’t achieve the results he had hoped, Dark-Sound didn’t hesitate to attack the monsters’ universe.
This was a move expected of someone with the greatest authority in the alliance, and he displayed a fighting spirit no less than that of an active warrior.
“The monsters’ universe...”
Chu Youngjin mumbled as his eyes became more serious.
The monsters’ universe was completely different from the alliance’s. It wasn’t an endless vast and dark place with shining stars, instead, areas were twisted and folded. It was one of confusion, where worlds and various matter from other universes, such as a tree or ocean the size of a galaxy, mixed together like a dump. There were areas densely packed with larva-like Kahur Kabkuns.
It was a strange world, one of fear because it wasn’t as orderly as their own universe, yet it was also beautiful like a surreal painting that mixed together different sights.
After chasing the monsters down using the traces they left behind, they soon saw the retreating monster army in the distance.
Their goal was to annihilate them before other monsters noticed and swarmed them.
Dark-Sound revealed his true character in this battle.
“This place is currently my territory.”
There was a total of ten transcendent warriors following Dark-Sound, three of which were assigned as close guards, including Chu Youngjin.
“You three follow me while the rest of you scatter. We’re going to finish this in one blow!”
Accompanying his order, Dark-Sound’s white face dispersed like smoke.
The subjugation force let out a sigh of admiration.
Dark-Sound had completely hidden his appearance. A black darkness spread from the place he had been standing in.
The Dark Clan was known to be outstanding amongst the Dark Tribe.
They were pure-blooded, powerful individuals born from dark matter, which occupied 85% of matter in their universe.
The universe familiar to these warriors was contained in the darkness he created.
This darkness charged forward as fast as light.
It looked like this unfamiliar, strange universe was being devoured by their own.
This wasn’t simply a darkness. It was a weapon created by dark matter, Dark-Sound’s Weapon of Conclusion ‘Dark-Sound’s Darkness’.
The charging darkness covered and imprisoned the monsters. The relatively weaker monsters died as their limbs twisted like puppets solely from the pressure.
Dark-Sound’s voice rang out from within the darkness.
{I caught the commanders! Guards, intercept the captured commanders! The rest of you scatter and kill them all! It’s a battle of speed!}
Dark-Sound’s attack was a wide-scale crowd control skill that the younger warriors hadn’t ever heard of before. While it might not last very long, the monsters touched by this darkness either froze or moved extremely slowly.
The warriors rushed in and began their slaughter.
The three warriors who were initially guarding Dark-Sound were among them.
They ignored the monsters that couldn’t move after being swamped in darkness and shot directly towards the four surviving brothers, Kwe, Jae, Lan, and Ryuk{1}. They were quite far away from the main army, but none of them cared. Once the fight began, those who weren’t at the transcendent level couldn’t overcome the ‘wall of laws’, and the remaining transcendent monsters would be dealt with by the seven transcendent warriors.
In the end, the four brothers were caught and darkness ambushed them.
{I’ll restrain them! Kill them!}
Dark-Sound did his best to restrain the four brothers. Caught by Dark-Sound, who returned to his original appearance, they flailed around in this darkness like beasts submerged in a swamp.
Dark-Sound’s three guards had to kill them before he became exhausted.
The moment it seemed like everyone was charging in with the same goal, one had a different plan in mind.
Chu Youngjin bit his lips in the middle of this thick darkness.
The time had come.
Whether it was coincidence or fate, it was currently the best place and situation.
Wanting to successfully complete his grand scheme and become the new ruler of the alliance, Dark-Sound wanted a four-on-four battle out of his greed for achievements. Since the four brothers possessed strengths similar to that of Exalted Wings, Dark-Sound’s side was at a disadvantage. However, because of this, their victory would fall solely on Dark-Sound if they won.
While it wouldn’t be an easy battle, Dark-Sound was confident in his victory with the information he had obtained until now. With two warriors that placed in the top ten of the warrior rankings and Chu Youngjin, who specialized in close-combat, he was confident that they would win if he could restrain the monsters for a certain amount of time.
On the other hand, Chu Youngjin thought,
‘No one will know what happened in the middle of the monsters’ ranks.’
His gaze swept past Dark-Sound, his two guards, and the four monster brothers.
In this moment where they were all caught up by each other...
In this moment where they were all submerged in darkness...
As things balanced out one by one,
‘I’ll kill them all.’
‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’ shined in a terrifying red light as it was unsheathed.
{1} Lan = ‘Disorder’, Ryuk = ‘Kill’
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