CHAPTER 152: CHAPTER 152 | RETURN

Thunderous bangs shook the night sky as Jinn and Gaius clashed again and again, their attacks colliding with a force that seemed endless, echoing across the battlefield like rolling storms.

There was no pause, no rest, no moment to even breathe—only battle,

only the relentless exchange of blows until one of them finally collapsed.

Yet neither would fall.

They couldn’t.

They wouldn’t.

Jinn’s entire body burned with the raw sensation of combat,

every muscle screaming,

every nerve alive,

as if his flesh itself had been set aflame by the fury of the fight.

He knew that in this deadly dance, each fleeting second might become his last.

One mistake,

one slip of his foot,

one falter in his swing—

and it would all be over,

just like that.

The strikes that came from Gaius were precise, merciless, and without hesitation.

None were wasted, none dulled, and not a single swing carried restraint.

It was as if Gaius truly sought his death in that very moment, as though the fight itself was a battlefield trial where the only verdict was execution.

And under that unyielding pressure, Jinn’s realization struck him like a sudden whisper carried on the edge of a blade.

Every strike he had unleashed against Gaius until now had carried no killing intent.

Yes, they had weight—fatal even.

Yet, deep in the core of his chest, in the quiet place beneath the fury of combat, he knew the truth.

Despite the sheer weight of his blows,

despite the desperate fire in his heart—

he was still holding back.

Jinn carried no killing intent whatsoever.

His strikes were strong, sharp, and unrelenting, yet there was no true desire to end Gaius’s life behind them.

And Gaius—experienced as he was—knew that truth all too well.

"IS THAT ALL!?" Gaius roared, his voice booming like thunder across the battlefield as he thrust his fist forward.

*FWOOM!

A violent burst of wind exploded from his knuckles, a swirling shockwave that tore across the ground, catching Jinn and driving him backward.

*skrrrrrrk!

His boots scraped furiously against the dirt, skidding several meters before he could dig his heels in to halt the force.

For a fleeting moment, Jinn paused.

His chest heaved, his mind racing with a storm of thoughts that clawed for clarity.

Something... something was stirring within him.

But that single heartbeat of hesitation did not escape Gaius’s eye.

The General seized the moment instantly, surging forward with terrifying speed, refusing to give his opponent even a breath to think.

"I’m disappointed, Jinn," Gaius spat as he closed the gap, his voice laced with both fury and scorn.

His fist drew back, veins bulging, the air itself cracking with raw eidra as he prepared to release it.

"Never let your mind wander in the middle of a duel, you fool!"

His uppercut shot forward like a hammer meant to split the sky.

Yet at the very last second, Jinn’s instincts carried him.

He bent backward, his head tilting away from the strike as his body moved in a fluid arc, and at the same time, his sword lashed outward in perfect counter.

*Tzzzzzzzzchk!!!!

The air was torn by a sound different from anything that had come before.

No clang, no metallic deflection, no dull resonance of blade striking against hardened eidra.

Instead—

it was the unmistakable sound of flesh being cut.

Gaius’s arm split open with a long, deep gash, blood spilling freely as crimson droplets scattered across the ground.

But Gaius did not flinch.

He ignored the sting, the pain, the flowing blood.

His focus was sharpened on something far greater.

He had felt it—the unmistakable shift in Jinn’s blade.

The edge had transformed.

It carried a weight and sharpness unlike before, sharper than steel, sharper even than eidra itself—as if it tore directly through the energy that once shielded him.

Jinn’s eyes widened, realization washing over him like a tide.

He knew it instantly.

He had used Muradryn.

Not intentionally—not consciously—but it had surged from within him nonetheless.

"What... triggered it?" he whispered under his breath, stunned, his grip tightening on his sword.

"After so long..." Jinn murmured, his voice trembling in disbelief, "after so long..."

His heart pounded in his chest as the truth sank in.

He had felt it again—the Muradryn, the ancient force he thought he had lost.

Even if it was only brief, even if it flickered for but a moment,

it was real.

The warmth spread through his soul, a familiar strength that once defined his very being.

It was the same burning presence he had clung to back when he and his friends were nothing but slaves, the same power that gave him courage in the darkest pits of despair.

That familiar pulse returned, and for that brief instant, he was whole.

He stood frozen, shocked, lost in the rush of memory and revelation.

But hesitation was a sin in combat,

and Gaius recognized it at once.

"HESITATION AGAIN!" Gaius thundered with wrath, his body surging forward like a tempest given flesh.

His aura flared, the air roaring with his charge, as he aimed to crush Jinn in that instant of vulnerability.

But before his strike could land, the battle itself shifted.

A figure stepped in, placing themselves firmly between the two warriors.

Their movement was swift yet immovable,

*FWOOOOOM!!!

and with a single punch they unleashed a gust of air so forceful it cracked against Gaius’s advance like a wall.

The storm halted.

Gaius skidded back, his eyes narrowing as realization struck him.

The intruder stood in between, clad in a hood and a helmet that masked their entire face.

Jinn’s eyes darted toward the newcomer, widening in confusion and dawning recognition.

"What are you doing here?" Gaius demanded, his voice low and edged with restrained fury as his gaze fixed on the hooded figure.

His fists relaxed yet, blood was still dripping from his wound.

Then, with narrowed eyes, he spoke a single word that cut through the air like a blade.

"Daughter?"