Chapter 77: 77 Returned.

A bright golden light bathed Jin’s figure. His body was drenched in sweat, and his gaze flickered with intense determination.

He raised the katana and swung it down, slicing through the empty air while he regulated his bated breath.

It had been hours since he swung his blade, yet Jin had no desire to stop. Instead, he was fiercely competing with himself to see just how far he could go.

Behind him, across the yard, sat a beautiful blonde woman reading a book. She slicked her side bangs behind and reached toward the plate filled with golden brown cookies.

The quiet atmosphere carried around a gentle breeze that swayed the grass, bustling up the ambiance they had.

Jin’s face twisted as he brought the katana downward. His breath was still as he felt a pang of agony in his palm and saw red blood trickling down the ground.

“Again”.

He raised his palm, and one of its blisters popped open, oozing blood with red skin underneath.

“What’s the matter, Jin?”. The woman’s gentle voice soothed his pounding heart and pain.

Jin shifted to his back and witnessed the feral and beautiful woman snap the book close. Her golden eyes stared deep into his soul.

“No, it’s just a small wound”.

“Well, that means you need some rest. Come here. I prepared some cookies for you.”

The woman patted the wooden seat beside her, looking at Jin with parted lips. He exhaled sharply and grumbled internally, ’Cookies again’.

However, his body betrayed his mind as he approached the woman and sat beside her at a close distance.

She lifted the seat and placed it near Jin’s side, their shoulders touching. The woman raised her left palm, and Jin showed her where the blood was.

“It’s true; one of your blisters ruptured”. The woman manifested a thin cloth from the air and gently placed it around the wound, whipping away the dirt and blood.

“Does it hurt?”.

“No. Akh!?”.

Jin flinched, his brows furrowed, looking at the woman who let out her tongue. She pressed the cloth directly into the wound.

“Sorry”. She playfully twisted her tone, making Jin exhale and shake his head.

“You know what, you are training too hard”.

The woman’s delicate finger traced along Jin’s palm, gradually climbing to his arm, shoulder and cheek.

Her gentle touch and warmth calmed his ragged emotion, which was clearly shown in his impatient behavior. The Trial that killed him a hundred times had worn his mind down.

If it was not for this gentle reminder and warmth of comfort from the woman, Jin would have already become a lifeless doll that had lost its way.

Jin raised his other hand and placed it on top of the woman’s hand on his cheek, acting boldly. They stared at each other.

“Thank you, Thena”.

Suddenly, his vision distorted, and the scenery around him changed. He sat on the bench in the front yard, where he had arrived at the Sanctuary.

In front of her, the figure of Thena, her face a mess of tears and anguish, crumpled her beauty.

“I love you, Jin, from now and ever”.

“Athena!?”.

His voice cracked, and his limbs felt so heavy they put him in place. He watched the scene with swirling emotions that wreaked havoc inside his heart.

Jin’s face twisted into a furious demon as he reached out. “Goodbye, Jin…”. But the words that left the woman’s lips shattered the conjured illusion inside the void in his mind.

The darkness that enveloped his sight stirred, and Jin snapped his eyes wide open. His body jolted upward, and he sat, gasping for breath.

His eyes swept around. The window beside him cast silver light that cascaded down the window, gently enveloping the room in a soft embrace.

Jin looked down and saw he was properly dressed in a thin white outfit, a soft, luxurious bed that held his tired physique. All of that felt so surreal, making him clutch his head, noticing that his palm was wet.

“What is this?”. Jin wiped away the tears accumulated in his eyes and gently whispered, “Athena.”

His finger curled into the white fabric that enveloped half his body, recalling the woman’s figure that accompanied him for those centuries.

“Why did you do that? Athena, why?”. Jin leaned forward, his vision blurred, and a drop of tears stained the sheet under.

The stifling sob that quietly echoed in the room bounced back at him. It was like a reminder that the memories and farewell at that time were part of a bigger scenario, of which he was unaware.

Jin’s body flinched. A flash of realization hit him like a mountain that smashed him to bits, crushing his emotion about why Athena had to bear the burden alone.

He bit his lips and let a drop of blood jolted his emotion in check. Jin lifted his head, watching the status panel that popped out of nowhere.

#####

[Status Panel]

Name: Jin Midnight (M)

Race: Human

Age: 14

Talent: Magic Swordsman

Parameters:

Vitality: C > B+

Mind: EX

Strength: C > B-

Agility: C+ > A-

Stamina: C+ > A

Skill:

String of Fate (Divine), Swordsmanship (EX), Wind Magic (EX), Physical Enhancement/Elemental Enhancement{Derivative Skill}, Jade Eyes (Unique), Mana Manipulation (EX), Mind Sword (Divine), Item Box (Unique)

Title:

Apostle of All-Father, Sky Ruler

#####

[Character Quest Complete]

Reward: Rainbow key stored inside the Item Box

#####

His palpable heart pounded wildly, bursting through his chest. Jin stared at the panel, not into the growing parameter but at the completed quest.

Jin gulped his saliva and opened his Item Box skill. Several items were listed in a tiny square, and he saw a familiar key painted in rainbow colors.

The room shone in rainbow color as he summoned the key, his emerald eyes locked into the key in his hands. Jin trembled with its weight on his palm.

He recognized the key; the same item brought him hope, despair, desolation and heartbreak. All the swirled emotion in his chest swelled on the brink of breaking apart.

[The key to the Sanctuary]

[Would you like to enter the Sanctuary?]

[Yes or No]

“What!?”.

A panel popped out before him, making Jin’s pupil dilate. He couldn’t contain the suffocating emotion that tied him to the vague dream.

“Yes”.

His mouth curled in grief, and his face crumpled together as a light gathered before him, forming a keyhole that awaited the owner to insert it.

“…Athena”. Jin plunged the key and turned his wrist around, letting a blinding light swallow him whole and transferring him into a familiar place.

The warm light glitters between the lush greenery, casting a soft canopy under. A fluttering fountain endlessly spurting its eternal water becomes a reminder that he is back.

Jin returned to the place where he spent centuries with Athena. He looked down toward the key in his hand, which lost its cluster.

The once-rainbow color dimmed, and now it was settled by an unsettling grey. He tightly gripped the key, and a panel appeared in front of him.

[Do you want to leave the Sanctuary?]

[Yes or No]

“I see”.

Jin shrugged off the idea of returning and stored the key inside his Item Box. His naked feet tasted the dirt, and the earthy scent that filled his lungs rejuvenated his heavy heart.

He once lived in this world for so long that Jin maneuvered across the paved stone road, embracing the nostalgic memories that slowly resurfaced in his mind.

The calm and gleaming pond stretched vastly, with a gazebo standing on top. It was a place where he was taking a break with Athena.

Those memories replayed as Jin saw him and Athena’s shadows laugh together with cookies in each hand.

There was also a time when Jin stepped into the pit of despair, and the woman gently stood by his side, pulling him out of the darkness.

His expression loosened, and he continued through the back toward the place where he had trained his swordsmanship. The dome-shaped building still stood tall before him, a testament to his struggle.

Jin shifted his attention toward the terrace, where she would always spend her days reading a book, sitting on a wooden chair with a confection and steaming tea.

“It’s been a while”.

He stood near the chair, watching her shadow vanish like a breeze. A calm breeze caressed his cheek, making him exhale. He pulled the chair back before sitting on it.

With a tap from his finger, the atmosphere shifted into a calm tone, knowing the place seemed desolated for his appearance alone.

“So, she was gone from this place, huh?”.

Jin closed his eyes, letting him sink deeper into his consciousness. The mission she received tasked her with producing a weapon that could fight toe-to-toe with the Olympian.

After those tasks were completed, Athena was released from her burden and returned toward the depth of Tartarus.

A place even God would not dwell in, the place where an endless labyrinth would trap everyone who dared to challenge it.

The book he read once said:

’Lay in the bottomless abyss, twin Goddess who colluded with the old covenant of the Elder Gods. Both were imprisoned and stripped of their right in Mount Olympia’s twelve thrones.

Fearsome Titan, the child of the Elder gods, carried within its hundreds of hands loath and resentment that shook the underworld toward its father. Now, it lay still as a guardian dog before the prison of the Twin Goddess.

“Tartarus, huh?” Jin opened his eyes. He reached forward, grasping an illusion of her figure that kept haunting him. ’I will…’

“What!? “. His pupils dilated, feeling a tremendous chill that touched his back.

A silver light flew in a straight line as it struck Jin’s place. It exploded while raising a cloud of dust, obscuring the view.

“So, I assumed you were the one”.

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