Chapter 216: Star, the Owl (2)

“You’re the famous Twilight.”

~

There was a time before Chang-Sun met Xerxes, Kali, and his other colleagues that he fought alone as the ‘Divine Twilight.’ That was when he joined the . He joined without any specific reason, not because he liked the ideology of the or believed the sweet offer it made.?

Chang-Sun was full of self-loathing at the time. Having lost his lover and achieving somehow, he swung his spear indiscriminately. His life had neither destination nor goal, and he had no awareness of what he was doing. There was no way he could find ‘himself’ in that kind of life, so his condition was understandable.?

At some point, he even lost his desire to return home. Having his revenge seemed so impossible that he wanted to give up, thinking no one would worry even if he disappeared anyway. Chang-Sun joined the since it was known to be a for fiends like him, and that was where he met the Emperor’s Seat.

“You look similar to the children in this place… Maybe I’m mistaken.”

While blankly strolling, Chang-Sun ran into a middle-aged man. Unfitting his fancy appearance, he tended to a small flowerbed as if he didn’t mind fertilizer ruining his silk clothes.?

?

“What’s wrong with my face?” Chang-Sun asked with hostility.

“As you can see, all the children here are wildflowers. They sprouted randomly on the streets but got kicked and stomped all over. They could have been uprooted anytime, so I moved and planted them here instead.”

?

Chang-Sun found out about this later, but the Emperor’s Seat called his children wildflowers. For different reasons, they all wanted to bloom beautifully, but the world’s rough storm wounded them so hard that they couldn’t recover on their own. The Emperor’s Seat personally took those beings under his wings and nourished them, becoming their fence and flowerbed so they could bloom fully again.?

?

“In my own way, I tried to heal these flowers’ wounds, but it didn’t really work as I hoped it would. Still, they’re with people like them, so they eventually grew up together and cheered for each other, gaining strength.”

?

The Emperor’s Seat lightly stroked a small petal, looking at Chang-Sun.

?

“Many children in this place are like you, so I hope your wound could get better at least a little bit here.”?

If the Emperor’s Seat had pathetically sympathized with Chang-Sun by saying he understood him or his pain, Chang-Sun would have immediately pounced at the Emperor’s Seat in anger, telling him not to spout nonsense. However, the Emperor’s Seat just told him that he hoped the could provide Chang-Sun a small consolation, so Chang-Sun just listened, unable to say anything.

‘Back then...’

The Emperor’s Seat looked the same as before. Despite his fancy appearance, he looked gentle, and his smile made him seem innocent. However, Chang-Sun knew that the nature of a ruthless ruler was hidden inside the Emperor’s Seat. [Human Face]? [Demon Face]? The Emperor’s Seat had something far more powerful than those. His [Smile] had made countless people kneel and lower themselves in defeat.

‘I should have killed him back then.’

Chang-Sun gritted his teeth behind his iron mask.

His Inferno Sights blazed up. His purple lighting became dozens of times stronger due to the divine class of the ‘Divine Twilight.’

『So you still hate me very much. Is it because of what happened back then? Hmm…! I know we can’t just smile and have a joyful reunion, but I didn’t expect we would be fighting with so much intensity. 』

“You and I don’t share nostalgic memories,” Chang-Sun said firmly.

Although it was just for a very short moment, he did feel close to the Emperor’s Seat. Chang-Sun never called him father, but he always called Chang-Sun son without hesitation. If only ‘that’ didn’t happen, Chang-Sun could have been captivated by the Emperor’s Seat and called him father.

“I have a question,” Chang-Sun said, not wanting to talk about what happened in the past.

Besides, he had to get a piece of information out of the Emperor’s seat.

『What is it?』the Emperor’s Seat asked gently, like a father talking to his son, but it sounded disgusting to Chang-Sun.

“Richardus and Kail.”

『Ah, those friends of yours,』the Emperor’s Seat now spoke as if they were his son’s adorable friends.

『You won’t believe me no matter what I tell you about Richardus.』

Not understanding what the part he wouldn’t believe the Emperor’s Seat, Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes without saying anything.

The Emperor’s Seat continued,『I do have several things to tell you about Kali. It seems you have found out that her priests are on Earth… Do you know they are there to find you?』

“And?”

『So you already know. Hmm, then I wonder what can surprise my adorable son…』

The Emperor’s Seat pondered for a while and soon grinned, having remembered something.

『How about the fact that one of Kali’s priests got blessed by ‘Aquarius’?』

“… What?” Chang-Sun’s eyes widened.

The 'Gemini,’ Kali’s killers, were part of the Zodiacs. Yet despite ‘Aquarius’ belonging to the same as the ‘Gemini,’ Kali’s priest still joined the side of ‘Aquarius’...? Chang-Sun was about to ask about it further when his divine ground suddenly shook and two beings showed up on the Emperor’s Seat’s flanks, disrupting his plans.

『I knew there was more to you, but I… didn’t expect you, a mortal named Lee Chang-Sun, would be the ‘Divine Twilight.’』

[The Celestial ‘Impetuous Dragon Horse General’ has appeared!]

On the left side of the Emperor’s Seat, Suo Chao showed up with his Dragon Horse, its hooves clattering. The eyeholes of his great helm showed eyes filled with shock. He probably thought someone else was supporting Chang-Sun. Hence, it naturally surprised him when he found out that Chang-Sun himself was the one who harmed Xue Yong.

『Father. Please, please don’t take the risk of acting as bait yourself next time. Your safety means everyone else’s safety.』

[The Subordinate ‘Peculiar Warring Deity’ has appeared!]

Furious because the Emperor’s Seat ended up on this divine ground, Bo Du walked out and stood to the right of the Emperor’s Seat. Although the Emperor’s Seat had successfully lured Chang-Sun into revealing who was supporting him, he could have gotten seriously hurt.

The ‘Divine Twilight’! They couldn’t take him lightly. A fiend—no, the ‘Divine Twilight’ had been close to becoming a Fiend Star. He used to be as famous as the Zodiacs and as notorious as the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions.

“It was a trap?” Chang-Sun smirked, looking at Suo Chao and Bo Du.

It seemed the had set up a trap for Chang-Sun, just like how he had lured them into the ‘Owl’s Nest.’

『I came to the conclusion that no matter who’s supporting you, they’re bound to show up if I reveal myself, but… it was a half-success.』

The Emperor’s Seat smiled bitterly. He thought he could capture the person responsible alive by luring them out and making Celestials like Suo Chao descend. In fact, bringing one Heavenly Spirit, four Earthly FIends, and three of his commanders could have been too cautious of him.

The Emperor’s Seat literally created a net that spread all over the world by deploying apostles and followers across the lands and the Celestials to the skies. However, Chang-Sun turned it upside down and nullified every trap that they had prepared in advance by bringing them all to the ‘Owl’s Nest,’ where the ‘Gemini’ were also present.

One silver lining was that Suo Chao and Texile Ruler had moved as soon as Chang-Sun had activated the [Execution Sword], allowing them to enter the divine ground. Of course, the Celestials outside were in critical danger now that Suo Chao and Bo Du had left the frontlines. After all, it was impossible for only four Earthly Fiends to hold off both Castor and Pollux.

However, the Emperor’s Seat wasn’t that worried since the Seven Stars Azure Dragon, the constellation that protected the eastern sky of the , would have descended on Suo Chao and Bo Du’s behalf. With their cintamani, which could summon storms and rains, and strong fangs that could bite through stars, the Azure Dragon would be more than capable of fighting the ‘Gemini.’

『Twilight, you always surpass our expectations.』

However, the Emperor’s Seat didn’t seem to mind that the traps he had tried really hard to make had been rendered useless—no, he was actually having fun.

『So I’ll ask you. Why don’t you take my hand again? Come back to me. Become my first son and heir.』

.

Surprised, Suo Chao stopped fixing the grip on his guandao and turned to look at the Emperor’s Seat. Bo Du, the son of the Emperor’s Seat, did the same. They knew how outrageous the offer was, but they couldn’t stop him since they knew he meant it and there was no way to dissuade him when he was acting like this.

Pzzzzzzz!

“First son?” The purple lightning sparks flying around Chang-Sun intensified. “Go back to the moon and spout your fucking bullcrap there.”

Boom!

Chang-Sun sprang forward, cutting through the air.

Swoosh―!

Chang-Sun, enveloped by an intimidating aura, moved so fast that he was leaving sonic booms in his tracks. He didn’t really care that the Emperor’s Seat brought Bo Du and Suo Chao into his divine ground. Although they did make it trickier to deal with the Emperor’s Seat, he had already made preparations for this scenario. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pulled out the [Execution Sword] in the first place.

Clang!

The first one to stand between Chang-Sun and the Emperor’s Seat was Suo Chao. Chang-Sun’s [Yuchang Sword] and Suo Chao’s guandao clashed fiercely. Suo Chao looked to be at an advantage because he was riding on a Dragon Horse, making it appear as if he had the upper hand in this battle of strength. Seemingly detecting its owner’s desire to win, the Dragon Horse neighed loudly.

『Come to think of it, I never got the chance to fight you properly, Twilight. That has always been my biggest regret.』

Suo Chao’s eyes gleamed. He was a Celestial who became a general because he was devoted to improving himself as a warrior, making it inevitable for him to have the desire to fight the fiend named ‘Divine Twilight.’ Few were as skilled as the ‘Divine Twilight’ and Suo Chao back then, but he couldn’t fight Chang-Sun because he was on the front line of the battle against the , and Chang-Sun was in the middle of the war against the . Suo Chao had always found it a shame.

Fighting idiots who still thought this universe belonged to them wasn’t fun, so Suo Chao couldn’t stop thinking about fighting the ‘Divine Twilight’ to determine who was stronger. Fortunately, although it came when he least expected it, he finally had an opportunity to have the battle of his dreams, so how could he not be happy?

『After I beat you, the other demonic deities in won’t have a problem crowning me as the strong—!』

Interrupting Suo Chao, Chang-Sun said, “Get out of my way.”

[The third chapter of ‘Prelati’s Spellbook’ has been unlocked!]

Chang-Sun could hear the sound of pages turning inside his head. If he couldn’t subdue these two Celestials with the second chapter of [Prelati’s Spellbook], then he just had to open the third chapter.

‘I don’t have much time left. I have to exponentially increase my combat power and overpower them,’?

Chang-Sun thought.

[The third chapter ‘Dr?cōníg?na Monól?num’ has been applied, making your core evolve!]

The next chapter of Díg?ro Ignis was Dr?cōníg?na Monól?num, a Dragon’s bead that held lightning power that could destroy worlds. The lightning energy that Chang-Sun embraced quickly circulated around his [Integrated Magic Circuit] and agglomerated with every part of him, forming a magnetic field—a property of magnetic energy.

Chang-Sun forcefully spun the magnetic field, causing more lightning energy to gather, compress, and condense around him. The agglomerates of lightning energy then connected with each other like a spider and, one by one, merged with the main core in Chang-Sun’s heart…

It didn’t take long for it to turn into a sphere.

A bead had been created—one that held so much lightning power that no one could tell how much lightning power it had. The purple bead shone radiantly, seemingly about to burst any minute. If Chang-Sun didn’t handle it with caution, it would actually explode. Although lightning energy had the characteristic to cohere, it also had a tendency to expand outward.

Whirl!

Chang-Sun spun the lightning power bead like a top. Using the centrifugal force, he then directed the lightning energy, which kept trying to spread in every direction, to circulate around and maintain the sphere. The quicker the sphere spun, the more pressure it received, swiftly increasing the lightning energy’s power and making it easier to control the sphere!

The sphere eventually heated up so much that it was as if it had become another sun. This truly seemed to be how a cintamani, a Dragon’s bead that could summon storms and winds and drop lightning bolts, was made.

By spinning the sphere as quickly as possible, Chang-Sun continued adding more explosive power to it. If the Díg?ro Ignis chapter’s goal was to gain complete control over one’s body, the Dr?cōníg?na Monól?num goal was to activate one’s explosive power using lightning energy. Adding the divine power and divine essence of the ‘Divine Twilight’ to the calculation, Chang-Sun’s power level became indescribable.

Ooooong!

Howling loudly, [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] exploded when imbued with purple lightning energy and white sacred light, creating a huge pillar that stretched from the ground to the sky.

Boom.

The attack was certainly destructive. It shattered Suo Chao’s guandao and sent its fragments flying all over the place. Suo Chao hurriedly pulled out the giant axe that he had been carrying—a relic named [Jin Can Axe]—and swung it horizontally.

Clang, clang, clang―!

Unlike what happened to Suo Chao’s gundao, the collision didn’t shatter the [Jin Can Axe] instantly. However, Chang-Sun’s attacks kept scratching it. Every time he hacked down at Suo Chao using [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth], which held black demonic energy, Suo Chao gritted his teeth as he tried to defend himself.

As the two fought, Bo Du thrust his spear toward Chang-Sun’s blind spot. At the same time, the Emperor’s Seat moved in and fiercely swung his arm at Chang-Sun. His sleeve swayed, sounding like a flag fluttering in the wind.

Three against one. Three demonic deities and one fiend had engaged in a bloody life-or-death battle.

1. It’s a magical jewel that can make anyone’s wish come true. In Korean novels, it’s often depicted as a jewel that an imoogi(a Korean serpent) needs to become a dragon.

2. There is a story about the Three Enclosures that the moon is where gods lived. Moon is a popular habitat for gods.