The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 387: Star, Purple Star Astrology (8)

[News of the Celestial ‘Divine Twilight’ is spreading throughout <Heaven>!]

[The Celestial ‘Tsunami Bringer’ chuckles dryly!]

[The Celestial ‘Antlered Animal King’ reveals his desire to have a good fight with you!]

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ is rummaging through her storage to find you a congratulatory gift!]

...

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ looks at you with mixed emotions!]

The first people to react were the <Anti-Star> Alliance Celestials. They had been considering withdrawing from the battle line if Tiamat kept losing the fight, so they fell into utter shock.

A Celestial King candidate! The seat of a Celestial King was never handed out on a whim. One had to have a strong influence beyond their <Society> and over the entirety of <Heaven> first, and Creator and Ruling Celestials had to voluntarily bow and create the seat of a Celestial King for that person. However, that was not all. The person had to earn a sufficiently tremendous achievement that would leave a significant turning point in the history of their Worldline to sit in the provided seat.

That was why there had been no more than five Celestial Kings in the last aeon, although there was no surviving Celestial King in Worldline #801 right now. Some people in the current generation were as mighty as Celestial Kings, but no one had officially earned the title. In other words, even though the Nine Heavens like Tiamat and Durga were assessed to be comparable to Celestial Kings, most people in <Heaven> had not recognized them as representatives of the Worldline.

In conclusion, being a Celestial King candidate alone meant that one had the power to affect a Worldline’s history, which was very significant.

[The Celestial ‘Garden Gatekeeper’ reveals his strong hostility!]

[The Celestial ‘Malignity-Drinking Saturn’ wishes you would visit him soon!]

...

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ purses his lips.]

...

Uriel and Satan were still strongly hostile to Chang-Sun, so he did not particularly need to care about their reactions. On the other hand, Bel-Marduk began to watch Chang-Sun with enmity, not interest.

‘That’s good.’ Chang-Sun found Bel-Marduk’s reaction very satisfying.

It meant that Bel-Marduk, who always looked down on the world with confidence, had finally recognized Chang-Sun as his opponent, implying that Chang-Sun had reached a similar level to him. And...

[The jawbones of the Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ clatter as he says that you have finally become decent!]

Mephistopheles was also recognizing Chang-Sun’s advancement for the first time.

‘Would it kill you to give a nice compliment to your student for making progress?’ Chang-Sun asked with a chuckle, and he immediately received an answer.

[The Celestial, ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ says that you should be able to observe beyond Worldlines at least, scoffing!]

Chang-Sun thought to himself that he was still unable to live up to Mephistopheles’ expectations, but he had a feeling that it would not take long to make it happen.

‘I have one step left before becoming an Outer Celestial.’

After completing the middle volume of [Prelati’s Spellbook], Chang-Sun would be able to exceed the level of such hideous beings as Anomalies or Abominations and reach the level of an Outer Celestial.

‘Of course...’ Chang-Sun thought as his [Gnostic Eye] gleamed. ‘I’ll have to defeat him first.’

Whooooosh!

Feeling his Inferno Sight blazing, Chang-Sun tightened his grip around the [Twilight Spear]—no, the fully restored [Gungnir]. The three-meter spear was extremely long, and the huge spearhead was made up of four blades. It was hard to call it an ordinary spear, but Chang-Sun actually found this form of the [Twilight Spear] much more stable.

―[Gungnir] in its fully restored form, not one made from magic... I never knew I would see the spear like this. I guess it was the right choice to give you the [Gnostic Eye].

Odin laughed in bliss, but Chang-Sun did not know what his final goal was. Although Chang-Sun had once thought that Odin was trying to be the main ego, Odin was very cooperative nowadays, a tendency that seemed to have gotten stronger after Balor’s death. Was Odin trying to make Chang-Sun restore his own <Myths>, just like with [Valhalla] and [Gungnir]?

Even if that were the case, those restored <Myths> would belong to Chang-Sun, strengthening his ego in the end, not Odin’s. In fact, it would push Odin toward being merged with or subjugated by Chang-Sun even further, so Odin should have felt reluctant to cooperate if his goal was his independence.

Still, when Chang-Sun asked Odin about that, Odin simply changed the topic as he laughed enigmatically. Thus, Chang-Sun did not bother pressing Odin about it, focusing on taking out Taeul instead.

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ scurries to your Channeling after checking the announcement made in <Heaven>!]

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ sees your condition with her own eyes and is greatly surprised!]

Meanwhile, messages from Avalokitesvara appeared before Chang-Sun.

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ protests, asking why you made her go through so many hardships if you were capable of doing something like this!]

Chang-Sun could picture Avalokitesvara drooping her shoulders in disappointment for some reason, so he quietly chuckled and remarked as he sprang forth, “It’s fine for you to go through tribulations.”

Paah―!

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ finds your answer too cold, and is now sad like a puppy in the rain.]

Chang-Sun disappeared, then reappeared behind Taeul after a moment.

『Where do you think you’re going...?!』

Taeul turned back a little later in surprise, the fact that he was unable to detect Chang-Sun’s movements putting him on high alert. A pool of brilliant light spread out from the center of Taeul’s open palm.

[The Myth of Celestial-slaying has been activated!]

Swoooosh―!

Slaaaash!

Chang-Sun fiercely swung [Gungnir], neatly cutting through the pool of light.

Light being cut? Taeul had never witnessed such a thing. However, the bigger problem was...

『I can’t... recover?』

Taeul had thought that his amputated hand would naturally recover, but nothing was happening. A shiver ran down his spine as a word from the messages that he had been ignoring so far caught his attention—Celestial-slaying.

It was the <Myth> of [Nothung], and it had undoubtedly made ‘Divine Twilight’ notorious in the last <Myth War>. Most of the Celestials who had gone up against Chang-Sun while he was using [Nothung] had either been annihilated or received critical injuries. The sword’s <Myth> of Celestial-slaying destroyed one’s Divine Class, making its ability particularly terrifying. However, it had not worked particularly well on Taeul. As he had absorbed his numerous avatars, he naturally had a lot of spare lives.

And yet... Things were different now, because the <Myth> of Celestial-slaying in [Gungnir] slashed Taeul’s Divine Class itself. Had he been an ordinary Celestial, he would have been in grave danger merely from having his limbs severed with [Gungnir]. Some elements had to have been added to Chang-Sun’s <Myths> after the creation of [Gungnir], enhancing those <Myths>.

The moment Taeul concluded that...

‘I should avoid it...!’ Taeul thought. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by ɴovel(F)ɪre

...he deduced that the <Myths> of Chang-Sun’s other four slayer swords would also have gotten stronger. Thus, Taeul tried to quickly withdraw backward. But...

[The Myth of bloodthirst has been activated, causing lightning bolts to strike!]

[Gungnir] absorbed all of Taeul’s scattered blood in the area, unleashing sunset-colored lightning bolts that had darkened to a deep blood-red.

Ruuumble!

Downward, upward to the right, left... Chang-Sun repeatedly swung his spear. Powerful storms raged with the spearhead in the center, and lightning bolts struck the ground endlessly.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh―!

Taeul was now a monster trapped inside a prison made of storms. At the top of his lungs, he shouted.

『What in the world have you done? How is this possible...!』

Using his <Myths> of martial arts, Taeul parried away and deflected Chang-Sun’s spear attacks, but it was impossible to escape from Chang-Sun’s storms unscathed in the end.

Whenever Chang-Sun cut Taeul with the spear, a chunk of light disappeared, revealing Taeul beneath the pool of his sacred light little by little. Hideous red wounds were also visible through the cuts in his sleeves, as if he were being butchered.

The blood-slayer sword lusted for blood without regard for friend or foe, so the more blood [Balmung] drank, the stronger the sword’s <Myth> became, gaining a greater advantage over the blood’s owner. The inception of this chapter's publication is linked to N0v3lb11n.

By the time Taeul was pushed back far enough to lose half of his sacred light, half of his face was revealed, showing his bewildered expression. His left hand had been cut off, and his waist and the area below his knees were covered in wounds. However, he was filled with panic, unable to find countermeasures.

Taeul always came up with the means to defeat his enemies before he engaged in battle, so he was helpless against Chang-Sun’s sudden transformation, revealing a vital weakness in his strategic ability.

『The Odin in this Worldline... was a loser—no, the Odins in all Worldlines were losers. They were greedy, but they always went after more than they could handle, bringing their downfall upon themselves. So how are you doing that with such power...?!』

Taeul looked at [Gungnir] with disbelief.

―He really knows nothing. Is he not aware that you can learn more from those mistakes? This is the problem with these pampered people, Tsk!

Odin clicked his tongue and scoffed.

Even if the leader of <Purple Star Astrology> had devoured numerous Worldlines and gotten stronger, he was just being treated as a spoiled brat now.

[The Myth of Dragonslaying has been activated, unleashing a vigorous Dragon howl!]

Ooooooong!

Kieeeeeh―!

Chang-Sun paused his raging attacks and took a deep breath, tightening his grip around the spear. As he infused an abundance of divine power into it the spear let out a clear resonating sound as ghostly wails echoed ominously. The chaotic mix of murderous energy, ghostly energy, and fighting spirit rippled, and Taeul was standing precariously at the other end of that ripple.

“Do you know what your biggest problem is?” Chang-Sun asked sarcastically.

Despite his fatigue, Taeul’s expression was tinged with fury.

“Your caliber is low.” Chang-Sun sneered.

[The Myth of monster-slaying has been activated, raging against the opponent!]

Swoooosh―!

Chang-Sun thrust [Gungnir] forward, turning it into a ray of light. His storms and lightning energy intertwined indiscriminately while his <Darkness> and supreme sacred light entangled, the spear leaving numerous big and small explosions behind.

It was Flashstrike, the same technique Chang-Sun had used to take out Sangwon.

The difference was that back then, Chang-Sun had only had a rough idea of the technique; now, he had mastered it and made it his own. In addition, his <Myths> and relics were far beyond what he had at the time.

Chang-Sun had not just restored [Gungnir]. His four slayer swords and other weapons had numerous warriors and heroes as their masters in the past and forged their own <Myths>. He had merged them into one, elevating those <Myths> to a higher level. That was why the <Myths> of the four slayer swords could overpower Taeul one after another.

The <Myths> of ‘Divine Twilight’ were revealing a brilliance beyond any they had ever shown before.

[The Celestial ‘Zi Wei Yuan’ has activated the Signature ‘Heaven and Earth Great Shift’!]

Taeul activated his Signature to the fullest capacity, gritting his teeth. His goal was to block Chang-Sun’s projectile, but the problem was the <Myth> that Chang-Sun had used in this attack. With the <Myth> of monster-slaying, [Trollsverd] had the ability to counter all abnormal phenomena that went against the laws of nature, nullifying Taeul’s last resort.

[Error!]

[Error!]

...

[The Signature activation of the Celestial ‘Zi Wei Yuan’ has failed!]

[Gungnir] shattered through the error messages, destroying Taeul’s remaining arm and piercing his chest.

Craaaack―!

A human head-sized hole appeared in Taeul’s left chest.

[Your ‘Gungnir’ has struck the Celestial ‘Zi Wei Yuan’ and slain him!]

『N... o...!』

Taeul’s mouth slowly opened and closed as he looked down at his chest. His sacred light had already died out, and his youth was gone too, leaving his wrinkled face fully exposed.

Creeeeeak―!

With loud noises, the pulleys of Divine Steel chains started to turn, muffling Taeul’s scream.