The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 423: Star, the Parallel Universe (8)

“It hurts...” Xerxes moaned as he continued to hold the back of his head, looking at Chang-Sun with teary, pitiful eyes.

However, Chang-Sun only became more annoyed. He asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it...?” Xerxes replied hesitantly.

“You acted all cool in front of your girlfriend, so why are you talking like that with me? You even look like me, on top of that,” Chang-Sun said.

Xerxes’ lips trembled as he asked, “...D-Did you see it?

“Yeah, I did,” Chang-Sun said with a nod.

Xerxes quickly looked at Crom Cruach and Kali, exclaiming in surprise, “Wait...?”He desperately hoped that what he was thinking of was untrue.

“Hehehe. Of course, we saw it too,” Crom said, giggling mischievously. Kali nodded alongside her, scratching her cheek awkwardly.

“N-No...!” Xerxes screamed, pulling out his hair.

‘We can never be together’, ‘you became my home’, ‘don’t let me inside you’, ‘I love you’... Everything Xerxes had said flashed through his mind.

‘What else did I say? Did I say any other cringey nonsense in the past? What else... What else...?’ Xerxes thought in confusion.

There seemed to be more from his embarrassing past, but nothing particular came to mind. He recalled many memories of the past, and found that several of them were thoroughly embarrassing. The fact that his friends knew all about his dating life practically drove him mad, not allowing him to think properly.

“Don’t ever talk in that weird way when you look like me,” Chang-Sun warned Xerxes.

“It’s not fair...” Xerxes said with a pout. In response, Chang-Sun only scowled at him.

“...Alright. I’ll be careful,” Xerxes said, looking at the floor.

“I see that you’ve come to your senses, so stand up now,” Chang-Sun said as he arrogantly gestured at Xerxes with his chin, stepping aside.

That was when Xerxes saw Baek Gyeo-Ul. Despite how desperately he had wished to meet his father, Gyeo-Ul fidgeted with his fingers, hesitant to walk up to him.

When Xerxes and Gyeo-Ul met each other’s gazes, Gyeo-Ul quickly looked at the floor with a faint blush across his nose. On the other hand, Xerxes looked off to the side with a red face.

Xerxes and Gyeo-Ul continued to stand there in silence for a while, only stealing furtive glances. Whenever they made eye contact for even a second, they turned to look away in surprise.

“...What are you two doing?” Chang-Sun asked. He had been watching the not-so-comedic show right beside him, dumbfounded; now, he kicked his pathetic friend hard in the butt. “Both of you weirdly resemble each other, but you’re the father.”

Smack!

“Argh!” Xerxes cried out. He unwittingly sprang to his feet and stumbled toward Gyeo-Ul, but looking at his son made his urge to complain to Chang-Sun vanish, turning his mind blank.

“Ummm, so... Well, uhhh...!” Xerxes trailed off, unsure what to say.

Gyeo-Ul abruptly said, “Father, I missed you.”

Xerxes froze up, unable to breathe. The word ‘father’ was quite short, and yet it struck him in the heart. He felt suffocated and frustrated, but...something warm and ticklish emerged from deep in his heart. In the end, he came to a decision and took a deep breath.

“...Yeon,” Xerxes said almost inaudibly.

Chang-Sun had told Xerxes that he was Gyeo-Ul’s father, and that was what finally brought Xerxes to his senses. Right at that moment, Xerxes could finally define who he was. He was no longer a False Celestial who wandered in the Imaginary Plane, a shadow who needed a host to survive; nor was he an idiot who could only weep amid his numerous personalities that tried to take control at every opportunity. Xerxes was not just Chang-Sun’s shadow, nor was he merely Crom’s and Kali’s friend anymore. He was Xerxes, Gyeo-Ul’s father.

“You take after Chae-Yeon a lot—no, you two are practically replicas of each other,” Xerxes said, slowly beginning to smile from ear to ear.

“...!” Gyeo-Ul’s eyes widened as a memory suddenly flashed through his mind.

“Remember, sweetie. Mom’s name is...”

Gyeo-Ul had always had trouble remembering his mother’s name, as if only that particular memory had been covered by fog.

“Mom’s name is □□□. Never. Never forget my name.”

Gyeo-Ul’s mother had told him to never forget her name, because his father would come looking for him as long as he remembered it. However, he had never been able to recall it until just now, when it flashed through his mind for some reason. □□□. Baek Chae-Yeon. Yes, it was Baek Chae-Yeon. Her surname was Baek, and her name meant ‘a beautiful connection’, much like her relationships to Gyeo-Ul and to Xerxes. And...

―You’re one stubborn boy, just like your dad, but I still love you, ■■.

■■. Gyeo-Ul finally remembered his name too.

“I missed you too, Gyeo-Ul,” Xerxes continued with teary eyes.

“Ah...!” Gyeo-Ul gasped. Baek Gyeo-Ul was, in fact, his real name.

All this time, Gyeo-Ul thought he had forgotten his true name. His foster parents had always told him that they gave him the name Baek Gyeo-Ul because they found him in a snowfield during winter. That was why Gyeo-Ul had thought that his current name was not real, not feeling any particular attachment to it; he had always believed that he would abandon it once he got to know his real name. However, it seemed he had been wrong.

“You always worried Chae-Yeon a lot, and even your birth was very sudden. Of all the times in the world, you were born in the middle of winter while a blizzard was raging.”

Gyeo-Ul tried not to gasp. Everything had been frozen in the middle of winter, but he was the only one who had been blessed enough to be born back then.

“But I still thought it was funny in some way. I got to meet your mother for the first time in a similar winter,” Xerxes said with a chuckle.

Xerxes and Chae-Yeon had actually met each other in the late winter, when the snow and ice started to melt little by little. It was a time when warm sunlight shone down the hills, sprouts rose from the ground, and frogs croaked by ponds. Gyeo-Ul was their son, and this was how he had gotten his name.[1].

‘I...’

Some people did not like the season because it was cold. To Gyeo-Ul, however, winter had long been a very dear season that was also a very big part of him.

‘I always had my name with me.’

Gyeo-Ul’s heart ached.

‘But I didn’t even know that...!’

Gyeo-Ul could not say one word even though he desperately wanted to say something, feeling as if he would cry a flood of tears if he tried to say something. The surge of emotions made him choke up, and his eyes reddened.

“You must have spent countless winters on your own, but you grew up to be such a fine young man... Thank you. Thank you, really,” Xerxes said as he extended his hand and stroked Gyeo-Ul’s cheek.

Xerxes’ tears fell to the floor one after another, like the dew that gathered on leaves as winter gave way to spring. He continued to stroke Gyeo-Ul’s cheek, wanting to stay in the moment with his son for as long as possible.

Gyeo-Ul grabbed Xerxes’ hands, saying, “F-Father...”

Although Xerxes looked like Chang-Sun, he looked wrinkled and had a lot of calluses on his hands for some reason. Gyeo-Ul could sense how much Xerxes had gone through and how many sleepless nights he had spent worrying about Gyeo-Ul and Chae-Yeon.

“Can I ask you a question?” Gyeo-Ul asked as he forced himself to smile, holding back his tears.

Xerxes nodded.

“What was... Mother like?” Gyeo-Ul asked.

Xerxes gently smiled as he answered, “I’ll tell you everything about her.”

* * *

“It’s truly touching,” Crom said, wiping away her tears with her handkerchief as she applauded.

Clap, clap, clap!

Kali turned in the opposite direction to hide the slight blush on her nose. On the other hand, Chang-Sun was...

“Twilight?”

...looking somewhere else, not at Xerxes and Gyeo-Ul.

“What’s wrong?” Crom asked as she tilted her head in confusion, noticing how Chang-Sun had an unusual look on his face.

Chang-Sun was watching the Heavenly Dragon Emperor, who also happened to be Crom’s drinking buddy, but the emperor was staring at empty air. Crom wondered if something had happened to the emperor, because the emperor she knew would cry together with Xerxes as he reunited with his son. She was about to approach the emperor and ask him.

“Stand down,” Chang-Sun suddenly said as he held out his hand and stopped Crom.

“What? What is it?” Crom asked with a frown, not understanding Chang-Sun’s reaction.

Crom would reproach Chang-Sun if he still doubted the Heavenly Dragon Emperor. It was natural for Chang-Sun to find his other self from another Worldline unfamiliar, but it would be fine if he got used to it...!

Crom’s train of thought was interrupted before long, however.

Whooosh―!

A ripple of energy emanated from the Heavenly Dragon Emperor.

[The Celestial ‘Emperor of the Heavenly Dragon’ has released his hidden Divine Class.]

It was not the same energy he had used in his prior fight against Chang-Sun. No, it was incomparably different from before, as it stung and sent shivers down the spines of all those present.

“What are you doing, Sean?!” Crom yelled as she turned pale.

She was very familiar with this energy and who it belonged to. A Star Sign, a Zodiac... It was ‘Taurus’!

[The Celestial ‘Emperor of the Heavenly Dragon’ is exuding the Divine Class of the Celestial ‘Taurus’ little by little, in accordance with the contract.]

Pzzz, pzz, pzzzz!

Yellow lightning sparks flew up from the energy ripple, eventually transforming into a spear. The Heavenly Dragon Emperor grabbed the spear in his right hand, ready to pounce at Chang-Sun and the others. Xerxes and Gyeo-Ul thus had to stop talking about Chae-Yeon. With her eyes narrowed, Kali pressed her palms together, and Chang-Sun also tightened his grip on the [Twilight Spear].

Crom was the only one who tried to stop the Heavenly Dragon Emperor. With a bewildered look, she shouted, “Why are you doing this, Sean?! Talk to me! The only way I’ll know what’s wrong is if we talk...!”

“Crom. Xerxes,” the Heavenly Dragon Emperor began as he looked back and forth between Crom and Xerxes. Then, he said only one thing more.

“Run.”

“What...?” Crom exclaimed in puzzlement, about to ask what the Heavenly Dragon Emperor meant by that.

[The prisoners in the dungeon have been sacrificed to awaken the long-dormant Myths in the Imperial Palace!]

[The servants in the Imperial Palace have been sacrificed to forcibly reconnect to the outside world!]

[The subjects in the Imperial Palace have been sacrificed to summon the being connected to the Myths!]

...

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’, owner of the Myths and the Imperial Palace, has readily accepted the offerings.]

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ has descended!]

Rummmble―!

The ground where Chang-Sun and the others were standing suddenly collapsed. Clouds of dust rose from the cracks, and a golden magic circle appeared above the floor... A colossal bull-shaped monster sprang out with his mouth open.

“Bel-Marduk...!”

Descent? Chang-Sun had never imagined that ‘Taurus’ would descend here in his true form, leaving him stupefied. He reflexively jumped into the air before he got sucked into Bel-Marduk’s mouth, so he was narrowly able to avoid the crisis. However, Bel-Marduk was manifesting in the world little by little, in his monstrously large true form..

Rumble.

The Imperial Palace collapsed like a line of dominoes. Chang-Sun managed to bring the others to where he was using telekinesis, except for one person.

『I’ll buy as much time as I can, so get out of here! Go now!』

The Heavenly Dragon Emperor left a telepathic message for Chang-Sun, then turned into a golden ray that fell on top of Bel-Marduk’s head.

Swooooosh!

1. ’Gyeoul’(??) is winter in Korean. ?