Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 219: Star, the Owl (5)

[Your HP has decreased below 10%. You are advised to take a break.]

[Your Mana has decreased below 6%. Depleting your Mana will risk you getting infected with the Demonization Syndrome.]

……

[You have entered the ‘Brink of Death’ state!]

“Huff! Huff!” Chang-Sun panted hard, soaked in enough sweat to drench his coat. He wanted to lie down—no, he wanted to faint if he could do as he pleased because of how fatigued he was. Such a response was only natural, however, since his HP, Mana, and mental stamina had almost reached zero. His radiantly shining Drăcōnígĕna Monólĭnum was also gone now.

He had unsealed three relics and fought three Celestials in a row, one of which was the ‘Tian Shi Yuan,’ who was notorious even in <Heaven>. The [Execution Sword] alone was already difficult to use for prolonged periods with Chang-Sun’s current Class. His Class, which he had built with difficulty, could destabilize.

The possibility of that happening was increasing right now. He had to drop everything and rest. However, he showed superhuman resolve instead and remained standing. Still having unanswered questions, Chang-Sun tried to watch the conversation between Thanatos and the Emperor’s Seat.

‘Is he really the Emperor’s Seat?’ Chang-Sun wondered. That question had already crossed his mind when he had first exchanged blows with the Emperor’s Seat.

‘His attacks were too weak.’

Chang-Sun knew the Emperor’s Seat very well. They used to be so close that he almost called him father before. However, the Emperor’s Seat that Chang-Sun knew was an absolutely powerful Celestial. He had the strength, prestige, and abilities to live up to his title as the leader of the <Purple Star Astrology>. Chang-Sun even thought that the Emperor’s Seat could become an Emperor-level being, which he had only heard about in legends, with more Faith.

The Emperor’s Seat that Chang-Sun had fought just now was nowhere near that level. Although Chang-Sun had trouble winning, the Emperor’s Seat couldn’t overwhelm him. He was way weaker than Chang-Sun expected.

Whirl―!

Clink, clink!

As Chang-Sun wallowed in his thoughts, the pulleys quickly turned, and the Divine Steel chains from the <Underworld> tied up the hands and feet of the Emperor’s Seat.

[The Celestial ‘Tian Shi Yuan’ has been arrested!]

Creak!

The pulleys beyond the hole turned in the opposite direction, tightening the Divine Steel chains around the ‘Tian Shi Yuan.’ The more the chains tightened, the more the [Zhan Lu Sword], which was still in the chest of the ‘Tian Shi Yuan,’ shook. The Emperor’s Seat had now been completely subdued, but instead of getting dispirited, he still held up his head high. It seemed he was calmly accepting the situation.

『The <Underworld> and the King of the Underworld… Only the likes of the King of the Underworld could certainly take the ‘Divine Twilight’ under his wings. Hahaha, I appear to have been defeated for a reason.』

The Emperor’s Seat burst into laughter even though he was about to be sealed. Even though he was the one who had set up a trap for Chang-Sun, he was the one who ended up being devastatingly defeated. It would’ve only been natural for him to get mad. However, he looked refreshed instead.

The Emperor’s Seat thought his defeat was not unnatural. The ‘Divine Twilight,’ who not only harbored a deep grudge against the <Purple Star Astrology> but also knew it better than anyone else, had taken the matter into his own hands, and the King of the Underworld backed him up.

『Your divine class has been extremely worn out. Is it because of the recent conflict within the <Purple Star Astrology>?』

Chang-Sun’s eyes widened at Thanatos’ remark. ‘His divine class has worn out?’

Chang-Sun paid more attention to the conversation. This was his first time hearing about a conflict as well.

『Hmm? You know about it? I did hear a rumor that the <Underworld> has spies all over <Heaven>... I guess the rumor was true.』

Although the Emperor’s Seat was under restrictions, he remained relaxed and calm. It was as if he had given up.

『That’s not important. What matters right now is that one of the Three Enclosures of the <Purple Star Astrology> sustained an injury grave enough to damage his divine class. He then overdid himself and got captured by the <Underworld>.』

『Ah, let me correct one thing. I’m no longer one of the Three Enclosures.』

『You nitpick on my every word and try to weasel your way out of this.』

Unable to stop himself, Chang-Sun interrupted, “Wait! I would like an explanation about what’s going on.”

『It’s exactly what you heard. A big conflict started within the <Purple Star Astrology> that weakened his divine class to the point where he no longer held enough power to be one of the Three Enclosures. Because of that, he was kicked out of the <Purple Star Astrology>.』

“… What?” Chang-Sun muttered in disbelief.

『Twilight, the reason the Emperor’s Seat was hellbent on chasing down your old colleagues was to gather <Shattered Starlight> and restore his damaged divine class. The Tian Shi Yuan Army soldiers are currently divided among themselves. Some are following the lead of the Emperor’s Seat, and some have turned their back on him.』

“…!” Chang-Sun’s face darkened, finding the story quite shocking. “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

Although he currently held the rank of a reaper, he and the King of the Underworld were equal in the deal they made, so he couldn’t help but find it unpleasant that Thanatos could be controlling the information that Chang-Sun received and bossing him around. After all, that meant Thanatos just considered Chang-Sun as his hound.

『… I only found out about this recently. While interrogating Xue Yong, I noticed that something didn't add up, so I reached a conclusion based on the reports of our spies in <Heaven>. No, this wasn’t even a conclusion. It was just a hypothesis.』

Having noticed how displeased Chang-Sun was, it seemed Thanatos tried to pacify him.

『Giving you the wrong information during your operation could have caused confusion. Once I have checked the status of his divine class during this trial, I was going to tell you the whole story.』

Chang-Sun stayed silent.

『I’m sorry if I offended you while doing so.』

Chang-Sun couldn’t stay mad now that Thanatos had apologized, so he just said, “From now on, I hope you hide nothing from me even if it can cause confusion. I’ll verify the information myself.”

『I’ll keep that in mind. I’m not trying to makeexcuses, but I believed the accuracy of the information mattered since the issue is serious.』

Chang-Sun nodded and stopped complaining. Instead, he busily thought, ‘Someone weakened the Emperor’s Seat enough to revoke his title as one of the Three Enclosures. To regain his divine class and honor, the Emperor’s Seat tenaciously hunted down Kali and the others…? Who could do that to the Emperor’s Seat?’

The <Purple Star Astrology> was the <Society> for all kinds of monster and demonic deities. Its primary principles revolved around the law of the jungle and the strongest taking everything. Hence, its members often fought against one another to determine who was stronger. The Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions were no exceptions even though they were the strongest. It certainly wasn’t impossible to defeat the Emperor’s Seat, but that begged the question of who defeated him.

『You seem like you want to know who replaced me, my son.』

The Emperor’s Seat quietly chuckled, looking at Chang-Sun. The word ‘son’ kept getting on Chang-Sun’s nerves, so he quietly scowled at the Emperor’s Seat. However, The Emperor’s Seat’s laughter only got louder.

『Well… it won’t make much of a difference if I hide it now that I’m in this position.』

The Emperor’s Seat smiled plaintively after deciding to accept his current situation.

『You actually know him very well.』

“What?” Chang-Sun frowned, not understanding what the Emperor’s Seat meant. At that moment, a memory flashed across his mind.

“You won’t believe me no matter what I tell you about Richardus,” the Emperor’s Seat said.

“No way,” Chang-Sun muttered in disbelief, so the Emperor’s Seat nodded.

『What you’re thinking is probably right.』

“… Impossible.”

『Reality is sometimes crueler than one’s imagination.』

The Emperor’s Seat smirked.

『Richardus… ‘was’ the son of mine who took my seat.』

* * *

『My son, didn’t you notice something odd before you went through the <Divine Trial>?』the Emperor’s Seat asked.

Chang-Sun recalled the last moments of him being chased down before being captured and put through the <Divine Trial>. No matter how hard he had tried to throw his pursuers off track or how well he had hidden, these stars had always known where he was. He had been driven into a corner back then, leaving him no time to notice how odd the situation had been.

『I’ll change my question. After you plummeted, your colleagues tried to raise a formal complaint about the trial, but they were exposed and met their demise before they could.』

Before people opened up Pandora’s box, everyone had their hopes up, thinking treasures would be inside it. However, once they opened it… they realized that reality was often cruel.

『Even though only your four colleagues knew about the plan, an army waited to ambush them. It was as if they knew about the plan as well. How do you think that was possible?』

The Emperor’s Seat continued,『Richardus told me everything.』

Richardus had always been the son of the Emperor’s Seat. Among the many children of the Emperor’s Seat were the Thirteen Commanders—demonic deities who were especially strong. Richardus was the Thirteenth Commander and the Grain Star, but he had rarely stood beside the Emperor’s Seat. Hence, the others couldn’t really verify if the Thirteenth Commander really existed.

Nevertheless, there were countless rumors about him, and many of them were bizarre. Some claimed that the Grain Star[1]never made an appearance because the Thirteenth Commander didn’t actually exist. Some claimed that his health was really bad, he was the strongest commander among the Thirteen Commanders, he was the biological son of the Emperor’s Seat, he was the only one who inherited his father’s <Starlight>… Every one of the rumors was hard to believe.

Even Chang-Sun doubted the existence of the Thirteenth Commander, much less expect that being to be Richardus…

“Ohhhh, you’re him! You beat up the son of the ‘Tian Shi Yuan’ because he pissed you off, then you voluntarily withdrew from the <Purple Star Astrology!”

Now that he thought about it, he met Richardus around the same time he left the <Purple Star Astrology>. The main reason Chang-Sun withdrew from the <Purple Star Astrology> was his fight against the Eunuch Star[2], the son of the Emperor’s Seat. Although Richardus talked about it as if it wasn’t that big of a deal, the situation was actually quite serious. Many monster and demonic deities had even tried to kill Chang-Sun.

‘I have no reason to leave the people who disgrace Ithaca be,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Even back then, Chang-Sun was already quite the celebrity. After all, he was the apostle who inherited <Starlight> from the <Shining Star>. Many Celestials naturally went after his <Starlight>, with some even directly asking him if he was worthy of it. The Eunuch Star was one of them. In response, Chang-Sun beat the Eunuch Star in front of everyone and threatened to cut the star’s head off if he continued with his nonsense.

Instead of hiding, Chang-Sun then urged the other Celestials who still couldn’t control their greed to challenge him if they could. However, no one dared take the challenge.

Chang-Sun smirked at them and called them idiots. After that incident, things became pretty bad within the <Purple Star Astrology>. The Emperor’s Seat cleared everything out and punished the Eunuch Star by placing him on probation for a year, but Chang-Sun couldn’t accept that verdict. He insisted that he wanted the Eunuch Star’s arm at least, but the Emperor’s Seat forced Chang-Sun to stay silent, saying that fighting further would only put the <Society> in disorder.

As a ruler of a <Society>, The Emperor’s Seat made a rational judgment. However, Chang-Sun hated it. He really thought of the Emperor’s Seat as his father back then, so he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

“In the end, you’re also a hypocrite who coddles your old subordinates more.” Chang-Sun laughed bitterly.

Chang-Sun left the <Purple Star Astrology> after that. Several furious Celestials tried to stop him, but he just broke their limbs so they could no longer pick up their weapons. Although that was the full story behind what happened between Chang-Sun and the <Purple Star Astrology>, it seemed it didn’t end when he left the <Society>.

『I initially wasn’t planning to use Richardus as a spy. When you left the <Purple Star Astrology>, I wanted to bring you back because I didn’t want you to get hurt by the rough storms of the world, so I told Richardus to protect you. That was why he tagged along with you. I tried to protect you in my own ways, but battles always followed you… In the end, everything fell into chaos. I heard the news about you starting a war against the <Horoscope>, and the <Purple Star Astrology> automatically ended up joining the war. Everything from that point on was a mess.』

The war over Chang-Sun and Ithaca’s <Starlight>, which Chang-Sun used to own, was called <Myth War> for a reason. Numerous Celestials repeatedly fought against one another and parted ways. During the war, Chang-Sun plummeted, and many <Societies> crumbled down. Moreover, it blurred the line between the Absolute Good faction and the Absolute Evil faction.

The Emperor’s Seat looked serious when he said he was worried about Chang-Sun, making it seem as if he wasn’t lying about it. Of course, it wasn’t enough to stop Chang-Sun from smirking at him.

“Says the man who tried to kill me in the end,” Chang-Sun sarcastically said.

『Well.』

The Emperor’s Seat smiled bitterly.

『I had to find you first so I can protect you. Otherwise, you would have writhed in agony. I wanted to take you under my wings again.』

Chang-Sun despised and loathed the Emperor’s Seat for acting like a hypocrite, but the Emperor’s Seat had actually been putting up an act to fool everyone else.

“Give up your <Starlight> and surrender. If you do, I’ll make sure they spare your life."

“Why are you trying to waste your father’s efforts? Can’t you really see the number of Celestials who are coming for your life like hyenas?”

“You’re really frustrating me. Frustrating… Why do you keep acting foolish?!”

Chang-Sun recalled what the Emperor’s Seat had said when they had run into each other. At the time, Chang-Sun had thought that the Emperor’s Seat had said those things to not disgrace himself and to hide his desire for Chang-Sun’s <Starlight>, but had Chang-Sun been wrong? Maybe the Emperor’s Seat had genuinely tried to protect him since it had already been obvious by then that he would eventually lose.

『And you’re wrong about one thing, King of the Underworld.』

The Emperor’s Seat calmly turned toward Thanatos.

『What do you mean?』

『I didn’t go after Kali and the others to simply regain my divine class.』

『Then?』

『I already lost too much of my divine class by then, so I tried to recover the vestige of my son’s old friends before I crumble down any further instead,』the Emperor’s Seat said as he held up his head high, showing that he was speaking the truth this time too.

『You’re saying building a World Net was part of your effort?』

『I thought the people behind Xue Yog’s disappearance likely held a grudge against the <Purple Star Astrology>, so I thought the possible suspects were those children or the people related to them. Still…』

The Emperor’s Seat smiled faintly.

『... I definitely didn’t expect my son, whom I thought was long dead, to be behind Xue Yong’s disappearance. Hahahaha!』

The Emperor’s Seat laughed really hard, feeling actually glad to be defeated by his own son. However, the more the Emperor’s Seat laughed, the more expressionless Chang-Sun became.

‘No, that doesn’t change anything,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Chang-Sun was indeed affected by the story of the Emperor’s Seat since he could tell that the gestures of the Emperor’s Seat were genuine. However, the sins he had committed against Chang-Sun didn’t just disappear even if he did half of those to fool other people and help him.

The Emperor’s Seat still ultimately hunted down Chang-Sun after Richardus told him Chang-Sun’s location. He also participated in driving Chang-Sun’s colleagues into a corner after Chang-Sun went through the <Divine Trial>. Still, why did his heart feel heavy now that he had found out the whole story?

“Why are you telling me this?” Chang-Sun asked.

『It’s all over for me anyway,』the Emperor’s Seat answered as if it was a simple matter.

『After I lost my title, some children tried to help me, but they were all killed. I have lost everything, so it’s meaningless to fight back at this point. Besides, the <Purple Star Astrology> has abandoned me, so it’s better to tell you the whole truth and ask you a favor instead.』

Favor—the word somehow kept echoing around Chang-Sun’s ears.

“What favor?”

『My children… Please save the people who almost became your siblings in the past.』

Although The Emperor’s Seat had lost everything, his children were his one last regret. His wildflowers were about to lose their flowerbed and be forced to face the rough storm of reality.

『After I left the <Purple Star Astrology>, I ordered them to scatter and run.』

1. This constellation is part of Zi Wei Yuan. ☜

2. One of the constellations within Tian Shi Yuan. ☜

Namu's Thoughts

I…hope the actual astrology isn’t spoiling anything.