Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 280: Star, the Revival Plan (5)

<Heaven> was vast. The universe alone was so large that even Celestials had not ventured to most parts of it. That was why even the great Celestials, like the Ruling and Creator Celestials, only heard about other Celestials that were in different <Societies>. However, they still knew about each other’s existences because of the law of causality and the system that bound them together.

Many Celestials didn’t care about what was going on in the other <Societies>, and Pabilsag was one of them. Unless they were trying to hinder her work, Pabilsag paid zero attention to other people and didn’t take an interest in other <Societies>.

Nevertheless, the room Pabilsag was transported to after accepting Neptune’s invitation was filled with the great Celestials that even she heard about. They were all from different factions, <Societies>, and had distinct Divine Ranks.

However, they shared one thing in common: they were all interested in Chang-Sun enough to send him an invitation to their divine ground. Cernunnos, Serket, and…

Pabilsag saw a man with sharp, serpent-like eyes sitting far from her. ‘Even Jörmungandr is here.’

When she met his eyes…

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ grins and waves his invisible tail at you!]

She felt as if a rattlesnake’s tail popped up behind the man and swayed from side to side.

Ding, ding!

“Everyone, please say hello to Tiamat’s daughter. She is here today on Tiamat’s behalf,” Neptune introduced Pabilsag.

Releasing their Divine Classes without hesitation, about a hundred Celestials looked at Pabilsag with discontent.

“Hmmm…!”

“Is this her way of saying that she’s one of the Nine Heavens?”

“Or maybe she believes she shouldn’t act rashly as one of the Mother Terra Celestial’s representatives.”

“It doesn’t matter. I would have understood if she sent Bashmu instead since he’s basically the leader of <Nammu>. Tsk!”

They all seemed to believe that Pabilsag wasn’t qualified enough to have a seat at the table, which enraged Pabilsag enough to raise one of her eyebrows. After looking at the Celestials with vicious eyes, Pabilsag slowly turned away.

“Hmm? Where are you going?” Neptune asked.

Pabilsag’s cold smile deepened. “It seems I’m not welcome here. If you were any fewer, I would already have left an arrow hole in each of your heads. Unfortunately, I’m greatly outnumbered. The best I can do in this situation is leave the room.”

Neptune’s jaw dropped to the floor, but he could not help but admire her guts as well for talking so casually about leaving a hole in the great Celestials’ heads even though there were so many of them.

The great Celestials naturally became hostile.

Unfazed, Pabilsag gave a stronger warning, “Ah, keep in mind that I have memorized the faces of everyone who insulted me. After all, such an act can be interpreted as dishonoring my mother. I hope you prepare yourselves.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

At that moment, the great Celestials’ faces darkened. Although Tiamat was gentle and generous around Chang-Sun, she was a notorious Celestial other <Societies> were terrified of.

She was the Evil Dragon and the Demonic Celestial who could bring <Extinction> wherever she went. The Retribution Fire of Destruction could strike every location and civilization she visited, and she could do the same to <Societies>. She often fought with ‘Taurus’ as well, whom everyone was reluctant to fight against, and even recently started a full-scale war against him.

She was also very prideful, making her famous for never forgiving anyone who disgraced her. If the <Nammu> Celestials joined in as well, things could become really dangerous. Since the Celestials’ only goal was to intimidate Pabilsag, her warning was terrible news.

Neptune quickly put a stop to the situation. “Oh, no! I apologize on their behalf, Faraway Heaven’s youngest daughter. Will you forgive us?”

He even bowed as he apologized, making Pabilsag’s eyes slightly widen. She was also well aware of how prideful Neptune was, but he was willing to go this far.

“I rarely behave this way, which probably surprises you, but I hope this shows just how important this meeting is.”

“… I guess I have no choice,” Pabilsag quietly replied.

Despite how reckless Pabilsag usually was, she couldn’t keep acting insolent now that Neptune made a lot of compromises for her. Maybe because she was still trying to protect her pride, she pompously held up her head and sat where Neptune pointed, which happened to be next to Selket.

Pabilsag met Selket’s eyes as she took her seat. Still awfully shy for a great Celestial, Selket hurriedly lowered her head. Most of her face was covered with her hood, but her face was slightly red and her hands nervously trembled on her lap.

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ is feeling very nervous. She is not sure how she should give her gift to you!]

“… A gift?” Pabilsag murmured blankly upon reading the unexpected message.

Selket’s face became redder than a tomato for failing to realize that a message of her state would be delivered.

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ mumbles that she has good cosmetics.]

“… I don’t know much about makeup. I’ve actually never tried using them before.” Pabilsag awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

At that moment, Selket swiftly raised her head, her reddened face filled with disbelief.

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ asks you how is that possible when you are so beautiful! She adds that it is a crime to let your looks go to waste!]

Pabilsag vacantly blinked. “I’m… pretty?”

Selket fervently nodded.

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ says you are asking the obvious!]

“... Seriously?”

“Definitely!” Selket spoke for the first time.

Pabilsag was stunned. As the goddess of hunting, she ran wild and did everything she ever wanted, so it was her first time hearing this kind of compliment.

Selket stared at Pabilsag with sparkling eyes for a moment but eventually realized what she was doing. She quickly lowered her hood.

[The Celestial ‘Plague Monarch’ says that her cosmetic is very effective in healing your battle wounds too!]

Pabilsag swiftly grabbed Selket’s hands, surprising Selket. Pabilsag leaned toward her with sparkling eyes.

“Let’s be friends!” Pabilsag said in delight.

… Selket had trouble keeping eye contact, so it took a long time for her to nod.

『Considering the importance of this meeting’s agendas, let’s begin immediately,』 Neptune said using his divine voice, catching everyone’s attention. 『The agendas are… As you may already know, they’ve been proposed by Lee Chang-Sun, the human who gathered us. The first agenda is the establishment of the Anti <Horoscope> and <Purple Star Astrology> Alliance… The <Anti-Star> Alliance for short. The second agenda is…』

Neptune’s eyes became sharp.

『... the revival of <Asgard>, the old <Society>. Does anyone have an opinion on this?』

The <Horoscope> and <Purple Star Astrology> were showing signs of starting their operations in earnest. Meanwhile, another movement was also about to begin in secret from the other side of <Heaven>.

* * *

[Outside Channelings have been terminated by force!]

“… The communication has been cut.” Lie Si slightly frowned as he ran.

Fo Fan, the Ninth Corps vice commander, turned grim. “I can’t believe this.”

The Ninth Corps’ second division consisted of weak <Troop> soldiers, but they were still the children of ‘Tian Shi Yuan.’ Above all, they also had Kali on their side, so it was hard to believe that a human could defeat them.

“He isn’t human.” Lie Si shook his head.

“Excuse me…? What?”

“He isn’t a half-wit demigod. He’s about to become a Celestial, and he’s skilled enough to defeat most low-ranking Celestials.”

“Impossible! How can a human—!” Fo Fan shouted. He was also aware of how Chang-Sun hindered the <Troop> operation in <Star Grave>, but he believed that Chang-Sun only managed to do that because three <Olympus> Celestials were helping him. Besides, it was hard to accept that a mortal equally fought with Bai Sha, Kali, and the others. It went against everything Fo Fan knew.

“That’s because he isn’t human,” Lie Si said.

“Are you saying that he really is the <Underworld>’s secret weapon?”

“I guess so.”

“…!” Fo Fan’s eyes widened.

“Anyhow, it seems safe to assume that the second division has been annihilated and that we have lost Kali and the Gray Elves.”

“…”

“We did all the work, but someone else took the credit. We’ve gone through quite the trouble to bring those disobedient creatures together.” Lie Si gritted his teeth.

He put the most effort into the Kali Resurrection plan, but the results of his hard work all disappeared overnight. Wanting to recruit Nain and his resistance fighters, Lie Si instructed Bai Sha to take most of the Gray Elves in the <Troop>, but that turned out to be a mistake.

Of course, they still had quite several Kalis and Gray Elves, so they could still proceed with their plan. However, it was now confirmed that Chang-Sun was several steps ahead of them. They had to speed things up.

‘I lost this time… but just you wait. I’ll soon take everything you have, just like I did before,’ Lie Si thought.

Lie Si firmly believed that Chang-Sun was ‘Divine Twilight,’ who was working as the secret weapon of the <Underworld>. He already defeated ‘Divine Twilight’ in the past, and he was confident that this time wouldn’t be any different.

“Let’s focus on our mission first. Nu Chuang told us to get the [Brilliant Azure Light], which is the only way to tamper with the Source,” Lie Si commanded.

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s go.” Lie Si gestured at his soldiers.

Paah―!

With Lie Si in the center, the Ninth Corps soldiers sprang forward to initiate their operation on clearing ‘Doomsday City.’

The [Brilliant Azure Light] was one of the [Tricolored Brilliant Light], which Chang-Sun was after.

* * *

Taking out Bai Sha made it easy to bring the <Troop> Gray Elves back to the Himavat Clan. The moment Chang-Sun cut off the fake Kali’s head and absorbed her Divinity, the Gray Elves no longer had a reason to stay with the <Troop>.

It only took Chang-Sun’s three strikes to take out the second division of the Ninth Corps and bring all the Gray Elves back together.

[The Divine Dignity of the ‘■■ne ■■’ is overwhelming the battlefield!]

The phrase ‘Divine Dignity’ was printed on the System, which meant Chang-Sun already finished his <Exuviation> and was reaching the level of a Celestial.

[The seed of your divine power is undulating in your ‘Ferocious Heart.’]

[Redefine your own divine power and convert all your mana into divine power.]

Chang-Sun faintly smiled as he looked at the seed of his divine power in the corner of his [Ferocious Heart]. It didn’t take long for him to notice that the seed was exuding divine power that was very similar to the one he used as the ‘Divine Twilight,’ but…

‘...That is not enough,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Chang-Sun wasn’t just going to restore his divine power to the level he reached in the past. Since he had more talents and powers than before, his new divine power should be stronger.

‘I should kill Heoju, collect all [Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan], and become the only Celestial on Earth.’

Planet-wise, the civilization named Earth was nothing out of the ordinary, but numerous secrets were hidden on the other side of it. Once Chang-Sun took charge of what <Horoscope> and <Purple Star Astrology> called Source, his Divine Rank would far surpass the level of ‘Divine Twilight’.

‘I’ll also become Mephistopheles’ disciple and get closer to becoming the <Supreme Light’s Face>.’

Chang-Sun looked down at the Gray Elves who prostrated before him to swear their loyalty.

[The ‘Himavat’ ascetics swear their loyalty to you!]

He had his Undead Army soldiers by his side as his guards.

[The ‘Changgwi Cave’ Army soldiers are guarding you!]

‘Tiamat and Neptune have probably met by now.’ Chang-Sun’s eyes gleamed sharply. Everything was going according to plan.

[The ‘Lightning-Struck Jujube Tree Fragment’ that the Order ‘Himavat’ has given you lets out a long howl!]

Pzzz, pzzzz!

The part of the Parasitic Tree that Nain and his resistance fighters gave him trembled faintly.

* * *

While Chang-Sun was trapped in the space created by [Space Severance], he accepted numerous invitations and went from divine ground to divine ground to practice his [Dragon Breath]. However, he did that to progress the plan he came up with Thanatos as well.

“Form a force that would oppose <Horoscope> and <Purple Star Astrology> when the time comes? How?” Chang-Sun asked.