Return of the Shattered Constellation

[You have entered the Divine Ground ‘A Broken Being’s Home’!]

[Warning! You are currently at Nyx. Beings of Eros cannot live here. You are advised to escape the area as quickly as possible.]

[Warning! This area’s laws of nature are completely different from Eros’. There is a chance that some of your Divine Ranks and Authorities will malfunction.]

[Warning! The air is filled with toxins that can gradually deteriorate your Divine Class…]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

…

Upon entering the <Nihil> gap, Chang-Sun and Tiamat found themselves in the middle of a wasteland under a dark sky.

Looking at the golden key in Chang-Sun’s hand, Tiamat commented, “I’ve had this impression for a while now, but that key is surely marvelous.”

She had already seen the golden key through the Channeling when Chang-Sun was still a mortal, but it still fascinated her to this day. Despite her hobby of researching and collecting all kinds of treasures all over the Worldline, she had never seen a key like it.

“I don’t really understand its mechanism either,” Chang-Sun said.

Considering it could unlock Divine Steel shackles, which could tie down Celestials, its creator had to be extraordinary.

“What did you say its name was?”

Chang-Sun was about to answer when he suddenly stopped.

‘What was its name again?’ he wondered.

It was at the tip of his tongue, but he genuinely couldn’t remember. Finding it odd, he quickly opened the item window.

[■■■’s Key]

His eyes widened. ‘I can’t read it?’

Chang-Sun could remember being able to read the name several days ago. He checked his other items, but the golden key was the only one experiencing this censoring problem.

‘What in the world happened?’

There were two common reasons behind the censorship of item names. The first was that their abilities had died out, preventing them from maintaining their names any longer. The second was…

‘The traces of its creator or anyone involved with it are disappearing.’

It was as if a boulder was sitting on Chang-Sun’s chest. He felt like he had forgotten something that he never should have.

He frowned, trying to remember what it was as best as he could. ‘I’ve already felt this way before…’

“What is it? Did something happen…?” Tiamat trailed off. Noticing Chang-Sun suddenly becoming serious while trying to explain the item, she quickly looked up. “… I’ll take that as a yes.”

How. Dare. Come. Here.

Dozens of eyes that varied in size opened in the dark sky. Ubbo-Sathla unleashed their fury at Chang-Sun and the others for daring to trespass into their home.

Rummmble―!

Between the eyes, over a dozen tentacles appeared and struck the ground. Chang-Sun quickly drew up his divine power to activate <Duskfall>, firing a sunset-colored lightning bolt into the sky.

Rustle!

At the same time, Chang-Sun heard pages turning in his head.

[The last volume of ‘Prelati’s Spellbook’ has been opened.]

[The first chapter ‘Sero Diéi’ has been applied, firing a ‘Rádĭus Duskfall’ bolt!]

Rummmble―!

A primordial lightning essence ascended to the sky like a lightning deity taking flight. Lightning energy then spread out of it, making it look as if a net had been thrown over the world.

Boom! Boom, boom!

Rádĭus attacks incomparably stronger than the ones Chang-Sun had used to obliterate Satan poured out from the net meshes. Each bolt that struck Ubbo-Sathla scorched up and pulverized their tentacles.

“He… destroyed the tentacles!”

“He was already incredible enough when he took down Satan, yet he has surpassed himself again…”

“He’s way stronger now!”

“I doubt he’s already using his full strength…”

“How much power has he been hiding until now?”

The United Army’s main force looked at Chang-Sun with fear in their eyes. Tiamat, the Celestial King, was already so terrifying that they couldn’t even think about defying her. Hence, having another being who was just as fearsome made them feel suffocated. They had a strong feeling that Chang-Sun and Tiamat would soon solidify their positions to an unchallengeable level.

Tiamat gasped as well, her wide-open eyes tinged with indescribable emotions.

Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.

Rummbler―!

Perhaps because Ubbo-Sathla was furious that mere vermins were coming after their life, the earth suddenly began to shake. The ground soon turned upside down, releasing monsters with Ubbo-Sathla’s tentacles on their backs. Although it required rigorous efforts, it seemed Ubbo-Sathla could give birth to creatures that couldn’t be called living beings

Kill. All.

Grrrrr!

Roarr! Kieeeh!

All the monsters flew at Chang-Sun and the others. At the same time, the pieces of tentacles in the sky merged and turned into more tentacles, allowing them to continue their aerial strikes.

“Pabilsag.”

“Yes, Mother!”

Paah―!

Pabilsag, having beaten her siblings to become the vice leader of <Nammu>, leaped into the sky. Other Celestials in their army followed right behind her.

Boom, boom, boom―!

Thuuuud!

The other members of the main force, including <Olympus> and <Niflheim>, were soon deployed as well. Explosions and melees broke out all over the battlefield. Not long after, the Nine Heavens began to join the fight one after another.

Flash―!

A pool of light spread out from Tiamat as she turned into a Dragon enormous enough to almost fill up Ubbo-Sathla’s entire divine ground.

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ has assumed her true form!]

『For the sin of tainting the land of Ryu, you all will pay with your lives―!』 Tiamat roared, sending tremors across the world.

[Dragon Fear], the murderous energy that only high-level Dragons could release, surpassed everyone’s imagination. Seemingly struck with a huge hammer, most of Ubbo-Sathla’s monsters were turned into pulps.

At the same time, Tiamat created dozens of magic circles in the air. Storms, flaming lightning bolts, tsunamis… every possible natural disaster began laying waste to the land. As if to show everyone how she became a Celestial King, she devastated most of the divine ground on her own, pushing away the darkness and revealing a part of Ubbo-Sathla that wasn’t tentacles.

How. Dare.

Enraged by what Tiamat had done, Ubbo-Sathla twisted and thrust ten of their tentacles toward her. Refusing to back down, Tiamat leaned backward and opened her mouth wide. She then fired a [Dragon Breath] that had a heavy concentration of her divine power and demonic energy. Their attacks soon collided.

Woosh, woosh, woosh―!

Tiamat and Ubbo-Sathla fought neck to neck, causing the latter to slowly fill up with enmity.

『Hmph! I may not be as good as big sis over there, but I hope you haven’t forgotten about me!』 Giant Celestial Loki said in an unfittingly nasal voice.

Just like the time he blocked the <Nihil> gap in the ‘Iron Forest,’ Loki transformed into his Giant form and destroyed one of Ubbo-Sathla’s eyes with his enormous hand.

“I’m only here because of my daughter and student… but I guess I shouldn’t just remain a spectator,” Durga said. She then pulled out a skull from her necklace and tossed it into the sky.

The skull exploded and started a huge, acid whirlpool, inflicting significant damage to not only the tentacles but to Ubbo-Sathla themself. A long slit soon appeared in the dark sky and poured out darkness that seemed to be Ubbo-Sathla’s blood. Fragments of their eyes and tentacles followed right after, then lumps of the monsters’ flesh…

Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.

[The Celestial ‘Lie-Whispering Giant’ says it feels great to run wild after a while!]

[The Celestial ‘Wrath Incarnation’ yells that she will burn up the entire world with her fury!]

Working together, the three people considered to be the strongest among the Nine Heavens had an indescribably destructive synergy.

For the first time in their life, Ubbo-Sathla felt bewildered. Having already successfully started <Extinction> during the previous Rollbacks, they expected it to be easy this time too. However, it was proving to be more difficult than they thought.

Woosh, woosh, woosh…!

Watching the fight, Bel-Marduk burst into laughter. “Incredible.”

Of all the people he had met during his travels across multiple Worldlines, the people of Worldline #801 were certainly some of the strongest. Even so, the fight was still turning out a lot better than he had expected.

Curious about how Chang-Sun managed to bolster their forces so much in such a short period, Bel-Marduk asked, “Did you use some kind of magic or something?”

Even though he had been sticking around Chang-Sun, he had never seen anything that could have helped him predict this kind of outcome.

“Let’s talk on the way. We’re on the clock right now,” Chang-Sun replied as he pulled out his golden key again and opened up another door.

The door sent them to a new area.

[Space-Folding to the next area!]

[Space-Folding to the next area!]

…

Chang-Sun kept opening new doors in an attempt to reach the divine ground’s center and find Ubbo-Sathla’s true body. Unlike Eros, there was no concept of space here, so he couldn’t specify a location. Moving on foot would likely decrease their odds of locating Ubbo-Sathla, let alone finding them. Hence, Chang-Sun decided to rely on his golden key.

The golden key’s ability to unlock should eventually lead Chang-Sun to Ubbo-Sathla. All his efforts right now could result in nothing since he was relying on random probability. However, considering he could use his [Gnostic Eye] to narrow things down, it was still worth a try.

“We couldn’t avoid <Extinction> in the previous Rollbacks because the forces of the Worldline were divided. Not even Lady Tiamat can handle Ubbo-Sathla on her own,” Chang-Sun explained.

“That’s why you brought everyone together?”

“Yes. That’s also the reason I gave Lady Tiamat all the Faith. Having a Celestial King makes a huge difference.”

Bel-Marduk nodded. “Good point.”

A Celestial King was a threat to Celestials because they could monopolize Faith, not just because Celestials would have a dictator ruling over them.

‘Once Celestials recognize a Celestial King as superior and acknowledge the Celestial King as their ruler, they can never go back. The Faith that the Celestial King receives will snowball over time,’ Chang-Sun thought.

It was like a social media platform. Their influence over the market did not linearly grow in direct proportion to the number of their users. Rather, it was amplified. Even at this moment, Tiamat’s Divine Class was likely increasing. She would become nigh-unbeatable in the future. That was why there was no turning back once a Celestial King was born.

“So prepare the Nereid Stone.”

Bel-Marduk frowned slightly. “… Why do you suddenly need it?”

The Nereid Stone, which he had taken from the sealed Mother Terra Celestial’s dwelling to use as an ace up his sleeve, was an ingredient for [Gaia’s Curse]. Even Chang-Sun had tried to obtain it.

“Ubbo-Sathla is the Mother Terra Celestial.”

Bel-Marduk’s eyes widened. “What?”

Those words were the last thing he expected to hear.

“They’re technically just half of her, though.”

Shocked, Bel-Marduk’s face darkened. Born in the first universe’s creation, the Mother Terra Celestial was an Ancient Celestial who assisted <Supreme Light> in ruling over Eros. She was the source of all lives and mother to all her avatars like Tiamat, Eve, Nut[1], Ungnyeo[2], and Baba Yaga[3]

However, when the lives she had birthed left her, she grew so furious that she tried to destroy the world. <Dull Darkness>, <Deus Ex Machina>, and the others had to seal her somewhere very deep in the universe.

Chang-Sun recalled what Perkwunos had told him in the subconscious realm.

“Due to her <Contract>, Ubbo-Sathla is forced to endlessly bring <Extinction>. She also wants to escape from this sickeningly tiring cycle, but her lost half, whom we call the Mother Terra Celestial, is left in Eros.”

“You didn’t know,” Chang-Sun said.

“Of course! I only studied [Gaia’s Curse] because it could prove useful against Ubbo-Sathla, but… Ha! The Mother Terra Celestial is Ubbo-Sathla’s half?”

“Think about it. Abundance, roots, soil fertility, mothers… Ubbo-Sathla and the Mother Terra Celestial share many similarities because their natures are the same. Nevertheless, they remain separated. They can only look at each other like a mirror from Eros and Nyx, two places that are incompatible with each other.”

“Since the Nereid Stone is the power of her other half, whom she wishes to find, Ubbo-Sathla will instinctively be drawn to and go after the Nereid Stone even though she knows the risks,” Chang-Sun explained.

“So we’ll use it to infect Ubbo-Sathla with [Gaia’s Curse]…?”

“That’s right.”

Bel-Marduk burst into laughter as he covered his face with his hands. “Ha! Hahaha! What a crazy coincidence.”

He didn’t expect his imagination would come true. Although he had made a similar plan several times, he had never been able to execute it because he had no information about Ubbo-Sathla’s exact location. Moreover, invading the territory of Nyx was dangerous, and he had no guarantee that [Gaia’s Curse] would work on his target.

Now, Chang-Sun was telling him that the plan would definitely work because they coincidentally had what each other needed. Chang-Sun had the golden key, which would bring them to Ubbo-Sathla’s true form, and he had the Nereid Stone, which would infect Ubbo-Sathla with [Gaia’s Curse]. Life truly was full of wonders.

“Do you really think it’s a coincidence?” Chang-Sun asked out of the blue.

“What?”

“Do you believe that you got the Nereid Stone because of a mere coincidence?” Chang-Sun reiterated.

Bel-Marduk quickly turned to Chang-Sun, silently demanding an answer.

“Someone must have recommended that you use [Gaia’s Curse] on Ubbo-Sathla. Do you remember who that person was?”

Bel-Marduk was about to answer when he suddenly drew a blank. Although he could remember someone suggesting the idea and everything else about that moment, he couldn’t recall anything about the person—not even their name, appearance, gender, or age.

“What is happening?” Bel-Marduk asked, bewildered.

Chang-Sun was sure of it now.

‘The person who gave me this key and gave Bel-Marduk the Nereid Stone are the same, but their existence is being erased from all Worldlines.’

1. The Egyptian goddess of the sky and mother of Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys. ☜

2. A female bear who turned into a human and gave birth to Dangun, the first human prince in Korea. ☜

3. Usually depicted as an ogress who kidnaps and eats children, but there is an interpretation that views her as an earth goddess. ☜