Return of the Shattered Constellation

A ghostly ship leisurely sailed across a black sea of stars. Barely any of its keel remained, making it resemble trash that needed to be disposed of. However, the ship was still recognizable enough to those who knew its identity; it was [Naglfar]. The ship that had exploded after trapping Bel-Marduk was intact.

‘The hull is gone and only the frame is left, though,’ Chang-Sun thought. He let out a long sigh, leaning against a wall. He had not noticed it when he was in the middle of the battle against Bel-Marduk, but he could feel every part of him aching afterward.

‘Maybe it’s because I haven’t finished absorbing the Incendiary Burial Island, and forcibly unlocked the chapter of Jūs Postrémo on top of that. Well, I used omniscience and omnipotence too…’

In addition, he had indiscriminately created explosions of <Darkness> and supreme sacred light, physically exerting himself even further.

“A young one like you shouldn’t already be too tired to do some decent work! What are you doing?! I need to wrap bandages, so raise your arm quickly!” Taotie nagged Chang-Sun, grumbling.

Smiling bitterly, Chang-Sun held up his right arm. Taotie neatly wrapped Chang-Sun’s right shoulder with bandages from bottom to top before explaining, “It’s nothing great, but it’ll still be somewhat useful in the short term.”

Chang-Sun nodded and tried swinging his right arm. Although his muscles still ached, he felt much better. The bandages seemed to be at least relic-grade, and were very effective in contrast to what Taotie said.

‘He did say that he extorted these from a client who couldn’t pay their bill,’ Chang-Sun recalled.

Choi Bu-Yong was just like Taotie. Were all blacksmiths fundamentally tsunderes? As that ridiculous question crossed his mind, Chang-Sun quietly chuckled. However, he noticed that Taotie had not yet left, continuing to prowl around him. Wondering what was wrong, Chang-Sun watched Taotie; it seemed the blacksmith had a question that he was hesitant to ask Chang-Sun about.

After a while, Taotie looked away with a slightly reddened face as he asked, “How was it?”

“Excuse me…?”

“Ah, how was it?!”

“Oh.” Chang-Sun realized that Taotie was asking about the [Juque Sword]. Although the weapon was one of Ou Yezi’s Fine Swords, Taotie had also put his efforts into it. Chang-Sun answered, “It was great.”

“Hmph! You finally know what this old man is capable of!” Taotie said, nodding as if it were expected and crossing his arms.

Chang-Sun had to hold back his laughter. The way Taotie confidently perked up right after Chang-Sun agreed with him resembled the behavior of a child.

“Then you know a mediocre contract won’t be enough to scout me, yes?” Taotie continued, furtively expressing his will to join <Muspelheim>.

Chang-Sun readily nodded, saying, “Tell me anything you want.”

“Well, I never really gave much thought about it. As you already know, so many places want this old man…” Taotie said pompously, twirling his mustache.

It was at that moment that Minerva entered the room with a noticeably fatigued look. She said, “Chang-Sun, he’s awake.”

Chang-Sun nodded and stood up, ending his short break; it was time to interrogate Antares.

* * *

“He hasn’t budged even a little bit. Yeah, those <Horoscope> guys aren’t exactly docile,” Mars grumbled with his arms crossed.

On the opposite side of the room, Antares was glaring at Chang-Sun and the others ferociously, tightly bound by Divine Steel shackles. The shackles floated in the air, following whenever Antares made a motion and rattling noisily.

Ever since Chang-Sun appeared, Antares had not said a word, only scowling silently at him. In fact, it looked almost as if Antares was never going to talk; his eyes were filled with the resolve not to reveal information no matter how much he was tortured.

Watching Antares, Mars shook his head; however, he also looked very tired, perhaps because he had engaged in an intense battle against Chiron, the ‘Sagittarius’. However, he sporadically released murderous energy, implying he still had the desire to fight.

Chang-Sun nodded and slowly approached Antares, saying, “Antares.”

Antares’ eyes shone with murderous intent. Regardless, Chang-Sun continued, “Have you ever thought about why I’m keeping you here instead of sending you to the <Underworld>? You must think it’s simply because I want to vent my pent-up anger as much as possible.”

Chang-Sun then drew [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] in its dagger form and stroked the very sharp blade with his finger, saying, “And you’d be precisely right.”

Stab!

Chang-Sun held [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] in a reverse grip and pierced Antares’ thigh with it.

“…!” Antares opened his eyes wide; they soon turned bloodshot as he trembled in pain.

Such an attack was usually nothing to him, but he was seriously wounded at the moment. In addition, his Divine Steel shackles stopped the circulation of his divine power, preventing him from recovering, so even the slightest shock felt more intense to him. On top of that, he had been pierced with Tiamat’s own tooth, and Chang-Sun had been infusing a lot of his energy into the dagger, making it extremely destructive even though it was currently sealed. Chang-Sun had even channeled additional divine power into the blade as he stabbed Antares; thus, Antares was unable to resist.

Chang-Sun pulled [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] back out and…

Stab!

Stab, stab, stab!

Chang-Sun repeatedly pierced Antares with the dagger. He struck Antares’ shoulders, arms, calves, waist, chest…

The more he stabbed Antares, the harder Antares trembled. Leaning forward, Antares desperately tried to hold back his screams, but the pain eroded his resolve.

Antares was usually a being who brought pain to other people and reigned over them, not someone who yielded and bowed. Chang-Sun had experienced a series of defeats to get to where he was, but Antares had always won and never lost, at least until now. Of course, Antares was nothing compared to Chang-Sun in terms of enduring pain.

Stab!

“Arrrrgggh! Stop! Stooop! It hurts! It huuuuurts!” Antares screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to take it anymore.

Stab, stab, stab!

Without blinking an eye, Chang-Sun continued to pierce Antares with the dagger. Antares’ blood flew into the air, slowly pooling on the floor. By the time Chang-Sun stood up, Antares was a wreck; covered with bleeding wounds, he panted and trembled violently.

Even Mars quietly took a step backward with a slight frown, and Minerva’s face darkened as she followed Chang-Sun.

“Do you want to know something funny?” Chang-Sun remarked as he caught his breath, covered in Antares’ blood. His eyes gleamed with madness as he continued, “I laced the dagger with [Gaia’s Curse] before I started stabbing you.”

“…!” Antares looked upward, turning pale.

“You must have thought I wouldn’t go that far while I interrogated you because you have a lot of information I need, and planned to buy time or make a deal based on that,” Chang-Sun guessed.

Antares pursed his lips, but they trembled non-stop, as Chang-Sun had completely seen through him. He had actually thought that Chang-Sun’s interrogation would not last long. The secret of [Gaia’s Curse], the locations of Xerxes and Crom Cruach, the characteristics of the [Impervious Body]... Chang-Sun stood to obtain a lot of information from him, so he had believed that Chang-Sun would never subject him to lethal harm. He had thought that all he had to do was endure for the moment, and the tide would eventually turn in his favor as Bel-Marduk and the other Zodiacs came to rescue him…

Chang-Sun sneered at Antares and said as if stating the obvious, “You were wrong. If that had been my plan, I would have tossed you in the <Underworld> and waited for them to finish the interrogation.”

Antares continued to tremble…

“Secrets? I don’t need to know them. Information? You don’t have to tell me any of it. All I want is to make you suffer, so please don’t talk,” Chang-Sun said with a half-smirk. “I’ll get to torture you longer in that case.”contemporary romance

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything you want, so stop…! Please…!” Antares cried.

[Gaia’s Curse] was a poison that was so lethal that even Antares was not safe from it. Since he had increased his Divine Class abnormally quickly through Celestial Cannibalism, his <Myths> were not particularly sturdy, making him more vulnerable to the poison than other Celestials.

Even though the poison did not necessarily kill its target, perhaps death would be more merciful for a Celestial than being afflicted with [Gaia’s Curse]. The collapse of a Divine Class, which was commonly called ‘plummeting’ or ‘Spiritual Degradation’, caused a Celestial to be a mortal again, so [Gaia’s Curse] brought terror to all Celestials. What could be scarier than losing their current self and joining samsara again?

“No, you don’t have to,” Chang-Sun said. With an emotionless expression, he tightened his grip around [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] and continued, “Please hang on.”

Stab!

“Arrrggggggghhhhh!”

Antares’ scream reverberated thunderously throughout [Naglfar].

* * *

Whirr―!

With the sound of pulleys turning, a chain tightened.

[The ‘eye in the darkness’ looks at the criminal!]

Antares hung in the air as if he had been crucified, blood dripping from his drooped head; he had already lost consciousness due to the excessive bleeding.

Pzzz, pzzzz―!

Antares swayed precariously in the air, looking almost as if he would disintegrate into dust.

『Even rags would be in better condition than him.』

As Thanatos’ eye appeared through a spatial gap, he clicked his tongue as he watched Antares. However, Chang-Sun could see that Thanatos was grinning, implying that he was enjoying the moment a lot.

It was understandable, as they had gotten to capture a Zodiac. Even in the <Underworld>, <Horoscope> was more troublesome than <Purple Star Astrology>; the <Horoscope> Celestials were more wicked and sly than the Evil Celestials of <Purple Star Astrology>, making it harder to catch them.

『Judging from the look on your face, you seem to have found out a lot of interesting information.』

In response to Thanatos, Chang-Sun jokingly answered, “I can’t hide anything from you. It’s as if you’re watching me like a ghost.”

『Don’t forget that I’m the head of those ghosts.[1] So can you share your findings with me?』

After quietly laughing at Thanatos’ joke, Chang-Sun nodded. He said, “I found out where Xerxes and Crom Cruach are locked up.”

『Whoa. Where are they?』

“They’re very close,” Chang-Sun replied.

『Close?』

“The depth of the Planatia Empire Palace.”

『Ha, they really planned this thoroughly, huh?』

The Planatia Empire was the only empire in Arcadia, Worldline #802. It was a utopian place where seemingly incompatible elements such as magic, miracles, and science coexisted in harmony. The problem was that the Zodiacs were the only Guardians of the empire’s sole religion. Antares and the others had used their apostles or descended into the empire themselves to intervene in its affairs.

Naturally, the depths of such an empire’s palace were the safest place to hide something, and that was the most valuable information Chang-Sun had gotten from Antares. Chang-Sun had already been planning to go to Arcadia after taking care of <Purple Star Astrology>, and now he had his first definite destination.

『And?』

“They have a specific location where they harvest the raw materials for [Gaia’s Curse],” Chang-Sun said.

『Where is it?』

Thanatos’ eye shone more brightly than ever. [Gaia’s Curse] was also a troubling issue in the <Underworld>, so they needed the countermeasure too. After Chang-Sun told Thanatos the location…

『…I never would have expected it to be there.』

Thanatos sighed and started to contemplate the information. Shortly after, he continued.

『Antares could be lying, so I’ll look further into it too. I’ll share the news with you when I get something.』

“Good,” Chang-Sun said with a nod.

Then, the pulleys started to turn again, and the gate to the Bottomless Void opened up under Antares’ feet; Thanatos was going to bring Antares back to the <Underworld> and interrogate him further.

『I hope you’ll be able to produce good results in ‘Polaris’ too.』

Antares started to be sucked into the Bottomless Void.

“Ah, and can you deliver this to the Sixth Elder?” Chang-Sun asked as he tossed something in the direction of Thanatos’ eye. Thanatos stopped the glass bottle in the air, asking a question.

『What is this?』

“It’s his extract of [Gaia’s Curse],” Chang-Sun answered.

『…Hmm? Didn’t you use this while interrogating him?』

“No way. Why would I waste it on him?” Chang-Sun replied with a scoff.

Thanatos chuckled dryly. Chang-Sun had claimed to have used [Gaia’s Curse] during his interrogation, but had he just been lying to Antares to threaten him?

『But his Divine Class is disintegrating.』

“Maybe it’s a placebo effect,” Chang-Sun said with a shrug.

『You’ve got to be kidding me.』

The disintegration of Antares’ Divine Class was the result of his firm belief that Chang-Sun had used [Gaia’s Curse] on him. Thanatos continued to chuckle dumbfoundedly.

1. The raw is 짐이 귀신들의 대장이라는 것을 잊지 말아라. In Korean, ‘You’re like a ghost’ means that the person knows everything and there is no fooling them. ☜

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