The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 366: Star, the Children of the Emperor’s Seat (1)

Paaah…!

Many civilizations had advanced their science and technology enough to pioneer the vast universe. Many of them even conquered galaxies. One such civilization was the Leonhardt Empire, which even <Societies> of <Heaven> were reluctant to fight.

However, even the Leonhardt Empire wouldn’t dare mess with a certain spaceship sailing through the dark universe’s ocean of stars. The Iron-Blooded Bandit League, a group of notorious space pirates, was no different.

The spaceship’s appearance, aside from its size, was nothing special. The only thing worthy of note about it was the red geometrical pattern on its black hull. Nevertheless, the sight of it still sent fear to many organizations in space .

The spaceship was called the Taeum, one of <Nammu>’s Three Battleships. It was also known as a mobile divine weapon due to its main armament alone having enough firepower to destroy most spaceships.

“Shit! Why do I have to go?!” an old blacksmith, not one of the soldiers aboard the ship, shouted, having been dragged by force.

“Ah, for goodness’ sake. How many times do I have to explain it to you? That was just how it was assigned.” Mars, who was in charge of dealing with Taotie, answered half-heartedly, picking his ear with his little finger.

Taotie became even angrier. “So?! Why am I assigned to you guys?! I‘m only here to assist Tiamat!”

“You can ask Lady Tiamat herself then.”

“You should let me go first!”

“Come on. The ship has already sailed. Do you really think we can still turn it around? No way.” Mars smirked, seemingly pouring oil onto Taotie’s fury.

“Arrgghhh!”

Chang-Sun was actually the reason Taotie ended up in this spaceship.

“You said you’ll grant me a wish if I win the bet, yes?” Chang-Sun asked.

“So? You want me to build you a weapon?”

“No, I don’t really need it.”

“... What? You don’t need it?” Taotie’s jaw dropped a little.

“Follow me. I have to tell Tiamat about it first.”

“…?”

Just like that, Taotie’s fate was decided. He initially didn’t give it much thought because he believed that things wouldn’t work out as Chang-Sun wished. Chang-Sun did intrigue him, but his pride stopped him from obediently following him. However, he was at least willing to hear Chang-Sun out if he pleaded hard enough.

All things aside, Chang-Sun was acquainted with Ou Yezi’s descendant and was so skilled that he could subdue Tiamat’s children with ease. That was enough to qualify him. However, Tiamat, whom Taotie thought would immediately turn down Chang-Sun’s request, gave an odd response.

“Ah, that is a good idea,” Tiamat answered, smiling mischievously.

“…?” Taotie tilted his head, unable to understand what she meant.

Taotie was gravely mistaken. Everything was prepared in less than an hour. By the time he came to his senses, he was already in a spaceship heading to who knew where. He vaguely heard that <Muspelheim> and <Olympus> would form the second army and move together, but that meant nothing to him. All that mattered right now was the miserable fact that he was practically detained here.

Taotie screamed and pulled out his hair, but everyone paid him no attention since they weren’t in the Roar Palace. No, one person actually did pay attention.

“Teacher.” Gwak Bok grabbed Taotie’s shoulder from behind.

“Bok! Go tell that—!”

“Give up.”

“… What?” Taotie blanked out.

“It’s easier if you give up.”

“…!” Taotie threw a fit as he complained about how Bok, who used to always say yes to him, could do this to him.

However, Bok just smiled like a Tibetan fox as usual, no longer listening to him. He believed that Taotie had met his natural enemy.

Considering Chang-Sun was the type to beat even Tiamat’s children up right in front of her, there was no knowing what he would ask Taotie to do. However, one thing was certain. Whether Taotie liked it or not, he would continue to get involved with Chang-Sun and work for him like a dog.

‘He’ll become a dog. A dog.’ Bok smiled, having a feeling that things were about to get interesting.

* * *

“Assigning Mars to Sir Taotie seems like a stroke of genius.” Minerva smiled after glancing behind her, unexpectedly witnessing an interesting sight.

Taotie always had to vent his anger, but Mars never listened to others. It was a match made in heaven. Of course, only Chang-Sun and Minerva thought that way. Taotie was about to explode in anger.

“You’re right.” Chang-Sun nodded, chuckling. He then turned to look at the clusters of stars outside the spaceship. ‘This is really foreign to me.’

Unlike other Celestials, who had probably already seen this spatial scenery, Chang-Sun found it a bit unfamiliar. Despite living for hundreds of years as ‘Divine Twilight,’ he spent most of his time on a planet named Arcadia. Even during the <Myth War>, he usually used teleportation portals to move around instead of traveling through space. All things considered, this was actually his first time getting a good look at space.

‘I’ve never really wanted to see sceneries like this, but it’s beautiful.’

Chang-Sun didn’t find this situation bad at all—no, he actually liked it. He could look back on how fierce and unyielding his life had been so far, and it also gave him time to organize his next plan. Considering the full-scale war against <Purple Star Astrology> was imminent, it likely didn’t make sense to idle around like this. However, he had to approach the <Troop> with caution, considering they were hostile toward him. Opening up a teleportation gate that led to their territory could cause even bigger problems.

Hence, Chang-Sun spent some time admiring the universe.

“Anyhow…” Minerva started, making Chang-Sun look at her. “... Do you think you can meet Lady Tiamat’s condition?”

“Well.” Chang-Sun smiled bitterly. “It definitely won’t be easy.”

“Because of your history?”

Chang-Sun nodded. “Yes. We have already walked down different paths for far too long to take the same path now.”

The <Troop>, which used to be a part of <Purple Star Astrology>, had been at war with Chang-Sun for quite some time now. The <Society> had even killed Chang-Sun’s comrades. On the other hand, however, Chang-Sun had brought down many of their Celestials and even locked the Emperor’s Seat, their mentor, in Bloodless Hell.

Their history made it impossible to be allies. Considering Chang-Sun had just recently taken out Bo Du and Lie Si, the bad blood between him and the <Troop> ran very deep. Still, Chang-Sun felt the need to embrace the <Troop> and make the <Society> join the <Anti-Star> Alliance because of the Emperor’s Seat.

‘Father… doesn’t want his children to fight anymore,’ Chang-Sun thought.

The moment Chang-Sun wholeheartedly accepted the Emperor’s Seat as his foster father, reconciling with his siblings turned into an assignment that Chang-Sun had to complete. Since he and the <Troop> shared a common enemy, he could use it as grounds to open negotiations. It would be great if they could work it out, but if they couldn’t…

‘I have to put an end to this feud one way or another.’

There were two likely outcomes to this. One was eliminating all the <Troop> executives and dismantling the <Society> by force so they wouldn’t be able to recover.

‘The other is… subjugating them.’ Chang-Sun’s eyes turned cold.

“Maybe Lady Tiamat’s condition really is necessary,” Minerva commented.

Tiamat established a very simple condition for allowing the <Troop> to join the <Anti-Star> Alliance.

“Put them under your command,” Tiamat firmly said.

The <Troop> wasn’t trustworthy as an independent organization, but that could change if they joined the war as part of <Muspelheim>. To do that, Chang-Sun had to take them under his wings. When he first heard about the condition, he found it hard to meet, but after contemplating it for some time, he realizedhow deep Tiamat’s insight was.

‘She has been at the zenith of the universe for eternity. It is only natural that she has deep insight.’

"I really hope we can talk it out," Chang-Sun muttered.

* * *

As they headed to the <Troop> headquarters, Chang-Sun kept thinking about merging supreme sacred light and <Darkness>.

‘The properties of supreme sacred light and <Darkness> are polar opposites, which makes them impossible to mix with each other. They’re like fire and water. That's why combining them results in an uncontrollable reaction’ Chang-Sun's gaze grew sharper. ‘If I can just rein that reaction in, I’ll be able to maximize its effectiveness.”

If he could put these two Divinities under his control, Chang-Sun was certain that he wouldn’t just acquire an ultimate weapon that could render everyone helpless. He would also be able to fight neck-to-neck against the Nine Heavens—no, he could probably even fight Outer Celestials on equal grounds.

“It would be great if someone could at least set me in the right direction…” Chang-Sun glanced up.

[The Celestial 'Abyss-Chasing Great Devil' scolds you, saying that you shouldn’t even think about finding a solution without putting in the effort!]

“Isn't that what a teacher is for?” Chang-Sun shamelessly grinned.

[The Celestial 'Abyss-Chasing Great Devil' says that light is not his area of expertise.]

“But you do seem to have an idea about how to solve this problem.” Chang-Sun kept grinning, sounding Mephistopheles out.

[The Celestial 'Abyss-Chasing Great Devil' rebukes you and says that you should focus on studying the Four Steps of the Abyss instead.]

Chang-Sun kept putting out feelers, but Mephistopheles clearly had no intention to give him any answers.

‘The Four Steps of the Abyss seems to be the answer, considering he mentioned it… Will it work, though?’ Chang-Sun smiled bitterly.

The Four Steps of the Abyss was about drawing the power of the <Abyss>, which was deeper than <Darkness>. The more Chang-Sun advanced in it, the stronger his <Darkness> would react against his supreme sacred light. It could even reach a point where it could extinguish the supreme sacred light.

‘What if I enhance the power of my supreme sacred light on a similar level… and build a steady framework that can work as a mediator between the two Divinities?’ Chang-Sun hypothesized. He wasn’t sure if that was even possible, though.

An idea to increase the power of his supreme sacred light suddenly flashed across his mind—[Blood Lightning].

‘I was supposed to get it right after becoming a <Supreme Light’s Face>, but the circumstances gave me no time. I really should get it after I’m done with this.’

Among the countless <Societies and the many strong individuals from numerous civilizations, the strongest tribe in martial arts had to be the <One-Horned Tribe>. Considering [Blood Lightning] brought a second golden era to them, it would be best for him to get it if he could.

‘As for the framework….’ Chang-Sun held out his hand and grabbed a book. Written on its cover was…

―Avatar's Descent.

It was the Authority of ‘Sagittarius’ and one of the many Skills and Authorities that Heju had collected. Chang-Sun had been trying to get it since he joined the White Tiger Clan. Considering it let one freely control every part of their body, he came to the conclusion that he could create a way to merge the two Divinities using it.

‘... I’ll learn this.’

[Will you learn the Authority ‘Avatar’s Descent’?]

Chang-Sun pressed ‘Yes’ and immersed himself in the light emitted by the Skillbook.

『We will soon arrive at our destination, the <Incendiary Burial Island>.』

The Taeum was entering <Troop> territory.

Kooooo…!

From afar, a space whale as big as dozens of planets combined swam toward the ship. It opened its mouth wide, seemingly about to devour the Taeum.

The <Incendiary Burial Island>, one of the Seven Wonders, had shown up.

「That’s… really huge.」Kali chuckled. She then asked Chang-Sun, 「What are you going to do if they refuse to talk?」

“Then I’m just going to have to make them listen… ” Chang-Sun’s eyes shone coldly. “... even that means crushing them little by little.”