The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 393: Star, Arcadia (5)

「Worldline #802 has a unique nickname,」Simon Magus told Chang-Sun and the others. They were now a secret room that Tiamat provided. It was known as the Spiritual Point, which was where the Spiritual Energy Site of ‘Polaris’ was centered. Filled with Causality, it could provide Chang-Sun with an abundant amount of resources to get to another Worldline. Taeul appeared to use this place often too.

Chang-Sun and Simon erased all of Taeul’s traces in the room, covering it with dozens of big and small rune magic circles. With the ability to accumulate gnosis through Chang-Sun numerous times, Simon had reached a level where he could observe areas outside Worldline #801. Thanks to him, Chang-Sun could finish all his work, which would have required a lot more effort and time if he had been alone, in several days.

Chang-Sun also got many pieces of information from the conversations he had with Simon, whose knowledge was a lot deeper and more vast than Chang-Sun thought. Simon’s stories surprised even Sinmara, Kali, and Baek Gyeo-Ul.

“Nickname?” Chang-Sun asked.

Jin Prezia, who was from Arcadia, pursed his lips. He was having mixed feelings about finally getting to return to his homeland.

Simon nodded.「Antlions’ pit.」

After contemplating for a moment, Chang-Sun nodded in realization. “That seems about right.”

Celestials were ants who ended up in the antlion’s pit.

“As far as I know, it’s the only Worldline without any Celestials,” Chang-Sun added.

「Worldline #802’s natives have already been eaten, turning it into the land of the Zodiacs and several other <Stars>. The creation of life and advancement of civilizations are supposedly impossible in that place.」

Celestials weren’t just strong transcendental beings. They also symbolized concepts and oversaw their concepts’ rules, making them the gears that allowed Worldlines and the Great Universe to function.

The disappearance of all the gears of a Worldline would eventually stop it from functioning. Their endless expansion would come to a halt, and their Entropy would grow cold. With lives and civilizations unable to flourish in that environment, <Extinction> would be the only fate left for that Worldline. That was what was happening to Worldline #802.

“The Zodiacs are sustaining Worldline #802, though,” Chang-Sun said.

「That’s right. It is the only place where Star Signs, who usually do nothing but devour everything, reign as Celestials.」

“Do you know why?”

Simon shook his head as he infused his mana into the mana circle they had just completed.

「I unfortunately don’t. I’m certain that they’re hiding something there, but they have never shown it in public.」

Paaah.

A pool of light spread out from the magic circle, It began to rotate.

「Many of Worldline #801’s Celestials traveled to Worldline #802 to find out what the Star Signs were hiding, which resulted in quite a lot of battles. Those conflicts spread chaos in the order of Worldline #801’s <Heaven>.」

Chang-Sun nodded. One of those conflicts was the <Myth War> that he started.

「They gave observers like me quite a lot of trouble. It definitely has something to do with the secret of <Stars>, but I have no way of learning more about it right now. Anyway, from what I’ve heard, Celestials from neighboring Worldlines like #803 and #804 have also recently started to cross over to Worldline #802.」

Chang-Sun, who was engraving a new magic circle, paused for a moment. This was his first time hearing about Celestials from other Worldlines visiting Worldline #802.

“I didn’t know about that at all,” Chang-Sun murmured.

Simon, who was in his Blood Golem form, let out a bizarre laugh underneath his iron mask.

「That’s understandable since it only started recently.」With his hands on his waist, Simon pompously continued, 「<Maleakhe> and L’Infernal> have been acting strangely lately, so I did some research.」

『Don’t leave out the fact that I helped you too,』 [Wait] solemnly interjected.

Simon quickly looked up in discontentment. 「For goodness’ sake, can’t you let me finish taking credit first before you interrupt?」

『I had a feeling that you’d leave out the part about me.』

「Do I seem that untrustworthy?」

『Who would believe a wicked Demon King? Am I wrong, kyoo?』

「You bodiless machine.」

『That’s not something an Undead who doesn’t even have a head should say.』

Simon and [Wait]’s bickering continued. Although they appeared to be on bad terms right now, they had gotten close very quickly. They even often came up with resolutions together now.

[Wait] existed in the Outer Universe and could observe other Worldlines, so he was a jackpot to Simon, who needed various kinds of data. Likewise, Simon’s spiritual knowledge was very helpful to [Wait]. They were the perfect partner for each other.

Monitoring Worldline #802 was one of their joint works. [Wait] brought the information he obtained through observation to Simon, who then made analyses based on the data and reconfirmed his hypotheses through [Wait].

“Cut it out. Tell me more about the story you told me just now.” Chang-Sun gestured at Simon.

With beings from various Worldlines gathering in Worldline #802, the peace it found after the <Myth War> could be taken away from it again. No, it could even find itself in even more chaos.

「Well, nothing is certain yet...」Simon pondered for a moment, not sure where to start. He then slowly began to tell his story.

The more he continued, the colder Chang-Sun’s eyes became.

* * *

‘The Zodiacs are certainly up to something. <Maleakhe> and <L’Infernal> of Worldline #801 aren’t the only ones they called to Worldline #802...’ Chang-Sun stroked down the magic circle to check for any possible mistakes in calculations one last time. ‘We only have circumstantial evidence of the involvement of other Worldlines’ Celestials, though.’

Chang-Sun stopped going through the magic circle. It looked perfect and needed no corrections.

‘We should infiltrate and observe Worldline #802 to get more information.’

With everything agglomerating in Worldline #802, its stellar system Arcadia became very significant. In the same way that Chang-Sun was the sole Celestial of Earth, the Zodiacs reigned in Worldline #802’s heart as the only Celestials and regularly extracted an astronomical amount of Faith from it.

Going there was no different from dropping down in the center of enemy territory. Hence, Chang-Sun decided to hide his identity while wandering in Arcadia.

‘That is the only way to get to Arcadia’s capital planet and rescue Crom Cruach and Xerxes.’ Chang-Sun tapped [Machina’s Clockwork] a couple of times.

Jin, Sinmara, and his other subordinates in <Valhalla> and the Changgwi Cave agreed to join him. Hence, he had no reason to be afraid of his plan going awry in the future.

‘I never thought it would feel this great to have my siblings by my side.’ Chang-Sun chuckled as [Machina’s Clockwork] roared awake.

Whir―!

[On the user’s request, ‘Machina’s Clockwork’ is initiating a dimensional shift!]

With the sound of gears rotating, Chang-Sun’s consciousness elevated like the time he entered the Nil Domain.

Woosh.

The ground, ‘Polaris’, the star clusters, the Milky Way... Chang-Sun rose above them all and gradually traveled through the dark universe until he reached the perimeter that encircled the Worldline like bubble foam. Now away from Worldline #801, he saw an area that seemed to be part of Worldline #802. He released his energy in its direction.

‘To Arcadia.’

[Using the necessary Causality!]

[The gears’ fierce rotation is slowly making them overheat.]

Reciting the coordinates in his mind, Chang-Sun looked for Arcadia, which was likely as small as a dot in the vast Worldline #802. Fortunately, finding it was easy. Many of his <Myths> originated from it, so his soul was naturally drawn to it.

Paah.

Various images flashed before Chang-Sun.

[You have exited the Server.]

Woosh―!

[Searching for a new Server!]

[Warning! Disconnecting from a Server for a long time can result in negative effects. It is advised to find a new Server as quickly as possible.]

[Warning! Your Server disconnection has been declared as unauthorized. Data exported or imported into a Server without an Administrator’s authorization can be categorized as a Virus and eliminated by a Vaccine.]

[You are advised to return to your original Server.]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

......

After swimming so far out of the universe that he could barely sense Worldline #801, Chang-Sun realized that he had entered Worldline #802.

[You have discovered a new Server!]

[Caution! You are not in your original Server.]

[You may be categorized as a Virus. Any Firewall or Vaccine you run into may treat you as a hostile element.]

[Attempting to gain access to the new Server!]

[Accessing the new Server.]

...

[You have successfully entered the Server ‘Arcadia’!]

‘The air here is different,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Were the laws of nature different in each Worldline? When he ended up in Arcadia in the past, he couldn’t feel these disparities yet. Now, they were very vivid. Perhaps it was because of his elevated Divine Class, but he was more sensitive to the changes in the laws applied to souls.

[You have arrived at the set coordinates!]

Chang-Sun landed in a very familiar place—a star that was dozens of times bigger and possessed more energy than the sun. Over twenty planets revolved around it at different speeds and orbits, and hundreds of moons and satellites, the space colonies, circled those planets.

Below his feet right now was the central civilization of Worldline #802, the stellar system Arcadia or the Arcadian Empire. He watched Arcadia for quite some time, rendered speechless by the mixed emotions surging within him.

He initially hated this place. However, the many treasured memories he gained here eventually washed away that hatred. Meeting Ithaca, making friends with his colleagues, going to war against many <Stars>... Chang-Sun smiled, laughed, got angry, and had fun here. He spent more time here than on Earth, so it wouldn’t be wrong to call this his homeland.

‘I’m back.’

He had returned to Arcadia. Unlike before, however, he came here of his own accord, not dragged here against his will.

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ is approaching you, having detected a strange presence!]

‘Oh, did I stay too long?’ Chang-Sun quietly clicked his tongue.

‘Ursa Major’ was the Eighty-Eighth Star Sign of <Horoscope>. Although he was still far too weak to be a part of the Zodiacs, eliminating him could raise suspicion. It would be better to avoid him for now for the sake of infiltrating Arcadia.

Chang-Sun looked for a place to land before ‘Ursa Major’ found him. Since the spiritual pressure he would create by descending to Arcadia could compromise him, he thought that possession was his best option.

[Looking for a place for you to stay!]

Chang-Sun used his senses to scour the over twenty planets one by one. Even if possession was the easier option, he couldn’t just land anywhere.

‘The Spiritual Frequency should at least be similar!’

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ is getting closer!]

[You have scanned the fourth planet.]

[Scanning the fifth planet.]

...

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ has caught your scent. He turns to your direction, getting much closer!]

[You have scanned the seventh planet...]

...

‘Little more.’

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ has picked up your trace!]

[You have scanned the fourteenth planet...]

......

‘Just a little more...!’

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ is now within your proximity and has sensed your divine power.]

[Exiting the area is advised!]

Chang-Sun prepared to fight ‘Ursa Major’ as a contingency. Although it would complicate his plan, he was ready to incarnate a part of his Spiritual Body if necessary.

[Locating the trace of a possible intruder has put the Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ on high alert!]

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ slows down and prepares for combat!]

Chang-Sun remained vigilant as tension filled the area.

[You have found a follower desperately looking for you in ‘Eos,’ the twenty-second planet.]

[Will you start the possession?]

[The Celestial ‘Ursa Major’ has found you! He is initiating an attack!]

[Will you counterattack?]

Four messages simultaneously showed up.