Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chang-Sun widened his eyes and wondered why Tiamat would be poisoned with the Outer Celestial’s energy. When one possibility crossed his mind, Chang-Sun turned back to look at Pabilsag and asked, “…Did she try to become the Mother Terra Celestial herself?”

Pabilsag bit her lower lip and slowly nodded, and Chang-Sun let out a sigh without realizing it.

‘Tiamat, why would you…’ Chang-Sun closed his eyes, belatedly realizing that Tiamat’s desire for power was a lot greater than he had expected.

Tiamat had been the ruler of this Worldline for an eternity, but she had never been the strongest. The Celestial Kings, Bestla and Odin, had shown up and taken the wind out of her sails. By the time Tiamat had tried to rise again, other rivals called the Nine Heavens had appeared, stopping her from becoming the sole, unchallengeable ruler.

Although Tiamat had finally gotten the chance to become the strongest being as the Celestial King, it seemed that her suppressed ambition had grown so much that it made her desire something more—her origin. If he could become the Mother Terra Celestial—no, perhaps she wanted even more and wished to become an Emperor.

‘She tried to find the sealed Mother Terra Celestial after absorbing Ubbo-Sathla’s remnant.’

Ubbo-Sathla was the Mother Terra Celestial’s lost half, so merging the two could create the <Great Mother>, the primordial mother of all creation. Perhaps things would have been different if Tiamat’s attempt succeeded, but it had not.

Loki and Durga could not even speak as they focused on infusing their divine power and maintaining the magic sealing circle. Even the slightest change in their postures could cause Tiamat to go wild again.

Chang-Sun could understand the high security in 'Nastrond' now, but after observing the situation, he frowned slightly and thought, ‘It’s odd.’

Although it was true that Tiamat had been too greedy, she would be perfectly capable of dominating an Outer Celestial’s remnant that lacked its main ego. On top of that, Chang-Sun knew how thorough Tiamat was, so she had to have prepared a countermeasure beforehand that would allow her to back out if the absorption process became too dangerous. Nevertheless, she had been helplessly poisoned by the energy. There had to be something more that Chang-Sun was unaware of.

“Odin showed up at the battlefield,” Jörmungandr suddenly said.

“…Did you say Odin?” Chang-Sun’s eyes widened slightly as he heard something he had not expected at all.

Nodding with a heavy heart, Jörmungandr continued, “Without a doubt, we were winning the war…”

When Chang-Sun rose above the <Punishment> by performing Celestial Cannibalism on Ubbo-Sathla, the United Army was about to win the war. With <Maleakhe> and <L'Infernal> constantly making sacrifices, Ubbo-Sathla’s remnant had lost most of her power, and Tiamat struck the final blow against the remnant.

“In the end, it’s all about power. I need overwhelming and unchallengeable power for complete dominance,” Tiamat murmured.

Tiamat felt very confident. The fact that the United Army was close to achieving victory in a fight against an Outer Celestial that had looked insurmountable made their morale skyrocket. It had allowed her to accumulate a lot of Faith and <Myths>, also heightening her Divine Class significantly.

That was why Tiamat believed that it was more than possible to absorb the remnant that was without its main ego. Since Tiamat herself had originated from the Mother Terra Celestial, she was not really different from Ubbo-Sathla’s remnant.

Tiamat actually almost succeeded, and the other Celestials could only look at her blankly. Some of them were worried that there would be no way to stop Tiamat from becoming an unchallengeable ruler, but the defenses of <Nammu> and <Muspelheim> were like an impenetrable fortress. On top of that, even Loki and Durga were in support of her, so the other Celestials could not even think about stopping her.

In the end, Tiamat finished absorbing the remnant, trapping herself in a cocoon and exuviating from it. The moment she was about to achieve <Transcendence> for the second time, however, an enormous battleship emerged from the sky.

It was [Hringhorni]. The battleship that was known to have gone missing a long time ago after the death of Odin the Celestial King appeared at that very moment! Sleipnir, Gullfaxi, Grani, Lispe, Svadilfari… They had some of the finest blood among the horses of <Heaven> and had the Divine Classes of high-level Celestials, so the sight of them pulling the battleship was especially menacing.

When they saw the battleship, the Celestials recalled their Dark Age and froze up in terror. The time of Odin’s rule had been filled only with conquest, ambition, and persecution. Numerous Celestials and Star Signs had plummeted for opposing Odin, and many civilizations were destroyed, filling their Worldline with the stench of blood.

However, Odin had appeared again…!

“I’m the king of the sky and this world, ruling over those who were blessed with life. I’m also the person to whom you people bowed down and swore your loyalty.” Odin overlooked the entire Worldline while sitting on Hlidskjalf, his Argentum Throne.

As Odin’s presence overshadowed the sky, all the Celestials could feel themselves shrinking in fear.

“If I could do as I pleased, I would want to retaliate and make all of you an example for your cowardly treachery despite your honorable vows of loyalty, but that’s all in the past. I’ll show generosity and let bygones be bygones.”

The battlefield was silent, with everyone holding their breath. How Odin, who was known to have joined samsara, had resurrected was not important right now. What mattered was his presence, which was as strong as it had been during his prime and utterly dominated the battlefield.

No, Odin seemed to have surpassed the level of his prime. Fortunately, he had declared that he would not hold anyone accountable for their past crimes. As such, most of the Celestials and Star Signs could finally heave a sigh of relief. They were already exhausted due to the long war, so they could not afford to take on Odin’s revenge.

“But I have no choice but to punish the being who dared to claim the title of Celestial King, even though I’m the only person worthy of the title.”

The Celestials and Star Signs froze up again.

“I can’t possibly tolerate any act or attempt to disgrace me,” Odin said, tapping on the throne’s armrest.

Windows opened up on the sides of [Hringhorni], revealing dozens of cannons, and numerous soldiers flew down from the ship’s deck. The Celestials and Star Signs turned pale again. Even though they were unsure when in the world Odin had raised such a large army, they could not help but shiver after seeing the <Ten Knights>. They were formidable warriors of <Aesir>, the former name of <Asgard>[1], and had greatly contributed to Odin becoming the Celestial King, but they were here right now!

“Slay her.”

That was how a second war that no one expected had broken out, and as a result…

“It happened when everyone was exhausted, so there was a hole in our defense… And because of the <Ten Knights>, Lady Tiamat failed to control her new power.”

Chang-Sun covered his face with his hand, thinking, ‘…Did I make a mistake by setting Odin free?’

No, it was inevitable at the time because Odin’s help had been essential in taking down Bel-Marduk. On top of that, they had formed a [Mana Pledge] not to hinder each other’s business, so Chang-Sun had not expected this in the slightest.

‘My terms were to never interfere with me striking <Horoscope>, so… it’s not a breach of our [Mana Pledge].’

<Horoscope> was in ruins and Ubbo-Sathla had been annihilated, so Odin had not violated any terms of their [Mana Pledge].

“The problem is that Odin actually kept his word.” Using his index finger and thumb, Jörmungandr massaged the center of his forehead out of fatigue. “As soon as Lady Tiamat lost control of her power, Odin retreated his troops without declaring any intent to rule or conquer our Worldline. He didn’t kill Lady Tiamat, nor did he plunder anything from anyone. It was as if he didn’t care about anything else, but it only made things worse. The United Army became unstable, and some of the <Societies> withdrew from the army.”

Chang-Sun nodded with a heavy heart. There was a good reason why he and Tiamat had worked together to come up with a way to sustain the current order even after the war.

The two things that had been sustaining the United Army were the fear of Ubbo-Sathla and Tiamat’s charisma. However, people did not have to fear the Outer Celestial anymore, and Tiamat had lost that charisma after her defeat. On top of that, a new terror in the form of the Celestial King Odin had knocked on the Celestials’ front door, so the United Army’s collapse was inevitable.

“I’m assuming those are <Maleakhe>, <L'Infernal>, and <Horoscope>,” Chang-Sun said, mentioning the <Societies> he had not seen in 'Nastrond'.

Those <Societies> had been having trouble blending in with the United Army, and some of them had lost their leaders. It was no wonder that they would try seeking shelter somewhere else.

Jörmungandr nodded and said, “Still, Pabilsag is working hard. Father and Lady Durga are still here, so the alliance hasn’t fallen apart… But I don’t know how long we’ve got.”

“In the end, what matters is how fast Lady Tiamat recovers,” Chang-Sun said as he slowly walked toward Tiamat.

Kill. Kill. Let. Stuffy.

The energy mixed with heavy hatred and anger stung Chang-Sun like a sharp dagger.

“It’s dangero…!” Jörmungandr tried to stop Chang-Sun, surprised by his sudden move, but Jörmungandr and Pabilsag were soon rendered speechless.

Swooosh―!

Even Loki and Durga had trouble withstanding Tiamat’s energy right now, but that same energy could not break through a translucent red barrier that appeared around Chang-Sun, disappearing into smoke.

‘His Divine Class is… similar to Lady Tiamat’s?’ Jörmungandr gaped in shock after opening his [Viper Eyes].

Jörmungandr had not noticed previously because Chang-Sun had not been using his power, but with his [Viper Eyes], he could see that the size of Chang-Sun’s soul was comparable to that of Tiamat, who had absorbed Ubbo-Sathla’s remnant!

That fact came as a big shock to Jörmungandr. Although he was well aware that Chang-Sun was no lesser than Tiamat, her <Myths> were unfathomably massive after living for an eternity, In addition, Tiamat was now a Celestial King and had finished absorbing Ubbo-Sathla’s remnant, so Jörmungandr had believed that Chang-Sun would fall behind her level.

However, Jörmungandr had been wrong. He could not believe how much stronger Chang-Sun had become in such a short period, nor the fact that he was able to sense the energy of an Outer Celestial from Chang-Sun, which he had only detected from Ubbo-Sathla previously.

‘That must be why… Ubbo-Sathla was suddenly annihilated!’ Jörmungandr thought, coming to a misguided conclusion.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Without paying attention to Jörmungandr, Chang-Sun approached Tiamat. The closer he became, the more her energy intensified. In response, Chang-Sun released more energy. At one point, the upper body of a Cataclysm Celestial, which was as big as Tiamat in her true form, began following him. Its presence signified that Chang-Sun’s level was as high as Tiamat’s, just like Jörmungandr had analyzed.

Tap!

Chang-Sun arrived right in front of Tiamat.

How. Dare. How. Dare. How. Dare.

Only left with instincts, Tiamat looked at Chang-Sun disapprovingly for daring to face her from an equal standpoint.

Chang-Sun extended his hand and stroked Tiamat’s nose, saying, “Wake up, Lady Tiamat. You aren’t someone who would succumb like this.”

1. The term ‘Aesir’ is actually a term for a race of gods in Norse mythology. ☜