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Chapter 187: Star, Execution Sword (3)

“... become the <Radiant Light’s Face>.” Chang-Sun reluctantly finished speaking.?

“Yeah, is there something wrong?” Thanatos tilted his head in confusion.?

“Yes. As a matter of fact, it’s really a big problem. I get that I have to hunt down the damn <Horoscope> and <Purple Astrology> Celestials once I have returned to Earth, but how am I supposed to capture them?” Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes.?

?

He wouldn’t wonder if he had regained his divine class, but no matter how many achievements Chang-Sun made, mortals couldn’t seal the Celestials. It was wrong to think a human could go up against a Celestial in the first place, so Chang-Sun was bound to have such a question. However, Thanatos just smiled enigmatically.

?

“Have you forgotten about the title you’ll be given?” Thanatos replied to Chang-Sun\'s question with another question.?

“Reaper…? Is it related to that?” Chang-Sun slightly frowned.?

“Of course it is. You’re a special-rank reaper, which means you’re considered the highest-ranking person in the <Underworld> after me. Do you know what a special-rank reaper can do?” Thanatos asked.?

“What is it?” Chang-Sun said.?

“You can deliver punishments.” Thanatos grinned.?

“…?” Chang-Sun tilted his head in confusion.?

“Once an executioner has proceeded with a trial, no one can interfere in the process, not even me or a Celestial. That law is absolute.”

Thanatos’s explanation was simple. A totally different <Regulation> applied to special-rank reapers who had received the [Execution Sword] from the King of the Underworld himself. A <Regulation> was an absolute agreement that the <Supreme Light> and <Dull Darkness> made after they fought for quite some time.

No <Great Star> could ever break it, and whether or not one was in <Heaven> or the <Underworld> didn’t matter before it. After all, the <Underworld> had the absolute right to judge and punish criminals from <Heaven>. While the [Execution Sword] was active, nobody could interfere or take a peek at the trial.

Of course, depending on how it was used, the <Underworld> could exploit it. That was why its user had to fulfill several conditions because they could utilize it. However, Thanatos had promised Chang-Sun that Thanatos would endure the possible rebounds of the ability and that Chang-Sun would only have to fulfill one requirement to activate [Execution Sword]—owning ‘land.’

* * *

[The Channeling of the Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ has been temporarily disconnected.]

[The Channeling of the Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ has been temporarily disconnected.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ put up fierce resistance to avoid getting blocked, but his attempt has been nullified.]

…

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ tries to take a peek beyond the lowering curtain of the world but fails.]

…

[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ is greatly baffled by the fact that his Authority has been nullified.]

…

[All the connections to the outside world have been blocked!]

[The ‘Destruction-Calling Fire Giant’s Heart’ and your ‘Ferocious Heart’ are synchronizing!]

[The ‘Rhaegaren’ has been privatized.]

[Bestowing your energy.]

[Beginning to materialize.]

[Your mind palace has been created!]

…

[Your power as the special-rank reaper has been applied, adding the property of the <Underworld> to your mind palace!]

[The courtroom has opened.]

When Chang-Sun became the new owner of the [Laevateinn], Surtr’s heart completely synchronized with Chang-Sun’s [Ferocious Heart], putting this place under Chang-Sun’s <Control> and turning it into his private realm. Every energy that Chang-Sun would infuse and project would materialize in this plane, which was why Chang-Sun’s imagination started to manifest little by little.

Pzzz―!

“Th-this is…?” Czestochowa became quite baffled.

Witnessing the world around her change little by little naturally made her fear the unknown. Although she had already gone through all kinds of experiences, this sight was still very alienating. Unlike magic spells that created illusions and hallucinations, which relied on fooling an opponent’s senses, everything that was appearing around her right now was real. It was as if they had always been there.

Woosh…

The first noticeable change was the very thick burning smell that permeated the air. Not only did it dull her sharp senses, but it also gave her a headache. She was very familiar with this smell.

‘It’s the smell of burning rotten corpses…’?Czestochowa blankly thought.

She had been an assassin for quite some time now, so she had already seen her fair share of corpses. Among them was one that had decayed so much due to the boiling heat that it exuded intense Corpse Toxin, which smelled exactly the same as the stench she was smelling right now.

However, it wasn’t coming from just one corpse. It came from a pile of at least dozens, hundreds—no, thousands of corpses, each one already rotten, decaying, and burning. This kind of stench could only be found amid a massacre or a battlefield where tens of thousands of soldiers had fought.

“Woahhh…!”

The reek disappeared after a while, and Czestochowa’s surrounding completely changed again. Thunderously loud shouts echoed from every direction, so she quickly took a look around, finding herself in the middle of a desolate battlefield.

The wasteland was so barren that it looked as if it had been suffering from a drought for a long time. Countless corpses littered all over the place, various kinds of spears, swords, and arrows protruding out of them… On top of the corpses, red flags with broken or fallen flagpoles fluttered. The myriad of weapons embedded into the ground and the fluttering flags on the broken poles made the place look like a graveyard of countless victims.

In the distance, a bloodbath was taking place. The combatants killed each other in their chaotic entanglement, no longer able to tell allies and enemies apart. Judging from their big eye bags and the blank look in their eyes, it seemed they had lost their sound judgment long ago. All that was left in them were madness and the instinct to kill and survive.

No longer able to pull herself together, Czestochowa felt a shiver run down her spine as the thought of getting killed in this madness overwhelmed her. If she was a canoe, then the madness on this battlefield was a boundless ocean more than capable of swallowing her whole. Czestochowa felt really small and insignificant, almost as if she had been thrown to the center of the world naked.

‘The battlefields I went through…’?Czestochowa blankly thought.

Gulp!

She unwittingly swallowed her saliva. Although loud yells came from all over the battlefield, she still felt as if she had to swallow very carefully since the people overcome by frenzy might notice her.

‘... is nothing compared to this place…!’?she shivered.

[You have fallen into the ‘Feared’ state!]

[You have fallen into the ‘Panicked’ state!]

The various abilities of her proud [Contorted Doggaebi Face] weren’t working at all in this place—no, they were working. She was just far more terrified than her abilities could help her.

The setting sun beyond the horizon and the thick dusk on the ground made Czestochowa especially afraid. Every part of the dusk looked like a sharp weapon ready to pierce and slaughter her, and the red sunset in the sky looked like the blood that she had shed.

‘Where… in the world is Lee Chang-Sun? Where is he?!’ Czestochowa wanted to scream but forced herself to calm down. She quickly took a look around as she somehow had a strong feeling that she had to find Chang-Sun, who threw her in here, to escape this strange place.

Just then…

Woosh…!

A gust of wind blew, and the cloud of dust that it created struck her. She instinctively held her arms up to cover her face, but when a giant shadow loomed over her, she hurriedly put down her arms and raised her head.

Barely able to open her eyes, she realized who the owner of the shadow was when the cloud of dust disappeared. Before her was a hundreds-of-meters-tall centipede. It had a shell and legs so thick that the sight of the centipede alone was enough to give Czestochowa goosebumps all over. However, the centipede’s face was far more shocking. Instead of a centipede’s, its face was that of a human.

It was the Human-Faced Centipede, a legendary creature that wished to become a human.

[The ‘Tranquil Star’ has fallen.]

[The Celestial ‘Big Sick Bug’ has been forced to reveal himself!]

‘My lord…!’ Even without the messages that popped up before her, Czestochowa instinctively knew that the centipede was Xue Yong—the Celestial whom she had been serving all this time.

She identified him not only because the [Human Face] that Xue Yong was wearing had the same properties as Czestochowa’s [Demon Faces]. Rather, the souls of she and the centipede shared similar characteristics. She couldn’t help but instinctively revere the centipede as well, so who else could the centipede be if not her Guardian?

Although she had occasionally received oracles from him, she still tensed up since this was her first time meeting her Guardian in person. His Class, which was incomparably higher than his height, made her feel as if she could be pulverized any minute. Moreover, Xue Yong exuded a blindingly bright <Starlight>.

『Twilight…! Twilight!』Xue Yong bafflingly shouted, unaware of his apostle’s state—no, he simply didn’t care about her. To Xue Yong, his apostles were just dispensable tools that he used to meddle in the Saha World’s affairs since it was difficult for him to interfere directly due to the law of causality. Hence, he didn’t care what his tool was thinking or what state she was in. Right now, his priority was finding out why he was forced to come down when he should be in the sky right now.

『Why are you here?!!』

Xue Yong had been to this chaotic, noisy, and malodorous mind palace that was full of burning smells several times. In fact, he had gone through hell in this place.

『You should have died, so why am I in your divine ground!!!』

<Divine Ground ― Twilight-Setting Battlefield.>

Divine grounds were made based on their owning Celestial’s <Myth>. During Chang-Sun’s stay in Arcadia, he never left the battlefields, eventually turning them into his home—the only place where he could rest. That was why numerous Celestials had been reluctant to start a fight with the ‘Divine Twilight.’

It wasn’t about whether or not they could win against him. Rather, they simply knew that they would be greatly injured if they happened to be on the wrong side of the battlefield when the ‘Divine Twilight’ showed up. In fact, Xue Yong had almost been killed by the ‘Divine Twilight’ several times on the battlefields, so he couldn’t help but become uncharacteristically furious. From what he knew, the ‘Divine Twilight’ died after going through the <Divine Trial>.

“Why shouldn’t I be here?” Chang-Sun replied, slowly walking out from the spatial gap.

Behind him, a navy-blue fire stood in the form of a Giant. It was as if it was protecting Chang-Sun.

[The Effect of the Authority ‘Execution Sword’ has been activated, revealing the hidden Class of the Player ‘Lee Chang-Sun’!]

[The slumbering Myth is awakening.]

[The broken Faith is awakening.]

[The revoked Divine Essence is awakening.]

…

Woosh!

Combining the ability of the [Execution Sword] and Chang-Sun’s mind palace created this temporary divine ground. As a result…

[The hidden Divine Name ‘Divine Twilight’ has been partially revealed!]

Chang-Sun could currently use a part of the power he had as the ‘Divine Twilight.’ After peeking at the true identity of Chang-Sun’s soul, Xue Yong unwittingly backed away.

『Y-you definitely…』

“I ‘was’ dead,” Chang-Sun replied.

The power of the ‘wheel’ that Thanatos and the <Underworld> members had rewound only applied to the plane that had Earth in it, which meant the ‘wheels’ of the <Horoscope> and <Purple Star Astrology> Celestials just kept rolling normally.

Thanatos apologized to Chang-Sun about it because Chang-Sun could have gotten revenge much easier. However, Chang-Sun was actually grateful. If all the ‘wheels’ had been rewound and his enemies didn’t remember him, he wouldn’t be happy or find it fun to get revenge. Chang-Sun would just be taking out his anger on people who hadn’t even committed their sins yet, so it would no longer be an act of revenge in the first place. However, with his enemies still remembering who he was, he could now punish them properly and make them realize who they had messed with and what they had done.

Xue Yong immediately felt terrified when Chang-Sun revealed his Class and real identity. This was going to be his Divine Punishment.

“But I resurrected, and I am now standing before you. You’re the first one I’ll be sealing, but… you don’t have to worry. Your colleagues will soon join you.” Chang-Sun faintly smiled.

This place would become an execution site.

[Execution Sword]

A privilege that only the emissary recognized by the King of the Underworld can use. The emissary can act as a substitute for the King of the Underworld in the execution of Divine Punishment on the sinners who have broken the ‘Oath.’ After being put through a ‘Trial,’ the sinner will be sealed according to the gravity of their offense. As a reward, the emissary will then be granted the opportunity to extract a portion of the sinners’ Authorities.

· Skill Level: 1

· Type: Authority.

· Effects: Execution of Divine Punishment, Evil Punishment, Authority Extraction.

『Stop spouting nonsense!』

Trying to escape from the fear that Chang-Sun had put him in, Xue Yong fiercely shook his head.

Rumble―!

Kyaaaak!

When the giant centipede advanced, the ground turned upside down, creating a violent tsunami. Chang-Sun swiftly counterattacked.

Paah―!

[The Divine Trial has begun!]

1. The raw was ???. The literal meaning is a human mask or a shell of a human, but this phrase isn’t really used literally. Rather, it’s often used metaphorically to criticize one’s cruelty. For example, ‘How can you do that when you’re wearing the shell of a human?’ It’s not exactly related to the actual mythology.