Chapter 418: War Of The Stars (9) |
Since ancient times, humans believed that souls dwelled within one’s shadow. That figure cast beneath the moonlight as one walked at night. Dark, vast, and eerily stretching out like branches from beneath one’s feet.
Even without superstitions or spiritual beliefs, anyone would’ve imagined a part of their soul residing there at least once.
Mobius slashed Kwon Oh-Jin’s shadow. Under normal circumstances, it would mean nothing more than slashing the empty ground. It was a different story when this act occurred within Mobius’s Sacred Ground.
Kwon Oh-Jin clutched his chest and dropped to one knee. “Kugh! Ghk!”
This pain couldn’t be compared to a flesh wound. It felt completely different as though a part of his soul had been carved out. Such pain far surpassed anything Kwon Oh-Jin could comprehend.
As if the ground beneath his feet had suddenly vanished, it felt like something essential to the very existence of Kwon Oh-Jin had disappeared.
He hunched forward and gagged with his hand gripping his chest. “Kugh! Agh!”
Vega rushed to him in alarm. “M-My child!”
Kwon Oh-Jin’s body turned faint and translucent like a ghost slowly fading from the world.
Mobius glanced back at Vega and quietly said, “It’s already too late. A shadow represents a fragment of the soul. By cutting it, Mr. Oh-Jin, the owner of that shadow, will soon vanish from this world.”
Vega’s golden eyes burned at Mobius. “H-How dare you!? I will not allow things to go as you wish!”
“Oh? Are you saying you’d dare deploy your Sacred Ground here, knowing it would mean the complete destruction of your own existence?"
“That’s…”
“Hahaha! Of course not. Paying that price for the sake of a mere human is not worth it, right?”
Vega narrowed her eyes, folding her arms as if looking at something pitiful. “You seem to be under a very foolish impression.”
“A foolish impression?”
“The reason I’m not unfolding my Sacred Ground here is simply because there is no need to go that far.”
“What… are you saying?”
Even as Kwon Oh-Jin’s very existence faded away, Vega had claimed that there was no need to intervene.
“Do not underestimate my child.”
Her gaze turned to the kneeling Kwon Oh-Jin, clutching his chest. A faint silver light began to shimmer around his ghostly, half-transparent body.
“For my child is none other than the Heaven-Defying Star, the one who can overturn fate itself.”
Blue sparks flared within that silver light.
Crack! Crackle!
Kwon Oh-Jin slowly stood up, groaning.
“How dare a lowly Celestial speak of the end before the Heaven-Defying Star?”
Thunder crashed down, shaking Mobius’s Sacred Ground.
Rumble!
The shadow mist split apart as radiant silver light erupted like an explosion.
Mobius staggered back in disbelief. “This is…”
The silver radiance pierced through his Sacred Ground, the Dark Moon, and began to consume the surrounding space.
Impossible.
He knew Kwon Oh-Jin could somewhat use a Sacred Ground, but completely deploying one was an entirely different matter.
A Sacred Ground was the physical manifestation of a Stigma’s divine origin. Therefore, only a Celestial could truly unfold one. For a mere human Awakener to do such a thing was absurd.
Kwon Oh-Jin exhaled softly. “Haaa…”
Blue sparks danced between the glimmering silver particles.
A dizzying surge of omnipotence coursed down his spine, and his heart pounded like a drum. He felt the same sensation when using Open Heaven.
Kwon Oh-Jin asked, “Now that I think about it, Vega, does this Sacred Ground have a name too?”
Enceladus’s Sacred Ground was called Dragon Palace, and Mobius’s was the Dark Moon. It only made sense for Vega’s to have a name as well.
She nodded slightly. “The Stigma of Lyra’s Sacred Ground is called the Milky Way.”
“Whoa. Nice, I like it.”
The Milky Way was the perfect name for this Sacred Ground belonging to a North Star Celestial.
Kwon Oh-Jin raised his spear, enveloped in silver radiance. “Well then, shall we begin round two?”
Silver particles flared out and burned away the remaining shadow mist.
A Sacred Ground was a Stigma’s divine essence manifesting in reality. It granted physical force to something that existed only as an abstract image or concept.
Just as Mobius had imbued the abstract notion of a soul into his shadows, Kwon Oh-Jin could also give tangible power to the abstract concepts contained within his Stigma by deploying the Milky Way.
“Haaa.”
The Stigma of Lyra held two conceptual forces.
First, these silver particles.
Since ancient times, the Milky Way carried many symbolic associations. The most vivid and intuitive among them was purification. The power to eradicate corruption, burn away evil, and dispel curses. That purifying, anti-demonic energy now dwelt within the silver light.
The shadow mist surrounding them ignited like dry grass, and Mobius screamed as unbearable pain tore through him.
Sizzle!
“Agh!”
It was agony beyond that of flesh, a searing torment as though his very soul was being burned.
The silver particles radiating from Kwon Oh-Jin’s Sacred Ground flooded into the Dark Moon, scorching Mobius’s Sacred Ground from within.
Mobius didn’t simply stand there and take it. “This… much power!”
He drew more power from his Stigma and tried to hold back the silver particles from consuming his Sacred Ground. As the two Sacred Grounds collided, a shockwave tore through the city like a meteor strike.
Rumble!
With an earth-shaking roar, hundreds of buildings crumbled as shadows and silver particles clashed in a fierce tug-of-war.
“Huff, huff!”
For a moment, it seemed the struggle would last forever. Slowly, the balance began to tip. The shadow mist devoured the surrounding silver light, pushing back Kwon Oh-Jin’s Sacred Ground bit by bit.
Just when Mobius thought he could finally crush it completely, blue lightning erupted from the silver particles.
Crackle!
Mobius flinched and frowned. “Agh!”
Vega’s blessing descended upon Kwon Oh-Jin. “Now, my child!”
A vast wave of silver light stormed out and flooded the battlefield.
With his spear in hand, Kwon Oh-Jin stomped hard and launched himself into the air by stepping on platforms of crackling lightning. He pulled his spear back to its limit and poured the Stigma of Lyra’s second conceptual force into it.
If the Milky Way carried the symbolic association of purification, then…
The second conceptual force of his Sacred Ground represented the divine judgment of thunder. The thunderbolt of gods, the power to punish evil, manifested within his Sacred Ground and became reality.
A thunderbolt of heaven’s wrath gathered in Kwon Oh-Jin’s spear.
“Strike down!”
With a roar that shook the heavens, Kwon Oh-Jin hurled the lightning bolt toward Mobius.
A blinding flash engulfed the world.
Cracckkkle!
Blue lightning struck from above, ripping through the Dark Moon and crashing into Mobius.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
When the light finally faded, Kwon Oh-Jin stood gasping for air. He dismissed his Sacred Ground as the last arcs of lightning flickered out.
“Haa, haa!”
Kwon Oh-Jin collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Vega rushed to his side, her eyes filled with worry. “My child!”
Even she rarely used her Sacred Ground at that level of perfection. For a human to do so was nearly suicide. The backlash alone would tear through every fiber of his being.
Fortunately, Kwon Oh-Jin wasn’t a Celestial. If he had been bound by the Law’s restrictions, his Stigma would have burned, and his very existence could’ve vanished.
“Ughh…”
Vega asked, “Are you okay?!”
“No, I’m not okay.”
He wanted to say he was fine to reassure her, but he was too wrecked to even spit out such a lie.
Am I facing the Law’s restrictions too?
The thought flickered through his mind as pain and exhaustion crushed him like a mountain.
Kwon Oh-Jin asked, “What about Mobius?”
Vega turned toward Mobius on the ground. “At this rate… his existence will soon vanish.”
Mobius lay motionless as he disintegrated into dust, scattering like sand. Struck directly by Thunder’s Judgment, not even the Celestial of Ophiuchus could survive.
Vega grabbed at Kwon Oh-Jin’s clothing, struggling to drag him along. “Let’s return to the Sanctum at once and heal you.”
***
“L-Lord Mobius! Bad demonic beasts are attacking the village right now!”
One day, a horde of demonic beasts descended upon the small village where the young girl lived.
“I shouldn’t go…?”
I grabbed the girl’s arm and begged her not to go.
She firmly shook her head. “No. If I don’t go, a lot of people will die. Lord Mobius, you told me yourself, remember? That you gave me this star so that I can protect as many people as I can.”
I wanted to say that wasn’t true. I wanted to tell her that I gave her my Stigma to avoid the outcome of the prophecy, that it was purely because of my selfish desire to save myself. I wanted to tell her, but—
“I’m Lord Mobius’s proud child!”
I couldn’t because I was afraid that her eyes, which glittered like starlight, would be replaced with hatred if I told her.
“All right, I’ll be off now. Don’t worry! Other Awakeners will fight with me!”
She flexed her thin arm to show how strong she was and turned away. I couldn’t do anything but watch her go.
As always, I could only watch—
A dry gasp filled my lungs.
“Ha!”
In my blurred flashes of consciousness, I staggered to my feet and followed the image of the bright girl, shining like starlight.
I saw the silver-haired goddess looking at me in horror. “H-How…?!”
Once again, a memory brushed through my mind.
I tried to say her name. “E-Eve…”
A human with black hair and eyes burning like blue flames introduced himself as the Heavenly Demon.
“What a shame. Her name… was Eve, wasn’t it? Sorry. I expected the War of the Stars to happen, but I didn’t know your child would die here.”
He put his hand on my shoulder with grief in his eyes.
“There’s no way to bring back the dead, but… I think there is something I can do to help.”
He smiled faintly and reached out to me.
“Revenge. I’ll help you take revenge on those who left your child to die.”
That day, a black sky swallowed the little star that used to shine inside me.
“Now, Lord Mobius, try chanting this incantation if you ever face an enemy you cannot defeat.”
With my hand over the left side of my chest, I spoke the incantation he taught me.
“Those who pass by me…”
The black sky that dwelt within me flung itself wide open.