Side Story Chapter 37 – Star Fragment (3)

‘What can I do?’ Sesha’s mind became filled with complicated thoughts.

Southern Arrow, Tigris, and Solarium… Each existence was strong enough to bring the world to an end. In fact, they were beings close to resembling ‘beasts’. No, they were more monstrous existences.

The ability to devour a world meant that an existence possessed an exceedingly large legend, which meant that the existence could do many things. Considering that one’s legend equated to a divine being’s ‘potential’, these legend-possessing existences had many things they could do and could continue developing.

Since Laplace was a being from ‘outside’ world, he may possess a level of strength comparable to these beings, but it was unclear whether he would be able to deal with three at once. In fact, Laplace’s absence in this illusory world meant that he had faced some trouble back on Earth while contending against the middle-aged man.

‘What shall I do…?!’

“Your expression seems complicated. Maybe we should help you ease it a little bit?” Southern Arrow smiled coldly and took a step forward.

Thud! The Darkness Sphere trembled.

Sesha’s complexion turned pale. The spirit pressure was so immense that she felt as though her body and soul were being torn apart. Whoosh! Still, Sesha made every effort to protect Min Chae-young.

And the more Sesha acted this way, the more Southern Arrow’s cold smile grew wider. He acted like a cat who was playing around with its prey.

“Hey. Stop playing around. Let’s hurry this up. We still have a long road ahead of us. If the other group wins, will you take responsibility?” Solarium grumbled as she looked at the Southern Arrow. She did not seem to like being in this area too long.

The alliance they belonged to was in the process of collecting Star fragments while rapidly crossing various world lines. However, crossing a world line was not an easy task, and they needed to move carefully so as not to be noticed by ‘Deus Ex Machina’, the existence in charge of the law of causality. In fact, by staying in one world for a long time, beings of their size would easily be ‘observed’ by Deus Ex Machina, so they were under a time constraint and had to leave as soon as possible.

However, the Southern Arrow was annoyed at Solarium because he wanted to enjoy some fun, even though he also knew they were under the clock.

“Eh. I see, I get it. It’ll be over soon.” Southern Arrow gave a sinister smile with his white shiny teeth fully exposed. “I wanted to watch you guys squirm a bit longer, but this granny is making it hard. Regrettably, I’ll have to get rid of you now. For a brief moment, you’ve made me happy, so I’ll send you off without too much pain.”

Southern Arrow reached out towards Sesha and Min Chae-young. To Sesha, the gesture seemed slow. She felt as if the world around her had slowed down. Sesha could see Southern Arrow’s hand movement and spirit pressure, and even the expression on his face in detail… The problem was that her movements had slowed to match the slowed world. Essentially, she could not move. There was only one thing Sesha could do… Ignite Nephilim’s Flame.

The brilliance of Nephilim’s Flame was so great and unexpected that Southern Arrow’s smile widened. But that reaction only lasted for a moment, as he was determined to make quick work of both girls. Right then…

Boom! Suddenly, a huge shockwave shook the illusory world, the Darkness Sphere. Southern Arrow directed his gaze upward. Solarium’s eyes grew wide. The shockwave’s impact on the illusory world alluded to the great power of the outside existence.

Just as expected… From where the shockwave originated, a man appeared.

“Grandfather!” Sesha shouted with a delighted expression.

Southern Arrow had clearly stated that the Darkness Sphere was clearly cut off from observation. But then, how did Sesha’s grandfather find this place?

Kronos looked down with a hardened face. “I wondered why I wasn’t getting a signal on the magic field… How dare you bastards touch my granddaughter?”

It was only then that Sesha knew how Kronos had found her. The tablet PC he gave her as a present. It seemed that Kronos had put a tracking magic field device on it. The tracking magic field device would normally be off when she was nearby but turn on automatically if she was not near it. And once that tracking device turned on, Kronos found out that Sesha had disappeared from Earth.

“The king of gods…?”

“It seems to be the Kronos of this world line. No matter which world line we go to, he’s always been a nuisance… I didn’t expect to meet him in this world line as well.”

“Please, take care of him.”

“Sure, but hurry. The longer you take, the more annoying this situation will become.”

Bam! Solarium smiled and flew toward Kronos. One of Kronos’ eyebrows twitched. Though he had no idea who these beings were, Kronos did not appreciate their laid-back attitude and how they dared to comfortably converse amongst themselves while he was present.

“I don’t know who you all are, but I’ll make sure to rip off a pair of limbs on each of you before allowing you to speak again.” Kronos stretched his hand forward. Then, as the space twisted and his divine power condensed, a huge scythe appeared.

Scythe… Originally, it was Kronos’ main body when he was resurrected, but now it was separate from his soul. Scythe had become a divine weapon that contained his powers. Since Pneuma’s Sky was contained within, Scythe could control time. Yeon-woo always handled Scythe in the form of a sword, but for Kronos, the scythe form was the most comfortable for him to handle.

The power to wind time and bring death to life. The concept of the Grim Reaper, who symbolized the concept of ‘harvesting death from life’, originated from Kronos in the first place.

Whoosh! Kronos swung Scythe down vigorously. He was planning on splitting Solarium and reaping her soul.

Seeing Kronos’ movement, Solarium snorted. Even in the world line where she originally inhabited, Kronos existed. And whenever she crossed each world line to retrieve the Star fragments, she met countless versions of Kronos, who looked more or less like the one in front of her. Though most of them were once strong enough to earn the title of king of gods…

‘In the end, your powers are limited.’

The existence of a ‘star’ meant that a being had already annihilated a world line and devoured its powers. This meant that the being would be close to an ‘emperor’ level being, which meant it had acquired a uniqueness that transcended the world lines. Thus, in Solarium’s mind, it did not make sense that a being that lived within a world line could confront her, no matter how strong of a being it was. Could they block a ‘star’? Was this not the same as a frog that lived down in the well talking about how great it was without knowing how wide the world is?

Kronos’ threatening words were just a joke for Solarium. Thus, she planned on showing this version of Kronos just how wide the gap was between them…!

‘What is this…?’ As Solarium approached Kronos with confidence and flashed around her powers, she soon started frowning. Her powers…had suddenly stopped shining. They had become non-operational.

“Idiot.” Kronos smiled coldly. That smile conveyed a lot to Solarium. “I don’t know what or who you are, but if I cut the progress of time to a time before you can bring out your powers, then you’ll essentially be powerless, right?”

“…!” Only then did Solarium realize what Kronos had done. Kronos had forcibly cut off time to a point before she released her powers! Solarium wondered if this type of attack was even possible, and she grew fearful of the being that stated he cut off time in such a nonchalant way.

[Pneuma’s Sky – Cutting Off Power]

‘This world line’s Kronos is different from the other Kronos I’ve come across!’ However, when Solarium realized this, it was already too late. Scythe tore through her, from the nape of her left neck to her right waist. That was how her life ended, the star constellation known as Solarium.

Though he had made a great achievement, Kronos did not stop to appreciate his work. As soon as he sliced through Solarium, Kronos flew toward Sesha.

Boom!

***

Like Solarium, the Southern Arrow had to contend with another being. ‘How could this be…?!’ The being in front of him seemed to show no interest in him, as he stood in place, frozen like a block of ice.

Rhea was hugging Sesha and saying that everything was fine.

“Grandmother…!”

“Are you okay? Did you injure yourself anywhere?”

Nod! Sesha went into her grandmother’s arms and nodded vigorously. She wept and wailed. When her grandfather and grandmother suddenly appeared, Sesha unwittingly let go of the tension that she was holding on to, so tears had welled up and burst out from her eyes.

“My child, you must have been very surprised. Who the hell did this to you? Who tormented our dear grandchild? Who made you cry, child?”

Sesha pointed at Southern Arrow. “That bastard!”

“Okay. So, it’s him. Perhaps this grandmother of yours should teach him a lesson?” Rhea smiled kindly before gently pushing Sesha and Min Chae-young behind her.

At that moment, Min Chae-young looked at Rhea with complicated emotions reflected in her eyes. It was because Min Chae-young recalled her mother, who left her alone with her stepfather one day before running away.

Step! Rhea moved towards Southern Arrow. It was a light step, but the result was anything but that. The constricting force Southern Arrow felt increased with every step Rhea took.

[Quirinale’s World – Absolute Realm]

“This…!” Southern Arrow’s eyes were bloodshot. He felt as if the space around him, or the entire Darkness Sphere, had been frozen. An unbelievable, unfathomable scene was unfolding. Someone else was taking control of his holy territory! One’s holy territory was based on one’s legends, so it should only be controllable by the owner of the illusory world. It should have been impossible for another being to occupy and control one’s illusory world without permission. For that to be possible, either the owner of the holy territory had to be killed or the associated legends devoured.

However, Rhea had skipped over these assumed requirements. And she did it in a very matter-of-fact way. She had easily entered and appeared inside the Darkness Sphere, as if she had come to visit her own house. She was now extending her hand towards Southern Arrow.

Rhea also lacked the quality of uniqueness, so she also existed in other world lines. In the other world lines, she was also the last descendant of the Quirinale and dealt with space. However, there was no version of Rhea who handled the concept of ‘space’ as freely as the one in front of Southern Arrow. This was the first time he had met such an omnipotent version of Rhea.

Kronos, and now Rhea… Southern Arrow wondered what the hell happened on this world line that made it so different from the Kronos and Rhea’s of the other world lines.

“Are you curious about what happened to my husband and I?”

‘…!’

“Well, even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to comprehend.”

Step. Step. Rhea approached Southern Arrow. The closer she came, the more the Southern Arrow’s complexion turned pale. It did not end with the simple transfer of ownership of his holy territory. Rhea was now looking deep into his Consciousness, which made up the holy territory! This meant that Rhea had not only taken control of his holy territory, but she had made Dark Sphere completely her own.

‘I have to tell this fact to the others… I need to somehow let them know…!’ Southern Arrow was thrown into a sense of crisis, a feeling he had not felt in a long time. He wanted to let the alliance know that this world line was dangerous. If he did so, considering his merits and good deeds, perhaps they would resurrect him? However, Southern Arrow’s thoughts were easily read by Rhea.

“In the old days, I used to go here and there because of that immature husband of mine, but now my husband and I are not interested in going anywhere else.” Rhea stopped right in front of Southern Arrow and stared coolly into his eyes. “So, don’t even think about coming near us again. If you come, even after this warning…”

Rhea’s hand gradually covered Southern Arrow’s face. “I won’t leave you guys alone.”

Boom! Rhea tapped Southern Arrow’s forehead very lightly with her index finger. It was a simple move. However, the result was unimaginably destructive.

Whoosh! As the entire Darkness Sphere sank down, all the powers that Southern Arrow possessed collapsed and formed into tiny pieces of sand on the ground.