The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 483: Outer Celestial, Ubbo-Sathla (3)

There was a being called <Great Mother> or Mother Nature. Primitive societies tended to perceive women as mystique due to their ability to conceive life. It was also the reason they were often associated with the moon and the earth, considered as the symbols of abundance and fertility, and even viewed as nature itself.

As those societies became more civilized over time, men began to play a more important role in survival with their physical strength. In turn, the depiction of women changed from being the subject of worship to the subject of conquest.

Perhaps the fall of <Great Mother> was fate. Despite creating the universe and conceiving lives, she was still abandoned, ending up with two different personalities. Even though one of them remained as a Celestial of safe birth and fertility, the other carried deep grudges and fury against the lives she had conceived.

Because <Great Mother> was no longer in her right mind, <Deus Ex Machina> and the others split her in half. Half of her was sealed deep in Eros so she could continue overseeing the cycle of life, and the other was thrown into Nyx, becoming an Outer Celestial who repeated destruction and <Extinction>.

That Outer Celestial was Ubbo-Sathla, a being who gave birth and destroyed various monsters without reason. She had a bottomless rage for life, but her love for it was just as immeasurable. Hence, she wished to make her monsters into proper living beings.

For her goal, Ubbo-Sathla continued to roam around Eros in search of her other half. It didn’t matter if she merged with or destroyed her. She just wanted to find her and put an end to everything. However, she kept running into different versions of Lee Chang-Sun, causing her search to always end in failure. They either got stuck in a Rollback loop or doomed the Worldline they were in.

“<Deus Ex Machina> is also technically using Ubbo-Sathla,” Perkwunos bitterly said.

<Deus Ex Machina> had also punished <Great Mother> harshly for trying to ruin the universe she had created. Just like how Chang-Sun was stuck in samsara six hundred sixty-six times, Ubbo-Sathla had to spend the rest of her life in search of her other half.

“... So the fuckery we’re going through is all part of our <Punishment>, and the same goes for Ubbo-Sathla to? We’re repeating this meaningless bullshit because of—!”

“Be quiet,” Chang-Sun interjected. “He might hear you.”

Bel-Marduk’s face darkened.

[<Deus Ex Machina> attempts to look into Nyx!]

[<Deus Ex Machina> cannot observe as he pleases because Eros’ laws of nature do not apply in Nyx.]

[<Deus Ex Machina> is frustrated because he cannot see what is going on right now.]

[<Deus Ex Machina>...]

[<Deus Ex Machina>...]

...

Even a great being like <Deus Ex Machina> wouldn’t like to hear someone badmouthing him. Besides, he likely still thought that the Lee Chang-Suns had no idea what was going on.

Holding himself back from cussing out loud, Bel-Marduk frowned. “So that’s the whole truth?”

“Probably.”

“Who told you all about these?”

“Perkwunos,” Chang-Sun answered.

“... ‘Primordial Lightning Deity’?”

“You know about him too? Is that what he’s also called in your subconscious realm?”

“How can you trust—!”

“He’s our Original.”

Rendered speechless, Bel-Marduk’s eyes widened in surprise. In all his years, he never knew that.

“Unlike us, he remembers his every life. He told me that our <Mark> is from his sin.”

Bel-Marduk laughed feebly. “Ha... Hahaha...”

He had finally discovered the cause of his eternal suffering. Unfortunately, he also learned that he, Chang-Sun, Ubbo-Sathla, and everyone else were just puppets in this play. His feeling of hollowness soon turned into rage.

Bel-Marduk gritted his teeth. “Now I really have to become an Emperor.”

All his efforts thus far had been more like a struggle to escape from his fucking fate, but it was different now. A new barrel of oil was poured on the fire of his rage, which had been fading due to his exhaustion. However, his fury stemmed not only from the fact that there was a hidden culprit behind all this.

Bel-Marduk narrowed his eyes. “Even if she isn’t the Original, his baby sister is suffering. How can he neglect her?”

<Deus Ex Machina>’s relationship with Cha Ye-Eun infuriated him even more.

“That’s just Perkwunos’ one-sided claim right now. Since he has no evidence, I have to look into this further,” Chang-Sun said.

“I know. There is no guarantee that our Original would want the same as us. He might have a secret design in his mind too.”

Understanding the necessity of feigning ignorance in front of <Deus Ex Machina>, Bel-Marduk knew he had to control himself even once they had verified what they had heard.

“Who gave me the Nereid Stone, then?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but...”

『... You better find our lost child too.』

‘Find... our child...’ Chang-Sun muttered in his head.

What did Hsan’s remark in their last encounter mean? Were Chang-Sun and Ye-Eun fated to have a child together but he didn’t know about it? Maybe it was related to the golden key or the Nereid Stone.

“But?” Bel-Marduk pressed Chang-Sun.

Chang-Sun shook his head, focusing on the present. “No, it’s nothing. Anyway, it looks like we’re almost there.”

Sensing Ubbo-Sathla’s energy a lot stronger now, he opened up a door again.

[Space-Folding to the next area!]

“This is it.”

“It looks like it.”

Paah! Paah, paah!

Arriving at a wasteland, Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk quickly scanned the area.

[Warning! The air is filled with an unknown Outer Celestial’s divine power. You are advised to take caution while breathing.]

After spreading his energy to locate Ubbo-Sathla, Chang-Sun frowned. “...What?”

It was odd. He already knew that although Ubbo-Sathla was as big as a star system, there was no knowing what her core looked like since he was also an Outer Celestial now. Even so, the area was a lot colder than he had expected.

Only her divine power in the air indicated that her main body had been around until recently. Considering the huge grudge she had against Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk, she should have tried to rip them apart as soon as they showed up here.

Bel-Marduk spent quite a long time searching the area as well. Noticing something strange, he then pulled out the Nereid Stone from his inner pocket. The stone was a concentration of [Gaia’s Curse] and a part of the Mother Terra Celestial, so Ubbo-Sathla should have responded to its presence in some way.

Putting the Nereid Stone back, Bel-Marduk bit his lower lip. “There’s nothing here.”

They considered the possibility of Ubbo-Sathla ambushing them, but she couldn’t possibly take cover behind anything here. Her main body missing from her central divine ground could only mean one thing.

“She got us.”

Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk weren’t the only ones who made a feint.

*

Tiamat frowned, having just received Chang-Sun’s urgent telepathic message in the middle of her battle. ‘What do you mean you can’t find her?’

『It seems Ubbo-Sathla has another goal.』

‘What is it?’

『I’m looking into it.』

Tiamat grunted. ‘Hmm...!’

Their invasion was a one-time thing. Ubbo-Sathla wasn’t a fool, so she wouldn’t fall for it twice. The heavy losses they would inevitably sustain by using <Maleakhe> and <L’Infernal> as meatshields only further emphasized the importance of their invasion’s success.

Even if that wasn’t the case, this was her first conquest war as a Celestial King. She needed a victory to solidify her position. Unfortunately, it seemed Ubbo-Sathla was using this chance to her advantage.

Tiamat was starting to get a headache.

‘What about the one I’m fighting right now? It wouldn’t be farfetched to consider this her main body.’

Someone going toe to toe against three of the Nine Heavens using tentacles and monsters couldn’t possibly just be any ordinary bait. It had to be the shell of Ubbo-Sathla’s main body.

『I think it’s her avatar.』

‘Avatar...’

『An Outer Celestial’s biological mechanism is completely different from ours. They don’t even have a united identity. She seems to have split from her shell so it can fight on her behalf and she can move on her own.』

‘But the one we’re fighting right now is too strong to be an avatar.’

『What if she gave most of her power to her avatar?』

Tiamat’s eyes gleamed coldly. ‘She’s moving on her own with only a bit of power? Why in the world would she do that?’

Even if Ubbo-Sathla could clone herself infinitely, losing her main body or core would still kill her. Nevertheless, she still made the risky gamble of giving her avatar most of her power and moving alone.

『She seems to have a goal that she must fulfill despite all the risks,』 Chang-Sun answered.

‘Then...’

『Yes, I’m tracking her down now.』

‘... Good luck,’ Tiamat said.

Chang-Sun talked about tracking down Ubbo-Sathla as if it were nothing, but both he and Tiamat knew how dangerous such a task was. Since Ubbo-Sathla’s goal was unclear and they had not even the tiniest bit of information about it, it wasn’t easy to come up with a countermeasure, let alone discard all their original plan.

Nevertheless, he volunteered to take the risk anyway. Tiamat couldn’t do anything but root for him. This was why she could never hate him even though she had grown vigilant around him for becoming far too prominent of a figure.

『Thank you. I’ll see you when I get back.』

After Chang-Sun’s last message, Tiamat sent a divine telepathic message to Loki and Durga.

『Can the two of you buy me a moment?』

Loki and Durga simultaneously turned their heads to her. Tiamat was their best fighter, and they were neck and neck in this battle. Her absence from the fray would cause an issue.

However, this was also Tiamat’s first time asking for a favor from someone.

『Thanks to Twilight, we now have a way to kill the Outer Celestial. I’ll admit that it’s a gamble, but we’ll be able to stop <Extinction> for good if we succeed.』

Loki and Durga exchanged glances and soon nodded. Considering Tiamat had given them her word, there had to be a good reason behind her conviction.

Rummmmble―!

Boom, boom, boom!

Loki and Durga simultaneously unleashed more power and flew at Ubbo-Sathla.

『Thank you. I’ll show you something quite interesting in return.』

Tiamat spread her wings and ascended.

Rippp―!

With the sound of her scales ripping, black energy spread out from her in every direction. As darkness circled her like a whirlwind, her Dragon eyes turned black, making them look like black pearls.

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ has activated an Authority of her progenitor!]

The moment she used the Mother Terra Celestia’s power, the world around them responded. Darkness agglomerated in several masses and transformed into fangs around the divine ground.

Like a huge monster, the fangs of darkness tried to devour Ubbo-Sathla’s tentacles, blurring the line between the sky and the earth,

Having decided to eat Ubbo-Sathla’s entire outer shell, Tiamat felt as if she was getting closer to becoming an Emperor.

*

With his [Gnostic Eye] wide open, Chang-Sun tracked down Ubbo-Sathla’s main body, eventually finding a coordinate in Eros. Even if they didn’t specify a Worldline number, returning to Eros from Nyx would still require a considerable amount of Causality.

However, Chang-Sun had the golden key. With ease, he made a door in the air.

[Space-Folding to the next area!]

Thanks to the key, Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk arrived at a place that they were familiar with.

Honnnnk!

Cars and people busily came and went. Some of the drivers honked their horns.

‘Is this... Seoul?’

Standing in the middle of a road, Chang-Sun’s and Bel-Marduk’s eyes widened.

[You have entered the Worldline #801 Server ‘Earth’!]