The Divine Twilight's Return

Chapter 522: Star, Determination (2)

“Like I told you earlier, it isn’t difficult to undo the ice. However, since it is stopping him from plummeting by force, he’ll start plummeting unbelievably fast once it has been removed,” the Songjae King coldly warned Chang-Sun.

Songjae, who had always been carefree, was understandably very serious right now. After all, it was a great burden for Songjae to undo the ice boulder that had been stopping the Emperor's Seat from plummeting. He was very grateful to Chang-Sun for reviving <Jotunheim>, which he had knocked down in the past, so he never wanted to see Chang-Sun feeling hurt.

Chang-Sun calmly shook his head. “Don’t worry. We’ve done a lot of preparations. More importantly, even if things go wrong, I’m not going to hold it against you.”

“... If you say so.” Unable to stop him anymore, Songjae took a step back and put his hand on the ice boulder.

At that moment, Chang-Sun heard people gulping in anxiety. When he glanced back, he saw Qi Gong and <Valhalla> standing rigidly, their eyes glued to the ice boulder.

The sight made him chuckle. He used to find Qi Gong and the others annoying because of their arrogance, so their reaction right now amused him.

『Like I said before, once the ice boulder is undone, I’ll use [Audumla's Initial Blood] to temporarily stop Father from plummeting. It might not be enough, so use your divine power to help me,』 Chang-Sun said.

Qi Gong and their siblings clenched their fists as they nodded.

“Let’s begin,” Songjae, who had been watching them, said. He then withdrew the yin energy that he had been using on the Emperor's Seat.

[The Celestial ‘Third Purgatory King’ has deactivated the Freezing Hell’s power!]

[The yin energy restricting the Celestial ‘Tian Shi Yuan’ has been withdrawn, resuming the plummeting.]

Swish―!

Ice dust flew up from the boulder for a moment. After a few audible cracks, the ice boulder crumbled down.

Woosh, woosh, woosh!

The body of the Emperor's Seat emitted a strong stench as it quickly decayed. At the same time, his pale face caught Chang-Sun’s eyes. His plummeting seemed to have progressed a lot more than they had expected.

“Now—”

Before Chang-Sun could even finish yelling, Qi Gong and their siblings had already extended their arms toward the Emperor’s Seat.

[<Valhalla> Celestials are sending their divine power to the Celestial ‘Tian Shi Yuan’!]

[The Celestial ‘Tian Shi Yuan’ has been granted a great amount of blessing!]

[The plummeting of the Celestial ‘Tian Shi Yuan’ has been significantly slowed down!]

Chang-Sun poured a bit of [Audumla's Initial Blood], which he only had half a bottle of now, over the head of the Emperor's Seat. The blood flowed down his cheeks and then beelined into the hole in his left chest instead of dripping all over the place. Afterward, it slowly spread through his veins like a heart, turning his dark and lifeless cheeks rosy.

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When Chang-Sun quickly put the red sphere in his hand into the hole, [Audumla's Initial Blood] enveloped the red sphere, connecting the veins of the Emperor’s Seat to it.

Thump...!

Just then, Chang-Sun received a heavy blow on his soul, causing him to lose balance.

Chang-Sun groaned. “Keough...!”

The Emperor's Seat’s body also fragmented and shook precariously. seemingly about to crumble down.

“Twilight?”

“What’s wrong?”

Songjae, Qi Gong, and the others quickly walked over to Chang-Sun with concerned looks on their faces.

Chang-Sun quickly raised his other hand to stop them. “Don’t come near me!”

With his entire focus on the Emperor’s Seat, he had no time to reassure or warn them.

Chang-Sun’s eyes sharpened. ‘Richardus, that son of a bitch. What in the world has he done to Father?’

The blow that had just struck him was still attacking him. The unexpected explosion during the transplant had almost pushed him away from the Emperor's Seat. It wasn’t any of the ordinary reactions or resistances that took place when different kinds of energies mixed.

A self-destruction device. perhaps to stop anyone from reviving the Emperor's Seat or hurt as many people as possible, Richardus seemed to have secretly planted a bomb inside the heart of the Emperor's Seat when he had taken it. If Chang-Sun had failed to stop it, it could have killed him and the Emperor's Seat.

‘I will... never forgive you, Richardus,’ Chang-Sun thought. He then gritted his teeth and focused on retrieving the scattering <Myths> of the Emperor's Seat. ‘Don’t rush!’

Chang-Sun slowly circulated the divine power that had been infused into the Emperor's Seat. As if he was patching up clothes, he connected the <Myths> of the Emperor's Seat one by one. The one difference between patching and what Chang-Sun was doing right now was that no matter how perfect of a seamster one was, they could never completely hide the stitches that had mended the parts together. However, [Audumla's Initial Blood] made them disappear.

Due to the Emperor’s Seat’s considerable number of <Myths>, connecting them one by one proved difficult. Nevertheless, Chang-Sun tried his best to finish the process.

“So you’re Twilight. I heard a lot about you.”

‘You held out your hand for me in the past. I’m not letting it go again,’ Chang-Sun thought amid the process.

After who knew how long...

Ba―dump!

... the artificial heart finally started beating. It was a very slow but energetic throb.

Badump, badump, badump―!

The heartbeat became faster. the blood of the Emperor’s Seat quickly circulated through his veins, and he filled up with divine power little by little, awakening his divinity.

Chang-Sun slowly took his hand off the Emperor's Seat. “Phew!”

The hole in the left chest of the Emperor’s Seat was starting to close up, and his pale face had turned noticeably rosy. It was faint, but Chang-Sun could also hear him breathing.

“... Twilight?”

Qi Gong and their siblings anxiously looked at Chang-Sun. Instead of answering them, Chang-Sun simply stared at the Emperor's Seat. He had done everything he could. Everything that would happen next was beyond him.

The eyelids of the Emperor's Seat trembled for a moment until he slowly opened them.

“Father!”

“Father, can you hear us?”

Qi Gong and his brothers clung to the Emperor's Seat.

‘Watching grown men crying their eyes out is really weird,’ Chang-Sun thought.

As he stroked his sons’ heads, the Emperor's Seat smiled at his prodigal son. “Thank... you.”

Those words were all Chang-Sun needed to hear to forget about all the hardships that he had gone through.

***

After examining the Emperor's Seat, the Byeonseong King explained, “The operation is successful, but it’ll take a long time for him to get back on his feet. The treatment after the operation is the key. He needs to adapt to his artificial heart, and we also have to prepare for the possibility of his heart reacting against him. However, since he used to have a high Divine Class, the side effects should be quite mild.”

After enjoying his reunion with his children, the Emperor's Seat had fallen fast asleep.

“Please take care of Father until he recovers.” Chang-Sun nodded.

“Are you leaving already? He’s your father, you know. Shouldn’t you watch him a little longer?”

“My siblings are tending to him. If something happens, I’ll come back immediately,” Chang-Sun answered.

He was planning to go back to where Tiamat was. Now that he had seen how [Gaia's Blessing] worked, he had to return and stop his Worldline from getting destroyed any further.

‘... To be honest, I still find it weirder to stay here,’ Chang-Sun thought bitterly.

Even though he had taken Qi Gong and the others under his wings as <Valhalla>, Chang-Sun believed that he had no right to be with them. After all, the Emperor's Seat was in his current condition due to the conflict that he had with Chang-Sun.

‘If I had a heart-to-heart talk with Father before leaving <Purple Star Astrology>... If I hadn’t sealed him in the Bottomless Void because of our misunderstanding... maybe none of this would have happened...’

Chang-Sun would always feel like a sinner before his siblings. Since they had never left the Emperor’s Seat’s side, he couldn’t blend in with them.

Although aware of the reasons behind Chang-Sun’s current actions, Byeonseong could only smile bitterly. He had been the doctor of the Emperor's Seat for a long time, so he knew that the Emperor's Seat didn’t blame Chang-Sun in the slightest. However, since he was just a mere third party, it was hard for him to console Chang-Sun.

“You won’t tell your siblings about your departure either?” Byeonseong asked.

“Can you tell them about it later?”

“Sure. If that’s what you want, then I won’t stop you. Before you go, though, you should visit the King of the Underworld first.”

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

“Yes. There is something he would like to talk to you about.”

Chang-Sun wondered what it could be. He also had some matters to discuss with Thanatos before leaving the <Underworld> anyway. Hence, without giving it much thought, he headed to his palace.

***

Upon arrival, Chang-Sun froze up. Thanatos was accompanied by someone familiar.

“Hahaha! I’ve heard a lot about how much you’ve grown. You have certainly become such a fine man,” Cadmus, Chang-Sun’s former teacher—not the <Abyss> Dragon that he had received from Mephistopheles—greeted.

Cadmus had taken Chang-Sun in when the latter ended up in Arcadia with nothing... He had also bequeathed him the name ‘Cadmus’ and the contract with Ithaca.

“... Gramps?”

“Tsk, tsk! Seriously? You must have aged a lot more now, so why are you still acting so immature?” Cadmus replied. Although he had clicked his tongue disapprovingly, his delighted smile never disappeared.

Chang-Sun still couldn’t move. Cadmus was the last person he had expected to meet here.

“I coincidentally saw his name in the list of upcoming reincarnators, so I thought you’d want to meet him. ” Thanatos smiled gently. “I should have looked for him sooner... I’m sorry for the delay.”

Cadmus guffawed. “I’m grateful for the opportunity alone. I didn’t expect to receive such a pleasant gift before my new journey.”

Thanatos took a step back. “Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll give you some privacy so you can enjoy your reunion.”

Before disappearing into the darkness, Thanatos mouthed to Chang-Sun, 『You’re good at everything you do but unusually bad when it comes to building a relationship with people. I don’t know what burden you’re carrying in your heart, but I hope you can learn to free yourself from it.』

He then smiled. 『Consider it a gift from your friend.』