Chapter 34 – Promise

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The action taken by the injured Great Demon was simple.

Before we could do anything, she turned into a black cloud of smoke. Recognizing that she couldn’t win as things stood, she was immediately fleeing as she was.

Naturally, I drew her out with the intention of killing her. I began to chase the Holy Mother of Stillborns together with the Atonement Star.

“Trying to run away? In that injured state, you’ll be eaten by another bastard, won’t you?”

But truly surprisingly, the one the Holy Mother of Stillborns feared was none other than me.

Rather than worrying about cannibalism, she shouted like a scream to shake off me who was chasing her right away.

[Someone! Anyone, please! Anyone!]

“I’ll just hit you once. Stay still for a…”

At that moment, I felt a chilling killing intent.

It wasn’t a murderous intent directed at me, but a murderous intent directed at the people remaining in Santiom.

Since the Holy Mother of Stillborns was busy running away crying her eyes out, there was only one culprit.

A pitch-black Dark Light strong enough to crush a person in a single breath was taking aim at Santiom.

A vicious trick.

The very moment I turned my body while clicking my tongue, the Dark Light pointing at Santiom suddenly changed its direction.

The Dark Light, possessing a strength so strong that a heavy weight was felt, brushed past my side.

Only then did I realize what it plotted.

Since intervention on the ground was limited, it intended to help the Great Demon who could intervene on the ground.

Sure enough.

[A, ah… This, this is… the power of the sun we have cursed…!!!]

The demon, whose arm, hand, and even jaw had been blown away, drew its contour again.

Presently, when an exceptionally pitch-black streak of Dark Light was lifted.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns returned to the appearance I first met and was trembling at the omnipotence of the sun.

However, the gap in power remained the same. She merely barely recovered her form; the fact that an immense amount of her power was chopped off didn’t change.

Both the Holy Mother of Stillborns and I knew that fact too well.

The Great Demon, seeing me kick off the sky, made a judgment without a single bit of hesitation.

Sswwaaaaak-.

My fist sliced through the empty air. Only the billing black smoke scattered mockingly.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns turned into black smoke and ran away.

What’s even more wicked is that while doing so, she continued to pressure this side.

“Kkiyaaaaaaak!”

“Mother, mother! Snap out of it! At this rate, the baby will die too!”

“She fainted! You keep waking her, I’ll go bring even some rice gruel!”

Voices heard from Santiom. I could tell what was happening just from those voices.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns was inflicting even more labor pains on the mothers. If I dragged this out longer… they might just die of exhaustion.

I could not be dragged around like this.

-Punishing miracle, Sound of a Thousand Thunders

I had to shoot the snake of lightning and sweep her away instantly with an explosion.

Thinking so, I moved my fingertips towards the smoke cloud, but this time too, the obstructer didn’t sit still.

A pitch-black Dark Light once again divided me and the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

It was a darkness so thick that even seeing beyond it would be impossible if one wasn’t a god. Even if it was lightning spewed out by a god, it couldn’t pierce it.

Plop. The lightning I painstakingly shot just got eaten by the Dark Light and lost its meaning.

[I finally understand why you humans served the Sun God. Truly the Absolute, the one free to exist alone!]

The Holy Mother of Stillborns burst into a crazed laughter while strolling among the Dark Light.

[The god of gods, the origin of all things! To think the power of the sun… was this, this mighty!!!]

Noticing her own advantage, she chose to take form and provoke me instead of running away.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns showed the souls grasped in her hand and sneered at me, who couldn’t widen the distance from Santiom.

[O god who makes stars, even your strength is ultimately meaningless in front of the Sun God. However, if you abandon all the burdens you brought along, you might draw with him.]

“Do you call the people I must protect burdens?”

[Face reality. I acknowledge your strength. However, aren’t they the ones hindering your victory. Hand them over to me and challenge the Sun God. Since they’re just burdens, aren’t they existences that don’t need to be in your world.]

“No.”

[It’s confirmed that no matter how strong your power is, it’s useless before the sun. Under a starless sky, your power is weak. Once I offer these sacrifices to the Sun God, he probably won’t set for a while either. Now stop and see reality. How about stepping back appropriately?]

I did not fall for such nonsense. The answer I would return was only one from the beginning.

An ending where only a portion, only the few that came to hand, were saved, I had seen it countless times.

“I don’t compromise with a bastard I’m going to kill.”

[You insist on doing so.]

“The one hindering my victory is the Black Sun.”

To win here, I had to repel the Black Sun’s interference.

Saying I can’t do anything because all the stars sank below the horizon was an excuse. Saying ‘I did my best’ or ‘this is enough for now’ were words a god shouldn’t speak.

To lift the rules forced upon the world, the mighty enemies strolling the world, and the shadows cast over the world, I had to become much stronger than I am now.

Much more, to a far greater extent than now.

It was when I made that resolve.

Rustle.

A sound like stepping on a freshly fallen autumn leaf was heard.

It is an autumn leaf that fell a long time ago and dried up. That autumn leaf whispered as it shattered to pieces.

If it is near, it is far, but if you look from afar, it is near.

If dropped, they become stars, and if together, they form a galaxy.

That is the nature of stars.

Tinting Leaf.

The prophecy left by him, who once formed a rank in the pantheon, was not a complete one.

Words that were only realized when the ordained time came were called prophecies. And words that waited until you realized them were rightfully called clues.

Tinting Leaf gladly met his death foreseeing the miracle I would bring about.

Instead of saying everything, leaving only an echo to advise me at the exact moment I needed advice the most.

The clue left by the dead god clearly pointed out what my next power was.

A miracle connecting star and star.

However, the enemies did not quietly watch my power being used.

[How helpless, to think the one who was so strong is this helpless.]

The Holy Mother of Stillborns revealed her huge main body and swung her fist.

Vuuuuuung-.

Rotten blood spews out through the demon’s bluish-gray skin torn by the wind she herself caused.

Rotten Blood.

It was a pattern the Holy Mother of Stillborns used to avoid close combat. Naturally, I dodged everything, but doing so didn’t solve the situation.

I figured out what miracle to cause by connecting star and star.

The problem was the fact that all other stars except the Atonement Star had set.

If it weren’t for the Atonement Star diligently chasing after me whenever I moved fiercely, it would have been an even more painful fight.

The moment I wondered if I had to hold out like this until the Black Sun set.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns, seeing me not approaching, floated a lifeless sneer and extended her hand.

[Are you not going to save them? Will you abandon both the mothers and the children to weigh your victory?]

The golden dusts floating around without knowing anything were placed on top of that grasp.

Of course, if I sought only victory even to the point of abandoning them, I would have abandoned them all a long time ago.

I would not tolerate any sacrifices.

Even if the world forced a choice, even if it urged me to abandon the lighter ones, I would carry them on my back to the very end.

If it was an ordinary human, they would have had to do so inevitably… If it was a gamer enjoying a game that flows according to a set scenario, they would have followed the intent.

But right at this moment, I was a god.

My choice was only one, becoming strong enough to overcome all these choices and rules!

O god who makes stars.

If the place where stars are is called the sky, then the place that already embraces stars is also the sky.

The ones craving a new sun were not only the people.

The fallen god who had to watch the suffering his believers, the people who believed in him, went through was also the same.

I, who heard all the clues delivered by the Tinting Leaf, raised my hand towards the pitch-black sky.

“Atonement Star, return to my hand.”

The Atonement Star, which had been chasing me hurriedly, drew a trajectory and returned.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns, while being wary of my actions, still asked mockingly.

[What are you planning to do with a star that cannot even shine on its own?]

It’s not worth listening to.

I grasped the smooth surface of the glass star.

“Sky above the sky, sky below the sky!”

With those words, I drove the Atonement Star into my chest.

Do not get too absorbed in just making stars.

The power even the Sun God is wary of is not just to that extent.

“If the world cannot embrace the stars, then I shall become the sky and embrace them!”

Originally, Elysium was a piece of god’s flesh.

As if welcoming the Atonement Star that returned from an excursion, the stars inside my flesh began to shine all at once.

The stars that hadn’t been seen until now also joined the rare banquet. Even the stars I thought didn’t exist because they were so faint were showing themselves off on this occasion.

The stars that had set below the horizon were also the same.

The Herald Star of Mission, the Sentinel Constellation of Hope, the Consoling Constellation of Understanding, the Ever-Weeping Constellation of Regret, and the Atonement Constellation of Repentance that just returned.

The stars that were chased away because the Black Sun ran amok shone most dazzlingly from within my flesh and announced their existence.

My body was already brightly dyed with stars twinkling from all directions.

Although it still didn’t reach the level of the sun, enough to illuminate the surroundings.

<>

Countless streaks of light orbited as if excited and drew trajectories.

[Wh, what.]

However, there was something I intended to draw in the sky.

Among the stars swimming through my flesh and leaving long tails, I shouted towards the five stars that haughtily kept their places.

“I draw it with the yearning for the sky and light, and the longing for the prancing stars!”

The five stars that responded to the call emitted a stronger light in the order they were born.

The light emitted by the stars became a bridge connecting each other, and even after the stars themselves faded, they remained as extremely thin lines.

[What nonsense.]

A line drawn in a zigzag shape.

The streak of light connecting star and star soon attracted the interest of the stars twinkling around it.

It was the moment the imagination and dreams of the people, freely unleashed while looking up at the Starry night sky, took form.

[What nonsensical thing are you doing!!!!]

“I shall connect star to star and achieve it!!!!!”

Hwaaaaaak-.

The stars inside my flesh constantly gathered into the line drawn by the five stars.

The moment the shape that looked like a simple earthworm took a more detailed form, the shape of a snake covered in scales.

-Unique miracle, Constellation Creation (創座)

“Constellation Coiling Snake, I order you to mete out death.”

I stroked the scales of the snake emerging riding the streaks of light bursting out from my body and commanded.

This young snake made of stars looked up at me with bright, intelligent eyes.

“Devour the Black Sun.”

The one that revolted against these words was not the Coiling Snake, but the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

As if it were her own business, she squawked from far away.

[Absolutely impossible! Can a snake merely made of light defy the sun!]

“If it’s for a short while, it can.”

[Are you not afraid of death?!]

“Why would I be afraid?”

I laughed, sending off the snake that finished its greeting by sticking out its tongue, hiss-hiss.

“I do not abandon my stars.”

[I won’t let you!!!]

This time, she came in first.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns had lost all the composure she showed until just now. Rather, she was anxious to grab the snake advancing towards the sun.

Naturally, if she did this, I gained the advantage.

I could quickly return the price for ignoring me, the one she had feared so much.

I kicked off the sky.

And before the Holy Mother of Stillborns could run away, I reached her much faster.

[N, no!!!!]

BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!.

“Run away, demon!”

If she turned into a smoke cloud and ran away, she couldn’t chase the snake. The situation had reversed.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns was literally chipped away as she took turns getting hit by the golden hand made of divine power and the fist of my main body.

BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!.

“Beg for mercy!”

I chased her as she was blown away from the hits and hit her again, repeating it countless times.

BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!, BOOM!…

“Just as you wanted those people to do!”

Cheolpeok.

The flesh that was beaten to her heart’s content was crushed and torn off. Afraid she might actually scream to save her life, I hit her and hit her again without even giving her a chance to scream.

It was when I had been hitting her for a long time.

Hwaaaaaaaak-!!!!

[N, nonsense.]

“What do you mean nonsense. I said it could do it.”

It was a sky that had always been only gloomy since all the stars fell.

Such a sky was dyed pure white for the first time. The bursting light illuminated the entire world without missing a single place, without leaving a single spot of shade.

The Coiling Snake devoured the Black Sun.

Of course, it was only for a very brief moment. The Coiling Snake was swelling up as if it would burst any moment right after devouring the sun.

But this very brief moment was important.

The people had been crushed under the influence of the demons and the Black Sun in a world hitherto filled with darkness.

This was also the reason why the distance I could see and the distance I could hear were limited.

Naturally, when the light illuminated the world, my influence reversed theirs.

The words of a god were heard wherever their influence reached.

I brought up the words I had only been thinking about for this moment.

[“My name is Star Creation. The god from after the pantheon, born within the Dark Light.”]

Then I could feel everything I hadn’t been able to feel until now.

Not just this place.

There were still living people left in the world. A number well over tens of thousands.

All of them were listening to my words while being dazzled by the light bursting out after devouring the Black Sun.

[“The sky you are looking at right now is my promise.”]

The time it could devour the Black Sun was short.

The Coiling Snake swelled up to the brim as if it would burst any second. Dark Light was already leaking through the scales that had popped off here and there.

[“From now on, remember the promise.”]

After finishing the words I had to say, it was time to do the work I had to do.

While starlight still illuminated the entire world, right now when the Black Sun couldn’t hastily help out, was the optimal time.

I raised my fist towards the Holy Mother of Stillborns.

[St, Star Creation. Accept me under your command…]

“Get lost.”

BOOM!.

The moment this tedious demon yielded her heart and the moment the Coiling Snake burst were simultaneous.

What was seen through the gap in the pierced bluish-gray skin was none other than life.

He, who had been suffering with disgusting blood vessels densely attached to him, floated a smile the moment our eyes met.

[I knew death from the moment I was born.]

Growing Life.

The god who was the main god of the Church of the Cycle willingly laid down his everything.

The lingering attachment remaining for the god who had accepted death for a long time was the souls trapped inside his body.

[Please take these with you as well.]

I answered those words with a single word.

“Star Creation!”