Chapter 35 – Bell Tolling to Announce Victory

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Holy Mother of Stillborns was a Great Demon who had reigned for a long time.

She even devoured Growing Life, which was the main god of the Church of the Cycle. It was obvious without looking how many souls she must have stolen.

Such a demon met her end by my hands.

It was karma she accumulated by self-praising that she had severed the fetters of the infinite cycle. Delivering a death sentence to the one who denied life and only looked towards death was a fitting judgment as a god.

Clink.

The scale, which had tilted due to using the Golden Light combo attack, instantly found its balance.

And finally, the dead Great Demon disappeared while vomiting out the souls she had devoured.

Baaaang-.

Like when a swollen balloon bursts.

I tried to reach out towards the souls she had been devouring, but soon realized a bitter truth.

Whooooo…

Two-thirds of the souls the Holy Mother of Stillborns had devoured were black dusts.

Fitting for a demon who coaxed with sweet words, drove them into extreme situations, and then proposed a contract to corrupt them.

Of course, in normal cases, it would be right for them to return since the subject of the contract died.

However, the deals between Great Demons and the Black Sun were by no means simple. Even if they borrowed the power of demons, the Black Sun was the absolute being ruling this world.

The black dusts fluttering weakly were instantaneously sucked into the thick and heavy Dark Light.

<>

It was the moment the sound of a chain breaking rang out throughout the entire world.

It was the death of the Great Demon who forcefully asserted the second rule more than anyone else. It was natural that it would have that much impact on the world.

Even so, I couldn’t just feel relieved.

The Holy Mother of Stillborns was strictly a Great Demon who made a deal with the Black Sun and imposed a restriction on him.

The reason the Black Sun obediently accepted the restriction to be imposed on himself was exactly one.

It was precisely because of the treaty that when a Great Demon died to a non-demon, he inherited half of her legacy.

The Corpse Demons were representative examples.

Gurgle, gasp, wheeze…

With the death of the demon who created them, half of them simply melted away.

The flesh kneaded with the power of the underground and the abyss simmered and boiled the moment the medium disappeared, and failed to leave even a single trace.

However, the other half, the half the Black Sun inherited, was different.

The monsters that remained intact even after the Great Demon’s death began to hurriedly flee into the Dark Light.

…It was exactly at this time that another chain broke.

<>

For an instant, a dark purple halo swept past the surroundings.

And not long after, a familiar gaze was looking at me.

[No star can shine brighter than We.]

The Dark Light became even more detailed and thicker than before.

It swept up the carefully fleeing monsters as if it was moving its fingers.

It was exactly as he said. I could not fight him with my stars yet.

The stars that had created the Coiling Snake were already returning to my body avoiding the Dark Light.

[We are the ruler of all things and the origin of all things, since the flesh of all living things originated from Us.]

I knew, and the Black Sun knew, that we could not fight each other yet.

One side lacked power, and the other side could not intervene on the ground because its restrictions hadn’t fully lifted yet.

The Black Sun, having confirmed the death of the Holy Mother of Stillborns, slowly retreated from the noon he was keeping.

[You too, in the end, are merely a star that will lose its light before Us.]

With those words as his last, the Black Sun set rapidly.

Full of the black dusts that couldn’t come to this side.

Only after the Black Sun completely set and the Herald Star rose, could I open my clenched hand.

I said the Ever-Weeping Star was the size of a fist, but these stars were much smaller.

Inside the round and smooth surfaces like glass beads, they contained a light twinkling excitedly.

Not just one, but a whopping 60 of them.

Even though the power of each individual star seemed incomparably weak, they were closely connected to each other.

To these stars brightly and cheekily wandering around everywhere and twinkling together, a name to give them soon came to mind.

“Afterglow Constellation (殘光星), keep showing that afterglow so that people do not forget the promise I made.”

-Unique miracle, Naming

I shot these stars up into the sky without hesitation.

Just as the roles the first five stars took on respectively were heavy, the Afterglow Constellation was the same.

Although it was a faint starlight, it was sufficient as a clue to make them ruminate on the scenery from that one time.

Of course, I didn’t put every soul into the stars.

Even after the stars left, there were golden dusts orbiting around my side.

Now it was time for them to return to where they belonged.

*

Right when I returned to Santiom, a midwife was shouting with a husky voice.

“Hold on a little longer, mother! Good boy, good boy!”

“Grrrk…! Hnnngh…!”

“Ah, ah… I, if anything goes wrong with the mother.”

“Oh, come on. I’m a person who’s delivered twenty babies. Lessen your worries a bit.”

The mother grasping the string as if she would tear it off, and the midwife looking after her. Furthermore, the husband unable to sit still beside her and the neighbors reassuring him.

While everyone was busy running around alike, there was one place where an exceptionally unusual atmosphere hovered.

A wailing sound wasn’t coming out like other places. It was unpleasantly quiet, as if reminding one of being alone on a chilly mountainside.

Considering that place more urgent than the others, I carefully went down.

Beyond the crumbled wall, in the place where people gathered, I saw a husband wiping the sweat off his wife, who had finished giving birth.

She was the mother who was said to have fainted once.

Fortunately, the birth itself seemed to have been carried out successfully, but no one could open their mouths.

Splish, splash…

The midwife just kept blinking her eyes while washing the received baby with the water she brought.

Even the people who watched and cheered together merely turned their heads and averted their eyes from this sight.

“H… Honey.”

“Huh? Is it because you feel uncomfortable somewhere?”

“O, our…”

It was obvious what she was trying to say.

A chilling silence hovered. It was natural for the child’s mother to notice the coldly cooled atmosphere.

“….”

The husband looked around not knowing what to do, but no one tried to meet his eyes.

I made the judgment that carelessly revealing my appearance here would only take up time.

Revealing myself to one person was enough.

Splish, splash.

“Phew. What sin did the baby and the mother commit.”

The moment the midwife washing the baby that didn’t cry let out a deep sigh.

I calmed the swaying water surface inside the bucket so that I could reveal my appearance without startling her.

-Exercise of rights, Freshwater

Then, the midwife saw my reflection on the water’s surface and widened her eyes.

I grabbed the shoulder of the midwife who was trying to stand up startled and gently sat her down.

“T, t, the great one….”

“What I show you from now on, only the midwives must know.”

“What, what sort of problem.”

Sigh……

I pointed out where the golden dust orbiting my side should go.

The breath exhaled together with the stardust carried the golden dust and advanced heave-ho, heading to where it originally belonged.

To the body born dead because its spirituality was stolen, that is.

I also took measures so that the baby wouldn’t die right away the moment the golden dust dwelled.

The stardust helped the soul that had been outside for a long time dwell in its body.

The heart that stopped beating, the nerves that didn’t respond, the blood vessels that couldn’t flow, and everything that failed to breathe alive.

However, even though the soul returned, the sound of crying wasn’t heard. Perhaps because it had stopped for too long, it remained having forgotten how its heart beat.

I placed my hand on the forehead of the baby held in the trembling midwife’s hands.

“Try beating for the first time. If you do, I will help you.”

Only then did a reaction finally return.

Thump-.

“U, uh-uh, uh-uh.”

The first to notice the baby’s change was naturally the midwife holding it.

Looking at the complexion slowly returning and the twitching limbs, she was more flustered than anyone.

I repeatedly requested earnestly.

“The crying was just a little late. Say it like that, and know it as that.”

And right before the twitching baby burst into crying, I carefully slipped out and headed elsewhere.

The places that received a child but didn’t let out a single word were first.

It did no good for them to find out that the child was born dead. Instead of bringing about hasty confusion, I ended it by giving just a slight hint to the midwives.

Since it would be best if everyone could lessen their worries by slightly damaging the expertise the midwives possessed.

Waaaah!-.

The sounds of babies crying started coming from everywhere.

Between the people who had been depressed and intimidated until just now, cheers and tears filled with joy burst out.

However, the biggest problem remained.

It was the family of the little child named Theon, the mother Bartol and Hwen were watching over.

As soon as I approached that surrounding, I heard serious voices.

“It’s only been three months but labor pains came. Before the belly even bulged, that is. It is by no means an ordinary occurrence. It’s clearly the doing of a sinister power…”

“So you’re saying we have to cut her belly open and kill the baby? Priest, does that make any sense!”

“I understand your feelings. However, can you not hear the old man saying the baby’s mother might die otherwise?”

“Th, that is…”

“Dad, is mom hurting?”

“….”

It was a quite awkward atmosphere.

I did not particularly want to exchange formalities in a situation like this. This time, I showed myself slightly only to Bartol.

“…St, Star!”

“Shh.”

Everything about Bartol was good, but the problem was he always tried to lay prostrate when he saw me. It was not bad to show reverence, but sometimes it felt a bit stuffy.

So partly to play a little trick on him, while Hwen was persuading the husband, I looked at Bartol and threw a mischievous question.

“People won’t speak ill of him for being born seven months early, right?”

“Pardon?”

“Tell the husband to hold the mother’s hand and stroke her belly with the other hand.”

“What in the world are you…”

“It is a revelation bestowed by a god. Do it.”

Although puzzled, he did as told. In this aspect at least, no one followed after Bartol.

The husband, who was abruptly dragged over while having a difficult argument with Hwen, had a bewildered expression.

“Why are you suddenly telling me to hold my wife’s hand and stroke her belly?”

“That is…”

“Old man, you have some trick up your sleeve, don’t you? It’s not some useless nonsense, right?”

Getting troubled at the questions directed towards him, he looked this way.

I subtly hinted him to just try it with a nod of my chin.

“…It is a revelation Star Creation gave me.”

“Star Creation did?”

“Why would that esteemed one do that out of the blue. Isn’t he someone who comes and speaks directly rather than giving revelations?”

“How can a mere human fully fathom the will of a god.”

In the end, Bartol gave up trying to understand me.

The husband eventually held his wife’s hand and stroked her belly while still half in doubt.

When grabbing it directly with his hand, her weakened state must have felt more real. The husband was shedding drops of tears with his eyes open as they were.

“Th, Theon’s mom.”

“…”

“I only made you suffer. I’m sorry.”

Fully accepting the seized Elysium, I interjected.

“Don’t just say it with words, treat her better later.”

Of course, because I intentionally didn’t reveal myself, no one else except Bartol could see me.

When the husband stopped shedding tears and looked around, Bartol furrowed his brows deeply.

“Huh? Did you say something, priest?”

“…It wasn’t me.”

I saw why gods walked around secretly.

This was fun.

Even so, I didn’t forget what I had to do.

The authority obtained by killing the main god of the Church of the Cycle, Growing Life, was truly tremendous. A power like this had to be used generously without sparing it.

It might be different if the world flowed according to providence, but since it was already completely ruined anyway, it wouldn’t even be noticeable if I acted as I pleased.

Comets gathered at my fingertips one by one.

The comets that repeatedly fell while drawing long tails soon formed a bright halo of light.

-Exercise of rights, Life

The moment I placed my pure white glowing hand on top of the husband’s hand stroking the belly.

The mother, who was only quietly breathing in and out, suddenly opened her eyes wide.

No, everyone gathered in this place showed the exact same reaction.

Her belly was swelling up.

Since I provided the power necessary for the growth of life instead, since I even looked after the mother’s health, there was no problem at all.

“Th, this is.”

“The authority of Growing Life!”

While those who noticed the situation were astonished, I once again exhaled a breath harboring stardust.

Whoosh….

The golden dust orbiting by my side shook as if it didn’t want to go, but my will was firm.

You shouldn’t perform less filial duties just because you came out before fulfilling the remaining seven months.

The breath carried the golden dust and advanced.

Having finished all the things I needed to do, I looked at Bartol leaving the bewildered husband behind.

“Call the midwife first. And gather the people after the situation calms down a bit. I will reveal myself there.”

“Please give your command, O great one.”

In the blink of an eye, Bartol was kneeling and holding his hands together.

I didn’t want to unnecessarily attract people’s attention, so I immediately got out of the spot.

And the moment I took a step to find any possible injured.

Wah!-. Euaaaeng-. Waaaah!-.

I could finally let out a sigh of relief at the sounds of babies crying bursting out from everywhere.

Total number of people, 768.

And 14 newly born babies.

I saved them all.