Chapter 97 – The Original Sin of the Sun God (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The end of Dream-Shedding Eye was miserable.

Unlike a bastard who was called a priest king and led his people in life, and made a name for himself as a demon in death.

He died crawling on the ground without even being able to put up a decent resistance, despite being a Great Demon in name.

It was the end of one who sought immortality by taking away the lives and livelihoods of innocent people.

However, it wasn’t a complete victory for this side either.

I couldn’t hide my bitterness as I watched the souls being vomited out continuously.

Unfortunately, there was no way to save the original owners of the bodies.

It was because they died and were dragged into the abyss before entering my influence.

Moreover, even the survivors remaining in the imperial capital were entirely sacrificed to Human Sacrifice.

The problem was that there was also a contract made between the Sun God and the Great Demons.

Half of the souls the demon devoured, and half of the forces under the demon’s command, would be handed over to the Sun God.

As if that wasn’t enough, even the constraint placed on the Sun God would be broken.

If the practical gains were closely calculated, it would probably be much less than expected.

Sure enough, simultaneously with Dream-Shedding Eye’s death, the thing I had been preparing for arrived.

The sound of chains breaking vibrated throughout the world.

From beyond where my power couldn’t reach yet, Dark Light spewed out.

The only consolation was that ordinary people couldn’t hear this.

Because this meant the end of the world was one step closer.

The Sun God’s third constraint was broken.

However, it wasn’t just disadvantageous.

There were Elysiums that Dream-Shedding Eye vomited out as he died.

Settled Night, Dividing Earth, Crouching Vine.

Among them, Dividing Earth and Crouching Vine couldn’t even leave behind a thought.

The only one who spoke to me was the Settled Night.

[God who makes stars, I thought I embraced the stars.]

There was no regret or anything in the Settled Night’s dying words.

The end of a god who had everything taken away and was violated was also the same as the Great Demon.

[But it was arrogance. Before the sun, I was nothing but a shadow…]

The price for underestimating the power of the Sun God was a lonely death.

Realizing the overwhelming gap in power and giving up, the god disappeared just like that.

I neither mourned nor despised the death of the Settled Night.

In the end, it is a dead god.

Having its spirit broken and failing to fulfill its mission was everything.

I will take over what the Settled Night should have done.

The preparations were also complete just in time.

It was worth raising the sun using all sorts of tricks.

The future sun faithfully played its role.

Although it wasn’t golden, it spread my influence everywhere by illuminating the world with a blue light.

And the senses of a god extend to everywhere their influence reaches.

Numerous voices that had been blocked by the Black Sun and the influence of demons until now were bursting out.

‘It was real… that promise.’

‘Oh my god, they say it’s the god who makes stars. Then it’s a higher status than the Sun God!’

‘P-Put out the torches. Goodness. To think it’s light and not Dark Light.’

My five senses exploded.

I felt like I was paralyzed by the smell of sweet cupcakes, the scent of hope.

People in each shelter hurriedly put out candles or torches and poured outside.

Among them were refugees heading to Salutaris, the headquarters of the Celestial Church.

Those who were trudging along the highway turned around in unison as soon as they noticed the sunlight.

The future sun revealed through the Circle Wheel was not as dazzling as before.

It was still only slightly brighter than the moon rather than the sun.

However, thanks to that, the refugees could look up at the sun without covering their eyes with their fingers.

The refugees stared up at the sun blankly for a long time.

With their eyes wide open as if they couldn’t believe it.

Then, shortly after, they started arguing.

Bringing up a topic that was definitely hard to overlook.

‘The sun?’

‘Look at that, it’s the god who makes stars. I told you, there’s a surviving god!’

‘Then what on earth were the words the angel told us? They said it was a demon claiming to be a god after the Pantheon, doesn’t that not make sense.’

‘You’re saying that sun is fake?’

‘That’s not it. It’s weak, but it’s definitely sunlight. A demon can never show this warm-feeling light. Everyone knows!’

‘Yeah, something is strange. This means… either the angel or the god who makes stars lied.’

Watching them put their heads together and ponder made me grind my teeth.

Dirty and petty bastards.

I wondered why the Celestial Church had been so quiet.

It was understandable where the Sun God’s confidence came from.

The Celestial Church wasn’t simply hunting surviving gods.

True to a mad horde following a mad god, they were spreading false rumors.

To lure survivors to Salutaris.

And doing so by fully utilizing the advantage of their origin being heaven.

“It’s a relief that I obtained the Divine Name of the night even now.”

Safety does not exist in this world.

The Sun God could rise as much as he wanted and whenever he wanted, taking a very slight loss.

Time and place are meaningless under the Black Sun full of malice.

This was the reason why I ran around desperately.

To guarantee minimal safety for the survivors, I absolutely had to usurp Elysium.

And the most important among them was the Settled Night.

The day when the sun rises and the night when it does not.

It was a Divine Name absolutely necessary to distinguish these two.

“I barely balanced it out.”

The stars within my flesh orbited and drew trajectories.

The fallen comets fell and fell again toward my fingertips.

Until my right arm was dyed golden, and furthermore with pure white light.

What these signs left behind was a whitish paint.

Using my finger as a brush, I shook it vigorously just like that.

I painted the sky with the manifested authority, the translucent gray paint.

– Exercise of Rights, Settled Night.

Looking at it, nothing seemed to have changed.

Because the painted color quickly became transparent and disappeared.

However, the authority of the Settled Night is not simply a tool for coloring the sky.

What was being colored right now was none other than heaven.

The heaven governed by the Sun God.

I took one more step forward as a god.

Now I can see heaven beyond the sky.

The heaven that was dyed pitch-black was being overlaid with a fluorescent blue color.

Not enough to paint everything, but enough to paint half.

And the divinity that advanced by revealing the future sun told me why I had to paint heaven.

– What governs time in this world is heaven.

– The one who governs heaven governs time freely.

I quietly put down my finger brush and looked around.

Even though it was half, the effect of obtaining half of heaven was certain.

All the shadows that had been cast, however shallow, were retreating.

All sorts of monsters and demons ambushing in the dry forests and desolate ruins screamed and ran away.

The Great Demons who had been watching this side also carefully withdrew their gazes.

The Black Sun and Dark Light reigning as the Absolute were no exceptions.

[The sin of violating heaven, you will surely wail and regret it.]

The Sun God squirmed the dark purple radiance as a final struggle.

But he couldn’t forcefully grab onto the horizon and drag it out.

Unlike before when I only relied on Sun Expulsion, I took half of heaven this time.

I burst into laughter without any worries for the first time in a while.

“From now on, it’s truly my time. Get lost.”

It was different from usual.

The Black Sun, which had been committing all sorts of atrocities, obediently set.

At that moment, cheers erupted from all directions.

It wasn’t just the Nebula Church I brought along.

Screams mixed with crying, laughing, and joy began to pour out from all over the world illuminated by my halo.

‘Sunlight. How long has it been since we had sunlight.’

‘We lived. Ha, hahaha! We lived!’

‘Mom, I’m all healed! Look, hehe. The sun made new flesh grow.’

‘Fuck, you stupid bastard… you should have held on just a little longer…’

‘Kids, the sun is up! I should dry the laundry after a long time!’

‘Sister, is that what you say as soon as the sun comes up?’

‘I offer all consensus to the god after the Pantheon, the last god born in the Dark Light. Be praised, Godfather of all the stars to come…’

I earnestly wanted to comfort each and every one of them.

Still, what must be done must be done first.

Anyway, a single ray of sunlight right now would come as a greater comfort than a hundred words.

Emotion is better savored when pondered over rather than adding unnecessary words.

Instead of speaking to comfort them, I opened my left hand.

Above my grasp, a pitch-black mass of light was shrinking, overwhelmed.

The Dark Light obtained as a spoil of war.

With this, it was time to unravel what on earth the Sun God’s dark memory was.

***

Light is a skein made by clumping and weaving threads.

What is contained within is the memory harbored by a star.

Exchanged Knowledge had informed me of this fact and repeatedly emphasized that unraveling the Sun God’s origin was more important than anything else.

And I am not a vicious gamer who ignores the developer’s sincerity by passing up hints.

It’s only polite to follow the wishes of the one who must have hosted my Ascension exam, [Last Comet].

As soon as I made up my mind, I deeply thrust both hands into the Dark Light.

This subtle sensation is… yeah. It feels like playing cat’s cradle.

It looks like a randomly tangled skein, but it had its own rules.

Flip it once from the inside out, and turn it three times from left to right.

This time, twirl it round and round with only one hand and flip it…?

After struggling for a long time, I slowly began to understand.

It was understandable that even Exchanged Knowledge found it overwhelming.

In the first place, this was not the domain of knowledge.

100% purity, it could only be unraveled entirely by intuition.

Exchanged Knowledge had forcefully unraveled it using his own outstanding foresight.

Otherwise, it was a skein so intricately tangled that it couldn’t be explained.

However, no matter how complex the knot, it is bound to untie someday.

Done.

The thin threads of light entangled and drooping from my fingers.

An opaque, soap bubble-like liquid filled the space between them.

Containing shapes and sounds as if it were an LCD screen.

– Stars that do not shine. Stillborns who died without being able to be born.

Familiar voices and letters begin to flow in the pitch-black background.

– Both my brothers and I considered it so and paid no attention.

– However, I hear it. A trivial pulsation.

– Even though they were stillborn and couldn’t be born alone, wishing they could shine no matter how faintly.

– Pitiful stillborns, my brothers who could not be born are envying even me, the darkest star.

A proper shape was caught for the first time.

It was the Sun God.

Although he wore a pitch-black feather cloak, it was definitely the Sun God.

The Sun God, called the weakest youngest star, was carefully strolling on the non-shining star.

– My unfortunate brothers, I will fulfill that wish.

The Sun God stroked the earth of the star that was cooling down coldly.

At that moment, the ground collapsed with a crash.

The Sun God didn’t know what to do, looking at the crater hollowed out by a single hand gesture of his.

– That…

The pitch-black night sky that no one listens to or watches.

Under it, the Sun God was spinning round and round alone, making groaning sounds.

After agonizing for a long time, the action the Sun God took was highly unusual.

– …I am sorry.

The Sun God was bowing his head toward the dead star.

To apologize for making a crater with a single hand gesture of his.

My review?

“Crazy.”

I crumpled the unraveled Dark Light again and dismissed it with a single word.