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Chapter 227: Star, the Star Auction (2)

‘He has the trace of my energy and aura?’ Chang-Sun briefly frowned.

Although he felt as if he vaguely understood what she meant, it was still unclear.

『It’ll be more accurate to say… it smells like you, who control the winds. He has Ithaca’s smell.』

Chang-Sun’s eyes widened at that moment. He knew what Mars smelling like Ithaca meant.

‘The [Omni-Weapon Chest]!’

Chang-Sun was so obsessed with collecting weapons that he got the trait of [King of All Weapons] in the past, and this obsession of his was popular in <Heaven>. Having defeated countless Celestials, the ‘Divine Twilight’ had extorted all kinds of divine and sacred weapons, all of which had later been stored in a giant chest that he had carried on his back.

The [Omni-Weapon Chest] got its name from the fact that it contained all sorts of weapons but no one knew precisely what types of weapons were stored in it, what the weapons’ names were, or even how many were inside it. Moreover, a nearly infinite supply of gunpowder and arrows also poured out from the chest. Eventually, it became the relic and trademark of the ‘Divine Twilight.’

Worrying that he could lose the weapons that he had tried really hard to obtain during battles, the ‘Divine Twilight’ had left a mark that only he could identify on each of his weapons using his <Starlight>. Of course, other people would call him a madman if they found out about this. After all, Chang-Sun wasn’t one of the <Purple Star Astrology> monster deities, whose weapons were their <Myths>. If the ‘Divine Twilight’ ever got his weapons taken away, he could lose his entire <Starlight>.

However, Chang-Sun thought of the [Omni-Weapon Chest] as a part of him, so he never hesitated in marking his weapons. As a security measure, the <Starlight> in his weapons would only shine when he grabbed it anyway. Nevertheless, Armand had basically just told him that Mars seemed to be in possession of one of his <Starlight> weapons.

‘Which one is it? Which one does he have?’?Chang-Sun quickly recalled the list of weapons, but he had no clue, which was only natural. After all, he had thought he would recover the [Omni-Weapon Chest] only after he had started a full-scale war against the <Horoscope>.

‘Those greedy Celestials who captured me wouldn’t have left the chest alone, so I assumed the Zodiacs took all the weapons for themselves… Was I wrong?’

Now that things had turned out this way, Chang-Sun had to do whatever it took to find out what weapon Mars currently possessed.

‘First… I have to make him pull out all his weapons.’

Chang-Sun had a feeling that this sparring, which he started without giving much thought, wouldn’t end easily.

The air around him changed.

[Your ‘Inferno Sights’ have opened!]

Two navy-blue flames blazed up in his eyes, making it seem as if two will o’ wisps had lit up within the opaque sandstorm. He truly resembled a ghost now.

Rumble!

Chang-Sun raised the Nameless Spear in his left hand, causing the <Dusk Lightning> energy around the spear to burst and deflect Mars’ [Enkesphalos] away. As a result, Mars was left open for attacks.

‘It’s dangerous!’ Mars thought, holding the [Rhinotoros] closer to himself.

Chang-Sun threw the [Jin Can Axe] like a boomerang, making it fall on top of Mars’ head.

Boom!

Mars managed to raise the [Rhinotoros] to cover his head just in time, causing a violent explosion strong enough to make him tremble. However, Mars gritted his teeth and steadied himself, showing his experience as a veteran fighter. He then deflected [Jin Can Axe] to the side.

At that moment, gales quickly blew toward Mars. One of the gales blew diagonally from upper left to lower right, and the other came at Mars horizontally from right to left. No, the gales were actually a white claw and a black claw—Chang-Sun had activated the [Black Mountain King’s Claws].

Slash! Slasssh!

Using Double Sword Resonance, the [Yuchang Sword] and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] revealed their true forms, and Chang-Sun swiftly crossed them. The [Yuchang Sword] deeply clawed at the handle of the [Enkesphalos], and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] went after Mars’ neck, climbing up the surface of the [Rhinotoros]. Mars skillfully turned and avoided the attack one more time, but Chang-Sun wasn’t done yet. The [Zhan Lu Sword] popped out from nowhere and tried to stab Mars’ abdomen, an attack he had definitely not seen coming.

“What the hell?! How many more weapons do you have!” Mars growled, thinking Chang-Sun would never stop attacking him.

Left with no other way to deflect Chang-Sun’s close-range attacks, Mars suddenly threw the [Rhinotoros] in the air and grabbed the dagger hung on his back.

Swoosh―!

Clang!

With the dagger he pulled out, Mars successfully parried the [Zhan Lu Sword] up into the air. The [Zhan Lu Sword] shook hard, not liking how Chang-Sun or Mars was treating it, which was known to be the sword of monarchs. However, Chang-Sun couldn’t hear its angry protests. The dagger that Mars had pulled out caught all his attention.

‘[Balmung]!’?Chang-Sun noticed it right away.

Inside Chang-Sun’s [Omni-Weapon Chest], he had four slayerswords that served as his symbols.

[Balmung], the blood-slayer sword, had to spill blood no matter what once it had been unsheathed. Otherwise, it would seek its owner’s blood. [Gram], the dragon-slayer sword, had a legend about a fragment of it being enough to kill a Dragon. [Nothung], the god-slayer sword, was so sharp that it was used to slay not only a god’s treasure but an actual god as well. [Trollsverd], the monster-slayer sword, had been used by a Giant to slay an enemy monster in ancient times.

Chang-Sun never expected to run into the blood-slayer sword here! Although he didn’t know why Mars was in possession of [Balmung], Chang-Sun knew for certain that he had to take the sword using any means necessary. That ultimately meant he had to defeat Mars in this sparring and ask for the sword using the wager they had made.

“Hmph! This guy makes me really obnoxious once I pull it out, so I wasn’t planning on using it. But I guess I have no other choice,” Mars grumbled, not liking the strong resistance of [Balmung].

Tightening his grip on [Balmung] so much that the sword could soon break, Mars changed the course of his attack midway. It seemed Mars was suppressing [Balmung]’s whines by force, which was understandable. Balmung had a temper bad enough to have the title of blood-slayer sword. Although [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] also had a temper, its temper was out of arrogance. After all, it was created with a Dragon’s tooth. In contrast, [Balmung] was obsessed with slaying its enemies using brute force.

―Blood! More blood! More death! Him! Bring him to me!

[Balmung] howled and whined to Mars, unable to recognize its previous owner. Mars believed his violent nature and [Balmung] were a good match, but he had been planning to subdue the dagger someday because it was arrogantly defying his control. All he wanted from others was their absolute obedience.

Swoosh―!

To go up against [Balmung], Chang-Sun fixed his grip on the [Yuchang Sword] and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth]. Thinking he had to launch a stronger attack, Chang-Sun drew as much <Dusk Lightning> energy as possible and prepared to activate the [Black Mountain King’s Claws] again. Purple sparks flew up nonstop as Chang-Sun and Mars readied to clash once more.

“Stop. You both have lost your heads too much in this fight.”

A spear dropped down from the sky and pierced the ground between Chang-Sun and Mars, stopping their match.

Oooong!

Woosh―!

Both Chang-Sun’s lightning energy and Mars’ divine power were deactivated and dissipated in the air.

Tap!

Like an owl, Minerva quietly landed on the top of the spear handle and looked down at them.

* * *

“Woah…!”

“That was insane.”

“Fighting Mars like that… You gotta be kidding me.”

The sparring area fell into silence. Realizing that they had been holding their breaths, the Atrytone warriors started breathing again. That was how intense the sparring between Chang-Sun and Mars had been. The fight reached levels not even the warriors knew existed. They used to believe that they had gone through all sorts of hardships under Minerva’s lead, but even they had trouble fathoming the depth of Mars and Chang-Sun’s skills.

‘Argggh, this is really embarrassing.’?Serena could feel her face reddening because she had a history of treating Chang-Sun like a child before.

She had offered protection to someone with that level of skills and consoled him, saying that he shouldn’t worry and trust this big sister. The memories that flashed across Serena’s mind made her feel like disappearing into the wind.

‘But how could such a man just appear out of thin air?’ Serena couldn’t help wondering.

“What are you doing?!”

However, Serena stopped dead in her tracks as Mars began to yell at Minerva.

Rumble!

His anger was enough to shake the ground that everyone was standing on, but Minerva wasn’t affected at all. Rather, she looked down at Mars with cold eyes.

“I was having fun, why would you throw a wet blanket—!” Mars continued.

“This is my land,” Minerva interrupted. “If you’re going to cause problems, then get lost.”

Mars reddened in anger. Although he wanted to continue yelling furiously, he knew he would immediately get kicked out of Minerva’s divine ground if she evicted him.

Of course, Mars could somehow resist Mierva’s eviction, but if he actually did so, the other <Olympus> numen would turn their backs on him for disgracing Minerva. He usually acted as he pleased, but he wasn’t an idiot.

Clap! Clap!

Just then, Mercury showed up and quietly clapped to brighten up the mood. “Come on, the weather is good today, so why are you going for each other’s necks? Let’s stop this, please.”

Mars held back his anger. Meanwhile, Minerva quietly landed beside Chang-Sun and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” Chang-Sun answered.

“You may seem alright now, but Mars’ divine power could have damaged your Class. Stay still.” Minerva snatched Chang-Sun’s wrist and infused him with her divine power in an attempt to check if Chang-Sun sustained any internal injury.

Looking at Minerva, Chang-Sun smacked his lips. He was a little disappointed about his match against Mars coming to an end, especially since he felt as if he could have won with a little more time. However, he couldn’t break away from Minerva’s grip. After all, she did come all the way here because she was worried about him.

At that moment, Chang-Sun received a telepathic message from Minerva.

『You’ll have another chance to regain [Balmung], so be patient. Even if you had won the wager and asked for the dagger as a prize, Mars wouldn’t have willingly given it to you.』

Chang-Sun’s eyes widened in surprise, but upon looking into Minerva’s deep, calm eyes, he nodded without saying anything else. He lost his head in the sparring, causing his rationality to dull, but the chance of Mars readily accepting his defeat and handing over [Balmung] to Chang-Sun was indeed incredibly low. Considering Mars’ pride as a Celestial, he would ask for another sparring or offer other items instead of handing over [Balmung].

Minerva was pointing out that Chang-Sun shouldn’t be impatient, which would only make things more complicated.

‘This is why it’s good to have an ally who knows everything,’?Chang-Sun thought.

Finding out the location of [Balmung] alone was already a great accomplishment. Once Chang-Sun figured out where Mars had gotten [Balmung] from, he would be able to find out where the other weapons were.

“You’re the guy who wants to go to the <Star Auction>, aren’t you?” Mercury smiled, approaching Chang-Sun.

He was half the size of Mars, but there was something about him that made him look uncontrollably free. When Chang-Sun nodded, Mercury handed him a ticket.

‘The ticket to the auction…!’

Chang-Sun held out his hands in Mercury’s direction. “Thank y—!”

However, he couldn’t get the ticket. Mercury turned his hand that was holding the ticket inward and took the ticket away from him before he could get it. Why was Mercury doing this? Not understanding what was going on, Chang-Sun looked at Mercury, realizing that Mercury’s eyes had turned cold.

“I acquired this ticket because of my sister’s earnest request, but I’m not sure if I can really give this to you, an outsider,” Mercury said.

“Mercury!” Minerva approached, trying to stop Mercury.

Mercury raised his other hand, signaling her not to come any closer. After all, the ticket still belonged to him.

Mercury continued, “I’m more than capable of acquiring this ticket whenever I please, but this item is still expensive, and the place you’re trying to enter is not open to mortals… My sister even had to pay quite a high price just to get an exception to the law of causality.”

With wide-opened eyes, Chang-Sun turned back to look at Minerva. Her face was uncharacteristically red, maybe because she didn’t want Chang-Sun to find out about this. She soon gave Mercury a death glare, making Mercury cave in and flinch. Nevertheless, he still had to ask, “Despite all that, my sister still wishes to give this to you. Are you sure you can use this to the fullest extent?”

Chang-Sun silently looked at the thicket for a moment and lightly snatched it away from Mercury. “I wouldn’t have asked for it if I wasn’t.”

Mercury finally smiled again.

* * *

“You’ll go to the auction house with me, my sister, and Mars.”

While the air inside the sparring area cooled down to some level, Mercury explained how to use the ticket.