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Chang-Sun used electromagnetic force to pull out the slayer swords from the [King’s Treasury] and keep them stranded in the air. [Balmung], [Gram], and [Nothung] danced around Chang-Sun, ready to fly at any moment.

“Fire,” Chang-Sun ordered using [Wordwielding]. The slayer swords flew through the air, turning into rays of light.

Kieeeeeeh!

Various monsters fell from the sky. Ghosts that made up the Incendiary Burial Whale’s Anomaly were connected to the linings through long tentacles.

―Die.

―Kill you…!

―Turn into one of us.

The monsters taking the lead stood out the most. Although they relatively looked like humans, their armor was bizarre, having teeth and all.

[The ‘Weathering Sand’ bares his deep hostility!]

[The ‘Soul-Corrupting Jinn’ wishes to turn you into his comrade!]

[The ‘Ice Cycle’ reveals his deep greed!]

…

The Merciful Sky King, Light Sky King, Long Sky King… The ferocious Ten Sky Kings, the <Jiejiao Sect>’s executives, turned into the Incendiary Burial Whale’s monsters when they died. Unlike most of the ghosts, which lost their rationality when they became part of the Incendiary Burial Whale, these monsters seemed to be capable of thinking for themselves on some level. They not only noticed that Chang-Sun was the owner of the Anomaly that dared trespass on their land but even fought him and the slayer swords in formations.

While the Merciful Sky King, Light Sky King, and Long Sky King handled the three swords, the other Sky Kings curved toward Chang-Sun. Accepting their challenge, Chang-Sun sprang forth, drawing [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] and unlocking its seal.

Schwing!

Paaah―!

Their fierce battle began mid-air.

Boom, boom, boom―!

Rumble…!

Countless explosions and earthquakes shook the subconscious realm. When Chang-Sun fiercely swung [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] horizontally, the Cataclysm Celestial enveloping him did the same.

Rumble.

A ray of light that looked like a [Dragon Breath] or a [Fiery Lightning Bolt] struck where the Cataclysm Celestial glanced. A spatial gap seemed to have been created as well.

Mixed with <Darkness> and supreme sacred light, Chang-Sun’s Anomaly dealt extraordinary damage with each attack. As four of the seven Sky Kings were wiped away before they could scream or even reach him, the Cataclysm Celestial continued its offense. It repeatedly fired lightning bolts to subdue the frightened runners, heating up the air in the process.

Rumble, rumble, rumble―!

―Arrrghhhh!

―It’s hot! Hot!

The remaining monsters died helplessly.

Chang-Sun held out his empty left hand toward where the monsters died. “Grab them.”

Through his [Gnostic Eye], he saw ghosts powerlessly floating in the air, having lost their bodies. If he left them be, they would permeate back into the Anomaly and recover, so he decided to capture them instead. Locating the runes written on the ghosts, Chang-Sun grabbed one of them with his hand.

Kieeeeeeeh.

The ghost shrieked as it was pulled into Chang-Sun’s hand. Dimensional distance didn’t mean anything to him anymore.

―Let me go. Let me go!

Feeling the ghost desperately trying to run away, he squeezed it harder. With a crushing sound, it distorted into a more bizarre form.

Pzzzzz―!

Chaos energy, a mixture of soul energy and the concentrated grudges in the Anomaly, rose from the drooping ghost. The wind then pushed the gray, haze-like energy into Chang-Sun’s nose, ears, and mouth.

‘It’s stale.’

[You have successfully stolen the soul of the Incendiary Burial Whale’s ‘Merciful Sky King’!]

[Your Anomaly has been slightly reinforced.]

[Absorbing.]

Getting an unpleasant aftertaste, Chang-Sun looked at the Merciful King’s remains in his hand. A soul was composed of inner and outer spirits. He had just absorbed the Merciful King’s inner spirit, the core of a soul, leaving behind the outer spirit, which was filled with malice. Chang-Sun found absorbing it unnecessary since it would just be a foreign substance in his Anomaly. However, instead of discarding it, he acquired the Light Sky King and Long Sky King’s outer spirits as well.

‘I’ll connect these.’ Chang-Sun pulled a thread of energy from the Cataclysm Celestial’s upper body and pierced it through the three outer spirits’ heads at once.

Kieeeh! Kieeeeh!

Whenever Chang-Sun took out a ghost, he imbued its inner spirit into the Cataclysm Celestial and used the threat to weave its outer spirit with the rest. The outer spirits let out bizarre shrieks as they clashed with each other, but Chang-Sun couldn’t seem to care less. He simply continued to gather them.

Dozens of outer spirits dangled at the end of the thread now. From what Chang-Sun heard, [Naglfar] was made from ghosts’ grudges., which meant that there couldn’t be a better ingredient for it than these outer spirits. A person’s karma was stored in their inner spirit, so Chang-Sun couldn’t even use these outer spirits, which only stored negative emotional residue. Hence, he collected them as materials for [Naglfar] instead.

‘The basic link is my divine power, which makes the ownership clear,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Woosh, swoosh, woosh―!

Passing by the Ten Sky Kings and the other <Jiejiao Sect> executives, like the Four Ma Generals and Four Saints of the <Nine Dragon Island>...

Tap!

… Chang-Sun reached a black core, the center of the Incendiary Burial Whale’s subconscious realm. It was covered with all kinds of cell masses, convulsing as if it wished to crush Chang-Sun from the sky. Moreover, it was connected to every lining of the island to receive nourishment, making it look like an egg waiting to hatch.

Chang-Sun recalled what Thanatos told him.

“There are two ways to put the Incendiary Burial Whale under your control. One is using overwhelming violence, which should be possible if you become as strong as the Seven Wonders…” Thanatos trailed off, smiling mischievously. “... But that won’t be easy, will it?”

“You want me to reach the level of a Ruling Celestial?”

“It would take the Nine Heavens to do that.”

“Tell me about the second method.” Chang-Sun gestured at Thanatos, frowning.

“Use the core.”

“Core?”

“Yes. The Seventh Elder knows about it quite well.”

The Seventh Elder was the quietest of the Ten Elders. Whenever Chang-Sun asked him questions, he would only nod or shake his head in response. Thanatos said that although the Seventh Elder wasn’t in silent meditation like a monk, he was reflecting on his past in a similar way.

“You remember that the Incendiary Burial Whale was created when the <Jiejiao Sect> activated the [Shrouding Nullification Sorcery] when they were on the verge of <Extinction>, don’t you?” Thanatos asked.

“Yes.”

“Then have you ever thought about who activated it? The [Shrouding Nullification Sorcery] is a forbidden sorcery that only the leader of the <Jiejiao Sect> can use.”

“Wasn’t Tongtian Jiaozhu the leader of the <Jiejiao Sect>?” Chang-Sun recalled.

“No, Around that time, he had been away from the <Jiejiao Sect>for quite a while already for unknown reasons. Someone else had to fill in for him.”

“… They put a puppet in charge.”

“Exactly,” Thanatos said bitterly.

It often happened in civilized countries or <Societies>. When a throne was vacant, subjects put a powerless puppet on it to have more power.

“A little girl—the Seventh Elder’s biological daughter—was put in charge. Just like Tongtian Jiaozhu, she had legitimacy since she was born as the descendant of the ancient Three Sovereigns, but that was all she had. She was fragile and was Seventh Elder’s biological daughter,” Thanatos explained.

As a regent, the Seventh Elder tried his best to help his daughter rule the <Society> properly, but he couldn’t overcome the wall that was built by the actual people in power like the Ten Sky Kings and Four Saints of the Nine Dragon Island. In the end, the <Jiejiao Sect> met extinction in the Incendiary Burial Whale, and he went to the <Underworld>, calling himself a sinner.

“It is said that she was full of spite when she activated the [Shrouding Nullification Sorcery],” Thanatos added.

Thanatos hadn’t told Chang-Sun about the humiliation that the <Jiejiao Sect> leader and the Seventh Elder had gone through. Chang-Sun didn’t ask either. It was obvious why she was resolute enough to destroy not only the <Chanjiao Sect> but also the <Jiejiao Sect> she led. When the <Chanjiao Sect> conducted large-scale attacks, the <Jiejiao Sect> executives probably blamed it all on her.

Finding the world truly disgusting, Chang-Sun shoved [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] into the core.

Slaaaaash!

Chang-Sun could see a girl cowering through the slit in the cell linings. The girl barely looked like a five-year-old, but since she was a Celestial, she was probably a lot older. Nevertheless, she was still a child.

Kieeeeeeeh!

―I’ll kill everyone.

―Everyone. Everyone.

―I hate everyone. I hate everyone. I hate everyone.

“… This is extremely venomous,” Chang-Sun murmured.

The grudge pouring out through the gap in the cell lining was so full of malice that being exposed to it for even just a moment seemed to already affect his soul. If the Cataclysm Celestial’s upper body didn’t protect him, he could have been in danger, infected, and eaten by the Incendiary Burial Whale’s Anomaly instead.

Pzzzz―!

Even so, Chang-Sun unarmed himself. He removed the power protecting him and unsummoned the Cataclysm Celestial.

“Can you give her my message if you happen to meet her?”

Called by Thanatos so Chang-Sun could meet him in private, the Seventh Elder stayed quiet for a long time before telling Chang-Sun about the things buried deep in his heart for a while now, having never gotten to say them to his daughter.

Kieeeeeeh!

The girl burying her head between her legs looked up, suddenly pouncing at Chang-Sun.

Crunch!

She grabbed Chang-Sun’s shoulders and sank her teeth into his neck, quickly imbuing him with the Incendiary Burial Whale’s Anomaly.

Despite the horrible pain, he pulled her closer like a father hugging his daughter instead of pushing her away. “Your father asked me to give you a message.”

“.... Please tell her that I love her.”

“He loves you.”

“And I’m sorry that I failed to protect her.”

“He’s sorry that he wasn’t by your side during your last moments.”

Chang-Sun vividly remembered how remorseful the Seventh Elder was as he shed tears. After being compelled into committing their crimes, all the Ten Elders locked themselves into the Bottomless Void to punish themselves.

The girl looked up and met Chang-Sun’s gaze. Her eyes, which used to be muddled with grudges, had cleared up.

―You know… my dad?

“Yeah, I do.”

―How…?

“Friend.” Chang-Sun looked right back into her eyes.

The girl was angry and resentful. Chang-Sun felt the same way as he wandered the world, having lost Ithaca. She was a reflection of him, Qi Gong, and the other children of the Emperor’s Seat.

Maybe the Emperor’s Seat also knew about the past of the Incendiary Burial Whale’s core and built a vacation home in this place so she wouldn’t be lonely, having his children as her friends.

“I’m your dad’s friend,” Chang-Sun added.

―Dad’s… friend…

“Yes. Let’s go back to where your dad is.” Chang-Sun held out his hand to the girl. “Let me take you home. Won’t you come with me?”

With her lips trembling, the girl looked back and forth between Chang-Sun’s face and hand. After some time, she slowly extended her adorable hand, moved by the promise that she could go back home.

Pinnnng―!

―Ah…!

However, their hands didn’t manage to touch. The girl’s hand broke down, dissipating into particles. She looked at Chang-Sun, trying to say something, but she didn’t get to say it out loud.

Pzzzz.

The girl disintegrated, her particles brushing past Chang-Sun before being carried up into the air by the wind.

Right in that direction, Balor was glaring at Chang-Sun with his eyepatch lowered. He grinned, baring his fangs, which looked unusually hideous today.

[The ‘One-Eyed Magic Giant’ has successfully defeated the core of the Anomaly ‘Incendiary Burial Whale’ with his poisoned eye!]

[The ‘One-Eyed Magic Giant’ is absorbing the core.]

[The ‘One-Eyed Magic Giant’ has started to synchronize with the Anomaly ‘Incendiary Burial Whale.’]

…

[A Sudden Mission has been created!]

[Defeat the ‘One-Eyed Magic Giant’ before the synchronization is complete. Failure will result in losing the Anomaly and your position as the main personality.]