A blinding flash erupted from Igeon's fist.
It was no ordinary power.
It was monstrous strength, comparable to the Battle God Seat's constellation gods.
And that steel-like force shattered Jijel's face to pieces.
Crack!
A sound like an egg bursting was heard.
At the sight, neither Kevin nor Hugo could shut their mouths.
Jijel's face was nowhere to be found. The intense magic of Ophiuchus had obliterated it.
All that remained was Jijel's neck.
Finally, the headless Libra Saint collapsed, strength draining away.
Thud!
At the same time, screams came from a window of the Singungjwa Building.
"Ah!"
"I-isn't that the Libra Saint?"
The voices came from the 3rd floor.
It was Eun Yerin and Seo Jihun, who were in charge of the sanctuary building's internal defense and maintenance.
As the Taurus that had been destroying the sanctuary quieted down, they had poked their heads out the window.
And upon seeing Libra's corpse, they were horrified.
"That's right, that holy cloth! It's definitely that saint!"
The saints had a representative holy relic.
A famous one was the golden armor that appeared when Leo entered combat mode.
And the clothes Jijel wore were also renowned.
So Hugo couldn't believe this sight.
The headless Libra didn't even twitch before Igeon.
'Could she really be dead?'
Kevin, thinking the same, was frozen as well.
After all, Libra's physical body surpassed even that of the defensive Taurus.
They were ones who didn't flinch even against those with the strongest brute force.
That wasn't all.
'No matter how you look at it, saints are wrapped in divine protection.'
Even with immense power, it was impossible to turn a saint's body into a burst tomato like that.
In saint-level fights, the possible maximum was at best piercing a vital point.
But this was different.
He had outright smashed the vessel.
That's why Kevin hurriedly approached Jijel.
To check whether she was alive or dead.
And the moment he touched Jijel's body, Kevin furrowed his brow.
Not only was there no heartbeat, he couldn't feel the Libra magic that should definitely be sensed if she were alive.
"She's dead."
Hugo was shocked.
"That woman?! Impossible!"
"It's true. She's dead."
But right then.
"Dead my ass! Obviously it's a clone!"
"!"
The one who got angry was the Taurus.
The Taurus, who had been knocked unconscious by Igeon, was crawling up from beneath the hole.
Of course, its appearance was too horrible to behold. Being a defensive seat, it had barely survived like a cockroach, but the internal state of its body was likely beyond imagination.
Anyway, the Taurus was huffing and glaring at Igeon and Kevin.
"She's close with Cancer. Don't you know what that means?"
There was no way they didn't know.
There was no way Jijel wouldn't use Cancer's specialty, which was cloning.
In other words.
"Of course that one's a clone too...!"
But then.
Igeon looked at Hugo as if disgusted.
"Taeksu-ya."
At that look, Hugo summoned the Crimson Flame.
Because if it were a clone, burning it with the Sun God's fire would reveal the truth.
'If it's real, bone dust will remain; if it's a clone, Cancer's carapace will come out.'
And finally, as the flames of the Scorching Constellation God shot up from the corpse.
"......!!"
Everyone except Igeon was shocked.
The Taurus in particular despaired.
What remained after the flames was unmistakably human bone dust.
Thus, they had only one thing to say.
"Th-then, she's really dead?"
Before the corpse, the Taurus looked ready to collapse.
"Impossible. Why did I end up going under that woman...!"
As the Taurus trembled with fury, Igeon cackled.
"What's the big deal? A retard did retard things."
"!"
The Taurus looked ready to kill him, but Igeon brushed off his hands and sneered.
"That's why you sucked up to another holy god's asshole. Thanks to that, you lost your strength to that woman, you dumbass."
Then Hugo gave him a strange look.
"Taurus had his holy seat's power stolen? By Jijel?"
"That's not all. Even his contribution level was taken."
At that, the Taurus scoffed as if absurd.
"As expected of someone who's not even a saint, you know nothing! Contribution level is directed toward the god."
"Right, Geon-ah. No matter how much Taurus was beneath Jijel, there's no way contribution level would transfer to a fellow saint..."
"Yeah. Normally, there's no way it would transfer. If the opponent is human."
In an instant, they fell silent.
What did he just say?
"If the opponent is human?"
Their faces froze.
"Wait. Wh-what do you mean..."
But right at that moment.
A very pissed-off voice rang out.
[I didn't expect you to notice that far.]
"?!"
Ominous smoke rose from Jijel's corpse.
And surprisingly, it was a spirit.
A naked-looking woman was glaring with wide eyes.
[You dare destroy my body, a mere mutant?]
A voice that seemed ready to tear Igeon to death.
The voice was unmistakably Jijel's.
But what was even more horrifying was the identity of the spirit that appeared before them.
"A, a Constellation God?!"
The Taurus outright collapsed.
There was no way saints couldn't recognize a Constellation God's energy.
They were beings the saints always met in their inner worlds, though the frequency varied.
And while Constellation Gods were of the same divine rank as Subordinate Gods, their power was strictly different.
The energy felt was overwhelming from the start.
Eventually, Hugo trembled and looked at Igeon as if asking what was going on, and Igeon scolded him.
"What are you being a fool and panicking for, shut your mouth, idiot."
"No, what do you mean panicking... Hey!!"
"Why? You should have realized the moment the red eyes were revived."
"......?!"
"No matter how much that woman is the exchange seat of equivalent trade, do you think such a thing is possible for a human?"
"?!"
Then, could it be!
Sure enough, Igeon reopened his Godslayer Instinct and grinned eerily.
"Yeah. The Libra Saint isn't human. It must be a Constellation God pretending to be human."
"Pretending to be human, since when!"
"Who knows. I don't know if the body's original owner is the saint herself or someone else, but at least just before going to the Tower of Demons, it was that."
"?!"
They were thrown into shock.
And how, why a Constellation God had acted as one of the 12 Saints wasn't important.
The terrified Taurus grasped the meaning of Igeon's words.
'If Jijel really was a Constellation God...'
She could have used some method to steal their contribution levels.
After all, the Taurus Constellation God's power had weakened.
And back then, he had simply thought it was because Libra stole his holy way.
Sure enough.
[A mutant like you, I should have eliminated from the start.]
The moment the words ended, light burst from Jijel's body.
At the same time, a yellow gate began to open in the sky.
And as something appeared within it, the saints froze.
'That is!'
What emerged from the gate were Subordinate Gods.
But the reason they were horrified wasn't simply that.
[The Four Heavenly Kings of the Royal Court]
Those were on a completely different level from the lower gods usually seen in the sanctuary.
Simply put, they could be considered the highest rank among the 88 Subordinate Gods.
And they were responding to their master's will to completely wipe out this area.
Not just the Singungjwa Sanctuary, but the entire nation of Korea, where Igeon had made his nest.
No, perhaps even themselves.
'Damn, we have to deal with them before they're fully summoned.'
In the end, the three saints urgently drew their constellation signs.
It was no ordinary sight.
And as if having made a pact, the three saints knelt on one knee and clasped their hands.
"Great King of Scorching Heat, please answer the call of your servant!"
"Great Diamond, grant us the power of indestructible diamond to strike down the enemy who deceived us!"
"Great Full Moon, stop peeping on men and quickly grant us strength!"
Along with that, light surged from each of their bodies.
[The servants of each Constellation God are borrowing divine power]
Along with that voice, gates opened in the sky.
Boom!
Kaboom!
And what appeared inside were none other than the 88 Subordinate Gods. Gods sent directly by the Constellation Gods at the saints' request.
Although they had to spend immense contribution level, it couldn't be helped in this situation.
When the opponent was at the level of a Constellation God and divine beings, it was beyond the stage they could cover with their own strength.
And then.
[Protect the master!]
Subordinate Gods and Subordinate Gods clashed against each other.
At the same time, Libra's Subordinate Gods desperately shouted.
[Quickly guide the master to the sanctuary!]
[Retrieve the body!]
Thus, Libra's Subordinate Gods picked up the pieces of Jijel's body.
They were the parts that hadn't burned.
And Jijel, taking advantage of the commotion, leisurely used a return skill.
But then.
[Where do you think you're running! You fraud!]
The Taurus charged at Jijel. His appearance was different from usual.
'!'
And Hugo, who was loading his bow, flinched.
'That's Demi-God Transformation!'
The stages at which a saint could use a Constellation God's power were three. Stage 1: Interference, Stage 2: Possession, Stage 3: Demi-God Transformation.
And Stage 1 was when the Constellation God could exert power through a part of the saint's body.
Stage 2 was when the Constellation God directly descended by borrowing the saint's body.
'Anyway, up to Stage 2, all saints could do it.'
But the final Stage 3.
was something only rarely exceptional saints could use.
'Well, a guy like Kevin would never use it.'
The reason was obvious.
Even though he himself had been unable to use it because his power was stolen, the skill was the strongest!
After all, Stages 1 and 2 were powerful but limited by the human body. Even Stage 2 could only draw out 50% of the power.
Even if they tried to draw more, the human body wouldn't hold out.
But Stage 3, Demi-God Transformation, upgraded the body.
One could say the saint transformed into their respective god, allowing them to use close to 100% of the Constellation God's power.
In a word, it was like a copycat, a god's doppelganger.
Sure enough, a powerful force that even Subordinate Gods were highly wary of surged up.
Boom!!
[Die!]
Finally, a massive, glowing Taurus stabbed down at Jijel.
Squish!!
[M-Master!]
But then.
[...Huk!]
The Taurus, who had stabbed Jijel, was shocked.
Even though the massive horn had clearly pierced Jijel's body, she was smiling faintly.
Even though the physicalized power of a Constellation God had been used, the attack didn't work on Jijel.
[Why on earth...!]
But Jijel laughed as if disgusted.
[Foolish. Do you think a mere human's attack could work?]
[!]
The monster bull froze.
Jijel laughed viciously. A murderous magic flared around her.
[Humans cannot attack me. Why don't you summon your own Constellation God, the master of Diamond?]
[...Goddam it!]
[Sighing at your foolishness, die.]
Jijel laughed sharply.
But right then.
"You're putting on a show. You can't attack either, same thing."
"?!"
It was Igeon.
He was standing on the rooftop of the Singungjwa Sanctuary.
And to the flustered Jijel, he said.
"Why so surprised? You can't exert power without a physical body either, right? That's why, whoever's that damn face is, you've been running around scamming people."
[What?]
"If you could use abilities in that state, you'd have conquered the world and then some."
Jijel glared with bulging eyes.
That bastard.
And then the Taurus cried out in despair.
[Then that means neither can attack each other?]
But then.
"Who said we can't attack?"
[What?]
In that moment, light burst from Igeon's body.
And centered on the Singungjwa Sanctuary, a massive green magic circle was drawn on the ground.
[Ophiuchus Awakening Skill (SSS) is activated]
[Gluttony (SSS)]
(To be continued in the next episode)