It was around then.
In the Duman River region.
Two ferocious forces surged from the battlefield where monsters had invaded.
One was lightning, and the other was wind.
People could only stare blankly at the energy rising from the plain.
“Incredible, they’ve already taken down that many…!”
“That’s Cheon Yuha and Kali, right?”
The Constellations had rushed to the area where the lands of Korea, China, and Russia meet for one reason.
The northern part of the Korean Peninsula was a danger zone with Red Zones and Black Zones.
Naturally, barrier walls—domes—had been installed to protect the cities.
And since cities would be endangered if those walls collapsed, Constellations from Korea, China, and Russia had urgently gathered at the dome.
They had heard the dome was under overwhelming attack.
But when they arrived, what was this?
“Those two handled such a huge number by themselves? There look to be at least hundreds.”
“Wow, as expected of the Ten Stars. With two of them present, things like that are nothing…”
“Isn’t it just because Kali is here that it ended so quickly?”
They couldn’t help but gape at the monsters littering the plain.
What’s more, the invading monsters were Red Zone-grade.
The fact that only two had dealt with them was astonishing, but that wasn’t why they were taken aback.
It was because of Kali.
“What? Why is she in Asia? Why is she helping out with the defense here?”
“I know. There’s no way Kali would do anything to help this side.”
It made sense for Cheon Yuha to be here—if the dome collapsed, Korea would be attacked immediately.
But a Constable of Libra, who detested the Korean side so terribly?
That wasn’t all.
“Are those two… fighting right now?”
“Um… well, they never got along.”
No sooner had the words fallen than a blade-like wind surged.
Boom!
The two beauties, breathing heavily, had their blades bared at each other.
A genuine sword fight, literally.
Of course, there was a reason it had come to this.
A few days ago.
It was when they were fighting over Lee Geon’s Saint.
‘That Seongjae brat, barely S-class and he even uses semi-divine skills.’
Truthfully, Cheon Yuha had been a little impatient.
She’d known her younger brother was a crazy genius who could threaten even Saints, but she’d never imagined it was to this extent.
Let alone Kali.
‘Just what is that girl? It’s uncanny how she feels like Uncle’s energy.’
In any case, while others called her a genius, she had simply trained, trained, and trained more than anyone else.
The real geniuses were her little brother and Kali.
So she had been impatient.
‘Compared to them, I’m still far from being a Saint.’
Of course, in Lee Geon’s eyes, she was quite sufficient, but had he read her impatience?
‘No, seriously! Why is Sis acting so intimidated by someone like Kali or Bali or whoever? Huh? If you don’t do it, I’ll become the Saint! Even if I have to kidnap our uncle and elope into the night, I won’t ever let her take it!’
That was it.
The Saint was the one closest to the Patron God, a position proving the highest loyalty.
Of course, for Lee Geon’s Constellations, it seemed more of a fan-worship contest than a loyalty contest, but still, nothing was more unpleasant or pride-wounding than having that position stolen.
Especially by a Constable of Libra, toward whom she ground her teeth!
And that was precisely when Kali had provoked her.
‘Right. So you know the difference in skill without having to compete. Good judgment. Knowing the enemy’s level and backing down is an essential virtue.’
‘!’
‘Is what I said wrong? Yuha is the weakest among us Ten Stars.’
At that, Cheon Yuha flared up, and Cheon Seongjae, eyes blazing, lunged at Kali.
‘Hey! Done talking? Don’t you disrespect my sister! You with your rotten personality!’
‘!’
‘Disrespect my sister and I’m the one who disrespects you! With a chest smaller than my sister’s!’
Snap.
In the end, Cheon Seongjae was beaten by both older sisters and sent flying, but Cheon Yuha and Kali remained.
‘What’s with that look in your eyes. Want to go? It was just the other day you couldn’t even lay a hand on me and got wrecked.’
‘Now is different from then. I’m SS-class now too.’
‘Fine. Then the one who doesn’t get cleanly killed becomes the Saint.’
And after that incident, right now, this moment.
Boom!!
“Agh!”
Spear and sword clashed, lightning and wind surging.
And in the midst of it, even the meticulous care of dissolving monsters and retrieving tribute items.
Movement, speed, use of skills.
Everything was at its peak.
Truly, a spectacle the Constellations couldn’t see even if they paid money.
“As expected, the strongest melee Combat Ghosts…!”
But even such an incredible fight, they could only watch with bewildered expressions.
The reason was simple.
Because of someone wedged between those two, screaming.
“Gote! Won’t you get out of the way?!”
“I’m not—I want to get out… hack!”
Indeed. Between the two was Sagittarius’s SS-class, Gote.
But Gote’s appearance was rather strange.
[Detected danger to Constellation Cheon Yuha]
[Auto-activates]
[A shield has been summoned in front of Constellation Cheon Yuha]
Gote was screaming, summoned in front of Cheon Yuha.
Every single time Kali attacked Cheon Yuha!
Thanks to that, Kali, who had been attacking Cheon Yuha, had no choice but to boil with frustration.
When this repeated, Kali’s veins bulged.
“Gote! You really! Are you going to do this?!”
“No! That’s not it… ugh!”
Gote ended up being stepped on by Kali.
“Even so, you have to pick the time and place! No matter how much you like Cheon Yuha, that’s… mmph!”
“Aagh! No! I said no!”
Panicked, Gote glanced at Cheon Yuha and tackled Kali to hold her down. But regardless, Kali shrieked.
“Cheon Yuha! So cowardly! Using some weird cheating summon magic!”
At Kali’s fury, Cheon Yuha pouted her lark-like lips as if wronged.
‘I didn’t summon him.’
Indeed.
Cheon Yuha had never summoned Gote.
In Yuha’s case, Lee Geon had slightly altered the form of the skill.
Probably because he knew that Yuha, disliking causing trouble for others, would never use this skill willingly.
So he had changed it to an auto-skill that summons regardless of Yuha’s will.
Of course, the reason Gote was chosen as the target was simple.
It was probably just after Yuha had entered Ophiuchus.
Lee Geon had abruptly kicked the burly Gote into the bathroom menacingly and asked,
‘Hey, goat. You like Yuha, don’t you?’
‘Eh, y-yes?! Oh, no! I-I’ve never harbored such shameless thoughts, c-cough…! Not once!’
‘Really? You’ve never thought even once about wanting to protect Yuha? Ah, how disappointing. I’ll have to tell Yuha that Gote dislikes her.’
‘Yes?! Cough…! No, no!!! Th-th-th-at! I mean, it’s an impious thought but for Miss Yuha, even being a shield would be glorious…!’
‘Cool. You said being a shield is good.’
‘Y-yes?! What does that mean?’
‘Your own mouth clearly said it would be glorious.’
‘N-no, wait, why are you recording…!’
Thus, Gote was designated as Cheon Yuha’s shield.
Of course, Kali was among the overwhelmingly top-tier of the Ten Stars.
Gote didn’t want to clash with her, and a power gap existed, but Gote was still one of the only ten stars in the world!
Proof of that: Gote glared fiercely.
“If you really lay a hand on Miss Yuha, I won’t stand by either!”
As Gote raised his bow, Kali bristled like a wildcat, furious.
“Ugh, uninvolved people stay out of it! You idiot! You think we’re doing this for no reason! It’s because of the Saint’s seat of Ophiuchus!”
“!”
The Saint of Ophiuchus?
Gote’s eyes rounded, but Cheon Yuha, as if agreeing, bypassed Gote and lunged at Kali.
A red flash blazed.
In fact, they were competing while doing things that would help Ophiuchus.
To confirm who was more fitting as Ophiuchus’s Saint.
Yuha was rescuing people and killing monsters to send experience points to Ophiuchus, while Kali was gathering monster cores as tribute for Ophiuchus.
And in the process, a competitive spirit ignited, and the two began fighting.
At that point, the onlookers began to stir.
“Saint? She just said she’d become the Saint of Ophiuchus?”
“Kali? Kali is the commander of Libra!”
“More than that, isn’t the Saint of Ophiuchus Lee Geon?”
“Right, there can only be one Saint. Ah, is he perhaps intending to pass on the Saint’s seat?”
“What? Lee Geon?”
Just then, the two’s attack collided.
Boom!!
Cheon Yuha and Kali ground their teeth as if they absolutely could not back down.
So Gote, watching, was inwardly bewildered.
He knew Yuha was a fan of Lee Geon, but it was the first time he’d seen her expression so deadly serious.
And Kali as the Saint of Ophiuchus too? Moreover, Kali’s expression was the same.
Where had her usually mood-driven, arrogant expression gone, and why had her face become so deadly!
And it was then.
Even Gote’s surprise was brief. Kali’s extending blade tore Cheon Yuha’s cheek.
“Kugh!”
A momentary hit.
Cheon Yuha reflexively tried to raise her left arm, but for some reason, she flinched.
As if she had a trauma.
At this, Kali’s eyes flashed and she laughed.
“My win!”
Originally, Yuha was a powerhouse who had entered the Ten Stars (SS) while only S-class.
And no matter how much she had grown stronger upon reaching SS, enough to make Kali wary, weaknesses don’t heal overnight.
Perhaps because of that.
At last, Kali’s sword, which knew Cheon Yuha’s fatal weakness, aimed for her torso.
“With this, I will serve Lee Geon-nim!”
But at that moment.
Flash!
A tremendous green light burst from Cheon Yuha’s body.
And then.
[ Appointed as the Saint of Ophiuchus]
* * *
Light burst from Cheon Yuha’s body. At the same time, a strange symbol was engraved on the back of her hand.
That was precisely the emblem of Ophiuchus.
At that light, Gote, Kali, and the other Constellations could only be shocked.
But Gote and Kali, who had served Saints up close more than anyone, instantly realized the meaning of that light.
‘The energy of a Saint!’
Even though they were SS-class, they were fundamentally different from Saints, who were closest to the Patron God.
Should one call it an insurmountable wall.
Thus, they realized.
‘No way. Yuha is.’
Sure enough.
“Sis!!”
Cheon Seongjae’s voice came from not far away.
Cheon Seongjae had teleported in, bringing Hugo, Lee Geon, and Lee Jaewon.
Gote, seeing them, cried out in bewilderment.
“Lee Geon-nim! You’ve already appointed a Saint?”
It was Hugo who answered that question with a click of his tongue.
“Yeah, he already appointed one.”
At those words, Cheon Yuha clenched her fist. And she saw her brother running toward her.
A pose as if she had won.
Sure enough, Cheon Yuha bowed her head toward Lee Geon.
“Uncle, thank y…!”
“Sis! I won! I’m the Saint of Ophiuchus!”
Huh?
The expressions on Cheon Yuha, Gote, and Kali were something to behold.
But regardless, Hugo looked at his son as if he were pathetic, and Cheon Seongjae jumped up and down.
“Sis, look at this! The Saint’s mark has appeared! On my back! I won!”
At the sight of Cheon Seongjae even stripping off his shirt, everyone was taken aback.
On his back, where small but emerging muscles were beginning to show, it was clearly engraved.
The Saint’s mark of Ophiuchus!
Because of that, everyone was thrown into shock.
And at their reaction, Cheon Seongjae tilted his head.
Because it was different from the reaction he had expected. If it were his sister, it wouldn’t have been strange if she became furious(?) at the news and grabbed him by the collar(?).
“Sis? I’m the Saint, you hear? Not you, me, the Saint! Look at this!”
Cheon Seongjae teased, scratching at his sister’s nerves as much as possible, but his sister just wore a blank expression.
“Sis? I’m the Saint! The Saint! Are you so shocked you can’t even speak?”
Gote broke out in a cold sweat.
“N-no, you see. That thing, it also appeared on Miss Yuha… .”
“?!!”
This time, Cheon Seongjae and Hugo’s expressions changed.
Indeed, they hurried to Yuha and were appalled upon seeing the back of her hand.
“Th-this emblem!”
“No, why does Sis have one too?! It’s the Saint’s mark!”
It was only natural for the bewildered Hugo to look at Lee Geon with anger.
“Geon-ah?!!”
Two Saints. It was absolutely impossible.
Because no Patron God had ever possessed the power to sustain two Saints. That’s how special a Saint is—a Constellation with vast energy.
In the end, as they glared asking how this came to be, Lee Geon’s lips curled up.
“Why? I don’t recall ever saying I’d select only one Saint from the start.”
What on earth?!
(Continued next episode)