The general's head burst apart and scattered before their eyes.
At that sight, everyone fell silent.
The general's head, which had seemed utterly unbreakable, shattered into pieces and vanished, and his body collapsed into a mass of shredded flesh the moment it fell.
The shadow that erupted from the general's neck had carved up his body.
And the mangled flesh scattered onto the ground.
Thud!
There wasn't even a shape left.
That was why even Hugo, who had flinched, could say nothing.
'This is the first time I've seen Keon-i this angry.'
Expressionless.
Because he didn't express it with words, it was all the more terrifying.
On that unsmiling face, in those eyes flashing with a baleful glare—they could feel the boiling killing intent.
Even the Cheon siblings were taken aback.
Despite everything, Lee Keon had always been a kind uncle to them.
But now it was so suffocating they wondered if he was the same person.
And then it happened.
Craaack!
In an instant, the form of the dark magic Lee Keon was emitting twisted.
“……!”
Everyone present froze in terror.
As if the underlying emotions he'd been suppressing were leaking out, his divinity began to surge violently.
[Warning. Death Divinity is about to go berserk.]
[Stage 2 Death Divinity is rampaging.]
That dark power even made Hailly flinch.
It was simply too dangerous a power. In a sense, it was more dangerous than the Monarchs.
A power mighty enough to destroy the world in a single moment.
Stage 1 was already dangerous, but it grew even more perilous the higher the stage.
In the end, the Divine Beings nearby seemed greatly shaken.
[The Blazing One says that this power is indeed dangerous.]
At the agitation of the Divine Beings, Hugo flinched too.
Surely this was what his own Divine Being had meant when they told him to watch carefully.
Of course, as the divinity rose higher, the power would grow immensely stronger, but it would also become a terrifying double-edged sword that was that much harder to control.
And sure enough.
[The servants of the Serpent Lord Constellation tremble in fear at their master's power.]
[The Blazing One says that no one can control this power.]
[The Master of the Full Moon says that you must flee.]
And as that power swelled like a black hole, trying to swallow Hailly's trap—
Boom!
Just as that lethally dangerous power was about to spread in all directions, the Divine Beings, unable to stand by, stepped in.
[The Master of the Full Moon uses
Originally, this was a skill for forcibly summoning a Saint when a Divine Being had business with them, or wished to command something.
It consumed energy, but now there was no choice.
[Forcibly transfers their own followers to their own chambers.]
[Also attempts to summon the holy knights of the Serpent Lord.]
Perhaps guessing from the start that this was beyond even their power to stop, rather than trying to block it, they chose evacuation—and the Blazing One hurriedly tried to summon Hugo before them as well.
[The Blazing One Divine Being uses
But Hugo's eyes flashed as if telling it to back off.
At this, the Blazing One Divine Being seemed taken aback.
It couldn't be helped.
[Faith momentarily dropped below the threshold.]
[The
[The Blazing One Divine Being shrieks, pleading not to do this.]
Soon, the magic of the Death Divinity began to dissolve Lee Keon's skin.
[Warning. A power beyond what Super Regeneration can handle.]
That divinity was dangerous not only because it threatened the world, but because it devoured even the god itself.
Because of this, although it was risky, Hailly hurriedly tried to use an authority related to death.
But at that moment—
"Keon-ah!"
Hugo grabbed Lee Keon's shoulder.
And the instant his hand touched, Hugo's face contorted.
His hand began to turn rock-hard from the power of Death, and places began to crumble as if being eroded.
But Hugo endured.
"Keon-ah!"
At that pain-swallowed voice, Lee Keon flinched and furrowed his brow.
Then something astonishing happened.
Ruuuumble!
The Death Divinity, which had been surging madly as if to destroy everything, gradually began to subside.
[Pins down the rampaging
[Pins down the rampaging
There were flashes of rampaging black light in the middle, but it didn't matter.
Craaack!
[Stage 2 Death Divinity has been brought under control.]
[The rank of the Divine Seat rises.]
[The subordinate gods gain an opportunity for evolution.]
[A new skill has been acquired.]
At last, the power that might have swept away not only the sanctum but perhaps even his own holy knights moved according to Lee Keon's will.
At that sight, Hugo was relieved, and the Divine Beings seemed bewildered.
They had likely never imagined he could control a Death Divinity that raged to that extent.
And in that situation, the most astonished of all was the surviving general of the Monarch side.
'He controlled it. That power…!'
Twenty-four years ago, it was no coincidence that his lord had personally led subordinates to Seoul because of this power.
'Even at the point of going berserk, it was enough to devour my sanctum and holy knights.'
Of course, theoretically, one could say it was held in check by sheer mental strength, but—
'A terrifying mental fortitude indeed.'
It was his first time seeing the power of a Calamity God with his own eyes, but it was clear why their own lords classified it as a separate "calamity."
'Certainly, it was something the Song Monarch would have coveted.'
Though they had trapped it in the Demon's Tower, it was a power that Lee Keon had seized.
That Song Monarch was no ordinary being.
Among the Monarchs, there were those of specially high rank, and all of them were ancient, peculiar beings who had existed for a long time.
At any rate, the one that such a being had coveted was Lee Keon.
'I thought he wasn't ordinary.'
But soon, the general's gaze turned toward Hugo.
'No. Perhaps it's because there are still those who can help him keep his sanity.'
And so, the general of Time tried to stealthily slip out of the trap.
Because if he relayed this fact to his lord, his lord would be immensely pleased.
'This might become that bastard's weakness.'
Originally, they had been aiming for the Saints. After all, for Divine Beings, Saints were nothing but tools.
But Saints were debauched fools who couldn't even contain the overflowing power of a Divine Being and only knew how to recklessly expend it.
They brought great power to a god, but were simultaneously a double-edged sword.
Thus, they had intended to strike Lee Keon by using those Saints.
'Well, is there even a vessel that could hold a divinity of that magnitude to begin with.'
In any case, right now, due to the power loss from infiltrating a Divine Being's sanctum, he could only use half his strength.
'Drawing this out does me no good.'
Moreover, it was troublesome that another of the Thirteen Knights—the Monarch's precious cards and messengers—had been taken down, but it couldn't be helped.
'For now, I must return to my lord first...'
But it was then.
Shiver.
The general, who had been trying to slip out of the trap, shuddered.
He couldn't move his body.
It was as if he had been fixed in place from his spine to the crown of his head by a solid skewer.
He felt like a tiny grub before an immense presence.
And sure enough.
Thud.
Lee Keon approached, eyes glowing red.
"Trying to run away all by yourself?"
[……!]
Flustered by that gaze, the general of Time manifested his power once more.
[
A green chains emerging from beneath Lee Keon's feet were strangling the neck of a blue figure.
"Leaving without even retrieving your comrades' corpses—you bastards really have no loyalty at all."
At those words, the general of Time ground his teeth.
No, what corpse was left to retrieve in the first place...!
But that was only for a moment.
[Gahk!]
The general of Time screamed.
In that instant, the Scribe, who had crept up stealthily, stabbed him in the back.
And—
"I found something inside these bastards' souls!"
[!!]
"Uh, but this looks similar to the engraving carved into the sword that stabbed the god."
At that shout, the general of Time convulsed.
[Do not lay a hand on the Commandment!!]
"!"
Indeed. The Commandments were like the bible of the Monarchs.
Just as Divine Beings eternally engraved their own narratives to strengthen themselves, the Monarchs engraved strict rules of power to reinforce their might.
And those Commandments were tattooed into the souls of all their brethren, as if to say, never forget.
They were both the proof of power granted by the Monarch and the very source of that power.
Sure enough, Guisun rejoiced.
"I found it! The Monarchs use these to form contracts with their underlings and amplify their strength!"
The stronger the subordinates became, the stronger their master grew as well.
At the same time, because it was a contract directly bestowed by the Monarch, deciphering it revealed everything about the monstrous race: the Monarch's authority info, the skills of their kin, level data, stats, and the rules they had to obey.
Thus, the general was troubled.
'If this falls into human hands, it will become a weapon in itself!'
It would give the arrogant humans a chance to fight back.
Because of that, the general tried to kill Guisun, who was trying to rip it away—
"Thanks for going through the trouble of retrieving what’s mine."
A sinister black light stretched out into the trap.
It swallowed everything whole.
* * *
"What? You provoked a Monarch?!"
Half a day later, the sanctum of the Lion Constellation.
Steven, the Saint of the Lion Constellation, was appalled by the words of the figure before him.
"You killed even the remaining general?"
At Steven's expression, Lee Keon, seated opposite him, smiled.
"Well, I was planning to root them out anyway."
At that, Steven's face grew grave.
Yes.
For some reason, Steven was now holding a conversation with Lee Keon, who had come to his sanctum.
And though he had only just learned of the unknown civilization's military system, he was told that all the generals of a single Monarch had been killed.
'One by that brat Cheon Seongjae, and the other by Lee Keon.'
And if it was true, as Lee Keon said, that the generals were equivalent to a Monarch's Saints, the Monarch was not likely to stay still.
'Especially since he said they killed them while ignoring negotiations.'
It was very Lee Keon–like, and from humanity's perspective, it was actually a tremendous feat.
'Either way, because of those creatures, the habitable land was becoming polluted and disappearing.'
But…
"In any case, from now on, I plan to do what you bastards couldn't."
At Lee Keon's words, Steven flinched.
"What do you mean by that…"
"What else? I'm going to exterminate those bastards from Earth. There probably isn't much time left, anyway. It's what I was going to do twenty years ago, too."
At that, Steven's face hardened.
"Even for you, that's impossible!"
"What?"
"No matter what, we are humanity's representatives! Do you really think we've just been lazing about for twenty years! We had no choice because it couldn't be done! In the meantime, those creatures' power has grown abnormally strong, so…!"
He went on to say that the Serpent Lord Constellation was still a small newborn, and that building a dome that was at least safer would be better—but Lee Keon sneered.
"That's because both you and the Divine Beings are incompetent. That's why I came to take some useful combat holy knights."
At Lee Keon's smile, Steven convulsed.
"No, why our kids again! You've already got Virgo and Aquarius under you as subordinates!"
However, Lee Keon furrowed his brow.
"Subordinate holy knights and direct-line holy knights are completely different."
Though his Divine Seat's rank had risen considerably with the subordinate holy knights, to stand equal to the Divine Beings, the Serpent Lord Constellation itself had to be expanded.
Because the member count wasn't even at the minimum.
'Wouldn't I need a few more just to form the basic framework?'
Right now, his Saints Seongjae and Yuha were even handling menial tasks, and wasn't it a bit pitiful that his Saints had not a single escort holy knight under them?
'There's also a difference in the amount of experience points coming in between subordinates and direct line.'
And it was certain that the Monarchs and Divine Beings were entangled with the culprit who had killed someone precious to him.
'I'll have to confirm it.'
That was why he had come to this guy first, but—
"Anyway, so I'm taking that Muffin bastard I tried to take before. Our Divine Seat has a mage and a close-range dealer, but no tank."
"Get lost! You already have a ton of people lining up because they want to join your Divine Seat!"
"No can do. Our Saint rejected all of them."
The interviewer Seongjae, with his ghostly eyes, had chased out anyone who had personal feelings for Lee Keon.
At those words, Steven sneered.
"Impossible. No matter what you do, your holy order has to be at 100% faith anyway. Unless they're your fanatics, you can't even pick them—"
In response, Lee Keon activated his Bible.
[Gospel of Seongjae]