*Swish!*
Before my eyes unfolded a scene of murder.
A scene where one of the 12 Star Gods killed the 13th master.
Thanks to that, the Cheon siblings had been startled when they first saw the sight.
'Uncle.'
I could be sure it was the Holy Land of Ophiuchus.
The man the woman was striking down with her sword was the master of Ophiuchus.
'Our Star God.'
Moreover, the presence and aura were identical.
If it were the vassal gods who discern opponents through their souls, they would judge it as the same person.
And the one killing the 13th was a woman with short brown hair.
But.
'A Star God I've never seen before... perhaps this is the original Star God of Libra, devoured by Giselle.'
In the end, after the 13th original master died, cheers rang out from afar.
[The usurpation succeeded! We really overthrew those people! It was a success!]
The one shouting was none other than the master of Aries.
Of course, unlike now, he was slender and wore slave clothes, but it was definitely him.
Familiar faces followed.
They marveled at the Star God who had killed the 13th.
[Among the masters, he was the strongest and the biggest wildcard. But I knew you could do it.]
The one speaking with a smile was the master of Aquarius. Unlike now, the appearance like a small elf child left an impression.
Beside him were a half-human, half-beast calf, a twin sister pair, and a twin brother-sister pair.
And the twin brother-sister pair spoke.
[Still, borrowing the power of the Lords was a great help. I had doubts about whether we could truly drive the masters mad.]
[I was right, wasn't I? Even the masters strangely couldn't exert their power against the Lords. I figured it would be their weakness.]
All were young in appearance, but undoubtedly the present Taurus, Pisces, and Gemini.
[Anyway, everyone must have extracted the cores of their respective masters?]
[Of course.]
[Good, then... Wait, I don't see the Sagittarius side. What happened with the Leo side? Did they fail?]
[No. I heard they succeeded.]
[Then why don't they show themselves?]
[It seems they were heavily injured there, perhaps because their master resisted fiercely. They aren't dead but still can't move. I don't know why.]
[Well, they did well for a coward.]
As if it didn't matter, they spoke.
[Did you dispose of the corpses of your respective masters properly?]
[All went smoothly except for that 13th one. We used that method to clean them all up.]
At those words, they burst into laughter as if they had been waiting.
[Good, we've seized the masters' authorities and thrones!]
[Now, once we gather the Holy Powers using the power of the thrones, we too can become Star Gods! Our slave life is over!]
The master of Aries shouted in triumph, but an objection immediately arose.
[It's too early to toast.]
It was the fierce-looking one among the twin sisters who would become Pisces in the future.
[No matter what, the 13 masters are the Creation Clan revered as the greatest heroes of the divine realm. Other gods might become suspicious.]
[!]
[We must finish things properly.]
They lifted the corners of their mouths.
And the next scene that appeared was one where the master of Aries and several other familiar Star Gods wept as they denounced the deeds.
[All of this was the doing of the Lords. Thus, even the great masters went mad from illness, but in their final moments, they regained their senses.]
[And the masters, lamenting their responsibility, sacrificed themselves to avert danger from the divine realm.]
[And immediately after, they bequeathed their thrones to us. This is the proof.]
[And we, inheriting the will of our masters, swear to devote ourselves to the reconstruction of the divine realm.]
[Ooooooh!]
And so, watching that, the Cheon siblings felt disillusioned.
For it was a sight they had definitely seen somewhere before.
'We will never forget the noble death of Yigeon, who sacrificed himself for everyone.'
'We, who have inherited Yigeon's will, will definitely reclaim all the remaining lands of humanity!'
It was from the time when Yigeon was proclaimed dead in the Demon's Tower.
A sight that revealed from whom the saints had learned such wickedness.
But the more serious matter was not that illusion.
"Uncle. You said there were two family members who died before your awakening, right?"
At those words, Yigeon's eyes instantly turned murderous.
Indeed.
The illusions the throne had shown were basically the pasts of the 12 Star Gods.
And in that process, they had also seen events connected to Yigeon.
[What, you're still alive?]
[Kill them quickly. That way our sins won't leak out.]
They were probably the Star Gods of Pisces and Gemini.
And they killed the reincarnated Yeon-woo, killed again, and ultimately killed one boy.
[This is the end.]
And that boy was Yeon-woo's younger brother, a family member Yigeon thought of as his own little brother.
A child who had been very fond of him.
But.
[Once a comrade. If you wish to resent, resent the actions that sought to reveal our sins.]
[Hey, don't. Don't kill him quickly. We went through trouble finding him this time too; he must be punished for making us suffer.]
[That's right?]
Yigeon's family was brutally murdered by the Star Gods.
At the same time, they died resisting to the end so as not to involve their sister and Yigeon.
The culprit was the Star God of Pisces.
Kevin furrowed his brow.
Pisces. The Pisces was based in Southern Europe and frequently had territorial disputes with Virgo, so he knew them better than anyone.
'The Pisces Star God is extremely strong among the Star Gods.'
To be precise, the suspicious magic they used was the problem.
One side of the twin Star Gods was particularly troublesome, and it was fortunate for them that Pisces was a constellation uninterested in territorial expansion; otherwise, even Virgo, ranked second, would have nearly been in danger.
'The reason their rank is low despite possessing such suspicious techniques is because they have no interest in gathering Holy Powers.'
And the last scene was just before entering the Demon's Tower.
It must have been the scene when Kevin was swapped, being struck down by Liv, Zhang Rui, and the female Star God.
'Well, Liv is the Pisces Star God, and the female Star God must be the Gemini Star God.'
At the same time, in that scene, the two magical constellations, the Pisces Star God and the Gemini Star God, spoke.
[Anyway, Yigeon is the problem.]
[Right. We magical constellations killed all the 13th Star Gods, so why does a guy like Yigeon suddenly appear? How unlucky.]
[Anyway, Yigeon must be killed.]
[Right. If we leave that guy alive, Yigeon might really annihilate all the monsters from the unknown civilizations. A useless fellow.]
[Yigeon is that kind of monster.]
[Tch, it is because monsters exist that faith can exist among humans.]
Anyway, that was the sight witnessed by the Holy Land denizens under their command, including the Cheon siblings, Kevin, and the Sagittarius Holy Land members.
Thus, they surmised it was no ordinary sight.
But hearing that story, Hugo seemed surprised.
"What, you saw scenes even like that? I only saw someone resembling Geon, and couldn't see anything after."
At those words, Yigeon sneered.
"You idiot, that's because you fainted like a fool. I saw everything."
Hugo was choked up.
[Ophiuchus Faith 450%] (-100%)
But regardless, Kevin furrowed his brow.
"If that's true, it's a disaster. It means the Star Gods deliberately summoned monsters for their own greed."
Everyone swallowed hard.
It meant they themselves might have been deceived by the Star Gods.
Well, some would have benefited from it, so reactions would be split.
Anyway, that wasn't the important part.
"If it was you who showed us that scene, it would naturally be the truth, but isn't it a different story if the throne showed it?"
Yigeon agreed.
"I told them to record it, but it could also be the throne's intention to confuse us."
Since the throne of Taurus had also tried to pull nonsense on him.
Perhaps because of that.
"Il-nam, Ee-nam, Sam-nam."
At Yigeon's call, eyes flashed within Yigeon's shadow.
[You called, master.]
"You're fairly high-ranking superior gods, right? Then do you know about the former 13 Star Gods?"
[Pardon?]
"That illusion just now, you must have seen it. Is it all true?"
At Yigeon's menacing glare, the vassal gods seemed greatly flustered.
They were, after all, vassal gods who originally followed Gemini.
[No, that is...]
"So did you follow them knowing this?"
At the voice that seemed ready to cut their throats with a sword, the combat vassal gods cried out.
[Hurk, absolutely not!]
[We also only just learned of this!!!]
"It's not a lie, is it."
[We swear! We do not speak falsehoods to our master!]
[Even the vassals were unaware of it...!]
"Then do you know about the original owners of the thrones? The original 13 whom the current 12 Zodiac Star Gods killed."
At those words, the vassal gods were surprised in a different sense.
An expression of disbelief at having to speak that name again.
"Are you deaf? Do you know or not?"
[Ah, apologies!!! The, the original owners are called Creators. They are famous beings known as the Creation Clan, for now.]
They said they were legendary beings.
[Though what they can create—weather, emotions—all differ, they are a crafting clan that can make anything, and nothing they create can be imitated, each possessing special power enough to change the order of the universe, designated as treasures of the divine realm...]
[But one day, it is said they suddenly went mad and began slaughtering both gods and humans...]
[Anyway, because they were gods of such merit and fame, the current 12 Zodiac Star Gods, who succeeded their positions, were also highly evaluated...]
"Then it would have been quite a sight if those original owners hadn't actually gone mad, right?"
At Yigeon's murderous gaze, the vassals flinched.
"They schemed, killed their own masters, and became gods. There's no way such beings came to Earth out of pure goodwill, is there?"
[......!!]
That was not all.
"They said so in the illusion earlier. That if they gather Holy Powers, they too can become gods. And that faith among humans can exist because monsters exist."
"!"
"Perhaps some Star Gods joined hands with unknown civilizations to recruit humans as Holy Powers."
At Cheon Yuha's words, Kevin nodded.
"It's a good method. The easiest way to revive faith or religion is to use fear."
At those words, the Cheon siblings glanced at Kevin as if dumbfounded.
Thinking about it, this man might seem like a goof, but he was a saint who had guarded the 2nd rank among the constellations for 20 years.
He was the leader of a massive constellation with a billion Holy Powers.
Thus, at the Cheon siblings' gaze asking if he expanded his constellation that way, Kevin flared up as if wronged.
"Hey! I didn't expand like that! Using fear is that woman Giselle's doing!"
"Ah, fine. If what the illusion showed is correct, I can see from whom the saints learned to be so wicked."
"?!"
Kevin, flustered by the Cheon siblings' words, tried to say something, but Yigeon sneered.
"Don't be too hard on him. He's a total pushover who never even entered the Demon's Tower, it turns out. While we were struggling, he was just snoozing outside."
Kevin, about to retort, was crushed.
It was still shameful that he alone had not entered the Demon's Tower, unlike the others, and had been unconscious.
However, the Cheon siblings pouted dissatisfiedly.
"He's still an accomplice. Because he never once questioned the rumors about Uncle."
At those words, both Kevin and Hailey despaired, calling themselves sinners.
"We are... We are."
"There is no room for excuses..."
Yigeon laughed at that sight.
Well, Kali had told him that Hailey was threatened by Libra that they would kill Hugo too.
'She must have wanted to protect my friend at least.'
She had even lent a place to hide Cheon Ji-woo.
And Kevin and Stephen?
'Well, those two must be because of Giselle.'
Giselle was the hidden Lord who had devoured the Star God of Libra and seized their position, Abyss.
She must have used that authority to join hands with the Star Gods and make the saints who didn't obey into accomplices.
Well, the fact remained that they kept silent.
'For the survival of humanity, I must, of course, make use of those who are usable.'
So that they wail.
Anyway, it was fine.
He had also obtained a clue to find Yeon-woo.
'I'll deal with the Pisces Star God and the Gemini Star God just the same.'
They were the ones who settled the Twelve Zodiac Constellations on Earth.
At the same time, the instigators who weakened Ophiuchus's power and led the other Star Gods into complicity.
And above all, having witnessed the scene of his own sibling being murdered, Yigeon's eyes turned ferocious.
And it was then.
"Huh? Uncle, where are you going?"
"First, I'm going to designate this as a sanctuary."
That was not all.
[Someone is calling Ophiuchus.]
Yigeon headed toward the center of the land with interest.
"Ah, Uncle! Let's go together!"
Yigeon and the other party members moved toward where the light was coming from.
And it was then.
The Virgo Star God asked the despondent Kevin.
[Are you not going to follow?]
"......"
[Kevin?]
"Goddess. As you know, I owe my life to Yigeon. So I intend to repay that debt somehow. You know?"
[I know.]
"And originally, I really hated you, Goddess."
[I know. Didn't you try to kill me at first? Even finding a method to kill a god.]
"The reason I still accepted you was because I knew you had no hostility toward me, and because I knew that through the contract with a Star God, you absolutely cannot lie."
Moreover, Virgo was a Penalty Applied Existence that gained power in exchange for imposing strict limits and rules.
The moment she lies, not only is a mark revealed, but it is a top secret to others, but Kevin actually has a clause that his head flies off the moment he intentionally lies.
Well, there are conditions, but anyway, that strict clause also applies to the Star God.
And now, the conditions for that clause to activate were all met.
"So Goddess can't say anything else either."
[What are you trying to say, that you keep laying the groundwork like this?]
"It's a bit of a different story, but."
Kevin looked toward Yigeon, his eyes flashing.
"The one who killed the 13th, that's you, isn't it?"
[!]
The master of the Full Moon seemed flustered.
"Why pretend not to know? It's you. The one who killed the 13th original master."
[......!]
"The others don't know your face, so they just let it pass, but I am the Virgo Star Saint. Did you think I wouldn't recognize your face just because you look a little different now?"
The Virgo Star God seemed greatly flustered.
But Kevin smiled coldly.
"Well, I don't think you're stupid enough to become a subordinate to the one you killed."
[......!]
"And I only kept silent for a moment because I sensed no malice towards Yigeon."
[Kevin.]
"So you'd better answer well. Why you're watching over Yigeon."
[!]
Kevin aimed his sword.
"Depending on your intention, right here and now, I will annihilate Virgo and merge it into Ophiuchus."
(Continued in the next episode)