“What the hell did this bastard just say?”
Igeon’s expression was a sight to behold.
But despite that expression, the 13th merely smirked.
So Igeon glared at him as if to say, This is absurd.
No, this bastard’s got some nerve.
What kind of nonsense was he spouting out of nowhere to someone he’d just met?
So Igeon reflexively grabbed his Heaven’s Judgment.
“Get lost. You know me?”
[I know you very well, Geoni. My lovely son.]
The 13th stroked his head, making Igeon’s face even more of a spectacle.
No, the master of Yeonu and Junu was this kind of lunatic?
Regardless, the 13th grinned brightly.
[Which brings me to the point: Geoni, would you like to try this on?]
“???!”
The 13th cheerfully pulled out a dress for a young girl.
[Daddy made it himself in the latest style. Isn’t it great?]
As expected of someone from the Creator Clan, the quality was a prodigious waste of talent.
But right now, none of that mattered to Igeon.
“This maggot of a god, what kind of….”
[Ah. Before that, you’ll need to get younger first. Our Geoni has grown too tall and lanky. Damn, he was cute when he was small.]
“?!”
[Ugh, you took after your beautiful mother, so why aren’t you a daughter? It really rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, I think our Geoni would look good in this too… Huh?]
Instead of answering, Igeon transformed Heaven’s Judgment into its third stage.
“Who the hell are you? Who are you to treat me like this??”
At that, the 13th, who had been grinning cheerfully, put on a solemn smile as if his earlier demeanor had never happened.
It was a massive aura of charisma, enough to make you wonder if this was the same person who’d been holding out a dress.
Then he smiled meaningfully and said with certainty,
[Who else? I’m your father.]
Of course, Igeon’s expression upon hearing that became utterly indescribable.
“Yeah? Then die by your son’s hand.”
Igeon swung Heaven’s Judgment with a disgusted look.
BANG!!!
Thanks to that, the 13th screamed.
[Eek! My child ripped the dress Daddy made with so much care!!!]
“Die!”
[Ah, but it’s okay. I made several sets.]
“?!”
The 13th let out an ahahahaha laugh and summoned dresses in various colors, making the veins pop up on Igeon’s forehead.
But soon, Igeon staggered.
Perhaps he’d exerted too much power trying to control the sixth stage. Even staying conscious was a struggle.
And as if aware of Igeon’s situation, the 13th smiled brightly.
[Son, are you struggling? So let’s get younger. If you get younger, your magic and stamina will recover, you know?]
“What?”
[I even granted you an ability so that when you become a newborn, your stamina and magic recover quickly. Why aren’t you making use of that?]
Hearing that, Igeon caught on to something and ground his teeth.
But whether the 13th knew this or not...
[Anyway, you have the data right now, don’t you? You can use that to get younger! Then your stamina will recover right away!]
In the end, veins popped on Igeon’s forehead.
“So it was you who turned me into a baby?!!”
[Aaak!]
The 13th screamed.
He hadn’t been hit, but he was nearly sliced by the Heaven’s Judgment that Igeon had thrown.
Thanks to that, the 13th shouted as if feeling wronged.
[Why! I made it an ability that helps even when you get younger! Don’t you get it?!]
“So it was you who gave me that trait?!!”
Of course, the buffs the 13th had granted through his ability creation were quite useful.
When he actually became a child, things like speed enhancement and buffs that activated only at that time had value beyond mere buffs.
But just because they were useful didn’t mean Igeon could feel good about it.
As expected.
“Die!”
And at his son’s fury, the father felt wronged.
[Wait! You can’t treat me like this! I even stole away Hugo’s body so you could bring your friend back to life!]
At that, Igeon flinched.
“What? Who stole whose body?”
At the same time, Igeon, having realized the whole situation, was breathing fire.
“Then it was you who stole Taeksu’s body?!!”
[Yes, it was a good method, wasn’t it? It was obvious his soul would be killed too if left as he was, so before he died, I placed a spell, extracted his soul, and sent it to the Divine Realm.]
However, at those words, Igeon seemed even more furious.
“So you’re saying you just watched while knowing Taeksu would die?!!”
[No, in that situation I couldn’t stop him. And since he was going to die anyway, I at least took measures so he could be revived.]
“What? Going to die anyway…?!”
Igeon, who nearly lost his reason for a moment, took a deep breath.
Well, that was neither here nor there.
What happened to Hugo was his own oversight anyway. It was already irreversible.
But according to this bastard, when Igeon had been sent Hugo’s head, he could have let him know it was a fake.
Then Igeon wouldn’t have gone berserk at the sixth stage after seeing Hugo’s head!
“Why did you make it seem real…!”
[Hm? I never intended to deceive you?]
“What?”
[Haha. It’s all because I’m so good. I made it too perfectly, so not only the Monarch but even my own son was completely fooled. Oh, how delightful… Ughk!]
Igeon grabbed the 13th by the collar.
“What did you just say??”
[Ah, but it all worked out well in the end, didn’t it? To open the
At that beaming smile, Igeon flinched.
He was talking like that, but still.
“You bastard, you deliberately kept your mouth shut and made me go berserk?!!”
It was clear.
The 13th had known the conditions for opening the
But the 13th smiled as if apologetic.
[Still, it’s fine since you can bring him back, right? Instead, I safely extracted his body so it wouldn’t get a scratch, and his soul is safe from the
Igeon realized in that moment what it felt like to have his reason snap.
As expected.
“Die!!”
[Aaak! Why! That was the only way to save both you and Hugo, and to kill the
“Shut up and die!!!”
It’s true this guy didn’t kill Hugo, but he did exploit his death in the end. It was only natural to be furious.
“Because of you, Ms. Jiu saw something horrible! She’s not even alone now!”
[Oh, damn! I never imagined someone else would see the item I sent addressed to you! Besides, we can just erase her memory with
At that, a frustrated Igeon almost kicked him but held back. He was angry, but even wasting time on a bastard like this was a shame now.
‘I’d rather use that time to revive him.’
Maybe that was why.
“I said enough, so send me back to the original place!! I don’t even want to see your face!”
[Wow, how heartless. With a mindset like that, no wonder you’d obliterate even your uncle’s hair…]
“Huh, that baldy still… What? Uncle?”
Igeon doubted his own ears for a moment.
What this bastard was saying was clearly referring to the Scorching Lion Lord.
But.
Uncle?
“Uncle??!”
[Ah. To be precise, your paternal uncle.]
No, uncle or whatever, that wasn’t the important part.
“Why is that bald star god my uncle!”
[Well, truthfully speaking, calling him your uncle is too generous.]
“No, wait….”
Igeon was speechless.
But whether or not Igeon tried to say something, the 13th just babbled on about his own story.
[Anyway, if you’re thinking of using the
“What?”
Igeon flinched.
Because he had indeed thought about whether he could restore the other original masters to their original states, just as he had revived the 13th.
Since they were the original masters of the Thrones, he thought they might be useful somewhere.
But.
[The beings of the Thrones you know. They aren’t the true masters of the Thrones.]
“What are you talking about?”
[The original twelve Star Gods who were usurped by the Throne Gods—those called the
“!”
The 13th’s eyes, as he recalled the original masters, turned icy.
[The original masters of the Twelve Zodiac Thrones are the Creator Clan, just like me. And the ones you know as the
“!”
At those words, Igeon looked at him as if unable to understand.
“Wait. But you said the master of the Scorching Lion Seat is your brother? Then….”
[The master of the Scorching Lion Seat… Well, he’s mixed, but roughly 90% is my brother.]
The 13th muttered this, and his eyes flashed as if disgusted.
[The
* * *
.
They were special gods with different creative abilities: ability creation, emotion creation, weather creation, world creation, and so on.
And they were exceptional gods even renowned in the Divine Realm.
Even without inheriting a separate divinity, they were already strong in and of themselves.
Of course, they weren’t closely related to combat, but they were important figures in the Divine Realm.
Because it was entirely thanks to them that the Divine Realm could be defended in wars against the Outer Gods.
Of course, even among the Creator Clan, only a few could truly use
[Thank you. Thanks to you being with us, our fame has risen as well.]
[No. We’re family, so we help each other.]
But perhaps the problem was that those few were too exceptional, too outstanding.
[What? Thrones? They created something like that?]
[Yes. And with those, you can use
[The Star Seat system?]
[They developed it so that, unlike other gods, they could manage a holy order. Faith can raise a star god’s level and skills.]
[They created it so we wouldn’t be threatened, but….]
[With that and the creation abilities of the Creators, you can even become a Chief God.]
In the end, the real Creators were murdered by their comrades.
[Keok!!]
[Aagh! W-why you…!]
[You have no idea how to use your abilities. Wasting them on things that are of no help.]
[Right. We’ll use your abilities better.]
[……!!]
They even took the
And they cast their corpses as cosmic dust.
Then they became monsters, and in the distant future, became Monarchs.
One of them was the
And naturally, the 13th’s parents were among the murdered Creators.
In human age, the 13th was probably about three years old.
In the end, the 13th, who had to witness his parents’ murder, also became a target for execution.
[Damn. That brat saw everything!]
[Who could have known he was in the wardrobe!]
[We have to kill him!]
But the one who saved that young child was the current master of the Scorching Lion Seat.
The 13th’s brother.
[Let’s spare this child.]
[What? Are you crazy?! If he remembers today, it’s over! He saw us kill his own parents!]
[He’s still too young! He won’t remember anything from today anyway.]
[……!!]
He was the 13th’s half-brother, of the same blood but a god without creation ability.
But he too was one of the usurpers who killed the Creators.
[And this child can also use creation ability. We need at least one person who can use the ‘real’ creation ability for everyone to believe we are the Creator Clan.]
[!]
[There are 13 Thrones anyway. The ones the leaders had are there, but one seat is empty. Since he won’t remember anything, we can raise him well and make him a comrade.]
[Alright. Understood.]
Thus, the 13th, alongside the usurpers who killed his family, became the
Of course, they could never use the power of
So they stole other divinities and used them to protect their own bodies.
But with the power and artifacts they’d already stolen from the Creators, the Zodiac Thirteen Palaces became famous even among the star gods.
[Damn. That guy’s ability is getting stronger as he grows…!]
[Hey, is this really okay?]
[…….]
Perhaps it was because a real Creator was different after all.
As the
Of course, they all thought it would be fine.
The 13th didn’t remember what they had done.
But.
[…W-what? What did you just say…]
The original master of the Scorching Lion Seat.
He seemed shocked when the now-grown 13th spoke.
[What’s the matter, Brother? Is it so strange that I know you killed my parents and the real Creators and shamelessly took their places?]
[……!!]
The original master of the Scorching Lion Seat froze completely.
[W-when did you….]
[From the beginning. I happen to have a good memory.]
[……!!!]
[Don’t worry. I have no intention of taking vengeance or anything now. Well, even though my mother was different, it’s true that I truly liked you, Brother, which makes me hate you enough to want to kill you even more—but either way, I can’t kill you all anyway.]
[……!!]
[Why can’t I handle
[Asran…!]
Thus, the 13th tried to live quietly.
But.
Due to a certain incident, he became consumed by a thirst for revenge.
It was because of Igeon and Igeon’s mother.
(To be continued in the next chapter)