The Fates.
Even in the divine realm, they were a clan the gods found troublesome and despised.
And for good reason—they were the goddesses who observed and prophesied the fates of gods and humans alike.
But their role did not end there.
When commanded by the Great Deities, they could directly intervene in a god’s destiny and eliminate them.
Just as they had done in the time of Hercules.
Back then, they had subtly altered Yigun’s fate, twisting it so that he would be destined to lose to Hercules.
Such authority was the three goddesses’ formidable weapon and the source of their power.
Because of this, none of the gods wished to make enemies of the Fates. On the contrary, they sought to curry favor with them, hoping to gain an advantage for their own factions.
But...
“Idiots. Who told you to covet what’s mine?”
As if harmony with the Fates was something to be scoffed at and dismissed.
The goddesses ground their teeth at Yigun’s expression.
*Alter his fate.*
They moved to act, but Yigun, looking utterly disgusted, flicked his fingers.
Immediately, the Eye of Searing Radiance went wide, and a scream burst forth.
“Aaargh!!”
The one screaming was none other than Hugo.
“What is this!”
With a flash, an unimaginable bolt of lightning erupted from his body.
*CRACKLE!!*
“Move a single finger, and you die right here.”
At Yigun’s words, the Fates recoiled in horror. They had no choice.
“This is the Great Deity’s…!”
“Isn’t that the lightning of the Celestial Lord?!”
It was the very lightning of Zeus that Yigun had faced back in Olympus.
Thanks to that, Hugo was panicking, crying out in pain and asking what this was, but Yigun himself shouted nonchalantly.
“Alright, Lightning Man, go! If you shoot an arrow now, you could probably use a lightning arrow too!”
“Hey!!”
Before that, I’ll be electrocuted to death myself!
“No, before that, where did this lightning even come from!”
Feeling like he might faint, Hugo frantically patted down his own body.
Well, it was obviously Yigun’s doing.
He must have fought the God of Thunder while I wasn’t around, gathered data from it, and made some bizarre piece of junk again.
And in the meantime, he must have stuck it on my body!
“Argh! Where is it!”
In the end, Hugo groped at his own back, writhing from the intense lightning.
Because of Yigun’s power, he kept resurrecting and recovering even as the lightning struck him, but the pain was still pain.
At the same time, spotting a strange delivery sticker on his back, Hugo’s face flushed with rage.
The lightning was bursting out from right there.
[Delivery Lightning Talisman (SSS)]
-A protective talisman made using data from the Great Deity, the Celestial Lord (天明主). Emits lightning to electrocute both the enemy and the user.
“You bastard! Are you going to take this off or not?!”
“Ah, why! I crafted it with precious data to keep your sorry ass from getting kidnapped again!”
“Argh!! You son of a….”
And in the brief moment Hugo was about to say something, the lightning rampaging in all directions struck the old woman.
*CRACKLE!!*
“Aaargh!”
“Sister!”
As if proving it was no ordinary Great Deity’s power, ‘Future’ was struck directly by the lightning and collapsed.
It even seemed as if her heart had stopped.
Even the Virgo Virgin seemed flustered by the indiscriminate attack, but quickly defended herself with the Eye of Searing Radiance.
[Family Shield]
The Eye of Searing Radiance, struck by lightning, screamed and collapsed.
At the sight, Hugo’s neck veins bulged.
“I get the intention, but this is just friendly fire in every direction! Don’t you have anything more normal?!”
At that, Yigun, as if he couldn’t help it, brought out a collection of colorful jewels.
“If you don’t like the gear, pick from these. I’ll give you a divine spark that might be useful.”
“!”
What Yigun brought out were the divine spark cores of four gods.
[Divine Spark: Ares]
[Divine Spark: Hermes]
[Divine Spark: Hades]
[Divine Spark: Aphrodite]
The first from Ares. The second by cracking open Hermes’s skull. The third from the Lord of the Abyss.
And Aphrodite’s was obtained just before she was caught by Hercules and handed over to the authorities.
Aphrodite had tried to seduce Yigun to escape, only to have her head smashed by Yuha. Then Yuha had extracted the divine spark and brought it back.
After all, the Olympian gods had turned into humans, but they still carried their divine sparks within their bodies.
Well, the rest of the group froze and fled to the prison in a hurry upon seeing Aphrodite killed by Yuha, so he couldn’t get theirs.
‘Without the divine spark, the bounty would have been reduced anyway.’
There had been one among them he coveted most, but he put it on hold. He planned to raid the prison later anyway.
Anyway, those were the precious divine sparks of the higher gods he had obtained just like that.
“Pick one from these four for a power-up. How about Aphrodite?”
“Could you give me something a little more proper?”
Hugo was fuming, but more than him, the Fates seemed utterly livid.
And for no other reason.
‘Even if it’s sealed in an item, for him to wield a Great Deity’s power like that?’
They were wary of Yigun, who had infused the Celestial Lord’s power into an item and stuck it on Hugo.
An ordinary god couldn’t even handle a fragment of such power.
Even more so for a newly fledged god who reeked so strongly of humanity.
‘They said he was a rank that would surprise even the officials.’
They had read Yigun’s fate, but remotely reading even his level had its limits.
Yet they never let it show. Hadn’t they been eyeing him from the start, knowing the value of the divine spark Yigun possessed?
That was why they deliberately intervened back in the time of Hercules.
And now, rather, in the current situation, they had to create an opening to seize those stolen territorial god sparks.
‘What kind of thing a territorial god’s divine spark is.’
It was what could be called the core of a god.
And they were proven right.
“How dare a vassal god handle the divine spark of a higher god—how utterly insolent.”
“Do you think it’s easy to wield more than one high-ranking divine spark when you already possess one?”
“Certainly, you could power up with that divine spark, but it’s not just a fragment of power—handling multiple divine sparks at once is something only a Great Deity could manage. As if that gullible fool could ever do it.”
But Yigun’s eyes flashed coldly.
“If he can’t, he’ll have to be broken by me, won’t he?”
“!”
“I can do it, so why can’t he?”
At that reply, the goddesses shot him a look of utter disbelief. There was no way they couldn’t understand the meaning behind those words.
And sure enough, their eyes shifted with a knowing look as they asked.
“You’re saying you can truly handle that? Not fragments, but multiple divine sparks?”
“Yeah. Well, I thought about making it into bound equipment since getting them stolen would be a pain.”
At the word ‘equipment,’ the goddesses let out hollow laughs, as if the joke had gone too far, but Hugo froze for a different reason.
‘That bastard… he’s not seriously thinking of turning every god in the divine realm into equipment, is he?’
But it wasn’t entirely impossible.
‘Well, unless something happens to warrant it, he wouldn’t go that far, I suppose….’
But more than that, his own situation was the problem.
‘If I can’t handle the divine spark, my bones might get chewed out—or I might get ground into equipment.’
But just then.
“Well, that doesn’t really matter.”
“!”
Yigun, having approached Hugo’s side, placed one divine spark core into his hand and took the Book of Fate that Hugo had seized.
At the sight, the Fates’ eyes flew wide open.
“What do you think you’re—!”
But Yigun, as if he had planned this all along, pulled at the book as if about to tear it apart.
“You tormented gods with this, didn’t you? I hear this is the source of your power. If you don’t want to see it smashed to pieces, hand it over.”
The Fates seemed flabbergasted.
And no wonder—the *Fatum* was a book containing the decrees of the divine realm.
From the great laws that formed the foundation of the divine realm to minor rules, it was a codex engraved with all manner of laws.
And the gods, more numerous than the stars, always sought to alter the law in their favor, so they constantly fawned over the Fates.
That’s why this was so unbelievable.
Not only was there never a god who dared cross them like this, but no one had ever been audacious enough to threaten them either.
“Well, I did expect from the very beginning that you’d have sent Louis-nim as a tribute because of the rulebook or to alter fate.”
“You vulgar and arrogant wretch…!”
“We saw it from the moment you cowardly turned the gods into humans!”
But they soon smiled.
“In any case, that sacred artifact will not yield to the offensive authority of any god, nor any divine warrior….”
*CRUNCH!*
“……!!”
At the sound that suddenly rang out, the Fates’ expressions shifted. The metallic cover of the book had begun to shatter.
The Fates stared at Yigun in bewilderment, but Yigun just raised the corner of his lips.
“Even if offensive authority doesn’t work on it, it’s ultimately just an object.”
“!”
Yigun’s eyes flashed as he used his crafting skill, [Disassembly].
It was one of the authorities unlocked after repaying his debt this time.
“I don’t know how high and mighty an object it is, but the disassembly skill works on it quite nicely?”
“……!”
The Fates’ faces looked as if they couldn’t fathom how this was possible.
“Isn’t that authority a crafting authority? Was that wretch the God of Crafting?”
“Strange? When I read his fate, there were only the powers of life, death, and cycle…!”
That was why it was so strange.
‘For any god, nearly everything is laid bare when we read their fate.’
Even the Great Deities were no exception.
For information not to be visible at a glance was by no means ordinary.
‘We must properly assess him.’
‘No matter what kind of crafting god he is, to do that…!’
In the end, growing desperate, the goddesses looked toward Hugo.
“You, servant boy there!”
“!”
“If you return that sacred artifact to us, we will reduce your karmic burden!”
“What? Karmic burden?”
“Yes! It’s strange enough that you’re staying beside that snake god with such karma to begin with….”
Hugo let out a hollow laugh.
“Karma? What kind of bullshit have they been spouting since earlier….”
But it was right at that instant.
*BOOM!!*
“……!”
Perhaps it was thanks to recovering the power of the important place in this location.
In a flash, Hugo’s vision shifted.
‘……!!’
The surrounding environment changed.
No, to be precise, the environment hadn’t changed—he was seeing an illusion.
It was similar to when he saw prophetic visions, but that was no prophetic ability.
No. If anything, rather than the future…
[*Kyaaah!! Run away!*]
[*A murderer!*]
[*That bastard killed them all!*]
What unfolded before Hugo’s eyes were the corpses of countless gods.
The number was in the thousands, tens of thousands—no, even more than that.
And it seemed that he himself had killed every last one of them.
But right at that moment.
*CRACKLE!!!*
Along with a violent sound of destruction, Hugo’s vision returned to normal.
‘!’
And just as Hugo flusteredly glanced at his own bloodstained hands—
“Kyaaahk!”
“That bastard!!”
The Fates, enraged, glared at Yigun.
In the meantime, Yigun had completely smashed the Book of Fate to pieces.
Of course, far from feeling any pangs of conscience, he himself looked rather dumbfounded.
“What the hell, is this thing’s durability for real?”
Well, with this, one of the Fates’ authorities had been sealed, at least.
“Ah, whatever. If you want this fixed, hand over what I’m asking for and correct what I tell you to.”
At those words, ‘Past,’ in the form of a child, stretched out her hand, veins bulging in her eyes.
“Arrogant wretch, to stand against the Fates!”
At that instant, the sky split apart and massive gears began to appear.
*Rumble-rumble-rumble!*
The goddesses recalled the command that had been issued from the Great Deity after the destruction of Olympus.
It was none other than a command concerning Yigun.
-Hear me, Fates. Alter the Snake God’s destiny. Strip him of his qualifications as a god.
-Then…
-Erase his very existence and make him reincarnate as a lowly creature.
Of course, originally, they had ignored that command. Yigun was far too valuable for that.
But now, things were different.
And so their eyes flashed.
And from the countless spinning gears, lightning surged upward, and an astonishing event began to unfold.
“Ugh!”
“Geon-ah!”
Yigun’s vision shifted.
And the moment he opened his eyes, they went perfectly round.
He couldn’t help it.
‘This place…’
The spot where he opened his eyes was none other than atop a bed.
‘Earth?’
But it wasn’t the present.
‘Back when I lived with Yeonwoo and Junwoo.’
Before he became the 13th Awakened—and simultaneously, the time before Yeonwoo and Junwoo had died.
Just then, a voice rang out.
[*I have read the records of your past. It seems you managed to resurrect the woman of your family, but you still haven’t found your younger brother, have you?*]
“!”
[*I also know that you purposely read the records of the netherworld to search for that brother’s soul.*]
[*Wasn’t the very reason you entered the divine realm from the start to search for that brother’s soul?*]
“!”
It was the voice of ‘Past,’ one of the Fates.
And this was the authority of *Past*, one of the Fates.
[Crossroads of Fate (5-star)]
-Modifies the fate of the past.
[*That is the time when your younger brother is still alive. But what will happen if you save him?*]
Yigun raised an eyebrow.
[*I hear you received the Snake God’s divine spark thanks to the power of the siblings there. If you save your brother there, though you might lose the Snake God’s power, wouldn’t you be able to find the brother you still haven’t located?*]
The goddess smiled.
[*Though the existence of the hero Yigun will vanish, well, other heroes will handle the world instead of you anyway.*]
Yigun checked the divine rank circulating in his body.
He could still use his power.
Clearly, the intent was for him to save his younger brother here and alter the fate.
‘In the end, she’s telling me to choose between family and being a hero.’
[*Didn’t you never want to become a hero anyway? I am granting you a special chance to save your brother.*]
But Yigun narrowed his brow.
Well, there was a way to escape this authority.
‘Since the timeline itself hasn’t changed like when I faced ___, it’d be enough to rewind time quickly back to the present.’
It was possible if he used the data from ___ he had kept for emergencies.
But…
‘___’s ability is useful, so it’s a waste to use it much.’
Didn’t he kill ___ with Arcane, leaving no body behind anyway?
Hardly a scrap of data remained.
But at that moment, the corner of Yigun’s lips twitched upward.
‘Wait. If this is the past, then ___ is still here too, right?’
Then I can duplicate him.
(Continued in the next chapter)