Side Story Chapter 35 - Star Fragment (1)

“Star’s fragment…?” Sesha gulped. She did not understand what the man meant. However, she was sure that the man was after Min Chae-young. The issue was that the energy emanating from the man was formidable.

‘Who is that person…?’

After Yeon-woo took away the system on Earth, the players who derived their powers from the system had to return to their normal lives.

Though, it was said that many divine beings still observed Earth with interest since the Black King’s true body, R’lyeh, was assumed to still be on the planet. Even so, with Yeon-woo observing everything, there was no divine being that was foolish enough to invade Earth. Apart from that fact, Kronos and Rhea were also present on Earth. The two had regained their powers of their glory years.

Moreover, if anything should happen on Earth, Olympus would also mobilize, so Earth was essentially a neutral zone, or to be more exact, a protected magic realm. It may be easy for one to step in, but if one made a mistake, even a creation god or great god would perish.

However, such an existence had made an appearance on Earth. And this existence was a black-haired man, who obviously exuded great power.

For Sesha, who had not yet achieved exuviation, the man’s pressure was suffocating. If Laplace had not stepped in to protect her, she would have likely fallen into danger. Moreover, the man had approached her so stealthily that Yeon-woo did not seem to even ‘notice’. The same went for Laplace and Kronos. The distance from Sesha’s school to her home was quite a bit, but for Kronos, that should not have been much of a problem.

Thus, Sesha knew. ‘It’s that man. The one who erased the vestiges at my school.’

It was clear that this man had deceived Laplace’s senses.

Shake. And Min Chae-young, whom Sesha held in her arms, kept trembling like a baby bird shivering in the cold. What had happened to Chae-young on the day the thunder and lightning struck to make her react this way?

However, without caring about Min Chae-young’s reaction, the man reached out with his hand. He did not care that Sesha and Laplace were in his way. Bam! Just before a light started shining from the man’s fingertips, Laplace grabbed the man’s wrist with his large hand.

The man quietly turned his gaze to Laplace. He glanced at his wrist and at Laplace while narrowing his eyes. “Who are you?”

『Ohoho. You’re asking the very question I want to ask you.』

Sss. Laplace was smiling, but Sesha knew that Laplace had gotten angry. Laplace’s rabbit shadow had widened its mouth. The serrated teeth of Laplace’s shadow could easily be seen.

『Who the hell are you to attack our cute little Sesha? Are you going to answer, you ugly man?』

“I am the collector.” The man’s voice was calm. “A person who collects fragments.”

『Hmpf! There’re crazy people everywhere.』

As soon as Laplace finished speaking… Rumble! Laplace’s shadow extended its black tentacles and swept a strong gale towards the man. The wind was like an interstellar wind that blew between the stars in the deep universe. The light contained within it was like the starlight embedded in the night sky.

However, contrary to its beautiful appearance, the result of the collision was anything but beautiful. A powerful shockwave blew up the classroom in an instant.

“Chae-young, run!” Sesha knew what she had to do. She grabbed Min Chae-young’s hand and dragged her down the hallway.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Bam! Bam! The clash between Laplace and the man shook the entire school. It seemed as if the school would collapse at any moment. A row of windows in the hallway shattered and broke one after another. The classroom door was swept away by the strong wind and smashed the window on the opposite-side of the classroom’s hallway. As a result, pieces of desks and stools became deadly weapons as they started flying all over the place. The classroom’s walls collapsed, and pieces of the ceiling started falling. It was as if a violent earthquake had wreaked havoc on the site.

In addition, with strong winds constantly blowing out, Sesha found it difficult to run while holding onto Chae-young. However, Sesha knew that this level of wind and destruction was already lessened as a consideration for their safety.

Originally, beings like Laplace and the man would not have cared about the school and would have blown it into pieces without a second thought. If they truly fought, a large part of Earth itself would have been destroyed.

Of course, if that happened, Sesha and Min Chae-young would have disappeared without leaving a trace.

Hence, Laplace was controlling his power level. One part of his power was used against the man while another was being used to protect Sesha and the others. Laplace did this because his mission was to protect Sesha.

However, there was something that Sesha could not understand. Even if Laplace was dividing his power, he was still one of the Eight Gods of Disorder. However, Laplace was not able to easily kill the man. What the hell was the man’s identity…? Sesha was unable to continue with her train of thought for long.

Rattle! Rattle! The skeleton model in the hallway was waving its hand urgently and shouting something. At the same time, some statues were rushing towards this place.

‘What…?!’ Sesha anxiously turned her head back.

Sss. Through the shattered and scattered rubble, Sesha saw two shadows quickly approaching her. She realized intuitively that they were not Laplace’s shadows. Additionally, they were not the man’s… They were separate beings.

Thinking that she would be overtaken at this rate, Sesha tried to untie the Lotus Sword that was wrapped around her wrist. However, the statue of Yi Sun-sin and a stone statue of King Sejong quickly caught up to Sesha. For a brief moment, the two statues’ eyes met Sesha’s.

“You guys…!” Sesha was able to hear the two’s voices.

‘Run away.’

‘We’ll try to run interference.’

Sesha wanted to say that they would not be able to stop the man. No matter how mysterious an origin the two possessed, they were not divine beings. They were just monster existences that would be no match against the man.

However, the Yi Sun-sin statue seemed to state that it was fine. It smiled brightly and pulled its sword out of its sheath. It was a mere stone sword, but for some mysterious reason, Sesha felt that the sword was swarmed in light.

The Ruler’s Heavenly Oath. Moving Mountains and Rivers.

Clearing with One Move. Dyeing the Mountains and Rivers with Blood.

The phrases written on the sword came into Sesha’s eyes.

“I swear by this stone sword that the mountains and rivers shall tremble, and with one swing, I shall defeat my enemy and dye the mountains and rivers in blood!”

The statue of Yi Sun-sin smashed the ground with his long sword. Boom! Rumble… The explosion shook the school building once more.

While Yi Sun-sin’s statue was taking this action, the stone statue of King Sejong seemed to say ‘Don’t worry’ as it winked. King Sejong’s statue supported the statue of Yi Sun-sin, and subsequently, the many skeleton models and various lesser statues started piling up and creating an artificial wall.

‘…damn it!’ Sesha clenched her jaw. She felt a scorching heat pierce the tip of his nose, and it was soon accompanied by a pungent smoke. The two statues had tried their best, but in the end, they were not able to hold out for long.

「No…!」 Min Chae-young clenched her jaw as she looked at the scene. The death of her friends, who she had befriended and wandered the hallway with together, awakened the consciousness she had been unable to regain due to her traumatic experience. She had not even had the opportunity to have a proper conversation with them. She would not be able to even thank them… Although being locked up in the classroom, the two statue existences had given their lives for her.

『It’s annoying that you’re constantly running away.』

At that time, Sesha and Min Chae-young abruptly stopped in the middle of the stairway as a shadow popped up in front of them. One of the two shadows that was chasing after them had just caught up with them. As the shadow lifted, a middle-aged man with red hair was revealed.

『Hahaha. You have nowhere to go now.』

From behind, the second shadow arrived and lifted its veil. It turned into a woman with an alluring smile.

“Child.” The woman spoke aloud like a human, and she gave a human-like smile. However, Sesha did not miss the chilling killing intent hidden in the woman’s playful eyes. The woman spoke, “Give me what you have in your hand. If you do that, I’ll let you go. You’re not our target in the first place.”

“We have no intention of making a fuss. You don’t need to care for such a cumbersome and disturbing child, right? It’s not even a living person.”

The woman nodded after the middle-aged man spoke.

Min Chae-young’s gaze trembled. If she was in Sesha’s shoes, she knew that she would choose to give her up. However… Whoosh! Sesha untied her Lotus Sword from her wrist.

The roughly two-and-a-half-meter Lotus Sword extended itself across the ground as Sesha firmly gripped its handle. With her other hand, Sesha held firmly onto Min Chae-young’s hand. “I won’t leave you. I’ll protect you somehow.”

「But…!」

“I’ve already made up my mind. Don’t say anything else.”

Whoosh! A magic circle formed under Sesha’s feet and shot up white flames that wrapped around her before clinging to her Lotus Sword. The flames were the ‘Nephilim’s Fire’, a skill that she recently started learning from Kronos.

‘I don’t know if this’ll work, but…!’

It was Sesha’s first time using the skill outside of practice, so she was not sure she could properly pull off the skill. However, in order to contend with the divine beings in front of her, she had to use the most effective magic skill she knew, and no matter how much she thought, this skill was the only thing that came to her mind.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have paid closer attention and learned it properly when grandfather tried to teach me…!’

Sesha regretted neglecting to learn magic for the past year or so. She had thought that Earth would be relatively safe. Of course, even if she had trained properly, she probably would still be no match for the foes in front of her or reach exuviation from her training. However, at this moment, Sesha wanted whatever help she could get.

“So, you’re going to fight even though you don’t have to.” The middle-aged man smiled coldly. “If that’s your wish, I will grant what you seek, foolish child.”

In an instant, the world surrounding the middle-aged man changed. Sesha and Min Chae-young were also sucked into the middle-aged man’s space. Whoosh! It was a world full of darkness. Not a single point of light could be seen.

Sesha’s expression hardened. She noticed that this was the man’s illusory world, his holy territory.

“This place again? Ugh. It’s so dark and gloomy here. Can’t you try to change it and make something else?” The woman seemed to be very familiar with this place. She grumbled and complained as if she was sick of the space. Yet, a corner of her mouth rose, expressing her cruel thoughts and intentions.

***

Darkness Sphere was a place completely isolated from the outside, so whatever happened within could not be observed from outside. Sesha recognized that she was in a holy territory, but in fact, this space was slightly different from a normal holy territory.

This holy territory was a Star Field. The starlight here shined brighter than starlight from anywhere else. Therefore, fighting outside the Star Field was burdensome for these two existences.

As for Earth… If Earth was exposed to this starlight, it would melt away. Although Earth’s solar system’s sun was not the largest of all stars, if one got too close, the sun would eventually melt whatever came near, even a planet like Earth.

However, there was no need to worry about that in the Star Field. Moreover, the two would not have to worry about the king of gods couple finding them.

The middle-aged man, also known as the Southern Arrow, or Sagitta, smiled broadly.