Return of the Shattered Constellation - Chapter 495: Star Fragments (5)

Chang-Sun could not believe his eyes. Baal and Metatron were from <Maleakhe> and <L’Infernal>, the <Societies> that maintained the balance of <Heaven>. Besides, they had originally been Elder Celestials, which meant they were among the greatest Celestials in all Worldlines…

However, those very same great Celestials were being punished. Chang-Sun was actually very familiar with their punishment, because his high school teachers had once told him to assume a push-up position with his head when he got caught chatting with his friends during class[1].

‘I don’t think… they’re using their divine power,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Baal and Metatron seemed to not be using their divine power for fear of something. They trembled like aspen leaves, sweating buckets. It seemed as if the only reason they did not lose their balance and collapse to one side was pure physical ability.

Just then, <Dull Darkness> suddenly appeared by Chang-Sun’s bedside and said, “At ease.”

Worried that <Dull Darkness> would change his mind, Metatron and Baal immediately stood up, drenched in sweat. Their foreheads were red after spending so long in the push-up position.

“You said that you have excuses, right? I’ll hear them out…!” <Dull Darkness> began coldly.

『Master! Why are you only punishing them~?! Punish—no, reward meee!』

The shadows in the room suddenly grew longer, and Aphoom-Zhah, the perverted rabbit, jumped out and ran into the arms of <Dull Darkness>. Right at that moment, Chang-Sun saw that annoyance was filling the emotionless eyes of <Dull Darkness>. It looked as if even <Dull Darkness> did not want to deal with the perverted rabbit.

“Ganax.” <Dull Darkness> sighed.

Aphoom-Zhah froze in place involuntarily despite his desire to be close to <Dull Darkness>. At that moment, a different shadow overlapped on that of <Dull Darkness>, turning into a pair of eyes and a grin.

『M-Master? Who is this? There’s a stranger in your shadow!』

“It’ll be in charge of you from now on.” <Dull Darkness> gestured at Ganax and said. “Get him out of here.”

Ganax nodded and pulled on a shadow, absorbing Aphoom-Zhah back into the darkness.

『W-What?! I’m right here, so how could you bring a concubine into this house? Even if you’ve been far away from home…!T-This is wrong!』

“…What are you doing? Get him out of here.”

『No, Your Majesty! Don’t abandon me, Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majestyyyy!』

Aphoom-Zhah shrieked as he disappeared.

“He must have seen a historical drama series or something… Seriously, I need to tell Sesha later not to show him anything weird,” <Dull Darkness> grumbled, massaging his aching temples.

“Whoa…!”

“How… did it do that?”

Metatron’s and Baal’s jaws dropped to the floor. Aphoom-Zhah had been a problem for them too, so they had not expected Ganax to take Aphoom-Zhah out(?) this easily. The Eight Gods of Disorder had to have received a similar impression.

[The Outer Celestial ‘Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’ asks her father fervently who that was just now!]

[The Outer Celestial ‘Nameless Mist’ says it seems to be a new kind of shadow that has not been seen in Nyx or Eros.]

[The Outer Celestial ‘Source of Uncleanliness’ feels a sense of familiarity with the shadow for some reason.]

[The Outer Celestial ‘Harbinger’ says that he has composed a song after receiving inspiration from the pervert extermination just now.]

[The Outer Celestial ‘Green Flame’ wants to learn how to exterminate perverts, turning blue.]

“Everyone, say hi. Ganax is from the Unreal World. Thanks to its ability, I can temporarily stay here,” <Dull Darkness> said.

Kieeeeh!

The shadow of <Dull Darkness> nodded. Perhaps because their intelligence was not high, Ganax could only let out a roar, but their Class was definitely not low.

‘Unreal World? Is he talking about the Imaginary Plane? He brought Ganax from the world of False Celestials where <Stars> run off to escape from the Emperors’ pursuit…?’ Chang-Sun wondered, realizing that the consciousness of <Dull Darkness> had been missing for a reason.‘Setting this Tower up to be a trap isn’t the only thing he did. He headed to the Imaginary Plane to hunt down <Stars> himself.’

<Dull Darkness> told the Eight Gods of Disorder, who were welcoming Ganax, that they would enjoy their reunion later and then sent them outside.

“Since everyone else is outside, I’ll hear your excuses now. Why did things get this messy while I was away?” <Dull Darkness> asked as he looked at Metatron and Baal sharply.

They stiffened and began, “We…!”

“Ah, don’t tell me you had it under control. I saw how the Tower was crumbling.”

Metatron and Baal became speechless, unable to give excuses for the Tower’s collapse, but still, it was unfair. No one could have expected the sturdy Tower would actually crumble. Even the Eight Gods of Disorder had freaked out at the time.

Regardless, <Dull Darkness> was not someone who accepted excuses. In the end, Baal and Metatron exchanged glances and returned to their spots, resuming their head push-ups. <Dull Darkness> turned to look at Chang-Sun, who was bewildered.

“Why are you still sitting there?” <Dull Darkness> asked, tilting his head.

“…?”

“You’re up. Join them,” <Dull Darkness> said as he pointed to Metatron and Baal with his chin.

Chang-Sun had to quietly get into a head push-up next to Metatron and Baal.

* * *

Chang-Sun trembled hard, his sweat dripping profusely onto the floor. It would be nothing if he could use his divine power, but he was under Divine Steel restriction devices. No, if only <Dull Darkness> were not sitting on top of him…!

“This chair is getting uncomfortable. You can’t call yourself a chair like this,” <Dull Darkness> said while sitting in the lotus position.

Whenever Chang-Sun moved even slightly out of position, <Dull Darkness> made comments, making Chang-Sun feel wide awake again.

“Urrrgh…!” Chang-Sun groaned.

“Am I hearing things? It’s as if the chair can talk.”

“…!”

“A chair isn’t alive. It isn’t capable of thinking,” <Dull Darkness> murmured, implying that it would be unwise for Chang-Sun to try to weasel out of his punishment.

‘…He’s more evil than a devil.’

‘Indeed… The Black King… From his soul to his temper, everything about him is dark …’

On the other hand, Metatron and Baal were standing awkwardly after having been freed from their punishment. Although they felt good about how Chang-Sun had ended up due to every problem he had created for them, they also pitied Chang-Sun for attracting the notice of <Dull Darkness>. They were all too aware of how all those who had defied <Dull Darkness> ended up in the past. Perhaps…Chang-Sun would end up the same way.

“I want you to know that I can hear what you two are thinking,” <Dull Darkness> said as he looked at Baal and Metatron.

“Ha. Hahaha… We’re joking. Joking. Right, Baal?”

“Y-Yeah! Hahaha! Haha!”

As Baal and Metatron laughed awkwardly, <Dull Darkness> looked down at Chang-Sun, who seemed about to flop down onto the floor at any minute. Nevertheless, Chang-Sun held out, because his intuition was telling him that an even worse hell awaited him if he made a mistake here.

“You’re Lee Chang-Sun the ‘Divine Twilight’, from Worldline #801, yes?” <Dull Darkness> asked.

‘…He really knows me.’ Chang-Sun realized that Ubbo-Sathla’s speculation about how <Dull Darkness> had been behind the Rollback loop was right.

It seemed <Dull Darkness> had read Chang-Sun’s thoughts too. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you guys for a long time. You’re the people Jeong-Woo—no, <Deus Ex Machina> paid the most attention to.”

Perkwunos was right. <Deus Ex Machina> was the one who had put the <Mark> on Lee Chang-Suns and given the <Punishment> to Ubbo-Sathla.

“I did think that you’d find your <Punishment> unfair, since you had to suffer for a crime you didn’t even remember, but it would be better to think of it as an inevitability. Your innate karma and the environment you’re born in are like your natural talents. They’re not something you have control over, so the only thing you can do is to endure and surmount them,” <Dull Darkness> said bitterly, perhaps because he had also gone through many obstacles that fate had put in his path. “But you did it in the end. It’s incredible. You did a great job.”

Chang-Sun choked up.

―You did a great job.

That last remark of <Dull Darkness> meant too much to Chang-Sun. It was supposed to be their first proper encounter, and even Chang-Sun had been unaware of how fatigued and sad he was. However, <Dull Darkness> recognizing all the trials and tribulations Chang-Sun had gone through until now was a relief for some reason, making all of Chang-Sun’s sadness and fatigue fade away.

‘…It would be perfect if he let me stand up now…’ Chang-Sun thought hopefully.

“Yeah, no. It’s punishment for the havoc you wreaked.”

“…I’ll reflect on my wrongdoings,” Chang-Sun said, then stopped thinking about anything altogether.

It was truly tragic to have someone read one’s mind, as that prevented one from even holding the slightest grievance.

“I’ve actually been watching you through Thanatos,” <Dull Darkness> went on.

Although Thanatos had a separate identity from <Dull Darkness>, Thanatos was still his avatar, so it was not odd for him to be aware of Chang-Sun’s existence through Thanatos.

“I did find you unique at the time too. After being rescued from the brink of getting eaten by another you, you had your revenge and… fought hard against the <Punishment>. It was quite impressive.”

“Is that… so?” Chang-Sun asked.

“The one who was with you was your enemy, yes?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“How did you manage to work together with your enemy?” <Dull Darkness> asked.

“I’m doing what’s necessary.”

“He hurt your lover in the past, didn’t he?”

Chang-Sun pursed his lips, remembering the relationship between <Dull Darkness> and Cha Ye-Eun.

“I’m just marveling at how all the Lee Chang-Suns make different choices and walk down distinct paths, not trying to criticize you. In some way, Machina might have been right,” <Dull Darkness> said with a shrug.

Chang-Sun could tell that now was the time to ask what was on his mind and said, “I have questions for you.”

“Make them short. As you may have already noticed, I can’t stay here for long because I have unfinished business to take care of over there.”

Organizing his thoughts, Chang-Sun asked, “Are you…the one who put me in the Rollback loop?”

“That’s right.”

“Can I ask why?”

<Dull Darkness> looked down at Chang-Sun, whose tone was serious even though he was sweating hard as he stayed in his push-up position. That indicated how important the question was to Chang-Sun, and it was also the reason why he had woken <Dull Darkness> up by starting chaos.

“Machina gave us the <Punishment>, but you…!” Chang-Sun continued.

“I looked like I was trying to save you?” <Dull Darkness> speculated.

“Yes, it looked that way.”

From what Chang-Sun knew, <Dull Darkness> and <Deus Ex Machina> were twins. In mythology, Angra Mainyu the Destructive Spirit and Spenta Mainyu the Merciful Spirit were also twins, but they entered conflict from opposing sides, making distinct choices with goals of their own. For some reason, Chang-Sun could see a similar side to these two siblings.

As expected, the eyes of <Dull Darkness>, which were visible through his white mask, filled up with bitterness.

“That’s because, with you guys as <Twilight> and me as <Dusk>, Machina was going to…!” <Dull Darkness> suddenly stopped answering and looked up after sensing something. He muttered, “Speak of the devil.”

[<Deus Ex Machina> has found the cause of the error in the System!]

[<Deus Ex Machina> is descending to the location!]

Rrrrrumble!

The world around them changed completely. The house they were in was gone, replaced by a world of clockwork. Golden machine eyes opened up in the sky.

[<Deus Ex Machina> looks at his twin brother in annoyance!]

1. This is from a time when corporal punishment was common in Korea. They no longer tell their students to do this. ☜