Part 2 Chapter 57

Part 2 – Episode 57

The moment the energy poured from the tip of my sword like a pillar and drove itself into the earth,

I instinctively understood.

This energy would maintain whatever form I desired, whenever I wished.

The delicate particles of light, woven together as densely as a spider’s web, resembled both mist and yet at the same time a thick liquid.

That was why I had plunged my sword into the towering pillar of light and descended with it toward the ground.

Slowly.

The energy, which had been splitting apart effortlessly wherever the blade passed, gradually began to harden, gaining resistance.

Then, at some point during my steady descent—

Ash called out to me.

“Ash! I’m counting on you to take care of Ricky! Don’t just dump her anywhere—put her down somewhere there are as many people as possible!”

The moment I tossed Ricky into the air, a massive foot flew over and seized her by the shoulder. It looked like its claws dug into her a little… but I suppose that couldn’t be helped if it was going to keep from dropping her.

Now alone, I greatly reduced the resistance of the pillar of light and accelerated my descent.

Whoooosh!

Following that absent-minded thought—This is sort of fun—my feet finally touched the ground.

The pillar had long since split into two, scattering across the sky like the Milky Way. The particles of light that drifted like flower pollen embroidered the heavens before vanishing without a trace.

Good. Somehow, I managed to save them both.

Then… I should head back to the base for now.

But which direction was it again?

I was standing there blankly, looking around, when—

A faint vibration came from inside my coat. Almost instinctively, I reached in and pulled out its source: a silver coin engraved with a lily of the valley.

“So what exactly is this coin for?”

How had Rue answered that question again?

“Pantheon.”

Right, he’d said that Pantheon—the final stop of ascension before departing for the far reaches of the universe—would open.

How many people was it again? Was it three? Three had to accept the summons?

But how were you supposed to accept it?

One question gave rise to another. Spolia, that bastard. He could’ve at least explained how to use the coin before handing it over…

“…Huh?”

I looked up without thinking.

The brilliant blue sky of early summer was gone. Before I knew it, I was standing in a desert suspended between the heavens and the infinite cosmos.

So this was…

‘Pantheon.’

When I blinked again, I found myself seated upon a throne carved from sand.

Four thrones stood in the middle of the desert, facing one another. I blinked once more, and the throne that had seemed to stand far away in the distance was suddenly right before me.

“The Pantheon.”

I was sitting on a throne made of sand when I blinked once again.

Four thrones in the desert look at each other. As I blinked once more, the throne, which seemed to exist in a distant distance, came just around the corner.

[Four.]

The voice came from the man seated on the throne opposite me.

Due to the strong sandstorm raging through this place, the other person’s face was not visible.

[It’s been a long time since everyone answered the call.]

[Not everyone. There are five in total.]

At that moment, the figure seated on the throne to my right rose to her feet.

She walked toward me. The girl, her eyes closed, reached out and gently cupped my face before whispering,

[So it’s you. The twenty-second Morning Star to rise.]

Did she mean the twenty-second demigod?

I silently looked down at the girl before placing a hand atop her head. I ruffled it thoroughly, leaving her neatly combed long white hair in complete disarray.

[What childishness is this?]

[…So you’re Maria of the East?]

[Indeed. I am Maria of the East, little Morning Star.]

Smiling softly, Maria rested a hand against the corner of my mouth and asked,

[I’m curious about your Blooming. Would you tell me what power you’ve awakened?]

The answer came not from my own lips, but from somewhere else.

[Immortality!]

The man seated on the throne to my left was staring directly at me. Through the dense curtain of sand, his violet eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

[Even after I tore your heart out, you kept breathing as though nothing had happened. Isn’t that right, rookie? Hahaha. It’s good to see your face again after four years… You’ve been taking good care of what’s mine inside you, haven’t you?]

Rein.

Strangely, despite standing face to face with the one who had killed me, I felt no surge of emotion.

Perhaps it was because this was Pantheon.

[Immortality. Such a plain, yet remarkably intriguing Blooming.]

[…]

[The God of Death… And yet you have such an innocent face. How fascinating.]

The God of Death?

[Is that what you’re calling me because my Blooming is immortality?]

[Do you dislike it?]

[It’s tacky.]

[And yet, little Morning Star, that is the nature of a Blooming… Do you truly believe the power you’ve awakened is nothing more than the product of chance? It isn’t.]

The girl slowly withdrew her hand and returned to her seat, passing through the swirling sandstorm.

[Your blooming is the manifestation of the deepest wish you held as you ascended to your current realm.]

[A wish?]

[Indeed. The reason I obtained infinite memory, the Northern God gained dominion over time, and the Southern God came to commune with the dead… all of it.]

At that moment, the throne opposite us cut Maria off.

[Enough with the impromptu lesson. That’s not why we’re here.]

[Then what is?]

[I propose the eradication of the South.]

Eradication.

Three pairs of eyes—including mine—turned toward the throne on the left.

[You’ve crossed the line, Rein. The things you do are beneath even Mephisto, who acted like his mind’s wick had burned out. You have no right to remain in this world as a demigod. All you desire is humanity’s chaos and the Heart of a God.]

“Puhahahahahaha!”

A manic roar of laughter echoed across the desert.

It was so savage that the sandstorm surrounding him grew even more violent. Lightning split over the parched land, and dark storm clouds began to swallow the sky.

[Eradication? Excellent! Go on, then—try it, Spolia! O great Co-Consul of the glorious Republic of Kontaninos…]

[Rein.]

[So who exactly are you going to ask to carry out this eradication? Maria, perhaps? The one who’s become consumed by nothing but her thirst for knowledge, who only knows how to wander the distant Eastern Continent? Who never shows her face anywhere?]

The hand he had been pointing toward the throne on the right now shifted to the empty sky overhead.

[Hmm? Not her? Then what—are you going to go crawling after Calepa, who finds gatherings like this too boring to even attend, and beg for his help?]

His violet eyes turned back to me.

[Or perhaps… our rookie? Hahaha… No, that can’t be it. You have no right to ask that of anyone, Spolia… Just think about the despicable things you’ve done!]

Bang!

The instant Rein’s fist slammed into his throne, lightning exploded across the sky, and every trace of the sandstorm vanished.

With nothing left to obscure our vision, the faces of all the gods were finally revealed.

We were seated far closer to one another than I’d realized.

And that wasn’t all.

Beneath the thrones…

[Do you see them, rookie? Stars that fell from the heavens and died. One, two, three… There are quite a lot of them, aren’t there? Oh, there’s the one that perished a mere fifteen years ago.]

There was nothing left but bones.

Bleached white skeletons—remains that had once belonged to living people—jutted from the soft desert sand like newly sprouted shoots.

[Spolia killed every last one of them.]

Thak.

With a cold, casual kick from Rein, one of the skulls went sailing into the distance.

[I nearly ended up on the same ship myself… You’re next, rookie.]

I blinked once. Only once. And yet Rein was already standing right in front of me.

Wearing a smile so familiar it was impossible to imagine this was the same man who had torn my heart from my chest, he draped his arm around my shoulders. Keeping my gaze fixed on Spolia, he leaned close and whispered into my ear.

[Don’t think so? Then don’t believe me. Behind that stoic expression, he desires you more fervently than anyone… One day, he’ll try to seduce you until your very soul is swept away, and he’ll try to have your child… Ah, though you’re a woman, I suppose he’ll make you bear his child instead. Then he’ll disappear with the child, as though none of it had ever happened… as though it had all been a dream.]

The description was unnecessarily detailed. A bit too vivid.

Almost as if…

[Speaking from experience?]

Rein fell silent.

After a long pause, he spoke again, his voice low and heavy.

[Let’s kill the God Of The West.]

—

Notice:

Hello guys, your local translator Ami here again. I know some of you have been with me since 2022, when I first started translating this novel during high school. I’m sure anyone reading this far ahead would know the value and importance this novel holds for me, and I think it is about time I make my intentions with this novel clear.

As you may know, I’m the original unofficial translator for this novel. I’ve poured endless effort into it because I love the author, and I have done it regardless of whether I make any money from it or not. Ever since the manhwa adaptation of this novel, however, many other “translations” have popped up. Though I hold no claim or rights over it, it is saddening to see low-effort translations (which seem AI generated and unedited, with no explanation and sentences that do not make sense, and the names are all jumbled up) being pumped out despite my ongoing translation, and while that is fine because it is their own choice, some of these translations have permanent paywalls for the last chapters of part 1 as well.

When I was shifting the novel to this site, I was also asked if I wanted to do the same, but as I have held from the beginning, I have always wanted to read this novel along with my readers. Many things in the novel’s chapters would not make sense without explanations or notes simply because the language and tone this novel uses in the original cannot be translated blindly by a machine without human intuition and oversight. I have thus, from the start, provided explanations whenever necessary to help the localization and prevent misunderstanding. I’ve been told time and time again by readers that these notes help, which I am glad for. But to come to point:

It is disheartening to see this novel being sniped by people who don’t put in enough effort to translate it with heart or love. I am not calling out anybody in particular, but I am no fool that cannot see why there’s a sudden interest in posting this novel right after the manhwa adaptation, but the monetary incentive of having more views has never been my goal with this novel. I only wish to provide everyone with a quality translation that does justice to the original story. And thus, keeping this in mind, I will no longer be doing any advanced chapters for this novel, and will strive only to complete it, if I’m able. I didn’t do them for part 1, and though I did have some up in part 2, I don’t want to do it anymore.

I want to finish translating this story, if there’s enough time to do so, I know you can never know with the strikes these days. So I want to finish it while I am able to do so that you are also able to read it. I’m not just a highschool student with a great amount of free time anymore, but I make time for it regardless. Anyone that wishes to support me may do so by way of a ko-fi (I am always grateful for it as a college student), but there will be no more advanced chapters. I will post when I translate or post in bulk, so if you’d like, read this story with me to the end, dearest reader. Also, please remember, only the translation under Moonlight Novel and Novelreads on NU is mine. The new links there belong to another group.

Your sleep deprived and sort of too emotionally attached to this novel translator,

Ami.