Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: Adam's Apple (2)
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“Is this… Adam's Apple?”
A brilliant wave of gold poured forth.
Just being near it was enough to take one's breath away, filling the area with a sacred aura.
The golden apple emanated such a mysterious and holy energy that even nonbelievers would feel a sense of reverence.
Riak's eyes widened as he stared at the apple in Oh-jin's hand.
“I-Indeed… This is a holy relic with an extraordinary aura!”
The magical energy was so dense it made his skin tingle.
The golden apple pulsed with the immense power of a Stigma, as if it had been crafted from the very stars of the night sky.
“H-How in the world did you obtain such a divine object?”
“Why ask when you already know?”
Oh-jin grinned and tapped his head.
“Obviously, I got it because I 'knew' where it was and how to get it.”
“Grrr. Fortunately, it seems the method to obtain Adam's Apple hasn't changed.”
“Well, just because the future has started to change doesn't mean everything has.”
He answered with a light shrug.
“…Brat.”
Riak's gaze shifted to Oh-jin's face.
He saw the dark circles under Oh-jin's eyes and his gaunt cheeks.
To the eyes of a seasoned warrior like Riak, Oh-jin's condition was clear at a glance.
‘A state of extreme fatigue combined with signs of anemia.’
An Awakener's body boasted vitality and regenerative abilities on a completely different level from ordinary people.
For Oh-jin, an Apostle of Vega, one of the greatest among hundreds of Constellations, pulling a few all-nighters should have been nothing.
The fact that Oh-jin, with his superhuman body, looked so pitifully haggard meant one thing.
‘Even if he knows the future, obtaining a divine object like this couldn't have been easy.’
He was putting on a confident front, as if it were no big deal.
But the deep fatigue and signs of anemia on Oh-jin's face were proof that he had fought a fierce battle to obtain ‘Adam's Apple’.
“Thank you.”
Riak bowed his head with a sharp, disciplined motion.
Unlike spirits who directly inherited a part of a Constellation's soul, the relationship between an Awakener and a Constellation wasn't a one-sided master-servant dynamic.
The relationship was more akin to a business partnership.
The Awakener received a Stigma from the Constellation to gain superhuman powers, and in turn, the Constellation's 'stature' rose as their Awakener became more renowned.
Of course, the Constellation who granted the Stigma was generally in the superior position, but bound by the Laws, they couldn't issue forceful commands to their Apostle.
In other words.
Oh-jin had pushed himself to this tattered state to retrieve ‘Adam's Apple’ for Vega entirely of his own free will, without any compulsion.
‘He said he had a deep relationship with Lady Vega in his past life.’
At first, Riak had dismissed it as nonsense.
But seeing him so desperate to obtain Adam's Apple for her, Riak began to see Oh-jin in a slightly different light.
‘If it's this brat, perhaps Lady Vega…’
As the thought continued, Riak flinched.
“Hmph! I still can't accept it!”
“Accept what?”
“Nothing, brat!”
Riak shook his head frantically, a flustered look on his face.
His glossy silver fur rippled like ears of rice swaying in the wind.
“Anyway, can we break Lady Vega's shackles with this?”
“If it's the Adam's Apple I remember, yes.”
“Then there's no time to waste! Let's go free Lady Vega right now, brat!”
“Ah, while I'm breaking the shackles, Riak, you should wait outside.”
“What?”
Riak narrowed his eyes.
“Is there a reason I can't go in with you?”
“Using Adam's Apple requires… a sort of ritual.”
“Hmm. I see.”
When Oh-jin gave a plausible excuse, Riak nodded with a dubious expression.
It was natural for him to look skeptical at the sudden mention of a ritual, but it couldn't be helped.
‘I can't exactly show him a live performance of me using Gaecheon.’
‘Adam's Apple’ was a fictional holy relic Oh-jin had made up anyway.
Even if he added a random new rule, Riak had no choice but to accept it.
“Understood. I'll stand guard outside the door. Call me if anything happens.”
“Alright.”
Oh-jin nodded and entered the spacious room.
There, Vega was bound by fifty chains of light.
“…”
The silver-haired goddess had her eyes gently closed, as if asleep.
Seeing her for the first time in nearly a month, Vega still possessed an otherworldly beauty.
‘Just a little longer, Vega.’
Oh-jin approached Vega, who was bound by the chains of light.
He carefully reached out and caressed Vega's cheek.
A gentle warmth spread from his fingertips.
Looking at her like this, she seemed to be simply lost in slumber.
‘A long slumber that would have lasted for fifty years.’
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes and touched the chains of light restraining her.
*Sizzle!*
The chains flared violently as if warning him not to touch, scorching his skin.
Today, he would break these chains of the Law that sealed a god.
“Haa.”
He took a slow breath, focusing his mind on the Black Heaven nestled within his left heart.
A vast darkness, like a starless night sky.
An immense storm cloud of unknowable size was coiled within his heart.
‘I can do this.’
Oh-jin sought out the Dragon's Vein mana hidden within the black storm clouds.
He reached for the mass of mana, coiled majestically.
The Dragon's Vein mana, incomparably denser than when he was at the Fifth Star, moved according to Oh-jin's will.
After covering his heart protectively with the Dragon's Vein mana.
“He who passes through me, to the garden of sighs.”
He recited the incantation in a low voice.
The Black Heaven coiled in his heart erupted through the slightly opened gate.
“Kugh!”
Was this what it felt like to open the cage of a starving wolf pack?
It was hard to stay conscious against the torrent of the Black Heaven's mana, which poured out like a broken dam.
“Ah, ugh.”
Black storm clouds enveloped his body.
Like butter on a hot pan, his consciousness began to melt into the black storm clouds.
A part of his head disappeared.
His right shoulder, his left hip, his thighs and calves.
They melted away, turning into black storm clouds.
‘No…’
He desperately clung to the fading thread of his consciousness.
His instincts were screaming a warning.
If his entire body turned into a storm cloud like this.
He would never be able to return.
‘Focus.’
A black sky shrouded in thick storm clouds.
He focused his mind on the brilliantly shining constellation within.
The blue constellation, shining alone in the black darkness.
As he focused all his senses on the light of Lyra, black lightning wrapped around his body, pushing the storm clouds back slightly.
“Hah! Hah!”
Ragged breaths.
If it had been painful.
If it had been agonizingly, maddeningly painful, he could have just gritted his teeth and endured.
But the sensation of his consciousness melting into the Black Heaven wasn't something he could simply endure.
“Hoo.”
He took a deep breath and slowly raised his hand.
Before his entire body melted away into the Black Heaven, he had to break the chains of the Law binding Vega.
-Kzzzzzzzt!!!
The chains of light resisted fiercely as his cloud-wreathed hand touched them.
Oh-jin grabbed the chain with both hands and twisted with all his might.
-Krakakak!!!
The chain of the Law, created to seal a transcendent being like a Constellation, was miserably snapped in Oh-jin's grasp.
“That's one.”
Oh-jin grinned, looking down at the shattered chain of light.
‘Gotta remember to use the smokescreen too.’
More important than freeing Vega from her shackles.
It was crucial to hide the existence of the Black Heaven so that neither Riak waiting outside nor the sleeping Vega would notice.
“Hoo.”
He reached for the remaining forty-nine chains.
*Krak! Kradadak!*
One by one.
He grabbed and broke the chains.
The restraints of the Law that had bound Vega began to disappear.
“Ah, ugh.”
With each chain he broke, his consciousness flickered.
As if flipping a power switch.
His physical sensations vanished one by one.
Pain, despair, joy, anger, pleasure—all faded.
Memories of the orphanage, of the director swinging his fists in a rage.
Auburn hair that swayed like fire.
The image of a dazzlingly beautiful girl began to be erased from his memory—
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!”
He spat out coarse curses and grabbed his hair.
‘What the? It's worse than the last time I used it.’
Back then, about 20 to 30 percent of his body had turned into the storm cloud.
Now, nearly half of his body had transformed.
‘Did Gaecheon… get stronger?’
Was it because he'd reached the Sixth Star, or was there another reason?
He could feel that the storm clouds surrounding his body were much denser than the last time he'd used Gaecheon.
Of course, if this were a life-or-death battle, he might have welcomed the increased power of Gaecheon.
‘Focus on the starlight. If I focus, I won't disappear.’
But right now, it just meant the speed at which his consciousness flickered was faster than before.
‘…Focus.’
Suddenly.
The image of Vega standing before him during the battle with Cheon Do-yoon came to mind.
Did she know back then that she would be trapped in such a long seal?
‘She must have known.’
No.
She might have been prepared for even more.
To have her soul torn to shreds by the restraints of the Law, her divinity as the North Star fading away.
She must have been prepared to vanish like grains of sand.
‘In that case.’
Shouldn't he be just as prepared?
He might not be able to give back more than he received, but shouldn't he at least return what was given?
“Vega…”
He desperately held onto his fading consciousness and broke the chains of light.
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty.
When only the last chain remained.
-Crack.
The sound of something breaking.
The sound of something collapsing.
The sound of something shattering.
Rang in his ears.
“What… was that?”
He frowned and looked around.
But no matter how hard he looked, there were no visible changes.
“Kughhhh!”
Was it because he'd lost focus for a moment?
The speed at which his consciousness was burning away accelerated.
‘There's no time.’
If he lost focus any longer, his entire body felt like it would completely transform into a storm cloud.
“The last… one!”
*Kradak!*
He broke the last chain in his grasp.
The fifty chains lay shattered to pieces.
Oh-jin let out a ragged breath and closed the gate of the Black Heaven.
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
His flickering consciousness gradually sharpened.
His knees gave out, and he collapsed onto Vega's body.
As he lay draped over her like a blanket.
[My… child?]
The voice of the goddess he had missed so much echoed in his ears.