Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: The Constellation of Cygnus (2)
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“Long time no see, Vega! How have you been?”
A boy dressed in clothes so flamboyant they bordered on bizarre.
Deneb waved at Vega with a bright smile.
Behind the cheerfully waving Deneb, a young man followed like a shadow.
A young man with the same dark blue hair as Deneb.
A sword was fastened at the waist of the young man, whose waist-length hair was tied in a ponytail.
*That man.*
He was someone Oh-jin knew well.
One of Deneb's twelve Apostles and a member of the 'Seven Stars'.
Allen Orca of the Military Star.
An Awakened from England, he was said to possess such wondrous swordsmanship that he was better known as the 'Sword Saint' than by his title, the Military Star.
[What brings you here?]
Vega narrowed her eyes and glared at Deneb.
Deneb approached her with a cheerful smile.
“What do you mean? I just came to see how my old friend was doing!”
[Friend… I have no memory of forming a bond with you close enough to be called friends.]
“Haha! Is that so? Well, it's true you've hardly spoken to anyone but Spica since the old days.”
Deneb shrugged nonchalantly.
Soon, his gaze turned to Oh-jin.
“Heeey, so you're the famous Lightning Wolf? The first Apostle of our gre~at Lady Vega.”
He whistled as he looked at Oh-jin, who was lying on Vega's lap.
“You two look so cozy together. It's quite a sight. Almost like a mother and her child, wouldn't you say?”
“…”
Oh-jin swallowed hard and sat up.
Of all times for them to show up, it had to be when he was getting a lap pillow from Vega.
He hadn't done anything wrong, yet he felt inexplicably awkward.
[I believe I asked what brought you here.]
Vega asked again, her voice cold.
Deneb burst into a playful laugh and replied.
“Aw, don't be so cold. I only came to see what kind of person you chose as your first Apostle.”
[Then your inspection is over. You may leave.]
Vega dismissed him with a cold attitude.
“Come on, it's fine if I stay a little longer, right? It's not like I'm here to cause any harm.”
Despite Vega's dismissal, Deneb brazenly shrugged his shoulders.
Vega's brow furrowed slightly.
“Hmm. Has it been about a year since you became Vega's Apostle?”
Deneb crossed his arms and looked at Oh-jin with an expression of interest.
After carefully examining Oh-jin, he let out a smirk.
“You've grown fast for just one year. Well, of course…”
A clear sneer formed on his lips.
“It's nothing compared to my children.”
He proudly wrapped an arm around Allen's waist, who stood beside him.
This wasn't an empty, baseless taunt.
Deneb's twelve Apostles.
In terms of influence alone, they were the most outstanding Awakened in the world.
*First of all, the fact that three of the Seven Stars are Deneb's Apostles is the biggest factor.*
The seven strongest Awakened in the world.
A staggering three of them were Awakened who bore the Stigma of Cygnus, Deneb's stigma.
Considering the other four each possessed stigmas from different constellations…
Their existence certainly held an influence so great it could be called exceptional.
*And I heard the other nine Apostles are at least 7-Star or higher.*
Moreover, they were Awakened who possessed not just ordinary stigmas, but stigmas of the 'North Star', just like Oh-jin.
It wasn't hard to understand how absurdly powerful the North Star stigmas were, just by thinking of the Stigma of Lyra.
[Hoh. Are you trying to say your child is superior to mine?]
“It's not that I'm trying to say it, it's a fact that they're superior, isn't it?”
Vega's and Deneb's gazes met.
*Rumble!*
Just a slight release of their energy shook the entire grand temple as if an earthquake had struck.
“Ugh…”
A battle of wills between two North Stars.
Oh-jin's face contorted under the immense energy radiating from the two transcendental beings.
*Crazy.*
The overwhelming energy made it difficult to even breathe properly.
Just as he felt like his body was about to be crushed by the pressure.
“Deneb.”
A voice as cold as a raging winter blizzard.
His dark blue hair swayed smoothly as Allen took a step forward.
Unfazed, as if the crushing energy of the transcendental beings was nothing.
He gently placed a hand on Deneb's shoulder.
“Calm down.”
“Hmm. Well, if my Allen says so.”
Deneb grinned and nodded.
The pressure weighing down on the surroundings vanished like melting snow.
“My apologies for the discourtesy, Goddess of Lyra.”
Allen bowed with a fluid, precise movement.
His waist-length, dark blue hair cascaded down his body, obscuring his handsome features, which were comparable to Lee Woo-hyeok's.
[As long as you understand.]
“However.”
He slowly raised his head, sending a frosty gaze her way.
“I would appreciate it if you acknowledged that your attitude toward Deneb was also discourteous enough to be called a transgression.”
A way of speaking that acknowledged his own fault while sharply pointing out the other's.
Combined with his emotionless voice, it made him seem even more machine-like.
“Well now. I think you might have misunderstood the meaning of discourtesy.”
[My child?]
Oh-jin stepped forward.
He couldn't just stand by and listen while someone was openly disrespecting Vega right in front of him.
“What do you mean?”
“This is Lady Vega's temple. Had you met outside, it might be different, but isn't it the owner's right to ask an unwanted guest to leave?”
“…That's.”
Allen trailed off.
Deneb giggled and stuck out his tongue.
“You say this is Vega's temple?”
He spun around once and continued.
“Well… I wonder how much longer it can remain Vega's temple?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Oh-jin frowned.
How much longer it can remain Vega's temple?
Was the lease ending or something? Could the owner of a temple actually change?
He looked back at Vega with questioning eyes.
[…]
Vega's lips were sealed tight as she stared intently at Deneb.
“Vega, you know it too, don't you? Right?”
[…Your mouth is as flippant as ever.]
What the.
Was it really a lease?
“Vega. What's going on?”
“Vega was just placed under the restriction of the Laws, right?”
Deneb hummed a little tune and continued cheerfully.
“A Constellation restricted by the Laws suffers a drop in 'divinity.' Especially a Constellation with only a single Apostle to maintain that divinity.”
The corner of his mouth curved into a grin.
Oh-jin's brow furrowed.
He knew well what 'divinity' meant among the Constellations.
*Not all Constellations are on the same level.*
The three Constellations with the highest divinity were the North Stars.
Below them were the twelve Zodiac Constellations, and below them were Constellations of an even lower tier.
Even in the Sanctuary, the altitude of a temple varied depending on the Constellation's 'divinity'.
A Constellation with a temple in a low place had equally low divinity, and one with a temple in a high place had equally high divinity.
*The way for Constellations to increase their divinity is…*
…to grant their stigma to a human capable of accepting it, thereby expanding their power and influence.
It was similar to an orchard, metaphorically speaking.
You choose good soil to grow trees—that is, a human—and plant a 'seed' called a stigma.
That seed grows vigorously into a tree, and accordingly, the Constellation's divinity rises.
Right now, Vega's orchard had only a single tree.
It was growing at a steep rate, but in terms of numbers, she was miserably behind the other Constellations.
“This whole hierarchy of North Stars and the twelve Zodiacs was all just decided before the Awakened appeared, wasn't it?”
Deneb continued flippantly with a wide grin.
“The times have changed, so it's time for this old-fashioned hierarchy to change too.”
[…What are you trying to say.]
“Vega. Isn't it about time you stepped down from being a 'North Star'? Haha! The Thirteen Zodiacs! That sounds perfect!”
Deneb, clapping and laughing, and Vega, glaring coldly at him.
*What kind of bullshit is this.*
Oh-jin's expression twisted instinctively.
Demote Vega from the North Stars and stick her in the Zodiac?
[I still possess enough divinity to maintain my North Star status, so cease your nonsense.]
“Really? From what I hear, you're just barely hanging on.”
Deneb smiled slyly.
“Then let's do this, Vega. How about a bet with me?”
[A bet?]
“Yep. If you win the bet, I'll give you a part of my divinity to prevent your status from dropping.”
[…]
Vega's lips remained sealed as she narrowed her eyes.
[What kind of bet?]
“When it comes to bets between Constellations, there's only one kind, isn't there?”
He chuckled and shifted his gaze slightly toward Oh-jin.
“A showdown between the Apostles who received our stigmas.”
[I refuse.]
Vega shook her head as if there was no room for consideration.
It was true that Oh-jin had achieved astonishingly rapid growth, but he was still far from ready to face Deneb's twelve Apostles.
“Aw, I'm not planning to pit him against Allen, of course. I was thinking of having him face one of our youngest.”
He might have called them the 'youngest', but it was a different story if they were one of Deneb's twelve Apostles.
Even the lowest-ranked among Deneb's twelve Apostles was an Awakened who had reached the 7-Star rank, just like Oh-jin.
“Or are you scared? Scared that the one and only Apostle of our great Lady Vega will be miserably crushed by my children.”
[Shut that mouth!]
“Wait a minute, Vega.”
Oh-jin stepped forward, stopping Vega, who was about to unleash her energy again.
“Could you explain the specifics of this bet?”
[M-My child!]
“Hmm, unlike the cowardly goddess, you seem to have some interest.”
Deneb continued with a sly smirk.
“Well, the rules are simple. You fight one-on-one, and if you defeat three of my children, you win.”
Three of them, one-on-one?
[How petty, Deneb!]
“It's not petty. Vega, the reason you couldn't make many Apostles is that you couldn't find humans capable of accepting the Stigma of Lyra, right?”
Deneb shrugged with a smug expression.
“An Apostle's skill is important, but their number is also a crucial factor in 'divinity,' so we can't just end it with a single one-on-one match. Honestly, saying you only need to defeat three is already a big concession, isn't it?”
He wasn't wrong.
In a war, you couldn't call the enemy petty just because they had ten times more troops.
*'If I win, he'll give a portion of his divinity to Vega,' huh.*
Oh-jin's gaze turned to Vega.
She had said she still had enough to maintain her North Star status, but seeing as she couldn't properly refute Deneb's words, it was clear her situation wasn't entirely stable.
In the first place, the reason her divinity had decreased was because she used her power in the last fight with Cheon Do-yoon.
*So, in a way, I'm partly responsible.*
In that case.
It should be my role to restore Vega's lost divinity.
*And.*
Oh-jin's eyes narrowed.
His gaze shifted to the jewels dangling all over Deneb's body.
They weren't mere luxuries that did nothing but sparkle like diamonds and sapphires.
Every single one of them was a top-quality Celestial Stone.
*There's probably no one else with as many valuable Celestial Stones and Relics as Deneb.*
A whopping three of the twelve Apostles he leads belong to the Seven Stars.
The treasures Deneb possessed were likely immeasurable.
*In that case.*
A grin spread across Oh-jin's lips.
“Then let's do this. If I defeat 'three' of Lord Deneb's Apostles, you will give us the promised divinity.”
“Heehee! That's more like it!”
Deneb clapped his hands in delight.
[Did I not say I refuse!]
“It's okay, Vega.”
Leaving behind a pale-faced Vega who was trying to stop him, Oh-jin stared at Deneb.
“In exchange, I'd like to request the duel be held one month from now.”
“Hmm. What do you think will change in just one month?”
Deneb, who had been sneering, nodded his head.
“Alright. I can grant you that much.”
“Thank you.”
“But are you sure you want to accept the duel so readily without hearing what you'll have to give up if you lose? How do you know what I'll demand?”
Deneb asked with a playful expression.
“Ah, there's no need to tell me that.”
“…Why?”
Oh-jin looked at the Constellation of Cygnus and grinned.
“Because I'm going to win.”
“…”
The smug smile on Deneb's face slowly twisted.