Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Head of the Serpent (10)
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Thump, thump.
Whatever magic she had used, Cheon Sang-gil's cruelly ripped-out heart was still twitching like a freshly caught fish.
“I have preserved it so that its life force and stellar magic would not escape, ensuring you could dine upon it while it was still fresh!”
Cassia beamed, a wide smile on her face, and swayed her hips like a puppy begging for praise.
“…”
Oh-jin stared at the throbbing, pulsating heart, his lips pressed into a firm line.
The sight alone was nauseating enough to make him want to vomit.
But he couldn't refuse the gift here.
‘I have to eat it.’
To keep the Serpent Queen convinced that he was the Cheonma, he had to use Heukcheon right in front of her and prove it.
“Excellent.”
“Hehehe. I am relieved that it pleases you.”
Cassia’s long tongue, reaching down to her chest, squirmed like a tail as she writhed.
Oh-jin took the heart she offered in his hand.
The warmth of the grotesque, pulsating heart spread through his hand.
‘Elder.’
He hadn’t been particularly close with Cheon Sang-gil.
Even so, holding the heart of a benefactor who had helped him in so many ways filled his mind with complex emotions.
Oh-jin pushed aside the thoughts filling his head and summoned Heukcheon.
Rumble.
A black storm cloud flowed out and wrapped around the pulsating heart.
“Ah.”
Cassia let out a soft gasp as she watched the black cloud envelop the heart.
With a look of awe, she knelt and politely clasped her hands together like a believer praying to a god.
“Oh, darkness of Heukcheon… deliver us from the arrogant starlight.”
Ruuuumble!
An immense magic flowed through the storm cloud.
The magic from the Stigma Cheon Sang-gil possessed in life was sucked into Heukcheon.
-Ting!
Just like with Damian, Cheon Sang-gil's magic didn't fully assimilate into his body, instead vanishing within the black storm cloud.
It was a shame that he had absorbed the magic but couldn't use it.
‘Can't be helped.’
What could he do if his current level was insufficient?
For now, he would have to be satisfied with obtaining another Zodiac-level Stigma.
‘The Stigma of Capricorn… it allows one to freely control sound.’
He wanted to quickly test out the Stigma of Capricorn along with the new trait ‘Vaporization’ he had gained from absorbing the mother beast.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of leisurely testing his new abilities right now.
“Was the meal to your liking?”
Cassia looked up at Oh-jin, using the kind of extreme honorifics you'd hear in a historical drama.
Oh-jin gave a slight nod.
“Hahh! I-I am grateful!”
He was the one who received it, so why was she thanking him?
“Hehe. In the future… I shall rip out even more hearts and offer them to you, Lord Cheonma.”
Cassia licked her tongue with a chilling smile.
Oh-jin's brow furrowed.
‘This girl is a lost cause.’
There was no using her or anything of the sort.
She was already too far gone, seriously broken.
‘I can't handle this like I did with Isabella.’
Oh-jin's eyes glinted coldly.
She held a fanatical faith in him.
Literally to the point where it wouldn't be strange for her to rip out her own heart and offer it.
“Rather than these trivial hearts… I desire yours.”
He said, looking down at the kneeling Cassia.
If she truly held such a fanatical faith in him.
If she was mad enough to rip out her own heart and offer it.
‘I can kill her right here.’
Without needing to precariously act as the Cheonma, he could just order her to ‘die’ right here and now.
“…Pardon?”
“I said I want your heart.”
He approached Cassia, who stared with wide eyes as if it were an unexpected question.
“…”
Cassia's lips pressed shut.
A tense silence descended.
Cassia slowly rose to her feet and approached Oh-jin.
It seemed as if she was slowly reaching for her own left breast, when…
Sssshhhk!
A green serpent shot out from her elongated shadow and instantly coiled around Oh-jin's body.
“…!”
Unable to even put up a proper struggle, Oh-jin's eyes widened as he was bound by the snake.
‘Wh-what?’
He was so shocked by the completely unexpected turn of events that his heart felt like it would leap out of his chest, but he did his best to feign composure.
“Hmm. This is strange…”
Cassia narrowed her eyes, looking at Oh-jin, who was bound by the green serpent.
She glided toward him as if sliding across the floor and ran her hand over his chest.
“Didn't you tell me once before, Lord Cheonma?”
Her forked tongue licked his chest.
“That if you ever ordered me to offer up my life, it would not be you, but some other being.”
Oh-jin sucked in a sharp breath at her words.
‘Dammit.’
He had stepped right on a landmine.
‘So… that Cheonma bastard predicted even this situation?’
That Cassia would mistake him for the Cheonma.
That he would try to use her loyalty against her and order her to die.
From the very beginning, from the distant past.
He had predicted all of it?
‘What the hell is that guy?’
Is he an actual god?
Oh-jin swallowed dryly and spoke in the calmest voice he could muster.
“So you remembered.”
“Hehe. Of course. I have never forgotten a single word you've spoken, Lord Cheonma.”
“I see.”
Oh-jin nodded, his expression calm and unwavering.
If he panicked and made a fuss now, it would be a dead giveaway.
“…Is that all you have to say?”
Cassia frowned slightly.
She carefully moved the hand resting on Oh-jin's chest and stroked his Stigma.
The Stigma of Lyra was engraved on his chest.
But she could tell.
That what slumbered beneath this thin flesh was an infinitely unfolding black sky.
“If you are not the real Lord Cheonma… then who are you? Why do you possess Heukcheon?”
She asked, her tone shifting away from the extremely formal honorifics of a historical drama.
“I am the Cheonma.”
“…But.”
“However, a portion of my memories is currently sealed.”
“Hmm?”
Cassia's eyes went wide.
“There was no other way to stop Heukcheon from running rampant.”
“…Are you telling me to believe that?”
“If not.”
Oh-jin stared at her with deep, sunken eyes.
“Are you saying there are two Heukcheons?”
Cassia's expression hardened.
The story about sealing a part of his memory to stop Heukcheon from going berserk was certainly hard to believe, but the idea of there being two Heukcheons was even more absurd.
“Then is the seal also the reason you've grown weaker, Lord Cheonma?”
Oh-jin nodded.
Cassia squirmed her long tongue and muttered in a low voice.
“Come to think of it, you once mentioned that the Heukcheon you possess is still in an incomplete state.”
…He said it was incomplete?
He had no memory of saying such a thing, of course, but Oh-jin gave a slow nod.
“I apologize for daring to doubt you, my god.”
The green serpent binding Oh-jin slithered back into her shadow.
Cassia bowed her head at Oh-jin's feet.
Oh-jin helped her up and spoke in a calm voice.
“No, on the contrary, I thank you for your doubt. It means you haven't forgotten me and have remembered me well.”
“Lord Cheonma…”
Cassia looked at Oh-jin with trembling eyes.
“In any case. There is no longer a need to bring me any more hearts.”
“But to break your seal, Lord Cheonma, surely more hearts are…”
“I said it's not necessary.”
He said with a frown, his expression slightly angered.
“I-I apologize!”
He caught Cassia as she tried to hastily prostrate herself again.
“I am currently disguised as an Apostle of Vega to hide my identity. If those arrogant Constellations discover that I possess Heukcheon, they won't stand idly by.”
“Ahh… so that's why.”
She gasped and nodded as if she finally understood why he'd said there was no need to offer him hearts.
“Hehe. As expected of Lord Cheonma.”
Cassia nodded, looking at Oh-jin with an expression full of awe.
“No matter who the Constellations are, they would never dream that an Apostle of Polaris possesses Heukcheon.”
Exactly.
That was the very reason Oh-jin had sought the title of ‘Hero’ in the first place.
“In that case, completing the incomplete Heukcheon to restore your memories must be the most important thing right now.”
Cassia said, her eyes sparkling.
‘The way to complete the incomplete Heukcheon.’
If, as Cassia said, the Cheonma's Heukcheon was in an incomplete state, then the Cheonma's goal must be to complete it.
‘In that case.’
In other words.
It meant that if he could just block the method to complete Heukcheon, the Cheonma would be stuck with an incomplete Heukcheon forever.
‘That's it!’
Oh-jin clenched his fist.
This was the information he needed most right now.
If he could somehow prevent the Cheonma from completing Heukcheon, there would be hope of avoiding the ‘end’ that Polaris had prophesied.
‘At first, I thought I was screwed, but to think it would turn out like this.’
A blessing in disguise, was it?
If he could turn this crisis into an opportunity to screw over the Cheonma, it would be an unexpected windfall.
Oh-jin's eyes gleamed as he asked.
“What is the method to complete Heukcheon?”
“Hmm? …Ah, you did say your memories were sealed.”
Cassia, who had tilted her head, let out a short gasp.
“Speak.”
“Yes, Lord Cheonma.”
Cassia bowed her head respectfully and continued.
“There is only one way to complete the incomplete Heukcheon.”
Her emerald eyes gleamed with a chilling killing intent.
“It is to kill the Star of Revolution and absorb its power.”
Huh?
“…The Star of Revolution?”
“That is correct.”
Cassia looked up at the night sky, her face filled with killing intent.
“The Awakened one created by the arrogant Constellations, who possesses the power to change fate. The one and only being who can stand against the Heukcheon you possess!”
Spreading her arms wide, Cassia shouted in a voice filled with madness.
“Only by devouring that disgusting star will your… no, all of our wishes come true!”
“…”
Heukcheon can only be completed by killing the Star of Revolution?
‘But he's already dead?’
[You have successfully absorbed the Stigma of Capricorn.]
[Magic from a Stigma that exceeds your current level has been detected.]
[The Stigma’s magic will be sealed within Heukcheon.]