Chapter 135: Extinguished Starlight (1)

Chapter 135: Extinguished Starlight (1)

"Heaven Unfolding..."

Ohjin sat on the sofa and opened his status board.

The text written on the explanation of Heaven Unfolding was still made out of only incomprehensible letters.

He narrowed his eyes as he recalled what happened when he used Heaven Unfolding.

'Through me, you pass into the garden of lament.'

The phrase felt more like a chant needed to use a spell rather than something that had a certain meaning.

'It definitely said that a part of Heaven Unfolding was unlocked.'

In other words, it meant that the 'Heaven Unfolding' he'd used was an incomplete skill. With a skill that wasn't even half complete, a 9-Star Awakener, Cheon Doyoon, had been helplessly devoured by the Black Heaven's darkness.

'Though Cheon Doyoon wasn't in his regular state.'

Noctua, who was basically the source of his power, had been eliminated by Vega, and Cheon Doyoon had also lost some of his strength while fighting Ohjin.

But even when you took that into consideration...

'It's still an outrageously powerful skill.'

Honestly, Ohjin didn't understand why the celestials were making such a big fuss about the Black Heaven having the power to destroy the world, but he could understand without question now.

He had seen it with his own eyes and come to a realization.

—The power contained within the Black Heaven was something that could easily destroy a mere world.

'This isn't a skill I can use like Exceed, where I can just brace myself to face the consequences on my physical body.'

Ohjin recalled the memories of when he'd used Heaven Unfolding.

—His hazy consciousness that made it feel like his entire body was melting.

—Losing feeling from tip to toe and how it felt like he was becoming one with the black clouds.

'I can endure it if it's painful.'

If all it did was simply cause an enormous amount of pain like Exceed, he could just endure through it.

Enduring pain was one of his specialties, after all.

'But this is different.'

The feeling of his consciousness slowly melting into the Black Heaven like diffusing ink wasn't the kind of feeling that could be endured. Even back then, he might've never been able to return if he wasn't able to find the stigma of Lyra shining in that deep darkness.

"...Heaven Unfolding should only be used as the absolute last resort."

Ohjin didn't know if he would be able to control Heaven Unfolding and have those side effects removed later on, but at least in the present, it was a skill he couldn't use recklessly.

'Well, it's also a skill I can't use even if I want to.'

He wasn't sure if it was because he didn't completely absorb the Dragon Eye's powers, but the power had slowly dispersed as time passed.

In other words, it meant that in order to control the dragon vein's mana, he needed to absorb Ha-eun's power again like recharging an empty battery.

'I can't do that.'

Ohjin couldn't use the Black Heaven on her every time he used Heaven Unfolding when he didn't even know what kind of side effects it could cause.

'Even if I were to use it as the last resort, it won't be until I'm able to use it without Ha-eun's help.'

Since the notification said that he would be able to handle more of the dragon vein's mana as the Black Heaven's awakening stage rose, being able to use Heaven Unfolding on his own would come naturally later on.

"Alright. I'm sealing Heaven Unfolding until then."

Well, he would have no choice if the situation was seriously doomed without Heaven Unfolding, but it was the wise move if that wasn't the case.

'Then let's organize the information obtained from Cheon Doyoon.'

First came the Black Stars.

'The identity of the celestials of the Black Stars are celestials that were expelled by the others.'

Cheon Doyoon had said that they were named 'Pseudo Stars' and scorned by celestials in the past.

"Is that why they became the Pseudo Star Cult in the future?"

Ohjin tilted his head with a confused expression.

There was something that still weighed on his mind like a misaligned puzzle piece, but...

"I'll... need a little more information on this."

He couldn't jump to conclusions with the information obtained from Cheon Doyoon being too limited and vague.

'It's important that I've gotten a clue for now.'

Now that he'd figured out that the celestials of the Black Stars were expelled by other celestials in the past, discovering countermeasures would come naturally once he focused his investigations on that clue.

"Now comes the others..."

Other than that, Ohjin also obtained various information about the Black Star Organization and Demon Realm. In particular, the information regarding the Hippocampus faction that was said to be the most active recently was quite detailed.

"I'll need to organize all of that, too."

* * *

* * *

When he was in the middle of looking around for a pen—

Click—

—the room door opened, and Ha-eun walked out with a sleepy face and unkempt hair like she had just woken up.

"Is your body doing okay?"

Ohjin stopped organizing the information and approached her.

"Ah, yeah. I've gotten a bit better now."

Ha-eun had collapsed and fallen unconscious on the spot after being promoted to a 9-Star Awakener. It was probably because of the 'Body Reconstruction' that was said to happen once one became a high-rank Awakener.

'They say that aging stops progressing once their body goes through reconstruction.'

It was literally taking a step into the realm of a non-human.

"How is it now that you're a 9-Star? Does it feel a lot different from before?" Ohjin asked with eyes filled with curiosity.

As the Awakeners who'd managed to become a 9-Star were the extreme minority, there wasn't much information out there about the change that came compared to before.

"Yeah. There's definitely a big difference compared to when I became an 8-Star."

"In what way?"

"How should I put this... kind of like molting? Should I say it feels somewhat like that?"

Ha-eun rubbed her chin and continued explaining.

"Other than my body getting better... my mana circuits have also gotten way wider. My mana also moves immediately as I want it to."

"Ooh."

There was certainly a big difference starting from 9-Star.

"I'm not used to it yet since I only just got promoted, but it does kind of feel like it's super amazing."

"That's good news."

"Wow... to think that the day I became a high-rank Awakener would come."

It seemed like Ha-eun couldn't believe it herself as she lowered her clothes and stared at the nine flicks engraved on her left chest.

'Rather than that, why does she keep showing me her chest?'

'Thank you very much.'

'No, that wasn't what I meant to say.'

"Khm."

Even though only the upper part could be seen, he couldn't stop his eyes from looking at her pure white skin.

"What are you looking so intensely at?"

Noticing Ohjin's gaze, she put on a mischievous smile and poked his side.

"This seriously can't be helped."

How could he stop his eyes when it wasn't just any woman, but the person he loved, revealing such a defenseless state?

"Is looking the only thing you're going to do?"

With her clothes lowered, Ha-eun slowly stuck her body close to him.

"Um... you know, we're also... d-dating now, right?"

Ha-eun fidgeted her fingers as her face turned red as a beet.

She avoided his gaze with a hesitant expression for a moment but soon gulped and asked carefully.

"Do... you want to try touching?"

"..."

'This is driving me crazy. Since when did she become this aggressive?'

"...Later."

"Why!!" shouted Ha-eun with her beet red face.

"I went out of my way to say it when I'm dying from embarrassment!!"

"We're not in a situation where we should be enjoying ourselves as we please."

"What do you... ah."

Ha-eun who was about to frown and argue shut her lips tight.

"...You're right."

—A situation where they shouldn't enjoy themselves as they pleased.

As he said, they couldn't be at ease and act lovey-dovey just because their long desire was finally fulfilled.

"You... haven't received contact from Vega, right?"

"Yeah."

Ohjin shook his head with a stiff expression.

—Vega.

In order to save Ohjin and Ha-eun, she'd used her power while ignoring the Commandment's Restriction and ended up being dismissed back to the sanctum. They couldn't make out with their minds at ease when they didn't know how she was doing.

Although it was in a different way from Ha-eun, Vega was also one of the beings that were precious to him.

"...But she shouldn't have perished or something like that, right?" asked Ha-eun with a worried expression, as it seemed that she also developed an affection for Vega after all they went through.

"She didn't perish."

The power of stigmas ultimately derived from their celestial. As long as the stigma of Lyra remained, there was no way Vega's existence had perished.

"Though I'm certain that she's not in good condition."

Ohjin touched the silver pendant on his neck and put on a bitter expression.

When Vega wasn't able to leave the sanctum for a month after using only the blessing, It wasn't easy to imagine how much of the restriction would take into effect in the current case of where she'd completely unleashed her power.

"I happened to be planning a visit to her sanctuary."

Because all of the urgent matters were more or less organized, it was time to check in on Vega's wellbeing.

"I want to go, too."

"Alright. Then let's prepare right away and head to the sanctum."

Ohjin was originally planning to go after organizing all of the information obtained from Cheon Doyoon, but since the situation already developed that way, it seemed that it'd be best to check Vega's condition first.

"Hehe, I'll brag to my heart's context to Vega."

Ha-eun laughed playfully while her eyes twinkled.

Just imagining what kind of reaction Vega would have when she found out that she had become lovers with Ohjin made her shoulders shake with joy.

"Ah, about that. We need to keep it a secret from Vega."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"There's something I told Vega in the past."

"Something you told Vega? What did you say?"

Ha-eun tilted her head.

"I lied to her and said that we were in a romantic relationship in my past life."

"You fucking what?"

Ha-eun's mouth dropped open.

She recalled the times when Vega had emphasized Ha-eun's relationship with Ohjin with a profound expression.

"S-So that's why that bitch kept spreading her legs!!"

Ha-eun stared at Ohjin with ferocious eyes.

"Why did you tell such a lie, you madman!!"

"I couldn't help it in order to fool Vega."

"But still, this is... this is...!"

With her fists tightly clenched, her shoulders trembled.

"NTR!!! This is NTR!!!"

'What the hell is this woman saying?'

"A silver-haired thug is aiming for my Ohjin!!"

"Though it's true that Vega cherishes me, they probably aren't romantic feelings."

At most, wouldn't it be the feeling of a mother watching their child growing?

"...Do you really think that?"

"Just because I said that we were lovers in our past life doesn't mean that the romantic feeling passes on."

But in the least, Vega probably thought that he had complicated feelings as the Vega from his past life and the Vega in the present overlapped. If the fact that he'd become lovers with Ha-eun became known in that situation, she could notice that something was suspicious.

"No matter how I look at it... goddammit. Yeah, what's the point of me talking."

Ha-eun, who was about to say something, sighed deeply, and shook her head.

"...Wait."

While shaking her head, Ha-eun suddenly looked at Ohjin as if she thought of something.

"No way, that Isabella bitch as well...?"

"Ah, we have to hide it from Isabella, too."

She was displaying a strange amount of obsession regarding him.

Needless to say, it was more likely that the obsession was as an appetizing prey rather than one of the opposite gender, but it was best to hide it as long as they didn't know what she was thinking.

"Now there's even a blond thug..."

Ha-eun looked at Ohjin with an expression of despair.

'Why is this bastard so popular?'

She wasn't one to talk, but Ohjin's style wasn't one that garnered popularity. Out of all the men out there, he just so happened to have bewitched two women other than her.

Even worse, one of them was a celestial known as a transcendent, and the other was the esteemed daughter of one of the most prestigious families in Europe.

'No... other than that, isn't she also known as the Queen of Leeches or something?'

Ha-eun had also recently been informed of Isabella's identity.

"Ohjin..."

"Yeah?"

"Can I punch you in the face really fucking hard?"

"No, why?"

Ha-eun sighed deeply and held tight onto Ohjin's arm.

'I won't ever let him be stolen.'

She couldn't let him be stolen... not when she'd marked him as her own starting from before she could even remember.

"Argh. Well, let's get going now."

Ohjin headed to the sanctum with Ha-eun stuck right next to him.