What did this bastard say? Lee Gun’s expression was a sight to behold.
The thirteenth merely grinned at his reaction.
Flustered, Lee Gun glared at the thirteenth. There were things one could say and things one could not. It was their first time meeting each other, so what nonsense was he spouting?
Therefore, Lee Gun raised Heaven’s Punishment on reflex. “Fuck off! Do you know me?”
[Of course, I know you very well. You are Gun. You’re my lovely son.]
When the thirteenth started stroking his head, Lee Gun’s expression turned incredulous. This crazy bastard was the master of Yeonwoo and Junwoo?
The thirteenth seemed oblivious as he let out a bright smile.
[In that sense, would you like to wear this?]
“???!”
The thirteenth let out a bright smile as he brought out a dress for a baby girl.
[Dad made it. It’s a popular style these days. Do you like it?]
As expected of something made by a member of the Creation tribe, the dress was of high quality. The thirteenth’s talent was almost wasted in making it.
However, that wasn’t important to Lee Gun right now. “You worm of a god… What are you…”
[Ah! You’ll have to become young again. My Gun grew too much. Shit! You were cute when you were small.]
“?!”
[Ah! You resemble your pretty mom. Why couldn’t you have been a daughter? I would have really liked that. Anyway, I still think this will go well with Gun— Uh?]
Instead of answering, Lee Gun changed Heaven’s Punishment to stage 3. “Who the hell are you? Who are you to treat me like this??”
The thirteenth, who had a bright smile on his face until now, let out a genuine smile. It almost made one wonder if this being was the same one as the one who had brought out the dress. He was incredibly charismatic.
Letting out a meaningful smile, he spoke with certainty.
[Who else? I am your father.]
Lee Gun put on an expression that he wasn’t having any of it. “Really? Then you should die by your son’s hands.”
Lee Gun looked at him with contempt as he swung Heaven’s Punishment.
Kwahng!!!
The thirteenth screamed.
[Ahhk! You ripped the dress that your father made with care!!!]
“Die!”
[Ah! It’s fine. I made several of them.]
“?!”
The thirteenth started laughing as he summoned dresses of various colors, making Lee Gun’s face turn red from anger.
However, Lee Gun soon faltered on his feet. He had spent too much power suppressing stage 6. Even staying conscious was a chore for him.
The thirteenth let out a bright smile as if he understood what Lee Gun was going through.
[Son, you must be having a hard time, right? That’s why you should turn smaller. If you turn smaller, your magical energy and stamina will recover.]
“What?”
[I gave you an ability through which you can quickly recover your magical energy and stamina if you turn into a baby. Why aren’t you using it?]
Lee Gun gnashed his teeth when he realized what the thirteenth was implying. On the other hand, the thirteenth acted oblivious.
[You have Time’s data, right? You can use it to make yourself younger! You’ll immediately recover your stamina if you do so!]
In the end, Lee Gun became angry. “You were the one who turned me into a baby?!!”
[Ahhhk!]
The thirteenth screamed. The attack hadn’t landed, but Heaven’s Punishment had almost sliced open the thirteenth.
The thirteenth yelled as if he felt aggrieved.
[What’s wrong? I made an ability that helped you even if you were made younger! I gave you the Attribute of a Small God and the Attribute of a Baby! Do you not know this?]
“You’re the one who placed those attributes on me?”
Of course, the buffs that the thirteenth had placed on him using Ability Creation had been very useful.
When Lee Gun became a child, his speed had increased. A buff that activated only during a certain state was more valuable.
But it having proved useful didn’t mean Lee Gun felt good about it.
“Die!”
Faced with his son’s anger, the father looked aggrieved.
[Wait a moment! You shouldn’t act this way toward me! I’m the one who swapped out Hugo’s body! I’m the reason you’ll be able to revive your friend again!]
Lee Gun flinched. “What? Who swapped out whose body?”
When Lee Gun finally grasped the entire situation, flames erupted from his mouth. “You were the one who took Hugo’s body!!”
[Yes. It was a good idea, right? If I had let him be, Confusion would have killed his soul too. That was why I placed a spell on him before he died. I took his soul, and I sent it to the Divine world.]
Lee Gun became angrier. “That means you knew Taeksoo would die, yet you sent him on his way!!”
[In that situation, I couldn’t stop Confusion. Since he was going to die anyway, I made sure he’d be able to be revived at the very least.]
“What? He was going to die anyw—?!”
For a moment, Lee Gun had almost lost his temper. He took a deep breath. It didn’t matter now. The thing that had gotten Hugo killed was his carelessness, and he didn’t want to cry over spilled milk.
On the other hand, if this bastard was telling the truth, he could have told Lee Gun that the Hugo’s head that Confusion had sent them was fake. He wouldn’t have gone berserk to reach stage 6 if he hadn’t seen Hugo’s head!
“Why would you make me believe it was real…!”
[Mmm? I never tried to trick you?]
“What?”
[Ha ha. It is my fault for being too good. I made it so well that the monarch and my son fell for it. That’s awesome— Kuhk!]
Lee Gun grabbed the thirteenth by his throat. “What did you just say??”
[What? It worked out if you look at the result. Anyway, you needed to reach stage 6 of Death if you wanted to release the power of Cycle.]
Lee Gun flinched at his bright smile. His words sounded reasonable, but Lee Gun didn’t buy it. “You purposefully kept your mouth shut to make me go berserk?!”
He was sure of it. The thirteenth knew about the requirements needed to release the power of Cycle.
The thirteenth laughed apologetically.
[You’ll be able to revive him. That’s all that matters, right? I made sure to take the body, so it was unharmed. I also placed his soul in a place that would be safe from Confusion.]
At that moment, Lee Gun truly realized what it felt like to lose his shit. “Die!!”
[Ahhhk! Why? It was the only way I could save you and Hugo! It was the only way to kill Time and Confusion! Even if I were able to keep Hugo alive, he would have been targeted by Time.]
“I don’t care!!! Just die!!!” This bastard hadn’t killed Hugo, but he had basically used Hugo’s death. Of course, it angered Lee Gun.
“Miss Jiwoo saw something she didn’t need to see because of you! She’s pregnant!”
[What? I never expected someone else to see an item sent to you by Confusion! You can erase that memory using Oblivion! Also, the blessing of the Serpent Bearer isn’t that weak! That child will be fine!]
With those words angering him even more, he was about to kick the thirteenth. However, he held himself back. Although he was angry, he didn’t have the time to waste with this bastard.
‘I would rather use this time to revive the others.’
So, he said, “Whatever. Just return me to where I was!! I don’t want to see your face!”
[Wow! You’re so harsh. You got rid of your uncle’s hair because you’re so mean.]
“Hmmph. That baldie deserved— What? Uncle?” For a moment, Lee Gun couldn’t believe what he had just heard. The thirteenth was referring to Sagittarius.
Uncle?
“Unclllllllle??”
[Ah. To be precise, he’s your older uncle.]
The fact that he was the older uncle wasn’t important. “Why is that bald Zodiac my older uncle?”
[Well, he doesn’t deserve to be called your uncle.]
“What….” Lee Gun had no words.
On the other hand, the thirteenth didn’t care if Lee Gun wanted to speak or not. He continued to tell his story.
[Anyway, don’t even think about reviving the original owners using the power of Cycle. You must never do it.]
“What?” Lee Gun flinched.
Like how he had revived the thirteenth, he was pondering about returning the other original owners to their previous states. Since they were the owners of the Seats of power, he wondered if they would be useful to him.
[The ones you call the Original Owners aren’t the owners of the real Seats of power.]
“What do you mean?”
[The original twelve Zodiacs, who were usurped by the Constructs, were called the Original Owners, but they were also Usurpers.]
“!”
The eyes of the thirteenth turned cold when he thought about the original owners.
[The true owners of the twelve Zodiac temples were Creators like me. The Original Owners that you guys know about coveted the powers of the Creator Tribe. They killed the people of the real Creator tribe to steal their power. They are the fake Creator tribe.]
“!”
Lee Gun looked at the thirteenth as if he comprehend what was being said. “Wait a moment. You called Sagittarius your older brother. That means…”
[Sagittarius… He’s mixed, but at the end of the day, he’s 90% my older brother.]
As he mumbled his words, the eyes of the thirteenth flashed in contempt.
[The original owners and my older brother killed our parents and our tribesmen.]
* * *
Creators were special gods that possessed different Creation abilities, such as ability creation, emotion creation, weather creation, and world creation. They were outstanding gods, and their names were famed within the Divine world.
While they didn’t receive any special Divine statuses, their existence itself had been powerful. They weren’t known for their fighting abilities, yet they were known as important figures in the Divine world.
They were the reason the Divine world remained protected in the war against the outer gods.
The Creation tribe had dozens of members. However, only twelve of them had been able to use the real Creation Ability.
[Thank you! Our reputation rose thanks to you guys sticking with us.]
[No. We’re family. We should help each other.]
However, the twelve of them being too talented was a problem.
[What? Seats of Power? They were able to make such a thing?]
[Yes. One can use the Temple System with it.]
[Temple System?]
[Unlike the other gods, it was developed so that one could gather disciples. A Zodiac’s level and skills can be increased using faith.]
[They made it so that we won’t get threatened by outside forces, but…]
[We can become Great Spirits if we possess the Creation Abilities of the Creators.]
In the end, the twelve Creators were killed by their relatives.
[Kuh-huhk!!]
[Ahhhk! W-Why would you…!]
[You guys don’t know how to use your abilities. You used your powers on useless beings.]
[Yes. We’ll make better use of your abilities.]
[…!!]
They even took out the cores of the Creators, which allowed them to steal the Creation Ability. Then they disposed of the corpses as space dust.
The space dust became monsters and, in the distant future, the monarchs. One of these monarchs had been Space-Time.
The thirteenth’s parents were part of those twelve Creators. If one had to make a comparison to human age, the thirteenth had been three years old then.
The thirteenth had seen his parents get murdered, so he was on the way to being deposed too.
[Shit! This kid saw it all!]
[Who would have thought that he was inside the closet?]
[We have to kill him!]
However, the one to spare the young child was the current Sagittarius, the thirteenth’s older brother.
[Let us spare this child.]
[What? Have you lost your mind? It’s the end for us if he remembers what happened today! He saw his parents get murdered by us!]
[He’s still too young! He won’t remember what happened today.]
[…!]
Sagittarius was the thirteenth’s half-brother. Despite sharing the same bloodline, he was a god that didn’t possess the Creation Ability. Moreover, he was also one of the usurpers who had killed the Creators.
[Also, this child can use the Creation Ability. We need at least one capable of using the “real” Creation Ability. It’ll make everyone believe that we are the Creation Tribe.]
[!]
[Anyway, there are thirteen Seats of power. We have one empty seat. He won’t be able to remember anything, so we’ll raise him to become our comrade.]
[Alright. Understood.]
This was why the thirteenth had joined the usurpers, who had killed his parents. They became the Creation Tribe and were called the Original Owners, and he became the thirteenth Zodiac.
Of course, his abilities were so great that he had become famous as the thirteenth Zodiac.
[Shit! His abilities are getting stronger as he grows up…!]
[Hey, are you sure this is fine?]
[….]
At the end of the day, a real Creator was different. As the thirteenth grew, the Original Owners realized the stark difference between their powers, so they became guarded against the thirteenth.
Still, they thought everything would turn out fine since the thirteenth couldn’t remember what they had done.
[What? What did you just say?…]
However, the original owner of the Sagittarius temple was shocked when the adult thirteenth had brought up the subject.
[What’s wrong, Hyung-nim? You guys killed my parents and the real Creators. You guys shamelessly took their seats. Is it strange that I know about that?]
[…!!]
The original owner of the Sagittarius temple froze.
[When did you…]
[I have a good memory. I remembered it from the start.]
[…!!!]
[Don’t worry about it. I do not plan on taking revenge against you. We might have different mothers, but I did really like you, Hyung-nim. That’s why I hate you that much more. It’s enough to kill you, but in the end, I cannot kill you guys.]
[…!!]
[Why do you think I cannot handle Death? It’s thanks to my rage. I turn into a monster the more I hate you guys.]
[Aslan…!]
The thirteenth had planned on living a quiet life, but a certain incident had reignited his desire to get his revenge. It had to do with Lee Gun and Lee Gun’s mother.
