Chapter 425 - Ah. I see (1)
Ji Junwoo had been a big part of Lee Gun’s life and one of his precious family members.
The being in front of Lee Gun right now was Junwoo, but Lee Gun found this odd.
‘I confirmed it. Junwoo went to the underworld of Ennead(Duat).’
Through the registry of the underworld brought by Anubis, Lee Gun had confirmed where Junwoo’s soul was. This was why Lee Gun had wanted to recover Junwoo’s soul from that place and revive him. Lee Gun wanted to reunite him with Yeonwoo.
‘He has Junwoo’s face?’
The being before him looked to be a seventeen-year-old young man who resembled Yeonwoo. However, their energy was clearly different.
‘Great Spirit.’
Lee Gun suddenly realized something. He glared at the Great Spirit of Kunlun. “Is this why you came to me?”
[That’s right.]
The answer dumbfounded Lee Gun. His eyebrows rose. The Great Spirit of Kunlun had claimed Lee Gun couldn’t take on the Great Spirits by himself. Did he know about this face?
Did he know that there was one face among the Great Spirits that Lee Gun wouldn’t touch?
However, Lee Gun reacted in contempt. He understood why the other Great Spirits had remained hidden while this one appeared so shamelessly before him.
“Do you think I won’t be able to attack you because you are wearing his face?”
Lee Gun was someone who had gleefully cracked open the heads of beings who had taken on Hugo’s appearance.
However, the Great Spirit of Kunlun spoke up.
[For your information, it isn’t simply the case where they look the same.]
“…!”
[The Ten Heavenly God is part of the eight great forces. He’s the leader of Gehenna and is the Great Spirit who was created by the other Great Spirits.]
“What?”
The eight great forces of the Divine world were Valhalla, Ennead, Olympus, Kunlun, Eden, Mahabharata, Babylon, and Gehenna.
[It was a force formed through an alliance by eight million gods, the Eireann faction, and others.]
“Alliance?”
[That’s right. Seven factions got together to form a family or a clique. It almost felt like a company… Moreover, they monitored and kept the other seven forces in check.]
Since public affairs had to be neutral, around 90% of the Divine world’s public employees had come from this force. However, there was a reason this force was called Gehenna (Hell) now.
[That place collapsed. All the gods affiliated with that force became evil gods.]
“…!”
[There was too much internal corruption. They became evil gods and self-destructed. Their territory is off-limits right now.]
This was why that force was called Gehenna (Hell). Just going to the entrance to this location could get one killed by the evil gods.
[That’s why only thieves who want the Divine statuses and the Divine item of the Ten Heavenly God enter that place.]
Anyway, the Ten Heavenly God is the only one in the Divine world who possesses ten Divine statuses.
It was said that the Great Spirit of Gehenna was trying to purify the evil gods, but it was unclear if this was true.
[However, that is the true form of the Ten Heavenly God, who is supposed to be purifying the evil gods.]
The Ten Heavenly God was a Great Spirit created by the other Great Spirits.
[He’s a puppet of the Great Spirits and their gatekeeper. He exists to make sure none of their secrets leak out.]
The previous Ten Heavenly God had probably been put through the process of inheritance, and the new one was created by mixing different souls. The Great Spirits had needed a fighting-type god of the Great Spirit rank.
[He was a famous Zodiac capable of possessing ten Divine statuses. It was why the Great Spirits could choose the Divine status to their taste. They created a chimera.]
However, Lee Gun was having a hard time comprehending something. He understood the damn Great Spirits had taken Junwoo’s soul to create that thing, but…
“Why Junwoo?”
Junwoo and Yeonwoo were the Zodiacs who had taken over the Serpent Bearer temple after Aslan. However, the two of them were considered one. They didn’t possess Divine statuses that would satisfy the Great Spirits.
The Great Spirit of Kunlun laughed as if it wasn’t a big deal.
[He was once a god of death who Time coveted.]
“What does being a god of death have to do with anything?”
[The Ten Heavenly God possesses one of the Primordial god’s power: Creation.]
“Primordial god’s power?”
[I’m talking about the Primordial god’s original abilities. When the Primordial god was murdered, the evil gods had stolen and given his abilities to the monarchs. The power of Cycle, which you possess, is one of them.]
“!”
The Primordial god was the highest-rank god, who managed the universe. He possessed a total of six abilities. Five of them were Creation, Maintain, Change, Destruction, and Cycle.
[In simple words, the world was first created and maintained. In the process of maintaining the world, change occurred, and the things that weren’t needed were destroyed. Then there was the power that could put these through a cycle.]
These were abilities befitting the Primordial god
[Anyway, the Primordial god’s abilities and his three treasures had been stolen. Each of the eight Great Spirits was able to lay claim to one of them.]
At the time, the Great Spirits had become heroes since they had recovered the Primordial god’s abilities and treasures from the evil gods.
After recovering the power of the Primordial god, the Great Spirits had used each of these powers to bring a balance of power to the Divine world. However, the problem started from that point on.
[While the other powers of the Primordial god were recovered, Cycle wasn’t.]
Since it wasn’t from his era, the Great Spirit of Kunlun wasn’t sure, but he continued.
[The power of Cycle is the last piece that makes up the Primordial god’s power. The other powers can be perfectly handled only if the power of Cycle is present. That’s why an artificial god of Cycle was made, and he’s the result.]
“…!”
Lee Gun had a sense of déjà vu. It was to be expected since Time had attempted the same thing.
‘Can it be…?’
Lee Gun’s expectation was proven true.
[The prerequisite needed for Cycle is the combination of Life and Death. The Great Spirits knew this, and the power taken by the Ten Heavenly God was Creation.]
Lee Gun’s eyes turned sharp.
[They must have thought a combination of Creation and Death would create a power similar to Cycle.]
It was true that there were similarities between Creation and Life.
[They captured a god of Death just in time and combined the soul with the Ten Heavenly God. Of course, they failed to produce the god of cycle. What you see in front of you is the result.]
Murderous intent appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. “Was it Ennead’s doing?”
[I’m not sure. The one to supply the soul was Ennead, but there is a high probability that Valhalla’s Lord of the Sky was the one to create him. Valhalla’s Great Spirit carried a lot of experiments by squeezing out knowledge from Mimir.]
Lee Gun felt something twitch within his chest. It seemed as if everything had fallen into place. The ones to doggedly chase after Junwoo and Yeonwoo were the Gemini and Pisces temples.
Their Zodiacs used to be affiliated with Valhalla (Frey and Freya) and Ennead (Isis and Nefertiti).
In the end, they had carried out the same experiment as Time. Moreover, the reason Time was able to find out about Cycle’s existence was probably the Great Spirits.
Of course, that wasn’t important right now.
“He’s coming!”
The high-rank disciples became guarded when the Ten Heavenly God unleashed his power. The pressure he generated couldn’t be compared to that exuded by the Zodiacs and monsters that they had witnessed before.
This terrified the disciples. If a being like that used his power, the earth would be destroyed. Also, they could tell the difference between the power of Lee Gun and that of his opponent. After all, they were high-rank disciples. They realized the opponent was a daunting foe even for Lee Gun.
Boom!!
At that moment, Lee Gun took off his rings and unleashed his Divine power.
[Your seal has been dismissed.]
Then something surprising happened.
Hwa-roo-roo-roohk!!!
Black flames erupted from Lee Gun’s body.
The several hundred disciples around him screamed.
“Ahhhk!”
“W-What the hell is that?”
As Lee Gun’s body turned into black flames, he became enormous.
The disciples almost sank to their knees since they were seeing this for the first time. This included the Chun siblings and Stevens, who had been healed after being attacked by Lee Gun.
“U…Uncle?!”
“What the hell did he do over there?!!”
The Great Spirit of Kunlun also released his Divine power.
‘The snake god was given the name of Wicked Lord.’
The nine Great Spirits were gods who stood on the zenith of the hundreds of millions of gods. Since they were powerful gods, their powers had to be sealed if they wanted to visit the colonies. However, the Great Spirits had merged the Divine world and the earth.
‘Without that, it would have been hard for them to use 100% of their power.’
However, this was advantageous for Lee Gun too.
Nevertheless, the earth would be destroyed if a battle was conducted here. So the Great Spirits had assumed Lee Gun would avoid fighting on the earth, but that wasn’t the case.
[Kill one to save ten thousand]
Lee Gun immediately summoned Heaven’s Punishment and swung it toward the Ten Heavenly God. The summoned Heaven’s Punishment became enormous as it scaled up to Lee Gun’s size. Then it roared.
Koo-goo-goong!
Lee Gun used the weapon to cut through the Ten Heavenly God’s attack.
Kwahng!!!
The Ten Heavenly God’s power instantly disappeared, and something surprising happened.
Flash!
As soon as Heaven’s Punishment got rid of the enemy’s power, a light appeared around the damaged surroundings.
[The power of Life is being applied.]
[The power of Life is being applied.]
[The destroyed land is being recovered.]
It was the light of Life. Lee Gun had the ability to recover the land using the Divine item of Life. He activated Cycle in contempt.
[How dare you use the fake Cycle in front of the actual one!]
The black flames turned into white flames.
Hoohk!
As the black flames and the white flames merged, Lee Gun’s appearance changed. He was no longer a giant. He had reverted to human size.
However, black and white wings emerged from his back. It was the power of Cycle being used as a Great Spirit.
The light of Cycle shot toward the Ten Heavenly God and savagely struck him!
Kwahng!!!
The people watching this couldn’t close their mouths.
The Chun siblings had put up a barrier to block the shocks of the battle. They wailed in joy.
The six humans who had already seen Lee Gun’s wicked god form in the Divine world felt electricity run up their spines. They firmly kept their mouths shut.
After sending the power of Cycle, Lee Gun furrowed his brow.
‘They should have separated.’
He had purposefully used Cycle to separate Junwoo’s soul from the Great Spirit’s body. If he had the soul, he could revive Junwoo. He wanted to make his younger brother whole once again.
Lee Gun glared at the Ten Heavenly God, who was surrounded by the light of Cycle.
Kwah-jeek!
“!!”
At that moment, an odd sound rang out.
Lee Gun flinched. The Great Spirit realized what was going on. He immediately moved as if he had expected this.
Kwahng!!!
The light of Cycle was reflected toward Lee Gun.
Lee Gun bit his tongue. If he got swept up in the power of Cycle, he wouldn’t escape it unscathed.
At that moment, the Great Spirit of Kunlun changed his appearance.
Koo-goohng!!
His hair was tied up in one place as if he were a martial artist, and armor with fur trims appeared on his body. It all turned into a red and white flame. He looked like an enormous dragon made of light.
His hands encircled the small Lee Gun as if he were protecting Lee Gun. The range of his power also spread to the humans too.
The Great Spirit of Kunlun let Lee Gun go when the light of Cycle sent by the Ten Heavenly God dissipated.
[The Great Spirit of Kunlun has used the Primordial god’s Treasure of In.]
Lee Gun wondered what had happened, so he looked at the Great Spirit of Kunlun.
[It’s as I’ve said before. That Great Spirit has one of the five abilities of the Primordial god. He has Creation.]
“…!”
[Of course, only the Creators can use the full Creation ability. Despite it being the power of Creation, he can merely create by copying.]
In other words, the Ten Heavenly God had copied Lee Gun’s power.
Since Cycle of the same size was used in response, Lee Gun’s attack had turned into null.
[While it can’t create anything new, it can make exact copies of anything, including abilities.]
This meant Lee Gun would be in a tougher spot as he used more power.
Flash! Flash!
The Ten Heavenly God gestured with his hand, and other gods of Cycle like Lee Gun appeared before him.
“!”
There were eight of them.
This shocked everyone. The mere presence of one was a calamity; if there were eight with that power…!
‘The earth will cease to exist.’
Lee Gun furrowed his brow. It seemed Valhalla’s Great Spirit had sent the Ten Heavenly God first for this reason. He could use the same movement and abilities.
Unexpectedly, the Great Spirit of Kunlun laughed since he had come looking for Lee Gun for the same reason.
[It’s as I’ve said. All the power of the Primordial god was split amongst the Great Spirits.]
“That means…”
When the Great Spirit of Kunlun gestured, a golden marble appeared in his hand.
[Treasure of In]
- One of the three Divine items (Chun-Ji-In) of the Primordial god.
- It can control the body of all creations.
[I told you that I’ll be helpful when it comes to hunting down the Great Spirits.]
Aside from six abilities, the Primordial god possessed three Divine items called Chun-Ji-In
[Chun-Ji-In is made up of three ingredients. Chun is space. Ji is the body. In is the soul.]
In other words, the six abilities and Chun-Ji-In were used as ingredients by the Primordial god. It allowed the Primordial god to use his power.
[I possess the Primordial god’s Ji. It controls the body of all creation.]
The next moment, a surprising power bound the copies and the Ten Heavenly God.
Kwah-jeek!!
[Kunlun’s Great Spirit is using the power of Ji.]
[The power is weakening the bodies of the copies and the Ten Heavenly God.]
Since Ji held control over the bodies of all creation, it could freely strengthen and weaken the bodies.
It seemed Kunlun’s Great Spirit had meant to use this power to help Lee Gun face the other Great Spirits.
As expected, the power weakened the copies.
The eyes of Death’s Junwoo flashed as he got rid of the copies. It seemed he had realized that he was at a disadvantage. The Ten Heavenly God rushed toward a different location.
Kunlun’s Great Spirit furrowed his brow.
[Ji can’t weaken his ability. I can’t affect Cycle. You have to get rid of him using Death.]
However, Lee Gun hesitated. If he used Death, he would be completely destroying Junwoo’s soul. If he did that, he would never get to see Junwoo ever again. Even he couldn’t do anything. Was this also the intent of Valhalla’s Great Spirit?
[You cannot get rid of him as you are now, Snake god.]
“!”
Valhalla’s Great Spirit’s laughter rang in the sky.
[Since the Divine status of Death went over to you, merging him with the Ten Heavenly God was useless. He turned out to be trash, but I never expected him to prove useful now.]
Lee Gun got angry. He could try to use Cycle to separate the soul, but his opponent would copy his power once again, rendering Cycle useless.
Aside from that method, he had the option to use Death, but then he would never be able to save Junwoo.
[Let’s make a deal.]
At that moment…
“!”
An enormous snake shot out of Lee Gun’s shadow and violently wound itself around the Ten Heavenly God.
Kwah-jeek!!
This surprised Lee Gun.
“Junwoo!”
The snake with the beady eye was his Construct, which had been hatched from the Serpent Bearer’s egg.
It had been eating well, so the baby snake “Junwoo” was now as big as a mountain.
Kwah-jeek!!!
“You…!”
The snake didn’t want to hear any nonsense. It encircled the Ten Heavenly God.
[Junwoo (Apophis) says not to listen to him.]
Lee Gun looked at Apophis, who he had named ‘Junwoo’. He suddenly recalled a memory.
- You don’t need to do that. If Hyung became a Zodiac, it means I am alive.
- Of course, Hyung won’t recognize me, but…
When he had fought Olympus’s goddesses of fate, he had met the real Junwoo in the past. Junwoo had said those words to him.
Lee Gun furrowed his brows. A particular sentence bothered him.
- Of course, Hyung won’t recognize me, but…
Why had Junwoo said that? Had he been giving a cryptic message that he was within the Ten Heavenly God? However, he had recognized the Ten Heavenly God way too easily. This was why the words bothered him.
‘Is that the real Junwoo?’
His opponent possessed the Primordial god’s Creation ability. Wouldn’t they be able to copy Junwoo’s soul?
‘What if the real soul of Junwoo is somewhere I wouldn’t notice…’
If so, who was it?
At that moment…
“Byaaaaaaaaaah!!”
A familiar baby appeared in front of him. The baby girl instantly shot a beam from her eyes toward the Ten Heavenly God.
Kwah-gwa-gwahng!!!
The Ten Heavenly God took significant damage and was pushed back.
Lee Gun’s expression was a sight to behold.
