Return of the Shattered Constellation – Chapter 1

Chapter 1: An Invitation to the Underworld (1)

[The jury’s voting for the divine punishment of ‘Twilight of the Gods’ begins!]

Everyone seeks God in times of crisis.

Whether it was Jesus or Buddha; Odin, Shiva, Mazda¹Mazda or Ahura Mazda is the God of Zoroastrianism, Allah… sometimes even their own ancestors.

Whatever it is, they think of the God they usually worship and wish for salvation.

But what if that ‘God’ himself is in crisis?

Who should he look for then?

[The Votes are being counted.]

[The Votes are being counted.]

[Counting is complete. The results will now be announced.]

[The result of the voting is….]

— — —

Splash!

The sound of waves crashing heavily could be heard.

Thanks to this, ‘Twilight of the Gods’ was able to break free from his haziness.

‘Where am I?’

He narrowed his eyes slightly at the unfamiliar sight.

A gloomy gray sky; A swarthy flowing river; A dull sandy beach.

And a ferry sailing down the river.

‘I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

‘What? Didn’t I die?’ 

‘No, the expression ‘cease to exist’ would’ve been better suited.’

‘After all, “Death” is a word reserved solely for mortals.’

‘My Divinity, Divine Status, Faith, and Divine Authority… All were forcibly exacerbated. My Divinity has been cut off, and Divine Authority has also disappeared. So how is my sanity still intact?’

‘I’ve been trying to open the system window for a while but have got only this message.’

[Cannot open the window.]

[Cannot open the window.]

[This is a world where system cannot function. Please contact the Administrator for more details.]

‘or…’

[You have insufficient authority.]

The same messages were shown repeatedly.

To this day, the window that he had been with all along did not open. It was a bit frustrating.

For now, he started to think about what to do next.

‘Someone’s coming…’

Splash!

A ferry suddenly appeared from the middle of the river, making it’s way closer to him.

Rattle!

The ferry then gently docked nearby.

The ferryman wore a straw hat, while the other was a middle-aged man in a fancy robe.

“Twilight of the Gods… Lee Changseon, right?”

For a moment, the eyes of ‘Twilight of the Gods’ widened…

• Lee Changseon.

It was his real name, something he’d buried in his heart long ago.

“Father: Lee Jomyeong, and Mother: So Yooha. Born on December 25, 2001 on planet Earth’s Korea. Your name means kindness and bright skylight.”

As the middle-aged man read the contents of the notebook one after another, Twilight of the Gods’ face gradually lost its emotion.

“However, contrary to your name, in 2027, for unknown reasons, you were moved to the planet ‘Arcadia’ and after many twists and turns, you became a constellation… you were then involved in a conflict, where you slaughtered more than a hundred gods and ten thousand demons…” 

“sigh~ Just reading this thing scares me.”

The middle-aged man shook his head.

However, contrary to what he’d stated, he didn’t seem to fear him at all.

“You were then caught and sentenced to death. Going by your facial features, you must be him, so why don’t you answer–”

Swoosh!

The middle-aged man had to swallow his words in the middle of the sentence.

It was because, in the blink of an eye, Changseon appeared in front of him, his hand mere inches away from his neck.

[Initiating attack.]

The middle-aged man quickly drew his sword and parried Changseon’s hand away. Otherwise, his head would’ve been blown away if he didn’t.

Clang!

[You are deprived of the qualification. Skill cannot be activated]

[The skill is being substituted by proficient techniques.]

However, Changseon’s attack did not stop there.

Like a snake moving to snatch its prey, the chained attack continued nonstop.

Boom!

Each and every blow he let loose was strong enough to detonate the average person’s body.

The middle-aged man began to sweat profusely, countering each of the attacks before being pushed back and landing on the river.

Bang!

The water exploded outwards, soaring high from where his feet touched.

A look of embarrassment appeared on the middle-aged man’s face.

“Huh, how is this…? Are you really deprived of your Divinity? How is it possible to have this kind of power even after being suppressed by Divine Suppression Steel?”

The middle-aged man shook his head with a surprised expression.

‘I heard that he was called a demon in the other world.’

He regretted not taking him seriously.

On the other hand, Changseon’s face was tightly wrinkled.

The moment he moved a few steps to catch him, a familiar-looking restraining chain appeared and suppressed him.

Rattle! 

Swoosh!

He knew very well what it was.

‘I was detained against my will, and I can’t break free…’

• Divine Suppression Steel.

A restraint that lowers a god to even below the average mortal the moment it comes into contact, regardless of how powerful the god in question was.

He wore it while he was on trial too.

‘I didn’t see it, so I thought I had been released already.’

In truth, however, it was only invisible. He seemed to have it on his hands and feet.

Thus, Changseon was restrained.

He could now do nothing more than stare at the suspicious individual in front of him.

“Who are you?”

The middle-aged man slightly bowed down with his hand on his chest.

“sigh~ If I had known this would be the case, I would have rather introduced myself first. I’m sorry. I am the top emissary of the underworld, Yule.”

His demeanor was far more polite than before.

Changseon’s eyes narrowed further.

“Underworld? Is this the underworld?”

“Exactly. What you’re looking at is the River Styx. Oh, and this is the ferryman, Charon.”

The ferryman shook his head as he pressed his straw hat tightly.

“I heard that a god who was brought to a divine punishment trial cannot escape extinction. Why am I in the underworld?”

“That’s because you were originally under our jurisdiction.”

“Your jurisdiction?”

“Exactly. The story is a bit complicated, … Let’s discuss the details while we travel. There’s someone who wishes to speak with you.”

Yule laughed softly.

“Arcadia. It’s a completely different planet from the original Earth you were on.”

Splash!

The ferry glided over the Styx at high speed as Charon started rowing.

Changseon listened carefully to Yule’s words while observing the water’s surface as ripples gently spread from the ferry to the rest of the river.

The river was murky, obscuring anything that might be happening below.

“Does that have anything to do with the jurisdiction you mentioned earlier?”

“….”

“The lifespan and destiny of each human being is recorded in the Record of Life and Death. And these Records can only be used where it was written.”

“But then one of them suddenly disappeared.”

A ray of light flashed before hmi, as even space seemed to warp.

And then, the system window that always filled one side of my retina appeared.

“It would be disastrous if even one of those pieces disappeared… I’ve tried my best to find you. But you went to a strange place.”

“You mean Arcadia?”

“Yeah, it was crazy. I thought you’d only live a bit longer than the average mortal, but who would have guessed that you would turn into a god!”

There was a lot of bitterness on Yule’s face.

“And then you made a big mess… We had to give them quite a lot in exchange for bringing you back here.”

The numerous twists and turns that he had to go through passed through Changseon’s mind.

‘Earth.’

Hundreds of years have passed since he had left, and now he can’t even remember his hometown.

In fact, he only remembered the name Lee Changseon after Yule told him.

As such, he didn’t have any affection for Earth and those living on it, so why were they looking for him?

‘I don’t know what they want, but one thing’s for sure.’

‘They revived me, so they must want something in return.’

“Why did you even bring me here? It would’ve been far easier to just let me go extinct and just find a new recruit.”

“Who knows? I’m just following orders.”

Yule shrugged.

“Who’s your boss, then?”

“Thanatos.”

Yule’s voice was solemn.

“The head of Tartarus and Erebus. Some people even refer to him as the Great King of the Underworld.”

Changseon nodded his head.

Obviously, a being who presides over the life and death of mortals, it could be considered a fairly high-ranking position. 

It was definitely a position to be in the future.

“We have arrived.”

The ferry arrived at the estuary on the other side of the river.

There was also a ferry much larger than theirs, and the numerous souls onboard stood in a long queue that stretched all the way to the palace.

“It’ll take a total of 49 days for them to complete their journey. You’ll be taking a different path, follow me.”

Changseon followed Yule and quickly passed the line.

The staff who were managing the line all bowed to Yule at once.

After passing through the crowds, Yule started to speed up in earnest.

They passed through a myriad of areas along the way.

[You have entered the ‘Hell of Fiery Pit’.]

[You have entered the ‘Hell of Icy Mountain’.]

[All ‘Hells’ of the underworld have been safely passed.]

There were numerous souls; some were imprisoned in Fiery Pits, some trapped in Ice Mountains, while a few of them in Eternal Darkness.

Most of them were ordinary souls, but occasionally, some with Divinity could be seen.

“What were they?”

“Before you were labeled as an Evil God, you were a Battle God right?”

“And?”

“You seem interested in them.”

“….”

“They are ‘Fallen Constellations’.”

“‘Fallen Constellations’?”

Changseon tilted his head; it was the first time he’d heard of this term.

Constellations were above that of ordinary gods.

It referred to beings that beautifully embroiders the sky.

However, if they fell from such a high level, they would often choose extinction, but there were very few cases where they remained like that.

“The task of Tartarus is not merely to judge the sins of the dead.”

“Then?”

“We also have the job of sealing Demonic or Evil Gods who have plunged the world into ruins.”

Changseon’s eyes widened slightly.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“That’s the way it is. Who would talk about such things in Heaven, more so if their status decreases as a result?”

“Hmmm…”

“Those with lesser sins and those who are at the end of their sentences are subjected to manual labor. Of course, the current situation is not that simple.”

Changseon seemed to understand why Heaven is so wary of the underworld, and why it refuses to speak of it as much as possible.

‘And here I thought I would be able to handle myself here.’

“This is it.”

At long last, they finally arrived at their destination.

In front of them was a castle so large it seemed to touch the sky.

Passing through the dark red-painted gate, and passing the bureaucrats busily coming and going, we arrived at the heart of the palace.

“Under the order of His Majesty, I – Top Emissary Yule – have successfully escorted ‘Twilight of the Gods’ safely to the palace.”

“Enter.”

With a deep echo, the main gate of the palace’s heart opened, as a strong wind blew.

Changseon’s expression hardened unconsciously.

‘There is a ferocious tempest of energy here!’

‘I knew that he was powerful, but I’d never considered it to be like this…’

‘Wouldn’t he be at the top of the constellations?’

The thick darkness swayed loudly, threatening to swallow him at any moment.

[‘Eyes in the Darkness’ observes you from within .]

• Death.

The power that all living things, even the gods, naturally feared. And at this moment, it bared its vicious teeth in front of him.

Even at his full strength, it would be hard to guarantee any form of victory.

Ba-Dump!

Ba-Dump!

‘… This is gonna be fun.’

For the first time since Changsun entered the underworld, his heart began to beat with excitement.