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However, the <Extinction> of the <Incendiary Burial Island> was a little different. When its members were exterminated, the <Chanjiao Sect>’s people died as well. After all, when they invaded, the <Incendiary Burial Island> chose to bring them down with them.

By burning up their divine power, the people of the <Incendiary Burial Island> activated the [Shrouding Nullification Sorcery], a forbidden sorcery—no, an incomprehensible mystery—that gluttonously devoured everything in the area. It couldn’t be categorized as a magic circle or an Authority since it had a spirituality and will of its own.

Left with no other options in the face of <Extinction>, the <Incendiary Burial Island> activated the sorcery, which they secretly installed beforehand. Upon its awakening, it devoured all Immortals and monster Celestials in its surroundings.

“That was how the wandering space whale was born,” Thanatos concluded.

Since every piece of information could prove useful for his revenge, Chang-Sun learned about the hidden history related to this universe. As a result, he now carried an abundance of knowledge about its mysteries.

“It’s best not to provoke the Incendiary Burial Whale. It’s usually docile but becomes uncontrollable if it acts up. Its tantrums have already destroyed quite a number of civilizations.” Thanatos shook his head.

Chang-Sun had no idea how the <Troop> managed to settle in the Incendiary Burial Whale since it indiscriminately devoured everything in its path. However, it was the best fortress to lay low in or take cover if they were compromised.

“Is there no way I can defeat the Incendiary Burial Whale?” Chang-Sun asked.

“That’s right. I’m sure of it.”

“Mmmm…” Chang-Sun grunted.

Just like the Star Auction House, which was under the joint management of <Maleakhe> and <L’Infernal>, the Incendiary Burial Whale was considered one of the Seven Wonders for a good reason.

“But there is a way to temporarily control it,” Thanatos continued.

“…?”

Chang-Sun chuckled when he recalled Thanatos’ remark. The method was truly ridiculous, but the Incendiary Burial Whale was so fearsome that it would remain uncontrollable without it.

‘I’m not sure how Tiamat found out about this, though,’ Chang-Sun wondered.

It was hard to tell where the <Troop> was from the Incendiary Burial Whale’s appearance alone.

―It’s like I’m looking at [Naglfar].

Odin’s voice echoed in Chang-Sun’s head. Odin rarely spoke, but he would occasionally show up out of the blue.

“[Naglfar]?” Chang-Sun asked.

―It’s a ship made from the deceased’s fingernails and toenails. Bestla used to favor it before. It uses ghosts’ grudges as fuel and also has a will of its own, making its mechanism very similar to that whale.

“Does that mean [Naglfar] is gone now?”

―It shattered along with her <Society>.

For some reason, Chang-Sun could detect a deep grudge from Odin’s voice, but he didn’t pry any further. He wasn’t really curious anyway.

“Let’s send a message.” Chang-Sun’s eyes were glued to the <Troop>.

* * *

Inside the stomach of the Incendiary Burial Whale, the <Troop>’s divine ground.

“What is it?” Qi Gong, the <Troop> leader, covered his face with his hands. He then gave the uninvited guest a tired and annoyed look.

Suo Guan unwittingly cowered. Although he used to be one of the Thirteen Commanders of ‘Tian Shi Yuan,’ the difference in ranks between him and Qi Gong grew so big when they built the independent <Troop> that catching up to Qi Gong was now impossible.

Qi Gong acting sensitively only made that feeling even stronger. Still, Suo Guan couldn’t say anything. He knew better than anyone how much pressure Qi Gong was under.

‘We really can’t find a solution…’ Suo Guan recalled.

The Kali restoration plan, the R’lyeh extortion plan, their fight against <Purple Star Astrology>... All the operations that Qi Gong had ambitiously started and led the children of the Emperor’s Seat into kept bumping into walls.

It all began when the Kali restoration plan failed. They successfully made several saplings, but the saplings failed to go through the cutting process, leaving the <Troop> no choice but to dispose of them. Meanwhile, Chang-Sun’s sapling took the relatively useful candidates, ruining their plan.

It was the same for the R’lyeh extortion plan. Lie Si proudly announced that he would use the plan as an opportunity to assassinate Chang-Sun too only for him to get killed. The gateway to R’lyeh was now completely shut.

Although <Purple Star Astrology> was in a crisis due to the <Anti-Star> Alliance’s large-scale attacks, it was still winning against the <Troop>. Zi Wei Yuan recently fought in a battle with the White Tiger of the West, destroying most of the <Troop>’s forces. Without the help of the Incendiary Burial Whale, the moving fortress, their entire <Society> could have been wiped out.

That was when Qi Gong’s hysteria began. The streak of failure brought questions to Qi Gong’s leadership, making some want to leave. Fortunately, they managed to quell the attempts, preventing bigger conflicts, but the rifts were already all over the <Society>. It was as if a bottomless pit opened below their feet, forcing them to focus on not falling into it.

‘Twilight… Grain Star… They’re the problem, after all.’

When did everything start to fall apart? Richardus’ betrayal? The return of ‘Divine Twilight’? Either way, the <Troop> had to make a decision. The message in Suo Guan’s hand would be the key factor in making the process quicker.

“We just received a message from Twilight.”

Qi Gong’s eyes blazed up. “Twilight?”

“Yes, <Nammu>’s spaceship is currently on the outskirts of the Incendiary Burial Whale—”

“Is he on it?”

“I-it seems like it.” Suo Guan stammered.

“Kill him.”

“But—!”

“Kill him right this instant so I’ll never have to see him again!” Qi Gong sprang to his feet, slamming his armrest.

Thud!

The formidable aura he exuded made Suo Guan unwittingly stumble backward.

“There is no knowing what he’ll do to mock us,” Qi Gong growled.

Suo Guan had many things to say, but Qi Gong’s glare prevented him from voicing out any of them.

‘It’s related to Father… Can we really disregard it?’ Suo Guan wondered.

Chang-Sun’s message for them was simple.

―The Emperor’s Seat had an incident. I request a temporary truce to discuss countermeasures.

Qi Gong’s reaction made it clear that he would just regard the message as nonsense. Chang-Sun was the whole reason why the Emperor’s Seat ended up in Bloodless Hell. If Suo Guan acted as if he believed his message, Qi Gong’s fury would just worsen, and he would suffer from it.

Instead of delivering the message, Suo Guan bowed. “… I’ll follow your command.”

Even when Suo Guan exited the room, Qi Gong still had his head turned, focusing on what he had been doing until now. With his hand on the floor, he infused all his consciousness to it.

[Reinitiating the synchronization!]

If their current power wasn’t enough to defeat Chang-Sun and <Purple Star Astrology>, then Qi Gong simply had to get more power. Since the thought crossed his mind, he had been focusing on synchronizing with the Incendiary Burial Whale to devour it and exercise Celestial Cannibalism. If he succeeded, he would be able to take all the information and power that the <Jiejiao Sect> and <Chanjiao Sect> Celestials left for himself!

―What is this?

―He’s back.

―For someone so clumsy, he’s trying to pull off something quite ridiculous…

―Well, it’s boring on our own anyway. Join us. Become one of us.

Qi Gong’s eyes widened as he tried not to get lost in the flood of energy that the numerous Celestials emitted.

‘My name is Qi Gong.’ Qi Gong’s eyes turned bloodshot. ‘As the first son of the Emperor’s Seat, I can’t yield to people like you. I’ve burned up countless civilizations and disrupted a similar amount of Worldlines. I don’t see why you would meet a different end, so stop resisting and merge with me, Anomaly.’

Koooooo…

The space whale let out a long cry.

Pzzzzzz―!

The deceased\'s hands ominously soared from the floor and grabbed Qi Gong’s limbs.

* * *

「They seem to believe that they have nothing to talk about with you,」Kali commented.

Smiling bitterly, Chang-Sun nodded in agreement. Not long after he sent the <Troop> a message, the Incendiary Burial Island, which remained nonchalant all this time, suddenly turned toward them. Fiercely swinging its tail, it quickly swam toward the spaceship, obviously looking angry.

Even though the <Troop> hadn’t answered that it wasn’t possible yet or that they weren’t willing to talk with Chang-Sun, it was already clear that they had no intention to discuss anything with him. Such was the depth of their enmity.

That seemed to make Kali happy, considering her voice was tinged with excitement.

‘… Well, I’d feel that way too if I was her,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Richardus and the children of the Emperor’s Seat were the ones who actively hunted Kali down, so she probably didn’t like the thought that she would have to start working with the <Troop>.

Chang-Sun needed them, so Kali had to leave the <Troop> be. However, if the <Troop> didn’t have the slightest intention of reconciliation, Kali believed that she and the others would have no choice but to take a stronger stance.

「Do you have a plan?」

Kali looked very eager to have her revenge.

Chang-Sun nodded as he answered, “Thanatos said that although it’s impossible to hunt the Incendiary Burial Whale itself, there’s a way to control it.”

「How?」

“By pissing it off,” Chang-Sun added.

Kali chuckled dumbfoundedly, reading Chang-Sun’s thoughts.

「This has been on my mind for a while now, but you and the King of the Underworld seem to be a great duo.」

“I’m a little offended. I’m way better than him,” Chang-Sun joked.

“S-Sir Twilight! How can you say such a thing!” Yool joined in, stupefied to hear Chang-Sun badmouthing his superior.

Paying him no heed, Chang-Sun began to issue orders to the battleship’s control system. “Taeum, stop sailing and stand by. Focus all the power into defense.”

『Yes, master. A forcefield has been activated. Defensive barriers have been put up.』

[Some of the Effects of ‘Machina’s Clockwork’ have been applied, upgrading the battleship by 620%!]

As commanded, the Taeum stopped sailing and put up defenses, surrounding itself with all sorts of hexagonal magic barriers. It lived up to Chang-Sun’s expectations when he borrowed it from Tiamat. Considering [Machina’s Clockwork] could be used to control and upgrade all existing machinery, he believed that it could upgrade the Taeum several times as well. Fortunately, Chang-Sun was right.

However, he didn’t make the battleship focus on defense to prepare for the Incendiary Burial Whale’s possible attacks. It was the opposite.

‘It’s to prepare it for the aftermath of my attack,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Noticing Chang-Sun’s cold eyes, Minerva quickly yelled, “Mars, hold on tight!”

The Incendiary Burial Whale opened its mouth wide as it approached the battleship. In response, Chang-Sun held out his hand toward it. “Jin, Sinmara. Get ready to drop to the battle site with the soldiers once the bombing begins.”

『Roger that.』

『This will be a remarkable way to announce the return of <Muspelheim> to the entire universe!』

Chang-Sun was going to do all sorts of experiments on that big monster. What was the maximum output of an explosion created by supreme sacred light and <Darkness>? How many times could he create them? He also planned to identify any problems with it, which meant he had a lot of research to do. Only with those data could he get an idea on how to control these explosions.

Chang-Sun submerged his consciousness deep into his subconscious to activate the power of omnipotence. His [Gnostic Eye] opened wide at the same time, filling his sights with all sorts of letters.

―Ha! You’re about to try something very crazy…

Ignoring Odin, Chang-Sun began to repeatedly use supreme sacred light and <Darkness> on the Incendiary Burial Whale.

“Explode over and over again,” Chang-Sun commanded.