ALL NOVEL Chapter 490: Outer Celestial, Ubbo-Sathla (10)
“What a shame,” Baal said, poking the cookies in front of him awfully plaintively for such a muscular man. “It’s been a while since we last had a guest, so I put my best work into these.”
Metatron quietly burst into laughter. Although he had always had this impression, his longtime companion had a very adorable hobby. In fact, Baal was very skilled in gardening and flower arrangement too, saying that there were no better hobbies in this boring place. Metatron, who surrounded himself with books and focused on conducting various research, couldn’t really understand Baal’s hobbies, but Baal always said the same about him.
“Anyhow, what’s your plan?” Metatron asked.
Baal stopped halfway into putting a cherry on his cake and tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“The Worldline #801 Celestial named Lee Chang-Sun.”
“Oh, yeah. If we go by the book, the right move is to lock him up.”
“The problem is that he’s a Star Sign acquainted with both <Dull Darkness> and <Supreme Light>, isn’t it?”
“That’s the gist of our issue, yes.”
“I have no idea how we should handle this matter.”
“That would mean breaking our rules and letting many of our other prisoners go too, though.”
Scratching the back of his head, Baal sighed. “Yeah. It’s tough.”
For the second time now, he had failed to put the cherry right in the center of the cake.
As Metatron said, everyone had their own stories. However, most of their prisoners were here for serious crimes. The fact that they were Star Signs evidenced that they had already hurt countless people and devoured more than just one Worldline because of the same power intoxication that had made them pursue R’lyeh.
Chang-Sun was different. He was only here to take out an Outer Celestial who was a Star Sign. Above all, although supreme sacred light and <Darkness> were supposed to be incompatible, he had both Divinities.
His indirect and direct relation to those two Emperors, who were naturally on bad terms with Star Signs, should be enough to extenuate him, but if Baal and Metatron did free him, they would have to look into everyone else’s cases to see if they also had circumstances to take into consideration.
Others would likely tell Metatron and Baal that they could just issue whatever verdict they wished, but that wasn’t really an option for them. Metatron was Pure Good, and Baal was Pure Evil. Before earning their current names, they had worked as Elder Celestials and contributed to establishing laws of nature. Now, they stood on opposite ends of the law of causality.
Every conclusion that Metatron and Baal made became the absolute standard in distinguishing good and evil. If they were to make a decision based on personal reasons, those standards could be blurred.
“Ah, what should we do? It’s not like we can just feign ignorance and lock him up,” Baal said in frustration.
“… That would make <Supreme Light> furious.”
“Can his temper flaring up even be categorized as fury?”
Metatron trembled, remembering the time <Supreme Light> looked at him in annoyance. Having gone through so much because of him, he immediately denied any involvement in this conversation.
“I said nothing.”
“… Hey! Don’t even try to weasel your way out of this!” Baal dumbfoundedly shouted.
Metatron looked away, not wanting to be dragged into a possible commotion. Feeling guilty, Baal also looked around. They were the only ones in this place, but there was no guarantee that <Supreme Light> wasn’t listening. After all, he was always around where there was light.
‘<Dull Darkness>, <Deus Ex Machina>... Seriously, is bad temper a requirement to becoming an Emperor?’ Baal wondered.
Despite how unfair it was, nothing changed. Baal let out a sigh, deciding to just do his job.
“Anyway, let’s decide what to do—!”
Rummmmble…!
A sudden quake, which was rare in this place, cut Baal’s sentence short. Looking outside, Baal and Metatron found the Tower keeping many Star Signs imprisoned violently shaking.
The two had spent quite a long time locked up inside the Tower too. They knew that the occasional tossing and turning of R’lyeh, who was slumbering deep beneath it, could cause it to shake. It always surprised them whenever it happened.
However, the quakes right now were on another level.
Craaack!
To make things worse, thin cracks were spreading on the Tower’s exterior.
“… It looks like we didn’t even have to decide,” Baal muttered, cold sweat rolling off his forehead.
After a short silence, Metatron called, “Baal.”
“What?”
“All the workouts I’ve been doing recently seem to be making me see things. Can you check what’s going on outside for me?”
“Your eyes are fine,” Baal firmly answered.
Metatron let out a deep sigh. “I believe there is one thing we haven’t taken into consideration.”
“… What did we overlook?”
“Perhaps he was chosen by the two because of his bad temper.”
Baal frowned in disbelief. “Would that make his temper twice as bad as theirs?”
“We might have to square it.”
“Shit.”
Metatron shook his head. “It’s a threat to the universe.”
“… We should go.”
“Yeah.”
Metatron and Baal quickly flew into the air.
Paah!
* * *
Chang-Sun smiled coldly.
[You have used ‘■■■’s Key’ to open all locks in your vicinity!]
[A total of 6,701 prison cells have been unlocked.]
[A total of 18,213 restriction devices have been unlocked.]
…
[1 prison camp has been unlocked.]
Chang-Sun’s eyes widened slightly, surprised by the last message window. ‘What? I get prison cells and restriction devices, but a prison camp? There’s something like that in here?’
Now that he thought about it, he realized there really was one, and he was standing right inside of it.
‘… Is it talking about this Tower?’
A shiver ran down Chang-Sun’s spine, feeling like he might have started a bigger trouble than he had intended. However, it was too late for regrets.
[All of the prison camp’s laws of nature have been deactivated]
[The prison camp’s structure has disintegrated, preventing it from functioning as a prison camp.]
[The prison camp is crumbling down!]
The last message caught Chang-Sun’s attention.
Rummmmble!
Smash!
Booooom―!
At that moment, some of the inner walls began to break. The debris landed right on top of Aphoom-Zhah, preventing him from going after Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk.
『Aaaaah! What’s going on now?!』Aphoom-Zhah screamed, his head half-destroyed. To him, nothing was more shocking than the Tower crumbling down.
All the Eros and Nyx executives, including the Elder and Outer Celestials, could still remember <Supreme Light> and <Dull Darkness>’ feud before the creation of Worldlines and the completion of the current universe. Back then, their clashes would repeatedly destroy the universe, which had been on the verge of completion, tiring everyone on both Eros and Nyx.
Hence, to end their long feud, <Supreme Light> physically forced <Dull Darkness> to sleep under a [Ruyi Jingu Bang]. He then turned it into a prison of Celestials, now known as the Tower, to increase its weight, effectively putting <Dull Darkness> into an eternal slumber.
The people of Eros tried to protect the Tower, while those from Nyx focused on destroying it. Their conflict lasted for thousands of years before the dramatic reconciliation between <Supreme Light> and <Dull Darkness> finally put an end to it.
Nevertheless, the Tower still served as a monument to those who remembered the feud. Although <Dull Darkness> was now using it as a trap to complete the <First Star>, the great history behind it remained. Yet the very Tower was about to crumble down, freeing all the prisoners who had been locked up after fiercely resisting the arrest.
Chang-Sun grunted. “hmm…!”
Bel-Marduk narrowed his eyes. “Looks like you fucked things up pretty hard.”
“I only wanted to free the prisoners….” Chang-Sun said.
The consequences of his actions were a lot more serious than he had expected. He had just unintentionally caused a big—no, a colossal accident.
“Yeees!”
“I’m free! Freeedooom!!!”
“Hell yeah! I’m going to kill Metatron and Baal!”
“Those hypocrites! I’ll kill every last one of them!”
All the prisoners jumped out of their cells, their Divine Class storms accelerating the Tower’s collapse. The Eight Gods of Disorder outside suddenly found themselves in an emergency.
[The Outer Celestial ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’ screams, her dark face turning pale!]
[The Outer Celestial ‘Nameless Mist’ quickly tries to save their father’s trap!]
[The Outer Celestial ‘Source of Uncleanliness’ anxiously feels that they will be greatly scolded by their father!]
[The Outer Celestial ‘Harbinger’ denies reality, mumbling that everyone will suffer happy and fair annihilation!]
[The Outer Celestial ‘Green Flame’ lights up their fire to take down the fleeing prisoners!]
Black tentacles poured down from the sky as raging white mist stormed in. At the same time, green fire blazed up and blocked the entrance.
“Wh-what is this?!”
“Shit! Those filthy Nyx bastards!”
“Use whatever you can to destroy them!”
Although momentarily bewildered, the prisoners quickly regained their composure and continued running toward the entrance. They were all Star Signs who used to hold notoriety in their respective Worldlines. Hence, they believed they could somehow defeat their wardens through sheer numbers.
The Tower was already crumbling down. Considering they would either die in this building or be killed by the Eight Gods of Disorder anyway, they had every reason to gamble for their lives. Nevertheless, the Eight Gods of Disorder proved to be forces they should not have reckoned with.
Wooooosh!
“Aaarghh!”
“It h-hurts!”
“Keough!”
One after another, the prisoners trying to escape were mercilessly killed.
Whirl!
[The Outer Celestial ‘Lord of the Pole’ has resurrected!]
Having pulled himself together, Aphoom-Zhah looked up.
『My, my my. That came out of nowhere! It felt good to be crushed by the Tower, though. Hehehe! Can we do it again?!』
[The Outer Celestial ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’ yells at the Outer Celestial ‘Lord of the Pole’ to stop his nonsense and to either start helping the others or find the culprits who started this madness!]
『Big sis, you need to learn to enjoy your life~!』
[The Outer Celestial ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’ gives the Outer Celestial ‘Lord of the Pole’ a death glare!]
『Hehehe! Fine! This adorable rabbit will spring into action now!』
Thud, thud, thud!
Aphoom-Zhah, now a huge shadow rabbit, ran around, kicking away or trampling over the prisoners. He ended up worsening the chaos, but he couldn’t seem to care less.
Unfortunately, Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk were nowhere to be found, likely having used the commotion to blend into the crowd and escape.
『Those two really remind me of Master! This is it! As a punishment for the commotion they started, I, Laplace, shall capture them and lick them all over until they’re covered in my holy saliva!』
Aphoom-Zhah’s declaration would have made Chang-Sun and Bel-Marduk tremble.
Thud, thud, thud!
Aphoom-Zhah kept hopping around, the Tower shaking with every step he took.
[The Outer Celestial ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young’ screams at the Outer Celestial ‘Lord of the Pole’ to stop hopping around because he is making the Tower crumble faster!]