Chapter 552

Rumble…

Her whole body trembled violently.

The surging emotions felt like they could burst into tears at any moment.

A precious sibling who had been with her for so long.

The one and only brother who shared countless memories and even more emotions stood before her eyes.

Artemis slowly reached out her hand.

She already knew that it was a fake.

She also knew that it was made of borrowed powers and a fabricated shell.

Even so.

Even so…

Her body unconsciously moved forward.

[The emotions of the [Primordial God ‘Artemis’] are wavering!]

[A crack has formed in the [Unique Holy Spear – Whisper of the Moons]!]

Jinhyuk pulled out a bow identical to the one Apollo used.

Of course, this one was a replica.

A shoddy imitation in terms of both power and durability.

But the purpose of this bow wasn’t to land a critical hit.

It was to fan the flames of this dramatic moment.

[The emotions of the [Primordial God ‘Artemis’] are violently wavering!]

[A massive crack is forming in the [Unique Holy Spear – Whisper of the Moons]! It has begun to collapse!]

“Ah…”

Artemis took another step forward.

Her pupils had long since lost their focus.

The boundary between emotion and reason had blurred. Her once-cold instincts had been overwritten by the hope she had always dreamed of.

In the end, Artemis was deceiving herself.

Believing that the one before her was her brother, not Jinhyuk.

“I missed you… so much. The other gods all said it was nonsense, but I thought… just maybe. I believed that if it was you, you would surely come back alive…”

Good.

The lead actress was now fully immersed in her role.

Jinhyuk’s expression flipped completely.

His voice dropped into a cold, subdued tone.

“Why did you abandon me?”

A short, curt sentence, tossed like a dagger.

“What…?”

Artemis froze in place.

She seemed so shocked she even forgot to breathe.

“When I was burning alive in that hell, my one and only sister abandoned me. Left me suffering in agony and ran away.”

“No… I didn’t run away. I tried… I really tried to save you…!”

“But you didn’t save me.”

Jinhyuk drew the line.

Then he added one more blow.

“All you did was dress it up with pretty words. You never acted. In the end, it doesn’t change the fact that you abandoned me. Or the fact that I died.”

“……!!”

Tears streamed down Artemis’s eyes.

Just like he said, she hadn’t done anything.

All she did was despair and deny.

And that truth…

…cut the last remaining thread of reason.

[The target’s mind has completely collapsed.]

[The emotion of revenge has turned to despair and resignation.]

[The condition for ability replication has been fulfilled.]

Thud!

Artemis collapsed to her knees.

“I… I…”

Her voice trembled with sobs.

The moonlight had already vanished.

As the [Unique Holy Spear] was deactivated, the clones dissipated into smoke one by one.

‘Hmm…’

Looking at it like this, it’s kind of hard to tell who the villain is.

Seeing her bawling like that made his chest ache just a little—maybe 0.1mg’s worth.

His hand holding the bow twitched.

Killing Artemis at this moment would’ve been far too easy…

But, well, a much more interesting idea came to mind.

Since he’d already chosen to play the villain, he might as well commit to the role completely.

“Do you want to make amends?”

“I do… If I could turn back time, I’d pay any price…”

“In that case, there is still one method left.”

Jinhyuk pulled out a strange-looking watch from the subspace.

“This is… don’t tell me?”

“Yes. It’s the Clockwork Watch of Chronos. It may be broken, but if certain conditions are met, it can turn back time.”

A top-tier relic imbued with the power of [Regression].

A signature item of an ancient Primordial God, known only through rumors.

Jinhyuk toyed with the finely crafted golden watch he made himself.

Of course, there was no way it was the real thing.

If such a ridiculous item existed, he’d have used it long ago in a much more crucial moment.

But in her broken mental state, Artemis was unable to distinguish even such an obvious fact.

“What do I have to do…?”

At her question, Jinhyuk’s lips curled into a grin.

Now Artemis had swallowed the bait right up to her throat.

“My soul currently resides in the body of a human named Kang Jinhyuk. Help him rewind the broken watch.” (T/N: This scammer.)

Killing an enemy isn’t a bad option.

But if he could use them to the bone, that was the far superior choice.

⁕⁕⁕

Several hours of fierce battle had already passed.

The simultaneous nighttime ambush caused immeasurable damage to both forces.

However, unlike Olympus and the Norse faction who had launched a full-scale war, Celestial Order and Eden remained cautiously on the sidelines.

Uriel had made a promise with Jinhyuk, after all.

And Celestial Order didn’t want to join during the fiercest fighting and take unnecessary damage.

“Hm. No matter how you slice it, Olympus really does have overwhelming power.”

“They’re pushing on all fronts. Unlike before, they’re not being held back by Berial or Gabriel anymore. Same goes for the Murim and the other factions.”

“But the Norse guys aren’t backing down either. They’re making full use of the advantages from their base.”

“Well, Yggdrasil is still Yggdrasil, even if it’s newly sprouted.”

The gods of Celestial Order each gave their thoughts.

Most leaned toward predicting Olympus’s victory.

Especially since Olympus hadn’t even used its trump cards yet.

If the [Blurred Domain] were completed and their main base summoned, not even Yggdrasil’s buffs could prevent the Norse side from collapsing.

Meanwhile, the Norse faction still needed more time to fully establish their foothold.

“We’d better move in. If we keep sitting on our hands, we won’t even get a piece of the victory.”

Shiva, a high-ranking Primordial God, made the call.

But just then—

[An intruder has entered the base.]

A warning alarm rang out in front of the gods of Celestial Order.

At the same time—

Step.

Tap.

“Man… you guys picked one hell of a spot. Seriously. And it’s damn hot, too.”

“Probability of choosing this location due to India’s unique climate conditions: 82.55%. Yup.”

Alice and Frey appeared before the gods of Celestial Order.

They had moved immediately after parting with Jinhyuk and, thanks to rushing, made it just in time.

‘So they were holding back like he said… But how does that contractor know so much about Celestial Order’s inner thoughts despite having little contact with them? And how did he know their base would be right here?’

Alice looked utterly dumbfounded.

At this point, she’d believe it if someone said he used to be contracted with Celestial Order.

On the other hand, Celestial Order’s side couldn’t hide their surprise at having their location discovered.

“Alice… how are you here?”

“And even a homunculus? Damn Olympus bastards. I thought the Veteran Corporation was supposed to hold them back. What the hell is going on!?”

A progenitor of Ataraxia and an alpha-class homunculus were serious threats.

Celestial Order would need to dedicate significant forces just to deal with them.

Shiva rose from his seat.

Vrrrmm!

Golden ripples spread in concentric circles from the wooden throne.

“You always pick the wrong side. After suffering so much for it, you still make the same mistake again?”

“If you mean turning my back on foolish heads of household, then I don’t consider it a mistake. Even if I faced the same choice again, I’d do the same.”

Alice faced Shiva’s energy head-on.

“And standing with the contractor is not a mistake either. It’s the path I chose.”

“Talking to a wall really is the most annoying thing. Fine. Let’s see who’s right.”

Rrrrmmmm!

Shiva gathered his power.

“Kill them both.”

With those cold words, the battle began.

⁕⁕⁕

[Successfully replicated [Unique Holy Spear – Whisper of the Moons].]

[Whisper of the Moons]

Acquisition Difficulty: Unmeasurable

Details: Imbues the body with the power of the moon and condenses moonlight into various weapons. Upon reaching sufficient mastery, it is possible to create clones that possess partial stats of the original.

Jinhyuk smiled in satisfaction after confirming the copied ability.

‘Damn, this is the best part—when I start collecting powers one by one.’

Artemis’s [Unique Holy Spear] had especially caught his eye.

It was the perfect material to merge with his existing abilities.

Jinhyuk retrieved stored abilities from the Library.

He selected two to combine.

[Fusing [Unique Holy Spear – Whisper of the Moons] with [Unique Ability – Blessing of the Stars] and [Unique Holy Spear – White Night].]

A world dyed in the white of stars and moons converged.

As mana surged, the three abilities began to unite into one.

Rrrrmmmm!

A blinding light stormed in from all directions.

The overwhelming flow of mana made it hard to even stand, but his senses were sharper than ever.

If he failed this fusion due to a simple mistake, he wouldn’t sleep for a month.

Then—

Vrrrmmm!

[Fusion successful!]

A blue status window appeared before his eyes.

…Success!

[New [Unique Holy Spear – Flowing Moonlight] has been stored.]

The fusion of moon and star blessings now included the [White Night]’s domain.

It granted a 12-star level barrier superior even to the Zodiac constellations, wielded divine power that rivaled archangels, and amplified the original effects of [Whisper of the Moons] to a higher tier.

In short, he had obtained an overwhelmingly superior version of a [Unique Holy Spear].

Thump! Thump!

His heart beat joyfully.

While reveling in the euphoria, Jinhyuk saved the fused ability to the [Memory of the World].

Now that the fusion was done, he finally had time to think about something else.

‘Still… it’s about time.’

The mansion had been half-destroyed, so it was only natural for them to show up by now.

Right on cue—

[Heimdall is opening a Gate.]

A Gate appeared before his eyes.

Speak of the devil, huh? Guess nobody here’s any better.

Shortly after, Heimdall stepped through, followed by Thor, Loki, and Baldur.

“I’m relieved you’re unharmed.”

Heimdall let out a sigh of relief.

“Ha! What did I say? The Olympus bastards can’t do a damn thing to this guy!”

“We shouldn’t let our guard down just yet. We’re doing our best to hold them off, but more than half of Olympus’s base has already crossed over.”

Thor and Baldur added their concerns.

“Wait a sec, isn’t that Artemis over there?”

Loki spotted someone and shouted in surprise.

She had so little presence, they hadn’t even noticed her—Artemis sat huddled in a corner.

Thankfully, despite hearing their loud voices, she showed no sign of resisting.

“It’s alright. I’ve got her on a tight leash.”

Empty eyes. Mumbling lips.

It was clear at a glance that Artemis was not in a normal state.

They were dying to ask what the hell happened to her—but there were more pressing matters at hand.

“The situation is urgent. Before we move, please put this on. It’s a relic that allows one to receive Yggdrasil’s blessing.”

Baldur handed him a ring shaped like the sun.

For someone not affiliated with the Norse gods to receive their blessing, possession of this item was essential.

Jinhyuk was well aware of this.

“Thank you.”

But just as he reached for the ring—

“Hold on,”

Loki stopped Baldur.