Ch-48
—
The Giant of Ruin realized his mistake a beat too late.
He should *never* have let his anger get the better of him and charged in without thinking.
“Goddess!”
The Giant of Ruin shouted toward the star.
He begged the goddess, now stained pitch-black.
Begged her to calm down.
To return to how she once was.
‘…Goddess Pina’s eye.’
The Giant of Ruin saw the eye at the center of the black hole.
The eye of Pina—twin goddess, younger sister of Leah.
Also known as the Goddess of the Firmament.
Why had *her* eye fallen here?
How had it become tainted by evil, how could it be controlled by evil?!
—Kk… hahahaha!
Ahram mocked the Giant of Ruin.
No matter how he struggled, he could not stop the explosion now.
He would drag all the star guardians down with him.
—Wh—…?
But Ahram’s taunting did not last.
Because he felt it.
Something was approaching.
His instincts screamed.
That he must avoid *that something* no matter what.
He was frightened. Terrified.
A king of hell had no idea why these emotions were rising within him.
But one thing was certain: he had to run.
—Let go…!
That “something” was approaching slowly.
Its slowness meant dodging should have been easy, but the problem was that the Giant of Ruin had Ahram pinned.
Ahram struggled desperately.
His instincts told him clearly—if “that something” touched him, he was finished.
The fear was so great he even thought it would be better to self-destruct and vanish.
He had to escape.
He had to flee!
But he couldn’t escape. Couldn’t flee.
The Giant of Ruin held Ahram completely immobile.
The act of preparing to self-destruct had now become the trap around his own ankle.
Ssschk!
And finally, Ahram understood.
The thing touching his forehead.
That “something” was *sealing* him.
Ahram cautiously touched his forehead.
The object attached to his head was a sealing ring.
Incredibly powerful.
Something that could bind even the king of hell.
But such a sealing ring could not be common.
And Ahram had seen such an artifact once before.
Long ago.
In ancient ages.
The tool used to seal the being closest to a god.
—G… Golden band…?
The legendary sealing ring—**Golden band (緊箍兒)**.
His power would not respond.
His mana would not stir.
His body no longer felt like his own.
“Move aside, caw.”
His body moved on its own.
Ahram could only recoil in shock.
The undead crow standing before him—
It was not just any crow.
The memories he read from the star, and his own soul, recognized that crow.
The one he wanted to kill, the one he *must* kill.
‘Knight-King Wilhelm…!’
…The natural enemy of demonkind—**Wilhelm**.
But he could no longer speak.
He could no longer do anything.
‘Even if you bind me, you can’t stop the star’s rampage!’
Ahram mocked inwardly.
Fool.
Even if he was bound by Golden band, the black-stained star would not return to normal.
The star’s rampage continued to progress.
“You’re annoying, caw.”
“…What are you?”
The Giant of Ruin.
Even he was shaken.
Ahram had suddenly been sealed.
And between them, this undead crow appeared.
A mysterious crow who destroyed a Unique-grade mystery and even sealed Ahram.
“Lose some weight, caw. What is that body, caw?”
“You dare… tell *me*… to lose weight…?”
There was not a single being in existence foolish enough to tell the Giant of Ruin to lose weight.
Because all of them died.
If anyone said such a thing in front of him, they would cease to exist.
“Is this the goddess’s star, caw?”
The undead crow spoke casually, as if noting something trivial.
Once Ahram was sealed, the rampaging black star separated from his body.
The Giant of Ruin clicked his tongue.
“So you came to die, idiot. You should’ve escaped with the White King.”
“Can’t I just calm the star down, caw?”
“Even star guardians cannot do that. If a cursed crow like you touches a holy star, you’ll burn to ashes instantly.”
He’d heard that line somewhere.
When he first met Dramut and picked up Wilhelm’s fallen star… Dramut said something similar.
“I said move, caw.”
“…”
The Giant of Ruin shifted his huge body slightly.
Almost as if saying, *Show me, then.*
When he moved aside, the black-hole-like region was revealed.
Touching it would either suck you in or burn you alive, just as the giant said.
But I floated up and extended my hand to the rampaging black star without hesitation.
‘You were looking for me.’
And the moment my hand touched the star, I understood.
This was the star that had been searching for me all along.
Since the hot springs.
No—much earlier.
The eye of Goddess Pina stared at me.
“Mmm…!”
And then the memories of Goddess Pina began pouring into my head.
*
*
Knight-King Wilhelm.
He had been captured by the Demon King.
Because he was never truly blessed by the goddess.
A great hero who reached that height with no divine privileges—yet the Demon King was a being impossible to destroy without the goddess’s authority.
“A monstrous human. To think someone without any divine ‘rights’ could push me this far.”
The Demon King grumbled with disgust.
Never before had anyone driven him so far.
His body was in rags.
A body labeled “indestructible,” capable of regenerating endlessly, had been reduced to pulp.
This human possessed a force exceeding even the authority of immortality.
“But that is your mistake.”
It was fine.
He had lost his body, but the Demon King’s essence never died.
Without the goddess’s authority, no one could erase him.
In fact, this was a good opportunity.
Once he took this monstrous human’s body, he would become far stronger than ever before.
The Demon King’s essence began to devour Wilhelm’s body.
—No! Stop!
The Goddess of the Firmament, Pina, had watched everything from beginning to end.
If Wilhelm were overtaken here, the world would end.
Not only this world—every connected dimension would fall to ruin.
But she had never imagined Wilhelm could threaten even the Demon King.
She never imagined someone could grow so strong without divine privileges.
This wasn’t Wilhelm’s greatness alone.
The being connected to that other world—
‘He’
—was enabling Wilhelm to surpass every limit.
It was also ‘He’ who had completed Wilhelm to this degree.
—I’m sorry.
In the end, Pina took Wilhelm’s life.
If the Demon King took his living body along with all five stars, all hope would be lost.
‘He’ beyond the veil would lose his chance as well.
But killing a completed existence like Wilhelm was dangerous even for a goddess.
Even as a goddess, Wilhelm was someone who had faced and *defeated* destruction itself.
So Pina, taking Wilhelm’s life, had to forfeit her own body in exchange.
—Please… O supreme and noble being… I beg of you.
Goddess Pina’s body shattered and fell as a star.
But she had no regrets.
Because at least—one final chance remained.
Goddess Pina herself did not know who ‘He’ was.
But she hoped that the one who guided Wilhelm was someone who loved Pangaenia.
For no being more noble or honorable than ‘He’ existed.
And she wished—again and again—that ‘He’ would leap even higher than before.
And become the one who would guide all worlds.
*
*
The aftermath of her memories.
The final wish Goddess Pina recalled before her body dissipated filled my vision.
In the end, everything began and ended with Wilhelm.
This entire situation was born from the death of Knight-King Wilhelm.
‘When she took Wilhelm’s life, Goddess Pina destroyed herself as well.’
What looked like a simple “restart after a blue screen” had not been simple at all.
It was possible only because of Pina.
Had she not sacrificed herself by killing Wilhelm, I would never have been given another chance.
The problem now was the star Pina left behind.
‘So the Demon King stole Pina’s star.’
Instead of Wilhelm’s intact body and five stars, he took Pina’s body and shattered it.
Then used her star to rebuild the demon realm and prepare an invasion of Earth.
Originally, the demon realm had been half-destroyed, but Pina’s star had accelerated its restoration.
《The star’s rampage subsides.》
《‘Main Quest ???: Defeat the King of Dimensional Fissures’ has been completed.》
《Level up!》
The Main Quest completion message appeared.
Thankfully, the Golden band seal counted as “defeat.”
But more curious were the stares around me.
“What are you looking at, caw?”
All the star guardians.
Even the White King and the Four Pillars.
They stared at me—shocked, disbelieving.
Then one star guardian muttered:
“Star guardian…?”
“A corpse crow… is a star guardian?”
What? A star guardian?
Were they talking about *me*?
But star guardians were always noble mythical beings or powerful phantasmal species.
I had never heard of any exceptions.
Ku-rung!
At that moment, the Giant of Ruin slowly rose.
He looked down at me and, with a twisted expression as if he hated to admit it but had no choice, spoke:
“…A new star guardian has been born.”
—
Amazing, ‘He’ is the chosen one
Бро фармит ауру как не в себя просто потому что он может