Allen Oskal, ranked first among Deneb’s twelve apostles and known as the strongest among the Seven Stars, charged at the very front.

“Hup!”

Mr. Oh-Jin is handling Mobius, so...

Allen had to target the Celestials who turned into Mobius’s puppets, specifically Mus, the Celestial of Musca.

If the Black Star Celestials’ rankings mirrored that of the Black Star Society executors, Mus would be the next strongest after Mobius. Of course, ranking didn’t mean much since they had become puppets without any intellect. Still, Mus posed the most threat among the puppets.

Mus, the Celestial of Musca.

Allen had never faced Mus before, but easily identified him among the five.

Mus had black hair, dark skin, and grotesque red eyes that covered half his face. The thousands of eyes reminiscent of a fly’s looked less like eyes and more like a helmet visor flipped over his face from far away.

I’ll take him down as quickly as possible, then help Mr. Oh-Jin.

Allen was facing a Celestial for the first time, yet he didn’t feel particularly nervous. Mus’s dazed look, as if drugged, made Allen question if the Celestial could even fight properly.

Deneb pointed at Mus and flew close to Allen. “While his mind is unstable, it’ll be difficult for him to maintain his Sacred Ground! Don’t show him any mercy, Allen!” 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Allen lightly nodded and activated his Stigma of Cygnus. With each step he took, the ground froze.

Crackle.

A white frosty storm whirled as his lightning-fast sword strikes targeted Mus.

Mus groaned incomprehensibly and blankly stared at the approaching strikes. “Ah, ugh.”

Suddenly, the countless eyes covering his face flickered with light. Black thorns sprouted from Mus’s arm and deflected Allen’s sword.

Clang!

The heavy impact traveled through the hilt.

Allen grimaced and stepped back.

“Even as a puppet, Celestials are still strong, huh.”

Mus looked as though not a single thought existed behind his eyes, but reacted instantly to deflect Allen’s sword as if having never been out of focus.

He stared blankly at the frost covering his arm where Allen’s sword had struck. “Awaken, er. Kill the Awakener.”

With that, an explosive amount of mana enveloped Mus like a machine that had suddenly turned on.

Woong!

His back split open, revealing translucent wings.

With one step, Mus twisted in midair at right angles and maneuvered in three dimensions.

Swoosh! Whoosh!

The black thorns on his arm pierced Allen.

Allen barely managed to raise his sword in defense and violently flew back hundreds of meters. He collided with a building.

“Kugh!”

The imprint left on the wall resembled a perfect human silhouette straight out of a cartoon.

Deneb shouted, “Allen!”

Staggering to his feet, Allen wiped the blood from his mouth. “I’m fine...”

Looks like I won’t be able to take him down quickly.

He had assumed the puppet Celestials would be subdued easily, but they were still incredibly strong after being stripped of intellect. Even without taking their Sacred Ground into account, their basic power and speed far surpassed humans.

But...

Allen’s Stigma of Cygnus blazed brightly.

He’s not impossible to beat.

Allen had reached eleven stars and surpassed human limits too. Moreover, this Celestial couldn’t fully use his Stigma, which was the core of his strength.

Allen took a deep breath and gripped his sword in reverse. He imagined a snowy wilderness in his mind. A vast white expanse with a sharp blizzard swirled endlessly. The Stigma of Cygnus resonated with his visualization.

He struck downward with the sword he held in reverse. “Freeze!”

The ground began to freeze, and snow blew across the frozen earth. It looked beautiful from the outside, but each snowflake was sharp as a blade. Anyone aware of that wouldn’t dare to call it beautiful.

The raging snowflakes shredded through Mus.

“Ah, ugh.”

Instead of blood, a foul green fluid oozed from his wounds. However, that didn’t last long as maggots bubbled up like foam from his wounds. In an instant, his torn flesh regenerated.

Deneb gagged and shook his head. “Ugh... That Stigma always disgusts me no matter how many times I see it. Allen! The Stigma of Musca has insane regenerative abilities. You have to keep attacking without rest!”

“I know... that!”

Allen summoned an even fiercer snowstorm to bear down on Mus. Even with all his strength, he couldn’t keep up with the Stigma of Musca’s rate of regeneration.

Baek Mu-Kang joined Allen and swung his sword at Mus. “I’ll punish the bad human... Huh? Oh, right, not human. Bad Celestial!”

The two Seven Stars relentlessly attacked the Celestial. They weren’t the only ones locked in a fierce battle.

Raging flames shot toward an owl covered in black feathers.

Whoosh!

The Celestial of Owl Nebula, Noctua, looked at Song Ha-Eun. “Awakener... of Draco.”

Song Ha-Eun smirked and pointed her cigarette at Noctua. “So you still remember even in that sorry state of yours? I went through hell because of your damn child, you know.”

How could she forget when Cheon Do-Yoon had captured her and nearly gouged out her eyes? If Kwon Oh-Jin hadn’t used Open Heaven back then, she would be trapped in utter darkness without a glimmer of light again.

“Well, thanks to that, I ended up confessing my feelings, and things worked out. I guess it wasn’t all bad.”

Just because the outcome turned out good didn’t make that day’s horror any less traumatic.

“I... don’t remember... kidnapping you.”

“Parents take responsibility for their kids’ crimes. Don’t you know that?”

The ember at the end of her cigarette expanded into a massive dragon.

“Burn.”

The colossal flame completely engulfed Noctua. The inferno didn’t stop there. It spread in all directions and swept through the surrounding area.

Isabella turned toward Song Ha-Eun and scowled at the heat. “Ugh...! Ha-Eun unnie, could you please tone it down a little?”

Song Ha-Eun scratched her head with an awkward smile.

Isabella sighed deeply and refocused on the enemy before her. The grotesque Celestial had a long, slit mouth and sharp fangs/

Even with that dazed expression, he stared at her in confusion. “My... child. Why... attack me?”

Isabella gripped her blood-red scythe tightly and glared at the Celestial of Leech, Hirudo. “I’m not your child. To me, this Stigma... was nothing but a horrible curse.”

Thankfully, Kwon Oh-Jin had set her free from that urge to drink blood. In the past, the Stigma of Leech had plagued her every single day. That dreadful thirst made her feel as though her very soul was drying up.

After suffering that torment for years, how could she see the Celestial of Leech as a savior? To her, he wasn’t a savior but an enemy to despise.

“I... why... ugh, ah...”

Chains of blood coiled around Isabella as she swung her scythe toward Hirudo. “How unfortunate. I’d hoped to take revenge when you were in the right state of mind.”

***

Mobius smirked faintly as he observed the chaotic battlefield. “Everyone’s fighting quite earnestly.”

“You really shouldn’t be acting like this isn’t your problem!”

A spear covered in blue lightning shot toward Mobius.

Crackle!

Mobius slid across the ground to dodge Kwon Oh-Jin’s attack. He casually swung his sword. The ordinary strike didn’t contain any fancy technique or overwhelming power.

Kwon Oh-Jin should’ve been able to dodge it with his eyes closed.

“Agh!”

A gash opened across his chest, and blood spilled.

What the hell?

He was sure he had dodged it with enough distance between them. The sword shouldn’t have touched him, nor the wind from the swing. What had cut him?

Vega shouted. “It’s the shadow!”

Kwon Oh-Jin looked down to see the sword’s shadow stretching unnaturally long across the ground. “Shadow...?”

So that’s it.

Anyone with the Stigma of Ophiuchus could manipulate shadows.

Kwon Oh-Jin had focused so much on the sword itself that he failed to notice the shadow.

Mobius shrugged lightly and lowered his sword. “Haha, as expected of Lady Vega. You figured it out right away.”

The shadows followed his movements and rippled across the ground.

Shadows, huh.

Kwon Oh-Jin recalled how troublesome this ability had been when he faced Cassia. As long as there was light, the shadows could never be completely erased.

No... It’s the same even without light.

The shadows born from Mobius’s power were not actual shadows, but something entirely different that merely resembled shadows. Even without a spec of light, those shadows would not disappear.

In that case...

Kwon Oh-Jin just needed to move somewhere where the shadows couldn’t reach him.

“Hup!”

He leaped high up and used Lightning Steps in the air. After all, shadows couldn’t exist in the air. Mobius’s Stigma, rooted in shadows, couldn’t possibly reach into the open air.

Mobius shrugged with a wicked smile. “You used that same trick against Cassia, didn’t you? Do you really think what worked on her would work on me?”

He lazily swung his sword. The air itself split, and shadows spilled out like smoke. They drifted through the air like mist. It was physically impossible, yet had just happened.

“When facing a Celestial, sometimes common sense becomes your worst enemy.”

Common sense said that shadows couldn’t reach the air, but a Celestial’s Sacred Ground precisely mocked and twisted those natural laws.

Swoosh!

Countless blades shot up from the airborne shadows. Dozens of them tore apart the suspended Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Kugh!” He spat blood and crashed to the ground, rolling.

Mobius sighed in disappointment and walked toward Kwon Oh-Jin on the ground. “Hm. Perhaps I overestimated you.”

The shadow blades had severed Kwon Oh-Jin’s arms and legs. He sprawled limply on the ground like a broken doll.

“A-Ahh! Aaaaagh! M-My arm!”

“Yes, yes, I understand. It must hurt terribly, but still...”

“My arm! My aaaarm!”

Mobius frowned, puzzled.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s arms had been cut off, but so had his legs. Why was he so fixated on his arms alone?

Mobius’s gaze drifted naturally to Kwon Oh-Jin’s severed arm. There, his dismembered arm lay on the ground with its middle finger raised.

“What...?”

Before the words could even leave his mouth—

Gush.

A spear pierced right through Mobius’s chest.

“Go to hell, motherfucker.”