Chapter 133: Endless Night (9)
Kwon Oh-Jin felt like he'd been drugged. His senses dulled as if shrouded in dark clouds. Holding onto his fading consciousness, he slowly raised his head. Is this... Open Heaven?
The clear blue sky from earlier was replaced by a pitch-black atmosphere.
He let out a heated breath. His mana reserve, which had been drained from his fight with Cheon Do-Yoon, filled back up quickly like a bucket under heavy rainfall. However, it wasn't the familiar mana of his Stigma.
I’ve... felt this before.
The sticky, ominous, and unfathomable mana poured into him from the dark clouds that covered the sky.
He raised his hand and summoned lightning.
Crackle!
The lightning didn’t glow with its usual blue hue. It flared a deep black instead.
Even though this was his first time using Open Heaven, it felt oddly nostalgic like a trip to one's hometown.
He could see Cheon Do-Yoon frantically clutching his eyes in the distance. “W-What? What the hell did you do, you bastard?!”
Cheon Do-Yoon was terrified and trembling in the unfamiliar darkness.
Kwon Oh-Jin remembered the image of Song Ha-Eun crying on the hospital bed a few years ago.
How does it feel to be on the receiving end? He tried speaking to Cheon Do-Yoon, but strangely enough, his voice wouldn’t come out. What the hell?
Frowning, he glanced down to see that parts of him had turned into dark clouds, as if melting away into the void.
Is this... another effect of Open Heaven?
His consciousness wavered. He slowly faced Cheon Do-Yoon, who was thrashing around as if having a seizure.
Kwon Oh-Jin knew he had something left to do before his mind drifted any further into the haze.
“I-I lost!" Cheon Do-Yoon desperately screamed. "I’ll give up the Draconic Eye! And the dragon’s heart! I’ll give up everything!”
That was a rather anti-climactic ending. Kwon Oh-Jin couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Cheon Do-Yoon struggle helplessly in the suffocating darkness. It feels like I'm up against a blindfolded three-year-old.
A sense of unhinged omnipotence showered him. The sheer exhilaration of trampling a high-ranking Awakener without so much as lifting a finger felt intoxicating. He felt like he could even devour all the Celestials in the night sky.
Ah.
The deeper he sank into the power of the Black Heaven, the hazier his consciousness became.
Instead of just my body... what if my entire being, including my soul, becomes one with this darkness? How much more can I bathe in this electrifying omnipotence? Ah...
The temptation was unbearably sweet.
The dark atmosphere above him felt warm and comforting like a warm blanket after a shower. Bit by bit, he watched himself dissolve into black clouds.
This is... dangerous.
A chilling sense of crisis gripped him. If he let this continue, he'd never be able to return to normal. He bit down hard on his lip.
Get a grip.
In the thick darkness so dense that he couldn’t even see his own hands, he desperately searched for the smallest trace of light. Then, he saw a single streak of blue piercing through the void.
The Stigma of Lyra.
The North Star still shone brightly.
“Hoo... ha!”
His scattered consciousness surged back into focus, snapping together like ripples closing over a fractured surface. He reached for his neck, grounding himself in the sound of his own breath.
It’s there.
Moments ago, his neck had dissolved into clouds, yet it was back to normal now.
That was close.
A shiver ran down his spine. If he hadn’t found the Stigma of Lyra, he could have been swallowed up by the Black Heaven, never to return.
Anyway, there's no time to feel relieved.
He turned his gaze toward Cheon Do-Yoon, who was quivering pathetically in fear.
Time to wrap this up, Kwon Oh-Jin thought. Of course, he planned on getting as much information out of the King of Owls as possible first.
“If you do me one favor, I’ll let you leave this place.”
“R-Really? You’ll really let me leave?” A glimmer of hope sparked in Cheon Do-Yoon’s eyes as he lay collapsed like a broken doll, all his limbs severed.
Kwon Oh-Jin smiled and stepped closer to him. “Tell me everything you know. In as much detail as possible."
“E-Everything I know...? W-What do you mean?”
“Whatever you can recall. It could be about the dragon’s heart and the Draconic Eye, the Black Star Society, the Black Star Celestials, or the Demonic District." Kwon Oh-Jin's eyes glowed like eerie blue flames. "If you tell me everything you know, I’ll let you live.”
Cheon Do-Yoon gulped dryly. “Th-The dragon’s heart exhibits the greatest power when used by an Awakener of Draco.”
“Next.”
“I-I heard those wretched Seahorse Awakeners have taken full control of the Osaka region!”
“Next.”
“The Black Star Celestials are the ones who were exiled by the other Celestials and labeled as False Stars.”
“Next.”
Kwon Oh-Jin's low, chilling voice repeated the same phrase over and over again.
“Th-The one who ordered me to retrieve the dragon’s heart is...”
“Is?”
Cold sweat dripped down Cheon Do-Yoon's face as he averted his gaze. He desperately tried to mention the Serpens Queen, but the spell she'd placed on him held his lips firmly shut.
“What’s wrong?" Kwon Oh-Jin asked. "Can’t say it?”
“W-Wait! Just wait a moment!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I understand.”
A sinister chuckle rang in Cheon Do-Yoon’s ears.
“I-I told you everything I could!" he shouted. "N-Now, hurry and let me go!”
“Alright.”
Kwon Oh-Jin hummed softly as he cradled the old man’s wrinkled cheek in his hand.
“Now, close your eyes, and slowly count to a thousand,” he whispered like a lullaby. “Very slowly. Got it? If you rush, you'll have to start over from the beginning.”
Cheon Do-Yoon nodded frantically. “O-Okay. One, two, three...”
He counted slowly and steadily.
“One hundred fifty, one hundred fifty-one, one hundred fifty-two...”
A mere fifteen minutes felt endless, nausea rising with each second. Unbearable anxiety twisted in his stomach, yet he grew more hopeful.
“Five hundred forty-two, five hundred forty-three, five hundred forty-four...”
With each count, his hope grew larger and larger as he yearned for the darkness to fall.
He could finally see the end of a seemingly endless tunnel.
“Nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine... one thousand.”
And beyond that tunnel, he found a sky still covered in impenetrable darkness.
“A-Ah...” He started convulsing violently. “Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!”
Tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks.
“Why, why, just why...?! Y-You said... You said if I counted to a thousand, you’d let me go...!”
“Oh, that?” Kwon Oh-Jin slyly chuckled. “It was a lie.”
Crackle!
A bolt of black lightning pierced through Cheon Do-Yoon’s head.
In the silence that followed, Kwon Oh-Jin slowly reached toward Cheon Do-Yoon’s limp body, releasing black clouds that enveloped his Stigma of Owl Nebula.
“Haa...”
A massive amount of mana, unlike anything he'd absorbed before, flowed into him through the clouds.
Ring!
[Kwon Oh-Jin has successfully absorbed the Stigma of Awakener Cheon Do-Yoon!]
[The Constellation of Owl Nebula has been fully acquired.]
[Kwon Oh-Jin may now receive the blessing of the Celestial of Owl Nebula, Noctua.]
[Would you like to set the Stigma of Owl Nebula as your primary Stigma?]
“Are you crazy?”
He waved the blue message window away like it was an annoying fly. The offer wasn’t even worth considering.
Right then, a sharp, searing pain tore through the left side of his chest.
“Urgh!”
He lifted his blood-soaked shirt that clung to his skin. Etched beside the Stigma of Lyra, the strokes had increased to seven.
I’ve become a seven-star?
It made sense since he'd just ravaged a nine-star Awakener.
What about the memory inheritance...?
However, no images appeared in his vision even after waiting.
Is it because I used Open Heaven?
He couldn’t know for sure. Of course, it didn't matter as much since he'd already extracted all the information he needed from Cheon Do-Yoon.
Well then.
He took a deep breath and glanced at the thick, lingering black clouds above. He placed a hand over his chest and willed the wide-open sky shut.
Grumble!
As soon as the clouds rushed into him, clearing the scene, he saw Song Ha-Eun frantically sprinting toward him.
“O-Oh-Jin! W-What the hell was that just now? T-Those clouds from your body were—!”
“Ha-Eun.”
“It was like fucking Whizzing's farts—!”
“Can you shut up for a sec?”
Whizzing? What is she on?
“W-Where’s Cheon Do-Yoon?" she anxiously asked. "A-And what about your wounds? How the hell did they just vanish?!”
“I’ll explain everything once we get home.”
Not only had she caught him using the Black Heaven, but she'd also seen him using Open Heaven. No matter how much of a scammer he was, he couldn't lie his way out of this one.
He took a step closer to her. “But more importantly...”
She flinched and looked up at him cutely like a frightened puppy. “O-Oh-Jin...?”
He slowly placed his hand on her flushed cheek, feeling her warmth against his fingertips. He caressed it gently as if handling a precious treasure.
“So, since you didn’t become blind, I guess I don’t have to take responsibility for you?”
“Huh?” Her eyes widened as she recalled her earlier confession. Flustered, she stammered, “W-Wait, no! Th-That’s not what I meant! I-I mean, earlier, what I said was just... um...Ahem! W-Well, yeah. I mean, since both my eyes are working just fine, there’s... no reason for you to take responsibility... I guess.”
She avoided his eyes, pouting slightly.
He smirked as he watched her turn away. “That’s a lie.”
“H-Huh? W-What is?”
“The part about me not needing to take responsibility.”
“What do you mean—Mmph!”
He pulled her close by the waist and pressed his lips against hers.