Chapter 434 - Extinction (3)

Around half an hour ago, the Leo Saint Stevens, who had gone looking for the Rule Book, was surprised. “Wait a minute. This makes no sense. What the hell!!”

Stevens and Leo had chased after the Rule Book and arrived outside of the earth, specifically the Middle world between the Divine world and the earth.

Valhalla’s goddesses of fate were hiding in a haven.

Stevens and Leo had also met up with Yeonwoo, Heiji, and Hailey. Those three knew the Rule Book would cause them trouble, so they had come looking for it early on. They wanted to either destroy it or take it back to Lee Gun.

‘Even if we destroy the Rule Book, Lee Gun would be able to fix it.’

With the help of Yeonwoo, they were able to enter the haven.

- What the hell? Why is that woman, Giselle, here?

Stevens's eyes turned round. This woman used to be number one among the twelve Zodiac Saints. Moreover, she was the one who had destroyed Hugo’s family!

- Why is that crazy monarch here?

Heiji clicked her tongue at his reaction.

- Idiot. She’s the human who used to be the Zodiac Saint. The monarch had eaten her and pretended to be the Zodiac Saint. That one over there is the human who had gotten eaten.

- What?!

She was supposed to be their comrade. However, she had been killed alongside her Zodiac before she could even meet the other Zodiac Saints. She had her body stolen by a monarch.

Hailey explained,

- Anyway, her human soul must have entered the Divine world, and she must be living with the goddesses of fate. I believe she is the goddesses’ Construct…

- Oh. Would she help us then?

- I’m not sure. She is a human who has lived for a long time in the Divine world. I have no idea if she’ll be of help…

They were about to approach Giselle, but their presence was noticed.

- Oh my!

- Who the hell are you guys?

- How dare you approach Verdandi-nim!

- ?!!

Yes, their old comrade was one of Valhalla’s three goddesses of fate.

After they realized this truth, Stevens was dumbfounded. “Isn’t Verdandi their goddess of the present? Damn it! Instead of receiving help from her, we entered the tiger's den!!”

In other words, she was their enemy. The ones who had changed the Rule Book to torment Lee Gun were them!

They tried to get ready for a fight.

“You guys are here! I’ve been waiting for you!”

“…????”

Unexpectedly, she grabbed the hands of their party members and greeted them.

They wondered if it was a trap, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

[Verdandi-nim? What is going on….]

“Ah.”

Giselle ruthlessly decapitated the Constructs who had accompanied her, leaving the group flustered.

She acted as if she had been waiting for their group, then headed toward them.

“When I foretold my fate, it said, ‘An awesome guest will come looking for the Rule Book. It will lead to the fall of the gods.’ That was why I was waiting for you guys.”

“You were waiting for us??”

“Yes. I am Lee Gun-nim’s fan. No, no. I knew the gods would destroy the earth.”

“…???”

The Libra Saint originally came from a family of politicians. She was the daughter of the president, and she was interested in bringing about world peace. She also seemed to be a fan of Lee Gun.

This was why she had been sad when she saw the Zodiac Saints fight each other like cats and dogs. She was also the one to realize what the monarchs were doing, and she had been helping Lee Gun even after her death.

However, her meddling had been found out by the Crab Saint Jean-Louis. And when she was on the run, she had been swept into the Divine world.

“T…The Divine status you possess right now is…”

“Ah! I did my best to gain their trust, and I stole it. I wanted to help Lee Gun-nim… I meant to say I wanted to help humanity.”

“….”

It was admirable since she had been working from an unseen place.

Giselle let out a sigh. “The prophecy said that an awesome guest will come looking for the Rule Book. I never expected it to be Stevens…”

“Are you disappointed because it wasn’t Lee Gun?”

Instead of answering, Giselle nodded.

Yeonwoo asked, “You had a prophecy? If that’s true, won’t we be found out?”

“Ah. I falsified any prophecy that would cause harm to Lee Gun-nim. I am in charge of storing the paper containing the future. I am the goddess of the present.”

“Oh!”

“Anyway, Future has the Rule Book right now!”

After the death of Valhalla’s Great Spirit, the other Great Spirits had disappeared as well. This meant that the goddesses of fate no longer wanted to use the Rule Book.

“They are scared of incurring Karmic debt now.”

“!”

The goddesses of fate had used the Primordial god’s Change ability to change their bodies. They possessed the bodies of Creators and could change the rules using them.

“They are deceiving the Rule Book.”

The only ones who could make changes to the Rule Book were the Primordial god and the Creators, who had created the book.

This was why Olympus’s goddesses of fate had sought a Creator.

Anyway, although the group was uncertain about the situation, they decided to believe her. Moreover, the snake Junwoo (Apophis) became guarded only toward those with low Faith toward the Serpent Bearer. Yet he had followed Giselle without a fuss. He seemed to be ok with her.

However, the situation completely changed when Ennead’s Great Spirit blew apart the earth.

[What are you doing, goddesses? I want you to change the clause regarding the Divine items. I want you to change it to “all gods cannot possess Divine items.”]

When Ennead’s Great Spirit had reappeared, the goddesses of fate had been forced to use the Rule Book. The goddesses were surprised.

[We are glad that the Lord of the Fire Wheel is still alive. However, a rule change of that magnitude will incur Karmic debt. Since the Karmic Debt Transfer cannot be used, we cannot—]

[You dare go against the order of your king?]

[!]

[Instead of dying by the Karmic debt, you’ll die faster by my hands.]

[…!!]

[Don’t worry! When I recover Exoneration, I’ll pardon you from the Karmic debt. Just change it enough to a point where you guys don’t die. Even if you do weaken and die, I’ll make sure to put you through the process of inheritance. Your memories will be included.]

In the end, the goddesses risked the Karmic debt as they changed the rules.

[All gods can possess Divine items.]

[All gods must help the king of the gods keep order in the Divine world. The gods may be compensated in return.]

[All gods over hundred years of age will receive an ability that’ll help them protect the humans.]

The goddesses had changed these three rules. They had roughly changed the rules into “All gods cannot possess Divine items,” “Every god must worship the king of the gods,” and “All gods under a hundred years of age will become humans.”

Anyway, Hailey and Heiji had then defeated the goddesses, and Yeonwoo was able to steal the Rule Book. However…

[It is already done!]

The goddesses smirked as they looked at Yeonwoo and her party.

[By the time you take it to the snake god, the snake god will already be a human.]

“…!”

[It’ll be useless to torture us to make more changes. We no longer possess the bodies of Creators right now.]

Now, Ennead’s Great Spirit just had to kill either Aslan or Lee Gun. He planned on making a new Rule Book after taking their Divine status.

[You won’t be able to fix the Rule Book—]

At that moment…

“Fix it!!! Right now!!”

“Ahhhk!!”

“???”

An expected face appeared in front of them.

“You guys are…!”

“Ahhk! I was just revived from the dead. Isn’t that enough? Where the hell am I!?”

The ones to appear in front of them were the Chun siblings and Secretary Guisoon!

The Chun siblings had realized that things were going poorly when Ennead’s Great Spirit had appeared. This was why they had made a quick judgment call.

Since a Great Spirit had survived, they knew the Great Spirit might try to mess with the Rule Book.

‘We should mess with it before they can mess with it!’

This was why they had come to this place by chasing after Stevens. Of course, Guisoon had been fixing Lee Gun’s Bible when she had died.

She had been swept up in the explosion of the earth, and as soon as she was revived, the Chun siblings had kidnapped her.

“Hey! Leo Saint! Rule Book! You took it away from them, right?!”

“Yeah. I…I have it right here…”

Chun Sungjae quickly took the Rule Book and gave it to Guisoon “Alright! Here! Hurry up and change the rules! The Rule Book is supposed to be similar to the Bible! Hurry!”

“Damn it! Do you really think my power will work on an item belonging to the gods?!”

No, there was a problem that had to be answered before she did anything.

“Won’t I receive Karmic debt if I use this?! I might die or my body might rot like them…”

“Uncle will solve it by using Revival or Exoneration.”

“Call my lawyer!! I want to report you guys to the Employment and Labor Administration!” Guisoon cried aloud. She scoffed at the idea that she would be able to fix the Rule Book, but…

[Secretary Guisoon is editing the Rule Book]

[!?]

She had thought it would be impossible, but…

[Wait a moment. That fountain pen… Can it be?!]

[Boo-ohhhhhh!!!]

The fountain pen Guisoon was using had been made by Lee Gun, a Creator. Since it contained the power of a Creator, it could be used to make edits to the Rule Book!

[Can it be? It counts as a Creator making an edit?!]

“Why not! You guys deceived the Rule Book using the body of the Creators! Why wouldn’t this work?”

Yeonwoo had a different thought.

‘No. It might be possible because the Primordial god is being ordered around by Gun, and she’s Gun’s Secretary.’

At the end of the day, Lee Gun was now the owner of the Primordial god. As Lee Gun’s secretary, Guisoon was able to act as his proxy.

Moreover, Guisoon had plenty of experience in making changes to the Bible, so she needed to just change one word to edit the rule.

[All gods under a hundred years of age will become humans.]

▶ [All gods over a hundred years of age will become humans.]

“Ahhhhk!!”

When Guisoon received her Karmic debt, her arm was blown off, and she became bloodied. However, Chun Yooha eliminated her pain, then Sungjae immediately activated his Regeneration ability.

“Are you ok, Guisoon?!”

“Damn it! Look! I told you I shouldn’t be doing this!!”

When Guisoon spoke out in anger, the Chun siblings felt terrible.

“I’m sorry….”

“We shouldn’t have asked you to….”

“No! I had to do it! If I hadn’t, God-nim as well as humanity would have died!” Guisoon huffed.

Flash!!

Her arm regenerated at an unbelievable speed.

“Oh…!”

“It’s Uncle!”

Lee Gun’s power had immediately healed Guisoon.

The faces of the goddesses of fate became distorted. They knew what this meant.

‘Our change to the Rule Book failed.’

It was as expected. The goddesses started to scream.

[Ahhhk!!]

All gods over a hundred years of age became human. So, the bodies of the goddesses of fate changed to that of humans as well.

They immediately tried to take Guisoon’s fountain pen to make changes to the Rule Book.

Yeonwoo took the Rule Book for herself, intending to run to Lee Gun.

[Look out!!]

Kwahng!!!

Leo threw its body in front of the powerful hellfire. He screamed as he fell.

“Zodiac!”

Leo glared at the figure in front of it.

[Wow. Crazy… What a cheat!]

Ennead’s Great Spirit stood in front of them, looking enraged.

They were shocked to see him emit a chaotic Divine power.

“The Rule Book failed on him?”

“No, I think it had some effect…”

The arms of Ennead’s Great Spirit had turned into human arms. While the other gods had transformed into humans immediately, Ennead’s Great Spirit had too much internal force. His change was happening slowly.

‘He is powerful enough to slow down the power of the Rule Book….’

Ennead’s Great Spirit was way too strong. There was a reason even Aslan had been unable to kill. However, even he would suffer damage if the rule remained the same.

This was why he glared at Guisoon. He also became apoplectic when he realized Guisoon’s identity.

[You are a Secretary. You guys are the ones who those damn Creators created.]

“!”

The Secretaries and Bible were created by the Creators.

The Bibles forever recorded the records of the gods. When the Creators had noticed the scandals perpetrated by the Great Spirits, they had created the Secretaries. These low-rank gods were supposed to monitor and record the Great Spirits’ actions.

Ennead’s Great Spirit got angry when he was confronted by remnants of the damn Creators.

‘I keep killing them, yet they keep appearing in front of me like cockroaches.’

[Change it if you don’t want to die, human.]

“…!!!” Guisoon froze.

Everyone there knew they faced a certain death. He was that powerful as a god.

In the end, Stevens desperately yelled, “Hey, Serpent Bearer Zodiac Saints! Summon Lee Gun! Use Zodiac descent!”

However, Ennead’s Great Spirit answered Stevens.

[You can summon him, but it’ll take him a while. I put him in hell.]

“……!”

Clearly, Ennead’s Great Spirit had done it to buy some time.

The bloodied Leo shouted,

[Destroy the Rule Book for now! Don’t allow him to fix anything! Keep the current rules unchanged!]

“You want us to destroy it?”

[If you don’t, that secretary will be tortured until death! She’ll be made to change the rules!]

Everyone immediately used their power to destroy the Rule Book.

Kwahng!!

“!”

However, the Rule Book was too sturdy. They couldn’t even scratch it. Leo joined in as well, but it didn’t change anything. They started grinding their teeth.

[Does it have to be a more powerful attack?]

Ennead’s Great Spirit let out a cold smile. He was about to approach them when…

Kwahng!!!!

“…!!!”

Someone appeared at the scene, destroying the haven of the goddesses. The group didn’t know if they should laugh or cry when they saw who it was.

[You were here, Great Spirit!]

[There is the prey! Eat him!]

“Abyss…!!”

The whale form of Abyss had appeared in the sky, and she had brought along the other monarchs.

The eyes of Ennead’s Great Spirit flashed in annoyance.

‘Did Wind send them?’

No, that shouldn’t be the case. He had made a deal with Wind beforehand. This was why he couldn’t understand what was going on, but he merely laughed in contempt.

[What do you think a monarch can do here?]

However, Hailey knew this was a golden opportunity, so she shouted, “Abyss! Destroy that book-like item. Then you’ll be able to easily capture and eat the Great Spirit!”

[Oh. Really?]

The menacing gazes of the monarchs headed toward the Rule Book.

However, Ennead’s Great Spirit wasn’t nervous at all despite the monarchs trying to aim for the Rule Book. The reason was simple.

[You are ignorant. Only the Great Spirits can destroy the Rule Book.]

“…!”

The Rule Book wasn’t something that could be destroyed using strength. It wasn’t about Great-Spirit-rank power.

The Great Spirits were given eligibility. It was a special function placed on the Rule Book so that invaders couldn’t change or destroy the rules. No one could do anything to the Rule Book. This was the rule of the universe.

In other words, the only ones who could destroy the Rule Book were Ennead’s Great Spirit and Lee Gun.

[I’ll end this quickly before the snake god arrives.]

Given his power, Lee Gun would be here in short order. This was why the Great Spirit had to accomplish his goal before then.

Ennead’s Great Spirit immediately tried to steal the Rule Book. He planned on kidnapping Guisoon alongside it.

He would move when Lee Gun chased after them. In the meantime, he would torture Guisoon and have her edit all the rules.

[Yes. This reminds me of the old days. It’ll be fun playing hide-and-seek.]

“Huhk!”

Ennead’s Great Spirit smirked as he was about to move.

Kwang!!!

At that moment, Abyss sent an attack toward the Rule Book.

Ennead’s Great Spirit was dumbfounded. He snorted.

[Damn maggot has no brain. Only the Great Spirits can destroy it—]

Zzuhng!!!

[…!]

The eyes of Ennead’s Great Spirit widened.

Hoo-doo-doohk!

[…?]

Abyss’s attack had destroyed the Rule Book. He had no idea what had happened.

‘How?’

He couldn’t explain this through logic. However, he heard a familiar voice at that moment.

“Idiot. Do you really not know who she is?”

It was Guisoon’s voice, but the way she spoke was completely different. Ennead’s Great Spirit glared at Guisoon, whom he had kept by his side.

‘No way!’

Lee Gun hadn’t used Zodiac Saint Descent to occupy his Zodiac Saints; he had used Guisoon! However, that wasn’t important right now.

[Did you give the Divine status of a Great Spirit to her?]

“Of course not.”

[….]

Yes. Ennead’s Great Spirit knew better than anyone that such an act wasn’t possible. Moreover, there hadn’t been enough time to pull it off. Then why? How?

“Think hard about it. There is one Great Spirit that I didn’t get rid of. One is left.”

[There is no way….]

His face soon stiffened.

Valhalla, Mahabharata, Babylon, Gehenna, Olympus, Ennead…. One was left—Eden.

The expression of Ennead’s Great Spirit froze.

From the still air, Lee Gun’s laughter rang out.

“I heard it from my underlings. A Great Spirit was turned into a monarch by Eternal Change.”

At that moment, the Great Spirit’s hands trembled, and his ominous feeling became reality.

“Who do you think she is?”

[…!!]

Damn Eternal Change!!!

At that moment, Abyss sent another attack toward the Rule Book since it wasn’t fully destroyed.

Kwahng!!!

This time, the Rule Book was ruthlessly destroyed, and the explosion swept across the ground.