Chapter 48

Chapter 48
## Chapter 48: The Emergence of a Different Celestial Protector

The Colossus of Holy Retribution realized his lapse in judgment. He shouldn’t have allowed fury to cloud his mind, leading him to strike out so recklessly.

“Divine Mother!”

The Colossus of Holy Retribution cried out toward the celestial body, offering a plea to the corrupted deity. He begged for her to find peace, to return to her untainted state.

‘……The gaze of Goddess Pina.’

The Colossus of Holy Retribution stared intently at the pupil situated in the heart of the gravitational well. This was Pina, the sibling deity and the younger sister of Leah. How had the eye of the one known as the Goddess of the Heavens ended up in this abyss? Why was it saturated with malice, and how was it being coerced by such dark forces?

―Kr…… Hahaha!

Ahram let out a scornful laugh at the Colossus of Holy Retribution. No matter how the giant struggled, this detonation was inevitable. He intended to drag every single Celestial Protector into oblivion with him.

―What……?

However, Ahram’s derision was cut short. He sensed an arrival. An instinctive dread washed over him. He knew, without doubt, that he had to stay far away from this approaching presence. It was chilling. Paralyzing. He couldn’t fathom why he, the sovereign of the abyss, felt such raw terror. The only certainty was the need to flee.

―Let…… go of me……!

The presence drew near at a measured pace. Because it wasn’t moving with extreme velocity, escaping should have been simple—but the Colossus of Holy Retribution held Ahram in a crushing grip, pinning him in place.

Ahram fought desperately to break free. His instincts screamed that contact with this ‘thing’ meant total erasure. The fear was so absolute that even the thought of his own self-destruction seemed a mercy compared to facing it. He needed to move. He needed to vanish!

But there was no escape. The Colossus of Holy Retribution kept Ahram completely trapped. The very momentum he had gathered for his suicide strike had turned into his own cage.

Tear!

Finally, Ahram realized what had touched his brow. He was being ‘shackled’ by that mysterious force. Ahram reached up to his forehead with trepidation. Fixed there was a restrictive circlet. It possessed a magnitude of authority beyond anything he had known, something capable of neutralizing even a ruler of the underworld.

Yet such a relic wasn’t a common tool. Ahram recognized this artifact from a past era. An ancient rival. From a time long forgotten, this was the device that had once bound the entity most similar to a creator.

―Ki…… Kinkoa……?

The mythic binding strap, Kinkoa.

His strength drained away. His internal energy failed to manifest. It felt as though his physical form was no longer under his command.

“Clear the path.”

His limbs shifted involuntarily. Ahram was left in a state of shock as the scavenger crow manifested before him. This was no typical carrion bird. The echoes of the star and his own essence identified the avian visitor. The identity he was sworn to destroy, the soul he hungered to extinguish.

‘The Sovereign Knight, Wilhelm……!’

The apex hunter of the dark realms, Wilhelm.

But currently, he couldn’t even form words. He was powerless.

‘Even if you restrain me, the star’s descent into madness is unstoppable!’

Ahram smirked internally. Idiotic. No matter how the Kinkoa suppressed him, the darkened celestial body would not be restored. The star’s chaotic overflow surged on.

“Irritating.”

“……Who do you think you are, you wretch?”

The Colossus of Holy Retribution was also bewildered. In an instant, Ahram had been neutralized. And in that moment of confusion, a scavenger crow had appeared. A mysterious bird that had nullified a Unique-tier phenomenon and even subdued Ahram.

“Reduce your bulk, caw. Why are you so oversized, caw.”

“I should…… lose weight……?”

No living soul possessed the audacity to suggest a diet to the Colossus of Holy Retribution. To do so was to court immediate extinction. Anyone speaking such words would usually be wiped from reality.

“Is this the orb belonging to the goddess?”

The scavenger crow questioned the star with a tone of utter indifference. With Ahram suppressed, the turbulent dark star detached from his form. The Colossus of Holy Retribution scoffed.

“You’ve come here to perish, you dimwit. You should have retreated with the Frost King.”

“Is it not just a matter of settling this star down?”

“Even those of us who guard the stars consider it a lost cause. If a tainted bird like yourself brushes against the divine orb, you will be reduced to ash.”

These words felt familiar. When he had initially encountered Dramat and retrieved the star that fell alongside Wilhelm, he’d heard a similar warning.

“I told you to move.”

“…….”

The Colossus of Holy Retribution shifted his massive frame to the side, almost as a challenge. As the giant stepped back, the void-like dark perimeter was fully exposed. Entering it meant either being consumed by the vacuum or being incinerated, just as predicted.

Yet, I took to the air and extended my wing toward the violent black star without a second thought.

‘You’ve been searching for me.’

The moment my touch met the star, the realization hit. This celestial spark had been hunting for me all this time. Ever since the thermal springs. No, even before that. The eye of Goddess Pina was focused on me.

“Hmm……!”

Abruptly, the echoes of Goddess Pina’s soul began to saturate my consciousness.

—

The Sovereign Knight, Wilhelm.

He had been cornered by the Archdemon. This happened because he was a soul who had never truly accepted the divine favor of the goddess. He was a legendary figure who attained his status through sheer individual will without heavenly assistance—yet the Archdemon was a force that could only be unmade by divine mandate.

“You freakish bastard. To corner me without a shred of a goddess’s blessing.”

The Archdemon spoke with genuine frustration. This was the first adversary to ever push him to such an extreme. He was physically devastated. Wilhelm had shattered the ‘unbreakable’ form that usually regenerated without limit. The knight possessed a skill level that eclipsed even the concept of immortality.

“But that is where you failed.”

It didn’t matter, however. His physical shell was spent, but the Archdemon’s core essence remained intact. Without a goddess’s intervention, he could not be truly ended. This situation was actually advantageous. By inhabiting this formidable vessel, the Archdemon would emerge more powerful than ever. The demonic essence began to seep into Wilhelm’s flesh.

—Stop!

The Celestial Goddess Pina had witnessed the entire struggle. If Wilhelm’s shell was claimed by the Archdemon, the fate of this existence would be sealed. Not just this realm—every linked world would fall to ruin. She hadn’t expected Wilhelm to actually challenge the Archdemon so effectively. She never imagined a mortal could reach such heights without divine power.

This wasn’t solely due to Wilhelm’s own nature. It was the presence guiding Wilhelm. ‘He,’ the one linked to that external reality, had pushed Wilhelm beyond his constraints. ‘He’ was the one who had molded Wilhelm into this perfect specimen.

—I am truly sorry.

Ultimately, Pina ended Wilhelm’s life. If the Archdemon took control of a living host and the five stars, all hope would be extinguished. Even ‘he’ on the other side would lose his chance. However, destroying a perfected being like Wilhelm came at a steep price for her. Even as a deity, she struggled against one who had conquered destruction. To stop him, Pina had to sacrifice her own physical divinity.

—I implore you. O magnificent and noble soul, I beg of you.

Goddess Pina’s form shattered, descending as a fallen star. Yet, she felt no remorse. At the very least, a final ‘opportunity’ had been carved out. Pina did not know his true identity. She simply prayed that the one who directed Wilhelm was a person who cherished Pangeniar. To her, there was no soul more worthy or grand. She hoped he would soar higher than ever before. She wished and prayed that he would be the guide for all the worlds.

—

The mental vision faded.

The final desire Pina held before her essence scattered was burned into my mind. In the end, the beginning and the conclusion both pointed back to Wilhelm. This entire crisis was a ripple from the death of the Sovereign Knight.

‘Pina was also destroyed when she took Wilhelm’s life.’

The system restart wasn’t just a glitch at the end of a blue screen. It was made possible by Pina’s intervention. If she hadn’t given herself up to stop Wilhelm, I never would have had a second chance to play. The issue was the star remaining from her sacrifice.

‘The Archdemon must have seized Pina’s star.’

Instead of Wilhelm’s body and the five stars, he had grabbed Pina’s broken essence. Using that, he had reconstructed the dark realm and was launching an assault on Earth. The dark realm was previously in ruins, but Pina’s power had clearly expedited the recovery.

《The celestial turbulence is quieting.》

《‘Core Mission ???: Eliminate the Sovereign of the Dimensional Breach’ has been fulfilled.》

《Level increased!》

The notification for the core mission appeared. It was a relief that simply binding him with the Kinkoa fulfilled the ‘elimination’ requirement. But the atmosphere around me felt bizarre.

“Why is everyone staring?”

Every Celestial Protector, including the Frost King and the others, looked on in stunned silence. One by one, the Protectors began to murmur.

“A Celestial Protector?”

“A scavenger crow is a Star Guardian?”

What? A Celestial Protector? They were talking about me? But those guardians were supposed to be legendary myths or high-tier phantasms. I’d never seen one like myself.

Rumble!

The Colossus of Holy Retribution dragged himself to his feet. He looked down at me, his expression sour as if he hated the words coming out of his mouth.

“……A new Star Guardian has arrived.”

Unique Skill: Hijack

Dimensional Combatants.

Mighty soldiers from a different reality who traveled to safeguard Earth. They had been sounding the alarm about this coming storm for a long time.

—The total war is nearly upon us.

—It begins within thirty days. Only we, the Dimensional Combatants, can save you.

—Every nation must join forces with us. We have to brace for the end!

The world was destined to fall to this cross-dimensional breach. But with their help, victory was possible! Given the trauma of the two previous incursions, governments began to fall in line with the Dimensional Combatants to prepare for the ‘total war’ they predicted. An abstract fear was turning into a concrete reality.

Eventually, ‘that day’ arrived.

A foreign world hovered in the atmosphere. This global phenomenon left the population paralyzed with shock.

-Am I the only one seeing this?

-GG world is ending lol

-Tell me this is just special effects!

-Wow…… this is crazy.

-The heavens are furious!

The planet was gripped by panic, both in the streets and online. As a massive, dark rift tore open the sky, the ‘other-world community’ was flooded with frantic questions.

-What are those dark voids in the sky?

-Are the monsters coming through those right now?

-Save us!

-Master! Where is the Master?

-What happened to the other 8 Legends?

The Master and the group known as the ‘8 Legends.’ As the masses called for them, news feeds began showing their faces in real time. The moment the rift fully manifested, the 8 Legends took the initiative, ‘descending’ to meet the incoming threat.

“Place your faith in us!”

“We will shield you from this interdimensional breach!”

“The world is secure as long as we stand!”

The various heroes featured on the news declared themselves the world’s protectors. Their descent, marked by glowing transformations and golden radiance, was a sight to behold. They looked like warriors from the dawn of time. A grand spectacle as they readied their gear. These weren’t just actors in costumes; they were genuine powerhouses that even mountain-level threats feared.

With real-life superheroes on the scene, the public was ecstatic.

-We trust you!

-Incredible!

-Maxim! Take me with you!

If the battle truly began now, their fame would be unrivaled. The 8 Legends were composed and relaxed, radiating absolute confidence.