Ch.290 Ah, the path that led to the path that led to the path that led to the stage (1) The path that led to the path that led to the stage (1)

A meteor shower adorned the sky.

Tens of thousands of sky whales performed their final flight with their master. Perhaps it was their final voyage, an adventure postponed for 900 years. The sky whales weren’t the only ones joining this adventure.

A nation named Helios.

Everything the Celestial Wandering Star had built.

In other words, the life of a human named Icarus.

Carrying all of this, Icarus took his final flight. The boy who dreamed while gazing at the sky chose to die flying. Until the moment he melted in the heat of the stars, Icarus reached out toward them, and he could smile.

…The meteor shower poured down.

Tens of thousands of starlight streaks crossed the sky.

The end of the man who had been closer to the stars than anyone else was to become a star himself and fall. Scattering starlight, the Celestial Wandering Star fell. Becoming a meteor crossing the sky, he put an end to his life.

“…”

Najin watched it all.

The Celestial Wandering Star, Icarus.

Born right after Arthur opened the age of humans, he was the man who had been closest to Arthur throughout the past 1,000 years. He was a transcendent who possessed ten stars and had flown to the highest heights.

‘We’re alike.’

Looking at the meteor shower adorning the sky, Najin suddenly thought that he and Icarus were similar. They had dreamed similar dreams in similar situations and raced toward the same destination. That’s why Najin couldn’t take his eyes off Icarus’s final moments.

A human who ventured toward the stars but ultimately couldn’t reach them.

‘Perhaps one of the endings I might face.’

If so, was there no meaning to that life?

Perhaps there was no meaning at all. He had forgotten himself and wandered for hundreds of years. In his final moment, he soared high into the sky but ultimately fell without reaching the stars.

It was an eccentric act, a foolish act.

But not for Najin. Looking at the meteor shower adorning the sky, Najin found himself smiling. He remembered what The Blue Spear had once told him.

“There is no such thing as the most outstanding individual.”

“Even if someone is outstanding now, as time passes and history repeats, someone will use that person’s achievements as a stepping stone to climb higher.”

“So, we are all stepping stones.”

“Even if our lives seem base, if future children can learn something from us, isn’t that a life worth living?”

Just as Icarus had done in the past, Najin reached out toward the sky. While some might see Icarus’s life as mere eccentricity, for Najin it was not.

Grasp.

Something was caught in Najin’s hand. It was the first star Icarus had obtained, and the concept that penetrated his entire life.

The Star of Adventure.

Najin’s eighth star.

Amidst tens of thousands of meteor streaks pouring down with ten stars, Najin obtained his eighth star. He could also obtain the sacred relic left by Icarus, but that’s a story for later.

“…Phew.”

For now.

“Merlin.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go. Further ahead.”

It was time to move forward.

2.

The battlefield was filled with constellations who had descended to either kill or protect Arthur’s successor. The battlefield of stars, where fights that split the earth and sky continued, suddenly fell silent.

They stopped fighting and looked up at the sky.

They had no choice but to look up.

Whoooooosh…

With a thunderous sound that shook heaven and earth, all the whales that had been rampaging on the battlefield soared into the sky. The constellations watched as the Celestial Wandering Star led the whale herd in flight toward the sky.

Some constellations who had lived for ages lamented.

Some trembled in fear, saying the sky’s dictator had returned, while others marveled at the spectacular sight.

And then the stars began to fall.

For hundreds of years, he had reigned as a natural disaster in the Outer Continent. No one could defeat him, and he had swept away countless constellations, regarded as an inviolable existence even among transcendents…

The constellation of the Celestial Wandering Star was falling.

The constellation of a great constellation with ten stars was falling. The constellation of the Celestial Wandering Star, falling with tens of thousands of meteor streaks, burned bright white. In his final moment, he faced death not as a deceased but as a constellation.

A huge hole opened in the sky. It was a hole created by the disappearance of the great constellation’s constellation.

A new star rose in the empty sky.

“Huh.”

A constellation burst into laughter.

“It seems the greatest knight has obtained a new star.”

At those words, the transcendents on Najin’s side let out hollow laughs, while the constellations who had descended to target Najin turned pale.

How could he already obtain an eighth star so soon after getting his seventh? Is this even a reasonable pace? Is something wrong…?

While thinking this, they also had to acknowledge in a corner of their hearts that defeating the Celestial Wandering Star was indeed a great achievement. Bringing down a star feared even by transcendents was worthy of being called a feat.

“That’s all there is to it.”

Covered in blood and standing on the corpses of constellations, Anton Kehano burst into laughter. Unlike other constellations, Anton knew Najin well.

The achievements of that boy were clearly far from simple subjugation. That boy had a habit of restoring self-confidence to those who had forgotten themselves.

Anton could be certain.

In his final moment, that constellation called Icarus must have been smiling.

“So.”

With a swing of his sword, Anton shook off the blood and pointed his blade at the stars before him. As if asking if they wanted to continue.

The tide of battle had already turned.

At that moment, the sound of a horn suddenly echoed from far away. A horn sound crossing the battlefield. Some constellations trembled. It resembled the horn sound of the knight once called the Bull Horned Star.

As if responding to that horn sound.

Wooooooooo…

The sound of horns was heard from beyond the border of the Outer Continent.

The Celestial Wandering Star was gone. The chaos of the battlefield subsided. The tide had turned, and the flow was reversed. The reversed flow was pushing back the Empress of Bliss’s forces.

In other words.

It was the optimal situation for the Empire’s army to intervene.

Slash!

Someone crossed the border of the Outer Continent and swung their sword. A massive sword energy that seemed to reach the sky swept across the battlefield, engulfing demons and the Empress of Bliss’s forces. That became a signal, and a series of light beams erupted.

The transcendents of the continent jumped into the battlefield.

Led by the First Star, Gerd Izabalt, the stars of the continent began to rise one by one in the Outer Continent.

The Star of Extreme Night, Star of Heavenly Sword, Star of Destruction, Star of Eternal Beauty, Star of Purity…

The key to this operation was to maintain allied forces as much as possible while heading toward the Empress of Bliss’s territory. And with Najin’s subjugation of the Celestial Wandering Star, the first condition was satisfied. Gerd pointed his sword at the fallen stars and shouted.

“Death to the enemies of the Empire.”

Death to those who do not die.

Fear to the stars that know no fear.

“Annihilate the enemies of the Empire.”

With a battle cry, the imperial army advanced. Their blades might not reach transcendents, but with the Seal of Eternal Beauty and other magic towers joining, the situation could change considerably.

Circles of grand magicians clashed in the air.

Mobile magic towers and batteries lined up one after another, and magic began to dwell in the knights’ armor and sword tips. The constellations who had descended to the battlefield looked back, then burst into laughter and bestowed blessings and protection upon the children of later generations.

The tide of battle had turned.

As the stars who had sided with the Empress of Bliss frowned and began to flee, they realized even that had become difficult.

Thud.

On the opposite side, on the frozen ground.

There was a being walking on thin ice.

A transcendent wielding Excalibur.

The wounds they had inflicted earlier were nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have recovered perfectly, showing no signs of having expended energy. Seeing Najin, who appeared not only unwearied but even stronger after the battle with the Celestial Wandering Star, they wore expressions of disgust.

Under the sky where the Morning Star, composed of seven stars…

No, now eight stars, shone, they had to grit their teeth.

3.

Many stars fell. There were casualties on the allied side, but they were minimal compared to the enemy’s losses. During their retreat, the enemies had to lose several transcendents.

After the wave that swept through subsided.

Sitting in his tent, Najin took a moment to catch his breath. They had just set foot at the entrance of the Outer Continent; there was still a long way to go to the Empress of Bliss’s territory.

‘And…’

-She hasn’t revealed her important forces yet.

Merlin materialized and sat down beside Najin.

“The Star of Contempt didn’t appear.”

“That’s right.”

The main forces of the Empress of Bliss, led by the Star of Contempt, had not yet revealed themselves. Moreover, the Empress of Bliss had not intervened at all in the recent battlefield. Apart from opening a hole in the sky to aid the descent of stars, she had not used her power.

The Empress of Bliss had watched the deaths of stars who would become her allies.

What was she looking at, what was she waiting for that made the Empress of Bliss remain silent? Najin’s brow furrowed.

“I guess we’ll have to see when we get there.”

These were things that could only be known once they reached the Empress of Bliss’s territory. Though the uneasiness didn’t disappear, Najin realized that the pounding of his heart had grown stronger.

Not much longer.

Najin felt that the Empress of Bliss, who had always seemed so distant, was now right before him. Grip, Najin tightly grasped the golden-horned knight brigade’s banner tied to his shoulder.

Flutter.

At that moment, someone entered Najin’s tent.

“Kirhov?”

It was Kirhov, the Sword Master of the ruined Rondinell. Entering the tent, Kirhov suddenly noticed Merlin sitting beside Najin and widened his eyes.

“I am honored to meet the great archmage.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. The last knight of Rondinell.”

At Merlin’s words, Kirhov’s body flinched.

“You know me?”

“Of course.”

Merlin pointed at Najin.

“I travel with this kid, so I’ve seen everything he’s seen. And even if that weren’t the case, I couldn’t not know you. I’ve heard your name well.”

“This is… an honor.”

“You came to talk to this kid, right? Go ahead. Don’t mind me.”

Nodding, Kirhov looked at Najin.

“Well now, I wonder if I should use honorifics. The last knight of Rondinell meets the greatest knight.”

As Kirhov offered a stylish greeting, Najin smiled bitterly. Najin gestured for him to treat him as usual, and only then did Kirhov exhale and speak.

“I never thought you’d pull out Excalibur.”

“You don’t seem that surprised?”

“With so many surprising things, how can I be? Having eight stars at twenty is more surprising to me.”

Then, Kirhov opened his mouth.

“You brought forces from the continent.”

“Yes. Forces composed of the imperial army and renowned mercenaries and knight orders from various regions.”

“I can guess why you brought troops.”

Nodding.

“To effectively break the Empress of Bliss’s stage.”

“To break the Empress of Bliss’s stage.”

Najin and Kirhov spoke simultaneously.

There was a reason for bringing the Empire’s forces into the Outer Continent rather than a small elite group composed only of transcendents.

“The Empress of Bliss’s stage is filled with the corpses of numerous heroes. And the number of stars she herself possesses exceeds a hundred. The stage set by such an Empress of Bliss… is not a stage that individuals can counter.”

Kirhov said. As he said, the Empress of Bliss was entrenched in her sanctuary… and entering her sanctuary was by no means an easy task.

A transcendent with 11 stars.

Najin suddenly looked toward Merlin. He didn’t know if the Empress of Bliss was as strong as Merlin, but she had the same number of stars as Merlin. If a transcendent of that caliber deliberately set a stage… it would be a trial they had never experienced.

“And you will be the central point to break through that stage.”

Kirhov pointed at Najin.

“That’s what the imperial army is for. If numerous troops look only at you, pray to your star, you will never lose yourself.”

It was a role similar to that of believers.

While they would maintain the path broken through and support the transcendents, the most important thing was to reinforce the stage of the transcendents on the battlefield.

The will of the collective.

Najin intended to forge that into a single sword and split the Empress of Bliss’s stage.

“That plan.”

And Kirhov said.

“We tried something similar in Rondinell.”

“…What?”

“And it failed.”

Kirhov pointed at himself with a bitter smile.

“I standing before you am the case of that failure.”