OP Sister Chapter 536: Burning Radiance

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Anna recalled that in Roman mythology, the equivalent of Ares was Mars, the God of War. The two deities overlapped so significantly that it was easy to believe Ares had absorbed that story into his own existence at some point.

“As you can probably guess, it’s a desert planet with little beyond giant sandworms and crystalline forests,” Ares said with a sigh. “But we survive however we can down there.”

“We?” Anna asked.

“Yes, we,” Ares said, smiling at her. “Come, I’ll show you.”

Ares plunged into the atmosphere of Mars, crashing onto its surface with a resounding boom. The desert within a hundred kilometers around him vanished, revealing a rocky valley instead.

“Ahh…”

Anna landed on the ground, noticing the atmosphere here held far less cosmic energy than the void outside.

However, it was still at an extraordinary level, incomparable to Earth.

“You must have ascended this planet with you to a higher dimension, right?” Anna asked, looking around, realizing her mouth was no longer sealed.

“Yes, my father, my siblings, and I all ascended with our celestial domains,” Ares explained. “But that was eons ago, before the Void King even existed. Now come, let’s walk. Flying wastes energy needlessly. We have legs for a reason.”

“Ah, yes…” Anna muttered, spotting in the distance, atop a large plateau, a city of ruins and dozens of powerful presences emanating from it.

All were overwhelming. Without the Star Seal on her forehead, Anna would have been vomiting blood, her head feeling as though it might explode from the immense pressure caused by such a gathering of Constellations in their true forms.

“Don’t worry, brother… I’ll save you…” Anna kept muttering to herself. “We will get out of here… We will… get out of here… we will get out of here… I will save you… I will…”

Noticing her deteriorating mental state, Ares spoke more to keep her from spiraling into madness.

“That’s your brother?”

“Ah? Ahh…”

Anna glanced at her brother, nodding, though her eyes seemed distant, lost elsewhere.

Ares offered a faint smile.

“A family is the most precious gift one could ever receive…” Ares said. “Yet I only realized that after I lost mine…”

“…”

Anna noticed Ares’ fists clenching tightly, his eyes filled with profound sorrow.

Everyone in Olympus had perished…

Something that never happened in the novel.

Yes, some died in the war, but most had ultimately allied with her brother!

So why?

Why was everyone dead except Ares?

What kind of rampage had her brother unleashed in this world after claiming the throne?

Did he kill everyone he could because he believed everything was now meaningless?

“You’re fortunate to have each other…”

Hearing Ares’ words, Anna summoned the strength to speak and request a favor.

“Great… Great Constellation, may… may this humble mortal ask a favor?”

“…”

Ares looked down at her.

“I… I need to return home…” Anna said, gazing downward, tears streaming from her eyes. “My friends… my world… my people are there… I… I don’t know what to do…”

“…Hm.”

Ares had no obligation to help her further. He had saved her life and brought her to a seemingly safe place.

He could simply leave her here and move on.

Yet…

He sighed heavily.

“That’s Hephaestus’ Flame, isn’t it?”

“Eh?”

Ares pointed at Anna’s chest.

“I sense his faint flame within you. Were you chosen as his Incarnation?”

“I… No… Someone else was chosen, someone extraordinary. I… I merely helped her, and Lord Hephaestus rewarded me with this small ember.”

Anna chose honesty, knowing Constellations could discern mortals’ intentions and detect lies easily.

She needed to be truthful to maintain the trust she had built with him.

“So that’s how it is… You were not chosen.”

“…No.”

Anna stared at the ground for a moment, sighing.

It seemed Ares was uninterested in helping her.

“So… you want to return home, huh? That’s a tall order, young one.”

“…?”

“I don’t even know where you came from.”

“Well… it’s complicated.”

“Is it? Well, everything is complicated now. That refuge you see over there is all that remains, the survivors, the remnants of once-great nebulas living together. We all have secrets. Some still distrust each other. Nothing is more complicated than a group of powerful gods trying to coexist, when just a few thousand years ago, we were all enemies, hah.”

“You’re trying to get along?”

“What else can we do? Fight and squander our lives? Kill each other, and then what? Nothing remains. We must survive however we can… We all faced a Calamity, an Apocalypse we overcame. But after ascending, we never imagined facing such a thing in the Great Beyond again, one so terrifying it made even us Constellations feel fear.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Hm? Why? You have no reason to apologize. It’s not your fault. It’s ours… We should never have trusted him… that man… My memories are hazy, but that man… the Void King, did you know? He was once a human like you, a mere mortal.”

“…Ah.”

“You already knew, didn’t you? When the Void Rulers began devouring nebulas and stories in a frenzy during the 300th Scenario, that man helped us overcome the greatest war the Great Beyond had ever seen. He rallied us to protect our homeland and our world… We helped him reach his current position. And this is how he repaid us… with death and despair.”

“…”

Anna looked down, guilt weighing on her, knowing the man Ares described was her brother.

“The 300th Scenario…”

From the Third Awakening onward, worlds that survived the Apocalypse thus far begin facing specific Scenarios, stories woven by Fate, forcing people to participate to survive.

By overcoming them, their Stories become more refined, and they gain qualifications for ascension.

After completing the 50th Scenario, ascension was possible.

Of course, to bring Earth along, many more requirements were needed, which her brother could never fulfill, abandoning the planet and ascending alone.

“After we won the war and no more Scenarios appeared, we thought a peaceful era had begun,” Ares said. “We believed we could focus on growing our strength and breaking through the Boundaries of the Fourth Dimension to reach the Dimension Beyond Fate… the ultimate goal of all Constellations. But when the Void King began his rampage… the 301st Scenario started, and it has not ended yet.”

“…What are the completion requirements?” Anna asked.

“To kill him.”

“…!”

“And… the rewards?”

“Ascension to the Boundary Beyond the Fourth Dimension… an impossible task from the start. Some of us tried to work with him and reject the Scenario, but many opposed him… The Void King reached the height of his madness and rampaged without thought, killing even those uninvolved in the initial conflict. It was a complete massacre.”

“Ahh…”

“Enough about this. Look, we’re here. It was good exercise, wasn’t it?”

“Hm…”

Anna managed a faint smile, realizing Ares’ kindness. He kept talking to distract her, encouraging her to walk to keep her grounded.

All to prevent her from dwelling on negative thoughts.

To keep her from succumbing to what Murim culture called a “Heart Demon.”

The power inherited from her father helped her resist the Heart Demon’s influence, but she still felt its presence.

Ever-present now, within her mind and heart.

The doubt, the pain, the despair.

Anna looked ahead, beholding a vast, ruinous city built from fragments of many worlds stitched together.

Fallen temples, crumbled castles, lost empires, small patches of lush forests, and a radiant golden pyramid at the center.

It was a chaotic place, where fragments of various Constellations’ domains were tightly interwoven.

This was deliberate, as the conflicting energies generated immense cosmic power, sustaining the planet’s atmospheric barrier, the Cosmic Dominion that barred Scavengers, Spawns, and unauthorized intruders from entering.

This was… perhaps the last haven of the Constellations in this Ruined Future.

“Wow…”

Anna’s eyes sparkled with awe as she gazed upon the scene. More Constellations were present than she expected, some powerful, others as weak as Sepa. Most no longer wore their proud garments, instead cloaking themselves in leather and robes crafted from the hides of cosmic beasts.

The place was gloomy, perpetually dark beneath a starry sky, yet Anna felt the echoes of once-great nebulas and civilizations, all fallen before the Void King’s mad rampage. This was a world teetering on the brink of collapse.

“Come, let’s go. I’ll show you the place and feed you. It’s the least I can do.”

Ares advanced, as two colossal golden statues glared down at him, guarding the city’s entrance.

Each statue, over five hundred meters tall, became visible only after passing through an invisible veil.

They depicted an enlightened man smiling calmly, one palm extended forward, the other raised to the sky.

They seemed benign despite their immense size.

“This is…?”

Anna sensed the power of a certain Constellation within these statues; their empty eyes fixed on them.

“Hey, it’s me,” Ares said to the statues. “This girl? I found her out there while scavenging for usable materials… Materials? I only found some Starlight Grass and a few Cosmic Beast Bones.”

Ares appeared to converse with the statues’ owner.

Anna stood silently, straining to discern their communication.

Focusing with all her mind and powers.

Her cosmic heart glowed faintly.

She saw delicate threads connecting Ares to the statues’ owner.

And then…

She heard their voices.

“Grass and Bones… I suppose you did what you could. I was slightly concerned about her, the little thing she carries. Did you check it properly, Ares?”

“What, the little dog?”

“That’s no mere dog, Ares. That’s a Spawn of the Void King.”

“What?!”

Ares looked at Anna with shock, his hands trembling as he stepped back.

“You…! What have you brought here, girl?! Drop that thing on the ground now!”

“Eh?! Wait…! He’s not a spawn! Fenrir is…! Fenrir is my friend. He saved our lives!”

Anna shielded Fenrir with her arms as the pup awoke, whimpering.

“I will be the judge of that.”

A voice resounded from the statues as a radiant figure manifested.

The brilliance was so intense that Anna’s eyes burned and bled when she tried to look upon him.

“Aaahhhh!”

Anna screamed in agony, collapsing as she released Fenrir, whom the being seized with radiant light.

“Aiiee! Awwuuh!”

The pup cried, struggling and flailing its legs as the being examined its soul.

“Please…! Please!”

Anna endured the agony of her eyeballs burning while resisting the madness inflicted by merely gazing at this being, rising to face the radiant figure.

“Please spare him! Don’t kill him! He’s all we have left of him! Please…! Please, I beg you, Great Constellation!”

“…”

The entity gazed at Anna, his mere glance scorching her skin. Her soul trembled in torment, as if falling into an endless void of light and twisting pain.

“Aaaaahh!”

“Impressive. For a mere mortal, who has only grasped a tiny star in her heart, to resist my Eyes of Nirvana and even attempt to stand before my Grace. You are indeed remarkable. I see you burnt your eyes to endure the madness of gazing upon my Radiance as a mere mortal. To go so far for your loved ones... You have touched my heart.”

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