'I hope nothing happens.'

That was what Alon was thinking as he walked toward the crack.

If it had been a gathering of humans, he would not have been this tense, but what was happening inside that crack was a gathering of Divine blood.

And even if they were aligned for the moment, in the end, it was still a gathering of beings whose goal was to destroy this world—beings whose purpose was completely different from Alon's.

That was also why he had left the others behind, along with Seollang, to avoid any situation that might arise.

'...If it's Seollang, she'll handle it well.'

Alon thought of the Seollang he had left behind.

He already knew what kind of situation she was in.

He knew how precarious it was too.

And yet, Alon still trusted Seollang.

As far as Alon was concerned, from the start, she—

"Ah."

While thinking about Seollang, Alon let out a small sound.

He had been lost in thought and had not realized it, but before he knew it, he had already reached the crack.

'Did all the other Divine blood already go in?'

After confirming that there were no Divine blood around him anymore, Alon quickened his pace a little more than usual.

No matter what, he did not want to make some kind of protagonist-like entrance at the very end.

"Hoo—"

Letting out a light breath, he soon pushed himself into the crack.

Wooooong—!

The moment he passed through it, an eerie sound rang out.

For a brief moment, a grotesque noise like fingernails scraping carved glass echoed in his ears.

Then the scenery inside the crack came into view.

"...!"

The inside was shaped like a cavern.

A cavern filled with a faint green light coming from somewhere.

But that was not what surprised Alon.

What surprised him was just how enormous the inside of the cavern was.

So vast that even if there were hundreds of Divine blood here, it still would not feel full.

So after looking around in surprise for only a moment—

[You've come.]

A voice soon came from the distance.

And there, he saw two Divine blood.

Two Divine blood standing like representatives of the many others.

Their massive bodies made Alon hesitate for a moment, but he soon walked forward and approached them.

Wooooong—!

"!"

Then the ground beneath Alon rose upward and lifted into the air.

[It would be uncomfortable to keep looking down at you, so I'll do this. This should be more convenient for you too.]

At the words of the Divine blood whose very face was in the shape of a giant cross, Alon nodded.

[Now then, it seems everyone is here, so let's begin.]

It looked around once, then immediately introduced itself.

[I am Red Conviction, leader of the Pureblood.]

At the cross—no, Red Conviction's introduction, the Divine blood standing silently to the right opened its mouth this time.

The sight of a huge black reversed eye floating where its head should have been was grotesque.

[I am Clumped Eye, leader of Closed Light.]

A short self-introduction, but apparently that was enough. Red Conviction nodded and looked at Alon.

Alon hesitated for a moment.

'How should I introduce myself?'

Should he introduce himself as Alon Palatio, King of Palantia?

Or the Star Eater?

"I am—"

Just as Alon opened his mouth while briefly wavering—

[No, there is no need for you to say it.]

"What?"

[There is no one here who does not know who you are. Is that not so? Star Eater, leader of Star Root.]

Red Conviction said it with a smile.

"?"

Alon felt puzzled inside.

Because mixed into those words was information that was very clearly wrong.

So just as Alon was about to correct it—

"What are you—"

[How presumptuous.]

A voice came from behind him.

[How dare you speak casually to the Star Eater?]

[Is the Star Eater your friend?]

Somewhat strange voices.

When Alon turned his gaze, he saw a Divine blood engulfed in flames and another with a black skull attached to it glaring openly at Red Conviction with hostility.

[Are we really going to start fussing over something like that in the middle of this?]

[At least show the minimum courtesy. The Star Eater is not someone on your level.]

The Divine blood with flames covering its whole body gave one more warning, then lightly bowed its head toward Alon.

For a moment, Alon almost found himself thinking, 'Huh? Have we met somewhere before? No, have they at least heard my name before?'

But—

[Your subordinates are just as loyal as I've heard.]

Without giving him a chance to breathe, Red Conviction spoke again.

My subordinates?

When did that one become my subordinate?

Barely swallowing the words that were about to slip out, Alon shifted his gaze.

The Divine blood were still there.

And not just a few—there were enough that the number easily surpassed several dozen.

While Alon stood there blankly—

[Come to think of it, what were you about to say?]

Without being intimidated at all by the hostile Divine blood behind him, Red Conviction asked Alon the question.

And remembering what he had been about to say a moment ago, Alon thought:

In his heart, he wanted to know what exactly this situation was.

Of course he did.

He could say with certainty that he had never once met the Divine blood standing behind him.

Not just that he had not met them.

He had never spoken with them.

Never heard rumors about them.

Nothing at all.

Which meant the situation could only be absurd.

But—

"..."

At the same time, he was not so bad at reading the room that he would openly say that in an atmosphere like this.

"...No. It's nothing."

For now, he decided not to ruin the mood.

####

[You likely already know this from the Sculptor, but even so, I will briefly summarize the situation.]

Red Conviction, leader of the Pureblood, currently the largest of the Divine blood groups.

Even while explaining, it kept looking at the Star Eater.

To be honest, at first, Red Conviction had found the Star Eater puzzling.

Because he was human.

Of course, that was already known information.

To begin with, among the Divine blood, it was widely known that for some reason the Star Eater had become human.

Still, even if he was in human form now, Red Conviction had expected there to be something different about him, but he looked far too ordinary.

That made it wonder for a moment.

Then Red Conviction shook its head.

Because the Divine blood following the Star Eater were all far from ordinary.

Beings among the first tier of Divine blood who possessed overwhelming power.

And yet, seeing them follow the Star Eater with that degree of loyalty—

'...So that rumor is true?'

Red Conviction looked at the Star Eater while recalling a rumor currently spreading among the Divine blood, one passed along by a Divine blood who had been captured by Star Root and escaped miraculously.

Even though Divine blood said to be quite strong among the first-tier were sending him boundless loyalty, he looked at none of them.

If anything, it was as though he had no interest in them at all.

He even stared blankly off somewhere as if he did not care much about this meeting either.

After confirming that sight, Red Conviction finished speaking.

[That concludes the explanation. Any questions?]

[No. None.]

The Star Eater answered briefly.

Then Clumped Eye began to speak.

[Then it is time to discuss the operation.]

[There is an operation?]

[No. The operation is to overwhelm them with numbers.]

[Hmm— as far as I know, the Descended One has already reached the second tier. Is that really enough?]

At Clumped Eye's question, Red Conviction nodded.

[Ordinarily, it would not be. Ordinarily.]

[What do you mean?]

[Everyone here knows it already. The Descended One acquired a law that allows it to devour fragments without limit. But as everyone also knows, laws come with constraints.]

[...So you've figured out the constraint.]

[Yes.]

Red Conviction nodded.

[It's simple. In exchange for becoming able to consume fragments without limit, the time it takes that thing to digest those fragments appears to have increased overwhelmingly. In other words—]

[If we deal with Astarotte's lot, it's over?]

[Exactly.]

[Is that certain information?]

[After confirming it several times already, we've learned that the Descended One cannot move at all.]

Clumped Eye let out a small sound of admiration.

[In that case, a charge is a good option. This is not a battle where strategy can be expected to matter anyway.]

That was reasonable.

To begin with, for Divine blood, there was little advantage to strategic battles that made use of terrain.

And if all they had to do was deal with Astarotte, there was even less reason for strategy to be necessary.

But more ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) than anything, the reason Clumped Eye and Red Conviction proposed and agreed on a simple frontal charge was because strategy itself was unfair.

A strategy could always be made.

But what if that strategy assigned one group a dangerous role while giving another group a safe one?

That alone could create the risk of division.

So they had narrowed it down to the choice of charging, even if that meant accepting a certain amount of loss. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Astarotte absolutely had to be dealt with, but that alone would not end every battle.

That was why Red Conviction and Clumped Eye agreed—but of course, the two of them were still probing each other.

No, strictly speaking, they were thinking different things.

Naturally, thanks to the pact they would soon make, even after dealing with Astarotte, they would not be able to attack each other for some time.

But that only meant they could not attack each other directly. If Astarotte happened to attack them and they 'coincidentally' lost part of their forces, that was an entirely different matter.

[Yes. That is exactly why I proposed it.]

[I agree as well.]

Red Conviction and Clumped Eye each held their own thoughts and agreed to the plan, and now their gazes turned toward the Star Eater.

Because he was the only one who had not answered yet.

Silence fell.

The Star Eater, expressionless and sunk in thought, finally looked at Red Conviction and Clumped Eye.

Dry eyes that carried no emotion, nor even any intention.

[...What is it?]

"..."

When Red Conviction asked, the Star Eater did not answer. He only stared at the two of them, then turned his head.

And looked at the two Divine blood standing at attention behind him.

Then, as if the Star Eater had sent some sort of signal, the two Divine blood gave firm nods and soon looked at Red Conviction and Clumped Eye with slightly smug expressions.

'What was that?'

'What did they just say?'

The two of them were tensing without realizing it at that sight when—

"I have no objections either."

Hearing the Star Eater's words, they came back to themselves.

And then—

[...Good. Then we leave at once tomorrow.]

With those words, the meeting that was not really a meeting, held inside the crack, came to an end.

Leaving behind an uneasy question in the minds of Red Conviction and Clumped Eye, who could not help but keep an eye on Star Root, the largest force there.

And then—

after the meeting ended, as Alon walked out of the crack as if nothing had happened—

'This is bad.'

He was feeling tired.

'I didn't hear any of that at all......?'

And no wonder.

He had been seriously preoccupied with wondering exactly what kind of structure the star swarm behind him had, and how it had even formed, so he had not properly heard what was being said in the meeting.

'Even when I looked at them just in case, they were only nodding......'

Even when he belatedly thought, 'Wait,' and looked back, the two Divine blood he had met for the first time today only nodded as though they trusted him completely, so Alon felt both bewildered and exhausted at the same time.

When Alon looked at Darkness-Eating Sword and Burned Vegetation with eyes that clearly said, 'Tell me what the meeting was about—'

'...I've been acknowledged......!!'

'The first one to be granted power will be me......!!'

—they interpreted that look however they pleased and were grinning to themselves in delight.

And then—

"A-Alon?"

"...What is that, all of a sudden......?"

With that enormous swarm of Divine blood trailing behind him—

Alon kept seriously thinking about how this had happened all the way until he reached the carriage.

"Evan......"

"Yes......?"

"I think I might be sleepwalking......"

He arrived at a rather shocking conclusion.

"...What???"

[?]

For the first time in a while, both Evan and Basiliora's faces twisted.

...'What the hell is this bastard talking about?' was the meaning of it.