Dancing on the golden ashes-Chapter 248: The Sky Filled With Stars

"The one you're talking about?" I scoffed, my voice colder than ice. "He gave you up long ago. After all, he doesn't need the original residents of this world anymore."

I took a step forward, my eyes locking onto the beast's hateful gaze.

"And you? You're nothing more than a stray dog — a worthless mutt abandoned by its master. So die now... and become the sacrifice for those you slaughtered. Their souls will be happy to see you turned to dust."

My words seeped with venom, and for the first time, I saw it — the monster's eyes widened, its rage twisting into something else.

It's afraid?

"You... you're just like that hateful Agnia," it spat, trembling with barely contained rage. "You lowly creatures... you dare look down on us? The original beasts of this world? I will not let you have your way!"

Its body convulsed, shaking violently as if its very bones were splintering. Cracks spread across its flesh, splitting open like a spiderweb crawling across its skin. Dark energy leaked from the widening fissures, and I knew it was trying to burn itself out in one final act of desperation — one last attempt to defy death itself.

"Useless struggle..." I muttered under my breath. "You'll die by my hand... you have no choice."

I lifted my hand, and in response, my scythe burst into existence before me. The weapon twisted and writhed, growing larger until it loomed above like a towering shadow — a grim reaper cast in silver and black. Its blade stretched wide across the sky, its edge gleaming like a crescent moon.

The air turned heavy, suffocating with the presence of death itself. The monster's body faltered, its trembling growing weaker, its rage slowly crumbling beneath the weight of my power.

"Die..."

The word slipped from my lips like a whisper — cold, detached, and empty.

I didn't feel satisfaction. I didn't feel joy.

To me, this wasn't what you'd call revenge.

This was duty — a grim necessity for the path I had chosen to walk.

The monster's terrified face was the last thing I saw before my blade fell, severing his head from his body. Blood sprayed into the air, raining down like crimson petals over the charred ground. The scent of iron filled the air, sharp and suffocating, yet I barely noticed it. My gaze lingered on that twisted expression, the face frozen in pure terror — a face that would forever remain a warning for those who dared to stand in my way.

I wasn't the same Lee Gaon anymore. No… I was something else entirely.

I was the demon who gave up everything for the ones I loved.

And no force in this world — or the next — would stop me from bringing them back.

The soul of the demigod-level monster floated toward my palm, pulsing with a faint glow. It was large, yet no bigger than a basketball, shimmering with a strange golden core at its center — something I had never seen before. Perhaps that was the reason it had been so powerful. I could feel its presence, dense and heavy like the weight of a mountain, capable of overwhelming anyone below its realm.

"This will do well…"

I muttered under my breath, my voice cold and distant. My gaze lifted toward the sky, where the souls of my fallen comrades drifted higher and higher, rising like delicate fireflies vanishing into the endless horizon.

"Be their food," I whispered, clenching my fingers tightly around the soul. "Be their energy… give back what you stole. You're the true demon here."

I crushed the soul without hesitation, shattering it into countless fragments. Golden dust spilled from my fingers like shattered glass, swirling through the air before I refined it with my soul energy. Carefully, I cleansed the remnants, stripping away the filth and corruption — the hatred, the cruelty, the violent instinct — until only the pure, nurturing essence remained.

This… this will sustain them…

I watched as the floating souls — my friends, my family — drifted like embers carried by the wind. They climbed higher, higher still, until they became nothing more than distant stars twinkling in the sky.

I flicked my wrist, channeling my power into the earth beneath me. Rich metals rose from the scorched ground, forming a protective shell around their souls — a cocoon of stone and steel, like a blanket of silver cradling each star. The effort drained me, but I refused to stop.

Little by little, the metal formed a layer around them, shaping miniature moons in the sky. My energy trembled from the strain, yet I pushed through, weaving the last of my strength into the protective layers.

Their souls are safe now…

When those stars fell back to earth one day, they would return — reborn in new bodies, reforged without the chains of the system binding them. They would awaken with systems like mine — their own power, their own fate.

And my heart… my heart would fuel that rebirth.

I stood there, watching the sky long after the stars had vanished from sight. The cold wind whispered across my skin, yet I barely noticed it. The empty silence weighed on me, pressing against my chest like an invisible hand.

They're gone…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Suddenly, the sky shuddered violently, splitting open like glass struck by a hammer. The bright blue sky darkened in an instant, thick clouds swirling overhead like smoke rising from a wildfire. The wind howled in fury, tearing at my clothes and hair.

Lightning crackled across the sky, jagged and violent, illuminating the heavens with blinding flashes of silver and violet. The pressure that followed was immense — so heavy I felt my bones groan beneath its weight. The air itself seemed to twist and writhe, as if the world had turned against me.

The heavens were angry.

I could feel it — the rage, the fury, the relentless intent to crush me where I stood. This was no ordinary tribulation — no mere test of strength or will.

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This was punishment.

The world itself refused to let me ascend — refused to let me claim the path of eternity.

Is this because I defied fate itself?

Is this because I challenged the natural order?

Perhaps… perhaps this was the price for daring to steal life back from the grasp of death.

I exhaled slowly, feeling the cold air bite at my skin. The storm roared above me, and the lightning gathered in massive, spiraling tendrils — an overwhelming force that promised nothing short of death…