Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 408

“It says the fragment of the Sun failed to take root in my body. Can I know why?”

At Su-ho’s question, Amaterasu was silent for a while.

Then she let out a faint sigh and said,

“What do you mean? Don’t tell me you knew it would turn out like this?”

“......?”

That’s the reason?

For a moment, Su-ho was too dumbfounded to speak.

‘Order of things, my foot—if the conditions match, the system just works, doesn’t it?’

Isn’t that what a system is?

Like a vending machine—put in the proper currency, and the product clunks out.

And now she’s suddenly invoking cosmic order? Of course his brow would furrow.

Then a thought struck him.

‘What if it’s not “order,” but the setting itself is built that way from the start?’

He’d gotten carried away, caught on the word “order” she used.

But how could Amaterasu—who’s classified as an NPC-like entity—know all the system’s rules?

She was a plaything of the system, too.

Then there was no point getting heated.

After thinking a while, Su-ho narrowed his eyes and said,

“Then is there no way at all?”

“Other than that? I want to possess both the powers of the sun and the moon.”

“Then what about the Sun’s Seed I already swallowed?”

“What is that supposed to...”

Absurd.

To end it like this?

If he’d known, he would have... In that instant, another thought came.

‘Hold on. If Amaterasu knows this, doesn’t that mean that bastard Tsukuyomi knew it would end up like this, too?’

Su-ho narrowed his brows and asked,

“So Tsukuyomi tricked me, didn’t he?”

“Amaterasu-nim, if you knew it would be like this, how could the moon god Tsukuyomi not? I clearly told him why I wanted a small sun. And this is the result. If that’s not deception, what is?”

“Then are you saying Tsukuyomi didn’t know what you know? He’s the moon god.”

At Su-ho’s sharp words, Amaterasu fell silent.

When she didn’t open her mouth again, Su-ho spoke.

“I’ll ask one last thing. As his older sister... no, as a fellow god, will you resolve this on your brother’s behalf?”

Amaterasu remained silent.

The longer her silence stretched, the colder Su-ho’s expression became.

‘Fine. Everything that happens from here on out—you brought it on yourselves.’

He was angry.

How could they deceive a person like this?

He was sick of being stabbed in the back.

Just as Su-ho was about to say something—

The long-silent Amaterasu finally spoke again. But Su-ho’s face was still frosty.

“What is it?”

“What misunderstanding?”

“Hm?”

“.......”

Of course.

The Amaterasu before his eyes was the true Amaterasu’s avatar.

And the real Transcendent Amaterasu would be watching the current situation in real time.

‘She kept quiet to talk with Tsukuyomi.’

Su-ho nodded.

“And?”

“If so, he should at least have changed the order of his words. He could’ve given me a heads-up.”

“.......”

Su-ho narrowed his eyes to slits.

Then he nodded.

Right.

In that case, it makes sense.

The system, at its core, is something that wants Players to struggle.

So it didn’t even permit Tsukuyomi to give him a hint.

‘Because if he told me beforehand, it wouldn’t get to watch me bust my ass.’

Hearing the story, everything clicked into place.

Either way, Tsukuyomi was desperate, and to secure the deal he had to offer whatever information might help Su-ho even a little.

‘I misunderstood.’

Still, the damn system is downright vicious.

Now that his anger was gone, Su-ho let out a sigh.

“Eh... then it can’t be helped.”

“Doesn’t that make my effort to purify you meaningless?”

“What does that... no, I understand.”

He stopped himself from asking for details.

If even Su-ho, veteran of the Cataclysm, didn’t know it, then it was another piece of high-tier information with viewing restrictions.

Su-ho immediately raised the blood sword.

And just as he was about to swing, he lowered it again.

“Can I borrow this for a moment?”

“I know. But there’s no need to destroy it right here.”

“I won’t go far. I’m just stepping out front.”

Without further questions, Amaterasu handed her heart to Su-ho.

It floated gently like a levistone and settled into his palm.

A solid feel.

The same feel as when he’d dug through Amaterasu’s insides and touched it directly.

No item info displayed.

No matter.

He hadn’t asked for it to do anything with it anyway.

Clutching it, Su-ho stepped outside Amano-Iwato.

Outside was exactly as it had been when he came in.

So exactly that the defeated Susanoo still stood there like a stone statue, rooted to the spot.

When Su-ho returned, Susanoo grinned.

He even lifted a hand, greeting Su-ho.

As Su-ho approached, Susanoo spoke in a bright, excited voice.

“I handled it fine. Want a look?”

“Tsukuyomi told me this: absolutely do not cozy up to you. Said it’d be a disaster.”

“So I said okay. I don’t like punks, either. But don’t worry. The method you gave me wasn’t all that useful anyway. You can tell just by looking at this.”

When Su-ho held up the golden heart and gave it a shake, the light in Susanoo’s eyes swelled as if it would explode.

“Funny—people who say that are never actually scary. Anyway, I’ll take it to heart. Do that. No, do it twice. ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) But how are you going to take revenge when you couldn’t even secure an Apostle?”

“I’m off. I came out here just to show you this. And listen, man, live with a little humility. Keep this up and one day you’ll meet your match and get stripped to the bone. I’m going.”

At Su-ho’s advice, Susanoo let out something between a scream and a roar.

But Su-ho didn’t care; he leisurely waved the golden heart in farewell.

Then, in one motion, he crushed the heart, and system alerts began to pour before his eyes.