Zoemi’s heart stopped beating and by the standards of the medicinal practices of the world he was currently in he has been dead.

He had to be, otherwise, Cherro’s spell that allowed him to steal the black-haired boy’s mana and powers would not work.

But there was a little catch.

In the first place, Zoemi could use magic only because of the original personality of the artificial soul residing within his body.

Truth be told, said mana was becoming a severe problem for the black-haired boy, as his body was actively fighting against the poison of mana as if it was any other infection.

It wouldn’t be all that bad if not for the fact that mana was literally coursing through Zoemi’s entire body which resulted in his life-threatening condition

That said, the black-haired boy was dead so even though there was no more mana poison polluting his body what could that change?

As for the place that Cherro labeled as a trash dump – that being the wrack of the destroyed ship washed ashore and buried for more than twenty-five years…

Just as the name on the broken-off plank stated, it was a ship that came from the land beyond the line of death, Heavenly Star nation.

The birthplace of Wiliam and Goerger’s father, where magic did not exist and people used spiritual energy to channel the star power through techniques called laws.

If he was alive, Zoemi would surely find it interesting that his body has landed beneath something called a star power chart carved in the wooden wall that barely withstood his body weight because of the years of corrosion.

The black-haired boy would definitely be surprised to see that star powers separated into twelve laws – the laws that correlated directly to the twelve zodiac signs in the form of the western astrology of his old world.

Even the names were the same!

Although maybe he would not be all that surprised – he did face off against William and George, so he heard at least a few of those names being used.

As for why such a chart was carved on a wall inside a ship – it was because the vessel in question was a warship, and the room Zoemi’s body ended up crashing into was a meditation room for the soldiers serving their duty on board.

Normally, that would be it.

Unless someone would happen to stumble upon the uncovered shipwreck and bother to search it, fate would dictate Zoemi ending up as a skeleton against the inactive star power chart.

But, it just so happened that just then and there, a certain presence dissipated from the world and a certain faceless god cheered out somewhere in the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere.

Before any of the bottom feeders living in the shipwreck realized there was a Zoemi-shaped feast waiting for them, every single star carved on the star power chart activated on its own, filled with the god’s power, and lighted up with an unearthly ephemeral glow making the black-haired boy’s body bask in it too…

——-

“What in the…?! HE ALREADY HAS UNLOCKED THE ARIES’S POWERS ALL THE WAY TO SUPERNOVA?! WHAT KIND OF DEMIGOD ARE YO…?! Ah…! Pull yourself together, Guide, you are a god of this world, act like it! Ekhem! Oh, beloved child of Aries, lost in the world of mana users, answer the call of your people’s Guide!”

The unknown voice resounded in Zoemi’s head, pulling out his consciousness from the endless abyss. Despite sounding rather distressed and not being able to keep its cool, the voice had a certain regal and otherwordly ring to it.

“…I… feel so empty… Wait, what…? What the hell is going on? Where am I? Where is that bastard Cherro? And… why can’t I sense the original personality anymore? What did you do with him?”

Although he was not fully aware of what was going on, Zoemi’s mind sprung into action trying to connect the dots and confronted the new voice in his head.

Having frequent guests in one’s head should not be a common occurrence but here he was already completely used to it.

“I did nothing. The parasi… ekhem, the being you call original personality has been killed by the mana user called Cherro – someone classified to be a demon-lord-class threat to this world… My condolences.”

The faceless voice answered the last question asked by the black-haired boy, holding on to the other ones for a moment.

𝞸𝗏𝓛xt.𝚌𝓞𝑚

“As I said before, your people call me Guide and I am a god in charge of this world. We could not get acquainted any sooner because you happened to be living in the area that the great primordial occupied for… well since she created time. She decided to erase herself from the timeline so here we are.”

The faceless voice added, revealing that guide wasn’t just a title or a job, but its actual name.

Guide also dropped a very important piece of information that Zoemi did not expect to hear.

“My people…? Urgh! It can wait! Just to be sure, is the great primordial that erased herself from the timeline the being we call presence..?”

The black-haired boy’s mind asked, trying to clear everything out as he pushed out the question that wasn’t important for the immidiate dangerous situation.

“I don’t know how the mana users you grew up with are calling her. If that helps, the last form she took on before moving on was of a platinum-haired human child.”

Guide’s voice was full of hesitation while explaining, but the faceless god seemed really eager to fill Zoemi in.

“It does help a lot, thank you. That definitely was presence… so she and the original Zoemi are gone… wait… what about Cherro…?! You said he’s a what? A demon lord? Did I hear that correctly?”

Zoemi gasped trying to stand up only to realize that his physical body – wherever it was – wasn’t actually connected with his consciousness at the moment…

“Ah! I see we are getting to the main point already!”

Guide cheered out and despite not showing himself to the black-haired boy, it was very obvious that they rubbed their hands together in excitement.

“Although this is not how things are supposed to go according to the manual, I will be spending a lot of energy to unlock the star power potential within your body. Things will be a lot easier than I expected because you already have quite some punch behind you… you are okay with that?”

The faceless god asked nervously as if they weren’t used to requesting people to do things for them – which was definitely the case. After all, Guide was only a relatively young deity and the planet that Zoemi was brought into was the first world they governed.

“You are giving me power other than mana that will let me get rid of Cherro for good? Yes, please. As fast as you can. I got a horrendously bad feeling about what is going on.”

The black-haired boy’s mind was completely clear – in the first place, there could be only one answer to the Guide’s question.

If both the presence and original Zoemi were gone and the timeline clearly didn’t reset, something must have gone right. The problem now was that whatever it was, it did not get rid of Cherro…

It wasn’t hard for Zoemi to guess why he felt so empty – the origin of his very soul was gone, and it took his ability to use mana.

It must have been the spell that allowed the Ghosts of Bellcephora to take mana of anyone they killed.

“Great! Just to be sure, you are my investment, beloved child of Aries! Now for the unlocking part… hmm…”

Guide definitely clapped their hands as they cheered before letting out a hesitant voice.

“All stars of Aries constellation, checked. Nothing to do here. Virgo and Aquarius… hmmm no talent whatsoever, was there an eclipse or something when you were born? Capricorn… quite good, but literally nothing for Taurus… Scorpius and Sagittarius… Even I can’t do anything about that… Pisces, Gemini, Cancer, Leo… less than nothing… AH! There is a potential for Libra! You can use it to balance everything else out! This can work! Here on, I, Guide, the guardian god of star power unlocks the potential of Capricorn and Libra in your body! And by the rule of the law of Virgo, I restore you to life! Be prepared – I will drop you straight to the demon lord Cherro’s location!”

The faceless god went on a rant as if they forgot that Zoemi can hear them, at the beginning it did not sound like they were happy, but in the end, it seemed like they were content and gave very broad instructions to the black-haired boy’s consciousness.

“Hold on! I have been using magic my whole life – how do I activate star power and laws?!”

As Zoemi’s mind began experiencing the feeling of getting pulled down by insanely strong gravity, he managed to shout in the realization that came a bit too late.

“Aries is endurance and toughness but you should already know that. Capricorn is all forms of physical movement, reflex, and sense of balance. Libra is more spiritual – select two things that have at least one thing in common and equalize the values that interest you. You can use it on the law of Capricorn or better, law or Aries and one other law to be able to use it! As for how to activate them… set your soul aflame and let the stars guide you! Now go, before the demon lord takes over the world!”

“IGNITE MY SOUL?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LITTLE THIS TELLS ME…?! THAT’S WHY YOU GODS ARE SO ANNOY…!”

From the explanation provided, it became clear to Zoemi that he was dealing with some hopeless optimist to whom confidence is half the victory, which immediately set off his rage.

That mattered very little at the moment because before his furious rant could fully reach the faceless god, the consciousness of the black-haired boy was sucked back into his body in the shipwreck.

—–

The dark, wet, and musky interior was basked in an ephemeral light of the stars as Zoemi’s body rose above the floor, as the gentle law of Virgo restored it into perfect condition.

“…”

The eyelids of the black-haired boy trembled, but before he could open them, he disappeared into the thin air, leaving the shipwreck dark and empty.

*creak*

A few seconds later the rotten floorboards creaked as a severely wounded person stumbled their way inside.

The visitor had jet-black hair and yes and their legs were fully composed of the smoke-like darkness.

“…what the hell was that light…? Shit, so he wasn’t dead and got away?!”

Kiorterell possessing the body of George cursed in anger looking around the empty room.

“Hold on… could this be…?”

His eyes widened as thanks to his night vision, an inborn ability of the darkness mages, he noticed the star chart on the wall.