Ranker Who Lives Twice

Argh! The Demonism looked up and screamed over and over in pain as the gusts of black wind ravaged his body, evidence of Kronos' valor. 『How! How the hell…!』

The Demonism could not understand what was going on. He had once been part of Kronos, and he had had a significant influence on the legends that Kronos had built up as a king of gods. Thus, Demonism tried to control Kronos' true body through synchronization and gathered many legends to use against Yeon-woo.

With a little more time, the Demonism felt that he could become a supreme being. It had been more than 10,000 years since Kronos had been separated from his true body, and he only had his vestige body and soul now, as well as half a spring. Even if Kronos could recover a considerable amount of his power by drawing it out of his true body, it was impossible for him to restore the valor he had possessed as the king of gods.

And yet, Kronos was pushing the Demonism around, as if his missing divine domain were nothing more than an inconvenience. His fall from grace in the past seemed just that—something in the past. For a moment, the Demonism wondered if he was facing a different being, but he couldn't deny that the actions and speech of the being attacking him were those of the old Kronos. And yet, there was also something about him that the Demonism didn't know. Kronos had changed too much in the years they were apart.

Whoosh! Bam!

A deep wound appeared on the right side of the Demonism's body, and the darkness continued to leak out. 『You… What the hell are you…!』

"Are you curious? You don't know what the hell is happening, do you?" It seemed as though Kronos had read the Demonism's thoughts and appeared next to the Demonism's ear with a cold smile. Kronos' voice was so cold that the Demonism instinctively straightened his back. "You probably can't even venture a guess."

Whoosh! Kronos swung Scythe diagonally, aiming for the Demonism's head.The Demonism instinctively tried to pull his head and neck back, but he could not dodge all of Kronos' offensive attacks. Kronos cut off the top of his head at an angle. A cry of pain rang out once more.

"Do you know how long I've been preparing for this?"

Whirl! Kronos opened a void and quickly retreated. The Demonism's black thunderbolt harmlessly passed through the spot where Kronos had been just a moment ago. Kronos reappeared near the Demonism's left ankle. "I felt like everything had been stolen from me. My throne, divine domains, power… I hated the bastards who took them all away from me. I detested them. I was filled with thoughts of revenge. Those ungrateful bastards! As their father, I would punish them. That's what I thought then."

He cut the Demonism's left ankle off. Whoosh! One of the Demonism's knees hit the ground. As the world of Kronos' conscious mind fluctuated once more, Kronos moved like a black wind and lacerated the Demonism's left leg relentlessly, as though he were dismantling something.

『Damn it…!』 Thinking that he would be in real danger if he didn't act, the Demonism brought out all his powers. The dense darkness that flowed out of him started roiling and boiling.

"But then, ever since I met Rhea again, I began to think whether or not I should direct my hate to my children or other people."

Bam! Bam! Bam! The opaque darkness stretched out like tentacles as it chased after the black wind, trying to catch up at all costs. However, Kronos cut them all off with Scythe and severed the Demonism's other ankle.

Pure darkness oozed out of the numerous wounds along the Demonism's gigantic body, increasing in amount until it overwhelmed the Demonism's opaque darkness and tried to pull the Demonism into death.

"My thoughts started to change little by little after Yeon-woo and Jeong-woo were born."

The Demonism started spreading his opaque darkness all over the place, and the lightning strikes grew more intense, the storm winds blowing more fiercely. The calamities rained down more frequently. However, Kronos managed to escape the attacks and push the Demonism into a corner. The Demonism released more opaque darkness, shrinking as he did so. Furthermore, the more darkness that the Demonism used, the faster his synchronization with Kronos would be released.

Flash! Kronos stood in front of the Demonism."I finally found out in the end. It's never the children's fault. I was the biggest problem."

『Kronos!』

"Next, it was because of you."

『I'll kill you!』

"Even now, thinking about it, I still grind my teeth. My insanity was all your doing, right?"

『Die!』

The Demonism could no longer hear Kronos' words, his rage made him only think of killing Kronos, the being who had turned him into such a pitiful entity. Even though he tried to reestablish his existence by consuming the egos of the various gods, he was still a vestige body with more instincts than reason, and at this point, he lost even his reason. On the other hand, despite the fact that Kronos was also a vestige body, his eyes were calm and collected.

Whoosh! The Demonism reached out to grab Kronos.

"So, you should compensate me for all those lost years." Kronos slammed Scythe down with a cold smile, its tip piercing through the Demonism's left eye.

Bam! The Demonism screamed more loudly than ever. He had never imagined this much pain before. Instinctively, the Demonism raised his other hand and covered his face, the opaque darkness dripping between his fingers.

However, without any hesitation, Kronos relentlessly swung Scythe once more, cutting off the Demonism's fingers like wheat and ripping his other eye apart.

『Where are you…! Where!』 With his vision gone, the Demonism's senses were disturbed, and he began to move in an erratic manner. The Demonism did not seem to know what to do with the difference in power. He had a power level that allowed him to easily consume Azrael of Malach, and yet, he was helpless against Kronos' attacks. It was like a one-sided massacre. Since the Demonism had always had the upper hand, he was unprepared for this.

However, Kronos, who had once been a king of gods with enormous divine power and divine abilities, had fallen so drastically that he had even been imprisoned in Tartarus. When he reincarnated as a mortal with a finite lifespan over and over, he experienced what it meant to accumulate legends. These legends could not easily be dismissed—they had been built with tears, hardship, and relationships. These trials and experiences allowed him to wield his own sword and carve his own path.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ Kronos was confident that the legends he'd built as a mortal could easily compare to the ones he had built up as a king of gods. He might have had greater achievements as a king of gods, but the experiences and challenges he'd gone through to create his legends as a mortal were in no way inferior. That was how difficult his lives on Earth had been.

All this had been possible because of his deep-seated resentment of the Demonism. This moment was joyous for Kronos—he had finally caught the guy who had turned his life into such a mess, the guy who ruined his family! The sword he'd made and sharpened on Earth was now aimed at the Demonism. He was going to cut off this cancerous tumor. "And in the future that I saw, there was a vague image."

Kronos gripped Scythe tightly with both hands. The veins on his forearm bulged. "The image of you being ruined."

Swoosh! Scythe cut the Demonism from his bottom to top. More than half of the Demonism's head exploded.『I'll kill you…! I will kill you, Kronos!』The last bits of the Demonism's reason were completely blown away.

However, he made a desperate decision. If he didn't act, he would only be toyed with before he was destroyed. What could he do? There was only one thing: die together! If he could shatter the world of Kronos' conscious mind, everything would return to a paused state.

Rumble! The Demonism's body swelled up like a balloon.Kronos no longer attacked the Demonism and moved far away to Yeon-woo. "In the end, he's following the exact path that we expected. Crazy bastard."Kronos gritted his teeth.

Kronos had tried to eliminate the Demonism before the Demonism could self-destruct, but the Demonism's body was so large that Kronos couldn't find the Demonism's essence. He racked his brain, wondering what he could do to stop the Demonism from self-destructing.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

"Hmm?" Kronos could feel his son's silent gaze on him. "Why are you staring at me with so much respect?"

Yeon-woo realized his mistake and turned his head away, trying to hide his embarrassment as much as possible. "What are you going to do? The world is going to be completely destroyed."

"Hahaha! I'm well aware of my own greatness. If you want to look at me with admiration, feel free to do so to your heart's content."

It was clear that Yeon-woo's father was a narcissist, and Yeon-woo wondered how he could have missed that until now. He did not respond, and instead, he asked a question while looking at the Demonism, who looked like he would burst at any moment. "If we're trapped, both you and I will be in danger."

This was why the world of a conscious mind was scary and dangerous. One might be able to get in somehow but one risked the elimination of one's existence or being forcefully assimilated. However, Kronos grinned as if he had no worries at all. He turned and slashed at the air with Scythe.

A void opened. Although nothing could be seen beyond it, it seemed like a door leading back to reality.

"You go ahead."

Yeon-woo's eyes widened. "Father, what are you going to do?"

"Me? I'm staying, of course."

"What…!"

"That bastard won't die like this."

"As long as there is a cloud system called darkness, that guy will inevitably reappear. When he takes possession of this body of mine, it will be a real disaster. Shouldn't that be prevented?" Kronos was saying that he was the only one who could block the Demonism.

Of course, they could just leave the Demonism trapped in Tartarus, but Yeon-woo understood the meaning behind his father's words. This was the world where they were in. They. Kronos wasn't just talking about Yeon-woo and his younger brother. He also meant the siblings Yeon-woo hadn't known he had—Zeus and the others. Kronos was worried about all his other children who had gone into the place below Tartarus, Erebus.

"I know you'll come up with a solution. Once you do that, you can come back to kill this guy…"

"No. I don't like it." Yeon-woo cut Kronos' words off.

Kronos' eyes widened slightly. "You…?"

"Don't try to persuade me. Just as you did whatever you wanted to do, I will do whatever I want to do." Yeon-woo had been through this before. Persephone and the machinations of the Titans and Gigantes had made him scramble out of Tartarus. Then, Allforone had blocked Dis Pluto, who rescued him and pushed them into taking their own lives.

Go through that again? Yeon-woo had just seen his father again, and now he had to sacrifice this person that he was only now truly getting to know? Yeon-woo would not allow it. Even if he died, or worse, Yeon-woo wanted to be with Kronos. His sharp eyes were filled with stubbornness and defiance.

Kronos looked at his serious son and burst into laughter. 'Rhea, maybe you were right. Among the children, Yeon-woo does seem to resemble me the most.' However, if Yeon-woo stayed, they would be buried here together. What could they do?

Kronos looked at Scythe silently. He was wondering whether he could aim for the Demonism's essence with one last swing. If he still possessed his divine domain of time, he was sure he could do it, but without that domain, he couldn't be certain.

"Father. Do you have any regrets about losing the throne?" Suddenly, Yeon-woo asked a strange question.

Kronos cocked his head slightly, wondering what Yeon-woo meant. Then, he grinned when he realized what Yeon-woo was planning. He laughed. "No. No regrets about the past. All I want is to live with Rhea, you, and Jeong-woo again back on Earth."

"Then, I will take the throne." This meant that Yeon-woo would become the supreme god of Olympus.

"I don't think Zeus will easily give his seat up, do you?"

"I'll take care of that myself."

"Do what you want. I can't take sides, so I'll just cheer from afar."

"Then, please buy me a few minutes."

"No problem."

Whoosh! Kronos turned into a black wind once again and attacked the Demonism. It was dangerous not knowing when the Demonism might explode, but Kronos continued to slash at the Demonism from all directions to buy Yeon-woo some time.

Yeon-woo's eyes narrowed. 'If I do this, I might be able to eliminate the Demonism, but after that, I will have a lot of things to carry on my shoulders.' Yeon-woo had always had one—and only one—goal: to recover his brother's soul. Taking on something else would be a large burden for him, after all, he'd only reformed Arthia to help him achieve his ultimate goal. However, things had changed.

But then, Yeon-woo thought that maybe this had been inevitable, anyway. It might have been his fate all along. From the time he formed a bond with Hermes and Athena, from the time he was asked to take the Throne of Death by his older brother, Hades, and from the time his father had sacrificed for his children.

Everything led to one place. Yeon-woo wanted to inherit everything from Kronos. As his son, Yeon-woo felt this was the natural thing to do. "Devour." Lumps appeared along his hand.

[Hades' Spirit Eating Sword is attempting to devour Kronos!]

His goal was to devour the world of Kronos' conscious mind and Kronos' true body. All of it. If he could pull this off, not only would he be able to eliminate the Demonism, he would also monopolize all the legacies Kronos left behind.

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