Ranker Who Lives Twice

Yeon-woo felt his body heating up, as though he had jumped into a pit of fire. Steam rose from his hot scales. He was completely exhausted after using all of his strength and magic power, but he felt proud. 'I didn't know I could push away space itself.'

His eyes widened at the sight he'd created. Although the Demonism had torn out space by eating it, the Breath had completely annihilated everything it passed, not even leaving the physical laws of concepts behind. It was the power to turn anything into nothing, which was the same as summoning emptiness. The flawless Strike of Breath condensed with Sword Thunder was vastly destructive.

Yeon-woo was sure that even the Summer Queen's Breath wouldn't equal it. He'd seen it during the time Red Dragon and the Sword God clashed. Back then, he wondered how he would ever deal with it, but now it didn't seem too difficult at all. 'Demonic Divine Draconic Body…is it because I have three transcendent Factors?'

If he was this powerful even before polymorphing into a Draconic species, what would happen once he managed it? And if he could attain the last Factor of the giants, what exceptional achievements would he be able to accomplish? Yeon-woo wanted to reach that level of growth as soon as possible. And for that, he needed to get rid of the obstacles in his way. 'I need to exuviate first.'

Whoosh! The Breath didn't only push the Demonism back, it also swamped Allforone. As the Breath spread, a white column of light suddenly shot up to the ceiling at its center.

〈Invincible〉

The Breath twisted and spun around the light, and a gigantic tornado appeared in the Changgong Library, Allforone standing beneath it. The injuries on his body of light were proof that he hadn't been able to evade the attack, the intensity of his light had grown, which meant that he was using a significant amount of magic power.

『It feels like I am looking at the Breaths of Kalatus and the other ancient dragons. As expected of the Black King's successor. If you exuviate and transcend, you might even reach my level or beyond.』Allforone exclaimed, surprised by Yeon-woo's achievements. He knew Yeon-woo had grown rapidly with the legacy Cha Jeong-woo left behind, but that didn't negate his own hard work. Allforone felt a grudging respect; he'd once been a player who climbed up the Tower, as well, and he recognized that Yeon-woo was creating a path that no one had ever walked before.

『But this is all the more reason why I cannot allow you above. I will not ask you to forgive my decision. I will take this sin with me until the end.』 Allforone became more certain that he needed to block Yeon-woo before it was too late, just as he'd done to the Draconic species of the past.

Allforone spread his arms wide and struck the ground with one hand. The tornado soaring up to the sky condensed into the shape of his hand. It was the secret skill that he had never revealed after the Dragon Massacre except when he fought the Martial King, the fourth skill of his trait, Seven Stars.

〈Great Handprint〉

Boom! A light in the shape of a giant hand shot out auroras over Yeon-woo's head.

『Yes. You should be able to attack me like this if you've ripened that much. Did you think you'd be fine after putting me in this state?』 Blackness spread below Yeon-woo's feet as emptiness opened. It looked like a beast's mouth with all its sharp teeth.

〈Predation Emptiness〉

The Demonism had regrown in the ground after its spirit body was injured and was now spreading its mouth wide open. Bright white light fell like lightning, and pitch-black darkness filled up like a marsh. It would have been a precarious situation even for most of the divine beings, but Yeon-woo kept his cool and raised more Sword Thunder. His body sparked as red-black lightning bloomed.

Then, he began to control his Consciousness, planning to create a large column that would connect the earth and the skies and prevent the two beings from approaching him. Just as Sword Thunder was about to shoot up into the sky, a powerful voice boomed, deafening him. "You damned bastards, where do you think you are?"

The magic power contained in the voice was so great that Yeon-woo automatically froze along with the others, as if time had stopped. None of them could move at all as the Heavenly Demon appeared with a ray of light. He landed on the ground with such a great impact that Yeon-woo's control of his Consciousness, Allforone's Great Handprint, and the Demonism's Predation Emptiness were blown away. The fierce atmosphere that had risen the Changgong Library disappeared as if it had never been present.

Yeon-woo and the other two were frozen in shock.

* * *

The Heavenly Demon frowned as he looked at the messy library. "I was only gone for a moment…! Do you all wanna die? Huh?"

Yeon-woo felt his body vibrating with the Heavenly Demon's voice. He wanted to move, but he just couldn't. He was filled with shock once more at the power of the Heavenly Demon, who could control the natural laws with just his voice. Both the Demonism and Allforone felt the same. The Heavenly Demon had frozen the Tower's strongest being, Allforone, and the Black King's remnants, the Demonism, in a manner that couldn't be put into words.

『Until the end, you…!』 Allforone glared at the Heavenly Demon. It was impossible to see his face because he was covered in light, but Yeon-woo felt that he was furious. His usual transcendent air, which made him seem like an immortal being, a Xian, was gone. However, he didn't behave towards the Heavenly Demon as though they were enemies.

'It's more like when Jeong-woo and I would complain about each other to our mother…' Yeon-woo didn't know if that was an appropriate way to describe how Allforone spoke to the Heavenly Demon, but it was genuinely how Yeon-woo saw it.

For a moment, a bittersweet look flashed in the Heavenly Demon's eyes as he looked at Allforone. Then, he returned to his original attitude and began to scold him. "You have a lot of stuff to do because of the guys in the heavenly world, right? Go back."

That was it. Allforone, who could use Shukuchi to go anywhere in the Tower, disappeared without a trace. The pressure that had been blocking Yeon-woo's exuviation also disappeared.

『Keekeekeek! Guess today isn't the day. It was still fun, very fun.』 From far away, the Demonism, who had returned to his original appearance, looked from Yeon-woo to the Heavenly Demon and returned inside Vigrid with a laugh, leaving behind a pitch-black sword, which fell to the ground.

Urrrrng. The demonic energy that blackened Vigrid disappeared, and it turned white again. Yeon-woo extended his hand with magic power to retrieve Vigrid and quickly scanned it, checking to see if the Demonism really had eaten the Vampiric Lord.

He found her spirit body hiding in a corner inside Vigrid. Most of it had been eaten up, and she'd lost most of her strength. It seemed like she couldn't wake up because she was too weak. At this rate, her level would be completely lost, and her spirit body would scatter. 'No!'

He didn't want to lose the Vampiric Lord so pointlessly. She was a necessary component of the team he was planning to create to hunt Allforone, so he needed to save her. Besides, he couldn't make Lana sad again.

However, he didn't know how to heal a damaged spirit body. All he could do was take her in as his familiar and give her the powers of the Black King. He hesitated, trying to think of another method. He didn't want her to have to take time to regain her strength like Brahm, who still didn't have his divinity.

The Heavenly Demon suddenly stepped up and put his hand on Vigrid. Whoosh! His hand flashed with golden light and he could feel the Vampiric Lord's spirit body return to its original state. She was still in a deep sleep, but she seemed more comfortable.

Yeon-woo looked at the Heavenly Demon in surprise. Was it this easy to fix a damaged divinity? He knew it couldn't be true if Typhon and the Giants had struggled in Tartarus for so long. But the Heavenly Demon could create miracles as though they were nothing. From the first moment they met, the Heavenly Demon kept surprising Yeon-woo. Perhaps nothing was impossible for a light that existed on its own like him.

At the same time, another thought occurred to Yeon-woo. If the Heavenly Demon was a light that existed from the beginning, how could he also be human with the name Son Ji-ho? The progenitor gods were beings who didn't have egos and could only express their will, but the Heavenly Demon didn't seem affected. He wasn't an incarnation either. He looked like he was in his true body.

Yeon-woo had only read ten pages of the revelations, and from that and according to the laws of the universe, it was impossible for the Heavenly Demon to exist. His existence was a paradox.

"Kiddo, there's nothing I can do for you even if you're looking at me like you've got a crush on me."

Yeon-woo wondered if the Heavenly Demon could exist because of his endless narcissism.

"What a messy fight. And I was only gone for a short while. Sheesh!" He looked around the chaotic interior and sighed, clapping his hands. Like a video that was being rewound, the shelves and books returned to their original state.

The Heavenly Demon turned back to Yeon-woo, looking him up and down with amusement. "Still, for someone who's been stuck inside reading books, it looks like you've gone through quite some improvement!"

"Yes, sir. It was all thanks to you."

After finishing the sixth step of his awakening, Yeon-woo realized that he'd been in the Changgong Library much longer than the allocated time. The person in front of him had made it possible.

"Then…" Suddenly, the Heavenly Demon faded out and he reappeared in front of Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo hadn't been able to read his movements even after his growth. For some reason, he felt like something about the Heavenly Demon's smile reminded him of the Martial King. "Let's rough you up a bit. You should be punished for making a mess of the library, don't you think?"

Thwak. Yeon-woo realized that an even greater bully than the Martial King was inside the library.

* * *

Crack.

"You're more useful now. And you can sort of counterattack, too." The Heavenly Demon grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

'He's worse than the Martial King.' Yeon-woo thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes with an egg that the Heavenly Demon had managed to produce from somewhere. Both his eyes were blacker than a panda's.

The Bureau had once said there was no better insult than "worse than the Martial King", and that applied to this situation, too. Of course, he didn't say it out loud. If he did, he would not only see stars, but the entire universe.

"You just insulted me, didn't you?" The Heavenly Demon suddenly whipped around and looked at Yeon-woo with a frown, scratching his ear with his pinky.

'He's stupidly sharp.' Yeon-woo felt guilty, but he tried not to show it as he replied. "Of course not."

"Ha! You rat, you're slyer than you look. Fine. I'll let you off this time."

Yeon-woo didn't reply and carefully changed the subject. "Do you know how much time has passed?" He knew he'd spent a long while in the Changgong Library, but he didn't have any idea how much time had passed, although he suspected it would be longer than he expected. His connection to his familiars had been growing a lot weaker for a while now, and he guessed he'd been inside for a couple of years.

"I can see you're trying to change the subject, idiot."

Yeon-woo didn't speak.

"Watch, you'll get caught someday." The Heavenly Demon glared at Yeon-woo, who looked away. Then, the Heavenly Demon suddenly laughed as he counted his fingers. "It's been a while. Longer than I expected."

"How long?"

"I don't know. Around…" He grinned mischievously. "A hundred years?"