Ranker Who Lives Twice

Yeon-woo had never expected a thing like Fate to exist. He couldn’t help but be surprised. However, he wasn’t able to wonder much longer.

“Run away, grandson!” Uranus shouted while blocking the Heavenly Demon’s Ruyi Bang.

Crash! Yeon-woo had no choice but to escape with his Sky Wings, never looking back.

[6th-step Dragon Body Awakening]

[Releasing all powers]

Yeon-woo had already released his Sky Wings, and activated all the powers and legends he needed. His current body wasn’t too different from his body in reality, so he was able to attempt a quick escape. He would die if he clashed with the Heavenly Demon here.

Kronos’ legends were already messed up from the conflict with the Night. But if Yeon-woo were to die from the Heavenly Demon here, the legends would be destroyed completely. Kronos’ existence itself would be erased… It would be difficult for Yeon-woo to survive under the collapse of the legends as well.

In fact, the Heavenly Demon had probably known that much. He probably knew this was inside the legends of some being and might have read something from Yeon-woo. Fiery Golden Eyes…saw through all truths, and the Heavenly Demon’s eyes could probably see even deeper than Yeon-woo’s.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” The Heavenly Demon pushed Uranus aside and stretched his left hand to try and catch Yeon-woo. Swish! Space was twisted inside of the Heavenly Demon’s hand, warping chaotically. Although Yeon-woo had put some distance in between them, that was futile.

Just before the Heavenly Demon’s hand reached Yeon-woo’s neck, Metatron and Baal opened the space in front of Yeon-woo and attacked the Heavenly Demon.

“I don’t know what this is about…”

“But you should stop there.”

Rumble. Dududu! Blinding white sparks flashed and dark curses descended upon the Heavenly Demon’s head.

At the same time, other gods of Olympus appeared to block the Heavenly Demon. Thanks to them, Yeon-woo was able to distance himself from the Heavenly Demon again.

“You bastards.” The Heavenly Demon growled upon losing his target again. “Move, will you?”

Crackle, crackle. Rumble! Golden light from the Heavenly Demon became a wall of lightning and erased the powers of the divine beings surrounding him.

“…ahem! At this rate, we’re gonna get ourselves in trouble trying to protect a friend’s son, I mean, grandson.” Metatron stepped back and clicked his tongue as he looked at the Heavenly Demon, but his sharp eyes were focused on the Heavenly Demon’s every movement.

“I don’t know why you’re aiming for Uranus’ kid, but I can’t open the path for you. We can’t lose a descendant of Pneuma… I mean, of Pneuma and Quirinale, so easily. And even with that aside, running any more amok goes against the rules of the pact.” Then, Metatron pulled out his twin swords to confront the Heavenly Demon. Soon, archangels were surrounding him and the Heavenly Demon to fight.

[‘Day (Eros)’ expresses hostility toward the Heavenly Demon!]

The Heavenly Demon tilted his head and scanned the gods. “Pact? Don’t make me laugh. Wasn’t there something about how that child might become the ‘egg’ of darkness?”

“No one knows whether he’ll become the ‘egg’ or not.”

“Fine. So that’s what you think?” The Heavenly Demon smiled wickedly. “Let’s see if you’ll continue to say that even after you’re dead.”

Boom! The Heavenly Demon sprang to action.

『Everyone be careful!』With a warning from Metatron, Day collided with the Heavenly Demon.

Dududu!

* * *

‘What…!’

Swish! Yeon-woo attempted to escape the Heavenly Demon’s territory of recognition. However, the Heavenly Demon’s domain was light. And there wasn’t a single place in the universe where light didn’t reach, so it was most likely near impossible to escape from him.

Still, Yeon-woo attempted to escape as far as possible while Uranus and the others bought him some time. He was opening coordinates to random places, so he didn’t even know where he was going.

[You have entered the territory of the godly society <Deva>.]

[The gods of <Deva> are taken aback by the sudden appearance of a visitor.

[Agni observes you.]

[Varuna doubts you.]

…

[Brahma tilts his head.]

…

[The godly society <Asgard> frowns at the unexpected visitor.]

[Odin narrows his eyes.]

[Thor watches your actions.]

…

[You have passed the territory of <Memphis>.]

[You have passed the territory of <Dilmun>.]

…

Yeon-woo caught the attention of many other gods while passing through multiple territories, but fortunately, no one stopped him. At the same time, he wondered if this really was inside of Kronos’ legends. It was amazing how this mere legend could express such a vast world.

[The legends are being destroyed!]

[The legends are being destroyed!]

…

[The speed of destruction is increasing! It is strongly advised you escape from these legends! If you sink into the legends, you may not be able to escape!]

Yeon-woo stopped when his holy power was nearly drained. Even if he used a part of his true body’s legends, his current body wasn’t as complete as his true body, so there were unavoidable limits. This body didn’t have Dragon Heart or the Philosopher's Stone. All of his joints were creaking because he was already overloaded.

Haa. Haa. Yeon-woo was only able to catch his breath after surrounding himself with multiple barriers in case the Heavenly Demon caught on. He didn’t even know where he was going. The coordinates were tangled and hard to calculate. However, since he had only moved towards planets where he didn’t feel the presence of any living beings, he probably wouldn’t be caught as long as he hid his holy power… He was currently on a dead planet far from stars where light didn’t reach.

“What should I do now?” Yeon-woo gritted his teeth, wondering how things had gone so wrong. Things had been fine until learning Pneuma’s Sky and peeking into the secrets of the Day and Night of the universe. He hadn’t expected the Heavenly Demon to suddenly show hostility and was taken by surprise.

[2:57:49_25]

[2:57:49_24]

…

[You have less than three hours left. It is advised you quickly complete your mission and come out of the legends.]

[If you exceed the time limit, your ego may be swallowed by the extended playback of the legends.]

The clock was ticking even now, because Yeon-woo could only slow down time with Pneuma’s Sky by this much. But if it wasn’t even for that, he would’ve exceeded the time limit and been buried under the legends while escaping… There was an extremely short amount of time left, and the legends were crumbling even in this moment. Yeon-woo predicted that the remaining time he had and the time it took for these legends to be completely destroyed were about the same.

The “playback” of the legends wasn’t showing any intention of stopping. But even if it did, Yeon-woo couldn’t allow that. He needed to find a way for the legends to be restored and not destroyed. He couldn’t let his father sacrifice for him again.

However, he had to move freely to find a solution, and he wasn’t able to do that because he didn’t know when the Heavenly Demon would appear. He could be found here at any moment too, since the “emperor-level” Heavenly Demon most likely had domains of omniscience and omnipotence.

‘Is Grandfather safe?’ Yeon-woo worried about the safety of Uranus, Metatron, Baal, and the other members of the Day. He hoped everyone was alright. Although the Heavenly Demon was working with the Day, Yeon-woo didn’t think the Heavenly Demon would leave alone beings he thought were enemies. His heart felt as heavy as stone.

“Dammit…!” Yeon-woo clenched his fists. He desperately needed to find a solution, one that tied the Heavenly Demon down and restored the legends. He also needed to do it quickly because there was not enough time left. He wondered if there would be such a rectifying solution.

‘There is one.’ A thought flashed past Yeon-woo’s mind, but he soon frowned. ‘It might be possible, but the likelihood of it worsening the situation of the legends…’

I agree...with that. Suddenly, familiar thoughts rang inside of Yeon-woo’s head.

[The absorbed two legends of the ‘Crawling Chaos’ are combined and create an ego!]

[The ego of the ‘Crawling Chaos’ smirks at you.]

Yeon-woo stiffened. ‘What is this? Why am I suddenly feeling the Crawling Chaos? I definitely saw the Heavenly Demon fling him into the territory of the Night. Or has the Crawling Chaos crossed over from the Night from here?’ He reflexively moved his hand for his sword and activated Sword Thunder.

Can’t find… Even if you do. The creature snickered at Yeon-woo, who soon realized that the being wasn’t around him but inside of his soul.

『Ah. Ah. Is this working?』The Crawling Chaos refined his thoughts into one and began to speak. He had a content smile on his face.『Organizing my thoughts into language is more efficient and expressive than emanating thoughts. It does have the disadvantage of my thoughts becoming uniform and dull because the process is too simple…but there seems to be no better communication method than this. Even lowly beings have something to teach.』

“The separated legend… Did you mix that with the remnant legends to awaken your ego?” Yeon-woo recalled how the Crawling Chaos tore off an arm and fed it to Hades’ Spirit Eating Sword before being chased away by the Heavenly Demon. He did see that the two legends had responded to each other, but he didn’t know this was what that meant.

『I can’t stand being curious. Keke.』To the Crawling Chaos, Yeon-woo was like a bonanza of knowledge. To him, Yeon-woo was a being who had come from another time period from the world of the Day, which was completely different from the Night. And Yeon-woo had even killed him, so his curiosity only grew from there… The Crawling Chaos had torn off a piece of himself thinking he wouldn’t find an amusing opportunity like this again.

『And you’re wrong about one thing.』

“What are you talking about?”

『I never separated my legends, even though I did throw away a part I didn’t need.』

“…!” Yeon-woo immediately widened his eyes. He realized that the ego inside of him was the Crawling Chaos’ true body, and the one that was flung into the territory of Night was a copy.

Although the Crawling Chaos had awakened his ego, he couldn’t hurt Yeon-woo. He was already digested. It was already amazing that he was able to maintain an ego. Yeon-woo couldn’t understand his craziness at all, and it was why Yeon-woo couldn’t leave him alone. It was uncomfortable.

‘Since I don't know what he’s planning. I should just separate his legends and throw them out…’ Yeon-woo’s eyes flashed coldly.

『Huhu. It’s nice that you’re thinking of how to get rid of me, but do you have time for that?』The Crawling Chaos snickered.

Yeon-woo quickly looked up.

[The Heavenly Demon’s gaze is approaching!]

Yeon-woo didn’t know what happened, but it seemed the Heavenly Demon had escaped the Day and was searching for him. Light was approaching the dark planet as a single ray of golden light—the Heavenly Demon’s “gaze.” And no matter how many barriers Yeon-woo surrounded himself with, he’d be caught once that gaze reached him.

Yeon-woo set aside his concern about the Crawling Chaos and gripped his sword. His holy power wasn’t restored yet, but he either needed to face the Heavenly Demon head-on or attempt another escape. He swallowed, keeping his guard up against the gaze that was coming closer.

『Should I help you?』

“What?”

『I can help you escape from the Heavenly Demon’s gaze. There would be no point in my moving my ego here if you die, would there?』

Yeon-woo felt uneasy about receiving the Crawling Chaos’ help, but he wasn’t in the situation to be picky. “How can you help?”

『The Heavenly Demon is light itself, so being covered by darkness will take care of it. I heard we’re called Night? Then, we can borrow that power and hide inside of darkness.』

“But…”

『You want to ask if we have enough time? Hm. I don’t think that will be too difficult for Father’s successor. You can also use those strange laws.』

Yeon-woo nodded at the Crawling Chaos’ advice to use Pneuma’s Sky.

[The power ‘Pneuma’s Sky’ is activated and interferes in the ‘Small Wheel.’]

[The speed of the ‘Small Wheel’ is drastically slowed down.]

[Laws of causality are activated.]

[Time is drastically slowed down within the scope of a fixed area!]

After slowing down the area around him, Yeon-woo began to make a new barrier as the Crawling Chaos told him. He had a history of researching the Emerald Tablet in the past, so it wasn’t too difficult to understand the knowledge of the otherworld.

[The gaze of the Heavenly Demon moves toward you!]

[The gaze of the Heavenly Demon has reached your barrier!]

[The gaze of the Heavenly Demon observes you!]

Soon, the ray of light approached and remained on Yeon-woo’s barrier for a while.