Chapter 664: Scythe (14)

'Metatron? Baal? Why are they here?' Yeon-woo widened his eyes. Metatron was commanding countless archangels while Baal was having the demons attack. They looked like how they did at the tea party Yeon-woo had attended some time ago, but their auras were entirely different. If it wasn't for the messages, Yeon-woo would've thought they were other creatures. He wondered why they were affiliated with the Day.

"I see," Yeon-woo quietly muttered. "Then, they're also the leftovers of the traitors..." He didn't know their names, but it was clear they had once also been in high positions and recorded in the revelations.

'Then, what about absolute good and absolute evil...?' Yeon-woo recalled the tea party that Metatron and Baal had held some time ago.

Malach and L'Infernal were widely known, advocating for absolute good and absolute evil. They represented the factions of gods and demons. However, it was thought that they were "negotiating" to maintain the order of the heavenly world and reduce the conflict between factions as much as possible... Of course, Yeon-woo knew after attending their tea party that they were deluding everyone else and their negotiations were really a method to maximize the gains of their own societies.

'But what if that isn't the case either? Everyone's being deceived,' Yeon-woo thought. Perhaps "order in the heavenly world" was something that they had scripted from the beginning.

It was possible that Yeon-woo was wrong. After all, quite a lot of time had passed since Uranus' age to the Tower's time, and Metatron and Baal could've had a falling out somewhere in between. However, they were beings who fought for their ideals and prevented the waking of the Black King for eons. And Yeon-woo didn't think that their relationship could really be shaken by something like that.

'The reason why they invited me to the tea party might have something to do with Grandfather.'

Olympus didn't have any points of contact with Malach or L'Infernal during Kronos' generation or Zeus' generation, so they must've had some reason for approaching Yeon-woo.

'Everything I know is being turned around.' Yeon-woo chuckled in disbelief. He'd come hoping to learn how to restore the spring of time, but things he'd never imagined were going down.

Krrrng, krrng! Crash! Flashes of light burst in the sky. This was a rural part of the vast universe that not a lot of beings knew about, but a world-ending war was happening here. The archangels and demons trying to block the Eight Gods of Disorder looked magnificent and beautiful, like they were in a painting. However, it was a horrifying sight at the same time.

Uranus and the gods of Olympus soon joined them. Every wave of Uranus' hand dropped bolts to the ground and burned the otherworld gods.

'I should step up too.' Yeon-woo gripped his sword tighter as he watched. The pandemonium had already begun, and he couldn't leave just because he had already obtained Pneuma's Sky. Kronos' legends could be ruined at this rate. Even if he didn't defeat the otherworld gods, he had to send them back into the Night.

Yeon-woo focused his consciousness, Pneuma. He was about to interfere in the small wheel by directing his holy power toward his Sky Wings... 'Huh?' He suddenly felt a piercing gaze from among the demons who were in the middle of an intense battle with the otherworld gods. He turned only to see Agares staring at him with an icy expression.

Yeon-woo wondered why Agares was acting like that, but Agares simply returned to the battlefield after their eyes met. It felt uncomfortable, as if he had skipped over something because he didn't have any relation to Agares yet.

[The wheel of time that was shaken due to Pneuma has been successfully fixed.]

[The time limit is being calculated again.]

[7:35:66_49]

[7:35:66_48]

...

"Alright." Yeon-woo focused on Pneuma just like he learned inside of the Night and attempted to turn the small wheel by twisting the world around him. He drew the movements in his head for a smoother progression.

Inside his head, Yeon-woo was a spring that turned a clock, and Pneuma was a small cogwheel connected to the spring that activated multiple other parts. When they clicked together, everything began to turn. The needles of the clock moved.

[The power 'Pneuma's Sky' has been activated and interferes in the 'Small Wheel!']

[The speed of the 'Small Wheel' drastically decreases.]

[The laws of causality activate.]

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

[7:35:51_30]

[7:35:51_30]

[7:35:51_30]

[7:35:51_29]

...

The countdown of the time limit drastically slowed down as well.

* * *

The first being that Yeon-woo encountered was the Crawling Chaos, who had succeeded in following the Resident of the Border outside the Night. Even in the slowed time, the being sluggishly forced himself forward and attempted to approach Yeon-woo. He was only a small part of his true body for now.

[The 'Crawling Chaos' observes you.]

[The 'Crawling Chaos' is greatly interested in you.]

[The 'Crawling Chaos' is curious about the many phenomena occurring around you.]

Shwoo. The large entity that made up his body slowly moved like a cloud.

[The leftover legends of the 'Crawling Chaos' that you swallowed are showing an intense reaction to meeting their original owner!]

[The leftover legends of the 'Crawling Chaos' request for help from their original owner!]

[The 'Crawling Chaos' expresses suspicion about your identity!]

You, not a being of Day. Who are you? The Crawling Chaos was now outright doubting Yeon-woo's identity. It was only natural since he had seen his own legends inside of Yeon-woo.

Legends were the identity and the path a divine being had taken, so having the same legends was impossible. If one had the same legends as you, it was only natural to be furious about it, but the Crawling Chaos was calmly analyzing Yeon-woo. He would've been displeased if a little insect was trying to imitate him, but Yeon-woo exuded the same scent as himself. It was strange...

It could be proof that traces of the Great Father were still "outside," but the Crawling Chaos didn't think that it was something that should've appeared already. From what he knew, it should've taken quite a long time for the Great Father's traces to be found. The fact that his traces were being discovered meant he was preparing to wake, but at this point, that was impossible. But strangely, the creature in front of him had the Great Father's traces and even his own legends.

The Crawling Chaos wondered what that actually meant. Unlike the other otherworld gods who put instinct first, the Crawling Chaos had an innate curiosity, and he enjoyed observing and analyzing phenomena... At the end of his investigation, he came to one result: the being in front of him wasn't someone from this time period!

In the far future, in some time period that the Crawling Chaos didn't know about, a being who had gained traces of the Black King defeated him, and the being had returned to this time period due to an event he didn't know about... This was the first time the Crawling Chaos was exposed to the concept of time, but it wasn't too difficult to analyze it. He wasn't called a tactician in the Night for nothing.

Anyhow, the Crawling Chaos planned on tying Yeon-woo down here. If he could capture the youth alive, he'd be able to learn many things. He could also speed up the Great Father's waking and learn much information about the Day. Perhaps he could even learn about the Heavenly Demon, who put the Great Father to sleep... And he could even learn about his own end.

Krooo. The Crawling Chaos' complicated thoughts were directly delivered to Yeon-woo.

Yeon-woo frowned at the Crawling Chaos' joy. 'He enjoys the fact that he died?'

Death was unknown territory for gods and demons. Even the beings who had the domain of death weren't able to escape the concept. Still, they called themselves immortal because they wouldn't die from most things. The same went for the Eight Gods of Disorder... However, the Crawling Chaos had learned that he would someday die, and the strange concept had aroused his interest. How would he die? And after he died, what would happen? Would he cease to exist, or would he remain somewhere? How would his traces be left behind in the world?

'I knew he wasn't in his right mind...but he was worse during this time period.'

The Crawling Chaos had been like this when Yeon-woo encountered him in the Tower too. At the time, he'd suddenly penetrated Yeon-woo's conscious while they were fighting just because he wanted to learn how Yeon-woo was connected to the Black King. Were curiosity and amusement what moved the Crawling Chaos? If so, the Crawling Chaos was worse than insane.

"I'll swallow your legends again then." Yeon-woo had already defeated the Crawling Chaos once, so he believed that he could do it again. He was also curious what would happen if he swallowed the same legends twice.

[An unidentifiable power amplifies the strength of 'Eight Extremes of Sword Thunder!']

[Pneuma is being focused.]

Yeon-woo activated the Yin Sword immediately. Sword Thunder slashed at Crawling Chaos with the intent of tearing the god apart.

The Crawling Chaos' pieces of flesh were tossed in the air. They were as large as islands, each of which took on human form to dash towards Yeon-woo. Crash! The human form had a face that was closer to Yeon-woo's than Kronos' face. It was a manifestation body that the Crawling Chaos had created from analyzing Yeon-woo, so it resembled Yeon-woo quite a bit.

"...So annoying." Yeon-woo was displeased because he thought the Crawling Chaos looked more like Jeong-woo. Although they were twins, they had subtle differences that the Crawling Chaos had recreated.

Krrr. Boom, boom! As the clash between Yeon-woo and the Crawling Chaos became greater, the battle between Day and Night became unrestrainedly intense.

"This is ridiculous. What is the meaning of this sudden mess? I was going to eat cookies from Deva and have some time to myself...but that's all ruined!" Baal furrowed his brow in annoyance that his long-awaited rest was disturbed. There were cookie crumbs around his mouth because he had come in a rush.

"Sorry. My grandson caused some trouble."

"Grandson? What are you talking...?" Baal trailed off, then stared at Yeon-woo working hard to defeat the Crawling Chaos far away. "That's not the darned kid you're always grumbling about."

"It's that darned kid's son."

"Oho. I see there was a girl who accepted his temper?"

"Rhea."

"...What? Did I mishear you?" Baal picked his ear, thinking he had been mistaken. He remembered only a few of the names of Uranus' adopted children. He knew Kronos because of all the trouble he caused and Rhea because of how much Uranus bragged about her. Baal'd even been thinking Rhea would be nice to have as a daughter-in-law if he ever had any children, but he just found out that the two kids were a couple in the future.

Baal looked at Uranus like he was speaking nonsense, but Uranus just grinned and shrugged. "What can I do when they like each other so much?"

"Huh! Pneuma and Quirinale are united as one? The descendants of the enemies who wanted to tear each other apart whenever they met? The world is going crazy." Baal wiped his face in disbelief. Then, he stiffened. "I see why that dim-witted lunatic wants him. Huh! Is that why he exudes the concept of death that intensely? Let's just...!"

"If you're going to do something useless, I won't stay still even for you, Baal."

"...You're being too harsh about a little joke. More importantly..." Baal retreated and swallowed when Uranus glowered at him. If there was a "vessel" the Black King was interested in, it'd be easier to take care of him early on...but Baal chose not to. Part of it was because of Uranus' relationship with Yeon-woo, and there was also the fact that Kronos' body could die if Yeon-woo was eliminated. And there was no guarantee that would get rid of Yeon-woo.

"'That being' is going to make a fuss after learning of this, so take care of it as soon as possible." Baal changed the subject.

"...Dammit. You're right."

"Since 'that being' detests anything getting too loud, it actually might be better off that the Resident of the Border is here... Never mind. Anyhow, it's better to fight than chit-chat like this. I'll be off first."

Uranus and Metatron turned white. They looked like they had thought of something they'd rather not.

Metatron scratched his head with frustration, then pulled out twin swords from his subspace and dashed toward the Resident of the Border. The Resident of the Border wasn't an easy opponent, but he thought it was better than dealing with "that being's" temper. In the past, the being had struck Metatron on the back of the head simply out of annoyance and the bump had stayed there for years.

Swish. Each thrust of Metatron's white wings caused holy power to whirl and lash out in an attempt to shred the Resident of the Border. Rays of light soared to the ground and waves of rainbows spread throughout the battlefield.

Uranus and Baal continued the attacks, releasing flashes of powers that ripped through space. It was three against one, so they clearly had the advantage in numbers. The might of their attacks was powerful because it was the combined efforts of beings who were among the strongest throughout all of the universes and dimensions.

However, the Resident of the Border just scoffed and deflected all their attacks as he shot his other hand forward. With the feeling that space was being pushed back, all the powers released onto him were destroyed.

Soon, a tornado of Night appeared above the three divine beings. Uranus and the others quickly opened space and attempted to escape. The Resident of the Border chased after them... Dududu. Behind the Resident of the Border, the Night attempted to expand, shaking. The Day built barriers to push it back.

It was a tight battle with neither side surrendering. However, the Night's power was rougher, and darkness crept into the territory of light. As more of the Eight Gods of Disorder appeared, the balance seemed to be tilting in favor of the Night.

Uranus and the others moved busily... Just then, emptiness suddenly opened from far away and a golden column of light descended right between the boundary of Day and Night.

"...Shit," Uranus cursed.

"We're fucked." Baal paled as if he saw a ghost.

"..." Metatron quietly covered his face with his hand like he had been sentenced to death.

As a wave of golden light swept by, the Heavenly Demon appeared with a growl, Ruyi Bang in hand. "Be quiet, you idiots! My kid just fell asleep, but he woke up because of you fools! Do you know how hard it is to put a baby back to sleep?"