Chapter 167: Chronos

"Pavel is dead; I go by the name Chronos, now," he muttered with his eyes closed.

"...."

'His power is ominous, forbidding, and it defies everything— even the rules and laws of realms. His name is Chronos. And you are destined to die by his hands.'

Nero remembered what the cat in the white realm had told him.

"Interesting," Nero muttered.

Nero walked to Pavel and uttered, "How is Naben?"

Naben was the name of Pavel and Nero's mutual friend.

"Who knows? I don't remember the dead, and shall I be remembered after my death?"

Nero raised his brows and ordered, "Wake up, Pavel. It's me—"

"Pavel is dead!"

Pavel hovered in the air and started attacking Nero with different types of magic. However, his eyes were still closed.

Nero dodged all of Pavel's attacks and tried to touch him, but Pavel was casting a higher level of ancient magic attacks.

Nero dodged all the attacks without breaking a sweat, but he still couldn't decrease the distance between him and Pavel.

Nero could easily overwhelm Pavel, but he wasn't using his powers or magic.

"What a pain," he groaned.

Pavel conjured an enormous vast area magic circle behind him, and thousands of magic swords, spears, bows, appeared before him.

"Bastard is using my own attack on me," Nero muttered in annoyance, with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

Pavel launched all the magical weapons on Nero at once and cast the same spell again and again.

SIGH!

Nero sighed and waved his hand in the air as all the magical weapons and circles disappeared from the air.

Pavel started casting another spell, but Nero finally used his powers and summoned a rubber ball in his hand.

He aimed it at Pavel's head and threw it to interrupt him from casting a spell. But, Pavel dodged it and began casting the spell.

Nero scoffed and uttered, "Why do you think I conjured a rubber ball of all the balls?"

The rubber ball Nero threw hit the wall and bounced all over, and every time it bounced back, Pavel was forced to stop casting the spell in order to dodge.

'He has gotten a lot better,' Nero awed, although in annoyance.

Pavel landed on the ground and dashed at Nero to attack him physically. He swung his fist and jumped to kick Nero, but Nero grabbed Pavel's leg and slammed him on the ground.

Pavel swung his other fist and tossed Nero in the air using his fist.

Nero landed on his two feet and muttered, "Enough fun."

Nero walked one step forward and disappeared. However, he ran at the speed of light and grabbed Pavel's face.

"Wake up, kid," Nero uttered.

The fox mask on Pavel's face cracked as it revealed his face.

His eyelids slowly moved, and he opened his eyes.

He stared at Nero for a while and opened his mouth to mutter: "Am I dead?"

"Depends on your excuse to attack me," Nero answered with an angry look on his face.

"I want to say, 'I was just confirming it was truly you.' But in truth, I was simply cultivating." Pavel replied.

Nero raised his brows and pushed Pavel back: "You need to be careful."

Eons ago, when cultivation was invented, many strong people tried it. Some were able to cultivate; some, however, failed.

Those who succeeded ascended to a higher level and achieved unbelievable feats.

However, there was a high risk in cultivating.

Assassins, hunters, bandits, or monsters constantly attacked the cultivators that we're cultivating with meditation.

Since cultivation needed a neutral state of body where soul and mind synced; the cultivators were unknown to what was happening around their bodies, and they were killed.

To prevent that from happening, some cultivators developed a protection technique where the body of the cultivator automatically protects the cultivators from possible danger.

Pavel was meditating alone deep in the dungeon, so even if he went berserk, nothing would happen. Although, he would have never imagined in his dreams that an unrivaled demon would come to visit him.

"What are you doing here, Zeus?" Pavel asked with a confused look on his face, then wondered, "Maybe I am truly dead?"

Nero smacked Pavel on the head and uttered, "No, you are not. But if you are that eager to die, then I shall end your wait."

"When were you unsealed? And long has it been since you…" Pavel squinted his eyes and sniffed Nero: "Why do you smell like Rhea?"

"I met her at the inn not long ago. I also met Rosemary and Arnold."

Pavel lowered his gaze and uttered, "I… I searched for you all over the worlds and realms, but I couldn't find you."

"I was sealed in the prison realm, with over 200 seals on me."

"Yeah, I know."

Nero furrowed his brows and questioned, "You knew I was sealed in the prison realm?"

"Yeah, Lucifer told me." Pavel let out a short sigh and continued, "And he challenged me to find you and unseal you. But… even when I knew where you were, I couldn't find you."

"Prison realms move with the flow of time. It spawns randomly at any place of the world or realm," Nero asserted.

Nero placed his hand around Pavel's shoulder and asked, "What was about Lucifer again?"

"He came to me after he sealed you and said he sealed you in the prison realm."

"And?"

"Nothing. He vanished after that with no sign of him, and no one has ever heard or seen of him ever since."

SIGH!

Nero sighed and uttered, "Another useless person."

"And what was about the name 'Chronos' again?" Nero asked curiously.

"Why do you want to know?" Pavel replied with a question.

"There was a prophecy, although I don't believe in prophecy." Nero shrugged and continued, "But it said that I would be killed by a person named Chronos."

Pavel raised his brows and wondered, "Does that mean I am stronger than you?"

Nero cracked his fingers and asked, "Want to fight?"

"No." Pavel shook his head violently and continued, "Actually, I am just borrowing this name."