CH 179

The battle began. It was Gabriel against Satan and Kronos against the tree-bark ruler.

“Dammit!” Kronos and Gabriel swore. They were at a huge disadvantage because they had already exhausted most of their power. Compared to them, their opponents were in a much better condition.

As he explained, the tree-bark creature reached out, “I gave away my dimension’s essence to the sphere, but not my power. Satan kept that safe for me while hiding, waiting for the right moment.”

Yggdrasil, the tree-bark creature, sprouted a giant stem. He was commonly known as the World Tree, and nothing could cut its stems.

“Dammit!” Kronos swore again as he barely dodged it. “We will lose at this rate!”

Kronos had anticipated that one of the rulers might betray him, but…

‘I didn’t expect Satan to join the fray,’ Kronos thought in shock. He had heard that Satan lost his position to the new hell ruler called Lucifer. Satan had run away, but everyone believed he was dead. However, that was a false rumor since Satan was standing before him.

Kronos had thought he could handle the betrayer if there was one. After all, once Gaia had eaten up God’s power and learned to control Chaos’, it shouldn’t have been difficult to eliminate the traitor.

‘But I didn’t expect this… This is the worst case scenario,’ Kronos contemplated in panic. For now, he and Gabriel managed to survive, but they were both weak. On the other hand, their enemies seemed happy and healthy. At this rate…

‘All of my efforts would be for naught. They would take what I worked so hard for!’ Kronos thought in disgust. Finally, he reached back to take out his sickle. When the tree-bark ruler saw this, he flinched.

"So that’s the Scythe of Time,” the tree-bark creature whispered. The Scythe of Time was considered the essence of Kronos’s power. It was why Kronos could become powerful enough to defeat Uranus, the once all-time strongest ruler.

Slash.

The Scythe of Time sliced the air instead of its opponent. It didn’t even touch the tree-bark creature yet…

Kaboom!

A flame appeared and burned the tree-bark ruler’s arm. Swinging both of his hands to fight back, the tree-bark creature screamed, “But you can’t use that weapon for too long!”

***

“Fucking loser!” It was shocking to hear such vulgar language from an archangel. But Gabriel seemed unconcerned as he glared at Satan.

Satan replied, “Hmph! I didn’t lose!”

Satan looked like a shadow, much weaker than before. However, Gabriel was in the same boat. Gabriel seemed very angry as he swore, “You’re no king! You’ve lost your physical body, so you are only half of what you used to be!”

Their battle continued, and the black shadow’s sword rushed toward Gabriel. The archangel countered with his white sword. They were equally matched.

‘If only Satan didn’t have his ability…!’ Gabriel thought in frustration. Now in his spirit form, Satan was much weaker than when he still had his physical body. However, Satan’s unique ability, Seal, allowed the demon to block all of his enemy’s special skills. Consequently, a physical fight was the only option, but it was very difficult for Gabriel to fight a shadow.

“I’ve seen the wonderful things you did to hell,” Satan smirked.

Gabriel became quiet. Satan summoned another sword and continued, “I’ve heard that you plan on turning the new hell king into a tool for your use… I actually like the idea. You know, sometimes you act more like a demon than real demons.”

Gabriel’s eyes sparked in fury as he screamed, “How dare you compare me to those beasts?! I am doing this out of duty for a greater good!”

Gabriel began moving a little faster, hoping to finish this battle as soon as possible.

Kwarrrrrk! 

Meanwhile, Chaos hadn’t stopped roaring. However, its cries now sounded anxious. It sounded like its heart was being ripped apart, and its brain was being eaten away. It appeared that Chaos’ stamina was diminishing as well.

Whirrrr.

The sphere encasing Gaia suddenly began vibrating again.

“What?” the four battling each other paused in confusion. All of them had felt that something strange was about to happen. Of them all, Kronos was the most confused because he knew what was going on with Gaia.

“No, Gaia! Why are you doing this?!”

While Kronos was busy screaming at Gaia, the tree-bark ruler shot a giant tree stem aimed at the back of Kronos’s head. “Die!”

The World Tree, or Yggdrasil, succeeded in piercing Kronos’ neck. Kronos fell to the ground, and Yggdrasil turned toward Gabriel. “You’re the only one left.”

In turn, Gabriel just silently looked at Gaia.

Satan smirked, “Now, the powers of God, Chaos, and the creations have become one. And it will be ours.”

Seemingly certain of his victory, Satan pointed his finger at one figure and said, “Of course, that is as long as we get that bitch…”

“What have you done?” Gabriel asked. His voice sounded so calm that Satan and the tree-bark creature became confused.

“...?”

They wondered if Gabriel was about to beg for his life. Or was there another reason why the archangel was acting so calm? Satan contemplated before grinning. It didn’t matter what Gabriel was thinking because he was close to getting what he wanted.

“Die, Angel.” Suddenly, Satan found himself on the ground. He was pushed down as if the gravity rose exponentially only for him.

Gabriel whispered in defeat, “Only… only Kronos can control her.”

“What are you saying?” Satan asked in pain.

“Why do you think I schemed with mere rulers like them? I had my reasons.” Even as Gabriel spoke, Chaos continued to struggle to be freed.

Kwarrrk!

Gabriel continued, “Only he can control her. I shall leave this place now. Everything has been ruined, but I guess I’ve escaped the worst fate possible.”

Whoosh!

Gabriel opened his pure white wings, the true symbol of being an angel. Slowly, he walked toward Satan. The tree-bark creature tried to stop Gabriel, but something strange prevented him from doing so.

‘What’s this…?’ he wondered. It felt like a special skill, just like his own, was being used to trap him. The tree-bark ruler felt a giant tree-like force imprisoning him.

Gabriel touched the back of Satan’s head and declared, “I will absorb the rest of the power I need from you.”

“Kekeke,” Satan laughed.

Fwooosh.

Gabriel’s pure white wings slowly lost their innocence. They turned black as a symbol of corruption.

Satan whispered in glee, “That’s poison you just drank.”

“Shut up! I shall leave you here to die.” Gabriel swung his now-black wings.

Whoosh.

And Gabriel just vanished. The tree-bark ruler seemed confused, while Satan just laughed like a madman. Chaos’ fanatic roars suppressed the sound of Kronos’ faint breathing.

[Fusion will now begin.]

A voice they had never heard rang in their ears.

[Enough materials have been gathered.]

One by one, the three of them were pulled into the air along with the Scythe of Time.

[The Scythe of Time has been absorbed.]

[The power of creation has been activated.]

[The compilation of the fusion process will take some time.]

Chaos stopped screaming.

[The system is being completed.]

The voice continued to announce, and finally…

[Kronos…]

Everything in the area disappeared one by one. Only Kronos remained floating in the air.

[I’m sorry…]

The voice, although rigid, showed an odd sadness. And just like that…

Fwoosh.

The whole world abruptly turned white. Everything disappeared except Kronos, floating in the air like a corpse.

***

Gi-Gyu remained quiet because he was just so confused. He knew he had gained incredible information about the Tower. He also knew he had reached the deepest part of history, but…

“This is so complicated.” Indeed, the information he had obtained was both vast and convoluted. He was also having a hard time believing what he saw. He had learned how the Tower was made and about all the betrayals involved. Gi-Gyu had experienced God’s death and seen how Chaos was used in the process.

And…

He had learned Kronos was his father.

Gi-Gyu had learned a lot about his father, but he still didn’t know why his father hated him. Gi-Gyu also didn’t know how or why Kronos became his father.

He remained silent, but there was at least one thing he had found out.

It was the system’s identity.

“System… You’re…”

[Your guess is correct.]

The system replied as if it had read Gi-Gyu’s mind.

He whispered, “Gaia…”

He remembered the last scene when the voice announced that the fusion had begun. The figures in the memory didn’t recognize the voice, but Gi-Gyu knew what it was the moment he had heard it.

‘Any player would recognize it instantly.’ 

It was the system’s voice. Shockingly, it was also Gaia’s voice.

“Just what happened? I can’t understand it. And didn’t you say you’ll tell me about the things I’m curious about?” asked Gi-Gyu in frustration. “What I wanted to know the most was…”

Before Gi-Gyu could finish his question, he was transferred to another place.

Fwoosh.

This time, he wasn’t moved to the familiar hallway.

“The Underground?” Gi-Gyu murmured. He had seen this place in the memories before. The great battle against God took place here. It was such a divine yet cursed location.

“What’s going on now?” Gi-Gyu shouted. The system had claimed earlier that the third memory would be the last. So shouldn’t it all be over now?

[You have seen the last memory but still haven’t taken your last test.]

The confusion left his eyes, replaced by calm. He organized his thoughts and stated, “So you’re saying there is something I need to do.”

[Correct.]

When the system answered, Gi-Gyu found himself being restrained. He couldn’t even open his mouth.

And…

[The last test is…]

Something dark and corrupt poured out of his chest.

[You must defeat yourself. Then, you might find out who you really are.]

The thing that had left his body was… himself.