Chapter 974 - Existence

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ryan roared.

Those who hadn't disappeared yet almost went numb when they heard Ryan screaming from the depths of his soul. The elder gods that had seen him in his draconic and cursed form couldn't help but let their mouths hang open when the corruption was trying to take over his body. He should have turned into a cursed dragon now, but for some reason, he didn't.

"Femradiel is…" Isis muttered in shock when she realized that Femradiel's presence had vanished without a trace.

Other highly important members of the alliance had disappeared as well. Thor, Aphrodite, Hades, Artemis, Hera… even Loki had disappeared. That was the worst that could have happened after such a massive failure. Isis was worried, but she was more concerned about Ryan's condition…

The shadows covering Ryan's body tried to take over his mind, but whenever that happened, he hit him against the floor and made them go away. While that was a weird and effective way to avoid the corruption, that was damaging him a lot and making the shadows spread around like tentacles.

"That is what happen when you have so many powers that antagonize each other inside you," Chronus said. "It seemed that you had something inside you that kept all those powers in check, but now you have lost it."

Isis realized that Chronus was talking about Femradiel. She knew that Ryan wasn't supposed to be able to handle so many different powers, but she assumed that he was that much special… it seemed that wasn't the case.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ryan roared again.

At some point, Ryan's anger made the corruption grow so much that those who hadn't disappeared yet had to move away from him. The dark tentacles were hitting everything, and what was touched, it vanished without a trace. Isis couldn't see the point of making everyone evacuate, but she used Teleport to make everyone move away. Even without Femradiel, while being taken by that much corruption, Ryan was bound to turn into a cursed dragon, and no one will be able to stop him this time. However, Isis noticed that Chronus had stopped his actions, and now he was watching Ryan and some other people.

"What the…" Isis furrowed her eyebrows.

Isis finally noticed that Ryan wasn't the only one fighting against the corruption. Many other people lost dear friends and family members when Chronus decided to make the humans disappear. Lucas, Gustavo, Natasha, and even Daniel had half of their bodies covered by the corruption.

Eventually, Ryan truly lost his mind, and his body began to turn into one of a dragon. Still, that one was completely different from before. There were no signs of the blue that he had before. Ryan's body had turned red. Instead, even his eyes had turned crimson-like blood.

Ryan's new form was a lot more skinner than before. His head had a triangular shape thanks to his chin and two horns on the back of his head. His neck was long, and his new tail had two pointy ends. Aside from that, the wings also looked completely different than before. The previous ones had the shape that could be used as shields, but the two new ones had the form of long spears. His new body was emanating so much corruption that dark lightning bolts were falling around him like droplets of rain.

"Is that your answer?" Chronus asked. "Let your desire take over your mind? You truly have a bottomless greed, but only desire isn't enough to grant you what you want."

Like dark lightning, Ryan flew and tried to punch Chronus, but his barrier got in the way, and his hand covered by shadows was dissolved. However, it was quickly regenerated. That should be pretty painful, but Ryan kept punching Chronus like he was born to do that.

Chronus tried to see if that had changed the future somehow, but he still couldn't see Ryan facing Lucifer Ymir after he had done it. He still could see himself facing those two, and eventually, the universe would collapse again. As expected, Chronus shouldn't have expected much from such simple creatures.

You obtained 115.369 coins.

You obtained 115.369 coins.

You obtained 115.369 coins.

…

Amidst his rage, Ryan somehow understood that attacking like that wouldn't make him accomplish anything. Even though he was gaining tons of coins, that was just a little reward that he couldn't care less at the moment.

"It seems that your greed made you reach the same level as him, in a sense, but that is not enough," Chronus said. "Hmm… what are you?"

Chronus finally noticed that Merlin wasn't just a weird spell that was following Ryan around. He was a being that had a conscience like no other summoned creature… However, Merlin didn't reply and just watched Ryan flapping his wings and making dark arrows move toward Chronus. His barrier blocked most of those, but the others who had missed him fell on the ground and created holes that were a hundred meters deep… it seemed that those arrows had the same properties of antimatter.

"Why don't you reply, strange creature?" Chronus asked. "As you can see, your master isn't making me busy in the slightest."

"My apologies, but I have better things to do," Merlin replied. "Analysing the changes on Ryan's body is more fascinating than talking with you."

"I had imagined that you were his subordinate, I see… you are a third party and your presence is…" Chronus frowned.

"Took you long enough to notice it," Merlin said. "It must be quite boring to be in such an existence where you can't see hope. After seeing the end of this reality so many times, you began to lost interest in everything. Tell me, do you do these kinds of experiments often? I imagine that Zeus fear you so much because he finds traces of those pretty often."

Chronus frowned when he heard that. It seemed that Merlin had seen through him completely.. That was right, Chronus is an eternal being, but he is only eternal as long as the universe exists. Without space and without matter, time doesn't exist…