Chapter 976 - Necessity

The air around Chronus changed. Not because he canceled his defensive spell, but because he was willing to fight himself. What could someone like him do when he decides to fight? Everyone got the answer pretty soon. Chronus didn't even approach Ryan. He just swung his first forward at him. In the next moment, Ryan was sent flying in the opposite direction at supersonic speeds.

Those who saw that, he didn't understand what happened. There were no movements in the air, and the punch had been pretty slow… so, it was hard to believe that Ryan got set flying due to the shockwave alone. Unfortunately, no one felt magic being used, so that seemed the only explanation…

Ryan flew for over three hundred kilometers in just a couple of seconds. Still, he eventually recovered from the attack and returned. However, he did so by using Teleport, both of his arms had been broken by the attack, and they were yet to heal.

"My apologies, I will be more gentle," Chronus said and then pointed his fingers toward Ryan.

When Ryan tried to fly toward him, Chronus flicked his fingers, and every time that happened, Ryan would be hit by something and then would stop and be pushed back several meters. Whenever that happened, the sound of his bones breaking echoed through the area. At some point, the spectators began to sweat cold, imagining the pain that Ryan must be feeling.

At some point, Ryan got tired of that and summoned copies of Vibrating Crossbow. Aside from the others, he knew that Chronus' movements were making the air vibrate and hit him with shockwaves, so he used those to block the attacks. The plan actually worked. Even though Chronus was insanely fast, Death Sense warned Ryan of the places where he was going to be hit. When both projectiles canceled each other, massive explosions of air that made the entire region tremble time and time again happened, but that didn't stop Ryan from charging like a mad dog and punching Chronus. However, Chronus stopped the attack using only two fingers and then punched Ryan in the stomach. His body bent completely before he was sent flying diagonally to the ground.

The thunderous impact raised a massive curtain of dust that covered the entire region. Isis, who watched all that, couldn't help sweat cold. She had thought that Chronus wouldn't be much without time magic, but those ideas disappeared from her head when she learned that he could obtain battle experience from the future. Still… for him to be able to toy with Ryan like that… it was evident that not even the most physically powerful elder gods could take him.

When the curtain of dust began to dissipate, Isis noticed that Ryan still was in the center of the massive crater created by the impact. His Transformation still was active, but he suffered so much damage that not even the corruption was healing him like before.

"Was that all?" Chronus asked. "Who will be the next? Don't worry, I won't use the Temporal Barrier."

Although they were sweating cold, Odin and Zeus stepped forward. Chronus was someone they could hit without time magic, so he was beatable… or so goes the logic.

Odin made several lightning bolts fall from the sky and hit Chronus' head. After getting hit by five one after the other, Zeus attacked him with his lightning speed. However, Chronus also stopped his punch using two fingers as well.

"I consider myself a pretty patient person, but to think that you two would try to attack me…" Chronus said and then sighed. "... this is very humiliating."

After hearing that, Athena and Ares dashed and swung their swords to behead Chronus, and even though their speed and coordination were perfect, they still only cut the air. Chronus moved his neck… Chronus punched Zeus in the stomach and then swung his body to kick Athena and Ares. However, Isis reacted on time to use Teleport and make them escape.

The other elder gods decided to join the fight as well. However, Chronus got tired of being attacked from all angles pretty fast. He swung his arms in all directions and then knocked them senseless. By working together, Isis, Athena, Zeus, Odin, and Ares managed to attack Chronus and dodge his counterattacks for a while. Still, in the end, they didn't cause much damage, and when they were hit a single time, they had to stop fighting for quite a while.

After hitting those five in a quick succession, Chronus decided to continue with his plans and make all humans disappear. However, Ryan suddenly appeared in front of him and punched his face. Chronus didn't expect that and ended up flying for dozens of meters while spinning in the air. That was the downside of deactivating the Temporal Barrier… he loses his ability to see the future. Still, while that is also active, he can't hit the enemies without relying on magic.

"I thought I had broken all of your bones and that would keep you down for a while longer, but…" Chronus frowned. "I suppose you keep surprising me."

Chronus checked his left cheek and noticed that it was a bit red. The physical attack hadn't been that impressive, but the amount of corrupt energy made up for it.

Ryan ignored that and then dashed toward Chronus again. When the enemy prepared to block the attack with his left hand and punch with the other, he noticed several Temporal Weaponization bows appearing around him. Chronus knew what those could do, and he couldn't let himself be hit by them and then make his energy be absorbed by Ryan. He didn't want to use magic right now, but… it was necessary.

Chronus used the same spell and fired arrows toward those. In the end, they canceled each other perfectly. Counter attacking now was impossible, but Chronus still managed to grab Ryan's arm and make him spin in the air at unbelievable speeds.. Once he got satisfied with the momentum, he threw Ryan on the ground, making another Earthquake reach the whole continent and then open another massive crater.